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sindri_inn_arsaeli's reviews
1120 reviews
The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg
4.0
While short, (175 pages,) this is not a book to speed through; it becomes one to savor. The world description required especially at the very beginning is dense, but maintains a lyrical quality that is still charming even while it requires a closer reading. As you settle into the setting, the adventure of the story picks up well, and the second half especially keeps the reader caught up in the momentum. The background characters are intriguing, but full focus is on Uiziya and nen-sasaïr. The story allows that their actions may have far reaching consequences, but that is not the interest of the characters, and so it is not the concern of this story. The story is devoted to just these two. And that devotion shows, as an endearing fairy tale of self-discovery and self-love.
Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century by Charles King
5.0
This was a really enjoyable combination of biography and history of social science. The author had a clear agenda in his support of the ever more inclusive leaning of anthropology and several of it's early practitioners, but his opinion blended seamlessly into the biographies of these early social scientists who inspired his own position.
The book is roughly divided into two halves, the first half almost exclusively following the life of Franz Boas, the "father of modern anthropology," certainly as expressed in this history, as well as by his own devoted students who apparently all called him Papa Franz. While the opening chapter assures readers that the lives of his more well known students will also figure prominently, the book is entirely focused on Boas and his own fight against scientific racism for the first 6 chapters. The second half of the book begins exploring the contributions of several of his students, many of whom were well know in their own time, but also focuses heavily on Margaret Mead. I confess, much of her life was completely new information to me, despite being marginally aware of her research since college!
History non-fiction can sometimes struggle with whether to relate events that are directly connected to a specific theme together first, or follow chronology exactly. The author did a good job of sticking largely to a chronologic grouping and relating of major events, and only venturing outside of a direct chronological line when past events could be shown to directly influence the current topic. It made for an easy to follow and satisfying plunge into the history of a fascinating "soft science." Would definitely recommend.
The book is roughly divided into two halves, the first half almost exclusively following the life of Franz Boas, the "father of modern anthropology," certainly as expressed in this history, as well as by his own devoted students who apparently all called him Papa Franz. While the opening chapter assures readers that the lives of his more well known students will also figure prominently, the book is entirely focused on Boas and his own fight against scientific racism for the first 6 chapters. The second half of the book begins exploring the contributions of several of his students, many of whom were well know in their own time, but also focuses heavily on Margaret Mead. I confess, much of her life was completely new information to me, despite being marginally aware of her research since college!
History non-fiction can sometimes struggle with whether to relate events that are directly connected to a specific theme together first, or follow chronology exactly. The author did a good job of sticking largely to a chronologic grouping and relating of major events, and only venturing outside of a direct chronological line when past events could be shown to directly influence the current topic. It made for an easy to follow and satisfying plunge into the history of a fascinating "soft science." Would definitely recommend.