Review of
Melissa & Doug Dinosaur World Jigsaw
Puzzle
Five out of five stars
This is an
excellent puzzle for young people, but those a bit older will also enjoy it.
The pieces are large and colorful, the completed puzzle is over four feet long.
It features many species of dinosaurs, most of which are ravenous predators
with mouths open and teeth showing. Of course, modern science really does not
know what the dinosaur coloration really was, so it is necessary to forgive the
poetic license of various shades of blue, red, orange, and purple.
This is a
puzzle that many people would like to make into a poster once it is complete.
If not, it would be a joy to put it together several times with suitable
intervals between the constructions.
Review of
John Deere: Little Farmhands
1000 piece jigsaw puzzle
Five out of five stars
This puzzle is
particularly challenging, for the pieces are very irregular in both size and
shape. There are also many cases where there is only a minor difference in
shape. I am a long-term veteran in putting puzzles together and there were
several times when I thought pieces went together only to have to disassemble when
the addition of pieces proved otherwise. There were also several areas where
there was little to no color differential between the pieces, finding the right
piece was a case of trial and error.
All this having
been said, this was a fun and challenging puzzle to put together. It took some
time and effort and the image is beautiful, especially if you are a Deere fan.
Review of
The Bedside Bachelor,
edited by Paul Steiner
Four out of five stars
Nothing
demonstrates how the verbal characteristics of a society has changed over the
years than what is acceptable in humor for public consumption. This book of
jokes was published in 1957, when what was considered a blue joke was more
innuendo than description. Yet, for the time, saying many of these in polite
society would have been considered scandalous.
Many of the
jokes would have been acceptable, despite the expression on the cover, “Gags,
Gals and Wicked Wit.” With nary a swear word in sight, these jokes take you
back to a time when humor did not require profanity to be effective. As is
usually the case in a book of jokes, the caliber covers a wide range, some of
which is the quality and the rest personal taste.
Review of
The How and Why of Chemistry,
by Martin L. Keen
Four out of five stars
Most science
books written in 1961 are hopelessly outdated, yet this one has aged rather
well. For while the science of chemistry continues to advance, the basics have been
known for centuries. While most of the early chemists operated on a trial and
error basis with little theoretical understanding, the modern chemist knows why
reactions and changes of state take place.
This book
provides a basic primer on the science of chemistry that will remain applicable
as long as the physical laws of the universe do not change. It is a combination
of a history of chemistry as well as explanations of the states of matter, the
difference between a mixture and a reaction and the cycle of molecules through
the water cycle and food chain.
Written for the
late elementary school child, there is no depth in this book. However, the
surface is well skimmed.
Review of
Silver Goldfish, Loud & Clear: The 10
Keys to Delivering Memorable Business Presentations,
by Stan Phelps & Alan Hoffler ISBN 9781952234040
Five out of five stars
Help to spare your audience when you present
If you have
ever taken classes or attended presentations, then it is almost certain that
you have been a victim of the presentation pits. This is where the presenter
could bore the paint off the walls, causing the audience to lose interest and
have little to no information transferal. The consequences are that all would
have been better off daydreaming, for at least there, a good idea might have
emerged.
This book
contains advice on how to make a presentation work, where the information is
transferred, and no one enters the area of brain lock from inertia. The foremost
point is that doing presentations right is an acquired skill that all can learn,
it simply takes work, practice, and an overwhelming desire to succeed. Presenting
well also takes courage, for it is necessary for you to set yourself up with a
potential for failure if you are to succeed. Being dull is safe, but hardly
helpful to you and your organization achieving your goals. The same advice for
getting to Carnegie Hall also applies to delivering winning talks.
This book is
one in a series of “{Insert color here} Goldfish” books written by the authors,
there is little in the way of color coding, the precious metal in the title should
not be considered the pinnacle. Each of the books deals with a different
subject matter. For example, there is “Yellow Goldfish – Nine Ways to Drive
Happiness in Business For Growth, Productivity and Prosperity.”
On a side note,
on page 21 the authors talk about how the growth of goldfish is limited by the
size of their confinement and that they can grow rather large when not confined
to a fishbowl. I can personally attest to this. A friend of my father’s was an
avid fisherman and he once caught a goldfish in Cedar Lake in Cedar Rapids that
was close to 20 inches long. He called us up and we went over to see it. Very
impressive and memorable.
Review of
Free State of Jones,
DVD version
Five out of five stars
A dose of historic reality
When the
history of the American Civil War and the aftermath of white backlash in the
south are covered, there is little to no mention of the opposition that some
whites expressed to slavery and the subsequent segregation. Not all whites in
the Confederate states were in favor of the war and like all other wars, it was
the poor men that largely fought and died. No person was more in opposition to
the Confederate cause than Newt Knight, a poor farmer that became a soldier in
the Confederate army.
After a battle,
Newt engages in an act of desertion, returning to his native Jones County,
Mississippi. There he forms a makeshift army of runaway slaves, white deserters
from the Confederate Army and poor white farmers angered by the confiscatory
actions of the Confederate government. For a short time, the Confederate forces
are expelled from an area encompassing three counties in Mississippi and he
declares it a free state loyal to the Union.
Newt also takes
as his wife a former house slave, they have a boy with very light skin. Once
the war is over and the Union occupation grows weaker, the Klan begins to ride
and implement their reign of terror. What is often lost in the history books is
that the Klan terror was not only directed at the blacks, but also against any
white that may rise in opposition to segregation.
There is a
second timeline in this movie, that of a descendent of Newt that was declared
to have a fraction of black blood and therefore could not legally marry a white
woman. There is a formal trial of the descendent, with all the accoutrements of
a trial based on arbitrary racial assignments and hatred.
Since there is
historical dispute about the actions of Newt Knight, to one side he was a
bandit and a traitor and to the other he is a hero, it is impossible to determine how historically
accurate this movie is. However, from the aspect of presenting the cultural
circumstances of a courageous act of opposition and what happened in
Mississippi after the war when there was in fact de facto slavery, it is
movingly accurate.
Review of
Red Stangland’s Ole & Lena Jokes 4 ISBN
0961327480
Four out of five stars
I live in Iowa
and there are many people of Scandinavian descent in northeast Iowa,
southeastern Minnesota, and southwestern Wisconsin. I was once told by an elderly
person in Wisconsin that the solution to any problem starts with, “First you
must cuss it in Norwegian.” Therefore, some of these jokes about the
Scandinavian personality were not new to me.
Most are of the
type where a person of a specific ethnic extraction makes fun of comrades in
descent. Many of the jokes are of the cookie cutter variety, where you can
simply replace the names and some of the wording and it can be applied to any ethnic
group. For example, on page 24 there is the joke:
“Ole and Lars were talking politics. Said Ole: ‘Yah,
dat President Bush . . . he’s doing da
work of five men. Da tree Stooges . . . and Abbot and Costello.’”
Like all collections
of ethnic jokes, this book must be read with a suspension of the outrage
feature. Overall, it is meant to be a joke and I have heard far nastier jokes
told by Norwegians about their fellow Norwegians. No one likes a Norwegian joke
more than a Norwegian.
Review of
Yours, Isaac Asimov,
edited by Stanley Asimov, ISBN 9780385476249
Five out of five stars
The true Asimov and how he felt about the world
Since Isaac
Asimov wrote about so many things and engaged in other literary activities such
as preparing anthologies, the precise number of books that he wrote is open to
interpretation. He may be the only person to have a book listed in every
classification category in the Dewey Decimal system. At this time, the number
of books is generally stated as “over 500.”
Often lost in
this is the fact that he wrote over 90,000 letters and postcards. These short
items were to friends, colleagues, publishers and nearly everyone that wrote to
him. He was so famous that he once received a letter from the Soviet Union
addressed to, “Isaac Asimov, Famous author, United States.” Asimov was very
diligent in personally reading and answering his mail.
This book is an
edited compilation of his letters, where the editing was done by his brother
Stanley. In them, we see Asimov relatively unfiltered, expressing his true
thoughts without an editor concerned about the level of sales and profits. Asimov
was open about expressing his opinions in his other writings, but here you see
him writing where there was no expectation of it being seen by anyone else
other than the recipient.
Many of Asimov’s
letters have been lost, which is clearly unfortunate, for like all other items
that emanated from his typewriter, they would have been a joy to read.
Review of
Into Space With the Astronauts,
by Robert Scbarff
Four out of five stars
Written in 1965,
this book is dated to the time when the Mercury program in the United States
was over and the Gemini program was in progress and the Apollo program was in
the late planning stages. During the Mercury program, a single astronaut was
launched into space and in the Gemini, there were two. Furthermore, it was in
the Gemini program where the critical skills of rendezvous and docking in space
were achieved.
This book
contains a set of explanations of what had happened so far, what the goals for
space flight are and how they are expected to be achieved. Written at the level
of the late elementary or middle school child, this book gives an accurate
rendition of the U. S. space program at the time. Since most of the planning
for the moon landings had been done, the artists renditions of the spacecraft
and the other equipment are fairly accurate.
The reader also
learns some of the aspects of the training that the astronauts undergo, from simulated
weightlessness to survival in a desert environment. It demonstrates how
rigorous the selection and preparation process is in order to be considered
worthy of being perched on top of the rocket. Although this book is dated, it
is still an effective look back on what was truly one of the greatest
achievements of the human species.
Review of
Space Flight: The Coming Exploration of
the Universe, by Lester Del Rey
Four out of five stars
It is always
interesting to go back and read scientific books published when there was much
less information concerning the subject. This book was written in 1959, so
while it was after Sputnik and the first American satellite launches, it was
two years before the incredible flight of Yuri Gagarin. Therefore, while this book
contains intellectual speculation, it was still speculation.
At the time of
publication, there was no information regarding the effects of space on the human
body. Space suits were not invented or used and even the rockets to push humans
into space were still not developed. Lester del Rey is a legend in the science
fiction community, so he had the credentials to engage in the speculation.
Overall, del Rey
did a commendable job in predicting how humans would launch themselves into
space and what the technology would look like. He predicted global communication
via satellites and the enormous advantage that satellites would give to weather
forecasting. Most of the areas where he turned out to be wrong were in the
shape and structure of the spacecraft.
While del Rey
quite naturally made some errors, he was often right, and it is enjoyable to
look back to a time when space and how to get there was all unexplored
territory.
Review of
Bat Shit Crazy Review Requests,
by Gisela Hausmann ISBN 9781983551833
Four out of five stars
The lengths to which people will go to be wrong
As someone that
has done a great deal of reviewing and received many requests for the “assistance”
of my writing a review, I have a great deal of experience in this subject
matter. Therefore, while Hausmann states that all emails in the book are
fictitious, it is most unlikely that is completely true. The names and other
information that could be used to identify the sender has been deleted or
modified, but the messages in the book all ring true to what I have
experienced.
Some requests
will offer money for a review when it is known by all that Amazon and many
other review sites expressly forbid it. Other messages offer a “you do one for
me and I will do one for you,” arrangement, some will explicitly include the
phrase “five star review” in both locations of the word “one.” This is also a
forbidden transaction. What is just as galling is when a person you do not know
considers it offering you a privilege to read and review their book and even expect
your help in writing it.
As Hausmann
demonstrates, there are many ways to offend a potential reviewer and fewer ways
to do it right. Politeness and humility are what will get a quality reviewer’s
attention along with the explicit understanding that the reviewer is free to
bluntly state their opinion of the work and will not edit/write it for them.
Disclaimer: I
have known and corresponded with Gisela Hausmann for over five years and
consider her a friend and esteemed colleague. We have advised each other
in our writing endeavors.
Review of
Isaac Asimov: A Life of the Grand Master
of Science Fiction, by Michael White ISBN 0786715189
Five out of five stars
An independent perspective on the life of Asimov
I have read at
least 150 of the books written by Isaac Asimov (467 total), including his
two-part autobiography “In Memory Yet Green” and “In Joy Still Felt” as well as
the single volume “I. Asimov.” Furthermore, Asimov often included snippets
about his life and experiences in many of the other items he wrote. Therefore,
there was little in this book that I had not read before, in some cases several
times.
However, it was
an enjoyable read because in this case there is the perspective of a person not
closely tied to Asimov. For example, White is candid about Asimov’s
relationship with his son David and that Asimov may have been more comfortable
with the distance there was in their relationship. This is one case where the
son could not have been more distant from the father. According to White, David
did not attend his father’s funeral. David is unemployed, living off what he
receives from a trust fund established by Asimov, while his father was a
workaholic writer.
Asimov was a
towering intellect and arguably did more to get people interested in and knowledgeable
of science than any other person. He was obsessed with writing to the point of
neglecting almost everything else, a fact that Asimov never hesitated to admit.
All life is a trade off of one thing for another. Asimov was a writer first and
all else secondary. This book gives the reader a glance at what he was from the
perspective of an outsider free to objectively comment on an action or event.
Review of
Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators
in the Mystery of the Nervous Lion, by Nick West
Four out of five stars
I devoured the
Hardy Boys and Tom Swift books when I was in my teens and even though I am well
past that, if I encounter an adolescent adventure book in another series, I
often read it. Until I encountered this book in a used bookstore, I had never
heard of the “The Three Investigators” series, so I had to acquire it and read
it.
The three male
teen adventurers are Jupiter Jones, Bob Andrews and Pete Crenshaw and they live
in Rocky Beach, California. Their base is a mobile home hidden in The Jones
Salvage Yard and when they are not working a case they help out in the
scrapyard. In this book, they receive their next assignment directly from
Alfred Hitchcock after he calls them.
In this case,
George the tame lion at the Jungle Land park is exhibiting atypical behavior.
He lives in the house with the owners of the park, where there are many other
animals. At this time, a movie is being shot on the grounds of the park and
there are other mysterious events that could be an attempt to sabotage the making
of the movie.
The story moves
along in a manner typical of such adventure stories, although in this one, the
three main characters face genuine and immediate mortal danger. Which is
atypical of most adolescent adventure stories written in the early seventies or
sooner. It involves a real criminal conspiracy with large amounts of money at
stake. It is a good story, albeit a bit dated in the sense that the only female
character is the mother figure that makes them sandwiches.
Review of
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,
DVD version
Four out of five stars
The robots should have been a bit more human
The first time
I watched this movie I was unimpressed, considering the action overwhelming to
the relationships. There is no question that the first chase scene goes on far
too long and seems to have the sole purpose of simply smashing up cars,
buildings and other collateral objects. What made the second movie so good was
the dialog and the expanding relationship between the Schwarzenegger terminator
and the young John Connor. It reached the point where the good terminator
begins to take on some human characteristics and is considered a father figure.
The evil
terminator in this movie is powerful, far more than even the one in the second
movie. The Schwarzenegger terminator is obsolete and in this movie is also
almost exclusively robotic, showing no human-like intonation or facial
expression. The evil terminator is also female, yet it also never expresses
anything resembling emotions of any kind. The evil male terminator in the
second movie occasionally had human-like facial expressions and did not always
speak in monotone.
There are some
amusing sight gags, specifically regarding the vehicles and when Schwarzenegger
rescues John Connor by carrying him in a coffin. Yet, it ends with the very
depressing idea that the thermonuclear war known as judgement day was
inevitable, something that contradicts the ending of the second movie. It is
natural to want the human race to win, not face extinction at the hands of its
own electronic creations.
Review of
The Southpaw,
by Donal Hamilton Haines
Four out of five stars
This story copyrighted
in 1931 is a look back into how adolescent sports fiction was written at that
time. From the title, it appears to be primarily a book about sports, but the
main theme is about the development of strong cliques among adolescent boys and
how it can become destructive of normal social development and structure.
Bob Griswold is
a boy with a powerful left arm that makes him a quality baseball pitcher. His
father is a civil engineer and wants his son to follow in his footsteps, which
means that Bob needs to take many quality courses in math and science. Like
most people in the country at that time, the Griswold’s are short of money, so
when Bob is to attend high school, all they can afford is to send Bob to
Hillton Academy. It is a school in a small isolated town, although the teachers
are excellent.
Greg Elliot is also
a student there and he has a group of henchmen, including a muscle man. He will
stop at little in order to maintain power and control over the other students
and he takes an immediate dislike to Bob. Not being a coward, Bob fights back
in the literal and figurative sense while trying to be the team’s ace pitcher.
To modern
readers, there are several things that will seem odd. The speech patterns, boys
wearing a coat and tie to classes and dinner, no mention of females and some
aspects of the social interaction. Yet, it is fundamentally a story about
overcoming great and unfair opposition in order to be a success and win the
almost incidental big game at the end.
Review of
Stealing Home,
by Mary Stolz ISBN 0153143657
Four out of five stars
About family with incidental baseball references
Thomas lives with his grandfather near the ocean in
Florida. He attends school like all other children his age and his grandfather
is retired and enjoying himself fishing and following baseball. Thomas is a fan
of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team and they listen to games on the radio
when teams are playing that they are interested in. The Pirates base for spring
training is nearby so they attend a few games. Their television doesn’t work,
and grandfather promises to get it fixed “someday.” Their small home is not
cleaned on a regular basis, yet the two live there very happily with few cares
in the world.
Thomas’ Aunt
Linzy, grandfather’s sister-in-law, has not left Chicago in forty years, but
she has now sent letters informing them that she is coming to live with them. No
reason for the move is given, she informs them when her train will arrive.
The lives of Thomas
and his grandfather change when Thomas is forced to vacate his room for Linzy
and all her possessions. She embarks on a cleaning and beautification crusade
that includes painting the outside of the house. After some initial reluctance
and disturbances, Thomas and his grandfather learn to get along with Linzy and
she proves useful and helpful in other ways.
This is a story
about family and working together. Grandfather never hesitates to accept Linzy
into his home, she asks, and he says yes as it is clear, but not stated, that
she has no other place to go. It is about adapting and seeing what is best in
people and learning to tolerate what they do that riles you. Grandfather is a
person for whom the Beatles song, “Let it be” was written. He has a very solid
philosophical outlook towards life, and he will let nothing, not even a whirling
dervish of a cleaning woman change that.
Review of
The Empty Land,
by Louis L’Amour ISBN 0553253069
Five out of five stars
The best of the L’Amour western
This is the
best western novel by L’Amour that I have ever read. Matt Coburn is the main
character and while he is the best with a gun, he is most reluctant to use it.
Yet, circumstances continue to force him to intervene and try to establish law
in order in the gold boom town of Confusion. His first job is riding shotgun
for the stage carrying the first shipment of gold ore and ends with his engaging
in a series of gunfights with people that kill others for fun and profit.
This book also
has one of the most interesting beginnings of all western novels. The first
three paragraphs describe events in Europe and Asia during the seventh century,
where monarchs ruled and fought for dominion. Only after that does the flow
move to a coyote trying to capture a meal on the move.
The story is
about a man with a destiny that he tries to avoid and cannot. Even though he
could have rode away and left the town to likely destruction, he rides back
because he fundamentally knows that he is the only one that can hold the barbarians
at bay. He succeeds at great cost and at the end, he may have found peace and a
real station in life.
The story is
great and engaging, the hero that uses his guns to tame the social forces of darkness
should engage in thoughts of regret and doubt when it is necessary to kill those
that want to destroy the sparks of civilization.
Review of
Asimov Laughs Again,
by Isaac Asimov ISBN 0060924489
Four out of five stars
Lighthearted with some seasoning of bitterness
As a big fan of
Isaac Asimov, I can honestly say that I have read over 150 of his books. For
years, I bought every paperback collection of his essays I found and read every
book that appeared in the libraries of Mount Mercy College and the cities of Hiawatha
and Cedar Rapids. He has no peer in making science understandable and the
knowledge I gleaned from his books has helped me greatly in my career as an
educator and writer.
This book is
copyrighted in 1992, the year of his death. There are several points where he
acknowledges his age and the toll it is taking on his body. Asimov is also very
frank about his concerns about the world and his significant medical procedures.
He confesses to his unrelenting flirtation with women, citing many actions that
would clearly find him in legal jeopardy in the modern world.
Like all books
containing jokes, there is a wide range of topics and level of giggles that
they will generate. Of course, there are many that would be much funnier when spoken
live by Asimov. What is different about this book is that there is a trace of
bitterness. While those passages are honestly stated, his discussions of his
first wife Gertrude, her mother and brother are very uncomplimentary. He also mentions
how he has held mild grudges against people that he considers to have slighted
him. Some of which were valid, but others where he simply should have been
told, “Let it go, Isaac.” These features reduce the level of quality of the
book.
Review of
Bill Stern’s Favorite Baseball Stories,
by Bill Stern
Four out of five stars
Very much sports journalism of the forties
Published in
1949, this collection of stories reflects the sports journalism of that time. While
the stories are good and give some insight into the early struggles of baseball
players that eventually did very well, there is little that is negative. What
there is occurs only on the playing field. Baseball was a rough game in the
early years, spikes often went high and fists flew and connected.
Some of the
most interesting stories are about a few of the early umpires that did not
hesitate to challenge a player or manager to a fight under the stands when the
game was over. These were very tough men that never gave an inch that was not
necessary. Many of the stories describe how a player was for years considered
lacking in the necessary talent, only to be given another chance, one that led
to a place in the baseball hall of fame.
The legend of
Ruth calling his shot is in here as it has been mythologized. Despite nearly
every key witness stating that all he did was raise a finger and say that he
had one strike remaining. That finger just happened to be pointing in the right
direction. That sums up the theme of this book, keep the myths going “for the
good of the game.”
Review of
One-Man Massacre,
by Jonas Ward
Three out of five stars
Not the best of Buchanan
While this
story conforms to the persona of the Buchanan character, it simply does not
have the charm of others. This is largely due to the fact that there is more gun
violence than usual and there is less deep interaction with the secondary
characters. Furthermore, the premise of a renegade Texas Ranger with his gang
of mercenaries being hired by a large rancher is simply implausible. The
timeframe is before the American Civil War.
Buchanan is on
a mountain mining gold with his friend and partner Fargo when he sees the
lights of the town of Scotstown and Buchanan would like to take a day off
mining and engage in a little bit of recreation. Local rancher Malcolm Lord is
in the process of hiring a man that insists on being called Captain Gibbons to
roust out small ranchers along the Rio Grande and use the premise of invaders
from Mexico as justification. Gibbons has brought along some hired guns and it
is only a short time when one of his hardcases is threatening Buchanan.
Since he did
not take his gun with him, Buchanan is forced to borrow a gun from a bystander
and he quickly dispatches the professional gunfighter. This makes him a target
of the bad guys as well as a hero to the
threatened locals. Buchanan would much rather just go back to mining gold, but
the evil forces cannot let him go unpunished for killing one of their best.
There is a local woman named Rosemarie that serves drinks in a saloon and the initial
incident takes place because Buchanan intervened when the gunman was annoying
her.
With a bad
premise and too much gunplay and not enough of the witty dialog so
characteristic of the Buchanan series, this is not one of the best of the
adventures of Buchanan.
Review of
Superman: The Movie,
DVD version
Five out of five stars
Reeve will always define the part of Superman
Like Sean
Connery’s first appearance as James Bond in “Dr. No,” Christopher Reeve’s first
appearance as Superman will always be the standard for the recurring character.
His humility and fumbling nature as Clark Kent contrasts in the right way with
the strong assurance and confidence of Superman. Margot Kidder is also the
perfect modern Lois Lane, the hard career woman with the strong personality that
would contrast with a Superman. It is clear minutes into the first interaction
between Reeve and Kidder onscreen that they were the perfect pair for Clark and
Lois.
The supporting
players are also solid, Jackie Cooper as editor Perry White, Marc McClure as
Jimmy Olsen, Glenn Ford as Jonathan Kent, Phyllis Thaxter as Martha
Kent and Jeff East as the teenage Clark Kent all turn in Oscar-caliber
performances. The only really bad performance is by the biggest star cast in
the movie, Marlon Brando. There were valid reasons why he was removed from the
sequel.
While this is a great movie that started a
film franchise, there is a significant weak point. Although Superman is
forbidden to alter the course of human events, he does so by literally turning
back the course of the Earth. This was unnecessary, for there were many ways in
which this could have been handled. This is a movie that you can re-watch with
great joy on a regular basis.
Review of
The Amazing Spider-Man and Human Torch,
by Dan Slott and Ty Templeton ISBN 9780785140047
Five out of five stars
Teen rivalry becomes a bromance
Johnny Storm is
the Human Torch and has a fiery temperament to match, he also makes no secret regarding
who is he. Peter Parker is secretly Spider-Man and Storm is unaware of this.
The Human Torch is part of the Fantastic Four while Spider-Man acts alone. They
sometimes battle against the same powerful villains, but they also have an intense
personal rivalry in their normal human lives. Storm is jealous of Parker and
Parker is jealous of Storm.
The two young
men compete for general attention, women, and essentially anything they
consider of value. Sometimes it even reaches the point of light, at least for
them, fisticuffs. At times, especially Storm, they act like adolescents far
more than the super beings they are. After several embarrassing failures for
both of them, their better natures win out and they become the best of friends.
The plot of
this story is based on teen angst more than on the power of the two super
protagonists. The natural rivalry between teenage boys at times overwhelms
them. A fact that all males in their teen years will understand. Even older
males who retain their memory will understand and appreciate this story.
Review of
Resist: The Story of D-Day,
by Alan Gratz ISBN 9781338621808
Five out of five stars
The D-Day invasion from a different perspective
There have been
many fiction and non-fiction books written about D-Day, from the perspective of
commanders, soldiers on the ground and civilians in France. However, this one
is written from a quite different perspective. Samira is a young girl living in
Villers-Bocage France in early June of 1944. She is a spy for the French
resistance and of Algerian descent. Her mother came to France to study law in
the hope that she would have a high position in Algeria once the war was over
and France granted Algerian independence. Samira hates the Germans, but not as much as
her dog Cyrano.
It is before dawn on June 6 and the greatest sea-based
invasion of all time is about to be launched. Samira’s mother has been taken by
the Germans and Samira knows that the Germans execute their prisoners at dawn.
She is desperate to find and rescue her mother and this is about her exploits
in doing that. The invasion begins with planes flying overhead, gliders landing
and parachutes in the sky, including some dummies named Rupert. Through all of
this, Samira remains determined to complete her mission.
Creating a
story about the D-Day invasion and telling it from the perspective of a young
person of Algerian extraction was an excellent choice of perspective. Generally
lost in the stories about the war in Europe is the fact that there were many
people in the German-occupied countries that were from other places. Having the
Algerians being just as patriotic as the natives is a great plot device.
Review of
The Key-Lock Man,
by Louis L’Amour ISBN 0553250981
Five out of five stars
Making law on the frontier not always done well
Matt Keelock is
a man in trouble through no fault of his own. He found his wife Kris under
strange circumstances and he left her at camp to go into town for supplies.
While there, he was forced into a gunfight where a man was killed, and it
appeared that he shot him in the back. Even though the man was a known
troublemaker with a hot temper, a group of local men set out to find Matt and
hang him for murder.
Matt is a man
of the arid west, so he has no trouble dodging the men. However, he knows that
he must get back to Kris, which means that he must become more visible. There
is also the story of lost wagons of gold and how some of the men in the group
were systematically murdered. One of the
men kept a journal that revealed incomplete information regarding the location.
It is a game of
cat-and-mouse between Matt and his pursuers, including one that has sworn
deadly revenge because Kris refused to marry him. Matt proves to be a worthy
opponent to all the forces aligned against him, although he does need help from
Kris, and she proves to be a tough frontier woman.
This is a great
story about life in the west and how the law was a dubious thing, enforced by
men not always right, but often sure of themselves.
Review of
Isaac Asimov: It’s Been A Good Life,
by Janet Jeppson Asimov ISBN 1573929689
Five out of five stars
Some insight into the legend
For many, Isaac
Asimov is the secular humanist equivalent of a deity. Not to be worshiped, but to
be highly admired. His output of writing material is extraordinary, (over 500
books written or edited), dwarfed only by the breadth of the topics. He was of
course most widely known as a science fiction writer, but he also wrote
extensively about science, social topics and even some of the greatest of written
works, including the Christian bible and the works of Shakespeare.
This book is a
collection of short snippets of Asimov material taken from several different
sources, letters to talks to books. Like his writings, there is a great deal of
coverage, much of which is about Asimov the man. There is a significant amount
of material regarding his personal life and he is very straightforward about
the difficulties he had in dealing with people. He was very much a know-it-all
that could back it up, which is the type of person that many find the most
annoying.
Edited by his
second wife that was also a science fiction writer, this book will contain few
insights for the dedicated Asimov fan. The most significant is the revelation
that Asimov died from AIDS, having contracted the virus from a blood
transfusion. That fact was kept secret for a long time, the revelation is a
demonstration of how society has become educated regarding the HIV virus.
Review of
Dr. No, DVD version
Five out of five stars
The original is in many ways the best
This movie was
original, both in introducing a new movie star, the Bond franchise and what was
to become several staples in film. It of course made Sean Connery a star and
developed the public secret agent persona. Even the opposition knew the name
James Bond and that he was a British agent, yet that knowledge never made Bond’s
job more difficult.
It introduced
the oversexed male lead and the first in the series of what was to become the
list of “Bond Women.” We see Moneypenny for the first time, madly in love with
Bond, yet forever relegated to the relationship sidelines. Bond flirted with
her in ways he never used with his stable of women. It also introduced the
massive criminal organization known as S. P. E. C. T. R. E. and the associated extremely
well-funded master criminal bent on dominating the world.
However, the
single most important line of dialog in all of the Bond movies occurred early
in this one, where the camera goes to a man lighting a cigarette and he says, “My
name is Bond, James Bond.” Understated, yet with immense power and
consequences. Although other films introduced “Q” and many neat gadgets, this
movie is in many ways the best of the Bond series.
Review of
Then & Now: Chicago’s Loop,
by Janice A. Knox and Heather Olivia Belcher ISBN 9780738519685
Five out of five stars
The inevitable and necessary change documented
Even if you
know little about a city, it is always interesting to see how it has changed
over time. Buildings are built that are state of the art at the time of
construction, but businesses and societal needs alter over time. These changes
necessitate either significant revisions or the complete destruction of
buildings.
Chicago’s first
permanent settler was a black fur trader named Jean Baptiste Point DuSable that
had a Native American wife and he established a trading post on the north bank
of the Chicago River. This was the first commercial enterprise in what was to
become Chicago and it was successful, leading others to settle in the area.
With access to Lake Michigan, which meant all of the Great Lakes area was
within reasonable reach and with the Chicago River flowing from the inland
through the area, there was access deep into the interior. It was not long
before there was a portage that allowed goods to travel from the Mississippi
River basin fairly easily back-and-forth to Chicago. This linkage was completed
in 1848, only 11 years after the city was incorporated.
These photos
demonstrate a city that is seemingly always in transition, where buildings go
up, are functional for a long time and then are either dramatically altered or
demolished and replaced. Due to its central location as a transit point for
goods, the city grew extremely fast and you can see that in these before and
after images.
Review of
Tom Swift and His Airline Express,
by Victor Appleton
Four out of five stars
Published in
1926, this book can be considered part of the Tom Swift series 2.0. The early
stories did not deviate much from the current levels of science and technology
and neither does this one. Some of the early ones dealt with war machines,
thankfully this one does not.
The main “invention”
in this book is an airline where a passenger can travel from the east coast to
the west coast in approximately 16 hours. In this story, two intermediate stops
were required, the passenger compartment was detachable from the plane.
Therefore, when the plane lands, the next one can be fueled and hot, all that
needed to be done was to detach the compartment from the first plane and attach
it to the next.
While the
premise was superseded by the larger airliners with multiple motors and bigger
fuel tanks, at the time this book was written, the module structure made sense.
The flight crew was not put under great stress and the passengers never had to
disembark to make their connecting flight. In many ways, this idea was quickly
rendered obsolete, much like what the telegraph did to the Pony Express.
There are of
course villains, which is the weakness of the story. The advent of new
technology can be made interesting all by itself, sometimes the need to have human
opponents to Tom weakens what could be an entertaining battle to tame and control
the natural world. More about the new technology and the problems to be solved would
have made this story more interesting.
Review of
How Sharper that A Serpent’s Tooth,
episode 5 of season 2 of Star Trek: The Animated Series
Five out of five stars
Powerful point for diversity
All evidence
indicates that humans have an instinctual
desire to create gods. Many of these creations, such as the Greek gods, are
based on humans with greater powers, yet still captive to human emotions. However,
there are some that are not augmented humans.
Some of the
gods of the Natives of Central and South America were not derived from humans, many
of them were essentially of animal form. One specific example is Kukulkan,
worshiped by the Mayas and depicted as a feathered serpent. Another origin
theory for the human development of gods is that they were space travelers that
landed on Earth and interacted with humans.
This
episode uses a combination of the space traveling god along with the Mayan god
Kukulkan. The Enterprise encounters a spaceship that has the shape of a serpent
and it is recognized as Kukulkan by Native American bridge crew member Walking
Bear. Kirk, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, and Walking Bear are transported onto the ship
into what appears to be an ancient Mayan village. They are told that this is a
test of their reasoning skills. It also becomes clear that the creature expects
to be once again worshipped as a god.
The
Enterprise crew members solve the puzzle while Spock is able to break the
containment field holding the Enterprise. This combination overwhelms Kukulkan
and it is forced to release the Enterprise and drop the pretense of godhood.
A
Native American appearing on the bridge and being essential to the survival of
the Enterprise is a powerful point in favor of diversity. Featuring a “god”
that is not based on Greek-Roman mythology is another powerful point in favor
of diversity. Finally, the “god” of the story has a non-human form, a cultural
fact that is sorely neglected in western education.
Review of
The Counter-clock Incident,
episode 6 of season 2 of Star Trek the animated series
Three out of five stars
Use of unreasonable gimmicks
When an alien vessel passes them going at over warp
30, the Enterprise crew realizes that it is heading directly for a supernova. After
communication gains nothing, the Enterprise locks a tractor beam onto the ship.
While the connection slows the ship down, it does nothing but drag the
Enterprise into the supernova at an unreasonable warp factor.
Once they pass
through the exploded star, the crew of the Enterprise realizes that they have
entered an alternate universe where time flows backward. People are born old
and then regress to infancy when they die. This has the same effect on the
Enterprise crew, as they begin the de-age. Fortunately, the aged Commodore
Robert April, the first commander of the Enterprise and his wife are aboard the
Enterprise.
April and his
wife get younger, but they retain their abilities to pilot the ship when all
others return to infancy and no longer have the knowledge to carry out their
duties. They bring the Enterprise back to their home universe and are able to
restore them to their normal age using the transporter.
The idea of
time traveling backwards in this manner has been used in other contexts, but it
always seems to take the appearance of a gimmick. The complexity of someone growing
younger and smaller, with the need to shed mass, makes it absurd. Finally, the
crew is restored using the stored transporter patterns, in this case the
transporter would have to add significant mass, which would also be an
exceedingly difficult operation. The transporters are designed to precisely
duplicate mass, not add or subtract to it.
Review of
Captain America: The Winter Soldier,
DVD version
Five out of five stars
S.H.I.E.L.D is a subsidiary of Hydra
The world is
rapidly changing, but the deepest changes are well hidden. S.H.I.E.L.D, the organization
dedicated to protecting the United States and the world from the greatest of
criminal threats, is compromised by Hydra, the most powerful criminal and
terrorist organization in the world. In the Marvel universe, Hydra is the main
opposition group to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nick Fury, the
leader of S.H.I.E.L.D, becomes suspicious of factions in his organization and
he engages in some questionable actions. One of the main ones involves the hijacking
of a S.H.I.E.L.D ship, and Captain America is one of the operatives sent to regain
control of it. While on the ship, fellow agent Natasha Romanoff takes the time
to download some information, making Cap suspicious regarding the operation and
he confronts Fury.
With extremely
high level Hydra agents within S.H.I.E.L.D, it is not long before Cap and
Natasha become fugitives from S.H.I.E.L.D and Fury is apparently assassinated.
Hydra has recruited a mercenary known as the Winter Soldier, a man captured by
the Soviets and turned into an extremely deadly and efficient force.
S.H.I.E.L.D is
about to deploy a system of three helicarriers that will be aligned with satellites
to target people considered threats. Hydra has developed an algorithm that
identifies all people considered threats to itself and the plan is to simply
have the system kill them. It becomes a battle between S.H.I.E.L.D factions,
with Cap, the Falcon and Natasha fighting desperately to reprogram the system
so that it will not engage in mass killings.
The battles are
intense, there is a lot of gun and missile play, but the most significant is
the hand-to-hand fighting between Cap and Hydra operatives including the Winter
Soldier. It is extremely well choreographed as the opponents knock each other
around a great deal. The action is intense, yet there are moments of human passion
and compassion, where the heroes demonstrate that despite their considerable
strengths, they remain human to the core.
Review of
The Blood Line,
season 2 episode 15 of Bonanza
Four out of five stars
Even a justified killing can be problematic
When a man goes
berserk in the local store and tries to kill Ben Cartwright, he draws and kills
the man. Even though he knows that he had no choice, Ben feels deep remorse and
wishes that there were something else he could have done.
Shortly after the shooting, 16-year-old Todd Grayson
arrives by stage from Boston in order to be reunited with his dead father. Anguished
and full of hero worship for his father, Todd can think of nothing but killing
Ben in revenge. Ben takes responsibility for Todd, even taking him to the
Ponderosa and giving him room and board.
A gunman
traveled the stage with Todd and befriended him. Seeing an opportunity to be
paid well for killing Ben, the gunman talks the girlfriend of Todd’s father
into paying him. It is only when the girlfriend finally comes clean with Todd that
he realizes that his father was not the man he thought he was. It is at this
point that Todd drops his vendetta.
The essential goodness
of Ben Cartwright is on display here. Even though he knows Todd is determined
to kill him, be reaches out to Todd and does everything he can to try to make
amends for an act not his fault.
Review of
Badge Without Honor,
episode 3 of season 2 of Bonanza
Five out of five stars
A wolf in lawman’s clothing
When two men
attempt to gun down an unsuspecting Adam Cartwright, a man claiming to be a
deputy U. S. Marshall kills them. He is a charming man, deft with words and a
quality swordsman. A woman close to the Cartwright’s and considered equivalent
to a sister to the Cartwright boys is married to a man that has a dark and
unknown past.
The Marshall
states that he is there to escort the husband back to San Francisco in order to
testify at a trial. However, uncertainties are developed as there are some
inconsistencies in his story. Adam decides to accompany the two men to San
Francisco, a development that the Marshall does not like. He is in fact a hired
killer whose mission is to kill the husband. This forces am armed confrontation
between Adam and the Marshall.
This is an excellent
episode, the supposed Marshall is many things, even a ladies man as he charms
the woman, taking what would be scandalous liberties with her in the days being
depicted.
Review of
The Family Circus Treasury,
by Bil Keane ISBN 0836207351
Five out of five stars
The highest of
family comic strips
The Family Circus
has long been the power strip for the nuclear family of two parents, four young
children and three pets. The artist Bil Keane openly states that what appears
in this strip is often just a slightly modified rendition of what has taken
place in his life with his children and pets.
The theme of
the daily strip is generally confined to a single image, although there are a
few with two or more related images. They revolve around the simple events in
the lives of parents and children, from getting them off to school to family
vacations to visits back and forth with grandparents. The father in this case
is the only one working outside the home, generally speaking the mother can be
considered the traditional, albeit now somewhat archaic homemaker. When the
father is shown doing housework he is often depicted as being of marginal
competence.
Wholesome in
the old sense is the best word to describe this strip. While it is good, it is unfortunate
that it is in so many ways outdated.
Review of
Tom Swift and His Ocean Airport,
by Victor Appleton
Five out of five stars
The first books in the original Tom Swift series were
published in the decade from 1910 to 1919, 22 books in all. It was a time of
significant improvements in the motor car, airplane, and ways to deal out mass
death in battle. Once World War I was over, which as far as the series is concerned,
1920 and later, the improvements were incorporated into the books and the
subject matter went away from the tools of war. This book was first published
in 1934, so it can be considered a member of the 2.0 series of Tom Swift books.
The premise is
a simple one, as the concept of trans-Atlantic air travel is being developed,
there is a perceived need for refueling or emergency landing stops. In the northern
Atlantic Greenland, Iceland and Ireland are not that far apart, so the planes
of that time did not need the capability to fly long distances non-stop.
However, in the
tropical areas of the Atlantic, there is almost nothing between the Atlantic
seaboard of the United States and the western islands of Portugal and Spain.
Therefore, Tom Swift develops the concept of a floating landing strip in the
middle of the Atlantic. It is composed of a series of high-buoyancy logs that
are snapped together by magnets, so it is modular in structure. There is a
great deal of elasticity built into the system so it can deal with the
significant waves of Atlantic storms.
The first
military aircraft carriers were designed and built in the mid 1920’s, so the
proof of concept was present when this book was written. Of course, the landing
pad for commercial airliners would have to be much larger than the deck of a
carrier. That is an implicit premise of this story.
This is a Tom Swift
book where the supporting characters are there, but other than Ned, only just. The
focus is on the creation of the airport and the supposed need for an emergency
landing strip. The self-assembling modular nature of the landing platform is a fascinating
aspect that predates later self-assembling structures. This is a good book that
I found to be a page-turner.
