Sep 14 2011

Coffee & Markets: Mark Steyn on After America

This weeks Coffee & Markets podcast finds Pejman Yousefzadeh and myself joined by Mark Steyn, author of After America.  We discuss whether a dystopian future is really upon us (and why in America this future might be particularly ugly), what needs to be done to prevent this future and more.

Listen here.

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By Kevin Holtsberry • Interviews • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Sep 13 2011

Does a Bear Sh*t In The Woods by Caroline Taggart

In case you were wondering, no, Does a Bear Sh*t in the Woods? is not a scientific treatise on bear scatology.  Instead, it is a playful look at rhetorical questions from Caroline Taggart:

For those of us who have long wondered where bears go to take care of their business, if the Pope is actually Catholic, or whether anyone is really made of money, Caroline Taggart provides the answers to these and a host of previously unanswerable questions.

From the most profound questions of philosophy to queries of geography and science, this deadpan book is full of hilarious information you never knew you needed including:

What’s love got to do with it?
How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?
Where does the time go?
Can a leopard change his spots?

Unlike some her previous books this one is not really a reference or education book more a combination droll humor an informational miscellany. Basically, Taggart muses on famous rhetorical questions discussing factoids or statistics she finds pertinent and adding in her own take on life, history and language.

If you like quirky books that can be read in small snippets, or find humorous miscellany entertaining,  this is one to add to your collection.

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By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , ,

Sep 12 2011

Home and Away by David and Nancy French

David French picked up the newspaper in the comfort of his penthouse in Philadelphia, and read about a soldier – father of two – who was wounded in Iraq. Immediately, he was stricken with a question: Why him and not me?

This is the hook at the heart of Home and Away: A Story of Family in a Time of War by David and Nancy French. David (“a 37-year-old father of two, a Harvard Law graduate and president of a free speech organization”) didn’t just think about it or write about it he did something about it.  He went to Iraq and served his country on the front lines or as close as he could get.

The book tells the story of the impact of this decision, and all its ramifications, on him and his family. Nancy tells the home front side and David the enlisted side. Together they allow the reader to get a glimpse into life if someone in your family was called up and sent to war for a year.

David explains his motivation, and the thought process leading up to his enlistment and getting called up, while Nancy offers her response and experience while he was gone.

We see what it is like to live and work in a war zone; the bonds built and the tragedies that unfold – events that permanently change a person.  We also see the difficulties and emotional strains of being a single parent while your spouse is overseas in a war zone. How you interact with friends and family; the social interaction in the larger community that can become difficult; the ways you change and your relationships change.

And for this alone I think it is a valuable book.  Both David and Nancy offer honest and emotional insight into how they experienced this challenge and how it changed their lives. And this offers readers the ability to put themselves into that experience.

Two potential drawbacks: politics and style.  Politically and culturally the Frenches are conservative Republicans and Southern evangelicals. If you do not share this perspective there are points that might get under your skin.  David is clearly engaged in push-back against critics of the war in Iraq and in particular seeks to defend the soldiers and their conduct.

Understandable? Sure, and honestly and well articulated. But it might rub some the wrong way. And politics plays a large role in Nancy’s life as well – her relationship with the Mitt Romney presidential campaign (v. 2008) in particular.

And this ties into the style issue.  David and Nancy are in important senses both professional writers and the book is well written, often thought provoking and frequently entertaining. But they have two very different styles and the alternating chapters don’t always blend together well.

David has a straightforward logical style. There are often powerful emotions involved but he mostly just tells it like it is – here is how I see it, felt it, understand it, etc.  Nancy has a more sarcastic, self-effacing Southern humor style. Going back and forth between these two styles can be jarring and it undercuts the narrative energy at times.

Nancy’s sections in particular feel like a series of vignettes rather than a coherent story or timeline. Her trip to Utah and interaction with the Romney’s was rather bizarre and out of place (I understand it was an important aspect of her life but is felt odd to me). At the end I felt like I knew David better than Nancy and understood what his life was like better than hers.

But as I said, overall it is an interesting story that offers a unique and valuable perspective for our times.  Your tastes, perspective and attitudes (and perhaps gender) will obviously have an impact on your enjoyment of various aspects but it is an honest and entertaining look at something many of of us probably don’t think all that much about: what it means to send a spouse to a war zone for a year.

And if it can get us to think about the Americans who are going through this every day a little more, then it is worth it.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , , , ,

Sep 10 2011

Haunted Waters by Mary Pope Osborne

Ondine, by John William Waterhouse (1872)

Image via Wikipedia

As a confirmed book addict I always make sure to check the “Friends of the Library” sale section of any library I visit. Often you can get great deals on new and classic books. A few days ago I picked up Haunted Waters by Mary Pope Osborne at a local library in this fashion.

I was intrigued because it was a reworking of a myth, something I am fascinated by, and it was a short well packaged story – something I else enjoy.

After reading it last night I can say it was well worth the dollar I paid for it! It is a reworking of the myth of Undine (a water spirit) and in particular the version as told by Baron de la Motte-Fouqu in 1814.

Lord Huldebrand of Ringstetten is lost in an ancient forest when he is driven by a violent storm and otherworldly spirits toward the sea. There he finds a poor elderly fisherman and his wife. They invite him in to escape the storm and share their humble hut and meager food.  He also meets their beautiful and ethereal daughter Undine.

The storm cuts off the coastal penisula from the mainland forcing Huldebrand to stay with the family. He slowly becomes enchanted with Undine and can’t be without her.  But a demon seems to haunt her, or at least the family, and he is unsure of who or what this enchanting creature is or represents.

In Osborne’s telling Undine rather unsubtly proposes marriage and Lord Huldebrand, in his infatuations and obsession, agrees. A priest is conveniently washed up on shore and is there to conduct the ceremony. Soon the couple head back to civilization to start their lives.

As you might imagine, not everything goes as planned and this story doesn’t exactly end with “happily ever after.” Huldebrand swore love and faithfulness to Undine forever even as she hinted that tragedy might await.

Back in his own world Huldebrand can’t shake the haunted nature of his love nor the sense that he has made a tragic mistake. And despite his love and true devotion, he only finds out the true nature of his bride, and the consequences of his choices, when it is too late.

This is easily a story you can read in one sitting.  The simple tale has all the elements of mythical romance and tragedy; and it pulls the reader forward in the way these classic stories do.

Publisher’s Weekly summed it up well:

The gifted author unfolds her tale so that its developments seem both inevitable and wholly surprising. She chooses details elegantly and economically, using just a few descriptive phrases to evoke a sumptuously imagined chivalric age. Lustrous as a pearl.

If like me you love a good story infused with mythology, and all the romance and mystery that entails, be sure to check out this great edition.  A classic for teens and adults alike.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Sep 9 2011

A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich

I remember seeing A Little History of the World when it was released and wanting to check it out. But I had a gazillion other things to read and have been trying to cut back on my book buying.  Some time later I came across it at a deeply discounted price on the Kindle so I picked it up.

I took me awhile even then to get around to reading it. Having done so I can say that it lived up to its billing.  It really is a wonderfully little survey of history written for young readers but with plenty to enjoy for older ones.

In forty concise chapters, Gombrich tells the story of man from the stone age to the atomic bomb. In between emerges a colorful picture of wars and conquests, grand works of art, and the spread and limitations of science. This is a text dominated not by dates and facts, but by the sweep of mankind’s experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity’s achievements and an acute witness to its frailties.

For those unfamiliar, the book itself has an interesting history:

In 1935, with a doctorate in art history and no prospect of a job, the 26-year-old Ernst Gombrich was invited by a publishing acquaintance to attempt a history of the world for younger readers. Amazingly, he completed the task in an intense six weeks, and Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser was published in Vienna to immediate success, and is now available in seventeen languages across the world.

Toward the end of his long life, Gombrich embarked upon a revision and, at last, an English translation. A Little History of the World presents his lively and involving history to English-language readers for the first time.

Two things to keep in mind when reading: this is not in any way an academic history, nor is it a particularly detailed one, and the story is told from European perspective.

What it provides is a great bird’s eye view of the sweep of history; the story of history across the ages. For young readers, and anyone seeking to get a grasp of the arc of history, this is a valuable thing.  And it is done with a simple yet engaging style that makes it not only readable but enjoyable – which is the very thing which inspires learning.

Of course, it goes without saying that anyone with a strong multiculturalist, Marxist or other type of anti-Western ideology will probably not enjoy it. Grombrich brings an avowed attachment to the values and ideals of the Enlightenment and from a pre-world war perspective. He is very much of the Athens-Rome-Jerusalem view and doesn’t try to hide it.  And is possible to appreciate and be open to the insights of this worldview even as you understand that it is a worldview; and one connected to a time and place different from our own.

The final chapter, added for this edition, tries to capture the tragic  bitterness that came with the wars of the twentieth century but manages to insist on a sort of cautious optimism. Whether this is warranted it up to the reader to decide.

In my opinion, there is plenty of time later (for young readers in particular) for cynicism and the unpacking of historiography that makes up any study of history.  Getting a handle on the scope and outline of events and ideas as presented here is a valuable and enjoyable first step.  And a reminder that we should lose the joy of this type of history even if we later dig deeper and explore in a more academic way.

So I am happy I stumbled on the Kindle edition and heartily recommend this fine volume in any format to readers young and old.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , ,

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