The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Douglas Brunt

 

Amongst the slew of reading that I have to do, there comes along a book that I want to read. The premise of this book is fascinating and mixes mechanical engineering, history, a love story, and intrigue in goodly measure.

Regrettably I ordered the book on Amazon - and whilst it was available in the US - it would not be sent to me until early January. Arriving on the 10th and finishing it today, it has been a stately tale - and well told too.

Rudolf Diesel was a fascinating figure to who is owed much credit for the technological advance of the late 18th century into the end of the millennium. I have a new car - that has a Diesel engine. I knew not to put unleaded in the tank - that's gonna wreak it, but that is all that I knew. How a Diesel engine works was a mystery to me.

As a student, purchasing my first car, a Mitsubishi Sigma, creamy brown, with diarrhea interior, I could not afford to have the head gasket replaced - so I bought the manual and proceeded to take a month out and fix it myself. I learnt rapidly the principles of the internal combustion engine - including how it will not work if the timing belt is not aligned properly. I garnered the required knowledge around spark plugs igniting the fuel & air mixture to force down the piston. Diesel engines aren't that different, are they? Just a different fuel mix - or so I thought. Wrong on all counts. No ignition of fuel - compression heats the air above the piston and this ignites the fuel. A Diesel engine is a compression engine. Who knew - well my dad nodded sagely as I told him this - so I guess that he knew. The book tells the charming story of a cigar lighter that was shaped like a bicycle pump - that when pumped heated up an element at the end to ignite the tobacco and leaf. This was the inspiration behind the revolutionary engine.

Diesel is an interesting fellow and the rags to riches story is fascinating, further emphasising the importance of education and the promise of social mobility that entails. There is a superb little moment where Brunt opines on the meeting between Diesel and Edison - the light bulb fellow, namely how the significant differences between them ranged from the definition of an inventor through to the value of formal schooling. Particularly fascinating was the way his story was framed against European Industrialism and the emerging dominance of Oil consumption. Some reviewers do not like this - I found the authors insights into Industrialisation and the lead up to the Great War remarkably insightful, at times pointed. The tale of Kaiser Wilhelm's meeting with Haldane - and Churchill's trenchant view of the matter was new to me. Tidbits like this abound. 

However, it is the intrigue that makes this book a stellar monument to the Diesel story. After roaming around in the life, love, desire, wealth, and fame of Diesel - how did he disappear and die? What happened. This is the final part of the book - the most anticipated too. In all of the Podcast interviews that Brunt did - from Gad Saad to Ben Shapiro, he carefully avoided his conclusion. Some people have slammed the book as engaging history, overtaken by conspiracy-theory. If the modern world belies anything, it is how one day's conspiracy is the next day's news. I was concerned about ordering the book after reading one review - I though that Alien abduction was Brunt's thesis by how much they were banging on about conspiracy. Needless to say that the final 50 or so pages are all that Brunt dedicates to his summation of the theories on the table for Diesels disappearance and the proposal of his view.

I don't know what I think about Brunt's view - eminently feasible in the lead-up to war in 1913, not at all conspiratorial. However, you'll have to read it to find out his view. Easy, clear writing - rollicking read. 

5 Stars

Fathers and Sons - Ivan Turgenev

 

When asked about the ten books that change lives, one wants to be specific; 'The old man and the sea', above ' For whom the bell tolls'; 'Homage to Catalonia', over '1984; 'The brothers Karamazov', before 'Crime and punishment'; 'Bleak House', the obverse of 'Little Dorrit'. True masterpieces, all. Yet specificity is key. However, it seems to me that when it comes to Theodore Dalrymple, the sobriquet of Antony Daniels, it can fairly be said that anything he has written could be counted. You open any essay in 'Our Culture' or 'Life at the bottom', and you are in for a treat. So, it is with delight that Daniels took up a position writing for the 'Quadrant' periodical in 2015 solidified my subscription. Ten times a year I get the enjoyment of reading his current reflections on life; and his article, under the moniker 'Astringencies' - he does like to use medical nomenclature metaphorically, never fails to provoke thought.

Well, May this year Daniel's published in the literature section of the magazine on Turgenev's 'Fathers & Sons'. He titled it: 

Turgenev’s ‘Fathers and Sons’, a Novel for Today. 

In my early twenties I stumbled across Dostoyevsky, the Brother's Karamazov, ab ovo, and then followed by everything else. I became obsessed with 19th Century Russian literature and then, studying Music at University, became fascinated by Russian music too: Stravinsky's Petrushka, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Prokoviev, that delicious March from the Love of three oranges and, of course, anything by Shostakovich - especially 3rd String Quartet or Symphony No 6.

However, in the insouciance and general malaise of Lockdown and Remote learning, in the most incarcerated state in the world, Victoria, Australia - I was inspired by the article to read Turgenev. Wow, what a book; and listen to those magnificent etudes by Scriabin - particularly étude op 8 no 12 and that wonderful performance by Vladimir Horowitz.

Fathers and Sons - the translation that I bought was the Penguin Classic version by Peter Carson. Wonderful translation and the writing is just amazing. However, this is a book of ideas and the foundational ideas that plunged Russia into revolution and darkness. 

The story follows two friends, Arkady Kirsanov is a student who goes home to visit his parents in the countryside. He takes with him his friend and mentor Yevgény Bazárov. Bazarov is a nihilist, one of the first time this phrase is used as a proper noun. This all comes about in chapter , Arkady is explaining his new found modernist beliefs to his father and describes Barazov, his mentor, as a nihilist:

"The nihilist is a man who bows down to no authority, who takes no single principle on trust, however much respect may be attached to that principle.' p 23.

 Arkaidy is concerned about his father reading Pushkin - sentimental rubbish, romanticism and Russian folkism is the accusation and he surreptitiously replaces his book with Büschner, a materialist that was popular at the time. Fathers and their sons - it is a tale immemorial, a cautionary tale. Sons get swept up in new ideas and disappoint their fathers, who are often weak and oleaginous, while sons are dismissive and condescending. Little has changed. However, the obvious parallels between todays world and the world of Turgenev and trenchantly explicated by Daniels, in the abovementioned link - my interest is in some other nuanes of Turgenov's amazing story.

Firstly, we need to turn to a disturbing text in the Bible, 2 Samuel 13 - the rape of Tamar. Tamar was the daughter of King David and Amnon, David's son and Tamar's half-brother, was fixated upon Tamar and lusted after his sister. He concocted a plan to rape Tamar, both satisfying his urges - through his obsession with his sister. Once Amnon has his way with Tamar, despite her pleas for propriety, Amnon hated her:

However, he would not listen to her; since he was stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her. Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred; for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up, go away!” But she said to him, “No, because this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you have done to me!” Yet he would not listen to her. 2 Samuel 13:14-16

Duty and honour have given way to moral turpitude; integrity and uprightness have descended to ethical repugnance. The object of his obsession, turns to the object of his loathing; his passion becomes what he detests. How close together hatred and love can be. I love the description in Genesis 4, of Adam and Eve and the sex act:

​¹ Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived...   Genesis 4:1

Amnon lay with Tamar - the emphasis is on the act. Adam knew Eve, the emphasis is on the person. While a misplaced emphasis may cause heartache and dislocation, depravity surely ensues. Bazerov and Arkardy visited a young and gorgeous widow named Anna Sergeyevna and both became smitten with her. A strong and independent woman who was intrigued with Bararov's ideas. Arkady is especially besotted, Anna pays him no attention and Arkady was relegated to spending time with Anna's younger sister, who plays music and loves poetry and has nothing but consternation for the new ideas of Bazarov. 

Bazarov is attracted to her but endevours to resist the foolish overtures of love. As a materialist, love is but a chimera, a mere chemical reaction in the brain - nonetheless, it becomes harder and harder to resist her charms and his feelings.

However, Arkady actually falls in love with Katya, the younger sister, he changes from the young revolutionary who wants to topple society, to a man who matures and puts away childish things. Even when he and Katya overhear Anna talking to Barazov about how her fancies have changed from him to Arkady, it is at that point that he declares his love for the younger sister. The object of his affection changed from lust to sacrificial love.

Pavel, Arkady's uncle puts it well: 'It's time for us to put all vanity aside. Precisely as you say, we'll start doing our duty. And, mark you, we'll get happiness into the bargain.' p.162

Duty, such a lost, yet loaded word in our society.

Katya reached out to Arkady, knowing his conviction to be truthful - he denied to opportunity to take what he fancied, for what he loved. A choice we all have to make. 

'On the contrary I am ready to submit, only inequality is hard to bear. To have self-respect and to submit - that I do understand; that's happiness. But a subordinate existence ... no, I've had enough of that.' p.166

Kayta has some insight and wisdom here that would bode well for our modern generation. 

Wonderful read.

5 Stars

Trees and Kings - William R Osborne

Subtitled, 'A comparative analysis of Tree imagery in Israel's prophetic tradition and the Ancient Near East', one recognises instantly this is an academic book. However, at 169 pages it is a small book - especially in the light of the significant price tag.

Osborne writes well and is clearly a thoughtful Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) scholar. He states early on that the purpose of this book is to examine tree metaphors in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The opening chapter is around methodology and background information to the study, and I must confess, to being fascinated with this section of the book. Osborne states his aims:

'The goal of this study is to answer this important question [why the metaphor of the tree in the prophetic literature] by comparing and contrasting tree metaphors in much of the prophetic literature of the Old Testament with the tree imagery and metaphors encountered from the ANE.' p.3

The issue at stake here is hermeneutical - not apologetic. Osborne is not trying to argue the Bible's uniqueness or inspiration, rather, he is placing the text in the literary framework of the ANE and assuming a methodological approach. Osborne declares, and rightly I think, that the '...religion, social structure, ethical system, and culture of Israel [is] ... distinct in several significant ways from the surrounding nations.' p.14 Osborne doesn't endeavor to prove this - and that's okay. However, he does give reasons outlining his decision. You have to start somewhere and you cannot defend everything. Moreover, this, I am persuaded is the correct set of presuppositions to build upon, and the fourth reason that he gives, '... the prophetic literature of the Old Testament should be recognized (sic) as sui generis [emphasis in original] because of its status as scripture...', is again a solid reason to proceed in such manner.

The next, and genuinely fascinating part of the introduction, is the discussion around metaphor. Is the use of metaphor in the tree is a king passages, merely a rhetorical flourish? Or , do they convey some truth, or set of truths, that constitutes important knowledge of the world in which thy reference? Osborne delves into this issue of metaphor and references Lakoff & Johnson's seminal work 'Metaphors We Live By', and recognises that there is a strong link between the linguistic expressions and the conceptual framework in which the metaphor is nested within. This was so very interesting. As a result I have the Lakoff & Johnson book on my bedside table, as I am certain that more insight into the use and role of metaphor is going to change my approach to Biblical hermeneutics. It seems to me that there is a very good chance that one understands linguistic expressions metaphorically prior to literally. This suspicion is going to be a helpful tool in interpretation. Definitely it is interesting in the context of the Tree is a King metaphor - and if Lakoff is correct when he says, 'The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another" p.19, then who can deny the necessity of placing this metaphor usage in the context of the ANE. 

The next chapters provide some in depth analysis of tree metaphors (and tree personification) in the ancient world. This ranges from text to iconography and is so interesting.  My favourite example of the use of the tree metaphor is from the Summarian classic, 'The Epic of Gilgamesh'. Gilgamesh battles Humababa - the guardian of the forrest. Humbaba refers to Gilgamesh as an 'offshoot' or a 'branch' and when Gilgamesh defeats the giant, he begins cutting down the trees.

'"My friend, we have cut down a lofty cedar,

Whose top abutted the heavens."'

p.61 - nested quotation from George, The Babylonian Gilgamesh epic 1:163 

Osborne then goes on to say that, '[d]efeating Humbaba nd cutting down the cedar trees of the forest portrayed Gilgamesh as the rightful king who exercised authority over the mountains and the divine powers that reside there. The story seems to serve as an etiological [causal]  justification for the latter kings making their westward journey to cut down trees. p61

 This context provides a conceptual metaphor which exists in the prophetic literature of the Old testament.  Take Jeremiah 22:6-7:

For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“‘You are like Gilead to me,

    like the summit of Lebanon,

yet surely I will make you a desert,

    an uninhabited city.

I will prepare destroyers against you,

    each with his weapons,

and they shall cut down your choicest cedars

    and cast them into the fire.

 The King of Judah is compared to the cedar of Lebanon, then the  '...felling of the trees of the land by the hands of the enemy, again demonstrating how trees and forests serve as a localized (sic) metonymies for the entire political nation, of which the king is the foremost representative.' p.143

Osborne elucidates that the conceptual metaphors at work here are: A King is a tree; A Nation/Region is a tree; giving rise to a new conceptual metaphor, namely that Divine Judgement is a fire.

Tracking back to the Gilgamesh epic, and the guardian giant Humbaba's declaration that Gilgamesh is a branch or offshoot, one is instantly recalling that these are figures of the Messiah in Isaiah.  Chapter 11 and 53 of Isaiah use the branch/root imagery to describe Jesus as a descendant of David, but a future King. Osborne states, '...that YHWH will judge the great trees of the earth and bring forth a new tree to establish his own order over the cosmos. Unlike the height and arrogance associated with the leaders of foreign nations ... YHWH's royal scion will be small and young.' p.133

There is a certain grace and beauty with this imagery - the Messiah will be King, but humble and new. Osborne shows the imagery in a new light for me. 

Small book at 200 pages - some sections are quite scholarly, but a doable read.

5 Stars

The Case against Socialism - Rand Paul

George Floyd is a household name. Nearly twelve months ago he died on the streets of Minneapolis uttering the words 'I can't breathe', now indelibly etched in our collective conscientiousness, as a policeman's knee was on his neck. 

Shortly after this event, in the wake of the riots around the world, I spoke to a perplexed colleague about this issue. He was endorsing the riots, the outrage, and racism involved in this incident. Feeling quite diffident and mildly rebarbative I challenged many of his key assumptions, particularly in regards to what he wanted done. Derek Chavin, the policeman being held ultimately responsible, had been sacked, arrested and incarcerated - politicians and the public alike had decried what had happened. 

'What more do you want?' I declared. 

His answer was that fairness, equality and equity needed enforcement - and socialism - because it is the ideology of what is fair, equal and equitable - must be impelled. 

Anti-racism is, in essence, Socialism. Just read Kendi's book; racism is not colour related as black or coloured people can adopt 'whiteness'. Kendi specifically says that feminism, inequality in all forms: environmental, reproductive, gender, sexuality, economic, religious, colonial, and those that are differently-abled, are the very definition of racism and to reject these - in all of it's guises - is being an anti-racist. Ostensibly, to be an anti-racist, one needs to reject whiteness in all of its social, intellectual and moral manifestations and implications. To tear down society because it is white, and build the Socialist utopia. 

Socialism is becoming popular again; and I have my views pretty well sorted out on this subject. Then why read Rand Paul?

Rand Paul is a libertarian - I am not. Neither of us likes Socialism and I am wondering if we reason the same way about this. Some conservative pundits are fond of saying that '...I am Libertarian about this...', therefore, I am intrigued to see if there are inherently conservative arguments against socialism and libertarian arguments that are distinct. So - this explains why I am here.

To explain why I decry libertarianism and laissez-faire capitalism will take us too far afield, but I reject the Objectivism of Ayn Rand and the greed, narcissism and misanthropy germane to her views. 

When I first picked up this book I was expecting an analysis of the issue - I expected to sketch some history of Marx & Engels, economic disputes and the Bolshevik Revolution. To my surprise he started in Caracas with Nicolas Maduro. This didn't bode well, as while a case can be made from the litany of failed Socialist states, and the invariably descent into collectivism and authoritarianism, I am unsure this is the best way - I think that I may be wrong as the reading became more interesting as the modern expressions of Socialist ideology unfold.  Of particular interest was the preparation for the Chavez/Maduro iteration of Socialist dominance. It was not the 'Castro-loving Hugo Chavez' that transformed Venezuela - rather a long march to the scaffold starting in the late 1950's with Romulo Betancourt through to Carlos Andres Perez. When Chavez came on the scene in 1992 in the failed coup, imprisoned, then elected president in 1998, Venezuela's Socialism was ratcheted up significantly - to the rancorous applause of the American left, Bernie Sanders and Noam Chomsky et al.

Paul rather pugnaciously entitles this section 'Because eating your pets is overrated - Socialism creates poverty'. Cantankerous as Paul is - he is not wrong.

So, Paul starts his indictment of Socialism with the idea that there is no Socialist Utopia in existence - nor has their every been. Paul has convinced me that this is the place to start - not a refutation of Marxism. Show me a successful Socialist state - they all indubitably end up in poverty, plutocracy and violence. The answer to this charge was always that this was never real Socialism - however, that is not the rejoinder anymore; rather it is the index finger pointing, with alacrity, towards Scandinavia. It is to this issue that Paul turns next.

Then the trump card is played by the Democratic Socialist - it is the Scandinavian countries that are the Socialist success stories! That is what we want! Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. They are the socialist successes.

Paul demolishes this nonsense, quoting the Scandinavians themselves - demonstrating that they have a Free Market economy and quoting Scandinavian officials denying the charge. Simply put, Scandinavian success is build on Capitalist success

"If government ownership of the means of production is the sine qua non of socialism, the facts argue quite convincingly that the Scandinavian economies simply are not socialist." p. 80

 Then, Paul focuses on the issue of income inequality, the issue of the modern socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. Quoting Dalibor Rohec, Paul begins his common sense attack on this pivotal issue:

"If one cares about the welfare of the poorest and most vulnerable Measures of inequality tell us nothing about the living conditions of the poor, their health and their access to economic opportunity." p.53

This is, of course, true because economic inequality may be very small - and everyone be poor. Pakistan, Ethiopia or Venezuela all have better income inequality rates than the US - or here, for that matter - but that is because they are all equally poor. These are well worn arguments - to which there is little comeback from today's elite. Nothing more than invidious moralising and Ad hominem. 

Paul is scandalised, and rightly so, by this inane answer. He deftly cites the Socialist experiment of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Paul leads us through a history lesson of Pol Pot's education in France and his obsession with Marx & Engel's famous manifesto. He notes how the Cambodian revolution under Pot was the most pure example of Socialist ideology.

"He [Pot] achieved, more than his predecessors, the true goal of abolishing all private property and he didn't seem to mind if it took more than a few broken skulls." p.197

 

Paul moves from this to an analysis of Hitler's socialist underpinnings - starting with the name of the party and then demonstrating the policies of the regime. Following this is some trenchant inquiry into Maoism, Stalinism and the Khmer rouge. More devastating links to the inevitable authoritarianism that follows socialism.

He looks at the 'Green New Deal' of the American left and ends opining on the virtues of Capitalism and that 'free markets make free people'. My hope is with him in that I desire people choose liberty too. It is a very libertarian ending - but it has great moral force.

Wedged between these last two sections is the most fascinating bit of the book - and the part in which I am still thinking through. Part IV is entitled 'Where are these angels? The philosophy of Socialism. I needed to read carefully here - and indeed this section is the part of the book that is harder to follow - one needs some familiarity with the philosophical ideas to follow the thought process.  Also, not being a Libertarian, particularly an Ayn Rand Objectivist, I needed to weigh my thoughts carefully.

Paul argues from Plato's brand of state governance, past Thomas More's Utopia through to Hegelian dialectic that is so intertwined in Utopianism of all stripes. Here is a scathing denouncement of Historical determinism. It is hard to disagree with Paul here - it is an interesting take. Using Karl Popper to undermine the case of determinism and the connection to utopianism, Paul makes his case stronger. However, he then mounts are argument that is close to my heart - we'll call it the argument from Dostoyevsky; for want of a better term. Using the masterful Notes from Underground, Paul launches an attack on the magisterial use of reason to justify Utopianism. 

Paul is correct that utopianism is the point of the philosophical conflict behind these different political visions, and in a unexpected twist, he unravels Fukuyama - and other Neoconservatives for sharing the Hegelian historical determinism in defense of a Liberal democracy. He ends with these sage words:

"From my perspective, the cautionary moral of a utopia is: don't succumb to any end-of-history utopias from the right or the left. Don't accept any preordained linearity to history." p. 243

There is no doubt that this philosophical section is the apogee of the book. However, the denouement should be stated again. Namely that 'Freedom should bring us together. 

I remain decidedly not a libertarian, I do not agree with Paul on any number of his policies that reflect this libertarian bent. However, I am in lock-step with this withering critique of the detritus of socialism. It is true - Freedom should bring us together. And perhaps that is the angle that one should take in the light of these repressive Covid19 lockdowns. The constant intoning of the safety of the Collective, can only be undone with a rallying cry of Freedom.

Addendum:

This is politics and 'Politics ruins everything'. As a Christian, freedom is most certainly the answer. Moreover, Freedom - rightly understood - is freedom in Christ. I have no doubt that terrible times are coming and they are known by God. His providence is at work nonetheless - and freedom in Him ensures that we need not fear the trouble that is to come. Politics will never bring peace. Peace comes in the sky with the Prince of Peace. This is NOT historical determinism - rather, this is the plan of an omniscient God.

1598 Words

4 1/2 Stars

Right Here Right Now - Stephen J. Harper

I wasn't aware of this book - simply not advertised in Australia; however, I heard an online interview with Stephen Harper and was absolutely riveted by his intelligence, thoughtfulness and insights into political conservatism.  He governed Canada as Prime Minister for nearly a decade, through the financial crisis of the late 2000's and being a member of a G7 nation - sat at the tables of power for some time.  This man was in the room.

The book starts off discussing Trump, really not a book about Trump at all.  It is a book about Populism - the dirty word in current politics.  It was populism that brought in Brexit, populism that swept Pauline Hanson into a influential upper house position.  Populism that championed Trump and - allegedly what Macron is currently empowering in France.  

What is populism?  Well, to the ideological left it is all that is wrong with politics; indeed 'Populism' has become a loaded word.  Harper opines that populism "...has been made the default explanation for any political view or event that diverges from the establishment opinion.  Opposition to trade deals? Populism.  Protest against immigration? It must be the populists.  An unexpected election result? What else but populism?" (p.13). Harper astutely recognises that contemporary liberals have a penchant for calling ‘political outcomes’ that the like, democracy; and those that they do not, populism.  In other words, they seek to equate populism with demagoguery (p. 13).  Harper is thoughtful about the opposite of Populism - it is political elitism.  Harper argues that this is an example of demagoguery itself as populism is from either side of the spectrum and can have positive effects as a tool to reorient interests of the common people ahead of the interests of the privileged few.  Harper then reminisces about the history of populist parties, ranging from his own experience in 'Reform Canada' through the populism of the USA, from pre-WW1 farmers - through to the influences of populism in Teddy Roosevelt - to the political metaphors in the Wizard of Oz.  Here Harper identifies four themes in Trump's inauguration speech that gave voice to dislocated non-college educated workers:

• Economic realism - Trump espoused the virtues of bringing Industry back to the US.
• Trade - he identified trade inequities, like the US relations with China and Mexico.

Neither of these things are particularly conservative - one expects conservatives to explain the morality of Markets and espouse Free Trade practices.

• Nationalism - Trump unapologetically pledged to put America First.
• Immigration - He spoke of 'protecting borders' and crafting immigration policy in the National interest.

These latter two points are interesting as 'Nationalism' or the tribal sort is much closer to the extreme right and is a dubious foundation for a Burkian Conservative position. Harper's thinking around these issues are interesting and his recollections about the implementation around these issues are gripping. 

However, this is not a book of reminiscing, like many political books of this ilk, rather this is a manifesto on Harper's Canadian conservatism. Where he seeks to defend populism and Nationalism as ideas and pragmatic tools.

It is a shame that this has not been more widely read in the aftermath of the Trump 2020 election defeat. It certainly provides a robust and trenchant defense of conservatism - a much needed one in the light of a Trudeauian Canada and a Bidenesque USA.  Boris looks set for defeat in light of his double-minded lack of leadership in the UK and Morrison may well be rocky too in Australia.

We will see.

This is a must read, for it's chapters on Populism and Nationalism alone.

5 Stars.

Force of Nature - Jane Harper

A month ago my Mum thrust Jane Harper's debut novel -The Dry - in my face and said that I should read this.  My Mum and I have a penchant for Murder mystery type books.  I think that it is the British Agatha Christie streak that runs through us - but we enjoy a good murder mystery.  This is a little bit more of a thriller (as most crime novels are nowadays), but it was as Australian as Bush Tucker and fairly well written.  Well, as good a read as "The Dry" was, I think this one has it beaten.

It could be that I bounced back from reading the loathsome new Jack Reacher novel.  Lee Childs is an awful writer and his formulaic, predictable tripe leaves one desiring something enjoyable.  Jack Reacher: Past Tense, was a book of short sentences (if you stretch the definition of sentences to a handful of words, always starting with a preposition, put together in an arbitrary manner) and little substance.  Graphic descriptions of the violence and incoherent plot issues are the most enjoyable aspects of the book.  I was on holidays - and it was there.

Force of Nature is much more thoughtful.  Aaron Falk is a Federal Policeman in the financial division of the fraud squad.  The first book dealt with his hometown and the murder of his childhood friend.  It was the Australian drought through and through.  Harper deals with some more nuanced family issues this time - and there are some lovely little dialogues between his partner Carmen Cooper and Falk.  She pushes him into interesting admissions and acknowledgments & I appreciate how she acts as the method to unveil some of Falk's struggles; rather than spicing it up with a love interest.  The tender kiss followed by "I am still getting married" and the climax of the book is refreshingly real and understated.  I love the way that there is no sex or violence in this work, rather some lovely writing explicating the terror of the Australian Bush and the dank fug of Australian Rainforests.

As the story unfolds there are some interesting character development amongst the girl on the hike.  The delicate mocking of the corporate world with smarmy job titles like the 'Strategic head of forward planning' and obsequious characters who hold their servile responsibilities in the middle of the Bush, reminds one of the periphrasis of Dickins's "Office of Circumlocution" in Bleak house.

The story is about five women who enter the bush on a corporate team building exercise and four re-emerge a few days later.  Alice goes missing, which drags Falk into the story as Alice is a whistle-blower against money laundering within her company.  There is one really thoughtful passage that deals with Free will / determinism and a reflection of their lives and the role choices play.  It is well weaved into to some interesting discussions amongst the lost girls.

I love the character focus in this book, it makes the crime/suspense aspect all the more riveting.  Falk didn't play as much of a role as in the last book - however, I do not think that the book suffered from that.

Jane Harper is a great writer - however, it did become a little clumsy at the end.  The short chapters didn't speed up the tempo of the denouement, and the clichés started to emerge.  All in all 4 out of 5 stars.  Even though it hasn't won the accolades that her first book did, I think that it is better.

Teacher - Gabbie Stroud

After working sixteen years in my current school - intended to stay no more than five years - I attended my first English meeting.  In 2019 I am teaching Year 8 English, my first time teaching English, ever!  In this meeting, the Head of English handed out raffle tickets and at the end of the meeting, she selected tickets and gave books for prizes.  I won this book.

Two or three teachers came up to me extolling the value of this read - so I took it away on holiday to give it a going over.

Any teacher will resonate with this book - the frustrations of modern teaching are well described in a real Australian yarn.  Gabbie shares her story; and it is a sad one.  It chronicles her journey through teaching to leaving the profession.  She touches on issues of hiding behind educational jargon, having children with disabilities in the classroom, behaviour management, NAPLAN and test standardisation, performance pay, the nature of schools as a business and workload stress.  These are matters confronting all teachers across the world.  However, this remains a pragmatic book and chronicles the impact that politics and educational philosophy are having on the workplace.  It is hard not to be compassionate about her struggles and angry at the structures of schools, yet this is a superficial look at the problems we are entering into in modern education.  It seeks to value the teaching profession and teachers individually - however, it can over-eggs the pudding.  It is much better as a memoir than putting any cogent critique of Education.  More Michelle Obama's "Becoming" than Neil Postman's "The End of Education".

As an insight into an invested teacher's life, it is touching, and well written.  She weaves her narrative, her family breakdown and her difficulty surviving in the current Australian Education system in a delightful way.

However, I get a little suspicious when teacher's sentimentalise our profession.  Gabbie leans this way at times.  I must confess that, as teacher's, we have a penchant to believe our own press.  I can think of no better way to describe this phenomenon than Taylor Mali, the Slam poet.  He has a piece of performance poetry called "What Teacher's make".  We all want to believe that we make a difference, that our role in life is important - yet, of all the professions that I have worked in - teacher's alone cling to their own hype.  I like to think that I make a difference in people's lives - there are past students that I have kept in contact with, and who make me proud; I'm glad that our lives intersected and am truly honoured to have been of assistance to them.  But I cannot countenance that I was the profound influence that Teacher's like to think that they are.  We believe our own ballyhoo; even though it is propaganda.

Postman's magisterial book on the nature of Education divides schooling into two sections, the metaphysical and the mechanical.  He states that we spend too much time on curriculum, bells, timetables, processes and policies - all this is valuable, but there is a '...crisis of narrative...' going on in our schooling.  It is this metaphysical issue - the 'gods' of education - as Postman puts it, where we need to seek first.  Here, Stroud is at sea - she has a strong desire to impact children positively and a real heart for kids and a passion for learning, but no real insight other than her own experience of being disheartened.

It is sad that such a competent teacher as Stroud has left our ranks.  It should be an affront to policy makers and school management that such passionate teachers leave our profession.  I love her writing - I feel her pain, but I think that when a book like this moves beyond memoir and seeks to say something meaningful about Education, we need to rue the demand to be empathetic! We need some rigorous thinking behind us.  We also need to be wary of believing our own press.  We are not as much of an influence as we think.  We need an Untouchables - Eliot Ness type of embarrassment to eschew this nonsense.

I get the feeling, re-reading this, that I am not really fair in this review.  Maybe what I am expecting from this book is simply not what it is meant for.  This could very well be an over-preoccupied teacher, misreading this book in light of my own thoughts.

Teaching is changing at breakneck speed in vapid directions.  Social-constructionism, flipped learning, teacher as facilitator, skills-based learning, inquiry models, 21st Century learning skills, mindfulness and Learning Styles are swamping Educational facilities with little empirical evidence backing them up  or pragmatic awareness of the negative impact they have.  This is ideologically driven stuff.  Unfortunately, very few Staff are philosophically incisive in thought or are perspicuous in expression. Particularly at the management level. 

Look, I suppose I recommend it - I gave it to my Mum to read and I giggled, hurt and shook my head in resonating with her tale.  

3 out of 5