Suicide of the West by Jonah Goldberg - Book Report #270

Wow!

This is a deep, twisting and mind-numbingly complicated topic.

Why does the world seem so angry?  Why are there so many trolls on the internet?  Is our democracy eroding?  Has capitalism reached its end days?

All of these questions and possible paths to take to avoid war and anarchy are addressed.  Yes, I found some of this impossible to follow but I simply allowed the narrative to continue and to glean the broader concepts.

All-in-all, it was a frightening subject to contemplate considering that our economy (meaning money) is completely decoupled from nature, which is where our economy comes from.

Faced with the realities of crushing national & personal debt, climate change, a growing economic gap between the rich & poor and immigration, humanity is swinging back to populism, read tribalism, in order to cope with these overwhelming problems.

I am unable to give the book its just review here because I am simply not as smart as the author.  I can say that I found it to be a well researched and well-argued subject and that I am richer and more informed for having “read” it.  (It was the audiobook version, thanks to the Edmonton Public Library)

Highly recommended.

Jonah Goldberg 

Stumptown by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth - A Graphic Novel Review

The Case of the Girl Who Took her Shampoo (But Left her Mini)

I came to this story from ad on television.  Cobie Smulders will star in the TV adaptation of the comic series written by Greg Rucka.  

I’m a sucker for strong characters who are unafraid of dangerous situations, Dex Parios is one tough woman, who is in deep debt with a casino and must do a job for them to have her debt cleared.

As Dex looks for the granddaughter of the casino owner she uncovers dangerous connections and takes a beating in the process.

The story was quick-paced, dark, funny and scary.  Matthew Southworth’s art created a gritty mood and the colours captured the mood and atmosphere of the Oregon coast.

I enjoyed the story very much because it kept to the classic PI storytelling without having to prove itself as being “edgy” by being overtly gratuitous with the violence.  Plus, Dex is sassy as hell and I like that.

I am glad to have read it and happy that I’ll have a TV show to go with it.

Recommended.

Greg Rucka's website - http://www.gregrucka.com/wp/

Matthew Southworth's website - http://matthewsouthworth.net/

Greg Rucka

Matthew Southworth

The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma - Book Review #269

Okay, first off let me say that Sharma is not the best writer of narrative fiction.  Which is too bad because the whole book is a story of three unlikely companions who meet at a motivational talk.

Like many self-help books, I found that I could use a few tips but trying to work my life into the suggested format, well ...

I did take to heart and make changes to my digital distractions.  I've turned just about every notification off and I have found that my life is much more peaceful from that single act.  Now I see that Sharma was right; I look around and see everybody staring at screens.  I sometimes find it difficult to hold a conversation with someone because they are constantly checking their phone.

I've also taken a closer look at the quality of my time spent on my devices; I now ask myself,  “am I learning something new or am I being sucked into an Instagram or Twitter vortex?”

Instead of having notifications pushed to me, and distracting me, I pull the information down when I'm ready.

Let me say that reading the book was not a waste of my time.  I learned a lot and I've taken some of its lessons to heart but to live in a prescribed manner?  Well, I am not sold on it.

I do however get up at 5 am, but I was doing so before the book.

Near the end, reading it got a bit tedious as the language kept getting more grandiose.

It’s worth reading, I just don’t think it’s worth buying.  Borrow it from a friend or the library.

Robins Sharma's website - https://www.robinsharma.com/

Robin Sharma

Do You Really Need It? By Pierre-Yves McSween - Book Report #268

The book consists of a list of 41 basic questions anybody, at any time in life, should be asking themselves.

Do you really need a new car, a specific brand, a budget or even ownership?

There is quite a bit of humour spread throughout which helps to explain and shine a light on the pressures we all face to conform with society and how that affects us financially.

I found myself putting the book down often to think about my own choices.  This book is quite illuminating.

It is often helpful to step back and see what we do automatically in our daily lives and to question it.

Recommended.

Pierre-Yves McSween

Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson - Book Report #267

It was fortunate that I listened to the audiobooks of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy.  It allowed me to understand his voice.  KSR takes his time to develop characters pretty much to the exclusion of a plot.  But you have to wade through it before he allows you to experience the actual reason you’re reading the book.

This was the case with Forty Signs of Rain.  I had to wade through a lot of diaper changes and descriptions of how the National Science Foundation funds research.

Thankfully, the author sprinkled some climate change information between chapters.

In the end, and I mean the very end, the environmental troubles begin to happen and this is where Mr. Robinson shines.  Wading through all the exposition brings the enormity of the problem to light.  As a species, we’ve never had to deal with our impact on the world but we are now at the end of this time of innocence.

Fiction can and must play a role in helping us imagine a new future.  This is where KSR’s towering intellect gives us a well thought out, realistic scenario to contemplate.  He takes his role as a person who can imagine possible human futures seriously.  If you read any of the non-fiction out there on the subject you can come away from it more confused than ever and probably feeling helpless too.

Fiction plays a most important role in that it can make sense of the complex and illustrate the situation along with showing us possible paths through challenging times.  For my part, I try to look at things in terms of “what’s next?”  The non-fiction world is usually pretty thin on solutions or alternatives because it steps into the world of speculation and those authors are uncomfortable with that kind of creative thinking.

This is why it is so very important to read both fiction and non-fiction.  Any time a book can make you stop an think then it made an impact and it was good that you read it.

Highly recommended.  Looking forward to reading book two in the trilogy.

Kim Stanley Robinson