This will be a recurring feature depending on what I'm reading now, says Captain Obvious. Anyway, I started this blog in order to share my love of books and things bookish. Its the feel of the pages, the age of the book, the type of binding, the smell... ah, we teeter on the edge of book porn. On to the current pages I'm turning...
The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto - Mr. Shorto is one of my very favorite nonfiction writers. His "Descarte's Bones" is a marvel of a book and this effort is almost as good. Here the subject is New York, but not when it was New York, rather when it was New Amsterdam and the center of a "new world". Mr. Shorto points out that scholarship on the Dutch period of American settlement has been, up to now, rather slim, and very biased. It does seem as though most books on early American history start with the sale of Manhattan from the Dutch to the English, with a mention of the Dutch purchasing it from the Indians for about 24 dollars in "trinkets". This story gets told often because it is amusing to elementary school children. However, as the author points out it is also wildly inaccurate and incredibly pejorative Mr. Shorto also does a great job of fleshing out the players of the time including the ambitious Peter Minuit, the severe Peter Stuyvesant and the erstwhile hero, Adrian Van der Donck. The fact that you've never heard of Van der Donck tell you how he made out. Good stuff if you have any taste for history.
The Book of Guys by Garrison Keillor - Mr. Prairie Home Companion is a polarizing figure, people either love him or hate him, and I'm a fan. With that personal bias out of the way, this is a damn funny book. Its a collection of articles, radio commentary, and short stories Mr. Keillor has written themed around "things guy". The story about his night at the campfire with the guys is hilarious. There are a series of events similar to the "Blazing Saddles" campfire scene and we will leave it there. The author also makes some sharp observations about the behavior of men and women, some funny, and some funny-sad. The kind of book you can pick up and read a few pages at a time.
A Long Argument by Ernst Mawr - Mr. Mawr is one of the staunch defenders of evolution and things Darwin. He has written longer and better books, but this one ain't shabby. In it, he sums up for the layperson, or the mildly interested, his major arguments about the things Darwin got right. One of the reasons he is an interesting writer is that he is not an extremist and does not gloss over the ideas of Darwin that are still inconclusive or proved in the years since Darwin's death to be just plain wrong. The point he makes and in my view, it's a damn good one, is don't get distracted by Darwin's imperfection, he's only human. Rather, try to grasp how much about which he was right.
Five Not-so-Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman - Most folks know Mr. Feynman; if they can name any scientists at all, or more specifically, any physicists at all, they name him. It is amazing to me though, how few people who have heard of him have actually read anything by him. He's a bit like Einstein or Darwin, people quote them and talk about their work all the time, but these same people, for the most part, have not read a single word they've written. Okay, that's my elitist bitch for the day. Thank you for listening. Anyway, Dr. Feynman actually explains some principles of Physics in a way that I can understand, and that is one hell of an accomplishment, let me tell you. Plus, he's really funny. And the world of funny, world famous physicists is small, trust me.
The First World War by John Keegan - Mr. Keegan is very well known military historian who writes about military history from the "battle" perspective. To understand the war, one must understand who the different officers in the field were, why the troops moved as they did, and how artillery and other factors (like airplanes and the weather) influence outcomes. What differentiates Mr. Keegan from the horde of historians in this particular school is the good job he does relating these matters to the larger geopolitical landscape. Mr. Keegan's book on the Civil War is in my pile of "next in line" books, so I'll let you know if that is a consistent quality or not when I get to it.
Lee and His Men at Gettysburg by Clifford Dowdey - The Civil War is a passionate interest of mine, and Mr. Dowdey is one of the classic historians of the conflict. So far, there isn't much in this one I haven't encountered elsewhere, except for the detail of the relationships between General Lee and his men. I have not done enough footnote checking to know how accurate Mr. Dowdey's information is, and I do not know if I will make the time. Of particular interest is Lee's relationship with "Jeb" Stuart. It's the author's hypothesis that Lee lost the battle and perhaps the whole war by putting too much faith in the wrong man, as Stuart was too vain and too independent to closely follow orders. Don't know if I buy it. I'm not much of a "one thing was responsible for this" guy when it comes to major events in history.
Silver Bears, Columbus, and The Dark Guys by Derek Haas - This is a three volume set of short novels known as the "Assassin Trilogy". This is basically check your brains at the door, rock-em sock-em pulp action stuff. The main character is sort of a cross between Adam Hall's Quiller (the organism leaves the window open and the air-conditioning off so it can adjust to the desert heat) and Barry Eisler's John Rain (I like my violence quick and dirty). Mr. Haas writes well, and these are quick and entertaining reads if you like action yarns where the body count piles up. If not, well, aren't you a daisy? Just skip these books.
That's a wrap for this edition... so what are you reading now?
The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto - Mr. Shorto is one of my very favorite nonfiction writers. His "Descarte's Bones" is a marvel of a book and this effort is almost as good. Here the subject is New York, but not when it was New York, rather when it was New Amsterdam and the center of a "new world". Mr. Shorto points out that scholarship on the Dutch period of American settlement has been, up to now, rather slim, and very biased. It does seem as though most books on early American history start with the sale of Manhattan from the Dutch to the English, with a mention of the Dutch purchasing it from the Indians for about 24 dollars in "trinkets". This story gets told often because it is amusing to elementary school children. However, as the author points out it is also wildly inaccurate and incredibly pejorative Mr. Shorto also does a great job of fleshing out the players of the time including the ambitious Peter Minuit, the severe Peter Stuyvesant and the erstwhile hero, Adrian Van der Donck. The fact that you've never heard of Van der Donck tell you how he made out. Good stuff if you have any taste for history.
The Book of Guys by Garrison Keillor - Mr. Prairie Home Companion is a polarizing figure, people either love him or hate him, and I'm a fan. With that personal bias out of the way, this is a damn funny book. Its a collection of articles, radio commentary, and short stories Mr. Keillor has written themed around "things guy". The story about his night at the campfire with the guys is hilarious. There are a series of events similar to the "Blazing Saddles" campfire scene and we will leave it there. The author also makes some sharp observations about the behavior of men and women, some funny, and some funny-sad. The kind of book you can pick up and read a few pages at a time.
A Long Argument by Ernst Mawr - Mr. Mawr is one of the staunch defenders of evolution and things Darwin. He has written longer and better books, but this one ain't shabby. In it, he sums up for the layperson, or the mildly interested, his major arguments about the things Darwin got right. One of the reasons he is an interesting writer is that he is not an extremist and does not gloss over the ideas of Darwin that are still inconclusive or proved in the years since Darwin's death to be just plain wrong. The point he makes and in my view, it's a damn good one, is don't get distracted by Darwin's imperfection, he's only human. Rather, try to grasp how much about which he was right.
Five Not-so-Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman - Most folks know Mr. Feynman; if they can name any scientists at all, or more specifically, any physicists at all, they name him. It is amazing to me though, how few people who have heard of him have actually read anything by him. He's a bit like Einstein or Darwin, people quote them and talk about their work all the time, but these same people, for the most part, have not read a single word they've written. Okay, that's my elitist bitch for the day. Thank you for listening. Anyway, Dr. Feynman actually explains some principles of Physics in a way that I can understand, and that is one hell of an accomplishment, let me tell you. Plus, he's really funny. And the world of funny, world famous physicists is small, trust me.
The First World War by John Keegan - Mr. Keegan is very well known military historian who writes about military history from the "battle" perspective. To understand the war, one must understand who the different officers in the field were, why the troops moved as they did, and how artillery and other factors (like airplanes and the weather) influence outcomes. What differentiates Mr. Keegan from the horde of historians in this particular school is the good job he does relating these matters to the larger geopolitical landscape. Mr. Keegan's book on the Civil War is in my pile of "next in line" books, so I'll let you know if that is a consistent quality or not when I get to it.
Lee and His Men at Gettysburg by Clifford Dowdey - The Civil War is a passionate interest of mine, and Mr. Dowdey is one of the classic historians of the conflict. So far, there isn't much in this one I haven't encountered elsewhere, except for the detail of the relationships between General Lee and his men. I have not done enough footnote checking to know how accurate Mr. Dowdey's information is, and I do not know if I will make the time. Of particular interest is Lee's relationship with "Jeb" Stuart. It's the author's hypothesis that Lee lost the battle and perhaps the whole war by putting too much faith in the wrong man, as Stuart was too vain and too independent to closely follow orders. Don't know if I buy it. I'm not much of a "one thing was responsible for this" guy when it comes to major events in history.
Silver Bears, Columbus, and The Dark Guys by Derek Haas - This is a three volume set of short novels known as the "Assassin Trilogy". This is basically check your brains at the door, rock-em sock-em pulp action stuff. The main character is sort of a cross between Adam Hall's Quiller (the organism leaves the window open and the air-conditioning off so it can adjust to the desert heat) and Barry Eisler's John Rain (I like my violence quick and dirty). Mr. Haas writes well, and these are quick and entertaining reads if you like action yarns where the body count piles up. If not, well, aren't you a daisy? Just skip these books.
That's a wrap for this edition... so what are you reading now?
