'I think I can put this frog to very good use!' by Kara
Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 7:29 AM

I read this script and thought it was hilarious. I mean, in the good way.

Time now for more talk from our resident medievalist -- but on proper medievalism, as opposed to their literature. Well, it still is literature, but it's modern literature about the ... oh, hell. So I've been reading Timeline, right?

I've had tons of long-borrowed books lying around that I'm getting through pretty quickly in anticipation of the next Dragonlance trilogy from Co-Writer (goddammit!!!! How dare he lend me books I like???). Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition was a gift and not a loan, but the title cracked me up too much. (A very good scholarly book, actually.) I'd borrowed Prey from another friend, and like it well enough. I'm not a fan of his method of storytelling -- i.e., getting too wrapped up in and proud of his research -- but I'm interested enough in his plot and characters that I soldier on through.

Timeline was a little tougher because ... well, because I already knew everything. So I could see a lot more clearly how hot and bothered Crichton gets over stuff he's learned. For instance, he was fascinated with the discovery that the medievals played tennis, when I knew that it was so prevalent and ingrained in their culture that one of the surviving mystery plays about the Nativity actually shows a peasant giving Jesus a tennis ball as a gift. He was happy as hell about his translations from Latin and Middle English, both of which I read fluently.

In retrospect, I realise more and more that my frustration with Timeline is really Just Me. But as one of my publishers said, people in their respective fields clearly have the same issue with at least one Crichton book. If he ever decides to write a book about new pop-sci world-changing supertech in F1 cars, I'm sure Co-Writer will be rolling his eyes.

However, if you intend to read Timeline, please don't read it for information. A lot of it is Crichton's own conjecture, which is interesting, but incredibly misleading. And there's a bit of the ethics of time travel as defined by him (similar to past forum discussions on the ethics of Star Trek transporters), which is alternately fascinatingly gross and grossly confusing. He does dig up a few weirdo bits of information that really are true (trebuchets used to launch animals over castle walls -- something that people who don't know the period will probably be stunned at but enjoy), but it might be difficult for some to tell where the fact ends and the fiction begins. Which is fine if you're not reading to learn.

Sigh. Again ... I recommend The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis before you pick up Timeline. I need to shut up about that book, but honestly, it's the best thing you can ever read if you're interested in the period. And I can't tell you much at all about the movie, since I ain't seen it ... but I hear it's rubbish. Maybe on a slow day I'll find out for myself.

If you have been, shush.