Book Review-The Bookseller By Mark Pryor

I had very high hopes for this book. To say that I was disappointed is the understatement of the year.

I had sought out this book because I had read some positive recommendations through my  querying Librarything.com. It had all the earmarks for a great mystery, at least containing the elements that would interest me: it is set in Paris, it involves books, and it involves intrigue and crime solving.

Since it is set in Paris, I also expected to get a travelog: descriptions of all thing Parisian, the arts, the food, the atmosphere, the feel of Paris. I did get all that, which was the  part of the book that drew me in. That was what made me stick with the book for as long as I did.

Mark Pryor has been writing the Hugo Marston series for a while:  there are  nine volumes in this series. The Bookseller is first book, as such, I allowed certain amount of rough edges as Pryor is presumably working on his chops during this first foray.  

I have decided, however, to not pursue this series mainly because I was disappointed with the first one.

The book starts off auspiciously enough with our hero, Hugo Marston, walking down to the Seine and meeting with his friend Max. The descriptions of the Paris Street scenes were evocative, and the descriptions of the main protagonist drew me in and kept me interested. Pryor certainly was not messing around when he starts the story with a bang and a lot of action. He was able to sustain my interest for a long while as he set the scene and the parameters of Hugo Marston’s world.  There's certainly plenty of action, but the actions were written in such a cursory way that the reader seemed to be prodded along by the author to keep going. It was akin to reading by checking off the boxes in a list. This felt like a strategy  by the author to sustain the narrative, and keep the reader focused. There's plenty of action, each element of the story came along at a breakneck pace, which is not a complaint, as I am used to that pacing. The problem is that there just doesn't seem to be any attempt at  spinning a yarn, there was no storytelling, just a death march through the myriad of independent events. It felt like the author was distributing all the pertinent information he can conjure up in his imagination quickly so that he can race to the ending. It made me feel like being rushed through a list of chores that might eventually build up to a worthy denouement. I didn't appreciate being rushed along while not being intellectually  entertained.

Since it is  a murder mystery, there isn't much character development, and not much was expected. Many characters were introduced and taken away, the reader was able to quickly integrate them into the story and then moved on. Pryor did a good job putting these characters in context with the story.

Even though the action came at a breakneck pace, the pace did not allow any  deeper purpose to emerge. The reader was never allowed to let the hooks of the plot to grab them and  wonder about the crime. Or even think about trying to solve the crime.  It was just an action movie on paper.

I am disappointed because I was hoping that this was going to be a series that I could latch onto. Perhaps it's because I've been spoiled by some of the stellar series that I have been reading and made me expect that all mysteries are as well developed.

This book is the second in a row that I've chosen to read which left me cold. It was just not my cup of tea and I never gain a lot of traction with the book or the main character. I usually do a marathon read towards the end of the mystery fictions because I was motivated to find out the ending. I did a marathon read for this book because I just wanted to get it over with.

Although I am still curious about this character:  Hugo Marston, I am not curious enough to jump into the second book. I will just let sleeping dogs lie until my feelings  become more lenient about the shortcomings of the first book.

 

Book Review-Guitar Zero by Gary Marcus

This book is an unexpected pleasure. Unexpected because I had known about Gary Marcus through his professional standing as a cognitive psychologist. I had read his recent article in Nautilus magazine on artificial intelligence.

I was looking around in his list of authored books to find some cognition related material to dive into, but then this title: Guitar Zero shows up on that list. I felt compelled to reading this book after reading about the premise, because it stood out from  his much more serious writings. I had endured years of  violin lessons as all good Asian boys will do, I enjoyed the experience, but I was a miserable player, owning short stubby fingers preordained my fate as a terrible fiddler. The music theory and appreciation comes in handy for the rest of my life, but I had always had a desire to play the guitar, some teenage hormonal dreams never die.

This book was curious to me because: what is a serious cognitive scientist doing writing a book like this? I read some of the teasers about the book and I was intrigued because he seemed to be as hopeless at playing an instrument as I was. But he had the gumption, and a year of sabbatical to devote to this project.  

I was also interested in seeing how he, a cognitive scientist, can parlay his knowledge in the cognitive sciences to analyze what he is doing and to improve his playing.

The book was amazing.

It doesn't hurt that the author is has a good, self-deprecating sense of humor and he made copious fun of his own inabilities to “get” rhythm. The sidebars, if you could call them that, are fascinating because in addition to entertaining us with his struggles learning how to play, he regaled us with solid knowledge regarding cognition, how we humans learn how to play instruments and how our brains work in the cognitive context. It helps that what he said lined up with what I had been reading and learning, a big motivational boost for me. The reassurance that I was going down the correct track was very welcomed.

He delves into the literature about learning, and most fortuitously, he is a fine writer, so he is excellent at explaining the main ideas as well as diving into the granularities. He complements his cognition explanations with examples of his struggles in learning to play the guitar. He not only explains what he is experiencing, but he also discusses why he was having problems and how he can ameliorate the difficulties. He always couples the  difficulties that a guitar presents to your average human with the latest cognitive theories.

Yet another bonus with the author is that he is a major fanboy. He talks about musicians that are around my vintage. I think he's a little younger than me, so the musicians he was using as examples are people that I know, and I also like. It all fits in together neatly in a cohesive package.

One thing that he had that was somewhat unique, outside of devoting a full year to this experiment, was that he was able to hire a top-notch guitar teacher to work with him; something that the average person might not be able to afford.

One of the more interesting experiences that he had is that he was able to attend the School of Rock with his teacher’s recommendation and access.

This interlude at a retreat where he ends up being the oldest person in his rock and roll band —he's playing with a bunch of kids and they're just kicking his butt musically. He knew where he stood, and he persevered through the experience enjoying his time there. Most importantly, it seems that he also improved significantly. We, the readers, are fortunate to be present, through his very well written narrative, at this experience.  

In the end, he had a fun playing experience and he did what most middle-aged guys dream of doing: learn to play guitar and getting a chance to perform with a group of great musicians. As of the end of the book, we learn that he still plays, and his rock band of kids had a successful performance.

This is a serious book, as well as a fun book of nice stories about music and how to learn to play music. There is a significant list of endnotes and list of references that he uses to show us all the serious cognitive science papers that is referenced as the basis for his discussions.

In the end, it is the rock and roll experience that I was really drawn to, and I really enjoyed. reading about the applied cognitive concepts that he discussed.

The most significant thing for me though, is his  good fortune of having access to some of my favorite musicians because he is working on the book. He also introduced me to many musicians that I had never heard of, I need to thank him for that, as I'm checking those musicians out.

The fact that he was able to get Tom Morello and my all-time favorite jazz guitarist: Pat Metheny to sit down and answer his questions just blew my mind and made me green with envy.

This book is great fun. I recommend this to anybody who has had any experience trying to learn how to play any musical instruments or trying to learn to play any sport, because you would appreciate the difficulties that he writes about, as well as his patience and stubbornness.