Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Wampeter, karass, duprass, granfalloon, foma. It's a cat, it's a cradle. It's whatever you ever wanted it to be and everything you never knew it was.

Here's how I imagine Kurt Vonnegut writes:

Intrusive thought comes to his mind. Then another. And another, and another, and another. These thoughts become path dependent and layer on each other. Like a journal with an inconspicuous bullet point on each page, he then uses some pen to connect all the dots in a seemingly random flurry. It's a game of connect the dots of intrusive thoughts. It's hilarious, a good time, and what we need more of in the humdrum of a routine-based life.

--

Cat's Cradle deals a lot with concepts in humanist and post-modernism. Humanist because of Bokononism and the creation of a grand narrative around humanity. Post-modernist because of a parody that Vonnegut has created surrounding progress in science (the ramifications of ice-nine as the antithesis). The argument of these themes comes down to: from a societal context, the pursuit of truth may not be a net positive. 

After reading sci-fi from the likes of Cixin Liu and reflecting on things like the dark forest theory, my personal opinion is that truth and progress should be pursued regardless of it's net consequence on humans. Much like Douglas Adams, Vonnegut directly satires questions like the "what is the purusuit of life." In *Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy* says 42, *Cat's Cradle* says "protein." In fact, I'd dare to summarize the entire purpose of the book in just two instances:

(1) “The first sentence in The Books of Bokonon is this: ‘All of the things I am about to tell you are shameless lies"

(2) "God leaned close to mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely.

"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.

"Certainly," said man.

"Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God.

And He went away.”

Post-modern and hilarious.

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Some new words I picked up from Vonnegut's imagination (catch me using them, likely when not appropriate too):

Karass: a term for a disparate group of people linked together without their knowledge. Your family and friends would not be part of your karass. You wouldn't choose its membership, and you may never know who is in it or what its purpose is.

Wampter: an object around which the lives of many otherwise unrelated people may revolve.

Foma: harmless untruths, intended to comfort simple souls

Granfalloon: a "false karass"; it is a group of people who affect a shared identity or purpose, but whose mutual association is meaningless

Reading Kurt Vonnegut changes the tone of day. As soon as I finished Cats Cradle, I spent my next few hours making up random words and phrases. 

Quote:

• "Midget midget midget, how he struts and winks. For he knows a man's as big as what he hopes and thinks!"

  • @TomSui @TyrionLannister

• "As Bokonon says: 'Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.'"

• "No karass is without a wampeter, just as no wheel is without a hub"

  • A great analogy

• "Dr. Von Koeinigswald slipped the tholepin of an oarlock from its socket in the gunwale of the gilded dinghy."

  • I had to search up most of the words in this fishing sentence

• "Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way."

• "I'm not a drug salesman. I'm a writer. What makes you think a writer isn't a drug salesman?

  • Philip Castle has the quickest wit in the book -- simulatenously sarcastic and serious. Would be a pleasure to chat with him.

• "No damn cat, and no damn cradle.

  • My thoughts tie to a followup quote, "Anyone unable to understand how useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either."

• "Busy, busy busy"

  • A small utterance when you realize just how complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is

• ″‘The thing I like,’ said Hazel, ‘is they all speak English and they’re all Christians. That makes things so much easier.‘”

  • Nobody on that damn'd island was a Christian, not even that damn'd "Papa." 

  • Hazel and her husband are the epitomes of granfalloonery -- Hoosiers, Americans, Christians, and all of it.

• "Truth was the enemy of the people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies.”

  • Keep the tensions high. Good vs Evil, and leave little area for that damn'd ambiguous gray area

"Tiger got to hunt,

Bird got to fly;

Man got to sit and wonder, "Why, why, why?"

Tiger got to sleep

Bird got to land;

Man got to tell himself he understand."

--

Next Kurt Vonnegut book to read: Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons and The Sirens of Titan. 

The (physical) reading stack on my shelf:

• China's Asian Dream by Tom Miller

• India: From Midnight to Millenium by Shashi Tharoor

• Theory of Shadows by Paolo Maurensig

• Total Freedom by Jiddu Krishnamurthu (will take me a long, long time to get through)