Compare and contrast #9
Four more great books
Below you will find two versions of each of four book reviews. The first in each case is the one I submitted to the editor of Teach Secondary magazine, while the second in each case is the version he actually published. In this article I invite readers to say which version you like, and why.
Here are the books I reviewed. Click on an image to expand it.
Weimar: Life on the edge of catastrophe.
Hotel Exile: Paris in the shadow of war.
The Mathematician’s Library: The Books That Unlocked The Power Of Numbers.
Verb Your Enthusiasm: How to Master the Art of the Verb and Transform Your Writing.
Weimar: Life on the edge of catastrophe
My version
Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe
(Hoyer, Allen Lane, £30)
Weimar, the birthplace of the optimistic but short-lived republic of the same name, a place called “home” by Goethe, Liszt and Nietzsche and a mere eight kilometres from Buchenwald.
The book starts at the end, with an American soldier forcing the local populace to witness what was being done in their name. The story is told through the lives of individuals like Carl Weirich, who kept a diary spanning decades.
By focusing on the quotidian concerns of ordinary people, Hoyer makes us realise that while individuals may lack the power to affect the sweeping societal changes underway, they are not entirely free of responsibility for them.
We also learn that catastrophic events don’t happen in a vacuum: Weimar was already much inclined to antisemitism and far right “solutions” before Hitler was even born. And we also learn, as if we needed to be shown, that making accommodations with extremists ultimately fails.
Reviewed by Terry Freedman
Published version
Weimar was the birthplace of the optimistic, yet short-lived republic of the same name, and the place that Goethe, Liszt and Nietzsche called 'home', situated a mere 8km from Buchenwald. Weimar starts at the end, with an American soldier forcing the local populace to witness the acts that were being perpetrated in their name.
Hoyer then proceeds to tell the story of Weimar through the lives of individuals like Carl Weirich, who kept a diary spanning decades. By focusing on the quotidian concerns of ordinary people, Hoyer helps us appreciate that while individuals might lack the power to affect the sweeping societal changes happening around them, they're not entirely free of responsibility for them. Thus, we learn that Weimar was already inclined towards antisemitism and far-right 'solutions' before Hitler was even born - and that efforts at making accommodations with extremists are always ultimately doomed to failure. Reviewed by Terry Freedman
Hotel Exile: Paris in the shadow of war
My version
Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War
(Rogoyska, Allen Lane, £25)
You settle down to read, and the subject of this particular vignette could be you: a teacher, a student, a mother, a brother. So you are drawn in, almost against your will, into a situation you hope you will never experience, but which you now start to understand on a visceral level. This is, perhaps, Rogoyska’s greatest achievement here: to make you forget you are reading about something that happened before you were born to people you didn’t know.
In describing the rise and aftermath of Nazism she has chosen as her vantage point the Hotel Lutetia, where James Joyce lived and where Picasso was a regular guest. We learn about the stateless people who arrived between 1933 and 1939, how it became a home for the German intelligence service during the war, and then a hospital of sorts for those returning from concentration camps. This book brings history alive.
Reviewed by Terry Freedman
Published version
Settling down with this book, you start to realise that the people you're reading about could easily be you - a teacher, a student, a mother, a brother. You find yourself drawn in, almost against your will, into a situation you hope you'll never experience, but which you now begin to understand at a visceral level.
Rogoyska somehow manages to make you forget that you're reading about something that happened before you were born, to people you didn't know. In describing the rise and aftermath of Nazism, she chooses as her vantage point the Hotel Lutetia, where James Joyce lived and where Picasso was a regular guest. We learn about the stateless people who arrived there between 1933 and 1939, how it later became a wartime home for the German intelligence service, and then a hospital of sorts for those returning from the concentration camps. A book that truly brings history alive.
Reviewed by Terry Freedman
The Mathematician’s Library: The Books That Unlocked The Power Of Numbers
My version
The Mathematicians’ Library
(Briggs, Ivy, £281)
Generations of school students have asked their maths teacher what the point of this is, where “this” is, say, Pascal’s Triangle. Yet, as Briggs makes clear, even problems that did not appear to have much bearing on maths at the time have contributed to our mathematical understanding and even the development of new fields of study.
This wide-ranging book takes in probability, fractals, astronomy, Babbage, Lovelace, and a host of other areas and people.
It is a feast of a book: beautifully produced, lavishly illustrated, and (surprisingly!) readable. Perhaps Briggs’ main achievement here is to make maths inviting, intriguing and even exciting. We learn about many unsung heroes who have contributed to the subject over thousands of years, as well as a few key texts that have been published, along with thumbnail sketches of their contents.
Maths teachers looking for something with which to inspire their students will almost certainly find it here.
Published version
Generations of school students have asked their maths teachers what the point of this is - where 'this' is, say, Pascal's triangle. As Briggs makes clear, however, even problems that didn't seem to have much bearing on maths at the time have since contributed to our mathematical understanding, and sometimes given rise to whole new fields of study.
This wide-ranging book takes in probability, fractals, astronomy, Babbage, Lovelace and a host of other areas and people. It's a feast of a book - beautifully produced, lavishly illustrated and surprisingly readable.
Briggs' key achievement is to make maths seem inviting, intriguing and exciting. We learn about many of the unsung heroes who have contributed to the subject over thousands of years, as well as some landmark texts, complete with thumbnail sketches of their contents.
Maths teachers seeking fresh inspiration for their students will almost certainly find it here.
Verb Your Enthusiasm: How to Master the Art of the Verb and Transform Your Writing
My version
Verb Your Enthusiasm
(Kaufman, Particular, £20)
No book about the craft of writing seems to be complete without a stern chapter on the importance of eschewing adverbs and adjectives. But what to put in their place?
Kaufman provides a very detailed and highly readable answer. It is quite an eye-opener to discover the degree of heavy lifting the humble verb can do, and it’s refreshing to be told not to utilise certain words but to use verbs instead. Kaufman even encourages us to invent verbs, as long as the meaning is clear. After all, if that was good enough for Shakespeare….
There is a fascinating – and useful – chapter on what studies in cognitive science tell us about how the brain responds to different verbs, giving the writer another aspect to consider.
The “Good Habits” section which rounds off each chapter provides the reader with homework, such as responding to a prompt.
This is both enjoyable and informative.
Reviewed by Terry Freedman
Published version
No book about the craft of writing seems complete without a stern chapter on the importance of eschewing adverbs and adjectives - but what to put in their place?
Kaufman has put together an eye-opening guide to the degree of heavy lifting the humble verb can do, and it’s certainly refreshing to be told to use them over certain other types of words. Kaufman even encourages us to invent some new verbs of our own, so long as the meanings are clear. After all, if it was good enough for Shakespeare...
There’s also a fascinating chapter on what cognitive science has revealed about how the brain responds to different verbs, as well as ‘Good Habits’ sections that round off each chapter and provide readers with homework, such as responding to a prompt.
A book that’s as enjoyable as it is informative.
Reviewed by Terry Freedman
Over to you!
I like your versions way better, Terry, because your writing style is approachable and not traditional stuffy editorial "I'll change this and that and make it better".
I can't put my finger on it, but in the published review of Hotel Exile, I thought, "Huh? Someone missed the point." I just read it again and can't tell you exactly why, but that's what I thought.
I agree with Jim Cummings. And, here, though the comparisons closely match, your reviews are human. You color the reader's imagine. The published versions almost sound like AI. They're chilly. You make me want to pick up these books and read them -- well, except the maths one, but especially the WWII ones. Hemingway colored the reader's imagination with his use of verbs: “…and the doors banged shut with the wind.”
––Ernest Hemingway, By-Line: Ernest Hemingway: “After the Wars, 1949-1956 – A Situation Report, Havana”. Look, September 4, 1956.