Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

I saw reports of Kurt Vonnegut's death last month and realized I'd not read any of his books. I guess I felt any wanna-be semi-educated heathen like myself ought to read something by the man many consider to be the greatest American novelist of his time. So in the spirit of things I checked out a Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" from the library.

I'm generally not much of a fan of fiction, and I've been known to stop reading 30-50 pages in if a book doesn't catch my attention quickly - so completion of the book was not a given - but I made it through and actually enjoyed "the read."

First off: I couldn't summarize the meaning of the book if I tried so I won't other than to say it's a humorous story about how the bumbling humans bring about their own apocalypse.

Probably the highlight of the book for me was a poem of the Last Rites being given to the dying dictator of a tropical island. The verses from the island's Bokonism religion are read and are then repeated back by the dying person - sortof like wedding vows ;-). Anyhow this poem lept off the page.

God made mud.
God got lonesome.
So God said to some of the mud, "Sit up!"
"See all I've made," said God, "the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars."
And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around.
Lucky me, lucky mud.
I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.
Nice going, God.
Nobody but you could have done it, God! I certainly couldn't have.
I feel very unimportant compared to You.
The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around.
I got so much, and most mud got so little.
Thank you for the honor!
Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep.
What memories for mud to have!
What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!
I loved everything I saw!
Good night.
I will go to heaven now.
I can hardly wait...
- Kurt Vonnegut from Cat's Cradle

(Thanks to this website for archiving the text)

I (we?) tend to make things too complicated and miss the fun of just being here. Count me as glad to be "sitting-up mud."

Ice Nine: In the book Ice Nine is a molecular "seed" that causes water to freeze at temperatures far above 32F. I first heard of Ice Nine back in high school through my favorite guitarist of the time, Joe Satriani. One of Satch's instrumentals was named Ice Nine. Now 20 years later I understand the reference.

Maybe at some point I'll similarly name a song for a Vonnegut reference. Could you hum "Sitting-up Mud"?