Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

Book Review: Oaxaca Journal, by Oliver Sacks
I bought this book primarily on the strength of the previous book of Sacks that I read a couple of months ago. This book is good, but arguably not as good as his inspired Uncle Tungsten.

It's interesting -- Sacks was obviously writing Uncle Tungsten while he was writing this travelouge through Oaxaca -- he even mentions the strain of amount of work necessary for this (then) forthcoming title. This book does not quite follow the same format that made Uncle Tungsten such an absorbing read -- there are few of the fascinating footnotes present in this book, and I think Sacks is more engaged with his subject-matter in Uncle Tungsten than he is in this book, which is ostensibly about his life-long fascination with ferns, and his travel to Oaxaca to see them with a group of fellow fern-lovers.

Sacks' wide knowledge in areas of science, biology, history are all brought to bear in the book as he recounts encounters with exotic foods, people, crafts and culture. Often there's an almost stream-of-consciousness feel to it at times, as in the space of a few pages Sacks is "on the road", looking at a subject and then procedes to shift perspectives, bringing to bear his wide knowledge as it pertains to the thing. Perhaps tellingly, given the fact that he is writing Uncle Tungsten, one segment that stands out for me is when he looks at the bugs who are gathered and crushed by the thousand to make a vivid natural red dye for the local rugs made in Teotitlán del Valle (a villiage Erika and myself have visited, and where we picked up our favourite "Quetzlecotl" dragon wall-hanging from). He looks at the history of farming these bugs, the type of cactus they feed upon, the culture that grew around it, the history of exporting the red fabric to Europe and the chemical properties behind the red colour. Similarly, his visit to Monte Alban (another place Erika and I have been to) focuses not on the magnificent pyramids so much as a fascination with the 10lb hard rubber ball used in the ball courts there. An interesting perspective on things, but the book only gives a flavour of the place, and the book says more about Sacks than Oaxaca (and I guess I wanted more of the latter than the former).

I very nearly didn't buy this book because of the price, and at $31.00 for a slim, 159 page book, I feel somewhat guilty about having bought it. Do the math, and it works out to almost $0.20 a page. Ouch! I have a friend in the publishing industry who likes to say that "books are your best entertainment buy", but I suspect even he would balk at this one. If the sticker shock hasn't faded by the time you finish a book, the book costs too much.

I realize I may seem a fine one to talk -- my last book went for upwards of $50, but at over 600 pages of content, I can truthfully say that I don't feel I've ripped anybody off.

However, I intend on donating this copy to a friend of mine. I'm sure Jenny W. will enjoy this book -- it was she who egged us on to visit Oaxaca in the first place, and I suspect she will love the way Sacks manages to weave in history, biology and other fascinating ruminations in this journal.

Hmm. I must dig out my own notes from our travels in Oaxaca...