Nexus, the new book by Yuval Harari (remember Sapiens?) is challenging. I’m only on Chapter 4 but already the text has addressed just about every condition humans have thought about since they emerged from the cave. And, the author throws so many details into each sentence that you have to pause, take a breath, and then attempt to extract the intended idea. Wow.
Maybe this lament comes from having just read Timothy Snyder’s book, On Freedom. He is the thoughtful academic who wrote On Tyranny and sounds really good on TV. This was another “kitchen sink” epic. Philosophy, politics, religion, biography. Another wow.
So, when I am not reading for my classes, I’ve gone back to savor the character Spenser. He’s the Boston private detective who inhabits the long series of stories by Robert B. Parker. I’m glad I’m reading both types of books at the same time.
While Spenser is landing a left hook, Parker allows him to impart the same universal and eternal truths in every tail. Another, and very satisfying, wow.
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