Words of Wisdom from Books

• Paul Levinson's The Mendelian Lamp Case/The Silk Code
• Madeleine L'Engle's A Swiftly Tilting Planet
• Anne Perry's Resurrection Row

• Philosophical Wisdom from TV/Movies
• Master index of Adrianna's webpages

Email Adrianna Rowanexys with your thoughts!

Replay the opening midi song 'Battle Of Evermore.' Original song by Led Zeppelin.

Paul Levinson's The Mendelian Lamp Case, was originally published in 1997 as a short story in the science fiction magazine Analog and reprinted in Year's Best SF3 edited by David G. Hartwell. It later became the first chapter of the best book I have ever read, The Silk Code. I highly recommend both the short story and the novel, as they provided several topics of philosophical interest.

The Mendalian Lamp Case made the point that Amish, while eschewing those pieces of technology that disrupt family life, their independence, and self-efficiency, are also inventors and are not against all technology. Their way of life is often more in harmony with nature, and they use the gifts of nature to enhance their life. Their 'technology' includes breeding better plants and animals, as well as carpentry skills. Could anyone fault an Amish built barn/house? As the story points out, science doesn't have to involve computers and other high tech equipment if the objects can already be examined and analyzed with our own senses (hands, eyes, nose). I believe we could do well to look more closely at their lifestyle.

The Mendelian Lamp Case is also a little like an X-Files storyline, in which bio-wars are taking place. It suggested that the reason why people are not as caring in the early 21st century is that allergens have been introduced into the air that cause a low level irritation, just enough to make people less polite, less likely to care. Could the degradation of morals and ethics be caused by allergens?

The Silk Code takes this concept even further, and suggests that such bio-wars could have been occurring for thousands of years. Such bio-wars could even modify the genetic code (ie Neanderthal vs Cro-Magnon). The book is so well researched and written that the reader must question what s/he has previously thought of as the truth of our history. Indeed, all that we know of early human history is from bones; how much more do we not know?

Madeleine L'Engle is best known for A Wrinkle in Time, a young adult fantasy story with the moral that love can conquer evil. However, the third book in that Time series, A Swiftly Tilting Planet is an often overlooked treasure, perhaps because the concepts are heavily embedded with philosophy and historical content.

The concept of a repeating pattern through history is not a new one, but A Swiftly Tilting Planet brings this concept to life. One gets to fully see the family lines that are 'reborn' to take on similar good vs. evil roles throughout time. History often repeats, but is it possible that the fate of the earth has to be waged throughout history by members of the same family? It is a bit scary to think that history can be so radically changed by only one particular instance in which an evil character defeats a good character.

A Swiftly Tilting Planet also shows how humans, once so close to the pattern of the earth/universe, have gradually become further and further away from the dance of life and have become filled with greed and power-hungry thoughts. Oh, there always were some people that did not see the interconnections, but as time progresses, more and more people 'forget' or do not learn to appreciate the pattern of which they are only a small part. 'Witches' in Salem were no more mysterious than those people who saw that pattern and/or used natural remedies or who walked with the American Indians, and yet they were persecuted for their 'wicked ways.' A Swiftly Tilting Planet makes you see just how fast our planet is tilting the wrong direction--is civilization really worth destroying our ability to commune with Nature?

Anne Perry writes mystery novels set in England's Victorian Age. While I never think of mystery novels as particularly philosophical, Anne Perry usually inserts one or two very good points of philosophical interest.

In her novel, Resurrection Row, Anne brings up the fact that the bible is often misquoted as 'Money is the root of all evil' when it really is stated 'Love of money is the root of all evil.' That subtle difference changes the entire meaning of the sentence to emphasize that emotions such as the need for power which money can bring are evil, not the individual material items themselves.

The End (For Now)

Last modified June 26, 2002.