A River Runs Through it, by Norman Maclean

Posted on October 27, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: Selected by my Literature book club at my recommendation. It was strongly recommended to me by Rich Marshall. I listened to rather than read it. It is short – only 3 1/2 hours to listen to – probably only a bit more than 100 pages to read.  I chose to listen to it because it is narrated by Ivan Doig – one of my favorite Western authors. 

Summary in 5 Senences:   This is a novel, written as a semi-autobiographical  retrospective look by the older Norman Maclean, looking back on incidents that took place growing up in Montana in the first decades of the 20th century. His story focuses on his childhood with his brother, then later after her returns from college, when as young adults they reconnected in their 20’s.  Norman who narrates, is the more thoughtful and prudent  of the two brothers;  his younger brother Paul  was the rambunctious gifted athlete and fly fisherman, but also rebellious, charismatic and a risk taker.  The two brothers were very different, but were close and clearly admired and loved each other. Norman sought to protect Paul from himself by trying to get him to moderate his drinking, gambling and other risky behavior. Fly fishing is a theme throughout – as an activity t that brought them  together and in direct  contact with the wilderness and nature, but which I saw as mostly a metaphor for so much more.

My Impressions:  Short, subtle and powerful.  The backdrop of the whole story is the wilderness and rivers of Montana and life growing up in the small rural town of Missoula, Montana, where fly fishing is a widely respected sport and art form.  The characters are finely drawn in the book, and fly fishing in that part of Montana is an important activity that mostly men did together – the narrator’s father brought his boys up studying the art and craft of fly fishing.  Their father taught them fly fishing as an almost religious activity – he related it to the bible – Christ was a fisherman as were many of the disciples and Norman’s minister father treated it is treated as much more than a mere avocation.

But while much of the activity is centered around fly-fishing, the story is really about the two brothers their relationship to each other and how they evolved and developed in different directions.  Norman was studious, reserved, and well behaved, whereas his brother Paul was rebellious and extraverted, self confident and charismatic – and drawn to activities that would further enhance his risk taking – like drinking and gambling and the wild night life.  Paul was courageous and a tough fighter, whereas Norman, while tough, and courageous, avoided conflict and confrontation. 

Norman truly admires Paul  – Paul is a truly gifted fly-fisherman and his artistry with the fly rod, the depth of his understanding of trout and their relationship to the environment is extraordinary.  Norman is a good fly fisherman, but Paul is at a different level. 

As the story progresses we meet Norman’s wife Jesse and her family – and a subplot ensues when Jesse’s brother Neal who had left Missoula for the West Coast returns home and behaves in a condescending way toward those he regarded as the yokels in Missoula. Jesse’s mother wants Norman and Paul to take Neal fishing even though they clearly don’t like Neal, and Neal doesn’t particularly want to go fishing.  But the pressure of the mother-in-law makes it happen and the results are not pretty.

The sub plot around Neal is how his presence causes friction between Norman and his wife Jesse and how that brings out several things not only in their relationship, but in Norman’s relationship to her mother and family. Also in how Paul supports Neal in dealing with this dilemma.

There are several lasting impressions I have of from book.  

  • The simple joys of growing up in a less complex world, in small town, in the Rocky mountains a hundred years ago.
  • Relationship between brothers can be a tension between love and common family ties, and competition.
  • The magic of being alone and communing with nature by doing something active and in harmony with nature.
  • Family dynamics within Norman’s family and within Jesse’s family – tensions between stubborn people.
  • Aging and looking back on difficult personal times,  remembering and losing loved ones  as one gets older and processing what happened.
  • How Norman handled the difficult issue with his wife Jesse – “I don’t like your brother but I love you. Please don’t make me choose.”  How he expressed his love to her.
  • You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.  Sometimes the best you can so is let them learn for themselves, but let that person know that you are there if they need you.
  • The subtly spiritual side of this book – Norman’s father was a minister, the quiet spiritual kindness and humanity that was a current throughout the book – even the tough parts. 
  • Fly fishing is an art – which requires the fisherman not only to be an expert with the pole and line, but also in understanding trout and how they live and eat, streams, insects and more.
  • The river and water are themes throughout, as sources of wisdom, tranquility and transcendence.   Every time the characters are near the water, things are good and earthly tensions are mitigated or disappear.  I have asked myself if this is a primal sense that drives people to want to live near and be on the water.
  • The quiet and soft spoken tone of the book represented to me a quiet acceptance of life’s  big picture.   The mountains and the rivers have a spiritual quality that reminds us of the transitory nature of the drama of life lived day-to-day, month-to-month, year-to-year. 
  • I saw fly fishing as a metaphor for the role that art and skill can play in life as we live it in the moment.  But art and skill, while impressive and are to be admired, alone are not enough to live well. 

After reading the book, I watched the movie, directed by Robert Redford and staring Brad Pitt. I thought the movie was well done and followed the themes of the book, though the movie included some scenes not in the book, changed the story a bit, and deleted some other stories.  But the movie did credit to the book and I’d recommend it – to augment the wonderful writing of Norman Maclean

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By All Means Available – Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy, by Michael Vickers

Posted on October 18, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: Selected by the SEAL book club I’m a member of. When we met to discuss it, Mike Vickers joined us for the discussion – it was a lively and very informative supplement to having read his book.

Summary in 1 (long) Sentence: This is Mike Vickers’ autobiography – presented in five parts – 1.”Preparation” – his early years and his time as a Green Beret; 2.”War with the Red Army” – his time in the CIA and playing a key role in US support to the Mujahideen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan; 3. “War with Al-Qa’ida” his role in fighting Al-Qa’ida and the Taliban after 9/11, mostly in Afghanistan but also in Iraq and elsewhere; 4.”Fighting on Multiple Fronts” – as ASD SO/LIC and USD-I advising on and carrying out strategies to fight America’s enemies beyond Iraq and Afghanistan during and after the Global War on Terrorism; and finally, 5.”Reflections” his views on how the US should fight against current and future threats to national security, as well as an account of the honors he’s received upon leaving govt service.

Impressions: A fascinating look from an insider in America’s fight against terrorism and a number of small wars and conflicts over the 40+ years between the 70s and the mid 20 teens. Vickers served under six Presidents from Ford to Obama. As he got more senior, he shares how the strategic visions of the different Presidents changed and affected US strategy in dealing with conflicts overseas.

The book is part autobiography and part history – there were times when I fetl overwhelmed by facts that might be of value to a historian doing research but were more than I was interested in knowing. The lay reader like myself could have done without many of the facts and background material on weapon systems and other details that were apparently presented to fill in gaps in the history of the conflicts he writes about for those who might be doing research or using this book as a reference for either history or future operations. Stylistically, the writing was in straightforward narrative form and while Vickers did add personal notes, impressions and anecdotes to his story which added his personal views and occasionally even humor to his account, it was mostly his participation and role in “what happened.”

All that said, his life’s story and trajectory are impressive and fascinaing. He began as a very young man enlisting in the Army post Vietnam, was selected for and passed the Special Forces Basic training program and rose quickly through the NCO ranks to become an officer and eventually Captain. During his time in SF he participated in several high profile classified missions and attained a strong reputation as someone who could get things done. He then left the Army to pursue his dream of working for the CIA. His SF background made him a good choice to support the CIA program supporting the Mujahideen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s, and he quickly became a key figure in that effort.

US efforts in support of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, where Vickers became a major player, were dramatized in the movie Charlie Wilson’s War. The details and back-story of our support for the Mujahideen against the Soviets was indeed fascinating. He clearly admired CIA director William Casey and Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in making the tough choices that were crucial to America’s help to the Mujahideen who eventually drove the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Those decisions included providing weapon systems that had the potential of escalating the war, but proved critical to escalating the costs to the Soviets of continuing the war. Premier among those were Thatcher’s agreement to allow the Mujahideen to use the British Blowpipe and Reagan’s decision to allow them to use Stinger missiles agains the Soviets.

He noted that in the case of supporting the Mujahideen, we were playing to win – whereas today supporting the Ukrainians against the Russians, we are simply playing to play. Also surprising to me was the key support that China also gave to the Mujahideen, and the cautious role that Pakistan also played. At that time, China was at loggerheads with the Soviets, and the Pakistanis were very concerned about having a Soviet proxy on their border. The US was playing an interesting coordinating role between all these players who were invested in preventing the Soviets from owning Afghanistan. Lots of people died in that effort – mostly Afghanis and Russians.

Soon after the fall of the Soviet bloc, Vickers left the CIA to pursue graduate studies and got his MBA from Wharton and his PhD from Johns Hopkins, and eventually became a senior vice president for strategic studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. It was in this role that Vickers cultivated relationships with senior governmental leaders and, at times, provided President George W. Bush and his cabinet with advice on the Iraq War. It was a position that undoubtedly set the conditions for his return to government service.

Under the George W Bush administration, he became Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict (ASD SO/LIC) with an increased portfolio to include “Independent Capabilities” – which included Counter-proliferation. Vicker’s title was ASD SO/LIC IC – the first and last to have that expanded portfolio. When President Obama became President, he kept Vickers on in that positon and eventually approved him for the more senior position of Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD-I)- responsible for the oversight of the entire Defense Intelligence portfolio.

In these two positons, as ASD SO/LIC IC and USD- I Vickers was at the top of policy during much of the war in Afthanstan and Iraq. In Part III of his book, “War with Al Qa’ida,” he provides fascinating insights into how decisions were made at the Political Strategic level in various aspects of our war with Al Qa’ida and he includes a couple of chapters on the search for, and finally the the decision to exeute the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. This successful raid fulfilled our objective of not only retribution for bin Laden’s many attacks on America, but also showed the world that you can strike America and run, but you can’t hide from the US forever.

The final sections of the book, under Part IV “Fighting on Multiple Fronts” and Part V “Reflections” : were of greatest interest to me. In these chapters he offers his perspectives on where we stand now in the world, and offers advice to America’s leaders for the future, based on his perspectives after a career of fighting Americas wars overseas at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. He has sections on Counter-proliferation and what he calls “Counter narco-insurgency,” and how he views the return of Great Power competition and how he views what he calls “the New Cold War.”

Some of the key themes that he lays out that most caught my interest were:

  • The role of Iran has had, and continues to have in fomenting violence and terrorism across the Middle East and the world.
  • He often spoke of “escalation dominance” as key to winning a conflict. The principle of escalation dominance determines who can up the ante in a conflict until one side can’t accept the costs in keeping up and matching the level of violence, and therefore is forces to submit or back out. Vickers’ point: When we choose to fight, we should use “all means available” to achieve escalation dominance, and show that we play to win.
  • He pointed out that every time we’ve backed off, and cautiously used half steps – what he called “playing to play” rather than “playing to win” we’ve been taken advantage of by our adversaries, and have had to pay a higher price later. This is also the theme behind the title of his book – to fight and win “by all means available”
  • He points to the increasing use by us and our adversaries of “remote warfare” long range aircraft and missiles, unmanned systems, cyber, and space.
  • He talks about our adversaries using “anti-access” and “area denial” tools against the US to impede our efforts to project power and influence across the globe.
  • He points out that “covert and indirect war – activities below conventional war will likely by the dominant form of conflict between great powers, and …the line betrween peace and war will become increasingly blurred.” (p422)
    • A key lesson learned from Iraq and Afghanistan – invading a country is a lot easier than pacifying it afterward.
  • “The technology for decptive information influence operations is advancing more rapidly than the technologies needed to counter it. (p433)
  • He is very concerned about our vulnerability to catastrophic cyber attacks on our critical infrastructure for which he believes our defenses need to be significantly strengthened.
  • Many of the key strategic errors we’ve made in the last 20+ years have been because we’ve not succeeded in “keping the main thing the main thing” – we’ve gotten distracted and have dissipated our efforts and resources, have been unwilling to achieve escalation dominance, and thereby have ceded the initiative to our adversaries.

He concludes the book with Part V entitled “Reflections” shich includes what I view as some great insights based on his 40+ years fighting our enemies. These insights would be very useful for America’s leaders to consider as we go into the future against adveraries intent on crippling US power and influence. His chapter on Intelligence, Special Operations and Strategy lays out where he sees we may be falling short, and he insists we need to do better if we will prevail, and avoid our many mistakes of the past. And finally, his last chapter, “The Long Goodbye” talks about how he left the government, the honors and accolades he received as he left government service, and he thanks his many mentors and supporters for an amazing career.

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On Belay! The Life of Legendary Mountaineer Paul Petzold, by Raye C. Ringholz

Posted on October 18, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book:  I’ve been involved with NOLS for 20 years and have heard much about Paul Petzold – the charismatic founder of NOLS.  I had just read and enjoyed his book Teton Tales, so wanted to know more of “the rest of the story.”

Summary in 3 Sentences: This is a sympathetic biography of Paul Petzold written by someone who was a clear admirer of him, and she got a lot of cooperation from him. It covers his childhood, and years as one of America’s premier mountain guides – and in middle age, his service during WW2 and later devoting himself to teaching young people how to survive in, and take care of the wilderness. It concludes with his rather tempestuous relationship with the organization he founded – his departure and ultimately his return to work for and serve NOLS – the National Outdoor Leadership School. 

My Impressions:  I enjoyed this book – it was clearly written as a sympathetic biography by a friend and admirer of Paul Petzold, while he was still alive.  Though I felt that there were times the author pulled her punches and didn’t comment with a critical eye on some of Paul’s decisions and behavior, just the stories of his life and the challenges he faced and how he always seemed to land on his feet were not only interesting, but also entertaining and inspiring

The story of Paul Petzold’s life fits into a series of books I’ve been reading about life in the West and Midwest in the early part of the 20th century – when life was VERY much different from what it is today. It is said that at no time in history has civilization and life in civilized nations changed so much as it has in the last 100 years. 

Paul Petzold was born in 1908, and the book begins with his childhood in a farming family in Iowa.  His father died when Paul was still a young child, leaving his mother and brothers and sisters with few resources on their own in a very difficult world with no social safety net.  As things looked bleak, the family chose to move from Iowa to Idaho where they bought a farm which also didn’t do well.  They struggled financially and Paul had to work to help support the family, while also going to school. But he found time to climb the cliffs and mountains, and explore the outdoors, and thus built the foundation that eventually made him one of America’s premier outdoorsmen.  The farm eventually failed and was repossessed and Pual’s mother was forced to move to the East Coast to work as a housekeeper and care giver, and Paul, her youngest in his mid-teens was left essentially on his own.  This is when he at age 16, and a friend headed for Jackson Hole, and on a bold dare, became the 4th team to summit the Grand Teton.

A number of the stories in On Belay are related in Paul’s own words in Teton Tales – stories about his early mountain climbing successes,  how he became the first certified guide in the Tetons and earned his reputation as a great mountain guide in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  What On Belay covers that Teton Tales doesn’t, is more about his personal life and about his time in the Army as an enlisted  mountain trainer for the 10th Mountain Division, how he was eventually promoted to an officer position, and served in logistics in Europe and Asia, 

We also learn of his marriage to his first wife Bernice in 1945, their ill-fated travels to India, their many adventures together and eventually their  divorce.  Bernice (as Patricia) Petzold wrote her own book about her life with Paul entitled On Top of the World: My Adventures with My Mountain-Climbing Husband – published in 1953 while they were still married, but perhaps after they separated (they were separated for many years before being divorced, because of her Catholic aversion to divorce). Bernice was quite a hardy outdoor person herself and her book was a source for many of the quotes and perspectives on their activities and adventures together while they were married.  

It isn’t clear how long Paul and Bernice were married, but many years later in 1965 we learn of his marriage to Dorothy the same year he founded NOLS.  Dottie became a key player in the early years of NOLS, but eventually her involvement led to their  divorce, when she sided with the board in protesting Paul’s handling of money and his otherwise entrepreneurial ways.  Then a few years later he had another marriage, with Joan Broadbeck which led to divorce in in 1985.  The book indicates that Joan believed Paul had a lot more money than he did and she wasn’t happy with the lifestyle she  had with him.  Finally in 1987, when Paul was 79, he married a long term friend and outdoors woman Virginia and they travelled the world together and seemed happy.    Paul once said of himself that he was a lemon in the garden of love.  None of this is reflected in Teton Tales. 

The last part of the book is about his involvement with Outward Bound, and his decision to break with them.  He didn’t feel that Outward Bound at that time adequately trained their instructors to lead novices in the outdoors, and didn’t adequately emphasize an ethic of caring for the outdoors and environment, and he was unable to convince them that these were important.    To rectify these shortcomings, he and some colleagues founded what is now the National Outdoor Leadership School in 1965.

After the initial founding of NOLS, and as NOLS began to achieve success and a national reputation, Paul’s relationship with NOLS did not go smoothly.  This was largely because Paul had also founded an outdoor equipment company which provided equipment to NOLS and NOLS students, and apparently his co-mingling of these responsibilities, and probably finances and books,  was messy and perhaps illegal. This led to Paul being ousted from the organization he had founded.  This part of the gook is complicated and not always easy to follow (perhaps because of Paul’s involvement with writing the book!)   But it was clear that Paul was not very adept at finance, book keeping or managing money. However, in the midst of all this drama, in 1984 at the age of 76 Paul Petzold summited the Grand Teton on the 60th anniversary of his first time summiting

After the disappointment and disillusion of being forced to leave NOLS, Paul and some of his colleagues founded the Wilderness Education Association  which continues to this day to be a prominent force in Outdoor leadership and education. Eventually, due to his prominence as NOLS  founder and as an icon of outdoor leadership education, Paul was eventually invited back into the NOLS organization as President Emeritus, which is the position he held when On Belay  was published in 1997.   Petzold Petzold died in 1999 at age 91.

This is a very good book to read for those like me, who have been involved with NOLS over many years, who want to understand the background and vision of THE key person who made NOLS happen  Paul Petzold’s original vision is still today, a driving force in the National Outdoor Leadership School,  as it serves and inspires people of all ages around the world.  But in addition to being a story about an amazing life of a very charismatic and influential man, it is also an engaging perspective on the world of outdoor adventure and of adventurous  young men and women in the first half of the 20th century.

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The Life Impossible, by Matt Haig

Posted on October 10, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: Selected by my literature reading group – another winner by Patsy, who consistently convinces us to read wonderful books that we might not otherwise read.

Summary in 3 Sentences: A dowdy, sedentary, widowed retired math teacher gets a letter in the mail that a former colleague at the school where she taught had died and left her her house on the island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean.  Against her inclinations, she decides to travel to Ibiza to see what this is all about and to find out more about her colleague and how she died.  She reluctantly she gets involved in a series of mind- and reality- bending adventures that change her life, and challenge much of what she believed was true about herself, life, and reality.

My Impressions:  Really enjoyed this book.  The story is told in the first person by an older, rather conservative English middle class lady, telling a remarkable and life-altering story.  I listened to it and would recommend listening to the audible as an engaging way to “experience” this book.  The Audio book is read by an older English lady whose voice and tenor seem very authentic to the character she is representing. 

The story has a bit of a Carlos Castaneda flavor, a bit of Miss Marple from Agatha Christie, and even a bit of twilight zone.  The lead character is Grace Winters, a 72yr old widow, retired math teacher who was resigned to living out her life in a comfortable and stable groove, not particularly excited about, or looking forward to anything – in fact probably somewhat depressed.  Her only child – a son – was killed many years before when he was hit on a bicycle by a truck, and she blames herself for letting him ride in the rain.  And she continues to stew over that though it’s many decades ago.

The book is actually a retrospective.  It  begins with her receiving an email from a a young man – Morris, a former student – who feels that life has no more meaning, he’s a failure at everything and essentially is ready to give up.  The story in the book is a very long response to Morris’s cry-for-help email, Grace telling her young former student what had happened to her and how she got out of her funk.  In telling her story, she occasionally reminds us that it is a long response to Morris, but Morris is absent from the book except at the beginning and the end. 

Comfortable and complacent in retirement, she receives a letter that Christina – a colleague from many years ago, who she really had not known very well, had disappeared, and left Grace her house  in Ibiza, a well known tourist destination off the east coast of Spain.  Grace learns that no one knew what had happened to Christina.   Grace goes back and forth about whether to even go to Ibiza, but decides – why not, and finally does.   When she arrives in Ibiza and decides to look into what happened to Christina, that’s were things get interesting – then more interesting, and then even more interesting.

She meets the man who’d been Christina’s mentor, Alberto Ribas – a Don Juan- like (the Yaqui Indian in Castaneda’s books)  character who is a native of Ibiza. Alberto Ribas is as eccentric as Grace Winters is conventional.  Through his machinations, Grace has contact with some mysterious “presence” and through that contact becomes endowed with paranormal powers that she didn’t ask for or want.  She actually resents the complicatons these powers bring to her, but she is also intrigued.  Then here is where Grace becomes a bit of Miss Marple, using these new abilities and insights to try to put the pieces of the puzzle together about Christina’s disappearance, but she realizes something else is going on.

The book then becomes a combination of Grace’s, Alberto Ribas ‘s and a few others efforts, to solve a mystery, while Grace comes to terms with her new powers, which give her new insights as well as powers.   They  also give her some of the pleasures  and insights that many “normal people” seek through psychedelics, or other mind altering substances, or by going to India to meditate for months or years.  None of what she has acquired is unknown to us in some circles – clairvoyance, mental telepathy and a sixth sense.  And an appreciation for the simple joys and beauty of life. 

In Grace’s telling of her story, I enjoyed her regular return to her roots as a mathematician and pointing to how her experiences fit with the rules of math and her insights from a lifetime of working in that realm.

At the end of the book we return to Morris whose email inspired Grace to tell him (us) her story.  And we and he are left with the wisdom she has learned through her extraordinary experiences.  Great fun, if you’ll let yourself suspend disbelief and go with it.

And it is indeed worth asking ourselves –  is it SO unlikely that some people have been gifted extraordinary insights and powers by unsown beings from another galaxy or dimension?  It seems the lid has come off  of publicly sharing experiences that people and organizations have had with UFOs – who knows what to believe anymore….

One thing that occurred to me later – that Grace’s story fits the trajectory of the Hero’s journey that Joseph Campbell described as a universal.  That journey goes more or less as follows;  A person chooses to step out of his/her comfort zone, goes through a struggle in which their old identity and values are  challenged, then the person is transformed into someone stronger, wiser, more powerful through their struggle, and then finally uses that new strength, power, and wisdom to transform and help others.  The interesting thing about this book is that our hero is a dowdy middle aged retired woman math teacher!  

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Washington – a life, by Ron Chernow

Posted on September 28, 2024 by schoultz

Why This Book: I had read Chernow’s biographies Grant and Alexander Hamilton, and found them superbly written, fascinating and insightful. For Washington, Chernow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Biography.  So I wanted to read (listen to) it. 

Summary in 4 Sentences: The book covers Washington’s life from what little is known of his childhood and anecstors to his death, concluding with Martha Washington’s death.  His younger years were spent trying to rise in society from his rather humble beginnings and then moves on to his service in the French and Indian War and the following years as he became prominent in Virginia colonial politics.  A large section of the book covers the American Revolutionary War, followed by Washington’s role in the constitutional convention and the forming of the government.  It concludes with his 8 years as President followed by his nearly four years as the first Ex-President before he died.  The book makes clear that indeed Washington played a crucial and critical role in the winning of the Revolutionary War and the establishment of our government and Democracy in a way that probably no one else could have. 

My Impressions: I can’t say enough about how good this book is, how well written it is, and how impressed I was with it. Chernow says in his introduction  that his goal was for the reader to see George Washington as a human being, not as the mythological Father of our Country that he had become in the American consciousness.  In this I felt he did a superb job – and I finished the book admiring Washington more than ever –  now that I have a better understanding of him as a man, with not only strengths but also  character flaws.

As a leader, he excelled at patiently watching for the middle ground to keep antagonistic sides from destroying the desired end state that he sought.  He was able to compromise, and accept half a loaf, rather than take the brittle, hard stand and lose it all.  Accepting a compromise position on very controversial issues was exactly what he had to do to achieve his goal of uniting the colonies to defeat the British and create a new democracy. These were extremely contentious times , with many very strong personalities fighting for their strongly held beliefs. I finished the book realizing that without him as a unifying figure, it would be hard to imagine the success our country had in separating from England and forming a new Republic. .

Below are a number of the themes that I saw throughout Chernow’s biogaphy of the life of Washington

Personal and Political ambition.  From a young age, Washington felt a sense of being a second class cititzen in a culture that gave power, influence, and privilege to those born of the landed aristocracy and who exhibited the behavior, manners, and cultural traits of the upper classes in England.   His family was not wealthy or landed, and his parents had not supported their son George’s development and education in ways that would have helped him move into the elite class of the American colonies,  This sense of un-entitlement and his ambition to somehow become part of this privileged class of society was a driving factor in his youth.  He sought benefactors in the upper classes and in particular became a favorite of Lord Fairfax.  He maneuvered to receive a commission in the colonial army which led to his outstanding performance on behalf of the British in the French and Indian War, which enhanced his reputation to give him a position in Virginia colonial politics.   This pattern of subtly seeking and achieving respect, credibility, and thereby influence as he grew older  as well as his unique reputation for military bravery are what eventually led to his selection to lead the Revolutionary Army and eventually to chair the constitutional convention and become President. 

Washington on Slavery – this was a constant sub-theme of Chernow’s book – Washington’s ambivalence about slavery – and one area where he clearly felt some guilt about letting personal advantage supersede principle.  It is clear he had moral qualms about slavery, and yet he was personally ambitious and sought to  achievw and maintain the status and life style of the landed gentry in America.  In Virginia that meant having slaves necessary to attain  wealth, and maintain a plantation, which depended on slave labor.  To assuage his guilt at compromising on this moral issue, he sought to treat his slaves fairly and humanely, refused to break up slave families, and rewarded those who were especially competent and loyal to him with privileges and special treatment. He also unsuccessfully sought to build into governmental law the phasing out of slavery in the South where it was deeply ingrained as an institution.  But he backed down on this last when he realized that it was such an emotional issue in the south that it would tear the fragile union of the 13 states asunder.

Also, he was a strict task master with his own slaves, forcing them to work 6 days a week, all year long, in all kinds of inclement weather.  He demanded of them the same sense of loyalty to him and the demands of his plantations, that he demanded of himself toward his duties to his country and principles.  He had little sympathy for those who didn’t share his sense of discipline and work ethic. The tension between his moral discomfort with slavery,  and his unwillingness to take a hard stand against slavery and make the sacrifices that would mean to his lifestyle and political goals was a theme that Chernow returned to regularly in his biography.  When Washington died, he freed the slaves that he owned, but didn’t or couldn’t free the slaves that were part of Martha Washington’s inheritance to her children.

On Religion and spirituality Washington considered his spiritual and religious views a very private matter.  He went to church as his role or position demanded of him, and he was in word and deed a Christian. But many of his letters showed him in sympathy with Ben Franklin’s more flexible Deist perspective and he was not one to refer often to scripture as a source of authority or wisdom.  He clearly avoided sharing any religious perspective that would draw controversy or resistance from traditional Christian Orthodoxy and he was tolerant of other religions, specifically Judaism.

Iron-clad self discipline.  One of the hallmarks of Washington’s life was his iron-clad self discipline to do his duty, no matter the cost, to fulfill his obligations, and those social contracts which were expected of the upper class, and leaders of society.  It was his sense of duty that led him to accept the nomination and hardships associated with the Presidency, after his reputation and fortune were already assured after the revolutionary war, and after he’d alreayd been away from his beloved Mt Vernon for most of 7 years.  And it was his sense of duty to accede to running for a second term when he was tired and had no desire to, but  was called upon by so many to solidify the momentum of the new country he’d helped found.  His second term was anything but satisfactory for him. 

George and Martha George married Martha in part because of the wealth she had inherited from her first husband, and because his marriage to her would solidify his place in the “aristocracy” of the colonies at that time. They clearly liked and were drawn to each other and were a compatible couple, but that over time grew to become a mutual devotion and love that withstood many challenges, especially the strains of war and long separations.  George had had an infatuation with Lady Fairfax, unclear (unlikely) if it was ever consummated,  but after his marriage to Martha all indicators were that he remained loyal to her and their relationship, and had their marriage and partnership were admired by all who knew them.  Martha herself made many sacrifices being the wife of General and then President Washington, and he clearly appreciated that and admired her for it. Unfortunately, they decided together that after his death, they would burn all their letters to each other. 

Self Made Man-like Franklin – Like Ben Franklin Washington was a self-made man – rising through hard work, ambition and a keen sense of where his advantages lay. Hard work, luck, influential sponsors, and ambition propel him rise from respectable but poor middle class to a place of prominence in the colonies and eventually in the new United States. 

Tension between aristocratic tastes and Republican values and sensibilities.  Chernow pointed throughout the book at a tension in Washington’s values between his expensive and aristocratic tastes, and his respect and admiration for the common man – his belief in democracy and the values of the revolution to give equal rights to all men.

Profligate spender –  Washington eventually became quite wealthy in land but was always short of cash, largely because of his profligate spending in order to live and represent the life style of the upper classes.  There was always the effort to appear to have greater wealth than he had, which led to him being cash poor, and often in debt. This was a constant issue in his life.

There was so much content in this book, and it is so well done, it is difficult to give it a fair review.  For those interested not only in Washington, but in the birth of our nation and understanding the very rough go our country had in getting started, this is a must read. I’ve since visited Mt Vernon, which further augmented my appreciation for and understanding of Washington and the life and times in which he lived. .  

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Hacking Darwin Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity, by Jamie Metzl

Posted on September 28, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: I read Jamie Metzl’s Superconvergence and was most amazed by the portions in which he spoke of genetic engineering. Also I really like his approach and ability to explain complex biology to a layman.

Summary in 3 Sentences:  Published in 2018, Hacking Darwin is a broad description of what Metzl calls the “genetic revolution” and covers the issues associated with genetic engineering from soup to nuts.  He describes experimentation that was (at that time) being done, where progress was being made as well as on-going challenges, and explains some of the very promising opportunities, as well as dangers and trends he foresaw in gene editing in the future.  And given the threats to humanity that he identifies should gene editing not be controlled, he finishes with an examination of options for a species-wide dialogue among international agencies and nations for how best to manage this incredibly potent ability to prevent it from becoming an uncontrolled human catastrophe. 

My Impressions:  Absolutely fascinating book – almost reads like science fiction – and what is hard to imagine, is how much progress – toward positive and negative outcomes – has been made since this  was published 6 years ago. 

He gives us background on reproductive science and technology, how In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) was developed and has become a standard and accepted practice for parents to have children. He then points out how IVF opens the door to genetic testing of a number of fertilized embryos and parents deciding which to bring to term, which to destroy.  He points to how this has the great advantage of significantly reducing the occurrence of diseases with a genetic causes, and foresees how he believes this will become standard practice in preventing diseases with genetic origins, and that childbirth through traditional means will be seen as playing Russian Roulette with children’s lives and futures. 

But he notes that genetic testing of IVF embryos also gives parents the chance to choose the gender of their children, and as genes associated with various characteristics and qualities are becoming identified, parents will be able to choose other genetic advantages they’d like  their children to have.  This opens the door for a number of difficult moral questions.

He not only tells how this is a possibility, but early on, he puts us in the hypothetical seat of a parent who is asked to make decisions about the various fertilized embryos that are available to be brought to term.  And he makes it clear that these are not easy decisions, noting that all parents want to give their children every advantage possible to compete well and succeed in life. And he postulates that as soon as the wealthy, the amoral, the privileged are doing enhancing their own children’s chances for success,  he believes  it is likely that others will do the same, so that their children are not genetically disadvantaged. 

He points to athletics and how those with clear genetic advantages are being selected for enhanced training in some countries.  Genes associated with exceptional athletic performance are being identified and children with those genetic markers are identified early and put into special programs to enhance those gifts. Think East Germany in the 80s.  Think Russia and China, and Uzbekistan today.  Where will that eventually lead us?  He somewhat apocalyptically foresees a potential genetic arms race between countries and races that will undermine what it currently means to be human.  

But genetic screening is very different from gene editing, and he gives CRISPR Cas 9 the famous and first effecdtive gene editing tool developed by American bio-chemist Jennifer Doudna considerable attention.  Different and more accurate tools were being developed as he wrote the book, and with the pace of research and change, undoubtedly today there has been even more transformative progress.  

One of the most controversial of the gene editing capabilities is making heritable changes in a living a person’s genes, so that future generations springing from that person’s DNA will have the altered gene.   If this capability becomes widespread, it could change humanity in ways that are hard to predict.  He is adamant that this procedure and capability needs to be strictly controlled by some authority – but the challenge is who?  And how?

He concludes the book by exploring the many challenges that are presented by the challenge of oversight over the genetic revolution. There is no governing body able to enforce guidelines or to punish those who cross red lines.  He points to  many moral dilemmas that will easily tempt those who have the ability to try to gain some personal,  national, or even racial advantage by editing genes that would provide competitive advantage.  He is not optimistic that this will be able to be controlled, but insists that we must try.  And hope that the worst abuses can be mitigated. 

Metzl’s book is a wake-up call – that genetic engineering and editing are already happening and he foresees that the genetic revolution will be one of the most important challenges to humanity in the future.  It is also a clarion call for leadership to keep the impact of this amazing capability entirely, or mostly positive, and to warn against the dangers of anarchy in the world of gene editing and genetic engineering.  

I listened to the book and found the reader’s slight lisp to be somewhat distracting.  I got used to it and it didn’t really affect my appreciation for the content, but it was a distraction. 

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Teton Tales – and other Petzold Anecdotes, by Paul Petzold

Posted on September 24, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: I’ve been involved with NOLS for close to 20 years. Paul Petzold is the legendary character and outdoorsman who founded NOLS in the mid 60s, and I don’t know much about him. This copy of the book is signed by Paul himself and was gifted to me by long-time NOLS instructors John Wisnant and Diane Shoutis. So I was intrigued and inspired to read it.

Summary in 3 Sentences: A series of short stories and anecdotes from Paul Petzold’s youth and young adulthood in early 20th century.America as the premier mountaineer in the Tetons, and one of the premier mountain guides in America. He describes his youthful ambition to become a climber and his path toward becoming a well-known fixture in Jackson, Wyoming and in American climbing circles. It is also a look at life in general and climbing in particular in Northwest Wyoming a century ago.

My Impressions: Published in 1995 while Paul was still alive and able to recall his favorite stories and memories from his youth. The book was published with the help of a lot of people who he acknowledges up front. In it, we read stories from his life as a youth and as a more mature young man learning the ropes of being a mountain guide in in the 1920s, 30s, and a couple of stories from even later. It is also a look at American culture in the West during a period of significant change in the American West.

I was particularly amused by how he described the culture and people of what was then called Jackson’s Hole, now called Jackson, Wyoming. It was the Wild West meets 20th century America. Prohibition had no take in Jackson’s Hole – the federal agents wouldn’t go there as it was too hard to get to, and frankly, they were afraid of the reception they’d get. Gambling and drinking were not only tolerated, but were integral to the social structure of Jackson at the time. And as a boisterous young man, Paul Petzold took part in that world as well – but wisely kept his distance from the worst elements of the drinking/gambling crowd. But he was also reverred as the young man who not only respected, but was not afraid of the mountains that surrounded the town, and he was repeatedly called upon by local authorities when a particularly challenging problem came up in the high Tetons. But normally, he was taking up well-heeled, and well-paying clients with a sense of adventure who wanted an expert mountaineer to take them to the top of the Grand Teton. Paul’s hail-fellow-well-met personality along with his recognized expertise and the care and respect he showed his clients brought a lot of business his way.

Paul also dabbled in farmling and a number of other emergent opportunities that arose to help him make a living – and this was apparently the norm for entrepreneurial young men in the hard-scrabble world of the West. Somewhere in there it seems he got married, but though he dedicates the book to his wife, she and any family life are barely mentioned in this book. Paul was a guy’s guy, and a man’s man in the early 20th century, and he is tellling stories to other guys and men. That said, he helped open mountaineering up to women and helped some of the first women to reach the top of the Grand Teton.

Though many of his stories take place in Jackson, and the Tetons, there are many that are centered just outside of Jackson and in nearby towns. For many of the stories he tells in this book he lived in a well populated campsite at Jenny Lake north of Jackson. He also describes in one story his “riding the rails” with very little money, across America to get to New York, and bummed a trip to England on a freighter through a connection with Kermit Roosevelt (Teddy’s son). He was invited by one of his clients, the bishop of Windsor Castle and tells of his interactions with the English aristocracy at Windsor, and then of his trip across Europe – on a bicycle(!) – to climb the Matterhorn and other Alpine challenges. He was interested in learning how Swiss mountaineers guided their clients, and he wasn’t impressed. He noted that Swiss guides pampered their clients, did everything for them, and wouldn’t teach them climbing, in order to reinforce that clients needed the unique expertise of the climbers to ascend Alpine peaks. Paul on the other hand founded his own climbing school, and helped his clients to feel as self-sufficient as their skills would safely allow.

I have compared this book to John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row in that both are a series of connected short stories of young men and their hijinks in a small town, told with a wry smile, a good heart, and an appreciation for irreverent fun.

Teton Tales is a fun and light read – and I enjoyed reading a story (or two) at night befroe going to sleep. The book is available used on Amazon. I’d recommend reading the Epilogue first – it should be the preface – it helps explain the early parts of the book, where Iowa is sometimes mistaken for Idaho.

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Echoes of the Past – Tales of Old Yavapai in Arizona – Vol 1, by the Yavapai Cowbelles of Arizona

Posted on September 23, 2024 by schoultz
Version 1.0.0

Why this book: My wife and I inherited a second home in Prescott in Yavapai County, Az and we visit there pretty regularly. I recently attended a Cowboy Poetry, Music, and Story Telling “convention” in Prescott and was excited to learn how Prescott is a center for the preservation of the history and culture of cowboys in the region. At that event, I bought all three volumes of stories of the history of Prescott. .

Summary in 3 sentences: This book is Vol 1 in a series of three books of short stories and articles by and about people, places, events and the culture of the people who settled Prescott Az, the county seat of Yavapai County. Vol 1 is mostly about 70-120 years ago and many of these are simple, but authentic renditions from the people who actually lived in and around Prescott during that period, their stories “echoes” of life as it once was. The people who wrote these stories were descendants of and/or knew and interviewed those still alive who’d arrived in Prescott in the late 1800s when it was an isolated outpost on the frontier.

My Impressions: I loved reading these stories – so unpretentious, and so evocative of life on the frontier in the West, without all the drama, hyperbole, and romance that one sees on TV and the movie Westerns. First published in 1955, it includes short stories and articles written by and about the people who settled Yavapai county 100-150 years ago, how they lived, met their challenges, struggled, supported and took care of each other, and together, survivied. Authentic and real, the character of the people who built and settled Prescott and Yavapai county, and by extension, much of the Western frontier, shines through loud and clear.

A few of the many noteworthy stories are about: cowboys (what their life was like and what they really did), the origins of agricutlure in the region, dealing with Apaches when settling the southern part of Yavapai County, a biography of a woman (entitled “Our Mama”) who had come from ranching in Texas to ranching in Prescott, the struggles she and her husband experienced ranching while raising a large family, This piece was written while 78, this remarkable woman was still alive at 78 yrs old. There’s a long-ish story about how Prescott originated the rodeo in the West with the first rodeo on the 4th of July 1888 and which continues to this day on the 4th of July. And much more…fun book to read and full of insights about life on the frontier a century and more ago.

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Superconvergence, by Jamie Metzl

Posted on August 20, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: A topic that facinates me. I was able to talk my science fiction book club into selecting it for our Aug 2024 read. I listened to rather than read the book.  

Summary in 4 Sentences: The author in this book explores the convergence of three relatively recent developments in technology that together will significantly change our world – for the good and potentially for  worse.  He looks at genetic engineering and bio tech and (in addition to CRISPR on humans) he looks at how it has already and will increasingly change the food we eat, how it is produced and how it can increase our capacity to feed the world’s growing population.  He examines how AI is accelerating medical research into understanding proteins and cell behaviour and creating digital twins of humans,  to better understand how medicines will affect each individual, and  explore how our current generalized sick-care can evolve to focus on prevention and medical procedures tailored to each individual’s biology, referred to as “precision health care.”  And he balances all these exciting technological advances, bypointing out the many significant potential dangers and even “existential  hreats” and challenges humanity will have in preventing those very bad outcomes from occurring.  

My Impressions:  Wow!  Pretty much a mind blower!   I thought I was relatively savvy in some of the more modern tech advances associated with AI and virtual reality and augmented reality, but this deep dive into the role that high tech is playing in biology opened my eyes to so much more – of exciting opportunities, and scary (even likely) potential bad outcomes. 

He says that with these new technologies, humans now have the ability to hack the source code of life, to redirect evolution, and engineer new forms of intelligence.  We will be able to find new cures for currently incurable diseases – even prevent them – with new bio-tech and genetic treatments.  We can create new forms of agricultural products that are resistant to disease and insects (indeed we already have) that can feed many more people using less land and water, create animal protein from stem cells from living creatures rather than raising and slaughtering billions of them annually.  He says the opportunities and possibilities are breathtaking, and so are the risks. 

Each of the technologies he describes includes warnings about what could happen if safeguards are not in place and where bad actors, or well-intentioned but unguided good actors could create challenges, sometimes irreversible to our and other species.  He points out that cutting edge research is being done all over the world, often unregulated and/or with inadequate safeguards in place.  He is convinced that the COVID Pandemic was a result of such research done without adequate safety protocols and warns of more and worse possibilities in the future. 

He points to the promise and threats of bio-tech, genetic manipulation and creating heritable changes in human genes (called gene drive technology) and the urgency that international protocols be agreed upon and somehow enforced  to manage how this research is conducted.  But given the nature of international competition and tensions, he is not optimistic in the short term for any enforceable regulation that will mitigate the threats he foresees.  

The book also talks about how our current agricultural and meat processing has expanded to become a threat to our planet. He offers some eye-opening statistics on different ways that food production is contributing to green house gases and deforestation.  He notes that using bio-tech and gene manipulation could significantly decrease the amount of arable land necessary to grow the food we need, or for grazing and sustaining livestock, and thereby improve our environment and planet.  The numerous downsides to pursuing current processes to feed the worlds growing population is a constant theme in the book.

Two of the other mind-boggling and fascinating revelations in this book are

  1. Bio tech is rapidly developoing potential solutions to the increasing challenges of data storage,  by storing retrievable data in DNA, which as he points out, is biology’s very effective mechanism for storing information. 
  2. Scientists in biochemistry, microbiology, materials science and structural engineering are collaborating to genetically engineer bacteria to create useful minerals and polymers, and form them into living building blocks, stronger and more resilient and environmentally friendly than current building materials. 

He constantly reminds us that technological advancements and scientific knowledge are increasing at an exponential rate and that rate of change continues to accelerate, and will disrupt much of what we now take for granted – hopefully for the better, but potentially for the worse.  He emphasizes that technology itself does not have values – and whether these changes are for the better or worse will depend on the values we humans impose upon the research and experimentation in these fields – values of the technologists themselves as well as of governing bodies. But he points out that each individual will have a voice, and positive values must be embraced by a broad spectrum of humanity outside the tech communities. And he acknowledges that this is a real challenge. 

He concludes the book with a series of recommendations for international protocols for managing the rapid acceleration of AI, bio-tech and gene engineering research, to maximize benefits and at least manage what he sees as the significant risks posed by unbridled and unregulated research and experimentation. 

Metzl himself does a three and a half minute overview of his book on youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_7g3ORGQB8

If this topic interests you, but you may not have time to read this book, Metzl’s  60 minute keynote presentation with Q&A at a Bio Conference in 2024 in San Diego is a good overview of the highlights of his book. It can be heard at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-SSh796VFA

As I post this, I have downloaded to listen to Metl’s book Hacking Darwin which takes a deep dive into the issues of gene editing as a tool for human advancement, longevity, as well as the potential unintended consequences that put us at risk. This is one of many topics in Superconvegence, but Hacking Darwin goes into it in depth. The beginning has so far been intirguing and a great follow up to Superconvergence

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North Woods, by Daniel Mason

Posted on August 17, 2024 by schoultz

Why this book: I saw a review of it on-line and it looked interesting.  I talked my literature book club into selecting it for our September 2024 session. 

Summary in 3 Sentences: It is a series of short stories taking place chronologically in and around a house in the Northwoods of Western Massachusetts.  The stories seem loosely connected, beginning with the original construction of the house by a couple escaping from the sever puritan society in Springfield Mass in the 1600s, and continuing through the ensuing four centuries to present day – each story somehow related to the house and/or the property it is on and the characters who lived there.  The final chapters/stories serve to tie the previous stories together. 

My Impressions: Very interesting book – different and I liked it. Not everyone will.  It reads like a series of short stories – and the connection between the stories isn’t always clear – but it’s there. And the message is VERY big picture.  And profound.  But to get that insight, takes patience.  As I read the book, each individual story was interesting,  but I wondered, WTF is this book about?  The good news is that I found the individual stories each compelling in their own way, though I – like I suspect most readers – wondered where they were going, and what they had to do with each other.  In the end, it all came together in what I thought was a very profound way.  

The cover endorsement calls this book “a monumental achievement of polyphony.”  I looked up “polyphony” and it is indeed an appropriate description. Polyphony: “in music simultaneously combining a number of parts, each forming an individual melody and harmonizing with each other.” The individual melodies would be each of the chapters/stories in the book – each a short story unto itself – the harmony only starts becoming evident toward the end of the book.  In the final two chapters – the light came on for me. Each of the stories connects in some way to the old house deep in the woods of western Massachusetts and the generations of people who either lived there, or were somehow associated with it, and how the house played a key, but sometimes subtle role in their lives. 

Additionally, I was surprised several times to turn the page and find a poem – written by a character in the story that I’d just read, reflecting a somewhat different perspective on their story.  A bit disconcerting, but deciding to roll with it, I found the poems interesting, valuable and worth reading. 

The individual stories start in the 1600s and progress chronologically into the 21s century…..and beyond. Stories of:

  • a young couple eloping from Springfield Mass in the mid 1600s. They build the initial hut;
  • a woman abducted by Natives who then risks all to protect them;
  • a man passionate about apples, builds out the house, creates an apple orchard, fights in the Revolutionary War for the English;
  • two sisters (daughters of the apple man) who live in the house together with a co-pendent and toxic relationship;
  • the life of a weevil that decimated the woods;
  • two married men who have a forbidden but intense love for each other;
  • a charlatan seance medium who claims to connect with the dead;
  • a man on a contract to pursue, find, and return an escaped slave;
  • an amateur history buff looking for clues to validate a theory about the area;
  • A mother with a schizophrenic son who is desperately trying to help him;
  • the psychiatrist of that son who is struggling to understand the boy… and the boy’s mother;
  • the daughter of the mother, and sister of the schizophrenic son,  who has to go through the effects of her dead mother, and dispose of her property;
  • a small town police officer who tries to unravel a very strange murder near the house;
  • A woman botanist doing research on spring ephemerals in the area around the house

All these varied stories are tied together, loosely or more intimately to each other and to the house that the original elopers built after fleeing early Puritan-era Springfield, Mass. At different times over the years,  the house is expanded, abandoned, renewed – it seems to have its own character.  And all the stories are tied in one way or another to the “northwoods” that surround the house, and which passively look on as the various dramas unfold over four centuries.

In the process of learning about the lives of the people in these short stories, we learn about the forests of New England, their beauty and vulnerability – to man, the Dutch Elm Disease and the Chestnut blight. A person who loves nature will find much to appreciate in this book – the house is near a small town, but out on the edge of the primeval forests.  The cover of the book has a cougar on it – referred to as a “catamount” – an old word for a cougar. The catamount plays a subtle role in several of the stories – and seems to represent a threat, a subtle darkness or impending ruination that  runs through many of the stories.  But also the catamount is now extinct in New England – as a result of a variety of forces that make up the stories in this book. 

There is also some “magical realism” in this book – some things that happen that surprised me and let me know that the normal rules of life and physics may not apply in the reality this book describes.

Themes that I detected: 

  • There is lots of drama in the small picture – the lives of the people in the stories in the book.  Not so much drama in the big picture, represented by the Northwoods themselves.
  • Nature and the woods have a different draw to different people for very different reasons.  The characters in the stories had very different relationships to the woods that surrounded the house. 
  • Contrast between the ephemeral (the drama in each of the stories) and the long view – the passage of time, change, and evolution over centuries
  • Life and death – are ever-present, but are they truly what they seem?

Northwoods was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for a reason.  Here are two very positive reviews that I read after I’d read the book, and after I’d written most of this review. If you’re interested, these reviewers are much more articulate than I in their praise of the book.  Like I said, it is not a book for someone looking for a classic page-turner, beginning-to-end story.  But definitely interesting, thought provoking, and different.  

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/19/1200166912/book-review-daniel-mason-north-woods

https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/09/13/daniel-mason-north-woods-book-review/

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