Past Reading

• The March, by E. L. Doctorow. I found some interesting characters here, skillfully woven into historical events, but it was ultimately unsatisfying. This book does what Doctorow does best -- follow several characters through a period of history, where their paths occasionally cross in unexpected ways. With a couple of exceptions (e.g., Sherman himself), there was little to draw me very deeply into any of the characters. Luckily I am very interested in the historical backdrop. The period is during Sherman's "march to the sea" during the Civil War from fall 1864 to the end of the war in April 1865. I was interested in the part of the "march" that came after Sherman reached Savannah, proceeding north through South Carolina and into North Carolina at war's end. There are lots of well-researched details, but we get only bits and pieces of them. Doctorow intends these bits to fill in the vast mural of the mood he wants, but only sometimes does he succeed. I found it difficult to really care about what happened to the characters. Sherman himself was an exception, perhaps because I have always been fascinated by what makes a successful leader or general, and since the portrait of Sherman is well-researched about a real person, I was more involved. Some of the sub-stories are interesting, but they are mostly too thin. The ending did not seem particularly profound to me either.
  
  
• 1776, by David McCullough. I was somewhat disappointed in this book, perhaps because I'm familiar with McCullough as the narrator for a couple of really great documentaries (The Civil War and Seabiscuit). This book is really about the early military compaigns of the American Revolution, starting in late 1775 and going to early 1777. I learned about some Revolutionary War campaigns that I didn't know about (e.g., the siege of Boston, and the entire New York struggle). Washington's character is certainly conveyed well -- as it turned out, he wasn't a particularly good military strategist, but still was a very effective leader. Overall I expected more interweaving of the political and economic forces that were going on in parallel with the military story. (Maybe the musical/movie 1776 already did that.) There are some details to be sure, but the overall focus is on Washington and the army. From his bibliography, McCullough could have surely given us a deeper treatment.
  
  
• The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown. I very much enjoyed this best-selling thriller. As expected, Brown weaves art and religious history into a great story. As a sequel to Angels and Demons, I thought it would extend these themes, but in some ways, it's a bit softer than its prequel. The story is the same as in the prequel: the erudite college professor suddenly thrust into a thriller, suddenly thrown together with a beautiful and brilliant young companion; some powerful and evil person controlling the strings of a hired killer, a vast conspiracy built around the Catholic church and its associations. I think I liked the first one better; it had more twists and turns than the second one. But I have to admire the college professor who saves the day!
  
  
• The Guns Of August, by Barbara W. Tuchman. I first became aware of this book in learning that it strongly influenced John F. Kennedy's attitudes during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Though the book deals with the events that started World War I in 1914, its lessons for political and military leaders are still valid. Tuchman shows how the military planners were sure it would be a swift war of movement, lasting six weeks at the most. (Similar predictions were made at the start of the U.S. Civil War and at the start of the current Iraq war.) She describes the personalities of the leaders, whose hiding of their mistakes in order to save face, and whose inability to adapt to changing circumstances led to a four-year stalemate with millions of casualties. The leaders' false perceptions guided their decisions, while field commanders begged them to look at what was actually happening. This book should be required reading for every military and political leader who even thinks of leading their people to war, but they would probably ignore its lessons, and convince themselves that "things are different now."
  
  
• The Evolution of Physics, by Albert Einstein and Leopold Infeld. Although written in the 1930's, this exposition serves as a history of physics, a clear description of the scientific process, and a very nice primer in basic physics concepts. It is full of excellent quotes about what a scientific explanation is and what it isn't. It's a classic discussion about the role of theories in explaining phenomena, only to be discarded in favor of other theories as new facts or observations disprove the previous theory. One of the best written books on science that I have ever read.
  
  
• Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown. Another thriller, using the theme of a dark mysterious conspiracy (the Illuminati) against the backdrop of large wealthy organizations (in this case, CERN and the Vatican). One challenging aspect of this book is that the entire story takes place over a period of just a few hours from beginning to end. I wondered after reading this book if it would be more interesting if I were Catholic!
  
  
• Digital Fortress, by Dan Brown. My friends have been urging me to read Dan Brown's books, so I started with this one. It's really gripping fiction, which is unfortunately far too realistic. It's full of computer and national security facts, in a smooth style which seamlessly spills over into the features of the story. Rather than typical action figures, the heroes of this story are people who mostly use their brains to save the world, a theme that always appeals to me.
  
  
• A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr. This book written in 1959 is still a remarkable work. The "story" starts centuries after a nuclear holocaust, and deals with the struggles of a new society trying to find its way back to "civilization". Much as in the Dark Ages after the fall of the Roman Empire, it is up to the Catholic Church to preserve the writing and knowledge until the future can make sense of it. I first read this book twenty years ago, and still find it fascinating. Knowledge of Catholicism would be helpful, as would some familiarity with ecclesiastical Latin!
  
  
• The Rocket Boys, by Homer Hickam, Jr. This book was the basis for the movie October Sky. It is one of my favorite movies, but I wanted to see how faithful it captured the real story in the book. Homer Hickam grew up in a coal mining town in West Virginia. He expected to be a coal miner when he grew up, but the launch of Sputnik in 1957 changed his perspective when he decided to start building rockets. It's a wonderful story of a teenager coming of age, mixing conflict with his father, the challenges of experimenting with rockets and awkwardness with meeting girls. How could I resist a story of a kid who excels in science and gets the girl!
      "What's your definition of a great rocket?" I asked.
      "...One that does precisely what it's designed to do. It doesn't matter if it only flies two hundred feet. If that's what it's designed to do, and that's what it does, it will be a great rocket."
  
  
• Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. A description of a theory of metaphor with lots of interesting examples, such as the argument as war metaphor which leads to all kinds of phrases such as "adopt a position" "retreat from a claim" etc. They make a case that metaphors are not simply helpful aids to communication, but actually shape our thinking: for example, we can actually win or lose an argument, as though it were war. This is a good book for learning about how context affects the meaning of what we say, and how metaphors give us not only nice short-cuts but also some elegant formulations of new meanings.
  
  
• Einstein's Dreams, by Alan Lightman. This wonderful book is deceptively short. On the surface, it focuses on a brief period in the life of Einstein in 1905, when he was struggling with developing his theories about the nature of time. But the book doesn't stay on the surface very much. Be prepared for interesting trips through time. I could read the book many times and get more out of it each time.
  
  
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J.K. Rowling. I'm probably the last kid in the English-speaking world to read this book, but better late than never. The story and the author deserve all the awards and compliments. I was thoroughly entertained. The names and the dialog were just consistently odd enough for me. Of course, how could I resist a book about a short dark-haired boy named Harry who wears glasses!
  
  
• The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger. A journalist's view of a terrible storm, made into a popular movie. After seeing the movie, I wasn't sure how I'd react to the book, but the story is a compelling drama. Unlike the movie, which tells a composite fictionalized version of the story focusing on one boat of many caught up in the storm, the book tells the story of several groups who all faced disaster and rescue as a result. I gained an even greater appreciation for how roughly fishing sailors live and work. It teaches important lessons about how nature can overwhelm our technology and machines.
  
  
• Tuesdays With Morrie, by Mitch Albom. A wonderful story about how a writer re-connects with a dying former professor. There is much truth here about life and death, and the importance of love.
  
  
• The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes. This book blends the science, the politics, the history and the personalities surrounding the development of atomic theory from the early 1900's up through the Manhattan Project and the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan. It has a great selection of original quotations, from writings and from official documents. He is able to portray the human side of scientific research. He clearly shows how many current issues and problems with "The Bomb" were predicted and understood even before the bomb was ever used. History, science, politics -- of course I loved it!
  
  
• A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn. A well-researched history of the U.S. focused on the economic disparities in social and political systems. It documents (with many first-hand quotations) class struggle, labor unrest, opposition to wars, and gender issues in American politics. It portrays the American system as giving just enough power to just enough people to keep in power an economic elite (the 1% of people who own over one-third of the country's wealth).
  
  
• Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt. A memoire of growing up in Limerick, Ireland, in the 1930's and 1940's. A funny, ironic, sometimes very sad account of McCourt's boyhood. The style of the language is delicious and almost speaks out loud.
  
  
• The Terrible Hours: The Greatest Submarine Rescue in History, by Peter Maas, Harper/Collins, 1999. A in-depth account of the heroic rescue of sailors from the submarine Squalus in 1939 off the coast of New England. A great story and a good summary of the problems and technologies of submarine rescue.
  
  
• Delivered From Evil: The Saga of World War II, by Robert Leckie. A one-volume history of the war, including biographical information on the major political and military leaders. I've read this more than once! Don't let its hefty size scare you away -- it's well-written and exciting, even though you know how it ends. :-)
  
  
• Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage, by Sherry Sontag. A collection of espionage operations using American submarines during the Cold War; makes good use of now-unclassified material to tell the stories of several highly classified operations.
  
  
• Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-45, by Leo Marks, 1999. An excellent memoir of the "other side" of codes, namely, the effort to develop unbreakable codes and operating procedures for one's own agents behind enemy lines.