New York Times asks: Does the Brain Like E-Books?

(source)

Is there a difference in the way the brain takes in or absorbs information when it is presented electronically versus on paper? Does the reading experience change, from retention to comprehension, depending on the medium?

The War of the Worlds

"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences great than man's," begins H. G. Wells' classic, The War of the Worlds. Since the book first came into my hands in Junior High, it has been the bane of my existence. I could not - or that would not - complete the book due to the manner in which it was written. Classic literature always had - and still has - that effect on me. The dull prose and lengthy narrative that seems to be ongoing. Shame on me, I'm an English major.

But after all these years of only reading that first sentence and sighing exasperatingly, I picked up a copy - where my original went to is still unknown to me - and I shall add, a cheap copy at that. It's one of the many reasons why I love Dover Thrift Editions (book only cost me a buck).

After all these years of attempting, I'm finally man enough to read the entire book - consisting of 145 pages, but was read like it contained 1145. And while it's not my cup of tea, it's one of best sci-fi novels I've read all year (considering the fact that the last sci-fi novel I read was 3001: The Final Odyssey).

The novel's split into two books: The Coming of the Martians & The Earth under the Martians. The first book accounts the invasion seen through the eyes of a man who was there when it was underway. He saw when the Martians fired their cylinders from their red planet and was there to witness as it opened after smashing into the earth. He saw the Heat Ray kill his friends and neighbors and then the entire country side of London. He also jumps into the story of his brother and what he saw in London during the final days of the attack. The second book returns to our narrator's story and the days during and after the invasion.

It isn't the greatest read of sci-fi (oh how we have accomplished so much since the days of Wells), but it is a noteworthy read - recommended highly if you're a sci-fi geek. And its universal appeal has not waned nor do I feel will it ever.

It isn't far fetched to see that the Martians can still symbolize the grotesque nature of human warfare, or the fact that we, with our "primitive" arms and military formations, are no match for a more advanced society. Even after all these years, reading the book as an analogy of any invasion of a Free-World invading a third-world country is still relevant. It's possibly the only reason why I continued reading the book in the first place.

Homer & Langley

They were found dead amongst their collected junk - bales of newspapers, crates, bicycles, worn clothing and guns, to name of few - the Collyer brothers are iconic American pack rats that spark imagination within us. What went on behind those shuttered windows, the booby traps and bolted doors? What lives did these living ghosts live? What drove them to collect articles of junk to store in their homes?

E. L. Doctorow, author of Lives of Poets, takes a creative crack at the secret lives of the Collyer brothers through the eyes (no pun intended) of the blind, younger brother Homer.

I first learned of Doctorow's masterpiece, Homer & Langley, through a piece written in Esquire entitled "Two Great New Books on a New Kind of Apocalypse." The review covered both Doctorow's novel and Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem, stating:

Both novels make a reader ache for a city long gone. But they also let us know that the end of the world as we know it may only be the end of the world as we know it. What's truly scary is not that life will end but that it will continue in ever reduced circumstances.

It is in these circumstances that we find the Collyer brothers as Homer pounds away at the Braille typewriter Langley obtained for him, chronicling the story of their lives. Here are two men who have been through it all. Older brother Langley was returned back from the Great War as damaged goods only to learn that their parents had died during his abscence and his younger brother has taken up with a thieving maid. As the world ended for them, their lives continued on as relics from the past.

They go through life as ghosts of the past, becoming more transparent and phantom like with each passing year. Failing to establish any significant human connection with those around them, they hide away as older brother Langley begins to collect newspapers in order to prove a theory that the world works on replacements (i.e. children are replacements to their parents). Oddly enough, it isn't until the end that the question arises: Who will replace them?

Naturally, Doctorow takes historical liberties with his novel. In reality, Homer was the older of the two and they both died in 1947, whereas Doctorow extends their lives by at least 30 years. The book is superb, being the first novel I ever read by the author. It has the ability to wrap you in its webs, imagine the world that these brothers lived in and leaves trembling in its narration.

Nueva Onda Poets return

After a few months' slumber, the Nueva Onda Poets returned to the Dustin Michael Sekula Memorial Library for a reading. The spotlight reader was Richard Sanchez (photographed above) who also acted as the MC for the rest of us. Some new faces were in the crowd, as well as, a few original readers. It was like a family reunion.

Richard read a few of his pieces and gave out copies of the May/June issue of The Journal of Texas Trophy Hunters, which contains his story (or can we call it an essay?), "El Diablo."

I read a "chilling" story, loosely based on a story my grandfather told me when I was a kid. It's a work in process, but I managed to get out a clean copy for the reading.

In other news, because I arrived early to the library, I camped in a corner (where the DVDs are - why there's a couch where the DVDs are is beyond me) and thumbed through Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow. A few pages in, I decided to check it out.

Because I turned in No Country for Old Men late, I was prepared myself to pay a fine. Oddly, I didn't get one. Didn't faze me much, but I did recall my annoyance with myself for turning it in late in the first place.

I'm sure the book will be devoured before the the two weeks. See you then.