The Mystery of the Yellow Room

By Gaston Leroux. Published in 1907.

I going farther back in my "Locked Room Mystery" reading. The Mystery of the Yellow Room is referred to as a classic by Poirot in "The Clocks" and in "The Hollow Man" as the best detective novel ever.

The mystery is good. I'm not sure it's an honest mystery though. There is a a lot of reveal even after the murder is announced. That's cheating. 

The problem with pure detective fiction is that the detective has to somehow always be in the right place, at the right time, to meet the right people, discover their secrets, put two and two together, and then get the guilty to spill the beans. In weaker mysteries, this can be very forced and mechanical. Sometimes the author writes like they are making shit up. I respect Christie here as she was fairly good at keeping her writing fresh, avoiding the problems, while still telling a mystery.

The Yellow Room-- did an OK job of avoiding the problems. I'll forgive it because it is so old.

The Idle Traveler: The Art of Slow Travel

By Dan Kieran. With forward by Tom Hodgkinson

I have a love/hate attitude towards Tom Hodgkinson's Idler oeuvre. This and some of the other Idler books come across as very unambitious, entitled laziness. That you have the time and money to travel for weeks and that no matter how bad the day was, you can always stop by a local pub for a beer. 

And...

Most of our suffering while traveling comes from resisting what's happening. The train is late. The weather is bad. The hotel is noisy. These aren't obstacles. This is travel. Your plans are imaginary. The trip you're on is real. Chao's isn't fun, but it forces your to confirm the illusions you have about control. 

Treat travel as a practice of attention, of letting go, of embracing what you encounter rather than bending it to your will.

Eat Your Ice Cream

 By Ezekiel J. Emanuel 

I have a strong feeling that this book is a paragraph of theses, and pages of examples. I'm copying down the thesis now. When I finish the book I'll circle back and see how wrong I was.

1. Avoid self-destructive risks.
2. Cultivate family, friends and other social relationships.
3. Stay mentally sharp
4. Consume healthy food and drink.
5. Exercise well and regularly
6. Get the rest you need.

Done the full book, now more more detail...

1. Avoid self-destructive risks. Avoid excessive risks of serious injury or brain damage. Maybe give up your motorcycle. 
2. Cultivate family, friends and other social relationships. Engage and talk to people as you travel, shop and go about mundane activities. Be social.
3. Stay mentally sharp. Aging is a fact of live. You are not going to stay sharp forever. Plan for that (Will, advance care directives) Don't be a couch potato or hermit. Learn. Volunteer. Ask yourself: what can I do that would be useful and helpful to the lives of others?
4. Consume healthy food and drink. Limit eating sugars and ultra processed foods. Eat fermented foods. Ensure you get enough protein. Try fasting every now and then. Eat with people. Drink alcohol lightly or not at all. Eat high quality carb's-- fiber, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Liquid plant oils are generally good for you. 
5. Exercise well and regularly-- 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous exercise a week. 10 to 15 minutes a day.
6. Get the rest you need. Figure out your sleep problems and get your 7-9 hours

Forever Strong

By Gabrielle Lyon

Exercise, eat right, always.

This Is How You Loose the Time War

Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone

This is how you write great sci-fi. 

The Three Coffins

 Aka "The Hollow Man"

By John Dickson Carr

I heard of this book in "Knives Out 3: Wake Up Dead Man." In that movie, the detective mentions that this book contains a lecture on all the ways a locked room murder can happen. Of course, I had to read it.

The book was fun to read. I think I will start reading more "fair detective stories" going forward.

The book contains two Impossible murders. The first murder happens in a locked room. The murderer just vanishes. Similarly, the second murder takes place on a dead-end street where the murderer also just vanishes, leaving no footprints in the snow, or witnesses to the dirty deed.

All becomes much more explainable when you reverse the order of the murders. 

Vigil

 by George Saunders

I felt a new and powerful truth being beamed directly into me, by a vast, beneficent God, in the form of this unyielding directive:

Comfort

Comfort, for all else is futility

This is a story of a spirt sent to guide a man, a remorseless oil Barron, into the afterlife. 

I read Saunders because his essay "Though Experiment" sent me down a path of exploring radical but active non-judgment. From this I've read Simone Wells, Camus, Murdoch, Foucault and others. 

Saunders would call this elevation. AI says elevation is a movement towards moral, emotional and spiritual clarity-- rising above habitual pettiness, fear or self centeredness. 

Vigil explores this idea though fiction. How does one deal with the challenge and problems of being elevated? Especially with someone who has lied to and hurt many others. You can't be passive here. And, you can't let those with (perhaps rightful) judgements run you over.

Elevation assumes that who we are is hard to change. Many of our choices are driven by our background and opportunities. Our ability to change ourselves is very limited and our ability to change our ability to change ourselves is even more limited. You didn't choose to come into this earth. You are inevitable. 

All we can do is accept people for who they are. Comfort them. Build relationships with them. Everything else is futility. 

Part of me worries that, taken to an extreme, this approach looks passive. I have a cousin who is a police officer. I would love to see how she responds-- there are people in this world who are violent and dangerous. We need to take action to protect ourselves. 

Having said that, the more I explore elevation, the more I realize the truth in it, that there is very little we can do to change people. In adversity, we can stand our ground, look at the facts of the situation, and decide our actions on that. 

Perhaps a hurricane is good metaphor. Of course I have to take action to mitigate the destruction of a hurricane. But, becoming angry or being afraid of a hurricane... that is waisted time and energy. Instead I must respect the hurricane and deal with it as it is.