The All-or-Nothing Marriage: How the Best Marriages Work

In The All-or-Nothing Marriage, Northwestern psychology professor Eli Finkel starts with a history of marriage and relationships in western society. Then he proceeds to cover some of the latest research and dispense with some advice on how to make marriages work.

Gender roles have an interesting place in marriage relationships. In hunter-gatherer societies, men often hunted, while women gathered. (Women would do this even when pregnant.) On the farm, there were also distinct gender roles, with men often engaged with more hard labor in the field, while women would tend to things closer to home. The children were also heavily involved in production at home. At the initial stages of industrialization, children were also valuable laborers. However, this gradually faded. Men and women tended to focus on different types of jobs. During world war 2, many women worked in factories, while men were fighting the war. There were many marriages made before soldiers went off to war. However, these would often fail as people changed during the time away.

The post-war era brought a unique period for society. The GI Bill provided incentives for former soldiers (men). Jobs were abundant and high paying. Industrialized society also experienced a historic increase in birth rate. Families could afford to have the wife stay at home, while the husband went to work. However, even as this was happening, a great number of labor-saving devices reduced the amount of time needed to take care of the household chores. Eventually, the birth rate went down, and more women joined the workforce.

Marriage has gradually worked up Maslow's pyramid. Early marriage offered basic needs and protection. Today, people are often looking for self-discovery and fulfillment. This book provides some life "hacks" to help achieve a quality marriage. Some things are as simple as discussing how each spouse can help the other to achieve their mutual goals. Others explore different aspects of traditional and non-traditional marriage.

The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book 4; Origin)

Kill order follows the apocalyptic disaster blueprint. The story follow the lives of a band of survivors from the "sun-flare" apocalypse as they are now dealing with the new virus outbreak. The "current time" of the novel has them being shot with a virus by a group of commandos out of a flying object. The story of the sun flare is told via dream flashbacks of one of the characters. They were underground when the initial flare hit. Most everyone above ground was fried. Being underground saved them. However, a few hours later the tsunamis hit and flooded everything. They got above ground just in time, and made it to a high rise where they camped out until things improved. They were eventually able to escape after commandeering a boat from a bad guy (who shot one of them in cold blood.) In the present, they were leaving in an Appalachian encampment. A government group had come in to shoot people with viruses to control the population. The virus was supposed to kill people quickly. However, it mutated, leaving people crazy. Our main party set out to find the source of the virus. In the process, they run into a cult of people that believe the sun flares and viruses are part of a punishment from above for their misdeeds.
The fills in background details for the maze runner series. It does leave a lot of holes in the "disaster" scenario. However, there are just enough details to keep it interesting. Most of the characters eventually succumb to the disease. However, they manage to get the immune girl out to the scientists. It also displays some futuristic technology including vaporizing guns and teleportation machines.

The Fever Code: Maze Runner, Book Five; Prequel

Fever Code, the final book in the Maze Runner series, takes place immediately before the first book. We see the story of Thomas as he is taken in by Wicked from a young age. He is isolated and forced to change his name from Steven. He gradually learns of other kids, but still gets special privileges. He, along with a select few others get to help design the mazes. As part of it, he is able to view what happens. He is shocked to see that the monsters inflict real harm and that boys kill each other. That is not the only blood he has on his hands. The new chancellor tasks him and other immune kids with giving lethal injections to Wicked staff members that have contracted the virus. We learn that this new chancellor was treacherous, and had in fact spread the virus, and was later spreading false emails from others to explain it. Thomas thought he was going into the maze with his memories intact, but had them wiped at the last minute. He is regularly double-crossed.
Wicked is portrayed as a stereotypical government agency that exists so that it can exist. It's predecessor had initially launched the virus to help control the human population after sun flares wrecked havoc on the environment. After the virus spun out of control, they were tasked with finding a cure. They would adopt any means to justify the ends, including ripping children from homes and killing their parents. They employed gruesome means of controlling the children in their justification.
This book continues on the theme of "beware unintended consequences". Is it worth it to throw away human civility in the quest for a miracle? It seems easy to justify. If the miracle does materialize, everyone would be saved. If it doesn't, then everyone would be dead. Though the mortgage of morality in quest of the miracle may be the very thing that keeps society from the peace it needs.

The Death Cure (Maze Runner, Book Three)

Each book in the Maze Runner series ends with the kids "escaping" the fake world to get into the real world. Then the next book picks up with a new level of "fakeness". In this third book, we think they are really in the real world. Is this actually the real world? Or is this another level of fakeness? We learn more about the "flare". Most of our characters are immune to it. They are studied to help find a cure. Their immunity lets them do things others can't. However, they are also heavily discriminated against by other people in the world. They hook up with another group that somewhat seems to be their allies, but has different goals. They are in Denver, which seems to be a fairly modern city. There are officers around that try to get rid of all the sick people so as not to contaminate the healthy. The sick are sent to a special "community" where they can live the rest of their life in happiness. However, with people going mad and having little to live for, it had devolved into squalor. These "cranks" decide they will break out and take over the city. Meanwhile, those with immunity had been rounded up and sent into to the "wicked" maze. Our heroes rescue them just in time and then go through a teleportation-like thing to a pastoral field where they can live happily ever after as the saviors of the human race. (However, in the process, many people die.) Our hero, Thomas, shoots and kills one of his friends who has the flare. He later kills a Wicked leader with his bare hands. He is no longer innocent of death. It could be argued that these both were near death anyway, but he still killed them. There is plenty of other violence and narrow escapes from catastrophe. (Things do seem to be just a little too close to be believable.)
Wicked had been tasked with finding a cure for what was apparently a biological weapon. People put their hope in this cure, and assumed that any ends would justify the means. People were lax on containing the outbreak because they though a cure was imminent. Alas, even with great effort, they were not able to find the cure. One leader with foresight had also set out a "plan b" that would put a bunch of immune people in a remote area. They would build up their own society and continue the human race after the rest of the world had fallen apart.
This "plan b" seems to be a wishful-thinking cop out. Could an area really be so remote that nobody else would discover it? Would society really disintegrate so fast that everybody would be cannibalized? There is potential for a couple more series exploring the "immune" society and the "collapse" of primary society. Would some of those immune be able to survive in the primary society? Would the isolated immunes turn on themselves? Could a society whose leaders killed in cold blood really continue peaceably? Is this saying something about some of our current problems, like climate change? IS it best just to find those that can deal with it, and let other parts of the world flood away? And we still have many open questions about why there is such a need to control the minds of people, and why they felt it good not to get memories back. And why was so much violence necessary? Many questions are left unanswered at the "end" of the series. IT seems obvious that additional books are needed.

Scorch Trials: Maze Runner, Book 2

The second Maze Runner book does not feel quite as dark as the first, thought it is very violent. It is also confusing. What is real? What is imagined? Did they escape the "Wicked" world, or are they just participating in yet another trial of that world? Are they really part of something that will help save the world? Or are they part of an cruel scientific experiment? Are the people that die really dying? And how did all these other people get there? There seem to be more questions than answers.
The book starts out where they left off in the first Maze Runner. However, things get weird. The girl disappears and is replaced by a boy. He had lived in an alternate experiment where he was the only boy among girls. He could also telepathically communicate with a girl. However, that girl was shot at the end. They see new things tattooed on their skin. Their lodging seems to do weird things. One day a man appears and gives them their "quest".

They go on the quest. They discover the alternate "girl group". They also run into some other "normal" people. In one case, Thomas is shot by somebody with an old gun. He finds himself whisked out of the world and operated on. Having people die seems fine, but it must be in the way expected.

In the end, Thomas is betrayed only to find that is the way out. We are told this is the end of the trial and now they will be in the real world. But do we believe it? The book goes overboard playing with "reality" that it is difficult to care. Is this the real world? Or is it fantasy? Does it matter? Is the real world one we would care about? That is the important lesson for a reader. The world is very different, yet it is set in the values of today. Would that realistically happen?

Maze Runner

A boy wakes up in a world with no memories in a world he does not understand. He discovers that it is a world with just boys. A new one comes every month. They get electricity and other basics provided for them. However, they have to work to provide food and solve a maze. They hope to sometime escape and get out. However, many of the boys get attacked by monsters and die. Some get stung, but get an anti-venom that causes them to undergo a changing. They get some of their thoughts back.
One day a girl appears, bringing on the beginning of the end. They finally make their way out of the maze, only to find it was part of a horrible experiment. The earth has been smitten by a plague. The maze was set up by a company in hopes of breeding special humans that can help come up with a solution. Other humans help rescue them. (This all seems to coincidentally come at the same time.)
The novel is very dark. These kids are locked in a fake world with real monsters with real death. Is this justified if it can bring about a cure for humanity? Ironically, the kids justify much to save a single boy, but find it abhorrent that they may all be sacrificed to save the human race. Does justification simply depend on free choice?

The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt

When he died, Cornelius Vanderbilt net worth was more than 10% of the total money in circulation in the United States. He made the money himself through a serious of business ventures primarily in transportation. He lived relatively modestly, despite his significant wealth. (His descendants would use their inheritance to build great mansions.) He did not set out to build great monuments to himself. He did provide money to endow the university that now bears his name. However, he never set foot there, and didn't even ask for his name. (He thought the northern wealth should help support the south after the civil war.)
The book paints a very laudatory picture of his business dealings. He carries out his activities out of principle. He is constantly doing the moral thing and helping to increase the value of companies rather than simply extract money. The book seems to portray him in almost too positive of a light. He is seen as the humble businessman who only monopolized industries to help people out (or to exact revenge on bad actors.) There may be some truth to it, but it does feel like too much of a deification. Perhaps his moral compass is what enabled him to succeed where others failed. He wasn't after the graft. He wanted a big successful company. He started working on steamships. He was able to move boats around and make money where it was needed. He was involved in the pre-Panama-Canal route through Nicaragua. It was faster, but ended up dying due to politics, including "filibusters" who try to claim foreign land for America. He gradually ended up more involved with railroads, taking over the poor performing Harlem line and helping it to succeed, before taking over other New York Lines.
It is interesting to think that when he was alive and building his fortunes, places like Seattle barely even existed. The times also saw a conversion from individualists to large corporation. Boats could be bought and run by an individual. Only through government interference and "gentleman's agreements" were monopolies created. It was very easy for one boat to move to a new location. Horses and carriages were also individualistic. They could go just about anywhere, though not super fast. A good road would help (and thus some toll roads were created). However, these tended to be shorter distance turnpikes. Railroads started in this framework before changing everything. First they were similar to the toll roads. They were small rail lines serving local traffic. They were also quite dangerous. Then the railroads grew larger and larger. They needed to maintain the tracks, the cars and the engines. The expenses necessitated much more capital and large corporations. Long distance traffic involved traveling over a large number of different lines. There were often switches involved. This was costly and time consuming. Consolidation helped freight and passengers move faster. However, there were still plenty of opportunities for graft in the structure. After the experience with railroads, America turned to a more socialist transportation structure. Highways were built on the public dime, and open to everyone with an automobile. Airports were similarly often built with public funds and open to private airplanes. This seemed to appeal the individuality of users. (Anybody could be an operator on the transportation system with a minimum of capital), in spite of the large expense needed for infrastructure and maintenance. Even the railroads have become partially under the pervue of the government.
Vanderbilt would not recognize what has become of his "empire" today. However, he would likely appreciate the significant changes that have occurred in society.