Thinks

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but not groundbreaking
Review: The story is simple, Ralph is a rock-star style cognitive scientist, who is married. Helen is a widow novelist who comes to the university Ralph works in to teach a creative writing course. Attraction follows, as well as a clash of worldviews.

"Thinks..." contains a number of interesting and enjoyable aspects. There is the satire of academia, the gap between arts/sciences and the alleged lifestyle of the educated English. It also contains a number of lay-level expositions of consciousness, from a cognitive science/artificial intelligence perspective. Finally, it does a good job of showing an example of the tangled nature of actions and thoughts in a world of dynamic sexual relationships. These three things I think are the strongest aspects of the book and they make it worthwhile enough to read but they certainly don't make it lifechanging.

For starters, the varying text types, including recordings, emails, journals, present-tense narrative etc, from more than one point of view gave me the air of novelty for the sake of novelty. It felt like one of those things that might be fun, but way over too the top to be much more than that. The actual musings about consciousness didn't tie into the actual characters and their behaviour that much. Perhaps Lodge was doing a subtle manifestation of mind/body dualism, but the novel about the academic cavortings and the one about a clash of contemporary worldviews didn't blend enough in this book for me to like it more. FInally the cognitive science stuff was quite superficial. Again, Lodge may be mocking Ralph's "scientific soundbyte" style but the book reminded me of Sophie's World in that it looked like it attempted to present some "theoretical" things amidst a more popular tale, and the layering was just too forced.

So it's still interesting and Lodge writes well (although I haven't read any other works of his so can't compare) and it is often funny but it's not fabulous.

Rating:
Summary: Crying is a Puzzler
Review: THINKS...By David Lodge
It's hard for me to write a review on this novel. For one thing there is uses one of my exercises, writing memoriam of today's thoughts as I feel them. David Lodge also mentioned a talk-to-me program when communicating with his laptop. I use one, but still have to write most of my thoughts using a word processor. Some of the descriptions of autistic (one of the characters) fit many people. That could be a requirement for a professor working with Cognitive Science-at least a touch of autism. He or she could relate better to Artificial Intelligence machines, as one of the characters in the book says.

Ralph Messenger is an admirable Professor and Director of the Center of cognitive science. He mixes in enough of earthly man to be human, and has enough of the character of an Artificial Intelligence machine to relate to computers. A big part of his appeal to the reader is sex, although how he can fit this into Artificial Intelligence 'is a puzzler'. Actually he doesn't, sexy is part of being earthy.

Helen Reed a recently widowed novelist is the prime supporting character in his book and is likeable on her own. She keeps a journal using her laptop and a word processor. Thinks... This is the thread that ties the book together. Trying to read it just for entertainment...is a little difficult. It would be an excellent book for an assignment in a university writing class. For just humor and entertainment many of David Lodge's books are easier to read. Did he write this to try new concepts in novel writing?

I like that name, 'Crying is a Puzzler', for Helen's book.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointing and annoying book
Review: This book left me hugely disappointed and annoyed: Firstly, with the critics who managed to find praise for such poor work, and secondly with the writer who conveys a false sense of literary and intellectual distinction. It is so far below the standard of �Therapy�, a book I remember as highly entertaining, that one wonders (metaphorically of course) if this is the work of an incompetent imitator or a student of the "master". (Perhaps it should be "authenticated", like paintings of doubtful provenance?). The plot is wholly unbelievable, without being entertaining or inventive. The characters are caricatures, and since they are not funny and do nothing interesting, the reason for their existence in a work of fiction is not clear. The material on theories of mind and consciousness never gets beyond brief expositions of the type found in the introductions to introductory books for laypersons. There is no discernible link between the �science of mind� and the main narrative. Sex is the only subject providing this book with any energy. However, this is better dealt with in more specialized publications. Upon reaching the end of the novel, in frank disbelief that this was all I would get for my money and time, I was presented with two pages of �Acknowledgements� recommending 21 heavyweight scientific books among those �read in preparation for this novel�. How this mass of high-level theory is connected with such a facile tale of the sexual romps of shallow and unpleasant people on a stereotypical university campus, may forever remain a puzzle as great as the problem of consciousness itself.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointing and annoying book
Review: This book left me hugely disappointed and annoyed: Firstly, with the critics who managed to find praise for such poor work, and secondly with the writer who conveys a false sense of literary and intellectual distinction. It is so far below the standard of 'Therapy', a book I remember as highly entertaining, that one wonders (metaphorically of course) if this is the work of an incompetent imitator or a student of the "master". (Perhaps it should be "authenticated", like paintings of doubtful provenance?). The plot is wholly unbelievable, without being entertaining or inventive. The characters are caricatures, and since they are not funny and do nothing interesting, the reason for their existence in a work of fiction is not clear. The material on theories of mind and consciousness never gets beyond brief expositions of the type found in the introductions to introductory books for laypersons. There is no discernible link between the 'science of mind' and the main narrative. Sex is the only subject providing this book with any energy. However, this is better dealt with in more specialized publications. Upon reaching the end of the novel, in frank disbelief that this was all I would get for my money and time, I was presented with two pages of 'Acknowledgements' recommending 21 heavyweight scientific books among those 'read in preparation for this novel'. How this mass of high-level theory is connected with such a facile tale of the sexual romps of shallow and unpleasant people on a stereotypical university campus, may forever remain a puzzle as great as the problem of consciousness itself.

Rating:
Summary: Witty, intriguing, and lots of fun!
Review: This captivating comedy of academic manners has a satisfying weightiness lacking in most other books of its genre because it is also intellectually challenging. Here Lodge indulges his interest in the esoteric subject of cognitive science--the study of consciousness and the processes of thought--by giving us two intriguing characters at opposite extremes of the cognitive spectrum and then letting the sparks fly, at first intellectually, then "socially."

Ralph Messenger is the clever and manipulative Director of the Holt Belling Center for Cognitive Science at the imaginary University of Gloucester, a nuts-and-bolts scientist investigating the physical, quantifiable aspects of thought and consciousness. Helen Reed, a visiting lecturer and grieving widow, on the other hand, is an artist, a novelist who celebrates feeling, imagination, and creation. When Ralph, an unapologetic woman-chaser, finds Helen irresistibly attractive, their totally different worlds collide, exposing the reader to various theories of cognitive science but also illuminating the limitations in explaining the soul, love, relationships, imagination, and the creative life.

Clandestine rendezvous, academic gamesmanship, office politics, secret lives kept hidden from spouses, and even involvement in pornography all contribute to the ensuing complications and suspense. The sometimes farce-like action is kept in check, however, by the very real presence of death, which hovers over the action and grounds the comedy, adding to the realism and providing a setting for arguments about whether the soul and Heaven can exist in a strictly scientific world.

The many delights of this novel are highlighted by Lodge's choice of appropriate points of view for his characters. Ralph's self-involved maunderings are in stream of consciousness, constantly flitting from his serious research to daydreams about sex. Helen's reminiscences appear in introspective journal entries. Third person narratives, which advance the story line, are interspersed with a variety of clever diversions-including parodies of Martin Amis, Irvine Welsh, Samuel Beckett, Fay Weldon, Henry James, and Gertrude Stein by Helen's students. Thinks is a literary treasure trove which will keep you fascinated and involved, even if you, like me, have no huge interest in cognitive studies.

Rating:
Summary: Lodge's batting average remains high
Review: This is Lodge very nearly at his best (and I say that having read every word the man has ever written). Ralph Messenger is a professor, a philospher by training, but now head of the Centre for Cognitive Sciences at the University of Gloucester. He has a solid rep in his field, with past positions at Cal Tech and MIT. He's also tall and good-looking, just turned fifty, and is a dedicated womanizer. His Californian wife, Carrie, is aware of his tendency to sleep around when he's off at conferences and such, and she tolerates it -- as long as he doesn't do it in their own backyard. (But there's a lot more to Carrie than this, as any fan of Lodge's knack with characters would expect.) Enter Helen Reed, middleaged London novelist and recent widow, who has come to the University to teach a creative writing course for the spring semester. Her background is intensely literary and she and Ralph disagree about almost everything -- but they manage to form a relationship anyway. Lodge apparently recently discovered the whole field of cognitive research and he uses Ralph's explanations to Helen to summarize what he's learned. Fortunately, he does this in an interesting and often witty way -- lots of nice quotes here -- so the reader might actually come out of this book with a surreptitious education in the subject. But Ralph and Helen and Carrie are the focus, of course, and you'll get to know and like all of them, and understand them, even when you don't entirely approve of some of the things they do.

Rating:
Summary: an intelligently written book
Review: This is the first time I read David Lodge and now am all interested in checking out his other books. "Thinks" is an intelligently written book. It is captivating and challenging at the same time. The story is interesting, despite its old subject of infidelity and its consequences. Lodge smartly stays away from the clichéd rendering of longing and guilt associated with illicit passions. He, on the other hand, hilariously arranges a series of rapidly happening events to conveniently remove Helen's moral concerns and allows her to enjoy the passionate affair guilt free (or maybe not completely). But that does not exempt them from the weary after-taste of any passionate affairs, especially when the outside world crashing in with assorted worldly crises. In a comic but understanding way, Lodge tells one of the most truthful stories about human emotions. He effectively mixes different modes of narrative to give the story movements and depths without any hint of overt contrivance. (The only exception is the inclusion of students' writing samples, which I find extraneous and a bit show-off). This is the best book I have read recently.

Rating:
Summary: Playful Clash of Humanist and Scientific Mindsets
Review: What to you get when an esteemed cognitive scientist (and a bit of a playboy) develops a fancy for a sensitive, humanistic novelist (who is recently widowed, and still mourning her loss)? The answer is a lot of intelligent, hilarious discussion about the nature of human consciousness, as well as a fair amount of sexual tension. Is consciousness a "problem," that needs to be solved, or the infinitely rich material of fiction? One of the most fun elements of this novel are the student essays, which riff off of famous philosophical essays on the subject of consciousness. Students write their own versions of Thomas Nagel's "What is it Like to Be a Bat?" in the literary voices of Martin Amis, Irvine Welsh, Salman Rushdie, and Samuel Beckett, and of Jackson's Mary the color scientist in the literary voices of Henry James, Gertrude Stein, and others. The Amis and the Rushdie are particularly well-done.
This is another terrific novel from David Lodge, and if not perhaps as side-splittingly hilarious as the tensions between Marxist-feminist literary theorist Robyn Penrose and pragmatic businessman Vic Wilcox in Lodge's _Nice Work_, still lots of fun and definitely worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Lodge wasn't thinking about writing
Review: When reading stream-of-consciousness, I'm reminded of Robert Frost's quote about free verse: "I'd sooner play tennis with the net down." It takes so little talent or craftsmanship to write whatever gibberish happens to come to mind that 99 out of 100 editors that allow it to reach press should be fired immediately. Lodge's editor may be spared his job, though not by much. The narrative techniques employed are several, from a free-flowing dictation, a journal, email exchanges, and a third-person narrator, and it is the interplay between the interpretations of the two protagonists of the scenes revealed in the third person that make this book even slightly interesting. It certainly wasn't the characters; I was never made to care if Ralph was going to die or if Helen would eventually cave in. Even the cognitive science wasn't enough to keep me interested, and I liked psychology enough to get a degree in it. The entire book stank of the laziness that comes with a tenth book, when the author is established enough to no longer be asked to work hard by his publisher. A flat book, doubly disappointing because it is rife with promise left unfulfilled. Lodge has written better than this, and I hope he will again.

In passing, the obnoxiously glowing review from Publishers Weekly at the top may be the biggest load of bull I've seen since Windows '95 commercials. As far as fiction goes, it's better than the book itself.

Rating:
Summary: Classic David Lodge, Slightly Mellowed
Review: Yet another of David Lodge's satirical yet affectionate looks at university life. If you like David Lodge, you'll really like this one. If you're new, you'll find this an enjoyable introduction.

Lodge uses many of his usual plot devices and writing techniques to good effect. The powerful professor, the midlife crisis, the extra-marital affair, the introspective affair-ee, the cross-currents with the students, the unexpected plot twist, and a couple of subplots.

And, as Lodge fans know, no Lodge novel would be complete without an intellectual or literary construct (or two) to be worked out along with the plot.

Here it all comes together with the two central characters, a professor who runs a center for research on artificial intelligence and a recently widowed visiting writer-in-residence teaching a creative writing seminar. They spar over his work, and she explores its implications in the exercises she gives her students, all reproduced in the book. (An exploration of what it would be like to be raised in a colourless world and then suddenly exposed to colour, written in the style of the author of your choice, for example.)

Lodge maintains the balance between the constructs and the plot better than in some of his recent novels, and the overall plot and tone is wry and a bit mellow. Lodge has backed off the sharp, angry edge that characterizes some of this later work, making this a very pleasurable read.

All in all I recommend this book without reservation.