book review: The Hoosiers, by Meredith Nicholson

The Hoosiers is in no way related to our book Hoosier Hysterical, being separated by a century or so and a barrel of laughs. (That is, the one I wrote is a barrel of laughs. Well, I like to think so.)

Some books I recommend despite knowing most of my readers won't be interested. So it is with this centennial edition of The Hoosiers, which came out in 1915, a year before Indiana's hundredth birthday. My wife's bosses loaned me this original copy, which I'd imagine is pretty rare. I even avoided eating and drinking while leafing through the delicate pages.

Much to my surprise, The Hoosiers is available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Hoosiers-Centennial-Meredith-Nicholson/dp/B00FDZ0EB2

 

I don't expect it'll get a lot of sales there, but it had several reprints back in the day. Although Nicholson covers the basics of Indiana history, its main focus is the arts: Nicholson goes into detail about early Indiana writers, poets, and occasionally painters, as well as other notable Hoosiers of what was then the olden days (and today is twice as olden).

Some of the notables and their products from back then might be recognizable to today's Indianians (as Nicholson puts it, despite the book's title). She also goes over other groups that brought "cultivation" to Indiana, including religious leaders, lawyers and politicians, and those involved in what would then have been the relatively recent Civil War.

Together those notables are woven together into a look at what Indiana was when first formed, and also what it became by the time of the book's writing. From that standpoint it can be interesting, considering how much things changed in the previous and following centuries.

Just the same, I can't recommend the book unless you're really invested in the minutia of Indiana history. I found it easier to read than I'd expected, and fascinating, but I can't stress enough how much it appeals to a very limited readership.

 


If you'd like to browse Indiana history in a somewhat lighter way, well ... you know where I'd send you.


 




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Bad Eclipse Photos, but Totality Worth It

 I didn't intend to take a lot of quality photos during the 2024 solar eclipse, for one simple reason: Lots of people would get much better pictures, so why worry?

At the entrance to Summit Lake State Park, which is--I don't know--in Central Indiana somewhere, we saw a car that advertised an owner who was really serious about the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence. I'll bet that entire luggage rack held camera equipment.

 

We parked right beside a guy who told us he drove here from Colorado, after first planning to see the eclipse in Texas. His instincts were right on: He barely missed hurricane force winds in his home state, and avoided driving into rainstorms down south. Above is his telescope/camera, which took a time lapse of the eclipse and set him back about five thousand bucks.

The cost of my camera? Well, take off a zero, for starters.

Then there was the family that set up on the other side of us:

I don't know where they were from, but they were also very nice folk who, despite having kids, clearly didn't lack spending money.

I experimented, and managed to get this photo pre-totality, by putting eclipse glasses over the lens. This worked only when I forgot to turn off the flash, for which I have no explanation.

I told you all that to explain why I'm very proud of this last photo. No, it's nowhere good as the more experienced photographers with more expensive setups, but honestly, I didn't expect to get this at all:


It wasn't about getting photos, not for us. It was about experiencing it. After seeing the one in 2017, we knew that if we got lucky and the weather broke out way, we were in for an unforgettable experience. We were right. Totality worth it.



 

Remember: Keep an eye on the skies--unless you're driving.



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Dimming Hopes: A Veil Of Clouds Might Shroud the Eclipse

 I'm a huge astronomy geek. The only way I could get more excited about the upcoming solar eclipse would be if it caused chocolate to fall from the sky.

Just the same, the fuss going on ahead of the April 8th event has passed the hubbub stage, and gone straight into a hullabaloo. I feel compelled to throw some water on the excitement ... and that may be close to literal, in this case.

In 2017 Emily and I drove from her father's house to a state park in Missouri to be in the path of the total eclipse. Even though it was in the middle of nowhere, a good crowd showed up on a very hot August day.

There's your first sign of trouble: August weather is different from April weather. In fact, the odds are it'll be cloudy on the 8th, and it's a short jump from there to rain. In one of my novels a character does a rain dance, but I'm not sure an anti-rain dance even exists.

In the path of totality it'll still be interesting even if it's cloudy. Well, probably: I've only been to one total eclipse, and up until the moment it disappeared the Sun was ripping off our skin.

https://cms.accuweather.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2024-eclipse-cloud-climatology.jpg

Now, I've witnessed several partial eclipses, and they're pretty cool even if you have to look at them through dark glasses. It turns twilight, and sometimes you can see the shape of the eclipse on the ground, focused through tree branches.

But they're nothing like a total eclipse. Nothing. A total eclipse is literally breathtaking. Nature seems to stand still, the wind dies, stars and planets come out. For an brief, incredible moment as the Moon completely covers the Sun, you can look directly at it.

The problem is, the area of the total eclipse is just a hundred miles or so wide.

 

I haven't heard that talked about a lot, and I'm afraid people not directly in the path are going to be disappointed. Where I live and in the closest city, Fort Wayne, the Sun will be over 90% covered, but not totally. It will NOT be safe at any time to look at the Sun without special protection. It'll still be cool if you're into that kind of thing, as I am.

But we're driving south, to be in the path of totality. It's a long wait for a short event, but it's worth the wait. Besides, it's just as likely to be cloudy here as there. That's the reason why officials are so worried about traffic on eclipse day, especially right after totality: People crowding into that 100 mile long strip, then heading for home.

In 2017 that wasn't a problem for Emily and me: We got there early, and afterward we hit the park trails for a few hours, until the traffic had cleared some. That's our plan this time, too. We'll have a full tank of gas, snacks, fluids, cell phones and their chargers, a few issues of "Writer's Digest", and some print books, too. Hopefully we'll find a place near a bathroom.

So there are your dual problems: Anyone from around here and in many other places will have to travel to see the full eclipse, and even those who don't are likely to find their view spoiled by typical Midwest spring weather. Add the expected traffic jam for an event that will climax over a period of about four minutes, and you could be forgiven for staying where you are and watching most of the sun disappear through eclipse glasses.

But us? We can't wait.


Remember: reading a book is way safer than looking into the sun ... depending on which book.

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