The Selected Poems of Li Po - Translated by David Hinton

    762 AD; 144 pages.  New Translator? : Yes.  Genres : Poetry; Chinese Literature; Ancient China.  Laurels: Winner of the 1997 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

 

    Li Po (aka Li Bai and Li Bo) is a celebrated Chinese poet (born 701 CE; died 762 CE) who lived during the reign of the Tang dynasty.

 

    I first became acquainted with his poems when I was taking night classes to learn Mandarin Chinese.  It was a fun way to build my vocabulary.  There are of course other equally famous Chinese poets from that Golden Age of China, but for some reason Li Po’s works struck a chord with me.

 

    Maybe it was due to his terse, yet vivid descriptions of the Chinese countryside back then.  Maybe it was his appreciative nods to other Chinese poets with which he spent some time.  Maybe it was the way he shuffled off his mortal coil.

 

    To quote David Hinton, the translator of The Selected Poems of Li Po: “Li Po died as the legend says he died: out drunk in a boat, he fell into a river and drowned trying to embrace the moon.”  What a way to go.

 

What’s To Like...

  The Selected Poems of Li Po is divided into five sections, namely”

    Introduction  (pgs. xi-xxv)

    Early Years (AD. 701-742)  (pgs. 1-37)

    Ch’ang An and Middle Years (AD 712-755)  (pgs. 39-87)

    War, Exile, and Later Years (AD 755-762)  (pgs. 89-=123)

    Notes (pgs. 124-129), which were quite helpful.

 

    I highly recommend reading the Introduction, as it gives the reader insight into what was going on in China at that time.  It also describes the life of wandering poets (think: “bards”) of which Li Po was one, and well as a lot of enlightening details about Li Po’s life.  I suspect Li Po’s watery demise may be more legend than fact; OTOH it easily conforms to the lifestyle he was living.

 

    Many of the selected poems are short—often as little as four lines of verse.  Yet somehow it was easy to imagine the picturesque descriptions of the mountainous regions he traversed, and his awe when beholding them.  I also found it heartwarming that he viewed the other professional poets wandering throughout China at the time as brethren, not rivals.

 

    I also loved that some of Li Po’s poems have a very “modern” slant to them.  The poem “Ch’ang-Kan Village Song” (pgs. 13-14) tells of a girl, married at fourteen, who’s now in the autumn of her life, and is depicted by Li Po as having a very strong character.  Similarly, the poem “Frontier Mountain Moon” (pg. 26), bemoans the human cost of expansionist militarism.  See the second excerpt below, for part of this poem.  It’s amazing that poems such as these two were penned more than 1200 years ago.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.5/5 based on 97 ratings and 25 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.27/5 based on 1,104 ratings and 92 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Crossing into distances beyond Ching-men,

    I set out through ancient southlands, here

    mountains fall away into wide-open plains,

    and the river flows into boundless space.

 

    The moon setting, heaven’s mirror in flight,

    clouds build, spreading to seascape towers.

    Poor waters of home.  I know how it feels:

    ten thousand miles of farewell on this boat. (pg. 5)

 

    Our armies moving down White-Ascent Road,

    Mongols probing along Sky-Blue Seas—

    soldiers never return from those forced

    marches ending on battlefields.  Countless

 

    guards look out across moonlit borderlands,

    thinking of home, their faces all grief.

    And somewhere, high in a tower tonight,

    a restless woman cries out in half-sleep.  (pg. 26)

 

Once you drink enlightenment and wisdom, why go searching for gods and immortals?  (pg. 44)

    There’s zero cases of profanity in The Selected Poems of Li Po.  I don’t recall any “adult situations”.  Obviously, the world wasn’t ready for a Beat Generation Chinese poet yet.

 

    Be aware that, as the Introduction tells, Li Po really loved to drink wine, get drunk, and write about the subsequent joys of such a habit.  I counted 20 of the poems here that he mentions his devotion to partaking of the fruit of the vine.  A votre sante, Li Po!

 

    As noted above, there were some very helpful Notes in the back of the book.  However, the referenced text isn’t marked in any way, so I had to keep flipping back to the Notes to make sure I wasn’t missing out.

 

    Finally, be aware that there is a lot of empty spaces in the 123 pages of poetry.  Every four-line poem, and there are a bunch of them, takes up a complete page.  If you want to, you can easily read this book in one sitting.

 

    But I preferred to read a dozen or so poems at a time, then sit back and think about the emotions, thoughts, and insights Li Po was trying to convey via these writings.  Although, if you’re a student with a book report due tomorrow, and you haven’t even started reading anything, this one’s for you.

 

    The blank spaces notwithstanding, I thoroughly enjoyed The Selected Poems of Li Po.  It validated my initial findings of 25 years ago when I was taking Mandarin classes.  Li Po’s writing appealed to me back then; it still does today.  Wikipedia says there are a thousand or so poems by Li Po still around.  It may be time to visit the bookstore in search of more of his poetry.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  If you go out to Goodreads and access its page on this book, you’ll find the publishing date listed as 762, which is quite some time ago.  I loved this choice of publishing date by whoever set the entry up.

Scharlette Doesn't Matter and Goes Time Travelling - Sam Bowring

    2019; 333 pages.  Book 1 (out of 3) in the “Scharlette Day” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Time Travel; Humorous Science Fiction.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

 

    Talk about a boring job, Scharlette has one.  She’s an airport security clerk; that person who announces umpteen times an hour that you need to empty your pockets of all sharp and metallic items before going through the scanner.

 

    The last guy through the security check was a butthead.  He was well-dressed and acted as though that should exempt him from emptying his pockets.  Terrorists don’t dress up impeccably, he said.

 

    Now this next guy in line is an even bigger dolt.   He says he’s never gone through the security line before.  He’s wearing some kind of gadget on his wrist with lots of blinking lights, and he seems reluctant to take it off and put it in the bowl.  Sorry, bub; no exceptions.

 

    When he does finally obey the request, things get crazy.  A wormhole opens up right there in the security area, the customer yells, “Snipers!”, and heavily armored guys jump out, shooting futuristic-looking weapons at the customer.

 

    Scharlette’s job just got a lot less boring.

 

What’s To Like...

   Scharlette Doesn’t Matter and Goes Time Travelling is the opening volume in Sam Bowring’s humorous Time Travel trilogy.  The story’s tone and content very much reminded me of Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy opus; if you liked that one you’ll enjoy this tale as well.

 

    The protagonist, Scharlette, is a fascinating study.  Our visitors from the future have done their temporal paradox research..  Scharlette is infertile, so she won’t have any kids.  Also, none of the events in the rest of her life will have any effect on the present timeline.  So they can safely contact and interact with her and nothing important will change.  In a nutshell, Scharlette doesn’t matter.

 

    I liked the language that the space travelers use.  They’re originally from more than 10,000 years from now, and the English that they speak has evolved from ours.  So Scharlette, and the reader, have to learn futuristic vocabulary terms such as plimits, condooblences, ridiculex, batso, all kay, zicky, and blisso.

 

    The tone of the text is lighthearted.  There is a Universe that needs to be somehow saved, but meanwhile there’s still time to go trippin’ in the future on your choice of pharmaceutical compound.  There’s a mysterious book that breaks down the fourth wall, and it was fun  to learn that the extraterrestrials hold Salvador Dali great esteem.

 

    The story stops at a logical place, with several plotlines still unresolved, especially those concerning the Germs and Jenelope.  I presume those are addressed in the sequel, Scharlette Kills 99% of Germs.  Things close on a note both heartwarming and hopeful.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.4/5 based on 1,604 ratings and 258 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.09/5 based on 1,351 ratings and 195 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “You use metal detectors, mobile phones, refrigerators, yet you don’t actually know how any of them work.”

    “I guess not.”

    “If I told you to put together a video camera, you wouldn’t even be able to invent the strap.  Point is, the universe is full of people who use things without knowing how they actually work.  Why do people from the past always think people from the future understand everything?”  (50% Kindle)

 

    “What are we going to do?”

    Scharlette found it strange that he was asking, but she poked her head up over the barrier.  She zeroed in on the Germs with her enhanced senses and her head computer went to work translating.

    “Keep your sensory receptors peeled,” said a tall, many-fronded, copiously drooling horror.  “A12/65 saw many greyskin Gutbags retreat inside as we arrived, fleeing like excretal globules down a turd masher.”  (84% Kindle)

 

Kindle Details…

    The e-book edition of Scharlette Doesn’t Matter and Goes Time Travelling currently sells for $3.99 at Amazon.  The other two books in the trilogy cost $4.99 apiece.  Sam Bowring has seven other e-books for your Kindle, ranging in price from $2.99 to $4.99.

 

“You couldn’t knock a flimswaggle off a zhog’s back if it was standing right in front of you.”  (15% Kindle)

    There’s only a light amount of profanity in Scharlette Doesn’t Matter and Goes Time Travelling. I noted just 8 cusswords in the first 20%, two of which were f-bombs.  There are a couple of rolls-in-the-hay, plus one mention of the male anatomy.  Sam Bowring also uses clever “futuristic expletives”, such as "Crumbs", "Clusterfarm", "Farm it", and various fruity expressions such as “Bananas and Blueberries!”

 

    The text is written in “Australian”, which is kind of a cross between English and American.  So you'll encounter weird words and spellings such as knickers, plough, dobbed, maths, and pyjamas.  I always enjoy learning a foreign language.

 

    The only quibble I found was the page-numbering.  There isn’t any.  The page-counting system is stuck on “Page 8 of 8” the whole way.  This was true on both my old Kindle and my newer Kindle.  Oh well, that’s why e-readers also give you a “percentage read” figure.

 

    But this is nitpicking.  Scharlette Doesn’t Matter and Goes Time Travelling was a fun read from beginning to end, and I’m keeping my eyes peeled for discounts on the other two books in the trilogy.  Douglas Adams would proudly give a two-thumbs up to this tale.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  Ryan Gosling gets a brief mention in this time-traveling tale.  What are the odds of that?!

Mirage - Marlin Williams

    2026; 539 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Psychological Thriller; Dark Science Fiction; Techno Thriller.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

 

    It’s going to be one of those days.  Detective Zorn Stephenson’s phone started ringing at 4:30 AM, his superior, Captain Grady screaming on the other end.  A body had been found at a local warehouse and Zorn’s presence was needed immediately, if not sooner.

 

    Zorn dutifully got up, dressed, and drove to the crime scene.  The body was found inside the warehouse, laid out on the floor like a mummy—a young male, lying on his back, hands crossed serenely across his chest.

 

    Zorn recognized the youth at once – Rayland Spangler.  He was one of three boys who had gone missing a while back.  A long while back.  Ten years ago.

 

    Why did his body only show up just now?  And where are the other two missing boys?

 

What’s To Like...

   Mirage is a psychological thriller novel set mostly on High Island, Texas.  It features three protagonists: a reclusive biker named Colton, a savvy detective named Zorn Stephenson, and a local waitress named Georgia.

 

    Strange things are happening on High Island, but they mostly go unnoticed.  See the first excerpt below for an glimpse of their subtlety.  The discovery of the long-dead corpse causes a few residents to begin to take note of the inconsistencies. Our heroes find themselves tasked with not just determining what’s going on, but also who’s the brains behind all this, and what is their final objective.

 

    The character-building is excellent.  Colton has a troubled past and Zorn talks to his deceased mentor via a hat.  My favorite bizarre character was Birdie Blackburn.  He definitely marches to the beat of a different drummer.

 

    It was fun to tag along with our three protagonists, plus a few others, as they become aware of the weird goings-on.  A nearby lighthouse becomes a suspected source of mental shenanigans.  Alas, being aware of rogue vibes does not make you immune to their influences.  Our heroes quickly become prime targets for whatever skullduggery is being wreaked.

 

    As befitting a compelling Psychological Thriller, the tension builds to a desperate climax where the outcome is always in doubt.  Happily, Order is vanquished, and Chaos returns, and no, that is not a typo.  Things close with an Epilogue that will leave a lump in your throat.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  x.x/5 based on 0 ratings and 0 reviews..

    Goodreads: x.xx/5 based on 0 ratings and 0 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Life carried on.

    Steady.

    Unbroken.

    And just beneath it . . . something else.

    It brushed him—thin, unfocused—like a thought that wouldn’t quite take shape.

    Then it slipped.

    Everything moved the way it should—people, traffic, doors opening and closing—but it felt . . . timed.

    A fraction too smooth.

    Like the town had found a rhythm . . . and settled into it.  (pg. 14)

 

    “Explain the pickaxe, Colton.  You always carry one around for decoration?”  (…)

    “I don’t recall there being a law against carrying one,” he said finally.

    Zorn’s eyes narrowed.  “Maybe not.  But there’s a fine line between a tool and a weapon, and right now, you’re standing on the wrong side of it.”

    Colton looked away, jaw tight.  “Story of my life.”  (pg. 137)

 

Kindle Details…

    The Kindle version of Mirage currently sells for $4.95 at Amazon.  Marlin Williams offers seven other e-books for your Kindle, including novels, short story collections, and anthologies.  They range in price from $0.99 to $4.95.

 

“Kids get curious, crawl where they don’t belong, and the earth swallows them whole.”  (pg. 20)

    There’s moderate amount of profanity in Mirage; I noted 18 instances in the first 10%, primary of the eschatological ilk.  There was also a roll-in-the-hay early on, but that’s the only adult situation I recall.

 

    I noticed about a dozen typos, such as builds/buildings, itb/it, statements/statement’s, tat/rat, and spinet/spine.  Fortunately, they weren't a distraction for me.

 

    I don’t read a lot of Psychological Thriller novels, but this one kept me turning the pages, as I tried to beat the protagonists in figuring out what was going on.  Alas, I was way wrong in my guess as the identity of the Ultimate Evil.

    I think this was Marlin Williams’s first entry into this genre, and it is an impressive debut.  Here’s hoping that he has more Psych-Thriller ideas in his head.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  High Island, Texas is a real place.  It sits on the Bolivar Peninsula, on the shores of Galveston Bay.  It even was chosen as the burial grounds by a serial killer back in the 1970s.  Deja vu all over again.

Maximum Bob - Elmore Leonard

    1991; 326 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres: Hard Boiled Mystery; Humorous Crime Fiction.  Overall Rating : 6*/10.

 

    An alligator just tried to attack Judge Bob Gibbs!  It wandered onto his property and even tried to crash into his house!  Well, this is in the Palm Bach area of Florida, close to where alligators abound.  And occasional trespassing by those critters is not unheard of.

 

    Except the judge’s house isn’t all that close to where the gators hang out.  Which makes you wonder whether someone transported the beast there and dropped it off.  But who would do such a thing?

 

    Actually, the list is pretty long.  Judge Bob Gibbs’s nickname is “Maximum Bob” due to his habit of sentencing defendants in cases he’s presiding over to the maximum allowable jailtime.

 

    Some of those do eventually get out on parole after serving time.  And more than a few of them bear a huge grudge against Maximum Bob.

 

What’s To Like...

    Although Maximum Bob is is a crime-mystery novel, it is not a whodunit.  The characters may be trying to figure out who’s trying to kill whom, but the reader is privy to all those answers a lot sooner.  The fun for the reader is to see just how those dirty plots might come to pass.

 

    The characters, even the minor ones, are unique, including some vrty unlikeable, jaded, flawed, and cuckoo ones.  Judge Gibbs is a classic misogynistic redneck.  His co-protagonist is a 27-year-old divorced-and-pretty probation officer.  There are gay guys and druggies and lots of ex-cons.  There’s also a young black girl named Wanda who was born more than a century ago and presently resides inside the head of one of the characters.

 

    The text is written in a gritty style, yet there is also a subtle strain of wit running throughout.  Maximum Bob was published in 1991, and it was neat to see a reference to a long-forgotten televangelist duo from that time, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.  Even Donald Trump gets a brief mention.  So do metaphysical auras and past lives remembrances, which resonated with me.  I attended a past life seminar once a long time ago.  It was quite interesting.

 

    The ending manages to be both logical and surprising at the same time.  Several characters are killed; some expected, other not.  Ditto for the killers—some were obvious, others weren’t.  I gather that Maximum Bob is a standalone novel that was never developed into a series.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.3/5 based on 654 ratings and 96 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.79/5 based on 7,690 ratings and 402 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Your wife work in the garden?”

    “She plays with rocks.”

    “She does?  What kind of rocks?”

    “Quartz crystals.  She buries them in the dirt to clean them, restore their—whatever magic they’re suppose (sic) to have.  This is called African Shield.  My wife thinks those two petticoat palms were once women who were turned into trees.”  (pg. 130)

 

    “Dr. Vasco?”

    Hector shook his head.  “He’s not in.”

    “That’s too bad,” Kathy said, flipping open her ID case to show her picture, her name, and those official words, Department of Corrections.  “I’m his new Community Control officer.”

    “Oh, you know something?  I thought he went to AA, but he’s sleeping,” Hector said.  “Please, come in.”  She moved past him and he said, “I like your hair.  It’s much more chic than in the picture.”  (pg. 274)

 

“All of a sudden it hit me, that I may have been your mother in a previous life.”  (pg. 28)

    Unsurprisingly, there was a moderate amount of cussing in Maximum Bob.  I noted 24 instances in the first 20% of the book, including eight f-bombs and one racial epithet.  There were a number of “adult situations”, including a couple rolls-in-the-hay and some references to male and female anatomy.

 

    It should be noted that Wikipedia cites Elmore Leonard’s counts as being “gritty realism and strong dialogue”, so R-rated profanity and descriptions are to be expected. 

 

    This was my first Elmore Leonard novel, and I have a feeling it’s one of his “lighter” ones.  I picked it up at a library book sale, and reportedly, this is not one of his big hits.  Nevertheless the humor, character development, pacing, and mystery aspects all intrigued me.  I will be on the lookout for more books by Elmore Leonard.

 

    6 Stars.  One last thing.  One last quibble.  The dog dies.  In a particularly gruesome fashion.

The Widows Guild - Anna Castle

    2015; 325 pages.  Book 3 (out of 8) in the “Francis Bacon Mystery” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Historical Mystery; England, Historical Fiction.  Laurels: 2017 Historical Novel Society Awards (Longlisted).  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

    London, August 29, 1588.  A city in turmoil.  Religious fervor runs rampant.

 

    Queen Elizabeth 1 sits on the throne, and England has converted from Catholicism to Anglicanism.  It is not a good time to be a Catholic.  There’s even an official body, the Recusancy Committee, whose job it is to probe the loyalties of known Catholics.  If you’re found to be more loyal to the Pope than to the Crown, it’s imprisonment for you.

 

    It’s also Alice Trumpington’s (aka “Trumpet”) wedding night.  She’s not looking forward to it.  Her husband-to-be, Viscount Surdeval, is old and in frail health, and she’s putting off consummating the marriage for as long as possible.  She’s marrying strictly for money and nobility.

 

    Alas, Viscount Surdeval dies on his wedding night!  Under very suspicious circumstances.  Maybe Trumpet did it.  But no, she wasn’t even in the bedroom that evening.  She spent the night in a separate room in the estate.  With another man, Thomas Clarady.

 

    Not exactly the best alibi to have, is it?

 

What’s To Like...

    The Widows Guild is the third book in Anna Castle’s engaging “Francis Bacon Mystery” series, in which the famous physicist is reimagined as a royal investigator.  Francis is part of a legal society put together by Queen Elizabeth herself to do investigative work on behalf of her and other upper-class gentlepersons.

 

    Since Viscount Surdeval was a Nobleman, his fellow Upper-Crusters are quite anxious to know how and why he died on his wedding night, and assign Francis to that task.  I liked that he’s not a super-sleuth, but rather is a nerdy individual who, via questions and observations, hopes to logically figure out what happened and who did it.

 

    This series is unique in that we follow a “team” of investigators as they do their sleuthing.  Francis is nominally in charge, but the other team-members—Thomas Clarady, Benjamin Whitt, and yes, Trumpet herself—all conduct their own investigations, and none of them, including Francis, fully disclose their discoveries to the others.

 

    The case quickly takes some weird turns.  No weapon is found; indeed, no wound is found on Viscount Surdeval’s corpse.  Hmm.  Maybe he died of natural causes.  But no, someone took the time to carve a cross into his chest.  Is it a sign that religion plays a part in this?  Unfortunately for our heroes, the knife used to carve the cross was not left behind.

 

    Things build to a very tense ending, that somehow didn’t feel over-the-top.  The perpetrator is cunningly trapped into revealing the who-how-and-why of the misdeed, and will face the appropriate judgment.  Needless to say, my guess as to the whodunit was turned out to be totally wrong.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.4*/5, based on 470 ratings and 51 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.23*/5, based on 356 ratings and 47 reviews.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Fustilarian (n.): a lowlife scoundrel.

Others: Tinto (n.).

 

Excerpts...

    “What do you think about me?  About this!”  She held out her hands to display herself.  “About what you see.”

    “Ah.”  Tom pretended to consider it.  “Well, I think you are the most perfect vision of maidenly beauty I have ever seen.  I think they should hold a competition among the greatest sculptors in Europe to craft your image in marble as a model for future generations of womankind to strive toward.”

    She blinked, and her mouth twisted in a complicated half frown.  “That almost sounded like a compliment.”

    “It almost was one.”  (pg. 18)

 

    “Then you’ve identified the murderer?” Lady Russell asked.  “Well done, Nephew!”

    Some of the women began to applaud, but Bacon held up both hands to stop them.  “No, my good ladies and gentlewomen, I must admit I have as yet no proof sufficient to bring the murderer to justice.”

    “But you know who it is,” Lady Russell said.

    Bacon pinched the pleats in his left wrist ruff while his gaze wandered over the tops of the women’s heads.  Trumpet recognized the evasive mannerisms.  He either didn’t know or he wasn’t going to tell them.  He would babble pompously for a few minutes and then run away.

    “Suspicions have evolved in such directions as to preclude any definitive verification of culpability.”  (pg. 251)

 

Kindle Details…

    The Widows Guild sells for $1.99 right now at Amazon.  The other books in the series range in price from *free* to $4.99, with the prices increasing as the series progresses.  I’ve also read the first book in Anna Castle’s *The Professor & Mrs. Moriarty Mystery* series, and quite enjoyed it.  The four books in that series all cost $4.99.

 

News delivered by demons could never be good.  (pg. 271)

    There’s only a miniscule amount of profanity in The Widows Guild, I counted only a mere 9 cusswords in the whole tale, none of which were f-bombs.  When the situation called for swearing, two phrases, presumably authentic Medieval epithets, were used: “God’s teeth” and “God’s bollocks”.  I thought that worked incredibly well.

 

    I noted only two typos: wanted_put/wanted_to_put and any_more/anymore.  Kudos to whoever did the editing. I *thought* I’d caught an anachronism when “Occam’s Razor” came up in the text.  But checking in Wikipedia revealed that the eponymous source of this concept, William of Ockham, lived in the 1300s, so Francis Bacon and company may well have been familiar with it.

 

    There were a couple instances where it sounded like someone’s sexuality was being questioned; plus one character engaging in cross-dressing, and being very comfortable doing so.  Maybe I am over-thinking these parts.  Mayhap they’ll be addressed in subsequent books in this series.

 

    I found The Widows Guild to be an entertaining read, full of witty repartee and a stellar blend of well-researched Historical Fiction and well-developed Murder-Mystery.  I particularly liked the use of 16^th-century vocabulary, including the likes of jakes, galligaskins, partlet, doublet, wherry, and ballyrag.  It gave the setting a realistic “feel” like I was walking alongside Francis Bacon in 1588 London, and I’m looking forward to reading Book 4 in the series, Publish and Perish.

 

    8 Stars.  One last thing.  Trumpet’s life is saved by her being absent from the marriage bed on her wedding night.  That’s good.  But if her marriage was never consummated, it means she is not heir to the Surdeval Estate.  Instead, Surdeval’s relatives would inherit it.  That’s not so good.  An embarrassing test of Trumpet’s maidenhead is the only way to settle this.  What should she do?

Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond

    2003; 440 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Full Title: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.  Genres : Ancient History; Human Geography; Non-Fiction.  Laurels: 1998 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction; 1997 Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science.  Overall Rating: 9½*/10.

 

    Outnumbered armies of Western European countries pulled off a pair of amazing victories in the 16^th century.  Cortez and a couple hundred conquistadors vanquished the powerful Aztec Empire in Mexico.  A few years later, Pizarro duplicated that feat against the Inca Empire in Peru.

 

    But both Spanish armies had some huge advantages.  Their soldiers had guns and horses, the Aztecs and Incas had none.  The Spanish also carried germs that decimated the Aztec and Incan populations with deadly plagues.  The Spaniards had steel swords, the Aztecs and Incas fought with stone hatchets.

 

    Those were all decisive edges for the European invaders.  But why hadn’t Mesoamerican civilizations developed similar weapons technologies?  And why weren’t the Aztec and Incan populace infested with their own sets of germs to which Europeans invaders would have no resistance?

 

    Jared Diamond examines the possible root causes of these technological and bacteriological factors of Guns, Germs, and Steel.  He comes to some surprising conclusions.

 

What’s To Like...

    After a brief Prologue wherein Jared Diamond recounts the incident that caused him to research this subject, Guns, Germs, and Steel is divided into five sections, namely:

    Part 1: From Eden to Cajamarca.  Notable conquests.

    Part 2: The Rise and Spread of Food Production.  Farming and animal domestication.

    Part 3: From Food to Guns, Germs, and Steel.  The evolution of armies.

    Part 4: Around the World in Five Chapters.  How each global landmass was populated.

    Epilogue: The Future of Human History as a Science.  Conclusions and Critiques.

 

    I was impressed by the author's meticulous research into the history of global conquests.  Regardless of geographic location, human civilization begins with the formation of hunter-gatherer bands, which still exist in a few, isolated areas of the world.  With some exceptions, those bands grow into tribes, which grow into chiefdoms, which grow into states.  The greater the population of the state, the more likely it will develop centralized government and armies.

 

    There are many factors that can hinder such a natural progression though, which are detailed in the text.  Not all crops are rich enough in proteins to feed sizable quantities of people.  Geographic boundaries, such as deserts, mountains, and oceans can also deter progress.  So does the absence of any sizable animals that are amenable to domestication.  There’s no use in inventing the wheel and chariots if you don’t have any beasts to pull them.

 

    I loved the way Jared Diamond presented the details of the evolution of Civilization.  How do you go about “inventing” writing?  Why did the Norsemen fail to found a permanent settlement in Canada after they discovered it?  And perhaps most curious of all, why did the clunky QWERTY keyboard become the worldwide standard for typing communications?

 

    There are at least three editions of Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997, 2003, 2007).  I happened to be reading the 2003 edition, which closes with the author responding to the various feedback—both positive and negative—that arose from people after reading the 1997 version.  Guns, Germs, and Steel won a Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction in 1998, which means it garnered a wide and diverse leadership.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.5*/5, based on 14,611 ratings and 3,190 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.04*/5, based on 469,675 ratings and 16,336 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Inventing a writing system from scratch must have been incomparably more difficult than borrowing and adapting one.  The first scribes had to settle on basic principles that we now take for granted.  For example, they had to figure out how to decompose a continuous utterance into speech units, regardless of whether those units were taken as words, syllables, or phonemes.  They had to learn to recognize the same sound or speech unit through all our normal variations in speech volume, pitch, speed, emphasis, phrase grouping, and individual idiosyncrasies of pronunciation.  They had to decide that a writing system should ignore all of that variation.  They then had to devise ways to represent sounds by symbols.  (pg. 217)

 

    The striking differences between long-term histories of peoples of the different continents have been due not to innate differences in the peoples themselves but to differences in their environments.  I expect that if the populations of Aboriginal Australia and Eurasia could have been interchanged during the Late Pleistocene, the original Aboriginal Australians would now be the ones occupying most of the Americas and Australia, as well as Eurasia, while the Aboriginal Eurasians would be the ones now reduced to downtrodden fragments in Australia.  (pg. 405)

 

What caveman or cavewoman ever got the idea of “domesticating” a plant, and how was it accomplished?  (pg. 114)

    As would be expected in a work of scholarly non-fiction, there is almost no profanity in Guns, Germs, and Steel.  I noted just three instances, all of which involved the use of the word damn.  I didn’t catch a single typo, but perhaps these were caught and corrected in between the first and second editions.

 

    About the only quibble I can come up with is that the section on Agriculture was how many pages dealt with the way Food Production arose in various areas of the world.  Different crops work well or not-so-well in different climates.  Some were better at being hybridized than others; some contained oodles more protein than others.  Spending pages comparing corn to, say, sorghum got a bit tedious for me.

 

    But overall, Guns, Germs, and Steel thoroughly resonated with me.  I learned a lot from reading it, and since I muchly enjoy reading about Ancient History, this book was tailor-made for me.  It’s actually the first book in a trilogy; with the other two books titled Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed and Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis.  I think I need to go looking for these.

 

    9½ Stars.  One last thing.  Chapter 19, How Africa Became Black, deals with the history of the various empires, conquests, and peoples of that continent, particularly in the sub-Saharan and tropical areas.  I don’t recall ever reading such a detailed, informative account of this.  It was freakin’ awesome!

Murphy's Luck 4: Jinx Vs. Fate - Benjamin Laskin

    2023; 336 pages.  Book 4 (out of 4) in the “Murphy’s Luck” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Humorous Adventure; Magical Realism; Cozy Fiction.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

    The years have passed, and at long last, Murphy has found contentment.  He leads a peaceful life, in Cloverville, Kansas.  His wife, Joy, is somehow immune to the effects of Murphy’s Jinx.

 

    It’s hard to say for sure, but it looks very likely that their seven-year-old daughter, Phaedra, has inherited her father’s jinx.  She plays baseball against kids twice her age, and more than holds her own.  There are some bruised egos about that, but the players and parents know not to raise a ruckus.

 

    Murphy contents himself to developing his little community of Cloverville into a happy community.  Right now he’s excavating some sort of ancient ruins that seem to have conveniently appeared beneath the ground on his property.

 

    It would be nice if Murphy’s life continued on indefinitely in this serene manner.  But a jinx is a jinx.  Something tells me things are about to become bizarrely hectic.

 

What’s To Like...

    There are two main storylines in Murphy’s Luck 4: Jinx vs. Fate. One is Murphy’s 7-year-old daughter Phaedra making a name for herself in Little League baseball (at least she starts out at that level). The other is a super-secret organization that's watching, and then reaching out, to Murphy as a prospective agent.  The text switches back and forth between the two tales, which keeps the pacing brisk and slow spots absent.

 

    We meet a slew of new characters in both plot threads, and I loved the character-building performed by the author.  Phaedra’s baseball skills attract the attention of nerds, jocks, coaches, and sports agents.  Murphy’s jinxing skills attract the attention of secret agents, femme fatales, and identical twins.

 

    Murphy’s Luck 4 is first and foremost a tale of humorous magical realism.  Murphy is indwelt by a mystical jinx that spares him but will plague anyone or anything near him.  It’s fun to watch how the jinx manifests itself on nearby unsuspecting people, whether they be good guys or bad.

 

    The story is full of interesting bits of trivia.  Phaedra has a pet water buffalo named Hannibal, an appellation near and dear to my heart.  The mention of the Gnostics, who had the historical misfortune to run afoul of early Church, also resonated with me.  Other obscure references include Liechtenstein, the ouroboros, the 12-item list of Boy Scout laws, an enchanted dowsing rod, and even Epstein Island.

 

    Murphy’s jinx is a useful asset in the climactic chase scene, although it means you can guess the outcome.  The last couple of chapters (there are 37 of them) serve as an “One Year Afterward” epilogue, nicely tying up several plot threads.  There is room for a sequel, although since it’s been three years since this e-book came out, I have a feeling this is a completed series.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.5*/5, based on 17 ratings and 5 reviews.

    Goodreads: 2.00*/5, based on 1 rating and 1 review.

 

Excerpts...

    He slapped the two ten-dollar bills into Georgina’s hand.  “This is just the beginning, baby.  I’m going to make you a star!”

    Georgina glanced at the bills in her hand and replied, “Um—no, you’re not, sweetie.”

    “Have a little faith, my melodious, rose-breasted grosbeak, my euphonious robin, my dulcifluous canary, my canorous channel-billed cuckoo.”

    “It’s Monopoly money, my well-meaning, ignoramus of a husband.”  (pg. 136)

 

    Mitch returned the carton to the fridge and slammed the door as if locking away an evil spirit.  He joined Phaedra at the table and noted the neatly stacked piles.

    “Do you have a system for everything?” Mitch asked.

    “Uh-huh.  I learned from Daddy.  He’s very organized.”

    “Some might say neurotic and monomaniacally obsessive-compulsive.”

    “Yeah—Daddy’s the best.”  (pg. 311)

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Oleaginous (adj.) : resembling, containing, or producing oil; oily; greasy.

Others: Chyron (n.).

 

Kindle Details…

    Murphy’s Luck 4: Jinx vs. Fate is priced at $4.99 currently at Amazon.  The other three books in the series also cost $4.99.  Benjamin Laskin has several other series in e-book format; the books in those are usually in the $2.99 to $4.99. price range.

 

“What’s a wanton floozie?”  “Umm . . . er, a popular Chinese soup?”  (pg. 314)

    Profanity is practically nonexistent in Murphy’s Luck 4: Jinx vs. Fate;  I spotted just two instances in the whole book.  Typos were also scarce—a missing quotation mark; a missing “you”; and a where/were slip-up.

 

    There’s not much in the way of a backstory, but that’s okay.  It just means you should really read this series in chronological order, like I fortunately did.

 

    Keep in mind this is a “cozy adventure”.  Nobody dies, action scenes are minimal, and there are no adult situations.  Instead, you get a witty, heartwarming tale where everything turns out okay for everyone, including the baddies.

 

    8 Stars.  One last thing.  I mentioned it in an earlier review in this series, but Benjamin Laskin’s musical tastes are excellent!  Music References here include The Knack, ABBA, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, and Queen.  Awesomeness!