Elon Musk, Ashlee Vance

Elon Musk:  Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance is a biography of a young man.  I have been intrigued about his current story for a little while.

Started: 11/13/2018

Completed: 12/19/2018

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is not a "tell all."  It is very pro Musk.  After reading it, it is hard not to simply want to buy everything Musk and ride to the promised land.  It also points out that Musk's desire and drive outstrip anyone's capabilities.  This means that Musk's predictions are laughably inaccurate in time.  They are staggeringly accurate in resolve, intent, and completion.  I will be paying attention anytime he predicts something.  I will ignore the time frame.  This is a good if pandering read.  It told me a lot more about someone who is interesting because he does stuff.  That is pretty cool.

Dark Money, Jane Mayer

Dark Money:  The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer is the story behind the hard right.

Started: 10/22/2018

Completed: 11/19/2018

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:

Oh my God.  It is staggering how such a small community of the ultimate tiny percent of Americans controlling and taking over the Republican party.  Simply unbelievable.  Thank you so much for this book.  It is a book that will become part of my reference library.  Such great research.  So well put together.  Wonderful read.  Sickening conclusion.  Everyone in America should read this book.

Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick

Mayflower:  A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick is the story of the Mayflower that brought the pilgrims to the New World.  I bought this book when a friend of my wife's came to visit.  Before it rose to the top of my unread books, I had passed it onto my mother-in-law to enjoy and she felt it was excellent.

Started:  1/11/2017

Completed: 10/22/2018

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

An interesting story that tells me a lot I did not know about the journey itself.  I also learned a ton about King Phillip's war.  For some reason I thought that King Phillip must have been an English king.  I was completely wrong, King Phillip was an Indian.  The story ends well into the 1800s, so it is much more than the story of the Mayflower itself.  It took me a long time to get through because I was listening on audio and I had to return the CDs to the library.  Recently, I was able to get them out once more and finished the last few.

This book is not a page turner.  This book is a rather slow read largely because the topics discussed are so discordant from the taught history.  I have to agree with Philbrick that I went quickly from the pilgrims to the civil war without really considering what came in between.

Enlightenment Now, Stephen Pinker

Enlightenment Now:  The case for reason, science, humanism and progress by Steven Pinker is how a Harvard psychology professor explains why it is important to pay attention to science NOW!  I cannot remember how I stumbled on Pinker, probably in an article about Chomsky.  In any case, I started searching around the internet for information about him and I came across this book.  It looked like a good book, particularly for the times.  I am listening to the audio version on my commute.  Given that graphs are an important part of the book, I'm hoping that does not cause a problem.

Started: 9/12/2018

Completed: 10/18/2018

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:
It is no surprise that a scientist calls for science to be respected.  Pinker makes a strong argument not only for science (the concept of partisan science is abhorrent to him) but for humanism.  He calls for increases in human flourishing and points out that while the graph of progress is not without its ups and downs, the general trend is up and it is significantly up over time.  The case he builds is strong and he makes a good argument that those who look at the current times as bleak (even under Trump) are taking a microscope to a landscape.  Sure, Trump is trampling all kinds of things that are important to humanism, but it is really unlikely that he can affect the long term trend on the graph.  The bulk of humanity is working hard to make life better not just for themselves (as do certain megalomaniacs), but for everyone.  This can continue without the leadership and Pinker makes the case that Trump represents a last gasp for fanatic populism in the United States.

The bottom line is that most of us approach problems by applying reason rather than an appeal to a deity.  An appeal to a deity defies reason (believe because there is no evidence rather than here is the evidence for the decision) and the practice is waning (even very religious people seek for a reason to do something).  This is an indicator that enlightenment thought is continuing to impact the world and while there may be the occasional speed bump, the general trend is progressive and supportive of liberal values.  There is no time in the past that is better then the present in general (although there may be for a particular time and place--consider a Roman after the fall of Rome; now consider that same Roman in the United States at any time and things would be markedly better in every way). 

Enlightenment thought calls for all of us to be more liberal (forward looking to the betterment of humanity) than conservative (backward looking to keep things at some better state).  Nothing gets better by stagnating (the call of the conservative).  There are risks in moving forward, but the long term trends are clear that moving forward leads to a better life even if there are setbacks along the way.  This book is recommended.

Grant, Ron Chernow

Grant by Ron Chernow is a book that my father was reading the last time I visited him and he seemed to really be enjoying it.  I listened to the audio version read by Mark Bramhall.

Started: 6/28/2018

Completed: 9/10/2018

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  My father

Review:

My thoughts of Grant mostly involved him being a disgraceful drunk who stopped drinking in order to join the Civil War and then he raised to President where his term was full of corruption.  This is a harsh and unfair assessment of the man.

He had a difficult life as a young man and was not really able to be an effective businessman as he simply trusted people too much.  He probably was encouraged to resign from the military due to drinking and definitely did not handle alcohol well (he was almost certainly an alcoholic).  It was interesting to me to learn that his best man was Longstreet and that Longstreet supported Grant in many ways throughout his life.

Grant's life during the Civil War was largely known to me, but the rich details of the book helped put flesh on the bones with which I was familiar.

I was broadly aware that Grant had started reconstruction, but I was unaware of his two terms as President and his strong efforts to help newly freed slaves.  His presidency was marked by corruption, but it seems that this corruption was due to Grant's innocence and not his complicity.  I had no idea how strongly Grant fought the KKK.

I learned of Grant's "round the world tour" during which he met with leaders of many nations all over the world and was a true diplomat.  I learned that Grant had pursued a third term and later campaigned for Republicans.

Grant's death surprised me (from cancer) at a relatively young age probably due to his love of cigars.

I was floored that Grant and Twain were close and that it was Twain who idolized Grant and not the reverse.

This is a long, good book.  It is a really good look at the man, his friends, his enemies, and those who took advantage of him.

Solar Bones, Mike McCormack

Solar Bones by Mike McCormack is a sweeping Irish story of one man's family history.  Written in the first person as a stream of consciousness, the book explores both life and death against the backdrop of industry in Ireland.  I think that I first read about it in this NYT book review, but I had thought it was somehow linked to Obama (it was not).  Who knows how I came to choose it, but nonetheless, I found it on the first table, in the first box, first book I saw at the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival and that is auspicious (it was in my "to read" list, so I had to make a donation to the Elementary school and read the book).

Started: 9/2/2018

Completed: 9/7/2018

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  The New York Times?

Words and phrases for which I sought help:

Angelus bell -- A ringing of the bells that came after Vespers to indicate it was time for 3 consecutive "Hail Mary" prayers.  The ringing often went to 100 times to distinguish the Angelus bell from other bells.

boreen -- a narrow country road.

Catherine Wheel -- also known as "breaking wheel" is a wheel (about the same as a wagon wheel generally with an iron rim) used by an executioner to break the bones of a person and execute them through a blow to the chest or neck (there is more to it, but I think that this is adequate to describe the horrific manner of execution).  St. Catherine was to be executed this way, but she touched the wheel and it broke apart, so she was beheaded instead.

drumlin -- a low oval mound or small hill, typically one of a group, consisting of compacted boulder clay molded by past glacial action.

etiolated -- pale and drawn out due to lack of light

hustings -- an election platform

iron maiden -- a torture device sort of like a sarcophagus with spikes on the inside.  The spikes rarely killed the person directly, but the person generally died of dehydration or "bleeding out."

nacelle -- A streamlined housing or tank for something on the outside of an aircraft or motor vehicle.

rood -- A crucifix, especially one positioned above the rood screen of a church or on a beam over the entrance to the chancel.

sheugh -- a furrow, ditch, or trench

Review:

This book left me out of breath.  The lack of a period pretty much anywhere left me wondering when I could breath.  This book was truly a book that embodies the concept of stream of consciousness.  There were nice, clever, and precise turns of phrase.  The characters were well developed and their actions were both predictable and surprising just like, well, normal people.  It was a fun read, though it was a hard read.  The book just keeps rolling along with the plot developing (to steal from the book) like concrete spilling into a form.  The plot seemed to roll everywhere at once and it is possible to envision that one sort of runs around the edges in a spiral grasping at plot points wondering what was missing at each point and knowing that there will be another shot as the spiral weaves outward.

At the same time, the concrete gradually fills the forms and pops up over your boots as you wait to use your float and smooth out the rough parts.  The inevitable problem, however, is that you really don't know what your are trying to smooth.  It isn't at all clear how the various tendrils of the story come together except by turns of phrase that come back and sort of weave themselves through the concrete like reinforcing wire.  Truly there, fundamental to the pour, but hidden in the totality of the result.

I think that I have strained this metaphor about as far as I can.  It is a good book.  It is very hard to put down.  It wore me out.  Read it.

The Terrible Twos, Ishmael Reed

The Terrible Twos by Ishmael Reed is a book I purchased at a library sale probably close to 20 years ago.  It has languished on my shelves having suffered from disorganized reorganizing and it was not until it popped to the top of my reading list that I realized for how long I had owned this book.  There was a time when I was interested in anything that looked at Santa Claus in a new way.  I have a feeling that I was also trying to understand racism, so the tag line from the New York Review of Books on the back cover likely also caught my eye, "...and few have been so stinging about the absurdity of American racism."

Started:  July 19, 2018

Completed: September 3, 2018

Recommendation: Not Recommended

Recommended by:  Nobody

Review:

Satire.  This book has some comedic elements, but it is mostly satire.  The satire, however, swings around, literally, an orange headed president who is out of his depth and oblivious to the harm he is enabling.  Sound familiar?  At least somewhat familiar?  Because of this, the satire in the book started to feel more like prophecy.  A prophetic and absurd vision that we are actually living about 40 years removed from the writing of the book.

Allegory.  This book has a fair amount of allegorical content, but it is a little difficult for me to pick up.  The racism I saw was blatant.  There was a fair amount of history of the various forms of Santa Claus packed in and surely there is allegory buried there that was below (above?) my field of view.

Racism.  The racism I saw in this book was brutal, forthright and honest.  The best part of the book, in my opinion, however, was the Spruce tree that took issue with being cut down for a Christmas tree and how it sought its revenge.  Built into the whole story of the Spruce is a little less overt racism and a little more clever description of how the underpinnings of racism and brutality can be undercut.

The story line seemed obtuse to me.  I never really got into the book.  I found no character sympathetic and it vaguely reminded me of reading Pilgrim's Progress.  It felt to me that the story line was meaningless, the characters were truly shallow and mono-dimensional caricatures.  I could not glean from the book what others who really enjoyed it did.  Given the reviews, it felt like it was over my head and that makes me sad, but I cannot really recommend it to anyone.

Helliconia Winter, Brian Aldiss

Helliconia Winter by Brian W. Aldiss is the third book of the Helliconia Trilogy.  Helliconia Spring and Helliconia Summer are the other two books in the trilogy.

Started:  4/28/2018

Completed: 7/19/2018

Recommendation: Highly recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

tatterdemalion -- ragged and disreputable in appearance

Review:

I really enjoyed this series and it is hard not to expect each successive book to be better than the one before.  Spring was great because it was an introduction to a whole new world accompanied by new concepts and new ways of dealing with those concepts.  Summer was delicious as a classic look at how fantasy and science fiction can coexist tying together a deep and disturbing look at religion.  Winter seemed to veer into the nature of nuclear destruction while exposing the hellish underbelly of power.

In all three books, the world of Helliconia became richer and more believable.  The concept of a cycle to all things was born out (as was necessary given the the seasonal titles of the trilogy).  The twists on "Old Earth" were truly surprising and oddly unsettling.  The events in the monitoring station of Helliconia were unpredictable and it feels like the drawing of those events was so light because they were a necessary backdrop (and occasional transition) for the events in Helliconia.  I found the drift into philosophy lackluster.

Having established the few things I disliked about the book and the series, I wish to make clear that my dislikes melt in the sun of those things I enjoyed.  I would recommend the series as a whole and this book as well.

Drawdown, Hawken (editor)

Drawdown:  The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming edited by Paul Hawken is a book that we came across via the drawdown web site.  It got great reviews.  I wanted to read it.  I also wanted to funnel more money into the organization that Paul Hawken formed to write it.

Started: 5/30/2018

Completed: 6/27/2018

Recommended By: Nobody

Recommendation: Great Reference

Review:

This is a simply staggering collection of well researched ideas along with cost and impact.  This is the basis of a business case.  It is a great reference whenever government decides to care about the world again.

Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorator is a fictional story that is getting international recognition.  I cannot remember how I heard about this book.

Started:  5/2/2018

Completed: 5/27/2018

Recommended By:  Nobody

Recommendation: Recommended

Review:

This is a stirring tale in a seemingly post-apocalyptic future.  It feels like an allegory for current conditions particularly given the #MeToo movement.  It is hard to talk about the book without providing spoilers, so bear with me if it seems that I'm not saying much about the plot.  In a sense, this is a coming of age story.  As usual, however, it has implications for all known civilization.  I really liked listening to this book on CD as the dramatist, Anne Flosnik, has a rich and expressive voice.  I happened to have a copy of the book (as I was planning to read it) and when I skimmed it for the spelling of various names, I would never have pronounced them correctly.  Also, Ms. Flosnik brings a sense of "other" with a rich accent that I simply could not place (perhaps that is the intent).  It could also be that I am simply unfamiliar with many African accents.

I cannot say that this book is Earth shattering or that it gave me a new perspective, but it was displacing.  Perceiving the world from the protagonists point of view makes the familiar artificial and the use of Ju-Ju (a form of magic) further takes the world from the familiar.  It is unclear to me, however, whether it is magic in the traditional sense or whether the practitioner is tapping into something else (perhaps some future technology).  Shape changing suggests it is just plain magic, but I still like to leave the opening for something else.

As a fun read, this was fine.  It have enough oomph to make it worth my time and I am glad to have read it.

The Hundredth Queen, Emily King

The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King is a free book I picked up for the Kindle.  It was a long time ago and I don't know why I thought it would be good.

Started: 4/20/2018

Completed: 5/5/2018

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

khanda -- a double-edged straight sword.  An emblem of Sikhism.

Review:

This is not a well written book, but so few are.  This is, however, a really enjoyable book.  A story of a princess who rescues herself is always fun.  I enjoyed the book and I enjoyed the premise.  I look forward to paying for and reading the sequels.

Antifragile, Nassim Taleb

Antifragile:  Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a book that I picked up from the library on audio to hear during my commute.  I have one of his other books sitting on my shelf and I heard on NPR that this one should be read first, so, there you go.

Started: 4/3/2018

Completed: 5/2/2018

Recommended By:  Nobody

Recommendation: Recommended

Review:

Antifragile is the opposite of fragile.  Fragile means that something breaks easily and is not useful after it is broken.  Antifragile means that something gets stronger under disruption.  So, if you marked a box "Fragile" you would want it to be handled with care, not jostled, and identify that the object inside could be ruined if this care was not provided.  If you marked a box "AntiFragile" then it should be handled roughly, jostled, and the item within would get better if this care was provided.  It is kind of hard to imagine such a thing, but things that meet this criteria abound around us, particularly in nature.  This is an extensive text that does not lend itself to full analysis in a paragraph.

The basic concept is pretty simple, but the implications are significant.  I am still working to understand the implications, particularly with regard to risk analysis.  In the end, I'm trying to keep track of opportunities with little downside, but huge upside.

The Inevitable Party, Seth Masket

The Inevitable Party:  Why Attempts to Kill the Party System Fail and How they Weaken Democracy by Seth E. Masket is a book I chose based on a New York Times Op-Ed that included the author.  I thought that the editorial had merit and since I have been a proponent of a third party, the title of this book caught my eye.  When I saw it was published by Oxford University Press, I thought it was worth the time to read it.  As I started this blog post, I came to find out that Dr. Masket is the head of the Political Science Department at the University of Denver.  He is also similar in appearance to Paul Ryan:

Started:  3/17/2018

Completed: Never

Recommended by:  loosely, the NYT

Recommendation: Do not waste your time

Words for which I needed help:

endogenous -- having an intellectual cause or origin

Review:

I really wanted to read this book.  It is really annoying me.  It feels like the professor has cherry picked his statistics (for example, one of his early charts shows that $4M less went to a party and that about $4M more went into a 508(c)(4)...he then explains that it is $4M for Senate campaigns and that there was no senate campaign when the reduced amount appears).  His own charts, graphs, and arguments fight against themselves.  Another example, he argues that there was a genuine effort to reform the effects of parties (whom, he asserts, controlled the legislature for their own gain), then points out how unlikely such a genuine reform is (it would require the legislature--controlled by the parties--to vote for something against the party's best interests).  He then goes on to argue that the reform was ineffective (big surprise, if it really wasn't a reform that would hurt party interest).  Instead of concluding that reform cannot be enacted by legislatures controlled by parties, he argues that parties always find a way around he legislation that is enacted.  Well, big surprise, the legislation is written to let that happen.  He then coasts through example after example of how this is true.  I find the lack of logic, the cherry-picking of statistics, and the conclusions unworthy of the Oxford University Press.  So disappointing.

A Higher Loyalty, James Comey

A Higher Loyalty:  Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey is the story of the head of the FBI who was fired by Trump.

Started: 4/17/2018

Completed: 4/28/2018

Recommended By:  Nobody

Recommendation: Highly recommended

Review:
I really never thought I would read a book written by an FBI director.  I don't particularly have anything against the FBI, but the work of the director is broadly uninteresting to me.  I have found Comey, himself, to be an unsympathetic figure.  I did not like the way he handled the Clinton emails, but I admitted at the time that it was important he speak out about it.  I remember discussing this with my wife and feeling that Comey had to do what he felt was right.  I did not think his actions were politically motivated, but I did feel they were unfortunately timed over and over again.  Reading his book helped as he makes a fairly convincing argument that he could not choose the timing of his liking.  I like the truth and it is clear that Comey does as well.

My suspicions in reading his book was that I was going to hear how he was right.  Those suspicions were validated.  My concern was that I was going to hear the pettiness behind his self justifications.  Those concerns were misplaced.  I may not like what he did, how he did it, and, especially, when he did it, but I am now convinced that he was a man of integrity trying to do his best.  That is really all we can ever ask of anyone.

My base position is to distrust those in power.  It always feels like they are doing something for their own power grab.  Having read this book, I'm inclined to trust Comey.  Sure, there might be more information that comes out later, but my impression is that this is a man of character doing his best.  He has character flaws, but at least he is trying to overcome those flaws.  I am truly stunned that I have found myself sympathizing with this man.  The full truth will probably not come out until long after I am gone and I hope my trust is not misplaced, but he seems like a man who really likes the truth.

Weapons of Choice, John Birmingham

Weapons of Choice by John Birmingham is the first in a series of books that I got free on the Kindle.  This book was nominated for the Locus Award for best first novel.

Started:  10/23/2013

Completed: Never

Recommendation: Do not waste your time

Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

So, if you like reading about incredibly offensive opinions that may or may not have been common in the 1940s, then this is the book for you.  Otherwise, the premise is shallow and the implementation is weak.  Do not waste your time.  I wasted too much of mine.

Breakthrough!, Jon Queijo

Breakthrough!  How the 10 Greatest Discoveries in Medicine Saved Millions and Changed Our View of the World by Jon Queijo is a book I downloaded for free onto my Kindle.  I saw a promotion of some sort and this one caught my eye.

Started: 5/10/2012

Completed: 4/19/2018

Recommendation: Mild Recommendation

Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:
Despite the many years it took me to read it, this is an interesting book.  It sat on my Kindle/phone and only got read when I didn't have the forethought to bring my book with me (most recently the physical therapist).  There are just times when you do not realize you might need or could even read a book.  That is a great time to have a book sitting on your phone.  The down side, however, is that it takes forever to read.

I enjoyed learning the history of both the diseases and the cures.  This was interesting to me as I have often wondered how this stuff gets resolved.  How is it that someone decides to eat moldy bread when sick (that isn't how it happened)?  Anyway, this is a great collection of tidbits of information that can be digested a piece at a time.

I especially liked the end which talked about more holistic medicine. 

Listen Liberal, Thomas Frank

Listen Liberal:  Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People? by Thomas Frank is a call to arms for liberals in general.

Started:  3/12/2018

Completed: 4/3/2018

Recommended By: The New York Times and Current Affair

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

Review:

It is kind of amazing to me how many books I read recently quote Alexis de Tocqueville (his books, Democracy in America, Vol. 1 and Democracy in America, Vol. 2, are on the shelf to be read).  This particular book also quotes the Federalist Papers right up front.  What a great start to any book that hopes to address politics in the United States.

This book sheds a lot of light on the modern corportacracy that is the current political system.  I have felt things shifting to the right.  Reagan was a hard right conservative in his day and he is solidly left of center today (read his inaugural address--he wanted a representative from Canada and one from Mexico in his cabinet).  This book helps identify how far right Democrats have gone (as though you could not tell when Obama's signature Obamacare is based on a Republican system and has the poor paying money they cannot afford in order to, well, live).  Democrats have consciously and intentionally abandoned the working man.  The concept of a professional class was something new to me and the application of that concept in terms of a meritocracy and the tie between that and income inequality.

Demagoguery and Democracy, Patricia Roberts-Miller

Demagoguery and Democracy by Patricia Roberts-Miller is a tiny little book that I picked up as a result of reading a portion of it in Salon.

Started:  3/13/2018

Completed: 3/17/2018

Recommendation: Recommended for those familiar with oratory

Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:

This is a fairly technical book written by a pretty impressive author and the attempt is clearly to make the material approachable for most people.  I do not think that people unfamiliar with oratory will find it approachable.  In addition, I think people well-versed in oratory will find it slow-paced and with lots of explanations of obvious things.  I fit in this middle ground--I have studied oratory (and references to Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle seem welcome), but I am far from knowledgeable in the topic.  This book has a very useful definition of Demagoguery and is so small that it will fit nicely on my shelf next to On Tyranny.  I plan to keep this book and come back to it as needed.

This is a small format book which packs a lot into a small number of pages.  It is smaller than a paperback (perhaps 2/3 the size) and the 120 pages would be far fewer in any other format.  The book has a certain confidence that I find useful and backs up that confidence with reasonable arguments.  I like that!

Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is based on the author's own rather odd and broad experiences, but is not intended as an autobiography.  It is the first of a projected 4 book series and is rather daunting at close to 1,000 pages.

Started: 1/1/2017

Completed: 3/12/2018

Recommendation: Mild Recommendation

Recommended By:  Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

ambit -- the scope, extent, or bounds of something.

infrangible -- unbreakable; inviolable

melliferous -- yielding or producing honey

prised -- the British variant of prize.  The context, however suggests that it is intended as some tense of "pry" as the top of a water bottle is being opened.  Perhaps it is a form of pun.

Review:

This is an odd book.  The narrator is an anti-hero--not as strongly as Thomas Covenant--but still someone for whom it was hard to have compassion.  I think that the initial take on the narrator is that he is struggling under a burden he should not have to bear, but as the book goes on, it is easy to believe that he should not only bear this cross, but that it rubs too lightly on his shoulders.  He sees himself as a man of honor and he has a certain degree of honor, but he is not honorable.  Enough said without giving away the main plot too much.

I enjoyed the reading.  The descriptions were fun, the word play excellent, and there are plenty of quotations to be had.  Having said that, the story itself was unsatisfactory.  The main character seems to have wrapped things up in many ways, yet remains both dangerous and vulnerable at the same time.  He is beloved by so many and, yet, it feels like it is only a matter of time before he betrays these people who love him.  So, the book is one that should probably be read.  It is a tour-de-force but  it is not a pleasure read.

There is a lot of cosmology and most of it is right, but there is a tiny piece that is incorrect and it kind of ruins the whole picture.  It is OK that this piece is incorrect as it is not reasonable to expect that the character who puts it all together would get it all right, but it is mildly disturbing as it feels like the author is trying to create a recruit for his perception of the world through this character.  If so, it is a chilling reality.

I plan to read the next book which is now on the end of the shelf.

The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown

The Boys in the Boat:  Nine American and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown.  I picked this book up based on an NPR story I heard on the radio.  There is an upcoming movie as well.

Started: 3/2/2018

Completed: 3/12/2018

Recommended By: NPR

Recommendation: Really enjoyed it, quick easy book

Review:

I thought I would do crew when I reached college.  I did not.  I could, conceivably, have been the cockswain (as I was quite small), but my university did not have a crew team of which I was aware.  I would have been disappointed to ride and not row, I'm sure.  I did work for a guy who crewed as an adult and he was small, but he was really, really strong.  Anyway, it was not going to happen for me.

This book talks about a young man who is frequently abandoned and found a home in the crew shell.  It is a good story in almost every way I can conceive.  The plot is compelling and moves well.  The rowing terms are gradually introduced so that by the end the terms are familiar.  It is about an American team winning in Hitler's Germany.  All that is great.

The underlying story of one of the oarsman and his early life is nothing short of horrifying.  I was in tears for the boy and young man.  He was not alone as the brutally hard work of rowing a boat competitively can only be done by those with a steel backbone and hardened life.  I am glad I read this book despite the almost absurd beginning (truth is stranger than fiction).  I will look forward to the movie.

What Money Can't Buy, Michael Sandel

What Money Can't Buy:  the Moral Limits of Markets by Michael J. Sandel.  Harvard professor talks about markets?  Count me in!

Started:  2/18/2018

Completed: 3/1/2018

Recommended By: Nobody

Recommendation: Recommended

Review:

So, the idea here is that there are two things all of us are missing in our analysis of free markets.  1) People do not always operate in their own best interest and 2) introducing a market can have an influence over the product(s) commoditized by the market.  There are a couple of other interesting points that follow from these:

• Markets can corrupt common morality when introduced (e.g. People who are charged a fee for being late to pick up a child at day care start to accept the fee as a payment for being late and the concept of not holding up the teacher is removed).
• Incentives can backfire (e.g. monetary incentives can be perceived as blackmail instead of as compensation)
• Money isn't everything (e.g. gifts also indicate that one has thought about another, so there is more than monetary value involved)

The upshot is that markets are not always a good idea.  Private prisons have always been a problem for me because I could not figure out how to generate a monetary reward for rehabilitating prisoners (e.g. private prisons make more money when there are more prisoners, so why rehabilitate?).  I have wondered how to provide a proper incentive to make a private prison work.  The reality is that there is no incentive because rehabilitating prisoners is not associated with money, it is associated with morality and a sense of the public good.  Any effort to "incentivize" prisons so that more prisoners will be rehabilitated will fail because it is not associated with money.  Private prisons will simply fail because having a market for them is nonsensical.  Ditto for schools.  Paying teachers for test scores doesn't work because successful teaching needs to be its own passion and no desire for money can replace that passion.

Read the book and stop hating Capitalism and start hating misplaced markets.

Born Standing Up, Steve Martin

Born Standing Up:  A comic's life by Steve Martin is an autobiography by my favorite comic.

Started:  2/12/2018

Completed: 2/18/2018

Recommended By: Nobody

Recommendation: Hilarious and very informative

Review:

I learned a lot about Steve Martin and many of the things that I learned helped me understand how Mr. Martin's act was so carefully crafted and yet felt so spontaneous.  This autobiography is mostly about his stand up career with very little attention paid to his movies.  I understand that as his movie career feels "current" but his stand-up is over.  Still I wish he had included more about his more recent life.  I really liked that he covered his public life very completely while managing to leave a lot of his private life personal.

Ratf**ked, David Daley

Ratf**ked:  The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy by David Daley is a book recommended in The Nation.  I got the book out of the library, but kept getting other things to read and even after three renewals I hadn't read it.  I picked it up on audio so that I could listen to it on the way to work...of course, that assumes the government will continue to operate.

Started:  1/24/2018

Completed: 2/12/2018

Recommended By: The Nation

Recommendation: Recommended

Review:

The most recent set of gerrymandering (2010) and its after effects are highly detailed.  Daley really went at it and whether you crow with delight when you hear how Republicans put it to the Democrats or howl with dismay at how politicians chose their own voters (instead of the other way around), this is a remarkably detailed look at what happened.  The story is a good one, but unless you are into minutia, you will likely find the book boring after the first few chapters.  In my opinion (a definite gerrymandering wonk), it is a comprehensive look at gerrymandering and how the republican Red Map program literally has compromised democracy (good if you are a minority Republican afraid of the liberals, bad if you are a progressive worried about the conservatives).

Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff

Fire and Fury:  Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff is a book that I bought on pre-order the instant I heard about it.

Started:  1/26/2018

Completed: 2/9/2018

Recommendation: Highly recommended

Recommended By:  Everyone

Words For Which I Sought Help:

auteur -- a filmmaker whose personal influence and artistic control over a movie are so great that the filmmaker is regarded as the author of the movie

bête noire -- a person or thing strongly detested or avoided

Borscht Belt -- a resort area in the Catskill Mountains frequented chiefly by Jewish guests

demimonde -- a group of people considered to be on the fringes of society

encomuium -- glowing and warming enthusiastic praise

louche -- disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way

mendacious -- not telling the truth; lying

myrmidon -- a hired ruffian or unscrupulous subordinate

samizdat -- the clandestine copying and distribution of literature banned by the state

tummler -- a person who makes things happen, in particular a professional entertainer or comedian whose function is to encourage an audience, guests at a resort, etc., to participate in entertainments or activities.

Review:

It is what you expect.  The White House is pretty much what you would expect.  The author is quite good at portraying things as though he were a fly on the wall.  He is well spoken and does a pretty good job of writing the material.

Six Not-So-Easy Pieces, Richard Feynman

Six Not-So-Easy Pieces:  lectures on Symmetry, Relativity, and Space-Time by Richard P. Feynman is a follow-on to Six Easy Pieces which I read years ago before I started this blog.  Richard Feynman is simply brilliant and his lucid explanations of difficult things makes physics far more approachable.

Started:  1/16/2018

Completed: 1/24/2018

Recommendation: Mild Recommendation

Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:

I really like Feynman and I really like Six Easy Pieces.  This book is a good excerpt from the original Feynman lectures and similar to his other work, this was clear, concise, and easy reading.  I only have a mild recommendation because the only new thing I got from this was a better understanding of why a Lorentz Transformation has the particular equations it does.  This is no small thing, but I wonder about how a Lorentz Transformation would work with 4 spatial dimensions (https://phys.org/news/2018-01-four-dimensional-physics-dimensions.html).  Since this lecture series from the 1960s, it would simply not be possible to account for physics that are showing up in 2018, so it is not a shortcoming of Feynman, just the shocking speed with which our understanding of physics is changing.

Seveneves, Neal Stephenson

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson.  I don't even know what it is about.  It is Neal Stephenson.  I'll read it.

Started: 11/15/2017

Completed: 1/24/2018

Recommended By:  Nobody

Recommendation: Highly recommended

Review:

Very, very cool.  So, what happens if the moon suddenly explodes?  I really enjoy science fiction that examines what happens when some new scientific advance is posed.  This book has that in spades.  The huge variety of characters is interesting and the various scientific advances that are posited seem reasonable in the time frames suggested.  This book is not realistic, but it is easy to get lost in it and enjoy the world that Stephenson has created.  He is truly a great author.  Go get it and spend several weeks enjoying it.

Converging Courses, D.L. Cooper

Converging Courses by D.L. Cooper is a book written by an acquaintance.  David and I occasionally sit down and chat and this Halloween he was talking about his new book, so I had to pick it up and give it a read.

Started:  1/14/2018

Completed: 1/15/2018

Recommendation: Not my genre

Recommended By: David Cooper and Lucy Dirksen

Review:

This book is basically international espionage and that is a genre I do not know well.  I have read few books in this genre with at least 20 years since the last.

The book alternates in point of view slipping from one character to another to provide a comprehensive understanding of the motives of each.  As a result, however, it is difficult to pick one character as the protagonist.  It seems like the college student, Phil, who both opens and closes the book is the most likely.  Not wanting to be a spoiler, it is difficult to say too much about the plot except that it involves Phil, in an act of selflessness, becomes embroiled in an international incident.  The book is full of highs and lows with the women generally finding love and many of the males meeting their ends.  The book progresses generally chronologically and so it is difficult to gather the different threads of stories and claim that there is truly one plot that binds them.  There is no doubt that the book centers on action and the action scenes seem to move into slow motion as they are described in rich detail.  It helps to know the parts of a sailboat as sails are repeatedly referenced by name (e.g. jib, halberd, spinnaker) and frequent references to port and starboard might catch the non-sailor wondering what is happening where.

Troublemaker,Leah Remini

Troublemaker:  Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini is a book that I decided to buy when I started to watch Scientology and The Aftermath on A&E network.  I felt that I had to support Ms. Remini in her battle with Scientology.  My wife read this book and felt it was easily worth the time it would take to read.

Started:  1/12/2018

Completed: 1/14/2018

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  my wife

Review:

This is a quick and easy read.  The writing is engaging and the Leah Remini does a good job of culling facts about her life that might be interesting to her from facts that might be interesting to a random reader.  A loud, brash, frankly kinda trashy New Yorker is a stereotype, by on that Ms. Remini opts to live.  I don't mean that she is trying to be someone she isn't, but that she is comfortable being who she is even if that is a stereotype.  I have to admit that I have not been fond of her as an actress (I found King of Queens to only moderately funny--I don't enjoy the insult humor or the slapstick and I find it hard to watch her on Kevin Can Wait because I feel like killing off his wife was a really harsh way to replace her with Ms. Remini).  I have been very interested in her series on A&E and find her brave brashness welcome, but she also shows her compassion for other people clearly in the series.  That is the person to whom I can relate.

This book shows some of how she came to be the person she is.  It is quite readable and informative.  Plus, it supports her and I think that she is doing a good thing trying to expose Scientology.  Go Leah!

Also, if you are a Scientologist and are reading this, it is possible that by aligning myself with Ms. Remini I am an SP, so if you think so (and you know me), I completely get it if you need to disconnect.

Our Revolution, Bernie Sanders

Our Revolution:  A Future to Believe In by Bernie Sanders is a book I have wanted to read since it came on the market.  I really need to understand his broad positions well before 2020 rolls around.

Started:  11/5/2017

Completed: 1/12/2018

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  my wife

Review:

Bernie Sandars articulates many views that I have come to independently in Our Revolution.  Part I of the book is how he decided to run for the presidency.  This is interesting, but insanely detailed.  I think I would have benefited from 20 or so pages, not the 200 it was assigned.  For someone who really wants to know Bernie, however, this material is important.  I read the vast majority and skipped the last 20 or so pages as I just got tired of hearing about another meeting where several hundred people showed up and talked about how their lives sucked.  Maybe Bernie's point was that many people have the same frustrations.  If so, he made it resoundingly.

The second part was more about his policies and I found this more interesting.  Unfortunately, this part of the book reads like Bernie speaks.  He makes his point many, many times on many, many issues.  Another 300 pages of excruciating detail.  I probably would have found this wonderful if I already did not know the material.  Over and over I got statistics, charts, and graphs with which I was well familiar.  One area where I learned something really good was in the Native People's section, but it was about 3 pages.

So, this book will tell you why Bernie says what he says.  If you want to know the back story, it is incomparable.  There are a lot of tax raises and service raises.  There are talks of international agreements, partnerships, and scornful international companies.  This is all great.  I really could have used a summary at the back, a table perhaps, that was a balance sheet that showed how the tax increases paid for the service increases.  Maybe some projections on what the anticipated growth rates would be for the economy due to which factor and how that would look over the long time lines (sometimes 15-20 years) in which Bernie thinks.  That would have been awesome even if it had been wrong, because it would have given me some sense of the investment that America should be making in itself.  Maybe, in my retirement, I'll be able to figure all that out and build the table that I think is missing.  Hmmm.