The Allure of Immortality, An American Cult, a Florida Swamp, and a Renegade Prophet

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by Lyn Millner, 2015, University of Florida Press, Gainesville, FL

This book is a history of the Koreshan movement and its settlement in Estero, Florida.  The movement was founded by a very charismatic individual, Cyrus Teed, who taught that followers who believed in him and his beliefs would somehow achieve immortality.

An added interest in the book for me is the close proximity of the Koreshan State Park to our current residence in Florida.

Ms. Milner, who is a professor at nearby Florida Gulf Coast University, treats her subject with respect and she has done an incredible amount of research on her subject.  Her writing is good, and my only negative comment is that sometimes the amount of detail she provides can get somewhat tedious.

I particularly liked how she brought the subject up to date at the end of the book with a detailed account of the current situation, both for the state park as well as the College of Life Foundation, which manages the left-over assets of the Koreshans.  I also liked her afterword in which she described some of her own thoughts and emotions as she researched and wrote the book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in cults and how they come into being as well as anyone who has an interest in Southwest Florida history.4 stars

North River: A Novel

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by Pete Hamill, 2007, Kindle edition by the Hachette Book Group

This is a story of  a doctor who grew up in a tough area of Manhattan and then enlisted in the army.  He was in the trenches in France in WWI and then returned to his old neighborhood to resume his practice.  In the very first pages of the book, his daughter dumps her child on his doorstep and takes off for Spain.

The story focuses on how he deals with having to bring up a child in this environment while trying to carry on with his own life.

While the book does provide some insights regarding how it was in this New York neighborhood during the Great Depression, it seems to focus a lot more on the relationship the doctor develops with his grandson and another individual who comes into his life.  The book sometimes seems to lack some energy and the ending is less that I had hoped for.  I enjoyed reading it, but it fell short of being a really memorable book.3 stars

The Lake House: A Novel

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by Kate Morton, 2015, Kindle Edition, Atria Books, Reprint Edition, sold by Simon and Schuster Digital Sales, Inc.

This book is a mystery about a cold case disappearance of a young boy in Cornwall, England. A woman detective, who is temporarily suspended from her job for alleged misconduct, visits her grandfather who has recently moved to Cornwall after the death of his wife.  While there she becomes interested in what happened when the young boy disappeared.

The book is well-written but didn’t seem to offer much in the way of suspense as the disappearance occurred many years in the past.  Much of the narrative delves into the motives and thoughts of persons who had been dead for many years.  Additionally, the final resolution of the mystery depends, as many mysteries seem to do, on a somewhat hard to believe coincidence.3 stars

The Cuckoo’s Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage

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by Clifford Stoll, originally published in 1989, Kindle edition by Doubleday, 2012

Clifford Stoll was an IT employee at Berkeley Labs in the 1980’s when he noticed a discrepancy of only 75 cents between the computer logs that tracked usage of the mainframe computers and the billing records.  Through his investigation, he discovered that a hacker was accessing the computers at Berkeley and subsequently at other supposedly secure computer sites in the U.S.

Because Stoll kept a log of all of his actions, he was able to write a detailed account of how he tracked down the perpetrator.

The book is a little dated as it references some systems that are no longer in use and, because of the detail the author provides, it sometimes drags a bit.  Nevertheless, the book is a very interesting story about how he tracked down the hacker and it also provides some helpful insight as to how to protect computers from such assaults, even in today’s world. 3 stars

The Galton Case

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by Ross McDonald, originally published in 1959, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard; Reprint edition (November 26, 1996)

This is another crime story featuring the detective, Lew Archer.  Unlike many of the detective shows on TV these days, Lew Archer has a dark side that comes out sometimes, typical of the Noir fiction genre.  The characters in the book aren’t very likable and there are some passages of violence where the author doesn’t hold back.

This novel has an interesting plot, but the resolution of the mystery depends on a pretty far-fetched coincidence which is also typical of many mystery stories.  Even though it’s a bit dated, it is enjoyable to read and, if one is into crime stories, this book is certainly one that suffices.3 stars

Intervention

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by Robin Cook, 2009, audiobook read by George Guidall, Recorded Books, Frederick, MD

This is possibly one of the worst books I have ever experienced.  My wife and I listened to it on our trip from Florida to Rhode Island and we were both very happy when it ended.

First of all, the author went on a rant about alternative medicine in the early stages of the book.  I am in agreement with a lot of what he said, but he just kept hammering it over and over again.  It got to the point where I wanted to fast forward as it got to the point where it was extremely tedious.

In the second part of the book, the main character (a medical examiner) just dropped his crusade against alternative medicine and suddenly turned to another project, seemingly to take his mind off his situation at home, a baby with a lethal brain tumor.  He then gets involved with a plot to extricate the Virgin Mary’s ossuary from under St. Peter’s tomb.  The implication of this extrication is that, if it turns out that they validate that it does contain Mary’s bones, it will invalidate the doctrine of papal infallibility and the Catholic Church will be totally discredited. The author again pounds the religious argument over and over, making it just as tedious and pedantic as the alternative medicine tirade.

Because of the split between the focus on alternative medicine in the first part of the book and on the religious aspect in the second part, the author attempts to tie it all together with a supposed miracle in the last chapter.  It’s a nice try, but it just doesn’t seem to cut it.

Compounding the issues above are some of the characters which are, quite frankly, repugnant.  There are the archaeologist and his geneticist wife who argue with each other like five year olds.  Their back and forth digs are ridiculous.  The archbishop of New York, who is complicit in the plot, is so rigid in his views that I couldn’t empathize with him at all.

Finally, the end of the book didn’t seem to bring it together.  The best thing about it was that it was over.  The reader, George Guidall, did his usual good job.  The reason I have rated this book at 1 1/2 stars versus only 1 star is because of the reader.  He saved us from having to read it ourselves.1 1/2 stars

A Death in Vienna

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by Daniel Silva, 2004, audiobook read by John Lee, Books on Tape

This is a pretty good book about tracking down a Nazi war criminal in Vienna who has a connection to a right-wing politician who is running for the office of the Austrian Prime Minister.  The plot is believable for the most part and keeps moving throughout the book.  The characters are well done.  The reader did a good job as well.3 stars

Boom!, Voices of the Sixties, Personal Reflection on the ’60’s and Today

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by Tom Brokaw, 2007, Random House, Inc., New York

I first encountered this book at a lecture given by Tom Brokaw at Brown University probably back in 2008.  His latest book, Boom! was the topic of the lecture.  During the first half of the lecture Brokaw reviewed the events of 1968 one by one.  I was then in my junior year at Brown so Brokaw’s retelling of the events was as if I was reliving them.  I couldn’t believe how the impact of this part of the lecture was so raw and emotional for me.

Brokaw then, in the second half of the lecture, related how the events of the sixties were impacting the political and cultural world of 2008.  At the end of the lecture I had the opportunity to buy the book and, as Brokaw signed the book, I told him about our graduation experience at Brown when we turned our backs on our commencement speaker, Henry Kissinger.  Tom Brokaw said he hadn’t been aware of that incident.

After the lecture, which I attended with my son, Peter, and his future wife, Erika, we went to dinner.  When I asked them what they thought of the lecture, they said the first part (the revisiting of the events of 1968) didn’t have much interest for them.  The second half they found somewhat interesting, however.  It was then that I realized how much difference a generation can make in how the events of history are perceived.

I took the book home, and I didn’t pick it up again until this year.  Because it was written almost nine years ago, it is somewhat dated.  Barack Obama was just starting to pick up momentum in his first campaign for the presidency.  Hillary Clinton was still the frontrunner.  Brokaw decries the hard divisions that existed between the right and left, but was expressing some hope that we could come together and begin solving some of the pressing problems of our country and the world.  After eight years of one of the most divisive presidencies ever, I wonder how he would view our situation today.

The book provides some interesting vignettes of some of the major players in the sixties and their current thoughts and perspectives on those times and the issues and how they evolved.  Because of my interest in that era, I thought that most of them were quite interesting to me.  I doubt, however, that my son or daughter-in-law would find them quite as interesting.  Brokaw also provides much of his own experiences in meeting those individuals back then and his thoughts and perspectives.

Where the book fails, I think, is that the author didn’t do a very good job of tying things together at the end.  In the final chapter, where he had a chance to really delve into the issues and provide his final thoughts, he continues to focus on some additional individuals.  By the time I got to this point, I was ready for him to wrap it up rather than bring more people into the spotlight.  I was a little disappointed that he left it hanging as much as he did.

It was an interesting read for me and brought back many memories.  In addition, it provided some information about some of the individuals who were front and center during those times.  I would, however, have liked the author to bring it together a bit more at the end.  It would be nice if Tom Brokaw would be willing to author a short afterword to bring us up to date on where the world has moved since he wrote the book.3 1/2 stars

Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates, The Forgotten War that Changed American History

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by Brian Kilmead and Don Yaeger, 2015, Random House, New York

This is a quick book to read and it is done pretty well.  The authors keep it moving so the reader never gets bogged down.  It tells the story of the first Barbary Pirate War and the actions that took place.  The book also makes reference to the second Barbary Pirate War that was conducted later by President Madison.

The book was of interest to me as I didn’t know much about what transpired during this war.  The authors also did a good job of capturing the importance of this war to the United States.3 stars

All the Light We Cannot See

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by Anthony Doerr, 2014. Scribner, New York

This book, about a young blind girl and a German boy genius whose paths cross in WWII, starts a bit slow and seems a little disjointed in the beginning, but it really comes together in the end.

The author utilizes very short chapters that alternate back and forth between the blind girl and the German boy.  I found that it took a little getting used to, but this technique really adds to the overall book. 4 stars