The salty ape
I’ve just finished the two books I’ve been reading concurrently and I have to remember this time to stop doing that. Whatever they are, they will be inextricably linked in my brain forever. It isn’t always a bad thing but it can be.
The books are Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are and Salt: A World History. These books have quite a bit in common. They’re both interesting and well-written. Both authors have senses of humor and genuine interest in the subject matter. Both books cover issues of dominance, power, sensuality, control, and the incredible ease with which primates will put foreign objects in their mouths.
I suppose it could be said that Our Inner Ape doesn’t cover much new ground. It is generally known, though not always believed, that we are closely related to apes, and the behavioral charactersitics of Chimpanzees and Bonobos are well-documented. This is particularly true for Bonobos who garner more attention for their fluid and easygoing sexuality. But I digress. What the book does very nicely is take the reader though the worlds of these primates and show us how humans have characteristics of both. Author Frans de Waal doesn’t commit to any particular positions or ideology other than making clear that he believes we are closely and obviously related to our fellow apes, we have markedly similar behaviors, and that this is something we should always keep in mind and learn from.
Our Inner Ape makes me want to go spend an enitre day at the National Zoo’s primate exhibits.
Salt: A World History is another kind of book I love because it takes something as (now) mundane as salt — a rock, more or less — and makes it swaggering and exotic. There’s a lot of information in this relatively short book but it isn’t overwhelming. I suppose I knew there would be many varieties of salt but I didn’t really think about it very much. I knew, vaguely, that salt had driven trade routes, revolutions, and great technological advances but I didn’t really think about it. Imagine being paid in salt.
Salt: A World History makes me hungry.
~~~
Next on the reading list:
Into the Wild (rereading)
Smilla’ Sense of Snow (rereading)
Fibonacci
Ha! I had forgotten about this.
What the Hell is the Fibonacci Series?
(in egregious Flash)
Lightning bugs
For the first time in years, I am seeing lightning bugs. Some of you may know them as fireflies. Some of you may not know them at all.
I had begun to think they had vanished but this summer has given me hope. I don’t see as many as I saw when I was a kid. Then again, perhaps a child’s perspective is a bit off in that things usually seem bigger or scarier or more multitudinous during childhood. I really do think there were many, many more lightning bugs during my youth though.
It’s nice to see them. It makes me feel like things are okay with the world.
Meeting Marie, part 2
A pleasure to see
And so very lovely
Are the flowers that Marie
Hand-picked just for me.
Meeting Marie, part 1
I will have you all know that Marie of Blue Ridge Blog is, as we say around here, a mighty fine somebody. When I return to the land of DSL this Saturday, I will write more and post some photos of, among other things, the lovely flowers she picked and presented to me when we met up in Boone on Wednesday.
American chestnut
This one isn’t doing very well but there’s hope they’ll make a comeback.
Wisdom passed down through the ages
Or, song lyrics my Mom blurted out today in the car:
I’m in love, I’m in love
With Attila the Hun.
We’ll pillage the village
And kill everyone….
And now I’ve shared them with you.
[Edited to add: She didn't compose these lyrics herself.]
Actual stores seen today
…in Roanoke, Virginia:
Posse Fashions
Home of Hair
R-thentic Clothing
The drive
My drive across Virginia was five hours of periodic weirdness and waaay too much time to think.
I drove through rain, bright sunlight, and inexplicably, the 1970s. South of Sisiggy’s stomping grounds, all of the radio stations played 70s music. It was eerie. Disco and soft rock punctuated by the occasional morose, ponderous lap-steel heavy country music. I could swear all the people around me had creepy aviator glasses on, polyester leaisure suits, and feathered hair too. This persisted for about 20 miles until I finally drove back into 2006.
When I wasn’t listening to David Sedaris and inescapable music from my childhood (see previous paragraph), I spent a lot of time thinking. Here’s one of the things I thought about:
Words I like:
- particular
- spatula
- Ticonderoga
- Mesopotamia
- elemental
- shit
- forensic
- snicker
- [edited to add] pulchritude
Words I don’t like:
- rural
- moist
- bauble
These lists are by no means complete. I also thought about various thing other bloggers have said and written recently. Some of you may be receiving emails to that effect. I don’t know why I write so much. I’m not that much of a talker.
It is comfortably coolish and sunny here, all together too nice for July in the south.
