Book Reviews: Twinkies and Meth
Twinkies and meth, the breakfast of champions!

• Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger -- This is a fascinating look at the modern world of food manufacturing. The author works his way through a Twinkie's ingredients list, visiting processing plants all over the U.S. -- sometimes under high security -- to see how each is created. I learned a lot from this book, and I was particularly surprised that some nasty petroleum products such as naphtha and benzene are involved in food production. Ettlinger explains how food scientists use chemicals to overcome the shortcomings and inconsistencies of traditional baking ingredients; a homemade Twinkie would have little in common with the Hostess variety. Most baked goods contain the same ingredients, so the book is not solely for Twinkie aficionados. To my relief, the author remains objective throughout rather than ranting about "fake" foods as is the fashion.


• No Speed Limit: The Highs and Lows of Meth by Frank Owen -- I usually provide my family with a list of books I want for Christmas, but I decided I'd rather buy this myself than field questions about why I was so interested in crystal meth. Owen tells the history of meth, discusses its influence on certain subcultures, and considers whether it is truly the demonic drug that media hype makes it out to be (in a word, no -- despite the scare campaigns, it's not any more addictive or difficult to quit than other hard drugs). Most people don't know that amphetamine and methamphetamine were provided to soldiers on both sides during World War II, and many are too young to remember that they were commonly available in pill form in the U.S. fifty years ago (over 3.5 billion pills were manufactured in 1958, enough to give 20 doses to every American!). The author describes several methods of producing meth (he does not provide recipes) and how the market changed as these methods were perfected. He visits the infamous Uncle Fester, who figured out how to make meth as a Marquette chemistry student and wrote a book about it while in prison. Owen even "takes one for the team" by using the drug and describing its effects. No Speed Limit takes a restrained, unhysterical look at the "meth epidemic." It includes an extensive bibliography but unfortunately lacks an index.

Labels: books, drugs, food

- posted by David Johnsen @ 12:33 AM 0 comments

 
The Money by James R. Phelan and Lewis Chester
Howard Hughes fascinates me. Not the brash, young aviator portrayed by Leonardo DiCrappio, but the codeine-addicted, neurotic, obsessive-compulsive, germ-fearing recluse whose business empire was nearly in shambles by the time he died. Then he weighed a skeletal 93 pounds despite being six feet and four inches tall. For all we hear about the mentally ill suffering in poverty, Hughes demonstrates the other extreme -- a person so wealthy that he built a surreal world for himself where no one dared intervene. One can't help feeling a bit sorry for Hughes as all his secrets, so closely guarded during his lifetime, were revealed for all to see in the aftermath of his death.

The Money isn't a biography. Rather, it is a study of virtually every complication that can arise in estate court. Although he was widely known as the wealthiest man on Earth, Hughes never signed a will and had no obvious heirs such as wives or children. The book details the search for legitimate heirs as well as several pretenders, most famously Terry Moore, who claimed to have married Hughes in two questionable ceremonies. Several alleged wills laid claim to the money, but the book explains how each was determined to be fake. The legal battles were expensive; they would have bankrupted a lesser estate. For starters, three states claimed Hughes' residency. While Nevada authorities didn't put up a fight (there was no state inheritance tax there, so why bother?), California and Texas had much to gain or lose. Hughes' hideous physical condition at death also spawned numerous legal actions against his doctors and handlers.

Along with the endless court battles fought in several states, The Money tells how one of Hughes' heirs, lawyer Will Lummis, struggled to repair the billionaire's financial empire known as Summa Corporation. First he wrested control from the men who had been running it into the ground during Hughes' later years. Then he set about straightening out myriad problems, taking the company from the brink of insolvency to a secure position that at least guaranteed that the heirs would get something of value.

Perhaps the most ironic part of this tale is the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). During the man's life, this organization was little more than a tax shelter. All of Hughes' stock in the Hughes Aircraft Company (a huge defense contractor that was successful largely because the U.S. government forced Hughes to install good management and leave it alone) was transferred to the HHMI to avoid paying taxes. During his lifetime, the HHMI spent very little on medical research. After the Hughes estate was sorted out, however, the organization began disbursing millions for important medical research worldwide. So this cynical tax dodge evolved into the lasting legacy of the peculiar billionaire.

If I taught a class in estate law, I would make this book required reading because it examines so many issues. Yet for all the complications in this story, The Money is quite readable for the layperson; the narrative never devolves into arcane legalese. It isn't an ideal introductory book about Hughes, but the authors (who have written other books about him) provide enough background that prior knowledge isn't necessary. I would recommend this book to anyone fascinated with Hughes and his wealth or curious about the many facets of estate law.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 10:44 PM 0 comments

 
My Six-Word Memoir
This meme, likely inspired by Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure, is making the rounds on cycling blogs. When I first read about the book a month ago, I had no idea what mine would be. Actually, Jennifer's memoir would work, but I can't just write, "Ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto ditto." Besides, if I wanted to copy someone, I'd probably go for my favorite entry from what I've seen of the book: "I like big butts, can't lie."

Sometimes the answer is that there is no answer. Hence

Brevity isn't my thing. Buzz off.

That's the clean version. I don't think I'll bother submitting it at www.sixwordmemoir.com.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 5:52 PM 0 comments

 
Books by Comedians
Sometimes people who are funny on stage write lousy books. Without the benefit of timing, inflection, and other techniques, jokes can fall short. These three books, on the other hand, are solid literary forays from comedians:

• I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert - In my virtually cable-free existence, I have seen just enough of Colbert's Comedy Central TV show to know the character that he portrays: an egotistical, smart-aleck, right-wing blowhard. This hilarious book is written from that character's perspective. It is unique in the way Colbert makes use of so many publishing gimmicks. For example, the cover bears an immodest silver emblem representing "The Stephen T. Colbert Award for Literary Excellence." Margin comments maintain a constant dialogue with the main text. Footnotes, graphs, charts, illustrations, and even stickers are sprinkled throughout. There is even a bookmark ribbon! These features make the book not only funny, but also a lot of fun to read. I tend to wait for paperback editions, but this hardcover is worth having.


• Git-R-Done by Larry the Cable Guy - I gave this one a chance because it was in the bargain bin. Larry can be funny, but I wasn't sure how this would translate to paper, and I wasn't sure I could take 260 pages of him. Even my brother, who really likes Larry, saw this book on my table and made a dismissive statement. Well, one day while he was painting my back stoop, I read a few chapters aloud and he changed his mind. Yes, Git-R-Done is surprisingly entertaining. My wife was grossed out a few times, but overall it's funny stuff. My only complaint is that it could use tighter editing. A few chapters drag on, so 220 pages might have been better.


• Dirty Jokes and Beer by Drew Carey - This is a classic of sorts, being a 10-year-old New York Times Bestseller, but I found a stray copy in the bargain bin recently. I think Carey's TV show was successful because he was just an ordinary guy, and that's how this book comes across -- except dirtier as promised in the title. It's like knocking back a few drinks and shooting the bull with Drew. Most chapters are short and punched up with a lot of laughs. In the first section, each chapter begins with one of Carey's favorite dirty jokes, and these are worth memorizing. One of the longer chapters hilariously describes how network censors force TV writers to tone down sex and drug references in their scripts. I didn't expect much from Carey's short stories, which fill the last 100 pages, but they were pretty amusing albeit sometimes disturbing.

All three books also serve as irreverent autobiographies, but naturally, anything in a humorous book should be taken with a grain of salt. If you like the character portrayed by Colbert or Larry, you'll like their books. If you like Carey and don't mind lewdness, you'll like his book, too. If you don't know any of these guys, take a chance on Colbert's book, which is all around the most entertaining and (relatively) least offensive.

Labels: books, comedy

- posted by David Johnsen @ 3:59 AM 0 comments

 
Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales
This book is both fascinating and educational. Gonzales shares many stories about survivors, starting with his father, who rode a wounded B-17 down to the ground from 24,000 feet during World War II (in one of the best prologues I've ever read). While the storytelling is vivid, the focus of the book is analysis. Gonzales describes how different parts of the brain react to stress (this part of the book requires some concentration) and how this influences who survives and who doesn't. He explains how certain accidents are "normal", why training and technology fail to save people, and what critical mistake people make when they get lost. There are interesting anecdotes galore, and Gonzales even adds a healthy dose of ancient wisdom from the Tao Te Ching and Stoic philosophers to show that some of these ideas have stood the test of time. The author switches back and forth between stories and theory, a style that kept me from getting bored with either one. This isn't a how-to book, although the appendix attempts to distill the text into easy-to-remember advice.

Before I gush about a book, I usually check out the negative reviews on Amazon.com to see if I'm totally off-base. Most of the bad reviews of Deep Survival come from people who just don't get it. Some expected a how-to book or a simple collection of survival stories. Others whined that Gonzales writes about himself too much even though he makes it pretty clear in the prologue that he will. His personal stories are brief, and they usually illustrate how even someone who should know better can make mistakes. A few say the book isn't scientific enough, but it clearly is written for a popular audience. Gonzales cites enough sources to satisfy anyone who wants to delve deeper into a particular subject.

One of the themes of this book is that survival isn't only about wilderness survival; it is essential in all aspects of life, such as surviving financial setbacks, the loss of a loved one, divorce, or any other disappointment. Indeed, I found many parallels between the survivors in this book and Lance Armstrong's survival of cancer. For that reason, I would recommend Deep Survival to anyone and everyone. Reading it won't make you a survivor, but it will put you on the right track.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 1:35 PM 0 comments

 
Working Stiff by Grant Stoddard
This memoir is subtitled "The Misadventures of an Accidental Sexpert." I had never heard of the author nor his sex column, "I Did It for Science." But when Borders offers those "buy 2, get 3rd free" deals or similar, I tend to take a few risks -- especially when I can indulge my pervy side with a book like this.

After a titillating prologue, Working Stiff nearly grinds to a halt. The author takes us back to his boring, virgin university days in London, and then he describes how he met an American girl and eventually moved to New York City. I suppose this is intended to show how dramatically his life changed after he started writing his column, but I would rather memoirists stick to the interesting parts of their lives and leave out the filler.

The book finally gathers momentum when Stoddard wins a contest to score with a sex columnist. She helps him get a job at Nerve.com, and eventually he is tapped to write an experiential column about unusual sexual activities. This is clearly the meat of the book; anyone who picks up Working Stiff wants to read some kinky stories. And some of his encounters are pretty wild, the kind of stuff I've never even thought of fantasizing about. Unfortunately, the author wastes many pages on other aspects of living in New York City -- this book is as much a love letter to the city as it is the tale of an "accidental sexpert" -- and the book suffers for it. Although some of the stories about crappy apartments in dicey neighborhoods are amusing, they are not nearly as interesting as his occupational experiences.

A sample of Stoddard's column is included in the "P.S." section (bonus material included in the paperback edition). The "lab report" format of "I Did It for Science" is fitting but hokey; I prefer the author's narrative (though he doesn't describe this particular encounter in the book). The other "P.S." material is banal or redundant.

Sometimes Working Stiff is spot-on and hilarious, but it lags a bit too much. To enjoy this book, skip pages 6-56, and be prepared to skim whenever it gets boring. Some books leave you begging for more, but Working Stiff would have been better with 80-100 fewer pages.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 6:45 PM 0 comments

 
Bathroom Reading
I don't read in the bathroom much, but certain books are ideal. Unlike novels, the following books can all be read a few pages at a time without losing their continuity.

• Rock & Roll's Most Wanted by Stuart Shea - "Most Wanted" is a series of books that presents material in the format of "top ten" lists. The lists in this book are pretty good, and Shea provides ample background about each item. Sample lists include "new Bob Dylans," suicides, famous haircuts, bands with unusual instruments, and songs with controversial lyrics. Generally, the content is skewed toward "classic rock" and "top 40" from the 1960s and 1970s, but some more recent entries sneak in. Although several selections are rather arbitrary, I enjoyed reading this book and wished it was longer.
  
• Rock and Pop Elevens by Simon Trewin, Tom Bromley and Michael Moran - Taking their cue from Spinal Tap, the authors go with lists of elevens instead of tens. This book is decidedly British, and as such is skewed toward UK music with much more 1980s and 1990s content than Rock & Roll's Most Wanted. I think I have fairly broad tastes and knowledge about music, but sometimes I only recognized one or two names on a list. Also, the book's tone was more smart-alecky and snarky rather than informational. It was a chore to finish. If I had read more of it in the store, I probably wouldn't have bought it. Note: My copy has a much better cover -- an artistic rendering of Elvis' sequined jumpsuit from behind -- than the one pictured below.
  
• From Altoids to Zima: The Surprising Stories Behind 125 Famous Brand Names by Evan Morris - It's pretty much what the subtitle says. The brands are sorted into five chapters such as "Cars" and "Food and Drink." Some stories will be familiar to most American consumers, but many were new to me. This book is fun and easy to read, and you can make conversation at dinner parties with the trivia you learn.


• Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D. - This book would have been pretty good had it stuck to its mission. The questions and answers are entertaining and educational. Unfortunately, the authors go astray in a misguided effort to amuse. To tie in with the book's subtitle, "Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini," a serial excerpt from a cocktail party opens each chapter. Even worse are the transcribed instant messaging conversations between the authors -- online correspondence is never as funny to the rest of the world as its participants think it is. I put this book down after 40 pages because I found the interludes boring and/or intrusive. Six months later, I finished the book, skimming those parts to get to the questions and answers. Also, the "hundreds" in the subtitle is misleading; I didn't count them, but a sampling suggests that there are fewer than 200 questions. The cynic in me cannot help but wonder whether the party and IM filler was used just to stretch the material enough to make this book's sequel (Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex?) viable.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 3:42 AM 0 comments

 
Book Reviews! Book Reviews! Book Reviews!
I've been reading instead of blogging for the past few months,and now I am surrounded by huge stacks of books awaiting reviews. Most will get the "quickie" treatment, starting with these:

• The Call of the Weird: Travels in American Subcultures by Louis Theroux - If you ever wondered what it's like to hang out with UFO believers, militia men, a (legal) Nevada prostitute, former Heaven's Gate cult members, a porn star, or a struggling gangsta rapper, this book is for you. The people and their lifestyles are fascinating, and Theroux's writing style is engaging. He discovers that despicable beliefs don't make a person "bad." For example, when Theroux lost his laptop, the white supremacist he had been interviewing went the extra mile to find it for him. Such tales challenge the reader's predisposition toward Theroux's subjects. Although some characters are inherently more interesting than others and his attempt to tie everything together into a tidy conclusion falls flat, The Call of the Weird is an enjoyable read.
  
• Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins - As one who keeps abreast of world affairs, I didn't find this book as shocking as some people did. But one thing amazed me: no matter how underhanded and manipulative you think U.S. foreign and economic policy is, the truth is that it's worse. I liked the book, but I was hoping for more details of what Perkins did and less about his personal life. Also, I tired of his repeated assertions that he felt what he was doing was wrong -- they rang hollow, like they were inserted later to assuage his guilt or mitigate his destructive, unethical actions. Remember when author and professor Ward Churchill controversially asserted that the World Trade Center was full of "little Eichmanns"? He was talking about people like Perkins.
  
• As Seen on TV by Lou Harry & Sam Stall - This entertaining book is full of stories, facts, and anecdotes about 50 of the most popular products sold directly via television. Ginsu knives, Flowbee, Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone, Garden Weasel, Soloflex, ThighMaster, BluBlockers, The Clapper, Chia Pets, Girls Gone Wild, Time Life Books... They're all here. I learned a lot, though the authors wisely don't take the subject matter too seriously. Anyone who has spent too much time watching late-night TV in the past 20-30 years will love this book.


• The Plot Against America by Philip Roth - When I first saw the title, I feared this was some post-9/11, right-wing manifesto; I was relieved to learn that it was fiction set 60 years earlier. As a fan of "counter-factuals," I found the premise of a Charles Lindbergh presidency and its ramifications for the U.S. in World War II intriguing. But the story itself is largely a Jewish coming-of-age tale with the alternate history relegated to the background. I essentially tolerated the main story and characters just to get to the sections of macro-level speculation. The historical aspects were not as well developed as most counter-factuals, and aside from some insights about growing up Jewish in the 1930s, the rest didn't offer me much. As such, the book was unsatisfying though not bad.
  
• Where Do Nudists Keep Their Hankies? by Mitchell Symons - This book wasn't nearly as interesting or entertaining as it could have been. Symons comes up with a few interesting questions and answers, but much is just filler. He relies too often on friends for answers, which aren't exactly authoritative. At worst, he falls back on his own opinions, which are even weaker. Sometimes he tries to be funny and it just sounds forced. Despite the potentially titillating subject matter, this book was a waste of my time.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 1:25 PM 0 comments

 
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead by Crystal Zevon
The title is brilliant. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life And Times of Warren Zevon makes use of song titles from the beginning and end of Warren's career, effectively bracketing his life. At first blush, it appears to be a sleazy ex-wife tell-all, but Crystal wrote this book at Warren's request, and he told her to include "even the awful, ugly parts." There are plenty of those. For many years, Warren was a terrible alcoholic who would black out and abuse his wife. Even when sober, he could be very moody, and he was consistently unfaithful to the women he cared about.

The book is written in an engaging "oral history" format. Crystal interviewed 87 of Warren's friends, lovers, and associates. Her narrative weaves together their recollections with Warren's own diaries. The result is that the reader feels as if he is in a large room full of people reminiscing about Warren's life.

Warren was one of my favorite artists. I saw him in concert three times, and of course I have all of his albums. The book doesn't tell as much about his songs as I had hoped, but then, it is about his "life and times," not specifically his songwriting or recording. Although I found the 450-page book interesting, seeing all the warts tarnished his image somewhat in my mind. He often acted like a spoiled baby, especially during the drunken years, and it's hard to reconcile his lyrical depth with the shallowness of his behavior.

If you admire Warren Zevon for anything other than his songwriting or performing abilities, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead will tear apart that image. But if you're willing to acknowledge that it takes a flawed man to create such memorable work, the book is a fascinating insight into virtually every facet of his life.

Labels: books, music

- posted by David Johnsen @ 2:29 AM 0 comments

 
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
I finished reading The World Without Us a month ago. Incredibly, every day something triggers a memory about something in the book. It stays with you. To imagine a planet without people, Weisman draws on virtually every realm of science from biology to astrophysics, not to mention a healthy dose of engineering, archeology, and social sciences. What would be the immediate consequences of our absence? Which man-made structures would last the longest? How long would it take for decimated animal populations to recover? Would another race of humans someday evolve?

On this speculative journey, the reader visits the New York subways, Houston's petrochemical plants, the "horse latitudes" where ocean trash languishes, the English birthplace of modern fertilizers, an Arizona nuclear power plant, and the radiation-poisoned -- but not lifeless -- area surrounding Chernobyl. Along the way, tour guide Weisman imparts fascinating tidbits. For example, when he describes how weather would break down the average house in the absence of a diligent homeowner, he notes that ceramic bathroom tiles will last the longest because they are chemically similar to fossils. Elsewhere, he describes how newspapers fill up landfills -- we think they break down quickly, but they last much longer buried without air or sunlight. While discussing the relative permanence of polymers, Weisman says "biodegradable" plastic bags don't really degrade completely; they just separate into minuscule particles of plastic. These plastic pieces do not break down, and they turn up in plankton and other small organisms.

Some Amazon.com reviewers claim the book says the world would be better off without us. Weisman never says that, however, so perhaps those people have guilty consciences. Also, science deniers need not apply -- evolution and global warming come up repeatedly.

The World Without Us is written in easy-to-understand language, which is important for a book that veers from chemical engineering to anthropology to oceanography. If the book has a flaw, I suppose it is its non-linear organization. Instead of a narrative moving from the present into a humanless world, the author jumps from topic to topic, shifting back and forth between now and the future.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the environment and our role in it. It does all the things a great book should: it entertains, provides a lot of information, and makes the reader think.

Labels: books, environment, science

- posted by David Johnsen @ 2:40 AM 0 comments

 
Interesting New Books
I have a bunch of reviews to write, but first, here are a couple of new books I found on AlterNet that I haven't read yet.

• The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs - The mostly agnostic author (he's Jewish "in the same way that the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant") writes down every law he can find in the Old Testament and tries to live by them in modern times. This is relevant because a huge percentage of Americans claim to do just that (except Christians use the comparatively lax New Testament instead of the Old). Although the book is written and classified as humor (a detail lost on some Amazon reviewers), Jacobs learns a lot about spirituality along the way. In the end, he finds virtue in sacredness, regardless of whether there is a God. See this AlterNet article for more.
• Shopping Our Way to Safety: How We Changed from Protecting the Environment to Protecting Ourselves by Andrew Szasz - This book looks at the green consumer phenomenon and suggests that we are feeling a false sense of goodness from buying organic and such. His argument is that buying green products is a self-centered act that has little impact on the environmental destruction that made those products viable in the first place. In other words, just because my veggies are free of chemicals doesn't stop farmers from dumping chemicals on crops for everyone else, and buying bottled water doesn't keep polluters from spewing toxins into Lake Michigan. I suppose it's "the American way" to turn activism into just another flavor of consumerism. Reviewer Erin Wiegand is quick to point out that shoppers shouldn't think buying green is meaningless, just that we should realize that it is only a small part of solving our environmental problems.

I'll probably put The Year of Living Biblically on my Christmas list. I expect it to be entertaining along the lines of Joe Queenan's My Goodness. On the other hand, although I agree with the premise of Shopping Our Way to Safety, I don't feel a need to read about it in depth.

Labels: books, religion, shopping

- posted by David Johnsen @ 2:23 AM 0 comments

 
A Buffalo in the House by R.D. Rosen
I'm not generous with superlatives, but this is the best book I've read all year. R.D. Rosen interweaves the story of Charlie, an orphaned baby buffalo raised by a couple in Santa Fe, with the tragic history of the species in North America. The result is a fascinating and gripping narrative. Reviewers often describe a book as a "page turner" that they couldn't stop reading, but rarely does a work of non-fiction reach that level. I read A Buffalo in the House in one day.

The buffalo (the author uses buffalo and bison interchangeably, as most Americans do) is the last of several very large animals that used to roam North America, the only one to survive into the modern era. Although thought of as a phenomenon of the Great Plains, bison once traversed the entire U.S. except a handful of northeastern states -- English settlers encountered them in Virginia. Rosen tells the familiar, awful story of how 30 to 50 million bison were hunted to near-extinction in just a few decades in the late 1800s, but he also details the lesser-known efforts of the men and women who preserved the handful of wild herds remaining today.

The book begins with sculptor Veryl Goodnight, whose great, great uncle was the legendary cattleman Charles Goodnight. She wanted a baby buffalo to model for a piece called "Back from the Brink" honoring Charles' wife Mary Ann, who bottle-fed buffalo calves to create a herd of bison that lived in Texas' Palo Duro Canyon for a century (in 1997 they were relocated to nearby Caprock Canyons State Park).

The calf, named Charlie, was much more than just a model for Veryl's sculpture. Veryl's husband, Roger Brooks, developed an extraordinary relationship with the rapidly growing buffalo. Having Charlie in their lives led Veryl and Roger to discover many things about the past and present of the species, much of it revolving around Charles Goodnight. Some of the story lines don't have satisfying conclusions, but life is like that.

If I had to find a flaw in this book, it would be Roger's brief criticisms of the Iraq War. Although I agree with him, the comments seem unnecessarily divisive and incongruous (though not out-of-character) in a book that easily could have stood without them. But my wife didn't see them that way, so maybe I'm wrong.

Anyone who has ever loved an animal will enjoy A Buffalo in the House, as will anyone interested in bison or the history of the American West.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 10:21 AM 0 comments

 
Lyrics of the Day
My music collection doesn't include much punk, but the Los Angeles band X is a notable exception; I have eight of their albums. "See How We Are" is the title track from X's sixth album, released in 1987. The song covers a broad range of subjects from prisons to poverty to self-interest to relationships, but these lines always stick out in my mind:

Now there are seven kinds of Coke
500 kinds of cigarettes
This freedom of choice in the USA drives everybody crazy

Only seven kinds of Coke, imagine that! Back then, we had "new" Coke, Coke Classic, Diet Coke, Caffeine-free Coke, Diet Caffeine-free Coke, Cherry Coke, and Diet Cherry Coke. I remember because the first time I heard the song, I made that list and said, "Damn, they're right!"

Of course, that was 20 years ago. Since then, only "new" Coke has fallen (quietly) by the wayside, and the company has added Coca-Cola BlaK, Coca-Cola Zero, Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, Coke with Lime, Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, Diet Coke with Lime, Diet Coke with Splenda, Diet Vanilla Coke, and Vanilla Coke. Our Coke options have more than doubled!

This reminds me of a book I read a few months ago by Barry Schwartz titled The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less. He confirms what X knew decades ago, that freedom of choice is driving us crazy. He shows how excessive options add stress, waste time, and often lead to poorer decisions. The last chapter is full of great advice for dealing with the overwhelming choices in modern America. It might even help you pick out your next can of Coke.

Labels: books, lyrics

- posted by David Johnsen @ 4:03 AM 1 comments

 
I Killed: True Stories of the Road from America's Top Comics
Lately there has been a dreadful trend in comedy of filming tours and compiling DVDs of the between-show antics. I guess the premise is that comedians are funny all the time. But they aren't, and those "on the road" DVDs are an awful waste of time. As a wanna-be comedian (I can be funny, but I can't tell jokes worth a darn), I should appreciate such glimpses into the lives of touring comedians, lives that I, on some level, dream of living. But I don't because they just aren't funny (David Cross: Let America Laugh was so bad I ejected it halfway through, and I never do that).

I Killed, compiled by Ritch Shydner and Mark Schiff, is what those self-indulgent DVDs wish they could be. The book collects stories from dozens of comedians ranging from old-timers like Red Buttons to Jay Leno to Larry the Cable Guy. Because only a tale or two from each lifetime of travel are included, you get only the very best. There are some duds, but most of the stories are at least amusing and some are wet-your-pants hilarious. There is a bit of insider jargon, but it's easy enough to figure out. Because the stories are never more than a few pages long, I Killed is convenient for people who only get small chunks of time to read. Just make sure it's someplace where it's okay to chuckle.

I don't want to ruin any stories, so here is a short one in its entirety from a page titled "Not In New York Anymore"

* Joey Novick We were three New York comedians in the Deep South, and the directions given to us by the club were, "Go past the Italian restaurant." We drove back and forth for an hour till we realized the "Italian restaurant" was a Pizza Hut.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stand-up comedy.

Labels: books, comedy

- posted by David Johnsen @ 12:20 AM 0 comments

 
The Economic Naturalist by Robert H. Frank
If you're looking for a very readable introduction to economics, The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas is an excellent choice. Robert H. Frank asks dozens of intriguing questions and offers economic explanations. The idea is that once you start to think like an economist, you can see economic reasons for virtually everything. The answers are fairly brief, making the book very easy to digest. Frank groups questions together by economic concept so the reader can see how one concept has a variety of applications. Perhaps best of all, The Economic Naturalist is free of the profound arrogance that many economists express when writing for the "common" people.

Here are some examples of the questions Frank asks:

• Why do color photographs sell for less than black-and-white ones?
• Why do women endure the discomfort of high heels?
• Why does the rookie of the year in baseball often have a less successful second season?
• Why is the proportion of aluminum cans recycled in Brazil much higher than in the United States?
• Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Frank took many of these questions from essays written by his students, writing new answers in his own words. At the end of the book, he includes two students' papers. The first answers my favorite question: "Why do animal rights activists target fur-wearing women but leave leather-clad bikers alone?"

The Economic Naturalist isn't perfect. Frank admits in the introduction that many of these questions are not answered completely by economics but asserts that all have an economic component. Some commenters at Amazon have criticized some of his answers, but I think they miss the point. Frank's objective is not necessarily to have all the right answers, but rather to change the reader's way of thinking to consider an economic perspective.

Bookstores have been blitzed with several popular economics books in recent years. Freakonomics shows the value of economics outside the marketplace, but it gets too esoteric at times (the chapter about names bored me to tears). The Undercover Economist, which I reviewed last week, covers more traditional applications but over-explains them. The Economic Naturalist is the best and most readable of the bunch. It takes on common questions from the marketplace and beyond, using the answers to teach the concepts of economics in a fun and intriguing way.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 1:43 PM 0 comments

 
The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
As introductory economics books go, The Undercover Economist isn't a bad choice. Unlike the wildly popular Freakonomics, which is about surprising or unusual applications of economics, The Undercover Economist explores more traditional topics: prices, scarcity, markets, taxes, government influence, and globalization, to name a few. The book covers those concepts more clearly than the typical economics textbook, making it fairly accessible to the layperson (note: my experience with economics textbooks was in 1989, but I have the impression that they haven't changed for the better since). My favorite chapter is the final chapter about China. It describes the disastrous economic policies of Mao Tse-Tung and how Deng Xiaoping reversed them.

Less convincing is the chapter enumerating the glorious benefits of globalization. Although Harford's perspective as an economist made me consider that globalization isn't quite as evil as progressives like me are inclined to believe, his environmental arguments fall flat. For example, Harford naively trusts multinational corporations to install the same pollution controls everywhere regardless of whether the law requires them.

Harford's writing style is okay, but sometimes he belabors points (you could say his writing could be more economical, heh-heh). There are times when the book drags, but considering the subject it usually moves along at an acceptable pace. Another fault of the book is that the "undercover economist" persona employed by Harford is alternately forced and poorly developed. I got the feeling it was a gimmick grafted onto the manuscript late in its development.

All in all, The Undercover Economist is a better place to start than Freakonomics for someone interested in learning about economics. However, I don't think either is the best choice. For that, stay tuned (note: the answer is not Freedomnomics -- John R. Lott, Jr. is a tool)...

Labels: books, economics

- posted by David Johnsen @ 7:35 PM 6 comments

 
Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress by Debra Ginsberg
I was looking for some light reading this weekend, and Ginsberg's memoir about twenty years of waitressing fit the bill. It is full of humorous personal anecdotes, and for that reason alone it's worth reading or at least skimming. But overall, Waiting fell flat for me because the memoir aspect is overdone. While I was interested in her work, I didn't really want to hear so many details of her personal life outside of work. I didn't care to read about her boyfriends or her son; every time she detoured into those topics, I found myself anxiously waiting for the book to become interesting again. Finally, a late chapter reviewing waitress movies is an utter waste of time, as if Ginsberg had pages to fill but no more funny stories to tell.

I suppose I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read amusing tales about waitressing. I'd also recommend skimming the parts about Ginsberg's personal life. The chapter about restaurant hanky-panky is the last one worth reading, so skip the end. Buy it cheap or check it out from the library; it's not something you'll read again and again.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 1:52 PM 0 comments

 
How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen
This is the first book I've read out of the many that I purchased at Powell's in Portland last month. It doesn't really explain how "mumbo jumbo" took over so much as it reviews a number of disturbing trends that have brought us to where we are. Its subtitle "A Short History of Modern Delusions" is more fitting than the title.

Here's an incredible passage that I must share:

The American presidential election of 1800, in which John Adams stood against his old friend Thomas Jefferson, also happened to be a contest between two men who were, at the time, the president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the president of the American Philosophical Society. The historian Henry May described this as "a coincidence very unlikely ever to be repeated in American politics," and his prediction looks increasingly solid. Exactly two centuries later, the main contenders for the presidency were George W. Bush, a genial chump, and Al Gore, a moderately intelligent liar and influence peddler -- a choice summarized by one British newspaper as "Dumbo vs. Pinocchio."

That says all one needs to know about how horribly America's democratic process has gone astray. There was a time when voters could choose between brilliant candidates rather than wearily punching their tickets for whichever candidate is "slightly less bad."

I thoroughly enjoyed Wheen's sarcastic yet spot-on descriptions of trickle-down economics, self-help gurus, X-Files believers, Princess Diana worshippers, dotcom mania, and other irrational phenomena. While many examples were familiar, Wheen also shared anecdotes from the U.K. that were new to me. I got bogged down in a few chapters discussing philosophy, but I suppose that's the price I pay for not studying the field in college.

Acknowledging that my eyes glossed over during a couple of Wheen's more philosophical chapters, I didn't feel like he really tied all the amusing yet revealing tales together into a consistent message. Sometimes he reached to include things that, though interesting, didn't fit well into his thesis. It was entertaining reading, but How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World is more about What than How. In that respect, it is as good a review of the past 50 years of popular and political culture/history as any. Anyone who likes Wheen's writing style will probably enjoy the book, even if the sections about philosophy are difficult for the uninitiated.

Labels: books, US politics

- posted by David Johnsen @ 9:47 PM 0 comments

 
Why Was Newt Gingrich Speaker of the House?
Because he sure as hell can't write!

My grammarian readers (I know there are at least two of you) will enjoy Janet Maslin's review of Pearl Harbor, the latest book by everyone's favorite "family values" hypocrite, Newt Gingrich (cowritten with William R. Forstchen). Apparently this book was so important that the rushed publisher decided to skip the copyediting phase. How else could you explain painfully redundant phrases like "to withdraw backward was impossible?" (Actually, Newt, to withdraw forward is impossible.) Maslin writes

This is not a matter of isolated typographical errors. It is a serious case for the comma police, since the book’s war on punctuation is almost as heated as the air assaults it describes.

She follows with an example. But this is my favorite passage from Pearl Harbor:

James nodded his thanks, opened the wax paper and looked a bit suspiciously at the offering, it looked to be a day or two old and suddenly he had a real longing for the faculty dining room on campus, always a good selection of Western and Asian food to choose from, darn good conversations to be found, and here he now sat with a disheveled captain who, with the added realization, due to the direction of the wind, was in serious need of a good shower.

Perhaps I was wrong about skipping the copyediting phase. It is perfectly reasonable for a copyeditor, after reading a sentence like that, to throw up his or her hands in defeat. I mean, it can be fixed but where would you start?

Labels: books, language

- posted by David Johnsen @ 12:41 AM 0 comments

 
Naomi Wolf Jumps on Fascism Bandwagon
A growing number of insightful writers are documenting America's descent toward fascism. The latest is Naomi Wolf, best known for The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women. Although her new book The End of America: A Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot isn't coming out until September, you can read "Fascist America, in 10 Easy Steps" now at AlterNet. She focuses on the erosion of rights without even mentioning the corporate element described by Benito Mussolini (another clear sign that we're on that path). I just wonder how many books must be written about this before people wake up to what's happening in 21st century America. Turn off the TV, put down the National Enquirer, pull your head out, and open your eyes.

Labels: books, US politics

- posted by David Johnsen @ 2:00 PM 0 comments

 
Everything's Relative and Other Fables from Science and Technology by Tony Rothman
Sometimes when I get home from the bookstore, I wonder why I bought a certain book. Everything's Relative was one of those, but I decided to give it a chance. The preface spells out the important ideas to be gleaned from the book -- discoveries sometimes happen simultaneously (who gets credit from whom can depend on nationality) and discoveries are almost always based on the work of predecessors, many of whom were pretty darn close to achieving what the "famous" discoverer did.

Although Rothman says Everything's Relative is written for a "popular" audience, he clearly assumes the reader is well versed in physics and other college-level science material. My recollections of those subjects are foggy at best. I spotted a familiar name or theory from time to time but generally floundered through the text. I valiantly plowed through the first chapter about whether Galileo dropped things off the Leaning Tower of Pisa and invented the barometer (disparate topics that involved the same group of scientific peers). I tried to read the next chapter but decided I could never finish the book straight through.

Instead I skipped ahead to topics that interested me, such as the discovery of the planet Neptune. The common story is that mathematicians calculated where it would be based on the gravitational effect of an unknown body on Uranus, and all the astronomers had to do was look where they were told. Like many topics in Everything's Relative, this story is sort of true but not completely. This sort of nitpicking really requires a more intense interest in the subject than most people have, but I used to be an astronomy enthusiast many years ago. While Neptune was indeed discovered where predicted, it was somewhat by luck because the mathematicians had made invalid assumptions in their calculations. There is also evidence that another astronomer discovered Neptune years earlier except he presumed that he had made a mistake in recording his observations.

Rothman tackles other great discoveries and inventions in this manner, but I couldn't stay interested. I read most of the chapter about the light bulb and half of the chapter about the telephone before giving up. I would recommend this book only to someone with a very strong interest and background in science, particularly physics; I really don't think it is appropriate for the layman as advertised on the book jacket.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 2:11 AM 0 comments

 
So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star by Jacob Slichter
As drummer for Semisonic, Slichter experienced the full range of musical fortunes. The band had one of the biggest singles of 1998 ("Closing Time"), but their career quickly withered when they failed to produce another hit. Anyone who wants to know how the real world of rock & roll works must read this book.

As one would expect, Slichter describes getting a record deal, recording albums, shooting videos, and touring around the world. He also talks about how record label politics can affect a band's chances for success. But So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star is most illuminating when Slichter delves into aspects of the industry that the average fan doesn't think about: groveling for airplay before radio program directors, discovering the critical role of independent promoters (the modern, legal incarnation of payola), and learning how record companies minimize their risk -- practically every dollar spent on the band (including those payments to independent promoters) has to be earned back before the artists get paid a penny.

Slichter captures the exhilaration of being onstage in front of thousands of people along with the excitement of meeting and working with music legends like Carole King and the master of mastering, Bob Clearmountain. His description of touring is brilliantly written as a single day that shifts from venue to venue to illustrate the sameness of the routine. Finally, he recounts the painful unraveling of the band's prospects as their third album, Chemistry, fails to produce a hit.

Ironically, the book's only notable fault echoes Semisonic's -- timing. Much as Semisonic's clever pop rock was out of step with what was being played on the radio in their prime, So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star was published as the Internet was becoming an integral part of music promotion, particularly for new bands (Slichter's mention of the Internet is limited to discussion forums). It's a shame the band and the book didn't come later -- the Internet may have helped the band overcome the "handicap" of not fitting into a radio station format, and the book wouldn't have become instantly dated. Nevertheless, the book is a great description of most of the music industry; it's just missing the Internet element.

Despite that fault, So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star should be a required reality check for anyone who dreams of hitting the rock & roll jackpot.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 5:18 PM 0 comments

 
An Empire Of Wealth by John Steele Gordon
This book is far more interesting and engaging than one would expect from its subtitle, "The Epic History of American Economic Power." Economics isn't exactly the most colorful subject matter, but Gordon does a good job of making it not only entertaining, but also easy to read for those without background in the field. Gordon retells the familiar story of American history from an economic perspective. To every reader's relief, he does this without resorting to even one chart or graph. He also has a knack for injecting an interesting factoid or two whenever the story starts to drag a bit.

His description of early settlements and agriculture from an economic perspective sheds new light on the standard narrative. Gordon highlights and explains the wisdom of Alexander Hamilton's central bank, along with Andrew Jackson's foolishness in dismantling it and the economic instability its absence caused for decades afterward. He takes issue with the portrayal of men like Cornelius Vanderbilt and J.P. Morgan as "robber barons," observing that the original robber barons of medieval times were more like muggers who simply collected money, whereas Vanderbilt and Morgan created wealth and contributed to America's economic power. Gordon details the financial aspects of the Great Depression well, and he explains the tactics used by Hoover and Roosevelt to try to stabilize the economy. He tells how Donald Nelson, chairman of the War Production Board, "changed the world's largest capitalist economy into a centrally planned one," playing a critical role in winning World War II.

An Empire Of Wealth is not without flaws, though. Most glaring is Gordon's strong bias toward the East. The Midwest and the West are practically ignored. Chicago doesn't merit a mention until Samuel Insull's arrival in the 1890s. It seems peculiar that an American economic history would leave out a critical development like the Chicago Board of Trade and how it revolutionized commodity trading. Even the Great Depression is almost exclusively an east coast issue. The California Gold Rush and the first transcontinental railroad are just about the only economy-oriented events to occur west of the Mississippi by Gordon's reckoning.

Although the author's back-of-the-book material expresses distaste for partisan economic writing, Gordon contributes his share. In An Empire Of Wealth he makes several pointed jabs at Democrats, liberals, and especially "intellectuals." He uses a humorous, non-partisan quote from The Nation, and yet he needlessly brands the publication as "leftist." Toward the end of the book, he gives Reagan far more credit than he deserves for defeating inflation and the Soviet Union. At the same time, Gordon portrays the Democratic Congress negatively even though they implemented ideas credited to Reagan -- some of them during Carter's administration!

Gordon also makes the ridiculous claim that economic classes don't exist in America, contending that they are simply arbitrary definitions created by intellectuals. Here is one of his weakest supporting statements: "For generations now, more than 90 percent of Americans have defined themselves as 'middle class.'" Self-perception is notoriously flawed. Just look at polls where people overwhelmingly describe themselves as "good drivers" despite accident data to the contrary.

Alas, by its very nature, An Empire Of Wealth is the story of the victors of capitalism, not the victims or even the foot soldiers. And like most history books, it unravels a bit at the end -- it is impossible to put the events of recent decades into proper historical perspective. But from the arrival of the first Europeans to the 1970s, An Empire Of Wealth is a very informative and surprisingly entertaining book.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 8:24 PM 0 comments

 
Book Reviews! Book Reviews! Book Reviews!
My blogging has been sporadic because I've been reading a lot. These books deserve separate reviews, but I need to catch up...

• Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words by Bill Bryson - For anyone who writes or simply loves language, this is a great book. Bryson wrote it when he was a newspaper editor, before he became a popular writer. He does not declare himself a linguistic expert; he wisely consults the works of others, sometimes tracking changes over the course of centuries. This book will help you distinguish between historic and historical, flaunt and flout, and many other oft-confused words. It also tells you that James Joyce's Finnegans Wake has no apostrophe. It is particularly ruthless in exposing tautological phrases and dead weight. I love this book -- it has earned a place on my desk.
• Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton's Little John?: Music's Most Enduring Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed by Gavin Edwards - Edwards has been answering weird questions about rock and roll for many years, most notably in a column called "Rolling Stone Knows." If you've ever wondered how many states are mentioned in Bruce Springsteen songs, why Guns N' Roses named an album The Spaghetti Incident? (including the question mark), whatever happened to Cynthia Plaster Caster, or what the German-sounding phrase that introduces Def Leppard's "Rock of Ages" means, this book is for you. It's a quick and fun read that even a casual rock fan will enjoy (but the more you already know, the more questions will be relevant for you). Although it doesn't have an index, it does list sources in the endnotes for further reading.
• Amarillo In August: An Author's Life On The Road by Jonathan Miller - I bought an autographed copy of this on vacation in Colorado. Miller is a minor legend in the Southwest since he's been signing his novel Rattlesnake Lawyer at every bookstore that will let him. This book chronicles his adventures while creating and promoting that book. I gleaned vital information from Miller's introduction:

  This is not a how-to-market-your book because the secret is already out there. The secret to marketing your book is to get distribution, then get reviews, then get media, then keep doing book signings until you are sick of them. Then rinse. Then repeat. You will feel like a homeless person begging for money on some signings, except it is worse because homeless persons don't have to give plot summaries to passers-by.

  I successfully applied those strategies to marketing my own book when I got home. Most beginning authors will enjoy this book, and Miller's humorous style should appeal to non-writers as well. The book is rather short but inexpensive.
• Armed Madhouse by Greg Palast - This is easily the best current events book I have read all year. Palast really does his homework as a BBC reporter, and this book synthesizes that work (which most Americans never get to see), adding depth and background. Many of his conclusions will surprise readers. Did the U.S. invade Iraq for oil? Sort of, Palast says, but the objective wasn't to take the oil, it was to keep it from being pumped. He looks at the concept of "peak oil" from several perspectives, too. This isn't a leftist screed; anyone who hasn't been completely brainwashed by the Bush administration's version of the truth will find interesting material here. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand what those in power are doing and why. Palast explains complex concepts clearly and injects just enough humor to keep it from getting too heavy.
• Oops: 20 Life Lessons from the Fiascoes That Shaped America by Martin J. Smith and Patrick J. Kiger - The authors previously wrote a book called Poplorica, and Oops is similarly rooted in pop culture. The "fiascoes" range from fads (paper dresses, leisure suits) to follies (the Spruce Goose, flying cars). Remember the XFL, Vince McMahon's football league that only five years ago promised to change the world of sports? That's another chapter. I don't agree with all of the authors' choices, though. They include "the Y2K scare," claiming it was just hype that made doomsayers rich. But just because there were few problems on January 1, 2000 doesn't mean Y2K was all hype -- it means a lot of programmers busted their tails in the late 1990s to make sure life would continue smoothly into the new millenium. Also the first two chapters, though entertaining, don't quite fit in since they precede the third chapter by decades (the rest of the chapters are closer together chronologically). The recipe cards ("Recipe for Disaster") at the end of each chapter are redundant and goofy, but overall Oops is an interesting look at some notable screw-ups.
• Living in the Runaway West: Partisan Views From Writers on the Range - This book is a compilation of pieces by numerous authors for the "Writers on the Range" column in High Country News. Another book purchased on vacation (at The Book Mine in Leadville), this has limited appeal for Midwesterners but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Columns range from humorous to experiential to informational, and anything about the American West is fair game. Naturally, a favorite topic is the influx of outsiders and developers over the past few decades and their impact on the "real" West. Other articles in this potpourri discuss ecology, guns, public lands, water, ranching, coyotes, prairie dogs, wolves, cowboy poetry, and casinos. As in any anthology, there are a few misses, but the editors did an admirable job of including multiple viewpoints on a broad array of issues facing the region. If you are interested in the modern West and all facets of life there, you will like this book.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 6:45 PM 0 comments

 
How Hitler Could Have Won World War II by Bevin Alexander
In this intriguingly titled book, Bevin Alexander offers some great theories about how Hitler pursued the wrong objectives or executed the wrong strategies in many cases where he could have achieved a potentially unassailable advantage. Here are a couple of examples:

• The Suez Canal was a critical objective that Erwin Rommel and Erich Raeder recognized, but they could not convince Hitler. In fact, Hitler viewed the North Africa campaign as a political rather than military exercise -- his only objective was to toss Mussolini a bone to keep Italy in the war. Alexander posits that if Germany had secured the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea would have become an Axis lake, the Nazis would have secured all the Middle East oil their war machine needed, and Hitler could have pressured the Soviet Union from the south instead of head-on from the west. This also would have impacted Britain greatly by severing the fastest route to colonial India. Yet even when Rommel achieved stunning victories with minimal forces, he could not persuade Hitler to spare a few divisions for a crushing blow against the British in North Africa.
• Turning against Russia is generally cited as Hitler's worst mistake, but Alexander digs much deeper. He discusses Hitler's three objectives in Operation Barbarossa, noting that Germany only had the resources to accomplish one of them. It is a tribute to the leadership on the ground and the skill of German soldiers that Hitler came so close to attaining all three. Clearly if Hitler had concentrated on one, he could have achieved at least a commanding position if not outright victory. Also, though he hated communism, Hitler somehow failed to recognize how oppressed and unhappy many Russians were under Stalinism -- had he invaded as a liberator rather than as a conqueror, he could have gained the critical support of Russian civilians. Even after making these errors, Hitler had other opportunities to turn the tide in Russia, and Alexander looks at a few of those, too.

Unfortunately, many of Alexander's insights get buried in a difficult text overwhelmed with the dry details of troop movements. Instead of sticking closely to the title, this book is mainly a narrative of the European Theater with some emphasis on decision points where Hitler erred (he notes the Allies' bad decisions as well).

In fact, I cannot determine the audience for the book as written. My wife has an interest in World War II but not much background. For her, this book is just too hard to read. The battlefield actions of the 2nd New Zealand and 6th Panzer divisions are of little interest to her. I know a lot about the war (I was fascinated/obsessed with World War II as a ten-year-old -- as I've said before, I was a weird kid), but it doesn't appeal to me, either. I already know the basics of European operations, and frankly, I don't care to drill down to the division level (I actually fell asleep numerous times trying to plow through it). I wanted to read more about Hitler's decisions and their consequences. Lastly, a scholar would already know all the troop movements by heart, making much of the book redundant. So no one is really served by this regurgitation of the information contained in hundreds of books from the past 50 years.

It's a shame because the subject had great potential before Alexander buried it in unnecessary details. He could have created a much more readable, albeit slimmer, volume by concentrating on big picture what-ifs rather than plowing through minutiae with limited appeal.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 8:55 PM 0 comments

 
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
After enjoying Killing Yourself to Live, I was anxious to read more from Chuck Klosterman. When I found this book as part of a Borders "buy 2 get 1 free" deal, I had to get it. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is a fascinating and entertaining read for anyone who pays attention to popular culture, be it music, movies, television, sports, or celebrities. It is a collection of essays, and since the brief essays were my favorite parts of Killing Yourself to Live (even when they were tangential to the plot), I love this book.

Klosterman addresses issues like whether Pam Anderson is the Marilyn Monroe of our time, why soccer will never be as popular in the U.S. as its proponents predict, and what's wrong with contemporary journalism. He throws in an article about touring with a Guns N' Roses tribute band and a meditation on serial killers. The longer essays are separated by brief "interludes," which run the gamut from slice-of-life observations to "The twenty-three questions I ask everybody I meet in order to decide if I can really love them," which is like a twisted version of the game Scruples.

While I can't completely identify with every essay (I've never watched MTV's Real World or paid any attention to Saved By The Bell, for example), Klosterman injects enough cultural references and humor into his writing that I can still figure out what he's getting at. I don't necessarily agree with all of his analyses, but Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is one of the most hilarious and insightful books I have ever read. My next stop on the Klosterman train: Fargo Rock City.

Labels: books

- posted by David Johnsen @ 3:53 PM 0 comments