In The Heart of The Sea, Nathaniel Philbrick

In the Heart of the Sea:  The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick received the National Book Award in 2000 and was subsequently made into an unsuccessful moving by Ron Howard.  I listened to the unabridged audio version which tells the true story behind Moby Dick.

Started: 12/9/2016
Completed: 1/9/2017
Recommendation: Recommended, but you need a strong stomach
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

consanguinity -- kinship; close relationship or close connection

Review:

The book starts at the end with the survivors being found by another whaleship.  That is as good a place as any.  There is a fair amount of time spent talking in graphic detail about the process of killing and recovering the oil from a whale.  It is nauseating.  This is a recurring theme, however, throughout the book and seems to pop up again just when you might have thought you'd been through it enough.  One would think it would pale in comparison to the cannibalism, but it does not.

This is a well written book that is difficult to assimilate.  The story is gripping and the characters are relatively interesting.  There are tons of interesting facts about whaling I never considered (like a boat only had around 20 people on it) and the implications of the hunting on the family (whale hunting took about 3 years per voyage).  The chronicling of bad judgement and bad mistakes (as well as bad luck) is enough to make you think that the survivors must have used up their bad luck in this one event.  Of course, they didn't and the whole story is more interesting for it.

Are we Rome?, Cullen Murphy

Are we Rome?: the fall of an Empire and the fate of America by Cullen Murphy is a book that went from shelf to basket the instant I saw it.  It is a thesis I have long held and I bought it with a friend during lunch at work.  It has sat on my "to read" pile for over 5 years.

Started: 12/8/2016

Completed: 1/14/2017

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

abstemious -- not eating or drinking too much

languid arrogance -- a slow, calm, almost relaxed disdain for others; a torpid condescension as though the very effort of looking down upon others was hardly worth the effort, so little was exerted.  The phrase is usually associated with royalty glancing down at the clanging mob from a throne.  I kind of imagined this phrase being associated with Marie Antionette or, perhaps, William Blackstone.

limpet -- a marine mollusk with a shallow conical shell and a broad muscular foot, noted for the way it clings tightly to rocks

parlous -- full of danger or risk

precocity--characterized by early development

solipsism -- a philosophical belief that your own existence is all that is real or can be known

sybaritic -- voluptuous or sensualist

Review:

The author is neither an apologist for America nor Rome.  His thesis is that while there are neither sure linkages there are sufficient similarities and differences to give us pause.  The author takes a brave shot at suggesting a path forward at the end of the book and it has merit.  His overall conclusion, however, is that Americans should be able to overcome our own obstacles by doing what we do best--be American.  It is clear, however, that this advice is given without the election of Trump in mind.

Knight Life, Peter David

Knight Life by Peter David is the classic tale of Arthur, King of the Britons.  This was Peter David's first book and predated all his work in comics.  I have a very hard time passing up a book on Arthur.

Started: 12/12/2016

Completed: 1/1/2017

Recommendation: Mild Recommendation

Recommended By:  Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

avuncular -- suggestive of an uncle especially of kindliness and geniality

sartorial -- of or related to clothing

tonsorial -- of or related to a barber

Review:

It was a bit hard to read this story of a business man out of no where winning an election.  That it was the good King Arthur who "spoke without a script" was only mildly helpful.  Certainly, Mr. David never intended that his satire on the story of King Arthur would ever be manifested.  That this, his first novel, became a series is not shocking, but it is rather difficult for me to imagine reading another.  This one was funny, but a lot of the humor came from the juxtaposition of King Arthur in modern New York.  The next book in the series would have a hard time, in my opinion, maintaining this charm, so I don't plan to read another in the series.  For those who would like a new take on the classic tale, this is that.

The Autobiography of Santa Clause, Jeff Guinn

The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn is a book that I picked up from the Greenbelt Labor Day book sale several years ago and happened to catch my eye in the pile of books today.  I thought it was worthwhile to jump it to the top of the list as it is appropriate seasonally.  This book is supposed to be a mix of history and the fiction it inspired written by a journalist.

Started:  12/10/2016

Completed: 12/12/2016

Recommendation: Not Recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:

So, it turns out that Santa Claus is a horrible name-dropper.  His "band of merry elves" is composed of Leonardo Da Vinci, Attila the Hun, and Ben Franklin (among others).  The history is an elementary skate through important figures with a repeated position that each would really be happier making children happy than doing whatever it is that they are currently doing.  While it is a nice sentiment, it becomes repeatedly hard to enjoy.  It would also make a much easier read if one were a strong Catholic (but not so strong that "miracles" being characterized as "lies" is a problem).  This book just got more boring the further I got into it.

Tides of War, Steven Pressfield

Tides of War:  A Novel of Alcibades and the Peloponnesian War by Steven Pressfield is a book that I picked up at the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival book sale.  This is the same author who wrote, "The Legend of Bagger Vance," although I didn't know that when I picked up the book.  The line across the top which said that his battle scenes were the "most convincing ever written" caught my attention and led to my picking up this book.

Started:  5/29/2016

Completed: 12/10/2016

Recommendation: Recommended, good read

Recommended By:  Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

circumvallate -- to surround with ramparts

encomiast -- a person who publicly praises or flatters someone else

gimcrack -- a cheap and showy ornament; a nick-nack

importunity -- troublesomely urgent or persistent in requesting; pressingly entreating.

miscegenate -- to breed with someone of another race

panygeric -- a public speech or published text in praise of someone or something

penteconter -- a ship with fifty oars

probity -- the quality of having strong moral principals, honesty, and decency.

Review:

For the most part, I found the battle scenes to be pretty basic--though clearly carefully well conceived.  I am not certain that they are the "most convincing ever written."  The book as a whole, however, is a much easier read than Thucydides and does offer insights into the working man's life in a Greek army.  I enjoyed the book and found it to be something of great interest.  I think it is likely that the book was rushed at the end as it felt as though there were two to three more books of equivalent size that were briefly summarized in the last 50 or so pages.  Linking the book to Socrates and his days in jail awaiting the hemlock was a good device and made the book even more interesting to me.

The Finish, Mark Bowden

The Finish:  The Killing of Osama bin Laden by Mark Bowden read by James Lurie is an audio book that I picked up at the library book store because the librarian thought "I'd definitely like it."  It came free with another audio book that I actually wanted.  It has been sitting in my pile of audio books until it is the only one on hand.

Started: 11/31/2016

Completed: 12/9/2016

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

Recommended By:  a nearby librarian

Review:

OK, the librarian was right.  I don't know what I expected--I guess gratuitous violence.  This book was a great balance between the logistics, the decision making, and the actual events.  It offered analysis, resolution of conflicting accounts, and mechanical details of the whole operation over the course of many years.  It was remarkably well written and I am glad that I heard it.  Anyone wondering what decisions were made or how the operation was accomplished would be interested in this book.  There is enough detail to make the description complete without so much detail as to make the work boring or nauseating.  It is probably worth every American reading.

The Evolution of Useful Things, Henry Petroski

The Evolution of Useful Things:  How everyday artifacts--from forks and pins to paper clips and zippers--came to be as they are by Henry Petroski struck me as just the collection of eclectic things all wrapped together that might be interesting.

Started: 11/18/2016

Completed: 12/8/2016

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:

FORM DOES NOT FOLLOW FUNCTION argues this author at every turn.  Petroski offers seemingly endless examples of how inventors seek to fix the flaws in previous inventions or solve some shortcoming in life.  Petroski demonstrates that solutions do not arrive fully formed and are almost always an incremental step from something that came before.  The argument is compelling.  The story of the invention of seemingly every day things (like the paper clip) is interesting on its own even if the narrative is frequently interrupted to restate the author's thesis.  The interruption becomes annoying over time, but the case is not lost on me.  This book is a good read and offers some insight into how inventors go about their lives for those of us who are not inventors.