All Creatures Great and Small

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by James Herriot, 1972

One day we were shopping in Barnes and Noble and, for some unknown reason, I thought about the PBS TV program with the British veterinarians from a number of years back.  I couldn’t remember the name of the book so we asked the sales person.  She happened to be from England and had a picture of her dog snapped onto her blouse.  Her eyes lit up and she immediately led us to the the book.

I really enjoyed reading this book, not because I was particularly interested in animal medicine, but for the reason that it was about some truly interesting human characters.  It also didn’t hurt that the book was well written.  James Herriot is a very self-deprecating author and was able to find humor in almost every situation, particularly when it involved events that were embarrassing to himself.

This book will probably never be one of the world’s greatest, but if you want an enjoyable read, to learn a bit about life in Scotland in the 1950’s, and want to chuckle, I highly recommend it. 3 1/2 stars

Dreams from My Father

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by Barrack Obama, 1995, 2004

This is a very interesting book, made even more so by the unusual family history of this man.  It held my interest although some of the passages late in the book relating to all of Obama’s relatives was a bit tedious. The story would probably be of less interest if it were not for the fact that the author has become prominent within his political party.

Wolves Eat Dogs, An Arkady Renko Novel

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by Martin Cruz Smith, 2004

This book, by the author of Gorky Park, really plods along and becomes quite a drag to read.  Redeeming values are that I read it on the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster and it gave me an appreciation of what it must be like to live there twenty years later.  Also, it does seem to capture the Russian psyche.

If you are looking for a thriller, look elsewhere.

Prey

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by Michael Crichton, 2002

I don’t think this book is worth the time.  It starts out with an interesing premise, that molucules can organize themselves to do concerted activities.  The book then descends to the preposterous as the molecules begin to acquire intelligence to mimic human behavior.  Characters aren’t particularly interesting either. Don’t bother.

Collier County Cat Problem: A More Innovative Solution

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Recently the Collier County Commision discussed a proposal to limit cats to three per household.

I am a bit disappointed that the Collier County Commissioners have not given some thought to more innovative and creative ways to help alleviate the cat problem in Collier County.  I am reasonably sure they could arrive at an acceptable alternative solution if they would adopt an approach similar to one the federal government is using to solve another issue.

I would call the program “CatCare Part D.”  The program would offer subsidized cat care to cat owners.  The program’s features and cost would vary from basic neutering and shots to more tailored services such as daily feeding and litter cleaning.  Since the cost of providing these services would be subsidized by the County Government, many cat clinics and pet stores would, no doubt, be eager to provide these programs (I am a bit surprised they have not already organized to lobby for this solution).  The County could even install a hot line to help cat owners choose among the hundreds of programs that would become available once the County begins subsidizing the providers. The cost to the County could perhaps be recovered through the institution of a new CatCare impact fee.

If cat owners were reluctant to sign up because of the perceived complexity of all these programs, a penalty could naturally be imposed for those who sign up late.

I envision this program to be a great solution because it offers so many choices to cat owners rather than imposing a limit on ownership.  President Bush has stated that having multiple choices is a good thing.  It also allows the best aspects of market-based, subsidized partnerships between private enterprise and government to flourish.

How about it County Commissioners?  Isn’t it time to get a lot more creative on this issue?

One Thousand White Women

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The Journals of May Dodd: A Novel, by Jim Fergus

The use of fictional diary extracts makes the book read as non-fiction, and, most of the time the reader is tricked into believing that the account is not fictional.

The author’s writing is very readable and it flows very well, although the language used is rather elevated for a woman living in that period with her education level, upbringing, and her supposed beliefs.  Her choice of words in her letters and diary entries often made her appear to be writing to impress someone rather than simply stating the circumstances of her surroundings and the raw emotions that they would entail.  Because of this, I found her to be a bit unbelievable at times.

The creative premise of the book, the flow of the writing and the high level of action all provide for a pretty fair read.  The fact that the characters and language are a bit unbelievable detracts from the overall effect.

Team of Rivals

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The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin

I approached the reading of this book with a great deal of anticipation because I was looking forward to a study of Lincoln written from a different perspective, a study on the persons he chose to be around him in his Administration.  The book fulfilled that promise but, unfortunately, didn’t do much else.

I found myself plowing through it rather than enjoying the read.  I think this was because much of the material was extensively extracted from various journals and, while these passages were enlightening as to the activities and thoughts of their authors, they quickly became tedious.  Also, the author seemed to mold a character for each of the primary figures in the book and then reference each of their characteristics quite frequently.  At times the emphasis on these minor or trivial characteristics and facts to make her point seemed quite pedantic.

All in all, I didn’t get the feeling that the author was nearly as close to her subjects as I have experienced in other cases such as Carl Sandburg writing about Lincoln or Doris Kearns Goodwin in her other books about Eleanor Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.  I got the feeling that in Team of Rivals she had set herself a goal to write the book and checked it off as a task completed rather than undertaking it as a labor of love.

Medicare Part D Issues

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My wife and I are 59 years of age and currently do not qualify for Medicare coverage. I have, however, read much about the current law providing Medicare Part D coverage and wished to express my thoughts on that program and its current flaws..

Much has been written about the problems that the program faced when it was introduced in January of this year. Most of those problems were the result of poor execution and do not relate to the fundamental flaws in the legislation itself. Those flaws, as I see it, are the following:

1. The law provided that providers can determine which drugs their programs cover and which they do not. Senior citizens must then pick and choose which program to sign up for based on whether the drugs they are currently using are covered by the plan they choose.

Problems: This provision makes choosing a program a confusing nightmare as the senior citizen is not able to compare programs on an “apples-to-apples” basis. When a person decides to purchase a car, all of the cars on the market have turn signals, brakes, and even heaters and air-conditioners these days. When a person is choosing a Medicare Part D plan, the choice may be which parts of the car will be best to have or not have. Not only does this make for a confusing array of choices for a senior citizen, this provision of the law presupposes that the drugs a person are currently taking will be constant over time. As a person’s condition changes and new drugs are introduced to the marketplace, that person’s prescriptions can and do change, thus making the previous choice of a program obsolete in a relatively short period of time. This supposition is inherently ridiculous and illogical. Another problem is that it allows a provider to cherry-pick the drugs that it will cover, allowing providers to cut various deals with the drug companies to focus on the specific products it has chosen to provide. I suspect that this is one of the reasons for the high cost of Medicare Part D for the taxpayer while the actual benefits provided to our senior citizens are less than what they should be.

Solution: The law should be rewritten to require providers to cover all FDA approved commonly prescribed medicine. Senior citizens would then be comfortable that any plan they choose would provide the drug benefits they need now and in the future. Shopping for the programs would be less confusing as the programs offered all would provide drugs that are included on the same required list. Lastly, true competition could exist and costs could come down as companies would be required to compete on a level playing field.

2. The law included a component that prevented the government from negotiating directly with any of the drug companies.

Problem: The problem with this approach is obvious in that Medicare Part D is destined to become one of the biggest customers of prescription drugs on the face of this earth. The entire program is paid for by taxpayers. To not allow the government to participate in negotiations on price is a serious departure from marketplace supply and demand theory because it excludes the largest customer from participating on the demand side. The lack of this ability to negotiate is a primary reason for the huge cost of this program.

Solution: Allow the government to participate in pricing negotiations with the drug companies. This will quickly bring down the cost of the entire program. Each provider would then incur the same low cost as any other provider and they will compete based on their efficiency in administering their programs versus their ability to cut deals on specific drugs with the drug companies.

In summary, I would suggest that the current year of 2006 be used as a test year for the current program and that back-up legislation be introduced soon so that a totally restructured program that fixes the current law’s flaws can be implemented on January 1 of 2007 if the current Medicare Part D is deemed a failure. Based on how the current law is structured, that outcome is inevitable.

The Darwin Conspiracy

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by John Darnton

This book was interesting to me because I didn’t know much about the life of Charles Darwin and it provided many insights to not only his life, but the lives of his contemporaries and his family members. The book was a bit dry at times, but I began to feel myself drawn into the intrigue as I got about halfway into the book. The ending was somewhat of a letdown, however, as it didn’t really lead to anything beyond the final discovery. I could hear myself saying, “So what?” as I put the book down.

What was really confusing to me, however, was that I never really figured out what the author was attempting to accomplish. If the purpose was to discredit the life and accomplishments of a famous scientist, then why did he attempt to do it in the form a novel, by its very nature, fiction? If the attempt was to pique the readers interest as a piece of fiction, then why did the author discredit the accomplishments of a famous scientist and bring defame him an individual in the process? I just didn’t get it, I guess.

As a result of this apparent confusion, I would not give it an enthusiastic recommendation.

Kingsblood Royal

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Kingsblood Royal, Sinclair Lewis, 1947, Random House, Inc., New York

I picked up this book because I was out of reading material and it was sitting in our bookcase. It turned out to be a very interesting read, although it was a bit harsh at times.

This is the story of an officer, Neil Kingsblood, who was wounded in WWII, returning to pick up his civilian life in a good-sized town in Minnesota. He works at a bank, belongs to an exclusive club, and lives in an upscale new housing development. He lives an ordinary, somewhat boring life until his father asks him to investigate whether the family is descended from royal blood. What he finds instead is that his great great great great grandfather is a black man who married a Chippewa Indian maiden.

In 1947 it was common to consider that if one had any black ancestry at all, then the person was tainted and was considered “colored.” The story recounts Kingsblood’s fall from favor in the white community, the loss of his job, his forced resignation from his club, and, finally, the attempt to oust him from his home. Meanwhile, he begins to develop some close relationships with members of the small, but growing, black population in his home town.

Reading the story in 2005 is interesting and also somewhat challenging. The racism that is evidenced by many of the characters is so much more blatant and it is hard sometimes to believe unless I think about the segregated bathrooms I encountered when I was a youngster visiting Texas and Oklahoma. The characters do sometimes seem like stereotypes but they could have been very real in 1947.

I also found it difficult to believe that Kingsblood would so quickly find close friends within the black community, even with those whose social status was so different from his own. He naturally is much more at ease with the persons who are more highly educated, but he even develops some empathy toward some drug pushers and the black night club crowd. This seemed a bit of a stretch.

I also found myself thinking about what Sinclair Lewis would think of our current racial situation 58 years later. While many of the solid barriers that Lewis writes about no longer exist, we still can’t seem to overcome the racial and cultural divides that exist today.

Lewis is obviously a good writer and the book flows very well. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to look back at another time that was perhaps not so nice and reflect on both the progress and lack of progress we have made since that time.