Stoner -- John Williams -------- 3 Stars

Before beginning my review of the novel Stoner by John Williams, for the sake of full disclosure, I must make you aware of how this very unknown book got on my radar. I was skimming through a Time magazine and came to an interview with Tom Hanks. I like Tom Hanks and though it might be interesting to check out what he was saying. It was mostly about his producing of The Pacific miniseries on HBO but they asked him one of his favorite novels and lo and behold he mentioned Stoner. He said he loved it and a few other nice things and that was enough for me… I mean, he’s Tom Hanks. We’ll there’s a reason that Tom Hanks is a great actor and not a great writer or literary critic.

Now, don’t get me be wrong, I enjoyed the book and thought it was good, almost very good; but to say it’s one of your favorite book ever written is a bit much. Since very few of you have probably read this book a little background: it was written in 1965 and follows the life of a man named John Stoner from his late teens through his death during the first half of the 20^th century. The setting is Missouri and the book revolves around his academic life, as he served as a college Literature professor for all of his life. That’s about all you need to know about the plot.

There are many positive aspects of this novel. I love the theme and subject of the book and Stoner’s passion and love for academics. Stoner is a true romantic in many ways, though he says and does otherwise, and Williams shows this quixotic view of the main character in various ways. I loved the depth of the character developed. I mean, the author does an amazing job sculpting and layering Stoner that, by the end, you can’t help but feel you know him and care about him. The last real positive aspect of the text was the writing style. You could definitely say that Williams is a writer who never has a wasted word yet at the same times makes you aware of every necessary detail but nothing extraneous.

This is also one of the negatives of this novel. Having a shortened, concise writing style does not bother me (though it’s great to read florid, fanciful writing), but it seemed too often the author did not provide the necessary depth for other characters and settings. Perhaps this was purposeful. Dave Masters, for example, is a character introduced, described briefly and then removed from the novel in a matter of pages. He then remains one of the more referenced characters and a “friend” of Stoner to the end. I wish I would have learned of him more fully. This shortened and less than developed emphasis on other characters was an issue throughout the novel. The overall plot and rising action in the novel is a bit limited and dry as well. Nothing exceptionally exciting ever happens and Stoner’s life is grounded in reality (like every day boring life reality) for much of the novel.

Overall, the book was a bit of a disappointment. I was really expecting a beautifully crafted, fluidly written, exciting drama and it was lacking in a few of those areas. I also believe it didn’t help that I had my expectations raised to a high level (thanks a lot Tom Hanks – stick to making more Da Vinci Codes). Nonetheless, the novel does provide a beautiful and well defined character study of a man. And, in the end, who Stoner is and what he stands for is what the reader comes to enjoy about the novel. Stoner’s love for school, academics, learning, and true love is the leading themes of the book, and you can’t read the novel without appreciating those ideals.

It’s worth a read if you have some time this summer. It’s not long and you may appreciate it more than I do. Perhaps if you do, you or Tom Hanks can drop me a line and let me know what I missed.

Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? -- Michael Sandel ------------ 3 Stars

Usually when I finish a book, I look forward to putting my thoughts down and writing a review. For some reason, I have sort of dreaded finishing and writing about Michael Sandel's Justice. This is a very new book and since most readers have not read it, I will give a quick synopsis.

Sandel teaches a class at Harvard with the same name that discusses and evaluates how laws and rules are created. His book is similar. It traces some early political theories, relates them and then looks at their affect on a few modern political issues.

Overall, the book was disappointing. I was expecting this very exciting debate on major political issues but rather got a book that had 95% political philosophy and theory and 5% application. To enjoy this book you really, really have to like philosophy. I enjoy philosophy in small amounts, and I do believe the author did a great job explaining fairly difficulty political thoughts in a way even a laymen can understand. He starts with the idea of utilitarianism which basically argues for providing the greatest good to the biggest number of people. Then, he changes to libertarianism which allows for people to have as much freedom and liberty as possible; i.e. NO government influence. He then moves on to Immanuel Kant and John Rawls. The former basically supports the idea of 'moral reasoning' and allowing people to make decisions based on true, practical reason. Rawls believes people should make decisions assuming a 'veil of ignorance' which basically means to ask yourself prior to making your decision, would you make the same decision if you were not who you were (i.e. you could be poor and not rich; would you still want no redistribution of tax income?) He then goes on to Aristotle who basically argues that there is a 'correct' moral stand that people need to figure out and take.

These chapters were actually pretty good. Although a bit 'heady' (he likes to do the classic philosopher thing of 'so here is the thought but if you change this thing than it changes, but if you change this then the thought is this. That makes sense, well let's now actually look at it this way'.) his explanation of the philosophies was actually very illuminating and I enjoyed most of it. He then spent nearly a quarter of the book talking about what we owe each in a society. I really disliked this. I found it boring, with little relation to all the philosophies I spent so much time trying to understand from earlier and not applicable to anything modern.

He finished with an okay chapter about some modern issues like abortion, stem cell research and homosexuality. He made me rethink about some of those issues as he argued (correctly I would say, though you need to read the book to find out why) that if you are pro-choice or support same sex marriage you can't do it on the argument of "let people choose what they want"/liberty view.

I am not sure what else to offer to inspire or excite the reader about checking this book out. If, as I had hoped, this had been a book that clearly and eloquently explained some of the major viewpoints and political arguments of our time, that would have been awesome. Early in the book Sandel raises some simple questions like "is it okay for Michael Jordan to make millions each year and a teacher a few thousand" or "is it okay for people to gouge others on the price of gas ($11/gallon) in New Orleans after Katrina". Of course, he never provides any answers but rather (I guess) assumes you will come to your conclusion after understanding and deciding upon your own philosophy that resonates with yourself.

I do like the ending of the book. Unlike many political books, this author actually tells you his own view on things. I won't ruin it but I will give you a hint, the guy is obsessed about and wrote a whole book about philosophy, justice and morals -- he probably sort of supports that stuff.

Do check this out if any of this sounds interesting to you. It's not a long book but is a slow read because you really have to think (damn!) about what you are reading as you go through.

Stay tuned for my next review. I am pumped for reading John Williams' Stoner. Although not a hugely well known book, it's supposed to be excellent. Check it out if you like even before my review (sorry if it sucks).

Superfreakonomics – Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner ------ 4 STARS

Well after taking nearly two months to finish one book (The Stand), I finished the next book in only two weeks (SuperFrekonomics). What a nice, quick, interesting read it was. In the same ilk as the Malcolm Gladwell books, and a follow up to their hugely successful Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner follow the same pattern as their earlier books: look at a bunch of data, make some pretty amazing conclusions and throw them all together and try to find a 'theme'.

Since my last sentence pretty much summarized the whole book, I'd like to get into some of their findings. They were new, cool, out there, sometimes applicable and always interesting. Here were some of their views:

• It's safer to walk drunk than drive drunk
• Bringing T.V. to India helped a lot of women
• Public schools today are worst than 50 years ago mostly because smart women found other jobs (no offense out there --- just a gigantic generalization)
• You obtain mastery in anything through deliberate practice and doing what you love
• In the 70's violent crime was twice as high in cities who got TV earlier than those that didn't
• With many injuries (and kids over 2), seat belts work better than car seats

Now, to perhaps the most interesting set of conclusions (all about global warming):

• cud-chewing animals (cows and sheep) produce 25 times more carbon dioxide than cars
• buying local produced food increases increases carbon dioxide
  
• carbon dioxide levels were much higher 80 million years ago and have gone down since
• carbon dioxide levels have risen after temperature increases
• there is an easy fix to global warming but people don't want to try it
  

With all these various conclusions, perhaps the biggest lesson of this book and their first, is that PEOPLE RESPOND TO INCENTIVES -- this is perhaps the biggest answer for all things economic (and not).

Overall, this was a great book to read if you like this sort of thing... unlike Gladwell's book it is more data driven and a bit more random in the subjects. You might also like it if you would like more depth to the 'conclusions' I provided above. Each story and background about those views is included and well written. My only complaint of the book is that most of their subjects have little to nothing to do with each other. Although they do a fairly good job of relating most issues in the same chapter to some common theme and conclusion, the book as as whole is fairly random. Nonetheless, I recommend this book to most readers. If you like the original Freakonomics, do check this one out.

The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut -- Stephen King -- 3 Stars

Well it's been nearly two months since my last review and blog. I wish I had a cool excuse for the long absence like traveling around the world or visiting the Moon but rather it's sort of typical: work, house stuff and other things. Perhaps the biggest reason for the two months off was that I was trying to get through the monstrous The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut by Stephen King. Please note that whole title I included (which will hereafter be called just "The Stand") as it's important in my reasoning for my review score.

If you have never heard of The Stand, you probably want to talk with so more people about books. Most likely you have heard of Stephen King; well, this is one of his earliest books but for most fans of King, and other literary peeps, it's considered his best book. It doesn't have nearly as much of the typical gore and scariness of a King book and has a bit more positive themes than his other novels as well.

The novel is basically a story about a post-apocalyptic America where most people were wiped out by a super flue. The story then turns to the creation of two groups of people who are left: a 'good' group and a 'bad' group. I use quotation marks, not because the reader really can't tell which group is good or bad (King makes it quite obvious), rather, because they are never really called 'good' or 'bad'. The remainder of the novel is basically about the two groups creating their own societies and what happens to the groups.

I gave the book 3 out of 5 stars. That's probably a very low rating relative to nearly every person I spoke to about this book but let me explain why. First, and most importantly, my ratings are based on how much I enjoy the book and it keeps me interested. I'm not an English teacher, and I don't appreciate literary devices. This was certainly an 'epic' story, which I appreciate, but the use of allegory, metaphysics, a great subplot and other elements don't necessarily wow me (though The Stand certainly has all of those). At the end of the day, I judge books on how much I enjoyed reading them. Unfortunaetly, this was the biggest struggle with this novel. There were days and chapters where I had to force myself to PUT THE NOVEL DOWN. During those times the action was superb and writing so nicely done that the novel just flew by. However, more often than not, I found myself reluctant to even PICK UP THE BOOK. So much of the novel is detailed description of characters and scenes that I did not appreciate. Which leads to....

Reason #2 I did not like the book as much as others: It's soooooooooooooooooooooooo long. Now, please don't consider me a prude of long books. I have read some very long stories in my day like Pillars of the Earth and East of Eden. In fact, more often than not, the longer the book (in my experience) the better overall novel. However, as I was reading this book, I constantly was thinking to myself "man, this would be a great book if only it was edited down". Then I realized something... it was edited down. I am reading the "Expanded Edition". The original novel from 1978 was hundreds of pages less. Now I understand why they have the Expanded Edition; fans from around the world wanted to learn and get more depth on Kings characters and all of those extra pages from the 1990 Expanded Edition King had laying around his house. So perhaps other people really appreciated this extra writing but not me. To me this was very similar to watching the deleted scenes from a movie on the DVD. Have you ever done that? I have found that nearly every time I watch the deleted scenes they SUCK! There is a reason they were deleted, because they were not good enough to make the actual movie. That is how I felt with many (especially early in the novel) pages of this book.

Third reason for dislike -- nothing really ever happens. It is one of the most slow moving plots ever. This whole set of reasoning goes back to my first point about ratings: it's based on entertainment value. Although the stories of different people are very interesting and characters are wonderfully presented with diverse background and personalities; it's not until the last couple hundred of pages (out of 1150 pages) that there is any real action... before that it's just buildup.

Nonetheless, the novel is still great in some areas. The overall struggle between good and evil was excellent; specifically, seeing characters change and develop over time in different ways was excellent. I also loved the character of Glen Batemen as he constantly challenged the idea of how a society should be created and run. His often pessimistic views of organized structure and government added some great depth to the story.

In the end, I would recommend this novel to any King fan (though if you are a Stephen King fan, you probably have already read it). For others, it is worth a read and rest assured, that most people LOVE this book. As for me, I guess I just ask for too much sometimes when reading a novel that I don't want to have to force myself to read it.

Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town -- Nick Reding -------- 3.5 Stars

Recently I finished the eye-opening Methland by a young author named Nick Redding. This book was the most recent pick in the occasionally (but far more often lately) visited book club that I belong to. As you can probably gather from the title, it's a book about crystal meth and it's affect on America. What's pretty cool about this book was the way Redding tells the story of meth through the story of people.

Often books that deal with more 'academic' topics are told through dry, nondescript texts. One of the real joys of reading Methland was Redding's ability to really tell a story about people's lives which then provides the fodder to allow him to make whatever insights necessary to explain the problem of Meth in America. His story is about a dozen individuals living in Iowa and how their lives are affected daily by the prevalence of crystal meth in society. Their stories are rich, characters are well textured and the themes multi-tiered. Trust me that it's easy as a reader to relate/feel for the characters which makes it easy to follow and care for their stories.

Perhaps what is most interesting about the book, which his well described characters help make the reader readily understand, is how incredibly significant and unfortunate the current meth problem is in America. In a lucky stroke of coincidence for me, less than two months before starting this book, I began (and just finished) watching the AMC drama Breaking Bad. For those not in the know, Breaking Bad, is an incredibly well acted drama about a chemistry teachers exploits into the crystal meth production and selling world (simply awesome show -- go check it out or at least watch the new episodes starting in March). Although fictional, like Methland, the stories of Meth and it's affect on an average user is pretty overwhelming.

Redding often assesses and offers his opinion about the meth epidemic after telling one story or another. One of his major themes is the relationship between meth's positive usage consequence -- energy and strength to work hours and hours at one time and one underlying American 'value' we hold -- the ability to be disciplined and hard worker. Ironic that a drug that so many Americans find 'evil' allows people to fulfill the very societal values we find most pivotal.

This 'positive' consequence of meth (working for hours) also happens to be biggest explanation for WHO ends up using the drug. Often, the meth user will be someone from a poor or meager household who will do anything to try to get ahead. Redding writes about this relationship convincingly and often and concludes that much of the meth usage is on the rise because the changes in our economy and especially the effect of that change in rural areas.

Another fascinating theme was Redding's description of simply how easy it is to produce the drug, both on a small and large scale level. He repeatedly shows people who can literally make the drug while riding a bike all the way up to the high level dealers making some of the purest type of meth possible. What's bizarre about meth, however, is that all of the ingredients can be purchased legally. This, perhaps more than any other precondition, is the biggest reason for meth's popularity and exponential growth of usage in America in the past decade.

Redding delivers a number of other noteworthy points and even includes some well received (by me) suggestions about solutions to this bewildering problem. You can read the book to find out the specifics, but I'll give you a hint that the reasons for the problem involve corporate greed and the continued need to keep political power (i.e. big business/government).

Overall, I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who either has an interest in the meth epidemic and it's affect on average Americans or people who want to get a real feel for how meth changes and ruins lives. Most of the stories in this book are not uplifting and more than once you can't help but feel that it's an unsolvable problem. Nonetheless, to learn about how meth came to it's current prominence, while at the same time, looking for ways to correct this problem and save lives captivate the reader's experience.

Dan Brown -- The Lost Symbol -------- 4.5 Stars

SPECIAL SNOWMAGGEDON REVIEW

As the third foot of snow in five days finishes falling, I am taking some time to review the highly anticipated The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. Although I did not expect to read this in the near future (and thus it was not listed in the "Book I am Reading Right Now" section of the blog), I suddenly found time to get through this 500 page novel while sitting at home for the last week. For those people away from the D.C. area you probably are not aware of the problems here, but I have left my house once in the last six days, school has been closed seven of eight days in the past two weeks, and I have shoveled an average of 1 hour and 30 minutes four days this week. Nonetheless, sitting at home has given me plenty of time to get through this book. In fact, I needed only three days to finish this wonderfully written and suspenseful page turner.

I have talked with more than a few people about this book before reading it and I have received mixed reviews. Though, for the most part, the opinion is the same -- it was "exactly the same as the Da Vinici Code" and "substitute Italy for D.C. and you got the same book". Well, I'd have to agree with those people but also say -- who cares? I have no qualms with this book being incredibly similar to the DaVinici Code; in fact, I can not fault the author for following a formula that works exceptionally well. Perhaps some of the 'originality' is gone but it's still very, very entertaining and a great story. To me, there is nothing wrong with a great sequel.

The book is basically another story of Robert Langdon, master symbologist, having to follow seemingly unrelated clues to save someone special to him. What I particularly enjoyed with this novel was the American historical references (Masons anyone?) and the entire tale being told in and around the Washington, D.C. area. The Capitol, Library of Congress, and Washington Monument were essential setting pieces and played important parts in the overall plot.

Brown follows the same old script from his other novels -- crazy secrets, bizarre symbols, odd quandaries that can only be answered with great historical knowledge, and cliffhanger chapter endings a plenty. In fact, it would be a shame not to mention how underrated the cliffhanger chapter ending is. It's commonplace in many novels, but after personally reading so many non-fiction pieces latley (which often ends chapters with with a boring 'duh'), it's nice to finish a chapter and have the feeling that you can't put the novel down as you want SO MUCH to find out what happens next. In many ways, that is the best feature of this book. Dan Brown does such a superb and phenomenal job maintaining reader interest that it really is easy to finish this book in a mere matter of days. I've heard of people finishing the book in only two sittings. It's such an easy and enjoyable read and the flow of the novel is so reader friendly.

In the end, the novel receives such a high rating because of it's off the chart entertainment value. It may not be filled with symbolism, great character development, and a memorable story but it's a book you can't put down and can't help but get into and wonder more about the possibility of it's truthfulness. Like the Da Vinci Code, Brown claims that much of the book is is based on fact and reality and one wonders about the realness of many of the items in the novel. Even the end of the novel, which I was sure would not live up to the hype that was being raised exponentially as the book went one, was about a good and ending as could be anticipated.

Well enough rambling on -- go read this book if you have a chance. It won't take long and you'll have difficulty putting it down. You may finish it and claim it was "just like the Da Vinici Code" and old hat, but I promise you, you will be entertained.

What the Dog Saw -- Malcolm Gladwell -- 3 Stars

I am a huge Malcolm Gladwell fan. I loved all of his books and gave a great review for Outliers. I've talked to a lot of other people who don't like him so much and think he really is stretching to relate the stories he tells as evidence to make sense of his theories. Well this might be the first time reading anything of his that I agree with those people.

What the Dog Saw is a collection of short stories Gladwell wrote for The New Yorker. He organizes them into three categories, though I really struggle to understand how many of the stories have anything to do with the theme for that group. The stories are typical Gladwell, taking things that seem obvious or established as "fact" and making the reader rethink set conclusions. There were some great essays like: why there are many brands of mustard and few ketchups, how to easily solve homelessness, why some people choke and others panic, and how to correctly hire. There are, as well, a few really bad essays. I especially disliked the essay about Hair Dye (L'oreal vs. Clairol -- seriously?).

The biggest problem with the book and why it did not get a more Gladwellesque rating is that it lacked so much of the 'pop' and firepower of his other books. Usually when reading his stories used as examples to prove some idea (The Beatles and Bill Gates in Outliers immediately comes to mine), the stories are so clear, well-thoughtout and ultimately perfect in supporting his thesis. I kept expecting these stories to do the same but it never happened. I would continually finish one of his essays (which, I remind you, have nothing to do with one another) and think to myself "That was really interesting but I am not sure his point". Some essays were better than others and almost all were interesting, but many really struggled to have any giant "oh wow, I never thought of it that way" moment like his other books do.

Overall, I still really enjoyed the book and was captivated by nearly all of his essays. Even if they often did not deliver on an "aha" moment, there all written nicely and each topic and story is interesting to read. I would not suggest going out and buying this book (I was lucky enough to have someone let me borrow...I never buy books but that may be a topic for a future blog). Instead, I would either borrow from the library, or, just read them all for FREE on this New Yorker link. If nothing else, do check out a few of his essays; Gladwell is one of the few writers out there that can you make you truly rethink the most simple and routine parts of life.

My Life in France – Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme----- 3 STARS

I recently had the pleasure of watching the very cute movie Julie and Julia. It's a very nice little movie and is the story about Julie (a writer/blogger) who redoes many of Julia Child's most famous recipes. She kind of bores me in the movie, but the scenes with Julia Child (played by the timeless Meryl Streep) were excellent. In fact, I was so intrigued and taken by the whole idea of Julia Child that I knew I wanted to read something by her.

My Life in France is Julia Child's autobiography about her most formative years learning cooking in France from 1950 to the mid 1960s. If you don't know who Julia Child is, she is the person who basically made French cooking in America popular and also fashionable. Additionally, she was the one who started the idea of cooking TV shows. Although we all take the Food Network and others for granted, Julia Child was the first one to have a real show (The French Chef). Her shows were very popular and started in the mid-1960s and ran for 40 years.

As for the book, it is very nice and average but nothing astonishing. It was one of the few instances of reading where I got exactly what I expected. A story about her leaving her OSS job (yes, she was a spy...sort of) to learning the art of fine French cooking in France for a decade. The story illustrates her early learning with great French chefs, to eventually writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking (which made her famous), to a few other cookbooks through the late 1970s.

The book has got a nice tone to it but the organization is a but jumpy and seemingly random events and activities are mentioned with no real connection. One wonders how much she happened to just remember when writing the book that she felt obligated to include. She includes a great deal about meals created, food studied (she is the self-proclaimed expert on mayonnaise) and recipes detailed. Reading the book it would have been nice to have a working knowledge of French as most recipes she includes are in the native French. Although this does add authenticity, it also provides the reader with no clue what was made or eaten on certain nights (some you learn though; canard is duck, for instance).

In general, it's a very nice book about Julia's life, easy to read, and includes a number of great photographs by her husband Paul. I would highly recommend it to any fans or people specifically interested in Julia Child. It is still worth reading if you have any interest in French life or French food or if you a just a gourmand like me.

Knowldge of the Higher Worlds and its Attainment -- Rudolf Steiner -------- 2.5 Stars

So, on Saturday, we were crushed with 16 inches of snow in about 24 hours. On the bad side, this shut down our little road (which still has not been plowed... let's get going City of Alexandria) and, on the good side, canceled school from now until 2010. This has thus provided me with ample time to read some books that I have been looking forward to and what better way to pass time on a snow day/Winter Break than learning Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and its Attainment? This was a book written in the early 1900s by a philosopher, scientist and educator named Rudolf Steiner. Like me, you probably have never heard of him or the book.

In fairness of full disclosure, mother's are always right. I saw this book that last time I visited my parents and was intrigued by the title. I mean, honestly, who wouldn't want knowledge of the higher worlds? I asked my mom if I could borrow it and she said sure but she then added you aren't ready for it in your life and probably won't understand. Well there was a challenge if I ever heard one -- not ready for it? not ready to understand? -- hogwash.

As it turns out my mother was quite right. Definitely wasn't ready for it and understood only parts of it. This is part of the reason I have already written three paragraphs and not mentioned the book. So here we go: The book is basically a guide for how to literally understand the higher worlds and attain greater spiritual knowledge. The book steps you through, in fairly clear scientific detail, how to get to those levels.

Okay, first the good points. The ideas in this book are really quite cool and would be wonderful to ascertain. You have to go in with an open mindset reading this book (otherwise the idea of your lotus opening up your dreams to your soul's full control might be beyond you). The entire text reminded me a great deal of the teachings of Buddhism (and yes, my one semester of Buddhism at Mary Washington makes me an expert). Steiner seems to consistently refer to Buddhist ideas of dealing with suffering, using shakras, and understand 'right duty' and 'right action'. He even mentions Buddha in some passages. The best, and not coincidentally most easy to understand, parts of the book are in the first half. Here he talks about truly living a good, moral life filled with altruism, humility and truthfulness. These concepts can be understood and followed by anyone and would certainly improve their life and the world.

I did have some problems with the text, which ultimately garnered the 2.5 star rating. First, to do what he is asking is incredibly hard. I guess this shouldn't be shocking and really shouldn't take away from the review of the book but becoming more attuned with your spiritual side takes a lot of effort (too much for me at 29). Second, and perhaps the biggest issue, the book is written in very intellectual language with some difficult vocabulary. Here's a typical example "When esoteric development has progressed so far that the lotus flowers being to stir, much has already been achieved by the student which can result in the formation of certain quite definite currents and movements in his etheric body." Yeah, try 270 pages of that. Third, the book starts go into some really, for a lack of a better word, "heavy" stuff in the second half of the book. Once you have done the initiation and gone through the esoteric training, you then can look at splitting your personality during spiritual training and understanding more about the guardian of the threshold. There' really some wacky stuff that you don't ever hear or read about in your daily life so be prepared.

Overall, as crazy as this stuff sounds, I can't knock it. I haven't tried to follow his methods and guide and will not state that's unreal as incredible as it sounds. If anybody out there is interested in undertaking this awesome journey to higher spiritual attainment, this book is for you. You will need to go through it quite slowly but it seems quite possible that it is legit.

As for me, I always follow my mom's advice: I am certainly not ready for it yet.

Brothers – David Talbot ------ 4.5 STARS

For my birthday, my kind sister-in-law and brother-in-law gave me the book Brothers. Since August, I have been waiting to get to it and finally was able to pick it up a few weeks ago. It didn't take long for me to fly through this exciting and investigative story about the Kennedy brothers.

Written by the founder of the investigative journalist site, Salon.com, David Talbot puts together and incredible and emotional book about the lives of JFK and RFK during the mid-to- late 1960s. The book starts with a detailed and harrowing retelling of JFK's assassination in Dallas before going backwards in time to 1960. Talbot then takes each of JFK's three years in office and writes a chapter on each. The book then concludes with RFK's story after JFK's death until he too meets his own untimely death in 1968.

This book was an absolute pleasure to read and was one of my favorite non-fiction books I have read in a long time. Talbot's style of writing was extremely exciting to read and incredibly easy to follow. Although this book is based entirely on written documents, historical findings and author interviews, it reads like a well crafted spy novel or murder mystery. My only complaint was that Talbot often seemed to be demonsrtating how MANY sources he talked with and there must be over 100 different people mentioned and referenced in the text which made it a bit hard to manage at some points.

The book was so enjoyable to me for a nubmer of reasons. First, I have had an obsession with JFK since a child. Earlier it was becuase of all the assissination lore, but after reading Talbot's book, it's more about him as a president. His aura, decision making abilities and courage were incredible, and I learned so many new details and stories about his life as president. Second, the book confirms and demonsrtates in lucid detail about the intrigue and undermining that was going on at the highest levels of government at this time. I was aware of the incredible difficulty JFK had with his Cabinet and other officials form the movie 13 Days (which is one of my all-time favorite movies if you can get past Costner's ludicrious Boston accent) but had no idea how much JFK and RFK had to fight, not only people in their own Cabinet, but members of the White House staff and nearly all higher-ups at the FBI and CIA. Third, this book was really a tribute to RFK, and I have never read and learned as much about the man as I did in this text; I am also now mildly obsessed with him. RFK was truly the MAN behind JFK. Although not nearly the social rascal and pretty boy as his brother, RFK was the heart and soul of the Kennedy family and was a bulldog in politics. After reading the book, it was quite obvious that once JFK died in '63, RFK died pretty much as well. It was almost as if he knew by '68 that he needed to be another martyr for the revolutionary cause (what revolutionary cause you say? Read the book to find out).

Anywho, I could write all day long about how much I enjoyed this book and continue explaining all the incredible parts of the JFK and RFK story. If you have any interest in either of the Kennedy brothers or in the state of our governments in the 1960s, please read this book. Both JFK and RFK were amazing people, and to read this story you can't help but feel an incredible sense of heroism about both men. It's incredible testament to both men's legacies and by reading it, if nothing else, you pay homage to two great Americans.

(Also, it really, really helps to be a slightly geeky Political Science major to get into it more).

I Know this Much is True – Wally Lamb ------ 1.5 STARS

So, it's been over 2 months since my last blog. During that time I have been reading the behemoth that is I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb and right now I am angry, very angry. As you can tell from my rating of 1.5 stars, I was not a very big fan of this book. In fact, it may have been one of my least favorite books I have ever read by choice.

The book checks in at just a shade under 900 pages, and it was a major effort to even finish it. I have been thinking about how I could express my displeasure of this book most clearly and easily, but I had so many reasons to hate it. I know there are millions of people out there who absolutely love this book (note the cover: "#1 New York Times Bestseller" and "Oprah Book Club" selection), but I just don't get it. Perhaps if anyone who is reading this blog is one of those people you can explain to me the value of the book... maybe I just don't understand the story, the lessons, the beautiful language (sarcasm... could the author use the f-word more times?).

I think my biggest issue with the book is how incredibly sad the story is for, no joke, 890 of the 900 pages. The morose story line literally starts on page 1 and continues for the next 47 chapters. By the time I finished chapter 48, I was incredibly depressed by the story and totally unsurprised by the very expected 'lets tie up all loose ends and leave the reader feeling happy' last chapter. I still don't understand what people get out of reading really sad books or watching really sad movies. Maybe if it's unbelievably well written and performed while being realistic I get it (i.e. Schindler's List), but this story wasn't real. In fact, I don't think it's possible to have a life this awful.

The story revolves around the brother of a twin who has schizophrenia and basically tells his story over a few months. Obviously, that couldn't take up all 900 pages so he interweaves the present story with chapters about his youth and, later in the book, a biography of his newly immigrated grandfather. When I first read the description of the book I was very excited. It sounded like it might be similar to one of my favorite books, Steinbeck's East of Eden (review here). Both stories about generations of families with the underlying question of how much did people's relatives pass on to them; both good and bad. The MAJOR difference is that Steinbeck is an incredible author who wrote a remarkable book and Lamb is... is... is.... well, I don't know what but his book was just so awful.

Besides the story being so morose, I thought final chapter was so poor and cliched. Of course, the main characters learns certain lessons: people must forgive and always keep trying, love conquers all, all people make mistakes, etc. A small part of the book was also about the teaching profession and he offended me on a personal level regarding that subject, which didn't help either.

Overall, I am incredibly excited to have finally finished the story. I wouldn't recommend that you read this book for any other reason than to maybe prove that this blogger has no idea what I'm talking about (and if you have that view, that this book was good, I would love to hear why). I would strongly remind you that if you do decide to take this book on, I was the one who told you it was awful.


Postscript -- So I just read over this blog entry, and I think it's one of my poorest efforts yet. Not well organized, sort of poorly written, and my points are not well supported. My only excitement comes from the fact that my most meager blog to date was for the worst book I've read... I guess it was my own perverse appreciation to the abhorrent Wally Lamb.

Alive – Piers Paul Read ------ 4.5 STARS

NBC used to have this slogan, "If you haven't seen it, it's new to you." Well, my review today is sort of similar; if you haven't read it, it's new to you. Alive was published over 30 years ago and quickly became a bestseller and classic book of 'survival literature'. Like me, you may have heard of it simply because it was the book about people that turned to cannibalism to survive. While this was certainly part of it, there was also so much more to the story.

After reading both Into Thin Air and Touching The Void, and loving them both, I guess I can conclude that I really enjoy survival books. Those books, along with Alive, tell such tremendous stories about people fighting for their lives in the most extreme conditions. A quick synopsis of Alive: a plane heading from Uruguay to Chile for a rugby game with 45 people crashes in the high mountains of the Andes. The story is about what happens to those 45 people.

There's not a great amount of insight I can offer about this book besides saying it's an absolutely incredible story and was one of the few books in a long time that made me weep at the end (for some reason parent/children reunions get me). I wanted to give it 5 stars but I don't think it has as much depth as the other books that I have given my highest rating too; nonetheless, it's wonderful. The trials and tribulations of those men in the mountains is astounding and what is perhaps most incredible is how long they were forced to endure such difficult conditions.

What is most interesting is that the only thing I really knew about this book before reading it was that the taboo of cannibalism was broken while they were up there and, for some reason, I felt that that idea would dominate the story and disgust me; neither of those things occurred. In fact, their survival, their emotions, and their lives are the only things the reader really ends up caring about.

If you have not read this book before, please do so... it's impossible not to find their story and courage inspiring. In fact, you may actually find yourself reevaluating what's actually important in your life.

McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld -- Misha Glenny -- 3 Stars

So I am a quasi member of a book club. The book club is actually quite fine but I dub myself a 'quasi' member having only attended two meetings in the past six years. The books are predominantly either from the political science or international affairs ilk and this is my second blog about a book from that club (the first blog).

In the past few weeks, I have spent some time getting through the behemoth that is McMafia. It's not so much the length of the book (only about 350 pages) but rather the large and long pages that contain next to no dialogue (which greatly increases the length of the book) and the seemingly endless slew of foreign names and cities that are mentioned that made it a difficult book to plow through. Nonetheless, I got through it and was happy I did so as it was an illuminating, if not slightly depressing, view of our current global world.

As you might be able to ascertain from the title, the book is about the growth of worldwide crime in connection with development of globalization. In general, the book is not so uplifting and pretty much scared the hell out of me. Glenny spends most of the book explaining the litany of criminal problems in a collection of countries around the world. While doing so, he talks about the great diversity of crimes that are occurring worldwide that include: drugs, prostitution, cybercrime, theft, labor trade, etc. For the most part, his writing is crisp and the books high points occur when he shares the intimate details and personal stories from people connected and affected by global crime around the world.

There were a few interesting items I gleaned from the text that are worth sharing. First, the rise in global crime has a number of causes with perhaps none more critical than the fall of the Soviet Union. Additionally, the huge rise of wealth in Western Europe and the proclivity for the people of these cultures to want very cheap goods and often ilicit items is hugely important. As Gleny nicely puts it, "Organized crime is such a rewarding industry in the Balkans because ordinary West Europeans send an ever-burgeoning amount of their spare time and money sleep with prostitutes; smoking untaxed cigarettes; snorting coke through fifty-euro notes up their noses; employing illegal untaxed immigration labor on subsistence wages; stuffing their gullets with caviar and admiring ivory and sitting on teak." Second, SO much of the illicit trade that occurs is either connected or related to licit trading that it is incredibly difficult to determine the line between the two. Likewise, most criminal organization have a hand in many, many legal and illegal businesses. The yakuza in Japan, for example, have become an institutionalized element in society. Third, so many governments of countries around the world allow illegal elements, or, in some cases, are part of the criminal underworld (Nigeria, much of Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, for example). This in turn creates a major issue for Westernized countries as they ask these countries to curb corruption and strengthen the rule of law which they are often unwilling to do. On the other hand, the West plays a part in the rise of criminalization and needs to reassess its resistance to free labor and protectionist practices.

Overall, the book is a bit difficult to get through and will certainly make you look at the world and even YOUR own role in it (yes, each of us actually plays a part in the rise of the global criminal world). Perhaps the most uplifting thing I took away from the book (if you can call it that), is that I feel incredibly lucky to be an American. He goes from country to country demonstrating ways crime is a regular part of everyday life, and he does not paint an uplifting picture. So, if you want to undertake a meaty, detailed, richly told story about global crime in the world, this is the book for you!

Good to Great -- Jim Collins -- 4 Stars

As the summer spirals to the end, teachers across the country are coming to the realization that the short, sweet weeks of summer are rapidly coming to a close and its time to start refocusing on another year ahead. Time to put down the sunscreen and novels and start to reexamine curriculum and rethink lesson plans. In the spirit of returning to school, I felt it might be useful to read a book that can add and help improve my educational knowledge. Rather than reading something about educational philosophy or policy(as I did for the past few years), I turned to a classic book about business titled Good to Great by Jim Collins.

I wasn't quite sure if this book would apply to schools or even if the book would be interesting (as I am not really a business person); I was sure that it was a classic book on business that is highly recommended. Luckily, the book was applicable to schools, easy to get through and interesting to boot!

Basically, the book looks at eleven Fortune 500 that made the leap from being good to being great. There is a whole bunch of rigid criteria, and I feel pretty confident that those 11 are pretty special. Anyway, the book breaks down six major things (in three categories) that have helped these companies rise to the level of greatness.

Overall, what I found most pleasing about this book was the simplicity (yet difficulty to accomplish) of each aspect and how easily the business examples and stories could apply to any organization, even a school. I was worried the book would all be business golbydegoop (sp?) but all of it was easy to digest and made a great deal of sense. The really difficult part, however, is putting into practice the ideas Collins mentions. Nonetheless, it is certainly nice to now have a detailed and clear road map.

I wouldn't necessarily suggest this book for alot of teachers out there, but I would urge anyone to pick it up and check it out if you are curious about organizational leadership, how to create a successful business model, or how to go from being good to great. You can scan through many parts of the book, and its written and organized in ways that make it very easy to pull out the most salient pieces of information quite quickly.

I gave the book 4 stars and rate it somewhere between good and great!

Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin – 4 stars

Currently, there is a great deal of buzz and excitement about David Oliver Relin’s story of Greg Mortenson told in Three Cups of Tea . It is a national bestseller and has begun to receive a cult like following in educational circles. Due to the overwhelmingly strong support of this book by nearly everyone, I felt it was definitely worth a read.

If you are not familiar with the story, the book is basically a retelling of the last 10 years of Mortenson’s life as he attempts to create schools in Pakistan and now Afghanistan. The book is written entirely by Relin but Mortenson’s life and memories are what fill each chapter and move forward the story.

Overall, the hype is worth it; the book is very good. Like many things that become incredibly accepted in American pop culture, it is well worth checking out. (Side note -- This may sound incredibly obvious but recently it dawned on me that whatever it is that ‘America’ as a whole supports in pop culture, and sort of comes out of nowhere, is almost always worth the hype. Some recent examples: Slumdog Millionaire – no one ever heard of it, then everyone saw it, ridiculously good; Da Vinci Code – awesome; Kanye West – I thought just another rapper, until I listened, again incredibly good. Anyway, you get the idea, this book falls into that category). The book’s story is incredibly touching, and the whole idea that the most effective way to fight terrorism is through education and children is obviously inspiring to any reader (perhaps more so to teachers).

I will probably get chastised for not giving the book 4.5 or 5 stars by some but let me explain. First, in general, I do not have a huge interest in foreign countries, and I especially find Asia to be uninteresting (this is totally subjective and I understand I am Euro/Western-centric). Second, I was frustrated with the lack of ‘results’ or even details about the future of the students of these schools. So much of the book premise is that making schools in these areas by themselves is the answer. I don’t quite agree. What are the graduates of these schools doing? Obviously if the alternative is the Tailban, the school is far superior but if they are simply learning about medicine and never returning to help their village and local people, what use is that? (I will answer my own question here as Mortenson and CAI (Central Asia Institute) try to educate girls, as they are far more likely to return and help the local village). Third, the book is often confusing. The number of varied names of places and people is incredibly overwhelming, and its difficult not to get lost from time to time try to keep up with who each person is.

With all that being said, the greatness of the story (less so the book) is the simple way Mortenson and CAI are helping to change the world. One of the best messages in the story is that the stereotypes that are so prevalent in our media and our culture about Pakistani and Afghanis are so off based. Think of it this way, if you assume that all or most people in this area are terrorists or support terrorists, than you should be okay with everyone in that area assuming you voted for George W. Bush and/or support all of his policies. Prior to the election, few Americans supported Bush’s military policies just as an incredible few in that area supported the Taliban and currently support terrorism. Most are similar to Americans: they have a core set of moral values, believe in helping others and think education can solve many problems.

Perhaps the most saddening and incredibly difficult problems stems from one major issue. As Mortenson visited some American Pentagon workers, they asked to help him by providing money. His response was “I realized my credibility in that part of the world depended on me not being associated with the American government, especially its military.” What incredibly ironic and difficult position. This is one of the major problems with the current world and America’s position. In many ways, this makes Mortenson’s work even more important.

Regardless of your view of foreign policy, wars, and education, check this book out. You may not like it; heck, you may think Mortenson’s ideas are the biggest waste of time and money but I promise you’ll be moved to have a far more defined view about foreign education, America's palce in the world, and terrorism.


(By the way, longest blog post ever for me!)

Old School – Tobias Wolff ------ 4 STARS

Recently, I was in this ridiculously cool used bookstore in Saratoga, NY. The place is awesome; it goes from room to room, seemingly never ending. It’s in a basement, and is dark, dank and fairly spooky. Anyway, I picked up a couple of cool books there and one was Old School by Tobias Wolff. I had recognized it because I saw it at Borders less than a week before for three times the price, and it’s a bestseller, so I thought it was worth picking up. I was not disappointed.

The book was a school teacher’s dream; a story about students who were passionately interested in school and put the literary competition held each year as the pinnacle of academic pursuits (the story was based in the 1960s, so it seems a bit more believable). The book is told from the first person point of view of one of the students. He sort of reminds me a bit of a smarter, saner Holden Caulfield.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. Although quite short, the story told was fascinating, characters interesting and dialogue and writing exemplary. The writing sort of reminded me of Hemmingway in some ways (who, along with some other famous authors, is a featured character in the story), as it was simple and to the point but many passages held far deeper meanings.

There were some negative aspects that prevented it from garnering a higher rating. Primarily, the story does not flow as well as one likes. This is especially true of the final chapters. Apparently the author had submitted some of the chapters as short stories to the New Yorker prior to completing the full novel. Near the end of the book, one feels as if each chapter is a separate vignette rather than a fully completed novel.

I would strongly recommend this book to all readers. Besides being short, you can finish it in a few days, it is easy to read and the moral/question of truth and honesty, which is at the heart of the novel, is easy for anyone to identify. Now if only all current students in America could have the same passion and interest in academics as the characters in this book…oh, to dream.