I had read this autobiographical piece by the Rush drummer, Neil Peart, some years ago, but I decided to read it again after finishing Geddy Lee's recI had read this autobiographical piece by the Rush drummer, Neil Peart, some years ago, but I decided to read it again after finishing Geddy Lee's recent biography My Effin' Life.
I don't know what it is about these Canadian rock icons, but the way they tell stories and describe life is quite resounding with me. All us Rush fans need next is for guitarist Alex Lifeson to write his story!
Neil Peart wrote Ghost Rider in the early 2000s, when he was just getting his life back on track from a crushing double-whammy loss: in August 1997, his daughter, on the cusp of adulthood, was killed in a tragic car accident, and within months, his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died.
The stars are not wanted now Put out every one Pack up the moon And dismantle the sun Pour away the ocean And sweep up the wood For nothing now can ever Come to any good W.H. Auden
The book briefly recounts the tragic context and then launches into his account of a sort of self-imposed exile. Not knowing what else to do with his life, Peart gets on his BMW GS motorcycle and just keeps driving throughout North America as a form of therapy for his undertandably fragile "little baby soul".
Neil Peart is not only the drummer of Rush but acts is the group's lyricist as well. The guy has a way with words, likely because he is also an avid reader. If you are a Rush fan, you know that Rush's music explores themes related to life philosophy, science, science-fiction, mythology and all sorts of esoteric stuff, and these are driven by Peart's lyrics, which in turn are driven by his very large reading list. So, although there is obviously a certain degree of "woe is me" throughout this autobiography, there is also a lot of keen insight about love and loss, coping with tragedy, and the human condition in general. On top of that, Peart adds his keen observations on the geography and sense of place along the varied route of his travels: the Canadian shield, Canada's Northwest and Yukon Territories, British Columbia, the Western US deserts, and Mexico and Belize.
The text is not only made up of his later narrative as he writes the book, but it also includes snippets from original journal entries he made throughout the travels, as well as letters and postcards he wrote to friends and family. Especially interesting and prevalent amongst his letters are those to his best friend abd erstwhile riding buddy, Brutus, who has been sadly detained by the US justice system.
There are so many poignant layers to this partial life story of a very private yet introspective man. Partly a travelogue, partly a journal of healing, partly a search for the meaning of life, and partly a primal scream at the injustice life has handed him, Peart gives the reader much to think about and savour through his tale of personal suffering and renewal.
Little by little, you can see the tone of Peart's diary entries and letters change as he starts to come to terms with his loss, finds new love, and ultimately reboots his life and musical career with his bandmates.
Sadly, 20 years after he wrote this book, Neil Peart himself died of cancer after being diagnosed with a terminal glioblastoma....more
Full disclosure: I have been a Rush fan since high-school, which is perhaps why I rate this biography so highly.
Geddy Lee was the bassist of the CanaFull disclosure: I have been a Rush fan since high-school, which is perhaps why I rate this biography so highly.
Geddy Lee was the bassist of the Canadian power-trio Rush, a band that started out of Geddy Lee and fellow guitarist Alex Lifeson's highschool dreams and became a multi-platinum giant of the global music business over 40 years, while still maintaining the highschool nerdiness of its admittedly nerdy founders. Drummer Neil Peart joined the band just as they broke into the mainstream in 1974, and these three truly became like brothers.
This genuine and open style, with often self-deprecating, Canadian humour makes this book a treat to read for not only Rush fans, but perhaps anyone who grew up in Canada in the 1970s through 1990s. Lees narrative style is much like sitting in your suburban basement with your best friend, shooting the breeze and reliving memories.
Not all the memories that Lee shares are sunshine and rainbows either. He quite rightly delves into some sad and scary family history, explaining how his parents met and miraculously survived the holocaust as Polish Jews. You can see how this left an indelible mark on the young Gershon Lee Weinrib, living in suburban Toronto. He became somewhat of a rebel when his father died when he was just a young teenager--growing his hair long, listening to "weird" music, changing his name to something "stage-friendly" and losing all interest in school. Although he had quite a different highschool experience than me and most Canadian kids, there is something familiar about the alienation of adolescence that people of all different strokes can easily identify with.
After exploring his early years and family of origin story, the book moves logically and chronologically through the band's development and the adventures they have as a prolific album producing and touring group.
Geddy is not too shy about getting into more personal details that play into his story, while adroitly avoiding salaciousness and gossip. I must admit, the stories of drug consumption surprised me a little, as the band members always comported themselves with such dignity in public and pulled off amazing and professional stage performances. But this is the essential thing about Rush and those three gentlemen: they were genuinely interested in expressing their art to the fullest without the pretensions that others at that level may fall into. To the very last show in the summer of 2015, they were essentially three high-school nerds, living their musical dream. The drug scene of the 70-80s was perhaps unavoidable, and it seems not to have negatively affected them.
Of necessity, the closing chapters are tinged with sadness with the passing of drummer Neil Peart, whose life had already stumbled over earlier tragedies due to the untimely death of his teenage daughter and his wife, both within a year in 1998. Once again, Geddy handles it well, expressing his emotions with dignity and candor while letting his fans know what those days were like for him and Alex and their families. Rush can never exist again as it was, but the amazing story of these guys should last a very long time.
I consumed this book quickly, reading its 500 pages, also filled with wonderful photographs, in just two weeks. It also got me listening to Rush again, which I haven't done much of in the last few years! ...more
Reading Dickens has been an interesting experience for me. Besides "A Christmas Carol", I have now read the more substantial "A Tale of Two Cities" anReading Dickens has been an interesting experience for me. Besides "A Christmas Carol", I have now read the more substantial "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Great Expectations". In these latter novels I seem to start the books feeling optimistic. Yes! I seem to be following the 19th century prose and dialog well enough, and I start to get into the story. Then, about 1/3 of the way through, I start to wonder, "Where is this going?" A fair number of minor events pass the reader by, but nothing seems to add up to anything that appears to move the plot forward, or so it would seem. I suppose that is the modern reader's trap, and we are perhaps too accustomed to a paucity of events and details, and those events that do occur quickly run together and stick to the point of, pardon the pun, our great expectations. Nevertheless, patience is our reward for sticking with Dickens and arriving at his wonderful conclusions that always seem to wrap things up into a neat package.
The story of young Pip (Philip Pirrip), followed this pattern for me. The story starts as Pip, an orphan who lives with his older sister and her husband, has an interesting encounter with an escaped convict, for whom he takes a risk and does a secret favor. As we see more of Pip's home life with his somewhat abusive, high-strung sister, and her warm-hearted, easy-going blacksmith husband Joe, living in a bleak marshland a day's journey outside London, we get the sense that he would perhaps prefer to make something different of his life. A few years later, he mysteriously gets hired by Miss Havisham, a bizarre spinster living a sequestered life of bitterness since losing her life's love. Pip's job seems to consist of simply visiting and keeping her company for some obscure purpose. There he falls in love with Miss Havisham's adopted daughter, the beautiful and aloof Estella.
As the story develops, a secret benefactor contacts Pip through a London lawyer, and we are given to believe that Pip is destined for a life of wealth and privilege. We are tempted to assume, as Pip does, that Miss Havisham has seen something in him and is setting him up as her heir and possibly the hand of Estella. Pip must then leave his home for tutoring and a "better life" in London, where he meets a few good friends, learns the ways of the world, and unfortunately starts to build up some debt. It is at this point that I start to wonder if I'm missing something, as the story doesn't quite seem to be going anywhere obvious.
Finally, though, we learn the true identity of Pip's benefactor, and the story starts to come together. The reasons behind events and the characters' motivations start to crystallize. Although I was partly confused or slightly incredulous at some of the characters' motivations, one comes to terms with this upon some reflection that the social mores of the 19th century England were somewhat different than ours today. Dickens' writing does actually hold a certain amount of timelessness. Even though some themes, such as the class-society of the day, give modern readers some pause, it is somewhat remarkable how universal the other themes really are: disappointment in love, the value of friendship, the folly of pride, the unravelling of unfounded expectations, and so much more. It is no wonder why Dickens was and remains so popular....more
I had read this book once before some years ago, but appreciated it even more so now having recently read about other BC explorers.
Nancy Marguerite AnI had read this book once before some years ago, but appreciated it even more so now having recently read about other BC explorers.
Nancy Marguerite Anderson is an actual descendant of her historical subject, A.C. Anderson, who worked for the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in the middle of the 19th century throughout the Pacific Northwest region of New Caledonia and Oregon Territory. This was an interesting turning point in the history of the fur trade, when most of the new areas had been explored and forts and trading posts mostly well established. However, with the border settlement between Canada and the US in the mid 1800s, the HBC found themselves needing to abandon their outposts on the Columbia River south of the 49th parallel, and figure out how to get furs from the interior of what was becoming British Columbia, to their post at the outlet of the Fraser River at Fort Langley. The task fell to AC Anderson, who was already by then quite experienced with the geography of the area and having held various senior positions in many of its fur trading posts.
Although not as well hailed as the travels of Alexander Mackenzie or David Thompson, Anderson's helped to open up various routes that later were the basis of our roads and highways in the 20th century. He lived a very interesting life in the fur trade, married a half-indian woman (as many traders did), and raised a large family, which followed him from place to place. At the end of his HBC career, he eventually settled in the Victoria area and was on good terms with BC's first colonial governor and old colleague from the HBC, James Douglas, who connected Anderson into government roles, such as a member of the Indian Reserve Commission and Fisheries Inspector in the later 1800s.
I love putting the pieces of local history together, and relying on the account of a local BC author with an actual ancestral connection to a key historical figure is a wonderful way to do it!...more
D'Arcy Jenish brings to life fur-trader turned mapmaker, David Thompson, with this book. Slightly different to my recent readings that focused in on tD'Arcy Jenish brings to life fur-trader turned mapmaker, David Thompson, with this book. Slightly different to my recent readings that focused in on the details of the explorations of the Pacific Northwest, this narrative is a well-rounded chronology of the life of this Canadian explorer of the late 18th and early 19th century.
David Thompson was born to poor parents, and when his father died at an early age, his mother gave the little boy up to the Grey Coat Hospital School in New Westminster, London in the hopes of providing a better future for him. At the age of 14, the school sent Thompson to the Hudson's Bay Company where he became an apprentice for the fur trade, and he left England for Canada in 1784, never to see his homeland or family of origin again.
Obviously life was quite difficult in those early years, but Thompson did his best, learning the rudiments of book-keeping and clerical tasks in the forts just to the west of Hudson's Bay in the great plains of what is now Manitoba and Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territory. In one of those twists of fate, the 16-year-old Thompson badly broke his leg, which forced him to stay in camp for more than a season. He was befriended by Philip Turnor, a lead surveyor in the company, who taught Thompson the use of a sextant, chronometer, and the mathematical computations required to determine one's location. Thompson found it enthralling to be able to read the stars and calculate accurately his location in latitude and longitude.
This became a significant turning point for Thompson, and as he recovered, he became more interested in the aspect of exploring the great territory held by the Hudson's Bay Company. In a few more years he left HBC for the upstart Northwest Trade Company, who were much more eager to explore the extremes of the frontier, since they had the philosophy of going out to find the indigenous traders to get the best furs, unlike the more timid HBC who were more apt in setting up forts in the prairies nearer their factories along the bay.
Jenish provides a fair amount of detail, based on Thompson's fairly meticulous records and diaries. Probably my biggest peeve with the book is the lack of readable maps and relating Thompson's described whereabouts with modern locations. Jack Nisbet's books on Thompson do this service, which I and many other Pacific Northwest history fans greatly appreciate, to a much better degree.
The highlight of Thompson's career is his navigation of the headwaters of the Columbia River to it's mouth at Astoria on the Oregon coast. Interestingly, he arrived there the same year that Astor's Pacific Fur Trade Co. set up shop there in 1811. The story of that venture is well told in Peter Stark's Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival. I was slightly disappointed that Jenish did not spend more time on this adventure, but I understand he was providing an overview of Thompson's life story, and perhaps did not want to over-focus on the highlight.
Jenish also takes us through the sad story of Thompson's later life, where he retires as a gentleman farmer in Eastern Ontario (Williamstown), but through some bad business deals and debts, ends up impoverished. He went back to work here and there doing survey work for the British-American Border Survey's Commission; however, by the time he was in his 60s, Thompson was definitely in dire straits.
I found it sad how the British government and fur trade big-wigs treated him in his later years, and I wonder if he had been born and bred of "better lineage" that he might have been granted the pension one would have expected a man of his unique service should have earned.
All in all, this is a well written book for a Canadian icon who truly led a remarkable life....more
A beautifully illustrated synopsis of fur trader and explorer David Thompson's travels in the Pacific Northwest.
Nisbet gives the reader a short but iA beautifully illustrated synopsis of fur trader and explorer David Thompson's travels in the Pacific Northwest.
Nisbet gives the reader a short but interesting background on Thompson's origins and then chronologizes his map-making trips ca. 1812 that opened up the area of modern-day area comprising southeastern BC and Alberta, northeastern Washington state, and Idaho. The artwork of 19 century artists, detailed maps, and photos really enhance the read!
Although Thompson never saw the Thompson-Okanagan region where I was born and raised, he was a key reason that that area was developed by the fur trade later in the 19th century. He focused on finding a trade route from the North Saskatchewan River on the prairies, over the mountains, and down to the Columbia River that had only just been navigated by Lewis and Clark a few years previously.
I also learned that, not only was Thompson a prolific explorer and map maker, he was an avid amateur astronomer as well. In those days, astronomical observations using a sextant were key in determining one's latitude and longitude from London.
Jack Nisbet's books have kick-started my interest in old maps and stories of settling the Pacific Northwest....more
I9This was a beautiful book filled with gorgeous color illustrations, maps, and a handy chronological timeline of the life milestones of the exploringI9This was a beautiful book filled with gorgeous color illustrations, maps, and a handy chronological timeline of the life milestones of the exploring botanist, David Douglas. Jack Nisbet's prose is good, and I like the way he visits the same areas his 19th-century subject explored in the Pacific Northwest. in order to give a modern perspective.
My biggest complaint--and reason for knocking off a star or two--is the logical structure and flow of the book. It was indeed useful to have the chronology in the back of the book because Nisbet's chapters seemed odd to me. I would have preferred a more chronological flow to the book, but Nisbet instead presented the explorations of Douglas in themed chapters, which described, for example: the Columbia River's challenging entrance from the Pacific Ocean, the mixed-blood families of the fur trade, fire management of forests, and other aspects of David Douglas's explorations. Each chapter naturally contains a lot of descriptions of the plant and animal life noted by the explorer; however, this often didn't quite fit with a chapter's focus. It also felt jarring to basically get an overall outline of Douglas' two visits to the Pacific Northwest within just the first chapter or two, that ostensibly described the Columbia River Bar and the native inhabitants, and then come back in each subsequent chapter with more details of the flora and fauna collecting aspects thrown in to fill some context of the other themes. This may have worked if there was a great deal more material to cover, and you wanted to dive deeper into these themes, but for me the chapters seemed somewhat artificial and contrived in a book of around 150 pages.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed learning about David Douglas, who was indeed an important contributor to understanding the natural environment of the Pacfic Northwest coast from Oregon to British Columbia, my homeland. He had a remarkable career for a labourer's son with no formal science education in a time where the ideas of the enlightenment, science, and opening of the North American frontier all came together....more
I was pleasantly surprised by Candice Millard's ability to bring to life an early story of perhaps the most documented Brit of all time, Sir Winston CI was pleasantly surprised by Candice Millard's ability to bring to life an early story of perhaps the most documented Brit of all time, Sir Winston Churchill.
Not only does Millard document the exploits driven by Churchill's desire to become famous during the South African Boer war 1899-1900, but she practically turns it into an action thriller! She totally brings alive the historical events and characters around Churchill's participation, capture, and subsequent escape in this conflict, which Churchill cleverly used as publicity to launch his desired political career well before the age of 30.
I also like how she not only told Churchill's story but also gave the historical context and subsequent evolution of South Africa from the troubled British-Dutch colony to the modern (and still troubled) republic it is today. I learned a lot about this aspect of Churchill's life on which I'd been quite sketchy....more
Over the last several years, I had kept on hearing references to Gitta Sereny's books on WWII, which tend to address in-depth reasons regarding why soOver the last several years, I had kept on hearing references to Gitta Sereny's books on WWII, which tend to address in-depth reasons regarding why some very smart German's did some very dumb and despicable things under Hitler's reign. Seeing such high praise on the internet and Goodreads, I am puzzled why my local libraries don't carry her books. This spring I finally purchased a couple of them via Abe.com, and I was not disappointed.
Perhaps in-depth and somewhat personalized journalism is no longer in style, which is a shame when one sees what this author can do! Sereny was a teenage Hungarian transplant in occupied France during the war and later became a journalist, writing her book on Albert Speer after meeting and spending much time with him and his family members in the late 1970s through to the time of his death in 1981. This really came through her writing as an amazing asset! It reminded me of the winter evenings my mom and I would sit and rehash about the family stories that my mother had told me about WWII. With Sereny's meticulous research and such deep, literally psychological knowledge of her subjects, reading her book was like being in a conversation with Speer and his closest friends and family members, much like I was sitting down once again with my mom and discussing the war.
In essence, Sereny's thesis is about how Speer, a well-educated, smart and capable man with no overt hatred of the Jewish people, could NOT have known how his massive industrial works and manpower programs were driving the need for slave labour and thereby exacerbating the demise of so many of these poor people in occupied Europe. The book is essentially a biographical overview of Speer's life: as an architect, as a favorite of Hitler, as armaments minister, as war criminal, as repentant prisoner, and finally as an author, but it returns time and time again to that eternal question, "How could he not have known."
It is a question that we, as later-day armchair quarterbacks living in the 21st century reflect on generally about the German people of the Nazi era. How could they have just let this happen? How could they have been oblivious to genocide?
Sereny points us to the fine line that Speer walked throughout his time of service to the Third Reich, where people (even in government) only were told what was necessary in order to perform their jobs. People seemed to be in a fog as they heard these terrible rumours but simultaneously so swept up in the changing times and persona of their Fuhrer, that their conscious minds beat down their doubts. "How can something so inconceivably awful actually be happening? Especially when Germany is doing so well again?" Essentially the same question that holocaust deniers ask in the past tense. However, unlike the deniers, Speer accepted that these terrible events really did happen, and he took on the responsibility for them--at least to a degree. His defense at Nuremburg was always based on the fact that he had no outright knowledge of the terrible deeds being done for Germany. And in the end he was saved from the noose by the lack of any hard evidence traceable back to him. Along with his active blocking of Hitler's scorched-earth policy for Germany at the end of the war, he was deemed to worthy a role model to be executed.
The book hints here and there that Speer may have known more than he let on during the trials, but he indeed struggled the remainder of his life with the question: "How could I not admit the truth to myself, when it seems so obvious now?" It is indeed an inconceivable question for those of us who never faced it. However, I think it was a somewhat common thought for many Germans after the war.
The crux of the matter, can be felt, somewhat explained perhaps, in the quote at the start of the book by W.A. Visser 't Hooft:
People could find no place in their consciousness for such...unimaginable horror...they did not have the imagination, together with the courage, to face it. It is possible to live in a twilight between knowing and not knowing."
May we never again live in a world where such harsh circumstances press our psyches to the point where the ability to face the truth is driven from our minds and hearts and we fail to act for the good!...more
Megan Phelps-Roper's narrative of her transition from her early life as a die-hard, bible-thumping, sign-carrying member of the Westboro Baptist ChurcMegan Phelps-Roper's narrative of her transition from her early life as a die-hard, bible-thumping, sign-carrying member of the Westboro Baptist Church to her departure from the church and even her family (who make up the majority of members) is a tale of hope for rational and compassionate thought in America today!
The book somewhat reminded me of Eli Saslow's Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist, which I thought was very well-written. Phelps-Roper's is perhaps not quite as well written, but she may be excused as a novice writer. Her book is a much more personal, first-person account, loaded with emotion, which may hinder the clarity in some areas. Stories in which the protagonist has a huge change in their perspective are very important in current times. There is so much despair with the dichotomy and knee-jerk antipathy when we try to discuss differing points of view.
Megan's grandfather, who was a young lawyer actively involved in civil-rights cases founded The Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas back in the 1960s. The entire family became involved in both the church and in the family law company; however, the church doctrines, although not racist, became very dogmatic in interpreting America's late 20th and early 21st century woes as punishment from God for not following the bible literally, especially in matters of moral degradation and homosexuality. A key mantra of the church was literally, "God Hates Fags!" coupled with a belief that the LGBTQ community was sent by Satan to destroy America. All family members, including the children, were expected to picket parks, schools, and even military funerals with signs calling attention to the moral failings afoot in the USA. This is the environment Megan grew up in. Totally enveloped in an ostensibly close-knit and loving family, she bought into the ideas that it was her church and family (who were chosen by God himself) to fulfill the Lord's mission, and she felt somewhat at ease with the extreme doctrines, at least until she grew older and the logical fallicies and inconsistencies in the church's biblical interpretations overwhelmed her sense of rationality.
Interestingly, her mother and aunts, being members of the family law firm, had taught Megan to think critically and pursue outstanding questions. This was so she could rebuke the erroneous claims of "unbelievers" who accosted the picketing church members. However, as church doctrine hardened, and noticeably morphed the male "elders" control of the female members, Megan had an epiphany and confided with a younger sister, with whom she eventually left the church and Topeka. The open-minded Megan was also gradually influenced by people she faithfully and honestly debated on Twitter. In these online discussions, she started to learn that outsiders were not all evil Satanists, but often had valid points she could appreciate. She often felt empathy and compassion that they were not going to "saved" like her.
The great news about this story, is that it shows how people who can, with the right environment, eventually use their own critical-thinking skills and "see the light" to break out of the dogmatic thinking that holds them prisoner. Megan is somewhat of a unique case, in that she grew up open-minded, loved to question and to think independently for herself. Obviously, this is not always the case for most members of fringe groups.
Encouragingly, Megan Phelps-Roper didn't just ride off into anonymity but wrote about her experiences. She hopes to convince others who remain caught up in cultlike thinking to trust their own thoughts and sense of justice, rather than soley rely on a group of "elders" that thinks for them and controls their lives. I think and hope we hear more from her, as she is well-poised to help breakthrough our culture's logjam, where two sides cannot hear each other over their own spite and venom, stuck in the thought that they must be the only group who can be "right". She believes that free-speech is important. Even poorly thought-out and dogmatic ideas can be entertained, as long as we are able to rationally debate them on the marketplace of ideas and truthfully evaluate them....more
Hemming brings us into the early months of WWII, a time when Britain is bending under the terrific strain of impending invasion, and President RooseveHemming brings us into the early months of WWII, a time when Britain is bending under the terrific strain of impending invasion, and President Roosevelt is cautiously talking with Prime Minister Churchill on the seeds of the Lend-Lease agreement to help Britain's war resources shortage, whilst he treads carefully around public opinion. Americans are thinking of America First and reluctant to enter another European conflict.
Then a mysterious, low-key Canadian by the name of William Stephenson is sent to New York in the summer of 1940 by MI6. He is tasked with finding means to shift public and government opinion in the US so that their sometime ally comes once more into a war with Britain, this time to defeat Hitler, before it's too late.
Hemming has gift for storytelling and a bit of a flair for the dramatic, and he also has a unique insight into Bill Stephenson, as the latter was a friend of his British grandparents. He leads us through the machinations of this quiet character, who at first doesn't have much experience with spycraft, but given a great number of resources and a fair amount of leeway, Stephenson learns to quietly pull the right levers in American public opinion, eventually drowning out protests of the America First crowd of Charles Lindbergh with enthusiastic interventionists.
If you are interested in WWII history, and the characters who helped bring the USA in as a British ally, much of it is here from a slightly different perspective. We see the familiar events unfold: Lend-Lease, the North Atlantic meeting in Newfoundland, all the way up to Pearl Harbor, while we meet the familiar characters: Roosevelt, Wendell Wilkie, Bill Donovan, Lords Lothian and Halifax and more. Sometimes we may think that the overall WWII timeline was somewhat inevitable, but we can start to imagine that, especially for a very worried British public and Prime Minister Churchill in June-July 1940, it might have gone quite a different way....more
This was the first book by Doris Kearns Goodwin that I've read, and I really enjoyed it. Although it covers the lives of four key US presidents: LincoThis was the first book by Doris Kearns Goodwin that I've read, and I really enjoyed it. Although it covers the lives of four key US presidents: Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, F.D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson, the author does a pretty good job of limiting the content to the subject at hand: their leadership skills.
Goodwin divides the four presidential stories as follows: a first chapter each on the early years and how they became involved in politics, a second on each one's rise to the presidency through some adversity, a third chapter with a key example of how each one proved their leadership, and then a single last combined chapter on their post-presidential legacies. Because she handled these chapters chronologically, it sometimes got a bit confusing as you would constantly be switching presidents in each chapter, but this was a minor distraction. Interleaving the presidential stories in this way helped me to see the similarities and key differences in their leadership styles as I moved along.
In each one of the key presidential leadership chapters, the author did a great job by focusing on just one crisis of that presidency: the Emancipation Proclamation for Lincoln, the coal strike for TDR, the first 100 days of FDR's New Deal, and the civil rights legislation of LBJ. I also really like the way she broke these chapters into sections with subtitles indicative of a key leadership trait and how that president exemplified it. As a snide personal aside: I tried to find examples of these leadership traits in the current occupant of the White House, but I failed miserably...I don't think I found a single one.
Overall the book was easy, pleasant reading and well-organized. It was a great introduction to some of the very well-known US presidents that goes a bit beyond common knowledge to entice students of history with a slightly deeper view, and perhaps to spur them even further with other works....more
This was a very enjoyable and educational read. John Kaag creatively interweaves the personal narrative of his failed first marriage and ensuing persoThis was a very enjoyable and educational read. John Kaag creatively interweaves the personal narrative of his failed first marriage and ensuing personal crisis with an overview of American pragmatic philosophy. This comes about with his discovery of the country estate and library of W. Ernest Hocking, possibly one of the last great, well-known American philosophers who was personally acquainted with the likes of William James, Emerson, Royce, Thoreau and many others. The library consists of many volumes of these scholars that are personally signed and annotated.
Kaag becomes obsessed with Hocking's rundown library on the estate in New Hampshire, and starts a project with Hocking's granddaughters to catalog the incredible collection of books before they are completely destroyed by mold, mischievous rodents, and time itself. Kaag brings us along for the ride as he explains many of the philosophies held within these scholarly tomes, while simultaneously reflecting upon his own personal troubles and loss of direction and meaning in his life. I found the philosophical insights, along with anecdotes of the personal struggles of folks like William James and John Royce, very well presented and explained by Kaag.
However, my biggest criticism of the book is that sometimes Kaag skips ahead in his personal story, leaving me feeling as though I'd missed some milestone in his personal journey, since I was so absorbed in the philosophical discussion. For example, fairly early in the book it seems that Kaag has only just begun his project at the library, when you suddenly realize a few pages later that he has been there for several months, is now divorced, and is forming a new relationship with a work colleague. I realize the author can't delve into all these personal details too much, but somehow it felt that the parallel of his personal journey wasn't always in synch with his revamped exploration of the pragmatic-school of American philosophy.
That said, I heartily recommend this to dabblers of philosophy who appreciate a creative way of presenting works that may be considered hard to interpret in their original sources. Kaag's love of the subject and unique narrative make this truly a love story in more ways than one....more
Christopher Wylie was the Canadian-born whistleblower of the Cambridge Analytica scandal that rocked Facebook's foundations a couple of years ago. As Christopher Wylie was the Canadian-born whistleblower of the Cambridge Analytica scandal that rocked Facebook's foundations a couple of years ago. As a self-professed tech-nerd, you may expect his writing to be dry, dense and jargon-filled, but it was not. Although I found Wylie frequently wandered off on tangents from his main storyline, which is somewhat of an apologia for his role in setting social media off on a rather evil course, his tangents are excusable, as there are just so many interesting ones. His writing style is actually quite accessible, at times brilliantly philosophical, and the book outlines the events and techniques of unscrupulous players who are playing all of us through our social media accounts.
Wylie presents a damning case not only of Facebook, but the British Brexit campaign, the Trump 2016 campaign, and a whole host of slimy background players, such as the Mercer family, Steve Bannon, and Andrew Nix the owner of SCL, which was the parent company of Cambridge Analytica. Indeed, a lot of alt-right folks show up in the book, as you'd expect. The lines to social manipulation are very clearly drawn. Sadly, Wylie also damns the inept inaction of the British and American justice systems to apply their own laws to the whole complicated mess. The corporations involved in these types of shenanigans already had it figured out back when they realized how to avoid paying taxes: base your company headquarters here in this tax haven, base your employees here where there are slack privacy laws, base your computer servers in the cloud where jurisdiction is fuzzy, and so on.
I've often wondered why so few people seemed aghast while Britain made one of the largest changes to its social and economic structure, based on the outcome of a referendum that was not only the slimmest of majorities, but also clearly fiddled with. Yet, two prime ministers have waved that aside and have "got on with it". The influence of Cambridge Analytica's careful Facebook targeting is not just a vague allegation. The Leave campaign were found by the courts to have made illegal payments, over and above their campaign spending limits on paying for these services, as Wylie points out. Sadly, Wylie also points out that the people who were made liable in this were often unwitting interns and low-level clerks. The upscale politicos who made the decisions were very careful to protect themselves from the dirt.
I apologize that my review is tending to ramble here, but I realize that this book has actually made me quite angry and upset, there is just so much involved here. Yet the world keeps turning without change. Just like after the multiple wrongdoings of the finance and banking industry back in 2008, we the little people are being played, and we pay the price, while the bigwigs laugh, accept their bonuses, and move on to their next creative project in fleecing us.
If you want to understand how data-targeted social media manipulation works, read this book. I thought of myself as relatively tech-savy and aware of what is possible, but Wylie showed me that the techniques of data harvesting for the purposes of fine-tuned social manipulation are much further ahead of my worst fears.
If you want to see how the US alt-right worked their butts off in gas-lighting their nation, read this book. Although Wylie was no longer working for CA by the time of both Brexit and the 2016 presidential election, he personally met many of the key players that asked his company for techniques in mining social media account data and using it to manipulate public opinion: Steve Bannon, the Mercer family, Nigel Farage and all the usual suspects show up, all with deep ties to the Trump campaign.
If you want to know where phrases, such as "Drain the swamp" or "Build the wall" came from, read this book! It practically points out the date of their creation in various focus groups CA was associated with.
Lastly, if you want to know what Christopher Wylie thinks of his role in this sad state of affairs, and how we might build some useful safeguards to the remains of Western democracy, then read this book!...more
I found parts of the book somewhat challenging, especially as my knowledge of Russian history and the timeline of the revolution are rather limited. DI found parts of the book somewhat challenging, especially as my knowledge of Russian history and the timeline of the revolution are rather limited. Deutscher seems to assume that his readers are relatively well-versed in the essential points, which is probably valid at the time of his authoring.
I found the later parts of the book more enjoyable, as I am better acquainted with the overall context of WWII and later 20th Century history. Here, the author provides rich details about Stalin and Soviet-era psychology that filled in some of the gaps in my knowledge. We get to better understand Stalin's fears and strategy in dealing with his western allies, given the context of the fragile Soviet state, which he had stabilized (albeit with brutish force) as a major power of the 20th Century. I imagine this would have been the case too, for the earlier chapters on Stalin's youth and rapid rise through the lower ranks of the Bolsheviks up to a leadership role in the October Revolution, if I had had a more foundational knowledge of that context.
All in all, this is a book where you need to take your time and carefully read the nuanced details of what Isaac Deutscher is explaining, as he has much insight to offer, having lived through those times in proximity to many of the key players. However, I would not recommend it for a novice of the history of the Russian revolution like me....more
How does a young rising star of the "white nationalist" movement, brought up immersed in a tight-knit family of white supremacists, come to realize thHow does a young rising star of the "white nationalist" movement, brought up immersed in a tight-knit family of white supremacists, come to realize that his "freedom of speech" and so-called rational ideas are hurtful to his fellow citizens, and eventually come to renounce and critique those past views? Washington Post writer Eli Saslow takes us on a fascinating journey, based on interviews with the subject himself, Derek Black; his father, Don Black, who had once been a KKK Grand Wizard and now a prominent blogger on "Stormfront"; along with various friends and acquaintances the younger black met at New College in Florida.
Derek Black was never some backward yokel. He was intelligent, well-educated, and ostensibly open-minded. When friends and colleagues at New College discovered his background, they were shocked, as Derek seemed such a reasonable, outgoing guy, completely fitting into their progressive college.
Perhaps this is what really worked in Derek's transition: although the majority of the campus shunned him and wanted him removed from their midst, a small group of friends, which included a small circle of Jews and Latin American immigrants that had already got to know Derek before he was "outed", did their best to continue to treat him as a friend. They didn't ostracize him, but kept a low-key friendship going. The Jewish group even invited him to their weekly Shabbat dinners! One young woman, Alison Gornick, started to get to know him better and better at these dinners and thought of Derek as salvageable--that calm rational discussion and debate of his ideas over time, would turn him around. Much to everyone's credit, it worked!
Perhaps this is not a strategy for every single racist, but I think every American concerned about race relations and the current tension in their country, much of it spurred on by the current occupant of the White House, should read this book. Folks need to realize that simply ostracizing, ridiculing, and belittling others whose views may be reprehensible to them does not usually work very well. Like Derek Black, much depends on the environment in which they are raised. If everyone in your family and extended social circle believes crazy stuff and you are totally immersed in it, it is most difficult to use rationality to think your way out of the very medium in which you and your loved ones live and breathe. Being called names and scorned doesn't really make you want to reach out to discover the viewpoints of the other side.
White nationalists are generally scared people, I believe. They see a way of life where their unacknowledged past-privilege of living in a great nation with tremendous wealth and resources must now be shared and distributed differently. Many of their familiar industries and jobs that go with them have been sent to the lowest bidder by faceless corporations. The world is a much smaller place due to international trade and social mobility, and the majority of people in it are not white-skinned but come from much different cultures. A knee-jerk reaction to such change is xenophobia, and in a sense that is understandable on one level.
It is not until we can feel somewhat safer in an expanded milieu and with the incredibly accelerating pace of change, that we can stop blaming the "other" amongst us. It is not until we learn more science and facts that we can see that there actually is no such thing as race. These are the conclusions to which Derek Black, the erstwhile superstar of white supremacy came after just a few years of being in that expanded milieu, with the guidance and support of a few people who cared about him as another person. Perhaps that is something valuable that the USA needs to learn right now....more
Perhaps not for the squeamish, but this book is a refreshingly frank discussion of what happens to our physical remains when we die and are sent to thPerhaps not for the squeamish, but this book is a refreshingly frank discussion of what happens to our physical remains when we die and are sent to the typical funeral home.
The young, twenty-something Caitlin Doughty wrote this book exploring her self-admitted fascination with death that led her to become a mortician in California and eventually a proponent of the "good death". What does Caitlin mean by "good death"? Well, as she explains her books and now on her web page for her non-profit society of the same name, the funeral industry in our western society has over-mediated our experience with death, shielding us from it unnaturally, and charging us a premium for the privilege.
The first part of the book explains Caitlin's first job in the industry as a crematorium operator, and explains some of the interesting facts of the day to day job, getting into some macabre but obviously fascinating details that most people are afraid to ask about, but probably should: What happens to our bodies as they burn up? What happens to the leftover bones that don't fully break down to ash? How does the funeral home keep our ashes straight from the other folks'? How does the mortician make us look "natural" (if that's what you want to call it)?
We also get a glimpse of some historical facts of how the western funeral industry took the "fun" out of funerals and definitely took funerals out of the home life of families where it used to be, say around the time of the American Civil War. We also get a glimpse into Caitlin's childhood and the roots of her fascination with death.
Some readers may be turned off by the frankness and sometimes light-hearted and whimsical style in which the author relates all this, but I think every reader would agree that her points are valid. Why are so many of us taught to fear death and to avoid thinking about the practical mechanics of the end of our lives? What has the funeral industry done to exacerbate that distancing to the advantage of its own bottom line? The deeper Caitlin got involved in the industry, eventually becoming a fully-qualified mortician with her own "practice", the more active she became in changing the industry, making death and funerals more accessible, relatable, and fair to families.
As a future corpse (as all of us truly are), I appreciate her efforts!...more
Borowski had the uncanny ability to recount the most awful situations he encountered in the concentration camps and make them seem like rather banal, Borowski had the uncanny ability to recount the most awful situations he encountered in the concentration camps and make them seem like rather banal, everyday experiences. This book is a small collection of short stories, which I believe are mostly fictional, but directly based on the author's experiences in Auschwitz and Dachau as a young, non-Jewish, Polish political prisoner.
They don't seem to have quite the same dark, sad subtext that Elie Wiesel's writings have, but for me, that made them somewhat more chilling. Borowski demonstrates how all of these truly awful things became normalized, as he brings us directly into the camps. We play a soccer game in view of the ramp, where thousands of Jews disembark from the cattle cars and march off to the gas chamber. We try to"organize" a new pair of the right size shoes by joining the kommando tasked with unloading a transport at the ramp. We cook meals of pilfered sausages and bread from the stores of Canada. We watch to see who lines up to get into the "Puff", the sanctioned brothel in Auschwitz I. These are all warped reflections of normal life, in very abnormal circumstances, which Borowski describes with beautiful poetic prose. Even before the war he was gaining a reputation as a world-class poet, but after the war, he cut his own career and very life short by his own hand.
Some of Borowski's reflections are chilling and gave me pause to their cynical applicability even to the daily living of the vast majority of us today, as in this quote:
...the whole world is really like a concentration camp; the weak work for the strong, and if they have no strength or will to work—then let them steal, or let them die. The world is ruled by neither justice nor morality; crime is not punished nor virtue rewarded, one is forgotten as quickly as the other. The world is ruled by power and power is obtained with money. To work is senseless, because money cannot be obtained through work but through exploitation of others. And if we cannot exploit as much as we wish, at least let us work as little as we can. Moral duty? We believe neither in the morality of man, nor in the morality of systems. In German cities the store windows are filled with books and religious objects, but the smoke from the crematoria still hovers over the forests...
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