The Wager – a tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder, by David Grann

Posted on July 4, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: Sent to me by my brother who’d read it and thought I’d like it. He was right.  It was on the NYT best seller list right after it was published in 2023.

Summary in 5 sentences:  In the 1740s, the Royal Navy sent an expedition of several ships around Cape Horn to the Pacific to intercept and capture Spanish vessels carrying gold and other valuables from Peru to the East Indies to trade for silk, spices etc. The ships in the expedition got separated during the storms and tempests at the Cape, and the ship the HMS Wager, though separated and damaged gets around the Cape, but in a follow-on storm wrecks on a remote uninhabited Island off the south west coast of Chile.  Most of the crew survive  the shipwreck, but then have to find a way to survive on the island with little hope of being rescued.  As the heirarchy and discipline of the military chain of command break down, they face the reality that they may not survive.  Ultimately, two different groups from the crew separately are able to make it back to England years later, with very different stories of what happened. 

My Impressions: Fascinating book, thoroughly researched – providing great insight into the royal navy at that time, how sailors became ship’s captains, how expeditions were formed, how captains of ships were selected, and how they commanded their ships.  All of these insights were a prelude to provide greater perspective on how men lived on the ships during a long voyage,  and then the author’s description of the  almost unimaginable challenges and suffering they experienced getting around Cape Horn prior to the shipwreck.

The expedition included six ships and their transit around Cape Horn  (apparently there are multiple ways to get around Cape Horn) was devastating –  all the ships were damaged and lost much of their crews.  Scurvy is a brutal disease and fully 1/4 to 1/3 of the crews of the different ships were lost, either to scurvy or to accidents, partially caused by the debilitated condition of the crews because of it, as they fought to keep their ships afloat in the huge waves and gale force wind they encountered.  It was painful to read about the daily deaths and suffering, and the daily bad news as the expedition struggled to get through.  Though the several of the ships were severely damaged, they persisted and reached the Pacific Ocean.   HMS Wager was the smallest and slowest of the ships,  was separated from the others in the extensive and back to back storms.  The Wager’s captain knew he had to catch up, but after finally getting around the Cape, and before he could reconnect with the rest of the expedition, the Wager was hit by yet another brutal storm and in the fog ran into the rocks on an island they couldn’t see. That’s when Part 2 of the book begins.

The captain of HMS Wager had been injured during the storms and was also ill with scurvy, but survived the wreck and sought to keep the crew together, as they found themselves on a remote beach on a small remote island.   The ship was crushed on the rocks off shore, but was not completely sunk, so the crew was able to use their lifeboats to board the ship and ferry some of the food and equipment ashore to help them survive.  Their situation was dire – it was late fall and cold – they were not far north of the Antarctic circle.  And there was little to nothing edible on the island, so this situation tested their resourcefulness to the extreme.  In addition to the food they were able to  recover from the ship, much of it contaminated with salt water, they were forced to eat sea weed, crustaceans, occasionally fish, celery weeds and a few edible plants they found.  The plant food alleviated the scurvy, but at the time, they didn’t know why.  Now living ashore, they relied on their ship board organization and chain of command to work together to create shelter, find food and meet the new challenges that confronted them.

The captain had not been popular with the crew before the wreck and his moral authority began to diminish as he made unpopular and often unwise decisions.  His gunnery officer, a well respected and experienced seaman became a powerful and respected presence to whom the crew looked for leadership as a counterweight to the captain.  As things looked more and more bleak, discipline continued to break down, and a group of malcontent sailors refused to follow the Captain’s orders.  They broke off to live apart from the main group, but the gunnery officer stayed ostensibly loyal to the captain and sought to keep the discipline intact,   There was conflict between and within the groups and finally, even those who stayed with the captain were questioning his wisdom, his goals, and his leadership.

The gunnery officer was  repeatedly unsuccessful in his efforts to influence the captain to compromise with and support the crew and consider options they were proposing for their ultimate salvation.   Eventually, though he knew it meant being subject to accusations of mutiny and its harsh consequences, the gunnery officer broke with the captain and with a majority of the men on the island, chose to risk it all with an attempt in two of the surviving boats, to return to the Atlantic thru the Straits of Magellan to reach a town in Argentina.  

The story of the breakdown in the captain’s leadership, and the breakdown in discipline and group integrity on the island was fascinating.  The captain was a strict, by-the-book old-school British captain and was loathe to take input from subordinates that might be counter to his desires.  Some of his decisions that cost him credibility with his crew were driven by orders he wouldn’t share with them.   A series of events and actions by the captain cost him his authority and their respect for his rank and position.   The Captain had insisted on strictly following his orders to head north to try to rendezvous with the rest of the expedition; the others thought that was tantamount to suicide and refused his order. 

The majoirty of the remaining crew led by the gunnery officer in two small boats abandoned the captain and headed back to the Straits of Magellan.  They  succeeded to make it through the Straits  though only one boat survived; the other boat and all aboard were lost. The surviving boat, those aboard starving and suffering from exposure, finally and barely reached  a town on the coast of Argentina.  Several died just before and just after their arrival.  They were greeted warmly by the Argentinians, were fed, clothed and aided in their recovery, and eventually made it back to England, where they were received as returning heroes.  They had all assumed that the captain and the small group that stayed with him on the island had perished. 

But indeed the captain and his small team of loyal followers were able to craft a small boat, and with grit and luck, and some help from natives they encountered, over several weeks, succeeded in reaching a town on the coast of Chile.  Upon arriving,  they were immediately imprisoned as enemies of Spain.  But eventually they were repatriated to England, and when they arrived, there was a firestorm of controversy about the mutineers, conflicting testimony about what had happened on the island and eventually, a dramatic court martial.

The gunnery officer who led the mutineers and got them to Argentina, had kept a detailed journal and wrote extensively of his experiences, which was a major source for the author.  Also, one of the junior officers who stayed with the captain, had also kept a detailed journal and later in life wrote a book about his experiences which diverged from those of the gunnery officer after the mutineers left.  The author relied heavily on these accounts,  as well as having done extensive additional research to make a fascinating narrative of life, suffering, death and mutiny in the Royal Navy of the 1740s.

I wish I’d read The Wager before reading The Wide, Wide Sea about James Cook’s 3rd expedition some 40 years later.   Grann’s extensive explanations of the process of putting together the expedition would have been helpful in appreciating Cook’s expedition. Also, though the suffering that the crew endured from scurvy was painful to read,  it also helped me to appreciate how important Cook’s successful efforts to prevent it were on his voyage – forcing the crew to eat vegetables.  Cook’s expedition of nearly 3 years with no occurrences of scurvy was ground breaking for all navies of the world.  

For those interested in nautical history, or how a group can disintegrate under pressure, The Wager is a must read. I have compared the dynamics on the remote island to the Lord of the Flies story, but also to Shantung Compound a book I read a few years ago about how the Japanese isolated and imprisoned westerners who were living in China at the outbreak of WW2, how they broke up into small groups competing with each other for resources, and not accepting any authority. In both cases without positional or institutional authority to compel group compliance, group cohesion break down.  A group needs a Shackleton-like leader to keep it together to survive. 

Also for a bit more detail on the HMS Wager expedition and mutiny, without the detail and drama that Gann’s book provides, the Wikipedia article on Wager Mutiny is good.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

James, by Percival Everett

Posted on July 3, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: I recently listened to a great audible version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and was recently reading strong reviews of this revised version of the well known Mark Twain novel.

Summary in 3 Sentences  This is a the author’s re-imagining of Mark Twain’s famous novel written in the first person from the perspective of Jim, the runaway slave who accompanies Huck down the Mississippi River, both of them escaping their lives in 1830s Hannibal, Missouri.  In this book we experience many of the same “adventures” and challenges that Twain describes in the original novel, and additional ones that Everett adds to the original story – all seen from a recreated Jim – one with 20th or 21st century sensibilities.   We see Huck, white society, slave culture, and southern slaveholders and those who accept it from the perspective of a black man with wisdom, education and insight about freedom, human rights and the imperative for blacks to adapt to survive. 

My Impressions:  I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book and early on, I wasn’t sure where the author was going with it, and as I got into it I still wasn’t sure I’d like it.  But the more I read, the more I was pulled in and finally was very impressed with how he used this classic story to tell us a different story. 

In James, Everett creates the character Jim as externally the same (or very similar) to the character in Mark Twain’s novel, but in James, we are inside Jim’s head, and see the world from his perspective,  and this “Jim” has the consciousness and sensibilities of a 21st century educated black man, in the body and situation of an early 19th century slave in the South. It’s almost like a science fiction revision of the original story from Jim’s perspective.

In James, Jim plays the role of the stepin’ fetchit, good hearted, smart but simple minded slave that Twain creates in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and which has been caricatured in the years since.But in James it’s all an act – stressing that that the slave is a much more intelligent, sensitive and thoughtful character, and pretends to be what white people want him to be.  Being seen as simple minded was a tool to ensure their safety – so that whites would not feel threatened by someone intelligent or competent.  For a slave to show any intelligence or individuality or righteous indignation at the way he and other blacks are treated, invited severe punishment or death.  So Jim teaches his children to talk “slave talk” (“yasuh, massah” or “I don know nuttin’ ’bout birthin’ babies”) to protect themselves from whites who would feel threatened by intelligent, thoughtful,  and competent slaves.  In James, slaves spoke slave talk when around whites, but among themselves, spoke as people today would speak.  This “code-switching” – changing speach patterns to adapt to different social settings – was a tool that Everett used to emphasize how blacks were human beings relatable to us among themselves, but played the role that was expected of them by whites, in order to survive. 

The book is filled with the “n” word – necessarily, to ensure that we the readers fully understand the setting. Jim is “nigger Jim” to the whites and is careful to do all he can to be invisible, to not draw any attention, because most attention results in brutal punishment.

James follows the rough trajectory of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jim and Huck both escaping from Aunt Polly, meeting on Jackson’s Island and then heading down the river together on various flimsy rafts, getting involved with “the Duke” and the “King of France “and their fraudulent escapades.  But then James diverges from the Huck Finn story as Jim and Huck get separated and Jim gets involved with a minstrel group, is then sold as a slave, escapes and helps another slave escape, and on his own, secretly returns to Hannibal to reconnect with  his wife and daughter. Jim reconnects with Huck again on Jackson’s Island to get his help, and here Everett departs dramatically from the fairy tale happy ending of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  Jim then chooses to become the agent of his own destiny.  The conclusion is inconclusive, surprising and very well done.  No spoiler, but while the ending is inconclusive, it is satisfying. 

James provides a valuable perspective on slavery, providing a sober 21st century first person perspective on what it was like to be a slave.  In one of the reviews of this book I read, it states that: “In Twain’s text, Jim is intelligent and honest, but also at times bumbling and the butt of jokes. In James, Jim emerges as a fully developed, multifaceted, and complex character. This is possibly only because he narrates his own story. ”  Huck represents a compassionate innocently naive white person’s perspective on slavery, and one of the themes of the book is Huck’s moral development and rising consciousness about the evils of an institution he’d come to take for granted.  But the majority of white characters in the book represent the prejudices of white supremacists, happily exploiting blacks and slaves. 

James was an engaging and enlightening read – very cleverly using The Adventures of  Huckleberry Finn story which so many of us know, to provide a rich perspective on how slavery felt to the blacks at that time. It was useful for me to have recently listened to The Adventures of Hucklebery Finn to better follow and appreciate Everett’s clever adaptation.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Sardinian Brigade, by Emilio Lussu

Posted on June 23, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: I have hiked in the Dolomites of Northern Italy and visited sites of WW1 Battles between the Italians and the Austrians, and twice visited a museum dedicated to these battles. I have also read other books on WW1 – a terrible and tragic war..  This book was recommended as an engaging first person look at that war.  I read an old first edition version I got on Abebooks, but it has been republished and is currently available as A Soldier on the Southern Front

Summary in 3 Sentences: A first person account by a junior officer in the Italian Army of one year during World War 1 fighting the Austro-Hungarian forces for control of Northern Italy.  The author was not a career army man, and viewed with dispassion and some alarm at the decisions made by senior officers. He wrote this book some 20 years after WW1 about his experiences fighting on the front under his Italian generals against a very different foe. 

My Impressions:  The cover of the edition I have was written by a reviewer in the late 30s, and I believe describes this book pretty well: “ It is the work of an intelligent, strong, well poised man with a burning heart and a powerful imagination, writing on a great and tragic theme.”   This book describes only one year of the four he spent in the Italian Army during The Great War.  

The author is an intelligent and well educated junior officer who had grown up in Sardinia and had just graduated from the university Padua in law.  He had joined Italy’s army to defend his country against the Austrian forces that had invaded Northern Italy as part of the German and Austro-Hungarian axis fighting the Allies.  He did not have strong Marshall impulses but did have  a strong sense of  duty to his  responsibilities as an officer in the army and to his country, but also a strong sense of compassion.  During the year of war he describes in this book, these two sentiments were often in conflict.

He says in his preface that he simply describes some of the incidents that made the greatest impression on him that he recalls from that one year – and he published this book 20 years after they had taken place.  

When I described this book to friends, I noted that the insane leadership and decisions that he described reminded me of Catch 22 and the author is an Italian Yossarian but one who is committed to his duty – but has retained enough common sense and humanity to see the sheer bald stupidity of orders that he observed – and even had to carry out, more often than not, with tragic consequences – resulting in pointless loss of life.

At that time and in that war, brandy was issued to all officers and seen as nearly indispensable to help soldiers and officers deal with fear and overcome inhibitions.  He describes several officers who, when the going got tough, retreated to the bottle and were drunk – sometimes sitting out the battle alone in a room drinking. In one case a Major dealt with his stress by getting roaring drunk and enraged at some of his men who refused to carry out a foolish order, and then ordered them to be executed.  When the other troops refused, he pulled out his pistol and started shooting them himself, until the other troops shot and filled him with bullets, their battalion commander. 

He movingly described how he and one of his men snuck up very close to an Austrian position where they could easily at close range shoot and kill an Austrian soldier making his coffee. Neither he nor his soldier could shoot an unarmed soldier, who was not engaged in combat, unawares in the process of daily non-combat activities.  This is an ethical/psychological challenge has often been discussed in journals of military ethics.

The disillusion of the junior officers and troops with the leadership of the Italian Army at the time was a constant theme.  The author saw and argued against decisions that were clearly foolish, futile and would clearly have disastrous consequences, but he felt bound by his duty and oath as an officer to obey orders – even stupid ones.  He described several mutinies against the leadership.  

It was clear that the career senior officers had been brought up with a romantic and heroic ideal of warfare and sought to impose that on their men – who they demanded behave in accordance with outmoded heroic visions of warfare – men blindly sacrificing their lives to fulfill the ideals of their bold leaders. The author’s common sense, practical and humane view of warfare was in direct contrast to that view held by so many of his leaders.  

This book describes the transition between 19th and 20th century warfare that was so tragic in WWI.  Another book – a novel – which describes this tragic transition is CS Forrester’s The General.  

This is a short and well written  and engaging first person look at the WWI trench warfare, and artillery battles in Northern Italy – a somewhat different version, but sill similar to better known battles  on the Western Front, described by Remarque in All Quiet on the Western Front, and Robert Graves in Goodbye to All That. 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Wide Wide Wide Sea – Fateful Final Voyage of Capt James Cook, by Hampton Sides

Posted on June 23, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: Selected by my literature reading group. Also I’d read three others of Hampton Sides’ historical narratives, and all were great (Blood and Thunder, Kingdom of Ice, and Ghost Soldiers.).  

Summary in 3 Sentences: The book begins with a background on James Cook and his previous 2 voyages to the Pacific and then how he was selected to captain this final most ambitious effort by the British Admiralty to explore the Pacific and find the Northwest Passage.  It covers the entire 3rd vosyage, of Cooks two ships, the  Resolution and the Discovery, around Cape Horn, Austraila and New Zealand, the encounters Cooks team had with the Polynesians of Tahite and what is now French Polynesia, and then their exploration of the north western coast of North America and Alaska and into the Arctic in search of the NW passage, and then finally returning to Hawaii where events took an unexpected turn for the worse.

My Impressions: Another fascinating historical narrative by Hampton Sides – revealing an important piece of history about which I was only vaguely aware.  I listened to rather than read this book, knowing from my previous experiences with the author that it would be captivating and easy to follow. The narrator had a British accent which was appropriate given that Cook not only was English, but his voyage was on behalf of the imperialist aims of 18th century England  The problem with listening is that I’m sure that the hard copy had maps which would have helped a lot – as it was, I had to remind myself when I got back to my computer to find maps which laid out his voyage. 

The main subject of the book, Cook’s 3rd and final voyage, begins with the long transit to the South Pacific around Africa, Cape Horn below Australia to Tasmania and then New Zealand before getting to the Tahitian Islands – and beyond.

But the book begins with a brief summary of Cook’s 1st and 2nd voyages which also serve as an introduction of Cook himself.  We learn of his background, how he came to be a highly regarded explorer before the 3rd voyage, as well as an introduction into how the Royal Navy functioned, how captains were selected and the preparation required for ambitious voyages of discovery and empire.

One of the key characters of the early part of the book was Omai who had been brought back to England from the Tahitian islands on Cook’s second voyage.  Sides goes into some length describing how he was received and feted in England, how he adapted and became a celebrity, wanting only to return to his home Islands to avenge his tribe after a war with another tribe. 

King George III directed that Omai be returned to his home islands on Cook’s 3rd voyage and the King also insisted that Cook bring a wide variety of animals and plants to help spread “civilization” to the Pacific Islands. Omai was indeed returned by Cook to his native Tahitian Islands, but that didn’t work out as well as had been hoped. Omai expected, in fact demanded that he be treated as a returning hero with privilges and power, which those in power in his native community resented. He alienated the people he returned to by “putting on airs,”  and his return was not as fortuitous as he’d desired. 

One of the key objectives and most interesting aspects of this book were the anthropological aspects of Cook’s contact – often first European contact – with islanders in many parts of the Pacific.  He was more respectful and sensitive than most to native cultures and endeavored to always build positive relations – which was often difficult, given that his crews did not share his same sensibilities.  This is perhaps understandable given the age of his crew, and the hardships of their voyage. When Cook and his crew  finally arrived in the islands, their primary goal was to somehow get something pleasurable from the natives – and that usually meant sex.  And in this, the natives were usually happy to comply, as the sailors were new and different, and the natives had no experience with Christian prejudices against recreational or transactional sex.  The native girls were often only too happy to trade sex for some of what the sailors had to offer that were valuable to them, such as nails, mirrors, cloth, etc. And the native men profited from these transactions as well, offering up their sisters, wives, daughters. 

Captain Cook only sought to inhibit these transactions when he realized that his sailors were spreading venereal disease (primarily gonorrhea) where it had been previously unknown. He tried, often unsuccessfully, to keep sailors on board who his surgeon knew had “the clap.”  

Cook was the first European to have recorded a visit to the Hawaiian Islands, though there is some scant evidence that perhaps a Spanish vessel may have visited, or been shipwrecked.  Cook’s expedition stumbled on the Hawaiian Islands on their way to the Northwest Coast of America in search of the Northwest Passage. They stopped to get supplies and fresh water and rest, then headed for what is now the coast of Washington State and Vancouver, and they continued sailing northwest, exploring every inlet they found in an unsuccessful effort to find a through passage.  They went north to Alaska, proceeded along the southern coast of Alaska through the Bering Sea and into the Arctic Sea before turning around, after hitting an impenetrable wall of ice.  Along the way they met with Inuit and other native tribes, many of whom had had contact with Russian traders, or knew of Russian ships which had been in the region.  

Cook then turned his expedition around and returned to the Hawaiian Islands to refit, recover, and spend the winter.  Cook planned to return to the Arctic the following summer in hopes of finding a passage before the ice closed in. But his arrival in Hawaii inauspiciously coincided with a major religious ceremony, and the native Hawaiians believed Cook to be a god returning to help and serve the people. This led to a series of misunderstandings and a series of bad decisions and bad judgement calls that Cook made,  culminating in a fight that led to Cook’s death and that of several of his crew.  The expedition’s second in command took over and reluctantly decided to carry out Cook’s plan, and returned to the Arctic the following summer, again hit the ice wall and then headed  the thousands of miles back to England. 

One of the sub-themes that Sides returned to frequently was that on this voyage, something didn’t seem right with Cook.  He seemed to have become angrier, less tolerant, and impetuous in ways that he had not been on previous expeditions. He had previously been known as a calm, steady, and dispassionate man of good judgment and a rational demeanor. On this expedition,  those who knew him were surprised when he regularly behaved or made decisions inconsistent with his previous character.  Anger, and bad judgment were instrumental in leading to the confrontation at which he lost his life. 

The Wide, Wide Sea was not only very engaging to read, but was informative and insightful, as have been the other historical narratives I’ve read by Hampton Sides.  I just read another book that I would recommend before reading this one – The Wager – about an incident in the Royal Navy that happened 40+ years before Cook’s 3rd voyage.  This book sheds light on some of the practices of the Royal Navy that would add to the appreciation of Cook’s voyage, and Sides’ account of it.  

image.png

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The End – a Novel, by Fernanda Torres

Posted on May 29, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book:  Strongly recommended by my friend Janar to our literature reading group. Not selected by the others, but based on his recommendation, I wanted to read it.

Summary in 3 Sentences: This novel looks at the ends of the lives of 5 men living in the Rio de Janeiro region of Brazil – in their own words sharing their experience of old age and finally their own deaths, followed by the perspectives of (mostly) the important women in their lives – wives, lovers, and others.   A few of the five men lived lives of debauchery and libido satisfaction, a couple of the others at least tried to go straight.  This novel provides a perspective on men and women’s sexuality in the very libertine world of urban Brazil in the 1960s – 1980s – sexuality as banal amusement, sexuality as s a driver of love and passion, and as a purely recreational activity, fraught with danger. 

My Impressions: Fun to read about the reminiscences of the crazy debauched lives that some of these men lived as young men in the party life of Rio in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  And then “the rest of the story”… failed marriages, the ultimate emptiness of the constant chasing of the next erotic adventure – but as they tell their stories, their emphasis was on the fun they had.  After looking back on their lives and sharing some of their favorite and not-so-favorite stories, each of the men’s stories ends with him experiencing his own death.  Then we get the perspectives from some of the women in their lives – their wives and girl friends, and some others who they touched in their lives. 

Each of these men knew each other – they were a group of buddies who  partied together into middle age and beyond – sharing in their dissolute indulgences and debauched life styles – which included not just a lot of recreational sex, but also drugs and alcohol.  They had their female accomplices in these adventures, but each of them did make a weak effort to get married and lead a normal family life, but all but one of them failed – and the one who did remain dedicated to his wife, can hardly be said to have had a joyful marriage – but he was indeed devoted to his strict and overbearing wife.

The book is broken up into five parts – each focussing on one of the five men, but a large portion of each section was given to the perspectives of those on the fringes of the man’s narrative of his experiences  – the wives and other enablers – what THEIR lives were like,  how they perceived the primary characters, how these men affected them, and some of the damage they left in the wake of their pursuit of pleasure.

Reading the stories these mens tell at the end of their lives, it’s almost as if some of it is fulfilling every man’s fantasy of constant partying and fun, lots of sex with lots of women, drugs, drinking, rock and roll – but not much of what I would call fulfillment.  And I think that was the point of the author – a women who has clearly lived the high-life in Brazil and has some first hand experience of the craziness of this world.

One of the men is extremely attractive to women – they are drawn to him as to none of the others and he gets more than his share of attention and affection from attractive young women. He finally falls deeply in love and marries, and the couple has ten years of a rich and fulfilling life. Then suddenly he realizes he is bored with his wife, deals with it by going on a rampage of extramarital carnality.  She is devastated, and he is consumed with guilt, but can’t control himself. He comes back to her but can’t walk away from the sexual circus. She goes down hill and he contributes to her demise by making her believe she is hallucinations about his extramarital affairs.  They both come to a sad end. 

The men in this novel are childlike in their inability to manage their lust; the women in this novel are either naïve victims of their unwillingness to recognize this in their men, or, in the case of their many girlfriends, are complicit partners in this game of partying, fun and uncommitted sexual recreation.  

This was a fun read, and also takes a bit of the glamor away from what on the surface appears to be the fantasy life of a lot of young men.  And the women’s perspectives are telling as well.  How the author reveals the first person perspectives on the experience of dying of these characters is well done and thought provoking.  The spiritual element was nowhere to be found in this hedonistic view of life – living for the moment, the next high and the next erotic adventure.  These men did not experience the simple pleasures of family life and of contented love and  friendship with a life partner, nor any spiritual transformation or insight  Their deaths were rather sad and lonely.   

I enjoued and am glad I read this – short and provocative book 

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Eastbound, by Maylis de Kerangal

Posted on May 19, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: Proposed by my friend Ernie in my literature reading group, but not selected by the group.  It looked interesting to me and as a short read, I decided to read it.  

Summary in  4 Sentences:  A Russian conscript in modern times (everyone has a cell phone)  is on a train with other conscripts to do their initial duty assignment in Siberia, but he truly dreads the experience and decides to desert along the way.  On the train he has a casual encounter with a French woman a bit older who is running away from her lover.  Events lead to the French woman reluctantly choosing to help the young Russian hide from his Sergeant and ultimately desert.  They reach Vladivostok, and though they have no common language, they feel connected – they have both escaped into an unknown and uncertain future.  

My Impressions More a novella than a novel – a very short read  (127 pp of large print on small pages), but very engaging.  The Russian conscript – a confused young man of 20  – is on a train to Siberia with  other conscripts to begin their obligated time in service,  and he decides he REALLY doesn’t want to do this, is afraid, and decides to desert – somehow.     On the train, he has a chance and fortuitous encounter with a somewhat older (35ish?)  French woman running from what she fears – a committed relationship and all that entails with a Russian man she loves. She has no plan – she is just running away.

This is not a love story – the conscript and the French woman don’t even have a common language  to communicate with each other – but come to a non-verbal understanding. Reluctantly, the French woman chooses to help the young conscript desert by evading the Russian sergeant.

The story is about their visceral connection on the train, his ham-fisted attempts to escape, how she is drawn into his dilemma, how she is also struggling with her own escape – emotionally from her lover.  It was clear to me that both of them had made rash decisions to run from their fears, without thinking through the consequences.  The books concludes with uncertain futures for both of them.  

The young man had been from a broken home and poor family, but was blessed with good looks and physical strength, but damn little self-confidence  The French woman is a sympathetic character who wanted and needed love but was afraid of it.  We don’t get to know her past – only that she’d met her Russian lover in Paris and had agreed to return with him to Russia, and then, as he began what clearly would be a good career that would keep him there, she panicked.  She was cowardly in how she left him, but she showed courage in  choosing to help the young conscript, which entailed risk to her.  Both she and the conscript were taking big chances – we are left to wonder whether and how those courageous decision might transform their lives. 

The book is very well written and sparse.  The protagonists are sympathetic characters but found themselves in a dilemma as a result of their own weakness-of-will and inability/unwillingness to take responsibility for their own decisions.  Then, their rash decisions and circumstances forced them to deal with the consequences – which were yet to be determined.  

The book offers other perspectives.  We get to see how the other passengers on the train react to Siberia, passing by the spectacular Lake Baikal and then we see their resonse to some of the drama on the train and at the stops.  Some of the key take-aways for me were to remind me of the basic humanity of the Russian people and Russian soldiers, as well as the broad and long expanses of Siberia – recall the train scenes in the movie Doctor Zhivago – I’d love to make that train ride when/if  US-Russian relations thaw.   And how young people the world over, so often make decisions they don’t think through based on fear and lack of self confidence,  and then are left facing new and perhaps scarier challenges as a result.   

It was a short book that made an impression on me.  It was worth my time. 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Hitchhiker’s Gide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

Posted on May 15, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book. selected by my Sci Fi reading group. It continues to appear on many lists of best, (or most influential) Sci Fi books of all time. Also Elon Musk has read it several times.  

Summary in 3 Sentences. The story is not as important as the satire Adams is making of conventional American life, but here goes:  Moments before earth is destroye  Arthur Dent is rescued from earth by Ford Prefect an alien from Betelgeuse who has been living (under cover) as an earthling for 15 years. Prefect whisks Dent off into the galaxy on the Heart of Gold spaceship run by the Vogons, a notoriously grouchy group, to experience a number of intergalactic adventures. Zophod is the captain of the Vogon space ship and eventually succeeds on his mission to find the obscure but legendary planet Magrathea, and when the Heart of Gold lands there, another whole series of adventures happen to include finding the ultimate purpose of life, which we realize is a ridiculous and pointless exercise. 

My Impressions: I had trouble following this book – not realizing until well into it that it is science fiction as satire on things that we earthlings take seriously – like bureaucratic rules, consumer capitalism, abstract thinking and ultimately, the purpose of life.   

Originally published in 1979, the book presages several technological developments that we are seeing today, including a super computer called “Deep Thought” very similar to an AI, a humanoid robot named Marvin who is depressed and self-loathing, as well as cell-phone and a few other like capabilities.  There are mice who design planets, intergalactic police who are after Zaphod for stealing the Herat of Gold space ship, and more crazy stuff. We also learn about the “Infinite Improbability Drive” which basically makes all things possible, and which explains all coincidences and serendipity, .

The primary targets of Adams’ satire are thoughtless bureaucratic rule following, and how foolish and meaningless most authority is when observed from a distance.   Also targets for his satire and humar are  the importance of seeking “meaning” in life, or serious people seeing as “meaningless” activities that are simply pleasurable.

A little research shows that this book has had a lot of influence over the decades, to include having spawned a number of sequels, and its humor has been copied by Monty Python among others. I for one found the humor a bit dated and cliched and which I might refer to as  techie-juvenile – but when it first came out it was probably very original, and perceived as clever. Elon Musk still thinks its one of the greatest books ever written.   I didn’t particularly enjoy the book, nor will I read the sequels, but am glad I have a bit of perspective on a book that is often cited as a groundbreaking science fiction novel.  

By the way.  The Deep Thought super-computer figured out the purpose of life.  It is “42.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

2054, by Will Ackerman and Jim Stavridis

Posted on May 12, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book. Selected by my Sci Fi book club and it is the sequel to 2034,which I’d previously read (my review of it here.)

Summary in 5 Sentences: The setting is the United States 20 years after the nuclear exchange between the US and China described in their novel  2034.  The US government is strongly divided between the left and the right, and a constitutional crisis is erupting, exacerbated when the President suddenly dies.  The government lies about it and the opposition party assumes he was assassinated by a secret bio-tech capability under development to do “remote gene editing.”  The remainder of the book bounces between the effort to track down the bio-technicians developing remote gene-editing, and the explosive crisis developing in our government – reminiscent of 6 January 2022.  Current longevity guru Ray Kurzweil plays a role as the genius working to achieve “the Singularity” – the merging of biological and technological evolution to create the next generation of humans. 

Impressions;   A quick and fascinating read – though it starts out a bit confusing early on, as each section introduces new characters in new settings – I initially had trouble keeping track.  But soldiering on, I knew (from having read 2034) that eventually they would all somehow be connected and I’d be able to follow the multiple converging stories.  And indeed, that did happen. 

The political dimension is an important part of the story – something of a cautionary tale about the direction the US is heading.  In 2054, the increasingly extreme measures that the left and right ends of the political spectrum resort to in order to retain power are painfully reminiscent of the news today.  2054 takes them to an ugly extreme – certainly driven by the authors’ perception of events of Jan 2022. I thought it was a shortcoming that the book failed to explain changes in our political process – for example, multiple (more than 2) terms of a charismatic, populist President who would not give up power, and the President simply naming his VP. 

In parallel with and connected to that drama, is the effort to find out who and how someone on the cutting edge of bio technology was able to remotely edit the President’s genes to engender a fatal heart attack.  As that international crime conspiracy develops, we find players in China, Japan, Brazil, India and  Nigeria and ultimately learn that the assassination of the President thru remote gene editing is not the most important issue at stake.  As those who’ve followed the development of AI  have certainly read, the country that first is able to develop Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) often called “the Singularity”  will essentially rule the world.  “The Singularity” is when “computer programs become so advanced that AI transcends human intelligence, potentially erasing the boundary between humanity and computers.” (from Google definition of “the Singularity”) 

Ray Kurzweil  – a real human being and bio tech scientist in Silicon Valley (look him up) has been on a quest to find the cure for aging and thus extend human life indefinitely.   In 2054, that quest has led Kurzweil to eventually finding (or approaching) ‘the singularity,’ but he is also fully aware of the power it holds – and he goes into hiding.  Finding Kurzweil becomes a sub-theme of the story. 

2054 was a page turner, once I got through the initial chapters during which I was a bit disoriented,  and I very much enjoyed reading the book. 

That said, in addition to the constitutional shortcomings I previously mentioned, there were a couple of other times I had to suspend disbelief.   Ackerman and Stavridis had two legitimate and very compelling warnings to convey in this book, but I thought their effort to combine them into one novel was a bit strained.  Those two messages/themes were:  the dangers US faces as the vitriol between our political extremes increases;   and the very political and international implications and threats that accompany the accelerated development of AI toward AGI and “the Singularity.”  

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

How Ike Led, by Susan Eisenhower

Posted on May 6, 2024 by schoultz

View Post

 Why this book: Selected by the SEAL reading group I help lead. I listened to rather than read this book.

Summary in 4 Sentences: The author Susan Eisenhower is Dwight Eisenhower’s grand daughter and is an accomplished woman in her own right, and and her book includes personal memories and interviews with close connections she’s had to the people who were important in Dwight Eisenhower’s life and career.  The book is indeed part biographical, touching on aspects of his personal life that shaped his leadership and character, and how he led as a Five Star Army General, as the president of Colombia University, and finally, as President of the United States. She gives chapters to some of the key events and controversies and decisions of his life and leadership – to include Operation Overlord as the Supreme Allied Commander, his decision to run for President, and as President of the United States, which included the final years of the Korean War, the Suez crisis, the nuclear detente with the Soviet Union, the Joe McCarthy hearings, the Berlin Crisis, the U2 incident, the Civil Rights movement, and more.

My Impresssions:  I really enjoyed and learned a lot from this book – much more than I expected. Susan Eisenhower writes very well and provided the right touch of personal perspective to the history she recounted of events of over 70 years ago have shaped the world we live in today. In addition to her personal experiences with Ike, and her extensive research and interviews with those who knew and worked with him, she had access to his diary and letters he had sent to family members.

From David Roll’s review of this book in the WSJ:

“How Ike Led is not a biography, history or memoir. Instead, it is a unique story, based upon personal experience, family letters and interviews with Dwight Eisenhower’s close friends and advisers, which describes Ike’s strategic leadership throughout World War II and his eight years as president from 1953 to 1961.”

One of the things that struck me, and I believe will strike any reader of this book today, is how the issues and environment Ike dealt with are not dissimilar from what we are experiencing in America today. For example: the two political parties being drive by their extremes, tensions with Russia and China, Civil Rights, Israel and the Middle East, US credibility in the developing world, the national debt and deficit spending, the press which feeds the flames of popular prejudices and attitudes.

In this book, we get to know Ike personally through the eyes of his grand daughter who grew up in his shadow, and also through the eyes of many of his friends, colleagues, subordinates and others who worked with and were influenced by Dwight Eisenhower.   Susan Eisenhower did her research and in addition to Ike’s diaries and letters, she had read the memoirs of many of the people Eisenhower worked with as well as some of the biographies of him, and brought those perspectives into her book.  One can’t help but wonder if the issues that Ike dealt with which we are dealing with today aren’t a chronic part of the American experience.   It is instructive to read how Ike dealt with them – successfully over two terms, keeping us at peace and initiating many projects that continue to positively impact America.  But it is also instructive to read how Ike was attacked and vilified by his opponents, especially during his second term.

He was not seen as a successful President by many, because he didn’t have the showmanship or charisma to cater to public whims that FDR and Kennedy had.  But over time historians and political scientists have reevaluated him as one of our nation’s most effective Presidents. He wasn’t a showman and publicity seeker – and that was one of his great strengths – he was explicitly focused on dong good, much more so than looking good.  His Stoic values of discipline, integrity and  selflessly serving the greater good of the American People were his primary guide posts.  He and George Washington are probably the two Presidents who most adhered to the principles of life and leadership articulated by Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations.  I am surprised Susan Eisenhower never mentions Marcus Aurelius in her book about her grandfather. 

The main theme of the book was Eisenhower the man and his character, and how that was expressed in how he made decisions of great, and even national existential import.  As we learn about the background behind some of the key events of the 1950s, we see these events through Eisenhower’s eyes as understood by Susan, based on her personal experience and her research.  And we see how these events have shaped our history since then.

Ike decided to enter politics and run for President only after seeing that the other candidates representing the leadership of the Democratic and Republican parties of the day represented the extremes of their parties, and left the “middle way” un-represented.  He used his popularity from WW2 to give credibility to a middle way, and he was able to successfully articulate and advocate for political positions that took some from those on the left who sought to expand social welfare programs, and some from the right who sought to enhance individual freedom and responsibility,  and pull back from international commitments.    Would that we had someone like that today.

Key qualities of Eisenhower’s character that are worth considering and emulating.

  • He was not a grandstander – did not seek public recognition or glory.

  • He devoted himself to the best outcome for all – service to the mission and the whole above personal considerations.

  • He listened and actively sought to understand other peoples’ perspectives

  • He smiled and sought to put people at ease – he liked people.

  • He scrupulously would not take any financial short cuts for personal advantage due to his position.

  • Honesty, integrity and discipline were his guiding principles.

A few of his Leadership Principles or Guidelines that we saw in Susan Eisenhower’s description of how he made decisions.

DO….

  • ….always give others credit

  • ….listen to and understand counter perspectives

  • ….show respect and toward people at all levels of one’s organization

  • ….show a positive and optimistic attitude toward the future, no matter how dire the situation may look

  • ….demonstrate integrity and be the example in following the values you want in your subordinates.

DON’T…

  • ….make a decision until you’ve heard various perspectives on the issue

  • ….make a decision during the discussion – withdraw, consider, then decide

  • ….actively alienate people whose support you may need -especially your opponents.

  • ….get angry in public

IN THE EPILOGUE Susan Eisenhower’s reflects on how she believes that today, there is a hunger for someone of Ike’s character and style of  leadership to bring the country back together and bridge the gap between the extremes on the right and left that are tearing our country apart.  She recognizes that the 24 hour news cycle has amplified the effects of angry diatribes from each side, but that most of America would welcome the approach and values that Ike represented. The audiobook effectively concluded with a recording of Ike’s farewell address to the country at the end of his Presidency.

MY CONCLUSION.  There is perhaps a bit of hero worship in Susan Eisenhower’s reflections on her grandfather, but i bought into her version of her grandfather and his place in history.  Though Susan addresses many of Ike’s critics and those who strongly disagreed with his policies, she essentially defends him, and from my perspective, does so quite well.  As a retired military officer myself, I have been brought up with most if not all of the same values of service as Ike:  Take care of the mission; Take care of the troops.     At the  Naval Academy we taught what we called the “Constitutional Paradigm” developed by Colonel (USMC) Paul Rousch which calls for the following hierarchy of  values: 

  1. follow the US constitution,
  2. fulfill the mission;  
  3. do what’s good for one’s service/organization;
  4. do what’s good for the ship/command/team;
  5. take care of your shipmate/partners;  and then finally
  6. take care of oneself .

That however may be too simple a formula to always work in a free society when leaders are struggling to protect the good of the many from extremely clever and self-serving adversaries who are able to manipulate the public and the system to achieve their personal aims.   Ike did very well at following his sense of honor and integrity in a system which put those values to the test regularly, by people and institutions more focussed on power, personal goals, expediency and fulfilling ephemeral public demands. rather than on the principles of democracy and the greatest good for the whole, over the long term.  

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Deacon King Kong, by James McBride

Posted on April 30, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: Selected by my Literature reading group after the strong recommendation of Patsy, who has yet to let us down with a book she strongly recommends! 

Summary in 3 Sentences: Deacon King Kong is the nickname for an old black man in Brooklyn in the late 1960s when the neighborhood is in the middle of a drug war between several different gangs cashing in on the very lucrative heroin trade.  The story includes colorful characters from the poor urban underworld of that era – the poor Italians, the poor blacks, the Irish cops, and the places and manner where those three cultures clash and cooperate.  It’s a fascinating story, with fascinating characters which shines a light on a time and place in NYC culture when it was in transition.

My Impressions: I enjoyed and learned a lot more from this book than I expected.  I listened to it, which served me well, as Dominic Hoffman, the reader, did well in performing the various roles and voices that arose in the story. He helped make the characters real and believable and the story had enough drama and even a bit of fairy tale in it to keep me engaged.  I’ve already recommended it to several friends. The book has been widely recognized, won several awards, and is an Oprah pick. 

The story begins with the book’s unlikely protagonist known in the neighborhood as “Sportcoat” drunk and trying to kill “Deems,” a young man who is plying his trade selling drugs to other young people on a corner in the neighborhood – the projects in Brooklyn.  Everyone sees the attempt but Sportcoat only woulds Deems,  as Deems turns his head at just the right time.  Sportcoat was so drunk he doesn’t even recall trying to kill Deems, and his drinking buddy “Hot Sausage” is astonished at the stupidity of the act and tries to convince Sportcoat that he needs to leave town, in order to avoid being killed in revenge, either by Deems or Deems’ drug bosses or friends.  At this point in the book I’m not so sure what i’ve gotten myself into – maybe  “Amos ‘n Andy” in ‘the hood.

‘But the story rapidly evolves and gets better and better.

Sportcoat’s attempted murder incites a mini-drug war between Deems’ boss, and another drug lord who wants that territory.  Then, into that drama comes “the Elephant,” an Italian smuggler who works in the neighborhood but on the fringes of the Italian Malia, but is not in the drug business.  We get to know all of these criminals as human beings, doing what they can to survive and play by whatever rules will keep them alive in the battle for illicit gains in the underworld of Brooklyn.

We then get to know the Irish cop who is assigned to sort all this out, who after a long career policing in New York and Brooklyn is only months away from retirement, and doesn’t want to get in too deep and put his retirement in jeopardy.   One of his main connections in the hood is the wife of the pastor of the church where Sportcoat is “the Deacon” and their friendship adds a different human dimension to the story. 

McBride brings so many fasicnating characters into this story that it truly was a joy to listen to it.  He takes us back to a simpler time – when most of the blacks in Brooklyn had grown up in the world of racism and limited opportunity in the rural South, and then migrate north to NYC in hope of a better life.  These former farm workers, sharecroppers, laborers and household help from the South form a tight community where people look out after and take care of each other, and yet squabble like family.  We get insights into the charm and pettiness of church life in a poor section of Brooklyn and the many eccentric characters who gave that neighborhood its character and personality.

Our protagonist “Sportcoat” is hard to take seriously at first, but the more we get to know him, the more we see that there is to admire. He has an ongoing relationship with his wife Hettie, who is a constant in his life, and their relationship evolves throughout the book, even though she’s no longer living.  Sportcoat talks to her and she answers him, chastises him, gives him advice, and he argues with her – until she gets mad and leaves him alone.  Until she comes back.  Sportcoat’s relationship with Hettie adds color, depth and humanity to how we understand him, and how he deals with the challenges that he brings on to himself. 

And as we get to know each of the colorful characters in this book we come to admire them in spite of their eccentricities and failings.  McBride is sympathetic and compassionate toward the characters in the book – each doing what they can in a difficult and often ugly environment.   Whereaas we might laugh at or look down on the eccentricities, the naivete, sometimes poor judgment of the characters in this book, I couldn’t help but see McBride’s approach as celebrating these eccentricities and differences in perspective and lifestyle.  This is what made this book so much fun to read/listen to.   McBride brings out the ridiculous and the sublime in each of his characters. 

The second half of the book includes a mystery and a treasure that bring a number of these chareacters together in unanticipated ways, and adds more fun and drama to this story. 

Deacon King Kong is an entertaining and insightful way to get in a culture and lifestyle that was a key part of American when the rest of the country was watching the moon landing, the War in Vietnam and the disfunction of Washington Politics. 

Highly recommended and deserving of its many accolades.  

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment