Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides
Category: History Grade: B+
For some reason this period of history - mid 19th century - is not one I've been terribly interested in or read a lot about. The American westward expansion more than doubled the size of the United States after the Louisiana Purchase. It also involved the virtual destruction of almost all Native American tribes in the Southwest. Maybe its because the stories of this period have been so sensationalized over the years, but I don't know that I've ever gotten all the way through a history book about this era.
While, in a lot of ways, Sides has really overwritten this book, with way too much flowery language, the primary hook he decided to use is pretty engaging. The focal point of the book is the life of Kit Carson -- the real life of Kit Carson, not the mostly fictitious stories that were made up and published about him in "blood and thunders", the nickname for the adventure stories told about the west. According to Sides, Carson was actually a pretty mild-mannered man who was only rarely the vicious Indian fighter of legend. He was a quiet mountain man - a trapper in his early days who preferred the isolation of the trail to life in a city. He became a renowned scout and, later, a military leader. He was, most of the time, a friend to the Indians and was married to a Hispanic woman. His home, famously, was in Taos, New Mexico, but he spent much of his life on the trails from coast to coast. In his day, he was, reluctantly, the symbol of westward expansion.
While the book roams all over the country, it geographic focus is Santa Fe. Not surprisingly, given that the timeline runs from the 1830s to the 1870s, much of the story is about the subjugation of the Native Americans. As with most histories of this period, Americans don't particularly come across as the good guys, but Sides is balanced enough to show why the Anglos moving west considered the Indians their enemies. Ultimately, he makes it pretty clear that the aggressive, city-oriented, hierarchical society of the whites could never have coexisted with the nomadic, leaderless tribes, especially like the Navajos. In the end, Sides doesn't make what happened to the Indians acceptable, but he does go a long way to making it understandable.
This is really the story of frontier warfare. The period, though dominated, by the constant skirmishes with the Indians, also includes the war with Mexico and the Civil War. I had never really thought much about how the Civil War played out in the Southwest but there were some pretty major battles there. The Civil War became largely an excuse for the Texas-dominated branch of the Rebel army to attempt to annex the western areas of New Mexico that they had coveted for so long.
This turns out to be a good general introduction to the history of the Southwest. Sides' focus on the people of the era, particularly Carson, make for a very readable overview.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
Category: Fantasy Grade: A+
Well, I did manage to get a few hours sleep last night but, other than that, I read this one straight through. I might be one of the older ones to do this, but definitely not the only one.
Every generation needs some work of art that makes a parent want to pass it down to his children. For most of the second half of the 20th century, that art was probably in the form of a movie. For me, it was the Wizard of Oz. It's my first memory of a going to the movies - Aunt Mina took me. I couldn't have been more than six or seven but that afternoon, sitting in the Paramount, is one I'll never forget. That movie was magic - the change from black-and-white Kansas to full color Oz, the cleverness of the yellow brick road and the lollipop guild, the terror of the flying monkeys (that I watched while cowering behind the seat in front of me) - these are the images that I couldn't wait to share with my kids when they were old enough. For those younger than me, it might be E.T. or Star Wars, but those moments were probably captured in movies.
For that group of high school kids that was hanging around bookstores Friday night waiting for midnight (who read the first Potter when they were 8), that feeling is unquestionably tied up with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Because of this attachment that will be passed on to the children ten years from now, I'll happily nominate Rowlings as the most influential writer of the last hundred years. She could easily be considered this because she's written the best, most approachable, not to mention longest, at almost 5000 pages, fantasy series ever - far outstripping, in my humble view, authors like Tolkien or Lewis. Much more importantly, she has single-handedly created millions on millions of kids who find magic between the covers of a book. She's extended the life of the book, in the face of 21st century technology, not to mention being the savior of the small, independent book store.
Think about so-called children's literature before Harry. The books that come to mind - Charlotte's Web, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys - were just plain juvenile. Children's authors really believed that kids couldn't handle a challenge -- big words, complex plots, well developed characters and, most obviously, thick books. Rowlings has changed all that by asking her readers to raise their ability to handle her stories instead of lowering her style to match their ability. In today's world of TAKS testing, grade inflation and six-year college degrees, it's a lesson that our educators should take to heart - making kids reach makes them smarter.
I'm not actually going to say a lot about Deadly Hallows - if you're not a fan, you probably think I'm nuts. If you are a fan, you've probably already started it or plan to so and you'd kill me if I gave away the story points. Suffice it to say that, to me this was the perfect topper to this series. It's a great book on its own with enough complexity and action to keep you glued, but it also gives a solid dose of closure to the series. While I'm a little sad to see the series end, it does end with this book -- I hope the Rowlings has more stories in her, but she should definitely let go of Potter.
Category: Fantasy Grade: A+
Well, I did manage to get a few hours sleep last night but, other than that, I read this one straight through. I might be one of the older ones to do this, but definitely not the only one.
Every generation needs some work of art that makes a parent want to pass it down to his children. For most of the second half of the 20th century, that art was probably in the form of a movie. For me, it was the Wizard of Oz. It's my first memory of a going to the movies - Aunt Mina took me. I couldn't have been more than six or seven but that afternoon, sitting in the Paramount, is one I'll never forget. That movie was magic - the change from black-and-white Kansas to full color Oz, the cleverness of the yellow brick road and the lollipop guild, the terror of the flying monkeys (that I watched while cowering behind the seat in front of me) - these are the images that I couldn't wait to share with my kids when they were old enough. For those younger than me, it might be E.T. or Star Wars, but those moments were probably captured in movies.
For that group of high school kids that was hanging around bookstores Friday night waiting for midnight (who read the first Potter when they were 8), that feeling is unquestionably tied up with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Because of this attachment that will be passed on to the children ten years from now, I'll happily nominate Rowlings as the most influential writer of the last hundred years. She could easily be considered this because she's written the best, most approachable, not to mention longest, at almost 5000 pages, fantasy series ever - far outstripping, in my humble view, authors like Tolkien or Lewis. Much more importantly, she has single-handedly created millions on millions of kids who find magic between the covers of a book. She's extended the life of the book, in the face of 21st century technology, not to mention being the savior of the small, independent book store.
Think about so-called children's literature before Harry. The books that come to mind - Charlotte's Web, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys - were just plain juvenile. Children's authors really believed that kids couldn't handle a challenge -- big words, complex plots, well developed characters and, most obviously, thick books. Rowlings has changed all that by asking her readers to raise their ability to handle her stories instead of lowering her style to match their ability. In today's world of TAKS testing, grade inflation and six-year college degrees, it's a lesson that our educators should take to heart - making kids reach makes them smarter.
I'm not actually going to say a lot about Deadly Hallows - if you're not a fan, you probably think I'm nuts. If you are a fan, you've probably already started it or plan to so and you'd kill me if I gave away the story points. Suffice it to say that, to me this was the perfect topper to this series. It's a great book on its own with enough complexity and action to keep you glued, but it also gives a solid dose of closure to the series. While I'm a little sad to see the series end, it does end with this book -- I hope the Rowlings has more stories in her, but she should definitely let go of Potter.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Bloodthirsty
Bloodthirsty by Marshall Karp
Category: Mystery Grade: A
It was a little risky to pick this book up. There's a little extra pressure to reviewing it. If you've been following this blog for a while, you might remember that I reviewed Karp's first book, The Rabbit Factory. It was a fun book and I gave it an "A-". Much to my surprise, the next week, I got an email from the author thanking me for the review. We swapped a couple of emails and he told me was working on a sequel featuring his LAPD detectives, Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs. I'm guessing that Marshall is still lurking out there in the blogosphere and, eventually, will probably read this review. (Marshall - if you do, drop me an email and say hello!) Given that, I was a little concerned that the new book would be a bust and I'd have to decide whether to give it a bad review or chicken out and pretend I didn't read it.
Fortunately - no problem. This book was even better than the first one - partly because the characters are now familiar. The big difference between this and the first book is that there are fewer distracting side plots in this one. The main storyline has plenty of twists to keep you guessing. More important for a mystery fan, Karp gives you enough clues to figure out where the story is going if you're really, really clever. I wasn't, but, once he hits a plot twist, you can look back in the book and see the clues that you should have caught. It's really frustrating to a mystery fan when other authors takes a turn that has absolutely no setup.
While I really enjoyed the plot in Bloodthirsty - a serial killing with a strange M.O. - Karp's strength is still character development. His primary characters, Lomax and Biggs are interesting, funny and, riding a little high trying to sell the Rabbit Factory story to the movies. But these aren't just cops - they're husbands/boyfriends, fathers, sons, friends - and essentially all of the supporting characters are completely three dimensional. My favorite is still Lomax's father, Big Jim - a character that could probably star in his own book.
As in the first book, Karp isn't aspiring to create high literature here. He's written another entertaining read and has me ready to get in line for the third book (or a movie?). Marshall, if you reading this - go back to work!
Category: Mystery Grade: A
It was a little risky to pick this book up. There's a little extra pressure to reviewing it. If you've been following this blog for a while, you might remember that I reviewed Karp's first book, The Rabbit Factory. It was a fun book and I gave it an "A-". Much to my surprise, the next week, I got an email from the author thanking me for the review. We swapped a couple of emails and he told me was working on a sequel featuring his LAPD detectives, Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs. I'm guessing that Marshall is still lurking out there in the blogosphere and, eventually, will probably read this review. (Marshall - if you do, drop me an email and say hello!) Given that, I was a little concerned that the new book would be a bust and I'd have to decide whether to give it a bad review or chicken out and pretend I didn't read it.
Fortunately - no problem. This book was even better than the first one - partly because the characters are now familiar. The big difference between this and the first book is that there are fewer distracting side plots in this one. The main storyline has plenty of twists to keep you guessing. More important for a mystery fan, Karp gives you enough clues to figure out where the story is going if you're really, really clever. I wasn't, but, once he hits a plot twist, you can look back in the book and see the clues that you should have caught. It's really frustrating to a mystery fan when other authors takes a turn that has absolutely no setup.
While I really enjoyed the plot in Bloodthirsty - a serial killing with a strange M.O. - Karp's strength is still character development. His primary characters, Lomax and Biggs are interesting, funny and, riding a little high trying to sell the Rabbit Factory story to the movies. But these aren't just cops - they're husbands/boyfriends, fathers, sons, friends - and essentially all of the supporting characters are completely three dimensional. My favorite is still Lomax's father, Big Jim - a character that could probably star in his own book.
As in the first book, Karp isn't aspiring to create high literature here. He's written another entertaining read and has me ready to get in line for the third book (or a movie?). Marshall, if you reading this - go back to work!
Richistan
Richistan by Robert Frank
Category: Current Affairs Grade: B+
This book is almost embarrassing to review. Frank, a Wall Street Journal writer, spent years reporting on the wealthy. He came to the conclusion that the rich (in the U.S. in this book) really live in a different world. He decided to travel through the world and describe the lifestyles he found. His first quick conclusion was that millionaires are a whole lot more prevalent than they used to be (even adjusted for inflation). He divides Richistan in to four different "states" - Lower Richistan ($1-10M net worth), Middle Richistan ($10-100M net worth), Upper Richistan ($100M-$1B) and, of course, Billionaireville ($1B+).
He spends most of time in the last two states and discovers that inflation in those states is dramatically worse than in the "real world". The competition for the best, the most and the biggest keeps the uber-rich continuously spending. The 500 foot yacht is no longer unusual. The 30,000 square foot home is becoming common among this group. On the other hand, the demographics of the group is pretty different than in the past -- people are younger, dress less formally, don't use chauffeurs and, often, keep working long past having "enough" money. Philanthropy has become a more participatory activity with fewer gifts to "name" charities and more do it yourself social investing. The chapter about this actually focuses on an Austinite - Phillip Berber and his Glimmer of Hope Foundation.
Interesting world.
Category: Current Affairs Grade: B+
This book is almost embarrassing to review. Frank, a Wall Street Journal writer, spent years reporting on the wealthy. He came to the conclusion that the rich (in the U.S. in this book) really live in a different world. He decided to travel through the world and describe the lifestyles he found. His first quick conclusion was that millionaires are a whole lot more prevalent than they used to be (even adjusted for inflation). He divides Richistan in to four different "states" - Lower Richistan ($1-10M net worth), Middle Richistan ($10-100M net worth), Upper Richistan ($100M-$1B) and, of course, Billionaireville ($1B+).
He spends most of time in the last two states and discovers that inflation in those states is dramatically worse than in the "real world". The competition for the best, the most and the biggest keeps the uber-rich continuously spending. The 500 foot yacht is no longer unusual. The 30,000 square foot home is becoming common among this group. On the other hand, the demographics of the group is pretty different than in the past -- people are younger, dress less formally, don't use chauffeurs and, often, keep working long past having "enough" money. Philanthropy has become a more participatory activity with fewer gifts to "name" charities and more do it yourself social investing. The chapter about this actually focuses on an Austinite - Phillip Berber and his Glimmer of Hope Foundation.
Interesting world.
The Quest
The Quest by Wilbur Smith
Category: Historical Novel (sort of) Grade: B
Wilbur Smith is a very prolific writer of mostly historical fiction. The Quest is the fourth book in his series about ancient Egypt. The series focuses on Taita, a eunuch and advisor to the Pharaohs of Egypt. He's a "long liver" having lived through the reigns of four or five Pharaohs. The previous three novels have been reality based. This one flies way off in to the realm of fantasy. In doing so, Smith becomes extremely derivative. This book reads like a compilation of the stories of Tolkien, Rowlins and others. There are quests, reincarnation, witches, fantastical healing and, frankly, ultimately, it was too much. The book managed to hang on to a B rating because Smith really writes amazing ancient battle scenes - a little gory, but engaging.
If you're interested in Egypt, I still recommend the earlier books in the series, especially the first one, River God. Definitely don't start with this one.
Category: Historical Novel (sort of) Grade: B
Wilbur Smith is a very prolific writer of mostly historical fiction. The Quest is the fourth book in his series about ancient Egypt. The series focuses on Taita, a eunuch and advisor to the Pharaohs of Egypt. He's a "long liver" having lived through the reigns of four or five Pharaohs. The previous three novels have been reality based. This one flies way off in to the realm of fantasy. In doing so, Smith becomes extremely derivative. This book reads like a compilation of the stories of Tolkien, Rowlins and others. There are quests, reincarnation, witches, fantastical healing and, frankly, ultimately, it was too much. The book managed to hang on to a B rating because Smith really writes amazing ancient battle scenes - a little gory, but engaging.
If you're interested in Egypt, I still recommend the earlier books in the series, especially the first one, River God. Definitely don't start with this one.
Friday, July 13, 2007
The Black Swan
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Category: Philosophy Grade: B+
This book made my head hurt.
Taleb, by background, is a trader. I guess I hadn't really grasped the fact from the reviews and the jacket cover that this was really a philosophy book. That made it, at times, hard to follow. In addition, Taleb's tone is very confrontational. He's obviously not out to win friends among the financial and philosophical community. He even trashes icons like the economist Paul Samuelson and his followers.
Taleb's basic premise is that most things -- life, history, the financial markets - are driven not by predictable, analyzable continuity (or by bell curves), but by Black Swans. The term comes from the fact that, for centuries, most scientist believed that all swans were white based on thousands and thousands of observations. I.e. nobody had ever seen a swan that wasn't white so, therefore, all swans must be white. This theory had to be thrown out when the unexpected happened -- scientists found black swans in Australia. More specifically, a Black Swan, per Taleb, has three characteristics -- its unpredictable, it has major impact and, most of the time, it can be analyzed (not necessarily correctly) in hindsight. The best examples of Black Swan in the recent past are 9/11 and Katrina (and, more personally, the massive floodings in Marble Falls this summer). Note, not all Black Swans are negative. Again from personal experience, the success of AOL has to be considered a Black Swan - one that worked out pretty well for me.
Taleb points out that predicting based on experience is an extremely dangerous thing to do. Essentially, "if you don't study history, you're doomed to repeat it" doesn't work for him. The classic example he uses is the "Thanksgiving turkey" scenario. If you're a turkey, for a thousand days you're pampered and well fed. After a thousand observations, it's reasonable for you, the turkey, to assume that tomorrow will be another day like yesterday. Surprise, surprise - instead of getting dinner, you are dinner on the 1001st day! The general conclusions from this is that you can't draw definitive positive conclusions from any number of positive observations. You can, however, draw negative conclusions from a single negative observation. For example, thousands of white swans don't prove that all swans are white, while a single black swan proves that not all swans are white. He also warns against transposition errors -- "not all swans are white" is not the same as "all swans are not white".
From a practical point of view, Taleb's conclusion is that professional predictors are useless. In fact, he claims that they're worse than useless since they don't accept the fact that they could be wrong. Since a lot of research in the financial world is devoted to building more and more elaborate economic and market models, this is naturally a controversial position.
Ultimately, of course, since Black Swans are, by definition, unpredictable, you can't really plan for them. You can, however, plan on the assumption that some Black Swan will happen. On the negative side, most of us do this -- we buy insurance. Insurance always seems like a useless thing to do, until the Black Swan happens. Just ask the uninsured Katrina victims. On the positive side, you can put yourself in position to take advantage of positive Black Swans - e.g. join start up companies.
Reading contrarians like Taleb is definitely worthwhile. I actually happen to identify with his writings, but even if he just makes you think more critically, he's worth reading.
Category: Philosophy Grade: B+
This book made my head hurt.
Taleb, by background, is a trader. I guess I hadn't really grasped the fact from the reviews and the jacket cover that this was really a philosophy book. That made it, at times, hard to follow. In addition, Taleb's tone is very confrontational. He's obviously not out to win friends among the financial and philosophical community. He even trashes icons like the economist Paul Samuelson and his followers.
Taleb's basic premise is that most things -- life, history, the financial markets - are driven not by predictable, analyzable continuity (or by bell curves), but by Black Swans. The term comes from the fact that, for centuries, most scientist believed that all swans were white based on thousands and thousands of observations. I.e. nobody had ever seen a swan that wasn't white so, therefore, all swans must be white. This theory had to be thrown out when the unexpected happened -- scientists found black swans in Australia. More specifically, a Black Swan, per Taleb, has three characteristics -- its unpredictable, it has major impact and, most of the time, it can be analyzed (not necessarily correctly) in hindsight. The best examples of Black Swan in the recent past are 9/11 and Katrina (and, more personally, the massive floodings in Marble Falls this summer). Note, not all Black Swans are negative. Again from personal experience, the success of AOL has to be considered a Black Swan - one that worked out pretty well for me.
Taleb points out that predicting based on experience is an extremely dangerous thing to do. Essentially, "if you don't study history, you're doomed to repeat it" doesn't work for him. The classic example he uses is the "Thanksgiving turkey" scenario. If you're a turkey, for a thousand days you're pampered and well fed. After a thousand observations, it's reasonable for you, the turkey, to assume that tomorrow will be another day like yesterday. Surprise, surprise - instead of getting dinner, you are dinner on the 1001st day! The general conclusions from this is that you can't draw definitive positive conclusions from any number of positive observations. You can, however, draw negative conclusions from a single negative observation. For example, thousands of white swans don't prove that all swans are white, while a single black swan proves that not all swans are white. He also warns against transposition errors -- "not all swans are white" is not the same as "all swans are not white".
From a practical point of view, Taleb's conclusion is that professional predictors are useless. In fact, he claims that they're worse than useless since they don't accept the fact that they could be wrong. Since a lot of research in the financial world is devoted to building more and more elaborate economic and market models, this is naturally a controversial position.
Ultimately, of course, since Black Swans are, by definition, unpredictable, you can't really plan for them. You can, however, plan on the assumption that some Black Swan will happen. On the negative side, most of us do this -- we buy insurance. Insurance always seems like a useless thing to do, until the Black Swan happens. Just ask the uninsured Katrina victims. On the positive side, you can put yourself in position to take advantage of positive Black Swans - e.g. join start up companies.
Reading contrarians like Taleb is definitely worthwhile. I actually happen to identify with his writings, but even if he just makes you think more critically, he's worth reading.
Social Commentary
I've tried to avoid doing a much of any social commentary on this blog since, if I get started, I'd probably be spewing propaganda for weeks. However, I ran across a brief article in the latest Newsweek that really summed up a whole lot of today's problems for me.
The article was about a new trend, which I generally support, to hold parents responsible for the crimes of their minor children. Even though I'm a liberal on most issues, I do believe that the primary responsibility for giving kids a moral basis lies with the family, not with the schools or the government. I think there's a roll for everybody to play, but the lynch pin is the home. So, it makes sense to me that, if kids go wrong early, there should be consequences for their parents.
But come on -- let's at least be logical about this and send the message we want kids to get. In Louisiana, a parent can be fined $250 if their child joins a gang. Not much, but a start. In California, if a parent provides, intentionally or accidentally, a gun to a child who then goes on to seriously injure or kill somebody, the parent can be fined $30,000. OK, better. However, there is now a federal law that says, if a child illegally downloads a song from the Internet, the parent can be fined up to $150,000!!!
Now that we have are child-rearing philosophy straight, let me provide the obvious advice to those of you who still have kids at home. If you're thinking about buying your child an mp3 player, forget it. It's a whole lot cheaper to get them a handgun! And if you really want to be financially responsible, forget the Kazaa account, take the kid shopping for gang colors!
Makes you proud to be an American!
The article was about a new trend, which I generally support, to hold parents responsible for the crimes of their minor children. Even though I'm a liberal on most issues, I do believe that the primary responsibility for giving kids a moral basis lies with the family, not with the schools or the government. I think there's a roll for everybody to play, but the lynch pin is the home. So, it makes sense to me that, if kids go wrong early, there should be consequences for their parents.
But come on -- let's at least be logical about this and send the message we want kids to get. In Louisiana, a parent can be fined $250 if their child joins a gang. Not much, but a start. In California, if a parent provides, intentionally or accidentally, a gun to a child who then goes on to seriously injure or kill somebody, the parent can be fined $30,000. OK, better. However, there is now a federal law that says, if a child illegally downloads a song from the Internet, the parent can be fined up to $150,000!!!
Now that we have are child-rearing philosophy straight, let me provide the obvious advice to those of you who still have kids at home. If you're thinking about buying your child an mp3 player, forget it. It's a whole lot cheaper to get them a handgun! And if you really want to be financially responsible, forget the Kazaa account, take the kid shopping for gang colors!
Makes you proud to be an American!
Monday, July 02, 2007
The Good Guy
The Good Guy by Dean Koontz
Category: Thriller Grade: A-
And back to entertaining garbage... This book has three parts -- a brief ten page section to set up the premise, an involved chase scene and, finally, a relatively brief explanation of why everything happened. The premise is pretty clever -- a man (our hero) walks in to his favorite bar. After a few minutes at the bar, a stranger walks over, hands our hero $10K and a picture of the woman our hero is supposed to kill and leaves the bar. A few minutes later, a second stranger walks in to the bar and walks up our hero to ask for his assignment. The hero, having figured out that he has somehow gotten in to the middle of a murder-for-hire, gives the second stranger the money and tells him "never mind", thinking that'll make everybody happy and keep the woman alive.
Of course, it doesn't work out that way. The contract killer figures out what happened and, because of professional pride and the fact that he enjoys killing people, decides to go ahead with the murder. In addition, he figures that, since our hero can identify him, our hero will have to go to and, since the murderer is a sporting man, he calls our hero and tells him so!
I haven't given away much here. The setup I've described all happens in the first ten pages or so. Then, most of the book is devoted to the cat and mouse game between the murderer and the hero and, of course, the intended victim since we need an attractive, quirky female lead to make the action interesting. Surprisingly, Koontz is then able to give us 300 pages of non-stop, very entertaining action. As I said, its basically one long chase scene and, like the best Die Hard movie, it keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way.
The last section - the explanation of why anybody wanted to kill this reasonably nice woman in the first place - is the weak point of the book and cost it a couple of points. It was a little lame and felt like Koontz finished and realized he'd left this big issue hanging out there.
The weak points aren't enough to kill the fun of the story and the pace of the action. This is a great summer read. Perfect for sitting by the pool or waiting for the sun to come out.
Category: Thriller Grade: A-
And back to entertaining garbage... This book has three parts -- a brief ten page section to set up the premise, an involved chase scene and, finally, a relatively brief explanation of why everything happened. The premise is pretty clever -- a man (our hero) walks in to his favorite bar. After a few minutes at the bar, a stranger walks over, hands our hero $10K and a picture of the woman our hero is supposed to kill and leaves the bar. A few minutes later, a second stranger walks in to the bar and walks up our hero to ask for his assignment. The hero, having figured out that he has somehow gotten in to the middle of a murder-for-hire, gives the second stranger the money and tells him "never mind", thinking that'll make everybody happy and keep the woman alive.
Of course, it doesn't work out that way. The contract killer figures out what happened and, because of professional pride and the fact that he enjoys killing people, decides to go ahead with the murder. In addition, he figures that, since our hero can identify him, our hero will have to go to and, since the murderer is a sporting man, he calls our hero and tells him so!
I haven't given away much here. The setup I've described all happens in the first ten pages or so. Then, most of the book is devoted to the cat and mouse game between the murderer and the hero and, of course, the intended victim since we need an attractive, quirky female lead to make the action interesting. Surprisingly, Koontz is then able to give us 300 pages of non-stop, very entertaining action. As I said, its basically one long chase scene and, like the best Die Hard movie, it keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way.
The last section - the explanation of why anybody wanted to kill this reasonably nice woman in the first place - is the weak point of the book and cost it a couple of points. It was a little lame and felt like Koontz finished and realized he'd left this big issue hanging out there.
The weak points aren't enough to kill the fun of the story and the pace of the action. This is a great summer read. Perfect for sitting by the pool or waiting for the sun to come out.
The Secret Life of Houdini
The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush and Larry Sloman
Category: Biography Grade: B-
It's hard to imagine but, in his day, mostly the early years of the 20th century, Houdini was about as big a superstar as it gets. This was an era before any kind of real mass media -- even the movies only kicked in late in Houdini's career. Born Erik Weisz in Hungary in 1874, the man who would become Harry Houdini was moved to the United States early in his life and became Elrich Weiss. He adopted the name Houdini as a tribute to a French magician named Robert-Houdin - a man that Houdini eventually turned on, publishing a book exposing him as a fraud.
Houdini was really one of the first to understand the values of self-promotion. Everything he did in his early life was designed with one purpose - to promote the career of Harry Houdini. For example, when he first became an escape artist and for most of his career, he would, on arriving in a new town for a show, head straight for the local police office. There, he would challenge the local cops to secure him in any combination of standard-issue handcuffs, leg irons, even jail cells and proceed to astonish everybody (including, of course, the assembled press) with his ability to escape. Throughout his career, he maintained close relations with not only local police all over the world but also the leaders of the Secret Service and Britain's MI-5. In one of the controversial aspects of the book, the authors show reasonably convincing evidence that Houdini acted throughout his life as an unofficial resource for these spy agencies.
Late in his career, Houdini became a crusader against the Spiritualist Movement, the religion that was predicated on the ability to speak, through mediums, to the dead. Especially after the death of the mother to whom he was devoted, Houdini desperately wanted to uncover the path to communicating with the dead but eventually, through his unique knowledge of showmanship and scam, came to denounce every medium he came across as a fraud. He repeatedly offered big rewards to any medium who could show an ability to communicate that couldn't be easily duplicated with the trick's of Houdini and, of course, never had to pay off. He became a major antagonist to the movement that was spearheaded by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Doyle, late in his life, was the most visible advocate of Spiritualism.
As a life story, Houdini's is fascinating. As a biography, this one leaves a little to be desired. Like a lot of today's movies, it could have used a much more forceful editor. Big chunks of the book prove highly repetitive -- Houdini was locked in chains, then escaped; Houdini was locked in other chains, then escaped -- over and over and over again. Once his career took off, Houdini never had much trouble filling an audience but, after all the repetition, its hard to understand how.
This book does give great pictures of the vaudeville/entertainment world of the early 20th century and a terrific overview of the Spiritualist Movement. It could have been a great one if somebody had convinced the author to trim a hundred pages or so.
Category: Biography Grade: B-
It's hard to imagine but, in his day, mostly the early years of the 20th century, Houdini was about as big a superstar as it gets. This was an era before any kind of real mass media -- even the movies only kicked in late in Houdini's career. Born Erik Weisz in Hungary in 1874, the man who would become Harry Houdini was moved to the United States early in his life and became Elrich Weiss. He adopted the name Houdini as a tribute to a French magician named Robert-Houdin - a man that Houdini eventually turned on, publishing a book exposing him as a fraud.
Houdini was really one of the first to understand the values of self-promotion. Everything he did in his early life was designed with one purpose - to promote the career of Harry Houdini. For example, when he first became an escape artist and for most of his career, he would, on arriving in a new town for a show, head straight for the local police office. There, he would challenge the local cops to secure him in any combination of standard-issue handcuffs, leg irons, even jail cells and proceed to astonish everybody (including, of course, the assembled press) with his ability to escape. Throughout his career, he maintained close relations with not only local police all over the world but also the leaders of the Secret Service and Britain's MI-5. In one of the controversial aspects of the book, the authors show reasonably convincing evidence that Houdini acted throughout his life as an unofficial resource for these spy agencies.
Late in his career, Houdini became a crusader against the Spiritualist Movement, the religion that was predicated on the ability to speak, through mediums, to the dead. Especially after the death of the mother to whom he was devoted, Houdini desperately wanted to uncover the path to communicating with the dead but eventually, through his unique knowledge of showmanship and scam, came to denounce every medium he came across as a fraud. He repeatedly offered big rewards to any medium who could show an ability to communicate that couldn't be easily duplicated with the trick's of Houdini and, of course, never had to pay off. He became a major antagonist to the movement that was spearheaded by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Doyle, late in his life, was the most visible advocate of Spiritualism.
As a life story, Houdini's is fascinating. As a biography, this one leaves a little to be desired. Like a lot of today's movies, it could have used a much more forceful editor. Big chunks of the book prove highly repetitive -- Houdini was locked in chains, then escaped; Houdini was locked in other chains, then escaped -- over and over and over again. Once his career took off, Houdini never had much trouble filling an audience but, after all the repetition, its hard to understand how.
This book does give great pictures of the vaudeville/entertainment world of the early 20th century and a terrific overview of the Spiritualist Movement. It could have been a great one if somebody had convinced the author to trim a hundred pages or so.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)