Twelve Years a Slave

Twelve Years a Slave by Soloman Northup

While Frederick Douglass gets a lot more mention in the area of slave narratives, Twelve Years a Slave really drives home the cruelties of slavery. Solomon Northup just wanted to live his life as a free black man. However, he was captured into slavery. Evil slave traders forced him to hide his true identity and endure cruelties of slavery. He encountered some kind slave holders and some exceptionally cruel ones. He was critical of the entire institution of slavery in that it resulted in such extreme cruelties. Even blacks and kind whites were were debased by slavery.  Eventually, he encountered a Canadian abolitionist who helped send a letter home to bring someone to rescue him from slavery. His rescue almost seemed anti-climatic. While nobody would trust his word that he was free, a white man with documents was easily able to restore him to his freedom. 

After having his freedom restored, his one attempt at action was to press charges against his captors. Alas, the law was on their side. They lied about his condition and his word did not stand up in court. This was a further indictment of the institution of race-based slavery.

The narrative strongly provides a strong indictment of the institution of slavery in a riveting fashion. How could somebody be captured like that and thrown into slavery? The story of slavery in the south is replete with details. There are good events and good people down there. However, at any moment, pure evil could erupt. 

The Box: Tales from the Darkroom

 The Box: Tales from the Darkroom by Günter Grass

Box is a fictionalized autobiography of the author told as reminiscences from his children.  The "box" is a normal camera that takes "magic" pictures. The picture may show events how they would like to have occurred. It may show the future. It shows a form of "truth" that is different from the actual reality viewed. This bit of fantasy allows for some interesting exploration of life during World War II and post-war Germany.

Big Cotton: How A Humble Fiber Created Fortunes, Wrecked Civilizations, and Put America on the Map

Big Cotton: How A Humble Fiber Created Fortunes, Wrecked Civilizations, and Put America on the Map by Stephen Yafa

Cotton was a key player in the industrial revolution and the early history of the United States. The English liked cotton fabric more than the native wool. It came from India and took the country by storm. However, the Indians had the climate to grow it and the skill to transform it to cloth and clothing. Some enterprising Brits worked to learn some of the secrets. Then they worked to make them better. They were able to develop machinery to automate some of the processes. This machines made things much more efficient, but still required many workers. At first, the giant mills were set up by a water source. Later, coal-power allowed them to be anywhere. They helped usher in the industrial revolution. This also led to huge amounts of pollution as well as horrible labor conditions, with child and adult labor.

At first these mills would require cotton from India. However, the American south had a good climate for growing cotton. This had been going along, but was not able to compete well. Plantation slavery could have been on its way out. Then the cotton gin was invented, and things kicked off. Great plantations with many slaves could earn great money - as long as the conditions were right. At first all of this cotton was shipped off to England (via the north.) Then the New England mills were built up. These were built as more "enlightened towns" that treated their employees much better than the English factories. 

The northern factories would initially turn a blind eye towards the slavery in the south. However, as more atrocities became known, that became untenable, and even the mill owners turned into abolitionists. This led to the Civil War. The Cotton interests on both sides expected this to be a quick skirmish before returning to business as usual. The south also had hope that they could bypass the north and sell cotton directly to English. Alas, all sides were wrong. England was reluctant to publicly side with pro-slavery interests and the war went on for multiple years. It took cotton some time to recover.

After the war, cotton returned, but looked different. Textile mills migrated from the northeast to the south. Slave plantations were replaced by sharecroppers and hired labor. Then the boll weevil hit. This best decimated cotton fields. The attempts to eliminate decimated the environment. Cotton still consumes huge amounts of pesticides - even with cotton genetically engineered to be pest and herbicide resistant.

The book starts with a chronological narrative of cotton's history then breaks to explore some key areas of content. There is a discussion on the history of blue jeans and how they played a key role in clothing and culture. There is also discussion of pests, pesticides and organic. It felt we were going back in time to explore cotton from a different angle. The author does fill the book with sly insights and bits of humor. He also makes it personal, tying it to his experience in the early mill town, Lowell, Massachusetts and his buddy Paul Tsongas.

Life Itself: A Memoir

 Life Itself: A Memoir by Roger Ebert

In one area, he mentioned a chain smoker switching to filtered cigarettes. I wonder if electric cars are today's version of filtered cigarettes. They help a little bit in reducing emissions, but it is still just a big car. Just like a filtered cigarette, a car is still dangerous.

Ebert had some family members die from smoking. However, that was just a side note of his story. He had started to blog and take to social media more extensively after his cancer surgery left him unable to talk. He had already had a talent for writing. However, that was joined with an outgoing personality and a love to socialize. Writing to social media helped provide an outlet for some of the social behavior, but was still not the same.

The memoir goes through the standard reminiscences of early history. He grew up in Urbana, Illinois - a college town, home to the University of Illinois. He was born during World War II, and thus predated the baby boomers by a few years. He is not an active Catholic, but he has positive memories of his time in Catholic school and church. He was an avid stamp collector and writer and worked on the newspaper and enjoyed reading, watching movies and writing. He states that a lot of things just "happened" in his life that ended up providing opportunities.

He later moved to Chicago to work on a PhD. Needing a job, he sought one with a newspaper. He ended up getting a position with the Sun Times. After a while, they needed a movie critic and he got the job. Later the PBS station wanted a TV show. Ebert and Siskel were two local critics chosen. The chemistry they had (and constant fighting) helped make it a success and further launched his career. He also had experience with alcoholism and then sobriety through AA. 

With his job, he traveled to many locations and met many people. There are many chapters in the book detailed some of the more memorable ones. There are famous directors and actors that he considers friends. There are others that he is on good terms with, but would not consider to be friends. There are also plenty of other people that had impact on his life. He also detailed locations such as a small hotel in London and a little cafe in Venice that were important to him. He also had an interesting experience studying in apartheid South Africa. Through all these, he seemed to be somebody that would observe the situation and develop strong opinions, but would still get along with anybody.

How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence

How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan went from writing about food to writing about drugs. In this book he explores psychedelic drugs. LSD had been studied extensively since it was first synthesized in 1938. The company that synthesized it gave samples to researchers and it spread. However, by the late 1960s, it became associated with the counterculture movement and was banned as a recreational drug. Recently more research has been underway. Other drugs, such as "magic mushrooms" and peyote have manage to escape as significant negative associations, and have been able to continue limited "legitimate use" as part of religious rituals.

The drugs enable experiences that are similar to religious experiences. They are almost "religion for those that don't believe". Some are also used in conjunction with religious experiences. The place and setting when a drug is consumed can change the experience. There does appear to be some use for the drugs. However, it tends to require a more wholistic approach than trying to break it down to individual components.

The most interesting part about the book is the history. There have been a lot of ups and downs and "interesting" characters involved with psychedelics. It has been "super serious" and "counter-cultural" at times. It is still not totally clear what they do. They seem to cut off some automatic "filling in of the blanks" as well as allowing more free associations. Are there other ways to accomplish what the drugs help accelerate? Could they be used for a "one time" cure for ailments, or would they end up just being a regular consumption drug. Could they even be legitimized? Or are the associations and history too strong to allow them in a lefit area?

Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Foods

 Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Foods by Sarah Lohman

There are a lot of foods that are "endangered" because they are not being produced or consumed much anymore. This book covers a number of those foods in the USA. One case is a different breed of peanuts. It was popular, but has been all but taken over by the common one. There have been attempts to bring it back. However, in the early stages, it costs much more than regular peanuts, and thus has been slow to be adopted. Other stories are of animals and other foods that are "non-commercial" in nature and endangered.

Maximum Impact: Maxim’s Quiet Rise as Silicon Valley’s Most Prolific Analog Chip Maker

Maximum Impact: Maxim’s Quiet Rise as Silicon Valley’s Most Prolific Analog Chip Maker by Tunç Doluca 

Maximum Impact is part biography of Jack Gifford and part history of Maxim Semiconductor. Even if Jack had not founded Maxim, he would have been a key player in Silicon Valley. He was the leader of analog products at Fairchild Semiconductor. He cofounded AMD. He became CEO of Intersil. And in between he worked in farming and other endeavors. He eventually founded Maxim and lead the company through it's early growth phase, passing away a short time after he left the company.

Jack went to UCLA to play baseball before "stumbling" into the semiconductor industry. He had hard-driving, yet family oriented management style that would likely not pass muster today. He ended up leaving the company as a stock-options backdating scandal unfolded. Maxim had almost always picked the "low price" for option valuations to give employees the best option value. This "backdating" was found to only benefit the rank and file, and not be used to enrich executives.

Maxim itself rose as a pure-play analog semiconductor company. There were lean days at the start, but the company persevered to become a behemoth in the industry. The book is full of plenty of analog semiconductor jargon. Those with intimate knowledge of the industry would likely understand the detailed significance of the events. For the rest of us, the book makes clear that these were some important things that happened.

The book was written primarily by the second (and final) CEO of Maxim. It is filled with quotes from people that played a role in the early days of the company. Many of the stories will be familiar to those that lived through the industry. The book provides a glimpse into the inner workings of a less well-known Silicon Valley success story.

Music by Year

My music "library" started back with cassette tapes in the 80s. There were songs taped from the radio as well as purchased tapes. Then it moved to CDs. There was also a brief sojourn into CDs. By 2000, digital downloads started to come to play. I had ripped many CDs to MP3s. (I even paid the for Audiograbber shareware - only to have it go free a year later.) I tried using Real music player. It did produce smaller file sizes, but had a tendency to create "noise" in the tracks. Later, I imported all the MP3s into iTunes. From there, I used Audacity to rip all the the cassette tapes and LP records to import to the library. There would also be a few new CDs coming in, as well as digital downloads - mostly from Amazon, Apple or Freegal. There were also a fare number from mp3.com and other sources at the time.

Now that streaming is available, why bother? We pay for the Amazon music membership. You can also listen to anything free on Spotify. These sources do have their problems. There are some things that just do not exist there. (I have not been able to find the Tuba flight of the bumblebee anywhere.) There is also the flexibility of having the music to play anywhere. And the best of all, it makes it easy to do analytics.

What is the Year?

There is a "year" field available in MP3 metadata. It is nice and vague. Just "year". I've interpreted it to be "year when this music was available". For contemporary music, this is usually the year the recording was released. For "greatest hits" and remasters, I try to add the original release date. This often involved some wikipedia hunting. There is also a little fudging. Sometimes, the album may have been released at a different time than the single. I would try to pick the consistent one. Covers could get a little trickier. If it is a faithful recording of a standard, I may go with the original date the song was written. If it takes a significant new spin, I'll use the date it was recorded.

For classical music, I'll use the date the song was "made". This allows for some fudging. It could be the composition date, the publication date or the first date it was performed. I prefer when all are the same, but sometimes there can be significant differences. I do try to end up with something that could be the first time it was "heard" by an audience.

I completed the effort to "date" most of the library. Some songs I did take with "FIX DATE" to indicate that I needed more work. Other songs already had a date that seemed to be about in the realm of reasonable, so I just left it. Maybe later, I could update those.

What Years do I have?

There were plenty of songs from the 80s and 90s. Almost every year was present for the past 100 years. However, there were a few gaps. Wikipedia's Years in Music was a great source for finding key songs from those years. Sometimes I already had a version of the song, just tagged with a different year. Freegal is a good source for finding songs to fill the gaps. However, many libraries are moving away from the downloadable Freegal songs to other streaming options. 

The Library of Congress Jukebox collection was useful for filling in some gaps. However, these were digitizations of old records and not of the highest quality. The Internet Archive Audio Collection also had a lot of items, but had numerous issues. It was hard to search, the quality was typically not very good, and copyright provenance was not very thorough. 

I was able to fairly quickly fill in the gaps for the 1900s. Then it started to get more challenging. Some of the older ones were "common" songs that could be found in the existing collection. I could also slowly fill in some gaps from Freegal. However, with only 5 downloads per week, and a clumsy search, this could take a long time. 

Since we were moving into the classical era, finding high quality, free "modern" recordings of songs seemed be the way to go. Classical Cat is a good index of classical music. It has links to classical recordings on other sites, but alas, does not have years. Many of these are musicians putting up recordings of their own music. Often I would discover performers such as Singakademie Tsukuba and the Gardner Museum that have a large number of recordings from various composers. The big effort is doing searches to find the dates of these compositions.

ISMLP is one of the few sources that has details on dates. Alas, the search for date, doesn't seem to work well, so I would manually chnage the year in a url like  https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Works_first_published_in_1678. It is geared towards sheet music. However, there is a filer to view items that have recordings. It is fairly thorough with copyright validation, and thus some of the recordings will appear as "non-PD US". Luckily,  can often find a different composition from the year that is publicly available. ISMLP also cross references performers. Thus, after finding a renaissance recording from Phillip Serna, I was able to see that he had many others on the site. 

One quirk I have found with ISMLP is that arrangements will often have their own recordings - often via MIDI. If I can't find a recording for a year, I can search for arrangements and then see if there are recordings there. Sometimes it is an actual MP3. Other Times, it is an MIDI file. I can import that into GarageBand and produce an MP3 from that. More work, but it does fill in gaps.

Going back, years get a little more questionable. ISMLP will have the publication year, which, for older compositions can be a few centuries after the year it was composed. Often, I'll need to search for compositions found on the Wikipedia year page after failing to come up with anything when searching by the year. There may be one year in ISMLP, another in the Wikipedia year page and another in the composer's works listing. Sometimes it just isn't clear when a composition was made, and there could be a range of a decade or more. If I am desperate to fill in a year. 

Another source for individual performances is Musicalion. This is another score site with recordings of songs uploaded. You have to register for scores, but recordings are freely downloadable. The search is pretty much only by composer or performer (with a really long drop down.) It can often be difficult to figure out what the recording is. (It may be a small piece of a greater work, with little metadata.) Luckily, you can often see some details on the sheet music - some even has the year written.

Freegal can also be a good source for older songs. I can search for a year like 1656 and get a list of songs with that in the name. Sometimes this is the actual year when it was made. At other times it may be a random number in the song. Freegal search has plenty of quirks of its own, and sometimes a search for a song will turn up empty, while I later stumble upon it when searching another way.

For each song I find, I try to annotate it with the source URL where it was downloaded as well as another source for the year it was made. As of now, I have recordings for every year from 1654-2024, with many older recordings. I like to sort the library by year and just start playing. It is interesting to see how music evolves - and how some old work sounds similar.

Seattle, Past to Present

Seattle, Past to Present by Roger Sale

This history of Seattle written nearly 50 years ago seems remarkably current. Many of the concerns and politics seem familiar today. We've gone from Boeing to Microsoft to Amazon. Seattle has continued to grow in part because it was there. It grew during the Yukon gold rush because it was already of sufficient size to support those coming through. It has grown during the tech boom because it already had a tech economy present.

Seattle is less than 200 years old, with the politics different than many east coast cities. Seattle has never had a "boss". Initially everybody lived close together. Rich and poor would intermingle. Then things started to change. Places like the Highlands were built to keep the rich away from the poor. Things moved towards a "separate" culture.  Cars, freeways and suburbs came to exacerbate this situation. Progressive good government advocates came to be replaced by more left-wing socialist tendencies.

Seattle was initially in competition with Tacoma. Seattle did manage to get the University, while Tacoma got the railroad first. However, Seattle was persistent, and got its own railroad. It was also able to keep growing, while Tacoma stagnated.

Seattle has a history of remaking itself. Tide flats were filled in. Hills were leveled. Canals were dug. Some of these changes may not have been so useful. There have also been plans that have never been carried out. There was the Bogue plan which would have created a system of parks and subways and made a great city ahead of its time. Alas, it was defeated at the polls, thanks in part to "anti-elite" writing. (Ironically, the "elite" had not mobilized enough behind it because they did not have enough to gain individually.)  There were also plans for leveling many hills and bulldozing areas to make more freeways. We are probably much better off that these never came to be.

When this was written in 1976, the future of Seattle did not look strong. There were concerns about Seattle not growing and innovating as it should, though there was still potential. It appears that some of the potential has been exercised, though plenty of concerns remain.

Against the Grain: Christianity and Democracy, War and Peace

Against the Grain: Christianity and Democracy, War and Peace by George Weigel

This is a series of essays on war and foreign relations written by a conservative Catholic theologian. Many were originally given as lectures at various organizations. The author admits that he is often considered to be a "theo-con".

The author is concerned with the role of church in the world. The church should have a role in society, however, it should be separate from society. It is not good to keep the church out of public discourse, nor is it appropriate for the church to conform to current norms. Issues like abortion and euthanasia and birth control are key areas where the church differs from society. The author feels it was inappropriate for the church to dominate the political sphere as it did during the middle ages. 

He returns multiple times to concerns about jihadism. Christianity has learned that it is best to separate church from state. Islam is still attempting to implement a theocracy. It is our duty to ensure that Islam its appropriate place. People must adhere to laws. We should not bend over backwards to religious bullies. (He mentioned the response to Danish cartoons that Muslims found offensive.) There is concern that western society has attempted to subjugate Christianity, while giving Islam free reign. The west also appears to be committing demographic suicide. Most of the west does not have a sustainable birth rate. Population is maintained by immigration, often by Muslim immigrants. These populations have greater birth rates and may dominate the western world.

Another theme is the concept of the just war. When is it appropriate to go to war? The Iraq and Afghan wars were given as examples of just wars. There was the potential for significant harm with the local tyrants in power. However, the full process was not carried out properly. He considers four different "wars" in Iraq. The first was done well. However, the country was then left in shambles. Borders were unmanned and other revolutionaries were allowed to slip in. Bad behavior and poor planning by the military led to the falling apart of culture and a disdain for Americans. The just war was followed by a bad occupation that hurt the end result.

The book provides insight into the conservative side of Catholic thought. The audience appears to consist primarily of Catholics or those with significant knowledge of Catholicism. There were a number of Catholic terms and teachings thrown about. It was possible to discern the meaning based on context, but I'd assume those with more experience would have a deeper understanding.

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez

Sal comes from a magician background and is having trouble in school. Gabi is the popular girl at school. Sal struggles a lot with talking to her and understanding relationships. However, they eventually become friends.

In response to a bully, Sal is able to pull a chicken from another universe into a locker. This sets off explorations of the multiverse. They communicate with robots (and try to determine if they are in fact robots.) There are school projects, plays and other things. At times you wonder if this is just "imagination" or in fact a real experiences. At the conclusion they are struggling with terminal illnesses of family members. Can they find an alternate universe where they live?

I got lost at times when they book went "out there" (like with the humanoid robot), but then woudl get back into it as it started getting back down to earth and a more standard multiverse.

Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World: A History

Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World: A History by William Alexander

Tomatoes were a new world plant that had a big impact on the old world. At first, people were reluctant to consume the tomato. However, they eventually became a significant part of the diet. They first infiltrated Spain, and later Italy. In many places, the name is a variation of the Aztec tomatl. However, in Italy, they were pomodoro (golden apple). Another German variation was "apple of paradise".

Tomatoes went on to be a part associated with Italian pasta. (Today, we still use the Italian names, because "vermicelli" sounds better than "little worms".) Later, they became an integral part of pizza. Naples is the birthplace of pizza and has many pizzerias, but a strict style for pizza. However, pizza as we know it was much more the works of Italian immigrants in New York, and didn't really catch on until after World War II.

In the US, tomatoes were initially shunned, but then started to catch on in the late 1800s. There were heirloom varieties at the time. They appeared in abundant quantities when in season, then disappeared. Florida tomatoes soon changed that. They were available year round and could be shipped great distances. However, they were bred for durability, not taste. This lead to the bland, tasteless tomatoes.

Ketchup was initially a Chinese sauce. Later a tomato-based version was made using discarded tomatoes. Heinz had a significant hold of the market. However, when regulators begin to criticize some of the preservatives, they looked to reformulate. Using fresh tomatoes along with the vinegar and sugar allowed the ketchup to be preserved without additional preservatives. This became the standard formulation, with Heinz continuing to dominate.

The book takes time to explore different types of tomatoes and how different usages of tomatoes came to take hold in the world. It is replete with many "non-tomato" insights into the related foods.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

This novel was extremely popular during World War II. It feels like more of a book of sketches than a full novel. We get insights into the lives of various people living in urban America. Most of the people are from immigrant families. (Though there is one story where somebody who responded that their parents were from Brooklyn when asked where they were from.) Most of the stories involved poverty. A man dying shortly after getting kicked out of his union. Little girls get gifted a doll from others. There are prostitutes trying to make a living, as well as somebody trying to adopt a child from a girl who disgraced her family. People are discovering sexuality and their bodies, but in a world where people don't really talk about it. There are plenty of struggles in adapting to the new world and their language. A girl learns to write and the key difference between imaginative writing and lying.

There are a variety of vignettes in the novel. For some, I would zone out and have no idea what just happened. Others were much more engaging.

The Seattle Street-Smart Naturalist: Field Notes from the City

The Seattle Street-Smart Naturalist: Field Notes from the City (Seattle) by David B. Williams

I had initially thought this book would point out interesting "natural areas" in the city. It does a bit of that. However, the focus is on "themes" of nature within the cities. There are chapters on hills and fault lines that are very place-centric. However, others cover topics such as eagles, crows, geese, bugs, and invasive species. There are many interesting nuggets in the book. Crows are very territorial, and are thriving in the city in thanks to the open space in the suburbs. 

Many of the plants and animals in the city are non-native invasive species. They are able to thrive and push out many of the natives. Animals have had a love/hate relationship. At one time, significant effort was made to increase the geese population. Now, there is more often active culling. 

The area occupied by Seattle had a diverse landscape before the city was developed. There were areas dominated by large evergreen trees. There were also creeks, bogs and wetlands with diverse flora and fauna. Some areas such as Carkeek Park and Thornton Creek expose some of this diversity. Other areas have long been paved over.

The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph

The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday

We will always face obstacles in life. What we do with them determines the outcome. Many great successes came about in response to an obstacle that got in the way of the desired path. A stoic philosophy can help to view these obstacles as part of the path forward. The book has plenty of examples. However, it would be interesting to consider the counter-factual. Could success have been obtained without the obstacle? What about many others that encountered the obstacle, but failed? Had they also responded positively to obstacles but not succeeded?

Energy and Civilization: A History

Energy and Civilization: A History by Vaclav Smil

How has energy influence the course of history? This book takes a look at the history of humanity from the perspective of energy. Almost all energy consumed originates from the son. Plants are able to utilize photosynthesis to (somewhat inefficiently) convert this to biomass.) Animals get energy from these plants.  Early hunter gatherers would expend a significant amount of energy to get enough food to support themselves. Agriculture led to the ability to harness more energy. 

With humans working beyond subsistence, additional sources of energy could be found. Animals were domesticated and served to harness other sources of energy. Biomass (such as trees or dung) was burned to produce heat. The wind was harnessed via windmills and sailing ships. More efficient ways of harnessing energy included harnesses fossil fuels such as oil and gas. These were portable and had high energy density, but also take much longer to replenish than other sources.

Wars have been fought, regimes have tumbes and many societal changes have occured due to energy. Sometimes it is due to availability of types of energy in one location. Other times, technological innovations help to harness energy better. The world still only harnesses a small fraction of the available solar energy with fairly low efficiency. 

This book is fairly long, and tries to cover an entire history of the inter-relation and evolution of energy and civilization. It could probably still go into much greater detail. It is an interesting topic that does serve as the basis for much of culture.

Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times

Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times by Eyal Press

What causes people to go against orders in order to do what they feel is right? During Nazi Germany, soldiers were ordered to perform cruel acts to Jews. Even outside of Germany, there was significant discrimination against the Jewish population. However, some people refused to participate in the cruelty. One factor that contributed to this was association with people. It was easy to order cruelty towards unknown people from a distance. It is much more difficult to do so when you are close to somebody.

Sometimes those that "break ranks" do so out of strong moral values. Other times it is just a condition that leads them to do so.  The book pivots from war-time cruelies to modern business whistleblowers. Despite the appearance in Hollywood movies, the life of the whistleblower is hard. Often they are rejected, and can only achieve success after many struggles and persistence. Often whistleblowers do so out of respect. They like the company or industry, and want it to work properly. Whistleblowers tend to be more common in the United States than in places like Japan. 

The book tells the story of a whistleblower that brought down  the Stanford Group ponzi scheme. It is shocking that this went on for so long without anyone seriously questioning the irregularities. 

The book provides a few anecdotes to explore "breaking ranks" and attempts to draw some conclusion. However, it is better seen as a "story" than a study that draws conclusions.

Everydata: The Misinformation Hidden in the Little Data You Consume Every Day

Everydata: The Misinformation Hidden in the Little Data You Consume Every Day by John H. Johnson and Mike Gluck

We see different types of data throughout the day. From the few bytes of data that represent the time on the alarm clock, to the megabytes representing pictures and videos, we are constantly bombarded. Understanding what the data contains continues to be a challenge. Sometimes the data is intentionally cherry-picked to help encourage a certain response. Other times, the changes may be unintentional. We are are also likely to be more influenced by anecdotes than the true data. The book, like others provides hints on how we can identify the "truth" behind the data we see. 

A Raisin in the Sun

 A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

An African American family in Chicago get an inheritance and want to decide what to do with it. Grandma wants to get a house in a nice neighborhood. One of the adult sons wants to invest in a business. They decide to do a bit of both. Alas, somebody runs off with the business money. They do have the house. However, the neighborhood does not want them there. In a nice way, they offer to buy them out to keep the neighborhood white. The family thinks about it, but decides not to.

The play explores the subtle challenges of race and class in society. The family is concerned about how they will be seen by others, judging both those above them and those below them. Money may cause a change in material circumstances, but you are still left with your internal character.

Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture

Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture by Jean-Baptiste Michel and Erez Aiden

The Google book-scanning project gives us easy access to a great library of books and can help us understand the evolution of language. The authors were able to analyze how words changed and when they changed. Many irregular verbs have slowly gone out of style. The least used ones are the first to regularize, while the more common ones are slower to change. We can also see how words like babysitter gradually evolve.

The describe their findings as well as the work they have gone through to be able to do the research. There are plenty of great nuggets in the book. However, the writing, while personable comes up lacking.

The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World

The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World by Charles C. Mann

Norman Borlaug and William Vogt had very different responses to the question of human population growth. Borlaug launched the green revolution. He found ways to increase the food production capacity. He helped breed high-yielding crops. By applying the proper fertilizer and water with the right breed of crop, farmers can produce much greater yields on smaller land. Vogt looked at the negativity of growth and encouraged reductions in the human footprint.

Borlaug won the Nobel prize. However, his achievements are now being reassessed. While it has helped increase yields, there have also been negative results, ranging from environmental degradation to unemployment and obesity.

Now climate change is a big concern. However, we continue to have wizards looking at ways we can continue to consume as before while limiting our carbon footprint. Maybe now is the time to re-think consumption and look at how we can get by with less.

Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up

Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up by Abigail Shrier

Therapy may. be making us much worse. Therapists often have good intentions. They are trying to help. However, they may help "uncover" problems that did not exist previously. (People have a tendency to remember the bad, and more discussions about it may amplify it.) Therapy also encourages a self-focus that can distract from the growth and better integration in society.  Therapists also have financial incentive to continue therapy. There is rarely an event that can be marked as a "cure", thus therapy can go on indefinitely. It can be even worse for children. They can easily be convinced of issues by the manner of questioning. A well-mannered child is a much easier client than a bi-polar adult, making them a much better client to hold on to.

What is the alternative to therapy? Removing phones from children may provide a greater increase in mental health than a visit to a therapist. Maybe we do just need to allow for more personal communication all around. It seems too often the suggestion is for "professional help", when what people really need is a friend.

Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America

Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America by Conor Dougherty

Housing has become too expensive. Zoning regulations make building difficult. Many people are living on the streets because there is no place they can afford to live. What should we do? Golden Gates focuses on attempts in San Francisco and California to improve the housing situation.

San Francisco is an extremely liberal city with some of the most expensive housing in the country. People want to move to the city for the many job opportunities. When this happened in the per-War age, cities such as Chicago and New York built up huge tracts fo dense housing. Alas, it is more challenging in San Francisco today. The different types of liberals often work against each other to prevent new housing. Preservationists want to keep the historic character of neighborhoods. They may mention fears of "gentrification" to stymie development. Housing advocates will sometimes fight against anything that is not 100% affordable housing. Environmentalists fear the environmental impacts of new housing. Those supporting new housing are typically the developers and unions that benefit from the act of construction. The voice of "future residents" are almost never heard.

Some people have stepped in to start to advocate for growth. Any development can be good. The difficulty of building housing makes developers concentrate on high end housing. Making development easier would allow for greater diversity in development. The high end of today is what will be the lower priced housing in the future. 

Rent control may benefit current renters, but it often has negative impacts on supply and future renters.

One issue is that today housing is viewed as an investment, not just a place to live. Thus people are more concerned with the impacts on property values. We have many subsidies for buyers, yet it is becoming increasingly difficult to buy.

California has gone through a few different phases of development. In the post-war era, the state focussed on building. Many cities and suburbs sprang up on vacant land with the state helping with the infrastructure (such as water projects.) Then things turned and zoning laws discouraged development. Now there is a shift to encourage more development in part by taking some control away form communities.

The book details stories of fights for housing legislation, as well as the advocacy for San Francisco development and the fight to support apartments in tony Lafayette. the stories combine to show a picture of what can be done to help with housing in the near future. However, the author is cautious to note that there have been many "solutions" that have not panned out. We will see what the future holds now.

The Bad Food Bible: Why You Can (and Maybe Should) Eat Everything You Thought You Couldn't

The Bad Food Bible: Why You Can (and Maybe Should) Eat Everything You Thought You Couldn't by Aaron E. Carroll 

Eat whatever you want, it is probably not as bad for you as you think. But watch out for sugar, that probably is worse for you than you think. That pretty much sums up this book. The author spent time looking at various studies and found faults with most of them. Substances are often identified as "bad" after rats were fed an amount many times larger than humans consume. However, rats are not humans, and humans would not consume that much alone. Other times confounding factors are missing. Seems an easy option is to just eat appropriate quantities of what makes you feel good as long as it is not too heavily processed. 

Milk Money: Cash, Cows, and the Death of theAmerican Dairy Farm

Milk Money: Cash, Cows, and the Death of the American Dairy Farm by Kirk Kardashian

American dairy farmers do not have it well today. The work is difficult, and the earnings are small and erratic. this book is an exposé of the underbelly of the dairy industry, while being sympathetic to the small family dairy farmer.

Dairy really took off in the northern climates of Europe. Farm animals had been milked in warmer climates. However, the milk was typically consumed in a processed fashion (such as yogurt.) In the north, the growing season was shorter and milk would be a better source of food. People also had genetic adaptations to be able to consume dairy into adulthood. This allowed more consumption of fresh milk. (It would be interesting to see how this came about. Did those with the mutation travel to the north? Or did those in the north with the mutation out-survive others?)

Dairy finances are extremely convoluted. There have been various price support and subsidy schemes in place. At one time, the government promised to buy all excess milk, leading to large storage of cheese and nonfat dry milk. There have been various export schemes. However, American milk is expensive and at is a challenge to compete internationally. Milk is a commodity, and farmers are paid by the hundredweight based on market prices. These are set by a survey, yet often just end up being the low price from the commodity exchange. 

Farmers often sell their milk to processors. They must pay to have the milk hauled away. they must pay for marketing. There are a multitude of items that end up being deducted from what they receive. Even when the are members of cooperatives, there may be factors working against their interest.

Consolidation has happened in the dairy industry. Giants, such as Dean have gobbled up many of the processors and squeezed the producers. Farmers have moved to huge CAFO operations. The health of the cow and the quality of milk are not nearly as important as the quantity produced. There are significant fixed costs involved. It is difficult to reduce production, thus there is a constant pressure to produce more. The giant producer operations can better manage economies of scale. However, they depend on labor - which is often from Mexico and central America. The environmental impact of these giant operations also tends to be much worse.

The book concludes with the "future" of dairy farming. A small scale distributor that focuses on high-quality milk. The milk is not organic, but adheres to higher quality standards. Farmers can be paid more as they focus on brand rather than commodity. This does seem like a nice solution. However, I can only see this being a niche market. Maybe that is what is left for family farmers, while the big guys can focus on the commodity market. The book is an interesting look into the economics of milk. It tries from some personalization, but doesn't succeed as well as some other similar books.