Books

Books to the Ceiling Here are a few of the books that I have read recently with a comment or two.

Barbara Kingsolver – The Lacuna The Lacuna took me a long time to read. It begins in Mexico in the 1929. This led my own memory back to my sixth grade teacher Miss Watkins who had been going to Mexico and the rest of South and Central America for years. Each of the places the Ms. Kingsolver mentioned, I felt like I had visited before. The care and craft of her writing is unmistakable. I set the book down for a long while. When I picked it up again, I was absorbed by the story of Trotsky in Mexico. The protagonist, Harrison Sheppard, eventually returns to the US and settles in Asheville, a city not far away. Again a connection to be savored. The connection with the 1950′s political situation and news headlines I remember from my earliest years brought the book to conclusion. This book is way too good to be a popular in the TV-age.

Dan Brown – The Lost Symbol Three dozen pages in I was hooked. Symbols, secrets, history, tradition. Mystery. Short chapters, all cliff-hangers.

Henry Petroski – The Pencil Everything you ever wanted to know about a regular yellow pencil. History, check. How to make, check. People involved, check. Politics, check. Engineering calculations, check. Did I leave anything out? I know that Henry Petroski did not. Excellent bibliography and notes.

Marvin Olasky – The Politics of Disaster: Katrina, Big Government, and a New Strategy – Disappointing. Anecdotal. Poorly done references.

John Wyndham – The Day of the Triffids I found a paper back copy of this classic in my garage. Crest Book d741 $.50 No publication date. But one of the titles offered in the back is John F. Kennedy, President. Grindingly slow start. Leaden prose. All of the action is in the last 20 pages. For what? It does presage the issues of GM and mass pandemic along with the loss of society. It avoids the issue of loss of technology other than communication and predates the use of computing. Worth reading as it is a 1951 milestone. Pale compared to today’s SciFi.

Harry L. Moore – A Geologic Trip across Tennessee by Interstate 40 A detailed trip at that. In addition to all of the geologic features, a trip log enables you to travel vicariously via Google Maps Street View if you can not get there with a car. Also includes a clear explanation of the falling mountainsides in TN and NC.

Carolyn Hanna Murphy – Carolina Rocks! – The Geology of South Carolina – A quick survey of South Carolina geology with pointers to places to go where you can see what’s underneath. From the mountains to the sea, all areas of the state have interesting geology that you can visit and sea. An excellent guide and student resource.

Henry Billings – Construction Ahead – A great book for young and old who might be curious about how the two-lane or even the four-lane highway they are driving got to be the way that it is.  Henry Billings was an artist.  A professor at Bard College.  He did a number of books with a variety of illustration styles and topics.  This book for young people (Grades 4-12) uses illustrations and maps to describe the history of a a route and the modern (1950′s) improvements.  My copy was a discard from a school library.  For me, this is exactly the kind of book that needs to be in Google Books or some such resource. And in school libraries.

Henry Billings lived not far from the project he describes.  I can imagine him going up to visit the workers at the site and sketching and drawing the illustrations in the book.

1. It describes a number or potential career paths. Civil Engineering for the college bound.  Equipment Operator for those who are interested in that phase of construction.  For the first time, I understand what the cryptic marks on a survey stake mean.  And that highways are really not laid out willy-nilly.

2. It describes the history of a path from the Hudson River to other points in Connecticut.  The trade of American Natives, farmers, and tradesmen and how they got their goods to market.   Billings describes and illustrates the people along those routes during the colonial times and the changes through the years as country matured into the automobile era.

3. Through detailed drawings and corresponding text, it describes the process of road engineering and the decisions, planning, and execution that a highway department administrator must go through to complete a road project.

Margaret Cheney and Robert Uth – Tesla,  Master of Lightning – A pictorial history of the inventor and the inventions that you use use every day and probably credit to the wrong man.

William H. Longyard – A Speck on the Sea: Epic Voyages of the Most Improbable Vessels An interesting book of interesting voyages. The book is flawed in that despite extensive research and good writing, the stories are intermixed and interlaced. This upsets the continuity of the story and makes details hard to relate. The book benefits from and extensive appendix, bibliography and index. If you are contemplating an off-shore trip in a small vessel, read this book.

Kevin G. Stewart and Mary-Russell Roberson – Exploring the Geology of the Carolinas – If you live in the Southeast particularly North or South Carolina and you are interested in geology, this book is for you.  If you are interested in the outdoors it will increase your enjoyment and appreciation of what you find in the Carolina land.  Five short chapters introduce the book and geology. The remaining chapters are self-contained field trips to various parks and locations in North and South Carolina.  If you have a chance to visit them all, you will have a thorough introduction of the underlying geology and terrain of the region.  The field trip chapters repeat the details from the introductory material that applies assisting the reader avoid looking back to to the introduction.  I am looking forward to more enjoyable hiking this summer.

Greg Rössel – Building Small Boats – A great book for the first time round-bottom boat builder.  Starts with tools and wood, covers lofting, building the mold, steam bending the frame.  Then planking, both lapstrake and carvel. A chapter on the importance of details and how to make a half-model.

Richard Henry Dana, Jr. – Two Years Before the Mast – This book is the story of a two year cargo voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to California and Back in 1834.  It describes in detail the work of the sailors, their activities both at sea and ashore, the living conditions, discipline, and health concerns. Richard Henry Dana, forced to drop out of Harvard due to illness, took this voyage as an adventure.  His narrative is well-written and detailed.  The subsequent book was immensely popular.  I read the Penguin Classics edition, a gift from Celeste. I would recommend the Penquin Classics edition because it contains both the original and revised final chapters, excellent Introduction and explanatory notes, a glossary, bibliography, and annotations and corrections.  The glossary is especially valuable in understanding the work that sailors do as the text is filled with the jargon of seafarers. Savor this book.

Nevil Shute – Ordeal – At the outset of WWII, the sea-story of a family’s escape from the bombing of Southern England is typical of Shute. It is perhaps a bit of propaganda, a little risque and a lot of pluck in the main characters.  In many ways it foretells On the Beach.

Jared Diamond – Guns, Germs, and Steel – an effective explanation of why climate, geography, and weather have much more to do with civilization than differences in human beings.

Hugh Douglas and Michael J. Stead – The Flight of Bonnie Prince Charlie — My sister gave this book to my son. It is a detailed account of flight and pursuit with current road maps to the battles, hiding places, and people who helped the “Lad who was born to be King” escape after the the defeat at Culloden. Many pictures of the glens, lochs, and castles. If you are thinking about this bit of history, this book will surely let you follow in the footsteps of the Prince.

David McCollough – 1776 — My sister said that she did not think this was as good as some of Mr. McCollough’s others. My opinion is that it is a detailed and gripping account of new and unasked for job for General Washington. The early success and subsequent challenges lead to a better understanding of the politics, people, war, and passions of this first year of our country.

Douglas R. Hofsteder – Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid — I re-read this in the Spring of 2007. It is still dense and rich. I am truly surprised that while there has been progress in AI in the nearly 30 years since I read it before, that the practical applications of artificial intelligence still seem to be just out of reach. A great book nonetheless. It touches on music, art, is heavy on the math in the spirit of Lewis Carroll.

Nevil Shute – Trustee From The Toolroom – Keith Stewart has a secret. To provide for his granddaughter he hitchhikes to the South seas and back to recover her inheritance. This is my favorite novel.

Nevil Shute – Round The Bend – After the Second World War a man establishes an airline in the middle east. He marvels at how the people of faith can be productive and prosperous. The Moslem world before it began to destroy itself.

John McPhee – Annals of the Former World – John McPhee crosses the country from New Jersey to Sacramento on Interstate 80. On the way he talks to people about rocks and life in a way that only John McPhee can do. Geology comes alive in this collection of several of his books with additional material.

Bruce Feiler – Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three FaithsWith the journey, Feiler provides a better understanding of the three faiths and the foundations of the three faiths. He also brings a better understanding of how today’s followers view the world, the faith, and the history.

Mary Roach – Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers – An entertaining view of a topic that no one talks about. Whether it makes you more or less comfortable with death, it should answer many questions you may have about what happens to your body after you die.

Virginia Lee Burton – Life StoryA natural history of the universe and especially the earth presented as a play in 5 acts with prologue and epilogue for elementary age kids.. It helped me put in prospective Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic better than anything I ever had in school. I did not discover this book until I had children of my own. But it is definitely one of my favorites. Virginia Lee Burton is famous for Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and other kids books.

Charles Lindbergh - Spirit of St. Louis – The story of Lindbergh preparation for and flight across the country to break a cross country speed record. Only days later, he is the first to cross the Atlantic. See also my MS Flight Simulator adventure .

David McCullough – Johnstown Flood – Thoroughly researched. Exciting, dramatic and very sad tale of the disastrous flood at Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1889. The text, maps and a terrain profile make it clear how the calamity of the dam break was magnified by the water’s journey through the valley. McCullough in a matter-of-fact way explains the setting, details the events of the fateful day and the aftermath.