Five Chiefs, John Paul Stevens

Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir by John Paul Stevens falls into the broad category of books about the Supreme Court. I'm interested in learning more and more about how the court works and this is part of the dip into understanding the court better. I picked up an audio version from the library to hear during my commute, but this book has been on my shelf for a while and the area has been a long term interest.

Started: 9/18/2013
Completed: 9/28/2013
Recommendation: Recommended, good insight into the court
Recommended By: I read a review of this book that recommended it as one for anyone who wanted to know more about the Court, but I cannot recall the source of that review, maybe the Washington Post

Review:

Justice Stevens does not stand out in my mind as an exceptional judge.  Having said that, he simply must be a fantastic judge to have made it to the Supreme Court.  I have read a few of his opinions and while I do not agree with all of them, I have always found his logic appealing.  As a result, I was looking forward to this insight into the court.  Justice Stevens does not tell you how the Court makes decisions, but he does give you insight into how the Court operates.  Of course, the memoir is his own and it is littered with his opinion (an opinion that somehow, reverberates) on a wide array of items.  It was stunning to me that he put so much time into the layout of tables in a general conference room, but perhaps it is this attention to detail that made him a good judge.  I'm glad I read this book, though, as I feel like I understand the man behind the opinions much better.  I would recommend that anyone interested in the Court from the perspective of one who served on it for quite some time,

Assassin's Apprentice, Robin Hobb

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb is a book I picked up for free on the Kindle.  Robin Hobb is a pen name of Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden.  This book was nominated for the British Fantasy Society Award for best novel.

Started: 7/24/2013
Completed: 9/18/2013
Recommendation: Fun read
Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:


Welcome to a rich world where magic takes the form of "The Skill" or "The Wit" or, maybe something more.  The story here is what happens when a bastard son appears on the doorstep of a King-in-waiting?  Well, he becomes an assassin, of course.  Not to assassinate his father, but to act as a tool of the king (whomever is king) to remove those who must be removed in one of the oldest forms of "diplomacy."  Of course, this is no normal bastard and the world is a rich place to explore.  This opening book leaves lots of threads unexamined and plenty of space for growth.  The book itself is rich and introduces the world in a strongly believable way while offering a series of compelling plot lines (a few of which are thoroughly examined).  I have to admit, I'd love to jump to the next book and keep going, but my pile of books to read is so huge that I imagine it will be quite a while before I can pick up the next one.  This is a beach book and a fun escapist read.

This I Believe, Jay Allison, Dan Geidman

This I Believe:  The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman. I got the audio version of this book to hear on the way to work. I picked up the hardback at a Labor Day Festival in Greenbelt, MD while perusing through boxes of books.

Started: 9/13/2013
Completed: 9/18/2013
Recommendation: Recommended, it will raise your spirits
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is a collection of personal beliefs.  Some are starkly informing (Helen Keller and Einstein) but most are just interesting.   There are plenty of essays in this book that are interesting, but the overall feel that I got was that these people actually take the time to think about the way that they live.  It was nice.  It is so easy to believe that people just behave unthinkingly and it offers hope to me to hear normal people provide their personal beliefs.  I didn't find words to live by for the most part (one person talked about a "careful balance of freedoms" which gave me pause and caused me to take some time to think).  I recommend you listen to this book.  The introduction by Studds Terkel will take your breath away.  It was also amazing to hear Helen Keller.

Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared M. Diamond is a Pulitzer Prize (General Non-Fiction) winning book which talks about human societies.  It was also the winner of the Aventis Prize for Best Science Book. The book was also recognized by the Royal Society and awarded the Rhone-Poulenc Prize for Science Books. It was recommended to me by my father and I picked up an audio copy to hear on my commute to work.

Started: 8/30/2013
Completed: 9/13/2013
Recommendation:Highly recommended
Recommended By:  My Father

Review:

First, know that this book is very dry. There are plenty of statistics and the book is peppered with unpronounceable tribes, words, and a slew of concepts (particularly, "kleptocrat") that are overwhelming. Despite the approachable title, this is a work that is remarkably detailed and full of "evidence" far more comforting in a technical work then in a book for the masses. Having said that, WOW!

The author covers about 13,000 years in his analysis, he covers every continent, and he covers vast swathes of humanity. While there is an unquestionable love of New Guinea, the author does his best to prevent his personal bias from overshadowing his research. Kudos to him on this effort, it is my firm belief that he has successfully done so.

The argument put forth is that human development is extremely strongly effected by geography (and, hence, environment). Intuitively this makes sense: nobody would expect Eskimos to invent wheat farming. If the climate is not appropriate, then farming is effectively out of the question. OK, so, who cares? Well, it turns out that it is only with farming that societies (on any scale) have enough time to think about inventing stuff and to develop teeming heaps of people among whom might be great inventors. OK, so, who cares? Well, without new technology society remains basically a subsistence exercise and the size of societies constrained by what can be easily gathered. It also turns out that the hunter/gathering life style inhibits birth rate (basically, you have to wait until one child can walk long distances before having another) which results in less population. Even if you look at invention as a game of chance (a million monkeys at a keyboard writing Shakespeare is a worst case scenario) the more people you have trying to get stuff done, the more likely that one will happen on some inventive solution. This is even more true if the person isn't starving, tired from walking, or spending all his time trying to get food.

The author also explains that people basically find strangers threatening. It seems to be a basic human action to kill a stranger. Various societies (of all kinds) have found ways to prevent outright slaughter, but it turns out that hunter/gatherers are among the most likely to go around killing each other. So, the switch not only supports and encourages a higher birth rate, but murders tend to go down among the farmers (they still wipe out hunter/gatherers).

The book is boring.  Take the time to read it.  Read it slowly and think about the arguments.  It is well worth the effort.

The World is Flat, Thomas L. Friedman

The World is Flat:  A Brief History of The Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman is a book given to me by the president of a company for which I worked.


Started:8/15/2013
Completed:8/30/2013
Recommendation:Mild Recommendation for non-IT folk
Recommended By:  Kwang Kim

Review:

The author urgently, stridently wants you to understand that the world is changing really quickly and the repercussions are enormous.  If you are in the IT industry (and possibly the banking industry) then you already know this and the wealth of examples that Thomas Friedman provides of the same concept over and over are simply slices from a life you already lead.  In that sense, this book is not necessarily helpful.  On the other hand, it is nice to have all of the different "flattening" components laid out before you.
The book is dated, but there is a 2.0 version that updates the details. In point of fact, the important thing here is not the specific set of details that substantiate the concept of a flattening world, but the overarching concept that technology is a driver. One can get on board and leverage technology or get left behind. I question whether the United States itself is at risk over this issue...surely the US has been in the driver's seat for quite some time and the fact that it is being overtaken in some areas is an indicator that failing to jump aboard for whatever careening ride is imminent is not fatal. It is worth noting, however, that there is a substantially increasing gulf between those who embrace technology and those who shun it. It seems clear that shunning is likely to be bad. In my opinion it is premature to conclude that embracing technology in all its forms is automatically a good thing. I think that there is value in thought and the pace at which technology is increasing is not matched by societal efforts to comprehend the implications. This book is a journalists effort (a documentation of the phenomenon in the moment) and has tremendous value in that capacity. It is not, however, a philosophical understanding of the underlying technology nor is it a sociological analysis of the future of technology, it feels like a race car driver explaining why the newest fuel is the best.
I give this book a mild recommendation because I think it is unlikely to change anyone's opinion. Those who agree from the outset will find validation. Those who disagree (particularly fundamental Muslims) will find the book offensive and that will lead to the book being uncompelling. Moderates on all sides might be swayed one way or the other, I cannot tell, so I offer a mild recommendation.