Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

Title: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

Author: Hunter S. Thompson

Pages: 14 discs

Genre: Politics

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Dr. Hunter S. Thompson was the political reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine during the 1972 presidential election.  I believe that this book is a collection of articles about the campaign that were published in the magazine as well as Thompson's other musings on the campaigns. The book starts long before the democratic nomination has been locked up, starting with the primaries in New Hampshire, Iowa and other states, then on through the Democratic National Convention in Miami and onto the general election.  Richard Nixon as the incumbent President had the Republican nomination locked up, but based on what was happening in Viet Nam and back home with Watergate he should have been very beatable if the democrats had been able to settle on a strong candidate who they all supported.

My Review:  Although this election took place nearly a decade before my birth, I really enjoyed this book about it and learned far more than I ever needed to know about George McGovern, Hubert Humphrey, George Wallace, Edmund Muskie and others. There were a lot of mistakes made by the candidates and the Democratic Party that essentially gave the election away to Nixon (who ended up winning with more than 60% of the popular vote for a huge victory).

Disclaimer: This book is chock full of foul language on nearly every page.  Thompson is known for his language and glorification of drug use and there is plenty of both.

Moonwalking with Einstein

Title: Moonwalking with Einstein

Author: Joshua Foer

Pages: 8 discs?

Genre: Non-Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Joshua Foer has been a reporter for Slate Magazine and others covering the World Memory Championships for a few years, when he gets the idea that with some focused training he could compete at the US and World Memory Championships. Throughout the book as he documents his training regiment, he also explores the history of memory, what has been done in the past to help improve memory and other related topics.

My Review: This book is in the same vein as The Know-It-All and The Year of Living Biblically, both by A.J. Jacobs. My memory is absolutely terrible, and while the book focused on what it takes to become a memory champion, I didn't find a while lot of tips that would be helpful for remembering things and occurrences from everyday life.  Memory champions focus on memorizing decks of cards, strings of random numbers and similar things.  Not the type of things that I encounter in a typical day.

Mother

Title: Mother

Author: Maxim Gorky

Pages: 389

Genre: Russian Classic, Socialist Realism

Grade: B

Synopsis: This book was published in Russia in 1906, ushering in the era of socialist realism and pushing the citizens of Russia towards the Russian Revolution.  Pavel is a disenchanted factory worker who is working hard to publish and distribute literature against the bourgeois class. After many secret meetings held late into the night in her house, she begins to gain passion in her son's cause although she doesn't understand everything about it. She begins secretly helping the cause whenever she can.

My Review:  This is a famous Revolutionary book in Russia (in fact, the famous Gorky Park in Moscow is named after the author).  I would compare it to an Uncle Tom's Cabin or Common Sense type publication here in the states that ushered in revolutions of their own.

From the Book: "(p. 125) Life flowed on swiftly. The days were diversified and full of color. Each one brought with it something new, and the new ceased to alarm the mother. Strangers came to the house in the evening more and more frequently, and they talked with Andrey in subdued voices with an engrossed air. Late at night they went out into the darkness, their collars up, their hats thrust low over their faces, noiselessly, cautiously.  All seemed to feel a feverish excitement, which they kept under restraint, and had the air of wanting to sing and laugh if they only had the time. They were all in a perpetual hurry. All of them--the mocking and the serious, the frank, jovial youth with effervescing strength, the thoughtful and quiet--all of them in the eyes of the mother were identical in the persistent faith that characterized them; and although each had his own peculiar cast of countenance, for her all their faces blended into one thin, composed, resolute face with a profound expression in its dark eyes, kind yet stern, like the look in Christ's eyes on his way to Emmaus."

"(p. 332) Family life always diminishes the energy of a revolutionist. Children must be maintained in security ,and there's the need to work a great deal for one's break. The revolutionist ought without cease to develop every iota of his energy; he must deepen and broaden it; but this demands time. He must always be at the head, because we--the workingmen--are called by the logic of history to destroy the old world, to create the new life; and if we stop, if we yield to exhaustion, or are attracted by the possibility of a little immediate conquest, it's bad--it's almost treachery to the cause. No revolutionist can adhere closely to an individual--walk thorough life side by side with another individual--without distorting his faith; and we must never forget that our aim is not little conquests, but only complete victory!"

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Title: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millenium #3)

Author: Stieg Larsson

Pages: 576

Genre: Thriller

Grade: A

Synopsis: This book picks up where the last one (The Girl Who Played With Fire) left off .  Lisbeth Salander is recovering from gunshot wounds to the head and shoulder in a hospital.  The police are keeping a close eye on her as they're expecting to charge her with the murder of three individuals.  Mikael Blomkvist is still convinced of Lisbeth's innocence and has put his heart and soul into proving her innocence and uncovering the story behind it.

My Review: After spending 9 or 10 weeks reading The Infinite Atonement, I was looking for a book that would be a quick read and hard to put down.  This one certainly fit the bill.  Just as with the previous two books, this one is well-written and full of unexpected twists and turns.

Disclaimer: There is a lot of language, violence and discussions that are sexual in nature.  This is certainly not a book for children.

Made to Stick

Title: Made to Stick

Author(s): Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Pages: 6 discs?

Genre: Non-Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Urban legends are memorable and often times believable simply because they are so oft-repeated.  This book explores why some ideas are easily memorable, while other ideas (often the ideas that we are trying to convey) are so easily forgotten.  Some ideas are more inherently sticky, while other ideas lack the qualities that make other ideas sticky.

My Review: This was a pretty interesting book.  In general, my job does not hinge on making my ideas stick.  Having good ideas is important, but in my current role I am not often teaching others or trying to convince them that my way is the best way, so while I found the book enlightening, I didn't pull a lot out of the book for me to use in my daily work.