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10 December 2009

The Long Gray Line


*****
Rick Atkinson
Such and interesting book and story. This has to be one of the best peeks into the US Army ever, all the way from West Point '66 to Grenada. By following a number of key individuals all the way from '66 to '87 or so Atkinson was able to put together a story as wide and sweeping as the era, doing justice to the men, the times, and the Army as institution. The stories are so human and gripping, the characters truly diverse and human, that you come away very moved by what the Vietnam war did to that class of boys, to the army, and to the nation.

Alexis de Tocqueville: A Life


****
It's been about a month since I finished this, so it's a little hazy now. Hugh Brogan has done a good job of presenting a complete life, which I'm sure is very valuable for the academics who read the book. It was for me a little tedious at times, the major part of the text being of more interest to scholars of French history and politics than political philosophy and American history/culture. That being said, his coverage of Tocqueville and Beaumont's travels in America were very complete and well done. For the first time I felt I had a good sense of where they did and did not go and for how long. Other than that Brogan tries to take on Tocqueville to no real avail. But the life he presents seems honest and true and is very useful for understanding more about the man and how his experience and station may have influenced his thought.

28 February 2009

The Best American Science and Nature Writing

***1/2
Jerome Groopman, M.D., Editor

This is a good read with an interesting selection of articles. Notable articles included topics like the role of dark matter in the universe's expansion (The Universe's Invisible Hand), the growing use of robots in warfare (The Coming Robot Army), new archaeological evidence of the early Christian church (First Churches of the Jesus Cult), the brain and music (Bolt from the Blue), and the role of retro-viruses in the human genome (Darwin's Surprise). The later was particularly interesting because
these viruses embed themselves in the genome in ways that can lead to -- technically -- a new species. Hmmm, maybe we are all Cylons!


09 February 2009

Fooled by Randomness


Nassim Nicholas Taleb
***1/2
291 pages

Coming from a Lebanese immigrant background, Taleb learned early on to distrust the "normal" and be on the look-out for the "black swan", the event that can come by out of the blue to blow you and yours out of the water. He also likes money and free time, so he ended up as an investment banker who learned to balance his bets to yield a good return while at the same time protecting him and his invetors from black swans, which are actually creatures of randomness. So this book helps explain how we are fooled by randomness. (Essentially, we are wired in such a way to take risks according to Taleb.) It was a good read in spite of the hectoring tone. I think he had a particular audience in mind who think they know -- when they don't really.

Snow Crash

Neal Stephenson
****
470 pages

This was a great read: combining great action description, clever cartoonish exageration, and biting satire. Add in a slightly dystopian depiction of a networked future that is sometime uncannily acurate, and you have a significant read as well. This -- like all good sci-fi -- said as much about the present as the future.

07 February 2009

The Living Great Lakes


****
Jerry Dennis
It was a real treat to read this last summer while in Michigan. The combination of human and natural history this author brought to light was genuinely fascinating. Having read Tocqueville in America a few months before, I had a cross referencing experience when reading about the white pine forests of Michigan in this book. The two accounts matched nicely. Also, the use of a voyage to tie the facts together in a memorable whole worked quite well. He followed the lakes all the way past Niagra and down the Erie canal to the Hudson and beyond. That was interesting too.

The Body Has a Mind of Its Own


****
Sandra and Matthew Blakeslee

It was interesting in this read to realize the role of body mapping for placing our sense of self solidly in the world. And it was particularly interesting to note the relationship body mapping has to "paranormal" experience, i.e. "out of body" experiences, "phantom pain" in amputees, the experience of extra limbs, or the brain's ability to develop new maps in virtual reality experiments, in which an experimenter learned to move claws and tail un-self-consciously.

Slan: A Novel


***
A. E. Van Vogt
Imagine science fiction with no computers. With no DNA. Could it be any good? Slan is. Essentially its a story of natural selection as opposed to genetic engineering. It has rocket ships. but with mechanical controls. But essentially its a story about prejudice, and prejudice is universal. It's a quick read and worth taking on.

The Best American Sports Writing 2008


****
Glen Stout , ed.
This is a great collection of well written, interesting stories. It's not a book to keep, but it's worth buying and passing on.