Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah

Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah by Charles King

Handel's Messiah has become one of the most famous classical works. It's Irish debut at a charity function was very well received. After that, it faded in popularity before it boomed again. The book focuses mostly on the background of the time and characters involved. Handel had leaned into playing for his audience. He took elements of popular opera, but made them accessible in English. Scriptural stories were also understood. Oratorios were an alternative to the high production costs of opera. The book also delves into the history of one of the early stars of his opera. She was a popular actress, but then had a scandalous personal life due to an affair and distance from her playboy husband. Years after things calmed down she was ready to make a comeback with Handel.

Very Important People: Status and Beauty in the Global Party Circuit

Very Important People: Status and Beauty in the Global Party Circuit by Ashley Mears

There is a "super rich people" party circuit that goes around New York and other key areas of the world. To help run this, promoters help bring "girls" into the clubs. The girls must be young, tall, skinny and good looking. They should preferably be models, though occasionally "civilians" that meet the criteria are ok. Having a lot of girls help the clubs attracted more rich men. The men are encouraged to engage in ridiculous conspicuous consumption. The clubs usually have an "it" lifespan of only a few years. Though they may stay around afterwards basking on their past glory and attracting tourists. The promotors get to schmooze with the rich and famous and think of them as friends. However, the rich think of them as service staff. For the girls, they are typically provided some reciprocal benefits by the promoter (such as free meals, club entry, and even places to live and rides.) Models are typically independent contractors and this party circuit is one of the few ways they can make ends meet. They get some opportunities to hob nob with the rich and sometimes travel the world. However, their life is not super great, and their expiration date usually comes in the late 30s, with most having little long term relationship. They don't want to get paid for what they do because that makes it feel more like a job. The prostitutes and those that are paid occupy a lower level in this whole rent-a-friend culture. I guess if people like partying, getting involved in a way to do it for free may feel nice as long as they know what they are getting into.

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

I had read this back when it came out. There have been many that contradicted the argument since then. However, the general research and arguments are still quite convincing. He argues that factors in the natural environment play a big role in the development of cultures. When there is a large connected region across similar climates, the agricultural knowledge can easily be shared. When there are barriers in between, sharing is a much slower process. Some areas had many plants and animals that were ready for domestication, while other places did not. There was one example from polynesia where one culture advanced significantly beyond another after a period of separation. Through history cultures that were more advanced were able to dominate those that were not.

The Forger’s Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century

The Forger’s Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century by Edward Dolnick

Towards the end of World War II, Holland was in ruins. One of the few ways to make money was to sell artwork to the fleeing Nazis. Han van Meegeren was a talented artist whose paintings did not gain much respect. He was willing to experiment and concoct ways for his paintings to past the tests to identify them as centuries old. He then created some "new" Vermeer paintings. The experts believed him and he was able to make a fortune selling these paintings to the Nazis. Alas, he was eventually caught - not for creating forgeries, but for collaborating with the enemy. He admitted to forging and ended up with a lighter sentence, but died before he served it. It is interesting that the "art" in artwork is not very important as compared to the provenance.

You Bet Your Life: From Blood Transfusions to Mass Vaccination, the Long and Risky History of Medical Innovation

You Bet Your Life: From Blood Transfusions to Mass Vaccination, the Long and Risky History of Medical Innovation by Paul A Offit

Medical innovation has saved many lives, but it has not all gone well. Even common treatments today have had rocky starts. This book details many of these cases of tragedies with medical innovation. Blood transfusions had many challenges early on. Once AIDS come on the scene, hemophiliacs were susceptible to the virus before things were improved. People died from early doses of the polio vaccine because the virus was not properly killed. However, both of these treatments saved many lives and resolved their initial problems.  Alas, in the hyper-litigation culture of today, we can halt promising treatments due to early deaths. A little bad publicity can set a treatment regime back years. Should we accept the risks to experiment? Or should we try to be 100% safe, even if it results in more deaths?

No Bad Parts

No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model by Richard C. Schwartz

The book is a psychological hippie trip. The author explores people's multiple personalities and works to bring out certain "parts" to help make people better. Often these parts were caused by trauma and still view people as being the age when the trauma occurred. The audio book includes "sessions" that are slow and sound more hippie than psychological. (There is even advocacy for using psychoactive drugs to help.) There may be some sense to exploring different "parts", but the way he goes about it is a real turn off.

Feast of the Goat

The Feast of the Goat: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, translated by Edith Grossman

Rafael Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic as a cruel dictator. Near the end of his reign, there was extreme depravity. He demanded loyalty and killing of enemies. He enjoyed showing his virility by sleeping with girls, especially young ones. The novel covers much of this depravity as it tells the story of a senator and his daughter. The senator fell out of favor with the dictator and had everything taken away from him and is even forced to give his daughter to the dictator's pleasure. After the experience, she is able to leave to study in the US. Shortly after that the dictator is assassinated. However, the planned coup fell apart and eventually another strongman came to power. The framing story is that of the girl returning back home to care for her ailing father (the former Senator) and the current state of the Dominican Republic. This is interleaved with the many tails of the past and the terrors of the regime. It uses this fictional framing to provide a strong story of the terrors of the past regime.

Blightfall

Blightfall by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson

There is peace in the Skyward society. They are now going on a mission to meet a human colony that never seemed to be under the Superiority. It seemed simple. However, they ran into problems. There was a dangerous debris field and they were attacked by an AI. The AI is controlling the society with a gladiator game to get the best fighters who she supposedly sends out to fight human enemies. Through some difficult spying they discover that the AI is actually freezing these people as she accumulates a frozen army. The AI has been programmed to save humanity. She had done this by moving earth through the "nowhere", which in the process destroyed the Americas (which became a debris field). Those that survived the earth moved over to this new planet which included walking trees. The Skyward crew manage to get out as they also struggle with relationships among each other and the awkward communication challenges, especially across species. They explore relationships and as "joy" vs. population necessity as well as gender expression as they try to save themselves and this other world. Tone is light, though it does feel a bit long. 

Several People Are Typing

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

The book is told in the form of Slack conversations. The story is primarily an office-style workplace romp, with a key event being a storm that requires most people to work from home. One of the people battles with a slack bot, and ends up being stuck in there. It is a nice attempt, with some humor but will get dated very quickly.

Memoirs of Hadrian

Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar translated by Grace Frick

The Roman emperor Hadrian was a real man. This book contains many accurate events of his life wrapped in a fictional narrative addressed to his successor. This brings the emperor to life in a way that a simple non-fiction work cannot.

Dark Matter: A Novel

Dark Matter: A Novel by Blake Crouch

A middling professor gets abducted and beat up, but not killed. When he comes to, he relies he has been out for some time. The world seems about the same, but some things are different. His house is still his, however, there is no sign of his wife or child. He discovers that he decided to focus on his work instead of getting married. His work led him to some great discoveries and positions at elite universities before going to work for a private company. There he discovered ways of traveling into different realities. However, he had been missing for some time. He realizes it was the him from the future that had abducted him and they had now swapped lives. The book alternates stories of the two lives of the same man, but focuses on the original one. (The version of himself that had abducted him is now living the laid-back family life.) 

The original version of the professor is now treated as insane and involuntary committed, but escapes. He is also chased by members of his company. He teams up with a psychologist and explores alternate realities. One is a Utopian version of Chicago with high-tech L trains. Others are dystopian. The book concludes with many versions of the man encountering each other. What would happen if we could go back and see how things would turn out if we went down different paths? What if a version of us from one path went back to travel down a version of the other?

Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI

Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI by Anil Ananthaswamy

This book explores the math behind AI. It is rather straightforward, with a lot of vectors. However, it requires some close attention to grok. It seemed to be an interesting topic, bur I didn't feel I came out better understanding it after completing the book.

Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature

Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature by Dan Sinykin

Publishing houses have consolidated over the years. This has led to the general "corporatization" seen in other fields. This has lead to a bifurcation of publishing where the "award winner" list is very different from the "best seller" list. The consolidation came about gradually. Initially book stores would carry a selection of books that were available. They would order direct from publishers and receive books when they came. There were many publishers concentrated in New York, as well as many other smaller regional publishers. Some innovations such as "mass market" paperbacks brought books to grocery stores and other venues. Wholesalers entered the picture, allowing booksellers to rapidly obtain any book. Then mall bookstores such as Waldenbooks and B. Dalton further emphasized the "popular" books. Borders and Barnes and Noble took it up a notch with superstores. Amazon came to dominate the mail order side of retail. The publishers also consolidated with some being part of giant conglomerates. Genre publishing focussed on certain niches like romance or Science Fiction. Some authors, like Danielle Steel have built up a strong brand in genres. (Interesting, Stephen King found that when he published books under a pseudonym, they did not sell well.)

Thing continue to evolve. Self-publishing has taken over the low end of the market, almost wiping out mass market books. The government has also been acting to prevent further consolidation on the publishing side.

The subtitle attempts to be more alarming than the content is. There are some interesting explorations of the lives of some key players such as Steel and publishing houses. However, the general flow seems like that of standard industrial consolidation.

The Cemetery of Untold Stories

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez

People in a Dominican Republic village wonder what will happen to the land by the landfill. They think about all sorts of things. However, it was inherited by a writer who decides to use it as a cemetary of untold stories. The untold stories contain many characters that are tied to the history of the Dominican Republic and some of the key characters. The stories are tied together with the "real" people that live in the land. It was originally written in English, though it makes heavy use of Latin American culture.

Land Between the Rivers: A 5,000-Year History of Iraq

Land Between the Rivers: A 5,000-Year History of Iraq by Bartle Bull

This long history of Iraq spent too much time drifting off to wider events in the area. There is a huge description of major religious movements, such as Islam. While that may be nice for context, Iraq was not really involved until it was conquered by Islamic groups. I would have rather read a more concise book of history as it impacted Iraq. 

Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature

Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature by Emily Wilson

I have heard that in Japan, translators are well known and respected almost as much as authors. In the English speaking world, they are almost treated as an afterthought. However, translators play a huge role in how we experience works of literature. This can be especially important with ancient works. Most of the popular Greek works of today were experienced as popular culture. They were in the vernacular of the day and would be more akin to a superhero movie than work of literature. Alas, we often experience them in archaic translations. This causes a barrier to their understanding. Translators also struggle with the feel of the work. One word may be translated exactly with a 30 word phrase, but then you've lost the flow. A single word may be better even if it is not exact. How do you get the rhythm and meter in different languages? What about slang and scatalogical language? And what about different dialects present in the original?

In this book, the author explores her experience with different ancient works and the art of translation. It is filled with interesting examples of trade offs made in translation and how she feels about it. I would love to see more translated works accompanied by a discussion from the translator.

Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life

Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life by Avinash K. Dixit

Applied game theory helps guide decision making and identify some "bad outcomes". People will often alter their decisions based on what others are doing and how they perceive the outcomes will be. Even the type of way a decision is made can significantly impact the outcome. (The Roman method of focussing on possible punishments first will produce different results than American method of deciding guilt first then punishment later.) I recall Chicago's Olympic bid, which was thought to be the overwhelming frontrunner being derailed in part because may thought others would vote for it. That example was way past those in the book which was written decades ago. The book includes many examples from sports hall of fame voting to union negotiations. The "Tragedy of the Commons" even makes an appearance.

 

What's Next Is Now: How to Live Future Ready

What's Next Is Now: How to Live Future Ready by Frederik Pferdt

The author worked as an innovation specialist for Google. The book explores ways we can have a growth mindset and innovate. We should not reject ideas immediately. We should be willing to change our activities and experiences. Instead of looking immediately to "how we can fix this problem", we can instead look at "how can we make this worse". When we disagree try to find a way to agree and explore that. It is fairly normal discussion. The tone makes it feel like it should be read while barefoot in a dark room with incense burning.

The Hidden Nazi: The Untold Story of America’s Deal with the Devil

The Hidden Nazi: The Untold Story of America’s Deal with the Devil by Dean Reuter, Colm Lowery, and Keith Chester

The book posits that Hans Kammler, a Nazi SS general and special weapons leader, was brought to the US by the allies and helped transfer weapons technology. The book explores Nazi rocket technology and the impact that it had on the war. It also delves into Hemler's history as a Nazi. It also explores other Nazis like  Wernher von Braun who left Germany for America. von Braun became a respected American engineer and was never prosecuted for his Nazi crimes during his life. (Though he likely would have if he lived longer.) The authors conducted interviews and pieced together documents to come to the conclusion that Hemler's knowledge of weapons made him valuable to Americans. The past experience of bringing in Nazis and hiding them made that plausible. The contradictions in the accounts of his death also enhanced the plausibility. The book's tone differs from typical histories in that it provides an underlying narrative of the history and writing. The primary author was a lawyer who was brought in by two hobby historians. He gradually came to believe in their research and get drawn into their story. It feels like a well-researched conspiracy theory.

When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency

When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency by Anna Zivarts

One third of the residents of the US cannot drive. Our transportation infrastructure is built for drivers, thus disenfranchising a huge section of the population. Often the "solution" is to try to provide ways for them to be driven, rather than provide overall mobility. Young children are expected to be driven by their parents. The elderly are expected to be provided for by a caregiver. Undocumented immigrants are offered driver's licenses. Those that are poor are given subsidies. Those with disabilities are given expensive adaptations to support driving or expected to get others to help them.

A better solution would be to steer away from car dependency and allow universal mobility. However, transportation policies that make things a little bit better for drivers make things difficult or impossible for non-drivers. Wide streets with distant crossings make it difficult to cross. This is made worse when there are no sidewalks or safe walking places along the side. Transit systems are often designed by people who don't use them. Schedules and transfer can be difficult, with routes not necessarily going when or where needed. It is treated as generous charity rather than a legitimate means of transit. Sidewalks are often an afterthought. They may be il-maintained or missing altogether. Curb cuts could be missing. Construction may block sections.

This book points out many of the challenges faced by non-drivers. However, it goes a bit to far in the identity politics. Do we really need to focus on the race or ethnicity of non-drivers? It would be better to focus on universal needs rather than narrow the focus to small subgroups. Everyone is young or old at some point in their lives. Many have disabilities or even injuries that limit mobility. Most people have had some time in their lives when it was difficult to make ends meet. These universal experiences could serve as a better point for building this universal coalition. What if we changes the mindset. Instead of accommodating people, we built the infrastructure for them and then accommodated cars? This can enable freedom of mobility for all.

Come and Get It

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

A writer goes to visit the University of Arkansas. Then things get weird. She interviews some students in a dorm for a book on weddings. However, she ends up being more attracted to the them as people.  Meanwhile, one student (Kennedy) who loved the author's work keeps on missing out on meeting with her or her classes. The RA falls for the writer and has a lesbian affair. They happen to be making out when the Kennedy accidentally cuts her wrist with a pizza cutter kitchen-cleaning conflict with roommates. They all somehow manage to escape guilt, with the writer "patching things up" with money for one of the roommates and the RA. Sometimes it is best for people to stick with others their age. Seemingly small indiscretions can slowly spiral out of hand.

The Florentines: From Dante to Galileo: The Transformation of Western Civilization

The Florentines: From Dante to Galileo: The Transformation of Western Civilization by Paul Strathern

Florence played a key role in the Renaissance. It was democratic. The Medici's were able to find religious loopholes to lead a banking empire. Artists, scientists and inventors were present. The book catalogs all in a time series, but is little too long and rambly.

The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything

The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything by Ruth Goodman

Coal changed the life of the British population. The takeover of coal followed a meandering path. It was seen as something to help the "lower classes", but gradually spread to upper classes. It changed the way of cooking and brought about the overcooked British food. Chineys also came about at a similar time. They did keep some away, but they also let much of the heat escape. At first they were only for the rich, but they gradually spread. Heating changed the way we live and sleep. Coal fire led to more furniture elevated above the ground. A central fire encouraged everyone to socialize together in a small house. Not until central heating did people spread apart into big houses. The method of home heating is an important part of daily life, yet is not well documented. Much of the history of coal adoption had to be pieced together from fragmentary sources.

Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI

Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick

This book takes a balanced view of AI. It is here. It can help us do a lot of powerful things. It will also cause a lot of changes. It can succeed at many complex tasks, yet can stumble at seemingly easy tasks. It likes to please, and will "hallucinate" to provide answers we want. We need to stay involved to make sure it doesn't spin out of control. Education and work will change. We still don't know the limits of AI. Maybe it will get much better. Maybe we are near it's limit now. There can also be many negative and positive outcomes. It will require work to be on the good side.

Every Version of You

Every Version of You by Grace Chan

The physical world has gone to pot. People spend most of their time living in a virtual reality world, Gaia. Their physical body is often in a basic lift-support pod while they spend time in the virtual world. Through a technological breakthrough, people can now "clone" themselves so that they can live full time virtually and dispose of their physical bodies. The book centers around Navin and Tao-Yi. Navin is done with the poor condition of his physical body and is eager to enter the virtual world permanently. Tao-Yi has doubts. She also endures the death of her mother, a real-world hold out. The book explores transhumanism and what it means to be "alive". Hidden beneath the surface is how we can be controlled and willingly surrender rights and abilities.