28 February 2019

I've been playing catchup with The Hamilcast (a podcast about the musical Hamilton), and am on the series of episodes featuring the show's creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. He's talking about the song "Aaron Burr, Sir," and how several of the lines rhyme the next to last syllable rather than the last one (these lines all have "sir" at the end), making it more of a feminine rhyme and not just him rhyming "sir" with "sir."

Which got me thinking. Have I been wrong all this time for mocking Kid Rock for rhyming "things" with "things" in the chorus of "All Summer Long?"

Thankfully, no:

And we were trying different things 
We were smoking funny things 


"Different" and "funny" don't rhyme, obviously. The mocking shall continue.

20 February 2019

 Book Log 2019 #4: The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles Mann

I was very much looking forward to this book by the author of 1491, which was a tremendous account of what science, history, and archaeology can tell us about life in the Americas prior to the arrival of Columbus. Unlike that book, though, this tells the story of specific individuals - agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug and environmentalist William Vogt - and their very different approaches to how humans should use the Earth. Borlaug dedicated his life to finding ways to increase what we can get from the planet, while Vogt argued that overuse could lead to long-term problems that would threaten humanity.

The verdict is still out on which man was right, assuming that there is a right answer here. 

I will say that while I liked this book, I was a little disappointed given how much I loved 1491. I probably anticipated this one too much, with a result that it was never going to live up to expectations. It's also a very different book from 1491, being more of a historical and philosophical work. All that being said, I would say if you've not read 1491 you should do so before reading this one. Not because it will add anything to the reading experience for this book; I just think 1491 is the better of the two.

 Book Log Extra: New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century The New York Times  took a break from trying to get Joe Biden to drop out...