Fantastic Metropolis

Three Books Of Criticism

The Monstrous & the Marvelous, Rikki Ducornet. I like books of literary criticism. They’re a guilty pleasure, stories about stories. This one’s chunky with dense little thought-nuggets. Excellent roughage.

Anime Explosion! Patrick Drazen. Not as thoughtful as Frederik Schodt’s two books on manga, but worth a look for anyone with an abiding interest in Japanese cartoons. Includes a chapter on my favorite apocalyptic television show, “Neon Genesis Evangelion.”

Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonders, Lawrence Weschler. An entertaining report on conceptual museum curator, David Wilson, and his ongoing art work, The Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City CA. Also goes into the 19th-century curiosity collections that evolved into the Modern Museum. If you like baroque collisions between the past and the future, and if you enjoy quasi-scholarship, check this out. Or you could go to Culver City and visit the museum.

So those were the highlights of my year’s adventures in reading. Thanks for listening. I haven’t written so many book reports since high school.

Please be advised that we now have less than one decade remaining before The End of the World As We Know It in late 2012. Time itself, as you may have noticed, has been speeding up. It will, however, be slowing down for our final approach to The Singularity. I hope we’re up for the challenge—this intrepid crew of six billion souls. Because we’re all paddling straight toward the cataract.

See you in the funny papers.