At 11:44 AM 4/23/99 -0400, Maggie wrote:
>can anyone give me a list of great petry or books to read
>over the summer? i would like to expand my horizons.
>also, what do you guys think about the author pynchon?
>entropy?
>anyone read it?
 
Re. Pynchon, OK, it's off-topic, but I'll stick my neck out.
 
Pynchon is cool in my view; two of his novels 'Gravity's Rainbow'
and 'Mason and Dixon' (the most recent) are really great, and I
think the critical consensus is that GR at least is an important
work.  He is not without his flaws, however, one of which is a
tendency to cite scientific theories about which he is well-read,
but often somewhat superficial.  This isn't necessarily a problem
in itself (who can be expected to be an authority on information
theory, say, without having formally studied the subject?), but
he tends toward showyness and cuteness on occasion, which can
get annoying.   I find 'Entropy' particularly annoying in this respect
(and Pynchon's retrospective opinion of it is not very high either--
see 'Slow Learner').  Incidentally, the books by Henry Adams (The
Education) and Norbert Weiner (Cybernetics(?)) which Pynchon
says inspired him are both a lot more interesting than anything
Pynchon has had to say on the subject of Entropy.
 
I should confess that my reactions carry a "scientifically educated"
bias.
 
Pynchon is more successful, I feel, when he can carry off the
presentation of scientific and other obscure material with a
degree of satirical flair, as in the "Mr. Information" episode
of GR.
 
I seem to recall that a number of Pynchon enthusiasts used to
hang out at rec.arts.books, if you're interested.
 
 
--
Brett Zombro
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