Red Dawn Over China - How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity | Frank Dikötter | Bloomsbury Publishing

 

In *Red Dawn Over China* schreibt Frank Dikötter, Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Geisteswissenschaften an der Universität Hongkong, über die Anfänge des Kommunismus in China (zu einer Zeit, als die noch junge nationalistische Regierung mit Schwierigkeiten zu kämpfen hatte).

Was Dikötter als die verborgene Wahrheit über die Machtübernahme der Kommunisten darstellte, unterscheidet sich sicherlich erheblich von der offiziellen Darstellung der Volksrepublik China.

Doch Geschichte hängt tatsächlich von den Perspektiven der Menschen ab, die unmittelbar beteiligt waren, sowie von denen der Außenstehenden. Beide Gruppen machten unterschiedliche Erfahrungen und bewahrten verschiedene Erinnerungen, geprägt von ihren Werten und ihren Verlusten.

Was in diesem Buch sehr deutlich wurde, ist, dass sich die Einigung – ungeachtet der Tatsache, dass es sich um Reiche handelte, die über Jahrtausende hinweg von unterschiedlichen Völkern regiert wurden – niemals einfach gestaltet hatte und dies auch weiterhin nicht sein würde.

Death's End | Cixin Liu | Bloomsbury Publishing

快600页的《Death's End》终于看完了。刘慈欣的三体世界也随这本书终结了。

原以为《The Dark Forest》让我满头问号的问题会于《Death's End》有所分解。但，没有。当我确定已看到最后一个字时，我第一个反应是：不会吧！

《Death's End》有的是更多的人物，超越宇宙的超宇宙叙述，还有比叶文洁更天真更离谱的女一Cheng Xin。

虽然被标榜为科幻小说，《The Three-Body Problem》还获得了Hugo Award，但这三本书我看时，却一直一直一直觉得刘慈欣用了很多物理的、天文学的理论概念想法，与似乎拥有不讨喜人设的人物来包装他对人类发展史中某些事件理论的批判。《Death's End》里被批判的，应该就是民主制度了。然后就是Cheng Xin哪不知从何而来的圣母情结，与不断逃避生活的态度。书末的Cheng Xin已经经历了几百个人世间的世纪，但她自觉的年龄却只有33岁。因为她一直一直一直不断地进入hibernation的状态，而不愿意踏踏实实的活着。不太理解Cheng Xin这个人物的代表主题是什么。或许因为我看的是翻译版，有些汉语表达的概念英文没法完全表达。

刘慈欣的三体世界构造不小，但留白的空间太大太大了。表面的叙述满满，但人物性格、动机却似乎让我摸不着头脑。不晓得刘慈欣会不会构造从三体物种的观点来解释的故事。我挺想知道三体物种到底与人类的距离有多远，而它们又与更先进的物种的距离又有多远。《Death's End》不就暗示了这宇宙内与外有着更多比人类更先进的物种吗？

The Dark Forest | Cixin Liu | Bloomsbury Publishing

这本《The Dark Forest》是《The Three-Body Problem》的第二部。与《The Three-Body Problem》一样，我看的是翻译的。好厚的一本书 500多页 我撑着看完了 。

虽然前一本与这本书作者同样是刘慈欣，可我觉得作者的风格怎么好像两个不同的人似的，后来搞清楚了，《The Dark Forest》与《The Three-Body Problem》的翻译者不是同一人。我没想到原来不同的翻译者可以让同一作者的风格相当的不一样，好似不同作者的作品。这让我挺好奇的，若这本《The Dark Forest》也由《The Three-Body Problem》的翻译者来翻译，连贯性会不会比较好呢？这点又让我挺好奇，汉字原文的《The Three-Body Problem》与《The Dark Forest》会不会因翻译而流失了什么呢？例如，我挺好奇Wallfacer和Wallbreaker的汉字原文是什么，而Luo Ji施的法'spell'汉字原文是否也是'施法'。

不知我是否看漏了什么，最好奇的是为何Luo Ji被选为Wallfacer，还有，为何ETO最想除掉的Wallfacer是Luo Ji。再来就是Evans这人。叶文洁是好傻好天真，但刘慈欣对于Evans的琢磨似乎不多，挺难尝试从心理学角度来拆解Evans的思想行为。

或许分解在《Death's End》中吧。

The History of the Mongol Conquests | J. J. Saunders | Routledge Revival

The History of the Mongol Conquests was first published in 1971, and is part of the Routledge Revival Series, which republishes old texts.  For this, I am grateful, as it means that I can read older texts not on yellowing paper with mold spots.

I feel like The History of the Mongol Conquests is a companion piece to The Secret History of the Mongols, and helps readers curious about early Mongolian history and the expansion of the Mongol Empire have some perspective, both from the Mongolian view and the European view of the Mongol conquests.

While the current perspective of the Chinese is that the Mongol Empire was one of the dynasties in its five thousand years of history, the Mongols were a distinct group of people (much like the Chins and the Manchurians) who were from the steppes and the harsh northlands away from the Central Plains who pushed into the Central Plains and expanded their empire far far beyond what the Han people could ever do or perhaps dream of.  And that was also before the Ottoman Empire expanded and terrified the Europeans.

There was a map in the book, purportly of Central Asia during the time of Chingis Khan.  There was a Sung Empire (which was Han-based), a Chin Empire - which I am not sure what it is, but it was also indicated in bracket as "Cathay", which would have been the European mis-term for the Khitans (a group of people who were not Han but seems to have melted into history), and a Hsi-Hsia Empire.  The people of the Hsi-Hsia Empire were not Han either, so it did seem like the land that were occupied by the Han were much smaller during those times.  And according to the map, during the time of Chingis Khan, Turfan (which was where the Uighurs resided) were quite far from the borders of the Sung Empire.  Thus I am guessing that somewhere between the Mongol Empire and the Manchurian Empire, these lands must have been added to the Empire by way of conquests or alliance.  

How the different Empires ebbed and flew through time can reveal very interesting insights, depending on whether the perspectives are from the Chinese or Europeans.  What seems to be missing, are the perspectives from the groups such as the Khitans and Uighers and Manchurians.

Die Bücherdiebin | Markus Zusak | Klett

Markus Zusaks „Die Bücherdiebin“ ist ein so schwer zu lesendes Buch, dass ich es immer wieder weglegen musste, bevor ich weiterlesen konnte.

Es gewann 2009 den Deutschen Jugendliteraturpreis, obwohl es auf Englisch und nicht auf Deutsch geschrieben wurde.

Das Buch ist schwer zu lesen, weil die Geschichte so schmerzhaft ist. Sie spielt im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland und erzählt das Leben von Liesel, die in Pflegefamilien untergebracht wurde, die keine Nazi-Sympathisanten waren. Liesels Freunde, Pflegeeltern und Nachbarn wurden durch Bomben getötet. Schließlich wanderte Liesel nach Australien aus und starb dort im hohen Alter, umgeben von einer neuen Familie und Freunden.

Obwohl „Die Bücherdiebin“ für Leser ab 14 Jahren gedacht ist, denke ich, dass junge Erwachsene oder sogar Erwachsene ein passenderes Publikum für diese Geschichte wären, die im Wesentlichen von Freiheit und Liebe in einer Zeit handelt, in der beides so gut wie unmöglich war.

The Three-Body Problem | Cixin Liu | Bloomsbury Publishing

 N年前我看上海版的《三体》是没看懂的。剧终，我的感觉是“都是一群疯子，只有史强是正常人“。当时我有想，看不懂或许是我的问题。因为觉得剧情挺拖拉啰嗦，第五集之后我是以双倍然后四倍的速度看剧的。只有汪淼在三体游戏的那些戏，我才以正常速度看剧。

后来NF为了宣传他们家版的《三体》，开场戏在很多平台都能看见。我当时在想，这什么东西啊？有够夸张的。

看了这本翻译的《三体》，我想我大致上是了解这故事了，也大概能从心理学角度理解叶文洁为何这么反人类。明明被告戒了不要回应，却好傻好天真地自以为天外来的更高文明体可以解救堕落的人类。

上海版的《三体》改编的剧本，似乎转移了导致叶文洁做出对人类可能是毁灭性决定的最大诱因。

不知怎么的，虽然《三体》被标榜是科幻小说，但读着读着，我竟然觉得作者是借天外文明入侵的外衣来批判一些社会天真的盲目地对外来的思想事物存在不切实际的幻想、期望与期待。

A Short History of the World in 50 Lies | Natasha Tidd | O'Mara Books

                                                                 

A Short History of the World in 50 Lies is a pocket-sized book that is light and quite suitable to read during commutes.  It is also a good way to encourage readers to be interested in history through bite-sized snippets of parts of historical happenings that are deemed 'lies'.

This book is written in an easily understood manner and can be an engaging read, as each 'lie' is only a few pages.

It is however, also not a book written in the scholarly fashion, in that claims of what the author has introduced as 'truths' in relation to the 'lies' are also not referenced to.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop | Satoshi Yagisawa | Harper Perennial

『森崎書店の日々』の英語訳はとても人気があるので、ベストセラーリストでずっと目にしていました。私は、それが一体何で話題になっているのかを知り、読んでみることにした。

やや批判的で皮肉に聞こえるかもしれないが、結論として、『森崎書店の日々』を読んだ後でも、なぜこれほど人気が​​あるのか​​理解できない。 

まず、本のタイトルが少し誤解を招くと思った。本の約半分は森崎書店を舞台にしておらず、そこで描かれた場面も特に重要ではなかった。書評をいくつか読んだところ、批評家たちが「森崎書店での日々」を、気分が落ち込んでいる時に読むべき本として勧めているのを目にしました。

おそらくそうでしょう。「聞かなかった場所」を読んだ後に「森崎書店での日々」を読んだせいか、両作品の雰囲気のコントラストが大きすぎて、「森崎書店での日々」の雰囲気を十分に感じ取れなかったのかもしれません。

The Labyrinth House Murders | Yukito Ayatsuji | Pushkin Vertigo

日本語で読んだら「迷宮屋敷の殺人事件」を完全に理解できないのではないかと心配だったので、英語訳を読みました。それは良い判断だった。なぜなら、たとえ英語の翻訳版があったとしても、この本の中のこの本を完全に理解したと確信するまでには、二度も読み返さなければならなかっただろうからだ。

家の中にいた人物の中で誰が作者なのかは推測できたが、真犯人が誰なのかは分からなかった。

この物語を完全に理解できたと思うので、今度は原文を探して自分の理解度を確かめてみようと思います。ちょうど『シェーヴェンボルンの最後の子供たち』の英訳を読んだことで、その後の原文を読むのがずっと楽になったように。 

Medieval Horizons: Why the Middle Ages Matter | Ian Mortimer | Penguin

Dieses Buch war eine interessante und fesselnde Lektüre. Und da Gemälde aus dem Frühmittelalter und dem Spätmittelalter zum Vergleich auf derselben Seite abgebildet waren, wurde überdeutlich, dass das Mittelalter keine 1000 Jahre der Stagnation waren, sondern 1000 Jahre der Entwicklung und des Fortschritts – mit unterschiedlichem Tempo in den verschiedenen Epochen dieser 1000 Jahre.

Dank der Art und Weise, wie Ian Mortimer sein Material in 7 Kapiteln – Horizonte, Krieg, Ungleichheit, Komfort, Geschwindigkeit, Alphabetisierung und Individualismus – angeordnet hat, konnten die Leser selbst nachlesen, wie sich die Dinge zu Beginn des Mittelalters um 500 n. Chr. und am Ende des Mittelalters um 1500 n. Chr. verändert hatten.

Dies half mir, die mittelalterlichen Gebäude und Gemälde, die ich in Bulgarien und Rumänien sah, besser zu verstehen. 

Outsourcing Empire: How Company-States Made the Modern World | Andrew Bradley Phillips and J. C. Sharman | Princeton University Press

Part of the title of this book was a very neutral and emotionless 'How Company-States Made the Modern World', which lead me to think that the authors would seek to demonstrate that the expanding mercantile ambitions of the Europeans was a positive development in shaping the world in which we now inhabit.

I felt the authors were quite specific in stating that initially, the precursors of the European colonies in areas far away from their homelands were the trading companies such as the British East India Company and the (notorious) Dutch East India Company.  This crucial differentiation was rather important in perhaps absolving the Crowns of various colonial powers in the very early days of their expansions when the trading companies perhaps misrepresented themselves as being 'of the Crown' and engaging in what can be interpreted today as discrimination and/or malicious actions taken against the natives of the 'colonies'.  I noticed a tendancy with writers from the lands that were colonised by these European countries or had multiple conflicts with these countries to not distinguish that the aggressors were the trading companies' militia and not the Crowns' armies.

Because the writers had chosen to write from a purely European perspective, the aggression and oppression that these trading companies had subjected the natives to in their crazed pursuit of profit appears to be conveniently omitted from this book.  

A Quiet Place | Seichou Matsumoto | Penguin

 ペンギン社から出版された松本清張著『聞かなかった場所』の表紙には、サンデー・タイムズ紙が松本を「日本のアガサ・クリスティ」と称賛する言葉が引用されていた。

この引用は明らかに褒め言葉ではあるものの、英語で執筆していない優れた作家を英語作家と比較するのは、少々滑稽に思えた。しかし、もしかしたら、アガサ・クリスティの名前しか知らない読者に、別の作家の作品を紹介するためなのかもしれない、とも思った。

最初は『聞かなかった場所』がいつ書かれたのか分からず、携帯電話が普及する前の時代が舞台だろうと推測していた。どうやら物語の舞台はそれより数十年も前のことらしいが、ドラマや映画化されていても不思議ではない。実際、グーグルで調べてみると、この本はかなりの数の映像化作品が存在することが分かった。

松本清張は「日本のアガサ・クリスティ」と言えるだろうか？ 実は、私が読んだ松本清張の作品はこれが初めてで、しかも英語訳なので、原語で読んでみるまでは、この賛辞に賛同することはできない。

Strange Houses | Uketsu | HarperVia

 

覆面ユーチューバーの雨穴 が執筆した『変な家』は非常に人気が高く、英語版も出版されており、書店では数週間ベストセラーリストにランクインしているようだ。

私は本の表紙に載っている間取り図にとても興味をそそられ、英語訳を読むことで、著者が意図した細部を見逃すことなく、物語を完全に理解できるだろうと考えました。

『変な家』は楽しく読めた。真実が明らかになるまで、ずっとハラハラドキドキさせられた。そして、なんとも奇妙な真実だった！

『変な家』は既にドラマ化されているのでしょうか？もし本当にドラマ化されているとしても驚きませんし、制作チームがどのようにして家々の内部を表現するのか気になります。

思想 - 五四一百周年| 聯經出版

偶然发现了这本杂志，主题为“五四一百周年”。

《思想》的读者群是学术派的吗？感觉没有相当自主思想的人会觉得杂志内容相当并非大众喜于花时间深读的。

我呢，就把它当成是一次开拓视野的机会。一百年后回看五四运动，学者的评论，再过个百年，或更多的百年，还会一样吗？

康有为 | 朱义禄| 大家精要丛书

 这本《康有为》好薄的一本书，我挺意外的。或许是简约版吧。

康有为作为梁启超的老师，启发了梁启超的思想，开拓了大清帝国光绪帝的视野，后世汉字学者对这位保皇党的评价贬多于褒，说他人品道德败坏，自视过高。。。

姑且不论康有为动机为何，从大清帝国皇帝的视野，康有为算是'rebellious'吗？康有为觉得变法是大清帝国的契机，可惜彼岸明治维新的成功未在大清帝国的土地上成功。生为汉人，康有为拥护满族皇帝从汉人的视野来说应该在当时甚至于今时今日的汉人眼里相当的奇葩吧。

不过呢，我从英国人评论Magna Carta中认识到，只要时间的长流够长，经过时代的变迁，视野的改变，各个世代对某人某事的评价是会有所不同的。

Magna Carta: The Making and Legacy of the Great Charter | Dan Jones | Head of Zeus

The Magna Carta is an ancient document that has acquired an almost mythical status of being a document that advanced man's 'right to justice' all the way back in the thirteenth century, in countries that received English laws.

This book written by Dan Jones very helpfully included the full text of the Magna Carta (1215) all its 63 paragraphs in Latin and the English translations side-by-side, as well as the people involved with the Magna Carta and pulling back the timeline all the way back to 1100 to contextualize how the Magna Carta came into existence.

It is written in an engaging way, and I thought it was quite insightful when the timeline was pulled further back from way before King John was crowned.  Instead of singlely fingering King John as the cause of the barons' unhappiness, Jones took a broader view that earlier actions taken by earlier kings had resulted in the culmulation of the 'rebellious' barons trying to not have King John had his own singular way.

I thought it was interesting to have interpreted the Magna Carta from a longer timeline, and wonder if the interpretation of the failures of kingdom and dynasties might hve been seen in a different light and interpreted differently if the timeline had been pulled back for a longer period as Jones had done in the case of the Magna Carta.

Also interestingly, the adjective 'rebellious' was applied to the group of barons who revolted against King John.  Up to today, these barons are still described as 'rebellious', despite the monarchy having changed Houses since the Magna Carta times.  These barons were considered 'rebellious' from King John's perspective, and that considerations did not seem to have fade with time.

The Forbidden Experiment - The Story of the Wild Boy of Aveyron | Roger Shattuck | NYRB Classics

Ich hatte weder vom „Wilden Jungen von Aveyron“ gehört noch gelesen und war daher etwas beunruhigt, als ich den Titel dieses Buches sah. Ich hatte ihn so interpretiert, dass an einem verwilderten Kind ein entmenschlichendes Experiment durchgeführt worden war.

Dieses Buch ist das genaue Gegenteil meiner anfänglichen Annahmen.

Es wurde ein Experiment durchgeführt, aber es handelte sich dabei um ein Experiment aus dem Jahr 1800, bei dem versucht wurde, einem scheinbar verwilderten Kind das Sprechen beizubringen.

Dieses Buch liest sich wie eine abgebrochene Fallstudie eines psychologischen Experiments, in dem ein junger Arzt versuchte, einem verwilderten Kind das Sprechen beizubringen, und letztendlich scheiterte.

Es war geradezu unglaublich, dass ein kleiner Junge es schaffte, allein im Wald zu überleben, indem er sich völlig selbst versorgte.  Beim Lesen der Beschreibung des Verhaltens des Jungen konnte ich nicht umhin zu denken, dass er nicht nur sozial isoliert war, sondern möglicherweise unter dem litt, was man heute als Autismus-Spektrum-Störung bezeichnet.

Dies könnte der Grund dafür sein, dass der Junge trotz aller Bemühungen des Arztes nie die menschliche Sprache erlernte. Es ist außerdem wichtig, die Ereignisse im Buch in ihren Kontext zu setzen. Im Jahr 1800 tobten in Europa die Französischen Revolutionskriege, und Japan befand sich während der Edo-Zeit in selbstgewählter Isolation. Was der Arzt also versucht hatte, war in jener Zeit absolut bemerkenswert. 

The Genealogy of Kings (Sulalat Al-Salatin) | Tun Sri Lanang, translated by Muhammad Haji Salleh | Penguin, Utama | Ng Yi-Sheng | Epigram, Twisted Temasek | Ng Yi-Sheng | Epigram

I read these 3 books almost concurrently.  I started off with Utama, and was quite confused by what I was reading.  By coincidence, or perhaps a stroke of good fortune, I saw The Genealogy of Kings (Sulalat Al-Salatin) and Twisted Temasek at quite the same period of time.

Utama purports to tell the story of Sang Nila Utama, a supposedly mythical King who landed on the shores of Temasek, saw a beast which was identified to him as a Singa (lion) through the eyes of female narrators who were his contemporaries then.  According to Utama, Sang Nila Utama had inflicted his wives with a skin disease and they were cast aside to live out their lives away from the palace after the wedding night.  Although it was not explicitly identified as such, it appears that the skin disease was leprosy.  And yet Sang Nila Utama was not described to be suffering from any skin diseases, and surprisingly, one of his wife was not infected and it was not explained how she came to not be infected by him.  From what is understood about leprosy now, it would be quite impossible for the wives to be infected with leprosy merely from one night of contact, and if the disease was caused by the HIV virus, it would not have manifested symptoms overnight.  Besides, it would be debatable if the HIV virus was even present in Southeast Asia in the 14th century.

Because the story in Utama seemed rather bizzare to me, I read The Genealogy of Kings.  The title Sulalat Al-Salatin might sound unfamiliar, compared to its other name Sejarah Melayu.  To understand what the Sejarah Melayu means to the Malays in Southeast Asia, a compatible comparison (I think) would be what 史记 means to the Han people.  The story of Sang Nila Utama is collected in Sulalat Al-Salatin, and it is one of the earliest stories in the collection, meanng that Sang Nila Utama (if he really had existed and is not a myth) was a looooong time before the East India Company landed on the island of what is today Singapore.  Interestingly, the ancient kings in the book were addressed as 'Raja' (which is hindu in basis) rather than Sultan (which is muslim in basis).  Although it wasn't explicitly articulated, it would appear that at the start of Sejarah Melayu, Hinduism was already an established religion, and Islam arrived later with the Arab traders, and the Rajas and Bendaharas converted to Islam.  Although Sejarah Melayu is difficult to corroborate chronologically, there were rich descriptions of the customs of the Malay courts, their epic battles and many famous individuals that when their stories were compartmentalised in short stories became easily lost in translations as myths or legends.

What was very surprising for me in Sulalat Al-Salatin, was that the Malays traced their ancestry to Alexander the Great (the Macedon King who is known as Iskandar Zulkarnain in the Islam world).  Do the Malays see themselves as decendents of ancient Grecians?

Another surprising point for me was that what is today the Federation of Malaysia was once made up of many kingdoms, of which the Melaka Sultanate seemed to be the mightiest.  How the kingdoms came to became the Federation of Malaya would be interesting to find out next.

Twisted Temasek, written by Ng Yi-Sheng (the same author who write Utama) is apparently targetted at children, with many illustrations.  After the rather bizzare Utama and the overwhelming Sulalat Al-Salatin, Twisted Temasek is a condensed and fun way to learn about the ancient history of what is today Singapore.  

If Sulalat Al-Salatin is not completely a myth (especially of the earlier stories), then it would mean that Southeast Asia has been inhabited for a far longer period than most people would have thought so.  It wasn't explicitly articulated in Sulalat Al-Salatin (or perhaps it was articulated, and I didn't understand it as such) whether the Temasek that Sang Nila Utama landed on was already inhabited or otherwise.  

Tales of the Peculiar | Ransom Riggs | Dutton Books

Tales of the Peculiar is a book tha is part of the Peculiar children universe created by Ransom Riggs.  It is a collection of stories of peculiar children before Miss Peregrine created a loop for the children.

The above sentence would seem like gibbish to a non-reader of the peculiar books or someone who had not watched the movie Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

But for someone who has been sucked into the Peculiar world, the first story in this book 'The Splendid Cannibals' is already quite a hoot to read, and I do wonder, if the writer Ransom Riggs had meant to rib certain groups of people through this story?

Wer ist eigentlich Robert Koch? | Achim Seiffarth | Klett

Das Buch „Wer ist eigentlich Robert Koch?“ des Verlags Klett enthält nicht nur Informationen über Robert Kochs Werk und Leben, sondern auch einen recht umfassenden Abschnitt über Bakteriologie und Ausbrüche, Epidemien und Pandemien.

Der Inhalt, insbesondere die beiden letztgenannten Abschnitte, könnte für jemanden ohne mikrobiologische Vorkenntnisse etwas schwer verständlich oder nachvollziehbar sein, und daher könnte der Wortschatz in deutscher Sprache ziemlich anspruchsvoll sein.

Ich persönlich finde den Inhalt dieses Buches nicht schwer verständlich, da es im Grunde eine Zusammenfassung von Teilen eines Mikrobiologie-Lehrbuchs ist, insbesondere des Abschnitts über die Bakteriologie.

Wenn man über Robert Koch und seine Verwendung des Mikroskops zur Identifizierung von Bakterien als Krankheitserreger bei Krankheiten wie Tuberkulose, Cholera und Anthrax liest, vergisst man leicht die enormen Fortschritte, die in der Mikrobiologie und Medizin erzielt wurden.

Erst wenn man die Zeitleisten verschiedener Orte auf der ganzen Welt miteinander vergleicht und die gewaltigen Unterschiede dessen sieht, was zur gleichen Zeit an verschiedenen Orten geschah, werden die Bilder umso deutlicher.