# Cheer and Jeer THC as he reads over 80 books in 2012!



## The Hooded Claw

Awhile ago I came across this thread by jbcohen:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,93836.0.html

He encouraged us to read 100 books in 2012. That caught my imagination....Despite loving my Kindle, I do not read nearly as much as I used to. A lot of that is because I am too easily distracted by web browsing or playing games on my iPad. Time that would've been spent reading goes for those things instead. Those are both okay activities, but I'd like to read more. To make a long story short, I decided 100 books is perhaps too ambitious, that is two books a week, and some of my reading is history books that are pretty substantial. I originally thought in terms of 75 books (one and a half books a week), but am shooting for eighty.

Another bad habit I have is wanting something comfortable that will be a decent read, so grabbing an "old reliable" instead of trying something new. So I'm going to set a rule that I will only read new books that I haven't read before next year. I'm going to make a couple of exceptions to that....I've been wanting to reread some classics, especially Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Plus, I've been wanting to re-read a bunch of stuff from a mystery writer I like named Max Allan Collins (a LOT of his stuff has been Kindleized lately and offered at low promotional prices). For the Twain books, and many of the Collins books, I haven't read them in a long time (teenager for Twain, 1980s for Collins) so I don't feel too bad about that. The one comfort read I'm gonna allow myself is Sherlock Holmes. I'll undoubtedly have to get a Holmes fix during the year, and why should I fight that? 

They say one of the ways to push yourself into sticking with a resolution is to make public declarations about it, so I'm making that declaration here. I will list each book I read here, and hopefully put down some comments about it. It should make an interesting read (for me anyway) at the end of 2012! And y'all are free to post comments about what I say, boo and hiss when I don't add at least one new book each week, or do anything else remotely appropriate for the topic....

Right now I'm reading Boone, by Robert Morgan. Grabbed it on a promotional $1.99 price yesterday, and started it last night. I'm only about 20% of the way through it, so I'm going to count this as my first 2012 book. I'm happy with the book so far, and recommend it for anyone who thinks they might like a biography of Daniel Boone. It also has a lot of incidental detail about the times as they applied to Boone. I'm currently reading about Boone's first expeditions into Kentucky. The biggest surprise so far has been that Boone was a great woodsman and had many talents, but he was a terrible businessman and sloppy about paying his debts. A lawyer called him the most-sued person in his home county! Still only $1.79 for the Kindle version as I post this!



Stay tuned for more as I progress reading through the year....

ADDED LATER--THE BOOK LIST FOR THE YEAR:

1. Boone: A Biography, by Robert Morgan
2. The Black Camel, by Earl Derr Biggers
3. A Walk Around the Pond: Insects in and Over the Water, by Gilbert Waldbauer
4. The Pacific War: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima, by Daniel Marston
5. Temple Houston: Lawyer With a Gun, by Glenn Shirley
6. Charlie Chan Carries On, by Earl Derr Biggers
7. Making Sense of People: Decoding the Mysteries of Personality, by Samuel Barondes
8. Thicker Than Water (Blood Brothers), by Greg Sisco
9. The Way of the Panda, by Henry Nicholls
10. The Door Into Summer, by Robert Heinlein
11. The Northern Lights: Secrets of the Aurora Borealis, by Dr. Syun-Ichi Akasofu
12. My Lead Dog was a Lesbian: Mushing Across Alaska in the Iditarod--The World's Most Grueling Race, by Brian Patrick O'Donoghue
13. Buffalo Bill's Life Story, by William F. Cody
14. The Physics of Star Trek, by Lawrence M. Krauss
15. Ring for Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse
16. Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson, by William Langewiesche
17. The Mating Season, by P. G. Wodehouse
18. The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, by Pat Garrett
19. To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West, by Mark Lee Gardner
20. The Road of Danger, by David Drake
21. The Sun and the Moon, by Matthew Goodman
22. Ten Little Wizards, by Michael Kurland
23. How to be a Villain: Evil Laughs, Secret Lairs, Master Plans, and More!!!, by Neil Zawacki
24. The Travels of Friar Odoric: 14th Century Journal of the Blessed Odoric of Pordenone, by Odoric of Pordenone
25. Swords and Deviltry, by Fritz Leiber
26. Majic Man, by Max Allan Collins
27. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Atul Gawande
28. A Night to Remember, by Walter Lord
29. The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
30. The Earth Moves: Galileo and the Roman Inquisition, by Dan Hofstadter
31. The Man in the Yellow Raft, by C. S. Forester
32. Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution it Inspired, by Benson Bobrick
33. Stolen Away, by Max Allan Collins
34. Swords Against Death, by Fritz Leiber
35. The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man, by David W. Maurer
36. Master Detective: The Life and Crimes of Ellis Parker, America's Real-Life Sherlock Holmes, by John Reisinger
37. The Crazy Years, by Spider Robinson
38. Damned in Paradise, by Max Allan Collins
39. Skulldoggery, by Fletcher Flora
40. Success Secrets of Sherlock Holmes: Life Lessons from the Master Detective, by David Acord
41. A Study in Sorcery: A Lord Darcy Novel, by Michael Kurland
42. The Killing Room, by John Manning
43. En Route: A Paramedic's Stories of Life, Death, and Everything in Between, by Steven "Kelly" Grayson
44. The Gulf Stream: Tiny Plankton, Giant Bluefin, and the Amazing Story of the Powerful River in the Atlantic, by Stan Ulanski
45. Tales of the Fish Patrol, by Jack London
46. Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years, by Michael Esslinger
47. A Question of Time, by Fred Saberhagen
48. The Sea Devil: The Life of Count Felix von Luckner, The German War Raider, by Lowell Thomas
49. God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World, by Cullen Murphy
50. Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'urbervilles, by Kim Newman 
51. Washington's Crossing, by David Hackett Fischer
52. Whiz Mob: A Correlation of the Technical Argot of Pickpockets with Their Behavior Patterns, by David W. Maurer
53. Ruled Britannia, by Harry Turtledove
54. Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, by Spider Robinson
55. Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor, by Russell S. Bonds
56. The Crack in the Lens, by Steven Hockensmith
57. Freighter Captain, by Max Hardberger
58. Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett
59. Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers, by John MacCormick
60. Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, by Harry Kemelman
61. The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe: The U.S. Army Air Forces Against Germany in World War II, by Jay Stout
62. Rag and Bone: A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery, by James R. Benn
63. Fevre Dream, by George R. R. Martin
64. The Radioactive Boy Scout: The True Story of a Boy and His Backyard Nuclear Reactor, by Ken Silverstein
XX. The Swoop, by P. G. Wodehouse
65. The Last Gunfight, by Jeff Guinn
66. Swords in the Mist, by Fritz Leiber
67. Burglars on the Job, by Richard T. Wright and Scott Decker
68. That's Life: It's Sexually Transmitted and Terminal, by Barry Friedman, MD
XX Master and Commander, by Patrick F. O'Brian (abandoned)
69. World's Greatest Sleuth! A Holmes on the Range Mystery, by Steven Hockensmith
70. A History of the World in Six Glasses, by Tom Standage
71. Southeast Asia in World History, by Craig Lockard
72. Bride of the Rat God, by Barbara Hambly
73. How Parking Enforcement Stole My Soul, by Ben Friedrich
XX. Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction, by Kim Knott (abandoned, at least temporarily)
74. A Record of Cambodia: The Land and its People, by Zhou Daguan, translated by Peter Harris
75. Turning the Tables: An Insider's Guide to Eating Out, by Steven A Shaw
76. Immortals: A Military History of Iran and its Armed Forces, by Steven R. Ward
77. Gold from Crete, by C. S. Forester
78. A Mortal Terror, by James R. Benn
79. The Big Flatline: Oil and the No-Growth Economy, by Jeff Rubin
80. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
81. The History of the End of the World, by Johnathan Kirsch
82. Spartan Planet, by A. Bertram Chandler
83. Blood and Thunder, by Max Allan Collins
84. The Broken Cycle, by A. Bertram Chandler
85. An Artist in Treason, by Andro Linklater
86. The Inheritors, by A. Bertram Chandler
87. Meet the Mertzes: The Life Stories of I Love Lucy's Other Couple, by Rob Edelman and Audrey Kupferberg
88. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, Vol. 2 by M. R. James
89. Behind Bars: Surviving Prison, by Jeffrey Ross and Stephen Richards
90. Superfreakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
91. The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman
92. A History of the Popes: From Peter to the Present, by John W. O'Malley
93. "They Have Killed Papa Dead!:" The Road to Ford's Theater, Abraham Lincoln's Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance, by Anthony S. Pitch
94. The G-String Murders, by Gypsy Rose Lee
95. The Big Black Mark, by A. Bertram Chandler
96. The Baby Blue Rip-Off, by Max Allan Collins
97. Bug-Eyed Monsters and Bimbos, Mike Resnick, editor


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## Julia444

What a noble goal, Hooded Claw!  Back before I had children I was able to read 70-80 books a year (that was also before the Internet and Kindles).  

But now I am lucky if I read 20 books a year, although I think my Kindle will help to advance that number; reading is just faster on Kindle.

So go for it, and keep us posted.  It's January 2nd, and you only have 79 books to go.  

Julia


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## Beatriz

The Hooded Claw said:


> Awhile ago I came across this thread by jbcohen:
> 
> http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,93836.0.html
> 
> He encouraged us to read 100 books in 2012. That caught my imagination....Despite loving my Kindle, I do not read nearly as much as I used to. A lot of that is because I am too easily distracted by web browsing or playing games on my iPad. Time that would've been spent reading goes for those things instead. Those are both okay activities, but I'd like to read more. To make a long story short, I decided 100 books is perhaps too ambitious, that is two books a week, and some of my reading is history books that are pretty substantial. I originally thought in terms of 75 books (one and a half books a week), but am shooting for eighty.
> 
> Another bad habit I have is wanting something comfortable that will be a decent read, so grabbing an "old reliable" instead of trying something new. So I'm going to set a rule that I will only read new books that I haven't read before next year. I'm going to make a couple of exceptions to that....I've been wanting to reread some classics, especially Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Plus, I've been wanting to re-read a bunch of stuff from a mystery writer I like named Max Allan Collins (a LOT of his stuff has been Kindleized lately and offered at low promotional prices). For the Twain books, and many of the Collins books, I haven't read them in a long time (teenager for Twain, 1980s for Collins) so I don't feel too bad about that. The one comfort read I'm gonna allow myself is Sherlock Holmes. I'll undoubtedly have to get a Holmes fix during the year, and why should I fight that?
> 
> They say one of the ways to push yourself into sticking with a resolution is to make public declarations about it, so I'm making that declaration here. I will list each book I read here, and hopefully put down some comments about it. It should make an interesting read (for me anyway) at the end of 2012! And y'all are free to post comments about what I say, boo and hiss when I don't add at least one new book each week, or do anything else remotely appropriate for the topic....
> 
> Right now I'm reading Boone, by Robert Morgan. Grabbed it on a promotional $1.99 price yesterday, and started it last night. I'm only about 20% of the way through it, so I'm going to count this as my first 2012 book. I'm happy with the book so far, and recommend it for anyone who thinks they might like a biography of Daniel Boone. It also has a lot of incidental detail about the times as they applied to Boone. I'm currently reading about Boone's first expeditions into Kentucky. The biggest surprise so far has been that Boone was a great woodsman and had many talents, but he was a terrible businessman and sloppy about paying his debts. A lawyer called him the most-sued person in his home county! Still only $1.79 for the Kindle version as I post this!
> 
> 
> 
> Stay tuned for more as I progress reading through the year....


I love biographies. I'll get this on your recommendation.


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## drenee

I will definitely be a cheerleader.  I read/listened to 75 books this year.  
Like you I too spend a significant amount of time playing WwF and other time consumers.  
I'm not sure I can do 75 again this year as I would really like to focus on my cross stitching projects that have been accumulating dust.  
If I make it to 60 in 2012 and finish a couple of cross stitch projects I will be happy.
Happy reading in 2012.
deb


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## The Hooded Claw

Beatriz said:


> I love biographies. I'll get this on your recommendation.


I think you'll like it if the subject interests you. The price is certainly right!


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## The Hooded Claw

I was a "bad citizen" and didn't do any reading yesterday, but I'm back to it this evening, and I am really enjoying Boone.  I have a special interest in this that I hadn't expected.  One of my distant ancestors named Attakullakulla (I'm not making that up, he was a Cherokee Indian leader and he's in Wikipedia under that name!) had a lot more to do with Boone than I'd expected.  Earlier in the book, it is mentioned that they may have been on opposite sides in some Indian raids, but it ends up that Boone played an important role at a meeting where several Cherokee leaders, including Attakullakulla, agreed to sell some land to an English (this is before the American Revolution was really under way) Judge.  Attakullakulla and Boone met privately for an extended period at least once during this.  The whole affair is humorous, because it was illegal on the English side (English were forbidden to buy land West of the Appalachians at the time), and the claim of the Cherokee for the land being "sold" was dubious.  And there is the usual suspicion that the understanding of what "sold" meant was different for the whites and for the Indians.  This is probably the end of the line for Attakullakulla in this book, as one account describes him as "about ninety years old" at the time (He was actually a little short of seventy, and I know he died about two years later though the exact date isn't known), but one of his sons (who is also an ancestor of mine) has been mentioned, was active in fighting the English (as opposed to his father who was an accomodationist) and I suspect the son will continue in the story.

It is very cool to read a history book that involves one of my ancestors, admittedly distant, so directly!  I had not known about this connection.  Attakullakulla is my grandfather nine generations back, if I remember right, so it's a pretty long thin line, but it is still awesome to read about!


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare)

I picked the Boone book up too. Unfortunately, it's quite a ways down the reading list..unless you tell us wonderful things!


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## The Hooded Claw

I am enjoying Boone, and recommend it for those interested in the subject, but I can't say it is wonderful! Keep it on your list, but you don't need to take vacation days to rush into reading it.


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## telracs

I can cheer AND jeer......


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## Neekeebee

Here to cheer!

N


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## The Hooded Claw

scarlet said:


> I can cheer AND jeer......


Psst....Everyone else is too embaraased to tell you, but it looks really silly when you do both of them at once like that.


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## Ann in Arlington

hooray!

Nyah nyah!

hooray!

nyah nyah!


You're right. . that looks really silly.


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## telracs

the deal is you cheer in half your posts and you jeer in the other half.

to quote Styx,


Spoiler



"i'm schizophrenic and so am i"


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## crebel

"Toots" will cheer and Scarlet will jeer...


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## telracs

okay, my inner voices have taken a caucus

Toots: go claw, read some more, you're the best reader, you can hit one hundred!

scarlet: yeah, no way you're breaking 40, let alone 80


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## BTackitt

I set my goal at 250. I'm not gonna count school textbooks (even though 2 are again on Kindle) 
I am only counting previously unread books. I figure that once school starts up in 2 weeks, I may only read a book every 2 or 3 days, instead of the rate I am reading now, but hey, I read 2 yesterday, so that helps. My poor K2 has 1500+ unread books on it, I need to read them.


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## The Hooded Claw

BTackitt said:


> I set my goal at 250. I'm not gonna count school textbooks (even though 2 are again on Kindle)
> I am only counting previously unread books. I figure that once school starts up in 2 weeks, I may only read a book every 2 or 3 days, instead of the rate I am reading now, but hey, I read 2 yesterday, so that helps. My poor K2 has 1500+ unread books on it, I need to read them.


Good Lord, 250 books is a lot of books in one year! Enjoy, and do take time to savor the books and let 'em sink in!


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## The Hooded Claw

My book count for the year is now one book!  Boone is complete.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and recommend it to those who are intrigued at the idea of reading about him.

Contrary to my hopes, my ancestor Attakullakulla was mentioned in passing a time or two after the big meeting I posted on earlier, but his son (also my ancestor) named Dragging Canoe was only mentioned off-stage a time or two, and never actually encountered Boone.  There are some interesting connections between Boone and others, believe it or not there is a (slender, I admit) connection between Daniel Boone and Frankenstein!  In 1785, Boone acted rather naively, and was swindled out of ten thousand acres of land by a man named Gilbert Imlay.  Imlay was apparently a very smooth and sophisticated con man who had made a lot of enemies, so he took his swindled wealth and fled to England.  Imlay became close to Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelley, Imlay fathered a child by Mary, but abandoned both his daughter and Mary Shelley a few years later when Mary Wollstonecroft died.  I consider Frankenstein as a good candidate for the first science fiction novel; who'd have thought there would be a connection between Daniel Boone and the birth of science fiction!

The Boone book is filled with all sorts of adventures that would make great fodder for movies, some of them are well-documented and at least mostly true, the book does recount some events that are clearly myth, or where there's evidence that a story is invented.  These are clearly identified as such, and less time is spent on myths than on documented or at least likely events.  I was surprised how much tragedy there was in Boone's life.  Two of his sons were killed horribly by Indians, one literally before his eyes, and Boone was always a failure at anything related to business, including dying not owning any land at all.  I was surprised to find that Boone spent his last years in Missouri, and was still active in exploring the West into his 70s, including making a trip to the Yellowstone region at that age.  I picked up an interesting "new" word from the book (and learned the definition from my Kindle!).  "Flagitious" means criminal or villainous.  The word was used in a speech by an unpleasant man named Simon Girty, and I'd assumed it was an invented word, but it is real.  I'm amused to find that Boone liked the word "flustrated", and used it several times in writing that survives to this day.  Boone's spelling in general was atrocious.  Of course, he learned his spelling before Noah Webster came along to systematize things for us.

Again, I highly recommend the book if the subject interests you.

Now, I just have to decide what to read next.  I'm leaning towards another Charlie Chan mystery!


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## telracs

Toots: congrats claw, 79 to go...

scarlet: only one done? you'll never make it. 

and both my personalities say go for the charlie chan.


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## The Hooded Claw

Well, I have started the Charlie Chan book.  Title is The Black Camel.  I knew Charlie Chan only through watching the old movies on The Late Show as a teenager until I started reading these recently.  I associate Charlie Chan with Honolulu, and assumed most of the books would be set there.  But the second book was in the Southern California desert, and the third in San Francisco.  From the title, it would be easy to assume The Black Camel would be set in the Middle East, but in fact it has Inspector (recently promoted from Sergeant) Chan back his home of Honolulu as in the first book.  The book is off to a good start and I am enjoying it, but I already think I know who the murderer was.  We shall see.  But now, I am going to wind down and go to bed.


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## The Hooded Claw

Well, my book count is up to two.  I enjoyed the Charlie Chan book, The Black Camel is worth reading if you like that sort of mystery (essentially a "cozy" mystery, there's little violence or grit here).  Charlie has an adversary who is quite clever.  And I was wrong in my guess of the murderer, though it looked like I had him dead to rights, and even Charlie suspected him for a long time!  Charlie does use quaint sayings or proverbs in the books, just like the movies.  Here are a few:

"The man who sits in a well, sees little of the sky."

"Can a man think beneath a tree filled with mynah birds?"  (to quiet his eleven loud children!)

"If no one had praised the donkey's song, he would not still be singing."

"The wise man, knowing he is under suspicion, does not stoop to tie his shoe in a melon patch."

"When there is no oil in the lamp, the wick is wasted."

"Can you study swimming on a carpet?  No, you must go where waters are deep."

"A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor a man perfected without trials."


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## The Hooded Claw

A Walk Around the Pond: Insects in and Over the Water, by Gilbert Waldbauer

This will be my next book. I'm quite interested in insects and "bugs", they are a favorite photographic subject for me. I've downloaded the books from the archives onto Wiggins, and I'm already annoyed, as the page the book opens up on has a blank spot and the message "To view this image, refer to the print version of this title". The Kindle is not great at rendering pictures, but I resent not having them available at all! I've got the book ready for reading, but now I'm off to bed and the book can wait for tomorrow!


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## Ann in Arlington

Hmm.  So.  6 days, 2 books.  That's one book every 3 days.  366 days divide by 3 days per book means you should be able to read 122 books. . . . Since your goal is 80 that gives you a good cushion for 'unexpected events'.


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## The Hooded Claw

Ann in Arlington said:


> Hmm. So. 6 days, 2 books. That's one book every 3 days. 366 days divide by 3 days per book means you should be able to read 122 books. . . . Since your goal is 80 that gives you a good cushion for 'unexpected events'.


When I travel, or when life becomes a little too exciting, I'm sure I will need that cushion!


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## The Hooded Claw

I am now 22% through "A Walk Around the Pond" and will probably read some more tonight before bed.  I'm happy with the book, I've read others by the same author and this is similar--It is just chapters on a topic with discussions of features of aquatic insects that are relevant to the chapter topic--Different ways various insects breath (or at least keep supplied with air) underwater, for instance.  Lots of accounts of interesting lifestyles mentioned, such as a species of fly that is apparently unique, as it prefers to live in pools of crude oil!  This apparently evolved naturally, living in areas of the world where oil bubbled up to the surface occasionally, but it was happy to move into spillage from man-made crude oil production once that came along.  It is the larvae that live in the oil, where they feed on dead insects of other species that were unfortunate enough to land on the oil and be trapped there.  The adults are fairly typical flies, though they have gooey stuff on the tips of their legs that lets them walk on puddles of crude oil, an important skill when they lay their eggs there.


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## telracs

Toots: Nice going claw. read now so that you can take a break when traveling...

scarlet: i wanna know who LONG the books are. if he's reading short things, it really shouldn't count!


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## The Hooded Claw

scarlet said:


> scarlet: i wanna know who LONG the books are. if he's reading short things, it really shouldn't count!


I have The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction, and The United Nations: A Very Short Introduction both purchased and in my to be read stack! At 168 and 184 pages, I suspect Scarlet will boo loudly when I count them!


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## telracs

The Hooded Claw said:


> I have The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction, and The United Nations: A Very Short Introduction both purchased and in my to be read stack! At 168 and 184 pages, I suspect Scarlet will boo loudly when I count them!


no, i'll grant you anything over 150 pages. under that, off the table.


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## The Hooded Claw

scarlet said:


> no, i'll grant you anything over 150 pages. under that, off the table.


So if I read a 400 page book, do I get to count it as two?


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## telracs

The Hooded Claw said:


> So if I read a 400 page book, do I get to count it as two?


nice try, but no... and keep it up and i'll declare anything under 200 pages a non-book.


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## Geoffrey

what about a 100 page book and a 300 page book?  Is that still two books?

(just trying to either help or muddy the waters - depending)


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## Jeff

Thanks to Scarlet, what began as simple is becoming more complex by the minute.


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## telracs

Jeff said:


> Thanks to Scarlet, what began as simple is becoming more complex by the minute.


that's my job as a minion....



Geoffrey said:


> what about a 100 page book and a 300 page book? Is that still two books?
> 
> (just trying to either help or muddy the waters - depending)


under 150 does not count as a book so your scenario only counts for one. although toots says any book of any length should count. but she's my alter ego and her opinion doesn't really count


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## BTackitt

Twin? 150 page book approx 1500 kindle locations? just trying to see what counts.. so far the ones I have read are averaging 4000 locs.


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## telracs

BTackitt said:


> Twin? 150 page book approx 1500 kindle locations? just trying to see what counts.. so far the ones I have read are averaging 4000 locs.


someone somewhere said you divide locations by 20 to get pages...

so 4000 locations equals 200 pages....

but i have not done a true test.


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## The Hooded Claw

My book count for the year is up to three books!

A Walk Around the Pond is complete, and I enjoyed it, though it is not for everybody. The chapters of the book each focus on a particular topic, such as eating, not being eaten, reproducing, or getting around. Each chapter makes various points about how different types of insects do that particular activity, illustrated by accounts of the insects behavior or life cycle, and in some cases by descriptions of incredibly ingenious experiments entomologists have done to test a hypothesis about how or why insects do something. This has good points in that if you don't find what's being discussed now intriguing, you can stick around for a few pages and another topic will come along. It has bad points, including that the individual insect accounts are not explored in depth, and in some cases I thought something was fascinating and wanted to read more, but Waldbauer was moving on to another insect or topic! A minor but probably necessary irritant is that Waldbauer invariably incorporates into each account the name of the author (if he's describing the observations or research of another scientist) or the name of the person who showed him or accompanied him if he's describing a personal experience. He probably thought this would make the work less intimidating to non-scientists (this is intended to be a popular book, not primarily a book for other scientists). But it sometimes interrupts the flow of the text. Clearly, the audience for a book of over three hundred pages of insect life stories is limited, but it is out there. This is the fourth book by Waldbauer I've read, and the publishers wouldn't print 'em if nobody was buying 'em!

Here are a few tidbits from the book for the curious:

Insects can fly or be blown long distances. Mosquitos and dragonflies have been caught on ships or oil platforms more than 100 miles from the nearest land! Some insects, notably dragonflies, migrate over lengthy distances. Monarchs are fairly well known for this, but dragonflies are documented as doing it also, though the paths and destinations aren't as clear as those of Monarchs.

If you've spent some time around ponds, you've probably seen water striders, large insects with big curved legs that "stride" or walk and skim around while standing on the surface of the water. It ends up that these striders pound on the surface of the water with their legs, and produce a vibration in the water surface that is a mating signal! Only the males produce this. When one scientist covered the eyes of male water striders with tiny masks, they could still diffrentiate between male and female water striders by these signals. Another scientist used electronics to cause female water striders to mimic the male signal, and other males (no masks involved in this experiment) treated those females as males!

Many aquatic insects, especially growing juvenile ones, match the colors of their skins to the pond bottom, or other surrounding colors. If you remove them to an environment of a different color, the next time they molt (shed their skin to let them grow larger) the new skin will match the new surroundings! Many of these and other insects are most likely to settle on a surface that matches their color, and try to avoid surfaces that don't match.

The aquatic larvae of a West African midge live in a hostile desert environment, where they grow in temporary pools of water that can dry up and stay dried up for years before rain fills them again. The larvae cope with this by becoming dormant, and being able to withstand very dry conditions when dormant. When things are going well, their bodies are 75% water (which is fairly typical for insects). Most insects, even dormant ones, will die when the water content of their bodies falls below 60%. But these midge larvae can readily survive with only eight percent water in their bodies, and some will survive with as low as one percent! Eight percent water is about the same water content as found in seasoned wood used in furniture. In this form, they are shriveled up and dehydrated and look dead to the eye, but will quickly swell up and "come back to life" if placed in water. They have been proven to be able to do this as much as three years after they last were active. Their hardiness doesn't end with being able to withstand dehydration, however. Scientists have dipped dehydrated larvae into supercooled liquid air at minus 310 degrees Fahrenheit<!!!!!> recovered and grew normally when placed in water!

I enjoyed the book greatly, as I mentioned I've read several other similar books by the same author. Not for everyone, but if you like this sort of thing you will love it.


----------



## Stephanie

I'm enjoying this thread, THC.  Thanks for the tidbits.

I bought the Boone book, based on your recommendation.  At $1.79 for 538 pages, I couldn't resist.

Also...Go, THC!  Go!!


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Stephanie said:


> I'm enjoying this thread, THC. Thanks for the tidbits.
> 
> I bought the Boone book, based on your recommendation. At $1.79 for 538 pages, I couldn't resist.
> 
> Also...Go, THC! Go!!


Thanks for the cheering, Stephanie! Here's one Daniel Boone tidbit I forgot to put in the original posts....Boone visited Florida before he explored Kentucky (this was when the British controlled Florida for a brief period before the Revolutionary War). Boone wanted to move from North Carolina (his home at the time) to Florida, but he didn't. Some people believe it was because his wife refused to go! Though why she would resist going to Florida, but then agree to move to wild Kentucky is kind of a puzzler.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

And here's my next book:



The Pacific War: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima, Daniel Marston, ed.

I'm a fan of all sorts of history, but military history is especially near and dear to my heart. I decided to go with this one, though debated a book about a submarine commander and a biography of John Paul Jones! This one has chapters by different experts on different parts of the war, but covers the whole war. After watching Tora, Tora, Tora on cable the other night, I'm in the mood!


----------



## Jeff

The Hooded Claw said:


> Though why she would resist going to Florida, but then agree to move to wild Kentucky is kind of a puzzler.


Yellow fever, malaria, crocodiles, swamps, hostile natives, and no air-conditioning?


----------



## telracs

Jeff said:


> Yellow fever, malaria, crocodiles, swamps, hostile natives, and no air-conditioning?


beat me to it, jeff.


----------



## kaotickitten

Well I'll cheer you on for this.  

Good thing Scarlet wasn't in charge of my count last year.  I had to read alot of short stories to get to my goal.  But this year no short stories all books.  

So way to go on starting your fourth book for the year hooded. The way you are going now you may pass your goal by well who knows not gonna jinx ya with a month.


----------



## telracs

kaotickitten said:


> Well I'll cheer you on for this.
> 
> Good thing Scarlet wasn't in charge of my count last year. I had to read alot of short stories to get to my goal. But this year no short stories all books.
> 
> So way to go on starting your fourth book for the year hooded. The way you are going now you may pass your goal by well who knows not gonna jinx ya with a month.


see, the problem may be that my scarlet ego is fixating on the word books. I don't think short stories are books, so maybe instead of saying you'll read x number of books, we should x number of works... or something....

then i won't make any comments about length...


----------



## The Hooded Claw

So far I rank The Pacific War as merely okay.  The book is divided into chapters on each subject, and many, though not all of the chapters carry their subject through till the end of the war, even if they are early in the book.  For instance, I've already read chapters on the defense of India and Burma and of the role of Australia and New Zealand in the Pacific War.  It's nice that both of these are covered (they tend to be neglected in many books), but it felt strange to read about them clear till the end of the war when they were inserted immediately after other chapters that take place less than a year after Pearl Harbor!  On the other hand, of the four big carrier battles in 1942, which are a highlight of the Pacific War for many readers, the first two battles (Coral Sea and Midway) get very detailed coverage, albeit with some howling minor errors about airplane types--Clearly the author of that chapter is not plane crazy.  But the remaining remaining battles are not even mentioned by name, they are brushed over in a single sentence that mentions that a couple of American carriers were sunk in further fighting that year.  Similarly, the intense surface combat in "The Slot" as both sides tried to resupply Guadalcanal is glossed over.  

Much more forgivable are the usual weaknesses of a book with chapters on different subjects by different authors.  The voice and style of each chapter is very different, and some of the chapters have problems such as the factual errors I mentioned above.

One of the authors who discusses big-picture naval strategy has a different outlook on strengths, weaknesses, and who deserves the credit and blame on each side, and I'm enjoying reading his different viewpoint, even though I can't say he's "converted" me on any particular leader.  The strengths make it an okay read for someone (such as me!) who is an avid World War II buff, who has picked up the missing stuff in other places and will benefit from some of the offbeat topics, but I don't recommend it if you're wanting a first book on World War II in the Pacific.  I will probably finish it up tonight and not look back.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

I'm now up to four books! And my next book is:



Temple Houston: Lawyer With a Gun, by Glenn Shirley

This is not fiction, it is a biography of a real person. Temple Houston was a son of Sam Houston. How I ended up specifically ordering a book about him began with this:









(photo by The Hooded Claw)

This is the annual longhorn cattle drive through Woodward, Oklahoma. I've "herd" (hee-hee) of it for years, wanted to go, and always had something come up to prevent it. Last year I resolved I would go come Hell or high water. And that was pretty close. We had a record drought and a record sequence of hundred-degree plus days here, and normally I wouldn't have gone. But I'd pledged to go (similar to my eighty-book pledge here!) so I went and saw the cattle drive. It was very short, over in fifteen minutes, but still a very cool thing to see. While I was in the area, I visited other places, including the local history museum, and they have quite a bit of stff on Temple Houston. He chose to move to Woodward (a small town in Western Oklahoma) as he was beginning a promising career. He had a short but brilliant career as an attorney, and was being considered for Governor of Oklahoma when he sadly died young. There are a LOT of colorful stories about him; he made a lot of friends and a lot of enemies. One enemy apparently took a shot at him in the night. The bullet hit home in a thick law book he was being carried, and the law book stopped the bullet! Allegedly the bullet penetrated from the front cover over 600 pages deep in the book! They had the book and bullet in the museum.









(not my photo)

The volunteer guide who gave me a lengthy private conducted tour through the museum had a BUNCH of stories about Temple Houston. There are a couple of more stories about him that I want to read about in the book before I repeat here. But one I will repeat is that Temple is best known for "The Soiled Dove Plea". This was Temple's closing statement as he defended a prostitute. Supposedly it is considered one of the most effective closing statements ever made, and is shown to law students even today as a superior example. Here's a link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soiled_Dove_Plea

I should mention that I wanted badly enough to read about Mr. Houston that I actually ordered a paper book, because nothing was available on Kindle (at least when I ordered this last Summer, I haven't checked now). I'm sure I'll be posting more about Temple as the week goes on....


----------



## telracs

wait, you're reading a DTB? I don't think that counts!


----------



## crebel

scarlet said:


> wait, you're reading a DTB? I don't think that counts!


*snort* - don't listen to her jeer, THC. I'm sure Toots will be along soon to defend you.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

So here's the first Temple Houston story:

Houston was defending a cowboy who had supposedly stolen a horse.  More importantly, the cowboy had shot and killed the rancher who owned the horse.  Everyone agreed that the rancher had a "tough guy" reputation and was allegedly very skilled with a gun, while the cowboy was a simple working man, and had no particular shooting skill.  Unfortunately, several witnesses testified that the rancher had been speaking aggressively to the cowboy, and things were moving towards a confrontation when the cowboy drew by surprise, shot first, and killed the rancher.  It had not been a fair fight, even though the cowboy clearly felt threatened and at a disadvantage.  Because of the vigilante reputation of Western Oklahoma, where the shooting had occurred, the trial had been moved to the more civilized area of Enid, in northern Oklahoma.  The prosecution had managed to get a "hanging jury" of tough-on-crime law and order types, and there was little doubt that the jury would easily vote to convict the man and hang him.

After the prosecution made their case and presented their witnesses, Houston rose to make his defense.  He began on the other side of the room from the jury, and began to talk about how the accused was trying to approach the rancher peacefully, but when the rancher escalated, the defendant knew he would have no chance against such a respected gunman.  Houston recounted tales of the famous speed of the rancher, and how a fair fight would mean certain death for the defendant.  He steadily came closer to the jury, till he was literally in the faces of the closest jurors, and his voice rose in volume, and he was now speaking very dramatically.  Temple climaxed his speech by announcing that the rancher would have shot the defendant dead "Like this--" at which point Temple drew his revolver and began firing rounds at high speed.  The judge dived under his bench, jurors scattered, and some ran out among the spectators and headed for the doors and windows.  Temple ceased firing and stood there calmly.  When the judge was back at his place, Temple smiled and said "There was no danger, your honor, my gun was loaded with blanks."  The judge lambasted Temple and threatened to fine him for contempt of court, but Temple was smooth and diplomatic and respectful and talked his way out of it.

The jury had been made to look fools, and they promptly convicted the defendant.  Temple then moved for a mistrial, because the jury had mingled with the crowd and not been sequestered properly.  The mistrial was granted, and a new trial with a different judge and jury found the defendant "not guilty."


This is the episode the author chose to begin the book with, before moving back to the beginning and Temple's childhood.  Good stuff.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Temple Houston realized that in Texas he would never escape from being the son of his father, Sam.  This was greatly to Temple's advantage in law and politics, but he was the kind of young guy who wanted to make his own name in the world, so in mid-career he picked up stakes and moved to Woodward, Oklahoma.  Woodward had just been opened up by one of the famous Oklahoma Land Runs, and was a wild and wooly place that resisted efforts to make it a less violent and more lawful and peaceful place.  

The first city ordnance advised citizens "If you must shoot, shoot straight up."

Woodward's property lines and streets had been surveyed in two separate surveys at different times, and the two surveys weren't quite in alignment with each other.  In particular, at one point the city's Main Street actually bent slightly where the two surveys joined!  As it happened, two of Houston's lawyer rivals claimed adjacent plots at the junction point, and opened a legal practice together, with the office on their plots at the bend.  Word spread that the two lawyers were so crooked they'd caused Main Street to bend!


----------



## drenee

I love this thread.  You guys are so funny.  
I am up to five books.  But I count audiobooks.  Not sure what Scarlet will say about that.
deb


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Five books for the year now. Temple Houston is finished. The book is not "awesome", but I enjoyed it and many of the stories of practicing law in the final days of the Wild West were very interesting. Temple Houston is documented as being himself a participant in at least two gunfights, both caused by people who were displeased by coming out the loser to Houston in court proceedings. In one case, Houston shot his opponent and disabled him but didn't kill him. In another case, two men assaulted Houston and his friend (who happened to be the sheriff) after they were unhappy how things came out. This one reads like something from a western novel or movie--The fight took place at night indoors, Houston and his friends had already been nervous about the situation, and realized that things were coming to a head when they used a mirror<!> in the saloon to look across the room and see their opponents readying their guns for a fight. When the confrontation came, Houston shot one of the men in the head, but didn't stop him--The injured man kept on shooting even though the lights went out. Houston's other assailant also kept shooting in the dark, and evidently shot his comrade squarely in the back of the head at close range! Houston's Sheriff friend shot the other man and shattered his arm, so he fled. In both cases where Houston fought, it was ruled self-defense. On two other occasions tensions involving Houston were very very high, and it was commonly believed that there would be a fight; in one of those cases, when court proceedings came to an end, the Judge quietly told Houston's lawyer opponent, who had come in from out of town and had publicly and deliberately made inflammatory insults to Houston, to stay off the streets and get out of town as soon as possible. The judge then collared Houston and kept him busy in the courthouse on unrelated legal business. The opposing lawyer reportedly left town by the first train!

Despite all this, Houston appears to have been a very well-educated and articulate man--He had attended the best colleges in Texas, and served as a Congressional Intern. He gave public talks on astronomy and science that were well-attended and received, and wrote a report on his investigations of the ruins of an Indian pueblo. Supposedly he tried to organize an archeological dig at one of these, though it never came to pass. Apparently Houston was merely competent at the law, his great talent as a lawyer was emotional and effective arguments to a jury.

Less-interesting was Houston's involvement in political issues of the day. Though he routinely took the side of friendless and often penniless accused criminals, he also was a close ally of big "cattle baron" ranchers, and as a party leader was forced to be involved in the Free Silver controversy (Yep, that was one of the hot button political issues of the day in the 1890s!), though it appears he personally didn't feel strongly about that issue.

Writing on the book is competent, but merely adequate. The author appears to be serious about his responsibilities as a historian and amongst the frequent tales of dramatic and interesting courtroom and gunfight drama, inserted a lot of factual recitations and documentary material that I didn't find that interesting. I'd recommend the book if you are very interested in the subject and period--Then I think you will be pleased. But those who don't have such an interest can skip it.

Next book--Yet another Charlie Chan novel!


----------



## Meka

This is a fun thread to read and I think Scarlet is a hoot!


----------



## The Hooded Claw

I have begun Charlie Chan Carries On.  This is the fifth of the six original Charlie Chan books.  The book cover shows Big Ben, and I had assumed that Charlie Chan would be traveling in London when dragged into a murder, but so far Charlie Chan has had only a cameo role, and most of the book centers around a Scotland Yard Inspector who had a brief appearance alongside Chan in an earlier book that involved the murder of a retired Scotland Yard Inspector traveling in the US.  I assume Charlie will take center stage, or at least part of center stage, soon.  Though one of the features of the books has always been a large role for a major secondary person who often is the viewpoint character for large parts of the books.  I much prefer to see Charlie in action, and I'm hoping that this British fellow, competent and likable though he may be, soon steps off stage so we can see Charlie do his thing!


----------



## Tony Richards

People are fond of arguing these days that reading is a dying habit. But a cursory look at _The Book Corner_ totally disproves that. It's great to see such huge enthusiasm. I love coming on this forum.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Tony Richards said:


> People are fond of arguing these days that reading is a dying habit. But a cursory look at _The Book Corner_ totally disproves that. It's great to see such huge enthusiasm. I love coming on this forum.


Thanks, Tony. Lots of longtime readers here, and plenty of younger readers who will keep things going on eInk!


----------



## telracs

Meka said:


> This is a fun thread to read and I think Scarlet is a hoot!


Now I'm an owl?

I think instead of "books" we should make him read 1 million kindle locations....


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Six books for the year! Charlie Chan Carries On is complete. I've started a single cumulative list of books read for the year in the original post.

Charlie Chan Carries On is a very acceptable mystery, but I was quite disappointed that Charlie doesn't come onstage till the last part of the book. Most of the novel concerns the British detective I mentioned earlier. Once Charlie enters, his role is a large and satisfying one, but I didn't like the wait! As partial compensation for no Charlie, we see the mystery taken over a good chunk of the world--The viewpoint character spends a lengthy time starting the book in London, but then shifts to several other locations before the finale of the book.

In spite of my impatience, the mystery is a good one and the story is interesting. The period these were written seemed to enter more into these books than the earlier Charlie Chans. Early in the book when the detective enters a murder scene after the police photographer has been at work, it is mentioned that the smell of flash powder lingered in the room! I thought that flash powder was no longer in use by 1930, when this book was published. Mussolini is specifically mentioned as being in charge of Italy, and one financier character admits he has lost some money in the recent stock market crash, but affirms that in his opinion the economy is sound and recovery will come soon!

Not as many of Charlie's sayings, but here are a few:

"Fortune calls at the smiling gate."

"He who squanders today talking of yesterday's triumph will have nothing to boast of tomorrow!"

"When the dinner is ended, who values the spoon?"

"The stupidest man in the town may point out the road to the school."

"A woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea."

"The wise elephant does not seek to ape the butterfly."

"The drum which makes the most noise is filled with wind." (I like this one!)

"Wise man has said, do not follow on heels of sorrow, or it may turn back."

"The turtle that enters the house at the rear gate comes finally to the head of the table." (this one has a nice double meaning!)

Next up is this:



Making Sense of People: Decoding the Mysteries of Personality, by Samuel Barondes

There's a fair chance this will end up being psychobabble and I'll abandon it, we'll see. It does have good reviews. I scarfed it up while it was offered for free last Summer, and am finally reading it.


----------



## kaotickitten

Wow way to go. Your already on six books for the year.  Your synopsis of the Charley Chan book has me thinking of reading one.

Your next one well all I have to say is better you than me.

Anyways for the cheering section Yeah go Hooded Claw you got five down, you'll beat your own goal.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Seven Books now!  I'll post more on Making Sense of People when I get home, but the short version is that it was okay, and is definitely readable, but isn't awesome.  Some of the stuff was interesting.

I've started a book called "Thicker Than Water", by Greg Sisco.  I hadn't realized it, but he's an author here.  I'm visiting relatives now, more on both books when I get home and can type on a computer that doesn't use punched cards!


----------



## The Hooded Claw

As for "Making Sense of People", it was interesting and had some good research-based stuff about personality and personality types, but was not as hands-on as I had hoped for. As a couple of examples, there was a chapter on how a portion of personality and some personality traits are genetically determined. This is interesting, but I'm not sure how it would be useful to me in making sense of a coworker (for instance), and the book talked about some interesting research that supported this idea, but gave no pointers on real world use. Again, there was a chapter on the "personal story", and quite a bit of discussion of Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey and their backgrounds, but very little on using this in the real world (there at least was SOMETHING about application on this one, unlike the genetically determined chapter).

On a more positive note, it was well-written and readable and had some interesting theoretical stuff, and some things about tests and experiments that had validated some of the ideas discussed. Perhaps the most interesting one was research on how genetics affect behavioral traits....Researchers took a group of laboratory mice and evaluated each mouse for how timid or bold the mouse was in terms of moving into open or exposed places. In general, mice are somewhat timid, though not hopelessly so. The researchers took the most bold pair of mice and the most timid pair of mice, and separately bred them. They tested the next generation of offspring, and again selected the most timid mice (from those who had had timid parents) and the most bold mice for those who had had bold parents. For a control, that would show what would happen if there was no intervention, they also bred a random pair of mice in each generation. After ten generations (fortunately, mice mature and start another generation pretty quickly!) they had three populations of mice. Those from the most timid of each of ten preceding generations basically were neurotic homebodies that quivered in a corner even when no threat was present. Those from the boldest parents in each of ten generations brazenly roamed about in open and brightly-lit areas without fear. And the controls were pretty typical mice, sticking to cover but willing to come out when things were very quiet, or if there was good food at hand. Very interesting stuff, and I enjoyed it, but not really useful in understanding a stranger's personality!

I've started a new book, that is quite a bit off of my usual fare:



Thicker Than Water (Blood Brothers), by Greg Sisco

I really like Fred Saberhagen's Dracula stories and highly recommend them (and many are available on Kindle now, hurrah!), but other vampire stories have generally left me "cold". Anne Rice didn't appeal at all, and Barbara Hambly's vampire novels were merely okay. I won't even discuss the current vampire craze among teens! But something about this book made me grab it, perhaps the same impulse that causes me to read a bit of H. P. Lovecraft every few years before I shudder and remember why I stopped reading it before!

Blood Brothers begins with a protagonist who is extremely irritated that tonight's victim is too large to jam into his custom-built corpse incinerator no matter how he contorts her body. He sighs, and goes to get a hacksaw as he wonders why everything always happens to him*....In fairness, the book was advertised as being this way, though it goes much further into gruesomeness than I'd expected. Significant amounts of very graphic violence and lesser amounts of graphic sex. I'm afraid I'm not into a character who randomly kills people for fun (not even for food), especially when he's the sympathetic character in the book! BUT....The book has some interesting ideas (what would vampires use as a religion, and why? Why doesn't the whole world turn into vampires? Both concepts are explored, and the author has given some thought to it). If this sort of thing, played out by vampires who rejoice in treating humans with far less respect than a butcher gives a cow, appeals to you, then you will probably like the book. Cthulhu has lots of fans, including some of my friends, so I know some folks will relish this! But I do go back to Lovecraft every few years, so maybe the Blood Brothers series will join Cthulhu as an occasional adventure for me. But not for my next book when I finish this one!  If the description appeals to you, it is a good buy for you!

*_Okay, I may be exaggerating the "poor me" viewpoint of the vampire a little bit, but not a lot! _


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Eight books! I am 6.3 percent through the year, and ten percent to my goal. But a combination of starting enthusiasm and having a fairly easy schedule with lots of time to read and nothing out of the ordinary going on right now make it unlikely I'll keep up this breakneck pace.

I've been reading a grim and dark novel about violent and cruel vampires. I need a change of pace. What THC needs right now is something cute and cuddly. So the obvious choice of a subject is....

PANDAS!!!!



The Way of the Panda: The Curious History of China's Political Animal, by Henry Nicholls

You can't mention cute and cuddly without thinking of pandas. I like pandas....I remember seeing them at the National Zoo in DC during a school trip in high school, it's the only thing I saw at the zoo on that memorable trip that has stayed with me. My job takes me to Washington periodically, and I go to the zoo on at least half of my visits, and I ALWAYS go see the pandas when I go to the National Zoo. This book looks like it will cover the way the Chinese have used pandas for diplomacy and as a symbol of their country, as well as (hopefully) containing some good ole natural history stuff!

I'm one of those people who is sensitive to price on Kindle books, especially when it climbs to over $9.99, so I am really glad I picked this up waaaay back in November when the price was $4.99. When looking the book up to create a link, I found that it has jumped to $14.99. Ugh! I looked up the website of Pegasus Books, publisher of The Way of the Panda, and they don't appear to be a House owned by one of the biggie publishers, but seem to be a small publisher trying to use non-traditional publishing methods, especially for books from new authors. I am not an insider to publishing or self-publishing, so I have no independent way to tell whether that's hooey or not. But clearly they aren't totally committed to lowering prices, despite their puffery about themselves containing a mention of the new age of publishing leading to lower-priced books! I do see that they are looking for paid readers and reader-contributors, if you are into that sort of thing.

I haven't started Way of the Panda yet, but will probably dive into the beginning before bedtime tonight.


----------



## telracs

scarlet: charlie chan, pandas.... do i sense a theme here?

toots: good going claw. keep on reading!


----------



## kaotickitten

Wow eight already. Way to go. As to thinking you won't be able to keep up the pace, well just remember there will be times you slow down for a really good book and you won't have to feel guilty about it.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

scarlet said:


> scarlet: charlie chan, pandas.... do i sense a theme here?


Not a deliberate theme, though by a coincidence I set up my first trip to Asia for later this year, made the reservation last week. My panda reading has been disrupted by diversions to thumb through (both literally and electronically) guide books for Vietnam and Cambodia!

But nevertheless, I'm reading about Giant Pandas. And here are a few of the mandatory tidbits--

There are some vague references to pandas in classical Chinese literature, but even the Chinese don't seem to have been too aware of the panda until about 150 years ago. It was westerners who "discovered" the panda and brought it to the attention of the outside world. A French missionary named Armand David who was also a collector of exotic plants and animals saw a panda skin in the home of a local Chinese hunter, and naturally he asked the hunters who he used to find large animals to bring him one. They did bring him a skin and other body parts which he sent back to France where a scientist would analyze it and "classify" it. This was in 1869. For about half a century, there were three raging debates about pandas--

1) Was the Giant Panda actually a close relative of a previously-known smaller mammal known as the red panda, or was it a bear?
2) Who would be the first Westerner to see a live Giant Panda?
and most important...
3) Who would be the first Westerner to have the great honor of shooting one?!

As you might guess, I am totally in favor of the first two questions, but not so keen on the third. But those were different times!

The "bear-or-panda" debate raged until the 1960s and 70s. English-speaking scientists almost invariably insisted that the giant panda was a panda, while other scientists (mostly from the continent of Europe, especially France) insisted that no, it was clearly a bear. It seems that blind division into "Tastes great!" and "Less filling" camps is not limited to beer advertisements. In the 1960s, an American scientist had the bright idea of going past looking at the bones, teeth, and other gross physical stuff, and studying the insides of the first panda to be brought out of China alive (gross stuff in a different way, but luckily those insides had been preserved when that first panda had died a few years earlier). He came down firmly in the bear camp, despite being an English speaker, and had some excellent evidence for his claim. A few years later, genetic and biochemical testing became possible, and that pretty much nailed it for the bears.

The first Westerners to see a live giant panda were Germans on an expedition in China in 1914. While the Guns of August were plunging Europe into the First World War, these guys cheated, and paid natives to bring them a live baby Giant Panda. The baby soon died, but at least it had been proved that pandas were alive at some point, and didn't just spring into being as nifty-looking hides and odd bones. Weird to think that less than one hundred years ago, nobody had seen a live giant panda except a few local residents in remote Chinese villages!

Weirdly, the first Westerner to shoot a giant panda was Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. Yep, the son of President Teddy. He shot one in the early 1920s while exploring on behalf of Chicago's Field Museum, which wanted a panda skin for their new Hall of Asia. I never thought Teddy Roosevelt would figure into this book when I started reading it!

Lest I seem too harsh on the people who wanted to shoot the poor pandas, I should concede that in order to understand pandas, they had to study them, and there was no way to ship pandas from remote areas of China at a time when even finding a panda and seeing it in the wild was a great challenge. So shooting pandas and studying the remains was one of the few ways to learn anything about them. And only by studying them, and telling the public about pandas in museum exhibits and articles, could scientists build up public support for conservation measures. So this was probably an ugly necessity, similar to the need to make an incision before surgery.

Lots more panda power to come, I gotta get back to the book!


----------



## The Hooded Claw

The Way of the Panda hit a roadblock this week.  Last week I signed up for a reduced price on a trip to Southeast Asia, including Angkor Wat.  Naturally, this got me excited, even though the trip won't happen till next Fall!  I had ordered an appropriate guidebook on Kindle, but I also ordered some DTBs on Angkor Wat from Amazon, and they arrived early in the week.  I've been thumbing through a photo book of the temples and a couple of guidebooks on evenings this week, but not really reading.  I've also been distracted as I am giving a presentation in my ToastMasters club tomorrow, and have been preparing for that.  Nevertheless, last night and this evening I restored a little discipline and finished up the pandas.  It was interesting, but more "history" than natural history.  A lot about the early expeditions to learn about the panda, and a lot about the management of the pandas and various things they did in zoos and in nature to learn about pandas and in particular to learn how to successfully breed them and have the mother raise the young.  I enjoyed the book, but it is only recommended if pandas are of great interest to you!

Here are a few tidbits from the book:

Pandas do winter sports!  At least once, tracks of a panda hurling itself on its belly and tobogganing down a hill have been found in nature!

Periodically, for certain species of of bamboo, every plant over a wide geographical area will suddenly come into flower after years without flowering, release pollen, produce seeds, and die.  It's not clear why or how this happens, but in one case in the 1970s it happened at the same time for both species of bamboo that were the favored foods of wild pandas in a large area of China.  This was great for the pandas in the short run, but it was a disaster the following year when there was a severe food shortage for the pandas, and many starved.  Incidentally, pandas are NOT like bears in that they do not store huge fat reserves, and never hibernate.

The library of every panda keeper in zoos across the world contains two interesting volumes (presumably not on Kindle!).  One is "The Panda Stud Book" with full genetic ancestry for every captive panda in the world, and the other is a guidebook on "The Standardized Faecal Grading System" which tells how to evaluate the health of your pandas by carefully examining their *ahem* "panda poo".

Wild pandas are heavily-protected animals in China, and killing them, or even skinning a dead one is punished by penalties ranging from several years in prison to the death penalty, but actual jurisdiction over protecting the animals is split between two government agencies.  One is the Ministry of Forests, which is reasonably logical, but the other is the Ministry of Construction!  Huh?

To be healthy, Pandas need to eat bamboo.  Lots of it, almost half their body weight in cut bamboo shoots each day.  A zoo in Vienna, Austria kept a pair of pandas and provided their animals with a choice of two different varieties of bamboo, specially grown in France and trucked into Austria at a cost of about $200,000 per week!

Pandas leave secret smell messages for each other, and they mostly do it by scent.  Much of this scent communication is through *poo* again (that word turns up a lot in panda-ology) and especially through urine.  Pandas leave marks on trees by urinating on them, and they have a variety of different postures to do this, with the height and pattern of urine conveying different information to other pandas.  Some pandas literally do a handstand with their hind feet against a tree so they can urinate high up on the tree to leave a message that says "I'm the boss!"  Unsurprisingly it is the males that are the ones who strike this undignified posture.

Fiction will be next, I'm pondering whether to snarf another mystery, or read a bit of classic science fiction from either Heinlein or Asimov.


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## telracs

Heinlein, Heinlein!


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## IowaGuy

I am addcited to this thread.  As a new person to the forums this thread was what I was looking for.  So happy to see other people enjoying reading as much as myself!


I am chearing for you and enjoying all your posts very much!


Happy Reading,

IG


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## The Hooded Claw

Thanks, Iowaguy!

I took Scarlet's advice, and read Robert A. Heinlein. Specifically, this one:



The Door Into Summer, by Robert Heinlein

For the month of February, it is marked down to $2.99, so it was a no-brainer to pick up. I started reading it using the Kindle app on my phone during lunch today, and finished it this evening (Wild Friday night, huh?). I enjoyed it, but it isn't Heinlein's best. It's different than most of Heinlein's books in that some very specific dates are given in the book! Heinlein did a good job of anticipating computer drafting and design software like Autocad, though he envisioned it in a specialized device, not as a piece of software you load onto a general purpose computer. He also mentions electronic banking, using something called the CyberNet. Of course, he got a lot of stuff wrong, the book suggests we would be using antigravity by the year 2000! And mention of a manned mission to Mars in 2000 kind of hurts to read for an old space buff like me!

The old predictions game for science fiction writers is usually frustrating, but unusually doable for this one because of the specific dates. Of course, Heinlein was more focused on cranking out a good story than making a specific prediction for the future that he thought would "come true."

I am now at ten books. Twelve and a half percent of the way to my goal for the year! Now on to book eleven!


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## telracs

not only did he read door into summer, he convinced the primary ego to buy it!
grumble....


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## Sean Patrick Fox

That's quite a goal you've set for yourself, THC. I read a lot as well, but I don't think I'll come anywhere near 80 books this year. I think I read 50 in 2011, and I was pleased with that. It's interesting to see the wide variety of books you're reading, too. Keep on truckin'!


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## The Hooded Claw

In early and mid-March, I'm going on a trip with a group that will start in Fairbanks, Alaska, then drive up the Dalton Highway (parallels the Alaska Pipeline) to Coldfoot, Alaska, which we will use as a base in some wildlife and scenery-watching above the Arctic Circle in Winter. One of the highlights of the trip, if the Sun and the clouds cooperate, will be observing the Aurora Borealis at night. So I ordered two DTBs about Aurora so I can read up on that subject. I'm starting the first today:



The Northern Lights: Secrets of the Aurora Borealis, by Syun-Ichi Akasofu


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## Jeff

Claw, I truly admire your reading zeal and writing ability (if not your hood).


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## The Hooded Claw

Jeff said:


> Claw, I truly admire your reading zeal and writing ability (if not your hood).


Jeff, anything I lack in writing ability I make up for by determination and snark!


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## The Hooded Claw

I'm done with the first aurora book, I recommend it if you have a passion to learn about aurora. Here are a few tidbits.....

Aurora sightings go back a long way--There is one Babylonian record of aurora from 350 BC! There are a lot more depictions that are later of course, my personal favorite is this one from Bavaria in 1570:










This isn't as fanciful as it seems, it probably came from a sighting of auroral rays like these:










As most KBers will know, Aurora are mostly sighted in the extreme north and south. But they have gone quite far south during big solar storms, and aurora was sighted in Honolulu in 1859!

Aurora is not limited to the Earth! Any planet that has a magnetic field has prospects for aurora. Jupiter and Saturn definitely do, check these photos from the good folks at NASA:



















After talking about the history and folklore of aurora, the book describes how aurora are generated. I'd always thought that aurora were generated directly by particles of the solar wind impacting the earth--But this book says things are more complicated. In short, the interaction of the solar wind causes an electron flow through earth's upper atmosphere which causes the aurora. I've got a second book on aurora lined up to read before my Alaska trip next month, and I'm gonna be curious to find out if this idea is generally accepted.

On other tidbit--Aurora are typically between 60 and 200 miles high. I don't think I can climb that high!

Anyway, now I am at eleven books for 2012!


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## telracs

next year we are gonna set some ground rules for this reading thing...
hush scarlet. you're doing good claw, keep it up.


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## The Hooded Claw

As sometimes happens in ambitious projects, I've hit a stalling point for a couple of weeks. I started "The Keeper of the Keys", the last of the original Charlie Chan novels, and didn't get into it. After a few days, I went back, read a little more, and didn't get into it. This was surprising, since I've really liked the previous Chan books! But this one wasn't grabbing my attention. Photography stuff grabbed my attention for awhile, and I haven't even attempted to read anything in over a week till today. But now I have started this, and am about twenty percent through it, and going strong:



My Lead Dog was a Lesbian: Mushing Across Alaska in the Iditarod--The World's Most Grueling Race, by Brian Patrick O'Donoghue

Okay, so maybe the author thought he was being paid by the word for the title, and also for his name! But I'm enjoying the book. The title pretty well describes what the book is about, but it doesn't convey that the author was NOT a professional dog sledder, nor even an experienced amateur when he entered the Iditarod. He is a political and sportswriter at an Alaska newspaper, and had participated in his first dogsled race just a couple of years prior to the events of the book. His induction to mushing came when he was covering a short local dog sled race, and another amateur musher who had rented a team failed to show up for his scheduled start. The people who owned the dogs asked the author "You wanta race in his place?" The author competed and did "honorably" even though he'd never mushed before! The book begins by telling about his experiences in a 200 mile qualifying race, which itself was much, much longer than any other race he'd been in, even though far short of the length of the big race. You can forget any ideas of smoothly sailing over the snow in a race, just as the race started out, the author saw a person he knew, an experienced musher who he knew was participating in the race, sitting dumbly by the side of the trail. The author figuratively shrugged, went on with the race, and immediately went flying through the air as the trail passed over a thick tree log that stuck up in the snow! The dogs jumped over it, pulling the sled behind them which went airborne. O'Donoghue managed to stay on his sled, but the experienced musher had fallen off and caught one leg under the fallen log. The dogs kept right on going, and in a test of strength between the steel cable that ties the combined efforts of the dogs to the sled and the experienced musher's leg, the musher's leg lost, and suffered a severe compound fracture. Local residents had set the poor man up in the snow and called an ambulance when O'Donoghue passed by! The other man's dog team had kept on going, and had to be tracked down by local residents.

A few tidbits from the story so far:

Late last year I read another book about mushing in the 1920s, and it suggested that the position of lead dog on a team was sacred and unchanging. The other book described how an experienced musher had shifted his long-time lead dog off of the lead as the dog got old, and the forsaken dog literally curled up and died, it couldn't stand not being in the lead. The other book also described how much experience and judgement was demanded of the lead dog. That's not the case now, in this race, our hero replaces different dogs on the lead every few hours (he mushes with two dogs out front), and in one case during the 200-mile race, put a dog as co-leader who had only co-lead twice before. From the description, it appears this is not unusual now. So things have changed since the old days, and not even the sacred rite of dog sledding is immune!

When the temperature outside climbs up to 30 degrees, it is too hot to dog sled for any distance! The dogs will soon begin to have problems in the heat.

I have been surprised by the fanaticism of many of the dog sled race fans. Baseball fans have nothing on these people!

This interest in Aurora and dog sledding is motivated by a trip to Alaska coming up in a bit over two weeks. I'll be with a group, we will travel from Fairbanks along the Dalton Highway (parallels the Alaska Pipeline) and spend several days exploring northern Alaska above the Arctic Circle. The northerly excursion will include a dog sled ride, and we will see some dog sled races (though not the "big one" Iditarod) while in Fairbanks. I'm intrigued by all this, so obviously am reading up on it!

The other dog sledding book I referenced was this one, which I read last year. Highly recommended if the subject interests you:



The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in the Race Against an Epidemic, by Gay Salisbury


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Last night I stayed up about an hour late to finish "My Lead Dog Was a Lesbian". I'd just blindly assumed that since the book was Kindleized, it was relatively new, so I was surprised to find out that the events in the book took place in the 1991 Iditarod race, and the book had been published in 1996. Didn't affect my enjoyment of the book or what I learned from it, but it explained the author describing how he listened to his _Walkman_ while mushing, and making references to bringing casette tapes along, including one incident where a bunch of 'em were dumped out on the trail. I enjoyed the book, and recommend it if you want to learn more about the Iditarod. Only real gripe I have with the book is that it is written in a style that involves continual jumping in time between different races (in the first few chapters) and events in this Iditarod, with the author as a participant, or previous Iditarods, which he viewed as a reporter. Not fatal, but a few times I was scrambling to figure out "when" the events in the book happened!

The book is full of delicious (well, not all delicious) tales about dog sled racing that were the reason I'd wanted the book. Here are a few:

Speaking of delicious, picture this custom dogfood recipe:

100 pounds raw chopped beef
20 pounds honey
2 gallons corn oil
2 pounds bone meal
various "secret" ingredients

Now picture this raw mixture in your bathtub. Yes, it will be about a foot deep in the bathtub. Now picture that you used the wrong type of honey<!> and the stuff is unusable and you have to scoop it out of the bathtub and dispose of it. If it was a couple of days before trash pickup, I'll bet you would be really grateful for those subzero Alaska winters, though the author didn't go into that particular detail.

Here's a hint, in case you ever want to mark packages to be sent ahead of you in caches you will pick up during the race. If you are trying to mark packages as yours, do not try to use spray paint to do it if you are in Alaska in winter. The spray paint will freeze up in the nozzle, and you will be unhappy, and more importantly, unable to mark your packages.

The author had sixty sacks of prepackaged goods to be sent ahead to wait for him, each color-coded for one of 21 checkpoints along the race route. Total weight of his cached goods was 2,094 pounds, with a $523 shipping bill in 1991.

Moose are a substantial danger to mushers. In the middle of winter, plowing through the snow is a significant energy drain on starving moose. The musher's trail is semi-prepared ahead of time by volunteers who drive snow machines over it to at least partially compact the snow. This makes the route a moose highway, and the moose know they will lose a lot of hard-to-replace energy if they get out of the prepped route into deep snow again. Since the moose are cranky, hungry, and temperamental anyway, this makes them a genuine hazard, Many dogs have been killed and mushers injured by moose that refused to give way. So most every Iditarod participant takes along a rifle or high-powered pistol to defend themselves and their dogs.

At absolute top speed, Iditaroders will cover ten, perhaps twelve miles in an hour. OF course, this only happens when everything is perfect, which almost never happens. In practice, covering over 100 miles in 24 hours is considered a really excellent run. They have a route of about 1,050 miles, so it takes a lot of hours and many rest breaks to finish.

The author's sled started the race with seventeen dogs. Harnessed in two-by-two, this put the lead dogs almost eighty feet in front of him as he stood on his sled!

One sledder in this race (not the author!) had his sled decorated with a huge Oscar Mayer wiener. I assume, though it wasn't specified, that this was a sponsorship deal.

One racer in the book included three POODLES in his starting sled team! This was not just a stunt, he felt they were useful dogs, and they had done well for him in some lesser races. Many other racers resented this, feeling it made them look ludicrous, and he earned the name "Poodle Man". The poodles had been useful in other races, but they weren't able to hack it in the big one (one died of exposure in a storm), and he dropped the remainder of them during the race. Dropping a dog, means merely that he hands the dog over to a race official with a short paper explaining the problem, and the dog is transported safely home, so it isn't anything "final" for the poor dog! The author also dropped several dogs, including one female that was doing well but came into heat during the race, generating considerable *ahem* interest and activity among the male dogs, and at least one lengthy delay when the author wasn't able to interrupt the course of romance in time.

At least one man raced in his first Iditarod at age 70, and ran the race at least eight times, including four finishes, the last one described in the book at age 84. In this race, a different 70-year old finished fifth, and won $9,000 in 1991.

There is a Star Trek reference in the book! The author described racing at night through snow, when the falling snowflakes were illuminated by his headlamp, and zoomed towards him as his sled went forward, reminding him of stars passing Starship Enterprise in the old series.

Everybody wants to be the winner of the Iditarod, but there are lesser prizes for racers who are first at various checkpoints. In this race, they included a new pickup truck, silver bullion, and a seven-course gourmet meal cooked on-site by a chef flown in from one of Anchorage's finest restaurants! Menu items included an appetizer plate of assorted seafood, chicken consomme with garden vegetables, sauteed shrimp in gin and vermouth, black raspberry sorbet (a specialty of this particular restaurant), three types of wine, and chocolate mousse for dessert! This served at a rugged camp on the Yukon River in the Alaskan interior, cooked on a two-burner Coleman stove.

For stitched emergency repairs in the field, many mushers prefer dental floss as being tougher than any thread.

The numerous participants in this race started with about 1400 dogs on their sleds! Six dogs died during the race, the poodle who died of exposure, one victim of a heart attack, and several killed or injured when a big "snow machine" collided with one musher's sled during the night.

It wasn't on this race, but on another musher put himself out of a major race when he tried to eat M&Ms by just popping them in his mouth when it was 40 degrees below zero. They froze to his mouth and throat, and he was a medical casualty. The author favored salmon packed in oil for an "emergency snack", because the high oil content keeps it from freezing and makes it edible in any temperature he's encountered.

Extensive care of the dogs is required, as you would expect. At every checkpoint, each musher spends 45 minutes to an hour tending to the dog's FEET (that doesn't include feeding them or taking care of other problems, but just in picking ice out of the feet, massaging them, replacing booties worn by some dogs in some situation, and fixing minor injuries.



Spoiler



The author didn't win, but got an unusual distinction--He actually did lead the race for a brief period, because he drew first starting position. But he was the last person to finish the race, thus winning the "not coveted" Red Lantern Award. He was the first person in Iditarod history to start first and finish last! His total elapsed time for the race was 22 days, 5 hours, 55 minutes, and 55 seconds, nearly twice as long as the winner, who finished in 12 days and 16.5 hours. Note that there were seventy-five official entrants, one was disqualified, and fourteen "scratched".



As you can tell, I had a lot of fun with the book, found the details fascinating.


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## telracs

i'm still confused as to the lesbian aspect of the book....


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## The Hooded Claw

scarlet said:


> i'm still confused as to the lesbian aspect of the book....


I considered talking about that, and originally was going to ignore it, but probably best that you asked. O'Doghnohue didn't go into great detail about it, but apparently one of his better lead dogs was....Open-minded about who or what she indulged in preliminary canine activities with. Not really a "lesbian" in my mind, and it didn't play a big part in the book. I assume he thought it would make an attention-grabbing title, which it did.


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## The Hooded Claw

And I'm now reading "Buffalo Bill's Life Story", by himself. I bought it for ninety-nine cents a few months ago, but now it is up to almost ten bucks, though borrowable for free by Amazon Prime members. There is a book with a slightly different title on Gutenberg that I suspect is the same thing for free. I read the first few chapters, and it is off to a good start. Scarlet will be proud that this is supposedly formatted for large-sized screens such as the DX. It does have some period illustrations and decorations for pages, though nothing awesome so far.


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## telracs

i like buffalo bill, especially after my trip.
it might be optimized, but i ain't buying something that expensive.


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## The Hooded Claw

I'm well-started on Buffalo Bill.  The book is well-written and interesting.  Cody's life started in a rather peaceful part of Iowa (Bill lived there for several years but never saw an Indian, for instance. But even in peaceful Iowa, violence entered his life at an early age....He watched as his older brother was showing off horsemanship for a bunch of schoolkids, and took a tumble.  The horse landed on his brother, who died of his wounds.  But soon after, Bill's father moved the family to Kansas, which was just opening up for settlement.  This was in the mid-1850s, and if you remember your history, Kansas soon became "Bloody Kansas" as people who wanted Kansas to become a slave state, and people who wanted it to be a free state battled it out.  At the age of eleven, Bill watched as his father was stabbed twice by a pro-slavery settler who didn't like the speech his father was giving.  Soon after, there was an attempt to "finish the job" on his father, and his father eluded the mob by disguising himself from men watching the house for him  by donning the dress of a woman briefly, then hiding from them in a corn field for three days, including while they ransacked the house!  Later, Bill (age eleven) was sent by his mother to warn his Father that a group of Southerners had learned where his father was, and were headed to kill him.  On the way, some of the chased Bill and fired shots at him.  So quite a violent start in life!  But Bill also learned a great deal of horsemanship from a cousin who worked rounding up wild horses for the Army.

The book is well-written, and I am enjoying it.  This now-pricey Amazon version has some nice period engravings for illustration, and they look okay on my K3, but nothing special.  Slightly better when I tried them on my iPad, and the formatting was much better there--On the K3 the illustrations are sometimes a couple of screens away from what they are illustrating.


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## The Hooded Claw

And I'm now at thirteen books for the year!

I recommend Buffalo Bill's Life Story, though I don't especially recommend this edition of it. It has numerous typographical errors, most appearing to come from optical scanning errors where the wrong letter is substituted. A bizarre quirk is that the book opens (when you click to enter it the first time) at the beginning of the last chapter! It does this later whenever you choose "go to" beginning. Not a huge deal, but in a book that is now ten dollars, I expect much better. I'm glad I bought this when it was marked down to about a dollar. One positive of this edition is that it has some nice engravings that were done to illustrate the book (presumably when it was published around 1880), but I don't think they are worth ten dollars!

The book is a rough and violent one, as expected. Surprisingly, much of the early violence comes from other white men. As a young boy, Cody's family moved from Iowa to Kansas during the leadup to the Civil War, and was witness to, and recipient of much violence from people who wanted Kansas to be a slave state. One of the earlier incidents in his career of working out West involved his party being ambushed and captured by Mormons who were fighting the US Government at the time. But before long, the story moves into the expected stuff of serving as a buffalo hunter for the railroad (actually a very short time in his life and the book, but it gave him his popular title) as well as surprisingly uneventful service during the Civil War, and very eventful service as a Scout for the Army during the Indian Wars. The latter part of the book covers his move into show business, when he spent several months each year doing "Wild West Shows" in the big cities of the East, after which he'd return West and serve the Army as a Scout, including the campaign to "avenge" the deaths of Custer and his command. Then he'd head back East and do another season of show touring. I looked for Scarlet's review of his show, but she evidently hasn't posted one!  This shifting between playing for an audience for laughs and thrills, then shifting to grim and desperate fighting on the plains is very strange.

The customary tidbits:

Bill claims that the longest period of continuous schooling he ever had in his life was two and a half months! I presume he had a ghost-writer for this book, as it is excellently-written and entertaining.

While serving as a buffalo hunter for the railroads, Bill was paid a salary of five hundred dollars a month. He claims he killed 4,280 buffalo during a period slightly under a year and a half.

During one sharp burst of activity fighting Indians, Bill was used to carry dispatches back and forth between various Army units. He says that he rode 355 miles in 58 hours, much of it at night, and all of it through territory with hostile Indians everywhere.

At one point in the book, Bill describes how two notorious Indians who were charging the group he was with were shot down within "less than one rod of the scouts". It is the first time I've ever heard or read anyone use "rod" as a measure of distance outside of a junior high school math problem!

My favorite story in the whole book (and it is basically a succession of stories strung into a long narrative with connective information in between) involves Bill working as a Scout under a military commander he'd never worked with before. The first night in the field, the commander, a Colonel Royal, asked Bill to shoot some buffalo to feed the soldiers. Bill readily agreed, and asked the Colonel to send out a wagon or two to collect the meat. The Colonel replied "I am not in the habit of sending out my wagons until I know that there is something to be hauled in; kill your buffalo first, and then I'll send out the wagons." So Bill went out, shot half a dozen buffalo, and asked the Colonel to send out wagons to pick up the meat. The next afternoon, the Colonel again requested Bill to go get more fresh buffalo meat. Bill described what happened next:

_I didn't ask him for any wagons this time, but rode some distance, and coming up with a small herd, I managed to get seven of them heading straight for the encampment, and instead of shooting them just then, I ran them at full speed right into the camp, and then killed them all, one after another in rapid succession. Colonel Royal witnessed the whole proceeding, which puzzled him somewhat, as he could see no reason why I had not killed them on the prairie. He came up rather angrily, and demanded an explanation. 'I can't allow any such business as this, Cody,' said he, 'what do you mean by it?"
'I didn't care about asking for any wagons this time, Colonel, so I thought I would make the buffaloes furnish their own transportation,' was my reply. The Colonel saw the point in a moment, and had no more to say on the subject._

As you can see by the above, the story is violent, and though never graphic, describes grizzly things, such as a one-on-one duel with an Indian warrior which ended with Bill scalping the dead Indian and collecting his gear as trophies. Less graphic, and equally interesting, was Bill's description of his first trip back East, especially to New York City--I actually wish he'd been more detailed about this and his reactions to the things he saw. He had a rough start in show business, but the book describes his first few seasons on the stage, including the surreal alternation between doing shows for the plump and comfortable masses back East, with going back to war and desperate fighting for a few months. Bill freely admits that the focus of his shows was on spectacle and showmanship, and though there was actually a script, it wasn't much of one, and he claims several drama critics went insane trying to follow the plot!

In addition to the casual violence of war and hunting, something I hadn't expected was Bill's cavalier views on personal violence when he feels justified. He calmly describes beating up a man who accused him of stealing (Bill says falsely, and I believe him) and doing it again when he saw his accuser later. When Bill stopped his Wild West Show for awhile, another actor (who Bill didn't know) started doing a show using Bill's name, with the actor claiming to be Bill. Bill reports that he wrote the man and asked him to stop, but his letter was ignored. So he took a train to the town where the show was performing, watched part of it, then jumped up on the stage and publicly beat the actor portraying him. He announced to the audience who he was and explained his actions, then took his seat to watch the rest of the show! (The local law enforcement didn't let him follow his plan).

Bill seems to have respected many Indians, but his general views on them are not "PC". He makes reference to blacks many times and doesn't seem especially racist (and he did fight for the Union Army during the Civil War), but I feel like there is usually a sense of condescension when he writes about them (mostly about black "Buffalo Soldiers"). I think this is just a part of him being a man of his time.

Fascinating look at another time, even if it is self-serving. Highly recommended if the subject interests you, but unless the price is cut sharply as when I bought it, I'd get a free version from Gutenberg rather than pay the ten bucks. Like all good tale-tellers, Bill makes himself look good in the narrative most of the time, and I'm sure he exaggerates in some places, and gives a biased view of many more. But the book feels "honest" in the sense of giving a good sense of what things were like in that time and place


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## telracs

The Hooded Claw said:


> And I'm now at thirteen books for the year!


congrats on lucky 13



The Hooded Claw said:


> The latter part of the book covers his move into show business, when he spent several months each year doing "Wild West Shows" in the big cities of the East, after which he'd return West and serve the Army as a Scout, including the campaign to "avenge" the deaths of Custer and his command. Then he'd head back East and do another season of show touring. _I looked for Scarlet's review of his show, but she evidently hasn't posted one! _


exactly how old do you think i am?


----------



## The Hooded Claw

I've been heavily distracted from reading by preparations for, and doing, this: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,105974.0.html

But one good thing about airline travel is that it gives you time for reading, and if you have a Kindle along (which I did), you can take along more books than you could possibly read. I had a long airline flight going and coming, and I used all of it to read on the way out, and most of it to read on the way home (taking a break from reading to watch "Young Frankenstein" on the in-flight video from Fairbanks to Seattle).



I had started "The Physics of Star Trek" before I left home, and finished it fairly quickly during the flight to Fairbanks. As you'd expect, the book talks about some of the far-out physics that would be involved in the devices used in the various incarnations of the Star Trek series. The biggest of course is faster-than-light travel, but there are lots of other things discussed, notably the transporter, the holodeck, and tractor beams. Alas, it sounds like the transporter, as shown in the series, is flat-out impossible regardless of technological advances in the future (of course when I make that statement I am begging for trouble, but I'll surely be dead and gone before I'm proved wrong!). Others seem more plausible someday, even though we can't see how to make them work now.

The book is a good non-technical discussion of a lot of advanced physical concepts, I was actually disappointed in how little about the shows made it in, mostly references to episode names where something happened. And the focus is mostly on TNG, with some of the original series. Voyager gets only occasional references, and Enterprise and DS9 are barely mentioned at all. We do get the occasional limerick thrown in, such as:

There once was a lady named Bright,
Who traveled much faster than light,
She departed one day in a relative way,
And returned on the previous night.

Despite being a physics guy, I hadn't heard some of these!

One idea that was new to me is that the "energy beings" that frequently turn up in the series, probably are impossible, at least in the sense that they could relate to and interact with mere physical being such as us. Beings of energy "must" travel at the speed of light, per Albert Einstein and relativity. But if they move at the speed of light, they can't sit still (to interact with Captain Kirk and the gang) and they will have clocks that are infinitely slowed compared to our own, so time as we know it wouldn't have meaning for them. This makes perfect sense, and I'm embarrassed that I hadn't thought about it myself! Relativity is standing up to every test so far, I suppose there might be a way to get around this, but it seems unlikely.

The writers on Star Trek, especially the original series, were amazingly prescient and lucky in some of the names they chose or invented. Something I had noticed, and is brought up in the book, is that in one episode of the old show, they used the term "black star" for what apparently is intended to be a black hole or something very like it, and this was in 1967, same year as the announcement of black holes, and before the "discoverer" of them had ever used the name in public. There are a couple of similar cases of fortuitous naming that succeeding science has affirmed.

The "slingshot effect" used for time travel in the old show episode "Tomorrow is Yesterday" (one of my favorites!) and others, and also in Star Trek IV is completely impossible. The gravitational effect produced by the sun's mass is miniscule compared to the amount of mass needed for something like this to work.

Overall, I recommend the book for diehard Star Trek fans who want to understand more of the science involved in the shows, and even for non-Trekkers who just want a nice readable explanation of advanced physical concepts, but it didn't rock my world.

I read a couple of more books during the plane trips, will write them up later.


----------



## telracs

i just reread the physics of Star Trek and didn't really enjoy it as much as i remember enjoying it when i read it eons ago....


----------



## The Hooded Claw

If you were intrigued by my comments on "The Way of the Panda", it is marked down to $2.99 temporarily.  I'd grab it!

I recommend the book if you are actually curious about pandas, but unless you are genuinely interested in them, it probably wouldn't please.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Ring for Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse--Part of The Jeeves Omnibus, Volume 3

This novel was part of a three-volume collection, the first new Jeeves I've seen on Kindle in quite awhile! I hope they continue to publish other Jeeves on Kindle. This is quite different from any other Jeeves stuff I'd read. For one thing, it is the first I've read that is NOT narrated by Bertie Wooster. Bertie is not present during the novel, and Jeeves is "on loan" while Wooster is not in a position to make use of his services. The book is written in third person. The style continues to be rather Woosterish, however, with the awkward but humorous explanations and references that Bertie uses. This seemed odd when I was used to Bertie, but it did work.

The other big change is that this is set much later in time than the other Jeeves books I've read. I'm accustomed to Jeeves being set in the period between the World Wars, I've always assumed it was the 1920s. This one is set post-World War II. There are explicit references to the atom bomb and a jet airliner, which seem out of place in a Jeeves novel, and a televised horse race plays a significant role in the plot. The financial decline of the English aristocracy is continually mentioned.

I'm assuming these changes are because Wodehouse felt he needed to shake things up a bit to keep the series interesting, or perhaps he thought he needed to be "current and up to date". Or perhaps he was just bored with writing things the same way. The alternate style does work, in any event, though not as well as other Jeeves books I've read.

Despite the absence of Wooster, the plot is typical Jeeves: A group of aristocrats (one of whom is served by Jeeves) are gathered at a decaying country house, a couple of outsiders join with different motives, elaborate romantic complications ensue, and after the situation becomes hopelessly muddled and complex there is a happy ending, largely engineered through a masterstroke by Jeeves that cuts the Gordian knot. For the Marx Brothers, Mel Brooks, and Jeeves, the real joy of the enterprise is in the great antics and dialogue rather than the plot itself. This book continues in that tradition, with the plot merely a convenient background for the fun. I heaved a sigh of relief at the end of the book when Jeeves gave his notice and announced that he would be returning to Wooster's service as he was needed there again.

Overall, I found this less satisfying than usual. This is a below average Jeeves book, which means that it is considerably better than most fiction you will read. As usual with Jeeves, I found myself with a continual involuntary grin on my face when I read it. Since I was wearing said grin at the end of a fourteen hour day of airline travel, that's quite an accomplishment for the book. If you like Jeeves, I recommend it, even though it isn't quite up to the usual Wodehouse level.


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## The Hooded Claw

Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, and the Miracle on the Hudson, by William Langewiesche

Yes, while traveling on an airliner, I read a book about an airliner crash! 

You'll remember the massive media coverage of an airliner that was taking off from LaGuardia airport in NYC, struck a flock of geese, suffered loss of power in both engines, but glided to a safe landing on the waters of the Hudson River so many of the passengers could merely step out onto the wing and then step into a quickly-arriving boat pressed into rescue service. This book reads almost like a series of articles written about various subjects that pertain to the crash. Without going back and looking through the book, various major topics include the National Transportation Safety Board hearing on the crash, and the motivations and agendas of different people who testified, why collisions with Canada Geese in particular have become more frequent in recent years, the problem of birds being near airport runways in general and what is being done about it, the decline of airline piloting as a desirable profession, how the design of the Airbus planes is different from other airliners, and why airline pilots generally dislike the Airbus and see it is a threat, what's done to test how well airliners can be evacuated after an emergency landing, and some weaknesses in the system of testing, and detailed descriptions of other airliner crashes, which are compared and contrasted with The Miracle on the Hudson....All of this is interspersed among a minute-by-minute account of the flight in question. There are probably other topics I've forgotten about.

I started this book while flying to Alaska for my Arctic vacation, was partway through when the plane arrived in Alaska, then didn't touch my Kindle (thus doing no reading on the book) until I got on the airliner to return home almost two weeks later. This would have been crippling for a fiction book, since the eventful vacation and the passage of time would have erased much of the story detail from my mind, but the segmented structure of this book, focusing on different subjects in each chapter made it an inspired choice for having a huge gap mid-book. I don't think my enjoyment suffered much from putting it down for twelve days.

Lots of little interesting details about all sorts of things. I won't recount a bunch of details, but one that does stick out in my mind is how airliner evacuation tests are generally done by volunteers who march out in a stately, polite, and orderly fashion, thus smoothly evacuating in the required short time. One safety researcher tried an experiment where things were done a little differently--She set up a test where it was announced just before the "crash" that the first fifty percent of people out of the plane would receive a modest cash award. This lead to things being entirely different, it was a Devil-take-the-hindmost scramble to get out of the plane, and pandemonium and chaos ensued! When people are evacuating for their lives, rather than for fifty bucks (or whatever the award was), presumably they will be at least as competitive and desperate. The accounts of real crashes generally support this, though there is a surprising amount of heroic and noble behavior in some of them.

The style of the book frequently struck me as a bit snarky, with cynicism about the motives of different people, though the author seems genuinely impressed and admiring of the aircrew in the Hudson crash. There is a lot of interesting detail about airplanes and the airline business, and if the subject interests you, I think you will like the book. I found it a very interesting read, despite being on an airliner when I read it!


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## The Hooded Claw

The Mating Season, by P. G. Wodehouse Part of The Jeeves Omnibus, Volume 3

This set of three novels was released just before I left on my Alaska trip, and I was delighted to have "new Jeeves" in Kindle form to read on the plane. I read another novel in it on the flight to Alaska, as described above, and I really should have left the other two novels for reading later--After all, this volume might be the only new Jeeves released for some time, possibly till next year! But as I was flying home, Jeeves was calling to me, so I plunged into the second book.

The first book in this collection was an unusual Jeeves book, in that there was no Wooster. This one is again unusual, in that there is only a modicum of Jeeves in the book. In a situation even more complicated than usual, Wooster has to go visit a country home where almost nobody knows him, but he must go "in disguise" as one of his friends (who is also not well-known there) so that the friend's fiance won't hear that said friend had to cancel because a magistrate gave the friend thirty days in the jug when a drunken fellow reveller convinced him to go wading in a fountain in central London. Jeeves can't go along. The situation gets even more complicated when the jailed friend is released early and decides to come and join the group....Introducing himself as Bertie Wooster! So the two friends are there, each portraying the other, and as usual, Bertie gets caught up in trying to help untangle his friends' romantic problems, both because Bertie is a genuinely nice (if not too bright) guy, and because if one friend's engagement breaks, Bertie will feel compelled to marry that friend's bride-to-be, a fate Bertie views as worse than death.

This one works much better than Ring for Jeeves (covered higher in this thread), I was surprised to find that I enjoyed Bertie with only a little Jeeves more than I enjoy Jeeves without Bertie. Above-average Jeeves. If you are a Jeeves fan, you should read it if you haven't! I'll limit myself to saying that, and to quoting a few fragments of the book that I bookmarked so I could reproduce them here....
_
I subjected Catsmeat to a keen glance. I am told by those who know that there are six varieties of hangover--The Broken Compass, the Sewing Machine, the Comet, the Cement Mixer and the Gremlin Boogie, and his manner suggested that he had got them all.

"I'll tell you what Miss Bassett is going to say. She is going to say....JEEVES!"
"Sir?"
"You are letting your attention wander."
"I beg your pardon sir. I was observing the dog. If you will notice, he has commenced to eat the sofa cushion."
"Never mind about the dog."
"I think it would be advisable to remove the little fellow to the kitchen, sir," he said with respectful firmness. Jeeves is a stickler for having things just right. "I will return as soon as he is safely immured."

"You ask me why I do not wish to (marry her)," I said. I will tell you. It is because though externally, as you say, she is a pippin, she is the sloppiest, mushiest, sentimentalest young Gawd-help-us who ever thought the stars were God's daisy chain, and that every time a fairy hiccoughs, a wee baby is born. She is squashy and soupy. Her favorite reading is Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh. I can perhaps best sum it up by saying that she is the ideal mate for Gussie Fink-Nottle."

The blokes who run the railway don't make it easy for you to get from Wimbledon to King's Deverill, feeling no doubt--and I suppose it's a kindly thought--That that abode of thugs and ghouls is a place you're better away from. You change twice before you get to Basingstoke, and then change again, and take the branch line. And once you're on the branch line, it's quicker to walk.

_


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## balaspa

I wish you luck.  I have to say I have the opposite problem you do, however.  I read more since my Kindle that I did when I had to go out and buy books.


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## The Hooded Claw

The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, by Pat Garrett

Who better to write a biography of a notorious criminal than the man who shot him? I heard a presentation by an author of a modern book on Billy the Kid awhile back, and decided that before I read that, I'd pick up this book written by Billy's executioner and see how the stuff in it was addressed by the (presumably less sensationalistic) modern book.

I'm halfway through the book, and I'd describe it as okay, but nothing special as a reading experience. I don't have any particular knowledge of the subject, so most of it is new to me. I was mildly surprised to read that (according to this book) Billy's first premeditated major crime was committed against Indians, and a great deal of his earlier "work" was done in Mexico, rather than the American West. Garrett presents Billy as having honorable, even noble characteristics at times, I'll be interested to see if this is supported in the modern biography. Believe it or not, Billy was supposedly born in New York City<!>, but moved West with his family at an early age.

Several reviews complain that the writing on this book is weak. I don't find the writing that bad, though there were a couple of times early in the book when I couldn't understand what a particular passage meant, even on re-reading it. That only happened a couple of times, and hasn't happened since. I certainly don't think the writing sparkles, but it is tolerable. Lines from some sort of poetic ballad about The Kid are interspersed through the text, seemingly at random, and that is actually the biggest annoyance for me.

I started this book after returning from Alaska, and I have now caught this up with what I'm actually reading! <Whew!>


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## The Hooded Claw

Pat Garrett's biography of Billy the Kid is now complete. It is interesting, though not fantastic. The writing is only "okay", and I'm sure some of my indifference to the writing is due to different styles of writing in different ages. The Kid's reported exploits, and those of Garrett in pursuing him are fairly interesting, though they didn't knock my socks off. I was surprised to learn that Garrett reports he first came onto the trail of the Kid when Garrett was investigating a scheme to pass counterfeit money.

One oddity that I noticed is that when Garrett uses a short form of a longer name, such a Bob in place of Robert, he puts a period on the end of it. So Robert Smith would be listed in the book as Bob. Smith. Makes a sort of sense, but I am glad the custom didn't stay with us. I don't think I'd seen this before, so it may have been an idiosyncrasy of Garrett's. Some of the nicknames are marvelous. In one case, his posse as he pursued Billy consisted of..._"Lon. Chambers, Lee Halls, Jim East, 'Poker Tom,' 'The Animal," and 'Tenderfoot Bob'"_ (for some reason Bob didn't have a period after it this time).

Garrett wrote the book not long after Billy died, in some places the book sounds like an old episode of Dragnet when he reports the fate of some of Billy's cohorts who were captured...."Was convicted of murder in Las Vegas County, but in jail awaiting appeal" or "In jail at Adobe Wells for cattle rustling." Garrett goes out of his way to insult some people who presumably were still walking around, perhaps the best is of a loudmouth who made a great production out of how the blusterer would join Garrett in his pursuit of Billy, and was eager to fight bravely and die if necessary. Garrett reports that _"This Mexican Don Quixote evidently felt that he was fighting windmills, and thus they were best fought with his own wind."_ (quote from memory) Garrett is openly derisory of the law enforcement in a nearby town.

The best stuff is in an afterword at the end, where Garrett gives his opinion of people who criticized the fact that Garrett shot Billy in something other than a "fair fight", or made other derogatory comments about what Garrett did or didn't do. I liked these so well I am going to quote a couple at length.

_"There is not one of these brave mouth-fighters that would have dared to give voice to such lying bravado whilst the Kid lived, though he were chained in a cell; not one of them that, were he on their track, would not have set the prairie on fire to get out of his reach, extinguished it again as they ran, leaving a wet trail behind."_

_"The unfortunate moonling who scribbled that 'stickfull' which reflected on me and my book, judging from his peculiar phraseology, must be a demented fishmonger."_

Garrett insists that contrary to some attacks on him, he was not under or behind the bed when he shot Billy, because..._"I could have gotten under the bed, but, you see, I did not know the Kid was coming. He took me by surprise--Gave me no chance on earth to hide myself. Had I but suspected his proximity, or that he would come upon me in that abrupt manner, I would have utilized any safe place of concealment which might have presented itself."_

_"Scared? Suppose a man of the Kid's noted gentle and amiable disposition and temper had warned you that when you two met, you had better 'come a shootin'', suppose he had bounced in on you unexpectedly with a revolver in his hand, whilst yours was in the scabbard. Scared? Wouldn't you have been scared?...Scared, Cap? Well I should say so."_


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## The Hooded Claw

To Hell on a Fast Horse, by Mark Lee Gardner

Not only have I met the author of this book, I have heard him play music and sing! I'm fortunate to live near the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, which has one of the world's largest collections of Western Art (think Frederic Remington, lots of sculpture and painting among other things). Periodically they have visiting lecturers, and Mr. Gardner came once to speak while they had a visiting exhibit of antique photos of Westerners with musical instruments. It ends up that Mr. Gardner has a big collection of replica and reproduction musical instruments from the period of the "Old West", has written a couple of books on the subject, and he played some of his instruments and talked about their peculiarities. I'd decided to read this book, but chose to read the similarly-subjected book by Pat Garrett first to compare what the two had to say.

I was disappointed to find that Gardner ignores most of the stories of Billy's childhood that Garrett recounts. Most of them aren't even mentioned. I'm taking that to mean that Gardner could find no confirmation at all of them. This book differs from Garrett's book in that it covers all of Garrett's life--In his book, Garrett talked little of his life before he got on the trail of Billy the Kid, and since the book was written only a year or two after the Kid's death, obviously Garrett didn't address the rest of his life. Some of the differences aren't surprising....Garrett prudently chose to omit that shortly before the Kid's death, he was with Garrett's sister- and brother-in-law! They had known the Kid for a long time, and at least tolerated his presence when he was hiding out, I'm sure at least partly because they did not want to make him angry by turning him away. But there are unconfirmable rumors that Garrett's married sister-in-law was romantically involved with the Kid. Despite this tactful avoidance of a family skeleton, a lot of Garrett's narrative of his pursuit of the Kid holds up surprisingly well, unlike the stories of Billy's early life that Garrett recounted. Garrett appears to have been a reasonably honest and scrupulous reporter.

The book is extremely readable, more so than Garrett's book, and it is generally more complete than Garrett's book. The source of every story or quote is rigorously documented in endnotes, but most of us won't read those.

Sadly, Garrett's life after he gained fame by being Billy's executioner was not a happy one overall. Garrett had grown up on a plantation in Louisiana and had a rather privileged childhood till the Civil War came during his teen years, and his family's property was devastated, and both his parents died just before Garrett turned eighteen. So as a young man, Garrett was turned out into the world on his own with no assets, and no family to provide moral or other support. Despite this, Garrett seems to have been an extremely hard-working man who was continually seeking to better his circumstances and regain the financial security and the status of being one of the upper crust. Garrett never really achieved this, even after he gained fame. This seems to have been partly due to bad luck and unfortunate investments and career moves by Garrett, and partly because Garrett apparently thought he might find a shortcut to financial advantage by gambling. To his credit, Garrett seems continually to have been seeking justice and "to do the right thing" in his jobs, and he spent a great deal of time and made some enemies for himself trying to get to the bottom of a tragic double murder which never was solved, though there are indications that a powerful landowner and politician was behind it, or at least knew of it. Garrett kept pursuing the truth in this murder even when his friends later openly admitted that they told him "Don't go there, you will never solve it, and you will end up with a bullet in your back if you keep digging." This may have been the cause of Garrett's death. I'd had no idea of how Garrett died, but he was killed a few years into the Twentieth Century in an apparently senseless shooting that was officially labeled as being done by a mentally deficient man in a dispute over ownership of some goats<!> and a property lease. There's significant evidence that the publicly-identified murderer was a willing patsy for someone else who was acting to silence Garrett's inquiries into the sensational murder I mentioned earlier. Of course, it is unlikely we'll ever know for sure now. It was rather sad that Garrett never seemed to reach the status and security that he sought.

I liked this book a lot, highly recommended if the subject is one that interests you.


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## The Hooded Claw

And now I'm getting back to my old flame, science fiction, and reading a book by one of my favorite science fiction authors. David Drake specializes in grim, gritty military science fiction.

The Road of Danger, David Drake









(cover image only, not a link)

http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1561-the-road-of-danger.aspx

Even the hardback isn't yet released on Amazon, but at Baen Books you can pick this one up at a good price and DRM-free in any major ebook format (and it can be emailed to your Kindle)! It's too late to start on it tonight, but I'll dive into it tomorrow. This is part of a long-running series by Drake about an officer in a space navy and his work together with what is probably the only action hero librarian in science fiction! It's true, one of the two major characters is a librarian!


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## The Hooded Claw

The Road of Danger is complete, and I am at twenty books for the year. Almost exactly on schedule to complete eighty books this year by the skin of my teeth!

This is part of a lengthy series of space operas, and is by an author that I've consistently enjoyed through my entire life. Drake is an excellent writer of this kind of thing. His stories tend to be about fairly low-level military people, often involve graphic, but not gratuitous violence, and are clear that the violence has a negative effect, even on those who survive it.

Drake has a degree in History, specializing in Rome, and many of his books draw on events in classical history. He explains that this book was inspired by a minor event in one of Livy's ancient books of Roman history. After Rome had thrashed Carthage in a war, an insurrection arose on the borders of Rome in an area they considered their sphere of influence, and the supposed leader of the violence was reported to be a Carthaginian citizen, even though Carthage had not had troops or influence in the area for many years. The rebels destroyed a Roman army sent against them, and the Senate of Rome sent Carthage a legally sensible, but in practice ridiculous, demand that they restrain and withdraw their citizen who was causing all this trouble! Drake says that the history books don't record the response of Carthage to this demand. Because Carthage had been whipped by Rome, and continued to exist only because of Roman sufferance, Drake thinks that the Carthaginians probably did do something about the Roman demand. He started thinking about the problems facing the poor sap made responsible for complying with the Roman demand, and the outcome was this story. Of course, it is set in the far future with starships and such, but it is basically the same problem of coming from the outside and finding someone whose identity you don't even know, and removing him. Drake's hero Captain Leary and his cohort Lady Mundy, perhaps the only "action hero librarian" in science fiction rise to the occasion.

Other than that I recommend the book for those who like Drake's other work, I won't commit spoilers, except to say that I was amused to read that


Spoiler



the leader of the rebellion was the Deputy Director of the city water system! It makes a certain amount of sense, he has access to government computers, and he can send people anywhere to solve a problem with the water system, and their coming and going in strange places at weird hours is unlikely to be questioned!



This weekend I watched the old movie "Ice Station Zebra" on television, and I have the ebook, picked up cheaply awhile back for my Nook Color. I'm dabbling with reading that next, though I am also considering reading a book I spotted after reading the thread here on literary hoaxes.


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## The Hooded Claw

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050JKCI6

In the unlikely event you were captivated by my comments on the book "Making Sense of People: Decoding the Mysteries of Personality" a few weeks ago, but put off by the ten buck or so price, the book is offered free again (that's how I got it). You can scroll back to my comments on the third page of this thread if you want to read what I had to say about it. In short, I thought it was tolerable, but definitely not great, and more of theoretical interest than the practical application you'd expect from the title.


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## telracs

glad you're enjoying the Drake. I never really like him. and glad you're branching out from just amazon.
only 20 books?


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## spotsmom

scarlet said:


> no, i'll grant you anything over 150 pages. under that, off the table.


Does Scarlet also have requirements re margin/font size


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## telracs

spotsmom said:


> Does Scarlet also have requirements re margin/font size


nope, just word count or page number....


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## The Hooded Claw

The Sun and the Moon, by Matthew Goodman

In a thread on literary hoaxes and jokes, here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,109555.0.html I was reminded of an old hoax from a New York City paper in the 1830s. A newspaper that was trying to increase its circulation ran a series of totally fabricated stories about supposed discoveries of a real noted astronomer where he was viewing plants, animals, and a civilization living on the Moon! The hoax kept going for quite awhile before folding. I read about it in a "comic book" type illustrated story in a children's magazine when I was about ten, and have never forgotten it. When reminded of it by the thread mentioned above, I decided to see if anyone had written about it, and I was a bit surprised to find there's even a Kindleized book about the hoax! I even shelled out ten bucks for it, and have started it. I am finding it a fascinating read!

I had wondered if there was enough material to make a book out of the Moon hoax, and apparently there isn't....The book actually gives an overall view of New York City in the 1830s, especially focusing on the newspapers of the time. And the newspaper scene then was very "tense". Newspaper editors fought duels and attacked each other viciously. One editor published the following description in his paper:

_"A reptile marking his path with slime wherever he goes, and breathing mildew at everything fresh or fragrant; a midnight ghoul, preying on rottenness and repulsive filth; a creature, hated by his nearest intimates, and bearing the consciousness thereof upon his distorted features, and upon his despicable soul; one whom good men avoid as a blot to his nature--Whom all despise, and whom no one blesses--all this is James Gordon Bennett."_

Note that Bennett was not an axe murderer or child molester, he was the founder of the New York Herald, a rival paper to that of the author! And the author was of all people, Walt Whitman!!! He wrote the above purple prose when he was 23 years old, and editor of The New York Aurora (wow, I like that name!).

There are plenty of well-known figures in the book, and for many he diverges into their biographies. People who have shown up so far that I didn't expect to see include P. T. Barnum, Sojourner Truth, Edgar Allan Poe, and a woman who claimed to be over 160 years old, and to have been George Washington's wet nurse.

There are lots of details about New York at the time, including repeated several serious and murderous riots; the description of one of these riots includes a phrase that surely has not been in print in at least one hundred years, and possibly more: "On the third day of violence, several hundred Whig supporters looted *the gun shops of Broadway*, then stormed the state arsenal..."

As a history buff, I'm really enjoying reading about the times. I'm 25% through the book, and will definitely keep at it. Incidentally, the title was chosen because the newspaper that published the Moon Hoax stories initially was The New York Sun.


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## The Hooded Claw

The Sun and the Moon is done!  Highly recommended if you are interested in New York City in the 1830s, even if the specific astronomy hoax doesn't especially interest you.  There's quite a bit here about the newspaper business of the time (more interesting than you'd expect, note the Walt Whitman quote in the previous post), P. T. Barnum, some sensational trials, and Edgar Allan Poe, who actually was quite affected by the Hoax.  Editor Locke wrote up six articles describing observations made by John Herschel, an actual noted astronomer of the day, who was indeed in South Africa making observations as described in the article.  Unfortunately, the advanced telescope the article described was totally fictitious, and of course Herschel did not observe the Lunar inhabitants described in the article, in fact the Moon was not of particular interest to Herschel as an astronomer.

The Hoax actually affected Poe's literary output....About two months before the publication of the Moon Hoax, Poe had published a story about a Dutchman who took a balloon trip to the Moon, titled "The Unparalleled Adventure of Hans Phaal."  Poe ended that story with Phaal arriving on the Moon, and indicated in the story that there would be a future story about the fantastic inhabitants he found there.  Unfortunately for Poe, The Moon Hoax pre-empted him, and he felt that anything he wrote would be viewed as a copy of the more famous New York Sun article!  He removed the references to a sequel from Phaal when the story was reprinted, and complained bitterly that his idea had been stolen (though there is no evidence of this, Phall was published in a relatively obscure Richmond, VA magazine which didn't give the story wide circulation).

Despite this, Poe didn't seem to hold a grudge....Eight years after publication of the Moon Hoax, Poe went to the same newspaper and same editor and wrote another "hoax" article for the paper, about a reported balloon flight across the Atlantic.  But by now, everyone had long realized that the Moon articles were a hoax, and they therefore assumed that any remarkable and unconfirmed article in the same newspaper was a hoax.  So The Balloon Hoax fell flat.  Poe also included a sketch of newspaper editor Locke in a series of verbal sketches of New York literary figures that he later published.

Incidentally, in Poe's Phaall story and in his balloon hoax story, Poe plagiarized word-for-word many of the more technical passages from non-fiction books on astronomy or ballooning.

When the Moon Hoax was published, it included a description of a huge telescope of a new kind that was used to make the observations, and indicated that the text of the articles was reprinted from a (real) Scottish scientific journal.  Unfortunately for Locke, the editor who wrote up the hoax articles, that Journal had ceased publication three years beforehand!  Fortunately, nobody in New York at the time seemed to be aware of it.  Despite this, in public debates over the reality or falsehood of the articles, one man announced that he owned a copy of the original Scottish magazine, and he had found "no errors or lapses in the newspaper's reprint."  Another man asserted that he had been in London on the docks the year before, and had watched as the 7-ton lens of the (totally fictional) advanced telescope was loaded aboard a ship bound for South Africa.  Supposedly the hoaxer Locke was in the crowd when this statement was made, but he is reported to have said nothing, but "regarded him with a look of mingled astonishment and contempt."

Some competing newspapers reprinted the article unquestioningly, a number denounced it as a fake, and one competing newspaper announced that they had direct communication with their own reporter in South Africa with John Herschel, and wrote a couple of further articles describing some truly silly additional observations, such as that the men and women of the Moon addressed each other by leaping in the air and striking the soles of their feet with their hands, and claiming that some of the lovely flowers reported in the Sun's original hoax were seventy-seven feet tall!

Fortunately, we do have an account of what happened when the real astronomer, Sir John Herschel, first learned of the hoax that was promulgated in his name.  A man named Weeks who owned a traveling menagerie of exotic animals in the USA traveled to South Africa in search of new and unusual livestock.  He had the foresight to take copies of the hoax newspaper articles along.  He sought out the hotel where Herschel was staying and announced to Herschel that he had the honor of presenting to Herschel the first American reports of his amazing astronomical discoveries.  He says that surprise passed across Herschel's face, and Herschel announced that he was flattered by the attention, but he didn't see how this could happen, as he had not yet written a report on the subject himself.  Weeks indicated that nevertheless, a report had been published; he presented Herschel with the articles, bowed, and excused himself.

Herschel sought the man out just a few minutes later, very excited, and wanted to know what had happened, and if this was truly a reprint of an Edinburgh publication.  Of course, Weeks didn't know, but assured him that the reprints were taken very seriously by many Americans.  Of course, Herschel peppered him with questions that he answered as best he could.  Apparently Herschel never actually responded to the New York paper directly, he is known to have speculated that American clergymen were surely taking up donations to send Bibles to the Moon's inhabitants!

It can be argued that the Moon Hoax was the birth of American science fiction, though Poe's balloon-to-the-Moon story probably has a prior claim, though it didn't make near the splash.  One writer of the time pronounced the articles, once they were exposed as fakes, as a "New Species of Literature" which he dubbed the scientific novel.

Very readable and recommended.  I checked Amazon to see if the author had published anything else, but this seems to be his only published book.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Ten Little Wizards: A Lord Darcy Novel, by Michael Kurland

Waaaay back in the 70s, a writer named Randall Garrett dreamt up a mystery series set in an "alternate universe" (this was back before alternate universes became commonplace in science fiction and fantasy) where history had taken a different turn, and among other things, magic worked. He worked up some fairly rigorous rules for what magic could and couldn't do, and the stories were excellent. The hero of the stories was Lord Darcy, Chief Investigator for the Duke of Normandy in the Anglo-Norman Empire. Lord Darcy was not a magician himself, but he was an excellent investigator in the Sherlock Holmes mode, and was ably assisted by his assistant, forensic sorcerer Master Sean O'Lochlainn. These were great stories, and Garrett produced one novel and two collections of short stories in the series before he tragically died young. Michael Kurland was authorized to continue the series, and he did a fine job, but unfortunately only two more novels in the series were done. But they both are on Kindle (I had owned the original stories in paperback, but bought ebook versions from Baen Books anyway), and I've re-read one (after not even knowing what happened to my paper copies for over twenty years, and will soon reread the other.

Other than say that if you are intrigued by the idea of mystery stories set in a world with magic, you should grab the original Lord Darcy books, then grab these, I won't say anything more, for fear of being a spoilermonger! I am pleased these are on Kindle, but don't care much for this cover. I prefer the one on the old paperbacks, shown here:










Twenty-two books for the year now....


----------



## telracs

yeah, i don't like the new covers either.


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## The Hooded Claw

How to be a Villain: Evil Laughs, Secret Lairs, Master Plans, and More!!!, by Neil Zawacki

I read this in a quick couple of hours this morning. In short, it is okay, but nothing special. I bought it for a dollar in the humor books sale on my Special Offers K4, and it was certainly worth a buck. If I'd paid full price for it, I'd be disappointed. The author and his editors don't seem to realize the difference between a horde and a hoard, which bothered me more than it should have, but my real disappointment is that it is only mildly funny. Some of us here on KB frequently come up with stuff at least as good as what is in this book. I never did laugh out loud while reading it, though I admit I smiled and felt amused quite often--Otherwise I wouldn't have finished the book!

The book points out various things that are important for an evil villain, lairs, laughs, and plans are mentioned in the title, and are well-covered. But more fundamental things such as "What will be your evil career?" are covered, with a frank discussion of plusses and minuses of options such as criminal mastermind, necromancer, corporate


Spoiler



bastard


, mad scientist (my personal favorite), as well as some less-obvious options, such as black knight and horror movie villain.

The book goes on to point out that merely having a career doesn't give you a method, so it includes a handy-dandy evil plan generator for those who don't already have a particular scheme in their minds. And there is a chapter warning about possible good-guy opponents you will encounter, with advice on "how to thwart them" for each each type (throw The Vixen into the path of The Angry Cool Guy, and the sexual tension between them will distract them, giving you the time needed to organize your ambush). We are warned about the James Bond Villain Mistake, and admonished "if you happen to snare a (Defender of Justice-style hero), for evil god's sake dispatch them quickly. Even if you long to use your excruciatingly slow hourglass death device, resist the urge."

Not bad, but not worth almost nine bucks. For a dollar, I am more than happy enough. If you have a Kindle with Special Offers, be sure to snag the current "humor books for a dollar" deal before it goes away! Many other choices if this one doesn't float your boat.


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## telracs

okay, you've convinced me. may i now borrow this?


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## The Hooded Claw

What email is on your Amazon account?


----------



## telracs

The Hooded Claw said:


> What email is on your Amazon account?


i've PMed you.


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## The Hooded Claw

flying scarlet piranha said:


> i've PMed you.


Oops, I thought I was responding to a PM, rather than posting. Oh well...


----------



## The Hooded Claw

After reading the villains book, I have mad scientists on the brain, so I can't help putting up this poster that honors the prototype movie mad scientist, Rotwang in the wonderful 1927 film Metropolis. Go Rotwang, Go!


----------



## telracs

I wanna be a ray of darkness in an otherwise sunny day. and this guy's been our lair, talking about our piranhas


----------



## The Hooded Claw

flying scarlet piranha said:


> I wanna be a ray of darkness in an otherwise sunny day. and this guy's been our lair, talking about our piranhas


Imitation is the highest form of flattery!


----------



## The Hooded Claw

The Travels of Friar Odoric: 14th Century Journal of the Blessed Odoric of Pordenone, by Odoric of Pordenone










Above is an image only, here is a link to the (paper) book:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Travels-Friar-Odoric-Pordenone/dp/0802849636/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333893798&sr=8-1

I often have enjoyed historical books that were written as journals or diaries of a person who was there. I read Pat Garrett's account of Billy the Kid recently and talked about it here, and another first-person account I've enjoyed previously is the story of the conquest of Mexico by Bernal Diaz. I thought I'd see if I found this book interesting. It was written about 1330 by an Italian monk who had returned from a years-long trip across India and China. He gives his observations about what he saw, and in most cases is surprisingly matter of fact and non-judgemental, even though he is talking about "heathens" in his eyes. Overall, I thought the book was okay, but not spectacular. His account of each city or region that he visits tends to be brief, usually with only a few sentences about each particular place. This particular translation was done in the 1860s by an Englishman, and a foreword in the book talks about the difficulties in translation, since there are multiple existing versions of the Odoric's account, and many do not include all stories. The foreword talks about the effort to Canonize Odoric after his return, and an effort to build support to send additional missionaries to Christianize the Far East, and suggests that some of the additional stories may have been added to support these efforts (and they may or may not be true accounts of things that happened to Odoric or others). The one place where a fair amount of detail and stories does exist in the book is Peking (though Odoric calls it under a different name).

A fair amount of time is spent in the book describing the farm or other products of each place, and how much they cost, apparently Odoric was trying to keep notes for merchants who might plan to visit a place, and for nearly every locale there is an addendum to the effect that there are lots of other interesting things to say about the place, but they wouldn't be believed, or he doesn't choose to talk about them now! This gets tiring.

Overall, I don't recommend the book unless the subject really, really interests you. I had high hopes for it, but was a bit disappointed.


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## The Hooded Claw

Image only, link to ebook purchase page here: http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1206-swords-and-deviltry-fafhrd-and-grey-mouser-book-1.aspx

Swords and Deviltry, by Fritz Leiber

This is the first in a lengthy series of fantasy books by the late Fritz Leiber. The series follows the lives of Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser, two rogues who live in the fantasy world of Lankhmar. The series took many years to write, and I read several of 'em when I was about twenty years old, but haven't even thought much about the books till lately. I noticed that Baen Books had the whole collection, including at least one that hadn't been written when I read the books, at a reduced price, and grabbed it. I read the first book yesterday. The book is a collection of four novellas/short stories that outlines the "origin stories" of the duo....How they individually decided to leave the remote places they grew up in to go to the big city, and how they met there, in the midst of separate heists, were immediately drawn to each other, and did battle against the oppressive Thieves' Guild....Not because they have anything against thieving mind you, they just don't want the The Thieves' Guild telling them what to do or taking a cut of their scores! The last story, where they met, won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards in the early '70s, and one of the other stories was nominated for a Hugo, so you know there has to be some good writing here! And when you think that, you're right.

I don't want to spoil a good fiction read, so I won't talk about the story. I will mention that I was amused by one thing--I had read these years ago, and didn't remember a blessed thing from the book except for one small incident that was of no importance to the story--An incident where a student thief (and member of the Thieves' Guild) was caught greasing his arms to make it easier to wriggle away from any mark who caught him and tried to grab him, and what happened afterwards. Not even a minor plot point, just a bit of not-especially-humorous or -interesting color, but the phrase uttered by one character that started the incident was in my memory word for word, and when I saw it the rest of the little vignette came flooding back to me--Accurately, I found when I read on. I didn't remember anything at all from the book otherwise, even when my memory was jogged by reading it. Funny how the mind works.

I enjoyed it, and it gets a Three Claw salute from me for those who want a good fantasy story about some not-exactly pure and noble characters. I've already bought the rest of the series, and I'll be reading 'em by and by. Some things I liked when I was twenty don't hold up well now, but I'm glad this series appears to be doing so!


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Majic Man, by Max Allan Collins

Nope, that's not a typo in the book title! "Majic" (short for Majestic) is the name used for a series of allegedly leaked classified government documents from the late 1940s that describe how a committee of twelve highly-placed government officials were to decide how to deal with flying saucers and what we learned from them. They may also be linked to the infamous events at Roswell that some claim involved recovery of a crashed flying saucer. Of course, "the establishment" doesn't accept the leaked Majic documents as authentic, and believes they are clever forgeries.

Max Allan Collins is a very prolific writer and has several continuing series that usually focus on a tough, gritty, do-what-you-must to survive hero. This book is part of his series on Nate Heller, which follows the Chicago policeman-turned-private eye from interacting with gangsters in the 1940s, through service with the Marines in World War II, and on through the fifties and into the dawn of the sixties. Since Max is a history buff, Nate Heller gets involved with many of the major crimes or scandals/mysteries during those years, including Amelia Earhart, the Lindbergh Kidnapping, and Marilyn Monroe. Collins always does exhaustive historical research for these books, and they are quite authentic to the known facts of whatever the subject is. In this one, he tackles the prospect of a government coverup of UFOs in the late 1940s. In short, it is excellent, and I read it straight through last night, staying up late to finish. The book is speckled with encounters with real historical figures, and it does tie in with the Majestic documents and the incident at Roswell. As always with the Heller books, they are violent, though not gratuitously so.

I was wondering how Collins would handle this particular historical event--If there was no government coverup, I thought the book would be unsatisfying, and if the book included discovery of the standard Roswell conspiracy theory, that would affect everything else in the Heller series, and move the book into science fiction, which is not the Collins ouvre. Fortunately, Collins found a way to solve the problem satisfactorily, and it isn't by leaving us mystified and unsure.

Highly recommended if you like rugged detective stories (this ain't no cozy mystery!), especially if UFOs and/or Roswell intrigue you.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Atul Gawande

I find that for most jobs hearing an experienced worker talk about the job is interesting, I'm also very interested in how to make the best choices and decisions. So this book is something of a double-header for me. Gawande is a surgeon who is extremely interested in how to reduce error and as the title describes, "get things right". I'd read a previous book of his about surgical error called Complications, and was looking forward to this one. Gawande lived up to his record here, this was a fascinating book. He begins by describing how incredibly complex surgery and medicine is at the beginning of the twenty-first Century. He gives some interesting statistics to support his claim, for instance...

One medium-sized addition to the hospital he works atto provide 150 private hospital beds, incorporated in its construction 3885 tons of steel, thirteen thousand yards of concreete, 64,000 feet of copper wiring, and ninety five miles of electrical conduit. Getting everything in place just to create the empty building is an enormously complex task (and investigating how this is all coordinated lead him to the subject of this book).

At his hospital, research showed that the average physician evaluated 250 different primary diseases and conditions in a year of office practice.

The average Intensive Care Unit patient requires 178 different individual actions per day, ranging from administering a drug to suctioning a lung. On average, the staff does about 99% of these tasks right, but that still means an average of two errors per day per patient.

Medicine has gotten complex, and just coordinating all the different tasks that have to be done and the knowledge that has to be shared is a major problem.

Gawande was asked to participate in a World Health Organization project to improve the quality of surgery. He worked as part of a group, and their recommendation was that a short checklist be used for each surgery. Because they weren't focusing on a specific type of surgery, these things are extremely generic, so that they focus on critical things that apply to nearly all surgeries, especially on things that reduce the likelihood of infection, reduce the chances of severe blood loss and making sure that everyone understands any critical concerns or special conditions for this surgery.

Before getting to that point, Gawande did a lot of research and investigation, notably in studying how the multitude of tasks involved in building a skyscraper or other large building are coordinated, and in the famous checklists used by airline and other pilots. In the book, he talks about a famous incident I'm aware of as an airplane and military history buff--The famous B-17 Flying Fortress was nearly never produced, because on one of the earliest test flights, the pilot forgot one step in the takeoff procedures and fatally crashed the prototype. To avoid this happening again, group of pilots for the Army Air Force got together and produced the first pilot's checklist. He also visits the Boeing factory in Seattle and learns about how modern pilot checklists are produced, and goes over the history of two notable aircraft problems that were mitigated by developing checklists to help pilots cope with them quickly and accurately when they happen. He also goes briefly over the history of the "Miracle on the Hudson" airline water landing that was in another book I read a month or so ago. He talks generally about the design of checklists, and discusses some previous medical innovations such as the famous patient chart, which is a sort of checklist of the four vital signs (he says it is now five in many hospitals). I was interested that most of these innovations were actually developed by nurses, not doctors! I was interested to learn that there are actually two kinds of checklists, the DO-CONFIRM, where the pilots (or whoever) do their tasks based on their experience, then pause and run through the checklist to verify that they've actually done all the key steps, and the READ-DO checklist, where the checklist is marched through one item at a time and tasks are carried out as they are read off--Sort of like a recipe.

Gawande then describes the test they did at eight surgical hospitals around the world, ranging from highly advanced to those in third world countries that didn't even have reliable sewer lines. They sent in observers to spend two months watching surgeries and assessing the rate of adverse outcomes (infections, major blood loss, death) for two months. Then the surgical teams at these hospitals were given the checklists, trained on them, and urged to modify them to fit local conditions and the type of surgery they performed. The same outcomes were reviewed for two more months. Overall, use of the checklist reduced bad outcomes by over 1/3! The improvement was larger in the low-tech hospitals than in the more advanced ones, but it was still substantial even in the best hospitals. Various statistical tests were performed to make sure that this was a real and meaningful improvement, and the checklists passed them all. Gawande says the information has been published in medical journals and the information has been spread in the surgical community, but adoption has been slow, partly because it is just hard to change what you are doing, and quite possibly because surgeons are afraid of losing their control of the situation, or just don't feel good about using a checklist. Gawande says that he started requiring his own surgical teams to use the checklist when he did surgery, and after a year, he claims that more than once a week they find some omission that had been missed till they used the checklist, and he is convinced that in one case, use of the checklist saved the life of one of his surgical patients.

From what I knew about the book beforehand, I'd hoped Gawande would include more specific instruction on how to develop checklists and do this in other fields, but he didn't. I still liked the book. Fascinating, and very readable. I recommend it.

The book goes on to describe how Gawande and the Health Organization team developed and tested their surgical checklist. They wanted to keep it short, so the checklist has nineteen items, and typically takes about two minutes to go through.


----------



## Martel47

Go, Claw, Go!

I have to say I'm impressed and a little jealous.  I might have you beat for the year, if you count textbooks for my last semester of a Master's Degree.  For pleasure, though, not so much.

Thanks for the reviews.  Several of your books have made my watch-list.  I might purchase them if the price goes down.

Keep up the good work.

Now, I can't procrastinate on my paper any longer.  Back to reading my 7th book about Reformation-era attitudes toward Mary.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Martel47 said:


> Go, Claw, Go!
> 
> I have to say I'm impressed and a little jealous. I might have you beat for the year, if you count textbooks for my last semester of a Master's Degree. For pleasure, though, not so much.
> 
> Thanks for the reviews. Several of your books have made my watch-list. I might purchase them if the price goes down.
> 
> Keep up the good work.
> 
> Now, I can't procrastinate on my paper any longer. Back to reading my 7th book about Reformation-era attitudes toward Mary.




The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity, by Peter Brown

I actually picked up the above on general principles when it was $2.71 a few months ago. It's still "Just" $4.27, if you don't already have it, sounds like you might want to pick it up. I haven't read it yet, I bought it because I can conceive of myself wanting to read in the area someday, and the price was negligible. I'm bad about hoarding books that way, especially non-fic books on obscure topics that interest me!

I am (obviously) an avid history buff, but am making my living in a technical field, chose that academic path because I figured job prospects were better, and from what I could see of academic history and philosophy, they tended to have to move beyond what was interesting and beat an interesting subject into the ground! As a hobbyist, I can just dig into things that I want to dig into and stop or change subjects when I tire of a topic!


----------



## telracs

claw, you're costing me money!


----------



## The Hooded Claw

A Night to Remember, by Walter Lord

I picked this up yesterday when it was the Kindle Deal of the Day, and selling for just two bucks. Alas, the price has gone up already. Since it was the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking, last night seemed a good time to dive into it as a way to escape from all the tornado and thunderstorm warnings here. As a teenager I read some of Walter Lord's other history narratives, notably the ones on Pearl Harbor and on the Battle of Midway, and I expected an interesting read based on personal experiences of participants here. I wasn't disappointed. There's no background at all in this book, it literally starts with the lookout warning the bridge of the Titanic that he can see an iceberg! I wondered if the book would end with people being picked up in the morning, but it did carry the survivors all the way back to when they were docked at New York, and covered a bit of the public and media response to their arrival (very little information was sent out by the ship that picked them up, so not much was known until the rescue ship docked at New York and released the rescued passengers).

Not as good a value now that the "Deal" is over with, but an excellent read, even if there is not much background about the ship. I read it in one long sitting last night. Recommended if the subject interests you.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

grumpyNYCphotog said:


> claw, you're costing me money!


Saints or Checklists?

Don't forget to send me my 10%!


----------



## telracs

The Hooded Claw said:


> Saints or Checklists?
> 
> Don't forget to send me my 10%!


Saints. And I also bought Night to Remember when it was the deal.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

grumpyNYCphotog said:


> Saints. And I also bought Night to Remember when it was the deal.


If you haven't clicked "buy" yet, the Saints book is loanable. I'm sure with all his grad degree reading, Martel wouldn't be jealous if I loaned it to you. Though at the price, even if not as attractive as when I grabbed it up, you may just wanta have it in your library permanently if the subject intrigues you.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

It occurred to me while reading last night that since I read the "Miracle on the Hudson" book while taking a long airline trip, I ought to hold on to A Night to Remember until I went on a cruise, but I didn't want to wait!


----------



## telracs

The Hooded Claw said:


> If you haven't clicked "buy" yet, the Saints book is loanable. I'm sure with all his grad degree reading, Martel wouldn't be jealous if I loaned it to you. Though at the price, even if not as attractive as when I grabbed it up, you may just wanta have it in your library permanently if the subject intrigues you.


thanks, but i've bought it. and i'm not gonna read it right away, so loaning it now is not a good idea anyway...


----------



## The Hooded Claw

The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

This is a classic, but I've not read it before, even though our own Scarlet (now under another grumpy name) got her original screen name here from the book! I'm about twenty percent of the way through it, and am enjoying it. The price is certainly right!


----------



## The Hooded Claw

I suppose I should have dug up a movie novelization of the movie, Twister, but last night while staying up monitoring our severe weather situation, I finished The Scarlet Pimpernel.  This was the first time I'd read it, and as you'd expect for a classic, I enjoyed it.  I was surprised that nearly the whole novel was written from the point of view of Marguerite, rather than the Pimpernel himself.  If you haven't read it, you should pick it up.  Not only a classic, but an excellent free read, how can you do better than that?

Some of the archaic language was a bit awkward for me, and there are some typos in the free edition.  On the plus side, it's a good story, and Orczy did a fine job of making the villain absolutely contemptible, even though she acknowledged his genuine devotion to his cause.  Not too surprising that a noblewoman author wouldn't have a problem with painting a French revolutionary as a villain!  (and not the fun kind)


----------



## The Hooded Claw

And of course if you don't want to read the novel, you could just watch the Looney Tune (which has even less to do with the plot of the novel than the usual cartoonization of a book, but is still fun).


----------



## Martel47

The Hooded Claw said:


> The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity, by Peter Brown
> 
> I actually picked up the above on general principles when it was $2.71 a few months ago. It's still "Just" $4.27, if you don't already have it, sounds like you might want to pick it up. I haven't read it yet, I bought it because I can conceive of myself wanting to read in the area someday, and the price was negligible. I'm bad about hoarding books that way, especially non-fic books on obscure topics that interest me!
> 
> I am (obviously) an avid history buff, but am making my living in a technical field, chose that academic path because I figured job prospects were better, and from what I could see of academic history and philosophy, they tended to have to move beyond what was interesting and beat an interesting subject into the ground! As a hobbyist, I can just dig into things that I want to dig into and stop or change subjects when I tire of a topic!


I feel your pain about beating an interesting subject to the ground! I certainly agree that it's nice to read what's interesting and not what isn't. I finished the paper over the weekend, and have another one to write in the coming week on another subject, so I won't read Brown right away, but I might PM you about a loan after finals! Truly some fascinating stuff (although I've been buried in so many primary sources that these secondary works are sometimes not as interesting--if more accessible. Erasmus' writings on pilgrimages and relics are some great wit. He was certainly more harsh towards Mary than Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, by the way.)


----------



## The Hooded Claw

Martel47 said:


> I feel your pain about beating an interesting subject to the ground! I certainly agree that it's nice to read what's interesting and not what isn't. I finished the paper over the weekend, and have another one to write in the coming week on another subject, so I won't read Brown right away, but I might PM you about a loan after finals! Truly some fascinating stuff (although I've been buried in so many primary sources that these secondary works are sometimes not as interesting--if more accessible. Erasmus' writings on pilgrimages and relics are some great wit. He was certainly more harsh towards Mary than Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, by the way.)


No problem, I'll hold onto the Saints book for when you are ready for it. Good luck on the paper!

My experience with reading primary sources for "fun" is that they are definitely a mixed bag. As I mentioned in my comments on Odoric above, sometimes they don't pan out well, but others, such as Pat Garrett and Bernal Diaz (also mentioned above) are great!


----------



## The Hooded Claw

The Earth Moves: Galileo and the Roman Inquisition, by Dan Hofstadter

The two people in all of human history I am most envious of are Galileo and a Dutchman with the impossible-to-spell name of Anton van Leeuwenhoek (I had to look it up to spell it here, and still got it wrong first time after I'd carefully looked at it!). The reason for this is that they were the first people to systematically use the telescope (Galileo) and the microscope (van Leeuwenhoek) to systematically explore the planets and the world of microbes, respectively, using high quality instruments that let them see many things not visible to others before them. Each got to explore a whole new "world" (plural for Galileo) that had not been seen before, and see amazing things no human had ever seen before (this isn't strictly true for Galileo, but close enough). I was fascinated by Galileo even as a small child--One of the earlier books I had was a children's book about astronomy, and it mentioned Galileo, including a full-page illustration I can still see in my mind's eye of Galileo looking out a window and peering into his telescope. When I was five or six, and still kind of confused about this "Century" business (not to mention how far away Italy was from Oklahoma) I still remember when my aunt was going to drive me to another state to see relatives, and I asked if we could stop and see Galileo and look through his telescope as a side-trip! My aunt patronized me...Being humored like this is probably part of why I grew up to read books like this for fun, and to use the villain from a long-cancelled cartoon show as an internet avatar. Aunt Carole went along with it for awhile and said we might be able to see Galileo, but eventually she had to tell me that we just weren't going to have time to stop and see Galileo this trip (true story!).

Galileo got bonus points with me as I grew older (and got the Century and geography thing straight), because he was the hero of an iconic battle of science vs. ignorance and thought control. Or so I thought for years, and there is some substance to the idea. When I actually read detailed books about Galileo, I eventually learned that the real issues in his famous appearance before the inquisition were that he hadn't followed the instructions of the Church, so how repentant was he, and how badly (if at all) was he to be punished. I learned a bit more about the hearing in this book.

The title might lead you to believe that this book was really about Galileo on trail before the Inquisition, with perhaps some background specifically about Galileo's astronomical observations or the inquisition. In fact, the book is quite far-ranging in setting up the background for the story. I was reminded of "The Sun and the Moon", and how the juicy title subject was fleshed out with extensive background on New York City in the 1830s. This book isn't that far-ranging, but the author does talk many other subjects. Among them are strengths and weaknesses of Galileo's approach to science problem-solving and how it conflicted with the conventional approach at the time. This was quite interesting, Galileo was "focused" on the use of physical observation and measurement, while the more accepted approach was not only to tend to defer to ancient Greek authorities such as Ptolemy (which I was at least vaguely aware of) but also to have an active distrust of observation, for philosophical and practical reasons. The account of Galileo's acceptance for his views on astronomy ironically gives some reason to have such distrust--One of the biggest problems Galileo faced was in getting confirmation of what he could see, both because his telescopes were better than most telescopes available to others, because of the careful technique required to use it and get a good view (which a skeptical VIP was unlikely to understand or be willing to take the time to do) and things as simple as being able to depend on a clear night sky when you arranged to have an important skeptic look through the telescope.

Other subjects covered include the background of the Pope (who actually was a friend and former sponsor of Galileo), problems in designing artwork for the big hemispherical domes which had become common, and Galileo's method of getting a new and more lucrative sponsor when he switched from working for Venice to working for the Medicis (which ironically probably made him much more vulnerable to the Inquisition). Short forays into other subjects, such as the American voyage of one of the other early telescope viewers and the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary are also taken. I find this sort of thing fascinating and enjoyable, but it probably wouldn't go over well with someone who was truly focused on Galileo and his legal troubles.

The book gave quite a bit of discussion on how inquisitorial trials at that time and place were held (though most of us don't view the Roman inquisition with high esteem, they do appear much less brutal and unfair than the infamous Spanish Inquisition--No Monty Python jokes, please!). Even so, Galileo's trial was NOT a hearing as we are used to, there was no adversarial system of dueling lawyers such as we are used to, and there was no discussion at all of the facts about Galileo's view of astronomy. Galileo's main opportunity to influence things at all was in convincing his judges that he was truly, truly, sorry he had been disobedient to instructions about not teaching or believing in the Copernican model of the Solar System. In theory, he could have convinced them that he actually hadn't been in violation of those instructions, and he did make a weak attempt at that which nearly backfired on him. I'd read that Galileo was a proud and difficult man, and this book gave further evidence of that. In general, he did not help himself by his dealings with the Inquisition.

A couple of amusing or interesting things I hadn't seen before--Apparently many of the people who objected to Galileo's heavenly discoveries were upset because things like adding four moons of Jupiter would make a hash out of Astrological predictions and accepted astrological practice! I found this hilarious. Speaking of Martel and the Cult of Mary (see the post by Martel in this thread a day or two ago), I learned that one group that was upset by Galileo's discoveries was a group who associated Mary with the Moon, and were upset at the idea that instead of being a smooth crystal sphere, the Moon was a rugged body with mountains, valleys, and other irregularities. Since Mary was associated with the Moon, they felt that the Moon should be pure and without blemish as Mary was. This was all interesting to read about. Finally, I encountered a word that I'd never read before. "Redound" means to contribute greatly. I'd never heard of this word, and thought it was surely a typo for "rebound" (the sentence using the word even makes sense that way), but redound is the correct word, and it is even in the built-in Kindle dictionary!

I recommend the book for those who want to learn more about Galileo and his times.


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## JRTomlin

Is it a bit scary that since I bought my received a new Kindle for Christmas I have added (and read) 141 books on it? All of them are novels, no short stories. 

I have no idea how many novels are on my old Sony eReader. I'm afraid to check. I haven't read non-fiction much since Christmas, except to do some fact checking in books I'd already read. Non-fiction for me is for research.  

Good job with the new reading project, THC.


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## The Hooded Claw

I just looked back at my last post, I hadn't realized I wrote so much about the Galileo book!

Anyway, I am now up to 31 books for the year, I finished The Man in the Yellow Raft last night.



C. S. Forester is one of my favorite authors, he mostly writes naval fiction, and is best known for the wonderful Horatio Hornblower series. I won't be reading any of those this year, as I've read all of them multiple times over the years, and I'm trying to steer this year's reading towards stuff I haven't read, or at least haven't read in a very long time. This book is the latter, I read it in the school library while I was attending college (which was a long time ago!). Before rereading it, I could only remember one story, called "Dr. Blanke's First Command." But I remembered that one in great detail, because I liked the story so well. This book is a collection of short stories, most deal with events on a fictional US Destroyer (small and not very important warship) called USS Boon, as Boon serves in the Pacific Theater during the opening year of the war in 1942. These stories seem deliberately written to focus on small but interesting details that will impress with how tough and complex the navy's job is, and on undramatic and unrecognized heroism, rather than seeing supermen charging in against Japanese battleships with guns blazing and torpedoes wooshing. There are some other stories still generally focused on the US Navy in the Pacific in World War II. Forester's biographical sketch that accompanies many of his books says that he moved to the US from Britain in 1941 and wrote propaganda pieces focused on encouraging the US to enter World War II and stay in the war. Some of these stories are from that period. For those who think that Forester was strictly a hard-nosed naval guy, be advised that he wrote the novel African Queen, which was the basis for the classic movie. So he's not strictly a blood and thunder naval history guy!

Just to indulge myself, I'm going to list the stories and say a few words or sentences about each....

_Counterpunch_--This opens the book and introduces us to the Boon, which is undergoing a hasty upgrade before entering combat. I was amused that in the detailed discussion of the problems of upgrading, the book covers some of the same ground covered in The Checklist Manifesto, which I read just a week or two ago. The complexity of ensuring that changes don't interfere with existing systems on the ship, and the need to coordinate the work of different refitting groups are covered in detail. This was interesting stuff, though probably high on the military geek rating system. Unfortunately, Boon is sent off on her first combat mission, which is an utterly absurd job for a lone destroyer. Forester knew better, and I'm annoyed at him for writing such claptrap.

_The Man in the Yellow Raft_--Excellent story! I'm surprised this one didn't stick with me when I read it before, but I was much younger then and probably didn't appreciate it. There's a great deal of insight and truth in this story about maintaining discipline. There's not a shot fired in the story, which shifts viewpoints between the officers who are trying to keep the crew focused and sharp as they gain experience and become more self-confident, and a now-cocky new young seaman who is one of the problems they are trying to solve.


Spoiler



The officers find a way to motivate the seaman when he slacks off, and he resents the punishment but redeems himself by something commendable. He does one final act of defiance by politely spurning a reward they offer....That'll show 'em!


  Obviously the title of the book came from this story, but I'm puzzled why it was chosen.

_The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck_--A man with a boring but critical job serves admirably out of the line of fire in the midst of a battle, and gets about the most unglamorous combat injury possible.

_Dr. Blanke's First Command_--This is the one story that stuck with me across the decades, and it stuck with me well, I remembered it in detail because I identified with the hero. A research-minded physician volunteers for the war immediately upon graduation, even though he knows absolutely nothing of the sea or the military. While a passenger on the way to his first assignment, he finds himself as the sole naval officer on board a lifeboat crammed with fifty soldiers who are looking to him to keep them alive and get them to safety. He tries to use the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of his geeky mindset and live up to their expectations (and incidentally keep everyone alive, including himself!). I thought of this story often when I was an officer in the Army a couple of years after I read it the first time (which is why I remember it so well).

_Triumph of the Boon_--The last of the Boon stories, USS Boon gets a special mission, and we are reminded that in the military the only thing that matters in wartime is succeeding in your mission. Even though it may require you to do something that might be viewed as cowardice in another situation.

"USS Cornocupia" and "Rendezvous"--Two short articles that appear to have been written during the war to wow the public with the capabilities and complexity of two types of unglamorous noncombat naval vessels.

"December 6th"--I didn't care for this one. It is a tall tale in which a lowly US sailor and a British artilleryman who never met before work together to foil a dastardly plot by the perfidious Nazis. This one had to be written during the war.

I really liked some of the stories, but in others I was reminded of the John Wayne propaganda films made during World War II (which I don't particularly like). Small touches such as in one case a series of different sailors are mentioned sequentially, one to a paragraph, and each one has a clearly ethnic name to indicate that every group is in this together--The German, the Greek, the Italian, the Hispanic guy, etc. On a more positive side, except for "December 6th", the sailors are portrayed realistically and are humans with human weaknesses and strengths.

A must-read if you love naval fiction, but they don't hold a candle to the Horatio Hornblower series. I'm glad it is on Kindle and I was able to re-read it after all these years. A similar collection, Gold From Crete is on Kindle, and I've never read it! So I'll pick it up and read it later this year.


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## The Hooded Claw

Started a new book during lunch today...



Wide as the Waters, by Benson Bobrick

You'd never guess it from the title, but this is a nonfiction history book about the translation of the Bible into English. Since the Catholic church was for a long time not too keen on having common folk read the Bible, this means that the early part of the book closely tracks the history of The Reformation, and of the similar unsuccessful movements that preceded the Reformation. I was interested to find that one of the first questions asked of a suspect by the Inquisition was often..."Have you read the Bible in your own language?"

An Oxford cleric and professor named John Wycliffe was the major force in the first translation, about 1390, and he ended up being continually dogged and persecuted by the Catholic hierarchy, even though he had some heavy-duty worldly allies, including John Gaunt, perhaps the most influential noble in England beneath the King, and the King's mother! The persecution wasn't just over his English translation, Wycliffe was also critical of the wealth and corruption of the Church. That always seemed to go hand-in-hand with the early desire to translate the Bible into common speech. The Wycliffe Bible was actually in Middle English, here's a sample page, courtesy of Wikipedia (I love old illuminated manuscripts!):










I can pick out some words from this, but only because I saw the same verse (first verse of the Gospel of John) in the later Tyndale Bible, and that cued me what to look for:










Though I'm not keen on the "font," I can actually read most of that...Much more modern.

The second illustration is the Tyndale Bible, published about 1526. Less than 150 years later, but the English is a lot more comprehensible to a modern reader!

When the Tyndale Bible was published, the Reformation was raging full-bore, and the established Church was fighting it vigorously. Tyndale (the main translator) had to go to Germany to work unmolested and have the book printed in English. They then smuggled them into England for distribution. Many got through, despite searches of incoming ships to find and confiscate the "heretical" works. One story I found hilarious was that the Bishop of London (obviously a supporter of the established church) gained the confidence of one of Tyndale's close friends, and said he would pay top dollar (well, top Pound!) for a large number of copies. His unannounced plan was to get the translated Bibles and burn them, thus squelching their importation to England. Unfortunately, his contact went to Tyndale with the story, suspicious that the purchaser didn't truly have their interests at heart....But Tyndale told him to go ahead and sell them at a high price! Tyndale explained "Well, I am the gladder, for these two benefits will come thereof; I shall get money of him for all these books, to bring myself out of debt, and the whole world shall cry out on the burning of God's word." Tyndale then had his friend approach the Bishop again, and offer to sell him at a high price the standing type used to print the books. The Bishop gleefully accepted the offer....And Tyndale used the money to prepare a new and improved version of his translation--Funded by the Church!

There's a postscript. About a year later, Sir Thomas More (chief defender of the Church hierarchy in England) was interrogating a different close friend of Tyndale, and offered him a pardon to tell him where Tyndale was getting his funding. The Tyndale friend said "it is the Bishop of London that hath holpen us; for he hath bestowed among us a great deal of money in New Testaments to burn them, and that hath been, and yet is, our only succour and comfort." More replied (translation into modern English by the Hooded Claw) "I told him that was a stupid idea!" 

I'm enjoying the book, and learning a lot (even retaining some of it, LOL), but it is slower going than the fiction, I'm at about the 20% mark now.


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## Martel47

Here's another interesting one on the Bible in English, that traces some of the same history.

http://www.amazon.com/In-Beginning-Changed-Language-ebook/dp/B001NJMB68/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1334850335&sr=1-1


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## telracs

okay, just a couple of warning comments about the "Cult of the Saints" book.
1)  The book itself is only 62% of the kindle file (so about 2600 locations, not 4000)
2) The author assumes the reader to have a knowledge of both Latin and French, and does not translate quotes from those languages.  
3) I've noticed a couple minor errors that look like scannign/conversion errors ("arid" for "and")


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## The Hooded Claw

telracs said:


> okay, just a couple of warning comments about the "Cult of the Saints" book.
> 
> 2) The author assumes the reader to have a knowledge of both Latin and French, and does not translate quotes from those languages.


I know neither, and am not eager to mess with online translation. So that does reduce the chances I'll read it anytime soon.


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## The Hooded Claw

Wide as the Waters is done!  The subtitle of the book is "The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution it Inspired."  It's an appopriate subtitle.  After the Wycliffe and Tynsdale translations I mentioned previously, and some less-important intermediate translations, the book moves on to cover the translation of the familiar King James Version (often known in England as the "Authorized Version", though this book reports there has never been a specific authorization by King or Parliament.  The book then gives a broad description of the troubles between the Jameses and Charleses on the Catholic side, and Parliament and Cromwell on the Puritan/Protestant side, describes how Charles II was shown the door and a new King who clearly served with the consent of Parliament was ushered in during the Glorious Revolution, and how this lead to the American Revolution, which pushed the ideas of liberty and free thought and rights under natural law further.  More interesting than you might expect from my dry description.  As usual, here are some juicy tidbits:

Something I neglected to cover in my earlier post on this book was how there were difficulties in many regional dialects in England before printing, and especially before radio and television helped standardize things.  Thomas Caxton, known as the "Father of English Printing" recounted a story (as described in "Wider...") from about 1480, just a few years before Columbus discovered American:  A company of Northumberland merchants were sailing along the coast, and disembarked at the mouth of the Thames River.  They wanted breakfast, and headed straight to an inn.  One of them asked for some "eggys".  The landlady turned to his companions, and said to him, "Please explain to him that I don't speak French."  The hungry man cried out that he didn't speak French either, but he would still like some "eggys".  It was then explained to her that he wanted a plate of "eyren," which meant "eggs" in the dialect of Kent.  Caxton wrote:  "What should a man in these days write, 'eggys' or 'eyren'?"  He chose "eggys", and that is still what we use (with a minor modification!) today.

The English clergy in the 1500s were not necessarily a learned lot.  When the Bishop of Gloucester surveyed 311 deacons, archdeacons, and priests of his diocese, he discovered that 168 were unable to repeat The Ten Commandments, thirty-one didn't know where those Commandments came from, forty could not repeat the Lord's Prayer, and forty couldn't say who the author of the Prayer was!  In fairness to those forty, I had to look up the exact origin of the prayer, though from the title I made an assumption about at least the broad source.

Tynsdale, one of the earlier translators and publishers of the Bible, resented these ignorant clerics (many of whom were knowledgeable about Church law and doctrine, but knew little of the Bible directly), and he reportedly told one of them, "I defy the Pope and all his laws, and if God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scriptures than thou doest!"  Naturally this did not make him popular with the church hierarchy.

In early translations, many of the professional translators resisted exchanging Latin words for English words with not quite the same meaning.  A translator on one project for Henry VIII had a list of sixty-nine Latin words that he wanted to leave in the translation with slight Anglicization to make the spelling consistent.  An example of how this worked was that for the verse "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," he wanted to use "This is my dilect son in whom compacui!"  Though he had a point about some words not easily translating in a succinct way, other translators accused him of wanting to sabotage the project by making the translation unreadable to non-scholars.  The Latinists countered that many of these verses had deliberately been made obscure to turn the mind from the literal meaning of the passage to a more symbolic interpretation. Disagreements over this scuttled that particular translation project, and were still a major concern in later ones.

Originally the Catholic hierarchy was rigidly opposed to translation of the Bible into the vernacular.  But once the Protestant-sympathetic English translations began to get wide circulation, many Catholic clerics in England felt the need for a Catholic-friendly English translation to be made available, as it was impossible for them to counter assertions about the words of the Bible from English Puritans and freethinkers!  So this was done, and the genie was really out of the bottle in England.  A Catholic-friendly translation in 1592 retained many Latin terms, and quite a few of them entered the common English language, including acquisition, adulterate, advent, benignity, allegory, character, and victim.  Others didn't stick--Including inquination, potestates, longanimity, and correption!

Paging Mr. Harry Potter!!!  The book includes this incomplete list of Puritan sects, each of which was of course convinced they had The Straight Dope:  "Ranters, Diggers, Muggletonians, Baptists, Anabaptists, Quakers, Levellers, Independents, Presbyterians, Fifth Monarchy Men, and so on..."

King James I (yep, the KJV guy) was arguably not a wonderful king, but he had a bibliophilic (is that a word?) spirit that many of us would have to admire.  When he received an honorary degree from Oxford, he was given a tour of the Bodleian Library, and he noted the chains that bound the books to the shelves.  "I could wish, it ever be my lot to be carried captive, to be shut up in this prison, to be bound with these chains, and to spend my life with these fellow captives which stand here chained."

The scholars who developed the KJV tried to respect the existing known language in English as much as possible, especially for popular verses, and as a result, many archaic words from earlier versions were retained, making the language of the KJV rather behind the times, even for a book published in the early 1600s.

The first publisher of the KJV, a man named Barker, might have done better without having such an honor.  Like some indy ebook authors, and all too many traditional publishers, he skimped on proofreading (which admittedly would be a massive task for such a large and complex book with so many unconventional words).  His first version averaged out a typographical every ten printed pages.  The first folio took its name from one of the typos, where a verse from the Book of Ruth read, "and he went into the city," instead of "she."  So it was known as the "he" Bible!

The original KJV was in a very large format, pages were sixteen inches by ten and a half inches, with text in the familiar double columns.  There were lots of extras, including a thirty-eight page genealogy that contained an illustrated family tree from Adam to Christ, and a handy-dandy calendrical guide to calculating the date of Easter "for ever."

Barker spent 3500 pounds of his own money financing the original printing, but he got no thanks or respect for this.  He was fined three hundred pounds over a later edition that became known as the "Wicked Bible" because it omitted the word "not" from the seventh commandment, which there for read "Thou shalt commit adultery."  The KJV was published in 1611, he was fined in 1631, and he went to debtors' prison not long after, and died there in 1643.

I highly recommend Wide as the Waters, if history in general, and especially the history of England, appeal to you.


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## telracs

I'm reading Pollyanna.


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## The Hooded Claw

Stolen Away, by Max Allan Collins

I read this when it was released (about 2001) and generally I'm trying to avoid anything I've read that recently as part of my scheme to avoid "comfort reads" and get into new books this year. But I started another Collins book, Damned in Paradise, and the opening page indicates that it takes place right after Stolen Away ends. Even though the books are independent, I decided to go back and read Stolen Away first. And I'm glad I did, this one literally kept me up through the night reading, even though I've read it before. I was still reading at 3 AM last night when I dropped Wiggins (my K4) on my lap for the second time because I had dropped off. I then gave up and let myself go to bed, but finished the book this afternoon. I was very eager to get back to it, I enjoyed the book this time as much or more than I had in 2001.

Similar to Majic Man, that I read a few weeks ago, this is part of Collins' series of historical detective novels following the career of Private Eye Nathan Heller from the thirties to the early sixties. This one focuses on the Lindbergh Kidnapping, when the infant son of Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped and (at least officially) killed. The book begins with the kidnapping itself, when Heller (still working as they youngest plainclothes detective on the Chicago Police) stumbles onto a kidnapped infant in Chicago and recovers the child. Because this makes him a "child kidnapping expert", and because jailed Al Capone is trying to insert himself into the Lindbergh kidnapping, which was a national mania at the time, Heller is sent as the Chicago PD's liaison to the Lindbergh case. This is a complex story with lots of threads, and Collins keeps the story closely tied to historical facts. Heller is in the thick of the Lindbergh case and we encounter lots of historical figures who were involved in the kidnapping as investigators or suspects Such as Lindbergh himself, obviously, and the father of Persian Gulf War general Norman Schwarzkopf, who was head of the New Jersey state police at the time, as well as less-obvious people such as the mystic Edgar Cayce and a host of lesser-known law enforcement, underworld and petty criminal figures. Some of these are fascinating--I've already picked up a nonfiction Kindle book on a county sheriff who was famous at the time for being "America's Barnyard Sherlock Holmes" before he went to jail, and may pick up a DTB on one of the shady figures in the book--Gaston Bullock Means, who was sometimes called "King of the Swindlers" and seems to have been a fascinating if corrupt and dippy figure who made enough of a splash for J. Edgar Hoover to go out of his way to badmouth him. The Hope Diamond makes a cameo appearance (before it was locked up in the Smithsonian), and totally out-of-character for Collins' work, there's a slight tinge of "the unknown" as two mystics appear to actually know something about the case, though it isn't clear-cut enough to know if this is "real" (at least in the story) or just coincidence.

The story takes an "intermission" for a couple of years, during which Heller quits the Chicago force and goes into business as a Private Investigator, and he is called back again to investigate problems with the government's case against supposed kidnapper Bruno Hauptmann.

Lots of facts about the kidnapping are worked in, and Collins points out some of the severe problems with the "official" solution to the crime. From what I've read about the case elsewhere, most or all of the problems Collins highlights are probably accurate. Of course, I may have to snag one of the many nonfiction books on the kidnapping now.

As I said, I stayed up far into the night reading it, as I didn't want to stop. This is one of Collins' best books. Highly recommended for those who like gritty, violent detective stories with historical fact carefully inserted in a readable way.

PS: One minor benefit of re-reading the book in 2012, as opposed to 2001, is that in some cases Collins gives actual street addresses of people such as Bruno Hauptmann, the supposed kidnapper. I was able to go into Google Maps and Google Street View, and actually find Hauptmann's house at 1279 East 222nd Street in New York City, and recognize the house from the description in the book! I also did that with a mansion mentioned in the book.


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## The Hooded Claw

Swords Against Death, by Fritz Leiber

_"The seven black priests--" Fafhrd muttered.

"The six," the Mouser corrected. "We killed one of them last night."

"Well, the six then," Fafhrd conceded. "They seem angry with us."

"As why shouldn't they be?" the Mouser demanded. "We stole their idol's only eye. Such an act annoys priests tremendously."_

The above extract gets the point of this book across. Fafhrd and Grey Mouser are two thieves in a fantasy world who try to survive, prosper and live an enjoyable life. They don't always succeed, and this is one of a series of books that tells about the interesting stuff. Tales of successful and unsuccessful thefts, tales of innocently wandering into a curse, trap, or other bad situation, all set at many different locations--The huge, bustling city of Lankhmar, boats far at sea beyond where wise mariners go, mysterious enchanted landscapes, Fafhrd and Mouser will be there if they think there's money to be made....And sometimes even if there's no money, but some greater power, usually magical, compels them.

Ten short stories, essentially independent, make up this book. This has the advantage of moving you along to something different and interesting quickly, but it also keeps any particular antagonist or situation from being developed too much. A minor irritation is that at several points, there is a scene change, and I'm sure that there is supposed to be some space on the page to indicate the scene change, but the text is all run together continuously. Annoying, and it pulls you out of the "immersed in the book" mindset for a few seconds while you figure out what is going on. I'd give it four stars out of five. As with book 1 in the series (which I read and commented on a few weeks ago) I recommend it if a fantasy series about rogues appeals to you.

(note that you can get it cheaper and without DRM from Baen Books, here: http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1207-swords-against-death-fafhrd-and-grey-mouser-book-2.aspx


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## The Hooded Claw

The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man, by David W. Maurer

One of my favorite movies is an old film starring George C. Scott called The Flim Flam Man. Scott plays a man who travels through the rural South running scams. As he loves to point out, all of his scams involve an attempt by his mark to get something for nothing. As he says, "You can't cheat an honest man." Great film. The film came from a book that I purchased and read back in pre-Kindle days and didn't like as well, though it was okay. Another better-known movie on a similar subject is "The Sting."

While reading "Stolen Away" a few days ago, I tried to run down on the internet the meaning of a pickpocketing term used in the story. I stumbled across the books of David W. Maurer. Maurer was a linguist and sociologist who specialized in study of the underworld back in the 1930s and 1940s. He specialized in gaining the confidence of members of "shady" groups, and studying their specialized languages. To understand the language, he had to understand their world and their crimes, and he wrote up books about what he learned. He wrote books studying confidence men, pickpockets, moonshiners, and other groups. When I learned about his work, and that two of his books are Kindleized, I just had to pick the one on confidence men up, even though it is more expensive than I usually go for.

I've now read the book, and I enjoyed it (admittedly not as much as I hoped I would, but I'd give it four stars). I was interested enough to read it fast, I finished it in a little over 24 hours, even though it is 336 pages of dense nonfiction; that's probably the strongest endorsement I can give it. Supposedly Maurer sued when "The Sting" came out because they took a lot of their material straight out of his book. From what I read, the suit appears to have been settled out of court.

One thing I enjoyed, is that con-men rarely give a real name, and many of them use "monickers" or totally created names, rather than fake a conventional name. Maurer quotes many con men by name, and he uses their monickers, many of which are wonderful: The Square-Faced Kid, Slobbering Bob, The Hashhouse Kid, The High @ss Kid, The Indiana Wonder, Wildfire John, The Christ Kid, The Postal Kid, The Boone Kid, The Big Alabama Kid, The Clinic Kid, Limehouse Chappie, Queer-pusher Nick, The Sanctimonious Kid, Kid Duff, and Jimmie the Rooter. A few of these are explained, the Hashhouse Kid had worked in restaurants when younger, and The High @ss Kid had very, very long legs. Limehouse Chappie was an Englishman, or at least claimed to be.

The book was published in 1940, and reports that even at that early date, it was well past the heyday of American con men, which Maurer places from about 1914 to 1925. Con men classified their cons into two types, the Short Con, and the Long Con. The names are a clue to the difference....The Short Con was more something that focuses on working quickly and getting whatever the mark has in his wallet. It doesn't involve a great deal of preparation, is done on the street or in an alley, and doesn't usually have a specialized location set up for it. The stuff in The Flim Flam Man was short cons. The Long Con is much more elaborate. The key difference is that The Mark is sent to get more money. As a result, the Long Con can go on for weeks, and requires gaining the complete confidence of The Mark. Also, the Long Con involves at least two grifters, and usually many more. And it usually involves a specialized location set up to help create an illusionary world to bring The Mark into.

Most of this book is about the Long Con, but there is a chapter on Short Cons. I was a bit disappointed that most of the Short Cons were just elaborate ways to rig a card or dice game, though two (The Green Goods and The Gold Brick) are more what I was hoping to read about and don't involve cards. Anyway, the book has a great deal of information on the Long Con. There are three types of Long Con, The Wire, The Rag, and The Pay-Off, and each gets a separate chapter with considerable detail. There are also chapters on the different types of roles needed for cons, and about the lives of con men outside their cons. There are several steps to any type of Long Con, here they are:

1) Locating and investigating a well-to-do victim (Putting the mark up)
2) Gaining the victim's confidence (Playing the con for him)
3) Steering him to meet the insideman (Roping the mark)
4) Permitting the insideman to show him how he can make a large amount of money dishonestly (Telling him the tale)
5) Allowing the victim to make a substantial profit (Giving him the convincer)
6) Determining exactly how much he will invest (Giving him the breakdown)
7) Sending him home for this amount of money (Putting on the send)
 Playing him against a "big store" and fleecing him (Taking off the touch)
9) Getting him out of the way as quietly as possible (Blowing him off)
10) Forestalling action by the law (Putting in the fix)

There are at least two people in a Long Con. First the roper, who casts about looking for a well to do victim, and conducts steps 1-3 above. Since con men considered it wise NOT to rip off local people who will be better-placed to put pressure on law enforcement, or are more likely to happen to recognize a con man on the street months after he has been blown off, this can involve a lot of travel, and is a lonely life much of the time. The second person is the inside man, who stays at a fixed location where the big store (a location set up to impress, convince, and confuse the mark) is located, and may be working more than one mark at a time (each being handled by a different roper). The goal is for the inside man to completely gain the mark's confidence, even over that of the roper who brings him in. In fact, it is not uncommon for the inside man to end up conniving with the mark against the roper as part of the scam. The inside man is the boss of the operation, and has to have a quick wit to deal with any emergency. Lesser figures the manager, who handles administrative tasks in the big store to keep it convincing, shills, who basically pose as actors doing things like making huge (but unreal) bets, tailers who follow the mark if for some reason he needs to leave the company of the roper, and may serve as lookouts, and clerks, board markers, callers, and other supporting personnel. The book talks about each one, and has some fascinating stories about the lives of real con men (of course since these are reported by self-professed con men, they have to be taken with a grain of salt. The final chapter is a glossary of words--I didn't find it till the end, it would have made the read a little easier if I'd spotted it at the start!

I've told you a lot about the book, if you want to know more, you'll just have to get it and read it yourself!


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## The Hooded Claw

Master Detective: The Life and Crimes of Ellis Parker, America's Real-Life Sherlock Holmes, by John Reisinger

Reading the "Stolen Away" book about the Lindbergh kidnapping sparked interest in a number of related books! In addition to The Big Con, which I covered a couple of days ago, I was intrigued by this book, about a minor (real) character in Stolen Away.

Ellis Parker was "Chief Detective" for Burlington County, NJ from 1894 to 1937. He was an extremely effective detective who had a national repuatation for Sherlock Holmes-style case solving. His reputation was sufficient that he was asked to give advice by police departments all over the country. To me the most remarkable case Parker solved was one of these. He was consulted by the San Francisco District Attorney for help in finding a Greek widower named Tom Coumas who had broken into a school classroom while class was in session and murdered the teacher in front of the students before fleeing. Coumas had lived in California for ten years, and his previous whereabouts were unknown. Parker never left New Jersey while working on the case, and did most of his consulting via telegram or letter. But nevertheless, he figured out when the murderer had been married (based on the large number of children the murderer was known to have had, and assuming a minimum spacing between them, wrote to all forty-eight states asking for marriage records of someone named Tom Coumas getting married during the timeframe he calculated. Parker learned that Coumas was married in Washington state and had been a naturalized citizen (after emigrating from Greecee), and that he had worked in Washington and Oregon as a cook. Parker suggested that the California police check restaurants for any cooks resembling Coumas who had been hired, and check local Health Departments for any food handler's permits that might have been issued to a man of that age and description. Using Parker's advice, the western police found that Coumas had worked as a cook south of San Francisco, and they believed he was headed for Mexico. Checking with Greece, Parker learned that nobody by the name Coumas had been using had ever lived in his homeland in Greece. Police checking records in Oregon found a court record of Coumas changing his name (from Smyrno Smynorgranis, who can blame the man for changing his name!). When Parker contacted Mexican authorities with the newly-learned name, he found that a Smyrno Smyrnogranis had signed on as a cook in a ship leaving Mexico to go to Greece. The fugitive was arrested in Greece and imprisoned there for the murder. As the book describes it, "Ellis Parker had tracked down an international fugitive without leaving Burlington County."

Another intriguing case that Parker broke involved a serial arsonist who was burning down barns for apparently no reason. Parker worked out that the arsonist was actually burning the buildings to cover horse theft! He would ride a broken-down nag to the farm, and leave the nag in the stable in place of an expensive horse which he would ride away for later sale! Parker figured this out because the horseshoes on horse tracks leading away from the barn were always different than the horseshoes on the tracks leading towards the barn. He did catch, arrest, and convict the culprit.

Not all of Parker's cases were this spectacular, of course. And there doesn't seem to be a lot of documentation on many of them, Parker's personal papers were ordered destroyed after his death, and many official records from the early Twentieth Century were lost or were never maintained in the first place. But there are a number of interesting cases to read about. By the time of the Lindbergh kidnapping, which happened one county away from Parker, Parker was nearing retirement. Parker was chomping at the bit to get involved in the Lindbergh case, but the New Jersey State Police and the FBI would not share even elementary information on the crime with Parker. Apparently there was considerable organizational rivalry, and resentment that Parker would steal all the credit (and in fairness, it appears that is what Parker would have tried to do!).

Like many tragic heroes, Parker succumbed to his own hubris, and the Lindbergh case led to his fall. Parker was convinced that the man arrested and eventually executed for the Lindbergh kidnapping was not actually guilty, or at least was not a primary actor in the crime. Parker believed that a local ne'er-do-well named Paul Wendel was the actual kidnapper, though his reasoning on this seems very very weak. When Haumptmann, the "official" kidnapper was about to be executed, Parker got desperate, deputized some local petty criminals who were indebted to him, and ordered them to go arrest Wendel under false pretenses. They held him literally in a basement, where he was abused and even tortured in an effort to get him to confess. Wendel, who was a surprisingly intelligent and educated man for a petty criminal, ended up writing an extremely far-fetched and improbable confession and signing it to get the abuse to end. But Parker continued to hold him, moving him to an insane asylum where the manager was friendly with Parker. Eventually word got out that Parker had "The real kidnapper", and there was a great fanfare for awhile, but the feeble case Parker had built against Wendel (who nearly everyone agrees was a blowhard who had absolutely nothing to do with the kidnapping) couldn't stand the light of day. Wendel was quickly freed, and it ended up that Parker went on trial! Weirdly, he was charged with kidnapping under a special federal statute that had been enacted in response to the Lindbergh kidnapping. Parker might have received sympathy and a very light punishment if he had come clean, and pleaded for mercy. He might have said that he was desperate to try to head off the execution of an innocent man, so he took extreme measures. Unfortunately, Parker was too proud to do this, and tried to brazen things out. His ego hurt his own cause on the witness stand, and he was convicted and sent to federal prison, where his health quickly failed and he died a broken man.

Before his fall, Parker did a lot of excellent work. In addition to his brilliant analytical ability as I described above, he was one of the first in the country to start keeping a rogue's gallery of photos of known or suspected criminals to show to witnesses to crimes.

One strange thing I've found....I tried looking up Ellis Parker on Wikipedia, and there is no mention of him there that I can find! Nor any mention of Paul Wendel and the weird footnote to the Lindbergh kidnapping that Wendel and Parker created. Considering all the obscure things covered by Wikipedia, I thought this was surprising.

I enjoyed the book, though it was sad to read of Parker's fall from grace as he ended up indulging in kidnap and torture. The book gives general coverage of the Lindbergh Kidnapping as well, with some particular attention to real or alleged weaknesses in the official explanation for the kidnapping. Writing is adequate, there are some awkward sentences and one incredible howler technical detail about a rifle is flatly in error. But overall the writing is serviceable, and the facts about Parker appear to be well-documented and researched, including a lot of time spent in the locale where he lived and worked. Most of what I know about Parker came from the book, so it is difficult for me to judge, but I don't feel the book was heavily biased for or against Parker, it appeared reasonably objective. I give it a solid four stars, and recommend it to anyone intrigued by the subject. I doubt it would please for a more general audience.


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## telracs

claw, you're costing me MONEY!


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## The Hooded Claw

telracs said:


> claw, you're costing me MONEY!


I did find the Ellis Parker book interesting. If you like it, you probably would like Stolen Away, that I posted about a week ago. Parker is a character in the novel, and there's a lot of factual stuff about the Lindbergh Kidnapping. Very interesting, even though I don't agree with the implication that the man executed for the Lindbergh Kidnapping was innocent (I do think there's an excellent chance there were others involved in the kidnapping besides the official criminal, though).

I did some googling around, and on the author's website, there's an extensive series of articles that at first glance I thought were the text of the book online, but in fact are just a "book" about his experiences writing the Parker book:

http://www.johnreisinger.com/parker.html

And here's a self-described Ellis Parker tribute webpage that mostly consists of contemporary newspaper articles:

http://www.patfullerton.com/1e/newspaperbio2.html


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## The Hooded Claw

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2485&dat=19340710&id=PaYzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fO4HAAAAIBAJ&pg=5556,6173730

It's interesting, I just did some googling, and here is an original newspaper article about the arrest of Tom Coumas (the international fugitive). The article supports the idea that Parker provided help, and it explains why Coumas shot the teacher (which the Parker book didn't explain), and provides some more details. A minor quibble is that a janitor at the school was non-fatally shot when he tried to save the teacher from Coumas, and the book says the janitor was shot in the shoulder, while the newspaper article says he was shot in the jaw. The article was still an interesting read.

Some of the other articles in the paper range from interesting to disturbing.


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## The Hooded Claw

The Crazy Years: Reflections of a Science Fiction Original, by Spider Robinson

Spider Robinson gave us the outstanding Callahan's Place series of science fiction short stories and books, plus some other good work. I was introduced to him through his book review columns, which ran in various science fiction magazines under different titles. One of the titles was the absolute best book review column title ever...."Spider vs. the HAX of Sol III.  When I saw this book of essays by him for two bucks on Kindle, it was a natural to scarf it up!

The essays are interesting, but they are nearly all rants. I'm finding that an entire book of rants gets on my nerves, especially since many of the essays revisit the same topic in a slightly different way. The publication dates are listed, and they may be nearly ten years apart in publication, but in the book I have been trying to read them back to back, and that doesn't work well!

Most of these were written in the late 90s and early 2000s, and they reflect current events of that time. One series that isn't quite so time bound, and that frankly surprised me, is that Spider rants heavily on anti-smoking legislation, especially that fixed on second hand smoke. He suggests that the science on the subject is not nearly as sound as we might think. I haven't looked into the subject in almost twenty years, so I don't have enough facts to disagree with him, even though my prejudices are not on his side on this topic. He also is very much opposed to legislative efforts against marijuana, which I expected from previous experience with him. There's quite a bit of discussion on the surrealness of being born American but living in Canada (and he discusses how he became a Canadian citizen during the course of these essays), and looking at both Canadian and American events as a semi-outsider to both now.

Many other topics are discussed, and I'm not surprised to find that Spider has IMMENSE sympathy and support for the common police officer in the street, even though you might not guess that from his hippie-libertarian outlook on things.

Anyway, they are well-written and entertaining and worth reading, despite being a little dated (it's interesting to look back on his commentary about current events now that many of the current events are now history). But these are rants, nearly every single essay, and I'm finding a book of rants read sitting down, one after another gets on my nerves. I'm about over fifty percent of the way through, and my enjoyment of these has cut way back for probably the last twenty percent of the book.

So I'm going to go to a new book for sit-down reading, make sure this book is on my phone, and read the essays one at a time while I'm on the move, using my phone instead of Wiggins, my trusty K4.

PS: The title is an in-reference to the work of Robert Heinlein, Spider's idol.


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## The Hooded Claw

Damned in Paradise, by Max Allan Collins

Yet another in the Nate Heller series of historical detective novels by Max Allan Collins. I started to read this about a week ago, but when I learned that it takes place immediately after the beginning of the "intermission" in Stolen Away, I put this aside to re-read Stolen Away. This book involves detective Heller going to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and working with the famous lawyer Clarence Darrow to help defend three white Navy men and the mother-in-law<!> of one of them who were accused of the honor killing of a Native Hawaiian man who was accused of raping a naval officer's wife. This is a real historical case, received a great deal of tense publicity in the islands where whites are a minority, and it quickly becomes clear that Heller's clients are not very sympathetic people. One nifty thing about the book is that unlike most of the Nate Heller series, I wasn't familiar with the situation, and had no idea how the real crime came out!

As with other historical books I've read the past few years, I tried using the internet to enhance my reading of the book. My one effort to use Google Maps to look up a location was a failure, but in several cases Collins mentions music that was playing, and I was able to find Youtube videos of the song, which were often interesting to listen to and certainly added to the historical feeling. The 1924 Eddie Cantor version of "Charley My Boy" surprised me! Racey stuff.

Heller's hard-boiled detective stories are by definition...hard-boiled detective stories, but this one was a tougher read than usual because Heller's clients are not very sympathetic people. BUT....The book does include participation by Chang Apana. Chances are, you don't know who that is, but if you think about law enforcement in Hawaii during the 1930s it may come to you. Yes, Chang Apana is the real-life prototype of Charlie Chan! He's not as lovable as the fictional Charlie, but he is a very competent Chinese-American detective and unlike the fictional Charlie, he comes with a bullwhip, which he uses in this story. Author Collins departed from the historical Chang in one conceit which I enjoyed....Since the fictional Charlie was well-known during the time period of this story, thanks to the novels and even a popular movie, Collins employs the conceit of having Heller expect pithy sayings from Apana, and Apana obliges! Unhistorical, but fun. Here are a few of the aphorims:

"Owner of Face cannot always see nose."

"If strength were all, tiger would not fear scorpion."

"Bad alibi like fish. Not stand test of time."

"Needle in haystack give away hiding place when fat man sit down." (my personal favorite from this book!)

"Too late to dig well when house on fire." (close second to the previous one, this would win if not for humorous mental images!)

"Advice at end of case like medicine at dead man's funeral" (oh heck, I really like this one too!)

There are several real historical figures associated with 1930s Hawaii, notably a very young Buster Crabbe. I kept looking for some naval man who would become prominent in World War Ii (less than ten years away), but don't recognize any, and Collins didn't point any such out in his afterword. Clarence Darrow is of course prominent in the novel, and he fits with what I know of him, connivingly devoted to his client's interests, and aware that in this particular case he is stepping away from his usual tradition of helping the powerless.

Worthwhile if you like the series, and I stayed up way too late last night to read it, but much darker than the usual in this very dark series. I give it four stars, but just barely.


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## The Hooded Claw

Skulldoggery, by Fletcher Flora

This is one of the 100 mysteries on sale for 99 cents today. Not recommended. It isn't awful, but it is at best workmanlike. It appears that the life of a chihuahua is the only thing standing between a family of greedy acquisitive sorts, and the inheritance from their uncle. I'd hoped for humor, and there are a few smirks, but nothing more than a smirk in the book. I'd skip it. A revealing fact is that after reading it, I have no idea where the story takes place. Two stars.


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## crebel

Claw, this was clear down on page 5!  Have you been too busy working to read in May?


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## The Hooded Claw

Funny you mentioned that, I have been thinking about this thread. I have been traveling or getting ready to travel, but I have read seven books not yet posted here. When I am home and can use a real keyboard, I will update. 

Thanks for thinking about the thread! 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## The Hooded Claw

For anyone who just can't sleep with wondering, here's the list of books I will write up when I get home.... 

Success Secrets of Sherlock Holmes: Life Lessons from the Master Detective 
A Study in Sorcery: A Lord Darcy Novel
The Killing Room 
En Route: A Paramedic's Stories of Life, Death, and Everything in Between 
The Gulf Stream: Tiny Plankton, Giant Bluefin,  and the Amazing Story of the Powerful River in the Atlantic 
Tales of the Fish Patrol 
Alcatraz: A Definitive History 

That's six books, so at least I haven't been idle! 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## The Hooded Claw

Success Secrets of Sherlock Holmes: Life Lessons from the Master Detective, by David Acord

I'm back home from Florida, and am going to crank out a post or two before hitting the sack (still pretty wired up from my travels, even though I am tired).

In the past I've been an avid reader of self-help books, and I still read them from time to time. I'm also an even more avid Sherlock Holmes fan. So I had to pick this one up. Alas, there's nothing brilliant here, and there are too many "secrets" to keep in mind on a regular basis, but it is a worthwhile read, both to remind yourself of some good practices, and to enjoy the Sherlock Holmes quotes and references. There are no less than 32 "secrets," each getting its own chapter. They range from Secret 1, "A Passion for Definite and Exact knowledge" to Secret 32, "Never Stop Encouraging." There's an expected discussion of the general principles of each practice, examples from the Holmes stories, and in many cases, discussions of things in author Arthur Conan Doyle's real life where this practice was used by him, or by someone he knew and was impressed by. The most surprising thing to me in the book was that this author has done extensive reading of old "self help" books from the time when Doyle was writing the Holmes stories, and many of the habits Holmes discusses or exhibits in the stories adhere closely to the self help literature, right up to similar wording in many cases! Apparently Doyle was a reader of these books. KB readers will feel particular sympathy for Secret 30, "Be Your Own Librarian."

Most books that attempt to distill success, leadership, etc., into "rules" run into the problem of contradictory rules, and this book is no exception. Some of the rules contradict each other, and I don't really agree with some of them, at least as shown in the examples. The book dwells on a famous Holmes quote, where he describes the mind as being like an attic, with a certain amount of space to be filled (with knowledge, in the case of the mind), and you have to be careful what things you learn, as once you fill up your attic, you can't learn something new without squeezing something else out. I disagree with this philosophy, as anyone who has paid the slightest attention to my reading list knows. I think it is worthwhile to learn and pursue interests in a variety of different things, both because it is enjoyable, and because unexpected connections between different fields often arise and are useful. And indeed, Secret 15 is "Everything is useful." An unexpected secret (Number 17!) is "How to be a Good Watson", with discussions of how to help your friends and partners succeed, while also reaching your own goals.

As I mentioned, the book is very well-researched, and gives some interesting biographical details on Doyle, including when Doyle served as surgeon on an Arctic whaler at the age of 21, and very nearly died. The book mentions one of Doyle's books where he talks about his personal library and his favorite books which I'm now going to read for myself! And probably the part I enjoyed most was a very good collection of Sherlock Holmes quotes, organized by subject. There are lots of these on the internet, but this one is better than most about organizing quotes by very specific topics.

Worthwhile for the Holmes fan, it certainly will do you no harm if you want a self-help book, but it isn't on my short list of best books on that subject. I give it four stars.


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## The Hooded Claw

A study in Sorcery, by Michael Kurland

Earlier in this thread I reviewed "Ten Little Wizards" by the same author, and discussed my fondness for the Lord Darcy stories. This is another in the series, and is probably going to be the last Lord Darcy we ever get. Lord Darcy goes to the New World in this one, and much of the action takes place in what is clearly the site of New York in our world. Lots of fun, and I enjoyed it more than Ten Little Wizards. I don't want to commit spoilers, so I'm not going to discuss it much.

Kurland places in Lord Darcy's mouth a quote that I really liked, and I ofte feel applies to myself, even though I'm not a famous detective of Lord Darcy's caliber...."I thirst after the obscure....The ordinary dulls my abilities, the bizarre, the grotesque, the utterly baffling--These provide the stimulation I need!" There are similar Sherlock Holmes quotes, and I suspect this is a deliberate salute to Holmes (like the title of this book).

The book contains some amusing salutes to other authors, and one to Garrett himself in two faraway places referred to as FitzLeeber Land and Garretton. An "Arthur River" is referred to that might be a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle, or perhaps to someone else, and there is a reference to a Martensville that I don't get at all! A lengthy quote from a poem is clearly intended to mirror Rudyard Kipling, who apparently wrote as "Lord Dif" in Lord Darcy's universe.

If you're attracted to the idea, you'll love it. Not recommended for those who don't feel drawn to a fun fantasy mystery.


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## telracs

Hmm... Love the fact that you caught all those references in the book that I completely overlooked...

I prefered 10 Little Sorcerers to this one. Possibly because I don't appreciate what he's done to NY....

oh, and one quibble I had with the book


Spoiler



does Garrett ever say John Quetzal is left-handed, or does Kurland pull that out of thin air?


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## The Hooded Claw

Two books that didn't make the Claw...I mean make the cut:



Fillmore Saves the Day, by L. T. Fawkes

This is pretty clearly intended to be a modern-day version of my beloved Jeeves stories. Lots of things seem designed to evoke Jeeves, even the name chosen for the author (instead of P. G. Wodehouse). The situation is similar to Jeeves, with an idle rich narrator who depends heavily on her "Gentleman's Gentleman (even though she's female), Fillmore. And the narrator even adopts some mannerisms of Bertie in the Jeeves stories, such as using abbreviations such as "Neither the A nor the U seemed to have anything to say to _that_," when talking about her aunt and uncle. I had high hopes for this (it is part of a short series that will presumably grow if it sells well), but it didn't cut the mustard for me. I read 18% of the way into the book, and I wasn't repulsed or bored, but I wasn't entertained either. I don't even think I cracked a smile while reading the book. And the narrator is supposed to be a bit dim (other characters keep chastising her for not knowing basic stuff about the world), but her actions and narration just doesn't feel convincing as that of a not-terribly bright person. I gave it a fair chance, but put it away and went to something else. I doubt I'll be back.



The Roving Mind, by Isaac Asimov

It just seems wrong to abandon a book by The Great One, but I did. I always love Asimov's fact-based essays, but these just didn't appeal. Some of them qualify as rants, and I've had my fill of rants for awhile from the Spider Robinson book (I've read a few more of those, but still haven't finished that one yet). The others are very lightweight, and I'm just not interested. I read about a third of the way into the book before going to something else. I may still go back and try this one again, though. Strange, the link-maker doesn't seem to work for this book. I can make the link and paste it in, but it doesn't show up. I tried both the large image I've been using, and the smaller standard one.

And I see that Asimov died on April 6, 1992. So last month it was twenty years since he left us. How can time have passed so fast? RIP, Isaac, and we still love you and your work!


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## The Hooded Claw

The Killing Room, by John Manning

Periodically, I enjoy a good ghost story. This long-forgotten paperback is an outstanding ghost story set at West Point:
http://www.amazon.com/Shades-Gray-Timothy-ONeill/dp/0670811335

And a year or two ago, I read this excellent old short story collection on Kindle:


There's actually a part two to that which I haven't read yet.

Anyway, awhile ago I got a yen to read a ghost story, but didn't want it to be short stories. About the same time, The Killing Room was offered for free, so I grabbed it. I had made up my mind to read it for my next book, and the time came while I was staying by myself in my cousin's house (which was new to me) in Florida. It was also the evening, naturally. My logical mind said starting a ghost story now was a bad idea, but I perversely insisted on doing it anyway. And being by myself in "weird" and unrecognized house noises did make me a bit on edge. And once I SWEAR I heard a door close! I really did! Anyway, I got caught up in The Killing Room, and ended up staying up very late to finish it. To my surprise, I slept soundly the next two nights--For both of them I thought it likely I'd end up getting wired up after what I'd read.

From that, you'd think I loved everything about the book. But I didn't. Some things really bugged me, there are some basic logic problems and factual errors with this book. One that particularly bothered me was an FBI agent who goes out on a date with a murder suspect immediately after interviewing him as part of her investigation of the murder. I'm flabbergasted that even a naive author would write that, and I won't give my opinion of the editor involved. It is explicitly stated that the same 26 year-old FBI agent was raised in poverty, and had struggled with a low government salary, sending much of her income to support her poor family, yet a throwaway line indicates that she had "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in her bank account. And a man in his early twenties has already been skipper of one of those boats where they lower divers into the water in cages and feed sharks around them. Plus, the author seems to think that military rifles are made of shiny silver metal, and that a World War I soldier would have toted two rifles around. There are some other, lesser howlers, but that is enough ranting about it. Another problem with the book (though only a problem from my perspective) is that the book is written in chapters shifting between many different viewpoint characters. I hate having more than a couple of viewpoint characters, though I know not everyone feels that way.

So it is a tribute to the book that I was very caught up in it, despite having my immersion disrupted by all these problems, and I stayed up till after 2 AM to finish it the same night!

The haunted house in the book features basically a combination of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and a ghost story. An incredibly wealthy family gathers for a family reunion every ten years, and one evening during the gathering, the adults all get together and randomly select one family member by drawing a slip of paper out of a hat. The "winner" goes and spends the night in a room in the basement, and horrible things happen to the unfortunate selectee. The family has tried to break the cycle by not holding this lottery, but when they do, the consequences are much, much, worse. Most family members don't even understand why they do this or how it started, but the ancient patriarch of the family is desperately trying to find someone who can neutralize the curse. Good read, I was able to figure out many things from clues in the book before the characters act on them (which to me is a sign of a logical and "fair" book), and I had correctly guessed the source of the curse fairly early, but there were still things that weren't clear and surprised me at the climax (which is also good). Plus, some of the less-admirable characters get their comeuppance, which is good.

I'm gonna pick up more of this guy's work. Gets four stars from me, despite the flaws.


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## The Hooded Claw

(*WARNING*, the above link is to a DTB version, not to Kindle version!)

En Route: A Paramedic's Stories of Life, Death, and Everything in Between, by Steven "Kelly" Grayson

The Kindle version of this book was available for free when I grabbed it a few months ago. I was eager to get it, as I always am drawn to memoirs by people with interesting jobs. And being a paramedic is interesting to me....As a teenager, I was a huge fan of the old television series "EMERGENCY!", and for awhile harbored the ambition to be a paramedic when I grew up, though somehow when the time came to make choices, I didn't even consider pursuing the training. And based on this book, that was probably a wise decision, even though it is a fascinating life that produced some really interesting stories. For some reason, I can't find the book available on Kindle now.

This book is a collection of interesting stories (all or nearly all about emergency calls) from the first few years of Grayson's career as an EMT. It begins with him having an informal job interview with what became his first employer, and ends about ten years later as he revisits the site of a particularly tragic emergency call and reminisces on that call and his life so far. The pages in between are filled with fascinating free-standing accounts of emergency calls that vary between hilarious, fascinating, and absurd. Occasionally little EMT lessons are inserted such as "Never get stuck with the lower body when you pick up someone who has p*ssed on herself, and carry a spare shirt in case you do wind up getting stuck with that job." As you can see, there is some profanity in the book, some the result of people talking under stress, and some just because that seems to be an inherent part of the author's voice. Since I spent time in the Army, I hardly noticed; but this is probably not a good choice to hand to an eleven year old nephew who wants to be an EMT.

The stories are short, and this would make a great bathroom book. Each story has a title, my personal favorite is "I'm Clear, You're Clear, the Chihuahua is Clear...," even though it telegraphed the climax of the story (question for the editors and grammar Nazis out there, did I punctuate that right?). Some of the stories are basically "punch lines" where something funny, ironic, or surprising happens, and others are just interesting or moving because of the totality of the events. Speaking of chihuahuas, I have resolved to remember two of his suggested names for incorrigible dogs, "Tasmanian Devil" and "Charles Manson." I want to use them someday!  This collection includes stories of every type of medical emergency you can imagine, and some you couldn't have imagined, such as dealing with the victim of an ostrich attack while the angry ostrich is still around.

Something that occasionally jarred me is that one of his several employers during the period of the book was an ambulance company called "Stat Fleet." There are some rivalries between the different ambulance companies, and some of the hospitals have better or worse relationships with some ambulance companies, so on several occasions Clark writes statements such as "Doctor Smith was a jerk to anyone wearing a Stat Fleet uniform" which made me do a double take, since I am a long time Star Trek fan and invariably read "Stat" as "Star."

The book focuses on the individual emergency runs. There are occasional references to Kelly's life as a human being rather than an EMT, such as his courtship and marriage to a nurse he met through his job, but never any real information on his non-job life, or even on his yen (which received encouragement from physician coworkers) to resume his education and go to medical school. I found this a bit frustrating, as I came to be interested in Kelly as a person during all these stories.

Unfortunately, this book seems no longer to be available on Kindle. There seem to be paper editions with two different titles out there (the cover above eliminates the first two words of the title of my Kindle version) If it becomes available again, or if you are willing to deal with the paper edition, I highly recommend it to anyone who is intrigued by the thought of a collection of EMT stories. Five solid stars from me.

PS--Another warning I forgot to mention, Kelly throws in a fair amount of medical jargon to the story without explaining it. I didn't find anything I couldn't handle with a quick google, or just glossing over it, but if that sort of thing drives you batty, you may want to think twice about the book.


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## The Hooded Claw

The Gulf Stream: Tiny Plankton, Giant Bluefin, and the Amazing Story of the Powerful River in the Atlantic, by Stan Ulanski

Yep, a book telling all about the Gulf Stream. Basically, it is divided into three parts, the first part talks about the effects of wind and the earth's rotation, and how that works together to form the big cyclical currents such as the Gulf Stream and it's southbound counterparts on the European side of the Atlantic. Apparently detailed understanding of this has been helped by an accident in 1992 where about a hundred thousand plastic ducks (yes, as in baby and the bathtub ducks!) were washed overboard from a freighter. They are very distinctive, and the flow of various pieces of this cargo have been tracked all over the world, giving a lot of information on ocean currents.

There's a discussion of history and how understanding of this stuff developed. Apparently many of the earliest Greeks believed that Europe, Africa, and Asia where sort of an island in the middle of a circular world, with the island surrounded by water. Ocean currents flowed in a big circle around the land. Apparently there is a line in The Odyssey where Odysseus and his men are said to have "attained Earth's verge and it's girdling river of Ocean." Aristotle later decided that ocean water naturally had a tendency to flow from East to West, and various theories were advanced of how come the water didn't pile up in the West! The most "reasonable" one was that there were subterranean tunnels that piped water from the West back to the East. Later, even when it was accepted that the Earth was round, this belief in an East to West flow persisted, and it was part of the reason that so many early explorers were convinced there was a passage through the Americans connecting the Atlantic and Pacific--If there wasn't one, how could the water flow through?

I found it interesting that the idea that the Gulf Stream plays a critical role in warming Europe is overstated. Apparently the Gulf Stream Stream contributes only minorly to the warming of England, though just the presence of all that water around the Isles is a big heat source, even without the G.S.

The second part of the book talks about the life of the Gulf Stream, mostly about phytoplankton and fish, especially bluefin tuna. I've always thought of phytoplankton as rather simple little beggars, but they are more complex than you'd think (the "phyto" on the front of their name means they are plankton that depend heavily on sunlight and photosynthesis to live, like land-based plants). Phytoplankton have to float at a certain level, if they go too deep they will die because of lack of sunlight. Some plankton will produce or release a little drop of oil that will lower their density and make them more buoyant till they release it. If it appears water conditions have changed and they need to become more or less buoyant, they will take in more or less dense elements from the water, and incorporate it in their bodies. And many have feathery shapes, that make them more effective floaters...










Phytoplankton are the "grass" of the sea, the base of the food chain, and they produce forty percent of all the food made by photosynthetic plants anywhere on Earth. It is estimated that it takes about 10,000 pounds of phytoplankton and similar plants to be eaten and pass through several higher level predators (remember, to grass, a cow is a predator!) through the various members of the food chain to produce one pound of bluefin tuna.

The author talks about sport fishing for tuna and other larger fish, and I was surprised to learn that having bananas on board a sport fishing boat is considered bad luck that will keep anyone from catching any fish! Apparently this is a very old tradition, arguably dating back to when the Spanish controlled the Caribbean.

The last of the three major topics is a brief history of the exploration of the North Atlantic, as it applied to the Gulf Stream and as the Gulf Stream affected it. I'm an avid reader of the history of exploration, but contrary to what you'd expect, I didn't enjoy this section much. Too skimpy for my tastes!

Very acceptable book on the subject, but it didn't rock my world. Three stars from me (which is an honorable rank, indicating that the book is acceptable and I don't feel disappointed or ripped off).


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## The Hooded Claw

(image only, no link)

Tales of the Fish Patrol, by Jack London

Here's a link to a free Kindle version, I used just an image of a DTB book cover above, as the Kindle version doesn't have an interesting cover.
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,15647.msg314048.html#msg314048

Awhile ago, this book was featured in the "Weird Kindle Books" thread:
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,15647.msg314048.html#msg314048

Despite thinking the title rather bombastic, since it evoked images of something like this:









But I was curious, and resolved to look the book up. Last week, I finally pulled up my MobileRefernce collection of Jack London books and read it. It's a series of short stories about a very young man (late teens) who has effectively a part time job enforcing regulations about commercial fishing in San Francisco Bay. This is apparently contemporary with London's early years, so about 1900 or earlier. Apparently the upper management of his employers does not want to make waves, so the enforcers aren't very well-equipped, and aren't given a lot of support. Each story describes how someone was flaunting the rules, often very publicly, and how the narrator and his cohorts gave them their just desserts and arrested them. Very well-written stories, nothing brilliant. The book reflects the world view of a typical Anglo-Saxon of the time, and most of the lawbreakers being pursued is chasing are of "less desirable" ethnic groups, especially Greek. London does take pains to point out that most of these people rejected the fishing regulations because they needed to catch fish to make a living, were not used to being regulated, especially by enforcers who were not corrupt, and viewed the author and his fellow enforcers as foolish meddlers who were trying to crush their freedom and strangle their ability to make a living. I took the narrator as trying to do his job and not having prejudice as a motivator, but if you are sensitive to such issues, you may find it hard to do that.

I rated it as four stars, but I suspect part of my attraction is that I enforce environmental rules in my job (in a far less dramatic fashion than these stories!). I suspect that for most people it would be three stars.


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## The Hooded Claw

Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years, by Michael Esslinger

The title says it all, and this book is very comprehensive. Definitely a labor of love. In addition to extensive historical detail, there are swarms of photographs, though they don't display to best advantage on the Kindle. They are tolerable on the Kindle, I suspect they'd be better on an iPad or a Fire, but I didn't try my iPad.

It would be a nightmare to tell (or read) such a comprehensive story, with many different intertwined threads all in one continuous narrative, so the author chose to break things up. The initial part of the book tells the history up until the island became a civilian prison, then there is a long series of short chapters on every topic you can imagine, such as "Visitation and Inmate rights," "Solitary Confinement," "The Prison Library," and a separate chapter focusing on each man who was Warden of the prison. The book moves on to chapters on various infamous prisoners, including Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud (better known as The Bird Man of Alcatraz, and Machine Gun Kelly. The most interesting part of the book may be the next section, on the various escape attempts, fourteen in all. And the book ends with chapters on the closing of the prison, the Indian occupation, and the shift to a National Park. Appendices include the complete 1956 prison rules and regulations, and a roster of all inmates.

All of this means there is some backing up and repetition, but I can't think of a better way to do it. And in the future if I want to read about a particular topic, this will make it a lot easier to find the key stuff! There are a LOT of interesting tidbits and anecdotes in the book, I am going to have to ruthlessly cull to keep the tidbits from running on for pages and pages....

In 1846, the Mexican owner of the island sold it to a US Government representative for $5,000, and the government kept possession even though it was later ruled that Fremont, the representative who made the deal, did not have authority to make purchases of land for the government. There was legal action over the title, and Fremont (an Army officer) was later court-martialed for this and other improprieties.

Initially the government prepared to set up the island as a coast defense fortress protecting San Francisco Bay, and many of the guns and fortifications set up for this purpose remained there when the island later became a civilian prison. The fortress-island began to transition to prison status when it was used to hold Confederate sympathizers during the Civil War. By the end of the war, the fortifications on the island contained 129 cannons of size up to fifteen inch (four hundred pound shells!). But the island's fortress duties were expanded, and after the Civil War it was designated as a place of confinement for long-term military prisoners. In July, 1876, the Navy held a sort of pageant to celebrate the US centennial and impress the residents of San Francisco with how well-protected they were. An old ship was stuffed with explosives and it's (wooden) hull was soaked with coal oil, and towed out into the bay to be sunk by cannons from the fortress. Unfortunately, the cannon couldn't get a hit, and eventually some sailors rowed out in a small boat to sink the target "manually!"

The Army had some cruel practices for prisoners, including making hard labor prisoners wear a twenty-four pound ball and ankle chain, and forcing troublesome prisoners to stand for long periods in tall narrow cages that were two feet wide and one foot deep. Supposedly this could last as long as ten days in some cases (I don't want to think about trying to sleep in those conditions). One of the reasons the island was chosen for a prison was that the long swim through dangerous currents that would be required to escape would be a deterrent. In 1926, a group of prisoners reasoned that when large numbers of them were outside their cells on worked details, if they all ran for the water and started swimming at the same time, the guards wouldn't be able to stop them. The flaw in this plan was that it required a large number of participants to know about it in advance, so of course word leaked out to the guards. The prison commandant called all the prisoners assigned to work details onto the parade ground (outside any fences) and addressed them calmly. He indicated that he was aware of the plot, thought it was foolish, and mentioned that the bay was full of hungry sharks. He pointed out that neither he nor any guard present had a gun, and promised no interference with anyone who wanted to swim for it now, shouting "GO AHEAD, SWIM!" Nobody took him up on it, and the prisoners went back to work.

For Christmas 1942, the island had been a civilian prison for several years, and the inmates received the following items as a Christmas package, costing sixty two cents per inmate:
2 packages unfiltered cigarettes
1 Uno Chocolate Bar and 1 Baffle Bar
3 cellophane bags of salted peanuts
1/2 pound bag of hard candy
1 package of 17 Fig Newton cookes

On the Fourth of July, inmates usually had T-bone steaks and Coca Cola or similar beverage with apple pie for dessert.

Inmates who weren't considered troublesome were allowed to work at jobs on the island, and receive pay that they could use for certain luxuries, or save for a nest egg on their release. But the most desirable job was working in the kitchen. This did NOT pay anything, but the lucky prisoners had opportunities to unofficially help themselves to food, were allowed to take showers every day<!>, and some enterprising kitchen workers would occasionally manage to set up a still and produce moonshine from official prison food stocks. Sometimes the main entree on a meal would consist of striped bass caught in the Bay.

Families of about fifty correctional officers lived in housing on the island, and typically there were about one hundred children in residence. Ironically, there was no crime to speak of on the island, and residents didn't lock their doors except on the rare occasions when the sirens wailed to announce a possible escape attempt. Children were prohibited from having toy guns or knives, but still played "Guards and Cons" using bananas or sticks as a substitute. Children took a boat to the mainland each day for school, and they were invariably very popular because everyone wanted to hear about life on Alcatraz! Once again, Weird Kindle Books is ahead of the game, as we covered Al Capone Shines My Shoes, a children's book about a kid who lived on the island here:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,15647.msg849897.html#msg849897

Hey, and the book is now $6.99 instead of the fifteen dollars mentioned in the WKB post just linked.

Robert Stroud, The Bird Man of Alcatraz was not the gentle soul portrayed in the old movie I watched on The Late Show as a teenager. He was manipulative, and before coming to Alcatraz he had killed a guard in prison (after the murder that landed him in prison in the first place, two murders by age 26). Many of the bird remedies he had researched are now viewed as flawed and not useful. On a more positive note, during The Battle of Alcatraz (something I'd never heard of, more about it later), he left safe cover and stepped unprotected into the line of fire of prison guards and got them to stop shooting and throwing grenades at cell blocks containing prisoners who were unarmed and not firing back. He took a great risk, but probably saved some lives.

Not everyone at Alcatraz was a lifer, and a fair number of prisoners were released, but the book traces the post-prison lives of some of the more prominent inmates, and most of them ended up having trouble, even if they got off to a good start at life as a free man. One of these notorious prisoners started a tax preparation and business accounting firm<!> after his release, which he operated successfully for nearly ten years, but then got into debt, ran into numerous personal problems, and went back to prison after being convicted of burglary.

The items prisoners could have in their cells were rigidly controlled, and one prisoner earned a term in solitary confinement for having a toy rubber duck hidden in his cell.

In one escape attempt, prisoners succeeded in overcoming and tying up several guards, but it became clear they were not going to be able to get out of the building. Their attempt had not yet been discovered, but one of the tied-up guards pointed out that the captured guards weren't calling in on schedule, and their absence would soon be discovered. He convinced the prisoners to peacefully give up, and the guard phoned the administration. The same guard worked his way up and later became Warden of the prison.

Arguably, one person did "escape" briefly from Alcatraz. In the last escape attempt, two prisoners got out and swam for it in terribly cold conditions. One had injured himself and was recaptured hanging onto a rocky outcrop just off the Alcatraz shore, but the other actually made it into shallow water at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge, but was hypothermic, struggling with the currents and couldn't go further. Fortunately for him, he was spotted and rescued. The Military Police at the Presidio took him to the hospital.

The most famous escape is of course the one that was made into a popular movie. Based on the information presented in the book, it appears pretty clear that nobody escaped.

For me the most interesting escape attempt was a 1946 attempt I'd never heard of. Several inmates managed to capture several guards and get control of some firearms by breaking into a supposedly impenetrable guard cage overlooking the cell block. The prison administration literally called in the Marines, and US Marines under the direction of General Stillwell of World War II fame bombed the cell block with bullets and explosives. When the prisoners realized they couldn't escape, several took a fatalistic attitude of fighting to the death and attempted to murder the guards they'd held captive. Before it was over, several people on both sides were killed (This is the event where Bird Man Stroud played a lifesaving role). The escape became known as The Battle of Alcatraz.

By the early 1960s, the facility infrastructure had aged greatly in the humid, salty environment, and the cost per prisoner at Alcatraz was much higher than any other prison due to the need to bring everything in over water. So Attorney General Robert Kennedy ordered the prison closed. In total, 1546 prisoners did time at the island. Twenty-eight of them did two separate terms, and Theodore "Blackie" Audett had the distinction of being the only man to do three separate terms at Alcatraz.

The book is exhaustive, with lots of detail supplemented by excerpts or photographs of original prison reports, the official inmate photos of inmates being discussed, and even copies of critical telegrams or memos. The author went to considerable trouble to interview former inmates and guards, get excerpts from inmate letters, and clearly this has been a massive long-term project for him. There are some minor editing problems, the most serious is that a hanful of the photos appear to me to be mislabeled with the wrong caption, but this is still an awesome book that will be of interest to someone who is fascinated by these kind of stories and details. Five stars from me.


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## The Hooded Claw

A Question of Time, by Fred Saberhagen

Among my top ten or so favorite series of books is the Dracula series authored by Fred Saberhagen. Saberhagen's Dracula is not evil, but neither is he Mr. Nice Vampire, and you can totally forget about angst. He is the original Vlad Tepes, alive after several centuries, and his most distinguishing characteristic is a strong sense of personal honor, and a willingness to resort to violence if he or someone he views as under his protection is wronged or slighted. I love most of the books, but there are two I hadn't read since they were originally published about 1990. This is one of those books. When I read it, I just didn't enjoy it like most other books in the series. Now that it is on Kindle, I decided to give it another try.

The biggest disappointment in the book is that Dracula is offstage through most of the book. He makes a cursory appearance or two in the first three-quarters of the book, but most of the book is from the viewpoint of Joe Keough, a private investigator who is an ally of Dracula's after events in earlier books, or of various other people caught up in the mysterious events in the Grand Canyon. It is only in the last quarter of the book that Dracula takes a central role. One thing I did like about the book is that it discusses The Great Unconformity, a real geological feature that I'm aware of and intrigued by. Alas, other than mentioning it, and some hand-waving and (figurative) dramatic background organ music about it, the Unconformity doesn't really seem to play a significant role in the issues of the book.

As usual with fiction books, I won't discuss details of the story, but in addition to missing Dracula, I found the plot and story generally unsatisfying, and some events such as a side-trip involving Dracula visiting the home of Charles Darwin (yep, the evolution guy) seem sort of tacked-on without adding much to the story. I still love the series and the character, but I must regretfully confirm my judgement that this is a weak representative of the bunch. Three stars, and those grudgingly given.

If for some reason you are intrigued by my description, I'd recommend skipping this book and going to The Holmes-Dracula File or An Old Friend of the Family instead. Both available on Kindle (ignore the weak cover illustrations, the stories are great!).

This brings me up-to-date at forty-seven books out of eighty, with over seven months to go. And just in time for me to leave on another business trip. I've currently started this book and am quite pleased with it 59% of the way through:



The Sea Devil - The Story Of Count Felix Von Luckner, The German War Raider, by Lowell Thomas


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## The Hooded Claw

I am traveling for work, but have been reading on the plane and in hotel room at night, so when I return home next week, I will have several books to write up. 

So far, I have finished The Sea Devil, plus finished 

God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World, by Cullen Murphy, and 

Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'urbervilles, by Kim Newman 

I REALLY enjoyed the Moriarty book! More when I get home. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## The Hooded Claw

The Sea Devil: The Story of Count Felix von Luckner, the German War Raider, by Lowell Thomas

During World War I, the German navy spent most of the war locked up in port, blockaded by the superior British fleet. They did send out some commerce raiders to slip past the British fleet and capture merchant ships to hurt the British war effort. These commerce raiders always had trouble operating for long periods, because of the difficulty of keeping supplied with fuel, and keeping cantankerous engines operating during long periods at sea. So one of the more creative ideas for a commerce raider was to equip a fast "clipper ship" sailing vessel with a couple of light cannon (plenty to overawe an unarmed merchant ship) and put it to sea. The ship would have an auxiliary engine for emergencies, but most of its sailing would be powered by the wind. At this time, sailing ships were obsolete as warships, but were still regularly used for cargo vessels--Buying fuel was more expensive than hiring the larger number of crewman needed to handle the sails, so there were lots of sailing ships out there to carry cargo where speed was not of the essence, and these were potential targets for a sailing raider. Unfortunately, they only had one German naval officer who was qualified to command a sailing ship, and he was quite a character. This is his story, starting in his youth when he literally ran away to sea and started life as a common sailor despite being the son of a Count who had been raised in luxury.

I'm confident this book is "jazzed up" to make things more interesting, but even so the stories are fascinating. von Luckner talks about how he swore that he would not come back to his family until he could return in the uniform of a naval officer--A seemingly impossible goal for a friendless common sailor who rebelled at being in school and had no education. But Luckner did it. And we read lots of interesting stories along the way as Luckner lives by his wits in a harsh world. There are numerous anecdotes, you'll have to read the book to learn them all, but here are a couple:

When the young Count signed on to a (sailing) cargo ship under a fake name as a common seaman, he was in an accident that nearly ended his career early. While ninety feet up in the rigging, he lost his grip, and fortunately fell into the ocean rather than on the deck. Nevertheless, the seas were heavy, and once he had thrown off his heavy boots, he realized there was little chance that his shipmates would be able to see his head sticking out among the large waves. Luckily for him, several albatrosses (very large sea birds) were circling overhead, and one swooped down on him, hoping von Luckner was something to eat. L. grabbed at it, and managed to grab one of its large claws. This was in panic, rather than a reasoned action, but it worked perfectly. L. hung onto the struggling bird, which was easily visible to the boat launched to try to recover him, and he was picked up. Of course, the albatross objected to its leg being held, and scratched with its claws and struck with its beak, creating large wounds on L.'s hands which left scars for the rest of his life. But I'm sure he felt that was a good trade to avoid a lonely and miserable death at sea!

At one point, L. and his shipmates were suffering horribly from bedbugs that were infesting their bunkroom. When the ship came to a port, they asked the captain to arrange for an exterminator. The captain resisted the expense, telling the sailors to catch the bugs themselves. So the sailors took his advice....And slipped several healthy bedbugs into the captains mattress. The exterminator quickly visited the whole ship.

I was reminded of my book on con men by Luckner's descriptions of some of the scams tried on sailors in a new port.

Eventually, Luckner became qualified as a merchant ship officer, and saved up money to go to a school to allow merchant marine officers to be commissioned as naval officers. Then he proudly visited his parents, who hadn't heard from him in years, in his naval uniform, and was welcomed with joy.

Before World War I, Luckner visited a German colony in Africa as a naval officer, and he went into some detail about visiting the palace of an African King who was an ally of the Germans. Luckner spoke of a very elaborately-decorated stool which was considered an important power symbol in that culture, and mentioned that the stool was later given to the Germans and sent to a museum. I did some googling, and found a photo of what I'm sure is the same stool! Luckner indicated that both Protestant and Catholic missionaries visited the area, but the Protestant missionaries had little success urging fealty to an invisible God. But the Catholics showed the natives elaborate altar decorations, including images of the Three Wise Men, who particularly interested the Africans because one of them was black. The Catholics had much more success with the natives! The King was asking intelligent and skeptical questions of von Luckner, such as when Jesus had come to Earth, when America was discovered, and why Jesus didn't go to preach in the New World (I understand the Mormons would have an answer for that, but Luckner wasn't aware of them).

Once war begins, and Luckner is given command of the sailing ship raider, which he named Seeadler (German for Sea Eagle), Luckner describes the very secret process of preparing his sailing ship raider while keeping the purpose of the ship a secret. Not even the other crew members fully understood what was happening. Because of his secrecy and some of the evasions he had to make to acquire equipment and such, Luckner was briefly under suspicion for being a spy! They planned for the raider to slip through the British blockade disguised as a Norwegian merchant ship, and great pains were taken to prepare for this disguise, including getting a number of crew members who were fluent in Norwegian, generating false ship papers, and even having "letters from home" for the crew members that were mailed from Norway with Norwegian stamps. A young and beardless (male) crew member was costumed in a dress and wig and pretended to be the Captain's wife, sailing with the ship. The preparations paid off, they were stopped and inspected by the British, but easily passed muster as a Norwegian ship.

Luckner captured a large number of British and allied merchant ship crewmen, and took pains to treat them very well (this is documented in many other places besides this book, he was genuinely admired for his chivalrous conduct). The captives included several women, it was not unknown for cargo ship captains to take their wives along. One captive captain approached Luckner confidentially soon after capture....He asked Luckner not to mention in his reports that this captain's "wife" was along on the trip, because she was NOT his wife, and he did have a wife back home! Luckner agreed, but the situation became more complicated later when they captured a different captain who was a friend of the first, and recognized the lady as not being captain number one's wife!

The Seeadler was eventually sunk; not by the British, but by a tsunami! Luckner and his crew were shipwrecked on a Pacific island, but the story continues to be interesting as they manage to escape the island and nearly capture another ship with the goal of escaping in it to Germany! Unfortunately for them, they were captured by the British, but still managed to escape briefly. But Luckner ended the war as a POW.

Very entertaining book, I suspect anyone interested in sea stories will enjoy it. Solidly four stars for the story. One unfortunate weakness of the volume is that the illustrations and maps are very poorly transformed to Kindle-readable format, and are truly awful to view.

I knew dimly that Lowell Thomas was often the narrator of those old-fashioned movie newsreels, but it wasn't til I looked him up after seeing his book authorship here that I learned that he also had a successful career as a journalist and author.


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## The Hooded Claw

God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World, by Cullen Murphy

Now this book was interesting! I knew little about the Inquisition, and it was very illuminating and readable. The book is of reasonable length, and since the Inquisition in one form or another has been around for over 700 years, it necessarily focuses on high points, but this helps keep it from becoming overwhelmingly long. I really enjoyed the book, the only negative about it is that several times the author diverges to discuss other "witch hunts" in history, notably the efforts in the US after the 9/11 incident. These diversions were always brief, and never quite made it to the point of rants, but I would've preferred to skip them. There are other, shorter diversions about other "Inquistionish" efforts in different times and places such as the efforts of Protestants and Catholics in England to rub out the other side when they were in power, efforts by school library boards to condemn books they viewed as undesirable, and activities of the Ayatollah Khomeini against Salman Rushdie and others. These aren't as long and repetitive as the mentions of the US after 9/11. Though these are distracting, I still highly recommend the book.

A few core facts: There were actually three separate major inquisitions, the first being the Medieval Inquistion, established by Pope Gregory IX in 1231. They were assigned to fight against all forms of heresy, but most notably against a particular heresy called the Cathars, who were viewed as a major threat. Have you ever heard of the Cathars? Ever met someone who followed the Cathar doctrine of Christianity? ....No? Then you get the point. They were pretty efficient, wrapping up their work in less than a century.

The Dominicans were a newly established order of Monks, and were particularly active in the Medieval Inquisition. Their founder, Dominic Guzman was particularly active. Weirdly enough, Dominic was also the subject of a very popular song in the early 1960s, "Dominique" by The Singing Nun. They were playing that when I was a little bitty Claw, and I'll bet it wouldn't have been so popular if the Inquisitional activities of Dominique had been well-known!

Inquisition Round Two was (cue the Monty Python theme here....) The Spanish Inquisition! Under the leadership of Torquemanda, this was particularly focused on Jews who had converted to Christianity (they had to convert or be deported from Spain) and also on Muslims who had made the same choice under the same threat. The idea was to combat secret backsliding by these untrusted recent converts. They would go to great lengths to investigate these people, in several cases Jews who had emigrated to the New World were called back to Spain to be investigated. The Spanish Inquisition started about 1492, when the convert-or-be-expelled order was given, and ended in different times at different places. It moved to the New World, and survived in Mexico till 1820, and in Spain itself until 1834, executing its last victim there in 1826!!! A Spanish schoolmaster was convicted of heresy, and was hanged rather than burned at the stake.

The last Inquisition was the Roman Inquisition. This began in the Sixteenth Century to fight the Reformation, but they made sidetrips to do battle against Jews, homosexuals, accused witches, and intellectuals who ticked off the Church. This operated over a large area for a long time, and made serious efforts at standarization of rulings and of procedures. Arguably it was the first world-wide bureaucracy. It continued existing formally as The Congregation of the Inquisition until 1908, and arguably still exists under a slightly different name, first being "The Congregation of the Holy Office, and then The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (being head of the CDF was a previous job of the current Pope). The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith still takes action against Catholics who are viewed as in opposition to doctrine, though fortunately they are limited now to tools like preventing people from holding a job in a Catholic organization and less extreme measures. In 1542, building a headquarters for this new group was considered so important that the Pope ordered construction on the Basilica of St. Peter halted and the laborers diverted to work on the Palace of the Inquisition. Until 1998, Inquisition records (which are very extensive) were closed to outsiders, but now researchers can access their records up through the 1930s.

Bernardo Gui (threatening investigator for the Inquisition in "The Name of the Rose") was a real historical figure, though little is known about him except from the Inquisition Records of his investigations. The book spends some time discussing what is known. Gui seems to have been a severe guy, though not everybody he reviewed was put to death, other punishments included being forced to wear a large yellow cross (similar to the yellow badges Jews were sometimes ordered to wear), being ordered to make a pilgrimage or crusade, prison sentence, and in some cases, convicted people who had died before conviction had their remains exhumed and their bones incinerated. Overall, Gui is known to have sent over forty living people to be burned at the stake. The book quotes an itemized accounting of expenses for sending four people to be burned, total expenses for wood, straw, ropes, four stakes, and other stuff including executioners were 8 livres, 14 sols, and 7 deniers.

The Spanish Inquisition was active in the New World as mentioned above, and almost all the early history of Spanish New Mexico is known only through Inquisition records. The secular records of the early years were destroyed in a temporarily-successful native uprising, but the Inquisition records had been removed safely to Mexico City. There was actually one Inquisition trial in Los Angeles (during the period of Spanish control) of a man who "expressed views on religion that not even a Protestant would dare hold." Inquisition records from India, Brazil, the Congo, Angola, and the Philippines also exist. Often these records are extremely useful to historians of a period, because the questioners would ask for very detailed descriptions of the activities of the accused and kept detailed records of their responses so that they could be compared with responses to other interrogations, possibly years later.

A tragic story in the book is the case of Edgardo Mortara, who was born in 1852 in the part of Italy still under Papal jurisdiction. In 1858, Papal police swooped down on the home of his Jewish parents and took Edgardo away. The Mortaras had employed a Christian girl as a servant, because Christians could do chores on The Sabbath (and apparently this was a common practice). It seems that once when Edgardo had fallen ill, the servant girl had feared for his life and baptized him without permission. She talked about this, and eventually the Inquisition found out. It was unacceptable for Jews to raise Christian children, and the baptism, authorized or not, had made Edgardo a Christian. He was taken away, and his actual parents were denied even having access to him except for controlled and supervised visits. It became an international scandal, but even requests from foreign leaders didn't change the Church's insistence. Eventually, Edgardo became a Priest and made a specialty of preaching to communities of Jews. Very sad.

A fascinating read on a subject we often hear about, but few of us know much about. I give it five stars, though just barely.


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## The Hooded Claw

Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles, by Kim Newman

This book is part of the memoirs of Colonel Sebastian "Basher" Moran, late Colonel of Her Majesty's First Bangalore Pioneers, who as the story unfolds is financially embarassed after his unexpected return from India to Britain, and feels compelled to take a role as assassin in the organization of Professor Moriarty, where he ends up playing Watson to Moriarty's Holmes. Moran is a cheat, a bigot, a scoundrel, and a cad, and those are his traits when he's not in his professional role as part of a criminal organization. Then he stops being a nice guy and turns nasty.

There are numerous deliberate parallels to the Holmes stories, ranging from Section titles (A Volume in Vermillion, The Red Planet League, The Greek Invertebrate, and of course the book title) to the first words from Moriarty when he meets Moran: "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive." I feared that there might be a large tie-in to Tess of The Durbervilles, which might hurt my enjoyment of it, but I didn't miss a thing (other than presumably a few references to that book that went over my head). I do recommend you re-read A Study in Scarlet before reading this book, unless you remember the plot and characters thoroughly, the first story does tie in with that Holmes book very closely. In several cases, we see backstory to some things that happened in Watson's record of Holmes cases that weren't explained there because Watson didn't know about them.

For me, the book was a blast, and gets a full five stars. It is actually a series of novellas, rather than one continuous novel. Some are tied closely to Holmes cases, others are entirely independent, my favorite was probably The Red Planet League, where Moran helps Moriarty devastate Moriarty's most hated enemy (who is *NOT* Sherlock Holmes!).

Part of the game is spotting obscure references Newman has inserted. My favorite obscure ones were a reference to Looney Tunes and to the TinTin comics, plus a flagrant one to the Marx Brothers. Reading through the notes at the end, I see I missed a bunch. I went "ah-hah, got him!" a couple of times when I spotted anachronisms in the text, but the author covers this in the authors notes, explaining that Moran's memoirs, which he is merely editing, were apparently compiled many years after the events occurred, and even mentions some chapters containing this sort of problem.

My favorite part is Moran's personality and outlook. I'll close with a few Moran quotes:

Moran on negotiating strategy: "Stop thinking of Jane and Rache as your family. Start thinking of them as hostages."

Moran on humankind: "Sods, the lot of them. And that's just the whites. As for the natives...Well, let's not get started on them, shall we? We'd be here 'til next Tuesday."

Moran on long steamship trips: "Give me two months on any ocean in the world, and I can fleece everyone on board from the captain's lady to the bosun's second-best bumboy, and leave each mark convinced that the ship is a nest of utter cheats with only Basher as the other honest hand in the game."

Moran on philosophers: "To me, deep thinkers like Moriarty, Nietzsche, and Machiavelli miss an essential truth--_It's a lot of jolly good fun being an 'evil-doer'_."

Moran on personal satisfaction: "It's a sad rogue who strives his life long to increase the miseries of his fellow man without getting a warm feeling when he sees others beggared or dumped in unmarked graves on his account. Everyone knows I'm a sentimental soul."

Moran on letting your guard down: "I didn't see a yeti in every shadow, but that's not how it works. They let you know there is a yeti in a shadow, and you have to waste worry on every shadow. Invariably, you can't keep up the vigilance. Then, the first shadow you don't treat as if it had a yeti in it is the one the yeti comes out of."

Moran on opera: "If I want treachery, bloodshed, and screaming women, I can get enough at home, thank you very much."

Now that you have seen these quotes, if you have been paying attention you may remember that I lambasted a vampire book earlier in this thread, because the vampires were vile and evil, yet I simply love Moran when he's vile and evil. I have no explanation. I admire Star Trek's Mister Spock, and grew up wanting to be strictly logical like him, but logic does NOT rule my life or actions! 

This puts me at fifty books. I'm halfway through number fifty-one, which is:



Washington's Crossing, by David Hackett Fischer


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## telracs

hey, claw, ever read A Study in Emerald?


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## The Hooded Claw

telracs said:


> hey, claw, ever read A Study in Emerald?


Haven't heard of it, I know Kurland has a series on Moriarty, is it from those?


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## telracs

The Hooded Claw said:


> Haven't heard of it, I know Kurland has a series on Moriarty, is it from those?


No, it's a short story... by.... um, either neil gaiman or terry pratchett.


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## The Hooded Claw

I finished Washington's Crossing last night. A solid four stars from me. The core of the book is a very detailed account of the New Jersey campaign in the Winter of 1776-7. I won't go into detail about the military stuff except to mention a couple of points: I was impressed with how badly the Revolution was going at the start of the campaign, it really looked like things were all over, and also that the book forcefully emphasizes (and I've seen this confirmed in other places) that the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton were NOT drunk, and were not sleeping off a big Christmas party. They were worn to a frazzle by continual guerrilla-style attacks, and many of them had been sleeping in full battle gear for days.

One detail not exactly military that interested me was the involvement of Lieutenant James Monroe in the battle (and he's even shown in the famous painting of the crossing). It happened that after the crossing Washington's army marched by the home of a local doctor named Riker. Riker was delighted to see the army and decided to come along. During the Battle of Trenton, Lieutenant Monroe was severely wounded and an artery was severed. He would have bled to death on the spot if Doctor Riker hadn't intervened to stop the bleeding and save his life. All this was of great importance to Lieutenant Monroe of course, but it is also of interest to us because he later became fifth President of the United States (yep, the Monroe Doctrine guy).

I expected a detailed account of the campaign, and received it. But I think of more interest to most of the readers here will be the detailed coverage of the famous painting of the crossing, and of the numerous other representations it has inspired. The painting we know and love was actually painted by a German artist in Europe, not in the United States! The one we know is actually the second version of it...The initial version was damaged in a fire shortly after completion, but was repaired and stayed in Europe in a German museum. After the damage from the original fire, the artist decided to make a second version, and that's the one that became famous. The painting has been criticized for Washington's standing posture, and the boat certainly looks overloaded to me. And of course it was at night and raining during the actual crossing, but that wouldn't have made for a very appealing painting. Ironic footnote, the original version that had been fire-damaged was destroyed in a British fire bombing attack in 1942!  Who would have thought they'd still be angry at Washington after all those years! 

The book has considerable coverage of later riffs on the crossing painting by other artists. Some of these are so interesting or amusing I'm going to try to find them on the internet and post them here:









This is the real deal, by Emanueul Leutze









This is an attempt by George Caleb Bingham done a few years after the original, it is a fairly straightforward representation of the same event, some different artistic choices were made, and some of the clothing looks rather 19th Centuryish for the Revolutionary War. No big surprises here.









Grant Wood (yes, the American Gothic guy!) got into the act when the Daughters of the American Revolution attacked him for being unAmerican. In 1929, he donated a stained glass window commemorating American soldiers in six wars to a veterans memorial, but had the nerve to use stained glass made in Germany. Since we'd been at war with Germany a mere eleven years earlier, the DAR considered this a wicked act and Wood was amazed at the bitterness of their attacks on him. The book doesn't mention that the iconic painting was created in Germany, yet seemed readily accepted by the DAR. I wonder if Woods brought this up? Woods got his revenge by painting the above work, "Daughters of Revolution," finished in 1932. Wood also verbally condemned the DAR, calling them "Tory Gals" and accused them of wanting to set up a new aristocracy of birth in America. To be clear, this painting is not intended to attack George Washington, but is a satire/criticism of smug members of the DAR. Naturally, many DAR members were not amused, and supposedly the San Francisco chapter attacked this painting as "scandalous" and "destructive of American traditions." Fischer's book does give credit to some other DAR members who were amused at the satire. Personally, I love it.









This is Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Larry Rivers. Yep, the abstract version. I read that Washington is NOT the central figure, but is the guy on the white horse in upper left corner. Supposedly some of the abstract art culture police were enraged that Rivers had actually tried to represent a real historical event. The whole thing ain't my cup of tea, thanks.









Then we have a painting from a man named George Colescott entitled George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware....Every figure in the boat is intended to "explode" a racist stereotype.









COWABUNGA!!! Dude, this is (North Swell) Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Sandow Birk. Yep, George and the gang are reimagined as surfers.

The purpose of showing and discussing all these paintings wasn't merely for their own sakes, but to illustrate the final part of the book, which discussed how different periods of history of viewed the Founding Fathers in general, and Washington and the crossing in particular in different ways as culture and politics changed over the years. I really enjoyed reading about the different paintings and viewpoints, and using the paintings as a way to visually illustrate this was a great idea. Of course, my Kindle didn't do a great job of displaying the paintings, and I had to look them up on the internet to see them well. One trivia point I neglected to mention....The Stars and Stripes flag shown in the original painting did not exist at the time Washington crossed the Delaware. Betsy Ross created it later. That's what happens when you have a painter in Germany creating American cultural icons.

As I said, a solid four star book, well worth reading if the subject interests you.


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## The Hooded Claw

(image only, no link)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ghosts-Hopewell-Straight-Lindbergh/dp/B007K5B4TE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338145237&sr=8-1

The Ghosts of Hopewell: Setting the Record Straight in the Lindbergh Case, by Jim Fisher

A couple of months ago, I read a historical fiction detective story called Stolen Away, about the Lindbergh kidnapping. I really enjoyed the book, and became interested in the historical kidnapping. Many people feel that Bruno Hauptmann, the man who was convicted of the kidnapping/murder, and was executed for it, was innocent. The novel certainly suggested that Hauptmann was innocent, or at worst was distantly connected to the crime. I wanted to read more about this, so re-read some Lindbergh material in a couple of Broad coverage historial true crime books I had, and picked up the book on Sheriff Ellis Parker that I wrote about here. These lead me to the conclusion that Hauptmann was surely involved in the kidnapping, or else was the most unlucky man in the history of the world. But I thought there might be more going on, and wanted to read more. SO I ordered a used copy of this book. Ghosts of Hopewell is written by former FBI agent Jim Fisher, so it's not surprising that he is supportive of law enforcement in the Lindbergh case. Max Allan Collins, author of Stolen Away, mentioned an earlier book by Fisher in the book's Afterword commenting on various books about the case, and said the earlier book was "almost laughably pro-law enforcement," but nevertheless felt his earlier book was valuable, so I picked up this one, written after Stolen Away was published.

Most of the book is a recitation of facts and evidence, and there are chapters detailing most of the major alternative theories of the case. These are amazing. Among people who have been suggested as the actual kidnapper/killer are Charles Lindbergh himself (for several different supposed reasons by different investigators), Anne Morrow Lindbergh (mother of the child), Elizabeth Morrow (her sister), Al Capone (working from prison through intermediaries), Paul Wendel (a disbarred lawyer who was suspected by Sheriff Ellis Parker as described earlier in this thread), The Japanese Government<!> ( supposedly done to shift their atrocities against China out of US newspaper headlines), one or more local farmers who lived near the Lindbergh's home (who supposedly resented the big shot newcomers), and numerous assorted crooks--This list is from memory, there are lots more I'm not remembering or listing.

Even though very pro-prosecution biased, this book was still a worthwhile read for someone interested in this tragedy. Fisher makes a number of good points, notably that in addition to ignoring well-known evidence that works against their proposed "real killer", which would be expected, revisionists ignore evidence that supports Hauptmann actually being the criminal, but working with others, and Fisher gives a lot of detail about the police investigation into the statements of a Catholic priest who appeared reluctant to talk at the time, and gave evidence suggesting that Hauptmann was working with a local booze distributor (Prohibition era, remember!). I've never seen this mentioned anywhere else.

Fisher gave a convincing explanation of a couple of things that have always bothered me--It always seemed to me unlikely that Hauptmann would have been working alone because as a married man who lived in a house divided into apartments, he'd have had no way to explain the presence of the child, or secure place to keep it without spawning questions from his wife and neighbors. Fisher argues the rather elementary idea that Hauptmann never intended to keep the child alive, and always intended to kill it (as opposed to what I and many others tend to assume, that the baby died accidentally during the kidnapping when a ladder used to gain access to the second floor window collapsed). Fisher makes a reasonable argument that murder was always Hauptmann's intention, and he may be right. I guess I'm not evil enough to come to that idea on my own! There were a few other problems with prosecution evidence that Fisher tries to debunk, and I'm glad I read his ideas. He also discusses some stuff buried in the massive files of the investigation that supports Hauptmann as being the key figure, and possibly the only figure in the kidnapping, and by discussing all the evidence and gives a view of the crime from Hauptmann's perspective that helps explain some things about the official explanation that have bothered me.

Fisher isn't as good at explaining some very strong indications that the kidnapper(s) had help from someone inside the house, though he does give some information from investigator's notes at the time that might explain the suspicious suicide of one of Lindbergh's maids when she learned she was to be questioned by police again.

Most of what I've written here will mean little to anyone who isn't actively interested in the case--For anyone who falls in this category, I'd say this is a worthwhile read, but you need to keep in mind the author's biases. Unfortunately, at this late date, pretty much anyone who writes about the case is likely to be biased one way or the other (why write about it if you're not?). I give it four stars for enthusiasts, but it shouldn't be the first or only thing you read about the case. Now I'll have to supplement it with a book biased in the opposite direction, myself!


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## The Hooded Claw

Whiz Mob: A correlation of the Technical Argot of Pickpockets with Their Behavior Pattern, by David W. Maurer (what a title!)

As it happened, I stumbled onto this book when looking up the term "whiz mob", Max Allan Collins used it in the "Stolen Away" book, and I didn't know what it meant. I learned that linguist/anthropologist David Maurer spent a lot of time in the 40s and 50s studying the language of various "underworld" groups, and in order to really understand their slang, he had to know how they operated, and wrote things up. I initially grabbed his book on con men, because they particularly interested me, but I also wanted to read this one. I'd seen some reviews suggesting the con man book was more layman-friendly than this book, and they were right! This one wasn't nearly as interesting or informative or accessible as the con man book. Still some interesting stuff.

THis book was published about 1955, so of course it is way out of date with whatever is being done now. The author indicates that the pickpockets he focused on were the relatively hgh class gangs, but there were lots of "lower class" pickpocket individuals and gangs. The lower class one were more Hobbesian "nasty, brutish, and short" than the high class.

The higher-class gangs are surprisingly well-organized and "insured." To participate, you have to put up an agreed-upon amount of "fall dough". Fall dough from all the group will be used to "fix" the problem of anyone who gets arrested because of the work. If everyone puts in more fall dough, everyone has more security money to pay lawyers, fines, or to bribe the correct people to make the charge go away. If a person is known to be short of money for some accepted reason, he may be allowed to participate and put in less fall dough than others, but then all he will be able to draw on is the amount of fall dough from others that matches his contribution. If fall dough isn't needed to fix problems, it is returned. So hoodlums had group insurance!!! If someone had to draw on fall dough, he was expected to repay the contributions of others that were used to get him out. If someone didn't repay in a reasonably prompt manner, there usually wouldn't be direct repercussions, but chances are that word would get around and few people would want to work with the defaulter.

Pickpockets generally worked in teams. Only one person, known as the Tool, would actually lift stuff of the victim. The Tool would direct the actions of one to three falls. The job of the Falls is to maneuver the victim into the right place to be touched (such as keeping him from getting onto a train or slowing him down in a crowd, plus they have the job of "accidentally" blocking the view of the victim and bystanders of the Tool's actions getting to the valuables. They may carry hats, newspapers, and similar stuff to help with this. They may also maneuver to do things to make it hard for the victim to move his hands to check his wallet (I wish Maurer had talked about how they do this, but he was a linguist, not an instructor in pickpocket technique!). If there are two or more Falls, usually one will stand off a bit and watch for cops or nosey interlopers. The tool uses hand and vocal signals to tell the Falls what to do. If the Falls are used to working with the Tool, often they can tell by watching him. When not picking pockets, a Road Mob (one that travels around rather than staying in the same city all the time) will have a Steer Man (also called a Folder Man or Finder), who is responsible for knowing/learning about events that will be fruitful for work such as business conventions, fairs, etc., and for finding out reliable fixers in an area who can cause any criminal charges to evaporate. The Steer Man works out a schedule for the day. Most organized gangs had regular work schedules, and if you didn't regularly show up for work, you probably would be replaced.

There were established codes of verbal symbols, so that pickpockets could work together even if they weren't regular collaborators. A Bridge refers to front pants pockets, and a pratt refers to rear "hip pockets". I assume the "Pratt" term has a common origin with "prattfall" in comedy. Since these aren't widely known, the Tool may openly say something like "left bridge" to indicate which pocket he is going for, and most marks won't be alarmed.

I've read in newspapers and books accounts of Falls (though I've never seen that actual term used) jostling a mark, or even doing something like spill coffee on him to distract him to let the Tool do the job. This book claims that was NEVER done by high class pickpockets. The reason is that a surprised Mark may bump around and ruin the Tool's plan, or even discover the Tool. One skilled Tool was quoted as saying "I want my Mark to behave and step along like a little gentleman. I don't want nobody stomping on his toes or bumping into him or jostling him. That will wake a sucker up."

There are some funny stories of actual events, in one case a group of pickpockets observed a Mark coming out of a bank, and found he had a large package in a pocket that he seemed protective of. They decided he had a large cash withdrawal on him, and worked with great excitement to separate him from it. When they got it, they found it was a large flat wallet with rubber bands wrapped around it both ways. They moved off to open it, and found that it was full of....dirty pictures!!! 

Incidentally, once a wallet (Poke) is secured, it is moved to someone other than the Tool as soon as possible. And the gang will separate and open it in a private place and discard it as soon as they can, as being caught with more than one wallet on you (especially if it has different ID in it!) is effectively an admission of being a pickpocket.

The book claims that pickpockets at the time usually didn't like to try to steal jewelry, on the theory that cash was about as easy to get, and didn't require having to fence an often unique and identifiable and treasured item. But this hadn't always been so, and apparently early in the 20th Century, stealing pocket watches was a major activity.

Keeping in mind this was the 1950s, the author says that most pickpockets focused on men, because women usually didn't carry large sums regularly. The book says that in higher-class pickpocket mobs, women would often participate as active members on an equal level with men, but that was not the case in less "classy" operations, where any woman who participated would likely be regarded as an appendage of her man.

The book gives two different views of how pickpockets view the public. It is quite explicit that pickpockets don't hate their marks, anymore than a fisherman hates bass. The marks are just there to be separated from their wallets. This is repeated several times, but there's also substantial discussion of pickpockets who feel contempt for "working stiffs" and people in the dominant culture who know nothing of The Grift. The book does claim that most pickpockets viewed handicapped and especially blind people as off limits, and described one Tool who robbed a blind man and passed the wallet away before he saw the white cane. He wasn't able to recover the wallet and return it to the blind mark before losing track of the mark, and he still felt guilty about it years later.

There's some discussion of fixing, and some of the ways that it might be done. In many towns, it wasn't uncommon for pickpockets to approach the pickpocket squad and offer them money upfront for a fixed period of operation without interference! Some detectives would demand payments from known pickpockets even if they just saw them on the street (not "working") and would run them in on false charges if payment wasn't forthcoming. This didn't work everywhere, however, as many cops were quite honest. Most pickpockets viewed cops who were not "pickpocket specialists" as not a threat and not able to spot what was going on or intervene unless something went disastrously wrong and the pickpocket was caught red-handed somehow.

This book was much less readable than The Big Con, and the book desperately needed a glossary. There is an index of key words in the back which is quite good, but often a word would not be defined or explained until it had been used several times. And there was not the detailed descriptions of how things worked that filled the other book. I'm sure some of this stuff is still relevant to how pickpockets work, but a lot of things are totally different in the era of credit cards and high-dollar personal electronics. I rate it three stars, and that only if the subject matter particularly interests you.


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## The Hooded Claw

Ruled Britannia, by Harry Turtledove

Credit where credit is due...I've been aware of this book for years, and never read it even though it combines a science fiction genre I'm fond of (alternate history) with a period of history that I'm a big fan of--The Elizabethan period with The Spanish Armada, buccaneers, Elizabeth vs. Philip II, etc. Telracs suggested the book to me, and if she hadn't done so who knows when I'd have gotten around to reading it? I used to be a big fan of Harry Turtledove, and automatically snap up everything he wrote, but I've been turned off by the too-long multivolume alternate histories that Turtledove has fallen into. As a result, I'm not even giving a lot of his stuff a fair look these days. But fortunately, Telracs suggested I'd find this interesting and she was right.

Anyway, this book may be of interest to many KBers because the lead character is none other than William Shakespeare. But this is a different Shakespeare than the one we know, he lives in an alternate history where the Spanish Armada successfully conquered England. The Inquisition is now in England, and England is ruled over by a Spanish Queen who is supported by Spanish troops (admittedly also with large numbers of Englishmen who are Catholic, or are simply content to work for whoever is in charge). This William's world is a much less happy and optimistic place. But some powers in England want to bring back the old days when Protestant England stood tall, and they rope Shakespeare into their plans. He is to write a play that will spark a Protestant rebellion against the foreign interlopers. The situation is complicated more when the Spanish ask him to write another play celebrating the Spanish King and glorifying their "liberation" of England from the Protestant boot. Things are quite historically realistic, and many of the characters are well-known historical figures. Sometimes the view shifts to a Spanish officer in the occupying forces who is an amateur playwright and a fan of Shakespeare's. As usual with a fiction book, I'll skip describing details of the plot, but there is a lot of literary stuff, including some fabricated period plays that came to be written because of the historical changes. Actual excerpts from some of these are incorporated in the book.

One minor nit that annoyed me was that


Spoiler



a prophecy by a "witch" (or is she?) in the book that was given great play when made was never referred to again, and I can't figure out what events in the book she was warning of. I may just be missing a gag of some kind.



A very solid four star book! Recommended for Turtledove fans, and probably of interest to Shakespeare fans even if they aren't normally science fiction readers.


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## telracs

where's my chocolate? and PM me with what you put in the spoiler, I don't remember it.


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## The Hooded Claw

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, by Spider Robinson

This is a collection of short stories about a bar with empathy. I read them in my teens, and they really impressed me in a big way. Though I linked to the Kindle version above, I actually reread my paperback copy printed in June, 1977. Pages are yellowed, but it still reads fine! These stories are written to a formula, but it is a good one. The stories are all set in a bar that somehow draws in people who have huge problems, then encourages them to talk about it. Most of the time, a solution is found. To keep things from getting too serious, these stories are interlaced with massive quantities of puns and shaggy dog stories. An important part of the setup is that these stories are not limited to your usual problems of "Can't get a job" or "My wife left me." This series was originally published in a science fiction magazine, and the problems are...unusual. Among the people who visited the bar in this book are three different time travelers, a telepath, the advance scout for aliens who will destroy the world, and Adolf Hitler. The reactions of the other barflies are empathetic and helpful, though not sappily so, and the stories always end in an upbeat way. This became quite a franchise for Spider Robinson, I have three other DTBs in the same series, and there are several more that I don't have. I hadn't read them for decades, I'm guessing the 1980s, and I was surprised both by how much I remembered (usually puns or small incidents of the stories), and how much I'd forgotten, the plots of most of the stories were totally gone from my mind. As discussed in a thread elsewhere on KB recently, I think I've become more discriminating now (I'd hope so after over thirty years!), and though I liked the stories, they don't seem as magically wonderful to me as they did originally. A very solid four stars, but doesn't quite make it to five, probably because I'm let down that they aren't as wonderful as I remembered.

One thing I'd forgotten about that reading this book brought back--There was a period where publishing houses tried to boost the balance sheet a bit by inserting advertising material in books, and this book is from that era. Bound into the book is a slick front-and-back page cigarette ad printed in color, and a foldout, complete with detachable postage-paid reply card urging me to enroll in The Science Fiction Book Club, and tempting me with any four books of my choice for just ten cents if I do! A more pleasant reminder is that this book cost just a buck and a half in paperback.

As I said, four stars, and recommended if my description interests you at all.


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## The Hooded Claw

Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor, by Russell S. Bonds

When I was about twelve, we took a summer vacation to visit my father's college roommate, who lived in Atlanta. I remember one day going out to Stone Mountain and seeing the big stone mural of confederate leaders, and most of all riding a replica steam train and hearing about the Union effort to steal the locomotive "The General". I remember that I got my parents to buy a replica newspaper describing the raid. But then never heard much more about it beyond one or two-sentence references in Civil War books. I snapped this book up when I saw it on Kindle. I've started it and am pleased with it so far, but unimpressed with the Union conspirators....They were recruited from many different units by sending out a call to commanders for volunteers for a hazardous secret mission (not a good way to keep the mission a secret, nor is asking commanders to send men a good way to get good men!), and one of the "secret agents" crossed confederate lines in civilian disguise, but still wearing blue Union uniform pants! But it seems well written, interesting, and I am liking the book so far.


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## telracs

claw, stoot wants you to know that posting about a book when you've barely started it is not in the rules.....


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## The Hooded Claw

Stealing the General is done. The short version is that the book is highly recommended for those interested in trains or in the Civil War, and I think it might be a good read for most anyone who isn't put off by the topic.

The focus of the book is on The Great Locomotive Chase. The plan was for a group of twenty-two Union men (twenty who were actually soldiers, and two civilians) to wear civilian clothes and break up into small groups to cross Confederate lines, meet in the Confederate rear, board a train as passengers, and at a stop to disconnect most of the cars and steal the locomotive! The locomotive of itself wasn't a particularly valuable prize, but they would use it as transportation to run up the critical single track railroad line that was the only lifeline from Atlanta to the embattled Confederate city of Chattanooga, and wreak havoc on the line as they passed, tearing up track and especially burning bridges that would take time to replace. A Union army under General Ormsby, which had driven through Tennessee into Northern Alabama, would swing East to capture Chattanooga, taking advantage of a Rebel defense that would be weakened by lack of supplies and unable to receive reinforcements because of the cut rail line.

The book is divided up into four parts, "The Plan" talks about the background (previous attempts to attack the railway line, Astronomer-turned-General Ormsby Mitchel and his seizure of Northern Alabama, and the selection of the raiders and their infiltration into position). Part II is accurately entitled "The Chase." It covers from the moment the raiders pull out of the railway station in their stolen train, till they scatter when the raid fails and are tossed in jail together. Part III is "Consequences" and it covers the various courts martial of the captives, their time in prison (with numerous escape attempts) and the execution of some of them. Part IV, "Valour" focuses on the origins of The Medal of Honor and the ultimate fate of the men and locomotives with ties to the raid. All of it is well-written and readable. The story is exciting as you'd expect, though I found the locomotive chase less stirring than I thought I would. The most interesting part of the story for me was actually the imprisonment of the raiders, the kangaroo courts martial, and their escape attempts. Because an attempt is made to cover the experiences of each of the twenty-two raiders plus several key Southern figures, it is sometimes hard to keep all the people in the book straight. It could have used a "cast of characters" at the front. The book is well-illustrated with period photographs of places, people (nearly everyone mentioned in the story is represented with an old-fashioned portrait photo), and of course trains and often railway stations. The weaknesses of the Kindle became evident when looking at these, in retrospect I should have tried loading this onto my iPad and reading with the Kindle app, especially since the one really useful diagram in the book is just too detailed to be legible on the Kindle screen.

And now we go to the interesting tidbits (they're why you are here, right?) 

It is much easier to criticize after the fact, but the organization of the raid was flawed--As I mentioned in my first post, the men were selected by asking infantry unit commanders to send volunteers for a "secret mission." This ran a great risk that Confederates would find out something was up (some commanders actually called all their men together in formation and asked for volunteers for a dangerous secret mission!), and the potential that many commanders instead of sending their best men, would instead send men they wanted to be rid of. Also, some men sent weren't really good choices for the mission, one was a very large man who would stand out and draw attention to himself. Another was probably the most intelligent man on the raid, but wore glasses and was handicapped by poor vision several times during his ordeal. Since the men were from a variety of different units, they weren't used to working together, and very few of them had even met each other. Andrews, the commander of the raid, did ensure that several of the men had knowledge of railroads, and especially how to run a locomotive. The men did not get good equipment for tearing up the tracks (admittedly not something you can carry with you while infiltrating enemy lines) and during the chase had a single crowbar as a tool to tear up track....And they acquired that by stopping the stolen train and asking railroad workers to borrow it! Most of the soldiers were from Ohio, but some were from New England, and it is a miracle to me how they were able to pass for Southern men during the infiltration!

Andrews, the commander, was a brave and intelligent man, but he was a spy and smuggler, not a military man, and this influenced his decisions during the raid, probably for the worst. He was used to running away and avoiding a fight, which is often good, but not always the best choice. On the positive side, he was brilliant at dealing with the rebels, and even when the train was stolen, for the first part of the chase he was able to get assistance and cooperation from Southern railroad workers, and sometimes even got them to follow his orders through sheer force of personality! And he did penetrate over one hundred miles behind enemy lines and steal the locomotive, The General while literally surrounded by hundreds of grayback soldiers. No small feat.

As mentioned in my initial post, because of the hasty organization of the mission, one Union man didn't have time to come up with a pair of civilian pants, so he crossed Rebel lines in a civilian shirt and Union blue uniform trousers! At a store behind enemy lines he managed to buy a pair of yellow and white striped trousers, on the theory that this made him less conspicuous!   Though the men were infiltrating in separate small groups, they were all told to use the same cover story, and when they were running for it after the chase failed, most of them stuck to that same story--Not a good thing since by this time the Rebels had figured out that anyone who told that story was actually a Union soldier!

The Southern hero of the story is the conductor of the stolen train. He initially ran after the stolen train on foot, later switching to a handcar! But he eventually got better transportation, and his dogged pursuit left the engine-stealers (as the Confederates called them once they were caught) not enough time to do the extensive sabotage they hoped to do. Although after the war he was a bit selfish in insisting that he was the sole reason for the failure of the raid, it must be admitted that things might have gone differently if he hadn't been so energetic. He (and several other southern men) eventually caught the raiders when they ran out of wood (coal-fired locomotives were a thing of the future at that time and place), pursuing Andrews and his party on a locomotive that was running *backwards* at over fifty miles an hour! There was no place to turn it around on the single track line.

This was the dawn of passenger service in the South (and all over the world, the railroad was not much older than the Internet is for us in 2012), so things were pretty basic. Trains had to move slowly on tracks that curved frequently to pass through the mountains of northern Georgia and East Tennessee. They often moved slowly--This lead to passengers joking that the cow-catcher should be removed from the front of the engine, and put on the rear passenger car to keep stray cows from wandering on board and bothering the passengers! There was no system of signals on the single-track line, and traffic was controlled simply by adhering to a schedule and keeping a careful watch out front in case someone coming the opposite direction was not on schedule!

Two men didn't make it to their destination to participate in the raid. They ended up joining the Confederate Army! This had been suggested ahead of time as a last resort if they were questioned closely, since their cover story indicated they were pro-South Kentuckians who were headed south to join a Rebel army unit in Georgia. Both of them deserted from the Rebel units and headed North after awhile. After the surviving raiders were back in Union hands, and some of the raiders had received a Medal of Honor, one of these two men petitioned to receive the Medal of Honor, and it was awarded to him! Arguably, he was brave and willing to go on the raid, but still not worthy of that medal, I think. Another two men literally overslept on the morning the engine was to be stolen--They had asked their hotel to wake them up, but weren't woken up. They got up on their own and ran to the train station, arriving just in time to see the train disappearing in the distance.

The fates of the men were diverse, several were sadly executed as spies, several managed to escape on their own, and several were exchanged for prisoners in Northern hands. After the war, they met at reunions several times, and Fuller, the Southern conductor who had done so much to make them fail, also came and was welcomed. One of the raiders was eventually convicted of murder after the war was over, and given life imprisonment before he ended his days in an insane asylum.

Surprisingly, considering that Southern railroad equipment was a preferred target for destruction by the federal Army, both of the two most important locomotives in the chase survived the war and still exist today as museum pieces. Perhaps the last bit of drama in the story occurred over a hundred years after the end of the war, when the the City of Chattanooga seized The General as it passed through the city on its way to a museum, claiming it was theirs. This lead to a legal fight that went to the US Supreme Court, but Chattanooga lost.

A very solid four stars, close to five.


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## telracs

guess what? i finally finished a book!


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## The Hooded Claw

telracs said:


> guess what? i finally finished a book!


Progress! Glad you were able to tear yourself away from Jim Phelps for awhile....

Now that Stealing the General is over, I've started this:



Freighter Captain, by Max Hardberger

I read and enjoyed a previous book by this guy, this is sort of a prequel to the first book. Semi-autobiographical, he is serving as Captain of a tramp freighter in the Caribbean, mostly traveling back and fort between Ports in the United States and in Haiti in one of its more lawless periods. I'm about halfway through, and it is a good read so far.


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## telracs

The Hooded Claw said:


> Progress! Glad you were able to tear yourself away from Jim Phelps for awhile....


leave my MI fangirl crush out of this....


Spoiler



besides, i can't watch him on the train, and that's where i read!



don't you wanna know what book it was?


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## The Hooded Claw

telracs said:


> don't you wanna know what book it was?[/color]


I'm assuming it wasn't Fifty Shades of Gray?  Which book was it?


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## The Hooded Claw

I completed Freighter Captain. Not as interesting as Hardberger's previous book, where he described how later in his career he became something of a specialist in "liberating" ships that were held up or retained by unfair or corrupt port authorities, but still a decent read. This book focuses on less dramatic stuff, but still includes witch doctors, robbery attempts, blackmailers, becoming an unwilling jailer for stowaways, battling stubborn bureaucrats over toilets, working for a dishonest owner who apparently doesn't intend to pay the crew, traditional nautical struggles with nature such as keeping an overloaded ship afloat in storms, and using bacon<!> to temporarily seal a hull leak. The book is very well-written, and held my interest all the way through. Three stars, just fell a bacon-slice thickness short of four stars.


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## The Hooded Claw

Whoops, missed a book! Before Freighter Captain, I read this:



This is part of a series known as "Holmes on the Range." The series is set in the 1890s in the American West. The two protagonists are Big Red and Old Red, two young men who are all that is left of their family after a disastrous flood. They were working as simple cowboys until Old Red became an enthusiast for Sherlock Holmes stories (which are originally being published at this time), and he now aspires to solve mysteries analytically using the techniques of Mr. Holmes. The cowboys believe that the Holmes stories are the actual reports of real events by Doctor Watson, and apparently Holmes is real in these stories, though I keep wondering if we're going to find out otherwise. Old Red is generally an enthusiast for whatever mystery presents itself, while Big Red is more educated and cautious, and is also the narrator of the stories (the stories we read are his submissions to a detective magazine). The series has five novels and a short story collection, and I'd been holding off for over a year on the last two novels because they were priced at $11.99. When MacMillan dropped the price on these two to $6.99, I bought 'em immediately, and set myself to reading.

Mysteries are even more difficult to discuss than "normal" fiction without committing spoilers, so I won't say much about the story. After coming into some money, the brothers have returned to a town in Texas to try to solve the five year old murder of Old Red's "fallen angel" sweetheart. The book title surprised me, it is actually a Sherlock Holmes reference that I didn't recognize. But I pulled out "A Scandal in Bohemia" and it is indeed there! The book started out a bit slow with the characters in an "every hand turned against them" situation, which I find frustrating, but it quickly picked up and I was thoroughly caught up in the story a short ways into the book. Recommended highly for anyone interested in a mystery set in the Old West. If you'd like to try the stories, but don't want to shell out ten bucks for the original novel "Holmes on the Range," you might try the short story collection "Dear Mr. Holmes." At four dollars, it is less of a venture, and it will give you the flavor of the books.

A very solid four stars from me.


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## Ciuri Di Badia

this is so ambitious..i love it


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## The Hooded Claw

Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett

This is one of a huge series of humorous fantasy books set on Discworld. All my friends love these, and I enjoy them, but am only slowly working my way through them. If you don't get physically ill at the thought of humorous fantasy, then you will probably enjoy the story. Pratchett is brilliant at cleverly-composed sentences, puns, and gags. In general when I read I am plot-driven or fact driven, rather than being terribly interested in how it is written, but for Pratchett I make an exception. The plot here isn't the center of attention, but our heroine is a young girl with a talent for being a wizard, rather than the more practical and less exalted magic that is the customary practice of magically-talented females. In the story we learn what happens when she tries to get accepted by the male-dominated wizard hierarchy.

Here are a few brief snippets from the book:

Time passed, which basically is its job.

They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.

Curiosity not only killed the cat, but threw it in the river with weights tied to its feet.

The lodgings were on the top floor next to the well-guarded premises of a respectable dealer in stolen property because, as Granny had heard, good fences make good neighbors.

"Before I heard him talk, I was like everyone else. You know what I mean? I was confused and uncertain about all the little details of life...But now while I'm still confused and uncertain it's on a much higher plane, d'you see, and at least I know I'm bewildered about the really fundamental and important facts of the universe."


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## telracs

i finished a second book....

and claw, i am not spending my hard earned money or time on fifty shades of anything.


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## The Hooded Claw

Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers, by John MacCormick

Early in my college career, I spent about three semesters as a computer science major, but changed to other interests. And for many years, I was one of the resident "computer experts" at work and among my friends, and I still fulfill that role for a couple of family members. But in truth, I'm not really keeping up, though I can use most of the common business programs reasonably skillfully. But I like the idea of understanding what is going on when I use 'em, so this book appealed to me as being helpful in understanding what is going on, even if it won't teach me how to fix obscure desktop computer problems or use MS Word to do cool things.

The author, professor of computer science at an English university, set up nine criteria that he used to select key things that "regular folks" frequently do on computers. So he selected the indexing and page ranking done by search engines, public key cryptography, error correction, pattern recognition, data compression, databases, and digital signatures. Each one of these is covered in plain English, no mathematics or computer language involved. It is definitely readable, though I have to admit I had to focus and re-read some pages a couple of times! But i really did find everything in it comprehensible, and many of the high points have stuck with me, even if I didn't retain details. So the author does what he said he would, at least for me.

The book was work to read, but I did enjoy it....Some of the things he describes are jaw-droppingly clever, almost to the point of making me gasp out loud (really!) when I read them. The most clever was probably the error checking, though the one that impressed me most was the stuff on databases, which explains how banks, and even Amazon.com do transactions (such as buying a Kindle book!) without any errors, even if the memory holding your bank account information craters halfway through the process. I was really impressed with how thorough they are in safeguarding the steps in a transaction and in ensuring that it works correctly, or at worst none of your data is lost (imagine if you tried to move money from your savings account to your checking account, and the machine doing the transaction crashed after deducting the transfer from your savings account, but before adding it to your checking account!).

I am sorely tempted to try to explain some concepts from the book here, but I ain't gonna do it, I don't want to just quote huge chunks of the book, and I am not at all confident I can explain things more succinctly than the author can.

Highly recommended if you find the subject intriguing. Nobody is going to be surprised that I think this would be a total bust for anyone who wasn't motivated to understand these things. I give it four stars.


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## The Hooded Claw

Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, by Harry Kemelman

The later books in this series were still popular when I was a little Clawlet, and I hadn't thought of them in years till I snagged this as part of an Amazon promotion of books-into-film stuff. I liked this book a lot, despite some problems I had with it. I finished it in one long sitting last night, staying up way past my bedtime to do so.

Things I liked:

I liked the character of Rabbi Small a lot, and enjoyed his approach to things.

I really enjoyed all the bits about Jewish life, culture, and religion in the book. I'm not Jewish, and enjoyed reading about it.

A subpart of the Jewish bits is Rabbi Small's logical approach to issues, thanks to his Talmudic training. I particularly enjoyed a small bit where he applied some Talmudic rules about ox-gorings to help resolve a dispute over who was responsible for mechanical problems in a car! He does a lot of less flashy uses of logic throughout the book.

Things I disliked:

The book is in third person and regularly jumps around between numerous different characters. This is definitely not my favorite style of storytelling, though obviously I can tolerate it.

The book has a couple of scenes between the murder victim and murderer where detailed descriptions are given and conversation takes place, but it doesn't identify who the murderer is, even though the person is in the scene. I find this irritating and gimmicky!

Despite some great Sherlock Holmesish reasoning by the Rabbi, the handling of the climax is unsatisfying and not too convincing....


Spoiler



Rabbi Small uses logic and the facts to leap to an interesting conclusion that makes sense, but is almost entirely lacking in actual evidence. Then we switch to a later scene that spends several pages wrapping up some non-murder issues, and switching to yet another scene where it is obliquely mentioned in the next-to-last paragraph of the book that Small's proposed murderer was the killer (it doesn't even explicitly say he was tried and convicted!).



One of the things that struck me when the title of this book was brought back to mind was that the series is limited to seven books when you put the name of a day of the week in the title like that! And the author ran into that problem. I looked up the list of books in the series and he covered all seven days of the week, then did five further books. All but one of them still had "day" in the title, for instance That Day the Rabbi Left Town. Incidentally, Rabbi Small does indeed sleep late on Friday in this book! One other thing that's definitely not bad and is probably good, is that these are definitely set in their time. One character in the book is describing car troubles, and when it comes out that the car is a 1963 model, everyone agrees that it is surely under warranty!  And every woman I can think of in the story is either a housewife or in a traditionally female job such as nanny or receptionist for a physician.

Three stars, almost four from me. I found the good things extremely appealing, so I am probably going to give at least one more in the series a try.


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## The Hooded Claw

One other detail that I found amusing but forgot to mention....

The Yiddish word _kochlefel_ is used in the story for a troublemaking person. Looking the definition up, I see this is a common usage, but the actual original definition was a large spoon used to stir food. I had never heard of the word before, but I think it is hilarious!


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## telracs

I've been a Rabbi Small fan for years (I read them in the 70's originally). I don't know if my evil overlord remembers (probably not) but there was a TV show based on the books with Art Carney as Cheif Lanagran....

And just an aside, the rabbi does what ever the title is... (he sleeps late on Friday, goes hungry on Saturday [it's a fast day], etc.....)

I also bought the book when it was on sale, since I've been waiting for them to be kindlized, and as with many things, it's not as good as I remember. And as claw said, it is a bit dated.

oh, and for those interested in MY count.... i'm 30% through _The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich_


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## The Hooded Claw

telracs said:


> I've been a Rabbi Small fan for years (I read them in the 70's originally). I don't know if my evil overlord remembers (probably not) but there was a TV show based on the books with Art Carney as Cheif Lanagran....
> 
> [/i]


You're right, I didn't remember it. I noticed when looking up the author and the series in Wikipedia that the Rabbi series was part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie. I was probably too busy watching Banacek and McCloud to notice. George Peppard was way cool as Banacek!

My uneducated guess is that kochlefel is pronounced "coke-levfel" (the middle sound in the second syllable sort of a cross between a v and an f. Is that anywhere close to right? I may try to find an excuse to use the word, the story behind it is priceless.


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## telracs

The Hooded Claw said:


> You're right, I didn't remember it. I noticed when looking up the author and the series in Wikipedia that the Rabbi series was part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie. I was probably too busy watching Banacek and McCloud to notice. George Peppard was way cool as Banacek!
> 
> My uneducated guess is that kochlefel is pronounced "coke-levfel" (the middle sound in the second syllable sort of a cross between a v and an f. Is that anywhere close to right? I may try to find an excuse to use the word, the story behind it is priceless.


No, it's pronounced kochlefel....

Seriously, it is a hard K at the beginning of the word, a short o, not an long o, and the CH is like in Achtung.


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## The Hooded Claw

Today the New York Times had an article about the most famous escape attempt from Alcatraz (I'm referring back to the history of Alcatraz book I posted on about a month ago). Well worth reading, and it is more sympathetic to the idea of some escapees making it out alive than the history book is:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/us/anniversary-of-a-mystery-at-alcatraz.html?pagewanted=all

I'm skeptical of anyone getting out and staying out of trouble and not slipping or otherwise being discovered for all those years. Most of the inmates who were released ended up back in the hands of the law because of poor adjustment to the real world after prison.

The story came up because June 11th will be the fiftieth anniversary of the breakout.


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## The Hooded Claw

The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe: The U.S. Army Air Forces Against Germany in World War II, by Jay A. Stout

First, you may want to hear this message from Lieutenant Jimmy Stewart, US Army Air Forces:






This book basically tells about how the stuff in the Youtube clip was actually done, and continues the story until the surrender of Germany in May 1945. The book has a sort of split personality, part of it tells the high-level stuff about strategy, logistics, and training (and one of the good things of the book is that it gives decent coverage of non-combat stuff like how aerial gunners were trained and how ground crews handled bombs that could weigh up to 2000 pounds on the ground as they loaded them into bombers). But in addition to the high-level stuff, it periodically switches to lengthy selections from the experiences of individuals. The combination of high-level and low-level viewpoints works well, it keeps things from being as abstract as they'd be if the work strictly gave an account of grand strategy, but it also puts the individual experiences into their proper place in the flow of events and keeps the book from being just a stream of anecdotes.

Lots and lots of interesting bits of information showing how rapidly the Army Air Force built up from a tiny force to a huge one in just a couple of years, plus some of the individual anecdotes are wonderful. Here are some peeks at the book:

On July 2, 1942, the Eight Air Force (the first US air assets to arrive in England) had three combat aircraft in England. When Germany surrendered, the Army Air Force had over 17,000 aircraft spread over Europe and the Mediterranean.

Jimmy Stewart makes it into the book one time, in the description of a bombing raid where he was leading a group of bombers when his boss, leading another group, changed course, separating from the main body of bombers. Stewart warned his boss that he was deviating from the plan, and when his boss told him (over the radio) to shut up, Stewart chose to follow, though he would have been justified in continuing with the main group, and while it would definitely have been safer to be sharing the fighter escorts and protective fire of the larger group of bombers, that would have left his boss with a very small and vulnerable group of planes. Stewart chose to follow his commander and broke away from the protection of the main group also.

One bomber crewman was aboard a bomber that was heavily damaged, and he was putting on his parachute to prepare to bail out (the parachutes were too large and heavy to move around with in the cramped interior of a bomber, so they were stored until needed). The erratic movements of the crippled plane threw him around the interior, and he wasn't able to bail out before the bomber broke up. Fortunately, his parachute was ready to deploy, but as he fell through the air before pulling the ripcord, he saw another crewman, a good personal friend, also falling through the air, and he realized that his friend was alive and conscious but had no parachute on. There was nothing he could do for him.

About one-third of aircraft losses for the whole war were in the continental United States, far from the enemy. Pilot error, weather, or equipment failure did the deed.

One fighter pilot was caught by himself during a mission when a whirling dogfight swept him away from most of his squadron. He was receiving the personal attention of a large number of German fighters, and doing nothing but dodging and trying not to get shot down in the next few seconds, when he heard over the radio, "Look at that poor *bleep* with ten of them on his tail!" and realized he was the poor bleep. Fortunately, he survived the experience!

On most bombing raids, one bomber would be loaded up with cameras and be the designated photo plane. It would take photos of the bombing target during the run-up to the bomb drop, as the bombs dropped, and of the damage caused by the bombs as they hit. This information was of great interest to the commanders, as how badly a target was hit (or not hit) could affect the operations for the next day. So when the raid returned to base, the photo plane would always be the first one to land so that the precious film could be rushed off for development. Line jumping was allowed only in cases where another bomber had a desperately wounded man on board, or was so damaged it could barely stay in the air. Needless to say, this was not popular with the other pilots!

Bomber crews would be kept on combat duty in Europe till they completed a set number of missions. This started out at twenty-five, and was raised to thirty, then to thirty-five as the war progressed. One bomber pilot reasoned that he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible and get back to an assignment in the United States, so he volunteered his plane (and thus the crew) for every possible mission, even filling in at the last minute for planes that dropped out due to mechanical failures, etc. He flew his first combat mission in June 1944, and was on a boat back to the United States in early September. Thirty missions in seventy days! His strategy had not been universally popular with his crew, but not a single member of his crew was injured.

The work of bomb handlers, moving bombs out of ground storage and loading them onto the bombers was a dangerous, back-breaking, and time consuming task. To quickly unload the bombs after transporting them to the waiting bombers, some bomb handlers would skip the painstaking approved way of doing it, and transport the bombs (without fins or detonators attached) rolling loose in the back bed of a truck. When it was time to unload, they would drop the tailgate of the truck, accelerate the truck backwards at high speed, and slam on the brakes so that the bombs would slide out the back onto the ground! This was not approved procedure, but it almost always worked. Keeping in mind that "almost," this shortcut is thought to have contributed to one otherwise unexplained disaster that killed five men and damaged or destroyed many bombers while they were sitting "safe" at their airfield in England.

One of the more tragic things in the book is a romance between the American Sergeant Joseph Zsampar, know as "Zip" and an eighteen year old English girl named Pauline Roberts. Their love affair is described, including a large portrait photo of himself Zip gave Pauline, inscribed "America lend-leased this soldier to England's fairer sex. Handle with care and return in good order." It describes their courtship, including how they were having a romantic dinner at the Trocadero restaurant in London when a German bomb blew the windows out of their dining room. They were engaged to be married when Zip, a gunner on a big four-engine bomber, died on a raid off the coast of Germany. Pauline was crushed, and never recovered. She wore Zip's wings pinned to her dress for years, tried to establish contact with him through a spirit medium, and ended up insisting that Zip had swam ashore after his plane went down, and was living in Europe with amnesia. Pauline did eventually marry someone else, but her daughter says that she spent the rest of her life bitter and angry, and continued to regularly spoke of Zip in admiring terms never used about anyone else.

I found the book fascinating to read, though the experience is marred by some scanning errors that weren't overwhelmingly present, but occurred often enough that I noticed them. A great example of its class, though there are many similar books. I really liked it, but cannot justify a five star rating, but am happy to give it a strong four star rating. If you want a book of this type, this one will do very well.


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## The Hooded Claw

Rag and Bone: A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery, by James R. Benn
This is the fifth in a series of books about Billy Boyle. As the subtitle says, they are World War II mysteries.

In the first book, young Billy Boyle had been an Irish Boston cop in a family of Irish Boston cops, and his future was assured. His father was pulling strings for him so that Billy had moved from being a lowly "flatfoot" to the Boston PD detective squad with record-breaking speed. This comfortable plan was disrupted when the US entered World War II, and Billy was drafted. It seemed like a lucky break when family connections helped him again. Because his mother is a distant relative of Dwight Eisenhower (who hadn't yet become the legendary figure he became later in the war), Billy gets a nice cushy job as an officer on Eisenhower's staff. Unfortunately, the job doesn't end up to be the safe slot his mother thought she'd found for him.

Eisenhower is about to assume his role as Supreme Commander in Europe. He knows he'll be commanding a coalition of many different nations, and there is bound to be trouble, corruption, and conflict. He wants someone he can totally trust to quietly and without publicity investigate problems, and handle them without creating public scandals. So a trained police detective who is bound to him by bonds of family seems like the answer to Ike's prayers. Unfortunately, it seems Billy will have a much more dangerous job than just carrying the General's briefcase...

(end of my too-long blurb for the series! Do you think the publisher will hire me?  )

This is the fifth book in the series, and it is late 1943 when Billy is detached from Eisenhower's entourage in the Mediterranean, and sent back to London to look into the murder of a Soviet diplomat. Billy is in the middle of a confusing tangle of murders, black marketing, and spying. Very well-written, an excellent mystery (actually several mysteries) to solve, and as always in these books, the author has extensively researched the history surrounding the events in the book. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book now.

As usual, I won't discuss the mystery here, but one interesting gripe that Billy makes in the book is that because he's been in North Africa and Italy for about a year, he's never been able to see the hit movie Casablanca! It seems that someone decided that the portrayal of the Vichy French government in that movie might upset the real former Vichy French in North Africa, so it has been withheld from the troops there! Because Benn is so careful with his facts, I'm suspecting this is true, and it amuses me even though it makes sense.

I've still got a ways to go in the book, but I am delighted so far.


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## The Hooded Claw

I finished Rag and Bone, and it is a good mystery, lives up to its predecessors in the series. I had one minor nit, one important break for the good guys was an incredibly fortunate coincidence. Such things do happen, but I don't like seeing them as pivotal points in a mystery. Still an excellent book. As I mentioned previously, lots of spies, but it is ironic that the spies are the Allies spying on each other. Not a German spy to be seen!

I very much recommend the Billy Boyle series. A strong four stars, not quite five for this book.

And now I've started this:



Fevre Dream, by George R. R. Martin

Chosen because of a recommendation from some of our moderators here on KB! It's odd, even though Martin is all the rage right now, I've never read anything by him before. I'm giving this one a try, and 20% into it I'm satisfied so far. Other than Saberhagen's Dracula series, I don't usually read a lot of vampire stuff, but I am going for it with this one!


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## telracs

i'm 50% through the rise and fall of the third reich.


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## The Hooded Claw

telracs said:


> i'm 50% through the rise and fall of the third reich.


Progress! If it's footnoted, you probably are further than that through the actual text of the book!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## telracs

The Hooded Claw said:


> Progress! Of out odd footnoted, you probably are further than that through the actual text of the book!
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


nope, it's 50% based on real text, not total locations. i noted where the"end matter" started and am doing my own calculations. according to my kindle, i'm 42% done.


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## The Hooded Claw

I finished up Fevre Dream.  In the thread where this came to my attention, Betsy had said she thought the first half of the book was the strongest, and I agree.  First half was excellent, second half wasn't nearly as satisfying.

Martin deserves congratulations, this book actually does have a new concept of vampires!  I would have sworn there was nothing new not under the Sun in vampire lit, but he developed something different.  That was interesting, as throughout the book, I was never entirely sure what "the rules" for the vampires were.  The book is not in a typical setting for a vampire novel, this is the world of steamboats.  New Orleans figures in the book, which is of course well-trodden vampire lit territory, but most of the book is oriented towards steamboats on the Mississippi River.  Thanks to Fred Saberhagen, I'm used to vampires in non-traditional settings, but this was certainly a fresh one.  The first half of the book is the best, the viewpoint character, a steamboat captain, is trying to understand his new partner, and decide if he made a mistake in agreeing to work with him.  When that phase ended, I found the book more downbeat and less pleasing.  Even at 85% through the book, I believed the book was going to end with a whimper rather than a bang or other satisfying ending, but it does come up with an acceptable, though not awesome climax.  A good read, but not wonderful.

Martin uses the word "lambent" twice in the book, I had to use the K's dictionary to learn that it means "glowing with a soft radiance."  And in surveying the list of Martin's works at the end of the book, I realized I actually had read one of his books, Tuf Voyaging.  I'd forgotten he was the author!  And that was long enough ago that I don't remember too much of the book, though I know that I enjoyed it.

My guess is that those who feel the blood lust for a good vampire story will enjoy Fevre Dream.  Four stars from me.


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## Brownskins

Claw you read really fast!  (bow, bow) - I am onboard the cheering wagon.


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## Betsy the Quilter

Good review, Claw...I agree completely.  One of the things I liked about the book was the setting...I didn't even know it was a vampire book when I started it, and was quite startled when I realized it.

Betsy


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## The Hooded Claw

Brownskins said:


> Claw you read really fast! (bow, bow) - I am onboard the cheering wagon.


Thanks, Brownskins. I am a quick reader, but it really really helps that I'm doing this thread and made the "resolution" at the start of it. Last year I wasn't doing nearly as well, it was too easy to randomly surf the internet, or play a Civilization on the iPad when I had a spare hour. I've been especially pleased by my progress in April and May, I guess I am settling in as a heavy reader again.


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## The Hooded Claw

The Radioactive Boy Scout: The True Story of a Boy and His Backyard Nuclear Reactor, by Ken Silverstein

Truth in advertising, I work in a field related to this, and I have met one of the people mentioned in the book and know moderately well another person who was involved in responding to this once it was discovered. So I'm not unbiased!

I had heard about the incident described in the book through my work, and learned a fair amount about it from a presentation at a work meeting, and reading an article in Harper's Magazine. I was aware that the author had expanded the magazine article into a book, I've had in mind reading it for years, but didn't do it till a coworker announced he'd been reading it. David Hahn (no relation to pioneer nuclear scientist Otto Hahn!) was an extremely driven high school student in a suburb of Detroit who set out to build a breeder reactor (something that hasn't been done successfully by scientists in multiple countries who have tried with government funding). He didn't succeed, but he still managed to accomplish some amazing things, and create some real hazards to himself (especially) and others.

Hahn was a high school student with little interest in school, but an obsessive interest in hands-on chemical experiments that he pursued at home (he was an indifferent student, apparently even in math and science). As a lifelong science nerd (one with broader but less impressive talent, vastly better judgement, and more engaged parents), I could relate to the description of his high school life. The book goes into great detail about the work he did once he became interested in radiation. The book is well-written and readable. I really enjoyed it, and am glad I finally read it.

My experience with the book wasn't completely positive. The author is not a scientist, but does a superior job for a non-scientist at explaining the science of what Hahn was doing. On several occasions, I felt he didn't have it quite right, and on one subject (not an essential one) I think he is very confused, but he got things mostly right, and did more than a good enough job considering that this is not a "how to" book!

I didn't feel as good about some other quirks of the book. In a couple of cases, the author goes off on side excursions, with great emotion about a peripheral subject. The main two side-subjects are that he is intensely cynical and skeptical of the nuclear power industry (I'm not part of the nuclear power industry, and I don't think that the people there are angels, but I strongly disagree with his dark view of the industry), and more amusing, he is very hung up with the philosophical views of the early Boy Scout movement, and spends quite a bit of time discussing the obsession of Boy Scout founder Baden-Powell with *ahem* "self-abuse" and his very conservative views on social issues.

I could fill pages with my observations on the book (as I read through these books, I bookmark things I may want to mention in these postings, and I made 41 bookmarks). But I'll try to restrain myself and do just a few things.

Before getting into nuclear experiments, David had acquired great skill at making explosives and other chemical products. Naturally, he had accidents. To the point where his parents didn't seem to be concerned at him starting significant fires, knocking himself unconscious, getting fragments of a plastic container embedded deeply in his eyeballs, and permanently scarring his room or the basement. A neighbor spotted him wearing a gas mask while making chlorine gas (which has been used as a poison gas in war), but accepted his explanation that he was "making his own oxygen." Eventually his father did forbid further experiments in his house, and David moved his work to a shack in the back of the home of his mother and stepfather.

David had interest in only two non-science activities, a girlfriend, and the Boy Scouts. He was banned from a Summer Boy Scout camp after he started a fire with magnesium shavings and other stuff he'd brought to give a homebrew fireworks demonstration, and then was caught making moonshine (to bribe counselors to move him off kitchen duty, not to drink himself).

In one case, David was a minor hero with his chemical knowledge, when there was a large spill of ammonia in the customer area of a store where he worked as a stockboy, he knew exactly what to do to neutralize the vapors of the ammonia, which were causing the store to be evacuated, and appeared to be seriously threatening the health of some customers.

David's nuclear experiments created quite a hazardous amount of radioactivity, and ultimately led to the shack I mentioned above being torn up and hauled away as a Superfund removal amid extensive news coverage and fears by his mother and stepfather that they would lose their house. Despite this, about a month after the excitement ended, he was officially made an Eagle Scout! Later there was a move to revoke the honor, but it wasn't followed through.

Despite the nits, I found the book really interesting, and I give it four solid stars. If the subject intrigues you, I think you'll like it.


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## The Hooded Claw

(image only, not a link)

The Swoop! Or How Clarence Saved England, By P. G. Wodehouse

Link to the omnibus collection I used to read it:



This book was mentioned in The Radioactive Boy Scout as part of the digression about Boy Scout morality, and since I am a big fan of Wodehouse's Jeeves novels, I had to read it. It's not truly a novel, more of a novella at only ninety pages long. Took me just an hour or so to read it, and I'm not going to count it towards my eighty books.

This book is mentioned in Radioactive Boy Scout as an example of contemporary satire on the original Boy Scouts. It also does double duty as an example of what's called "Invasion Literature", there was a fad in England for several decades before World War I in which some foreign enemy (usually France, Germany, or a thinly-disguised version of them) invades England. This example was published in 1908. Books of invasion literature aren't limited to that time, place or medium (I loved the 1980s film Red Dawn myself), but that is probably when it was most prominent and influential. Many history books about World War I will mention one of the most famous of these, called The Battle of Dorking.

Wodehouse evidently felt these were ripe for lampooning, and in this novel no less than nine separate armies invade England at the same time! The announcement is fitted into the newspapers just below the score in an important cricket match, and it seems that the government has demobilized the Army and Navy. When the German army advances on London and bombards the town, nobody is hurt because everyone is out of town for August vacation, and the residents applaud the Germans for getting rid of some unsightly buildings and beastly old statues. But there is considerable grumbling when the advancing armies tear up golf courses and cricket pitches during their march.

Fortunately, the Boy Scouts, under their leader young Clarence Chugwater, are on the job, using their secret calls (such as the gruffle of the tarantula and the cry of the turnip, mainly useful to attract rabbits) to communicate and organize their resistance. Clarence perseveres despite a severe dressing down by his father--When Clarence spies two German scouts and announces "We are invaded!" his yell disrupts his father's game of solitaire, and he is roundly chastised. Ultimately Clarence arranges a clever stratagem which enables the Boy Scouts to defeat the invaders by using hockey sticks and catapults. As a reward, he is given a juicy contract to perform at music halls, showing off Boy Scout exercises and making bird calls. I'd love to know what Lord Baden-Powell thought of this!

There are a couple of aphorisms in the book that are worthy of Charlie Chan:

"When nine dogs are assembled around one bone, it is seldom on the bone alone that tooth-marks are found at the close of the proceedings."

and

"The wise man never takes sides, unless they are sides of bacon."

Mildly entertaining, but not that big a deal. There are some smiles in the book, but nothing side splitting. Three stars from me, and not a particularly strong three stars.


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## Ann in Arlington

One feels, based on the last couple of covers, that you've confused this thread with the 'weird kindle books' thread.


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## telracs

Ann in Arlington said:


> One feels, based on the last couple of covers, that you've confused this thread with the 'weird kindle books' thread.


gee, i thought i was the only one feeling that way....


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## The Hooded Claw

Ann in Arlington said:


> One feels, based on the last couple of covers, that you've confused this thread with the 'weird kindle books' thread.





telracs said:


> gee, i thought i was the only one feeling that way....


LOL....I see your point! I'll try to find something less offbeat for my next book, though I'm about to go visit my mother for the weekend, so probably won't do too much reading for a day or two. Something I forgot to mention in my commentary was that the title of "The Swoop" was a reference to one of those invasion literature titles called "The Swoop of the Vulture" where the vultures were the Germans invading England. Note the original cover drawing.


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## The Hooded Claw

The Last Gunfight, by Jeff Guinn

This book is about "the incident at the empty lot off Fremont Street."

Never heard of it? Perhaps this will jog your memory....


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## The Hooded Claw

Swords in the Mist, by Fritz Leiber

I continued with the third book in Fritz Leiber's sword & sorcery series. The book starts with five short pieces, three short stories plus two transitions, then concludes with a novella that takes up almost exactly half the book. One of the shorts is called "Lean Times in Lankhmar" and that pretty much sums up the mood in this book. Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser spend the whole book poor and either on the run or (in the novella) on a lengthy quest to remove a most annoying curse. Most of the book only mildly engaged my attention, and in general it even got to be a bit depressing. Oddly enough, the short story Lean Times in Lankhmar was the high point of the book for me. It describes a period when the duo were in a rough patch, and decided to pursue separate callings for awhile. Of course, fate ensures that they will end up encountering each other anyway. Fafhrd gets religion, and becomes a very sincere acolyte in an extremely small religious cult (when he joined the cult, the number of worshipers doubled), and Gray Mouser becomes an Enforcer for an underworld boss who runs a protection racket that is focused on...religious cults. The underworld boss takes great interest in Fafhrd's cult when it begins to move up rapidly in the world after Fafhrd joins. To use a stock phrase, "hilarity ensues." I really enjoyed this story. The other ninety percent of the book wasn't bad, but it was merely ordinary, and to be blunt, I was ready for the book to be over. One choice the author made puzzled me. The novella I mentioned is explicitly described as taking place on our own Earth, rather than Lankhmar! The author's explanation for how this happened was plenty good enough for a fantasy book, but I don't really understand why he bothered. The story takes place in ancient times, just after the death of Alexander the Great, and a few of the place names are familiar, but there's nothing in the story that really required shifting dimensions, or even made a beneficial use of it.

Once again, the Kindle was handy for looking up a word that was new to me. At one point, Fafhrd is described as "cumbered." My instinct was that it was related to "encumbered" and that proved to be correct. Cumbered is a transitive verb meaning hamper or hinder. Thanks, Kindle Dictionary!

I've thought very well of the first two books in the series, but this one didn't live up to the tradition. Hopefully the next book in the series will be better! Three stars from me, and not a particularly strong three stars.


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## The Hooded Claw

Burglars on the Job, by Richard T. Wright and Scott Decker

This is now available on Kindle, but I read it in paperback--I bought and read it over ten years ago, and thought it would be worth re-reading after I've enjoyed the books on con men and pickpockets. The same two authors wrote a similar book to this one about armed robbers that is only available as a DTB, and I've put that book on order.

Wright and Decker went to considerable trouble to interview 105 active residential burglars outside of prison, talking to them at length about their "work" and in some cases, going back to the scenes of robberies and asking them questions about how they chose that particular house, how they entered the house, etc. As is common for research reports, they spend the first chapter describing their methods of acquiring and interviewing subjects, and trying to verify the information they received. Most of their subjects claimed to be fairly experienced, more than half claimed to have been involved in over fifty burglaries. Incidentally, they generally did not like to be called burglars, most of them preferred the term "Hustler." The researchers did pay their interview subjects, and often also did minor favors for them such as driving interviewees without a car to a destination when the interview was over.

The book has seven chapters on different burglary-related subjects, such as Choosing the Target and Disposing of the Goods. It's an academic book, but most of it is quite readable, the first chapter on research methods being an exception! But ichapter one can be skipped without missing much if you are willing to trust the authors. The book has some interesting information, but I'd hoped for more unusual stories than the book has. Perhaps they felt that their subjects were too prone to exaggerate. The final chapter discusses preventing residential burglaries.

They looked at why their subjects chose to commit a burglary at a particular time, and found that these people tend to be very short-range planners and live very hand-to-mouth. They seldom did burglaries until they had some immediate need for money that they couldn't meet. The most common reasons for deciding to commit a burglary "now" were to get money for drugs or partying (by far the largest), to get money for immediate living expenses such as bills or food, and (barely behind bills and food) to get money for status symbols, especially fancy clothes or shoes. The short-range focus of most of these people was exemplified by one female burglar who they interviewed, who wanted to use her interview payment to buy pizza for her kids, and asked to be taken to a pizza place. But on the way there, they passed near a crack house she knew of, and she asked to be dropped there instead. 

Despite the impulsive timing of burglaries, most of the burglars did some preparation, and as they went about their other affairs, usually kept their eyes open for likely-looking homes to burgle. Many cultivated informants who could tell them about homes that were going to be empty because of vacations, hours that people in a home worked, or about the presence of high-value loot in a home. Often the informants were people doing handyman or lawn work in a home, but some informants "ratted" on friends, relatives, or especially ex-lovers. In the absence of inside information, burglars are particularly attracted to larger or expensive-looking homes that are well-kept, and having BMWs and Mercedes cars seemed to be particular red flags in making the home a desirable target. Many burglars claimed that certain homes "called to them" or just seemed like attractive targets for no explainable reason. As you'd expect, loud dogs, burglar alarms, and storm windows (they are a lot more trouble to get through if you have to go in through a window) are deterrents for many, but not all burglars.

Most burglars have a set routine for how they search a house--This avoids them being indecisive or getting caught up in one particular room. The master bedroom is invariably the first place searched, because many small portable valuables such as jewelry, guns, and cash are often kept there. Because getting out quickly is an advantage in not getting caught, many burglars just leave after searching the master bedroom. Where the remainder go next is not as clear cut, but most search the kitchen, claiming that freezers and cookie jars are common hiding places for money and jewelry! A lot of burglars search the bathroom, hoping to find narcotics there. Children's bedrooms and extra bedrooms are seldom searched. The living room is usually last, if it is searched at all. Many burglars don't like to try taking bulky items such as television sets because leaving with them can draw attention. Many burglars do things like put on uniforms of landscaping or moving companies to make their presence seem more legitimate if a neighbor sees them, and a handful actually acquire vans or trucks with the name of such a company.

A solid majority of burglars usually work with others on a crime. Reasons given include that they can do a quicker, more effective search, they can post lookouts who can warn them of trouble, and many are convinced that if they are discovered and have to run for it, the other burglar will be the one caught, and they will get away! A common feature of the interviewees was tremendous optimism about their chances of getting caught and their ability to evade any trouble. Risks of working with others include that their partner may find something small and valuable that they won't share! Some burglars searched the master bedroom jointly first (because that's where valuable items are most likely to be found) and then split up to search separately. And of course even an honest partner will want to split the loot. If one or both burglars are caught, there's a definite risk that your partner will "squeal" on you in some way to improve his own bargaining position.

Contrary to what you see on television, less than a quarter of the subject said they used a professional fence to dispose of their loot. Other popular methods included pawn shops (hard because of precautions such as taking photos and recording ID of people selling high-dollar items), selling to friends, or even approaching strangers on the street and in bars to offer items!

I was disappointed by the chapter on preventing burglaries, there are no magic bullets! But good strategies include being very discreet about giving out information about absences and schedules (even avoiding discussing such things on the phone when strangers can hear), having a dog, an alarm, and storm windows, and NOT keeping valuables in the master bedroom. Many burglars do rob a place a second time after a successful robbery, so if you are robbed, consider doing improvements such as an alarm if you haven't done them previously.

The book is adequately readable, and the subject matter was interesting, but it's not a fascinating read. I'd have enjoyed it more if it had more interesting anecdotal stories! I give it a very strong three stars, almost four.


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## The Hooded Claw

(Warning! Link to DTB version, not Kindle version)

Gentlemen's Blood: A History of Dueling from Swords at Dawn to Pistols at Dusk, by Barbara Holland

Back in May, Amazon offered this as one of their "100 Kindle books" at reduced prices for the month, and I grabbed it without paying much attention to the reviews beyond seeing that it had nine reviews for four stars. If I'd read the reviews carefully, I'd have noted that there are some definite formatting problems with the Kindle version. The book is currently not available for Kindle, withdrawn from market while these are fixed, so I won't dwell on them except to mention that near the end of the book, soon after reading about dueling in Russia and Germany, I turned the page to a chapter entitled "Wind in Gdown." I know that the former town of Danzig is now known as Gdansk, so this wasn't too shocking, but the title still puzzled me and I'd never heard of this place. After a few seconds of confusion, I realized that the chapter title ought to have been "Winding Down!" Presumably the publisher will fix the numerous typo problems.

I liked the book, but not as well as I'd thought I would. It is very readable, and Holland has an interesting style that reads something like the way I write up my Weird Kindle Books posts...Things get downright snarky sometimes. This is a bit disconcerting in a history book, but it was readable. More serious is that a great deal of the book is just brief recounts of duels, often just a page or two long. Many of these are very interesting, but lengthy series of them get tiresome, and frankly I'm skeptical of the accuracy of some of the accounts (I think the accounts are flawed, not that author Holland fibbed about them--I don't want her challenging me!). This is made worse because there are no sources given or footnotes used, just a general list of books at the end that aren't linked to individual accounts. As a history buff, this sticks in my craw. Holland frankly discusses that since duels were often illegal, and in any case most of the witnesses were highly partisan towards one of the participants, even first-hand accounts of the same duel can vary widely. She mentions these conflicting stories for many duels, and even whether a participant survived or not sometimes differs between the two accounts. Things are worse because the seconds or partisans of one duelist will sometimes decide that the duel wasn't sufficient to settle things, and will have it out amongst themselves after the main event is over.

The things people routinely fought duels over is appalling. Some of the accounts of quarrels and arguments leading up to the duel sound like something that would happen on a second grade playground. A partial list of duel causes includes poor reviews of a book (at least twice), dispute over the quality of spruce beer at two regimental dining halls, a gentleman card player who contradicted a lady in the opposing partnership when she claimed to have all the trumps, a dispute over how to pronounce a word, the failure of a postmaster to deliver some mailed packets of seeds (with Sam Houston being the aggrieved party!), and gazillions of disputes over gambling, shoving, or supposed insults. Most of the specific causes I mentioned above resulted in fatal duels.

Duels have been done in different ways at different times, and this book describes many of them. Often the accepted rules are designed to make things more or less dangerous by popular demand. The English thought that the Irish were crazy because of the high fatality rate among their duelists, while most everyone began to sneer at the French in the 19th century, when changes to acceptable sword designs made dueling there less lethal, and the fatality rate fell to a mere two percent--Barely more dangerous than playing Rugby!  I was aware of and was looking for a discussion of the German dueling tradition that's designed to produce glamorous scars and few deaths, but was surprised to learn that the accepted rules require that the swords be sanitized with antiseptic before the duel, to minimize the chance of infections!

Many well-known or bizarre individual duels are described. The Hamilton-Burr duel gets extensive discussion, as well as the dueling career of a Russian poet named Pushkin whose writing I was dimly aware of, but whose fighting ways were new to me. The Hatfields and McCoys are described (with a broad brush because it covers so much ground). I was wondering if the author would consider Western gunfights as duels, and she apparently doesn't, they get only a brief mention near the end of the book. Several unique duels between less well-known people are described, the two that stuck in my mind are one between two Frenchmen in separate hot air balloons, and two English Army officers who settled their differences by thrashing around in a darkened room in which a cobra had been released. A few of these are so bizarre that I'm a bit skeptical about the historical record. Speaking of the English Army, dueling was very popular among officers stationed in India for many years, but declined sharply after the Suez Canal was opened in 1869, and the increased ease of travel released a flood of husband-hunting English women into India known as "The Fishing Fleet!" The ladies presumably kept their husbands at home and spending less time drinking and gambling, plus they no doubt were a restraining influence when two hotheads did quarrel.

I read the book quickly, and it was fairly enjoyable, but it does get a bit repetitive. I give it three stars. If the subject is of particular interest to you, I think you'll be content, but don't even consider this one if the subject doesn't put a gleam in your eye. As mentioned above, it is temporarily unavailable to buy on Kindle, but presumably will return.


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## The Hooded Claw

That's Life: It's Sexually-Transmitted and Terminal, by Barry Friedman, MD

I picked this up on a whim, figuring for ninety-nine cents I wasn't putting much at risk, plus I am a fan of memoirs by people with interesting jobs. This book by an orthopedic surgeon was well worth it, and I was extremely pleased by the book! The author states frankly in his foreword that the book is just a recap of all the "interesting" stories that happened to him over the years. This goes back a LONG way, the author practiced medicine for over fifty years, and the initial stories in the book take place shortly before he graduated from medical school in the early 1940s.

The book consists entirely of short stories a few pages long. It would make an excellent "bathroom book" or "read for a minute before bed book" for those who read in that way. The stories are of a variety of different types, the largest number are incidents from his Friedman's medical practice, but a significant number are from when he volunteered as a Navy physician in World War II and served as a doctor on board a destroyer in the Pacific. A handful are from other parts of his life, such as when he lucked into a private audience with the Pope while on vacation (Dr. Friedman is Jewish, by the way!).

Several of the medical practice stories are poignant--Such as a man who died as the result of a bizarre and humiliating accidental injury and whose daughters wouldn't see him because of the nature of his injury, some are just incredibly clever ways to solve a unique medical problem, one is a tale of the silly things that happened when his office was one of the first to try computer billing. These were great, they are well-written and interesting, but the most meaningful for me were the stories (perhaps twenty percent of the book) of his experiences on a destroyer in the South Pacific during World War II. Once again, we are reminded that World War II was a time when ordinary people did amazing things. Among other things, Dr. Friedman did remove a ship Captain from duty because of medical reasons--Something often talked about in fiction, but rarely done in the real world. Others were more dramatic, such as watching Japanese mortar shells explode around his small boat as he went into an invasion beach to pick up survivors from a landing craft that had been blown to bits by Japanese defensive fire. Another was rescuing a dying Japanese aviator who had parachuted into the water after he was shot down during an attack. There's one I'd never accept if I read it in a fictional book, he describes coming home from Pacific duty in a DC-3 airliner flying into New York City at night and was crowded around the windows with the other servicemen when the lights on the Statue of Liberty were turned on for the first time after being blacked out for almost four years of war.

An excellent read, and a bargain at ninety-nine cents. Five stars. My advice is that you should get this one.


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## The Hooded Claw

I haven't been in a reading mood lately, and have been taking a break. But I have started to get into the Aubrey-Maturin novels. As you probably know, this is a gigantic (over twenty books!) series of books about a couple of naval officers back in the age of fighting sail that everyone who likes such books seems to love. As a lover of naval stuff, especially the similar Horatio Hornblower novels by C. S. Forester, you'd expect that I'd really like these as well. I had tried to read a paper copy of one of them (I don't even remember which one now) back in the 1990s, and didn't get into it. I've always had in mind giving them another try, and my attention was forced when almost the whole series (every book but one) was marked down to just $3.99 recently. So I've started the first, Master and Commander. It is readable, but isn't riveting me the way that (for instance) the Hornblower books always do. I'm 51% of the way through it, and it is a tolerable read, but I'm just not captivated. I will finish it, and will definitely read at least one more, even if my enthusiasm for them doesn't pick up. The stories definitely deserve the best chance I can give them, even though they for some reason aren't totally sweeping me off my feet.



I'm doing mostly non-reading stuff for awhile, but will get back into the swing of things before too long...


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## The Hooded Claw

When I last posted on July 8th, I'd read 51% of Master and Commander, and at that time hadn't read anything in a couple of weeks.  I didn't read anymore on it for awhile, and about a week ago took it out and read some more, getting to about 65%.  I found it okay, but it didn't grip me, and I didn't feel any urgency to get back to it.  I'm taking this as an indication that even though all signs indicate I should adore the book, I don't care about it.  I'm going to abandon it and read something else, deliberately picking something particularly appealing to help me get back to reading!  I picked up several of these books when the price on them was cut a few weeks ago, assuming that I would surely really enjoy them.  I'm probably going to try to read a later one someday, to see if the writing "improved" at appealing to me (with the wild popularity of these books, obviously the writing appeals to a lot of people, even if I'm not perceptive enough to "get" it!

So look forward to me posting again here in a couple of days on a new book....I know y'all were losing sleep nights worrying about me and my reading!


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## Brownskins

He he he... glad to know your reading is also subject to a book's appeal and grip on you.  You are human after all...

Don't take me seriously... I sometimes stop reading your posts because I get discouraged by how slow I read compared to you.  Recently, I've only been able to read on my train rides so this month, I've only read 2.5 books so far...  Anyway, yoohoo!  Carry on!!! We all feel the quiet before the storm as you head your way to 80...


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## The Hooded Claw

Brownskins said:


> He he he... glad to know your reading is also subject to a book's appeal and grip on you. You are human after all...


Even Jove nods....And The Claw too!


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## The Hooded Claw

World's Greatest Sleuth! A Holmes on the Range Mystery, by Steve Hockensmith

If you're following this thread, you probably remember that I read another book in this series earlier this year. This is the fifth one in the series, and the latest book. The short version is that I enjoyed the book, and it is a worthy continuation.

This book is quite different from the others in the series. Instead of being on an isolated ranch or small town out West, the two cowboy detective brothers are invited to a competition at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago! The story takes place almost entirely on the grounds of the fair, so the heroes are somewhat fish out of water. As the title suggests, the competition is intended to clarify who is the greatest amateur detective in the world. Along with the puffery and publicity-mongering you'd expect from such a venture. The mystery is complicated, and there are more characters than usual in the book. I'd have done better with that if I'd noticed that there is a Dramatis Personae at the front of the book....I didn't stumble onto this till I was over halfway through and it turned up when I did a search to help remind myself who a character was! One of the disadvantages of having Kindle books open on the first page of the actual story.

The book opens with a man with cow poop smeared in his hair being discovered suffocated on top of the world's largest cheese. I just thought I'd get that little fact out front. There are lots of trivia and small bits about the Fair worked in, including the ancestors of some well-known modern products such as Juicy Fruit Gum. A minor irritant is that the brothers learn of the competition from a poster-type announcement that is reproduced in the book. I couldn't read the letters of the poster on my K4! I found that the poster was an illustration, and I could click on it as an illustration and zoom to expand it slightly, but it was still a struggle to read. I got out my iPad, where things are much more enlargable, and could read it easily on the bigger tablet.

There are numerous references and shout-outs to the Sherlock Holmes series, some acknowledged by the characters (remember that one of the two brothers is a fanatical Sherlock Holmes fan) and others not acknowledged, such as a casual reference to a piece of parsley sinking into butter on a hot day. This gives the Holmes fanatics among us a chance to feel smug for noticing them!  This series is supposedly being written up by the younger brother and submitted for printing in a penny dreadful detective magazine of the day (the publisher wrangled the brother's entry into the competition) and in one place, the author is subjected to a lengthy diatribe on the things that are wrong with his stories--All of which are features of the the actual books! I imagine Hockensmith had fun venting all the things that well-meaning critics tell him he shouldn't be doing.

Whenever I've read mention of a piece of music in one of the historical fiction books I read, I try to hunt the song down on Youtube and see what it sounds like. Adds a bit to the atmosphere, and helps me pretend to be cultured by having a vague familiarity with a few old songs! This book mentioned band music from the fair a lot, and it was an education in marches by John Phillips Sousa. I was amused that I recognized every single march mentioned, though I only actually knew one of them by name before hearing it on Youtube. One of these amused me--The Liberty Bell March is one of the first pieces mentioned, and when I looked it up I was surprised to recognize the theme from Monty Python's Flying Circus! I'd never thought about that music, but wouldn't have expected them to use something by Sousa, especially since he was an American. Digging into it a bit, part of the reason it was chosen was because it is out of copyright, and the original Monty Python tv show had no budget for music!

The ending is dramatic, the mystery is complicated and interesting and logical (though I hadn't had a clue of what was going on till it was explained) and there are a lot of changes for the brothers at the end. I have to wonder if this is intended to be the end of the series, although it is certainly possible it could continue--And the changes might be intended as a way to help keep the books fresh by shuffling things around a bit. In any case, I'll be looking for them. Solid four stars out of five. And this is book 69, and I'm back on track reading again!


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## crebel

Are you slacking off again?  You only had 11 books to go to meet your goal!


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## telracs

crebel said:


> Are you slacking off again? You only had 11 books to go to meet your goal!


and they say I'm tough....


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## The Hooded Claw

I am indeed slacking off, been watching Netflix and playing Civilization in my spare time instead of reading! 

I did read one of the six drinks (beer) in A History of the World in Six Glasses, but haven't got back to it. Summertime doldrums! 

But I will return and exceed my goal. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## The Hooded Claw

Crebel will be glad to know that I finished A History of the World in Six Glasses this evening! I enjoyed it, and give it four and a half stars. The book examines the history of six different drinks, and how they affected culture and history. The six drinks are:

1) Beer
2) Wine
3) Spirits (distilled booze)
4) Coffee
5) Tea
6) Cola

I've marked lots of stuff to mention in my writeup, but it's late and I am going to wait till tomorrow to write more. In the meantime, here are a couple of illustrations that were mentioned in the book, and are kind of interesting:










Vice President Richard Nixon watches as Nikita Khrushchev drinks a Pepsi at an American trade exposition in Moscow, 1959










The man of the house enjoys a room temperature beer in ancient Egypt, about 1300 BC. The lady of the house has to look on in envy. And yes, he is drinking beer through a straw! That was the custom for thousands of years.










A World War II vintage advertisement for Coca Cola explains that drinking Coca Cola is the patriotic thing to do, since your work output might slip without that burst of sugar and caffeine....


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## crebel

*applause*  Good job, Claw, only 10 books to go.  You are WAY ahead of schedule!


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## The Hooded Claw

There is a LOT of very interesting stuff covered in Six Glasses! As I go through these books, I make bookmarks at things I think I may want to mention in these writeups, and I made forty-four bookmarks in this book! To the relief of all, I am not going to list and comment on all of them here, I'll just have to pick and choose.

Early beer, as shown in the ancient Egyptian illustration above, was nasty. Drunk at room temperature, they didn't filter the physical remnants of the grain out so there were bits of chaff suspended in the beer, tricks such as adding malted grain and thoroughly cooking the gruel the beer is made from hadn't been invented, meaning that the alcohol content was low. Hops weren't added to beer till Medieval times. And to make sure that the correct yeasts got into the beer, brewers tended to use the same containers for brewing without really cleaning it out between uses! Beer was generally drunk out of big casks, and several friends would each stick their straw into the same cask. This seems to have continued as the custom even after individual clay cups could have easily been made, so it seems to have been a social thing.

Of course, beer was the only reliable way to get alcohol, and thanks to that alcohol, beer was much safer to drink (even though it might be nasty) than most water that was near human habitation! By Dark Ages and Medieval times, it was common to drink beer rather than water with every meal, even for breakfast.

Distilled alcohol was originally produced by alchemists, who tended to view everything exotic as a potential medical treatment. So it was initially viewed as good for what ails you. This didn't necessarily mean by drinking it. A King named Charles the Bad (AKA Charles II of Navarre) was ill and suffering partial paralysis, so his physicians decided that this new distilled spirit was just what he needed. To make sure he got maximum benefit from the precious medicine, his doctors soaked sheets in alcohol, and wrapped them around his body, so his limbs would get the benefits directly. But there was a small problem. One of his servants let fire get too close, and the King was enveloped in alcoholic flame! Various accounts blame this either on a seamstress who was sewing up the sheets tight around him and needed candle light, or a stray coal from a metal heating pan. Charles probably didn't care which one it was. It was announced that Charles suffered this hideous death as a divine punishment because one of his last acts had been to raise taxes....

Both coffee and tea arrived on the scene in Europe much later than alcohol. Coffee seems to have first appeared in Europe about 1600, but didn't really become common until about 1650. Tea actually was imported for the first time a little earlier than coffee, but was initially very expensive, and didn't become truly popular till after 1700. Both arguably greatly improved the mental state of Europeans. Drinking water was not safe in large cities, so most everyone drunk beer or wine (probably diluted wine for many) with most every meal. Even though they didn't deliberately drink large quantities with regular meals, it is quite likely that many people went through the day with a slight buzz! Coffee and tea don't have that effect, and their caffeine produces the opposite effect and makes the drinker more attentive and alert, at least for awhile. Coffee houses tended to be used as offices by many merchants....If you wanted to meet up with Fred the Importer, you didn't ask what his address was, you asked which coffee house he favored. For businesses that involved the same group of people trading among each other, certain coffee houses would be the common meeting place for those merchants. Lloyd's of London developed from a group of insurers who met at the same coffeehouse!

For coffee, and tea, there were strong moves to convince people that these were unhealthy and should be banned. This happened with coffee in the Arab world soon after it was "invented", there was a formal trial of coffee in Mecca in 1511, and the drink was temporarily banned. But the sentiment to ban the new drinks was particularly strong in Europe. Part of this was undoubtedly due to conservatism, but a lot of it was deliberately financed and encouraged by wine and beer makers and tavern owners, whose business was hurt by the new drinks. John Sebastian Bach wrote a "Coffee Cantata" that satirized this movement. Here it is!






This tells a story--A young woman is addicted to coffee, and her father wants her to quit. They argue, and eventually she agrees to give up coffee if her father will allow her to marry. He agrees, but unknown to Dad, she tells her suitors that anyone who doesn't agree to let her drink coffee regularly after the wedding is out of the picture! At the end, Dad, Daughter, and narrator sing together that drinking coffee is natural.

Moving on to cola drinks, we also had a banning moment here in the United States. A government scientist rejoicing in the name Harvey Washington Wiley, who had done excellent work in establishing the Pure Food and Drug Act, which was important in prohibiting useless and often harmful patent medicines, decided that Coca Cola was a bad thing. He investigated this new drink, and in 1911, there was a federal court case with the official title of _The United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca Cola_. I'm not making this up! To make a long story short, Coca Cola won. But as part of the agreement to settle the case, Coca Cola agreed to reduce the amount of caffeine in Coke, and not to use children in their advertisements. A big part of Wiley's concern was driven by tea and coffee seldom being served to children, while Coca Cola was marketed and served to children regularly. Coke continued to observe the no-kids-in-advertising ban until 1986!

The Cola Wars between Pepsi and Coke have been factors in international politics. After World War II, Coca Cola became a symbol of American consumerism internationally. Communists particularly hated it. When trade between the US and USSR began to be allowed in some products, the Soviet government chose Pepsi to introduce American soft drinks, because they didn't want to allow the hated Coca Cola into their countries. This rebounded somewhat in Eastern Europe after the Soviets were throw out in 1989 or so....Pepsi was the symbol of the hated communist regimes, so Coca Cola became very popular. Something similar happened in the Middle East, where Coca Cola avoided establishing bottling operations in Israel for years because they preferred to sell in the larger Arab market. When they were called on this, they agreed to open a bottling plant in Israel, not so much because of the market there, but because they feared a boycott in the US over the subject. Just as Coke feared, this lead to Coca Cola being expelled from many Arab countries, and again Pepsi became the cola of choice in many of those countries. This happened in 1968, and the Arab boycott continued for about twenty years before weakening. There are now also domestic Middle Eastern colas making inroads in some Arab countries, a popular one goes by the name Zam Zam!

I was disappointed by one omission from the book. My family was culturally Southern as I was growing up, so iced tea was a popular drink for us. I literally didn't know tea could be drunk hot till sometime in my early teens, and found some references in Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Dolittle, and other books puzzling because of this. I was looking forward to a discussion of the Southern love of iced tea and the disdain many tea purists hold for the cold version, but it didn't get mentioned in the book.

I've left out a ton of stuff, you'll have to read the book if you want to find out. As mentioned in my first post, I highly recommend A History of the World in Six Glasses.


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## The Hooded Claw

I've done some more reading the past few days, among other things I finished up The Crazy Years, by Spider Robinson. Way back at book 37, I started this book of essays, and found that most of them were polemics (often on the same subject). Reading one screed after another wore on me, and I've read an essay from the book from time to time. Finished it a couple of days ago.

This afternoon I started a new book:



Southeast Asia in World History, by Craig Lockard

I'm about 1/3 through the book now. This might seem like an odd choice, but in late September (a bit over a month from today!) I am flying to Asia on vacation. I'll be part of a group tour taking a boat ride up the Mekong River from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) into Cambodia, and spending several days touring the huge complex of temples in the jungle at Angkor Wat! Naturally, I am looking forward to this, and want to understand as much of what I see as possible, so this book is the preparation. My initial reaction is a bit of disappointment--I was particularly interested in reading about the Khmer Empire, which built Angkor Wat and the other temples, but this subject occupies only a few pages in the book. This isn't really unreasonable, since the book has only 272 pages to cover four thousand years of history for a much larger area than the Khmer Empire, but it still disappointed me. I've got some other books that I hope will be more satisfactory, and I've still got over a month (including a loooong plane ride) to get some of that reading done.

A few tidbits from the book so far, I was surprised how much migration of people and infighting there was. For instance the country Thailand gets its name from the Tai people. Fair enough, but the Tai actually migrated to modern-day Thailand from the mountains of Southern China, and are latecomers to the area! The Austronesian language and culture, which was dominant in modern-day Malaysia and Indonesia, were great navigators (which I knew, in a vague way), but I had not realized that their descendants colonized a huge chunk of the world, and are ancestors of the Polynesians, Hawaiians, the Maori of New Zealand, and (this one was a total surprise to me) the inhabitants of Madagascar in Africa! Not knock-your-socks-off stuff, but it combined some info I was vaguely aware of into one piece that made the Austronesian migrations in glorified dugout canoes much more impressive.

We all know about the Mongols conquering China and threatening to invade Europe back in the Dark Ages. Well, they stuck their spear into Southeast Asia also! They weren't too successful there, however. They tried to invade Burma (the contemporary king of "Pagan", the name of the region at the time, ignored his Queen's advice to pay tribute to the Mongols so they wouldn't invade), and were successful enough to severely weaken the government there, including causing trouble which got the stubborn king killed), but didn't manage to conquer the area for any length of time. They also had unsuccessful invasions of northern Vietnam, and weirdest to my mind, a waterborne invasion of Java carried in ships built and crewed by conquered Chinese. Can you imagine Mongols invading tropical islands carried in junks? One of the leaders of the Vietnamese opposition to the invaders wanted to ensure that his soldiers would fight to the end, and wouldn't even consider deserting and blending into the mass of civilians. So he had "Kill the Mongols" tattooed onto the right arm of all his soldiers! Nothing like a morale boost.

One bit that is actually about the Khmer....The huge temple complexes were primarily religious structures, but the Kings who had them built didn't hesitate to brag a little. King Yasovarman I in the late 800s, had the following humble biographic note carved in one of his works:

"_In all the sciences, and in all the sports, in dancing, singing, and all the rest, he was as clever as if he had been the first inventor of them._"

Modest fellow, wasn't he?

If you follow the news,there is currently unrest against the monarchy in Thailand. It might be understandable that they would want a change there, the current ruling dynasty has an unbroken line of kings going back to 1781!

Pepper was one of the most desirable items from the Far East for Europeans in the 1400s, so somebody in England wrote this little bit of doggerel:

_"Pepper is black, and has a good smack, and every man doth it buy."_

In Melaka, a major trading port in modern day Malaysia, an official in the 1400s was named Tun Mutahir. Tun was allegedly so vain he changed clothes seven times a day in front of a full-length mirror. Eventually the Sultan got angry at Tun because Tun betrothed his beautiful daughter to the Sultan's rival. In old Melaka, upsetting the Sultan in this way got you an appointment with the ax man, and Tun really did lose his head over the matter. Wow!

Some of the stuff I'm reading interweaves with stuff from earlier books this year. The book covers the Philippine Islands, and describes the repressive Spanish measures to force conversions to Christianity. The Inquisition isn't mentioned specifically, but the book does say that it was 1842 before the Spanish government withdrew permission for priests and friars to whip locals who didn't observe proper Christian ablutions. The book also discusses the trade in coffee, which ties in with my very last book.

Speaking of the Philippines, I knew that Ferdinand Magellan was the commander of the first around-the-world sailing expedition, and I knew that he didn't finish the trip, as he died fighting natives in the Philippines. What I didn't know that there is a modern memorial erected on the site by the Philippine government. But the monument is not to Magellan, but to Lapulapu, chief of the natives who killed him!

I'm about 1/3 of the way through the book, which goes all the way to current times, so more to come!


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## The Hooded Claw

If you were intrigued by A History of the World in Six Glasses, Betsy tells us it is one of the Kindle Deals of the Day today. That is how I got it! I recommend the book if you find the subject at all interesting. 

I am slogging through the history of SE Asia still. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## telracs

The Hooded Claw said:


> If you were intrigued by A History of the World in Six Glasses, Betsy tells us it is one of the Kindle Deals of the Day today. That is how I got it! I recommend the book if you find the subject at all interesting.
> 
> I am slogging through the history of SE Asia still.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


yup, i was intrigued and yup, i just picked it up.


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## The Hooded Claw

I am back this afternoon from a business trip, and while I was away I finished the book on Southeast Asia. Lots of comments, probably posted tomorrow.

I am also 60% of the way through this:



Bride of the Rat God, by Barbara Hambly

It got off to a slow start, and nearly lost me, but I'm in it till the finish now. The setting of 1920s Hollywood is interesting.


----------



## The Hooded Claw

To finish up comments on the Southeast Asia book--

More on Magellan. I had marveled that there is a monument honoring the man who killed him at the site of Magellan's death in battle in the Philippines, but was surprised again soon after to read that there are several monuments honoring Magellan for bringing Christianity to the Philippines. So the Filipino government may be the only government around to erect laudatory monuments both to a historic figure and to his killer! 

The book is critical of the famous book and Broadway musical The King and I. Apparently Mongkut was a very progressive and effective king, is revered by Thais, and was very effective in bringing the modern world to Siam in a cautious way while maintaining Siamese independence. This book describes Mongkut as "..probably the most perceptive and learned Southeast Asian leader of the mid-nineteenth Century." Both he and his son were effective at diplomacy and development of their countries, and Siam was fortunate to have these two competent monarchs reigning for a very long time from 1851 to 1910.

United States military involvement with Southeast Asia long predates the Vietnam war. In 1845 we landed troops in Vietnam briefly to force the release of a captive French missionary, and in 1832 our warships bombarded a Sumatran port that was believed to be a pirate base. A physician with the US fleet criticized our efforts in Sumatra as uninformed and blowing up a bunch of people who were innocent of the piracy we were trying to stop. *sigh*

I've always viewed the US efforts in the Philippines as a somewhat benevolent effort to help a developing country that had been kicked around under Spanish rule while supporting US military and commercial interests in the Western Pacific, but not everyone sees it this way. Mark Twain, one of my idols, wrote a bitter spoof of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" that criticized US rule there. Read it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_Hymn_of_the_Republic,_Updated

I've never been naive enough to claim our rule was totally noble and pure, but supporting my view is a complaint by a frustrated Philippine nationalist that the US rule wasn't repressive enough to spur massive opposition that would gain popular Filipino support for kicking the Americans out!

French rule in Vietnam definitely makes the US look good in comparison. Vietnamese villages were required to purchase designated amounts of opium and alcohol (which profited the French rulers) and villages that didn't buy their quota, or that were found to be making rice wine as they had done for centuries, were punished. And of course the opium and alcohol ended up ruining lives.

The British were generally not as harsh as the French, but still provoked rebellions, and tattooed rebels show up again in Burma (remember the Vietnamese general I posted about earlier who had "Kill the Mongols" tattooed on his soldier's arms to keep them from being able to desert and hide out?). In Burma in 1930, a rebellion against British rule was poorly supplied with firearms, so the rebels received tattoos that supposedly protected them from British bullets. The book doesn't say specifically, but I imagine confidence in these tattoos did not continue after the first encounter with British regular troops....

The book talks about the effects of development on individuals, notably women. Before mass-produced textiles from the factory system were brought to Southeast Asia, in many places women traditionally helped the family earn an income by weaving and textile-making in their homes. This was criticized, but when textile factories were introduced, it made the women more dependent on the men in their families, and some of the poorest families lost the income produced by women, but couldn't afford the mass-produced textiles. In some cases, women could get jobs in factories, but this didn't allow them to take care of children and elderly relatives as they could while producing textiles at home. The book also correctly points out the irony of Western schools that taught Malayan (for instance) children about Henry the Eighth and Charlemagne, but taught little or nothing of local history. Who you were colonized by made a big difference in your educational opportunities. In the Philippines, 75% of the children attended primary school, and by 1940, fifty percent of the population was literate, but in areas colonized by the French and Dutch, only ten percent of the population was literate.

Overall, the book was a good broad overview, but I was disappointed in the depth of coverage for some things I wanted to learn more about, such as the US involvement in Vietnam and the story of the Khmer Empire that I mentioned in my original post. Alas, when covering the history of a large area over a long period of time as this book tries to do, there are limits in how much detail can be included! I recommend the book for anyone who wants to learn the history of this area, and I'd give it four stars. I think my trip there later this month will benefit because I read the book. People who aren't motivated to learn this area's history would not find it nearly as rewarding, of course.


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## The Hooded Claw

Bride of the Rat God is now finished. I am at 72 books!

The title is certainly eye-catching, the story is set in the silent film era of Hollywood in the early 1920s. As part of her costume during a film, a beautiful movie starlet unwittingly wears an enchanted (cursed) Chinese necklace that brings her to the attention of a Chinese rat god/demon. He is intent on making her his (which involves a horrible end for the starlet). The book is written from the viewpoint of a woman in the starlet's entourage as she and her friends try to foil the Rat God's evil plans. I had VERY high hopes for this book--Author Hambly isn't a favorite of mine, but I've read and enjoyed some of her other work. And Max Allen Collins, one of my favorite authors, has made an industry of setting detective stories in different historical periods that consistently please me. I thought that if Hambly could do similar with fantasy/horror in 1920s Hollywood, I'd have a winner. Unfortunately, the book just never caught fire with me, and I can only give it three stars.

Leaving out the historical stuff, as a story, the book moves a bit slowly, and several times I considered abandoning it. But always just enough would happen to keep me reading, and I did finish the book late last night. What happens is interesting, and a good story, it just seems that there is too much book for the amount of story we have here! The historical setting might have improved the book for me, in his detective stories Collins makes great use of inserting various historical trivia and details, and of appearances by historical figures, sometimes in moderately important roles. Hambly isn't able to make this work, there is a bit of stuff about the early movie industry but not much, and though there are references to some of the film legends of the time, they never rise above the level of "While I was bored at the party, I saw Douglas Fairbanks talking to Charlie Chaplin." At one point, the heroes do steal Clara Bow's car (they were fleeing for their lives at the time) and it is wrecked during the ensuing chase, but Hambly didn't even use the opportunity to give us a scene with Clara Bow and her reaction.

The highlight of the story for me was actually the three Pekingese dogs owned by the starlet. Early in the story, we begin to see that there is a reason that those guardian lions seen in front of Chinese temples look a lot like Pekingese....

I was amused by the reaction to the cover in many of the Amazon reviews, many people truly seem to hate the cover. I don't think the cover is great, but it was okay for me:



For me the book was three stars, I might have liked it better if I hadn't gone into it with such raised expectations. I've only read a couple of Hambly's other books, her dedicated fans may like it better than I did.


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON

AWESOME!!


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## The Hooded Claw

How Parking Enforcement Stole My Soul, by Ben Friedrich

I've commented before that I tend to enjoy occupational memoirs, and this one intrigued me....How interesting could writing parking tickets be? I snapped this up when it was briefly offered for free last week, and read it quickly. The short version is that it's okay, but nothing awesome. I give it three and a half stars.

The book is a personal memoir of the start of a young man's career, parking enforcement doesn't start till 25% of the way through the book. Friedrich was a rather idealistic and very religious libertarian who was dedicated to public service, and began his career as a part-time firefighter. His ultimate goal was to become a policeman, and he got into parking enforcement as a way to get a foot in the door to a "real" police job, and have a full-time job that would give him a living wage. He seems genuinely shocked at how doing a job that consists mainly of playing "gotcha!" and is despised by virtually everyone sucked away his enthusiasm and caused him to become disaffected in his entire life, not just during work hours. The book is readable, but not awesome. I never found myself thinking that I should put this down for awhile and come back later, as I did in the previous "Rat God" book. On the other hand, there are no super-duper things in the book either. Many of the stories are passably interesting, but none are shockers, and few made me even consider mentioning them here. This isn't Friedrich's fault, parking enforcement just seems to have limited capacity for jaw-dropping adventures.

I was surprised to learn that in order to become a parking officer, at least in his jurisdiction, you have to take and pass a lie detector test! Friedrich flunked it initially for being "too honest" and admitting to minor peccadilos that the department would rather have not heard about. I was also surprised to find that parking officers were issued, and Friedrich often chose to wear, a bulletproof vest!

Once Friedrich got the job, he poured himself into it with a vengeance, writing thirty-one tickets on his first day, a hundred within his first week, and over a thousand in the first six months. Friedrich says they did not have a "quota", but instead an "expectation" of five tickets a day. Apparently an expectation is entirely different. He does admit that sometimes he had to desperately hunt to find enough violations in his assigned area to meet the expectation. I did enjoy the snark in one of his stock answers to a frequently-asked question....When a citizen came and found him ticketing said citizen's car, Friedrich was often asked "Got to meet your quota, huh?" or similar. His response was "No, I can write as many as I want!" But many of his fellow officers, and sometimes Friedrich, only spent part of the day writing tickets before it would wear on them, and they spent a lot of time trying to find an out of sight place to lay low or meet up with other parking officers to swap stories. Some citizens who observed them at this weren't pleased, and it wasn't uncommon for someone to turn in a videotape of officers goofing off for a lengthy time. For legal protection of the Department, officers were required to turn on a voice recorder whenever they interacted with a citizen.

It's true what they say about paperwork in law enforcement. When Ben had a minor accident that ripped the passenger-side mirror off his official Ford Taurus, he spent an honest four hours writing up the paperwork. He then had to spend three hours having his driving evaluated by a "county safety officer" to make sure he wasn't a menace on the road. He says sweating over this while his job was on the line was one of his worst experiences.

Apparently there is an actual reality tv show called Parking Wars, about parking enforcement and the people who tow cars that are in extreme violation. Friedrich says many people have asked him about it, but insists he never has watched it. "Watching others on the television, doing what I do every day? Facing off against people who are hurting and angry because a government official says that they're taking away their money or their vehicle? No thanks."

From what Friedrich described, he genuinely began to loathe himself and what he did. It truly affected his health and his whole life, before he asked to speak to his Sergeant privately and told him, "I'm done." As someone who has worked for the government and dealt with the system, I did laugh out loud at his sergeant's response, which I won't repeat here.  The last words in the book proper are: "...please, for all our sakes, never take a job as a parking enforcement officer."

The book concludes with four appendices of advice on how to avoid getting a parking ticket and how to try to get out of it if you receive one anyway. The advice was helpful and pointed out some things I hadn't heard of, but there was nothing in it that made my jaw drop from the power and insight.

If you think the book sounds interesting, you'll probably like it. Don't expect to have your world rocked, however. If you like this sort of thing as I do, you may want to look at another book:



It's odd for me to say it, but the book by a waiter was much more interesting than the book by a parking ticket writer! I read the waiter book when it came out a couple of years ago (truth in advertising, I got the copy free through Amazon's Vine program), and thought it was excellent.


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## The Hooded Claw

Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction, by Kim Knott

I've been distracted from reading for awhile, and part of the reason is that I'm getting ready for the trip to Southeast Asia I mentioned in earlier posts. As mentioned, this is a pleasure trip I'm taking on my own, but I'll be going to Vietnam and Cambodia. After a boat ride up the Mekong River, I will spend five days at Angkor Wat, the huge temple complex in the jungles of Cambodia. When these temples were built, the major religion in the area was Hinduism (this changed partway through the life of the temples). So I decided to read the above book to understand a bit about Hinduism and help me "get" what I was seeing. Noble idea, but it didn't work. Among other problems, there are a lot of different "flavors" of Hinduism, and in short, I didn't feel that what I was reading was going to help me. The fact that the subject is a rather dry one made it worse! I got about a third of the way through the book, and just couldn't make myself go back to it. For now, I'm abandoning the book. I may try to pick it up again on the long airplane ride to Vietnam. One of the advantages of the Kindle is I can afford to have hundreds of books with me on these trips!

So I shifted to another book I wanted to read before my trip, and I was more successful. I have completed this:


(link to DTB, no Kindle version)

A Record of Cambodia: The Land and its People, by Zhou Daguan, translated and with an introduction by Peter Harris

There is only one written account of the Khmer Empire during the heyday of Angkor Wat, and this is it! It was written by a Chinese diplomat who was assigned to the country for over a year. The trip occurred in the years 1296 and 1297, and the translator points out some eerie parallels of timing between this book and Marco Polo's book about being a European in China, which describes a journey taking place about the same time. Tragically, we only have about 1/3 of the original Cambodia book. The full book apparently still existed in the 1600s, but now much of it has been lost. What we have seems fragmented, which is good in a way, since if you don't like what you are reading now, just wait a minute and the subject will change. Since the book is a descriptive one without a plot or story, these abrupt changes work well enough. There are some very odd things in the book--A minor one is that Zhou gives detailed descriptions of books and features of the temple complex that are still there, yet gets some elementary things grossly wrong. In particular, he describes several statues showing a mythological giant snake that he describes as having nine heads, yet the statues are still there and have seven. Also, he describes some very prominent gateways that he says have five giant stone carved faces in them, and the same gateways still exist, but have _four_ carved faces. The temples were "living" structures in active use and subject to change, so it is conceivable that these features were changed after his visit. I'm wondering if there was some sort of numerology thing that motivated him to misstate these numbers. At this time, we just don't know, and maybe we never will!

In addition to the translated account, the book has a short but good selection of color photo plates in the beginning, that show features described in the book and explain what they are. Plus the translator has a lengthy introduction that helps describe what is known of Cambodia and of Zhou that was very very helpful to me. Some stuff about translations and the difficulties and choices faced in translating archaic Chinese were less interesting. There are extensive footnotes at the end, which sometimes describe linguistic choices made, but often have additional explanation of a confusing passage in the book. Zhou begins by briefly describing sailing from China to Angkor Wat, including a voyage up the Mekong like I'll be making. I'd have LOVED to hear a detailed description of the Mekong at the time, but sadly he glosses over this (at least in the portions of the book we have!). Because of the type of book this is, there is tons of interesting trivia stuff, here are a few bits:

One of the major punishments for criminals was to have the toes cut off! In addition to being very painful, this was unfortunate because people without toes were not admitted to the capital city. Dogs and toeless criminals were the only creatures exiled in this way.

Remember the nine-headed snake statue I mentioned? It was of a "spirit which is lord of the entire country" in the eyes of the Khmer, and every night the real snake spirit was reported to change into the form of a human woman and go into the King's chambers, where they "did the wild thing." Even the King's wives and concubines weren't allowed in his chamber while this was happening, and only after this could the King entertain himself among mortal women! If the snake-woman spirit didn't appear in a night, it meant the King was about to die.

Zhou describes the three religious doctrines that were around in Cambodia at the time, but he was incapable of comprehending that these were different doctrines that didn't exist in China. He refers to them by Chinese names (such as Daoism), but gives recognizable details that make it clear that he is describing non-Chinese doctrines that existed in Cambodia at the time.

Zhou is frank in explaining "I wasn't able to find out _____" when he doesn't know something.

Shades of the Spanish Inquisition, a common way of settling the guilt or innocence of an accused thief was to force him to stick his hand in boiling oil. A common way to describe how lesser suits between families (what we might call a civil suit) was to make a representative of each family sit in a small tower. Eventually, one would get sick, and his family was declared the loser. As Zhou says, "Such are the strange laws of foreigners."!

Zhou says that life is easy and pleasant in Cambodia, and that there was a great problem with Chinese sailors jumping ship to stay there after completing the voyage up the Mekong.

Zhou describes crocodiles, and says "They look exactly like dragons except that they have no horns."

Zhou describes that the Cambodians would refuse to eat dead cows, presumably from Hindu beliefs, but again is unable to comprehend that this is because of a non-Chinese religious belief. He says that the refusal comes from appreciation of the work the cows have done for people. He says cows are used to haul carts and for nothing else.

I was satisfied with the book, and am going to take it with me on my trip, even though it is a paper book (no Kindle version!). But I doubt anyone not contemplating a trip to Cambodia would find it worthwhile. A must-read for the Cambodia bound, but everyone else should skip it!


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## Seleya

The Hooded Claw said:


> I was satisfied with the book, and am going to take it with me on my trip, even though it is a paper book (no Kindle version!). But I doubt anyone not contemplating a trip to Cambodia would find it worthwhile. A must-read for the Cambodia bound, but everyone else should skip it!


This sinologist is definitely _not_ going to skip it. Thank you, I didn't know of this book.


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## The Hooded Claw

Seleya said:


> This sinologist is definitely _not_ going to skip it. Thank you, I didn't know of this book.


Seleya, glad my comments were useful, and though I talked about tourists, I hadn't considered that a student of China would appreciate the book also!

I made my reservations for my Asia trip back in January, and bought the latest copy of the Lonely Planet guidebook to Cambodia to read. I learned just a couple of days ago that Lonely Planet updated the Cambodia book in July! So I've bought the latest edition, and am reading through it for stuff that interests me. I won't be reading it cover to cover of course. For one thing, I'm not going to go to all of Cambodia!


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## The Hooded Claw

Hello from Vietnam! I am resting up before going to bed for my first night here. On the plane I didn't get as much reading done as I thought I might, but I did start and finish this:



Comments when I get back to USA, but in short it is worthwhile if you'd like to understand the restaurant business. I also read selected parts of the new LOnely Planet guide to Cambodia.

More later, see the Apocalypse Claw thread in NQK if you want to learn about my non reading activities on the trip.


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## Brownskins

Claw, thanks for the review on the book on Southeast Asia.  I will read that to my homeschooled kids as part of their world history subject.  Awesome!


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## The Hooded Claw

Brownskins said:


> Claw, thanks for the review on the book on Southeast Asia. I will read that to my homeschooled kids as part of their world history subject. Awesome!


glad it was useful! But be warned I think this is intended as A college textbook, so it may be hard going for them.


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## The Hooded Claw

I can't find the line now, but somewhere I remember bragging on KB that when I returned from Vietnam and Cambodia, I might have my eighty books for the year read! That didn't happen--On another trip earlier in the year, I spent most of a long airline flight coming and going reading on my Kindle. The flights this time were even longer, but the airline treated them as night flights and turned off all the lights. When coming home, I did keep my individual light on for about four hours, but I felt like I was being disruptive to people all about me who were trying to sleep, and to be honest, I was getting kind of tired myself, so I eventually turned off my light and laid back with my eyes closed, even though I never did (and never do) get to sleep on the plane. I could've read on the shorter flight the next day from my airport of entry back to Oklahoma, but instead I spent the whole trip going through pictures of the trip on my iPad! While in Asia, I could have read on some evenings, but I was either too wired up or too tired to do more than look up stuff I'd seen or was about to see in the guidebooks. The upshot is that I finished one book and read about half of another one on the trip. So I'm still well short of eighty, though I have enough time to meet my goal before year's end.



Turning the Tables: An Insider's Guide to Eating Out, by Steven A. Shaw

The above is the book I finished. It deals with fine dining, this is not about greasy spoons, however famous, and most definitely not about chain or fast food restaurants! The author, who is apparently a big web presence in the fine food blogging area, wrote about how to get the most out of your experiences at fine restaurants, and went on the scene to give us a glimpse of the behind the scenes stuff that goes into making your food experience a great one, including looking at what food suppliers do. The author abandoned his career as a lawyer to take this up, so it is clearly a great enthusiasm of his. I was interested in the book both as general interest, and because this is a world I don't participate in--It just isn't my chosen pursuit, plus Oklahoma is not a hotbed of upper-class dining.

The short version of how to get the most out of your fine dining experience is:

1) Pick one or two restaurants in your area that you like, and become a known "regular" there. This can get you occasional privileges and special treatment (within reason).
2) At the above restaurants, become best friends with the reservations scheduler. This can get you occasional privileges and special treatment (within reason).
3) Take an interest in the staff, both in how they can educate you about the food and drink, and to the extent they choose to open up, as real live people. This can get you occasional privileges and special treatment (within reason).
4) Take opportunities to learn outside the restaurant, such as web sites, tv shows, and naturally he hopes you will buy his book and patronize his blog.
5) If you decide you aren't going to use a reservation, cancel it at the earliest opportunity. Don't even THINK about making reservations at two or more restaurants on an evening with the idea you'll make a last minute decision to cancel all but one (this seems like basic decency to me, sad that people have to be told this one!).

I was surprised to find that at many fine top end restaurants, they maintain a file on each customer, often including everything they've ever ordered. It will also contain a record of how many times they've cancelled reservations late or been no-shows, both of which are anathema for fine restaurants. Shaw describes being at a fine restaurant on a Friday night when it was half empty, and hearing the manager's frustration at massive no-shows, and what a disaster that was since perishable ingredients had been brought and staff called in to take care of these tables. Though this was an extremely unfortunate case, it appears to represent a real problem for these restaurants. Shaw points out the unfortunate position of restaurants compared with hotels, where you are required to present a credit card for a reservation, and will be charged for the night whether you show up or not. For those who do not abuse the restaurant by abusing them in this way, fine restaurants live or die by their regulars, so they will try very hard to make sure the regulars are happy. A quote from the book: "The best restaurant isn't the one with the highest Zagat rating, the most stars from the local paper, or that cute celebrity chef. It's the one where you're a regular."

The author acknowledges that this can be an expensive pleasure, and gives some advice on how to control costs without giving up too much; obvious things such as not ordering the bottled water that can go for five bucks a bottle at such restaurants, and less obvious things such as agreeing in advance with your co-diners what limits on ordering alcohol or division of the bill will be....It seems that restaurants love those big tables because some kind of groupthink effect tends to make people's judgement break down and generate massive bar bills when they eat in groups of six or eight people. He suggests looking for ways the restaurant may offer of trying their food on a budget, such as lunch menus, pretheater specials, or seasonal promotions. But he correctly points out that eating at fine restaurants is not a budget option, and this is a pleasure you're going to have to decide you are willing to pay more for than you would at lesser establishments.

He makes an interesting point that the popularity of sushi restaurants (which I've never tried, the idea of eating raw fish puts me off!) may be a reaction to the popularity of complex dishes and meals, and complexity in life. Sushi apparently is as basic as it gets in food and dining.

Shaw describes helping in the kitchen of one restaurant where he was assigned to carve up celery to make a dish called brunoise. According to his calculations, each piece of celery was carved up into 4,096 tiny pieces! Unsurprisingly, as a noob he was slow at it, and didn't produce a very good quality of celery cubes.

Several cooks he spoke with agreed that one of the greatest challenges of the job was finding adequate footwear to let you stand and work all day for lengthy shifts. The chosen answers of different cooks ranged from clogs to work boots. There are other physical challenges, in one kitchen he worked in the temperature got up to 116 degrees!

Apparently in Europe they have regulations that spell out how ingredients and dishes are described on menus. In the Land of the Free, we have no such regulations, which makes for menus that sometimes don't give the full story on ingredients. One of the few reliable things you can depend on for a certain standard of raw material quality is brand names of certain meats, notably Niman Ranch and Coleman Natural beef (I'd never heard of either!). He says the description of "USDA beef" that is often used is meaningless. All beef legally sold in the USA must be USDA beef. USDA Prime does actually have a meaning, and he suggests that USDA Prime dry aged is the pinnacle of beef. Other terms are less clear and useful. "Ahi Tuna" basically means "tuna", and has no separate meaning. But yellowfin and bluefin tuna do mean something, with bluefin being more desirable, and usually more expensive. "Natural" and "low carb" have no real meaning, and he laughs at restaurants that label vegetables as "cholesterol free" when there is no such thing as cholesterol in a vegetable. If you don't know what terms mean, he suggests asking about them. Use your BS meter to try to pick out whether the response you get is based on marketing and cynicism or an actual commitment to quality.

One thing I was hoping he would cover but didn't is the issue of farm-raised salmon vs. "free range" wild salmon. I actually got to see salmon being farmed in Canada several years ago, and have paid more attention to the controversy since, especially after reading an article in the New York Times a few years ago where they used genetic testing on salmon from various NYC restaurants and found that more than half of "wild salmon" was actually farm-raised. Alas, other than piquing my interest with a brief reference to wild salmon tasting better than farm-raised, he didn't cover it. He does cover clam farming, which I'd never heard of. He claims that farmed clams raised with good technique taste the same as wild clams, in his opinion.

*FOR THOSE WHO ARE SENSITIVE ABOUT ANIMALS, THERE ARE SOME GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF BARBECUE COMING UP AND YOU MAY WANT TO STOP READING HERE.*

Shaw does d*mn government regulations regarding pasteurization and cheeses, and says that for certain types of cheeses, you can't get "the good stuff" in the USA, and must eat it in Canada or Europe because of US pasteurization regulations he feels are excessive and unnecessary. He does admit that lazy large industrial cheese producers are accomplices to this, apparently feeling it is easier to just pasteurize everything than ensure they use high-quality non-pasteurized ingredients. Now I'm going to have to check on that when I visit my friend in Montreal! He recommends trying raw-milk Brie or Camembert (I've actually eaten the pasteurized versions of these) and Epoisses (never heard of it myself) if you visit Quebec or Europe.

The book is a few years old. Shaw speaks hopefully about a startup high-end sandwich restaurant chain called Starwich, which he has high hopes for. I'd never heard of them, and indeed some internet research shows that they went bankrupt in 2008.

Shaw visited several barbecue places, and at one asked to see the barbecue pits, which apparently are protected as the holy of holies by many barbecue masters. He described it as "like walking into an oven, in Hell, without any air, surrounded by the sight, aroma, and vapor of dead baby pigs," and said the scene revisited him in his nightmares later. At a different barbecue restaurant, he was given a pair of thick black welder's gloves to pick up a 150 pound hog when it came out of the smoker, and indicated that the steaming hot flesh of the hog still sent intolerable burning sensations into his skin, and moving it around nearly made him pass out.

Shaw ends the book with some talk about the past and the future of fine dining. He says there is a bitter controversy between food traditionalists and the "Fusion" restaurants who want to blend food styles and try new things. He is clearly sympathetic to the Fusionists, though also respects the traditionalists.

Overall, three and a half stars from me. If I were more involved in and committed to fine dining, I'd surely have rated it higher. But it has entertained me (very readable and well-written) and it inspired me to try a few more things food-wise.


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## The Hooded Claw

Immortals: A Military History of Iran and its Armed Forces, by Steven R. Ward

With all the news stories about tension with Iran, I have wanted to read this for awhile. I snagged it a few months ago when the price was down to about five bucks, and finally started it on the airplane. I'm about half through now. The book does cover the entire history of Iran/Persia from a military perspective going back to ancient days, but it is heavily biased towards recent events--I'm a bit more than halfway through the text, and I have just reached the 1930s.

The Immortals of the title were the name of an elite group of Persian soldiers who fought against Alexander the Great, and I was hoping for a good description of that famous campaign, but the author skips through them lightly, saying that the history of them is well-known (I disagree, I'd bet that before reading this book I knew more about this subject than 98% of Americans, and I was limited to knowing the name of one of the three key battles before reading the book, and knew no details at all for any of them.)

I didn't know much about the geography of Iran before reading the book, but it ends up that the unique geography of the country has influenced its military development significantly. Notably that the country in a way is a natural fortress because of mountain ranges around it, but also has some key disadvantages in being much dryer and more arid than I'd believed, and being at a severe disadvantage in developing a meaningful navy because of the situation of its ports. He compares the climate of Iran to that of Arizona, Utah, and similar states in the USA.

I think of camels as more an Arabian and North African thing than an Iranian thing. But they've played significant roles for the Iranian army several times. In an early campaign against the Greek state of Lydia, the Iranians deliberately placed the camels which were not fighting animals, and had been used to carry baggage, at the front of their formation. The hope was that the unfamiliar smell and appearance of the camels would frighten and stampede the Lydian cavalry. It worked! Later, for many years, the Iranians got excellent service from light cannons that were mounted on and fired from camel back. The camels would kneel for the cannons to be fired. Since Iran lacked the road system for more classic muzzle-loading artillery and their big gun carriages, this combination worked well. These cannon were known as Zanburak, which means "Little Wasp".

The ancient Persians in one of their battles may have helped prevent the squelching of early Christianity in the Roman Empire. A new Byzantine Emperor named Julian lead his army against the Persians, and not only lost the battle but was killed for his trouble. This is important because Julian was known as "The Apostate" and was a huge fan of worshiping Zeus and the traditional Roman gods. He had big plans for rolling back Christian influence, but when he died his successor Jovian restored Christianity as the Empire's religion.

As far back as 1598, two English adventurers went to Persia to help reorganize and train the Persian army in the latest European techniques and technology in the hopes that the Iranians would make life miserable for the Turks in the Ottoman Empire, and reduce the pressure the Ottomans were putting on Europe.

Remember those problems with ports and the navy that I mentioned? One Iranian leader tried to solve this by forcing thousands of prisoners and unlucky subjects to haul timber more than six hundred miles to a port where it would be used to build sailing ships. There were not enough wagons, so the plan was for these unfortunate souls to haul huge trees on their shoulders<!> for over 600 miles. The project didn't work, but did succeed in killing thousands of the unlucky and unwilling participants from exhaustion and hunger.

You may remember references to the old Shah of Iran sitting on the "Peacock Throne". That is a real throne, and it was captured as loot from India when the Iranians successfully raided India back in 1739!

In 1800, another group of British adventurers went to help the Iranians beef up their army. British regulations required that artillerymen be clean-shaven, and they urged the Iranians to adopt this requirement. In the interest of Muslim traditions about beards, the Iranians declined, so the new Iranian gunners kept their beards. The Iranians learned the wisdom of this policy when the sparks frequently produced in the course of firing large cannon started an epidemic of beard fires! The Iranian gunners were ordered to shave off their beards.

Corruption and nepotism have been a continual very bad problem in the Iranian military for centuries. In the 1880s, one Shah made a relative Chief of the Army at age thirteen, and made a nephew a brigadier general at age eight! One court minister was fired, and it was discovered that he had disbanded an artillery battery, and used the battery's horses to pull his personal carriage and as mounts for his retainers. Money intended to buy training ammunition was often diverted for the personal use of bigshots, most infantrymen in that period only fired five practice rounds from their rifles each year. A visiting Russian officer of the time commented that "Persia can be conquered with a single company (about 100 men) without firing a shot; With a battalion (roughly five hundred men) it would be more difficult; with a whole regiment, it would be impossible, for the entire force would perish of hunger."

If you look in the big world history atlas, they generally show Iran as neutral in World War I, but in fact there was a lot of action there. The Germans were consciously trying to get the Iranians involved against Britain and Russia, and Germans, British, and Russians ran around the country fighting without regard to any supposed neutrality, and trying to rope Iranian factions into their schemes. One German officer was so active in arming and leading Iranians against the British that he is known as "The German Lawrence of Arabia". The whole episode made me feel genuinely sorry for the Iranians seeing their country so used.

I've still got a lot of the book to go, so more will come. At this point, I recommend the book if you really want to read about the subject matter in detail. Those who don't want such detail will ignore the book, and they'll be right to do so.


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## The Hooded Claw

This was a quiet, restful day as I recover from my trip and gird myself to go back to the grind of work Monday, but I got a lot of reading done. I finished the Iran book, read another book completely through, and am now at seventy-seven books of my eighty-book goal!

Immortals maintained its standing as a good book on its subject. Things that stuck in my mind are how regularly the strengths and weaknesses of the Iranian military show up again and again in the same way over the centuries. They had great trouble adapting to air power in the 1930s and 1940s, upon delivery of an early shipment of twenty British biplanes for their use, two of the planes were crashed and destroyed on their initial flights to the airfields where they were to be stationed! I found the account of the war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s to be very interesting. Overall, the book delivered what was promised, I rate it as four stars. As I said before, this is essential reading if you want to learn about the subject in detail, but not a book for anyone who doesn't have a strong interest.

Next I gave myself a treat, a book by one of my favorite authors that I'd never read over the years:



Gold From Crete, by C. S. Forester

Forester wrote the Horatio Hornblower novels that are some of my favorite books ever. Hornblower isn't around in this collection of nine short stories and one alternate-history essay. The focus is on World War II, and the first few stories are similar to the core stories in The Man in the Yellow Raft that I commented on a few months ago. These stories follow the exploits of a British destroyer early in the war. They are okay, but I didn't enjoy them as much as the "Yellow Raft" book. Following this we have a miscellany of stories set from various viewpoints in World War II, including a Dutch tugboat captain who collaborates with the Germans who have conquered his country--Until he has a big enough opportunity to make resistance worthwhile; a spy story about a British officer who encounters a New World Mata Hari while he is stationed in Washington, DC, a couple of stories of front line soldiers in combat, and a multiple thread story looking from different viewpoints at (fictional) British efforts to learn about a new German fighter plane, interspersed with scenes of an American pilot volunteer who is part of the effort, and is trying to write a worthwhile letter to his parents in America that won't get him in trouble with the censors. The book ends with a fictional alternate history article about a German attempt to invade England.

Overall, it is an okay book but nothing special. I didn't like it as well as the Yellow Raft book, and it is competent, but below what Forester was capable of doing. I'd give it three stars.


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## Brownskins

The Hooded Claw said:


> glad it was useful! But be warned I think this is intended as A college textbook, so it may be hard going for them.


Guess I will have to prepare my elementary version of Cliff's notes... the few snippets you shared though definitely makes studying that part of the world more interesting. Especially since we intend to visit SEA anyway - I'm sure the kids will associate the bits and pieces - they like doing that.


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## The Hooded Claw

A Mortal Terror: A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery, by James R. Benn

This is the sixth book in Benn's series about Billy Boyle, former Boston cop turned personal investigator for his Uncle Dwight Eisenhower during World War II. I read the fifth book in the series a few months ago, and commented on it here earlier. This book upholds the reputation of the series. Boyle is sent to Italy shortly after the Allied landing there to investigate a serial killer who is murdering American officers and leaving behind a playing card with each body. Billy also has a new worry--His "kid brother" has been brought to Italy as a infantry private, and because of family history, Billy feels even more worries about the safety of his brother than you'd expect. Difficult to talk about a mystery without giving too much away, so I'll just say that it is worth a read, but preferably after you've read the previous books in the series. Four and a half stars from me.


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## The Hooded Claw

A few months back I wrote up a massive history of Alcatraz prison in this thread. The author of that book has published an edited collection of letters from or to Alcatraz now available for free on Kindle. Also available in the KOLL if it's no longer free when you read this, so verify the price before clicking BUY.


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## The Hooded Claw

Before I discuss my progress, I understand The Great Criswell has a relevant message for us:






This is book 79, so I have now started book 80! In honor of completing my self-challenge, it is a Sherlock Holmes book. More on it later!


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## The Hooded Claw

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle.

I'm actually reading it in this omnibus collection that was one of my first Kindle book purchases, but doesn't seem to be available in the USA at the moment.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X138ZA/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title

I am a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and have been avoiding re-reading them so I could focus on stuff that was new to me this year. But I made an exception for my 80th book, accomplishing a goal deserves a celebration, right? These were familiar stories, but I enjoyed rereading them immensely. One thing that I paid more attention to than I have previously is that Watson did not always narrate the Holmes stories! In this collection, three stories were non-Watson stories. The very first one is told from the third person. Necessary, because though Watson does appear briefly at the beginning and end, most of the story takes place when Holmes has a confrontation alone in his apartment with two criminals, and fools them by sneaking around when they think he has left them alone. Telling this through Watson would have been impossible, and it would have been impossible to surprise the reader with Holmes' sneaky return if he'd been telling the story himself. This was the best way to tell the story, but I still don't especially like the tale.

There are also two stories narrated by Holmes, with Watson not around. They are "The Lion's Mane" and "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier". I have a certain fondness for The Lion's Mane because the solution depends on knowing some nature trivia, and I happened to know that particular bit of trivia when I first read the story as an adult (and it was essentially new to me; I read Holmes for the first time in 8th grade, then didn't reread him till my late twenties). But I recall seeing one ranking of least-favorite stories of Holmes buffs, and The Lion's Mane was not well-liked. In honesty, I have to agree, despite my pride in knowing the bit of trivia. "Blanched Soldier" is not particularly awesome either. On a more positive note, this collection contains "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs" and "The Problem of Thor Bridge", both of which are above-average Holmes stories.

I noticed one word that I apparently guessed at the meaning of in previous reads--The Problem of Thor Bridge uses the word "inculpate". It means "to accuse or blame" according to the Kindle dictionary, and the Kindle dictionary actually uses an example of "Someone placed the pistol in your room in order to inculpate you", which is exactly what happened in this story!

There were a couple of obscure references to products that I looked up; I was pleased that these were available in the Kindle dictionary. Gasogene was an early way to manually create some carbonated fizzy water. Holmes has one of the devices in his rooms. Paregoric was a remedy for colds and sniffles which Holmes apparently recommends, and the Kindle was able to identify that as well.

Finally, this collection includes the line where Watson references his friend, Lomax the Sub-Librarian. Since I chose that name for my Kindle 3, I have to be fond of this collection for that if nothing else! Hey, maybe I will resurrect that name for my Kindle Paperwhite...

Anyway, Casebook is done, and I have completed my eighty books for the year! I'm not stopping though, and I've already started book eighty-one. Hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow!


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## The Hooded Claw

I've been reading heavily this weekend and this evening, and am behind here....I have three books completed that I need to write up here! Here's the first one:



A History of the End of the World, by Jonathan Kirsch

I bought this over a year ago, and finally pulled it out and read it this weekend. When I pulled it out, I was thinking this was a history of "end of the world" predictions in general, but I was mistaken in my memory. This book is specifically about the Book of Revelation that ends the New Testament. It is extensively footnoted and documented in describing how Revelation has been viewed by Christians over the years. It is clear that the author doesn't think much of the many groups over the years who have tried to make sense of Revelations and apply it to prove that they are living in "the end times." The book does explain a lot of history that helps to explain why Revelation was written, and it had a lot of discussion of the other apocalyptic book in the Bible, the Book of Daniel, which I was mostly unfamiliar with beyond learning the story about the lion's den when I was a kid. Overall, this book doesn't "settle" or give a definitive answer to much, though. And that's probably impossible with the many wild things covered in Revelations. The early commenter Jerome said that "Revelation has as many mysteries as it does words." and I think he got it right! I give the book four stars, but it won't interest anyone who isn't quite interested in the subject.









(image only, not a link)

Spartan Planet, by A. Bertram Chandler not available on Kindle, but ebook available from Baen Books:

http://www.baenebooks.com/p-689-spartan-planet.aspx

Science fiction writer A. Bertram Chandler wrote a lengthy series of books about his hero John Grimes in the late 1960s through the early 1980s. I came to them fairly late, but enjoyed them originally, but haven't re-read many of them in a long time. A thread in the Books forum about space opera made me think of them again, and I pulled this one out and read it on my new Kindle Paperwhite on Sunday. The Grimes books are generally more like Star Trek than the constant warfare of much more recent space opera. The Grimes books mostly emphasize exploration, and interaction with unexplored planets. Many, but not all of these are settled by humans who've lost contact with the rest of the galaxy, "lost colonies" based on colony ships gone wrong from hundreds of years ago at the time of the stories. This book focuses on Grimes and his crew coming to such a planet; Sparta has developed an all-male culture where the very existence of females has been forgotten, and male babies are produced through biological engineering. As you'd expect, the arrival of Grimes' ship, which includes numerous female crew members, causes a sensation. The book is unique among the Grimes stories in that it is NOT written from the viewpoint of Captain Grimes, the hero is a Spartan soldier/policeman named Brasidus. The book was written in 1968, but actually makes oblique references to homosexual relationships, pretty risque for the time. It is not Chandler's best work by any means, but was an entertaining read. I'd give it three and a half stars.

I completed one more book this evening, I've dashed the previous two commentaries out so quickly that I am going to take a break so I can write up the last book more carefully. But here's the book--I went back to the Nate Heller mysteries of Max Allan Collins once again:



Blood and Thunder, by Max Allan Collins.


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## The Hooded Claw

I've been reading a lot, and have fallen behind on these updates. I finished Blood and Thunder, and as is usual for Max Allan Collins books, I greatly enjoyed it! I give the book four and a half stars. As usual with Collins' Nate Heller series, detective Heller is caught up in a major historical crime and scandal. For this book, he is engaged temporarily as a bodyguard for Louisiana Governor Huey Long in 1935. Long is forgotten by many people, but in the mid-1930s he was a very popular politician who ruled Louisiana as his personal kingdom, and had aspirations to run for President on his platform of "Every man a King!" Long was killed, so Heller failed at his bodyguarding job, but the book is still a very interesting one that held my attention. I was amused that the book begins with Long giving a speech on the Oklahoma City fairgrounds, which I could see in the distance out my window as I read!

Next, I went back to another of the Grimes books from A. Bertram Chandler:









(image only, not a link)

This book isn't available on Kindle, but the ebook can be purchased from Baen Books, here: http://www.baenebooks.com/p-690-the-broken-cycle.aspx

I have loved the John Grimes series since I originally read them in the late 70s and early 80s, and I have reread most of them at some point. But this book was one I hadn't reread since it was first published. After my experience earlier this year with similarly-ignored book in Fred Saberhagen's Dracula series, I should know that there's usually a reason for that! LIke the neglected Dracula book, The Broken Cycle just is not very good. I'd rank it two stars. A lot of my disappointment is from the way the plot unfolds. I'm accustomed to Grimes taking charge of his destiny and dealing with whatever comes his way, but in this case, he doesn't do that. The story is just a series of things that happen to Grimes. He is never truly in control of his situation in the entire book,


Spoiler



and even his return to where he belongs at the end of the book occurs through a (literal) Deus ex machina, not through his own devices.


 I didn't object, I was ready for the book to be over. I recommend most of the John Grimes series, but not this one!



An Artist in Treason: The Extraordinary Double Life of General James Wilkinson, by Andro Linklater

Before he became President, Theodore Roosevelt wrote on the subject of this biography, "In all our history, there is no more despicable character." General James Wilkinson had a distinguished military career, though he was dogged by accusations of scandal, treachery, and treason. It was said of him that he never won a battle, nor lost a court-martial. He actually was on the winning side in some battles, but during his long military career he was charged before three courts martial, four congressional investigations, and two less formal investigations, and was never convicted of anything. It was not till decades after his death that records documenting his spying and treason were discovered in the official records of his Spanish spymasters.

There are numerous ironies in his career--One of his earliest military mentors was Benedict Arnold, who was a genuine military hero in the Revolutionary War till he changed his loyalties. In the faction-ridden Continental Army, Wilkinson changed his loyalties several times, unwittingly betrayed one of them who was scheming against General Washington, and still managed to become a general (admittedly a brevet, temporary one) when he was twenty years old! His twisting and turning alienated all his potential patrons, and he ended up resigning from the Army, but his unsuitableness for civilian life caused him to return to the peacetime Army after the Revolutionary War was over. But before returning to the Army he had begun scheming with the Spanish. Initially he appears to have concocted a plan with the Spanish to detach from the US some of the recently-settled territory West of the Appalachians, and form it into an independent country allied with Spain (which controlled most everything west of the Mississippi as well as Florida at the time). This did not work out, and he continued to report to Spain even while back in US uniform. His second military career was very successful, though an angry superior accused him for the first time of spying. Ironically, the charges were that he was spying for the British, which was totally untrue, and Wilkinson easily brushed them off! Wilkinson found himself promoted to be the actual Commander of the US Army, and now wanted nothing to do with his Spanish spymasters. He had had several incidents where his spying had nearly been unmasked, and he wanted no more. He stopped reporting to them, and begged them to destroy all their correspondence with him, though he hinted that he would be useful again in the future (and he was!). Seperate from and in conflict with his Spanish ties, Wilkinson appears to have been involved in the infamous plot by Aaron Burr (the former Vice President of the US) to again try to separate out some of the frontier lands in an independent nation and/or provoke a war with Spain to justify a looting expedition into Mexico. Since Burr and Wilkinson didn't keep the excellent records of the Spanish, what happened here isn't as well documented, but it appears that Wilkinson had been a willing conspirator with Burr. When the crisis came, Wilkinson intervened decisively in favor of the United States, and in a way that helped foil Burr's plans. Wilkinson then betrayed his fellow traitor, and was the main prosecution witness when Burr was unsuccessfully tried for treason!

By this time, there were numerous reliable reports that Wilkinson had illegal foreign connections, and nearly everyone high in the federal government viewed him as a suspicious character, but he continued to be employed in high office by Presidents Jefferson and Madison, and was even sent on sensitive diplomatic missions to deal with the Spanish (in which he betrayed the United States again; he warned the Spanish of the Lewis and Clark expedition and urged them to ambush it, and he advised the Spanish to block and capture an exploration party that he himself sent out into disputed land).

The book explores the mystery of why politicians who knew he was unreliable continued to employ him in sensitive positions. The best answer seems to be that the loyalty of senior Army officers of the time was often suspect, and the politicians seemed to believe that even though compromised, Wilkinson could keep the Army loyal because it was in his interest to do so. So we are left with the nightmarish spectacle of the commander of the Army being a spy for a foreign power!

Wilkinson appears to have been utterly devoted to his loyal wife, and despite the numerous charges (often untrue) hurled at him by his detractors, there was never even the slightest innuendo that he was unfaithful to her, despite frequent service on military duty far away from her and his family.

This book tells Wilkinson's whole story, and is extremely well-written and readable. I highly recommend it. Five stars.


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## The Hooded Claw

I am still cranking through books, and have added two more to my list for the year:









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The Inheritors, by A. Bertram Chandler

This book never seems to have been released with a halfway decent cover! Out of several choices, I picked the one from my old paper copy. It's not available in Kindle form, but again you can buy the ebook from Baen here: http://www.baenebooks.com/p-691-the-inheritors.aspx

Despite not being thrilled with The Broken Cycle, I'm still enjoying the old Grimes books and will keep reading through them. This is a fairly typical story for the first third of Grimes' career, he is captain of a survey ship assigned to investigate rumors of a lost colony--People who have been separated from the rest of humanity for several hundred years. Unfortunately, his is one of three outside spaceships visiting at the same time (the crew of first ship to discover the planet didn't keep their mouths shut, and the Survey Service wasn't the only group to investigate their stories). In addition to Grimes' ship, there is a ship from a large corporation that has an interest in developing the planet as a tourist resort, and worst of all, there is a ship captained by Drongo Kane, who who is infamous as a fast operator who never quite breaks the law. But this time, Kane seems to be openly engaging in slave trading. Slavery is illegal, and Grimes is determined to stop Kane. But Kane always has a loophole, and if Kane's loophole holds up, this time Grimes might be the one who goes to a prison planet...

In short, this is a good, average Grimes novel. The lost colony has an unusual history that ends up to be important, and the contact and meeting with the locals and with the other exploring ships is interesting. I wish things were fleshed out a bit more, and I was a bit disappointed that the end was so quick it wasn't as satisfying as it could be, but truth, justice, and the good guys do triumph as usual in the Grimes books. This book introduces two characters, Drongo Kane and Francis Delamere who become regular rivals or foes in the rest of the series. There's some nice trivia about early science fiction writers and stories that actually ends up to be important, which is a nice touch. I'd give it three and a half stars out of five.


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## The Hooded Claw

(link to DTB, not ebook!)

Meet the Mertzes: The Life Stories of I Love Lucy's Other Couple

I am a big fan of the Original I Love Lucy, and have read several books about the show and the people, . Well written and worth the read for fans, others will do better to skip it. Three and a half stars out of five from me. good coverage of tVery good readoif ife stories of William Frawley and Vivian Vance.

there were some interesting parallels and interesting differences in the lives of these 2 actors. both came from homes in the Middle West far from the glamour of Hollywood. Both also had to break into show business over the objections of mothers who viewed show business and acting as evil professions. Past that there were some differences, Fred was much older than Vivian. Fred had a adequate but Undistinguished career as A B-movie character actor before the TV show transformed his career. He had reached the age where is movie career has probably coming to an end when he was lucky enough to be hired for the show. He was in over 100 movies. On the other hand Vivian was only in 3 movies in her entire life but she had a fairly successful career as a actress in Broadway musicals. Vivian was well thought of in musicals, but never seemed able to get the fabled big break there.

it is sad to say but this couple really did despise each other in real life. Fortunately, they were both wise enough to keep that concealed from the public as a whole. but they both disliked each other enough that the the Emnity between them cause them to lose the opportunity for a follow on series to I Love Lucy that would have been very profitable. after the show was over, William played some pranks which disrupted filming on a project that Vivian was involved in when both accidentally were working in adjacent sound stages. William was known to pick up a stack of empty film cans and dropped them with out loud crash while Vivian's voice was being recorded on the adjacent stage!

with this kind of behavior, it isn't a huge surprised to learn that William was a lifelong bachelor after he ended a brief marriage as a young man.

in the TV series, Vivian was reportedly from Albuquerque. And in fact she had begun her show business career in Albuquerque after moving there from Kansas where her childhood was spent. She was well enough loved in Albuquerque that friends and fans raised money to give her a nest egg to head to New York and try to break into show business. Vivian kept going back to New Mexico and supporting theater there in gratitude for that early support.

Vivian struggled with mental illness and had at least two nervous breakdowns in her life. After her success in i Love Lucy,she was a vocal advocate for counseling and education on the subject. I found it sad that after her work with Lucille Ball, Vivian struggled to work graciously with other actors when she was in the lead. after so long as second banana, she had trouble being supportive of anyone who seemed to threaten her status as "the star."

Recommended for fans only.


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## The Hooded Claw

I have a splint on my finger, and typing on a keyboard is difficult. So I tried dictating most of the preceding post, and this 1 is well, on my Nexus 7 tablet. It didn't do I super duper job of transcribing and I've done a little bit of going back and editing by hand. But this still isn't the greatest bit of spelling in the world!


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## The Hooded Claw

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, Volume 2

I wanted something spooky in honor of Halloween! This is decent, but not as good as volume 1, which i read a couple of years ago. These stories are set in the Victorian and Edwardian period that was ending as they were written. Some of them mention that newfangled device, the automobile! KBers will be amused that one story involves a library book that is the focus of a ghost's attention! Three stars out of five, compared with four and a half stars for Volume 1. Both are free on Kindle and worth a read.


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## The Hooded Claw

Behind Bars: Surviving Prison, by Jeffrey Ross and Stephen Richards

I completed this tonight, will write in detail about it tomorrow. It's interesting that though both authors are professors of criminal justice, One of the author served four years in federal prison in the 1980s, and the other spent three years as an employee in a federal prison. I recommend the book, and give it four stars out of five, though the highest rated Amazon review (by Jordan Copeland) should be read by anyone thinking of reading this book.


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## The Hooded Claw

The Behind Bars book was interesting, but less detailed than I thought. Plus I'd hoped for "war stories" describing experiences of the authors, and there were almost none. Much of the book is devoted to a description of the justice and prison system, rather than "how to survive" as the title might lead you to expect. It is decently written and I found it interesting, so it got four stars from me. Anyone reading it should check out the critique of the book written in an Amazon review by a man who says he is a criminal defense lawyer, link here:
http://www.amazon.com/review/RCBSW75FL6A5G/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0028643518&nodeID=283155&store=books

According to the Surviving Prison book, one in thirty-two Americans is behind bars, on parole or probation, or otherwise under the control of the criminal justice system. No wonder the authors hoped for a big market for their book!

The ADX Florence "Supermax" prison, in Florence, CO, is known as "The Hellhole of the Rockies" to those who reside there. Prison cells are below ground level, and accessed by a fifty-foot staircase. There are 550 permanently locked-down cells, but only half are occupied. The empty cells are reserved in case of transfers from a rebellious or rioting prison. It is "slop" capacity for the federal system. Nearly all prisons have an "outrider" patrolling outside the fenceline in a pickup truck or SUV, but at Florence it is a tracked armored personell carrier as used by infantry in the Army. There are several guards armed with automatic weapons inside the patrolling vehicle.

The book claims that when a prisoner in the federal prison system dies, he is generally placed in a stretcher while handcuffed, and transferred to a local hospital to be pronounced dead. This makes for much less negative publicity and fuss for the prison administration.

Something I was aware of, thanks to being nearby, is that the Federal Transport Center, near Oklahoma City, has its own runway where jet airliners transferring prisoners can taxi up to the security fence for convicts being transferred to deplane directly into prison. Less fortunate prisoners are ground transported in Greyhound-style buses, 40 to a bus, with handcuffs and legirons, and wearing flimsy paper shoes. High-risk prisoners have a "black box" placed over their handcuffs to make picking the lock difficult. They generally have a driver and two armed guards, with the armed guards in "gun cages" at the front and back of the bus. No potty stops, prisoners must use the bus toilet (while in restraints) or soil themselves. No worries about privacy, as the bus has blacked-out windows and iron bars over the windows.

Federal prisoners are allowed 300 minutes of phone calls per year, with any individual call being no more than fifteen minutes. The phone calls are periodically interrupted by a recorded message saying that the call is coming from a federal correctional facility (thanks to an old phone number of mine being similar to that of a federal prisoner's relative, I can vouch for that part).

The book says that "inmate" is considered a pejorative term by prisoners, and that convicts seldom use the term.


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## The Hooded Claw

Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

The original Freakonomics book caused quite a splash several years ago, and I read it with gusto. If you somehow missed the extensive publicity of the original book, the authors seek to apply economics methods of analysis to problems and issues that aren't traditional economic issues. To me, it appears that they gather a lot of data, and flog the bejeezus out of the data to find trends or "hidden" behaviors.

The original book focused on a handful of issues and analyzed them quite throughly. I found it fascinating. This one takes a more scattershot approach, moving from topic to topic with only a brief look in most cases.

They begin the book talking about transportation problems that certain major cities faced. They have put together a lot of interesting information on the impact of horse-drawn transport on cities before the automobile, and much of it is very interesting. Horses that died in harness were a major problem, and they often were left where they dropped. Some owners bought "horse insurance", but to minimize the risk of fraud, policies required that any horse that had foundered or broken a leg and needed to be put down must be killed by a qualified third party such as a policeman or a veterinarian. This often meant a long wait, during which the horse and anything it was pulling might be a major obstacle to others. There were noise problems, thanks to iron rims on bricks or cobblestones, and the death toll of humans was surprising. In 1900, one in every 17,000 New York City residents died from horse accidents. In comparison, in 2007 auto accidents claimed the lives of only one in every 30,000 New Yorkers. The biggest problem was dung, it is estimated that in New York City there were nearly five million pounds of horse manure a day generated, and much of it was left where it fell. There just wasn't any place to put it all! In 1898, New York hosted the first international urban planning conference, and the main topic of conversation was what to do about horse manure. Nobody had any good solutions. The automobile, ironically enough, was seen as a miraculous answer to all these problems.

There is a brief discussion of the huge publicity blitz about shark deaths in the Summer of 2001, even though sharks only killed four people. Elephants, on the other hand, kill about 200 people per year, but since the victims are usually in areas with little television journalism, only those close to the victims are even aware of the problem.

There's a fairly extensive discussion of the economics of prostitution. Prostitution has fallen on hard times compared to the situation 100 years ago, mostly because of changes in social mores that make premarital sex much more common and accepted! There's lots of juicy stuff on this topic as you'd suspect. Highlights include that working with a pimp is generally more profitable for prostitutes, at least according to the studies that have been made. This is true even though the pimp takes a significant cut of earnings. A reduced likelihood of being beat up or arrested are additional bonuses. The economics of realtors versus prostitution are discussed.

There's considerable discussion of the emancipation of women in the past century, and the unintended effects it has. One of the unfortunate ones is that teaching used to be one of the few occupations available to an intelligent woman who wanted to work. Since teaching is not well-paid, now the most intelligent and ambitious women are often tempted into other fields than teaching. This is great for the women, but bad for the students!

There's a brief discussion of how what month you are born in affects your health. It ends up that Ramadan has significant effects on babies born to practicing Islamic women. Something I hadn't thought about is that since fasting must be done in daylight hours, and Ramadan typically falls in the Summer, Ramadan is much harder on a developing baby if his mother lives in (for instance) Wisconsin, where the Summer days are much longer than they are closer to the equator. If you want your child to have a career in sports, it is greatly to the child's advantage to be born at the very beginging of the eligibility period for the sport. This makes the child more developed, which will give an advantage over other kids, and make increased coaching attention and playing time available.

Many other topics are covered, including a look at terrorists and how they might be identified among the mass of people in a country. And it really is a good idea for an aspiring suicide bomber to buy life insurance. Another topic that is covered in reasonable depth is altruism and selfishness, and how they can be studied.

This was an interesting read, but I found it much less focused than the earlier book, which reduced the interest for me. I'd rate it as four stars out of five.


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## The Hooded Claw

I began the year reading a biography of Daniel Boone that I really enjoyed (see the early posts). That book has the price reduced, and I still recommend it highly:



577 pages of early American historical goodness for $1.99! The price may not last, verify it before clicking "buy".

It's been difficult to type while my dislocated finger healed up, so I haven't written up much for awhile, but my finger is better and I should catch up my notes here this weekend. I've completed this book:



The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman

and have started this:



A History of the Popes: From Peter to the Present, by John W. O'Malley

I know everyone's life has been incomplete without my posts here, so I'll try to write these up tonight.


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## The Hooded Claw

Well, instead of tonight, it is six days later, but I have completed the papal history book, and am here to catch up my commments on the books!

First, on The Pleasure of Finding Things Out....Richard Feynman was a brilliant physicist who began his career working at Los Alamos in the Manhattan Project and had a distinguished career as a theoretician and professor, winning the Nobel Prize in physics.  His last big accomplishment was serving on the committee that investigated the explosion of space shuttle Challenger in 1986.  Feynman was a renegade on the investigative committee, and many give him credit for keeping the investigation from being a whitewash of problems in NASA.  This book is a collection of short pieces from Feynman.  Many are presentations at conferences ranging from theoretical physics conferences to a meeting of public school science teachers.  At least one is a magazine interview.  They are interesting and readable, and since they are relatively short, there is usually something new around the corner if you don't like what you are reading now.  They do cover some of the same ground, notably Feynman's firm conviction that you had to be willing to entertain doubt and uncertainty, but go on investigating or functioning anyway.  Some of them get a little physics-geeky, but I think most interested people could enjoy most of the book.

Feynman was recruited for atomic bomb work before he had finished his PhD.  His boss told Feynman he simply had to work on this big secret project, and explained what it was.  Originally Feynman didn't want to do it, and said he wouldn't go to the meeting about the project, which was at 3 o'clock.  Feynman began thinking about the Germans getting an atomic bomb, went to the 3 o'clock meeting, and by 4 o'clock was working on calculations for the part of the project he would work on!  Feynman tells how he met many of the great physics minds of the time, but unlike most of his peers, Feynman wasn't struck dumb by being in these great presences, and would ask questions and challenge them.

Feynman was one of a group of scientists leaving Princeton to go to Albuquerque, NM.  The powers that be correctly figured that it would look odd if half the physics faculty and graduate students left town to go to Albuquerque together, so everyone was told to actually buy their train tickets somewhere else than Princeton.  Feynman reasoned that if everyone else bought their tickets elsewhere, one ticket being bought at Princeton wouldn't draw attention, so he bought his ticket in Princeton station.  This may have been a good thing for security, as the people at the train station had been mystified at all the equipment being shipped as freight from Princeton to Albuquerque.  Feynman's trip solved the mystery for them.

While at Los Alamos, Feynman wanted to go visit his wife, and borrowed a car to drive and visit her when he got an opportunity.  The car belonged to British scientist Klaus Fuchs, and Feynman later learned that Fuchs had used the same car to drive to meet with Soviet agents and hand over various secrets to them!

Feynman told a number of good Manhattan Project stories about his battles with censors and how he developed a reputation as a safecracker.

The piece about Feynman's participation in the Manhattan Project was just one piece of the thirteen in the book, but I've talked about it a lot because it interested me. The other pieces include a talk on the future of computer science given in 1985 (but still interesting today), a presentation that many people consider the origins of the idea of nanotechnology, Feynman's "minority report" dissenting from the main group's conclusions about the space shuttle explosion, the relation of science and religion, and several philosophical lectures about learning and science.  Science types will probably like it (I did).  There is some repeated discussion of the same ideas between various lectures, and though none of these are truly physics lectures, the Challenger paper in particular is a bit heavy.  I rate the book four stars out of five.  If my description hasn't totally turned you off, you'll probably like it.


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## The Hooded Claw

Then we have A History of the Popes (author John W. O'Malley). this was a good read for someone with an interest. I doubt someone who wasn't motivated to read about this subject would enjoy it. I had dual motivations--Partly as a history buff in general, but especially because next October I am going to Italy for the first time, and will spend a couple of days (all too brief) in Rome and the Vatican. So I wanted to have at least a broad knowledge of this stuff. And broad is right, the book really is a history of the entire span of the Papacy. This gives it a weakness similar to the book on the history of Southeast Asia I read a few months ago. This book is 371 pages, and there are a fair number of footnotes and such at the end. Within those pages, the book must cover the approximately 265 (according to this book) individuals who have claimed to be Pope at some point over a period lasting nearly 2000 years! That's about five years per page, and some years are quite eventful with lots of stuff happening. The result is a book that paints with a broad brush (how's that for a mixed metaphor?!). I often was left wanting to know more, and in fact I did order another book as a result of my interest in this one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005P9N6SE/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00

(for some reason I can't get it to show up in the link maker, probably because it is out of print)

I expected to be interested by the material on "the bad popes". I also expected to be interested in the coverage of the papacy during World War II, with the controversy over the Papal reaction to The Holocaust. Something I didn't expect was that the history of the Papacy during the 19th Century also fascinated me. The Catholic Church has changed a LOT since the early 1800s. They took a very anti-modern attitude, and even used that phrase. Perhaps the strangest thing is that Pope Gregory XVI, just before the middle of the 1800s, denounced railroads (which were pretty new at the time) as "Hellish" (he was serious) and banned them from Papal territory, which covered a big stretch of central Italy at the time. Less humorously and more scarey, he also denounced "shameless lovers of liberty" who spread evil ideas such as freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and separation of church and state (okay, the last one isn't too big of a surprise). In 1864, Pope Pius denounced many perceived evils, notably rationalism and Protestant Bible societies, and declared that the Pope would never make peace with progress and modern culture. Democracy was explicitly denounced on a regular basis, and in 1899, Pope Leo wrote an Apostolic Letter to the Archbishop of Baltimore and denounced "Americanism." Two years later in a separate proclamation, he did allow that democracy might not be totally unChristian, but still didn't endorse it or even indicate neutrality. On a more positive note, the same Pope did formally acknowledge that workers had a right to a just wage and humane working conditions, and rather surprisingly to me, he endorsed the right of workers to organize in unions.

The Catholic Church had a very hard time adopting to the idea of progress and change. They were further stressed by the unification of Italy, when the former Papal states were forcibly absorbed into the new nation of Italy in the 1860s and 70s. I was vaguely aware of this, but many of the details were fascinating. The Popes rejected this, and for decades harbored fantasies of some foreign power intervening and giving them back the large area they held like a feudal realm. They forbade good Catholics from participating in the new Italian state by voting or holding office, and excommunicated the King (I was pleased that the Pope did quietly and without publicity remove the excommunication just before the Italian King died so he could lawfully receive last rites). The Popes did not make peace with Italy until well into the 20th Century, and weirdly when they did settle things, it was with Mussolini!

The coverage of the "bad Popes" in Medieval and Renaissance times was interesting as I expected, and I wasn't surprised I wanted more detail as mentioned above. The coverage of World War II was interesting, but "blander" than I expected.

But you really wanted to read the trivia and comments, didn't you?  I'd go on for pages if I listed everything interesting, but here are a few highlights:

There's only been one English Pope (Hadrian IV) and one Polish Pope. None from Portugal, Ireland, America, or most of Eastern Europe. Benedict VII and Benedict IX were not priests or deacons, but were laymen when they were elected Pope. The elections for Pope weren't always held in Rome, a great many were held in Southern France, and as recently as 1800 Pius VII was elected in Venice.

At least one Pope had been a slave through the first part of his life (though a very trusted one who handled large sums of money for his master), and had fled to avoid prosecution when he was accused of embezzlement! In this part of his life, Pope Callixtus I was repeatedly arrested, publicly flogged once, and sent to work in a mine under horrible conditions as a punishment. Wikipedia reports that at one point in these adventures he jumped overboard from a ship to escape, though O'Malley didn't repeat that story. Callixtus was released in an amnesty, became a priest and a deacon, excelled as an administrator, and was selected as Pope, though he had to suffer with a schism when a rival got himself proclaimed Pope by dissatisfied clergy. Callixtus tried unsuccessfully to reconcile everyone, and appears to have been a reasonably good Pope during his short time in office.

O'Malley reports that in the Dark Ages, the Pope had less far-reaching power, and of course there wasn't mass media, so he estimates that only two percent of the population (presumably European population but he doesn't specify) actually knew of the Pope. No creeds or catechisms mentioned the Papacy until the 1500s. Weirdly, it was the Protestant rejection of the Papacy that helped spur Catholics to become preoccupied with it. The printing press helped a lot, of course.

Pope Marcellus angered many repentant Christians by demanding harsh penances after many Christians had lapsed during a Roman persecution. The persecution eventually stopped, but Marcellus kept to a hard line before forgiveness, which lead to riots by people who didn't like his policy! The Roman emperor banished Pope Marcellus from Rome as a disturber of the peace.

Pope Stephen VI hated a previous Pope named Formosus. Stephen had Formosus exhumed, placed on a throne in full pontifical robes, and made to stand trial for perjury, coveting the papacy, and various other crimes. Formosus was assigned a deacon to speak in his defense, but as you might expect in an exercise like this, poor dead Formosus was convicted. The three fingers of his dead right hand (the ones used for blessing) were hacked off, his robes were stripped, and his body was thrown in the Tiber River. What goes around comes around. Stephen was later thrown in jail by enemies and strangled to death. And unlike Formosus, he was alive when these things happened. The whole episode seems to have been about politics rather than anything particularly odious that Formosus had done, and later Canon Law was rewritten to prohibit trials of corpses (good plan).

Early popes just used their own name rather than choosing a name as Pope. The first Pope to pick a new name--A man named Mercury became Pope, and because he had the name of a pagan god, changed his regnal name to John.

In 1268, the cardinals took three years to elect a successor To encourage them to reach a decision, the civic authorities locked the cardinals in the papal palace, then removed the roof, and finally threatened to cut off their food supply if they didn't announce a pope!

When a later conclave took over two years and still hadn't produced a pope, a respected hermit wrote them a letter predicting dire and terrible things for the church if they didn't make a decision. They responded by electing the hermit as Pope! As you'd expect, being a hermit is lousy preparation for being a Pope, and Celestine V was totally out of his depth, and was manipulated by political figures. He had a short five month reign before he announced his resignation. He was the only Pope to ever abdicate. One Chronicler wrote "On Saint Lucy's day, Celestine resigned, and he did well."

The troubles from this weren't over. There was a big controversy over whether a Pope could legally resign. There was political trouble, even reaching the level of military battles. Dante felt that Celestine's resignation was legal, but nevertheless put Celestine in Hell in his Inferno, because Celestine had ducked the responsibility to which he was called.

As you'd expect, this book has common threads with my earlier reading. The "Wide as the Waters" book about translating the Bible into English covered some of the same stuff, notably John Wycliff, and there is some discussion of the various inquisitions.

Pope Leo X is reported to have had 683 servants, including a keeper of the papal elephant.

Author O'Malley is a Jesuit and a professor of Church History, so he is not unbiased, but I didn't feel like he whitewashed much, if anything in the book (I'm not Catholic myself). Overall, I give the book four stars, but don't recommend it unless you are quite interested in the subject. The book is reasonably well-written, but some of the material is unavoidably repetitive, even though O'Malley mostly avoided the error of just reciting lists of Popes and dates, and tried to keep things focused on interesting or at least important events and people.


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## The Hooded Claw

When I wrote up the Papal history book, I was focusing on content, so I left an annoyance out through an oversight.  Now the same annoyance is back in another book I'm reading, so I'm going to mention that there were some problems with the Kindleized papal history book.  Lots of typos.  I mean a LOT of typos.  And many formatting problems, for instance in the first full page of each chapter, the first two words would be run together.  It seemed to be a software problem rather than something done in the book.  By paging in from different directions, and varying the font size, you could vary which two words were at the top of the first full page, but those two would always be run together with no space between them.  And often capitalized words in the text would have the capital letter split apart in the middle of the letter, with a big space in between.  I'd seen the split capital problem before once or twice in books, but never saw the run-on word problem.  There are also frequent hyphenations of words that aren't at the end of a line, but are in the center.  When this happens, there will usually be an extra space or two also.  I suspect these are words that are hyphenated in the original book, and the conversion to Kindle was done in a way that didn't check for this sort of thing.

I have used my PW to "report errors" obsessively on this book and on others, but haven't seen any response yet, despite the claim that I'd be able to see Amazon's response on my Kindle web page.

One thing that was new to me is that the publisher of the Papal book has specified a certain font, and you can only use that specific font to read the book!  Fortunately, you can change font size and line spacing.  I generally am not fussy about the font, but I wasn't crazy about what they used, and found the inability to change it annoying.  I'm wondering if this choice was a factor in some of the formatting problems I found.

Another book had some problems with Kindleization, I will write them up later.


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## The Hooded Claw

Bug-Eyed Monsters and Bimbos, Mike Resnick, Editor

This is an anthology of science fiction parody. It is clearly identified that way in the description, but I nevertheless somehow was thinking of it as a collection of science fiction humor, which is not quite the same thing. There are a series of short pieces by numerous authors, including Some Very Big Names in Golden Age science fiction, such as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Poul Anderson, and others. Mostly, these are parodies of a particular story (or series) by a particular author, though some are just parodies of topics, such as one piece about an Endangered Species Preservation Plan for the Loch Ness Monster!

The problem with parodying specific stories is that if the reader doesn't like (or worse yet, is unfamiliar with) a particular story, it often falls rather flat. Two stories parodying Robert Silverberg and Barry Malzberg went that way for me. On the other hand, a story satirizing a famous story from the ancient Gernsback science fiction magazines of the 1920s and 1930s was pretty good!










Above is a cover from the original story. The parody was quite entertaining, even though I hadn't read this, and was only aware of it from the very limited reading I've done about the history of science fiction.

Enough about less awesome stories, lots of genres were covered that were pretty good. My favorite story so far is a short story by Poul Anderson lampooning the Conan books. It is excellent! Other genres covered were Jabberwocky (from Alice in Wonderland!), Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names of God", the old Galactic Lensman series, the John Carter of Mars stories (I liked this one), one that wasn't really a parody of anything specific about big game hunting in a fantasy universe, an article satirizing both those Rosicrucian ads that used to be in many magazines and the "Book Club" offers, and Asimov's famous "scientific journal article" on Thiotomoline (the only one of these pieces I'd read before). And speaking of Asimov, another writer wrote a spoof of his Robot stories. And Robert Heinlein gets skewered, though I didn't particularly enjoy the story. I did like a horror story about the editor of an old-time horror magazine! The story was apparently written in a sort of sympathy for a business-oriented editor who took over one of the old horror mags to replace an editor beloved by the hard-core readers who just couldn't run a profitable magazine. One that bothered me a bit was a spoof of the Gor series. I am generally a fan of making fun of things I don't approve of, but the Gor spoof just wasn't funny, even though the author tried.

Something else I learned is that parody gets old, even when much of it is good. I got to exactly 49% of the way through the book and decided I couldn't face another parody! So I will set the book aside for a week or so and go back to it.

In the meantime, I have started this, and it is outstanding even though plagued by typos...



"They Have Killed Papa Dead!" The Road to Ford's Theater, Abraham Lincoln's Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance, by Anthony Pitch


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## defygravity213

I read 134 last year (during my senior year of college, I didn't have a whole lot of free time). This year, I'd like to get to 150.


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## The Hooded Claw

I'm way behind on writing up books here, will have to catch up this weekend when I am home from travel status, but I'm at 94 and a half books, and want to reach one hundred before New Year's!


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## The Hooded Claw

I've been on a sort of reading strike since about Thanksgiving, and have a couple of books from last month that I still need to write up here, and have done a little bit of reading in the past week. Before heading into the books, this may be of interest:






Would you have believed that an eyewitness to Lincoln's assassination would have lived to be on television? Fascinating, even if he was only a kid at the historic event.



"They Have Killed Papa Dead!: The Road to Ford's Theater, Abraham Lincoln's Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance"

A one-sentence review would be: "Awesome and fascinating book, handicapped by abundant typos!"

The story here is fascinating, and I loved every eInk page of it, but I was continually distracted by various errors. This was the second Kindle book in a couple of weeks that I'd read and really liked, but been continually jolted out of my immersion in the book by repetitive and ludicrous typographical errors. I am compulsive enough that I reported a great many of them to Amazon, using the (new to me, anyway) feature on my Kindle PW.

The book covers the story of John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators, and the progress of their efforts to turn the Civil War around at the last minute by kidnapping President Lincoln, and how they changed their plan to one of multiple murder of Lincoln and other key officials when it became clear that the Southern cause was beyond saving. It continues the story with an account of the events at Ford's Theater, and with what is known of Booth's efforts to escape. It concludes with the story of the trials of the various conspirators, including one who was pursued as far as Egypt(!) before being captured. It is well-written and kept me glued to my Kindle. I highly recommend it if you have even the faintest interest in what happened. If you think you are familiar with the story, you may be surprised, there is a lot that was new to me, and I am a history buff.

Some highlights--I knew Booth was an actor, but I hadn't realized how successful he had been. In one year shortly before the assassination, he earned over $20,000, an incredible sum for the time. I was also surprised to learn that he had investments in oil wells in Pennsylvania! I'd read that the first oil well was in Pennsylvania in 1859, but to learn that Booth was an investor in them seems incredibly anachronistic!

Lovers of Charles Dickens may be surprised to learn that Booth was a huge fan of Dickens, and could recite long passages from memory.

Again, this tied in with some of my other recent reading, namely the book on the history of the Papacy. After learning of the assassination at the theater, Pope Pius IX was crass enough to berate his American envoy because the President had gone to see a play on Good Friday. One of the conspirators wasn't swept up in the original manhunt, and managed to escape to Rome where (this seems incredible to me) he spent time as a soldier in the Pope's personal guard before being tracked there. John Surratt's presence there had been betrayed by one of his fellow guards, who was motivated by the prospect of reward money. The Pope agreed to surrender the conspirator, presumably partly influenced by the recent occupation of most of the historical Papal lands by the Italian government, as mentioned in the earlier book on the Popes. This one adds that another possible reason for this cooperation (unusual since Surratt was likely to receive a death sentence) was because the Pope considered the United States as a possible refuge if events forced him to abandon the Vatican. Surratt managed to escape before being handed over (this may have been winked at by his Papal captors), and made a further flight to Egypt before being captured and returned. Being on the lam worked out for Surratt. Most of the other conspirators, including his mother, were hanged, but the delay in his return meant that passions had cooled (and most of the previous death sentences were arguably an over-reaction, see below) and he received merely a prison sentence.

The sentences meted out to anyone thought to have participated in the conspiracy were pretty harsh. Edmund Spangler had held Booth's horse for him while Booth entered the theater, and only done that for a moment before asking someone else to hold the animal so he could get back to work. There was no evidence he was actively involved in the conspiracy, but he still received a six-year prison term. He was pardoned by President Johnson and released after about 2/3 of his term).

One of the officers appointed to the military tribunal that tried the conspirators was General Lew Wallace. He had played a part in the War commensurate with his rank, but he is best remembered today as an author--A few years after the war, Wallace wrote a novel still remembered today--"Ben Hur!"

Despite the glitches in the Kindle edition, I highly recommend the book. Five stars out of five.


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## The Hooded Claw

The G-String Murders, by Gypsy Rose Lee

When I was a kid, I heard the name Gypsy Rose Lee enough to be aware of her, but beyond being some sort of racy entertainer, I didn't know who she was. Looking her up on Wikipedia reveals that she gained her fame as a stripper and "exotic dancer", but later mellowed enough to have her own television show in the 1950s. She also published two murder mysteries.

I picked this book up because it is inexpensive (three and a half bucks) and because the blurb claimed it gave a good look at the world of strip clubs around 1940. In addition to enjoying mysteries in unusual settings, I love occupational memoirs by people with interesting jobs, so I was happy to risk a few dollars on this book. After reading the book, I'm satisfied, but not thrilled to death. The claims of insight into the lives of people who worked at these shows were fulfilled, and they were the principal reason I enjoyed the book. As a murder mystery, it is only so-so. If it were a more conventional mystery without the interesting setting, I'd be unhappy. The writing is generally competent (This was Lee's first book, but even her supporters agree she had help from an established writer, and some critics claim she actually did not write the book herself), but the plotting is nothing to brag about; even the modern afterword added to this new publication of the book admits that "Plot...is not The G-String Murders's strong suit." And at the climax....Well, I'm not sure what happened at the climax! I went back and re-read that part of the book _twice_ to try to figure out what had happened, and the explanations given are more of excuses than explanations. Things do get resolved with a feeling of completeness, but I'm not sure how a key part of it happened!

To get back to the positive side, I really enjoyed the picture of 1940s strip joints that was painted. The characters feel real, and we do care about the good guys, and feel proper contempt for some of the group who are selfish or hateful. Despite my dissatisfaction with one (critical) scene, I enjoyed the book. I give it three and a half stars, a semi-average of two stars as a murder mystery and four and a half stars as a trip into that place and time. If you'd like to get a sympathetic look at the lives of people in an old-fashioned strip club, you want to read this.

Interesting trivia and minor points from the book:

Lots of jargon, slang, and dated or obscure words that were new to me. The book used the word "loges." I'd never heard it, and the Kindle dictionary didn't come through for this one. Research revealed that it refers to a sort of theater box or balcony. Another new-to-me term was "grouch bag." Ends up this is a small bag worn around the neck to conceal valuables, especially popular with travelers. In fact, I have a grouch bag for my passport when I travel! I had just never known that word for it. The age of the book shows, as the author/narrator uses the term "victrola" (not capitalized) to refer to a record player. The meaning of "Mexican bankroll" was pretty obvious from context, and I wasn't surprised to learn that it is a stack of money with large denominations on the outside, but filled up with one dollar bills. When the book was originally published in 1941, The New York Times panned the book, suggesting that it needed a glossary. And much of the lingo is further from our world today. Thank heavens for the internet!

The club in the book (and presumably many if not all strip theaters) had a red light set in the footlights where only performers could see it. It would only be triggered if the ticket taker saw police who weren't firmly on the take, or "anyone who even looked like a censor" entering the front of the building. When the red light flashed, performers were to cover themselves up and bowdlerize their act to provide a "clean" show for the benefit of the nosey parker.

There's a reference to a vaudeville routine called "Slowly I Turn." This amused me, the same routine was used as part of a "play within a play" performance on an episode of I Love Lucy. I'm glad to see it was a legitimate vaudeville act!

Ladies, you may thank Maybelline and Cover Girl for easy-to-use cosmetics. And I'm sure some of the tricks used would not be popular today. The books describes performers using a candle to melt cosmetics before applying them. Performers would leave bras to soak in cold water overnight before putting them on just prior to a stage entrance. This would perk up sagging breasts!

Despite the poor review by the NYT, the book was quite successful when published, and went through eleven printings. The afterword claims that it sold more copies than the famous "The Thin Man."

Not a great mystery, but I am glad I read it! But Gypsy wrote a second mystery, which doesn't appear to be set in a strip club. I may change my mind later, but for now I am not picking that one up...I'm not sure I'd be pleased with this writing in a more mundane setting.


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## The Hooded Claw

2012 ends in a few hours; since I'm not having a wild evening on the town, I can slip in a final update to capture the last couple of books I read this year!









(Image only, not a link)

Available as an ebook from Baen Books, here:
http://www.baenebooks.com/p-692-the-big-black-mark.aspx

The Big Black Mark, by A. Bertram Chandler

This is part of the John Grimes series of science fiction books that I'm quite fond of, and this is a better-than-average representative of the group. But as the name implies, it is not a happy time for Commander John Grimes. Having irritated his superiors, he is given command of an older ship that has deliberately been made a "Turkey Farm" for misfits and unwanted people. He's explicitly told that not everyone in the power structure wishes him well, and that he needs to be careful. The original cover (same one that is on my ancient paperback copy) spills the beans on the final outcome of the book by proclaiming "Mutiny on Starship Discovery." The book is dedicated to Captain Bligh (yes, that Captain Bligh!) and opposite the title page of my paper copy is a drawing of a figure in an antique surface navy uniform (presumably Captain Bligh) looking down on a starship. Grimes goes on to have an eventful voyage where his traditional luck serves him well, as he discovers not one but TWO new inhabited planets. The series goes into a mode somewhat like the old Star Trek series of making contact with the inhabitants. Unfortunately for Grimes, he does indeed suffer a mutiny, and Grimes ends the book in deep trouble indeed, his luck deserting him again. The focus here is on the story, with the emphases on interaction with the natives of the new planets, supplemented by the problems of command on a small ship with a bitter crew.

I have read the book several times before, though not in a number of years, but still enjoyed rediscovering it. Four and a half stars out of five.


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## The Hooded Claw

The Baby Blue Rip-Off, by Max Allan Collins

I've read several books by Max Allan Collins this year, and described them here. He is a long-time favorite reliable author of mine. The books I've covered here were all from his Nathan Heller series of historical detective novels. This one is something different. This is the first in the Mallory series. Mallory is a mystery writer who keeps getting involved in solving murder mysteries. Of course, nobody ever did this before, especially not in a television series!  I read these when they were first published years ago, and at the time, liked them better than the Heller series. I have paperbacks of them, but was intrigued when I learned they were to be enKindled. Since the series is in the Kindle Owner's Lending Library, I grabbed this one for my December "borrow." First time I've actually used the KOLL after having it for a couple of months.

I've frequently described the Heller series as "gritty and violent." Based on this book, the Mallory series is violent, but not gritty. And hero Mallory doesn't dish out much violence, he mostly is on the receiving end. The book opens with him foolishly poking his nose into a crime being committed by a gang of criminals, and he is soundly beaten for his trouble. Over the next twenty four hours of the book, he is beaten up again by the same group, and threatened at gunpoint by a different person! Fortunately, the pace of violence slows down a bit after that!

In short, I found the book a bit of a disappointment after remembering it fondly for all these years. It's much shorter than the Heller books are, and I was surprised to find myself coming to the end. The mystery is fine for a book of this length, but not particularly deep or surprising. I enjoyed the book, read it in one sitting, and I'm glad I re-read it, but I definitely prefer the Nate Heller books now. I guess my tastes have changed in twenty years, hopefully for the better! This one is still an acceptable read, I'd give it three stars out of five. I'm going to borrow the remaining books in the series and read them as the months go by next year.


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## The Hooded Claw

Bug-Eyed Monsters and Bimbos, Mike Resnick, Editor

Remember this book? It is a book of science fiction and fantasy parodies that I started a month or two ago. I read about half the book, and decided that was as much parody as I could take in a short time. I moved on to another book, but have finished this one up. Once in a long sitting that finished about another 1/4 of the book, the remainder in bits and pieces--A book of short items like this makes an excellent book for reading at moments of opportunity, using the Kindle app on your smart phone!

I had high hopes for this when I started it, but found it wasn't as entertaining as I expected. There is a lot of variation in an anthology by different authors, and there's the additional complication of different topics for parody. Some of the "parodies" were more of a pastiche imitating the style of a particular author. In particular, one based on R. A. Lafferty impressed me as a good imitation of Lafferty's style (I'm not a fan of Lafferty, but I've read some of his stuff and considered it okay), but what happened in the story bored me to tears! Just not interesting. Despite my complaining, there were some very entertaining pieces in the book, they were just too few in a mass of ordinary or even uninteresting stuff. My three favorite pieces were a parody of the John Carter of Mars (Barsoom) stories, a story about a woman attending a science fiction convention, but written in the style of romance novels, and a piece that combined making fun of the "Rosicrucian" ads that used to appear in many magazines and the old "book clubs" where you'd receive a different book each month if you didn't decline to get it.

I give it three stars out of five.

And at 97 books, that concludes my reading for 2012! I've got a few thoughts to wind things up, I'll post them if I make it back online tonight, or tomorrow otherwise! Thanks to all who have followed this thread, I've enjoyed the comments and encouragement from others, and even the lurkers on the thread have bumped up the "views" count in a way that I knew I wasn't just talking to myself in here....


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## BTackitt

Congratulations THC! Looks like we both blew by our goals! Fabulous!


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## The Hooded Claw

BTackitt said:


> Congratulations THC! Looks like we both blew by our goals! Fabulous!


Thank you, Ma'am. I think publicly setting a goal and reporting on progress helps keep a reader focused.

And so my reading for 2012 is done. Out of curiosity, I classified the books into different categories that I arbitrarily set, and this was the result:

(auto)Biography 12/97 12.4%

Horror 3/97 3.1%

Science & Nature 6/97 6.2%

Mystery 17/97 17.5%

Humor 3/97 3.1%

Fantasy 7/97 7.2%

Science fiction 9/97 9.3%

Non-fiction (misc)15/97 15.5%

History 20/97 20.6%

Fiction (misc) 5/97 5.2%

Over half, 53/97, came from various types of non-fiction. That didn't surprise me too much. You might conclude that I am very grounded in reality and the real world, except that 19/97, almost twenty percent, came from horror, fantasy, or science fiction, which are probably the most escapist categories of literature!

The worst book (in my opinion only, of course) of the 97 was definitely Skulldoggery. It actually was competently written, but appeared to me to have been cranked out assembly-line fashion. The most damning thing I can say about the book is that after reading it, I had no idea where in the world it had taken place. I actually liked Skulldoggery better than I liked another book, Thicker Than Water (Blood Brothers), but I think my negative reaction to Thicker Than Water was caused by the type of story TTW was. A category I don't care for. Even though I didn't like TTW, I felt it was better-written than Skulldoggery.

It is difficult for me to pick out a favorite book for the year, but I think I can narrow it down to three favorites pretty easily. In no particular order, they are:

Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles
Stolen Away
The Last Gunfight

No particular categorization here, Moriarty is a lighthearted book approaching fantasy, Stolen Away is a brutal mystery about a child kidnapping and murder, and The Last Gunfight is a detailed book about a famous event in history. Obviously I am eclectic!

Boone, the first book of the year, gets an honorable mention for a favorite book, as I liked the book a lot, even if at a lower level than the books above, but I got special joy from learning that one of my ancestors (the Cherokee Chief Atttakullakulla, see the early posts in this thread) had a significant connection with Daniel Boone, and had made a very important deal with Boone as a representative of the Cherokee. That fascinated me, and meant a lot to me since I'd grown up on stories of Daniel Boone on television and elsewhere.

I'm pleased that I surpassed my original goal of eighty books, sorry I didn't buckle down and make 100 for the year, but 97 books is eight books per month, almost two per week. I didn't bother to go back and try to count things up by month, but it is clear that I read in spurts. I think I did read at least one book every month, but there were long periods where I didn't read at all, more than a couple of weeks at a time on a couple of occasions. I was usually glad when I started reading again, but some of the breaks were needed because other stuff was going on in my life, and I suspect I did need some breaks to do other things on some of the occasions. I travel a fair amount, and one of my trips yielded a LOT of reading in the evenings, but others made me slow down, and on my "big trip' of the year, I barely read at all when I went to Vietnam and Cambodia, even on the long airplane trip.

One downside of this system is that the eighty books goal caused me to deliberately avoid reading long books. I'm going to do this same process again in 2013 (starting a different thread), and I have an idea to help me read a few doorstops this time around. I'll post about that later.

Again, thanks to all who have contributed to this thread, and to those who didn't speak up, but watched with interest!

In the first post, I've been keeping a running list of books read in the year. Here it is one last time:

1. Boone: A Biography, by Robert Morgan
2. The Black Camel, by Earl Derr Biggers
3. A Walk Around the Pond: Insects in and Over the Water, by Gilbert Waldbauer
4. The Pacific War: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima, by Daniel Marston
5. Temple Houston: Lawyer With a Gun, by Glenn Shirley
6. Charlie Chan Carries On, by Earl Derr Biggers
7. Making Sense of People: Decoding the Mysteries of Personality, by Samuel Barondes
8. Thicker Than Water (Blood Brothers), by Greg Sisco
9. The Way of the Panda, by Henry Nicholls
10. The Door Into Summer, by Robert Heinlein
11. The Northern Lights: Secrets of the Aurora Borealis, by Dr. Syun-Ichi Akasofu
12. My Lead Dog was a Lesbian: Mushing Across Alaska in the Iditarod--The World's Most Grueling Race, by Brian Patrick O'Donoghue
13. Buffalo Bill's Life Story, by William F. Cody
14. The Physics of Star Trek, by Lawrence M. Krauss
15. Ring for Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse
16. Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson, by William Langewiesche
17. The Mating Season, by P. G. Wodehouse
18. The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, by Pat Garrett
19. To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West, by Mark Lee Gardner
20. The Road of Danger, by David Drake
21. The Sun and the Moon, by Matthew Goodman
22. Ten Little Wizards, by Michael Kurland
23. How to be a Villain: Evil Laughs, Secret Lairs, Master Plans, and More!!!, by Neil Zawacki
24. The Travels of Friar Odoric: 14th Century Journal of the Blessed Odoric of Pordenone, by Odoric of Pordenone
25. Swords and Deviltry, by Fritz Leiber
26. Majic Man, by Max Allan Collins
27. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Atul Gawande
28. A Night to Remember, by Walter Lord
29. The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
30. The Earth Moves: Galileo and the Roman Inquisition, by Dan Hofstadter
31. The Man in the Yellow Raft, by C. S. Forester
32. Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution it Inspired, by Benson Bobrick
33. Stolen Away, by Max Allan Collins
34. Swords Against Death, by Fritz Leiber
35. The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man, by David W. Maurer
36. Master Detective: The Life and Crimes of Ellis Parker, America's Real-Life Sherlock Holmes, by John Reisinger
37. The Crazy Years, by Spider Robinson
38. Damned in Paradise, by Max Allan Collins
39. Skulldoggery, by Fletcher Flora
40. Success Secrets of Sherlock Holmes: Life Lessons from the Master Detective, by David Acord
41. A Study in Sorcery: A Lord Darcy Novel, by Michael Kurland
42. The Killing Room, by John Manning
43. En Route: A Paramedic's Stories of Life, Death, and Everything in Between, by Steven "Kelly" Grayson
44. The Gulf Stream: Tiny Plankton, Giant Bluefin, and the Amazing Story of the Powerful River in the Atlantic, by Stan Ulanski
45. Tales of the Fish Patrol, by Jack London
46. Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years, by Michael Esslinger
47. A Question of Time, by Fred Saberhagen
48. The Sea Devil: The Life of Count Felix von Luckner, The German War Raider, by Lowell Thomas
49. God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World, by Cullen Murphy
50. Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'urbervilles, by Kim Newman
51. Washington's Crossing, by David Hackett Fischer
52. Whiz Mob: A Correlation of the Technical Argot of Pickpockets with Their Behavior Patterns, by David W. Maurer
53. Ruled Britannia, by Harry Turtledove
54. Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, by Spider Robinson
55. Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor, by Russell S. Bonds
56. The Crack in the Lens, by Steven Hockensmith
57. Freighter Captain, by Max Hardberger
58. Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett
59. Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers, by John MacCormick
60. Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, by Harry Kemelman
61. The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe: The U.S. Army Air Forces Against Germany in World War II, by Jay Stout
62. Rag and Bone: A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery, by James R. Benn
63. Fevre Dream, by George R. R. Martin
64. The Radioactive Boy Scout: The True Story of a Boy and His Backyard Nuclear Reactor, by Ken Silverstein
XX. The Swoop, by P. G. Wodehouse
65. The Last Gunfight, by Jeff Guinn
66. Swords in the Mist, by Fritz Leiber
67. Burglars on the Job, by Richard T. Wright and Scott Decker
68. That's Life: It's Sexually Transmitted and Terminal, by Barry Friedman, MD
XX Master and Commander, by Patrick F. O'Brian (abandoned)
69. World's Greatest Sleuth! A Holmes on the Range Mystery, by Steven Hockensmith
70. A History of the World in Six Glasses, by Tom Standage
71. Southeast Asia in World History, by Craig Lockard
72. Bride of the Rat God, by Barbara Hambly
73. How Parking Enforcement Stole My Soul, by Ben Friedrich
XX. Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction, by Kim Knott (abandoned, at least temporarily)
74. A Record of Cambodia: The Land and its People, by Zhou Daguan, translated by Peter Harris
75. Turning the Tables: An Insider's Guide to Eating Out, by Steven A Shaw
76. Immortals: A Military History of Iran and its Armed Forces, by Steven R. Ward
77. Gold from Crete, by C. S. Forester
78. A Mortal Terror, by James R. Benn
79. The Big Flatline: Oil and the No-Growth Economy, by Jeff Rubin
80. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
81. The History of the End of the World, by Johnathan Kirsch
82. Spartan Planet, by A. Bertram Chandler
83. Blood and Thunder, by Max Allan Collins
84. The Broken Cycle, by A. Bertram Chandler
85. An Artist in Treason, by Andro Linklater
86. The Inheritors, by A. Bertram Chandler
87. Meet the Mertzes: The Life Stories of I Love Lucy's Other Couple, by Rob Edelman and Audrey Kupferberg
88. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, Vol. 2 by M. R. James
89. Behind Bars: Surviving Prison, by Jeffrey Ross and Stephen Richards
90. Superfreakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
91. The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman
92. A History of the Popes: From Peter to the Present, by John W. O'Malley
93. "They Have Killed Papa Dead!:" The Road to Ford's Theater, Abraham Lincoln's Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance, by Anthony S. Pitch
94. The G-String Murders, by Gypsy Rose Lee
95. The Big Black Mark, by A. Bertram Chandler
96. The Baby Blue Rip-Off, by Max Allan Collins
97. Bug-Eyed Monsters and Bimbos, Mike Resnick, editor


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

Well, I didn't set an official goal, but I topped out at two less than THC. And that includes 1200+ pages of _The Count of Monte Cristo_!

Ordinarily, I wouldn't have any idea how many books I read in a year, but I've been marking the date finished in Calibre , so that makes it easy to sort by date read.

Mike


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## The Hooded Claw

jmiked said:


> Well, I didn't set an official goal, but I topped out at two less than THC. And that includes 1200+ pages of _The Count of Monte Cristo_!
> 
> Ordinarily, I wouldn't have any idea how many books I read in a year, but I've been marking the date finished in Calibre , so that makes it easy to sort by date read.


One benefit of this is that I actually have a list and a rough date log of what I've actually read in the last year. Assuming I keep this up in future years, this will be interesting to look back at later. And I do intend to start a 2013 thread, probably tonight. I really ought to use Caliber, but so far I have staunchly avoided any semblance of organization about my books or reading, depending on searching to find what I want.


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## The Hooded Claw

One of the books I covered in this thread was this one. As I post, it is $1.99. Now up to $7.69. As always, verify the price before ordering!



It didn't rock my world, but I enjoyed it, and think it is definitely worth two bucks!


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## telracs

The Hooded Claw said:


> One of the books I covered in this thread was this one. As I post, it is $1.99. As always, verify the price before ordering!
> 
> 
> 
> It didn't rock my world, but I enjoyed it, and think it is definitely worth two bucks!


sorry, i think this was worth one buck, but not two...


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