Race Against Time

Race Against Time is basically Jerry Mitchell’s greatest hits, covering his stories about unsolved Civil Rights Era murders involving the KKK. And the greatest hits are really something. Each ‘chapter’ follows a murder investigation, usually a cold case being retried thanks to new evidence.

Honestly, I don’t want to give too much away (even though it’s just history), because Mitchell tells the story way better than I could even summarize. If you’re a fan of true crime, this is a must read, especially in 2020.

Down the River Unto the Sea

This book is hit and miss with me. The writing evokes the noir feel extremely well, with a modern twist. The tone is pitch perfect. My problem is the story, which seems a bit all over the place. It is immensely readable, though the main character seems to also be all over the place.

So a typical mystery type book introduces the characters, the problem, and the potential solutions early on, so the reader can try to figure it out. This book, however, seems to keep adding things and adding things until the very end. The main character is constantly introducing us to new people that he knows from ‘before’, even though we’ve never met them. The story was also promised to be a tale of parallel crimes, though I don’t think that ever came to full fruition.

To be honest, this is the type of book you should read, though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. Really, I think if you like it, you like it, and if you don’t, you don’t. It’s not bad at all, just about taste, which is why I would say: read it and see what you think, though I can’t wholeheartedly recommend. It wasn’t really my cup of tea, though I can see why people would enjoy it.

Tip of the Iceberg

Travel writing can take a lot of forms, some good, a lot bad. Most (not all) bad travel writing, in my opinion, goes something like: 1) We did this, then this, then this, and finally this, or 2) I was having a tough time in life/was burnt out/uninspired and needed a change so I went to X country to try and change it up, and wow has my life changed, all because I took ayahuasca or something. Good travel writing has a point to it, a plan, or a successful attempt at understanding a different culture. Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown was best at that last one. Mark Adam’s Tip of the Iceberg falls into the ‘has a plan’ category of good writing.

Tip of the Iceberg actually follows two trips along the same route: the 1899 voyage of the steamship George W. Elder, commissioned by Edward Harriman, who was accompanied by 30 scientists (including John Muir), artists, and writers, and the lone man voyage of Mark Adams almost 120 years later.

Overall, this book is a look at Alaska through an interesting lens of then and now, both centered around trips. Even though it’s part of the United States, Alaska is definitely in a league of its own. This book really gives the reader an inside look at Alaska, Alaskans, and their history, while giving them the proper respect. It’s also casual enough to make the things you learn not seem super dry. Because a book about a turn-of-the-20th century team of naturalists exploring some nature could be very dry, but this one is not. I think Adams’s decision to also go on a trip helps the reader put the state and it’s history in the here and now, and makes it way more relatable. Plus, the trip is exciting. He runs into bears, evacuates using a prop plane, and a lot of other stuff that I won’t write about.

I recommend this book because you’ll be entertained and you’ll learn something, what more could you want?

The World As It Is

The World As It Is is a look at what makes a functional and aspirational White House. It dives into all of the hard work that even a single piece of policy needs. Throughout his time at the White House, I’m sure Ben Rhodes worked on many things, but he does a smart thing here and focuses on only a couple: Cuba, Pakistan, and Russia. It also stays true to the description of the book: “a memoir of the Obama White House”. It doesn’t stray too far into inside baseball, and if it does, Rhodes is quick to tell us why, and give a more human side to the same story.

It does get a little more in depth than your regular “my time in office” books, but I think that works to it’s benefit. The pieces of policy he focussed on, for example: improving relations with Cuba, are complex issues that deserve to not be simplified. Basically, you will be smarter about foreign policy after you read this (even if it’s only a little bit).

He also goes into the stresses of working at the White House (I’m sure the current administration feels these same stresses). Between the extremely long hours, time away from family, working on vacation, and constant pressure from all sides of government, I’m surprised that White House officials last as long as they do. And Rhodes does a great job of explaining these parts of life as well as the more technical policy aspects.

I highly recommend this book not only for it’s intelligent writing, or a memory of a more competent time, but also because it gives you a more complete understanding of the world. And sure, he worked in a progressive White House, but this book (for the most part) is largely apolitical. The focus is very much on the issues, like the logistics of communicating with Cuban officials. If you get mad watching politics because all they do is spew talking point after talking point at each other, this book will make you feel like, and I mean this apolitically, someone is actually using their brain to run this country.

On the Road

On the Road is the beat novel. It defines the generation and the genre. Jack Kerouac inspired generations of people. And I don’t know how I feel about it at all.

On the Road is a 1957 novel about Sal Paradise (amazing name, though a bit on the nose for the book), and his travels across the continent, mostly America and Mexico. Really the book details what he does on those trips. And I can understand why it was popular: it gave people a new view of how life could be lived. It’s the same reason travel vloggers are so popular. A new perspective that the average person wouldn’t normally see. And it’s also culturally important because of how it’s basically the founding text on the Beats.

And that’s all well and good, but that doesn’t make the book enjoyable to read in a modern setting. It comes across as naive, pseudo-intellectual, not to mention racist, homophobic, and misogynistic. The main characters are unlikable white guys who take almost no responsibility for their actions. Just one example, one of the characters, Dean, leaves his pregnant wife with their young daughter to go with Sal on a road trip, almost on a whim, and they don’t see it as a big deal. It is one of many times that pair do something awful. It makes reading the book a slog. Sure, there’s an argument about the text being about something deeper, like trying to find enlightenment, going about it the wrong way, and ultimately failing, but before that, you have to write an entertaining book. And in the 1950s this was entertaining. People didn’t have the access to different parts of the world like they do now. Taking a trip to San Francisco might’ve only been possible by reading On the Road. Reading it today, though, is different. It is not a book that holds up well. It’s not even entertaining. Why would I get my view of the world through this book, when I could search something on youtube, like Mt. Everest Summit, and get multiple great videos.

Sure, those might not be as challenging intellectually, but my point is times have changed. This book belongs in the past. And that’s ok. It did it’s job then, and can stay there. As a novel, you should stay away. We can break it out every once in a while as a historical document when we need to.

The Lost World

The Lost World is a 1995 sequel to Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, and good news! It’s Jurassic Park, but more! Also bad news, it’s Jurassic Park, but more.

It’s tough to really review this book, because it’s strengths are also it’s (sometimes) weaknesses. The story is pretty similar to the first book (which was really good!) but not a ton has really changed (not ideal). Instead of the amusement park, the setting is a secondary island that was basically used to raise the dinosaurs. The characters are the same (a group of people related to science, plus some kids).

This will be a short review because there are only two things I need to say:

1) Read Jurassic Park

2) If you like Jurassic Park and want more of that, read this. It’ll more than satisfy that craving.

My thoughts on The Lost World can basically be summed up as: Jurassic Park, Again.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is really good. It’s totally deserving of the worldwide acclaim it went through when it came out. The mystery, the characters, the interplay of plots all work well together. If you haven’t already, I would strongly urge you to check it out.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a book about a 50-year-old disappearance of a member of one of the richest families in Sweden. It simultaneously digs through their past, with disgraced writer Mikael Blomkvist brought on to write the history of the family by retired CEO Harold Vanger, as well as deal with their present, as Blomkvist is tasked with also finding out what happened to Harriet Vanger when she disappeared, and who is responsible. Harold believes it is one of his own family members who is still alive and among them in the present. Blomkvist has to deal with all of this while also trying to save his struggling magazine. This mixture of plots creates a combination of suspense, mystery, and thriller that is hard to beat.

While the plot can seem confusing and intimidating, you quickly grow accustomed to the world Larsson creates. It lives and breathes, with characters hopping in and out, although that’s not a bad thing. The story is compelling and never slows down, and the characters help facilitate that movement. Blomkvist’s relationship with at least one character is always changing, which adds to the mystery, as he doesn’t know where he stands with any of the suspects.

Of course, I can’t write about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo without talking about her. Lisbeth Salander is an extremely prolific hacker who, while appearing in the novel significantly less than Blomkvist, is just as or more significant to the plot. It’s hard to explain if you haven’t read it, but she is as much of a main character as he is.

Since this is a mystery, I won’t talk about the plot too much, but let’s just say it delivers and then some. The mystery(-ies) are all very satisfying to figure out, with no real “fast one” being pulled on the audience. Blomkvist is essentially the reader (and writer) stand in.

On that note, the one thing I didn’t like about the book is how much of a writer stand-in Blomkvist is. He writes for a magazine like Larsson, is the same age, and basically every woman in this book can’t keep their hands off him. It was just tiring after a while. Still, only a minor gripe.

In all, definitely read this book. The story, the characters, and the setting are all top notch and will have you on the edge of your seat. Or at least flipping through the pages as fast as you can. It’s super fast paced without being confusing or bloated with characters. One of the modern day thriller/mystery classics. Lives up to the hype.

PS: forgive any name misspellings, there’s bound to be one.

Ben Hogan's Five Lessons

I like golf. I like to watch and I like to play but whenever I get on the course, I’m always just trying to hit a couple of good shots per round. Any tips are always appreciated, but it’s not often those tips come from one of golf’s greatest players. And these tips are pretty simple. They’re very much in the theme of golf: easy to learn, but hard to master.

It’s a short book, so I’ll keep this review short, but basically, if you want to improve every part of your golf swing, from beginning to end, this is the book for you. Each chapter focuses on one specific thing that you could do to improve your game. So take the roughly two hours to read this book, use the advice, and maybe shoot more consistently and play a better game of golf. Maybe now I’ll be able to shoot below 90. Maybe.

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

Normally I don’t read self help books. They’re just not my thing. Why should I trust this random author (for the most part) to impart some unknown wisdom I hadn’t known about? And how would I know that this advice actually works? To me, those books are like taking advice from celebrities. If you like them or find a use for them, more power to you, but they’re not for me. So when I finished reading Col. Chris Hadfield’s book, it immediately shot to my favorite self help book for a number of reasons.

For one, I know that I can trust him. The training astronauts go through is some of the toughest out there. They have to prepare for every eventuality. In the book, he even talks about how they would respond in the event of his or a crewmate’s death. He is someone I would listen to immediately, because I know he put in the work. His bonafides are there. And I know that this advice works, because he provides examples of how every piece of advice works, and works in space! If the advice is good enough for the International Space Station, then it is good enough for me.

So as a self help book, it’s amazing: trustworthy, and actually helpful. The advice is actual, actionable tips that could help you function better. As a biography it’s also pretty good! He parlays his pieces of advice into stories of his past, and how he’s used that advice to help him become an astronaut. And the stories are, of course, very cool. He was a test pilot for jets, then worked on the space shuttle and ISS. Hard to beat that.

I definitely recommend this book. It not only gives helpful tips, but also makes reading about highly technical space stuff very entertaining. Col. Hadfield’s talent in writing this book is distilling complicated information into easy, entertaining, and helpful chapters. It’s more than worth your time.

The Andromeda Strain

Short one today.

The Andromeda Strain is a book about an unknown virus/microbe/illness that crashes onto Earth, and the scientists who must isolate it, find out what it does, and a way to cure it. It is essentially a very high stakes medical drama, but with national security implications. It’s been a few weeks since I listened/read this book, and I have mixed feelings about it, but only because I think some of Crichton’s other books are more memorable.

There are things I can appreciate about Crichton’s writing. It makes extremely smart topics accessible to the general public, while also making them feel smart. The problem with the Andromeda Strain is that that information is delivered to the audience through very bland characters. All I remember about them is one is very successful and lobbies to Congress for funding, and one has epilepsy. Otherwise - especially compared to Jurassic Park - totally forgettable. The plot itself is interesting, but overloaded with these overly-scientific, boring characters. I don’t want to go too much into it because the story is legit, and stands on its own, but to be a truly great read I think you need both plot and characters, and this only has one of the two.

Basically: plot good, characters boring. I would only recommend this if you’ve already read Jurassic Park (and The Lost World), and really want another Crichton book. It will definitely fulfill that need if that’s what you’re looking for. Otherwise read Jurassic Park.

World War Z

This was an interesting book. It is a collection of stories from various survivors of the zombie war, dubbed, surprisingly, World War Z. It is part globetrotting adventure, and part short story collection. It really tells these micro-stories that all add up to the larger story of the zombie war, if that makes sense. You have celebrities holing up on tropical islands, submarines going rogue and finding zombies underwater, downed pilots making their way to safety using nothing but their training and (maybe) a helpful voice on the radio. Overall, the chapters are pretty compelling, with some duds, but I think this is where the audiobook really helps to prop each individual story up. When you have someone like Mark Hamill really going to town with a role, it is instantly more compelling. Some stories stand on their own, like the Battle of Yonkers, but there are a notable number that are pretty forgettable.

For a while a couple of years ago, this book was can’t miss. Everyone was all-in on zombies, and this seemed like on of *the* books on the subject. Extremely entertaining and pretty well thought out, I haven’t met a single person who dislikes it. So maybe my expectations were too high, but I only thought this book was ok, and that is at least in part because of the audiobook performances. A ton of the characters have the same voice and manner of speaking. Even when different characters are speaking in the audiobook, Max Brooks’ voice still shines through, which is not a good thing in this case. It comes off more as “Max’s tells you what happened when all the zombies attacked” than “each character tells their story.”

Another issue I had was the format of this book. Brooks is writing it as an addendum or postscipt to a history textbook, basically. In the framework of the book, the reader is assumed to have lived through WWZ, and is now reading about other people’s stories. However, there is one pretty big fundamental problem with that: the shared history isn’t there. No one has lived through WWZ, so there are references to things that go like, “… and we all know what happened there,” but we don’t because no one knows what happened there! I’m sure this was a very specific decision by Brooks, but in my mind, it just created confusion and didn’t work.

Basically: if you really want to read this, go for it! It’s entertaining and I’m positive there is at least on chapter you will love. If you’re unsure, listen to the audiobook, or don’t read it at all. The audiobook is entertaining thanks to the cast, but you can find something better. Might I recommend Zone One by Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead, something from Stephen King’s Anthology, or Tell My Horse by Zora Neale Hurston.

Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay

Roy Halladay was the best pitcher I ever saw pitch live. Unfortunately, when I saw him pitch, he lost 1-0 against the Cardinals in the playoffs, knocking the Phillies out of the playoffs. For high school freshman me, it was heartbreaking. This book, a biography, is also heartbreaking at times, but definitely not for the same reason.

Doc is a biography of Roy Halladay, a Hall of Fame pitcher who won the Cy Young Award for both the Blue Jays and the Phillies. He is one of 24 pitchers to throw a perfect game (we respect Armando Galarraga here), one of only two to throw a no-hitter in the play-offs, and the only person to throw them both in the same season. Basically, he’s real good.

This book is about his whole life including his time as a teenager pitching in his dad’s basement and in high school, but spends a majority of it’s time on his big-league career, which makes sense. Zolecki does a great job creating the timeline of Halladay’s career, explaining exactly why he was successful, and talking with players, coaches, executives, and family members about what made Roy, Roy.

There’s really not much to say other than it faithfully records Roy’s life, up until the end. I think his wife ends up being the star of the 2nd half of the book, and Harvey Dorfman is the star of the first. Dorfman wrote “The Mental ABC’s of Pitching,” a book about the mentality it takes to be a pitcher. Both Halladay and Chris Carpenter, who came up through the minors with Roy, studied the book and spread it’s gospel. Eventually Roy started to do the same thing as Dorfman, working with the Phillies pitchers on their mental health.

I would recommend this book to anyone, even non-baseball fans, just so they can see the work it takes to become a pitcher in the Major Leagues. If you are a baseball fan, then definitely read this. It’s a deep dive into one of the best pitchers of the new millennium.

And Then There Were None

At first when I was reading this, I was thinking about how cliche the ending was. Like of course that was going to happen, it always happens like that! But then I remembered that, when it comes to the murder mystery genres, a lot of the cliches come from Agatha Christie. So the to start a cliche is actually more of a compliment than one might think. It’s one of the best selling books of all time, which means a lot of people were inspired by or copied it.

Agatha Christie wrote murder mysteries, and this is no exception. The mystery is part of the story, though, so I won’t be talking about it too much save for this short description: 10 criminals are summoned to an island only to find themselves being killed one by one. Really, I’ll keep this review short but sweet :
1) It has sold over 100 million copies

2) The plot or at least parts of it have been used in numerous different formats

3) It’s a standalone, so you don’t need to know any characters previously.

4) It’s worth reading, just to see the master at work.

5) It’s also worth looking into its previous titles because they’re not great, to say the least.

I think you should definitely give it a shot, though comparing to the last Christie book I read, Murder on the Orient Express, I would recommend Orient Express more. I think it’s cast of characters is more fun and the mystery more satisfying, but both books are worth the time to read.

Barracoon

Sometimes for fun I’ll search for those videos on YouTube of those old-time TV shows where they have a really old person talk about their experiences, and since they’re already old at the time of filming, you get to see some really interesting people talk about some piece of history, like civil war veterans talking about a certain battle or an actual eyewitness to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. So when I searched for black-owned bookstores near me and saw this book, I was immediately interested, and yeah, this book is pretty much exactly like that.

Zora Neale Hurston basically condensed an interview transcript with the last living former slave in the US into a sort-of monologue. The book itself is very quick, only about 150 pages, with a lot of extras added on. But those 150 pages are 90% Kossola speaking. The rest is Hurston setting the scene. Honestly, there isn’t much to review here. It’s such a unique type of book that I think you should just read it, straight up. I can guarantee you it will be one of the most fascinating books you’ll ever read.

The extras in the book are also worth talking about: there are some interesting essays about Hurston, like why this book wasn’t published for 70+ years, and some other interesting additions, but they were more like nice add-ons than important parts of the book.

It’s really something you have to see for yourself, like watching Nate Robinson dunk, or Manute Bol hit 6 threes. Not in the “unexpected performance” way, but in the “writing about it doesn’t do it justice” way.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

The first thing I do when I finish a book is mark it as finished on my goodreads account. No special reason, just a good way to keep everything organized and dated correctly. When you finish a book, the app will ask you for a rating, and will take you to the book’s page so you can see the reviews. For Whom the Bell Tolls’ breakdown of star ratings makes sense to me for the most part: most 5 and 4 star reviews. For a book about guerrillas during the Spanish Civil War, that’s pretty good.

This book took me a while to read. It was tough to get through, with a lot of nothing going on for most of the book. It is boring for most of it: a lot of set-up with no climax for a while. Not my favorite read, but it’s the type of book that I can respect and appreciate without necessarily liking it. So when I looked at the top three upvoted reviews on goodreads, I was shocked at how much I was defending it!

For context, the top three were negative: two 1-star reviews and a 3-star review. Of course, people can all have their opinion, but this discrepancy between average rating and top rating is something I haven’t really seen. So I looked into the top reasons why these people didn’t like the novel. because it seemed like a lot of people at least agreed with the issues these reviewers presented, and this is what I found:

1) The writing is boring

2) The book has no rhythm

3) The protagonist is boring and spends most of his time thinking about breasts

4) The feminine foil of Maria is a non-character

5) The climax isn’t even worth getting to.

I won’t go point by point, but I agree with some of these.

The book is boring, as I said above, but I think complaining about that is like complaining about Catch-22 being confusing. That’s kinda the point. War isn’t the beach storming scene in Saving Private Ryan 24/7. It’s inches of action separated by miles on inaction.

Maria isn’t the best foil for Robert Jordan. She doesn’t do much in the whole book except fall in love with Roberto. But I don’t think she is the foil to Robert - Pilar is. She runs the guerrillas by the time Jordan gets there. Everyone respects her as the leader. I think the dynamic between those to is way more interesting and worth appreciating then Robert and Maria.

So yes, I agree, but with some cop-outs.

As for the book having no rhythm, I could pick from 50 different passages that I think were rhythmically beautiful. If there’s one thing this book didn’t lack in my mind, it’s writing that I liked to read.

As for Robert Jordan being a walking-talking buzzcut with an affinity for breasts, I think that reviewer was just looking for a roast and did the best he could considering he’s a goodreads reviewer. (yeah nice one. totally gottem, guy who writes on his website instead.) Robert Jordan is the 1940 American audience’s “in” to this book. It gives them something understandable to grasp onto - a professor from Montanta, who is now fighting in Spain. Sevilla or even Madrid might fly over their heads, but Montana… Americans know Montana.

As for the climax: whoever thinks it is bad or not worth it are just wrong. The last fourth of this book is some damn good writing, with high emotions and brilliant language. I would recommend this book on those 150 pages alone.

Of course, I think this book can be criticized in many ways: it’s probably too long, Maria is basically nothing, the dialogue is interesting (although this can be attributed to having to censor curses and I believe directly translating Spanish), and the tangents are tiresome.

This book is definitely not for everyone, but I don’t think you can call it a bad book by any stretch of the imagination.

Murder on the Orient Express

I would say that Murder on the Orient Express is Christie’s most well known work, but she’s so popular that that might not be true. It’s certainly in the top 5, especially in 2020 thanks to the movie that came out a few years ago. This was my first Christie novel and I had a great time reading it; it was one of the most fun times I had reading a book, and I even knew the ending coming into it!

Murder on the Orient Express is about a murder that takes place, weirdly enough, on the Orient Express. Crazy twist I know, but stick with me. It follows Hercule Poirot as he stumbles into this murder, and accepts the case because he knows the proprietor of the train. The book itself is pretty simple, but in a good way I think. It goes: set-up and murder, interviewing the suspects, and conclusions, and this helped focus my attention while reading. There isn’t really a subplot, save for the connections between the suspects, but that plays into the main story. The writing itself is also simple, but that doesn’t take away from the novel. Right now I’m reading For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, which is about the Spanish Civil War and contains a lot of flowery language, but that’s because it represents many different things, and Hemingway helps the reader understand this by using that kind of language. Christie does the same thing, but she uses the language to help focus the reader on the mystery for the most part.

The mystery itself amazing. First of all, the setting is impossible to beat. A murder on a fancy train with only a limited number of subjects and a limited amount of space is genius. It really gets you thinking through all of the possibilities and if you ended up missing some key piece of evidence. I was definitely trying to figure out how Poirot got to the ending, even though I already knew what that was. Eventually I realized that: 1) I was missing a lot of evidence, and 2) I would have more fun if I just let the story play out, so I did, and I did. The revealing of certain pieces of information, like how Mr. Ratched only spoke one language, didn’t seem important at the time but definitely paid off at the end.

SPOILERS FOR THE END

I also thought the ending was amazingly done. It almost seems like the type of thing that couldn’t be done today, because it gives Poirot a grey area where he makes a definitive choice. Usually the only detectives you have are out for the truth, no matter the cost. But here, Poirot lets everyone go, because justice has been done. It was a masterpiece of an ending, and lends itself to re-read-ability.

Murder on the Orient Express is like watching AI cross over Jordan. It’s always good.

Right now I’m definitely giving it the Thomas Recommends (TM) seal, and might be moving it up to the Hall of Fame, but that’s TBD.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is one of, if not the best, spy novels of all time. Le Carre weaves together a story about figuring out who amongst the upper echelon of agents in British intelligence is a mole working for the other side. George Smiley, an agent recently forced out of the service, is tasked with figuring out who the mole is. His boss, Control, had narrowed down the list of suspects to 4 before he was also forced out and died.

It has everything you want in a spy novel: an agent working outside the law, suspense, intrigue, mystery, foreign operations gone wrong. The story itself is also worth noting. The way Le Carre manages to make all 4 suspects seem like the mole throughout the whole book, essentially combining 5 stories into 1, is amazing. The writing itself is also really in depth, which is something you want from this kind of book. It is not the easiest read, but I don’t think that is a bad thing. It adds to the realism that it seems like this was written by Smiley as an after-action report. You have to be able to figure out what the slang means and what they’re talking about. The book knows that not many people know about how the spy world works, but doesn’t hold your hand by explaining things. There are no paragraphs saying: “This is who Control is, and this is what he does and why it’s important,” which I think helps this book build its credibility. It also helps that Le Carre himself was a member of British intelligence.

This book is an interesting look at not only the inner workings of the spy world, but also the effects of that world on people. Trust and loneliness play a huge role in this book, which I can only imagine comes from Le Carre’s personal experience.

I can’t really write too much about it because that’ll give away the best parts I think, but rest assured, it’s worth your time to read. I’m putting it in my Hall of Fame because I liked it so much! The movie with Gary Oldman is also really good.

This book reminds me of Phil Jackson in a weird way, but instead of managing various personalities on the court, Le Carre is managing potential moles.

The Nickel Boys

This is a short read, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth you’re time. It’s an interesting mix of fiction and non-fiction - the school in the book is based on one in real life, and some of the quotes from the book come from people who actually went to that school.

“School” is a very generous term for what this book is about. It follows Elwood Curtis, a kid about to go to college who is wrongfully convicted of car theft, and sent to The Nickel Academy in Florida. Elwood is an optimistic follower of Martin Luther King Jr. and sometimes struggles with putting King’s speeches and writings into practice in the real world. His main friend in the Academy is Jack Turner, who goes by Turner, and has, to Turner, a more realistic viewpoint. The Nickel Academy is a “school” but really it’s juvenile detention or a “reform school”. Together, they deal with daily racial injustices that come with the living in the South during the Civil Rights movement. I think Whitehead does a really good job of presenting this book - and this is going to sound weird - in a subtle way. Yes the injustices he writes about are obvious and devastating, but since the book is so short there’s almost no time for him to wax poetic about how horrible they were. They just were, and that might make them even worse.

Turner and Elwood are two sides of the same coin, and Whitehead even says this. They represent optimism and cynicism, and since this is such a short book, there isn’t a ton of time to totally flesh out these characters. While I would’ve liked a little more about them, in an allegorical sense they work really well, especially in the last chapter. The mixing of the two sides of the coin worked really well I thought, even if it was a bit obvious (If you read the book this will make sense). Really, the last half of the book engaged me more than the first half. The first section really felt like a lot of setup, using certain tropes to get the reader orientated, and there was a lot of payoff in the second half that I was a lot more interested in, which is why the length of the book is one of the strengths I’ve been harping on.

Overall, this story is more hopeful than I thought it would be, but also more heartbreaking. It’s about a lot of things like innocence, learning, improving, not to mention the spotlight it shines on racial injustice, even to this day. It works both as a work of fiction - the story is engaging and emotional, but I would argue it works even better as an allegory about the Civil Right’s movement as a whole. It simultaneously says: “we can make the world a better place if we keep working at it,” and, “this country is founded on genocide, murder, and slavery and it will always be that way,” and lets the reader come to their own conclusion. Of course, the last chapter is Whitehead’s own conclusion, and I think it’s hard to beat what he wrote. So congrats on you’re Pulitzer, Mr. Whitehead, but today you’ve received and even greater award - I’m giving your book the Thomas Recommends badge.

Moon and Men

I have a weird take here, but hear me out: humans landing on the Moon has become underrated. For some reason it’s only a small blip on the historical radar. World War 2 starts in 1939, ends in 1945. JFK was elected in 1960, the Dodgers win the World Series in 1965, we went to the Moon in 1969, the same year Mickey Mantle retired, the Steelers won their first Super Bowl in 1974. It just fits into the historical timeline, even though it really should not. It should stand out in the national zeitgeist, a shining star, if you will, in human history. For some reasons it’s not, but I think this book really contextualizes what going to the Moon accomplished.

The book is a history of all of the men who’ve gone to the Moon, whether by stepping foot on it or flying by it, on the Apollo missions. It mainly follows Apollo 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, & 17, with some references to 9 & 10 as well. That’s a lot of ground to cover - over 700 pages reading or 23 hours listening - but it goes by so fast, just because what’s going on for a majority of the time - lunar exploration - is so interesting. This book will not only let you marvel at the feat of going to the Moon itself, but will also get you excited about the stories of the astronauts themselves. It features interviews with all of the astronauts, as well as some of the crew on the ground, and hearing all of them talk about the mission is like hearing a relative talk about the coolest story of their good ol’ days, except this story is infinitely cooler. Of course it’s cool to hear from Neil, Buzz, and Michael, but it was almost even cooler to hear from the astronauts from the later missions, because they spent way more time on the lunar surface than the original pair.

This book will ALSO make you care about the geology of the Moon itself. For 700 pages it packs as much information as possible into it. After getting to the Moon, the main reason for being there was to get information about it: how was it formed, were there lava flows on it, etc, etc. so by around Apollo 15, not only was NASA training test pilots to be astronauts, they were training to be geologists. So when Apollo 17 finds orange soil on the surface, you know it’s a big deal.

The Apollo missions are ripe for storytelling. Each one accomplishes something new, or deals with some unforeseen problem. Apollo 13 is the obvious example, but Apollo 12 was struck by lightning (!), Apollo 11 had various program alarms during lunar landing (1202&1201), and many more. The drama is there, and so is the reward. Setting foot on another planet is such a ludicrous concept that every time it happens it is instantly enthralling.

I think everyone should read this book, so it’s going in the Hall of Fame. It’s too good to pass up I think. Either you’ll learn something new, or be introduced into the world of spaceflight. A cool thing you can do while reading this is look up the photos or videos of the events as you read them. Adding that visual layer to this book just made it even better, and there’s some good stuff out there if you search on Youtube. Plus, NASA’s planning to go back to the Moon soon with Artemis, so there’s no better time to read up on the history of humanity on the Moon.

So: read it, look up the photos and videos so you can see it, and enjoy it, because it’s really unbelievable. Like Hakeem on the Rockets.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Not every book needs to be a literary classic, extremely deep, think-piece type work. More often than not, reading about a couple of guys stowing away on a state-of-the-art spaceship that is piloted by a former President of the Galaxy and depressed robot is more entertaining.

This book is highly regarded almost everywhere you look. It’s thousands of people’s favorite book/series of all time, and after reading the first one, I see why. While not my favorite book ever, the writing is entertaining to just read, in the same way that Dorian Gray is entertaining to read. The story itself is fun, but the sentences themselves being entertaining is something that not every author can pull off. They also help convey the feeling of confusion and the whimsical nature of the universe it takes place in. If you go to any page, I’m sure you’ll find some sentence that will make you laugh, which is pretty hard to pull off, especially in a book.

There’s not too much plot, since this is really setting the table for the rest of the series. We’re introduced to the characters, then all of the characters are brought together, and then the main story hook is introduced as a cliffhanger for the 2nd book. I don’t really have any complaints about that though, because I had such a good time reading it. Some people may say that the plot has too many coincidences which is 100% true but that goes along with the goofy kind of story this book is. The same can be said for the ridiculous names of races or planets. Just don’t take it too seriously and you’ll have a good time.

I also listened to the audiobook version narrated by Stephen Fry, which I highly recommend because this book, at least to me, is filled with British humor, and he does a great job of conveying it through his narration.

To sum up: it’s a goofy space book that is a blast to read, and very, very British. Thomas Recommends. Read it and have a good time, don’t be lame. Imagine it’s like Shaq at any All-Star Game - just having a great time.