Otherwise Known As Kevin Miller (XI)

Two very different views on Disney

Just finished reading two excellent books on Disney over the last few months. The first is Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, Neil Gabler's massive, unflinching biography of the man who started it all. Like Janet Brown's recent two-part biography of Charles Darwin, it almost feels like Gabler's book is the last word on its subject.

The second book is Disney War by James B. Stewart, which might just as well have been called Michael Eisner is a Backstabbing SOB. Not that I'm taking sides or anything, but I think Stewart's exhaustive research speaks for itself. Although a bit heavy going in places, it provides a fascinating glimpse inside the Disney empire. It also serves as a good reminder of why I absconded from office politics nine long years ago.

The two best books I read in 2007

Charles Darwin: Voyaging. It was about a year ago, and I was on a scouting/research trip to the Galapagos Islands for Expelled. What better time to read about Darwin's own voyage to the same? (Although his tour of the Galapagos only occupied a small part of this book.) Not only is this book meticulously researched, it presents an unflinching portrayal of the man behind the legend and the adventures that put him on the path toward formulating one of the most revolutionary theories in history.

The  second volume of Browne's opus, Charles Darwin: The Power of Place, is just as riveting. It focuses on the many years Darwin spent meticulously researching and writing the Origin of Species, the machinations he pulled off to ensure he was able to publish before Wallace, and the public acclaim and criticism that followed. Through it all, Darwin comes off as a quirky but brilliant man who was as skilled at politics as he was at science. I can't recommend these books enough.

One of the best books I read while researching "Expelled"

Science's Blind Spot by Cornelius Hunter. From the back cover: "In this thought-provoking book, Cornelius Hunter shows that modern science has in fact been greatly influenced by theological and metaphysical considerations, resulting in the significant influence of what he calls theological naturalism. Naturalism is therefore not a result of empirical scientific inquiry but rather a presupposition of science. This bias is sciences blind spot, and it has profound implications for how scientific theories are evaluated and thus advanced or suppressed. In the end, Hunter proposes a better waymoderate empiricismand shows how Intelligent Design fits into such a method.

"Continuing the theme from his previous two books, biophysicist Cornelius Hunter surveys the history of science to reveal the real source of modern scientists opposition to intelligent design. Turning popular opinion on its head, Hunter convincingly argues that scientists who oppose intelligent design do so for theological reasons, not empirically based arguments. Science's Blind Spot is a must-read for anyone wishing to understand why those who oppose intelligent design are becoming more entrenched as the evidence for it continues to build." Guillermo Gonzalez, Iowa State University

Something to add to your Amazon wishlist

The Devil's Delusion, written by mathematician, philosopher, and professional contrarian David Berlinski (who also happens to play a key role in Expelled). Eating lunch with Dr. Berlinski at a restaurant just outside of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was one of my most memorable moments from the making of Expelled.

What I'm re-reading right now

The End of Science: Facing the Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight of the Scientific Age is one of the best books I read while doing research for Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. It is dense, thoughtful, comprehensive and provocative. None of these attributes have diminished the second time through. In fact, I think I'm enjoying it even more this time around.

A brief summary from Publisher's Weekly: Scientific American columnist Horgan interviews an impressive array of scientists and philosophers, who seem sharply divided over the prospects and possibilities of science. Among the pessimists, molecular biologist Gunther Stent suggests that science is reaching a point of incremental, diminishing returns as it comes up against the limits of knowledge; philosopher Thomas Kuhn sees science as a nonrational process that does not converge with truth; Vienna-born thinker Paul Feyerabend objects to science's pretensions to certainty and its potential to stamp out the diversity of human thought and culture. More optimistic are particle physicist Edward Witten, pioneer of superstring theory (which posits a universe of 10 dimensions); robotics engineer Hans Moravec, who envisions superintelligent creative robots; and physicist Roger Penrose, who theorizes that quantum effects percolating through the brain underlie consciousness. Other interviewees are Francis Crick, Noam Chomsky, David Bohm, Karl Popper, Murray Gell-Mann, Sheldon Glashow, Ilya Prigogine and Clifford Geertz. Despite the dominant doomsaying tone, this colloquium leaves much room for optimism.

What I just finished reading

Writers on Comics Scriptwriting, Vol. 1. And I thought volume 2 was good. If you're at all interested in learning more about some of the best writers in comics today, I highly recommend you pick up this book. Especially illuminating are the interviews with Frank Miller, Todd McFarlane and Jeph Loeb who pretty much tell it as it is. Next up in this series: Artists on Comics Art.

A sad day for sci-fi fans everywhere

Visionary science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke died today. Although I haven't read too many of his more recent books, Clarke was a huge influence on me as a teenager. I don't know how many times I've read 2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End, and 2010. I also found the book The Lost Worlds of 2001 extremely interesting, because it detailed the evolution of the story he developed in conjunction with director Stanley Kubrick. It was a real eye-opener to someone who dreamed of becoming a writer himself one day. The man is gone, but his influence will continue to be felt for decades to come.

What I'm reading right now

I'm a sucker for any book that provides an inside look at how business is conducted in Hollywood. This book is  pretty good, but it's no Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. I'll probably only read a few chapters from it, particularly the ones that reveal how films like Waterworld, The Postman, Battlefield Earth, and Showgirls went wrong. Hopefully I can learn something from these mistakes. However, the main lesson so far seems to be don't let an ego-driven writer, director or star assume command of your picture. Especially if that ego-driven person wants to assume all three of those roles (and produce the picture as well).

Some other great entries in this category are the aforementioned Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and Down and Dirty Pictures (both by Peter Biskind), What Lie Did I Tell? (by veteran screenwriter William Goldman), Hello, he lied (by Linda Obst), What Just Happened? and A Pound of Flesh (both by producer Art Linson), and Hollywood Be Thy Name (the story of the Warner Brothers, as told by Cass Warner).