So, what does this mean? Well, it means that I have less time for the aforementioned university studying. It also means less writing time than I had hoped for, but that can't be helped. I'm still writing, and I'm still going to publish. Cold Star isn't available yet, but it will be soon enough.
I have less time for reading, which means, as I mentioned earlier in the week, that I didn't get Amazing Stories read in time for this review. Well, I'm almost done, so I might be able to get the review up this weekend. We shall see; it's going to be a busy weekend, too, thanks to church being reopened.
Speaking of studying, by the way, I've spent this week learning about Europe after the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, particularly the Industrial Revolution and the early glimpses of socialist thought. Some of the ideas mentioned were actually reasonable, which is not a word I generally associate with socialism. But the idea of improved working conditions and ensuring that the workers' children were educated? That's a worthy goal right there, as long as it's not done by force. We've seen the effects of forced 'compliance' throughout history, and in recent times, as well.
Then, we got to Marx. God, has there been anyone in history who was responsible for more suffering and death than Karl Marx? I doubt you could count the number of people who have died as a direct result of the policies and political beliefs he espoused. And all because he was too busy embracing radical politics to bother holding down a job. No, everyone has to throw everything into the pot for everyone to share! Yeah, that's worked out well, hasn't it?
I know, I know...stay out of politics. But this is history, folks, and our history education is sadly and frighteningly lacking today. If we don't learn from history, we'll just keep making the same mistakes. And this isn't a math test where your mark doesn't affect your life; there's no take-backs, no make-up exams. Fail this one, and you're done.
I've made no secret of my love for studying history, but I recognize that even in places where history is actually taught, it's not taught in a manner that makes anyone want to learn it. Dry lists of names and dates? Boring textbooks that gloss over anything exciting and reduce it to mind-numbing prose? Please. We need to learn history the way it used to be taught, when it was actually interesting. How do we do that?
By reading books, of course. Not textbooks, but novels. Older novels, or even short stories, that are set in those interesting times. Everyone's heard of the Three Musketeers, but how many people know that most of the people in that book were real people, historical figures who left their mark on the world? Cardinal Richelieu is a fascinating figure; Louis XIII sired one of France's best kings, and the Musketeers were an actual force.
Or, go back to where history actually started. No, not the book of Genesis (that's a topic for another post when more people are buying my books). I'm talking about writing down history, stories of things that actually happened, or were widely believed to have happened. It goes back to the ancient Greeks, as pretty much everything worthwhile in our society does. Herodotus wrote the first history, collecting stories of the lands surrounding Greece, and telling them uncritically; he didn't claim he believed it all, but he didn't say they didn't, either. Stories like the Delphic Oracle and her prediction that Croesus' attack on the Persians would cause a great empire to fall. Turns out, it was his own empire she was referring to. Oops. He also describes the battles of Thermopylae and Marathon, where Greece withstood the massive Persian army. Great stuff, told in nine volumes. Read it; it's awesome. He's called 'the Father of History' for a reason.
Or, for a more accurate historical portrayal, you can't go wrong with Thucydides, who wrote the history of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides was like a war-time reporter, getting the story as accurate as possible. Although he was an Athenian, he didn't take sides, reporting honestly and as fairly as possible. He's known as the 'Father of Scientific History,' which is the more scholarly version that we're familiar with. But he was a great writer, and should be on your reading list.
History matters; read it, or don't complain about what's going on. We can't predict exactly what's going to happen just from reading history, but we can certainly make some very educated guesses, most of which will turn out to be pretty accurate.
If reading the classics isn't really your thing, try reading something a little more modern, like my short story anthology, A Universe of Possibilities. There's plenty of variety in there, and I think it's well-written, too. Go ahead, check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment