Review: The Rational Optimist

The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Some times you just need to put on some rose-colored glasses. I picked this one up to read positive news, something I rarely get on the local TV news here, or in much of my reading. I was surprised the author took a long view, going back to pre-history to set a baseline for growth of the species, starting with the birth of homo sapiens and waning of other humanoids. So you start off with a win for our team. And each chapter is another chapter where the author makes a case for a win for the "home" team, through issues of trade, population explosion, food shortages, etc. I enjoyed the trip, and the author provided some different ways to frame progress that I hadn't considered. At times, though, the writing seemed a bit off. For instance, the author kept making assumptions about violent males and passive females that lead into his theses on prehistory and trade, presenting in a flip way. That makes things readable, but it made it a bit questionable. So I got the rose-colored glasses here, and maybe a bit more. There seems to have been a number of these kinds of books written in the recent past, I need to see if the newer ones are better than this or not.

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Review: Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide

Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I haven't heard their podcasts, but I expected from a cursory look at the book's blurbs that this would be just podcasts in book form. I was mistaken, this is a backgrounder of the podcasters and nothing much about crime. Except some of their own crimes committed while growing up. You get life stories from what I would stereotype as high school bad girls, so cue the stories of smoking, drinking, and partying. I found I liked the in-your-face personalities, more than the stories themselves, and I suspect I would enjoy their podcasts.

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Review: Herrin: The Brief History of an Infamous American City

Herrin: The Brief History of an Infamous American City by John Griswold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I hadn't heard of Herrin, except as a "big" town the county over from where my Dad grew up. But you don't often find books covering recent history in Southern Illinois, so I downloaded this from the library. I found it quite excellent. Herrin didn't have 15 minutes of fame, but it has had 15 minutes of infamy a few times, covered by this book. You get some very early history of the area to start the book, laying out the early growth of the city and county. The author includes an anecdote concerning John James Audubon dealing with Herrinites wanting to steal his watch, which contains one of the pithiest comments I've ever read as a punchline, something like "and he was a watercolorist". Funny, and well written. The book then covers the rise and fall of the coal industry in the county, as well as the battles between the pro-Prohibition KKK and the anti-Prohibition bootleggers that involved government officials on both sides, and regular callouts of state troops. Interesting was the use of the town hospital as a hangout for the bootleggers, which was at one point the subject of a shootout. The author also covers the rise and decline of the unions. Note that the author's family was involved in the union, and the writing tends to highlight the union cause. The end of the book covers much of the lawlessness of battling bootleggers, including a mention of an early aerial bombing of a gang bar/hangout in the county. Through most of the anecdotes, people, usually county residents, are killed. There are as many people killed in the stories in this book as in a typical war movie. Amazing. Interesting, colorful, and nicely written.

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Review: Pagan Kennedy's Living: A Handbook for Maturing Hipsters

Pagan Kennedy's Living: A Handbook for Maturing Hipsters by Pagan Kennedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Collection of zine articles and comics.If you can imagine what a maturing hipster is, you can probably guess at least some of the topics of these collected articles. There's dating and sex, but there's also a story about a guy who lives in a large robot in his college office. Reminds me of articles from older zines, or Whole Earth Digest. Eclectic, liberal, and fun.

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Review: Whisper Network

Whisper Network by Chandler Baker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

At times, I felt it was written like a TC Boyle book, providing me a sense of how others think and feel in a literary way. And at times it read like a basic mystery or chick lit book, aimed at a mass market paperback audience. I came into this with low expectations, as I read none of the blurbs and received this from the publisher on release before I saw any reviews. I noticed the author had written what looked to be books aimed at teens. I was pleasantly surprised that this was written better than I expected, and provided me with a new perspective. But this wasn't great literature, the characters were a bit confusing, and the mystery plot seemed tacked on. All in all, an OK read in the chick lit genre.

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Review: Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I listened to the audiobook of this, and was surprised that I did't get much out of it. I found the author very self-centered, his deep thoughts yielding some trite advice. The author spends the first two thirds of the book giving examples of where he made mistakes and got depressed, and he analyzes events. On occasion, the author generalizes, but providing his personal perspective. It felt like you were listening to a self-centered friend, going through various topics with a loop of: this happened to me, and this is how I think about it. Often, Parker summarizes his thinking with what could be platitudes. One example, in my words, is that sometimes the past can guide your future. Not that the stories aren't interesting, quite a few were. But the outcome of his life experience is the advice to reflect on where you are and where you've been to help you decide where to go in your vocation. Nothing groundbreaking. I was worried that I missed something given all the excellent reviews of this book, so I re-listened to it a few days after first finishing it. My opinion hasn't changed.

Probably the most difficult aspect of this audiobook is that it is capably narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Rudnicki has a very distinctive voice. He narrated much of Orson Scott Card's Ender series of science fiction books, and those books also discussed some deep subjects. Because of that voice, as well as the content, this felt like a digression of an Ender story, and I kept waiting for the action to begin. This was one of the first audiobooks where I thought a good job of narrating was wasted because of typecasting. I suspect I'm one of a very few that will have that reaction, though. Overall, a very short reminder that you can make life decisions based on what you know and have experienced. There's no need to wait for a sign.

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Review: The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I took on this book as a test of my ability to keep up with something for an entire year. I began the book on January 1, planning to read the short blurb for each day, but with the realization that I would certainly miss days. I created a rule for myself that if I got behind, I would only read two days per day in order to catch up. I wanted to limit my catch up reading because I believed that this book was written to prompt personal thought, and I wanted to spend time on reflection. And this is how I read the book.

“The Daily Stoic” provided a short, one or two page reading for each day of the year. The months were divided loosely into themes. Each day’s reading contained a passage from a famous Stoic writer and a discussion by the author. These prompts for thinking were quite general and workmanlike. They were not religious in any way. And in my case, they did allow me to think about the topics discussed and to learn how the Stoics think. There is an appendix that includes definitions used by Stoics as well as a short bibliography. I would recommend reading this with a little time for reflection around each post.

I enjoyed this daily ritual so much that I intend to start again for this year on or near January 1 with a different book. I found the afterward of “The Daily Stoic” a bit of a killjoy, though, in that it recommends that you now have studied enough, you don’t need excuses to read more, and the Stoic way is in the doing. Hmm.


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