Author, author!!

[Revised 12/31/04]


Some weeks ago, I had posted a couple of writings on my favorite authors and that met with the best response I've had since I started this blog. I am grateful for that, and thanks for the great tips on books and author's I've not heard of or read. Looking forward to starting those soon.

The reason for this post is to add a new author to the list, and borrowing a phrase from the record industry way back in my youth, make him #1 with a bullet.

Philip Pullman is a British author that has written several children's books. Among these is a trilogy for adults, as well as gifted, or highly curious and intelligent children, called:

His Dark Materials

I am going to try to summerize each book, but first, let me say how impressed I am with the author's command of the English language, his vivid storytelling, and his depiction of good and evil.
As a reader of this blog, if you are even remotely interested in philosophy, this trilogy is for you. If you want a glimpse of the heroic and the tragic, of the Unmistakably Good vs. Irredeemably Evil, then go out and get this series immediately.

Here is the title and a brief summary of each book, as best as I can do it...

Book 1: The Golden Compass--
A consciousness in focus. Self-directed. Goal directed.

Book 2: The Subtle Knife--
A is A. Either-or.
Here's a brief paragraph from near the end of book 2--

"There are two great powers," the man said, "and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."

Book 3: The Amber Spyglass--
(I am just now starting this third, and final book, so this may be revised later on)
The "Final Battle" between reason and superstition, life and death.


Hope this whets your appetite. These are books I know I'll read over and over again. I can't recommend them highly enough.
As a bonus, New Line Cinema is making this trilogy into movies!!!! Still a year or two off of release, though.
You might try hisdarkmaterials.org or http://www.philip-pullman.com

Best premises!!!