AND MANKIND CREATED THE GODS, graphic storytelling in a very very important cause

AND MANKIND CREATED THE GODS: A Graphic Novel Adaptation of Pascal Boyer’s Religion Explained
JOSEPH BÉHÉ (tr. Edward Gauvin)
Graphic Mundi
$39.95 hardcover, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: These are some of the most fundamental and enduring questions we have about the mysteries of religion, and they may well hold the key to humankind’s future on this earth.

In this adaptation of Pascal Boyer’s classic work exploring these concepts, Religion Explained, artist Joseph Béhé harnesses the power of comics to provide clear answers to the basic questions about why religion exists and why people believe.

A distinguished scholar, Boyer drew from research in cognitive science, anthropology, psychology, and evolutionary biology to explore why religion exists and why the strength of human beliefs can drive us to be selfless sometimes and, at other times, to be fanatical and intolerant. His erudite book is rich with insight into the endless jumble of ideas that inform religious beliefs and practices across cultures. With detailed, illustrative drawings and carefully adapted prose, Béhé’s graphic novel brings a new perspective to Boyer’s work.

An eminently accessible approach to the notoriously thorny topics of belief, cognition, humanity, and religion, And Mankind Created the Gods is a thoughtful, inspiring graphic novel that will further and broaden the conversation with which Boyer’s book engages.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I feel very sad about this book. It needs explaining all the way from the subtitle, on to the purpose of the project. Plus this is a disaster of time to present something that is not a rah-rah Rasputin-style cheerleadin' on the subject of religion. Even if you've never heard of Religion Explained, you who are not first-timers to my reviews know that there is no way at all (no way in Hell!) I'd review something pro-religion even to dunk on it. Then we come to its length...over 350 pages...and its price...forty dollars. I do not foresee this wonderful, trenchant, tendentious read burning up the sales charts.

Damned shame, that. Look at this stareable art:

I'll happily do my bit here, trying for some interested sympathetic eyeblinks from among my smarter-than-average readers. Y'all give me hope, the numbers who come here to read about worthy, important books about subjects most polite people bury in order not to risk offending some ignorant little twidgee with a keyboard and a grudge against smart people.

So, Religion Explained: its subtitle is "The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought", and that is what it explores. Unlike the idea you'd get from my fondness for the book, it is not a screed against religion. It is a scholarly examination of Belief, as a phenomenon, not as a disorder. (I'm sure someone religious has used its facts to argue that it proves y'all's gawd designed Belief into humanity.) Like all things touching the cultural third rail that is Belief, this book has attracted both support and anger, as its surprisingly unpolemical Wikipedia page shows. It has existed this entire century. It is still in print via Basic Books. I myownself recommend you read it.

Why you should read *this* book, this sequential-art story about its concepts, comes down to the reasons anyone should read a story when seeking knowledge: A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, to quote the Sherman Brothers. I'm so old that I remember hearing Julie Andrews sing it to me in a dark, enormous theater.

So please take this in. Despite swimming against the prevailing social current, despite having one of the most unpleasantly good-for-you subtitles in all of history, despite being in a medium I am not fond of, this story about a book I read almost a quarter-century ago told me something new about Belief. It did it without taking my side. It is a very clear-eyed evocation in story form of the source material's information.

And I still gave it five stars.

THE DEEP SEA DIVER'S SYNDROME, first Serge Brussolo novel translated into English...at last!

THE DEEP SEA DIVER'S SYNDROME
SERGE BRUSSOLO (tr. Edward Gauvin)
Melville House (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$17.54 trade paper, available now

Rating: 4.25* of five

The Publisher Says: They call them “mediums”—professional dreamers who “dive” into the dream world to retrieve items that are converted into valuable artworks in the waking world. What’s more, the more dangerous the dream, the more valuable that artwork becomes.

In David Sarella’s dreams, he’s a professional jewel thief. With the help of his beautiful accomplice, Nadia, he breaks into jewelry stores and museums, lifts diamond necklaces and priceless art, and escapes into the night on a motorcycle—often, with the police shooting at them.

But the pressure is always on David to dream up more audaciously dangerous heists. And meanwhile, the dives are taking their toll, both physically and mentally. David is beyond the point at which this “syndrome” forces most mediums to retire or face insanity or even death . . . and yet he can’t imagine full-time life in the waking world, a world with no Nadia . . .

And so he decides to go down one more time—on the deepest dream-dive he’s ever attempted—to settle his doubts and pull off one last spectacular job . . .

I RECEIVED A READING COPY FROM MELVILLE HOUSE VIA EDELWEISS. THANK YOU.

My Review: Author Serge Brussolo has finally appeared in English! His series of novels about David Sarella is extensive, and this is not the first of that series, but it's a very deep (haw) and involving tale. First things first: This is a charming urban fantasy. To market it as science fiction is to court disappointed readers. A man who deep-dives into his own brain to produce Art is not a usual SFnal conceit. The action, such as it is, isn't SFnal. It's a beautifully made interior novel set in a fantastical urban world, so buy it with that in mind.

I strongly urge you to buy it, mind, especially if you like Ursula K. LeGuin's work. It's the same sort of appreciate-on-several-levels story. In the mood for escapism? Focus on David's journeys into his head, and the way he searches for meaning when he's forced to remain in "reality." Want a brainy story about the nature of reality, its discontents and escapes? Focus on the relationships David has with every living woman he's around. Brussolo layers his myth-making like fine mille-feuille pastry dough, creating the crispest and richest napoleons you'll eat this year.

In the end, my problem with this book came down to something I suspect is in the original French but that I wish the translator had used his artistic license to change: No one simply says anything, they murmur or grate or coo. Fine, fine, I get that sometimes a word like that can act as a spicy overnote. But too many times and it becomes the only thing one experiences, the fine and full flavors under the spice get obscured and that really is a shame. Author Brussolo has collected fine ingredients and made them into a full-bodied potage; a quarter cup of Tabasco reduces his ideas to mere chunks of heavier stuff in a mouth-burning stew.

There are dozens more Brussolo titles untranslated in multiple genres. It is a shame you're not already gobbling them down. Show the publisher that there are buyers with sophisticated tastes that need sophisticated tales to sate them. Resist the widespread US-market apathy for words written by those not from our culture! Treat yourself to your first Brussolo, then you'll need more and soon.