The Echo Maker

Richard Powers
****
Powers chose a really interesting topic: given what we are finding out about the brain and neuro-science, i.e. that the brain is more like a collection of processors and that our sense of self is a composite sitting on top of those processors, that our "common sense" about our identity is all wrong. The story starts just after an accident next to the River Platte where a yearly gathering of Sandhill cranes provides the back drop and perhaps the chief metaphor of the book: the self is like a flock of birds, it seems to have a mind of its own, but in fact doesn't, and instead is a collection of individual actors instinctively working together to form an emergent whole. The cranes are the echo makers with their load calls, exuberant dances and deep instinctual behaviors. There are three main protagonists in this story with a fourth who is a sort of mystery "key" to unravelling the mystery of why the accident the book starts with occurred at all.
The victim is Mark Schluter -- mid twenties, one year college, works repairing machinery in a meat packing plant, blue collar. His sister Karen comes to care for him after the accident. As he recovers it turns out he has Crapgras syndrome: recognizes her as a fake or copy of his sister, not the real thing. This drives HER nuts, so she writes to a famous neuro-psychologist for help, a guy named Weber. he comes because he's always wanted to meet a Crapgras patient. Meanwhile this uncanny nurse's aide who has helped mark has a saintly influence on all she meets. The evolution of Mark's mental state is interesting and well done. I had the feeling that the psychologist (known as "Shrinky" by Mark) is a device for revealing all the sub-systems lurking in the brain. His sections are not as compelling as those of the brother and sister.
So this was a good book, rather long, but reasonably satisfying.

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq

Thomas E. Ricks
*****
Fiasco is well named. Ricks documents a firestorm of leadership ineptitude. Civilian, military, foreign service, press -- no one escapes blame for the lousy state of events in Iraq. Since Ricks is a Washington Post corespondent, he focussed most of his attention on the military. However, it is clear from his account that Rumsfeld, Wolfurwitz, and Bremer -- particularly the last two -- take most fo the blame. Strangely, after giving Cheney "credit" for starting the war cries, the Vice President plays a lesser role in this account. Essentially, the President did not question Rumsfeld enough, did not rein in Bremer, and like Rumsfeld, ignored bad news. The civilian leadership's inability to accept and act upon bad news, to recognize the kind of war Iraq had devolved into, coupled with the military leaderships inability to develop an effective and appropriate strategy, doomed the war from its earliest weeks. Or perhaps, since General Franks didn't want to cross his boss, and his boss couldn't recognize Franks's lack of strategic thinking, one could say the war was doomed from that point. Or, even more likely, the war was doomed from the beginning since we went in with bad intelligence and few allies. A good but depressing read. Long, too.