Feldman's Faves: March 13, 2023

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE

This is a very exciting week for those of us who are fans of college basketball. It feels like the end of an era with Jim Boeheim announcing his retirement last week after FORTY SEVEN years as head coach of the Syracuse Orangemen, which follows the retirements of Coach K and Roy Williams. I am feeling a little nostalgic right now for Jerry Tarkanian and Bobby Knight (yes, I am getting old). At the same time, this year I am becoming a Purdue fan and rooting for Leaside’s own Zach Edey. Go Boilermakers!

For those of you with children on March Break this week I hope you find something fun to do with them and of course, I wish you strength, courage and above all, perseverance….

I also want to wish Tiffany a very happy birthday.

No theme this week, just topics of interest.

Fifteen Dogs By: Andre Alexis –As person who became a dog lover relatively late in life I am now always interested in finding materials that deal with this new obsession of mine. In Andre Alexis’ 2015 Giller Prize winning novel, Fifteen Dogs, we learn about the lives and perspectives of a bunch of dogs that live in Toronto. In addition, to the story being unique and creative in terms of sharing dogs’ point of view (although Paul Auster did something kind of similar in 1999 with his novella Timbuktu) , I really enjoyed that the book uses Toronto as its setting, something we don’t see too often. The basic premise of the novel is that the Apollo and Hermes (yes the gods..) are having beers in a Toronto pub. They have a deep discussion about the nature of humanity, and wonder what it would be like if animals had human intelligence -- and come up with a bet: “I'll wager a year's servitude, said Apollo, that animals -- any animal you choose -- would be even more unhappy than humans are, if they had human intelligence. Apollo believes human intelligence is, at best: "an occasionally useful plague", but Hermes isn't convinced, and takes the bet -- with odds that would seem to strongly favor him: "if, at the end of its life, even one of the creatures is happy, I win" (though they haven't settled how many animals, or what kind, are to be converted at that point yet). Passing by a veterinary clinic where fifteen dogs have been left overnight, for various reasons, they settle on this batch of trial-subjects, endowing them -- presto -- with human intelligence.” As one reviewer (who was not a huge fan of this book) notes, “So Fifteen Dogs starts off with fifteen dogs that suddenly find themselves with human intelligence, but the bet is only decided at their death; true, according to the terms, it would be enough if the first to keel over died happy but Alexis draws things out to a rather bitter end and it will eventually (many, many years later) come down to the last dog standing. Meaning, also, that while the story starts with fifteen dogs it is not a happy-dog story, and there are less than fifteen soon, and they keep dying, often in rather ugly ways; perhaps realistic in this regard, Fifteen Dogs is a horribly sad story, too. (It also suggests that this book is less about intelligence…..or specifically human consciousness than mortality, and what we make of our lives.)…Alexis' canine characters aren't merely pulling off talking-dog acts; he does try to imagine a different species endowed with human consciousness. Plausibly, some human concepts and behavior continue to be incomprehensible to the dogs, who continue to see things from their vantage point. Used to relationships that are structured entirely around the concept of status, they don't readily understand human reactions in many circumstances. Or, on a more basic level, they can't understand human cleaning-fastidiousness -- why would anyone wash dishes when they could let all that goodness accumulate ? Alexis does manage to create rich dog-characters, whether they cling to some concept or ideal of the primal-canine, like Atticus, or try to understand and utilize their new-found intelligence and consciousness, like Majnoun and Prince…. Alexis does well with his characters -- not surprisingly, thinking and talking dogs and Greek gods are fun material to work with -- and is good with the poignant observations and detail, but it doesn't all really add up. Despite cutting down the numbers at a steady clip, Fifteen Dogs has some trouble juggling so many characters. In some cases Alexis barely bothers -- several dogs barely register at all -- but in separating them he also has to shift his focus, and some certainly don't get enough (or the proper) attention; some of their adventures are essentially entirely separate stories, variations on his fundamental theme that feel a bit awkwardly all not-quite-fit together. Occasional divine interference further muddies these waters. A lot of this is very nicely done…The fundamental question the novel ostensibly addresses also poses a problem -- for one thing because it's never clear enough what the novel's premise (in the form of the bet), actually is, with terms like 'human intelligence' and 'happiness' left more or less undefined (Alexis does try to show more than tell (and he does so quite nicely), and yet again this proves to be poor writerly advice: certain things -- especially such essentials -- simply need spelling out). While much of the detail of how the dogs find themselves transformed and then approach life differently (or try not to) is nicely done, as thought-experiment on the larger scale Fifteen Dogs certainly disappoints. Alexis is a fine writer, and much of Fifteen Dogs impresses; it's also moving (albeit somewhat cheaply: offing dog after dog -- and so many ! -- is an easy way to break the reader's heart). Many of the stories and scenes in the novel are very good -- but it doesn't quite work or come fully together as a novel.“ I can’t say I agree with this critique. I think this novel is ambitious and creative. Getting into the POV of these dogs is fun and actually fundamental to understanding what it is to be human. The Giller folks clearly agreed. Here’s a good review from Kirkus - https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/andre-alexis/fifteen-dogs/

TED BUSINESS - You don't actually know what your future self wants | Shankar Vendantam - If you ever go on to LinkedIn you will often find people “writing letters to their younger selves” and giving themselves advice. While I do think this exercise is useful to a certain degree it really does reinforce the cliché that ‘hindsight is 20/20’. The discussion in this PODCAST turns this idea around and posits that you have no real idea what your future self will be. In fact, this PODCAST argues that over time we become different versions of ourselves, in a way which we can never really predict. Think of what you were doing five years ago….and then try to imagine what you might be doing in five years from now. So while we can’t predict who we will become, what we can do, is put ourselves in the best position to become our best selves by being open minded, curious and flexible in our thinking over time – something that is a core belief of mine and one reason why I love reading books and listening to PODCASTS. Here’s an excerpt from the PODCAST itself, "You are constantly becoming a new person," says journalist Shankar Vendantam. In a talk full of beautiful storytelling, he explains the profound impact of something he calls the "illusion of continuity" -- the belief that our future selves will share the same views, perspectives and hopes as our current selves -- and shows how we can more proactively craft the people we are to become. Stay tuned after the talk as Modupe shares a clear-eyed and empowering perspective on your future self’s feelings“: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ted-business/id470622782?i=1000596987371

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation.

And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon