Happiness and Misery

McMafia - Misha Glenny
Okay, the title is godawful and idiotic- BUT it was written by a BBC reporter for a Euro audience, where the name is maybe a little better. This book tells the tale of international crime syndicates in the the wake of globalization in the post-cold war era. These twin events and a few other unfortunate coincidences and unforeseen policy consequences lead to an enormous boom in organized crime, particularly in post-conflict regions. (El Salvador is cited as the first post-conflict semi-organized crime nation). The book was fascinating: traffic in women, caviar and cigarettes in Eastern Europe by post-Soviet gangs, outfitted with Soviet-era weaponry who exported their brand of crime around the world. Chechen gangs who license the terms "chechen" to unaffiliated gangs, just because it makes them more frightening to rivals. The massive influx of non-assimilating secular Russians into Israel corrupting that society and justice system. Nigerian "419" scams that siphon millions from duped Westerners in the name of anti-colonial payback. Colombian cartels expanding their markets to the EU that outsource manufacturing to the Bolivian and Peruvian peasants to the south and work closely with South African gangs to smuggle cocaine into Spain, only to launder their profits its Emirati and Russian banks. Chinese pirates who make imitation Mercedes, and Japanese Yakuza who operate with impunity, serving as a de facto justice system in Japan, where they legally rent offices and advertise.
The book takes a decidedly European bent, written as it is for that audience. The helplessness of police is quite frightening, with all the changes in technology and new routes opened by "free trade." The author also squarely places blame in part on Western desire for cheap tax-free liquor and smokes, not to mention prostitutes and cocaine. At the same time, the behavior of the criminals is rationalized by anti-colonial and anti-western sentiment, which is fanned by criminal leaders who play the robin hood role. Corrupt leaders particularly play to these sentiments, meanwhile selling off their nation's assets and pocketing the profits as cheaply as their colonial forebearers.

Authentic Happiness- Martin Seligman
Slightly disappointing, and not a whole lot of new ideas in here, though a great introduction I suppose to the world of positive psychology. Seligman is right on with his facts and figures, as one would expect a former APA president to be, and does have some great demonstrative anecdotes, explanations and applications for the research on happiness. However, I finished feeling as if I got a little more of him than I really needed, and he was a fairly narcissistic guy for such a "feel-good" field of positive psychology.

Legacy of Ashes, Vox, Venkatesh & Kornfield's Buddhism,

Gang Leader For a Day - Sudhir Venkatesh
I wrote a bit about Venkatesh last year when I read "The Underground Economy" a sociological/athropological book about economic networks in American Ghettoes. This was essentially a more accessable version of that written for a broader audience, and framed basically as a memoir of his experiences doing field work in the projects of Chicago. I was reading this during the time that a few more fake-memoir scandals erupted, so read it with a skeptical eye, though no complaints have been lodged against Venkatesh. Anyway, this book was enjoyable and quite informative about the people and culture of our forgotten and oppressed housing project dwellers, though I would be reluctant to generalize from his observations which were about a particular housing project in a particular city. Still, some great observations, and quite entertaining and thought provoking. Sort of a real-life drier version of The Wire for you nerds interested in that kind of thing.

Vox- Nicholoson Baker
Yeah, I feel a bit like I should have read this back in college, maybe because that is when my friend bill recommended it to me. All the same, I enjoyed it quite a bit. For those who don't know, its a simple phone conversation between two strangers that grows increasingly interesting, unexpected and erotic as the conversation becomes more intimate and the book progresses. It was a great deal of fun, yet feels very of its time as the internet has since come to shape our interactions in such a different way, especially our erotic and anonymous ones.

Legacy of Ashes - Tim Weiner
This history of the CIA by the NY Times intelligence reporter should quickly put to rest anyone's notions about elaborate CIA conspiracies. At least according to this book, the history of the CIA is one of mismanagement and bumbling incompetence, with classified screw-up after screw up that have only recently come to light. The successes we have heard about are depicted as the result of happenstance, rather than good planning. Overall I greatly enjoyed this book and would recommend it. It was strangely exhaustive and yet felt incomplete, I suppose because it covered so many events so superficially, without going into much depth on any. I came away with a much better understanding of the culture, the endemic problems in our style of intelligence collecting, and the inherent conflicts between intelligence and politics in a democracy. Recommended for anyone with an interest in spy and cold war stuff.

Roots of Buddhist Psychology - Jack Kornfield
Your Buddha Nature - Jack Kornfield
Anyone with the slightest interest in Buddhism, should definitely check out (though is probably already aware) of Jack Kornfield's work. After a stint in the Peace Corps Thailand in the late 60's, he bummed around Southeast Asia as a Buddhist monk, seeking wisdom that he later brought back to the US with other early teachers. His book A Path With Heart (reviewed last year) details some of this. I generally find his teaching better in person or in recorded audio programs than in written form, and listened to these as extended audio programs, which I would strongly recommend. He teaches basic Buddhist Dharma (wisdom) for everyday life, brilliantly incorporating wisdom from a variety of traditions, anecdotes from his own life, and allegorical stories from all religious traditions. Roots of Buddhist Psychology is the better of these programs, Your Buddha Nature felt a bit recycled, but maybe because I listened to it immediately after "Roots." Highly recommended for beginners to Buddhism, or those curious.

Charlie Huston:
Okay, so its not exactly as classy as the shitty nonfiction I tend to read, but I've been greatly enjoying some pulpy books in recent months as well, particularly useful as escapist from the drudgery of writing and work. My highest recommendation for guilty pleasures go to Charlie Huston, author of the "Already Dead" and "Been Caught Stealing" serieses. (sp?) The first is a great trilogy about a man on the run, who never has the intention of killing people, but ends up finding that he's just so good at it, and keeps getting away with so much, hardly even intending to. The trilogy criss-crosses America, Mexico and some great US cities as he runs from the Russian mafia, who's millions of daolalrs he accidentally stole. The second of these, Six Bad Things, is really the best. The other series, beginning with Already Dead, imagine a world of vampyres (his spelling, not mine) existing in parallel to ours. Not too original, I know. But rather than being purely the horror genre, they are written from the perspective of a Marlowe-esque private detective with a vampyre heart of gold, making the genre more of a pulp noir set in a very well imagined and detailed world. Great plane reads, all of them- though not for the faint of hearted when it comes to blood and guts.

October Books: The Looming Tower, Mindfulness,

The Looming Tower:
Wow, I guess the only thing I really read this month was The Looming Tower- which, by the way, was excellent. A rich and extremely thorough history of Al Qaeda going back past the Cole and embassy bombings, before the mujahideen movement, into the Saudi anti-royalist movements of the 70s, the Egyptian movements of the 60's all the way to Qutb (Quttub, however you want to spell it), and the Muslim Brotherhood wayyy back. And still, an amazing read that I simply could not stop reading. I can't recommend this enough, I think its my favorite of the many books on or around this subject I've read over the past few years.

Mindfulness: Ellen Langer
Okay, not exactly what I'd expected. This book was not about mindfulness the meditation, but uses the term in terms of social and cognitive psychology, thoguh in very interesting ways. Langer is a social psychologist who seems to study a lot about the ways that people act and interact based on heuristic patterns of thought that can be "mindless" and counterproductive, and discusses thinking strategies that are mind-ful and open up new avenues into creativity and performance. She does a ton of research into the elderly which is a bit dry, but the studies and writings she has done on people and institutions are really quite fascinating. Also, this is a really quick read. Its kind of like a proto Goleman / Gilbert book, as its from the early 80's. Still, interesting enough.

September Books

No Country for Old Men: Cormac McCarthy
I’ve never gotten that into Cormac McCarthy, though really wanted to read this before the Coen brothers movie comes out in a few months. I definitely enjoyed the book, though it was essentially already in movie form, basically just dialogue. The story was undeniably exciting- essentially a bloody chase plot with great south Texas characters who are brought alive through their internal and external dialogues. Still, based on this anyway I'm not sure exactly why McCarthy is considered such a literary big shot, though perhaps I ought to read a little more.

Fiskadero: Denis Johnson
I just couldn’t get into this. As much as I LOVE Denis Johnson’s Already Dead and Jesus’ Son- two of my favorites, this post-apocalyptic tale just didn’t do it for me.

The Road: Cormac McCarthy
Ah, but THIS tale of a stark post-apocalyptic nightmare I really liked. This was hauntingly beautiful, the story of a father and son traveling on “the road” in search of food and safety. The creepy parts were so creepy and the moments of beauty and kindness so beautiful and inspiring. As a novel it feels like its strongly influenced by the movies, but still really works. This one also holds the bizarre status of National Book Award winner and Oprah book (shhh), and does really say a lot about humanity at its best and worst. The only book I can think of having read that made me cry, and first in a long time I didn’t want to end.

Emotional Intelligence: Daniel Goleman
I actually read Goleman’s most recent, “Social Intelligence” before I read this one. They are very similar in their scope and structure, with SI essentially being an update ten years later. Goleman’s style is to write well with an engaging and accessible style while still citing quality research- be in social psychology or neuroscience. EI was excellent, citing fascinating studies while remaining inspiring and pragmatic in the applications of the theories. The ideas are very helpful in my work with at-risk children, though can and have been applied to a huge range of groups since publication ten years ago. Highly recommended for anyone with even some interest in psychology, education or people in general.

July / August Books

Underboss: Gerard ONeill
This book traces the history of the Boston mafia through the early 80’s when Gerry Anguilo is brought down. Its terribly written, though admittedly entertaining. That said, can anyone recommend a really good definitive book on the history of the Mafia in the US? By the way, I’m amazed that Bill O’Brien has actually also read this!

Lonesome Dove: Larry McMurtry
I kept felling like the book was about to pick up, at 200 pages in, 400 pages in, but I don’t think it did really pick up until about 600 pages in. People love this book, it also won the Pulitzer. I liked it, but didn’t quite see all the hype. I got very attached to the characters by the end, but that also might have been a little bit of Stockholm syndrome after 946 pages. The historical details were excellent and well researched, and I thought a lot about the roots of American culture and individualism that continues today, and the book had some interesting ideas of masculinity as well. Still, the plot was a little stale, and frankly the parts with Indians were pretty racist- I’m quite certain that white Americans were at least as brutal as the natives in the ongoing genocides and settler wars.

Motorcycle Diaries: Che Guevarra
This was definitely a fun and apropos read while traveling through Peru and Bolivia. Basically a series of vignettes from his travels as a young medical student, there are some wonderful political observations, some hilarious adventure parts and some really dull sections about medicine and leprosy. Probably would have blown my mind a lot more if I'd read this in, say, college, but I still enjoyed it thoroughly. Very different from the movie, which I'm embarrassed that I saw first.

1968: Mark Kurlansky
This was a great popular history book about, well, the year 1968 as a watershed year. Not super sophisticated in its history as a popular book, it still managed some real complexity and detail as it described events around the world in that year, from the King and Kennedy assassinations through Vietnam, the radicalizing of the civil rights movement, the Columbia and Chicago riots, and even including student movements in Mexico, Poland, Prague and France. I love Cold War history and 1960’s/70’s in particular, so really enjoyed this book. It was also nearly impossible to put down with gripping and fast paced writing throughout.

Master and the Margarita – Anton Bulgarov
Surrealist Russian fiction, and apparently the partial inspiration for the Rolling Stones’s Sympathy for the Devil. A very cool book, with a fascinating plot about sort of about the devil come to earth. Reminded me a lot of Murakami’s work, who I’m sure read this. Still, the ideas of the book, the concept of the book was more interesting than actually reading the book, not sure if that was the slightly antiquated early/midcentury writing, a so-so translation or what, but I never quite enjoyed it as much as I liked it.

Machu Picchu to Lima

And so we've come to the end of the road. Machu Pichu of course was the final big highlight of the trip, and well worth the effort and obstacles to getting there. Truly lived up to all the hype. The trip to aguas calientes from Cusco was mostly unmemorable, save for a death defying taxi ride in which we almost killed a donkey, and a train ride in which we almost killed the gringos behind us. Our hotel in Aguas Calientes was by far the nicest we´d stayed at on the trip- in fact, we were exclaiming about how clean and pleasant it was when the whole building began to shake with a deafening roar and we looked out the window to see the train passing about five feet from our window. Oh well, didnt keep us from sleeping we were so tired!

Up at 430 AM for the first bus up the mountain to the ruins, though made it onto the second bus which was still very exciting. Got to Machu Pichu at dawn, the 26th and 27th people there that day, and settled in on a terrace above the citadel to watch the sunrise over the mountains and ruins. Well, I have to say from the moment we got there, the whole thing astounded me. I was actually a little worried I would be jaded about ruins and amazing places, but Machu Pichu lived up to and exceeded every idea I had of the place. The buildings themselves are of course quite impressive. The terraces, essentially retaining walls for growing crops that have been perfectly cut into the mountain like giant 12 ft steps, are an amazing feat of 15th century people who didnt even have the wheel, and things of astonishing craftsmanship, beauty and engineering even today. But even if you took out the walls and the city, the setting itself is magical feeling. Perched on a peak with the small sharp peak of Huayna Pichu (see pics) looming overhead in the fog and surrounded on most sides by sheer cliffs dropping to the river. Just beyond the first valley stand enormous limestone karst monoliths, thousands of feet high and covered in green. Beyond these stand higher jagged mountains, softened slightly with a blanket of jungle, and beyond these mountains in the distance one can make out snow capped mountains. As the sun came up and the first rays of daylight hit huayna pichu and the ruins I was just amazed. Would have to agree with this choice as one of the new seven wonders of the world. (wont get into my complaints about some of the others though, no accounting for taste I guess)

It was also wonderful to start the morning with so few people there. Though even as more people arrived throughout the day, the ruins still had enough nooks and crannies and small buildings to explore alone and feel surprisingly intimate with the place. The site is large but not overwhelming, and the vistas from seemingly everywhere are amazing. I joked about it being impossible to take a bad picture of the place.

Still, it was crowded enough that we had to wait in line to climb Huayna Pichu, the small peak about 1000 feet higher than Machu Picchu. Well, those incans basically cut stairs, some about three feet high, into the side of the cliff with sheer vertigo inducing drops to one side. This made it quite a hike up, but well worth it for the views from the ruins on top. There were even a few tunnels to clamber through before reaching the top. Back down again for some more wandering amongt the ruins, even as the crowds began to show up. Again, I would emphasize that some places can barely be photographed with justice, let alone described by a humble backpacker like myself. I can only highly recommend going there to anyone.

Át this point I´d also like to thank MSPP for making ID´s so lousy that third world tourist attractions dont think they are real. I knew I should have bought that fake ISIC card on Khao Sarn Road last year!! Stopped on the way home at Ollaytaytambo ruins, a bit of a letdown after MP I have to say. We did make another stop at Moray, a strange amphitheater like set of concentric terraces where the incans expereimented and perfected their agricultural techniques. Exciting too as a joint Quechua - Aymara ceremony honoring Pachamama (roughly = mother earth) was going on, and we were about the only gringos wandering aroud the festivities.

Back to Cusco for the 20 hour bus to Lima, where we are now. Probably the most excruciating thing about the busride was being forcewd to watch Pay It Forward not once but twice! Staying at a very nice hotel, the Espana, an old colonial mansion which has real looking art on the walls and even a parrot that speaks Spanish.

Lima remains as grim as when we first saw it, oppressively low overcast clouds and smog and a grime that seems to stick to everything and anything. Visited the terrifying Museum of the Spanish Inquisition, (which I might point out used techniques like waterboarding and palestine hangs still in use by the good ol´USA of A) Visited the Church of San Francisco, with some lovely Reubens paintings, an Portuguese Azulejo tile exhibit of mild interest, and then catacombs discovered beneath the cathedral in 1950 to hold 70,000 skeletons and tunnels that apparently connect all over the city. Yikes. Also went to Polvo Azules market, where we picked up some bootleg DVDs at the mythical DVD Valhalla we´ve been hearing abuot from other travllers. And then its back to the good old USA, which frankly Im feeling ready for...

And so dear readers, thanks again! Stick around for more book reviews coming soon, as I likely wont be travelling anywhere exotic for a while, stuck as I will be in dissertation land!

Proof that I went to (the bathroom at) Machu Picchu:

(pics- MP with Huayna Picchu in background, MP with karst in background, MP, Moray Terraces)

I Love the (sacred) Valley OH!

The hike was insane, but absolutely worth it. A four day trek to Choquequirao, Machu Pichu's sister city, an Incan ruin that is actually larger than Machu Pichu at 1800 hectares (Ill leave the metric math to you dear reader). We departed bright and early from Cusco, (430 AM) to bus out to the town of Charo, where the trailhead begins. Charo was a charming little dusty red tile town in the mountains, with almost nothing besides a central plaza where some local women were chattering away in Quechua and drying maiz in the sun.



Our group was my trusty compañero Ben, a guy named Pieru- a spoiled rich kid from Lima who was quite hilarious, and an Arequipeño family of a grandmother, mother, a chubby bratty 11 year old boy and 16 year old daughter. It soon became clear there was no way the grandmother would make it, and she headed back after lunch and two hours of hiking. It also became clear that the family was not exactly accustomed to exercise, and the Choquequirao hike is quite legendary for its difficulty. It was quite beautiful though, winding initially through Eucalyptus and yellow grass covered hills, with scenery that reminded me a lot of the Sierras and Yosemite in Northern California. Slowly the town receded, and 17,000 snow capped peaks appeared around each bend. The first day was a little bit of hiking up, but mostly down, which was pretty ####### the knees. We descended a total of about 4000 feet over 11 miles and camped by the river, at a lovely campsite whose serenity was only slightly disturbed by the presence of a few dozen Peruvian boy scouts. Our guide pointed to a cloud on a distant mountain and explained that was Choquequirao. Food was pretty good, though the Arequipeño children whined brattily while the mother went on and on about her various conspiracy theories about Chileans taking over Peru. (One of my faves- Chileans sneak Producto de Chile stickers onto Peruvian fruit exports!) Slept under the southern stars to the sounds of the river below, with a perfectly full moon light enough to read by and lighting up the canyons and mountains casting deep blue moon shadows into the distance.



Up up early for a grueling day of all uphill (5000ft/7miles). My leg was killing me, but we managed and even beat the sun for part of it. Finally turned a corner at Marapucha, a tiny town of reed huts and a few donkeys, from where we could see the ruins a few hours hike away on a distant peak. Across the valley lay another village, patchwork farms stretchiung out and enshrouded in clouds at about eye level to where we stood. I noticed that suddenly the flora had gone from dry grass and cacti to far more lush and jungly, and realized that it was because we were now essentially in a moist cloud forest, watered every morning by clouds and fog. We waited for a few hours for the Arequipeño family, and then pushed on to our campsite at the ruins. The Arequipeños (arequi-pains-in-the-ass-yo's) didnt all even make it up to the ruin after the hike.

We were running late what with waiting, and I dont mind waiting for people that may be slower but it was frustrating because no one got out of bed which is what mostly delayed us. But we were there, by ourselves feeling like explorers and doing something I will remember as a lifetime highlit for the rest of my life. Like many of the places I've visited, words really cant do justice, nor can photos for that matter. Anyway, we headed down from our campsite (yes, you camp within the city limits) to some incredible agricultural inca terraces, which in spite of being hundreds of years old the masonry was so impressive looked like they had been built yesterday. They cut into the mountain at 90 angles as if creating a life sized topographical map, and are beautiful in their green vegetation and gray rock structure, with white rock llamas paced within. The terraces which make up the city are still being excavated, further adding to the excitement of being there and feeling like real pioneer adventurers.

Up from there we went to the main plaza of the ruins, where we were the ONLY PEOPLE. Thats right, the only people at this amazing ancient ruin perched in the mountains of Peru as the sun was fading over another distant muontain range. It was a very Indianna Jones kind of moment, and the beauty of the place was breathtaking. We wandered through the grass to the temple of the sun, the temple of the moon and the temple of the stars, all typical of any Incan ruins. From there we climbed up a little further to view the site from above, the Choquequirao equivalent of Huayna Pichu. The buildings themselves are ironically (though I suppose intentionally) overshadowed by the mountains, also the Incan gods which I suppose makes sense that they would choose this place as sacred enough to build.

Choquequirao was built around the same time as Machu Pichu, thought to be its sister city and the winter retreat of a Incan prince. Because of the crazy hike to get there and inability to put in a road it remains dificult to get there except by four or five day hike. Hence, the 1% of visitors that Machu Pichu gets, though the government talks of building a funicular, it thankfully probably wont happen son. In retrospect, the five day hike would have been much better. The hike back was equally strenuous, though we managed to mostly beat the sun pounding up and down the switchbacks. Arrived back in Charo, where we sampled the local specialty of a man we met on the street. Some kind of dried smoked mountain goat dripping with fat that was delicious, though hopefully disease free.

And now back in Cusco where everything continues to go wrong. Due to Pachamama's vengeance, or perhaps Peruvian holiday week, we had to change around all our travel plans to the sacred valley in order to get to Machu Pichu tomorrow. But, we are off again a few short hours!

*(pics, me above choquequirao, ruined buidings, example of extensive choque terraces, llama detail, more temples)

see> nytimes article/ "the other machu pichu"