Category Archives: Reviews

Alex & Me

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Reviewed by Kathy London

alex&meThis book by Irene M. Pepperberg is recommended to anyone who thinks science is dull. As Stephen Jay Gould wrote “science must be understood as a social phenomenon, a gutsy human enterprise, not the work of robots.” Irene Pepperberg’s book is subtitled “How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence – and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process.”

It describes a passionate researcher producing ground-breaking science against considerable odds.

While she has published many scientific papers, this short book is personal, an autobiography centered on her work with the Grey Parrot Alex. Pepperberg writes in an easily-read style.

I have one quibble: the first chapter of the book deals with the aftermath of Alex’s death. This may not make sense until you’ve read the rest of the book. I suggest you start at Chapter 2. Continue reading →

A Rip in Heaven

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rip-in-heavenThis book by Jeanine Cummins, subtitled “A Memoir of Murder and its Aftermath,” was recommended to me by my wife. I told her she has recommended three excellent books in a row, but that she has to suggest one that is has a happier story for the next one. The book is about the “Chain of Rocks Murder Case.” Three teenage cousins, Julie and Robin Kerry and Tom Cummins, have sneaked off late one night in April 1991 to see the poetry that Julie painted on the underside of the abandoned bridge over the Mississippi River. They are accosted by four young men who seem at first to be friendly but then tell the three they are going to rob them. The two girls are gang raped and then all three cousins are forced off the bridge into the Mississippi. Only Tom survives. Julie is with him for a while, but she panics, grabs him, and they both sink. He feels as if he is about to drown, pushes her off, and except for a few brief moments following never sees her again.

A warning about the book is that it is written by Tom’s sister. My wife believed the story, but I was uncomfortable that the information was “unbiased.” However, I highly recommend the book to anyone who is or might be involved in an encounter with the legal system. Tom and his father think they are doing the right thing by assisting the early investigation, and are comfortable that Tom is not at risk because he is innocent. Anyone hearing their Miranda rights being read, including the statement that anything they say can be used against them, should shut up until they have a lawyer representing them. This book illustrates that being innocent is not sufficient protection.

The facts presented about the rapes and murders are difficult reading, and the descriptions of the four young men who brutalized the three cousins and forced them to jump to nearly certain death into the Mississippi should serve as a warning. The four who are convicted are portrayed as committing the crimes without remorse. Some are portrayed as proud that they were the ones mentioned in television reports. One bragged “I did that” before he was taken into custody. Continue reading →

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

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unbrokenThe copy of the book by Laura Hillenbrand I read was purchased by the Friends of the Westminster Colorado Public library. The book was selected by the Northern Colorado Common Read (NCCR) for this year and there were several discussion sessions that included meetings with veterans. The book is the story of Louis Zamperini. He was saved from a delinquent childhood by a bother who convinced him to try out long distance running. He broke the high school record for the mile. He was a star on the University of California track team where he met a mysterious Japanese man named Jimmie Sasaki who later turned up as a Japanese military official. Louis finished seventh in the 5000 meters at the Berlin Olympics. He soon was a bombardier on raids over Japanese targets in the Pacific, and perhaps the brutal training and running of the 5000 meter “torture chamber” prepared him for what was in store.

Louis participated in several bombing runs against Japanese targets, and was one of three who survived a plane crash in the Pacific. They had two small rafts and meager supplies; the survival kit did not make it to their rafts. One of the other men ate the entire supply of chocolate the first night, which left them with no food. Louis caught an albatross that landed on his head, the meat was so putrid they couldn’t eat it, but they did catch a small fish with a hook baited with the meat. Sharks circled the rafts for almost the entire 47 days of drifting. The sharks occasionally resorted to trying to jump into the rafts and had to be fended off with the oars.

The men teetered on starvation with only an occasional fish, bird, or the livers from a couple of small sharks to keep them barely alive. They roasted under the sun, and rains came just often enough to keep them from dying of thirst.

The men fired a flare to attract a plane, which turned out to be Japanese. The plane made several strafing runs, shot up the rafts, but miraculously missed the men. One raft couldn’t be saved and became a sun shade. They patched the other raft despite the fact the sandpaper in the patching kit was not waterproof and the sand had fallen off. One of the men died shortly before the raft drifted up to an island where a Japanese boat took the two survivors captive. Continue reading →

Panic! The Story of Modern Financial Insanity

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panicThis book was loaned to me by a friend, and it provides useful information and warnings to people interested in or involved in stock market investing It was edited by Michael Lewis, as described on the front flap, is about “…the crash of 1987, the Russian default…the Asian currency crisis of 1999, the Internet bubble, and the ongoing subprime mortgage disaster.” The book is composed of more than fifty articles that were written by numerous authors, and several are by Lewis himself. The approach had both positives and negatives. The chapters are usually short and to the point, but there is obviously no consistency of style. Also, the articles often have redundancies.

I recommend scanning the reviews on Amazon. Many reviewers warn that the book is edited by Michael Lewis, and is not a “Liar’s Poker,” “Money Ball” or “Blind Side.” I will say in Mr. Lewis’s defense that the front cover clearly says at the top “Edited by…” (although in relatively small print). Another point in his defense is that he mentions in acknowledgments that proceeds from the book will go to Katrina victims (and the first person he thanks is himself).

I found the most interesting sections to be about the Internet bubble and the real estate collapse. Perhaps the most interesting theme in the book is that crises often find their beginnings when smart people begin running complicated but legal versions of Ponzi schemes. The nice thing about Ponzi schemes is that early investors can make lots of money if they get out in time. The bad thing is that those getting out late can easily result in losing everything. Overvaluation results from sellers looked for “the greater fool” to buy what they had bought for too high a price. They hope someone else would give them an even higher price before the price collapses. Another theme is that we think of the people who are involved in mind-numbingly complicated financial schemes and “instruments” as geniuses. The author often reminds us those revered experts often don’t understand any better than others. One statement worth remembering is, “The longer the bull market goes on, the more believers there are.” Continue reading →

Lies My Teacher Told Me, Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

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Reviewed by Kathy London

teacher-liesThis book by James W. Loewen covers a survey of twelve major high school history textbooks that the author found to be full of irrelevant and erroneous details, yet omitting pivotal facts. While history contains fantastic and important stories which “have the power to spellbind audiences, even audiences of difficult seventh-graders”, textbooks come up lacking. They are concoctions of “lies, half-truths, truths, and omissions” that avoid many important ideas, and they are generally boring. No wonder students lose interest. Since I was bored by history in high school, Loewen’s book rings true for me.

Loewen will provide any group with lively conversation: people of Columbus’ age did not believe the world was flat; Europeans were able to conquer the New World because European diseases decimated Native Americans, Helen Keller was an active social radical, and Abraham Lincoln did say the Civil War was fought to end slavery. Be outraged when Loewen labels your favorite piece of history as bland optimism, blind nationalism, or plain misinformation, and delve your own research.

I recommend the book and Loewen’s home page. So I was delighted recently to find Loewen’s home page. Here are some provocative quotes from that site:

“Most Americans hold basic misconceptions about the Confederacy, the Civil War, and the acts of neo-Confederates afterward. For example, two-thirds of Americans–including most history teachers–think the Confederate States seceded for ‘states’ rights.’ This error persists because most have never read the key documents about the Confederacy.” Continue reading →

Wrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us – And How to Know When Not to Trust Them

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Reviewed by Kathy London

wrongThe topic of this book by David H. Freedman might seem disheartening, but proving wrongness is not Freedman’s point. Rather, he is interested in how people can seek out trustworthy advice: “you are [not] helpless to judge…. Look over the evidence, gauge the quality… weigh the likely biases… and take your best shot at deciding…”

While I enjoyed Freedman’s book, I did skim sections where examples kept going long after I thought his point was made.

I admire Freedman for tackling the first obvious question: “Is This Book Wrong?” I suggest you read the appendix first. Freedman’s researcher-father kept, framed and hung on his office wall, a letter that torpedoed one of his published studies. “It reminds me how easy it is to be wrong” his father said. Freedman admits his book is probably “riddled with factual and conceptual errors”, describes how errors probably snuck in despite his attempts to keep them out, but why you should read it anyway.

Freedman’s introduction addressed the second question that sprung to my mind: if experts are wrong, why are we better off now than a hundred years ago? Freedman argues that most progress comes when experts, every once in a while, get it right: wrongness “punctuated” with success. Continue reading →