Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die

Review 3: Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die edited by: Ryan North, Matthew Bernardo, & David Malki !

I believe I first heard of this book through Dr. McNinja's website, where the authors were announcing that they wanted to make Machine of Death the Amazon number one seller the next Tuesday. They succeeded, no thanks to me, but when I eventually saw this book in the store, I had to get it. But not because it was a number one seller for a day - you see, I am only 90% sure I heard about it from Dr McNinja; I could have read about it in countless other webcomics' news posts, since a large portion of its contributors are from that rich community, and I tend to enjoy their work.

Having been a reader/viewer of that community for some time made the book that much better. It was rather fun to see the name of an artist I knew, and exciting to see an illustration in a style I recognized. Before we go further, I must make it clear that the book is not a comic. It is very much a book of short stories. However, each story is accompanied by an illustration. These illustrations can be everything from literal visualizations of a moment in a story, or an interpretive work of art, only understood after the matching story is read. But no matter what style or route the artist chose to take, they all add to the stories, making the book richer as a whole.

By now you are no doubt wondering what the book is about. It is inspired by a comic written by editor Ryan North. In this comic, a character proposes writing a story about a world where everyone knows how they are going to die. Machine of Death is those stories. But the stories are not simply about knowing how you will die. Everyone goes to the doctor, gets a blood test, and out pops a slip of paper with the nature of their demise. There is, of course, a catch. No matter how obvious a manner of death may be, it can come true in unexpected ways. Do you die of OLD AGE? That can mean you live a long, fulfilling life, or you die because an old man fell asleep at the wheel. BOATING ACCIDENT could mean an event on the ocean, or a truck hauling a boat across a land-locked area swerves, sending the boat into your car. In short, no matter how you try to avoid the death on your piece of paper, it will come true.

Twists of fate like this are mentioned throughout the book, but they are not the heart of the book. Like any good fiction, the stories tell us of their people, the way the world affects them, and how they react to that world. There is one common thread in all the stories: the Machine of Death is everywhere, and everyone knows how they are going to die. Other than that thread, the stories run the gamut from the high school girl who's death test will determine which table she sits at during lunch, to the soldier who's test reads "SHOT BY SNIPER." The stories are funny; they are sad; they are cheerful - in short, they are everything you could ask for. Some stories won't appeal to everyone; this is the nature of a collection. But there will certainly be enough that appeal to any reader that they will enjoy the book as a whole.

Unless that reader enjoys morbidity. Of all the feelings or emotions that could be evoked, one might expect this to be the first one felt in a book called "Machine of Death." Strangely, it is not. There may be one or two morbid stories, but the majority don't focus on death - they focus on the lives people live in the shadow of death. It is this focus that makes the book so entertaining. There are so many different types of people out there, and so many different types of death, that you can create any story from their combination - and this book has the best of those stories.

End review: You'd best buy this book!

Running with Scissors: A Memoir

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Why We Run: A Natural History

Review 1: Why We Run: A Natural History by Bernd Heinrich

Note: I read the book around 10/31/10, and formulated a review in my head for this blog at about that time - I did not actually commit the review to physical words until now.

Why We Run purports to be a book that examines animal evolutions for ultra distance, and draws conclusions about humanity's own marathon running from that examination. However, a more apt title would have been: "Why I Ran an Ultramarathon," by Bernd Heinrich. He really puts it best himself in the epilogue: "I remembered thinking while running [the ultra marathon] that in twenty years I'd write a book about it."¹

Looking back at the prologue, it appears he was somewhat truthful about his intentions, to "pull together the race experience with the insights [he] gained from [his] studies of animals."² Unfortunately, it really only comes through in hindsight - as I started reading the book, I expected something much more scientific.

Now, to be fair, you do get quite a bit of information on animal behavior, and how certain animals, from insects to antelopes, have adapted to be endurance powerhouses. But, you also get quite a bit of information about Heinrich's childhood and formative years. For example, I learned at his high school, many of the students used their chemistry lab to make firecrackers instead of experiments, and that when Heinrich (a German immigrant) tried to light one (unsuccessfully) on the bridge, the principal thought that "the little German kid was trying to blow up the bridge."³ An amusing anecdote, to be sure, but what does it have to do with running? Other than the fact that part of a race Heinrich ran in high school went over the (still intact) bridge, nothing. Nothing at all.

Much of the book is like this, a combination of remembrance and memoir, with a healthy dose of scientific musings thrown in. Now, this may sound appealing, and it certainly is interesting, but there is one problem. The book felt a little bit thrown together, almost as if he had written it on a run. In fact, the entire last chapter, a retelling of the ultramarathon Heinrich ran, is written from his thoughts during that race. As a runner, I know how fickle the train of thought can be on even a shorter, 8 mile run. During a 100km (~62 mile) race, you can perhaps imagine how odd your mind could get. Heinrich writes that his"stream of consciousness alternates between vividness and dreamlike somnolence."⁴ The last chapter reflects this, as he lyrically describes thoughts of picturesque runs, stories from his WWII veteran high school mail room guy, what his handler said to him during the race, references to animals he examined earlier in the book, and whatever else comes to mind.

It is this long-run mindset of disorganization that hinders the book. The writing is stellar; his descriptions of a beautiful nature, as seen by a runner, made me want to take running a bit more seriously once again. The descriptions and explanations of how certain animals have adapted to long distance running are superb, and clearly explained in terms anyone can understand. But the writing is not enough to overcome the overall disorganization. It does follow a general chronological order of his life, from childhood to ultramarathon victor, but the way the scientific studies and the personal tales interacted didn't quite work for me, and seemed almost haphazard.

In the end, the book was pretty good. It was interesting to me, as a runner, and would probably interest anyone with an interest in the biologic studies. If you don't fall in to either of those categories, this book may not be for you - and even if you do, it would probably be best to get it from the library. Then again, I am probably being influenced by the fact that I started reading the book under false assumptions; having read this, you know a bit more about its dual nature as memoir and scientific study, and won't be disenchanted when it isn't all about human evolution and animal behaviors.

End review: Get it from a library!

1. Pg. 262
2. Pg. xii
3. Pg. 55-57
4. Pg. 256

Review System

Note: This is subject to change

I've decided to borrow a review system from another website, Another Videogame Webcomic. It's part of a great little group of webcomics called Digital Pimp Online ("It's not a porn site but that would have been cool too," or so they say). AVW posts a little comic about a videogame or the gaming industry, then reviews said game (as of today, 1/2/10, you'll have to go back a few strips to get to a review).

The end result of the review is one of three things: buy, rent, or pass. I'll be using a similar system: own, library, or don't bother. Now, if I had the choice, I would say that everyone should own, and read, every book ever, because that would be awesome. But books are big, and heavy, and hard to move (if you're using real ones) and expensive (if you're using real and digital books). In the end, I'll be trying to determine if a books is worth having on your shelf or in your electronic reader, or not.

I'll also, on rare occasions, be letting you know that you might want to spend your time elsewhere - because in addition to being heavy, and costing money, books take time to read. If you're taking the time to read this, you might not have as much time to read proper authors, and I'd like to help you prioritize that time.

I hope that this review method makes sense, and works for books. If not, this post will be rewritten, and everything I've just written will be as if it never existed. Here's hoping it works.

Go boldly,

~Keith B.

Statement of Purpose

Hey everybody. This blog was envisioned by me as a way to help me go through and catalog the books that I have. The idea was that I would go through all my books, and either review them or make a note of the fact I have them, and make a big list. So far that's still my intention, but as of the idea coming to actual fruition, I've only read books that are new - that is, books I didn't already have. So much for cataloging.

At any rate, this will not be an attempt to do "professional style" book reviews, or anything like that (whatever that means). I'll be giving my thoughts on a book, as it relates to me. It may ramble, it may be short, but it will try to give the best account of a book as I can recall it. I may like the books that you like; I may not. If this goes on long enough, you'll probably get a feel as to whether or not our tastes are similar or not, and choose whether or not to read books I review accordingly (if you choose to be influenced by me at all).

Anyways, that's all for now. I've got a couple books I've read that I want to review, and I'll be posting what I have to say shortly.

Go boldly,

~Keith B.