Grasping for the Wind

Book Review: Iron Man - Beneath the Armor by Andy Mangels

* Genre: Nonfiction, Media Tie-In, Graphic Novels
* ISBN: 0345506154
* ISBN-13: 9780345506153
* Format: Paperback, 224pp
* Publisher: Del Rey
* Pub. Date: April 2008

Sometimes reading about fictional characters can be almost as fun as reading the stories themselves. If this were not the case, there would be no controversy of the Harry Potter encyclopedia that J. K. Rowling hates so much. There would be no need to have a Star Trek or Star Wars encyclopedia (both of which I read cover to cover in high school, thrice). Such nonfiction works add to the experience of a book or series we enjoyed immensely - be on the look out for a biography of Robert Jordan in the coming years, mark my words – and nothing jump starts this phenomenon better than the movie industry.

So with the immensely successful release of the Iron Man movie a couple of weeks ago, you are certain to be able to walk into your local bookstore and find several re-printings and new volumes on this rather iconic character. Publisher Del Rey and Author Andy Mangels’ contribution is Iron Man: Beneath the Armor a retrospective look at the comic book hero from his inception up to the recent release of his first live action film, starring Robert Downey Jr.

Thoroughly researched, Mangels’ book takes us all the way back to Iron Man’s first appearance in Tales of Suspense, and looks at creator Stan Lee’s influences. From there the reader progresses through the birth of Iron Man’s own comic, the constantly shifting roles that Tony Stark/Iron Man play in the Marvel Universe. Much of this story is told from interviews that the artists and writers had given over the years, and Iron Man’s story comes to light through the eyes of his creators. Mangels then brings all of these interviews together to show the recurring theme of the Iron Man character, the concept of an ordinary man doing ordinary things. Page after page this comes through, and yet all the while we learn the strange and convoluted history of Iron Man.

Anyone familiar with the comic book hero will know that his story is one of the most complex in the Marvel universe. His comic book was killed and brought back numerous times, had occasions where only four books were produced in a year, and even grew from a more kid-friendly character to an angst and guilt ridden adult one. Mangels skillfully shows all the various incarnations of Iron Man and deftly explains the whys and wherefores of the various directions the Iron Man comic has taken.

I had always wondered why comic book characters would appear in other comics, or would have side stories unrelated to the original. Ever wonder why the TV character you loved to watch as a kid bares only superficial resemblance to the character of today? Or why Iron Man’s back story changed so many times? This all is explained in Iron Man: Beneath the Armor in an engaging manner. Even those readers unfamiliar with the comic will learn about how the comic book industry works in this work. But Mangels doesn’t bog the reader down in excessive facts.

This glossy, full color book does have some difficulties. Some of the quotes that Mangels’ chooses to help us understand the character of Tony Stark/Iron Man can tend to keep ringing the same bell, even when coming from different people. This can feel repetitious. The watermarking that the book uses can also be distracting. Some of the text is overlaid on top of a picture or design, but the designs were not made subtle enough, resulting in some of the words fading into the background. This causes the reader to have to peer closely at the words, causing an uncomfortable squint, which hurts after a while.

Iron Man: Beneath the Armor also has extensive character profiles (almost a full quarter of the book) which are very helpful, especially in understanding the evolutions of the characters. Anyone researching the characters will find these useful. They are also just fun to read, much like when we read a biography of a famous celebrity. We feel closer to the character and that much more connected to their story.

As a supplement to the movie, Iron Man: Beneath the Armor is superb. As a work in its own right, it is extremely helpful in understanding the comic book industry by examining the permutations of the character of Iron Man. All Iron Man fans need to add it to their library, collectors should use it as a resource for identifying missing issues, artists will learn about the re-envisioning common to comic books, and writers will learn about how even the most established character can be taken in new directions. I highly recommend Iron Man: Beneath the Armor by Andy Mangels as a visual and intellectual feast.

Book Review: The Dead Guy Interviews by Michael Stusser

*Genre: Nonfiction, Humor, Trivia
* ISBN: 0143112279
* ISBN-13: 9780143112273
* Format: Paperback, 304pp
* Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
* Pub. Date: September 2007

Michael Stusser’s Dead Guy Interviews first appeared in the pages of the trivia magazine Mental_Floss. Drawing on the known, the rumored, and his sense of humor, Stusser writes fictitious interviews with noted personalities from history. People like George Washington, Genghis Khan, Chairman Mao, Nikola Tesla, Mae West and others all sit down for an “interview” with Stusser.

He has now collected and expanded his interviews in a collection. The Dead Guy Interviews is a hilariously presumptuous collection of interviews with 45 dead personalities. Often focusing on the flaws or the rumors, the interviews give the reader interesting trivia (sometimes little known) about these people.

Each interview begins with a short description of the life of each person, noting their achievements, and whatever else made them famous. Reading these is essential, as much of the interview builds on these facts.

As part of the interviews Stusser writes, he also includes descriptions the actions of the people as they are interviewing. Genghis Khan breaks something, or Tesla electrocutes himself. These add flavor and character to the words of the interviews.

These interviews are quite funny, although Stusser often has to resort to rumored sexual escapades or being caught in lies to create the humor. Of course, that is not unlike most journalists of today, always on the prowl for a wif of scandal. I thought that the interviews often focused too much on these rumors, rather than relating interesting facts in a creative way.

Stusser also has a liberal bias. When he writes the interviews of known conservatives or prudish figures of history he will often mock those positions. Yet when encountering promiscuous or progressive figures of history, his interviews support their "progressive" views. For instance in the interview with Darwin this exchange is made:

MS: Let’s talk about the theory of “creationism” –

CD: Bible stories.

MS: Well today they’re calling creationism, Intelligent Design. Any thoughts on that label?

CD: I guess I’d have to say that any intelligent designer that made 99.9 percent of every organism he or she designed go extinct, couldn’t be all that intelligent.

MS: You really did anger some Bible Thumpers with your theory of evolution.

CD: I can understand that. If you want to keep telling the Adam and Eve story – creationism - it’s hard to allow for evolution. We either got put on the earth by god as fully formed people, or we evolved from something a little less human.

Obviously, Stusser is using the contention provided by Darwin's theory to create humor, its just that often his humor is often at the expense of more conservative type people. Even though I am a conservative myself, I would laugh at these becasue I know that Stusser was just trying to be funny, but I still think he needed to poke fun at the liberal types a bit more too.

But Stusser does find ways to mock everyone he “interviews”. All of these famous people from history have strange habits, weird escapades, and pithy words that can be mocked. And it is funny most of the time. Where possible, Stusser draws on famous quotes from the figures to add a grain of truth to his interviews. Wilde’s interview often answers with lines from his book and letters, or Lincoln’s has a smattering of the Gettysburg Address. This adds a truth and veracity to the interviews that lets you know that Stusser did some research and the facts as he relates them can be trusted.

This is a book I recommend that all fans of trivia read. It is funny, creative, and an unusual way to get your daily dose of trivia. Teachers might find this a useful tool in the classroom; although they will need to read it carefully to censor those things they believe their students are not ready for. As I said, rumor and innuendo provide the basis for a few questions in each interview. It is also just a good (dare I say it?) bathroom book. Each interview is only 3 to 5 pages long, and makes for a more interesting read than the wife’s Southern Living.

Fans of Mental_Floss and lovers of trivia will enjoy this book. I hope Stusser does another. After you read it, look for more in the pages of Mental_Floss. Or check out these that were posted online to celebrate the release of the book:

[Video] Sigmund Freud (This one really has a lot of sex in it, but then it is Freud after all.)
[Text] Queen Isabella I
[Text] Benjamin Franklin
[Text] George Washington
[Text] Huey Long
[Text] Charles Darwin

Where are the Force Fields?

Michio Kaku, a cofounder of string theory, has new book out (Physics of the Impossible) explaining why we won't see invisibility, force fields, and lightsabers just yet. Though are children just might. This review at the NY Times explains how these three are possible, but not yet viable. (The comments are quite inventive. I do so love talking to engineers and physicists about technology, their glee is just so palpable.)

(Via Worldmagblog)

Tri-doku

And in the I know someone sort of famous category, we have Japheth Light (the first "h" is silent) a guy I went to church with when I was teaching in Palm Bay, Florida and whose wife was the third grade teacher to my fifth/sixth grade.

It turns out that my friend is the inventor of a new, harder version of Sudoku called Tri-doku. A math guy through and through, Japheth thought that standard Sudoku was too easy, so he and a friend invented this new form. His first collection of puzzles has been published by a renowned puzzle publisher.

I'm not a Sudoku fan, (I prefer crosswords) but if you are, and think standard Sudoku is too easy, you might try my friend's newer version. (and if you understand these rules, I bow before your awesome prowess.)

Tridoku uses a triangle rather than a square for its format and the rules are as follows:

No. 1, the large triangle rule: The numbers 1-9 must be placed in each of the nine large triangles in the puzzle.

No. 2, the inner triangle rule: The numbers 1-9 must be placed in each of the three legs of the inner shaded triangle. Notice the numbers in the corners of the inner triangle will each count for two legs of the inner triangle. So the 3 in the left corner counts as the 3 for the top shaded leg and the left shaded leg of the inner triangle.

No. 3, the outer triangle rule: The numbers 1-9 must be placed in each of the three legs of the outer shaded triangle. As in rule 2, the numbers at the corners each lie in two legs of the outer triangle (i.e. the 2 at the top counts as the 2 for the left and right leg of the outer triangle).

No. 4, the hexagon rule: No two neighboring (touching) cells may contain the same numbers. This rule goes for any two cells that touch -- regardless of whether the cells meet along an edge or at a single point.
In other words, no numbers can be repeated within any small hexagon in the entire puzzle.

Try one of the puzzles here.

And see the solution here.

Congratulations to my friend Japheth on his achievement, and his other creation to be released next year, Snowflake Sudoku.

A Year of Reading 2008

This is a continually updated list of all the books I have read in the year 2008. Links are to reviews I have written for some of these books. You can also look at my list for 2007.

January February March April May June
July August September October November December

January

Series 65: Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam Manual by Kaplan Financial
The Prodigal Troll by Charles Coleman Finlay
Instant Knowledge by the editors at mental_floss
The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
In The Beginning by the editors at mental_floss
Eberron: Bound by Iron by Edward Bolme
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy edited by W. H. Horner
Hunter's Run by George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham
A Bit of Madness by Emmanuel Civiello and Thomas Mosdi
Goblin Hero by Jim C. Hines
The Shadow and Night by Chris Walley
Dragon Outcast by E. E. Knight

February

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams
Breach the Hull edited by Mike McPhail
Confessor by Terry Goodkind
Blood Ties by Pamela Freeman
Sojourn Volume 6: The Bezerker's Tale by Ian Edgington and Greg Land
Forgotten Realms: Neversfall by Ed Gentry
Infoquake by David Louis Edelman
The Golden Cord by Paul Genesse
Grimspace by Ann Aguirre

March

The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells
Madhouse by Rob Thurman
The Dead Guy Interviews by Michael Stusser
The Hidden City by Michelle West
Klassic Koalas: Ancient Aboriginal Tales in New Retellings by Lee Barwood
Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
Growingold with B. C. by Johnny Hart

April

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Small Favor by Jim Butcher
Heroes Adrift by Moira J. Moore
Misspelled edited by Jule E. Czerneda
Flash Fiction Online, April 2008 edited by Jake Freivald
Rolling Thunder by John Varley
Empress by Karen Miller
Phytosphere by Scott Mackay
Goblin War by Jim C. Hines
Return of the Sword edited by Jason M. Waltz

May

Shadowmarch by Tad Williams
Forgotten Realms: Obsidian Ridge by Jess Lebow
Iron Man: Beneath the Armor by Andy Mangels
The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt
Bloodheir by Brian Ruckley
The Martian General's Daughter by Theodore Judson
The Four Forges by Jenna Rhodes
Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan

June

A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans
Wizards edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois

July

August

September

October

November

December

January February March April May June
July August September October November December

A Year of Reading 2007

The Year is Done! I hope you had a great one and have high hopes for 2008. Below is a list of all the books I read in 2007 (I like to keep track because I am just that hyper-organized). The final five have reviews written that I just haven't posted because every review deserves a suitable amount of time at the top of the blog. You will see them in January of 2008.

January February March April May June
July August September October November December

January

Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin
Condensed Knowledge by the editors at mental_floss
Crown of Stars by Kate Elliott
In the Ruins by Kate Elliott
Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin
Changing Planes by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
Monks and Mystics by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire by Simon Winchester
Dying of the Light by George R. R. Martin
Life@Work by John Maxwell
The Children of Men by P.D. James
Forgotten Realms: Frostfell by Mark Sehestedt
The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis

February

The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
Forgotten Realms: Sacrifice of the Widow by Lisa Smedman
Dragon Champion by E. E. Knight
Forgotten Realms: Double Diamond Triangle Saga by Various Authors
Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky
Forbidden Knowledge by the editors at mental_floss

March

Three Blind Mice and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
Rome 2006 by Rick Steves
Supplement to the Italian Dictionary by Bruno Munari
Keats and Italy by Various Authors
The Last Sin Eater by Francine Rivers
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
Night by Elie Wiesel
Dachshunds for Dummies by Eve Adamson
Legend by David Gemmell
Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe by James M. Ward

April

Forgotten Realms: Depths of Madness by Erik Scott de Bie
The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Shakespeare's Kings by John Julius Norwich
On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis
The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
Black Gate: Issue 10 Spring 2007 by John O'Neill (ed.) and Howard Andrew Jones (ed.)
Forgotten Realms - Unclean: The Haunted Lands, Book I by Richard Lee Byers

May

Dragon Avenger by E. E. Knight
Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Scatterbrained by the editors at Mental_Floss
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
Real Estate Finance for Investment Properties by Steve Berges
The Clerk's Tale by Margaret Frazer
The Bastard's Tale by Margaret Frazer
The Hunter's Tale by Margaret Frazer
Forgotten Realms - The Gossamer Plain: The Empyrean Odyssey Book 1 by Thomas M. Reid
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The King's Buccaneer by Raymond E. Fiest
The King Beyond the Gate by David Gemmell
The Unhandsome Prince by John Moore
A Fate Worse than Dragons by John Moore
Maskerade by Terry Pratchett
The Truth by Terry Pratchett
Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett

June

Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett
The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
The Restorer by Sharon Hinck
Another Fine Myth/Myth Conceptions by Robert Asprin
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Father of Dragons by L. B. Graham

July

Black History Through Blue Eyes: The Debt the World Owes to Africa by James Seymour
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Forgotten Realms: Scream of Stone, The Watercourse Trilogy Book III by Philip Athans
The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
The Widow's Tale by Margaret Frazer
A Rhyming History of Britain by James Muirden, David Eccles (Illustrator)

August

More Than A Hobby by David Green
Real Estate Investment Trusts: Structure, Performance, and Investment Opportunities by Su Han Chan, John Erickson, Ko Wang
Tipperary: A Novel by Frank Delaney
Explorer's House: National Geographic and the World It Made by Robert M. Poole
Forgotten Realms: The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson
A Life Well Spent: The Eternal Rewards of Investing Yourself and Your Money in Your Family by Russ Crosson
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin

September

Black Gate Issue #11 by John O'Neill (ed.)
The Surrogates by Robert Venditti, Brett Weldele
Shadowstorm by Paul S. Kemp
Forgotten Realms: Swords of Dragonfire by Ed Greenwood
Forgotten Realms: Shadowstorm by Paul S. Kemp
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
Honored Enemy by Raymond E. Feist and William R. Fortschen
Murder in LaMut by Raymond E. Feist and Joel Rosenberg
Forgotten Realms: Storm of the Dead by Lisa Smedman
The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What it Means for All of Us by Robyn Meredith
The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller
Union of Renegades by Tracy Falbe
Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley

October

Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell
The Sagittarius Command by R. M. Meluch
The Summoner by Gail Z. Martin
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell
Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines

November

Scarlet by Stephen R. Lawhead
The Princes of the Golden Cage by Nathalie Mallet
Green Rider by Kristen Britain
The Phoenix Unchained by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
Forgotten Realms: Stardeep by Bruce Cordell
The Awakened Mage by Karen Miller
Forgotten Realms: The Orc King by R. A. Salvatore
Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell
A Prayer for the Damned by Peter Tremayne
The Blue Haired Bombshell by John Zakour
Hedge Hunters by Katherine Burton
Sails and Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy edited by W. H. Horner
Shimmer, The Pirate Issue edited by John Joseph Adams

December

Eberron: The Orb of Xoriat by Edward Bolme
Sojourn: The Sorcerer's Tale by Ian Edgington and Greg Land
Across the Face of the World by Russell Kirkpatrick
Forgotten Realms: Crypt of the Moaning Diamond by Rosemary Jones
Fellowship Fantastic by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes
Genetopia by Keith Brooke
The Tales of the Last War edited by Mark Sehestedt
Bad A** Faeries edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Robin Hood and the Beasts of Sherwood by Clayton Emery
Tides by Scott Mackay
Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet

January February March April May June
July August September October November December

Book Reviews by Title

These are the my book reviews, categorized alphabetically by the title. (Click here for categorization by author.) "The" doesn't count towards the title.

You can also subscribe to an RSS feed of my reviews at librarything.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

A

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
A Rhyming History of Britain by James Muirden (author) and David Eccles (illustrator)
Across the Face of the World by Russell Kirkpatrick
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
Are Women Human? by Dorothy Sayers
Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet
The Awakened Mage by Karen Miller

B

Bad-A** Faeries edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail (et al.)
Badger's Moon by Peter Tremayne
Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy edited by W. H. Horner
Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
Beyond the Summerland by L. B. Graham
Breach the Hull edited by Mike McPhail
A Bit of Madness by Emmanuel Civiello and Thomas Mosdi
Black Gate: Issue #11 edited by John O'Neill
Black History Through Blue Eyes: The Debt the World Owes to Africa by James Seymour
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
Bloodheir by Brain Ruckley
Blood Ties by Pamela Freedman
The Blue-Haired Bombshell by John Zakour

C

The Children of Men by P. D. James
The Clerk's Tale by Margaret Frazer
Confessor by Terry Goodkind
The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt
The Crown of Stars Series by Kate Elliott
Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell
Condensed Knowledge by the editors of mental_floss

D

Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
The Dead Guy Interviews by Michael Stusser
The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells
Dragon Champion by E. E. Knight
Dragon Outcast
The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis
Dying of the Light by George R. R. Martin

E

Eberron: Bound by Iron by Edward Bolme
Eberron: The Orb of Xoriat by Edward Bolme
Eberron: The Tales of the Last War by Mark Sehestedt
The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What it Means for All of Us by Robyn Meredith
Empress by Karen Miller
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Explorer's House: National Geographic and the World It Made by Robert M. Poole

F

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Fellowship Fantastic by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Flash Fiction Online, April 2008 edited by Jake Freivald
Forgotten Realms: The City of Splendors by Elaine Cunningham and Ed Greenwood
Forgotten Realms: Crypt of the Moaning Diamond by Rosemary Jones
Forgotten Realms: The Gossamer Plain by Thomas M. Reid
Forgotten Realms: The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson
Forgotten Realms: Obsidian Ridge by Jess Lebow
Forgotten Realms: The Orc King by R. A. Salvatore
Forgotten Realms: Road of the Patriarch by R. A . Salvatore
Forgotten Realms: Shadowstorm by Paul S. Kemp
Forgotten Realms: Stardeep by Bruce Cordell
Forgotten Realms: Swords of Dragonfire by Ed Greenwood
Forgotten Realms: Unclean by Richard Lee Byers

G

Genetopia by Keith Brooke
The Gift of Pain by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey
Glory Road by Robert Heinlein
Green Rider by Kristen Britain
Goblin Hero by Jim C. Hines
Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines
Goblin War by Jim C. Hines
The Golden Cord by Paul Genesse
Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
Growingold with B.C. by Johnny Hart

H

Hedge Hunters by Katherine Burton
Henry V (Classical Comics Edition) by William Shakespeare
Heroes Adrift by Moira J. Moore
The Hidden City by Michelle West
Honored Enemy by Raymond E. Feist and William R. Fortschen
Hood by Stephen Lawhead
Hunter's Run by George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, and Daniel Abraham

I

Infoquake by David Louis Edelman
The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller
Iron Man: Beneath the Armor by Andy Mangels

J

J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter
The Junior Books by Dave Ramsey

K

Klasssic Koalas: Ancient Aboriginal Tales in New Retellings by Lee Barwood
Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
The Know-It-All by A. J. Jacobs

L

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
Legend by David Gemmell
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Life@Work by John C. Maxwell

M

Madhouse by Rob Thurman
Magician by Raymond E. Feist
The Magic of Recluce by L. E. Moedesitt Jr.
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Master of Souls by Peter Tremayne
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan
Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe by James M. Ward
Misspelled edited by Julie E. Czerneda
Monks and Mystics by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
Moon Gate by David Weldon and William Proctor
More Than A Hobby by David Green
The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
Murder in LaMut by Raymond E. Feist and Joel Rosenberg

N

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Night by Elie Wiesel
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

O

On Becoming A Leader by Warren Bennis
Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire by Simon Winchester
Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky

P

Phantom by Terry Goodkind
The Pendragon Cycle by Stephen Lawhead
The Phoenix Unchained by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
Phytosphere by Scott Mackay
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
The Princes of the Golden Cage by Nathalie Mallet
The Prodigal Troll by Charles Coleman Finlay

Q

R

Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
The Restorer by Sharon Hinck
Return of the Sword edited by Jason M. Waltz
The Rick Steves' Travel Guide Series by Rick Steves
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Robin Hood and the Beasts of Sherwood by Clayton Emery
Rolling Thunder by John Varley

S

The Sagittarius Command by R. M. Meluch
Sails and Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy edited by W. H. Horner
Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead
Shadow in the Deep by L. B. Graham
The Shadow and Night by Chris Walley
Shadowmarch by Tad Williams
Shakespeare's Kings by John Julius Norwich
Shimmer, The Pirate Issue edited by John Joseph Adams
Small Favor by Jim Butcher
Smoke in the Wind by Peter Tremayne
Sojourn: The Bezerker's Tale by Ian Edgington and Greg Land
Sojourn: The Sorcerer's Tale by Ian Edgington and Greg Land
The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
The Summoner by Gail Z. Martin
The Surrogates, Vol. 1 by Robert Venditti

T

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Tides by Scott Mackay
Tipperary: A Novel by Frank Delaney
The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn
The Truth by Terry Pratchett

U

Union of Renegades by Tracy Falbe

V

W

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams
Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell
Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley

X

Y

Z

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Book Review: Hedge Hunters by Katherine Burton

* Genre: Business
* ISBN: 1576602451
* ISBN-13: 9781576602454
* Format: Hardcover, 224pp
* Publisher: Bloomberg Press
* Pub. Date: November 2007

Hedge Hunters is a collection of interviews of hedge fund managers and their protégés. The author of Hedge Hunters Katherine Burton, sat down with these financial renegades and tried to ascertain what made them tick.

Surprisingly, what she found is that there is no one way to manage a hedge fund. All of the people she interviewed had different backgrounds. Some came from commodities, some from prestigious schools, some were engineers, and some were lawyers. The only thing that really made any of them similar is their drive to succeed, their winning track records, and their desire to seek a profit for their investors.

Each of the Hedge Hunters profiled in this book have different styles of investing, different niche areas, and different goals. What Burton has done in this book is reassure the financial student that no matter their background, if they work at it, seek new skills, and find a good mentor, they too can have successful, billion dollar hedge funds.

This book is a good resource for someone who only knows a little about hedge funds, or who wants to learn more about the personalities behind the success. Those people who enjoy reading Donald Trump’s success books are a likely audience as well. This book also tries to give strategies for succes based in personality, rather than method. Each chapter has the brevity of an article, (Burton is reporter for Bloomberg) and so makes for good plane or lunch hour reading.

Although at times Burton can be a bit repetitious in her phrasing, it will help the initiate to the world of hedge funds better understand the investing process. The reader may also tire of the sheer number of interviews; there are 18 chapters in all, and a lot of overlap in styles and methods. The reader would do well to focus on reading the chapter most relevant to what they would like to do, and then expanding outward into some of the other interviews. And this is not a how-to book of hedge fund investing, but rather a look into the minds of the people who make them successful. Mom and pop investor will not glean much from this, as the "masters" are mostly using institutional investors money and so have little to say to the small investor.

Burton did an excellent job in finding a cross section of managers representing all different styles and methods. There are really careful managers, the mavericks, and the manager of all the managers. She also worked hard to get the guys at the top of their game to name the up and coming newbies. Those people seeking to invest in the hedge fund world would be wise to watch the names of these “Picks” as Burton calls them. They are the 30 something managers who will be rocking the market in the very near future.

I recommend this book to anyone looking to invest in the hedge fund world, anyone desiring a career in this niche, or anyone who manages money for others. There are a lot of good insights, both humble and proud, into what it means to invest other people’s money. There is good discussion of pros and cons in the hedge fund world, and what needs to be done when you make that bad decision that costs a lot of money. It was interesting for me to read, as I work for a small fund manager, to see what the big boys do, and how they made it from million dollar companies to billion dollar companies. Hedge Hunters is an excellent resource and addition to the small library of fund management books.

Notes: A Book Reading with A.J. Jacobs

A Book Reading with A.J. Jacobs
MJCCA Book Festival 11/9/2007
Sweetwater Brewing Company Brew Ha-Ha

Author of The Know-it-All (my review) and The Year of Living Biblically

- believes in full immersion in projects
- likes to think of himself as human guinea pig; his “life as a laboratory”.

- Two key articles
o My Outsourced Life in Esquire – outsourced his life to a company in India, and lazed about for a month. Best month of his life.
o I Think You’re Fat – tried out radical honesty, where you lack a filter on what you say. Worst month of his life.
- grew up in a secular home
o He is, “Jewish in the way Olive Garden is Italian.”

- Steps to writing The Year of Living Biblically
o Bought a stack of Bibles
o Collected a board of spiritual advisors
o Read the Bible in several versions and made a list of 700 rules to follow.
o Followed them.
1. Some easier than others, such as in Leviticus 20:27 (ESV) “They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.” All Jacobs had to do was avoid picking a fight.

- There were 2 hard rules to follow
o Avoiding the sins we commit every day such as lying, gossip and coveting
1. “I never became a saint, never became Angelina Jolie.”
2. But in pretending to be a better person, he became one.
o there were rules that were troubling in modern day America, such as stoning adulterers
1. Bypassed this by only using pebbles.
2. Read story from The Year of Living Biblically (pg. 91-94, Day 62) about running into a man who admitted to being an adulterer and the end result of his attempt to stone him.

- There were 2 motivations for writing The Year of Living Biblically
o Genuine spiritual inquiry – sparked by his need to raise up his son morally
o His concern with fundamentalism
- found that the interpretations of words is important
o found out that stoning is not what we traditionally think of it as (i.e. throwing rocks) but actually throwing off a cliff, when the person was drunk.
- Jacobs “Out Bible talked a Jehovah’s Witness”.
- Ironically, he is going to appear on the cover of an evangelical magazine and in Penthouse and Playboy at the same time.

- 4 lessons learned
o Thou shalt give thanks.
o Thou shalt be reverent.
1. Jacobs started out as an agnostic, came out a reverent agnostic – meaning that he appreciates the sacredness of things more
o Thou shalt not stereotype
o Thou shalt pick and choose
- The journey took Jacobs “from the sublime to the ridiculous, and back again”
- When asked if he used the Torah as well as the Bible Jacobs replied that he wanted to, “get back to the original intent, almost like an Antonin Scalia of the Bible!”

Read more at A. J. Jacobs Blog or at mental_floss, where he is regular contributor both to the print magazine and their blog.

My Name in mental_floss Magazine

Back in August, mental_floss magazine asked a question on their blog. They were beginning a series on issues affecting the 2008 election, and were planning to begin the series with an article on immigration policy.

Well, I sent in a question.

Surprise, surprise, they used my question (see below or number 24 in the blog post) to create a sidebar in the current issue ("The Golden Lobe Awards" and Einstein's picture grace the cover), detailing immigration policy from 1882 to the present day. I was flabbergasted, and happily surprised!

#24 John Says: August 23rd, 2007 at 6:53 am

What quota’s still exist for whom we allow to enter legally? I know that in the great wave, only certain numbers of people from certain countries were allowed in. (i.e.) for every 3 Irish, one Russian.) Do ethnic or national quota’s still exist and what are they? Are there other quota’s used now?

This was so cool! And as a special reward, my name appeared on page 8 of volume 6, issue 6 of mental_floss: Where Knowledge Junkies get their fix. The picture below is a scan of the mention.

I may not be an author, but I can ask good questions! It was kind of a neat little thing, I wanted to share this little piece of personal joy with all of you, my faithful readers! And I thank mental_floss for being so kind in printing my name at the top of the list.

Such fun!

Greenwood Publishing Group - Literary Criticism

In my web meanderings, I came across an interesting website. Greenwood Press publishes books of all genres and stripes, but the primary focus of all of them is to produce reference titles for libraries. As stated on their website:

The Greenwood Publishing Group is one of the world's leading publishers of reference titles, academic and general interest books, texts, books for librarians and other professionals, and electronic resources. With over 18,000 titles in print, GPG publishes some 1,000 books each year, many of which are recognized with annual awards from Choice, Library Journal, the American Library Association, and other scholarly and professional organizations.

But the best part for all the fantasy and science fiction critics out there is that they have a whole section devoted to literary criticism of authors, the genres, and comparative studies.

Now, because these are reference titles meant to last a while, they are rather hefty in price. (One book, the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Science Fiction costs $394.) Yet, this is a good jumping off point for those looking for literary criticism of the genre that is hard to find on bookshelves. (They also have UK pricing, by the way.)

I was particularly interested in Fantastic Literature: a Critical Reader that traces literary criticism of fantasy and scifi all the way back to Plato!

Again, the primary focus of these volumes is for libraries and classroom settings. But if you are looking for literary criticism on fantasy and science fiction, this will at least give you some titles to look for from a reputable publisher.

And of course, there is also this useful Amazon.com list. Or this one (which includes some of the Greenwood publications).

Book Review: The Elephant and the Dragon by Robyn Meredith

Genre: Business, Economics, Politics
ISBN: 0393062368
Pub. Date: August 2007
Format: Hardcover, 384pp
Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.

India (back office to the world) and China (factory to the world) have become major players in the world economy seemingly overnight. So what should the Unites States (buyer to the world) do about it? Robyn Meredith, foreign correspondent for Forbes, has detailed the history and effects of India and China’s rise in The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What it Means for All of Us and what the US should do about it.

In nine chapters, Meredith writes the economic history of China and India in a clear, easily read fashion. Drawing on her journalistic background, the book is filled with quotes, facts, and stories that exemplify the drastic changes within these two countries, and the effects those changes have had on the United States.

Throughout the book, Meredith compares the drastic differences between these two countries. Although both were protectionist states until recently, India was democratic whereas China was communist. India’s rise results from its ability to offer white collar jobs at cheap prices, whereas China is the king of factory production. India’s poor remain largely unaffected by the economic changes, whereas even the most rural farmer in China is seeing a small improvement in his lifestyle. India’s infrastructure has failed to improve, whereas China’s has blossomed, especially in preparation for the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

The first seven chapters detail the meteoric rise of the tow countries in the economic playing field, both how it occurred politically and what the countries did right and wrong economically to move forward. The final two chapters deal particularly with the effect the rapid growth of the countries will have on the United States, and what Americans need to do to stay competitive in the global marketplace that now has two powerhouses poised to challenge America’s hegemony.

Meredith ultimately determines that America need to be wary of the change in geopolitics that will occur with China and India’s need for fuel and resources. Prices will rise, affecting both our economy and theirs. Meredith cautions that if the US does not take this into account, we may find ourselves in an economic battle of resources.

In the final chapter “A Catalyst for Competitiveness” Meredith cautions us against becoming either protectionist or allowing free trade free reign. She believes that the US should embrace the growth of China and India as a good thing for Americans as prices of goods decrease (especially with our recent housing market burst) and become more easily available. However, Meredith also says that in order to stay competitive we will need to improve education, build newer infrastructure, and create stronger economic foundations both at the company and government level. Although she bemoans the loss of jobs due to offshoring, she sets forth a logical and concise reasoning for the greater wealth and different jobs that are created by such offshoring. She claims that the four pillars mentioned before, if completed, will provide work for those whose jobs are removed to India and China. She ultimately concludes that "if inward-facing India and communist China can transform themselves, so can the United States of America."

Ultimately, Meredith provides as fair and balanced account of India and China’s entry onto the economic stage. Not pandering or partisan, the book fairly assesses the effect this has on the US economy and what we can do in order to stay ahead of the game. This is an excellent book both for as a primer in world economics, and for those interested in understanding the changes occurring to the US as a result of offshoring jobs. Highly readable, with clear and logical reasoning, anyone interested in learning more about the economic world we live in, and how it came to be will find The Elephant and the Dragon a worthwhile read.

Movie Review: The Whole Wide World

Director: Dan Ireland
Cast: Vincent D'Onofrio, Renée Zellweger, Ann Wedgeworth, Harve Presnell
DVD Release: 07/29/2003
Original Release: 1996
Rating: Rated PG
UPC: 043396100459
Source: SONY PICTURES

Last night brought a pleasant surprise for me. My wife, in her Netflix meanderings, came across a small, low budget, but well directed film starring Renée Zellwegger (Chicago) and Vincent D’Onofrio (Law and Order: Criminal Intent) called The Whole Wide World (IMDB). The film is based on a memoir written by a woman named Novalyne Price. Rated PG, the film is filled with swearing, but has no sex scenes and one of the best cinematic kisses ever. The reason I mention it here, and want to talk about a movie, when I usually talk about books, is the subject matter.

Novalyne Price was from Texas, and in 1933 was a teacher at the school in Cross Plains. That’s not the interesting part. Novalyne was an aspiring writer, who discovered that in her town existed a man who had successfully sold many stories to many of the pulps. That man was none other than Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian and grandfather of the many sword and sorcery novels that fill bookshelves today. I was shocked that Hollywood had made such a movie. Directed by Dan Ireland, the film is a love story, and is classified as a romance.

Novalyne and Bob circle each other. What begins as Novalyne’s attempt to improve her writing moves into a friendship and progresses into love. But the trouble and conflict come from Howard’s extreme attachment to his ailing mother, and his stereotypical writer’s moods. Socially awkward and inept, unattractive and opinionated, Howard has few friends and no graces. Yet he is brilliant, an adept writer, who is very successful. Novalyne finds herself attracted to this beguiling man, who always insists that he walks alone. Although not without struggles. At one point Novalyne really rips into Howard and his opinions, "Well, yeah, that's right, thanks indeed, thank God! If it wasn't for teachers like me, there would be more individuals like you, socially inept, hatin the world, prattlin off pompous ideas that no one wants to hear in the first place. Bob Howard, if you do not take some initiative you are going to end up a miserable old man, sittin at home with no friends and no life. And another thing! Don't you ever EVER imply that I do not know how to teach, because then you really are talking about something that you know nothing about. Now why don't you run on home, your momma's waitin for you."

The film, scored by Hans Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams, is really a slice of life in 1930’s Texas. Not long out of the Great Depression, this story of love and life vividly portrays the rural life. Vincent D’Onofrio’s portrayal of Robert E. Howard is filled with vibrancy and zeal. His descriptions of the character and stories of Conan, with a fantasy sounding score in the background (even including swords clashing) draw the viewer in to the point that Conan becomes a very real person. The contrast between the personalities of Conan and Howard himself are striking, and one can see why Howard loved to write so much, or “spin his yarns” as he liked to call them.

It was neat to see the story of a genre writer so elegantly and lovingly portrayed. All the great writers get their biographical movies, but, except to us pulp or fantasy genre fans, Robert E. Howard is really an unknown. If you are married, your wife will likely enjoy the love story between Novalyne and Robert, although it is a sad story and does not end well. (Howard committed suicide at the height of his career, probably because he believed that "To make life worth living a man or woman has to have a great love or a great cause... I have neither.")

For the fantasy lover, the descriptions of Howard’s writing process, the character of Conan, and his unashamed writing style make watching this movie very worthwhile. You will see a glimpse of the last year's of Howard's life, and understand the life and world that drove him to write the stories he did. The Whole Wide World is a surprising film, unexpected and enjoyable.

If you don't mind spoilers, watch these clips of the movie set to the music of The Decemberists' "Engine Driver".

Gaiman on Poe

Here's an essay by Neil Gaiman (modern master of the macabre) on Edgar Allen Poe (father of the mystery and many a macabre story).

While he lived he was America's finest writer, a poet and a craftsman whose work made him very little money, even as his poems, such as "The Raven", were widely quoted, adored, parodied and reviled, while writers he envied, such as Longfellow, were far more successful, commercially. Still, Poe, for all his short life and unfulfilled potential, remains read today, his finest stories as successful, as readable, as contemporary as anyone could desire. Fashions in dead authors come and go, but Poe is, I would wager, beyond fashion.

Book Review: Explorer's House by Robert M. Poole

Title: Explorer's House: National Geographic and the World it Made
Author: Robert M. Poole
Genre: History, Non-fiction
Pub. Date: January 2006 (paperback edition)
Format: Paperback, 368pp
Publisher: Viking Penguin
Personal Rating: 4/5

Inventors, geography, and nepotism all find their way into the pages of Robert M. Poole’s history of National Geographic entitled Explorer’s House: National Geographic and the World It Made.

Beginning with Gardiner Hubbard and Alexander Graham Bell (best known for inventing the telephone) Explorer’s House tells the story of a great institution founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society, and its progeny, National Geographic magazine.

Poole has expertly portrayed the story of one of the world’s most successful magazines from its humble origins in a small office in Washington, D.C. to the billion-dollar a year company it has grown to be. He describes how a little gathering of men who shared and interest in geography that they wanted to promulgate hired a young man by name of Gilbert Grosvenor to be editor and manger of the little journal they produced for their members. Grosvenor went on to make the magazine the chief end of the society, using innovative publishing, marketing, and photography techniques to draw in several million readers today.

Poole’s writing style reflects the nature of his long association with the magazine. Each chapter is an article itself and could easily have found printing in any major newspaper. Poole explores the relationship of the Bell and Grosvenor family to National Geographic. It was this family and their talent and psychological make-ups that made the magazine successful and so a study of them and their correspondence gives the reader a best sense of the germination and growth of the magazine. Poole had unprecedented access to former employees, the National Geographic archives, and the Grosvenor and Bell archives, allowing him to tell the story as no one else has.

Many other characters come into the history as well. Maynard Owen Williams, first foreign correspondent; Robert Peary, arctic explorer; and Jacques Costeau, deep sea explorer, and beneficiary of one of National Geographic’s research grants; all play significant roles in the story of National Geographic. There is the story of opening Tutankhamen’s tomb, the first American climb of Everest, the conquest of the North Pole, and Jane Goodall’s research into primate behavior; all of which would not have been possible without the help of National Geographic and its society.

Ultimately, the book is excellent, although there are some flaws. Poole’s history some time skips backward and forward in time to often, making the reader very dependent on the dates mentioned. This lack of straightforward history is not extremely detrimental to the history, but the reader would be wise to pay attention to all dates mentioned. Poole also spends little time in the more recent past. The book was published in 2004 (begun in 2001) and glosses over a great deal of the 1990s and misses much of the early turn of the century.

However, for anyone in publishing, who has enjoyed National Geographic in the past, or historians of Alexander Graham Bell and his family, Explorer's House is both a helpful resource and fascinating story. Poole has shown how National Geographic’s devotion to geography, adventure, exploration, and learning has shaped American culture profoundly.

Book Review: More Than A Hobby by David Green

Author: David Green with Dean Merrill
Pub. Date: July 2005
Format: Hardcover, 224pp
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Personal Rating 5/5

Generally, I’m not a big fan of those slim little business books that tell the story of how a business got started up. The principles they espouse usually follow the latest trend in business rather than truly being derived from their own experience. Not so in More Than a Hobby, by David Green, founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby. I was excited when my wife (a frequenter of Hobby Lobby) told me that David Green, a man who rarely takes speaking engagements, had written a book. I knew that Green is a Christian whose growth in faith had led him to run ads at Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus, rather than selling product, and had led him to close on Sunday just like my favorite of restaurants, Chick-fil-A.

In More Than a Hobby, Green tells the story of how he created (with help from his wife and family and $600) Hobby Lobby and grew it into the Arts and Craft Superstore it is today. Although the volume is slim, and can easily be read in a week or less, it was worth the purchase. As the reader follows Green’s story, he will find the biblical principles that govern how Green does business interspersed throughout, but not in a heavy handed way. Green, simply acknowledges that he learned to be a merchant by reading Scripture and applying it in the situations in which he found himself. He freely acknowledges his failure, such as not always being closed on Sundays, or making bad business decisions (such as over diversifying) showing himself to be humble as well as successful.

Many readers will not agree with his philosophy, which can be stated as “keep it simple”. A man with little more than a high school education, Green made Hobby Lobby successful by focusing on the practical and useful, and doing away with fluff. For instance, in defense of his lack of POS systems (i.e. computer checkout and bar codes) in his store Green says, “I’m looking for solid, practical technology that has been proved for years in somebody else’s business....I want to keep things as basic as possible.” Something he has complete control over in this family owned business. The idea of making things simple has led to a streamlined business with little wasted time on dull or useless meetings. Has allowed store managers more freedom to affect their store, and has avoided an entirely top down hierarchy that more often creates problems than solves them as the disconnected head office people make rules that are arbitrary or nonsensical.

Some readers will see the streak of his fundamentalist Christianity throughout the book. He refuses to condone alcohol (something that stems both from his beliefs and a near death experience involving a drunk driver) or risqué greeting cards. But this is an unfair characterization. Yes, he does support a chaplaincy at his headquarters, but requires no one who works for him to be a Christian or become one. He supports America, but is willing to buy product from overseas, if he can get the best price without resulting to bribery or other evils associated with such business.

Of course, he wrote the book, so his self descriptions will be a little glowing, even if humbly so, so I take his assertions with a grain of salt. Yet the principles he espouses have made him very successful (with $1.3 billion in annual sales as of 2005), have not made him dependent on stockholders, and he and the company have been ethical and moral along the way.

I highly recommend More Than A Hobby to any retailer, whether at headquarters or the the store manager, either starting out or an old hat at the job. Christians should, if nothing else, read chapter 12 ‘This is Not a “Secular” Business’. It directly addresses what it means to be a Christian in business, and I found it very helpful. Other than that chapter, God is mentioned rarely, and the non-Christian businessman will find useful principles to apply to his or her business (especially if you are in retail) and the blessings that the application of them can bring.

Book Review: A Rhyming History of Britain by James Muirden

Author: James Muirden, David Eccles (Illustrator)
Pub. Date: October 2003
Format: Paperback, 213pp
Publisher: Walker & Company
Personal Rating: 4.5/5

I'm not much into poetry, (I can barely read Shel Silverstein), but I love British history. Anglophile that I am, I was glad to come across James Muirden's, A Rhyming History of Britain. Writing more for his own amusement and desire to remember, Muirden's couplets tell the sometimes sad but often hilarious history of the reigning monarchs of England from the Celts to the free love 1960's.

Coupled (see what I did there?) with David Eccles brilliant and hilarious illustrations, this book makes learning very fun. The poem is divided in to section s based on the ruling houses. York and Stuart, Hanover and the current Windsor, each of the foibles and successes of the kings and queens of England are laid out in charming verse.

Muirden himself describes the poem in this way,

This cheerful poem has been written
To tell the history of Britain;
For People puzzled by the Past—
If this means YOU, here’s help at last!

From Celts to Churchill, it relates
(With all the most Important Dates)
Our country’s convoluted course . . .
Why Richard hollered for a horse;
Why Eleanor was such a catch;
Why no one liked the Spanish Match;
The pros and cons of Laissez Faire;
Smart Georgian ladies’ underwear;
Why Charles the Second went to plays;
Why Queen Jane reigned for just nine days;
The causes of the Irish trouble;
The bursting of the South Sea Bubble;
That giant glasshouse in Hyde Park;
The First World War’s igniting spark . . .

I thoroughly enjoy this book. The couplets are easy to understand, although a little knowledge of English History will be necessary. Muirden does have to at times be convoluted in trying to rhyme some of the odder words or titles of people and that can slow the reader's speed.

I highly recommend this book to teachers as a tool for teaching English history (although I know that is not really in vogue anymore) or English teachers teaching Shakespeare or poetry. Some sections are have references to certain sexual acts, but are done tastefully and more by implication than otherwise. High School students will love it, and elementary students will miss it entirely (sort of a English history Shrek).

Anglophiles will chuckle at Muirden's jokes and curl up in laughter at David Eccles illustrations.

I highly recommend A Rhyming History of Britain as a way to enjoy poetry, learn a little history, and generally enjoy learning in a new and creative way.

Book Review: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

Author: Eric Schlosser
Genre: Politics, Health, Business
Pub. Date: July 2005
Format: Paperback, 416pp
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Personal Rating: 4/5

Published in 2001, Fast Food Nation is a volume not for the faint of heart or week of stomach. Eric Schlosser takes on the corporate machine in an expose which has drawn comparisons to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. While one is nonfiction and the other fiction, both attempt to shed light on poor corporate practices.

Schlosser, an investigative journalist, spent three years researching and studying the fast food industry from the cows and chickens on the farm to the final preparation before it ends up in your Big Mac. Using personal vignettes interspersed with statistics and primary research, Schlosser attempts to build a case for change in the way industrialized agriculture does business, especially in regards to meats.

Some might find this work a little biased. Schlosser lays blame for many of the industry’s problems at the door of Republicans (with good reason I admit) but places little or none at Democrats. In the afterward to the UK Penguin edition, Schlosser addresses these critics, “Fast Food Nation has no hidden partisan agenda; the issues that it addresses transcend party politics. In retrospect, I could have been more critical of the Clinton administration’s ties to agribusiness.” True, but he didn’t, and it is only in this edition that the afterward is found. So the sideways apology rings a little hollow.

The book uses statistics, but at times will use words like “hundreds” or “thousands” instead of real numbers when the statistics don’t suit his purpose. Part of that is an attempt to make the work readable for the average man, but the preponderance of occurrences for the words is not to simplify the stats, but to obscure those stats that don’t fit the conclusion.

I was also disappointed in the small mention of In-and-Out Burgers. Although Schlosser uses it as an exemplar of a good corporate culture, even mentioning the Bible verses on the bottoms of cups, he fails to say why, only to point out the good things they do. If he had been honest, it is not because they are family owned, but that they have a set of moral values that are not flexible but fixed and so cannot be changed at need. The Christian values they have lead it to be a leader in compassionate business, rather than a simple family ownership or small size as Schlosser asserts.

Still, for all its flaws, Fast Food Nation does try to be objective and Schlosser’s final conclusion that, “The great challenge now facing countries throughout the world is how to find a proper balance between the efficiency and the amorality of the market.” is one I think most readers will agree with. The reader will have to slog through some biases, as I mentioned in two (1 and 2)pevious posts, but the challenge to your thinking makes it worth taking the time to read. Schlosser’s call for governmental, civic, and corporate action is one that is rounded and doesn’t lay the blame at anyone’s door.

I recommend the book be read if you are interested in public health issues, corporate America, and politics. Liberals will have many assumptions and biases confirmed, so it is of less use to them ultimately. Conservatives will benefit from a viewpoint that takes into account the value of the free market, but fears allowing it free reign.

I learned a lot from Fast Food Nation, and will probably avoid beef for a while as a result. I did not feel condemned for eating fast food, nor did I feel that I need to become a vegetarian. This is not a philosophical book, only an analytical one that is readable, thorough, and thoughtful.

Book Review: Black History Through Blue Eyes

Jim Seymour, in his semi-self-published book Black History through Blue Eyes: The Debt the World Owes to Africa argues that humanity owes a great debt to Africa because it is there, not Mesopotamia, that is the “cradle of civilization”. And that because of this Christians need to work toward racial reconciliation. Seymour's sees European Christians desire to make biblical history and Jesus "white" has led to many of the rifts we see today.

According to Seymour, the Garden of Eden was located in Africa (although at the same time acknowledging the breakup of the two continents of Asia and Africa to create the Red Sea, making it unidentifiable), Solomon was a mulatto (i.e. Bathsheba was black as was her husband Uriah the Hittite, a member of a northern black tribe descended from Ham) and Jesus was black on both sides of his family, although his features were more likely swarthy than African.

I admit I struggled with this argument, not because I felt that Seymour is incorrect, but rather that he fails to provide enough proofs. While this book is not really intended to be a historical argument or a theological one, Seymour indulges himself in arguing the point, but then fails to back it up with enough research. Other times he wildly asserts the black skin color of some of the Old Testament characters without any argument at all. On page 44, he states that, “Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba are all women who ultimately trace their lineage to Ham, the traditional father of the black race.” But of these four, only Bathsheba’s black race is argued for in the book, the others get no other mention in the entire work. And even that is a little flimsy. Uriah the Hittite was black because the Hittites were black, by extension, his wife, who for all we know was a Hebrew, is therefore black also. It was unconvincing, as too many factors come into play. Also on page 44, Seymour states that Mary, mother of Jesus, was of mixed racial heritage, but no argument is made for or against it anywhere in the text.

Leaving this aside, the rest of the book is actually rather interesting. Seymour points out significant personages in the New Testament and Early Church who were African born (i.e. the Ethiopian eunuch, Augustine) and then some significant preachers in American History, none of whom I had ever heard of before. I learned a little about each of these, and challenged a few preconceived notions.

Using Acts 1:8 as his root text, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (ESV) Seymour argues that blacks have become like the Samaria of Jesus’ time. They were a mixed race shunned by the true Jews, much as whites have historically shunned blacks, whether intentionally or not. It is an interesting argument, and not developed enough in this text.

Ultimately, the book has poor arguments with not enough references, many spelling and grammatical mistakes, and relies on assumptions and half-facts. It is not a good book, but it did make me as a Christian rethink my approach to my black brethren (and Hispanic and Asian) and make me want to learn more about them. Fortunately, Seymour’s bibliography is excellent and will point the dissatisfied reader to perhaps better argued or better presented facts.

As an overview of the importance of blacks or Africans in Christian history it lacks punch, and as an argument for that importance it lacks backing or substance. I recommend finding another book if this is a topic important to you. If you are a casual reader unfamiliar with the territory, it might just get you rethinking your assumptions, but you will need to test Seymour's first. Seymour tried, but ultimately failed in his goal, and it is unfortunate, because his concern is valid, and his desire for racial reconciliation one all Christians should have.

Notes: Spiritual Formation in the Life of C.S. Lewis Part 2 Notes

Spiritual Formation in the Life of C.S. Lewis
A Breakout Seminar at Perimeter Church June 8-9, 2007
Presentation given by Dr. Lyle Dorsett former head of Wade Center at Wheaton College
See Part 1 of these Notes.

III. Elements of Spiritual Formation (Part 2)

A. The Church
1. “The NT knows nothing of individual Christianity”

2. Salvation is the hallway, pick a room to worship in and fellowship

3. Lewis was shaped by choice of Anglicanism

4. Anglican traditions of Lewis’ time and his opinion
a. Evangelical (Reformed)
- high view of Scripture
- lacked high view of Sacraments
b. Anglo-Catholic
- Lewis’ choice
- high view of Sacraments
- no belief in Transubstantiation
c. Broad Church (i.e. liberal)
- low view of Scripture

5. a proud person cannot do Kingdom work

6. Became Anglo-Catholic because he wanted communion once a week, minimum.

7. 7 years after CSL’s conversion, he felt nudged in prayer to have a mentor

8. Believed one should worship with those different from you

9. felt grace was in communion (John 6)

B. A Spiritual Director – Father Walter Adams (b. 1869 – d. 1952) Anglican Priest
1. CSL chose humble, unknown man

2. CSL felt need for a confessor – James 5
- went because he was held accountable

3. On Sister Penelope’s recommendation and through her prayers in 1940 found Adams

4. Adams was 70 years old when CSL came to him, Lewis met him once a week

5. highly influential on Lewis, can’t understand Lewis without this knowledge

6. Lewis came to love:
a. The Book of Common Prayer (1662 edition) (Enlightenment = chronological snobbery)
b. Anglican Service Order – Reading of Scripture, Sermon, Communion (high point of service), Hymns

c. Confession, Accountability, Fellowship, Service

7. “Care for the soul and Holy Spirit will take care of the rest” – Fr. Walter Adams

8. Lewis didn’t like hymns

9. Lewis’ service was writing

10. Luke 11 – great prayer chapter
- If you don’t fill the soul with the Holy Spirit then the bad will come back with more ferocity.

11. Adams told Lewis he needed Prayer, Scripture and Communion since that is where grace is

12. Adams was a member of the Society of St. John the Evangelist

13. Communion
- Lewis said to “get Holy Communion as often as you can get it”
- Communion is like “an arm from a hidden country reaching out and touching you.” – CSL
- Root of idea is Luke 24 (first communion?)
- Psalm 34:8
- for the first five years CSL said he felt nothing when taking Communion, but felt that the obedience helped him grow and become spiritually strong

14. Adams wrote two pamphlets

15. Lewis chooses him because he knew Jesus personally

16. Mentor of Adams was Robert Benson – founder of Anglican male order
- not only talk about cross but about resurrection (Benson concept)
- the real you must talk to the real God (Benson concept)
- both concepts come out in Lewis writing

17. Lewis faults:
- bitterness toward people
- intolerance
- lust

C. Other Mentors and Influential Friends

1. Evelyn Underhill – founder of modern retreat movement
- Service = Adoration + Awe + Service as a progression

2. little impact on him spiritually from the Inklings, they only helped to sharpen his thinking

3. 3 people of profound impact
- Father Adams (Anglican Priest)
- Sister Penelope (Anglican Nun)
- Helen Joy Davidman (Jewish convert, eventual wife)

4. Tolkien was instrumental in conversion but not growth afterward
- “midwife in Lewis spiritual birth, but he was not very good at post-natal care.” – Dorsett

5. Books
a. George MacDonald – “baptized my imagination” CSL - Phantastes
- “I don’t think I’ve ever written a book that didn’t have something of George Macdonald” - see collection of MacDonald Lewis edited
- Learned concept of joy
- learned characterization
- learned what a father is
b. Charles Williams – Dorsett calls him “bad news”
- professional influence on Lewis
- spiritual influence on Lewis
- Williams sought mental/spiritual affairs with women
- women loved him, he elicited it, and they remained proud of it (Dorsett tells of interview with couple who knew him, woman still loved him after several decades, husband wanted to hurt him)
- Williams wined and dined women while his wife was away
- Lewis fell for his magnetic personality
- Williams got people dependent on himself rather than God
IV. C.S. Lewis as Spiritual Guide

1. increase his role after Father Adams death

2. effective lecturer, but not good one on one

3. spiritual mentor via mail
- most spiritual council in letters to women
- no men due to their lack of humility?
- handwritten letters
- some to children with illustrations
- Topics included: Becoming a Christian; How to Use Money; Bible Interpretation/Doctrine; Overcoming Lust; Getting focus on Jesus

4. Thoughts (General)
- You need to get your focus on Jesus Christ, become dependent on him
- Practice the Spiritual Disciplines
- Get Holy Communion

5. Would counsel people directly – bluntly but reasoned throughout
6. Teaching on pride and humility – sins are manifestations of pride – me and what I want are important, more than Jesus = pride

V. The Best Saved for Last: Marriage to Helen Joy Davidman (d. 1960)

1. had brother who was psychiatrist named Howard (died athiest)

2. mother was cultural Jew, father was atheist

3. encouraged to think critically by father

4. highly gifted photographic memory, analytical and critical mind

5. read 10-15 books a week

6. first publication in 1938 “Letters to a Comrade”

7. “Anya” – book about cleric and “Smoke on the Mountain” – Jewsish Christian interpretation of ten commandments

8. converted in 1946 after abandoned by first husband

9. fed Lewis’ idea of Christ’s presence especially during communion

VI. Questions

1. Lewis often called an evangelical saint, what does Dorsett feel are some of his flaws?
a. his dim view of hymns
b. believed in Purgatory
– saw P as place to wash up before seeing God, not a place of punishment
c. Latter Narnia Chronicles
- sincere person who didn’t believe in Christ could be saved, although Narnia is not allegory as CSL says, so it is not a one to one correlation

2. John 13-16 is essential to understanding his theology

3. How do I read Lewis?
a. things worth doing require effort
b. Read “The Essential C.S. Lewis” by Dorsett

4. The Socratic Club? (Lewis was faculty advisor)
a. Stella Adwinkle asked Lewis about changing worship service to attract unbelievers, he said bad idea because service is for believers
b. The Club would debate and have best minds vs. best minds on two sides of issue
c. Lewis tried to change His culture, not culture in general

5. Lewis and the Theatre
a. not playgoer
b. undeveloped area of knowledge for him
c. probably would be upset with movie Shadowlands
- treatment of Joy Davidman, although Debra Winger did best she could with what she had
- Christ not lifted up enough
- Anthony Hopkins played him poorly
d. Would have hated Narnia movies, didn’t like hype

6. Till We have Faces
- letter to Clyde Kilby explains its purpose
- see PBS series Lewis vs. Freud

7. Aloof from people but understands them well
- listened to Holy Spirit
- listened to people, Inklings, and fiction

Notes: Spiritual Formation in the Life of C.S. Lewis Part 1 Notes

Spiritual Formation in the Life of C.S. Lewis
A Breakout Seminar at Perimeter Church June 8-9, 2007
Presentation given by Dr. Lyle Dorsett former head of Wade Center at Wheaton College
See Part 2 here.

I. Introduction

“I’m tall, fat, rather bald, red-faced, double chinned, black haired, have a deep voice, and wear glasses for reading.” –C.S. Lewis to a fifth grader

- Do not read the bio of Lewis by A.N. Wilson

A. Life and Legacy of C.S Lewis: a Perspective from Nearly Half a Century
- Discipline was needed to become a theologian, apologist
- Lewis wrote in 7 genres

B. Keys to Lewis’ Extraordinary Effectiveness

1. The Author’s Background
- Used his gifts, but also disciplined them
- “nothing I wrote that isn’t essentially evangelistic” – CSL
- Mother died when he was 10 and became agnostic as result

2. The Sacred Anointing
- John 17:3
- He wrote as part of an intimate walk with Christ

3. A Purposive Life
- after conversion (see quote)

“After conversion, C.S. Lewis embarked on an extraordinarily purposeful life. He became as Dorothy L. Sayers phrased it ‘God’s terrier’ – a man with a missionary zeal.” – Lyle Dorsett Seeking the Secret Place

II. Elements of Spiritual Formation (Part 1)

A. The School of Prayer
“What is more natural, and easier, if you believe in God, than to address Him?”

- Mother’s parting gift was a Bible on her deathbed
- Lewis and Warner prayed, yet she died, even after being told that prayer would heal her.
- 2 models of prayer from Scripture as Lewis saw it.
1. pray with faith and there is nothing you can’t do (name it and claim it)
2. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

- The School of Prayer – a continuing to learn to pray, never too busy, a daily routine
a. daily quiet time (Clifford Boris – his driver – story)
b. Dean’s Prayers at Oxford – corporate prayer
c. Intercessory Prayer – i.e. go through the Epistles and read Paul’s prayers
- worldwide prayer for self and others – Sheldon Vanauken
- always answered letters because he believed he was told to by God during such prayer time
- also believed He was told not to stockpile money, so he set up Agape Fund to give it
d. Healing Prayer
- Father Bide, the healer who became ordained through Agape Fund healed Joy Davidman through prayer – personal physician told said it wasn’t normal remission – Bide said “I pray and sometimes Jesus Christ heals them.”
- Advanced People in the School of Prayer are obedient in prayer
e. Praise Prayer –considered most beautiful part of prayer – joy and privilege of praise – not thanks, just praise.
- Primary text of Lewis for this as the Psalms

- How did Lewis get committed to prayer?
1. Jesus example
2. The Church and Father Adams
3. discipled by Father Adams

- How did Lewis reconcile the name it and claim it with God’s will?
1. tell God waht you want but still ask that His will be done
2. In some cases God tells some special folks to go heal people

- Prepared vs. Extemporaneous Prayer?
1. Lewis did extemporaneous prayer but preferred prepared
2. Liked Church services because you could trust the theology and not have to double check on the person who is praying and his theology
3. Psalms are prepared prayers
4. Lewis paced across the floor while reading the Psalter all the way through every month

B. Scripture

1. knew doctrine but didn’t always feel it in his heart

2. Michael Christenson, “C.S. Lewis: On Scripture”

3. Lewis had a High view of Scripture
a. Lewis followed John Wesley’s quadrilateral

b. Trouble with liberals due to high view (whereas they have low view)
c. Trouble with fundamentalism becasue he saw some of the Scriptures as story instead of History (i.e. Noah, Jonah, Creation)
“More of a wave than a letter” – Letter’s to an American Lady

4. Didn’t see Jesus praise riches anywhere in NT

5. Jesus says “Seek the Secret Place” Lewis said this meant to obey Jesus not question. (a good exercise says Dorsett, is to go through the Gospels and write down every command of Jesus.)

6. CSL “Scripture is the litmus test of all other divine guidance.”

7. CSL could read and write Greek but knew no Hebrew

8. Read for Application and spiritual illumination rather than for curiosity (Read through the Bible for personal transformation)

9. He asked questions of Scripture. He “hammered it out” – Dorsett

10. Read through the Bible frequently, memorized it. Used the 1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer

11. F.B. Meyer “For Every man and woman that is truly born again, the Spirit is present in you, the spirit is prominent in some, but alas in only a few is He preeeminent.”

12. Lewis was Purposeful, Disciplined, and Humbly Prayed and Read Scriptures.

Book Review: A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

I’m not sure I really got the title of A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. Perhaps the structure is the problem. If I move the words around to say “Gone a Long Way” well, that makes a whole lot more sense, but is perhaps a little less dramatic or sales-effective. Either way, Beah certainly came a very long way.

The memoir is Beah’s picture perfect remembering of his childhood in Sierra Leone. Born in the same year I was, while I was stressing over pimples and looking down girl’s shirts, Beah was a soldier in the Sierra Leone army. (For the geographically challenged Sierra Leone is on the western side of Africa near the more famous Liberia.) It’s frightening to think that here but by the grace of God go I. Beah has written in a very detached tone of how his childhood was stripped away from him.

In the 1980’s the RUF, a rebel movement, sought to overthrow the Sierra Leone government, much of the fighting took place in the southwest part of the country. Beah and his older brother, at the outbreak of hostilities, were away from his family at a rap and dance competition. Separated from their family, they did what they could to survivie and move away from the fighting. Eventually getting seperated, never to see one another again, Beah survives by being drafted into the government’s army, eventually coming to Freetown as part of a non-profits’ attempt to remove children from the war and rehabilitate them.

Beah’s story is dreadful. Although the writing can be difficult to read due to its matter of fact recitation of facts with little emotional context, it is worth the effort. I think in part the writing lacks emotion because of Beah’s experiences. If he were not to remain detached, the old angers would surface, and the animal nature takes control again. The story of his time as a child soldier is really sandwiched between the story of his childhood and early attempts at survival, and his rehabilitation. Beah rarely discusses some of the horrible things he did as a soldier, but when he does they are horrible enough to make you wonder at what more grievous atrocities he fails to mention.

Beah is sympathetic to the reader of his memoir even so. No one would like to have been him, not have their child become like him. His story is one of redemption from the very pits of Hades into the glow of civilization and responsible government. His story is, however being played out all over the world as both rebel movements and the governments they fight recruit younger and younger soldiers.

The flaw with the book is not really in Beah’s writing, but more in the marketing side. Although the subtitle claims it to be a "memoir of a boy soldier", it spends too little time on his memories as a soldier and much more on his time before and after those experiences. In truth, it would have been better billed as the memoirs of lost childhood and a return from instinct into reason than otherwise. Still, for all that, he does remember some of his years of soldiering, and it is enough to make the reader gasp at the depth of sin in this world.

Additionally, their was not enough history of Sierra Leone and the conflict included. A timeline was provided, but, perhaps in an attempt not to pass judgment or choose one side over another, little is told of the origins of the RUF or the country itself. That disconnect made it hard fro me as a reader to understand the book. The lack of a description of the political background seemed a detriment to me.

Anyone who loves Africa, or anyone who wants to know more about the destruction child soldiering can cause should read this book. It is stark in its reality and in the destruction to the psyche that war can cause, especially to impressionable young minds. I still can’t get over how when I was learning the rules of English grammar, Beah was shooting and killing people, just to survive in a man made hell. I am grateful for my situation now in more ways than I can count. Beah’s A Long Way Gone will change you as well.

For more on Sierra Leone from a personal perspective read: Live from Freetown or Sweet Sierra Leone

More thoughts on Fast Food Nation

I don't think that Schlosser is getting the reaction he expected out of me. Instead of outrage or shock at the business practices of McDonald's and KFC, Burger King and Taco Bell, all I can think is what a smart business plan!

I just finished reading the chapter on the peons who end up working in the fast food industry (in the interest of full disclosure, I worked for Chick-fil-A for FOUR years, so I've done my time) and the horrible conditions under which they labor, according to Schlosser.

I'll agree, they aren't great, the business model is built to withstand, even encourage high turnover. And yes, it is true that high schoolers and immigrants usually work for these companies. And Schlosser wonders why the companies seek to have built in profitability resulting from high turnover? These two groups are some of the most notoriously unstable groups. Kids go off to college or move on to a new job or trade as age allows, and immigrants are transient by the very word used to describe them. Most of the immigrants I worked with were working till they could find a job elsewhere with better pay.

Most of the folks i worked with were white, middle class high school kids looking to either own their own franchise, or earn some spending money for high school. Some few, like myself, were saving for college so Schlosser's contention that the majority of the workers are minorities or poor is probably true, but isn't always as he seems to imply.

Schlosser's contention that unions need to be formed for these folks makes me laugh. Teenagers don't care and retirees only work as much as they can before social security policies stop them. Immigrants are the most stable of the fast food workers and perhaps they might benefit from a union, but from what I know of unions, they are either corrupt or deluded as to their effectiveness. Unions are a big part of the destruction of the auto industry, as has been shown by better minds than mine.

I can't really speak to the commentary on the franchisee/franchisor relationship, a I only ever worked the front. I think it's likely it plays the way he says. One thing I do contend with is the assertion that failed franchises are the fault of the corporation. They are the fault of the franchisee, otherwise why would some be successful and some not? There are a lot of factors that go into that success, but the franchisee must take the majority of the blame in that, not the corporation. I did see in my time as a fast food worker that some franchisees ran their businesses better, period, and they often got way more business, even when the locations were only a mile or two apart!

Be back later with some more thoughts. By the way, I don't think the book is all bad, but it is politically dogmatic so that tends to be what I react to the most. I guess it was a good pick for New Notions 5!

Read more of my thoughts on post 1: The Beginning and post 3: Book Review

First thoughts on Fast Food Nation

So I have begun. I am tackling Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. I can't say I'm totally pleased with the direction it is heading. I finished the second chapter last night "Your Trusted Friend" and Schlosser's obvious bias against corporate America makes it difficult to glean relevant facts.

For instance, Ray Kroc and Walt Disney once served in the same unit together during World War II, and even, later on attempted to do business to together (For those who don't know, Ray Kroc is the guy who made McDonald's what it is today.) From this small connection, Schlosser spends half the chapter diatribing on the evils of Walt Disney and his "synergy" marketing plan (which is later used by Kroc). All right, I can see some connection here, but going on about the evils of Disney does not convince me about the evils of the Fast Food industry.

Also, I take issue with his assertion that having corporate America involved in the public school system is a bad thing. I agree, public schools should not become marketing arms of corporate America. It is true that marketing directed at kids is rather uncouth. To this I agree. but Schlosser fails to see the opposite side.

These school districts started selling sponsorships and making agreements with corporate America fo the purpose of making up budget shortfalls. Schlosser asserts this is because of tax cuts and the unwillingness of the voters to increase taxes. Okay, maybe that's true. But as a conservative, I know that if taxes are increased, more of my money goes to the government (something liberals want) which is usually misspent anyway. What I'm getting at is that while Schlosser asserts that the Fast Food companies are undermining education, he implies that he expects the taxpayer and the government to step up to the plate and meet the budget shortfalls that the fast food companies are taking advantage of.

This is not something I agree with. I don't want more money in the hands of a government that spends wantonly and has more programs than necessary (the Department of education being one of them). Liberals do, and its is obvious that Schlosser would like that as well. I don't. So I say, let the corporations purchase ad space in the schools, sell their products in the schools, help the school districts make up revenue shortfalls (which wouldn't be as much of a problem if the bureaucracy wasn't so expensive to maintain, and useless programs - such as teaching kindergarteners about homosexuality - were not using up available funds.)

Anyway, it boils down the fact that while Schlosser implies these corporations - whose true loyalty is to their stockholders, as it should be - are evil, and we should remove them from the school setting, he fails to mention that doing so increases the size of government and allows them more money for programs and education I think is as much marketing and propaganda as what the fast food companies are more openly doing.

I have been rethinking some of my assumptions, and Schlosser is well-researched and his points are valid, I'd like to see what solution he offers up to the problems he sees in our fast food nation. I'll be back with an update in a few chapters.

Read more of my thoughts on post 2: More thoughts and post 3: Book Review

Book Review: On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis

Genre: Leadership, Non-fiction, Business

On Friday, I finished reading Warren Bennis’ book On Becoming a Leader. It follows on the heels of some of his other works on leadership (a category he is often credited with creating) but I found the work disappointing in a lot of ways.

Initially, I was turned off by his obvious liberal humanism. For example, Bennis quotes Sonya Freidman on the rising occurrence (in 1989) of women in leadership at corporations, “The truth of the matter is that most emotionally disturbed women are those who are married and into traditional, full time, lifetime homemaker roles. Single women have always been happier than married women. Always. And there isn’t as study that has disproved that.” Say what? What does that have to do with leadership? How is that helpful to women who are in leadership roles? How is bashing housewives relevant to female leaders? This was simple propaganda, and Bennis should have known better.

Or take for example that fact that the majority of the non-profit leaders he interviewed (informally) are for liberal organizations? Or how, after a very nice section on the leadership of Ronald Reagan, Bennis ends with, “Carter depressed us; Reagan, whatever his other flaws, gave us hope.” Is that really a ringing endorsement of Reagan’s leadership? I don’t think so. Reagan did have flaws, but was it necessary to say so in the concluding sentence? I think not.

All right, so I don’t like the liberal humanism of the book. It’s now time to look more closely at the book’s content. Since Bennis is obviously a humanist, much of the book claims that becoming a leader is a process of self-actualization through education, vision, excellence, virtue (a very nebulous term in the book, since it is rooted in the self) and other elements that one can find in a good manager as well. I nearly fell for the spell as well, because I found as I was reading the book I started thinking that I could better myself and become a leader. That’s not wholly a bad thing, but I find it hard to think that I can really be a good leader when I have no absolutes by which to gauge myself.

Bennis’ theme is simply that by expressing yourself, staying outside the box of the good manager, and being innovative and creative that a person will become a good leader. Perhaps that is true. But where does that creativity come from really? Bennis would say it comes from finding yourself, which is really just psychological claptrap backed by “research” and Bennis’ reputation.

I do not recommend reading this book, if you feel that you can appeal to a higher power who gives you absolutes to live by. Doing so will make you just as much of a leader as “expressing yourself”. Bennis ultimately when you dig deep, is arguing that the leader is someone who seeks selfish gain (although he would deny this) through a process of learning yourself and learning all you can. Learning is a good thing, being a leader is a good thing, but it is altruism and selflessness that will ultimately create a good leader.

On Becoming a Leader is interesting and has some good thoughts from Bennis and leaders in various business fields, but it all must be taken with a grain of salt. Yes, you should learn more, yes you should believe in people and teamwork, yes you should have vision and virtue, but these things cannot come wholly from within, or wholly from without.

Book Review: The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

Genre: Travel, History, Humor

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts,” so concludes (or nearly so) the most irreverent travel book ever written, by that unique American humorist, Mark Twain. Hired to take ship on one of the very first cruises ever envisioned (a near flop, actually) and write about the experience, the thirty-seven year old and relatively unknown author begins to find the voice that would make him one of the most popular American novelists of all time.

The Innocents Abroad is a sequence of letters to several newspapers (later compiled by Twain into book form) that appeared in print for the purpose of belittling the idea of cruise ships and pleasure excursions. The year was 1867, and Twain took his mandate to heart. The Innocents Abroad is filled with cutting wit and satire, sometimes at his own expense, sometimes others. “It seems to me that whenever I glory to think that for once I have discovered and ancient painting that is beautiful and worthy of all praise, the pleasure it gives me is infallible proof that it is not a beautiful picture and not in any wise worthy of commendation.”

The ship was called the Quaker City and began its trip in New York and traveled around the curve of the Mediterranean, visiting Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey and the Holy Land. Twain describes the trip in such an exciting and humorous fashion that the reader will easily see the sites as they were in the great Age of Travel, before the commercialization of it.

Twain is a man of the lower class, unused to the appreciation of art, architecture, and history in the “acceptable” ways, and so the reader will find that his descriptions of what he sees and learns are honest and forthright and lack any ostentation. Twain’s travel history really examines the things seen and heard while maintaining his critical wit. His writing is an example of how a travel journal should appear. He thinks on the things he sees, questions his reactions, and accepts or dismisses them. He describes in detail the things that move him, and lightly passes by those that don’t. He both praises and derides his travel companions, but in his conclusion (written a year after the book’s publication) maintains that some of them are still his dearest friends. In fact, his future brother-in-law was his cabin mate, although he didn’t know it at the time.

The book is enjoyable for its insights into a time period, a beginning of the Golden Age of Travel, and for its insights into the growth of a writer’s voice. The Innocents Abroad was only his second book, but remained one of his best selling, even after the publication of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Any traveler will enjoy the book. It is a good book to read to learn how to journal about travel, and it also presents a slice of history not often mentioned in the history books. It is funny and thoughtful, and deliciously irreverent.

Book Review: The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman

Genre: Non-Fiction, Self-help, Marriage
Pub. Date: October 1992
Format: Paperback, 203pp

This morning, after my daily Scripture reading, I finished up reading Gray Chapman’s book, The Five Love Languages. It’s a well-known book (it’s on Wal-Mart shelves everywhere) so I won’t belabor the point of it to much here. Suffice it to say that each person has a “love tank” that measures unconsciously how much love you feel from your spouse, and that this tank is filled up in one of five ways (depending on personality, upbringing, and environment), Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Quality Time.

However, for all the talk in the about love languages that I hear from married couples around me, I wonder how many people got their concept secondhand. Chapman qualifies much of what he says, always telling his reader that counseling doesn’t deal in hard facts, and mistakes are made as often as successes. But from what I hear from those around me, they think that the love language and “love tank” concepts are proven (as with a scientific study).

This kind of thing is vary hard to quantify (we are talking about “love” after all, and the concepts of love are as varied as people are) so I think it unlikely that a scientific study could be conducted. Hence, we find Chapman’s reliance on personal testimonies, and success stories. Not such a bad thing as it turns out, since he does a good job of finding telling stories about all kinds of couples, from those in which both spouses are enthusiastic about resurrecting their marriage and love, to ones where both spouses are ready to give up. This, I think, allows the reader to better find him or herself in the book.

I sort of had “aha!” moments when I read the receiving gifts chapter. My parents always expressed heir love by giving me stuff (especially my father) and I have come to see that as my love language. I think my secondary one would probably be Acts of Service, as I find myself most content when the wife has done something I asked her to do, right away.

One other thing I like about this book, because I am a Christian, is the subtle nature of Chapman’s own Christianity. His goal is not to proselytize, but to help people in struggling marriages no matter their beliefs, but it is obvious from his examples and supporting concepts, that Chapman is himself a Christian. However, a non-Christian could read this book, glean the insights, and in no way feel that he/she had been preached to, or given a sermon. Yes, Jesus’ name is mentioned as he talks a great deal about love, and one chapter has a soft altar call in it (its at the end when Chapman is being more personal) but other than that, its a self-help book like any other.

Some might say that this makes the book just another self-help book or watered down Christianity, but I say that it makes a strong argument. It's like one of N.T. Wright's echoes of a voice in Simply Christian. Everyone hungers for love in some form no matter their religious affiliation. Chapman isn’t interested in making you a Christian; he first wants you to be a better person who has a happy marriage. To fill the hunger. If you find that true love is what Jesus says it is, and you come to believe in His love for you, through the process of getting there, than all to the better for you.

I highly recommend this book for anyone in a relationship of any kind. It can be read on a lazy Sunday afternoon, has interesting anecdotes, and will make you happier if you apply the teaching. This book will help you.

Book Review: Teacher Man by Frank McCourt

Genre: Memoir, Education
Pub. Date: September 2006
Format: Paperback, 272pp

On the airplane to Rome, and at night before bed, I read Frank McCourt’s Teacher Man. Having been a teacher I thought that I would appreciate the insights of this Teacher of the Year and memoirist author of Angela’s Ashes.

To say the least, I was rather disappointed. Although McCourt writes about teaching, and his own personal growth as one, he also spends undue time writing about his sexual conquests and infidelity. The conquests are irrelevant to the story other than as an opportunity for McCourt to say, “Look at me! I may be ugly, but women want to sleep with me!” It was so prideful and unnecessary that I nearly put the book down entirely.

However, I finished it so what follows is a list of the insights a prospective teacher might glean from this “Teacher of the Year”.

1. Having a depressing past is the best substitute for lack of ability in teaching.

2. Lack of ambition is a virtue.

3. One’s sexual conquests are relevant to how you teach.

4. Cynicism will get you respect from your students but not from your boss.

For all McCourt’s success as a teacher, he fails to impart any real wisdom to those who wish to follow in his footsteps. Perhaps some might argue that insights can be gleaned from this book, such as knowing one’s material, keeping things fresh, and using the tools and gifts already present in your students, but overall the reader is more likely to get the impression that one can only enjoy teaching if one is a cynic, has seen worse days, or simply coast through life.

I would not recommend this book to anyone seeking to become a better teacher. If you want to know how hard it is to be one, and don’t mind a lot of useless sidetracking, then by all means read it, but don’t expect to walk away with any fresh insights into what it means to be a teacher.

In fairness, I must mention that this is a memoir, not an attempt to impart wisdom to future teachers, and that McCourt does an excellent job in writing his story, but rather than encouraging the struggling or new teacher, he simply imparts the platitudes of the liberal education (whose success can be seen in all our failing schools and lack of knowledge of today’s young people, including myself) that every education major got from their professors from day one.

Although funny (in a cynical way) Teacher Man lacks any sort of greatness that will let it be enduring or a favorite among teachers. Readers will probably identify with McCourt’s struggles and problems of teaching, but will find no insights or helpfulness in the story. Enjoy it as a memoir, but expect nothing more than a story of cynicism and success couched as failure.

Book Review: Night by Elie Wiesel

Genre: Memoir, Autobiography, Jewish Studies
Pub. Date: January 2006
Series: Oprah's Book Club Series
Format: Paperback, 144pp

In a previous post, I mentioned that I was able to pick up a copy of Elie Wiesel’s book Night for a measly $1. I would never have paid full price for such slim volume, not because I thought the book lacked value, but because I knew I could finish it in one sitting and then what would I read?

I was correct in my assessment of how quickly the book could be read, but I was incorrect to assume that paying full price was a waste of funds. The slimness of the book belies its value. Night is a memoir, a series of vignettes, memories and impressions that Wiesel calls to mind about his experiences in being sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. He remembers the slow method by which the Jews were forced out of their homes, then their towns, and finally removed from life by the atrocities of the Germans.

His story is especially significant in that he and his family were taken much later in the war, even as Germany saw it was fighting a losing battle. But the Jewish race was to be eradicated at all costs (since a scapegoat is always needed to justify conquest) and the Germans continued their efforts to do so right up until the end.

Wiesel is just a boy when his entire family is split up (although he and his father manage to stay together throughout their imprisonment and torture) and they are taken to Auschwitz. I have been there, and the miasma of evil still pervades that place. It has soaked into the land and buildings themselves, penetrated it so deeply with sadness and horror that I think it will never be forgotten. Wiesel relates his story, and the reader knows intimately why such a place is filled with evil.

And yet, there are times of triumph. All is not despair, not all Germans are evil, and not all Jews are heroes. It is the frank honesty with which Wiesel tells his story, sparing the reader no truth, keeping from editorializing and philosophizing, that won Wiesel his Nobel Peace Prize. He tells the story of what happened to him, and in doing so, tells the story of the Jews in World War II.

This book is a must read for any person. As part of Oprah’s Book Club, the work has reached a wider audience, and the new edition translated by his wife is supposed to be a more accurate translation that captures the essence of the story even better. I throughly enjoyed the book. I was sad when little Elie was sad, and felt his triumphs when he triumphed. (Perhaps this is what it means to weep with those who weep and laugh with those who laugh, as Scripture says?) Anyone can read this slim volume, and no excuse of lack of time will hold. Wiesel calls us to remember what happened to him and millions of others, and with this volume gracing store shelves, it will be hard to forget.

Rome 2007

As I sit here at work listening to Les Miserables on my computer and thinking about my upcoming trip to Rome (Italy not Georgia), I started thinking about how much I love using Rick Steves’ guide books. City by City or Country by Country or Region by Region, Steves has plotted (almost completely on his own, I might add) the best routes around the city, the best ways to get there, hotel accommodations, food, the best sites, and all in slim volumes you can carry with you on the trip.

Since Rome is my next destination, I’ve been using the Rome 2006 book (I borrowed it from the pops) to plan my trip so that my lovely wife can just enjoy her first ever visit to the city. (I’ve been twice before, but it never gets old, only older.) The Vatican, The Borghese Gallery, The Christian Catacombs, St. Peter’s, and the fountains of Rome will all be easy to get to and easy to learn about, thanks to Rick Steves.

Oh yeah, did I mention that Steves includes little blips about each site, so that you get the key historical, architectural, and cultural knowledge about the sites? Wonderful! I have a guideline, a guidebook, that shows me the general outline of how to enjoy the city, thereby freeing me up to do so without any worry.

There are better books out there if a person were interested in more history or cultural context. Lonely Planet and Eyewitness Guidebooks do a good job of that, but truly in a guidebook I'm really looking for answers to my practical questions, such as how to use the public toilets in Paris (or whether I ought to) and the best and cheapest places to eat, especially with the dollar to Euro exchange rate.

No, for history and culture, I'll read a book from the history shelves on these cities, but for getting around the modern city, give me Rick Steves.

Book Review: Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky

Author: Aaron Lansky
Genre: Memoir, Jews, Yiddish
Pub. Date: October 2005
Format: Paperback, 328pp
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

Catchy title isn’t it? Who wouldn’t want to outsmart fascist dictators or evil emperors? To be a hero for the masses, the over thrower of a despotic regime is many a man’s dream. But to do so with books seems a little farfetched. Yet that is exactly what Aaron Lansky did. Well, at least metaphorically.

Outwitting History is the memoir of Aaron Lansky. He tells the story, from his own point-of-view, of the creation of the National Yiddish Book Center and its mission to save the world’s Yiddish books. The Yiddish Book Center is an organization that collects, digitizes, translates, and disseminates Yiddish literature.

Yiddish is the language of the Jews in exile, primarily those in Easter Europe, those most persecuted and destroyed by the Holocaust and other similar endeavors. It has been said that great suffering creates great writers. This is the case for Yiddish especially. The language is an amalgamation of tongues from Europe, one used by the Jews in exile to speak to one another. It was their common language, unlike Hebrew, which was limited to religious texts.

Lansky tells the story of his need for Yiddish books to read for a class in Yiddish (so uncommon a thing at the time, there were only five people in the class, and it wasn’t even accredited.) Thinking on the problem, Lansky realized that many of the people of his grandparents’ generation who owned many Yiddish books that their successors couldn’t even read. So he came up with the idea of collecting them, cataloging them and storing them. This saved them from the ruthless assimilation culture (a culture that denigrated the past) common for American Jews, who desired to join the melting pot that was the United Sates of the early 1900s.

The story of the growth of the Yiddish Book Center from a personal library to a worldwide non-profit organization is at times sad, and at times very comical, but always interesting.

The book does suffer from (an expected) myopia about the validity of the Jewish culture and Yiddish books in particular. Calling Yiddish the language of Jewish culture, rather than religion, Lansky does his best to divorce the religion of the Jews from being Jewish. And while his point is well-taken, such a divorce is saddening. The chosen people of God have devolved from that high place into one culture among many.

However, Lansky is to be applauded for saving so many books, from a culture that, without his efforts, likely would have disappeared with little to show. The wealth of literature that Yiddish brings to the world is not to be denied, and should be studied as much as we study any other written tongue.

For those who love books, some the anecdotes and stories are horrifying. For those who love the Jewish religion and the Christian faith it spawned will be saddened that the chosen people have fallen so far. And for those who want to learn something about Jewishness both past and present, this is an excellent introduction into the culture.

Book Review: Condensed Knowledge by the editors at mental_floss

Authors: Mental_floss
Genre: Non-fiction, encyclopedia, reference
Pub. Date: April 2004
Format: Paperback, 352pp
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

I like trivia. When I was a kid, I used to get the magazine 321 Contact (formerly The Electric Company) and would always turn to the “factoids” page before reading any other portion. The little paragraphs of strange and unusual information were fascinating. Why the life cycle of fruit flies, the number of cells in a body, or wingspan of the albatross would interest me I have no idea. Nonetheless, they do.

When my wife pointed me to Mental_floss magazine (herself pointed there by a fellow teacher) it was a godsend. No adult magazines had made trivia fun like 321 Contact had done. But the magazine is limited, and comes only bimonthly. I needed my “knowledge fix”, but didn’t want to wait quite so long.

Enter Condensed Knowledge by the editors at Mental_floss. This reference book covers topics like history, philosophy, religion, pop culture, and literature all in short paragraphs grouped into related sections. There might be a section on four different physicists, or 3 countries that don’t exist. A reader might find short descriptions on five books every one should know, or 9 ways you need radioactivity. Such topical groupings and short, interesting paragraphs make this resource readable from beginning to end.

In fact, what Ambrose Bierce did for dictionaries, Mental_floss has done for encyclopedias. Smart, funny, relevant, and interesting each section will help “knowledge junkies get their fix” between their issues of Mental_floss.

The book is flawed in some ways. Sometimes the sections seem to be unrelated to the main topic (i.e. literature) and are sometimes not really related in the way the subsection purports them to be. This, however, is uncommon and most likely the writers fault. Each main section is written by an expert in the field so at times a layperson might not get the relatedness of the topic to the main section, whereas an expert might.

Some of the writing is stilted, or biased. Mental_floss trends liberal in its take on events and history follows that trend. The book makes a fair effort at being witty and balanced, allowing no ridiculous belief or strange philosophy to go without a pun or clever remark. But in this is its real strength. Nothing that passes through the book goes unscathed.

Teachers should have this book in their libraries. Use it well to teach the arts, history, philosophy, etc. It will make it fun and easy to interject interesting stories into dry textbooks and show how some of our greatest minds had some of the weirdest behaviors. This book is a valuable mine of information that any teacher afraid of garnering interest on a topic in class is likely to find a paragraph eminently suited to capturing that interest. Difficult concepts are expressed in layman’s terms.

This can lead to oversimplification, but the editors of the book acknowledge this and dismiss it as not relevant to the work at hand. They were not trying to write anything comprehensive, but to fill that need some humans have of knowing a little about a lot.

This book is enjoyable and fascinating. Full of fun facts, strange trivia, and funny remarks, I highly recommend it for any lover of trivia and anyone who enjoys a good factoid.

Book Reviews by Author

These are my book reviews, categorized alphabetically by the author's last name. (Categorization by title is available here.)

You can also subscribe to an RSS feed of my reviews at librarything.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

A

Abercrombie, Joe The Blade Itself; Before They Are Hanged
Abraham, Daniel Hunter's Run
Ackley-McPhail, Danielle (et al.) Bad-A** Faeries
Adams, John Joseph Shimmer, The Pirate Issue; Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse
Aguirre, Ann Grimspace
Alcorn, Randy The Treasure Principle

B

Barnes, Jonathan The Somnambulist
Barwood, Lee Klassic Koalas: Ancient Aboriginal Tales in New Retellings
Beah, Ishmael A Long Way Gone
Bennis, Warren On Becoming A Leader
Bolme, Edward Eberron: The Orb of Xoriat; Eberron: Bound by Iron
Brand, Paul The Gift of Pain
Brennan, Marie Midnight Never Come
Britain, Kristen Green Rider
Brooke, Keith Genetopia
Bryson, Bill The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid; The Mother Tongue
Buckell, Tobias Crystal Rain; Ragamuffin
Burton, Katherine Hedge Hunters
Butcher, Jim Small Favor
Byers, Richard Lee Forgotten Realms: Unclean

C

Carpenter, Humphrey J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography
Chapman, Gary The Five Love Languages
Civiello, Emmanuel, A Bit of Madness
Cordell, Bruce Forgotten Realms: Stardeep
Cunningham, Elaine Forgotten Realms: The City of Splendors
Czerneda, Julie E. (ed.) Misspelled

D

Delaney, Frank Tipperary: A Novel
Dozois, Gardner Hunter's Run

E

Edelman, David Louis Infoquake
Edgington, Ian Sojourn: The Sorcerer's Tale; Sojourn: The Bezerker's Tale
Edwards, Kim The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Elliott, Kate The Crown of Stars Series
Ellis, Peter Berresford (see also Peter Tremayne) The Druids
Ellison, Harlan Dangerous Visions
Emery, Clayton Robin Hood and the Beasts of Sherwood

F

Falbe, Tracy Union of Renegades
Feist, Raymond E. Magician; Honored Enemy; Murder in LaMut
Finlay, Charles Coleman The Prodigal Troll
Forstchen, William R. Honored Enemy
Frank, Pat Alas, Babylon
Frazer, Margaret The Clerk's Tale
Freedman, Pamela Blood Ties
Freivald, Jake Falsh Fiction Online, April 2008

G

Gemmell, David Legend
Genesse, Paul The Golden Cord
Goodkind, Terry Phantom; Confessor
Graham, L.B. Shadow in the Deep; Beyond the Summerland
Green, David More Than A Hobby
Greenberg, Martin H. Fellowship Fantastic
Greenwood, Ed Forgotten Realms: The City of Splendors; Forgotten Realms: Swords of Dragonfire

H

Hart, Johnny Growingold with B.C.
Heinlein, Robert A. Glory Road
Hinck, Sharon The Restorer
Hines, Jim C. Goblin Quest; Goblin Hero; Goblin War
Horner, W. H. (ed.) Sails and Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy; Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the BadGuy
Hughes, Kerrie Fellowship Fantastic
Hunt, Stephen The Court of the Air

I

J

Jacobs, A.J. The Know-It-All
James, P.D. The Children of Men
Johnson, Jaleigh Forgotten Realms: The Howling Delve
Jones, Rosemary Forgotten Realms: Crypt of the Moaning Diamond
Jordan, Robert Knife of Dreams

K

Kemp, Paul S. Forgotten Realms: Shadowstorm
Kirkpatrick, Russell Across the Face of the World
Knight, E. E. Dragon Champion; Dragon Outcast

L

Lackey, Mercedes The Phoenix Unchained
Land, Greg Sojourn: The Sorcerer's Tale; Sojourn: The Bezerker's Tale
Lansky, Aaron Outwitting History
Lawhead, Stephen Hood; Scarlet; The Pendragon Cycle
Lebow, Jess Forgotten Realms: Obsidian Ridge
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Left Hand of Darkness

M

Mackay, Scott Tides; Phytosphere
Mallet, Nathalie The Princes of the Golden Cage
Mallory, James The Phoenix Unchained
Mangels, Andy Iron Man: Beneath the Armor
Martin, Gail Z. The Summoner
Martin, George R.R. Dying of the Light; Hunter's Run
Maxwell, John C. Life@Work
McCarthy, Cormac The Road
McCourt, Frank Teacher Man
McDonnell, Carole Wind Follower
McPhail, Mike (ed.) Breach the Hull
Meluch, R.M. The Sagittarius Command
Mental_floss Condensed Knowledge
Meredith, Robyn The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What it Means for All of Us
Miller, Karen The Innocent Mage; The Awakened Mage; Empress
Moedesitt Jr., L.E. The Magic of Recluce
Moore, Moira J. Heroes Adrift
Mosdi, Thomas A Bit of Madness
Muirden, James & Eccles, David (Illustrator) A Rhyming History of Britain

N

Norwich, John Julius Shakespeare's Kings

O

O'Neill, John (ed.) Black Gate: Issue #11
Overstreet, Jeffrey Auralia's Colors

P

Paolini, Christopher Eragon
Poole, Robert M. Explorer's House: National Geographic and the World It Made
Pratchett, Terry Thud!; The Truth; Making Money
Priest, Christopher The Prestige
Proctor, William Moon Gate

Q

R

Ramsey, Dave The Junior Books
Reid, Thomas M. Forgotten Realms: The Gossamer Plain
Rivers, Francine Redeeming Love
Rosenberg, Joel Murder in LaMut
Rothfuss, Patrick The Name of the Wind
Ruckley, Brian Winterbirth; Bloodheir

S

Salvatore, R.A. Forgotten Realms: Road of the Patriarch; Forgotten Realms: The Orc King
Sayers, Dorothy Are Women Human?
Schlosser, Eric Fast Food Nation
Sehestedt, Mark (ed.) The Tales of the Last War
Setterfield, Diane The Thirteenth Tale
Seymour, James Black History Through Blue Eyes: The Debt the World Owes to Africa
Shakespeare, William Henry V (Classical Comics Edition)
Smith, Alexander McCall The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
Snyder, Maria V. Poison Study
Steves, Rick The Rick Steves' Travel Guide Series
Stusser, Michael The Dead Guy Interviews

T

Thurman, Rob Madhouse
Tremayne, Peter (see also Peter Ellis) Badger's Moon; Master of Souls; Smoke in the Wind
Twain, Mark The Innocents Abroad

U

V

Varley, John Rolling Thunder
Venditti, Robert The Surrogates, Vol. 1

W

Walley, Chris The Shadow and Night
Waltz, Jason M. (ed.) Return of the Sword
Ward, James M. Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe
Weldon, David Moon Gate
Wells, Martha The Death of the Necromancer
West, Michelle The Hidden City
Wiesel, Elie Night
Williams, Tad Shadowmarch
Winchester, Simon Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire
Withrow, Mindy and Brandon Monks and Mystics

X

Y

Yancey, Philip The Gift of Pain

Z

Zakour, John The Blue-Haired Bombshell

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Book Review: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

Author: Bill Bryson
Genre: Memoir, History
Pub. Date: October 2006
Format: Hardcover, 288pp
Publisher: Broadway Books

The fifties were a good time to be a kid. This is the premise of Bill Bryson’s latest book The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Using his own memories of growing up in the fifties (he was born in 1951) he expounds on the people, the culture, and the politics of the time. He wanes nostalgic about growing up in Des Moines, Iowa and what it was like to grow up in a town where downtown was for everyone, not just tourists.

For me, this was an opportunity to see the world in which my parents grew up. My parents are close-mouthed people (and my grandparents too) so learning about this volatile and interesting time in their lives is difficult. Bryson spends the majority of his time on the fifties and his life as a nine year old boy much affected by the comic books he read. So the childhood of those born in the very beginning of the Atomic Age, as my parents were, was made open to me.

Although I usually abhor cursing in books, Bryson is subtle with his use and it does not detract from the memoir. His liberal political leanings are obvious in that the objects of many of his jokes are Republicans or social conservatives. However, this also does not detract from his story.

Bryson paints an interesting picture of a time when anything is possible, man is invincible, and logic in comic books is non-existent. It is an easily read (it only took me a day) fascinating memoir and history of life in the 1950’s.

Book Review: Monks and Mystics by Mindy and Brandon Withrow

Author: Mindy and Brandon Withrow
Genre: Historical Fiction, Non-fiction
Pub. Date: January 2006
Format: Paperback, 223pp
Publisher: Christian Focus Publications

Over the weekend, I completed reading Mindy and Brandon Withrow’s book Monks and Mystics. A book geared to the 9-14 age range, the book presents church history from both a fictional and factual perspective. It part of the History Lives series that began with Peril and Peace, a book about ancient Christians. Vignettes of some of the more significant persons in the Medieval Church, written as fiction stories but based on historical documents, dominate the text. In between, short chapters containing significant facts about the period are presented.

While in no way comprehensive, this book does an excellent job of both making history interesting and real to the age range it targets, and of teaching church history to children. I would, in fact, think it an excellent text to use as a basis for an upper elementary or middle school Sunday school class on church history. It would also be useful in Christian schools. As a supplemental text it is perfect.

Although an adult, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. So much so, that I ordered the first book the next day and plan to order any successive books as they become available. The stories were interesting and well-written (although on pg. 77, there is on paragraph that repeats, something the editors must have missed) and capture well the characters of the historical figures.

To an adult, some of the language might feel condescending or childish, but the Withrows do not shy away from using technical terms. Often the characters explain the terms in words that could be understood by a 9 year old in their speech to each other. (In truth I understood some of the terms better than I ever have before!)

It is unfortunate that these books are printed by such an unknown publisher. They are available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon, but only online. It is unlikely they will make it into the stores and I wonder if the major Christian retailers will pick them up. They are a valuable resource for the Christian family, so I recommend buying them before they go out of print.

Book Review: Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire by Simon Winchester

Author: Simon Winchester
Genre: Non-fiction, Travel, British History
Pub. Date: June 2004
Format: Paperback, 362pp
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Anguilla, St. Helena, Grand Cayman, The Falkland Islands, Hong Kong, Gibraltar all have one thing in common. In 1984, they (and a few others) were all that was left of the British Empire. At it’s height in the Victorian period, Britain ruled (or at least governed) a large portion of the known world. The discovery of these last relics of empire is the subject of the book Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire by Simon Winchester.

Known particularly for his work on The Professor and the Madman, and The Meaning of Everything, two books on the history of the Oxford English Dictionary, Winchester is a geologist turned journalist a career for which he was eminently suited. His love of the islands he describes in this work is evident both in his many return visits and the way his words lovingly caress the history and cultures he finds in them.

The majority of these last outposts of empire are islands that are far removed from any continent, with the exception of Gibraltar (a peninsula) and Hong Kong. Hong Kong is an island in part, but contains portions of the continent of Asia within its boundaries. St. Helena, Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha, Bermuda and the Falklands all sit in the Atlantic Ocean. Gibraltar guards the entrance to the Mediterranean across from Morocco, Pitcairn is in the Pacific, and British Indian Ocean Territory is self-explanatory.

Winchester journeys to all of them over the course of three years and in side trips from his day job as a journalist, and even as in the case of the Falklands he is there in that capacity particularly. He watched the Falklands fall to the invading Argentines in 1982. People of my own generation know nothing of this event (this was the first I had heard of it) but it was important, with 1300 dead as a result.

The majority of the book is given over to laments over the sorry state of Britain’s island territories. Whether it is financial decay, as in the case of St. Helena, or moral decay, as in the case of the Cayman’s, each and every colony has had to sacrifice something of its Imperial character in order to survive. Much of this is blamed, by Winchester, on racism with a helping of poor communication. (I did wonder as I read this in 2007, whether the advent of satellite technology for the masses had had a significant effect on the colonies.)

Winchester claims that Britain is racist and wishes to deny the colonies full citizenship because they are not white. They are always governed by whites, he points out, and the poorest of them are usually people of color. I find this argument flimsy in this day and age, and find it more likely that the colonies are more forgotten than deliberately persecuted.

Hong Kong has, since the writing of this book, returned to its native China. The fears that it would be swallowed by the Communist machine are unfounded, as the China itself moves closer and closer to truly free trade (while still committing human rights abuses, I know, but changes are occurring).

Many of the colonies have turned into tax shelters, vacation spots, or American military bases. Winchester laments this although he says, “Perhaps...it was because one associates British Imperial relics, and associates them rather fondly, with sadness and decay, with the sagging verandah and the peeling paint, the wandering donkeys and the lolling drunks, and with a generally amiable sense of indolence and carelessness.”

It is this ultimately that is the value of this book. The reader discovers the empire as it was once, before technology changed it, a new morality consumed it, and empire became an evil idea. This book is a must for all travel book buffs, and a pleasant read for the amateur historian.

Book Review: Life@Work by John Maxwell

Author: John Maxwell
Genre: Non-fiction
Topic: Self-Help, Business
Pub. Date: May 2005
Format: Hardcover, 242pp
Publisher: Thomas Nelson

John Maxwell is a recognized authority on leadership and business. His many books detail how each person can be a better employee, boss, or person. Life@Work is no exception. Although the majority of Maxwell’s books focus on executives, or those who wish to be executives, Life@Work is written for any employee.

Using Biblical narratives, personal anecdotes, and Scripture, Maxwell and his colleagues work to show us that the best way for us to be good employees is to use our skill, find our calling, serve wholeheartedly, and have a strong character. These four elements are the core principles taught in Life@Work.

The work itself is poorly written. Like most self-help books, there is a lot of self-actualization with a smattering of Christian Scripture. It is unexceptional in this regard. Additionally, because there are actually three authors, it is never clear who the speaker is at any one moment. Many of the anecdotes are personal, but to whom? I also found the organization of the thoughts hard to follow; things were said twice or more often, and in different sections. Although this was probably meant to add continuity to the book, it actually made it hard to understand how one positive or negative trait was different from another.

The principles taught here are valid, and even useful. I have heard these same thoughts espoused my entire life, so it was not useful to me. But to someone new to Christianity, or someone with no idea how to integrate faith and work, this easy to read work might come in handy.

Book Review: The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis

Author: Peter Berresford Ellis
Genre: History, Celtic
Pub. Date: May 2002
Format: Paperback, 324pp
Publisher: Avalon Publishing Group
Series: Brief History of Series

Often have I read books by one Peter Tremayne. His ancient Irish mysteries are superb. But did you know that Tremayne is actually a pseudonym for Peter Berresford Ellis, the noted Celtic scholar? The Druids is one of his academic works. Although written for the layman, it is still an academic work.

Ellis’ argument is that the New Age conception of who and what the Druids were is just that, new. The historical druids are something other than what popular literature and the New Age movement has led us to believe. In this work, Ellis show us, both from external and internal sources, who the historical druids actually were.

For the most part, they were and intellectual class in Celtic culture, akin to modern day professors, priests, and other intelligentsia. Interestingly, the closest modern equivalent we have is in India in the caste of the Brahmins. Much of The Druids is taken up with showing these similarities of cultures, Celtic and Hindu, traced back to the hypothesized Indo-European language (and cultural) root.

Ellis also does not fall into the trap of taking the ancient sources at face value. He recognizes that human nature is little changed in its history and that the sources we must rely upon might be simply propaganda either for or against a particular culture. Just as we moderns demonize cultures we do not understand, so too did the Romans to the Celts. And of course, the Celts tried to make themselves look better in their own writings.

Ellis is mistaken in some of his statements about Christianity. I don't think he understands evangelical Christianity at all. His statements about Christianity seem to be rooted in knowledge of Anglican and Catholic theologies. This does not in any way harm, the work as a whole, as these statements are few and far between.

The Druids is an excellent primer for those interested in Celtic culture, particularly the druids. Readable without being too pedantic, the work presents Celtic culture objectively and argues its point succinctly. I would recommend it for history buffs and the casual reader alike if one wants to know the real druids.

Book Review: The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson

The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way
Pub. Date: November 2001
Series: Harper Perennial
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Read an Excerpt

For some time now, I have been a closet philologist. I have studied words, learned all I could about those who study words, and played more games of Scrabble with my grandmother-in-law than any one person can be expected to. I love words, word origins, and playing with words.

In looking for easy to read books on philology, books for the amateur, I came across Bill Bryson’s The Mother Tongue. Better known for his travel memoirs A Walk in the Woods and In a Sunburned Country, this early work of his traces the history of the English language in a humorous way. Where most philologists take themselves much too seriously, Bryson finds humor in the fact that in the English language word pronunciations don’t always follow spellings, that the English language loves to steal words from other languages, and that no one has ever been able to regulate its growth.

English is, according to Bryson, both the most versatile of languages, and the one most taught elsewhere in the world. English is rapidly becoming the universal language of business, law, and learning.

Through 250 or so pages, Bryson traces the in outs and outs of the etymologies of words, the spelling or them, word games, and in the best chapter of all, the fine art of swearing. Swearing in English is actually easier to do than in almost any other language oddly enough. Bryson ensures that you will see the humor in this situation.

An easy read, Bryson writes for the layman, the newcomer to philology. He wants the reader to see the beauty and usefulness of the language. Often this is done by humorous comparison to the foibles of other languages.

English grammar is shown to be a construction based on another language, rules of spelling are shown to be rather arbitrary, and some of the quirks of philologists of the centuries (such as Noah Webster, James Murray, and even J.R.R. Tolkien) are enjoyed in all their majesty. Bryson takes potshots at philologists by showing (in all seriousness) how often they make mistakes in their own writing.

The one failure of the book is to address the new creole of text messaging. Highly phonetic, this style of writing is slowly creeping into the language in the form of slang. Of course, his failure to deal with this growing English bastardization is due in large part to the fact that the original publication was in 1990, although the copy I read was a republication in 2001.

If you have an interest in philology, funny words, etymologies, or would like to know why we swear the way we do, this is an excellent introduction.

Book Review: The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn

Two days ago, I read all 94 substantive pages of The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving by Randy Alcorn. (I say 94 substantive pages, because the rest is a series of prayers to seek God’s will for giving, and a few promotional pages common in books of this type.) While the book is no work of John Piper, he does recommend it, “Supercharged with stunning, divine truth! Lightning struck over and over as I read it” (from the back cover).

I cannot say that “lightning struck over and over” I can say that I find Alcorn both eminently quotable, and very good at distributing common sense wisdom reminiscent of Poor Richard’s Almanack.

To evidence a few of his quotes, see the following selection of a few I liked.

“According to Jesus, storing up earthly treasures isn’t simply wrong. It’s just plain stupid.”

“God’s money to do God’s work.”

“Money leads; hearts follow.”

“What kind of trust does it take to part with your money when you die?”

And so on and so forth.

The book argues that giving essentially benefits the giver as much as the receiver. Alcorn says that Jesus himself said so. Unarguably this is true, what those of certain upbringings may find difficult is his insistence that we remember that giving reaps us benefits in heaven. This is true, but should not be our reason for giving. Similar arguments have been used for salvation. Believe so you won’t go to hell is not an acceptable motivation, and give so that you can get is not either.

Giving is sorely needed in churches these days, and Alcorn walks up, smacks you on the side of the head, and says, Doi! Giving benefits you as much as the receiver. Wake up and smell the coffee!

I am thankful for his writing, it’s an easy reading 94 pages, his six easy to remember principles of giving will stay in your mind without taking up much of that space devoted to your finances (so hopefully you'll remember to give at least 10%), and his sound bite method of writing will make it easier to remember the important life lessons when needed.

This should not discourage the reader from taking the two hours to read the book. You will learn simple life lessons, read some interesting stories of living by faith, and learn that living on 90% of God’s income is actually not as hard as you think.

Just remember, it isn’t your money, you can’t take it with you, and God blesses those who give. Give and be blessed!

Book Review: The Know-It-All by A. J. Jacobs

I just finished A.J. Jacobs The Know-it-All, the story of his (successful) attempt to read through the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The book is both memoir and trivia book. Set up like an encyclopedia, going from A to Z, we are let into Jacobs’ life. We see his struggles with his father and the difficulties of trying to get pregnant.

Jacobs writes with a witty and understated humor. His comments are wry and always have a touch of the macabre in them. His gift for metaphor and seeing the connection between the facts he has learned give cohesiveness to all his trivia facts. It is his story, the story of his struggles and fears, phobias and compulsions. He wants to know things, and the reader identifies with him.

His agnosticism is troubling, and his liberalism obvious. His favorite scapegoats are George W. Bush, John Ashcroft, and others of their ilk. He is an equal opportunity offender in finding Jean-Paul Sartre ridiculous. He uses foul language and likes to dwell on the sexual morass of history, but this is outweighed by both his witticism and his attempts at learning.

His vignettes of his attempts to use his newfound knowledge are particularly amusing. The often blank looks on others faces, and his wife's eventual "$1-per-fact" jar show us how unappreciated the knowledgeable are. We follow his attempts to join MENSA, compete on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and meet Alex Trebek. He has lived collectors of facts most fervent desires in these few pages.

This book is a journey of self-discovery, of learning both who he is, what he can do, and what he values most in his life. At times he is sappy and silly, at others a soul-searcher and philosophical wanderer, but always he is witty.

I enjoyed the book because I felt deep connections to his love of knowledge and search for wisdom. I would recommend this to anyone who thirsts after knowledge.

Book Review: Are Women Human? by Dorothy Sayers

Yesterday I sat and read a book by Dorothy L. Sayers entitled Are Women Human? This being a question that has plagued me since birth (being the oldest of four boys with a not necessarily girly mother), so I decided that this might be a good read. It took me less than an hour to get through the three sections. The first is an introduction by a woman I never heard of, but who still provides a good set up for the essays of Sayers.

Precisely because I know little about women, I thought this might be a good read. I think I expected it to be a sort of feminist tract, albeit with a Christian bent (Sayers being a believer).

This is exactly what I did not find. Under the thin garb of arguing for women, what Sayers describes is actually what it means to simply be human. Women are simply the vehicle she is required to use (she died in 1957 so the role of women in society was a BIG argument in her lifetime), to best explain her point of view on the nature of humanity.

Sayers abhorred labels like “feminism” or using generalizations to explain how people will act or behave, or to describe their desires. “Women” do not all want to be housewives, nor do they all want to be mechanics. Women simply want to be human, which is to find your role in God’s world and do it. Not because you must, but because you love to. By this same reasoning, a man who chooses to live at home while his wife works outside the home is not to be belittled either, because he has found (with a term lately come into vogue) his “calling” or “vocation”. Therefore, as human beings we are made to do work, each to his own, not necessitated by gender, but by skill. You know, the whole idea of merit, and working in what one is skilled to do, so long as those skills fit into the boundaries of law and morality? However, it is not moral to say that all women should live at home and be housewives as not all are called to do so, just as men are not all called to work in business or as mechanics or engineers. How boring would that life be, after all if everyone did the same thing because of gender, race, or creed? Sayers says let each do person what he or she both desires to do and present skill for. Don’t use gender (or race etc.) to put people into boxes and predetermine their skill sets.

I think we have seen a movement back that direction of late with women going back to the home, not because of the majority of reasons given, but simply that that is their true vocation and calling, not what they used to do elsewhere.

For those who study vocation, I think it would be an excellent read. And for I as a man, I think it informed greatly on my perception of the role of women in the church (not that I call for female elders or anything, because I don’t) but on how much each individual has to contribute, and how I should not judge if one man finds his church role to be in the nursery rather than teaching a class.

Book Review: J. R. R. Tolkien, A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter

For Christmas, I got Humphrey Carpenter's J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography. I never would have thought that an academics life could be so interesting. Of course, I love Tolkien's works, and appreciate what he did in almost singlehandedly creating an enrire genre of fiction. But the man himself lived a life that was just as, if not more, interesting that his books. Carpenter is readable and lacks the ponderosity so characteristic of many biographies by academics. Paul West, of the Washington Post praised Carpenter, saying, "Carpenter has an eye for the magic in what's pedestrian, and in his charge a 'quiet life' such as Tolkien's, becomes an in-depth act of relish."

This book is for those who want to know the man behind The Lord of the Rings . Carpenter writes about Tolkien the boy, Tolkien the philologist, and Tolkien the mythmaker in a way that makes it hard to put down. I especially appreciated the honest treatment of his topsy-turvy marriage, and the significant portion given over the Tolkien the academic. His philology work was as great in its sphere as Rings trilogy was in the sphere of fiction.

Tolkien was a man given over to perfectionism, his greatest strength and his greatest downfall, the aspect of his nature that made the Silmarillion and LOTR possible, but also the very reason so little was published and why so much is unfinished.

Although Tolkien himself did not approve of biography, he cannot be discovered any other way. Carpenter does an excellent job at telling us about Tolkien the man, his influences and motivations, without trying to match every detail of LOTR to some aspect of his life. Tolkiens life an worldview informed upon LOTR put LOTR is not Tolkien, nor an allegory, nor anything but a mythology in its own right.

Read this to understand Tolkien the man, a great Christian, writer, teacher and philologist.

Financial Books for Kids

Chick-fil-A recently released a set of books in their Kid's Meals by author and financial advisor Dave Ramsey. These books teach core financial values such as giving, work, saving, spending and contentment. Each of the books is appropriate for ages 4-8. They can be purchased in hardcover at the website Dave Ramsey for Kids or you can purchase five of the books (in a set that costs $5.50) in softcover from Chick-fil-A.com. You will be unable to purchase the books on integrity and debt from Chick-fil-A, as they are not part of the set released by them. I have read them and they really do teach financial planning in a fun and interesting way. I wish I had these when I was growing up.

Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey

I never thought of pain as a gift, at least not until I read the book Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants also entitled (in more recent editions) The Gift of Pain but Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey.

Published in 1993, this book is part memoir, part essay, and part self-help. It is the story of Dr. Brand a leading expert on leprosy and former medical missionary to India. Although Dr. Brand's religion is the reaon he does what he does, he is not proselytizing and God is mentioned only in the context of personal belief.

The first third of the book tells the reader about Dr. Brands journey from a young boy in the wild Kolli Mallai mountain range in India to his youth and college study in England before and during the Second World War.

Especially moving was the story of Dr. Brand's work in a hospital in London during the German Blitz and his fears for his young wife and newborn child. He even observed the near destruction of St. Paul's Cathedral from atop his hospital.

But that is not the essence of the book. No, this book is about pain. But the approach to pain is radically different from all others that I have seen or read. Dr. Brand uses his knowledge of leprosy (a disease that causes a person to go numb and lose all sensitivity to pain) to point out the NEED for pain. This book is not about avoiding or even minimizing pain. It is about embracing pain, becoming its master and knowing that 3/4 of all pain is in the mind.

It reads well and can, despite its daunting size, be easily read in a week. But you will find that as you read it, you won't want to put it down. I read it just last week and on two successive nights I stayed up till two in the morning because I just could not put it down.

The stories related in it defy any description. Any attempt I made at relaying them to you would only butcher them. The memories that pour forth from the brain of Dr. Brand make you laugh and cry with joy in the wonder of creation and the beautiful construction he made in giving us pain. I, stoic that I believe myself to be, found that I couldn't help but cry. Whether it was because of Dr. Brand's success at trying a new surgery or his story of a man who was able to return to his family after being cast out for his leprosy, I couldn't help but cry tears of joy.

Leprosy is a terrible disease, but more terrible than that is what happens when lepers stop feeling pain. Rats eat fingers off while they are sleeping; hands burn against oil lamps without your noticing, leading to third degree burns; and bones break just because you are tightening a loose bolt on a car engine. I fear painlesness now, not pain. Pain lets me know I am alive, and that I am wonderfully well-protected through a natural mechanism created by the One above.

I am not able to do justice to the effect this book has had on me and my perception of pain. I see pain as something I must master, and not something that can master me. I will not be a victim of my pain or suffering because God made it to work for me, not against me.

See the following link to read some reviews on Amazon. Plese read it, it will make you think twice about whether you would really like to live a life without pain or suffering.

The Gift of Pain