The Essential Marcuse- Marcuse, Feenberg and Leiss (2007)
Eleven selected writings by the Marxist philosopher Herbert Marcuse. Some of these didn’t interest me much at all, so I didn’t bother taking notes. But three in particular did.
The most controversial of Marcuse’s essays is Repressive Tolerance (1965) where he defends removing tolerance for right wing ideas. I knew of this but hadn’t read it.
The one that most interested me was his Foundations of Historical Materialism. Historical Materialism is synonymous with “Marx’s writings”, and this 1932 essay was essentially Marcuse diving into the just-recently-released Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, a series of writings by early Marx where he covers his philosophical grounding for later writings. Even though I had read the EPM 1844, Marcuse’s essay filled in some ideas that I had apparently not gotten. So I found this extremely interesting. The third essay that I really liked was Nature and Revolution (1972), where Marcuse again goes back to early Marx and defines the philosophical basis for a transformation of society based on nature. In this essay he outlines how the ecological and women’s rights movements would become instrumental in challenging capitalism.
The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams (1979)
Having seen the movie already, this was pretty familiar reading. It’s amusing tongue in cheek stuff.
Arthur Dent, from Earth, is minding his own business one morning when he finds bulldozers outside his house ready to knock it down so a bypass can be built. Unbeknownst to Earthers, Earth was to be demolished that day to build a galactic bypass. But Ford, an alien who had befriended Arthur years ago, knows about it and gets him off the planet right before it is blown up.
Arthur and Ford are picked up by a Vogon destroyer ship, only to be launched into space. But highly improbably, they are picked up by Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox and his English girl, Trillian (Tricia McMillan). They end up at the now defunct planet of Magrathea. They find out that Earth had been a ten-million year computer project to find the ultimate question to life, but it was blown up by the Vogons only 5 days from completion.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe- Douglas Adams (1980)
Arthur, Trillian, Ford, and Zaphod and Marvin the Android leave Magrathea chased by a Vogon ship. The Heart of Gold is CPU bound while trying to figure out how to make a good cup of tea, on Arthur’s request, and can’t fight off the Vogon attack. Zaphod holds a séance to call up his dead great grandfather to save them. Zaphod and Marvin are transported to the home of the hitchhikers guide, while the others are left in a black void. Zaphod is caught and sent to the Total Perspective Vortex, which should have vaporized him, but instead inspires him to believe he’s the most important being in the universe. Zaphod goes on his quest where he meets the editor in chief of the Guide, Zarniwoop. Zarniwoop tells Zaphod that the Heart of Gold has actually been shrunk to a tiny size and Zaphod has been carrying it in his pocket. The ship is resized and the five travel to the Restaurant at the end of the universe: not the spatial edge of the universe, the temporal END of the universe, where the entire universe implodes and ends. Right before it happens, the group steals a ship that belongs to the loudest rock group in the universe. The ship is set to crash into a sun and cause a light show.
The group is split up with Arthur and Ford returning in time to a prehistoric earth.
Confusing enough plot line?
Life, the Universe, and Everything- Douglas Adams (1982)
The plot of
this, like the last book, is so involved I don’t feel like recapping the entire thing.
Arthur and Ford get off the prehistoric earth through an improbability event, to find themselves on earth 2 days before the Vogons destroyed it. They meet Slartibartfast again and he takes them to a few planets in search of…. something. Arthur is confronted by a being that has been killed repeatedly, and inadvertantly, by Arthur. The creature tries to kill Arthur but he escapes. He also rejoins Zaphod, Trillian, and Ford, as they try to stop some aliens from reconstructing the infinite improbability drive, but they fail, and the robot aliens capture Zaphod and Marvin. There is a robot attack… and Arthur is eventually taken to a planet where he learns to fly.
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish- Douglas Adams (1984)
Arthur returns to earth where he meets Fenchurch, a lovely girl who he relates to. At the end of the book, Marvin the Android dies and Fenchurch vanishes.
Mostly Harmless- Douglas Adams (1992)
Arthur’s ship crashes on a planet. He decides he’s never getting back to earth and settles in on the planet, finding a relatively fulfilling career as sandwich maker. On a separate track is Ford, who crashes HQ at the new Hitchhiker’s Guide publishing company, and gets himself an unlimited expense account. He also discovers some nefarious goings on and captures one of the new guides, in the guise of a small bird, and sends it to Arthur’s planet for safekeeping.
Tricia meanwhile shows up on Arthur’s planet, and drops off a moody teenage girl, Random, who Tricia claims is his daughter. How? She wanted a kid and utilized a few of Arthur’s deposits at a sperm bank. Random however finds the package Ford sent, and takes off with it, only to find that it is a way to get to Earth, where she has never been. So she takes off. Ford and Arthur go after her. When Random lands on earth, Tricia is sent to cover it as a news anchor, and the four are reunited, only to have the Vogon’s return and blow the planet up again.