I recently finished reading Walden, by Henry David Thoreau.
The book describes Thoreau's time as he lived in a small cabin he built in the woods of Massachusetts, on the shores of Walden Pond. He describes building the cabin, living a simple life mostly separate from others, and the beauty of the environment throughout the seasons.
Thoreau could be described as a minimalist. He lives in a simple cabin, works a small garden in the mornings, and spends the afternoons taking walks through the woods or swimming in the pond. He lives on the bare necessities, and does the minimal amount of work to feed himself through the year, which leaves time for enjoyment of the little things.
The book was written in a different time, the are brief passages of narrative widely spaced between philosophical wanderings and vivid descriptions of the natural world. Some might call the book "boring", but I would rather call it "peaceful". He has a very down-to-earth, methodically rational worldview that is very different from the rushing, conclusion-jumping world of today's popular culture.
This is an example of classic American Literature, and I recommend that everyone should read it once.
-
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
January 17, 2019
July 10, 2018
Beaches
I recently returned from a week of camping and swimming with my family in northern Michigan. We had a good time, and part of that was the excellent beaches we found. We have set a family goal to try to set foot in all of the Great Lakes during this summer, and we were able to check off three of the five lakes on just this trip. We camped at Straits State Park, located on the Upper Peninsula side of the Straits of Mackinac.
The first beach we visited was at the campsite; this was Lake Huron, but within the shadow of the Mackinaw Bridge. The water was cold but refreshing compared to the summer heat. This beach had some sand, but was mostly rocks. It was a perfectly clear day, with no wind, and so there were very little waves (perhaps 6 inches). It should be noted that the water here is amazingly clear, such that you can stand in water up to your shoulder and still see every detail on the bottom.
The next day we traveled north into the Upper Peninsula. We visited Tahquemenon Falls. It was a nice ten minute hike in the woods to see the falls, which were fun to see but I feel they are a bit over-hyped. We stopped at the first little beach area we came to on Lake Superior, but the beach was entirely make of very sharp rocks, so we didn't stay long. We then had lunch at a little diner in Paradise, MI, where we were directed by the waitress to a beach a bit further down the coast. This turned out to be on the south shore of Whitefish Bay, and it was a beautiful beach made entirely of amazingly soft sand. We had the beach almost to ourselves and played for several hours. The water was cold but bearable, with about one to two foot waves. Being on the south side of the lake, the trees here give shade onto the beach, which is nice for those of us like my family who are pasty white and sunburn easily.
The next beach we visited was on Lake Michigan. We drove about ten miles west of St. Ignace on US 2, at which point the highway runs right along the lake shore. We parked on the side of the highway and jumped in the water. This beach is entirely made of very fine sand, which is fun to play in but gets everywhere: into your clothes, into your towel, into the baby diaper, into the bag of chips, etc. There were also no trees here, the closet trees were about 100 meters the other way from the highway (the water is about 20 meters from the road), and so sunscreen is a necessity here. The sky was cloudless, but the wind had picked up some and so we spent all afternoon playing in the two to three foot waves.
-
The first beach we visited was at the campsite; this was Lake Huron, but within the shadow of the Mackinaw Bridge. The water was cold but refreshing compared to the summer heat. This beach had some sand, but was mostly rocks. It was a perfectly clear day, with no wind, and so there were very little waves (perhaps 6 inches). It should be noted that the water here is amazingly clear, such that you can stand in water up to your shoulder and still see every detail on the bottom.
The next day we traveled north into the Upper Peninsula. We visited Tahquemenon Falls. It was a nice ten minute hike in the woods to see the falls, which were fun to see but I feel they are a bit over-hyped. We stopped at the first little beach area we came to on Lake Superior, but the beach was entirely make of very sharp rocks, so we didn't stay long. We then had lunch at a little diner in Paradise, MI, where we were directed by the waitress to a beach a bit further down the coast. This turned out to be on the south shore of Whitefish Bay, and it was a beautiful beach made entirely of amazingly soft sand. We had the beach almost to ourselves and played for several hours. The water was cold but bearable, with about one to two foot waves. Being on the south side of the lake, the trees here give shade onto the beach, which is nice for those of us like my family who are pasty white and sunburn easily.
The next beach we visited was on Lake Michigan. We drove about ten miles west of St. Ignace on US 2, at which point the highway runs right along the lake shore. We parked on the side of the highway and jumped in the water. This beach is entirely made of very fine sand, which is fun to play in but gets everywhere: into your clothes, into your towel, into the baby diaper, into the bag of chips, etc. There were also no trees here, the closet trees were about 100 meters the other way from the highway (the water is about 20 meters from the road), and so sunscreen is a necessity here. The sky was cloudless, but the wind had picked up some and so we spent all afternoon playing in the two to three foot waves.
-
May 18, 2018
Movie Review - Deadpool 2
Deadpool 2 is a good comic book movie.
If you have not seen the first Deadpool (What are you doing, go watch it, it is really funny!), the premise is that Deadpool (played by Ryan Reynolds) is a contract killer with a sense of humor, he participated in some experimentation which activated his "mutant powers" (this is the X-men universe) so he can move with almost-as-fast-as-a-speeding-bullet speed and he heals at an extraordinary rate (like Wolverine).
There were quite a few funny moments, many of them references to other comic book franchises. There was some well-executed breaking of the fourth wall, which is nice to see as that is one of the things the character of Deadpool is known for. I like that the Deadpool movies have accepted the 'R' rating, it lets them go all out in their fights; sometimes other comic book movies seem to be pulling their punches a bit to avoid that "violence" tag. There was some blood, Deadpool is a contract killer who really enjoys killing people, but it was not overdone.
The plot was fairly simple, and some of the plot points seemed to be telegraphed from a ways away, but there was enough room for the main character to develop a bit while retaining his bawdy humor.
And there is a character named Peter, which is always a good thing :)
-
If you have not seen the first Deadpool (What are you doing, go watch it, it is really funny!), the premise is that Deadpool (played by Ryan Reynolds) is a contract killer with a sense of humor, he participated in some experimentation which activated his "mutant powers" (this is the X-men universe) so he can move with almost-as-fast-as-a-speeding-bullet speed and he heals at an extraordinary rate (like Wolverine).
There were quite a few funny moments, many of them references to other comic book franchises. There was some well-executed breaking of the fourth wall, which is nice to see as that is one of the things the character of Deadpool is known for. I like that the Deadpool movies have accepted the 'R' rating, it lets them go all out in their fights; sometimes other comic book movies seem to be pulling their punches a bit to avoid that "violence" tag. There was some blood, Deadpool is a contract killer who really enjoys killing people, but it was not overdone.
The plot was fairly simple, and some of the plot points seemed to be telegraphed from a ways away, but there was enough room for the main character to develop a bit while retaining his bawdy humor.
And there is a character named Peter, which is always a good thing :)
-
April 20, 2018
Book Review: The Hunger Games
I recently read The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. The story is set in a distopian future, where one city conquered the world and reminds all their subjects of their place once a year by forcing each city to send a couple children as tribute to play in a deathmatch contest.
The underlying idea has potential to be turned into a good book, unfortunately this is not it. This is a world with the political depth of a twelve-year old girl. The remaining population of the world seems to be less than you would find in Delaware. And to make the whole thing even less believable, the whole world consists of the current United States. Yet these down-trodden people never even consider the idea that they could just leave the stupid place they are in.
The whole story shoehorns the characters into a vicious gladiatorial contest where a bunch of children are thrown into a wilderness and have to kill each other to win. But the problem is that we know that is where we are going and the journey there is too railroaded, and once we get there, the kids don't seem to want to do it, and so we get a boring series of scenes with the main character hiding in the wilderness. And then they go and change the rules to ex machina allow the budding romance to proceed, letting there be two winners instead of just one. At that point the reader knows what is going to happen: main character is going to survive and take her boyfriend with her. The whole book seems to be trying to give you a sense of danger, but it never quite gets there.
I guess you might like this book if you are a ten-year-old boy, but there are so many book out there that are so much better, so don't waste your time.
-
The underlying idea has potential to be turned into a good book, unfortunately this is not it. This is a world with the political depth of a twelve-year old girl. The remaining population of the world seems to be less than you would find in Delaware. And to make the whole thing even less believable, the whole world consists of the current United States. Yet these down-trodden people never even consider the idea that they could just leave the stupid place they are in.
The whole story shoehorns the characters into a vicious gladiatorial contest where a bunch of children are thrown into a wilderness and have to kill each other to win. But the problem is that we know that is where we are going and the journey there is too railroaded, and once we get there, the kids don't seem to want to do it, and so we get a boring series of scenes with the main character hiding in the wilderness. And then they go and change the rules to ex machina allow the budding romance to proceed, letting there be two winners instead of just one. At that point the reader knows what is going to happen: main character is going to survive and take her boyfriend with her. The whole book seems to be trying to give you a sense of danger, but it never quite gets there.
I guess you might like this book if you are a ten-year-old boy, but there are so many book out there that are so much better, so don't waste your time.
-
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
