Michael Bond (2) (1954–)

The first thing I thought of when I saw the book title Fans, was hooligans, drunk, loud, violent, painted all over in team colors and wearing ridiculous accessories like full length woolen scarves in July, fright wigs, beer dispensing caps and large foam hands shaped to demonstrate the number 1. But author Michael Bond goes way beyond all that. He traces fandom back through history, delves into the psychology, ventures into obsessed fans working for the rehabilitation of abused targets like show more Michael Jackson and Richard III, and even the making of heroes out of teenaged mass murderers. Fandom is a far larger tent than I expected.

Bond did a huge amount of research over many years before publishing this book. He interviewed and listened to all kinds of fans globally, attended their meetings both in person and online, and read the research. It turns out there are all kinds of professionals studying the fans of pretty much any celebrity you can think of, past and present.

A lot of the book has to do with extremists. There are fans who believe or at least wish they had actual relationships with their chosen celebrities (“parasocial relationships”). Some write to them inviting them to meet. Some pretend they have met, or even married, and the occasional case stalks them. One fan was so infuriated that his favorite singer (Bjork) began a relationship without him that he sent her a packaged bomb, and then committed suicide before it was delivered. Police put the clues together and got the post office to prevent delivery.

Fans can also be fanatic about totally fictional characters. Fans bombarded 221b Baker Street with letters to Sherlock Holmes - for decades - inquiring about his private life. Holmes nearly caused riots when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tired of him and killed him off in one last story. Doyle ultimately was forced to bring him back. Today, every television series seems to have a cult following, with fans totally idolizing its exaggerated characters, even if the ratings are horrible. Fans will not be stopped.

Bond says during the Golden Age of film in the 1930s, “a quarter of a million fan letters arrived at Hollywood studios each month ; a top star could receive three thousand a week.” These included proposals of marriage, requests for personal items, as well as the mundane autographed pictures.

And fans don’t stop at merely enjoying the show, either. Fan fiction is gigantic. Fans write their own stories starring their heroes and post them online for all to read. They show the story doesn’t have to end just because the film or series is over. Dedicated fans can take it all to new heights (or depths). They even leverage other character in pairs called slash, which the original author did not explore sufficiently for them. Think Adam/snake or Kirk/Spock or Batgirl/Robin as being under-exploited.

A lot of it has to do with technology. Fandom could not be quite as extreme in earlier times, because there were no social media, world tours, television specials, hit records, ebays, fanzines or postal services. This has also led to copycats, reinforced by the sheer popularity, omnipresence and availability of their heroes. And copycats can take the wrong message and build it into a horrific reality.

Bond has a chapter on Columbiners, fans of the two mass murderers at the high school in Colorado that still inspires copycats decades later. And devoted fans of who they were, how they lived, and what they accomplished. Fans are in communication with each other on forums and social media, reinforcing their beliefs and desires. They find they are not alone, not as unappreciated as they thought, on the right track, justified, and validated. Technology has empowered them to continue. Bond says “Their group identity override their personal one to the extent they feel a part of it as much as any of the players” (be they singers, musicians or murderers).

We see this again today with the female fan tribe following the trial of Luigi Mangione, the alleged murderer of the United Health CEO. Bond says most extreme fans are girls and women, leading in most categories of fandom. He doesn’t delve deeply enough into this phenomenon, but I suspect the numbers are skewed by pop music stars, whose fanbase is by far 9-18 year old girls. Sports, he adds, is one of the few categories where men outnumber women fans.

At a more pleasant extreme are Janeites, fans of Jane Austen and her books. People the world over come to England, dress in authentic period costumes and pretend to live the life of Austen’s time. They talk endlessly about her books, the last of which was published hundreds of years ago.

Bond has chapters capturing the madness surrounding The Beatles and Elvis Presley, but not say, Danny Kaye or Harry Houdini, before his time. They too could fill stadiums, long before the internet could do the same for far more performers. Laurel & Hardy still have totally dedicated fans all over the world, long outliving them.

As for The Beatles, their fans are said to have invented continuous screaming throughout their entire performances, leaving listeners with no clue whatsoever of how the musicians did or even what they performed. Continuous screaming is now the norm, except in nostalgia, tributes and final tours, where audiences come to appreciate and even sing along. That was not possible at a Beatles concert.

And after all that, Bond never even looks at the madness of obsessed football fans throughout his native Europe. Football fans are forever rioting, fighting, looting/pillaging and causing their hero-filled team to forfeit the game or even the season. Punishments include games being played for TV only, with no fans allowed in the stands at all. This is a berserk corner of fandom I would have thought would be front and center. But it’s big tent.

David Wineberg show less

Fascinating book about the neural processes involved in orientation, mental mapping and being lost. It presents neuroscience in an accessible way and details so many interesting studies on the effects and consequences of healthy or faulty mapping on our life from babyhood to senescence. Really interesting chapters on Alzheimer’s and the consequences of using GPS, as well as what not letting our kids roam and what this does to their mental health. And how to cope if you get lost, a state show more our brains cannot cope with. Brilliantly written, this one is a must read. show less

From Here to There: The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way is a fascinating exploration of how we learn to find our way as children and how we may risk unlearning it from lack of use thanks to GPS or from the damage of Alzheimer’s Disease. Through that arc of life, Bond explores the different ways we think about finding our way and what parts of the brain are likely to be involved.

I recently read “The Address Book” by Deirdre Mask. In it, Mask wrote about legible cities and show more the idea fascinated me, so when I learned of From Here to There, I just had to read it. It did not disappoint one little bit. It began by looking at how we wander and how the exploratory freedom has been whittled away over recent generations. This is a bit of a personal hobbyhorse and I feel sad for kids who don’t have the freedom to run about all over as I used to do.

Bond also explains how this all plays out in our heads. He is scrupulous in separating what is known from what is surmised and explains how scientists know what they know and why they think what they think.

He also writes about getting lost and how so much of being lost is the panic of realizing you don’t know where you are. It was illuminating for me. I have never felt lost. I have occasionally not know where I was but knew how to know without difficulty. He also writes about some of the extraordinary navigators and how they are so good at what they do. It boils down to two words, pay attention. He also talks about city design and how it can make a city legible (Paris) or not (London) and even how that applies to architecture and buildings such as the beautiful Seattle Library that is lovely to look at and notoriously difficult to navigate.

The final chapters focus on the losses of Alzheimer’s and how we might be undergoing our hippocampus now we have GPS. What are the implications there – and what might exercising our hippocampus do for us.

I really loved From Here to There a lot. It’s a fascinating subject and while I felt a bit in the weeds learning about the different cells and where they were hiding, even when it was the most technical, it was easy enough to understand. It would have been nice to have the illustrations right in place rather than having to flip back to look, but that’s just picking nits in an excellent book.

I love the way Bond writes about the wayfinding. You can tell he loves the topic and is passionate about it. I also love how he finds illustrations from real life to explain the concepts. He makes even the more abstracted information understandable and interesting. He has a way of bringing science back to the people and how it interacts with their lives.

I received a copy of From Here to There: The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way from the publisher for review.

From Here to There: The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way at Harvard University Press
Michael Bond author site

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2020/06/26/9780674244573/ show less

Neurotransmitters in our brain help us with boundaries and our location in a space. That’s all well and good but how do we actually figure out where we are, where we are going, and what to do when we lose our way. In essence, humans are divided into groups; the egocentric who relate everything to their position, and the spatial who rely on the features of the landscape and how they relate to each other to tell them where they are. The author gives several examples of individuals who went show more for a hike, and lost their way, some with dire results. I spent a lot of time googling the harrowing stories behind the individuals named in the book. Bond’s warning to be prepared was so compelling, I went out and bought a mirror compass to go with the whistle, knife, and flint fire starter I always carry with me when out hiking, walking, or riding my horse. show less