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Good Reading : April 2012
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general non-fiction woM word of mouth Escape from Camp 14 Blaine Harden Before he was even born, Shin Dong-hyuk faced a life in prison for the political ‘sins’ of his grandfather. Born in Camp 14, the worst of North Korea’s concentration camps, he never knew affection of any kind. He was tortured barbarically. Snitching on fellow inmates was the only way he could survive. He witnessed – with indifference – the executions of his mother and brother. He watched his teacher beat a starving young classmate to death for concealing a handful of grain. In this modern world of infotainment, a headline has more chance of featuring celebrity gossip than a serious issue. It seems that institutionalised, mass human suffering of the most depraved kind is no longer considered newsworthy. Concentration camps provided shocking stories in the 1940s. Russian gulags became notorious during the Cold War. And Cambodia’s Killing Fields drew the 1970s to a chilling close. In all these cases Western governments stood by, said little and did nothing. This book describes North Korean gulags the size of cities. Summary execution, rape and torture are commonplace. An inmate’s life is one of slave labour, malnutrition, brainwashing and dread. Shin is the only person born in a North Korean concentration camp known to have escaped and made it to the West. Escape from Camp 14 is Shin’s story. It is without doubt a must read. Macmillan $29.99 e Reviewed by Colin Field The Calculus Diaries Jennifer Ouellette Jennifer Ouellette, who maintains a popular science and culture blog called Cocktail Party Physics, spent a year confronting her fear of mathematics, and The Calculus Diaries is the result. Filled with anecdotes, colourful characters and interesting bits of biography, it’s an introduction for all those courageous enough to embark on the study of calculus equations. She recommends you keep asking ‘why’ and push to understand the underlying concept, not just the mechanical process. Calculus is a way of measuring change. There are two fundamental ideas: the derivative and the integral. That’s when I got lost, but I did catch on again when Ouellette described one of Zeno’s paradoxes and the problem of infinity. However, I got a headache, took a powder and had a lie down when she started to explain how mathematicians overcame the paradox. The biography inserts are a delight. So engrossed was Archimedes in studying a geometrical problem that he didn’t take notice of marauding hordes until it was too late and his head was cleft in two. Gossip is also part of the mix. I enjoyed the ramble through scientific history and was thankful the technical details were relegated to appendices. Duckworth $29.99 e Reviewed by Clive Hodges That Movie Book Marc Fennell If you’ve been putting in too many hours at work over the past few years and haven’t left enough time for play, then you’ve probably fallen behind in getting your essential intake of popular culture from the movies. Friends will mention hilarious lines from their favourite films and you’ll just stare blankly, feeling like you’ve been relegated to the fringes of polite and informed society. How can you once again join the conversation? You could start by getting a copy of That Movie Book by Marc Fennell, presenter on ABC radio and TV. Unlike traditional movie guides that are arranged chronologically, this book presents movies in themes, allowing you to become a minor authority on various corners of the cinematic universe. You’ll find chapters on movies about aliens, journalists, sharks, Santa Claus, Nazis, food, malevolent mothers, freakish fathers, the apocalypse, gender-bending, life in the suburbs and a whole chapter devoted to the animated films of Japanese genius Hayao Miyazaki. Witty, irreverent and fun, this entertaining and informative book has been written by a genuinely knowledgeable movie fan. ABC Books $27.99 e Reviewed by Tim Graham Religion for Atheists: A non-believer’s guide to the uses of religion Alain de Botton This book has managed to raise the hackles of atheists and believers alike, so the author is obviously doing something right. Religion for Atheists acknowledges a primal human need for rituals and communal experiences while at the same time acknowledging the modern mania for individual belief and non-conformism. De Botton realises that he must ‘engage with religion without subscribing to its supernatural content’. To be possessed of no understanding of the impulse towards metaphysical speculation has always been the mark of the philistine, and Religion for Atheists provides an aesthetic way out for the person hoping to cultivate at least some sympathy for the motivating force behind almost all of the great works of art of Western culture. De Botton also considers the substantial loss of community brought about by successive generations of non-believers disengaged from any real expression of shared experience. This book is a cry for the cultivation of a sense of camaraderie amid the alienating and angry articulation of contemporary atheistic belief. Hamish Hamilton $35.00 e Reviewed by Walter Mason www.gOOdreAdIngMAgAzI ne.cOM good reading AprIl 2012 34 April 2012 main WOM_34_c.indd 34 7/3/12 9:14:05 PM
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