By Alan
Caruba
My Picks of the Month
Does it
seem like all we hear about these days is how fat Americans are? Most surely
that accounts for the dozens of diet books I receive. Imagine then how pleased
I was to read Harriet Brown’s Body of
Truth: How Science, History, and Culture Drive Our Obsession with Weight and
What We Can Do About it ($25.99, Da Capo Press). In its introduction she
says, “We’re in the midst of an epidemic, one that’s destroying both the
quality and the longevity of our lives. I’m not talking about overweight or
obesity. I’m talking about our obsession with weight, our never-ending quest
for thinness, our relentless angst about our bodies.” Her book tackles the myths and realities of
the “obesity epidemic” and exposes the biggest lies driving the rhetoric of
obesity. How nice it would be to have a day in which we are not constantly
warned about eating sugar or wheat when candy and freshly baked items are among
life’s greatest pleasures. Her book offers ways to think about weight and
health with more common sense, accuracy, and respect. You are not likely to read or hear about this
excellent book in the mainstream press because of the billions that the diet
craze represents in advertising and revenue for physicians, pharmaceutical
companies, and diet programs. All the more reason to read it and learn the
truth.
A CNN poll
whose results were released in March showed that nearly half of Americans
believe race relations have worsened over the course of the presidency of
Barack Obama, the first half-black man elected to the White House. The poll
found that 39% believe relations between blacks and whites have gotten worse,
not better, since Mr. Obama took office in January 2009. Just 15% say relations
have improved. It found that 45% of whites think relations have worsened while just
26% of blacks think so. If race relations in America is a subject of interest
and concern to you, then you will want to read Colin Flaherty’s new book, ‘Don’t Make the Black Kids Angry’
(available from Amazon.Com and other Internet book outlets, $19.72, softcover,
$6.99 Kindle.) I reviewed Flaherty’s
first book, “White Girl Bleed A Lot: The return of racial violence in America” which caused a sensation became a bestseller
as it documented and revealed how the nation’s press consistently failed to report
a trend in attacks on whites by blacks that were based entirely on racial bias.
His new book looks how Americans are being led to believe that it is “white
racism” that is causing comparable attacks, but not being told about the
attacks such as a thousand Asian immigrants were brutalized for five years
before the local newspaper took notice or the 40,000 blacks that rampaged
through a Virginia beach town with little media coverage. A thousand such
events are reported in his new book by this award winning reporter. At a time
when all we read and hear about are black youths being shot by local police,
barely being told they attacked the officers who acted in self-defense, this
book has much to say and explain the state of race relations in America today.
The global
warming hoax is finally beginning to give up the ghost thanks to 19 years in
which the Earth has been in a cooling cycle based on the Sun’s reduced
radiation, also a natural cycle. Al Gore got the hoax going bigtime with his
book, “An Inconvenient Truth”, that was filled with absurd claims that the
north and south poles would be melted by now, that polar bears would be extinct
and all manner of weather-related events would produce chaos. Philip M. Fishman
has written A Really Inconvenient Truth:
The Case Against the Theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming ($19.95, MPS
Publishing, softcover) that is intended to be read by those who may not have
the scientific background or knowledge to make sense of all the claims. Fishman
explains all the basics you need to know from the way the scientific method
works to the aspects of climatology, the study of long-term trends that
confirms that, yes, there were warm cycles, just as there were cold ones. These
are the facts the “Warmists” who are still making claims about global warming
don’t want you to know. The surprising thing about this highly readable book is
the breadth of knowledge it covers without requiring you to read hundreds of
pages. At 114 pages it is a breeze to read. Fishman makes no predictions, the
common trait of the “Warmists.” Instead, he lays out the science-based
information you need to know to refute “the convoluted logic that Theorists
have used to spread their ‘Gospel.’”
If all the
headlines these days have you concerned about the future of America, you are
not alone. Fortunately, James Langston has taken a careful look at what is
occurring in his new book, America In
Crisis ($11.46 at Amazon.com, softcover). “Lumbering through a moral
wilderness of incivility and unreason we are losing the best of ourselves to
fear and uncertainty,” says Langston as he asks if we have lost our sense of
right and wrong, but notes that, as a nation, “we have gone from fear to faith
countless times.” Langston offers some
inspirational analysis of the issues and challenges of our times. Younger
readers in particular would benefit from reading Langston’s book that cites our
nation’s history throughout, providing a sense of clarity and insight regarding
our present problems.
Our
headlines are filled with news of barbaric acts perpetrated by the Islamic
State (ISIS) in its quest to create a new caliphate from which to conquer and
dominate the world. Beheadings, crucifixions, kidnappings and slavery are its
stock-in-track. A genocidal attack on Christians throughout the Middle East
makes one ask why are they doing this and Hector A. Garcia, PhD provides an
answer in Alpha God: The Psychology of
Religious Violence and Oppression ($19.00, Prometheus Books,
softcover). The author, a clinical
psychologist, examines religious scriptures, rituals, and canon law,
highlighting the many ways in which our evolutionary legacy has shaped the
development of religion and continues to profoundly influence its expression.
The author focuses on the image of God as the dominant male in Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. This is not light reading, nor does it provide much
comfort, but it does provide an interesting look at the way religions reflect
early human societies and affect our present ones.
Bookviews
is generally a boost-don’t-knock report on new books. I am going to make an
exception to that regarding Coal Wars:
The Future of Energy and the Fate of the Planet by Richard Martin ($28.00,
Palgrave Macmillan) because, while it acknowledges that coal provides 45% of
the world’s electrical power, it also embraces the totally debunked
environmental claims that it is causing or will cause “global warming” by
putting too much carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. The fact is that CO2
levels have been increasing but the Earth has, at the same time, been in a
cooling cycle of some 19 years. It is not warming and, more importantly, the
amount of CO2 in the atmosphere was far higher centuries ago and its vegetation
and animal life thrived. At present it represents a miniscule 0.04% of the
atmosphere. We could use more, not less CO2 for healthier forests and increased
crops. The fact that Martin is the editorial director of Navigant Research,
“the premier clean energy (solar and wind) and analysis firm” reveals his bias
and the flawed theme of this book. My suggestion is that you ignore it and all
the other claims of so-called climate change. The Earth’s climate has been
changing for 4.5 billion years and coal has nothing to do with it. What does?
The Sun!
Only
received one children’s book this past month, but it is well worth
recommending. Wild Ideas: Let Nature
Inspire Your Thinking ($18.95, Owlkids Books) by Elin Kelsey is, says the
publisher, aimed at youngsters age 4 and up, but the earlier ages will need a
parent to read it aloud to them because its vocabulary is for older readers at
least 7 and up. A picture book, it is illustrated in ways to stimulate the
imagination while its text features examples of how various animals from birds
to whales solve problems. It generates respect for other species at the same
time it teaches the young reader how to solve their problems. Its artwork makes
it fun and its text is imaginative and inspiring.
On the
subject of teaching, if you are a teacher or know one, Caroline Alexander Lewis
has penned a short, pithy book, Just
Back Off and Let Us Teach ($16.99, Dog Ear Publishing, softcover) asserting
that if America wants to reform public education and regain its status in the
world if must begin to value the good teachers and find ways to remove the poor
ones from the classroom. Or as she puts it, unions should not provide job
security for bad teachers. Both descriptive and motivational, her book defines
five skills effective teachers must either have or acquire. For 22 years she
was a teacher and a school principal before moving on to develop new programs
in other fields. I would call this book “must reading” for any teacher.
A
collection of quotations by Russ Kick is aptly named Flash Wisdom ($14.95, Disinformation Books, softcover) as his selection
from poets, philosophers, scientists, and others provides pages of instant
insight regarding all aspects of life. This is one of those books you keep
handy to energize your mind with quotes that open doors on the best way to live
one’s life. Keep it bedside or on your desk.
Memoirs and Memories
We live in
a culture that thrives on celebrity news of their lives. This has been true
throughout history when the royalty were fair game for discussion. In the Company of Legends by Joan
Kramer and David Heely, with a foreword by Richard Dreyfus ($24.95, Beaufort
Books) who together have won five Emmy Awards in addition to the twenty Emmy
nominations they received, as the producers of many television programs. Their
book focuses on the famous folk about whom they produced TV profiles. They
included Katherine Hepburn, Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra, Ronald and Nancy
Reagan, Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart and Bette
Davis, among others. Noted film history, Robert Osborne, said of their book
that it is “a king’s ransom of fascinating stories about colorful, bigger than
life people we know, but didn’t know…told by people who actually knew the
celebrities they write about…” If you love Hollywood and its legendary actors
and actresses, you will love this book.
If you’re
a fan of Cindy Williams, one half of the comedic duo, Laverne & Shirley, you will have to wait one month to pick up a
copy of Shirley, I Jest! A Storied Life ($22.95, Taylor Trade
Publishing, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield) by Cindy with Dave
Smitherman, relating her life from her blue collar roots to unexpected stardom.
She went from waiting tables at Whisky a Go Go to starring in one of the most
iconic shows on television. This is an almost quintessential American story of
success and she earned it. Like many bitten by the acting bug, she loves it and
still loves her theatre roots, performing in many shows across the nation in
addition to starring on Broadway in The Drowsy Chaperon. What makes her book so
delightful is that she never took herself or her fame that seriously,
demonstrating throughout her wonderful sense of humor while sharing amusing
anecdotes about some of the most famous actors in Hollywood.
Not
everyone is famous, but that doesn’t mean they have interesting stories to
tell. Binoculars: Masquerading as a
Sighted Person by Philip F. DiMeo ($24.95, New Horizon Press) is an
example. For more than 17 years he pretended to be a fully-sighted person and,
despite his growing loss of sight, he drove a car, went to college, became a
social worker, a cartoonist, and a coach for two sports teams. As he vision
grew worse, a physician diagnosed him as having retinitis pigmentosa, an eye
disease with no known cure. This is his first person account of what it was
like to finally come to deal with that harsh reality, but he had the help of a
loving wife and, with his guide dog, Ladonna, a yellow Labrador, became what he
calls “a perfect match.” His blindness closed some doors in his life, but
opened others. This is a truly inspirational book.
Missing Persons: A Life of Unexpected
Influences by Bruce
Piasecki is self-described as “a memoir of past, present, and future” ($17.95,
Square One Publishers, softcover). Piasecki says “This book is a product of
memory and creativity, not of chronology and fact.” He regards memory as an
“art form that is accessible to us all. It is through memory that we triumph
over loss, and it is memory that renders the impossible probable—and the dead
merely missing.” Piasecki takes us from his impoverished childhood to his
success as an internationally renowned businessman, as well as a husband,
father, friend, and writer. It’s been an interesting life for him and you can
read along for an interesting journey through it.
Reading History
If there
is one thing I love to read it is history. I never come away without having
gained a new or renewed insight to the state of humanity. Understanding the present is impossible
without know the past.
Thomas
Fleming is already regarded as one of our nation’s preeminent historians and
with good reason. In his latest book, The
Great Divide: The Conflict between Washington and Jefferson that Defined a
Nation ($27.99, Da Capo Press) he grabs your attention by pointing out that
that Washington and Jefferson had dramatically different backgrounds and
differing opinions that left their imprint on the presidency. As Fleming notes,
Jefferson was an avid bibliophile who attended the College of William and Mary,
and went onto study law in his twenties as America inched toward rebellion
against British rule. Washington, by contrast, was Jefferson’s senior by eleven
years and had spent his youth as a land surveyor and began his military career
in the French and Indian War. While Jefferson avoided military service in the
Revolution, Washington relentlessly led America to victory. Suffice to say
there was much disagreement between the two. Washington came to see him as an
enemy and with good reason. Jefferson was all about his love for the French
revolution—a bloodbath—and his own ambitions. Suffice to say this is a totally
fascinating insight into the two men and their colleagues who brought about a
new nation.
Knowing
the past of Afghanistan as well as its present is the subject of Abdullah
Sharif’s book, Sardar: From
Afghanistan’s Golden Age to Carnage ($12.95 @ Amazon.com and other Internet
book outlets, softcover), a personal account of his return to his former home
after joining the U.S. State Department in 2009. He had been back in 2007 and
was horrified by what he saw. In his absence of thirty years, his birth nation
was in ruins, the result of invasion by the Soviet Union and the struggles with
the Taliban after it withdrew. This is his memoir of his memories of the nation
he left in 1976, the golden age to which he makes reference, to its present
times. As he notes, his book is not that of an “expert”, but rather of a U.S.
diplomat speaking for himself, unofficially of the devastation and corruption
he found and an effort to explain the nation’s culture so that the U.S. can
take steps to help Afghanistan became an independent nation. For his efforts,
he was awarded an Expeditionary Service Award and Meritorious Civilian Service
Award. The Governor of Kandahar Province, Tooryalai Wesa, Ph.D, described his
book as filled with priceless observations and you will come away with a far
better understanding of the nation than from reading official or academic
writings on this subject.
America
may be a young nation by comparison with others, but it has a long, rich
history and The Lost World of the Old
Ones: Discoveries in the Ancient Southwest by David Roberts ($27.95, W.W.
Norton) begins with his discovery in 2005 with two of his mountaineering
friends of what turned out to be a settlement beneath an overhanging cliff a
thousand feet above a Utah ranch. It was an enormous granary and, given its
location, raised the question of how the ancient natives could have lugged a
ton and a half of corn up a sheer cliff. The region around the Four Corners is
filled with such mysteries, including why the natives abandoned their homeland
in the 14th century. In 1996, Roberts authored “In Search of the Old
Ones”, which became an instant classic and this one is likely to be regarding
in the same way. Here’s a way to enjoy the mountain climbing and exploration
without having to do more than turn the pages of this interesting and
entertaining book.
Douglas
& McIntyre is a Canadian publisher that quite naturally publishes books
about Canada. I suspect most Americans know very little about Canada other than
it forms our northern border and that its hockey team is one of the most
valuable franchises in the NHL. You can repair that gap in your knowledge, for
example, with Allan Levine’s Toronto:
Biography of a City ($36.95). It starts on the packed streets of today,
whose 2.79 million residents makes it North America’s fourth largest city and a
far cry from its earliest days as ”Little York”, comprised of the lieutenant
governor’s muddy tent which he shared with his wife and six children. For
anyone who is interested in the development of a dynamic city this book will
prove very entertaining. I’ll bet most Americans are unaware that there have
been three Canadian astronauts. In Canadian
Spacewalkers ($29.95) Bob McDonald tells us the story of Chris Hadfield,
Steve MacLean and Dave Williams, all of whom stepped outside to confront the
universe in zero gravity. A science journalist and commentator on CBC News
Network, he has received many honors for his work and when you read his book
you will understand why as he takes you along on a trip that explains what it
takes to be a spacewalker. The book is greatly enhanced by a hundred color
photos. If space and science is your interest, this book is ideal.
University of Oklahoma Press
University
presses are often overlooked as sources of interesting books that you might not
find in a bookstore or on the site of one of the Internet book outlets. The
University of Oklahoma Press is a good example.
We usually
think about the “wild West” in terms of the many movies and television shows
filled with cowboys and villains, bank robbers and sheriffs, but that period in
our history, from between 1800 and 1920 also represents one of extraordinary
invention, innovation, entrepreneurship and business. The names of many of the
men who shaped our history are well known, from Buffalo Bill Cody to Levi
Straus, famed for the slacks we loved to wear. There’s the banker J.P. Morgan,
the brewmaster Adolf Coors, religious leader Brigham Young, and inventor Cyrus
McCormick whose reaper transformed the task of harvesting crops. Out
Where the West Begins: Profiles, Visions & Strategies of Early Western
Business Leaders by Philip F. Anschutz ($34.95) brings together a montage
of men who believed they could enrich themselves at the same time they
contributed to a still young nation. Many, once they made their fortunes,
helped build libraries, parks, and other cultural institutions. You will read
of fifty men whose lives opened up the nation to growth and wealth.
There
could hardly be a more timely book, Religious
Freedom in America: Constitutional Roots and Contemporary Challenges ($45.00,
hardcover, $24.95 softcover) as edited by Allen D. Hertzke, a professor of
political science and a faculty fellow in religious freedom with the Institute
for the American Constitutional Heritage at the University. Nine writers
contributed to this examination of an issue that is being argued in the courts
over issues of same-sex marriage and contraception mandates in ObamaCare, as
well as other aspects of the practice of religion. The many perspectives of the
issues are well served in this book written from the point of view of
historians, social scientists, and jurists who examine the laws, often
described as “messy” and you will understand why and learn about the tug of war
between the free exercise of religion and the government’s need to apply the
Constitution and laws equally and fairly.
I thought that Do Facts Matter?
Information and Misinformation in America Politics by Jennifer L.
Hochschild and Katherine Levine Einstein ($29.95) would provide some answers to
the nation’s current state of politics, but what I found, unfortunately, was an
academically dense examination of what occurs and why when voters are
uninformed or misinformed. Both are professors specializing in government and
politics, Hochschild at Harvard University, and Einstein at Boston University. This
could have been a far more lively examination of the issues to which it is
devoted, but it is so concentrated on its own facts that it never provides a
larger, more comprehensive presentation or maybe the topic just defies that?
Novels, Novels, Novels
Allan
Topol has penned yet another bestselling novel, The Washington Lawyer, ($16.95, Select Books, softcover). A lawyer
by profession, it is a wonder he still found the time to pen eleven novels of
international intrigue, plus a two-volume legal treatise on the Superfund law.
This novel, unlike many written by lawyers, is not about some courtroom drama.
It’s about a lawyer, Andrew Martin, who is a long-time friend with Senator
William Jasper who needs help. A sex tryst at Martin’s beach house in Anguilla has
gone awry and a congressional staffer and former model, Vanessa Boyd, is dead.
Martin must decide how best to protect his reputation and the Senator’s. What
unfolds are hairpin plot turns as human vice and political power collide and
race toward catastrophe for both men. Here’s is an intriguing and entertaining
look inside the circles of power with which the author is familiar and includes
the element of Chinese spying because that is as critical today as Soviet
spying was during the Cold War. If you’re looking for a great read, you will
find it in this novel.
I think
the ladies will like Chasing Sunsets
($22.99, Howard Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster) more than the guys.
Karen Kingsbury has more than 25 million copies of her books in print. This one
features Mary Catherine, the only child of married parents but generally
neglected by them. She brings meaning to her life through charity work in Los
Angeles and finds herself attracted to one of her co-workers and begins to
think of their life together until she gets devastating news about her health.
I won’t give much away except to say that she is faced with serious decisions
and she ops for an inspirational one. William Hazelgrove is the author of ten
best-selling novels, Jack Pine is
his latest. It has strong environmental themes. When the sixteen year old
daughter of a prominent attorney is raped in a woodshed and a logger found shot
the next morning, Deputy Sheriff Reuger London becomes embroiled in a war
between environmentalists, the Ojibwa Indians fighting for their timber rights,
and the ruthless son of a powerful logger. Needless to say the logger is the
villain in this story, but it has plenty of plot twists and turns to hold your
attention. It is officially due out next month.
There are
two new novels from Thomas & Mercer. David Corbett’s talents as a crime
writer have earned him award nominations and The Mercy of the Night ($15.95, softcover) is likely to do the same
with its story of Jacquelina “Jacqi” Garza who was one of two nearly identical
girls abducted at age eight by a child predator in the northern California town
of Rio Mirada. After escaping and enduring a very public trial, he life
spiraled out of control until, a decade later, she vanishes once again,
determined to cross the border and start over. Phalan Tierney, a former lawyer
and part-time investigator is recovering from trauma in his life and is
determined to find Jacqi and help her get back on track. Just as he has located
her, he is drawn into a case that threatens to tear the town apart. Suffice to
say there are circles within circles in this densely plotted story that is sure
to please those who love crime fiction. Threshold
by G.M. Ford ($14.95, softcover) is a police thriller that will add to a
reputation based on his previous novels. Still smarting from the very public
breakup of his marriage and facing conduct complaints, Detective Mickey Dolan
catches a case that might turn things around for him. It involved the
disappearance of the wife and daughters of a powerful city councilman. Assisted
by a young woman who may know the terrible truth about the missing family,
Dolan soon finds that he must choose between helping his career and protecting
innocent lives. It’s a page-turner.
Lawyers
and cops seem to dominate the novels arriving of late. Gun Street Girl: A Detective Sean Duffy Novel by Adrian McKinty
($15.95, Seventh Street Books, softcover) and it will take you to Belfast,
Ireland in 1985 where Detective Duffy is a Catholic cop in the Protestant Royal
Ulster Constabulary is struggling with burn-out as he investigates a brutal
double murder and suicide. Did Michael Kelly really shoot his parents at point
blank range and then jump off a nearby cliff? A suicide note seems to confirm
this, but Duffy has his doubts and he soon discovers that Kelly was present at
a decadent Oxford party where a cabinet minister’s daughter died of a heroin
overdose. The story explodes with gun runners, arms dealers, the British
government and a rogue American agent with a fake identity. Sound interesting?
It is! McKinty has authored sixteen
novels and has been called the best of the new generation of Irish crime
novelists. Adam Mitzner is an attorney
and a novelist and his latest is Losing
Faith ($26.00, Gallery Books) in which Aaron Littman, the chairman of one
of the country’s most prestigious law firms has just been contacted by a
high-profile defense attorney whose client is Nikolai Garkov, a Russian
businessman widely believed to have pulled the financial strings behind a recent
terrorist bombing. Gorkov is a thorough evil villain and he has evidence of a
torrid affair Littman had with the presiding judge, Faith Nichols, in the case
against him. He threatens to ruin Littman’s career if he doesn’t influence
Faith. Legal thriller fans will love this one.
Finally,
what if William Shakespeare had written the Star Wars stories? Well, now you
can find out what it would have been to read The Phantom of Menace: Star Wars ® Part the First as rendered by
Ian Doescher ($14.95, Quirk Books). It is an ideal Shakespearean drama filled
with sword fights, soliloquies and doomed romance. The School Library Journal
said “Doescher’s pseudo-Shakespearean language is dead-on; this is one of the
best-written Shakespeare parodies create for this audience and it is absolutely
laugh-out-loud funny for those familiar with both the Bard and Star Wars.” I
can’t add anything to that.
That’s
it for April! Come back in May and don’t forget to let your book-loving
friends, family, and co-workers know about Bookviews.com and its wide selection
of the latest non-fiction and fiction books.
;){kind=link}