To Read & To Write

“Submergence”, written in 2011 by J.M. Ledgard (who has written for both “The Economist” and “The Atlantic”) is a novel that is shaped perfectly for the contemporary world. Its scope covers geography, philosophy, science, and politics. Though “Submergence” is all these amazing things, Ledgard manages to subtlety underscore these weighty themes with a poignant drama and romance that travels far deeper within the emotional psyche compared to how far it actually treks globally. While all this may seem in the written word - to some narrower minds - as pretentious, it is, in fact, the opposite. “Submergence” aims to illuminate how so very small, so very precious, but still small, humankind really is in the face of the natural world: which includes its technology, the subsequent wars produced by that technology, in this case the War in Afghanistan which continues to the present, as well as untouched Earthly landscapes such as the Hadal Deep, the deepest part of the ocean. Granted,...

Unbroken is, hands down, the most engrossing book I’ve ever read. Most war stories I’ve either read or watched, like Black Hawk Down (1999, book) by Mark Bowden, Pearl Harbor (2001, movie) directed by Michael Bay, Apocalypse Now (1979, movie) directed by Francis Ford Coppola or the book the movie was based of off, Heart of Darkness (1899) by Joseph Conrad, In The Land Of Blood And Honey (2011, movie) directed by Angelina Jolie, or Full Metal Jacket (1987, movie) directed by Stanley Kubrick are no doubt great cultural artifacts, but all left me feeling troubled, paranoiac about war, saddened, confused, and even distressed. All of those save for maybe Forrest Gump (1994, movie) directed by Robert Zemeckis cannot compare to the overwhelming grip of hopefulness that Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken (book, 2010) had me feeling the entire time I was reading it. It is not only the most engrossing war book I’ve ever read, it is the most engrossing book I’ve read. Ever. Part of the reason for th...