A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester
Category: Natural History Grade: D
Well, we have our second "lay-down" of the summer. I only made it about thirty pages in to this one. Its about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and I had high hopes for it since I enjoyed the author's previous book Krakatoa. Not sure what happened with this one. Based on the style, I'd almost guest that Winchester's contract called for a per word or an average-sentence-length payment. Note to budding authors -- great writing should have the reader thinking about personalities, events, imagery, etc. If you get the reader thinking about, sentence structure and synonyms, forget it.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Sound and Fury
Sound and Fury by Dave Kindred
Category: Sports biography Grade: A
I usually like to wait a day or so before writing one of these reviews, but I wanted to get this one done right away. I just finished this book 2 minutes ago and I have a confession to make. I hope this doesn't destroy the last bit of macho image I might have, but at a couple of points in the book, there were huge tears rolling down my face. That's especially surprising since this is a sports book, but one that defines an era -- the dual biography of Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell.
Those of you who are about my age will remember that Ali was kind of a touchpoint for the boomer generation. Some saw him as a loud-mouthed, draft dodger. Others saw him as both the greatest fighter who ever lived and as a man to whom principles were worth everything. I am definitely in the latter category. During my high school and college years, Ali stood up, at the risk of everything he had, and said he would not accept being drafted. It was obvious then, as now, that this wasn't about fear of fighting -- clearly, an Ali in uniform would have spent his time, selling government bonds and fighting exhibitions to entertain the troops. He never would have seen a shot fired in anger. In spite of this, he said to the world that the war was wrong and the he would never go to the far east to fight for the rights of people when his own country didn't extend those rights to him and his people. In his own simple words -- "I ain't got nothing against the Viet Cong".
The reality of Ali as this book tells well is, of course, far more complicated. At bottom, Ali was and remains a simple and often gullible man. He was run for decades by the Nation of Islam - publicly spouting racial separatism, second class status for women and some really harebrained ideas about God and religion invented by Elijah Muhammad. In later years, he was constantly taken advantage of by businessmen trying to shortcut making a buck by using Ali's name. In the ring, though he was a thing of beauty - both his physical appearance and his skills. Who knows what his legend would look like without the government persecution that illegally kept him out of the ring for years.
Today, his physical infirmities have made a quiet and somehow dignified man. He is no longer the "living flame" that Kindred calls him and yet the disabilities have made him almost a saint in today's world. In the most powerful chapter in Kindred's book, he writes movingly of Ali's appearance at the Atlanta Olympics to light the Olympic flame - a black Muslim in a resurrected Southern city the symbol that, at a minimum, some progress has been made. I reacted to this section of the book in the same way I reacted, sitting in my living room, when Ali, bloated and ill, became the surprise of the Olympics -- in tears.
And then there's Cosell - there were times he wanted to make you turn the radio off and throw something at the TV. However, he brought a rampant intelligence to sports broadcasting that had never been their before. Before Howard, sports journalism was about simple play-by-plays. Sportscasters told you what was happening, but never why or what it meant. Cosell changed all that. Its no accident that he was the first sportscaster ever inducted in to the TV hall of fame. Kindred does show us the life, not just the image -- Cosell's struggles to leave his law practice behind to break in to sports; his enormous ego that both drove and retarded his career and his devotion to his wife, Emmy.
I've tried to be honest with you guys in these reviews and tell you when I thought a book's audience would and should be limited to those with particular interests. This, however, is a sports book that will be just as enjoyable to non-sports fans as to fanatics. Through the story of the friendship (sort of) between these two men, Kindred manages to tell us about the changes in the last 40 years. I highly recommend it to everybody.
Category: Sports biography Grade: A
I usually like to wait a day or so before writing one of these reviews, but I wanted to get this one done right away. I just finished this book 2 minutes ago and I have a confession to make. I hope this doesn't destroy the last bit of macho image I might have, but at a couple of points in the book, there were huge tears rolling down my face. That's especially surprising since this is a sports book, but one that defines an era -- the dual biography of Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell.
Those of you who are about my age will remember that Ali was kind of a touchpoint for the boomer generation. Some saw him as a loud-mouthed, draft dodger. Others saw him as both the greatest fighter who ever lived and as a man to whom principles were worth everything. I am definitely in the latter category. During my high school and college years, Ali stood up, at the risk of everything he had, and said he would not accept being drafted. It was obvious then, as now, that this wasn't about fear of fighting -- clearly, an Ali in uniform would have spent his time, selling government bonds and fighting exhibitions to entertain the troops. He never would have seen a shot fired in anger. In spite of this, he said to the world that the war was wrong and the he would never go to the far east to fight for the rights of people when his own country didn't extend those rights to him and his people. In his own simple words -- "I ain't got nothing against the Viet Cong".
The reality of Ali as this book tells well is, of course, far more complicated. At bottom, Ali was and remains a simple and often gullible man. He was run for decades by the Nation of Islam - publicly spouting racial separatism, second class status for women and some really harebrained ideas about God and religion invented by Elijah Muhammad. In later years, he was constantly taken advantage of by businessmen trying to shortcut making a buck by using Ali's name. In the ring, though he was a thing of beauty - both his physical appearance and his skills. Who knows what his legend would look like without the government persecution that illegally kept him out of the ring for years.
Today, his physical infirmities have made a quiet and somehow dignified man. He is no longer the "living flame" that Kindred calls him and yet the disabilities have made him almost a saint in today's world. In the most powerful chapter in Kindred's book, he writes movingly of Ali's appearance at the Atlanta Olympics to light the Olympic flame - a black Muslim in a resurrected Southern city the symbol that, at a minimum, some progress has been made. I reacted to this section of the book in the same way I reacted, sitting in my living room, when Ali, bloated and ill, became the surprise of the Olympics -- in tears.
And then there's Cosell - there were times he wanted to make you turn the radio off and throw something at the TV. However, he brought a rampant intelligence to sports broadcasting that had never been their before. Before Howard, sports journalism was about simple play-by-plays. Sportscasters told you what was happening, but never why or what it meant. Cosell changed all that. Its no accident that he was the first sportscaster ever inducted in to the TV hall of fame. Kindred does show us the life, not just the image -- Cosell's struggles to leave his law practice behind to break in to sports; his enormous ego that both drove and retarded his career and his devotion to his wife, Emmy.
I've tried to be honest with you guys in these reviews and tell you when I thought a book's audience would and should be limited to those with particular interests. This, however, is a sports book that will be just as enjoyable to non-sports fans as to fanatics. Through the story of the friendship (sort of) between these two men, Kindred manages to tell us about the changes in the last 40 years. I highly recommend it to everybody.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Digging to America
Digging to America by Anne Tyler
Category: Fiction Grade: B
I tend to automatically pick up new Anne Tyler books. She's a great who's forte is character development. Her books are always pleasant reads. The ultimate problem with most of her books is that not much happens. In her latest, Digging to America, Tyler follows two families who adopt Korean infant girls. Taking place in the days before adoptive parents had to travel to meet their new children in foreign countries, the two families end up meeting the same flight to pick up their new daughters. Their chance meeting at the airport develops in to an ever closer, if unlikely, friendship.
The Donaldson family is an almost comical uber-American family. Led by the adopting mother Bitsy, a pushy and domineering woman, the Donaldson's turn out at the airport in force. The major family members are wearing buttons that say "mother", "father", "grandmother", etc. and what seems like 40 friends and family are standing around waiting for the flight with signs, gifts and cameras. At the edge of the crowd, the Yazdans, just mother, father and grandmother stand quietly waiting for their daughter. The Yazdans are Iranian-Americans - father born in the U.S. but mother and grandmother both born in Iran under the Shah.
The book then follows the two families over the course of some 6 or 8 years as the girls grow up. Bitsy pulls the two families together - mostly around "Arrival Day", an annual celebration of the day the girls arrive in the U.S. Bitsy strains to ensure that her daughter, Jin-Ho, retains her Korean culture while the Yazdans work just as hard to make sure that their daughter, Susan, is American through and through. Its not quite clear why the friendship develops. The two girls never particularly care for each other but Bitsy's pushiness seems to be reason enough. The large extended families on both sides get pulled in to the story.
You'd think, with all of this in the mix, that there'd be a plot in here somewhere, but I never did find it. Because of Tyler's talents, the reader pays attention to the characters and even cares about what happens to them, if anything ever did. All-in-all its a decent and relaxing read. Just don't expect to jump up and down with the excitement of the story's action.
Category: Fiction Grade: B
I tend to automatically pick up new Anne Tyler books. She's a great who's forte is character development. Her books are always pleasant reads. The ultimate problem with most of her books is that not much happens. In her latest, Digging to America, Tyler follows two families who adopt Korean infant girls. Taking place in the days before adoptive parents had to travel to meet their new children in foreign countries, the two families end up meeting the same flight to pick up their new daughters. Their chance meeting at the airport develops in to an ever closer, if unlikely, friendship.
The Donaldson family is an almost comical uber-American family. Led by the adopting mother Bitsy, a pushy and domineering woman, the Donaldson's turn out at the airport in force. The major family members are wearing buttons that say "mother", "father", "grandmother", etc. and what seems like 40 friends and family are standing around waiting for the flight with signs, gifts and cameras. At the edge of the crowd, the Yazdans, just mother, father and grandmother stand quietly waiting for their daughter. The Yazdans are Iranian-Americans - father born in the U.S. but mother and grandmother both born in Iran under the Shah.
The book then follows the two families over the course of some 6 or 8 years as the girls grow up. Bitsy pulls the two families together - mostly around "Arrival Day", an annual celebration of the day the girls arrive in the U.S. Bitsy strains to ensure that her daughter, Jin-Ho, retains her Korean culture while the Yazdans work just as hard to make sure that their daughter, Susan, is American through and through. Its not quite clear why the friendship develops. The two girls never particularly care for each other but Bitsy's pushiness seems to be reason enough. The large extended families on both sides get pulled in to the story.
You'd think, with all of this in the mix, that there'd be a plot in here somewhere, but I never did find it. Because of Tyler's talents, the reader pays attention to the characters and even cares about what happens to them, if anything ever did. All-in-all its a decent and relaxing read. Just don't expect to jump up and down with the excitement of the story's action.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Doing Nothing
Doing Nothing by Tom Lutz
A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers and Bums in America
Category: Uh - Sociology Study? Grade: B
OK - so I saw the title of this one on the bookshelf at the bookstore. Figured it would be a fun read and, maybe, would improve my self-understanding. It started out like I expected with the author talking about the revelation he had when his son decided to take a year off before college and moved in with him. The son like a lot of 18 year olds these days was going through a slacker period, spending most of time on the couch channel surfing or playing video games. To his, surprise, the author (who had dropped out for a while himself in the 60s) found himself becoming angry. The kid should be out doing something; earning a living; accomplishing something! Being a writer, he caught himself and decided to turn these feelings in to a book and headed off to research the American art of "doing nothing".
At this point, the book, to my surprise, got more interesting, but very, very dry. To do a useful study of being idle required plenty of discussion of the nature of work in this country over the last couple of centuries. The premise Lutz started with was that, up until the 18th century, work wasn't something that a man had any choice about (and women didn't count yet). When a boy was old enough to work, he just started working - usually on the farm or the family store. It wasn't a conscious choice until roughly the time of the American Revolution. Because of this, Lutz fairly naturally starts his discussion with the American icon of work and usefulness, Ben Franklin, and the first British proponent of the idle life, Samuel Johnson.
Each chapter of the book jumps forward looking at the parallel changes in the world of work and the world of the slacker - Marx and Mellville, flappers and labor leaders, Jack Kerouac and the Man in the Gray Flannel suit and, most recently feverish entrepreneurs and the hippies and slackers of the last half century. Despite the dryness of the subject, Lutz does manage to maintain the interest all the way through the current day. He even makes a pretty good case, based on vacation schedules and a bias towards very brief meetings, that Dubya is, in fact, our first slacker President! Interestingly, he shares a belief among some of Dubya's college friends that George W. was, in fact, the inspiration for Bluto, the John Belushi character in the movie Animal House. Don't it make you proud!
This is another that's hard to recommend. Probably only read good for serious history addicts.
A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers and Bums in America
Category: Uh - Sociology Study? Grade: B
OK - so I saw the title of this one on the bookshelf at the bookstore. Figured it would be a fun read and, maybe, would improve my self-understanding. It started out like I expected with the author talking about the revelation he had when his son decided to take a year off before college and moved in with him. The son like a lot of 18 year olds these days was going through a slacker period, spending most of time on the couch channel surfing or playing video games. To his, surprise, the author (who had dropped out for a while himself in the 60s) found himself becoming angry. The kid should be out doing something; earning a living; accomplishing something! Being a writer, he caught himself and decided to turn these feelings in to a book and headed off to research the American art of "doing nothing".
At this point, the book, to my surprise, got more interesting, but very, very dry. To do a useful study of being idle required plenty of discussion of the nature of work in this country over the last couple of centuries. The premise Lutz started with was that, up until the 18th century, work wasn't something that a man had any choice about (and women didn't count yet). When a boy was old enough to work, he just started working - usually on the farm or the family store. It wasn't a conscious choice until roughly the time of the American Revolution. Because of this, Lutz fairly naturally starts his discussion with the American icon of work and usefulness, Ben Franklin, and the first British proponent of the idle life, Samuel Johnson.
Each chapter of the book jumps forward looking at the parallel changes in the world of work and the world of the slacker - Marx and Mellville, flappers and labor leaders, Jack Kerouac and the Man in the Gray Flannel suit and, most recently feverish entrepreneurs and the hippies and slackers of the last half century. Despite the dryness of the subject, Lutz does manage to maintain the interest all the way through the current day. He even makes a pretty good case, based on vacation schedules and a bias towards very brief meetings, that Dubya is, in fact, our first slacker President! Interestingly, he shares a belief among some of Dubya's college friends that George W. was, in fact, the inspiration for Bluto, the John Belushi character in the movie Animal House. Don't it make you proud!
This is another that's hard to recommend. Probably only read good for serious history addicts.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
The Brief History of the Dead
The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
Category: Speculative fiction Grade: A+
This is the kind of book that you read for. It's not for everybody since its a little strange, but, for me, it's, by far, the best book of the summer so far. It's what I tend to call a "concept" book - one that takes a strange concept and carries it to its logical conclusions. In this case, the concept comes from African societies and is called "sasha". These societies divide humans into three categories - the living, the wholly dead (zamani) and those living in sasha - those that some living human still remembers directly.
Brockmeier tells a duel story, bouncing back and forth between the still living and the sasha. He introduces a second major plot device that lets him sharply focus the consequences of the existence of the sasha. This review is extremely hard to write because I'd really like to spill the beans here and tell you what happens but watching the story slowly develop is what makes this book so good. So, even though, it'll dramatically shorten the review, I'm going to be a good guy and not say any more about the book's plot.
This reasonably short book is just beautifully written. It is, at times, funny, surprising, sad, depressing and even a little scary. It also has probably the best death scene I've ever read anywhere. The book just grabs you and doesn't let go. I happened to be standing up when I started reading the last 20 or 30 pages and ended up reading the rest of the book standing in that one spot and then being stunningly disappointed that it was over.
Category: Speculative fiction Grade: A+
This is the kind of book that you read for. It's not for everybody since its a little strange, but, for me, it's, by far, the best book of the summer so far. It's what I tend to call a "concept" book - one that takes a strange concept and carries it to its logical conclusions. In this case, the concept comes from African societies and is called "sasha". These societies divide humans into three categories - the living, the wholly dead (zamani) and those living in sasha - those that some living human still remembers directly.
Brockmeier tells a duel story, bouncing back and forth between the still living and the sasha. He introduces a second major plot device that lets him sharply focus the consequences of the existence of the sasha. This review is extremely hard to write because I'd really like to spill the beans here and tell you what happens but watching the story slowly develop is what makes this book so good. So, even though, it'll dramatically shorten the review, I'm going to be a good guy and not say any more about the book's plot.
This reasonably short book is just beautifully written. It is, at times, funny, surprising, sad, depressing and even a little scary. It also has probably the best death scene I've ever read anywhere. The book just grabs you and doesn't let go. I happened to be standing up when I started reading the last 20 or 30 pages and ended up reading the rest of the book standing in that one spot and then being stunningly disappointed that it was over.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
The Reckless Decade
The Reckless Decade, America in the 1890s by H.W. Brands
Category: History Grade: B-
If you've followed this blog, you know I read a lot of history. Typically, popular history focuses on either huge events (almost always wars) or huge personalities. Brands has taken a different approach here deciding to focus on the last decade of the 19th century, years that don't usually show up in most history books at all. Like most readers of popular history, I probably wouldn't ordinarily have picked up this book. However, Brands is the author of terrific historical biographies of Franklin and Teddy Roosevelt. In addition, he's an Austinite, although a professor at, gulp, Texas A&M. So I decided to give this one a try.
Almost by definition, since it covers a period where not many earth shaking things happened, the book disappoints a little. However, there was enough going on in this decade to make an interesting enough read. Put in to the perspective that this period is only a little over a hundred years ago and some of the things that happened become more fascinating.
The book opens with the massacre and Wounded Knee and the last of the land rushes where anybody, by getting to a claim first, could get access to free land in the west (the west at this time being Oklahoma). The closing of the frontier and the near complete defeat of Native Americans marked a major change in the mindset of the average American. The possibility of throwing everything to the winds and heading the frontier was ending. This intensified the regional distinctions between the west (agricultural) and the east (industrial and financial).
The surprising thing, to me at least, was how much violence grew out of this disparity. This was the age of the consolidation of both industry, under Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan, and the growth of both the union and populist movements. Time after time, the conflicts that arose ended up in pitched battles in the streets. There was during this time, a growing belief that the glory days of the United States were in fact past. In fact, the swing of a few thousand votes in the presidential elections of the 1890s probably mark the difference between the U.S. we know today and a country that would have headed a socialist path.
The other major themes of the book vary a lot in terms of capturing your attention. A lot of time, money and oratory in this period was spent debating about whether U.S. currency should be tied to a gold standard, a silver standard or both. This is something, frankly, I've never really understood so this section of the book was a little boring. On the other hand, the first stirrings of the civil rights movement, with the philosophical sparring of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois was far more interesting. The book then shifts back to America's growing international presence in the Spanish-American War and the debate over American imperialism surrounding the acquisition of the Philippines.
Ultimately, this is a history lovers book. If you found this review a little dry, you should avoid it.
Category: History Grade: B-
If you've followed this blog, you know I read a lot of history. Typically, popular history focuses on either huge events (almost always wars) or huge personalities. Brands has taken a different approach here deciding to focus on the last decade of the 19th century, years that don't usually show up in most history books at all. Like most readers of popular history, I probably wouldn't ordinarily have picked up this book. However, Brands is the author of terrific historical biographies of Franklin and Teddy Roosevelt. In addition, he's an Austinite, although a professor at, gulp, Texas A&M. So I decided to give this one a try.
Almost by definition, since it covers a period where not many earth shaking things happened, the book disappoints a little. However, there was enough going on in this decade to make an interesting enough read. Put in to the perspective that this period is only a little over a hundred years ago and some of the things that happened become more fascinating.
The book opens with the massacre and Wounded Knee and the last of the land rushes where anybody, by getting to a claim first, could get access to free land in the west (the west at this time being Oklahoma). The closing of the frontier and the near complete defeat of Native Americans marked a major change in the mindset of the average American. The possibility of throwing everything to the winds and heading the frontier was ending. This intensified the regional distinctions between the west (agricultural) and the east (industrial and financial).
The surprising thing, to me at least, was how much violence grew out of this disparity. This was the age of the consolidation of both industry, under Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan, and the growth of both the union and populist movements. Time after time, the conflicts that arose ended up in pitched battles in the streets. There was during this time, a growing belief that the glory days of the United States were in fact past. In fact, the swing of a few thousand votes in the presidential elections of the 1890s probably mark the difference between the U.S. we know today and a country that would have headed a socialist path.
The other major themes of the book vary a lot in terms of capturing your attention. A lot of time, money and oratory in this period was spent debating about whether U.S. currency should be tied to a gold standard, a silver standard or both. This is something, frankly, I've never really understood so this section of the book was a little boring. On the other hand, the first stirrings of the civil rights movement, with the philosophical sparring of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois was far more interesting. The book then shifts back to America's growing international presence in the Spanish-American War and the debate over American imperialism surrounding the acquisition of the Philippines.
Ultimately, this is a history lovers book. If you found this review a little dry, you should avoid it.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Take Me to the River
Take Me to the River by Peter Alson
Category: Poker memoir Grade: C+
For those of you not in to America's latest "sports" craze, the "river" is the last card dealt in Texas Hold 'em poker - the maker and breaker of dreams at the poker table. The subtitle of the book is "A Wayward and Perilous Journey to the World Series of Poker.
Poker is one of the fastest growing leisure activities in the country these days. The World Series of Poker was started way before the craze by Benny Binion the Vegas legend who opened the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino in downtown Vegas. The first WSOP was just a handful of poker pros who played for a couple of days and then voted amongst themselves and elected the poker "world champion". After a couple of years, it switched to a winner take all format - i.e. they keep playing until one player has all the chips. This year, the event will last more than six weeks (going on right now) and contain tournaments in multiple poker games with over 36,000 entrants. Parts of the tournament, usually the final tables, will be broadcast all over the cable dial -- ESPN, Bravo, the Travel Channel and, starting last year, live on one of the networks.
So I guess its no surprised that we're starting to see more and more books about poker. By far the vast majority of them are "how-to" books with the big stars in the game like Doyle Brunson and Phil Helmuth cashing in on their popularity by writing down their secrets for everybody - or at least most of them. In the last couple of years, though, there have been a few good books written for more general audiences about the game and the people in them.
However, I'm just not sure that Alson's Take Me to the River, is going to appeal to much of anybody. Don't get me wrong -- it's not a terrible book. He's a decent writer. But the book is really about him, not the WSOP. I just never got to the point where I much cared about his ongoing efforts to decide whether to get married in mid-life - decided for him by an unexpected pregnancy. He does introduce a few somewhat interesting characters, like his friend and sometimes roommate in Vegas, Nicky, but he never devotes enough effort to get the reader involved. He does talk a fair amount about poker and throws in some good tips for how to play, but never enough to make this a how-to book. He does talk a lot about the WSOP but never enough to really feel the atmosphere. He keeps coming back to himself and, as I said, I just didn't care.
So - if what you want is a good poker how-to book, go pick up one of Doyle Brunson's book. If you want a good book about the WSOP, you're better off to pick up a great book like Positively Fifth Street (good even for non poker players). If you want a closeup look at some of the great characters in poker, pick up Alson's first book about Stuey Unger called One of a Kind (to show I'm not biased against Alson). Don't waste your time with this one.
Category: Poker memoir Grade: C+
For those of you not in to America's latest "sports" craze, the "river" is the last card dealt in Texas Hold 'em poker - the maker and breaker of dreams at the poker table. The subtitle of the book is "A Wayward and Perilous Journey to the World Series of Poker.
Poker is one of the fastest growing leisure activities in the country these days. The World Series of Poker was started way before the craze by Benny Binion the Vegas legend who opened the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino in downtown Vegas. The first WSOP was just a handful of poker pros who played for a couple of days and then voted amongst themselves and elected the poker "world champion". After a couple of years, it switched to a winner take all format - i.e. they keep playing until one player has all the chips. This year, the event will last more than six weeks (going on right now) and contain tournaments in multiple poker games with over 36,000 entrants. Parts of the tournament, usually the final tables, will be broadcast all over the cable dial -- ESPN, Bravo, the Travel Channel and, starting last year, live on one of the networks.
So I guess its no surprised that we're starting to see more and more books about poker. By far the vast majority of them are "how-to" books with the big stars in the game like Doyle Brunson and Phil Helmuth cashing in on their popularity by writing down their secrets for everybody - or at least most of them. In the last couple of years, though, there have been a few good books written for more general audiences about the game and the people in them.
However, I'm just not sure that Alson's Take Me to the River, is going to appeal to much of anybody. Don't get me wrong -- it's not a terrible book. He's a decent writer. But the book is really about him, not the WSOP. I just never got to the point where I much cared about his ongoing efforts to decide whether to get married in mid-life - decided for him by an unexpected pregnancy. He does introduce a few somewhat interesting characters, like his friend and sometimes roommate in Vegas, Nicky, but he never devotes enough effort to get the reader involved. He does talk a fair amount about poker and throws in some good tips for how to play, but never enough to make this a how-to book. He does talk a lot about the WSOP but never enough to really feel the atmosphere. He keeps coming back to himself and, as I said, I just didn't care.
So - if what you want is a good poker how-to book, go pick up one of Doyle Brunson's book. If you want a good book about the WSOP, you're better off to pick up a great book like Positively Fifth Street (good even for non poker players). If you want a closeup look at some of the great characters in poker, pick up Alson's first book about Stuey Unger called One of a Kind (to show I'm not biased against Alson). Don't waste your time with this one.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
The Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion by William Hogeland
Category: History Grade: B-
First, a digression. Go to the last entry on my blog - not the email you received, but follow the link to mseriff.blogspot.com and look at the entry for the book called The Rabbit Factory and you'll something really interest and, to me, exciting and a little intimidating. Look down below the review and you'll see a comment posted to the blog by the book's author, Marshall Karp! This is just very, very cool. Back in the day, when I was still involved in building AOL, one of the buzz words that got thrown around was "disintermediation". All that really means is that online services allow simple, cheap and casual direct connections between the producers and consumers of information - i.e. between authors and readers. I really enjoy doing these reviews and knowing that there are around 40 of you or so out there who (I hope) read them is terrific. But the thought that, with no effort on my part, this is a means to, occasionally, meet (sort-of) the authors that create the books is just amazing to me. In hindsight, though, I'm really glad I gave The Rabbit Factory a good review!
Now on to The Whiskey Rebellion. The myth that we learn in school is that the Founding Fathers created the United States with little or no opposition and that the country was off and running towards its smooth, democratic futures. The only big hiccup was the Civil War. The reality is that almost continuously until after the Civil War, the odds on this country surviving as a single country was constantly in doubt. Even the structure of government - democracy or pseudo-monarchy - was up for grabs. There was much talk of making Washington king rather than president and the political battles inside the establishment were vicious.
Hogeland's book, while not the best written history I've read, does cover an interesting period - something that could easily be called the first civil war (maybe even the second if you count Shay's Rebellion). As the name implies, the rebellion grew out of opposition to the first tax on domestic production - the whiskey tax. The tax was devised by Alexander Hamilton - Washington's Secretary of the Treasury. While the obvious reason for the tax was to raise federal dollars, mostly to pay off the debts of the revolutionary war, Hamilton's backstory was that the tax would go a long way to create the industrialized, financially oriented nation that he was trying to create. His primary opponent in this was Thomas Jefferson, the leader of the anti-federalists. In the short term, this disagreement forced Jefferson to resign the cabinet and gave Hamilton a clear, although not very long lived, advantage.
The tax was a killer to small distillers and, especially to western distillers (remember that "western" in this age means Pittsburgh). In the west, whiskey was used almost as currency. Grain was big, bulky and hard to ship so it wasn't particularly valuable. Take the same grain and distill it to whiskey and you could use it to pay the rent or easily and profitably ship it east. The new tax, however, had to be paid in coin - something most distillers didn't have. In addition, the way the tax was implemented, it strongly favored the huge distillers (mostly eastern or at least with eastern connections) over the small - forcing the little guys out of business.
Hogeland goes in to great detail introducing us to the people of the west who masterminded the rebellion (and some who just got caught up the flow). Some were just nuts - e.g. Henry Husband who had gone a wealthy family to being a wealthy Quaker to, eventually becoming an unkempt religious hermit. Others, like Henry Breckinridge, who got caught trying to be the moderate who mediated between the sides and ended being persecuted by both. Of course, Hamilton and Washington play a big roll.
Washington eventually decides that defiance of the law, however motivated, can't stand and for the first time, sends troops (federalized state militias since there is not yet any federal standing army) against U.S. citizens. In the face of the show of force, the rebellion completely falls apart with a few leaders fleeing and only a few people ever prosecuted. The long term impact is a huge victory for Hamilton and his concepts setting the stage for the financial structure that would, in the long run, make this country a great economic power.
Sometimes books are worth reading because they're well written; sometimes because they tell a great story. The real winners are the ones that do both. While this book isn't one of those, if you like history, especially early American history, you'll probably like this one.
Category: History Grade: B-
First, a digression. Go to the last entry on my blog - not the email you received, but follow the link to mseriff.blogspot.com and look at the entry for the book called The Rabbit Factory and you'll something really interest and, to me, exciting and a little intimidating. Look down below the review and you'll see a comment posted to the blog by the book's author, Marshall Karp! This is just very, very cool. Back in the day, when I was still involved in building AOL, one of the buzz words that got thrown around was "disintermediation". All that really means is that online services allow simple, cheap and casual direct connections between the producers and consumers of information - i.e. between authors and readers. I really enjoy doing these reviews and knowing that there are around 40 of you or so out there who (I hope) read them is terrific. But the thought that, with no effort on my part, this is a means to, occasionally, meet (sort-of) the authors that create the books is just amazing to me. In hindsight, though, I'm really glad I gave The Rabbit Factory a good review!
Now on to The Whiskey Rebellion. The myth that we learn in school is that the Founding Fathers created the United States with little or no opposition and that the country was off and running towards its smooth, democratic futures. The only big hiccup was the Civil War. The reality is that almost continuously until after the Civil War, the odds on this country surviving as a single country was constantly in doubt. Even the structure of government - democracy or pseudo-monarchy - was up for grabs. There was much talk of making Washington king rather than president and the political battles inside the establishment were vicious.
Hogeland's book, while not the best written history I've read, does cover an interesting period - something that could easily be called the first civil war (maybe even the second if you count Shay's Rebellion). As the name implies, the rebellion grew out of opposition to the first tax on domestic production - the whiskey tax. The tax was devised by Alexander Hamilton - Washington's Secretary of the Treasury. While the obvious reason for the tax was to raise federal dollars, mostly to pay off the debts of the revolutionary war, Hamilton's backstory was that the tax would go a long way to create the industrialized, financially oriented nation that he was trying to create. His primary opponent in this was Thomas Jefferson, the leader of the anti-federalists. In the short term, this disagreement forced Jefferson to resign the cabinet and gave Hamilton a clear, although not very long lived, advantage.
The tax was a killer to small distillers and, especially to western distillers (remember that "western" in this age means Pittsburgh). In the west, whiskey was used almost as currency. Grain was big, bulky and hard to ship so it wasn't particularly valuable. Take the same grain and distill it to whiskey and you could use it to pay the rent or easily and profitably ship it east. The new tax, however, had to be paid in coin - something most distillers didn't have. In addition, the way the tax was implemented, it strongly favored the huge distillers (mostly eastern or at least with eastern connections) over the small - forcing the little guys out of business.
Hogeland goes in to great detail introducing us to the people of the west who masterminded the rebellion (and some who just got caught up the flow). Some were just nuts - e.g. Henry Husband who had gone a wealthy family to being a wealthy Quaker to, eventually becoming an unkempt religious hermit. Others, like Henry Breckinridge, who got caught trying to be the moderate who mediated between the sides and ended being persecuted by both. Of course, Hamilton and Washington play a big roll.
Washington eventually decides that defiance of the law, however motivated, can't stand and for the first time, sends troops (federalized state militias since there is not yet any federal standing army) against U.S. citizens. In the face of the show of force, the rebellion completely falls apart with a few leaders fleeing and only a few people ever prosecuted. The long term impact is a huge victory for Hamilton and his concepts setting the stage for the financial structure that would, in the long run, make this country a great economic power.
Sometimes books are worth reading because they're well written; sometimes because they tell a great story. The real winners are the ones that do both. While this book isn't one of those, if you like history, especially early American history, you'll probably like this one.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
The Rabbit Factory
The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp
Category: Mystery Grade: A-
Sometimes you just luck in to one. This is Karp's first novel, although he's been writing (mostly screenplays) for a long time. I hadn't seen any reviews of it or had any recommendations. It just happened to be sitting on the "new stuff" table at the little book store we go to up here. The title sounded kind of interesting so I picked it up.
I was a little worried in the begging since the first character we meet is a pedophile who bribed his way in to a job as a starring character at a Disneyland like amusement park. I really didn't want to get in to a really heavy book so I was actually reasonably happy when this character gets murdered on page 10. He's murdered at FamilyLand, the park, in his costume. So right away you're left to wonder whether this is going to be about a vigilante or about somebody with a grudge against the park.
Unfortunately, it quickly becomes clear that this only the first in a series of murders designed to destroy the company that runs the park. Bodies fall, but somehow, the book stays pretty light and at times funny. Karp clearly intends this to be the first in a series since he spends a lot of time developing his main character - an LAPD detective name Mike Lomax. Lomax is only six months from the death of his wife and he's just starting to rediscover his life. There area bunch of interesting characters developed around him - his colorful father, his ne'er-do-well brother and, of course, a new girlfriend.
There are a lot of sideplots, but somehow Karp manages to keep all of the balls in the air without your feeling overloaded. The main plot has just enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and the sideplots interleave seamlessly. You get blindsided by the plot enough times to keep you interesting and, despite they mayhem, keep you laughing.
Its a 600+ page book but thats a little misleading since the print is big and the pages are small. It took almost no time to read. Nothing serious; didn't learn a thing; thoroughly enjoyed it.
Category: Mystery Grade: A-
Sometimes you just luck in to one. This is Karp's first novel, although he's been writing (mostly screenplays) for a long time. I hadn't seen any reviews of it or had any recommendations. It just happened to be sitting on the "new stuff" table at the little book store we go to up here. The title sounded kind of interesting so I picked it up.
I was a little worried in the begging since the first character we meet is a pedophile who bribed his way in to a job as a starring character at a Disneyland like amusement park. I really didn't want to get in to a really heavy book so I was actually reasonably happy when this character gets murdered on page 10. He's murdered at FamilyLand, the park, in his costume. So right away you're left to wonder whether this is going to be about a vigilante or about somebody with a grudge against the park.
Unfortunately, it quickly becomes clear that this only the first in a series of murders designed to destroy the company that runs the park. Bodies fall, but somehow, the book stays pretty light and at times funny. Karp clearly intends this to be the first in a series since he spends a lot of time developing his main character - an LAPD detective name Mike Lomax. Lomax is only six months from the death of his wife and he's just starting to rediscover his life. There area bunch of interesting characters developed around him - his colorful father, his ne'er-do-well brother and, of course, a new girlfriend.
There are a lot of sideplots, but somehow Karp manages to keep all of the balls in the air without your feeling overloaded. The main plot has just enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and the sideplots interleave seamlessly. You get blindsided by the plot enough times to keep you interesting and, despite they mayhem, keep you laughing.
Its a 600+ page book but thats a little misleading since the print is big and the pages are small. It took almost no time to read. Nothing serious; didn't learn a thing; thoroughly enjoyed it.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Dream Boogie
Dream Boogie, The Triumph of Sam Cooke by Peter Gurlanick
Category: Music biography Grade: B-
I'm a little disappointed. I was really looking forward to this one. I read some of Guralnick's work earlier in the summer and liked it. He's considered one of the premier writers about mid-twentieth century blues and rock -- he wrote Last Train to Memphis probably the most well known bio of Elvis. On top of that, I knew the outlines of Cooke's life and was anxious to learn more.
What Guralnick ended up with was an exhaustive, and exhausting, bio. Every detail of Cooke's life is there and that's a good thing. The problem is, he keeps taking major side trails in to the gory details of a lot of the people around him too. What should have been an interesting 400 page book gets stretched out to 650 pages. It had me doing something I almost never do with a book that I actually finish -- skimming. For somebody who might be professionally interested in Cooke and his music (i.e. Dan), this is a great reference. For the rest of us, its overkill.
That said, I still finished it and enjoyed learning more about Cooke. He's pretty different from most of the rock stars you read about. Sam grew up pretty middle class in a reasonably happy home. Like most black artists of that time period (the 40s) he started as a gospel singer and then switched to pop. Its fun to watch some of the random talent that pops up in his life. Some of them, like Lou Rawls, Little Richard or Bobby Womack aren't really surprising. But a few definitely make you laugh -- one of Sam's first recorded pop songs was written by Sonny Bono! One of the early A&R guys that worked with was Herb Alpert!
So, the book was OK, but I'm still glad I picked it up because it sent me back to the music of Sam Cooke and I had really forgotten how sensational he was. Its was a major loss when he was murdered in his early 30s just as he was coming in to his own as a star. But, man, the music he left behind -- songs like You Send Me, Twisting the Night Away, Cupid, Chain Gang - just one incredible song after another. In the year before he died, Cooke was getting increasingly active in the civil rights movement and showed where he was heading with the terrific song, Change is Gonna Come. And if you think, Tennessee Waltz, is a country song, go back and listen to Cooke's gospel-tinged rendition.
Bottom line -- read the book if you're really, really, really interested in the lives of the early rock stars. Whether you are or not, head to iTunes or your local record store and get one of Cooke's Greatest Hits albums. You won't be sorry.
Category: Music biography Grade: B-
I'm a little disappointed. I was really looking forward to this one. I read some of Guralnick's work earlier in the summer and liked it. He's considered one of the premier writers about mid-twentieth century blues and rock -- he wrote Last Train to Memphis probably the most well known bio of Elvis. On top of that, I knew the outlines of Cooke's life and was anxious to learn more.
What Guralnick ended up with was an exhaustive, and exhausting, bio. Every detail of Cooke's life is there and that's a good thing. The problem is, he keeps taking major side trails in to the gory details of a lot of the people around him too. What should have been an interesting 400 page book gets stretched out to 650 pages. It had me doing something I almost never do with a book that I actually finish -- skimming. For somebody who might be professionally interested in Cooke and his music (i.e. Dan), this is a great reference. For the rest of us, its overkill.
That said, I still finished it and enjoyed learning more about Cooke. He's pretty different from most of the rock stars you read about. Sam grew up pretty middle class in a reasonably happy home. Like most black artists of that time period (the 40s) he started as a gospel singer and then switched to pop. Its fun to watch some of the random talent that pops up in his life. Some of them, like Lou Rawls, Little Richard or Bobby Womack aren't really surprising. But a few definitely make you laugh -- one of Sam's first recorded pop songs was written by Sonny Bono! One of the early A&R guys that worked with was Herb Alpert!
So, the book was OK, but I'm still glad I picked it up because it sent me back to the music of Sam Cooke and I had really forgotten how sensational he was. Its was a major loss when he was murdered in his early 30s just as he was coming in to his own as a star. But, man, the music he left behind -- songs like You Send Me, Twisting the Night Away, Cupid, Chain Gang - just one incredible song after another. In the year before he died, Cooke was getting increasingly active in the civil rights movement and showed where he was heading with the terrific song, Change is Gonna Come. And if you think, Tennessee Waltz, is a country song, go back and listen to Cooke's gospel-tinged rendition.
Bottom line -- read the book if you're really, really, really interested in the lives of the early rock stars. Whether you are or not, head to iTunes or your local record store and get one of Cooke's Greatest Hits albums. You won't be sorry.
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