China has applied for World Heritage status for the ancient rock carvings of the Huashan Mountain in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in 2016.
Rock paintings of the Huashan Mountain in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region [Credit: Xinhua]
According to China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage, UNESCO has already made a preliminary review of the application. A series of official documents to protect the ancient site of rock paintings in Huashan Mountain were issued. So far, around 150 million yuan has been invested on the relevant work to preserve the site. Better management and enhanced conservation efforts have been launched.
The rock paintings of Huashan Mountain are located on the west bank of the Mingjiang River in the Yaoda town, Ningming county, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. It is the biggest, most content-rich and best-preserved ancient rock carvings in China among all the discovered cultural relics to date. With a history of around 1800-2500 years, the sites were left from sacred activities of the ancient Luoyue people of the Zhuang ethnic groups in the drainage area of the Zuojiang River during the Warring States period (475-221BC) and Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220AD).
The whole painting stretches more than 200 meters in length and around 40 meters in height, with more than 1800 images in it, including people, horses, dogs, knives, swords and drums. Though a variety of archaeological theories have been made to explain the origin of the ancient artistic work, the exact reason for its creation still remains a mystery.
I read John D'Agata's essay in The Believer this past Spring where he talks about suicide and environmental factors in Las Vegas. At the time I didn't know that he was coming out with a book on the exact same subject, so when I found out that this essay I loved in The Believer was actually a book length essay I was immediately intrigued. About a Mountain
is about D'Agata's experience in Las Vegas exploring Yucca Mountain, a spot where nuclear waste was going to be stored. He explores what the world would look like in the future for the people who would have to deal with the effects of storing nuclear waste there. He works at a suicide hotline and explores the high suicide rate in Las Vegas and in doing so, explores the culture of Las Vegas and outside of Las Vegas.
I've been to Las Vegas several times (especially considering I'm not yet 21) but haven't read a whole lot about it. It's an interesting to place to know more about, but I was initially upset with D'Agata's original essay in The Believer because I felt it was a little dangerous to characterize a city by its suicide rate and further trying to make an explanation for it. Maybe, probably, this made me uncomfortable because I come from a place where suicide is quite frequent and through high school I was judged for being a part of that place. I was less bothered by that in the book, but I think maybe that is just because I accepted it from the essay. One of the greatest things about this book is that D'Agata is coming to Yucca Mountain with very little knowledge, which makes it very easy for the reader to learn right along with him. This is a technique a lot of my favorite essays and books employ. Rather than being talked at by an expert, we get to learn along with the author. For something as outrageous as Yucca Mountain that learning process can be extremely powerful.
D'Agata is considered in expert on the essay form and the evolution of it-- so you really have to respect him for that alone. However, I felt this book was a little indulgent at times. I really disliked when he strung sentences on and on and described one thing multiple ways for pages and pages. The book is not very long, but with the amount of time he spends saying the same thing 100 ways it could have been much shorter. I enjoyed this book, and I think to really get a grasp on Yucca Mountain you have to read the book, but I felt the essay in The Believer was much more cohesive and better written.
I give this book a B.
Additionally, the last three books I've reviewed have somehow dealt with environmental issues and at this point you can probably surmise this is something I'm passionate about. In fact, I'm so passionate about it I've decided to start a bi-weekly podcast about books that deal with environmental issues. Even if you're not that interested in the environment I can assume you have an interest in books- so please give my podcast a try! We're still in the beginning phases but you can check out our introductory podcast at GreenReads and while you're there leave us a comment, some ideas, or just follow us so you know when our first real episode goes up.
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.
Architects from studio Standardarchitecture-Zhaoyang Studio, authors of this project in places of tourist pilgrimage in Tibet, at building used technologies traditional for given district: bright pigments of local minerals used for colouring of walls of an interior.
Niyang River Visitor Center
The centre is named by name of the rivers, Niyang River Visitor Center. Here there will be a ticket office, a room for disguise and a bathroom. The building is on a tourist route, on border of Tibet and the Chinese province Sichuan.
Copyright by Mykita/Moncler | Photography & Direction Stefan Heinrichs Inspired by the look of 1950s Alpine glacier goggles, MYKITA & Moncler together developed the innovative and technologically advanced sunglasses LINO and ACHILLE, both made for the slopes and for the street. MYKITA & Moncler both stand for innovative and unique products of the highest quality, coupled with traditionalist brand philosophies. These shared values inspired the two companies to join forces in a project which aims to explore new and untapped territories in the eyewear market. In July 1954 Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni became the first men to conquer the second highest mountain in the world (K2 ). Equipped with oxygen, climbing spikes, mountaineer goggles and specially made down jackets by Moncler, the Italians reached the summit. Harking back to the origins of the former outfitter of Alpine expeditions, the collaboration resulted in two models whose material selection and design both take into account what were already key factors among mountaineers back then: modern 21st century sports goggles have to be light, durable and adjustable. A homage to the mountain and its conquerors was created in the form of the two models, LINO and ACHILLE, which are suitable both for downhill runs and also as classic sunglasses for everyday use – they are sporty as well as the perfect everyday accessory. the frames are inspired by the look of 1950s Alpine goggles, which featured round lenses in metal rims with leather side pieces for ultimate protection against the light. ACHILLE, with its straight top line and broad frame is the more avant-garde model of the pair, a retro-futuristic new look. LINO’s sweeping top line and slim frame make this model a modern counterpart to the glacier snow glasses of yesteryear. the swept-back frame edge in both unisex models reflects the look of that era; the original leather sections on the sides and bridge to protect against the glare are today revisited via the flared frames. A critical factor for the design process was the new material MYLON, developed and patented by MYKITA after years of research. the polyamide-based material is being used in eyewear production for the first time and displays the features of the desired attributes: light, extremely durable and individually adjustable to the wearer are the key advantages of this new material. Red and blue are a throwback to the first Moncler down coats that were originally sold in those colours in the early 1960s. Both models are available in the colours Red/Red flash mirror, Blue/Blue flash mirror as well as in a classic Black/Black flash mirror, in each case with mirrored lenses in the same colour or alternatively with solid grey-tinted lenses. the frames are fitted with mineral glass lenses from traditional Italian manufacturer Barberini, boasting excellent durability and clarity of vision. All lenses reveal the MYKITA & Moncler logo when breathed on. An anti-fog finish on the inside of the lenses plus an anti-scratch outer coating make these spectacles a top-calibre sporting companion. the glasses come with a padded sleeping bag style carry pouch for easy transport in addition to a black glasses case and box. The models comprising the MYKITA & Moncler collaboration are available by Mid December 2011 only at MYKITA shops and Moncler boutiques worldwide. MYKITA x MONCLER MYKITA MYLON
A 2,800-year-old Hittite inscription, which is on a rock in the Bolkar Mountain in the Central Anatolian province of Nigde and claimed to be the world’s oldest mining license, will be taken under protection.The inscription, discovered in Bolkar Mountains, is claimed to be the world’s oldest mining license. Works have been initiated to take it under protection [Credit: AA]
Nigde Culture and Tourism Director Tansel Tokmak said the 108-centimeter high and 186-centimeter wide inscription was from the late Hittite period, adding, “This region is rich in terms of the abundance of mineral. The inscription, which is estimated to have been written in the 8th century, is known as the first mining license in history. The first scientific work on the inscription was made by Professor Mustafa Kalac in 1973. He said measures should be taken to protect it. In 2013, museum archaeologists examined the piece and said 8 percent of the inscription had been damaged.”
Tokmak said they had initiated worked to take the necessary measures for the protection of the inscription. “It will be taken under protection. In the next level, the inscription will be copied and exhibited at the Nigde Museum as the ‘Bolkar Mine Inscription,’” he said.
Nigde Museum Directorate archaeologist Mustafa Eryaman said mining activities in the region dated back to 2,800 years ago, and continued in the Roman, Byzantium, Seljuk, Ottoman and Republican eras.
“The inscription, translated by Kalac, writes that King Warpalavas gave the administration of the Bolkar Mountains to Prince Tarhunzas and wishes for the mountain to be productive,” said Tokmak.
High-ranking officials from the autonomous Kurdish province of Dohuk have signed an agreement with Professor Peter Pfalzner of Tubingen University’s Institute of Ancient and Near Eastern Studies, aimed at researching and preserving Dohuk’s ancient sites. Pfalzner, an archaeologist who has worked in Syria and Iraq for many years, signed the declaration with Dohuk governor, Farhad Saleem Atrushi, and the Director of the region’s Departments of Antiquities, Dr. Hasan Qasim in Tubingen on February 5.Damaged relief at Mila Mergi [Credit: SFB 1070/Projekt B07]
Under the agreement, Pfalzner and his project team – part of the DFG-backed collaborative research center ResourceCultures – plan to expand on surveys taken over an area of 4400 square kilometers in 2013 and 2014, which were aimed at discovering ancient and historical settlements. The archaeologists used drone-mounted cameras to make 3D models of the landscape and have already located 92 relevant sites. Many of the settlements can be dated by finds such as pottery shards.
Cooperation between the archaeologists and the local authorities will enable important sites to be protected. The Bronze Age settlement of Bassetki became famous due to objects such as a bronze statue of the Akkadian god-king Naram-Sin found during excavations in the 1970s. Pfalzner’s latest survey of the area revealed an extensive lower city at the site – and the Kurdish authorities have agreed to suspend expansion there of the main road from Baghdad to Istanbul and to change part of the route to allow archaeological work to be carried out. Going ahead with the road-building would have destroyed this part of the ancient site.
Herdsmen on the Jebel Bihar plane [Credit: SFB 1070/Projekt B07]
Despite the explosive political situation in nearby regions, Governor Atrushi stressed that Dohuk is one of the safest provinces in Iraq. It is located between two mountain ranges and is protected by Peshmerga troops. The United Nations estimates the region now hosts more than half a million refugees from the campaigns of the IS terrorist movement. Governor Atrushi underlined that it was important to protect the region’s history despite the tremendous political and humanitarian challenges: “We must send a signal that normal life continues. That includes protecting our historical sites. And we will not approve new building applications without a green light from the Department of Antiquities.”
“This agreement gives us the opportunity to survey a region which has largely been a blank space on the archaeological map,” says Pfalzner. “Finding a lower city at Bassetki raised new questions. Until now, we didn’t know why the statue of an important ruler like Naram-Sin was found here on the periphery of his empire. We think now that this settlement may have been a major administrative center.”
Map of the Dohuk region [Credit: SFB 1070/Projekt B07]
In their 2013 survey, the archaeologists discovered that rock carvings at Mila Mergi showing the Assyrian king Tiglat-Pileser III had been badly damaged – probably by modern treasure hunters – and collected the fragments. A doctoral student in the ResourceCultures collaborative research center is now reconstructing and translating the tablets of cuneiform writing, which represent a valuable source of information. They describe the conquest of the land of Ulluba by the Assyrians, listing 20 captured cities. To date, it was believed the expansion of the Assyrian empire was driven by the need for raw materials; now the ResourceCultures researchers will examine whether cultural and religious resources – such as the control of holy places – could have played a role.
This week's teaser is from Wilkie Collins' Armadale.
"Put the mountain and the seas between you; be ungrateful, be unforgiving; be all that is most repellent to our own gentle nature, rather than live under the same roof, and breathe the same air with that man." (48)
This week's Booking Through Thursday is all of these questions!
1. Favorite childhood book? Lily's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes was my favorite picture book. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery was my favorite chapter bok.
2. What are you reading right now? In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Best American Essays 2008, and The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.
3. What books do you have on request at the library? Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion.
4. Bad book habit? Putting them down on the table with the spine up.
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? The Catcher in the Rye, About a Mountain by John D'Agata, Sleeping Naked is Green by Vanessa Farguharson, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.
6. Do you have an e-reader? Yes, I have a nook.
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? Several, although lately I've been focusing more on one at a time.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? Oh yeah, I read a lot more and I'm more conscious about what I think while I'm reading.
9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?) The Secret History of the Pink Carnation.
10. Favorite book you’ve read this year? Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? Not very often.
12. What is your reading comfort zone? Genres I know I can count on like literary nonfiction, graphic novels, young adult series, and classics.
13. Can you read on the bus? Yeah I do it all the time.
14. Favorite place to read? Outside as long as I don't have the sun to my back.
15. What is your policy on book lending? I'll lend to anyone I'm friends with.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books? I used to but now I use bookmarks and sticky notes.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books? Often.
18. Not even with text books? Still do it here.
19. What is your favorite language to read in? English though I can read some French.
20. What makes you love a book? Strong female characters, strong characters of any kind, detailed description but not flowery language.
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? If I come away from a book thinking it either changed the way I look at something or helped me learn a lot about a subject or life.
22. Favorite genre? Literary nonfiction.
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?) Current literary fiction.
24. Favorite biography? Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison by Linda Ashcroft.
25. Have you ever read a self-help book? I've read fitness walking books and study books.
26. Favorite cookbook? Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.
27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)? To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
28. Favorite reading snack? Popcorn or oranges.
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. I think I expected too much from it.
30. How often do you agree with critics about a book? Depends on the critic. I usually agree with book reviews from the Believer. Bookmarks is more touch and go.
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? I feel that I always give reasons for why I don't like a book so I don't mind giving negative reviews. I try to find something good even in books I dont like.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose? Dutch.
33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read? Middlemarch by George Eliot.
34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin? Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
35. Favorite Poet? Emily Dickinson.
36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time? I didn't have a library card until last week (I know, I know!) but including the university library I would say about 3 or 4.
37. How often have you returned book to the library unread? Frequently when I was younger, which is why I didn't get a library card again until last week.
38. Favorite fictional character? I have way too many! One I always remember fondly is Marcus in About a Boy by Nick Hornby.
39. Favorite fictional villain? Lydia Gwilt from Armadale by Wilkie Collins.
40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation? Some literary nonfiction and historical fiction.
41. The longest I’ve gone without reading. Three or four months probably.
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish. Most recently I have been very challenged by Surviving Paradise. Not sure if I'll finish it or not.
43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading? Noise, other conversations, my own nagging thoughts.
44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel? Jane Eyre! The PBS version.
45. Most disappointing film adaptation? I wasn't too fond of The Lightning Thief.
46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time? Oh boy, no clue. Definitely upwards $150 dollars.
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? Not that often, surprisingly.
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through? Boring plot.
49. Do you like to keep your books organized? I like to keep them on shelves, but in no particular order.
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them? I prefer to keep them.
51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding? Gone With the Wind, even though I said I'd read it by the end of the summer.
52. Name a book that made you angry. I can name an essay that made me angry. Ticket to the Fair by David Foster Wallace.
53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did? I wasn't sure if I'd like Candy Girl by Diablo Cody and really enjoyed it.
54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t? Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere by Jan Morris.
55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading? The Luxe series.
September was a bit of a hard month for me because I got so used to reading 10 books a month during the summer and once school started I had to cut down my reading a lot. October will probably be even worse because I have so many midterms and projects coming up. Still, I read quite a few books last month.
1. About a Mountain by John D'Agata (B) 2. Best American Essays 2008 edited by Adam Gopnik (B) 3. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris [audiobook] (B) 4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson (C) 5. Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon [audiobook] (B) 6. The Imposter's Daughter by Laurie Sandell (C) 7. Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion (B)
As I said earlier this month audiobooks are pretty much saving me right now. I listen to them at work and then I feel like I'm getting something done at least. What I've discovered this month is that I need to be much less harsh on myself in regards to how much I'm reading. I feel like if I go to bed without reading I wasted the day. On the flipside of that, I feel now more than ever that I need to read just to keep my heads on my shoulders. This semester I'm not reading full length books in any of my classes, most essays and literary criticism, so I have to work a little harder to get whole books finished.
I know the season of gift giving has just past – but, yes but, we all must have some unwanted stash of books lying around or at the least a mini mountain of hanging onto hoping to get to books that we have all meant to read but never found the time or the mood was never right or they are just plain impulse purchases that never got read.
Today I want you to pack a little care package of books for a friend. (you set your limit between 1 book and 10 books)
Something from YOUR EXISTNG STASH – nothing you are wishing for, hoping for, or in the post – it most already be underfoot in some way or the other.
Don't over think it – use my number one motto when it comes to weeding out books – If you have not looked at it in about 18 months or it's outside of the genre you read, or you know immediately that this is not the books for you – those are the books you need to make up your care pack from…
One word of warning….
There is no rush to complete this today – you have the whole week to put together this package. If you know straight off what you want to package, my hats off to you.
I am going to stroke some of mine and ummmm and ahhhmmmm over afew others for a few days…
Happy packing my Weekly Geekers, it will be fun to see some of the unwanted less loved books hanging around your bookshelves…
At a writers conference ten years ago, four aspiring writers met and became close friends. A decade later they are still friends, and very much a part of one another's lives.
Kendell Aim's writing career is in danger. Her editor goes on maternity leave, and her new editor shows no interest in her work.
Mallory St. James is an obsessed workaholic. She's constantly working on yet another best seller.
Tanya Mason is a single mom who supports her two kids and difficult mother by working two jobs.
Faye Truett is married to a televangelist and writes inspirational romances. She has a secret that no one would dare to believe.
Kendell has a quickly approaching book deadline that she needs to meet, but when she learns her husband has been cheating, she flees to her vacation home. Rather than focus on her writing, she works at fixing up her mountain hideaway. Her friends won't allow her to bear this burden alone and come together in a sort of intervention. They collaborate on a novel based on their own lives. Each of them writes a segment of the book, all under Kendell's name.
But they would have never guessed that the book would reach the NY Times Bestseller's list. When the truth is revealed on a day time talk show, they are each forced to reveal a secret they'd kept from one another. Their friendship has survived the years, but will it survive this?
THE ACCIDENTAL BESTSELLER is an intriguing glimpse into the world of publishing and the difficulties that authors must face. It was interesting to learn about how many hands manuscripts pass through on the way to publication. Each of the characters suffer realistic insecurites about their writing and personal lives. I learned a great deal about the publishing process in my reading of THE ACCIDENTAL BESTSELLER. It makes me appreciate and value writers even more!
About the Author:
A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, Wendy has come a long way since her days at Sunshine Elementary School. As a child she read voraciously, was a regular at her local library, and became fast friends with Nancy Drew and Anne of Green Gables. Her love affairs with language and storytelling paid off beginning with her first shift at the campus radio station while studying journalism at the University of Georgia.
After returning to her home state and graduating from the University of South Florida she worked for the Tampa PBS affiliate, WEDU-TV, behind and in front of the camera. Her resume includes on air work, voiceovers and production of a variety of commercial projects and several feature films. She may be best known in the Tampa Bay area as the host of Desperate & Dateless, a radio matchmaking program that aired on WDAE radio, and nationally as host of The Home Front, a magazine format show that aired on PBS affiliates across the country.
The mother of a toddler and an infant when she decided to change careers, she admits it was not the best timing in terms of productivity. “I’m still not certain why I felt so compelled to write my first novel at that particular time,” she says, “but that first book took forever.” Since then she’s written six more books, including Single in Suburbia and THE ACCIDENTAL BESTSELLER. Her work has been sold to publishers in ten countries and to the Rhapsody Book Club. Her novel, Hostile Makeover, was excerpted in Cosmopolitan magazine.
Wendy lives with her husband John and her baseball-crazy teenage sons in the Atlanta suburbs where she spends most of her non-writing time on baseball fields or driving to them. She continues to devour books and is busy producing Accidental Radio, a new feature on her web site. You can visit her website at www.authorwendywax.com.
PUMP UP YOUR BOOK PROMOTION VIRTUAL BOOK TOURS "We take books to the virtual level!"
Ashfall by Mike Mullin is a post-apocalyptic novel that takes us into what it might be like if the Yellowstone Supervolcano were to actually explode.
I like in SE Idaho, which means that Yellowstone National Park is only about an hour and a half drive from my house. I spent many summers playing in the park, and I loved it. Seriously. If you've never been to Yellowstone, put it on your bucket list. Growing up so close to Yellowstone is what interested me in Ashfall in the first place. I knew the book wouldn't be about the park, because if the volcano erupts, I promise — there is going to be no park left. But I vividly remember the first time I went to the park after learning that it was one of the world's largest volcanoes. I was terrified and had these vivid mental images of my dad driving the car up the side of a giant mountain and straight down into the frothing, bubbling magma of the TV volcanoes.
Let me tell you — this book has made me insanely glad that I live where I do. Why? Because if the Yellowstone Volcano does explode? I die. Living so close makes for a great summer vacation but my survival chances are like 1 in 100gazillion million, if every single condition is absolutely 100% perfectly perfect. And even then, it's most likely that I'll live for an hour, getting to watch the massive, roiling cloud of dark death coming for me, and then I die.
Death isn't something I welcome, but I tell you what — after reading about the likely future for survivors?! I'm okay with it. The apocalyptic world that Mullin describes here in this book is freaky. And, not in the way that zombies are scary, because as much as we like to plan for 'when zombies attack' it's never actually going to happen. But this, this could definitely happen. If Yellowstone explodes, it would be absolutely devastating. We are talking thick blankets of ash coating most, if not all of the United States and worldwide weather changes from the ash in the sky. Everyone will suffer. Global chaos man. Ash coating a majority of the midwest or hanging out in the sky, obscuring the sun means that nothing will grow. No growing things means that animals will die. And, since most people don't keep much more food in the house than will last them a week, food will be scarce, people will start to scavenge, and things are gonna get nasty.
I'm glad I'm just going to go out with a bang with the volcano, because the afterlife has got to be better than this. But Mullin's main character, Alex, does an admirable job of surviving on his own. (And, he does make me regret, yet again, that I never learned karate as a kid...) Alex is left alone for a weekend, while his parents and younger sister go to visit his uncle about 2 hours away. And then — disaster. Alex is terrified, but stays for a few days with some neighbors, long enough for the insanely loud and massive rumblings of the volcano to stop. When Alex is no longer comfortable staying where he is, he decides to set out and find his family. Grabbing a pair of skis and some food and supplies, Alex walks out into the ash.
But Alex doesn't really know what he's doing. He doesn't bring enough food or water and he drinks it way too fast, drinking whole bottles at a time with his meals. But, Alex is lucky, and somehow, always manages to find what he needs right before, or right as his situation becomes dire. To be honest, it happened a few too many times to be wholly believable. When the world is in as much turmoil and panic, the likelihood of finding just exactly what you need just exactly when you need it, is slim. Like, finding an abandoned car right when you feel as if you can go no farther, even though you haven't seen any cars all day. There were a few times in the story when I thought, How convenient (mild eye-roll). But, we can't have our main characters dying on us, so I accepted the luck as necessary to the progression of the story, and honestly, the resourcefulness of the characters was a big help.
The only major complaint that I had with this story was the narrative style, but that is something that is more my problem than a problem with the writing. I find that I personally have a hard time feeling the proper urgency of a story when the main character already knows how the tale ends. I don't know what the proper name for this tense it, but it's first person, past tense? or something like that. But there are comments like, if 'I knew then what I know now', or 'I didn't know at the time, but found out later'. I hope that makes sense... For me, the story loses a bit of its urgency when I know the main character already knows how the story will end. It's not a conscious thing initially but it's been there in every story I've read that uses this style of writing. There's nothing wrong with it, I just don't connect to it as well as I do to some other styles.
This is a book about a journey, and it's a hard one. Alex struggles to travel, struggles to find genuinely good places to find food and water or sleep and Mullin doesn't hide from that. In the beginning, after Alex sets out to find his family, he realizes that it took him 6 days of walking on the skis to travel the distance it takes 30 minutes in the car. And Alex learns hard lessons too, many of which make him grateful for what he had and rueful that he ever took it for granted. It's a struggle every day for Alex to survive, and even with the luck thing, I would never want to be in his position. He finds enough to sustain him, but it's not like it's easy, and there is definitely no luxury to be had.
I was also impressed with Mullin's capture of human nature. The reactions of various characters Alex meets along the way are so varied, but so believable. Some are cruel and vicious, looking to scavenge or rob anything they can. Other communities rally together to protect and preserve all they can, realizing their chances of survival are better in a team. Still others seize and take power where they can, abusing those beneath them. And even in the communities where people are working together, you have to barter and trade for items you need and they pull every grain of food from you they possibly can. When faced with death, we will do pretty much everything in our power to ensure we can stave it off as long as possible and I thought Mullin captured that perfectly.
This review is already long enough, so I'll end with that even though I'm sure I could talk for hours about Yellowstone (and the interesting vacation pictures of me in it) and what the effects of this supervolcano erupting. It would be an absolutely devastating event, the likes of which civilization has never seen. You think the natural disasters we've experienced are bad? Just you wait until that gargantuanly massive volcano hanging out underneath Wyoming decides the pressure is too much. The world will be doomed.
*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review from the author in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Copyright by Supremebeing SUPREMEBEING ARE FEELING FESTIVE THIS DECEMBER WITH TWO GREAT REASONS TO CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE FOR SOME GREAT PIECES OF ART WORK. With Supremebeing'sAutumn/Winter 2011/12 collection taking inspiration from Mountain Culture and with the snow finally making its presence this weekend, now seems the perfect time to release 8 Limited Edition (only 25 each) Art Prints, from the in house designers at Supremebeing. Each print is an original design from one of eight of Supremebeing's most greatest T Shirts from A/W 2011/12 and include the Mont Bar Bear, Piste, Polar (Bear) and Vos Vader Wolf. So if you you are looking for the perfect Christmas gift for an art loving street wear bod, then look no further - but be quick theres only 25 of each remember! And if thats not enough, then to add to to the festive cheer the oh so generous guys at Supremebeing are giving you the chance to WIN a one off original piece of art work by Street Artist Bue the Warrior - taken from Supremebeing's White Canvas Project exhibition. the piece of artwork is an up-cycled fold out table painted by Bue and is a one off piece! To be in a chance to win all you have to do is go to Supremebeing’s Facebook page and like the competition image, followed by answering a simple question. The competition will end on the 5th January 2012 and the winner will be announced on Facebook as well as receiving an email. SUPREMEBEING LTD EDT ART PRINTS
I have a treat for you today!! Here I have a sneak peek of a book that is going to be a part of Fairy Tale Fortnight! What is Fairy Tale Fortnight you ask?! Well — It's awesome.:) I'll have my post about that up soon (check out The Book Rat for a post RIGHT NOW)
Anyway — There is this book coming out soon that is pretty much amazing sounding — Ever wonder about that generic "Prince Charming" in all the fairy tales? Well, Christopher Healy has taken those generic and uninteresting princes and decided to tell their story in, The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom (coming May 2012). And like all great fairy tales, it has a witch. Take a look at this creepy and sinister looking castle. Seriously. Love.
Seeing a castle like that makes one wonder about the witch who lives inside, no? Well, allow me to introduce you to, Zaubera. _________________________
The only thing left was to figure out the best way to inform the world about it all. Whatever method she chose, it had to really grab people’s attention. It had to be spectacular. Zaubera sat down at her desk in the center of the large round observatory. The dark stone pillars that ringed the room and the bloodred roof above had a way of making her feel extra evil. The witch moved her cage of tarantulas and human skull candleholder out of the way and unrolled a yellowing parchment. She dipped her vulture-feather quill into an inkwell and began to brainstorm.
Notes tied to rabid bats?
Release wild boars with message shaved into fur too time consuming
Learn telepathy
Carve into side of mountain maybe
Teach birds to say “Cinderella must die!” ______________________________
It is always a shock reaching Bamiyan, coming face to face with the two huge cavities in the cliff face. The upright tombs stare out over the valley, a splash of vegetation surrounded by wild mountains. The town straddles the Silk Road, close to the point where it used to enter Persia, dwarfed by two massive mountain ranges, the Koh-i-Baba and Hindu Kush. The void left by the two destroyed Buddha figures is appalling, it rouses an emotion almost more powerful than their once tranquil presence did for centuries.
The giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, which stood for over 1500 years, were destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001 in an 'Islamic' mission to destroy ancient statues. They were reduced to rubble over a period of about 3 weeks using dynamite, rockets and tank shell [Credit: Getty Images]
To understand what happened you must go back to the beginning of 2001. The Taliban-led regime was on very poor terms with the international community and increasingly tempted by radical gestures. The decision to destroy the two monumental Buddha figures at Bamiyan was just part of the drive to destroy all the country’s pre-Islamic “icons”, an act of defiance to the outside world.
Demolition work at Bamiyan started at the beginning of March 2001 and lasted several weeks, the two figures – 58 and 38 metres tall – proved remarkably solid. Anti-aircraft guns had little effect, so the engineers placed anti-tank mines between their feet, then bored holes into their heads and packed them with dynamite. The world watched this symbolic violence in impotent horror.
Now almost 14 years on, reconstruction work has yet to start as archaeologists and UNESCO policy-makers argue.
The two cavities resemble open wounds, a blemish on the long history of Afghanistan, which experienced the fervour of Buddhism long before the arrival of Islam. For 15 centuries the two mystic colossi gazed down as the trading caravans and warring armies streamed past. Monks came from China to worship here. Others meditated in nearby caves.
The two Buddhas, draped in stucco robes, are testimony to a unique case of cross-breeding, which flourished in the early years of the first century AD, drawing on Buddhist influences from India and Greek aesthetics left behind by Alexander the Great. It gave rise to the kingdom of Gandhara and made a mark so deep that even the disciples of Allah, who reached here in the ninth century, made no attempt to disturb it.
Today the site has recovered a certain serenity. Children play volleyball below the cliffs and archaeologists work unhindered. Whereas a low-intensity war is still rumbling on elsewhere in Afghanistan, the central Hazarajat region and its capital Bamiyan (population circa 60,000) has been relatively spared. Most of the inhabitants are Shia Muslims and they had little sympathy with the Sunni Taliban from the Pashtun south. In the 1990s there was fierce fighting between the two sides. In Bamiyan there is a fairly enlightened view of Islam, and few women wear burqas. They proudly explain that 40% of girls in the province are in education, the highest proportion in Afghanistan.
So the outrage perpetrated by the Taliban came as a huge shock, a blow against a tolerant community that sees itself as unusual in the country as a whole. “The statues symbolised Bamiyan,” says mullah Sayed Ahmed-Hussein Hanif. Bamiyan had adopted and integrated the statues, making them a part of local legend. They had become an allegory for unhappy love, a foreshadow of Romeo and Juliet set in the Hindu Kush. He was Salsal, prince of Bamiyan; she was Shamana, a princess from another kingdom. Their love affair was impossible so, rather than live apart, they turned into stone, beside each other for all eternity.
“Local people had completely forgotten they were figures of the Buddha,” says Hamid Jalya, head of historical monuments in Bamiyan province. The Taliban and their dynamite reminded them of the original story. Ever since, people here have been unsure what to do about them.
An incident in 2013 demonstrated the sensitivity of the subject. A decade ago UNESCO authorised archaeologists and engineers to consolidate the two niches, with props and grouting. But nothing else. Almost two years ago someone noticed that, on the site of the small Buddha, a team from the German branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) was beginning to rebuild the feet. This was contrary to UNESCO policy, based on the 1964 Venice charter for the conservation and restoration of monuments and sites, which requires the use of “original material”. If work on the Bamiyan remains disregarded this rule, then the site would be struck off the World Heritage list. The Afghan authorities ordered the Icomos team to down tools, leaving the remains even less sightly than they were before.
The incident highlights the lack of a clear consensus on the future of Bamiyan both internally and among the international community. “Bamiyan seems emblematic of the way international aid has treated Afghanistan,” says Philippe Marquis, former head of the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (Dafa). There has been endless dithering, underhand rivalry, pointless discord and mistakes.
The Buddhas are a powerful symbol – of confessional tolerance, Buddhism in a Muslim country and the remains of the Silk Road – with scope for considerable political kudos, so academic quarrels have been diverted to serve strategic aims. The Afghans have watched this spectacle with growing amazement: Germany and its experience of post-war reconstruction; France and its archaeological exploits in Afghanistan; Japan and Korea, with their interest in the origins of Buddhism; UNESCO and its byzantine bureaucracy. The various parties have sometimes cooperated with one another, but more frequently waged secret wars. “All these endless discussions among experts are pitiful, yielding no positive results,” says Zamaryalai Tarzi, a Franco-Afghan archaeologist who has been in charge of the French dig at the foot of the Bamiyan cliff for many years.
Behind the squabbling there is, however, a very real controversy as to how best to honour the fallen Buddhas. How should we go about making sense of an obscurantist crime the better to vanquish it? Or, in other terms, how should we mourn the martyrs? There are two opposing schools of thought: complete reconstruction or keeping the status quo. For now, the latter camp have the upper hand. “The two niches should be left empty, like two pages in Afghan history, so that subsequent generations can see how ignorance once prevailed in our country,” Tarzi asserts. Many other sites have adopted this approach, in particular the Genbaku dome in Hiroshima and the former summer palace in Beijing.
There is also a practical side: any attempt at reconstruction would be extremely complex. The original material, as required by the Venice charter, would be a major obstacle. The 2001 demolition left a heap of scattered fragments. Barely a third of the smaller Buddha has been saved, consisting of a pile of rock behind a wire fence. Furthermore, some of what does remain is from more recent additions. Over the centuries, long before the coming of the Taliban, the two figures were damaged and defaced. In the 1970s Indian archaeologists rebuilt the feet of the smaller Buddha using new material. Given this, how can the Venice charter rules be applied?
The final objection is that it may be a mistake to focus so much attention on the two Buddhas, given that the Bamiyan valley boasts many other exceptional sites, as yet little known. The ruins of the Shahr-e-Gholghola fortress, and probably monastery, perched on a hillock across the valley from the Buddhas, and the fortified town of Shahr-i-Zohak are both at risk, worn down by weather and earthquakes. “The priority is to save all the endangered sites around Bamiyan,” says Amir Fouladi, of the Aga Khan Trust. “There is no urgency about rebuilding the Buddhas.” The economic development of Bamiyan, due to gather speed with the projected launch of the Hajigak iron ore mines, makes it all the more important to adopt an overall strategy.
Meanwhile, the advocates of reconstruction have not wasted their time. Although the current mood is hardly in their favour, the small structure resting on the remains of the small Buddha’s feet suggests that the German branch of Icomos has not given up hope. Its president, Michael Petzet, a professor at the Technical University of Munich, has made many statements in favour of at least rebuilding the smaller of the two figures. The local representative of Icomos Germany, Bert Praxenthaler, sees the controversy about the small Buddha’s feet as salutary in that it “stirred debate about what should be done with the Buddhas”. “We must be ready the day a decision is taken,” he adds. He is referring to the possibility that an ad hoc UNESCO group may give the go-ahead for “partial re-assembly of the fragments”. His organisation sees this as an opportunity to demonstrate the quality of its restoration work in combining old and new materials.
Local residents are in favour. The idea of leaving the larger niche empty but rebuilding the smaller Buddha appeals to them, particularly as they take little interest in quarrels about original material. They are more concerned about boosting tourism in a relatively isolated area in desperate need of revenue. But there is symbolic value too. “By rebuilding a Buddha we could regain possession of our history and send a message to the whole world in favour of reconciliation between religions,” says Shukrya Neda, who campaigns for a local NGO. “By leaving the other niche empty we leave a testimony to the damage done by the Taliban.” Kabul has officially approved this approach, but some in Bamiyan feel its support is rather timid, for ethnic reasons. The Hazara population of Bamiyan distrust the Pashtun leaders in Kabul. “The government doesn’t want Bamiyan to develop its identity and economy,” says Riza Ibrahim, head of the city’s tourist board. “It’s discrimination.”
UNESCO has tried to steer a cautious middle course on the issue of reconstruction. Its ad hoc expert committee has warned against rushing to make a decision. “It is neither for nor against reconstruction,” says Masanori Nagaoka, head of UNESCO’s culture unit in Kabul. The committee has ruled that before considering partial reassembly of the small Buddha, a thorough technical and scientific study would be required. All of which favours keeping the status quo. Will the reconstruction lobby finally succeed in resurrecting Shamana (the small Buddha)? Perhaps, by dint of patience, but everyone seems to have overlooked an essential detail: the legendary prince and princess wanted to stay together forever. If Shamana rises again, but without Salsal, it would break their oath.
