NYT BOOKS SUNDAY
There are a number of things in today's New York Times I would love to discuss, including Rich and Kristof op-ed pieces about the future of the Church. I will not bother with them. At the end of the day, they are not understanding that the Church is not an American institution. It does not respond to the flavor-of-the-month mentality that prevails in the U.S., and its leadership is not generally American in perspective. In fact, the sort of US/UK/Canada English-speaking axis is largely Protestant, and largely foreign to people in the Vatican who make decisions. To the extent Rich and Kristof fail to acknowledge this, their analysis is irrelevant.
In the book section, there were two things that beg to be discussed. The first is the review of the book Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure. The author is Giles Foden. The book is apparently about a Briton during the First World War sent to Africa to seize Lake Taganyika from the Germans. Apparently he was sent to Africa with two enormous wooden boats that he had carried over a 6000 foot mountain and to the lake. The Germans already had two boats on the lake. The lake mattered not one iota for the war effort. As such, it makes sense that they sent the man they sent, since he was (apparently) insane. Apparently he wore a khaki skirt in the jungle, since that was "good for the heat," and carried a large supply of laxatives for the Africans. Sounds right up my alley. By the way, this is the story on which The African Queen was based.
The second interesting review is of a book called Baseball Before We Knew It. The author is David Block. He makes the argument that baseball is from a French game. There is an entire genre of historical investigation that looks for references to "base ball" in old newspapers, laws, etc. However, none of that, including this book, shows that people in the different parts of the world knew of the games so referenced. It is not rocket science to throw an object, hit it, and run like hell. Just because someone in medieval Europe did this does not make it the same game as baseball. That is the next step in this historical investigation.
There are a number of things in today's New York Times I would love to discuss, including Rich and Kristof op-ed pieces about the future of the Church. I will not bother with them. At the end of the day, they are not understanding that the Church is not an American institution. It does not respond to the flavor-of-the-month mentality that prevails in the U.S., and its leadership is not generally American in perspective. In fact, the sort of US/UK/Canada English-speaking axis is largely Protestant, and largely foreign to people in the Vatican who make decisions. To the extent Rich and Kristof fail to acknowledge this, their analysis is irrelevant.
In the book section, there were two things that beg to be discussed. The first is the review of the book Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure. The author is Giles Foden. The book is apparently about a Briton during the First World War sent to Africa to seize Lake Taganyika from the Germans. Apparently he was sent to Africa with two enormous wooden boats that he had carried over a 6000 foot mountain and to the lake. The Germans already had two boats on the lake. The lake mattered not one iota for the war effort. As such, it makes sense that they sent the man they sent, since he was (apparently) insane. Apparently he wore a khaki skirt in the jungle, since that was "good for the heat," and carried a large supply of laxatives for the Africans. Sounds right up my alley. By the way, this is the story on which The African Queen was based.
The second interesting review is of a book called Baseball Before We Knew It. The author is David Block. He makes the argument that baseball is from a French game. There is an entire genre of historical investigation that looks for references to "base ball" in old newspapers, laws, etc. However, none of that, including this book, shows that people in the different parts of the world knew of the games so referenced. It is not rocket science to throw an object, hit it, and run like hell. Just because someone in medieval Europe did this does not make it the same game as baseball. That is the next step in this historical investigation.
posted by David at 6:54 PM
1 Comments:
As the author of "Baseball before We Knew It," I can assure you that my book does not say that baseball originated in France. The reviewer apparently did not read the book very carefully. In fact, baseball originated in England. There is considerable evidence that a game called baseball, complete with pitching, batting, fielding and baserunning, was played in England beginning in the early 1700s.
David Block
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