Dune by Frank Herbert – my other note on this is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/nominated-for-10-academy-awards-dune.html where I have a few thousand reviews, just as irrelevant as the following - 7 out of 10

 

Dune by Frank Herbert – my other note on this is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/nominated-for-10-academy-awards-dune.html where I have a few thousand reviews, just as irrelevant as the following

 

7 out of 10

 

Dune is a classic of Science Fiction- this is what seems to be the ‘absolute truth’, and where I should stop, for there isn’t much, if anything that I have to add that would make sense, however, I will say that it is not on my list of favorites, on the contrary and it seems a bit funny and ludicrous to take on such a sacred cow

 

The book has near one and a half million ratings on Goodreads – millions more elsewhere, surely – and about seventy-two thousand reviews – this one would not count nevertheless – it is also included on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, in the Science Fiction and Fiction section, and on other compilations

Furthermore, it was adapted for the big screen, the first part was nominated for no less than ten Academy Awards, and then the second enjoyed rave reviews as well, we will be waiting (well, perhaps you will) for the third installment, which will come soon, and there is no need to be obnoxious, but I do not see why all the fuss

 

Which is just the point, it proves that I am opaque, I do not get it, though I understand that there is  a lot here to absorb, unpack, use, and whatever, only it does not permeate, it falls into the category mentioned by Malcolm Bradbury https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/09/to-hermitage-by-malcolm-bradbury-author.html

In his To The Hermitage (the link is in the standard ending that I have below, just in case you are still here, and you miss it down there) Malcolm Bradbury says ‘As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality’ which is genuine

 

I am highlighting Kafka and Beckett here, because of the parallel I see with Dune and other works that fall under the same auspices, first, Kafka, Beckett and Herbert are impressive writers (I have to have some fun here, right, after all, I have not been given the chance with Dune, so I will say the latter not so much)

However, they are not so accessible, some will balk at the way they present their narratives (if we find such a thing) and would not enjoy them thoroughly, albeit the one and a half million ratings would make clear that readers are awed, overjoyed, or else they would not take the trouble to read and then make waves about it

There are some criteria that I thought would help, when determining if I need to continue with a book, first, it has to be highly recommended, to come off a list, like TIME 100 Best, The Modern Library 100, more 4recently, I found about this site greatest books of all time something, perhaps org, and they propose some algorithm

 

Schopenhauer said “One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind.” It maybe the same quote, interpreted, but I have found some lines where he says the only way you can read good books is to avoid reading bad ones, which is what we have said already

This is not to go to the extreme of claiming like Chili Palmer from magnificent Get Shorty https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/04/get-shorty-by-elmore-leonard-aka.html by Elmore Leonard ‘I am the one telling you the way it is’, no, this is just for my own benefit, as in Dune is not for me, I have tried twice

 

In fact, I have not even seen the movie, now it is plural, Dune I and Dune II, soon to be Dune III, give me a break comes to mind, in a game I play with myself, for who would want to listen, and keeping that same astounding figure in mind, pone and a half million people feel this is fantastic, bombastic, adjectival…

Does it offer Flow, is the question, and the answer is no way, for the under signed, the conditions of flow are ‘you are in control, nothing else matters, feedback is constant and immediate (in my case it was drop it, and fast) time is relative and just like einstein, it felt to me that it is passing too slow, and we are not getting anywhere

 

‘Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.” Einstein said this, and we are in the first scenario, with me and Dune, my fault, let me lament, what is that they do in church, when you sin…yes, I repent, but what can I do?

For Flow https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/10/flow-by-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-this-is.html - this is a classic of psychology, much better to read it than Dune – we also have to have an autotelic experience, clear goals and finally, skills need to match challenges, and it was not going to happen with this ‘spellbinding novel’

 

I do not have the ability to get it, it is not enjoyable, in fact the complications make it uninteresting, sand we have to be on the line between boredom and burnout, and it is clear by now where I was with Dune, and let us end with another good summary from Positivity, another capital work in psychology, written by Barbara Fredrickson

The ten ingredients of Positivity https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/05/positivity-by-barbara-fredrickson-life.html are awe, interest, amusement, inspiration, joy, serenity, pride, hope, gratitude, and towering over all- Love, and there was none of that in Dune for me

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”