Quote of the Day

A well chosen anthology is a complete dispensary of medicine for the more common mental disorders, and may be used as much for prevention as cure.

Robert Graves

The Golden Fleece

Quote of the day

If a man's got talent and guts to buck society, he's obviously above average. You want to hold on to him. You straighten him out and turn him into a plus value. Why throw him away? Do that enough and all you've got left are the sheep.

Alfred Bester

The art of writing

Science fiction greats Alfred Bester and Frederik Pohl discuss writing.

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Quote of the day

People ask me how I do research for my science fiction. The answer is, I never do any research.

Frederik Pohl

Fifty books to avoid

Ever see one of those "50 books you should read before you die" lists?  Michael Gove takes a more practical approach and lists the 50 books you should die before reading.

Quote of the day

Luigi, the restaurant manager, said to me once that he keeps that particular table for the Queen of Norway or the Queen of Denmark. One night the Queen of Norway was eating at this table and the Queen of Denmark walked in. She looked at the table, she looked at the Queen of Norway, she looked at Luigi and without a word she walked out.

Egon Ronay

Review: Automat

The Automat: The History, Recipes, and Allure of Horn & Hardart's Masterpiece by Lorraine B Diehl & Marrianne Hardart (2002)


I've always had a vivid memory of having as a child eaten in one of New York City's famous Automats–probably while passing through with my parents on the way to somewhere else.  All I can remember is a very antiseptic art deco cafeteria with banks of glass boxes that you opened with coins.  I think that the image stuck with me because I imagined that the huge banks of vending machines actually prepared the food as well as sold it.  The Automat seemed to me a perfect example of how the future would look: A world of clean lines, efficiency, and machines carrying out their tasks for man to enjoy.

I would have been bitterly disappointed to discover that there was no complicated banks of machinery behind the enamel and chrome facade.  There was some advanced technology and some very clever invention at work, but it was miles away in a central commissary filled with hard-working human beings who produced the food for scores of restaurants around town. 

The Automat: The History, Recipes, and Allure of Horn & Hardart's Masterpiece tells the history of the Horn and Hardart restaurant empire's rise from obscure beginnings as a Philadelphia lunchroom in 1883 run by two men:  One a restaurant enthusiast with a bit of capital, but no knowledge of the business, and a German immigrant who had years of restaurant experience and the knowledge of how to make a good cup of coffee as his only assets.  Together, they developed a small chain of lunchrooms dedicated to providing good food at very low prices in genteel surroundings meant to attract female clientele.  Then around the turn of the 20th century they added a new twist by installing their first vending machine from Germany that allowed customers to select their own food for the drop of a nickel.  Behind this, Horn and Hardart developed the central commissary that allowed them to produce dishes at low cost and with uniform quality.  All the staff at the restaurant had to do was keep the food hot, the machines stocked, and the steam tables manned.

Relying on a menu with a full range of what today is regarded as "sit down" food, the Automats became a fixture of Philadelphia and New York.  Their decor was upmarket, modern, and spotlessly clean while their fare was good, cheap, and fast.  The cheap part became increasingly important as the Automats became a haven of food and comfort for people struggling through the depths of the Great Depression.

Automat is not an exhaustive history.  It's more of a nostalgia piece about a fondly remembered restaurant chain that in recent decades succumbed to changes in public taste, rising prices, the changing demographics of the cities, and the rise of fast food franchises.  An intermix of interviews, remembrances, recipes, and images that are far too small, Automat invokes the feel of a time when there was a place where a child could have the thrill of getting its own piece of pie from a magic machine, a struggling actress could it well for very little, and where even the unemployed could nurse a cup of coffee for a few hours. 

The Automat turned out to be a paradoxical place.  Hollywood and popular song spread its fame around the world, yet it was really only a local chain.  It was the height of modernity in its time, but became a symbol of nostalgia, and it's very innovation made it impossible for it to compete in the modern world.

Flatland

Frankenstein

Quote of the day

A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanations.

Saki quote

Review: The Ulltimate Man's Survival Guide

The Ultimate Man's Survival Guide by Frank Miniter (2009)

One of the more alarming signs that Western civilisation is in free fall is the way in which the last two generations have seen men cut off from the very concept of masculinity.  Not merely ignored, modern society actively belittles, scorns, and derides men and masculinity to the point where modern Western males are left to degenerate into feminised metrosexuals with all the airs of over-groomed eunuchs, or slovenly man children who rarely bath and spend all their free time in "man caves" drinking lager, playing video games, and growing old rather than up. 

Small wonder that in recent years there's been a reaction as men yearn to recapture their denied heritage.   In the wake of this has come a small flood of books offering to teach men their manhood.  Some have tried to hand men New Age absurdities cut from whole cloth such as Iron John or hanging out in sweat lodges.  Others focus on superficialities about tying bow ties or buying straight razors.   Outdoor writer Frank Miniter's The Ultimate Man's Survival Guide aims for something more practical such as how to survive in the woods, how to pick out a gun, how to administer first aid, and, yes, how to tie a bow tie.  Mixed in with the practical stuff Miniter tries to give some philosophical underpinnings to masculinity with discussions on the character traits that define manliness, answering the question of what constitutes a gentleman, anecdotes about men's men, and whole chapters on codes of conduct. 

It's a laudable effort and much of the advice is actually useful.  You won't learn how to land a jetliner or shutdown a nuclear reactor, but you will find out how to sharpen a knife, what films a man should see, the difference between legalisms and codes of conduct, and the importance of manly vices.  Perhaps the most important criticism of the book is that Miniter tries to cover too much in too small a volume, so much of his material is often superficial and unsatisfying.  He also isn't as selective as one would like.  A list from one major code of conduct that Miniter finds impressive would have been useful.  Providing a shopping cart from Jesus to Buddha gives the impression that Miniter can't make up his mind.  Some of it also comes across as naive, such as when the author is disappointed when his Red Indian guide doesn't end the hunt with a native ritual.  Just as well.  I always thought that thanking a animal for letting you kill and butcher him is asking a bit much from the beast. 

This is best seen as a casual read–something to whet the appetite on a rainy afternoon, but as a guide to manliness, it's more a starting point than a destination.

Quote of the day

If a man dreams that he has committed a sin before which the sun hid his face, it is often safe to conjecture that, in sheer forgetfulness, he wore a red tie, or brown boots with evening dress.

Arthur Machen

The Great God Pan