Varieties

I am wondering if there is just one David Mitchell or if the name is a cover for a group of writers with distinctive styles who are not otherwise able to get published? Take "Black Swan Green" for example and compare it with "Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet", or with "Cloud Atlas", or "Boneclocks". Can these really be by the same writer?

BSG is a story told in the first person as if by a 13 year old boy, so the first thing to say is that, in my view, no 13 year old is that articulate. But once you as reader come to terms with Jason's ability with words (and Mitchell makes him an embryo 'poet' to make this more plausible) the story and characters are sufficient to carry you through. Essentially this is a book about growing up in the modern world (though it is set in the 80s) where peer popularity is everything, sensitivity is to be avoided at all cost, and bullying is in the natural order of things. However Mitchell can't resist making points along the way about war, gypsies, musical appreciation and stereotyping. Not that these detract from the story because they are woven in very naturally, apart perhaps for the gypsies which seems less authentic. 

I liked the period atmosphere, the Falklands war, Thatcherism, class markers, gender roles and teaching in transition. Not so sure that any school could be quite as bad as the one Jason attends, but then again I wasn't at school in the 80s so am in no position to say. I am guessing that Mitchell was so this may reflect his own experience?

Where will he go next? More strangeness of the "Boneclocks" sort or back to more conventional story-telling? Maybe he will try writing from a female perspective? The man can certainly write and I am looking forward already to his next work.

Judgements

I have been struggling for some weeks now to find a book that really engaged my interest. Several have caught my attention at the library, but having taken them home and settled down to read I quickly lost interest - two dimensional characters, predictable plot devices, bad sex scenes, inauthenticity. By the way, how is it that some books seem to draw our attention as they sit on the shelves in a library or in a bookshop? I am guessing that long experience has given serious readers a sort of sixth sense, but it hasn't been working for me lately!


Yesterday however I borrowed "The Childrens Act" by Ian McEwan and have finished it already. A short novel but beautifully constructed, full of interesting detail and insight and superb characterisation. Helpful I suppose that the main characters are about my sort of age, but not my background, and McEwan brings them to life superbly. The central character is a female judge, dealing with family issues, particularly things like the custody of children where there is dispute. In the book she has some very difficult cases to deal with, rather profound moral dilemmas, and at the same time is trying to cope with problems in her own marriage. The writing is often very powerful, especially in my view the scene where Fiona (the judge) is talking in hospital to a seriously ill teenage boy. I felt as if I was sitting in the corner of the room listening to their conversation. Now that is my idea of writing!

It may be time to re-read McEwan's other novels rather than searching for some elusive new experience.

Smoke and Mirrors

The UK government has committed itself to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as part of a global strategy to tackle climate change. One element of this reduction is the conversion of a major power station (Drax) from burning coal to biomass. The claim that this is in fact beneficial is open to doubt.

The Drax power station is the largest in the UK and generates between 6 and 7% of the country's electricity. It was built to generate electricity by burning coal, but over the last 10 years has been undergoing a conversion to burn biomass instead. Biomass is organic, plant-based material sourced from forests, forest residues, and dedicated energy crops that are not suitable for other uses.(1)

Coal is a fossil fuel and is a stock of carbon captured from the atmosphere by ancient forests. Carbon flows back into the atmosphere as CO2 when coal is burned thus increasing the stock of greenhouse gases and contributing to global warming. Biomass also contains carbon which has been captured by trees and other vegetation from the atmosphere, and carbon is released when it is burned. However, proponents of biomass use argue that overall significantly less harm arises from its use. In fact some would go so far as to say it is 'carbon neutral'. This claim is largely based on an assumption that biomass is waste material from sustainable forests which regenerate and recapture the CO2 from the atmosphere returning it to the stock held in the biosphere.

Drax claims that 122 kg CO2/MWh (kilogrammes of carbon dioxide per Mega watt hour of electricity generated) is emitted in its biomass units. It compares this to coal emissions of around 1,018 kg CO2/MWh and gas at around 437kg.(2) The Drax biomass conversion is part of the reason the UK's coal use fell below 50 million tonnes in 2014 and this contributed to a 9.7% reduction in UK carbon emissions in 2014, a record for a year with a growing economy.(3) The UK government is so committed to the Drax project that it has guaranteed the conversion cost (4) and is using the data to claim to be reducing greenhouse gas emissions.(5) However, significant questions have been raised regarding the methodology for calculating the impact of biomass burning. For example Biofuelwatch, an independent organisation providing information about the environment, claims that biomass is as harmful to the atmosphere as fossil fuels.(6) An independent analysis of biomass impact in the USA concluded that “for biomass replacement of coal-fired power plants, the net cumulative emissions in 2050 are approximately equal to what they would have been burning coal”.(7) A report by one of the UK government's own departments concluded that “the energy input requirement of biomass electricity generated from North American wood used by the UK in 2020 is likely to be significantly greater than other electricity generating technologies, such as coal, natural gas, nuclear and wind.”(8) A thorough investigation by Climate Brief, a UK-based website covering the latest developments in climate science, came to the conclusion that it was impossible to determine, on the available evidence, if biomass was or was not helping to solve climate change.(9)

The evidence is unclear because there is no standard methodology in use which takes account not only of the direct emissions from the power station but factors like forest growth rates, how much of the biomass is 'waste', what time scale to use, transportation, and what environmental impact the trees would have if not harvested. What is clear is that the directors of Drax, and indirectly the UK government, are using the most favourable assumptions when making their calculations and thus showing significant benefits. This is important not just for this project but because similarly questionable schemes may be operating worldwide throwing into doubt claims about progress in tackling global warming.

References

(1) Drax website -frequently asked questions http://www.drax.com/biomass/benefits-of-biomass/#sthash.x8x18tvD.dpuf See also diagram at the end of this paper

(2) Simon Evans of Carbon Brief http://www.carbonbrief.org/investigation-does-the-uks-biomass-burning-help-solve-climate-change

(3) Drax website policy statement http://www.drax.com/biomass/sustainability-policy/

(4) Department of Energy and Climate Change website https://www.gov.uk/government/news/drax-biomass-backed-by-uk-guarantee

(5) Department of Energy and Climate Change February 2016 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/final-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-national-statistics

(6) Biofuelwatch website - frequently asked questions http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/2013/biomass-faq-2/#C6

(7) Manomet Biomass Report June 2010 https://www.manomet.org/sites/default/files/publications_and_tools/Manomet_Biomass_Report_ExecutiveSummary_June2010.pdf

(8) Stephenson and McKay Lifecycle Impacts of Biomass Electricity July 2014 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/349024/BEAC_Report_290814.pdf

(9) Simon Evans Carbon Brief website May 2015 http://www.carbonbrief.org/investigation-does-the-uks-biomass-burning-help-solve-climate-change

Disappointed

Sometimes books just let you down. Or I suppose I should say that it is the authors who somehow just can't maintain their high standard every time - how horrid of them!

I just managed to get to the end of "The Difference Engine" but it was a close run thing. I nearly gave up with only about thirty pages left to read, which would have been a record for me I think. This was a novel which started well and went downhill; steeply downhill as it got towards the end. I had been drawn to it, having read "Neuromancer", by the author's name, and also by its reputation as a 'cyberpunk' novel - sounded fascinating. Additionally it was labelled as an 'SF Masterwork'. The fact that it was a collaboration with someone else (Bruce Sterling) should have rung alarm bells - in my experience when a well-known author collaborates it seems to be a case that he has run out of ideas and is lending his name to someone else whose book it is in fact. But maybe I am wrong.

Anyway, I liked the premise of this book - an alternative history of Victorian England - and the introductory female character seemed interesting, but she soon disappeared to be replaced by a series of two dimensional characters who failed to gain my enthusiasm. It seemed to me that the authors had researched the Victorian period in a fairly superficial way and had thrown into their melting pot every personality and situation they could think of, then mixed it all up and finally worked a story in. Obviously I didn't expect it to be convincing in the sense that a contemporary novel would be, but fewer ingredients and more attention to development would have been good. As for the sex scenes!! I seem to recall from "Neuromancer" that Gibson alluded successfully to sex without actually getting into gory detail, and succeeded admirably by doing so. I can only assume that it was the work of the collaborator that gave us these rather crass interludes.

So, for me an opportunity missed and a great disappointment. Not that I have given up on Gibson, but I shall avoid any further collaborations.