September/October 2021 Non-Fiction Reads

Time for more non-fiction reads!

I am reading The Body: A Guide For Occupants by Bill Bryson and Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem At America's Most Storied Hospital and am enjoying both of them.

I'm reading The Tao and the Tree of Life and finding it a little credulous and primerish, but possibly worth my bother.

Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital
by David Oshinsky
5/5 stars
Oshinksy does a wonderful job of relating the rich history of Bellevue Hospital that has been around for three centuries serving all the people (poor or rich) within their reach and the pioneering of many of the advancements in healthcare. I had a hard time putting this down because it was so compelling to read. This definitely will be on my best reads list this year!

>4 JulieLill:, I looked at that one...maybe I'll add it to the ever-growing wish list!

I'm about the start Alexis de Tocqueville: A Life by Hugh Brogan.

I’m reading The Art of Flaneuring or how to wander pointlessly with a purpose.

>6 varielle: Interesting topic!

Just finished Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship. Wow, what a brilliant mind!

Down and Out in Paris and London
George Orwell
3.5/5 stars
In this semi- autobiographical story, Orwell tells of an English writer who has spent time in France and England in poor circumstances having to live in shelters and outside, scavenging for food while working in restaurants and thus highlighting the lives of the homeless and poor. Very interesting!

Slowly working on Before the Revolution: America's Ancient Pasts which is good but dense so it very slow going.

I finished the mostly excellent history The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson. The subtitle for Larson's latest is "A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz," which is a pretty good description. This is a history of the first year of Churchill's time as Britain's wartime Prime Minister. I was mostly already familiar with the circumstances of the Battle of Britain, but Larson, in focusing in on this one year and in the Churchill family's experience of the event, adds a lot of detail that was new, and interesting, to me.

>11 rocketjk: I love Larson's books and enjoyed the one you read.

>12 JulieLill: This was my first, which is sort of a surprise to me, given how well received his previous books have been and how interesting they all seem to me. Sooner or later I'll get around to reading a few more, I hope.

>11 rocketjk: I've read that one, In the Garden of Beasts, Isaac's Storm, and Devil in the White City (my favorite). Liked them all!

Finished The Girls Alone: Six Days in Estonia by Bonnie Rough. A great, short read between longer tomes. 69 pages 4 stars

Half way through Bookseller of Florence and thinking this needed a good editor. Getting lost in all the names and all the family histories, yet so enjoying his writing about this time and place. I was browsing the reviews here and found this gem that I think is just perfect " For the individual who wants to know how a time piece is made, this is right up your alley. If you only want to know what time it is, I suggest looking elsewhere." I like it enough to keep on reading tho I will admit skimming abit now and again

The Body: A Guide for Occupants
Bill Bryson
5/5 stars
I am a big fan of Bryson and this book doesn’t disappoint. Bryson writes about the body and how it functions and includes so many interesting facts, including that mustard gas slowed down the creation of white blood cells which influenced the science and started the study and the beginning of chemotherapy and also that in “a lifetime, the heart does an amount of work sufficient to lift a one-ton object 150 miles into the air.” Definitely for science non-fiction readers!

He is on the same par as Larson for me!

Read What is Life Worth? by Kenneth Feinberg This was a non-fiction read that explained the difficult process that was derived at for compensating the victims of 911. Feinberg was asked by President Bush to head a committee to disburse the millions of dollars in relief money to the families of victims. Oh my, he ran into some unsolvable problems and was hailed as both a hero and a demon. There was no right or wrong side to this process; it was all just very personal and I understand that each person thought they had suffered more than the next. 241 pages 4 stars

>2 JulieLill: I clicked on The Body link and see that it is written by Charles Colson, not Bill Bryson!

I'm reading The Vikings https://www.librarything.com/work/701399. It's interesting enough, but a little dry for the most part.
P.S...how do I hyper-link book titles here? I'm a newbie on this site.

>20 kmarson: Put square brackets around the title.

Just finished Ten Years in Exile There is an introduction and conclusion from her daughter. The story of Madame de Stael's view of Napoleon during his rise, his persecution of her and her travels. We learn of the time she spent in Russia. The story of an incredible woman

I read Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico having seen this book in this group, It is a first hand account of travel on the Santa Fe Trail and then down into Mexico in 1846 and 7 and presents many good descriptions of the life and customs of traders, soldiers, Indians, and Mexicans of that time. Since this trip coincided with various battles against the Mexicans, military maneuvers and rumors dominate much of the account.

>19 kmarson: I fixed the link! Bill Bryson did write that book!

I'm reading Bag Man. I am old enough to remember VP Agnew pleading out to tax evasion. I didn't know much more, so I am interested to find out the whole story now.

I'm reading Leninism and the National Question. The book is way more dense and detailed than what I expected.

Finished Hunting Trips of a Ranchman: Sketches of Sport on the Northern Cattle Plains by Theodore Roosevelt. Most of the book was about hunting, so I think a hunter might have enjoyed it more, but it wasn't a "bad" read.

Read In The Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick about the sinking of the whaleship Essex off Nantucket.

Finished 2 more non-fictions this week: The Mayflower Compact and The Battle with the Slum, which was Jacob Riis' follow up to Shame of the Cities.

I'm reading F-Bomb: Dispatches from the War on Feminism by Lauren McKeon

Thanks to the person who posted about this book and called it to my attention. The Great Starvation Experiment was the description of an experiment of starvation and rehabilitation done on 36 CO's towards the end of WWII. It was intriguing in terms of the effects immediate and long term of starvation but also for the portraits of many of the people involved.

I finished Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Final Year by Tavis Smiley. Smiley's book about MLK is interesting, indeed. It is also a sad book. That final year of King's life almost exactly encompasses the speech in which he strongly and unequivocally condemned the Vietnam War and the Johnson administration's execution of that war. King was strongly condemned both within and without of the Civil Rights movement for this action. The FBI stepped up their campaign of hounding King and executing their disinformation campaign against him. And at the same time, more radical Blacks in the Panthers and SNCC criticized King from the left, accusing him and his insistence on non-violence of becoming increasingly irrelevant. In all, Smiley portrays King's final year as harrowing and disheartening. King began to muse ever more frequently on his own death, which he assumed was coming soon. And yet King never did fully lose heart, according to Smiley. He continued pushing for his March plan, and insisted on going to Memphis to help out with the long and bitter strike being waged by the garbage men's union there.

All in all, I thought this book was very much worth reading, though frequently depressing. I had tended to think of King's live as mostly single-toned, if that makes sense. King was just King, the great man who sometimes had his missteps but was consistent in the long run. Understanding the that the enormous pressures of the times--the discord, hatred and doubt--had on King during his last year only adds to my esteem for his life and what he was able to accomplish.

I've just started Jody Wilson-Raybould's book, Indian in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power.

I finished Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship. It was a very fresh look at the relationship between man and nature, particularly wilderness. In observing and interacting with nature, particularly a fox, the author discovers many truths about mankind, nature, animals, and herself, all presented in poetic language.

I read Of Plimouth Plantation by William Bradford. Bradford was among the 102 Separatists that landed in Plymouth in 1620. He was elected governor every year through 1647. I loved reading his first hand accounts of the Native Americans, the sicknesses, and the near-starvation like conditions. Bradford certainly had a Calvinist world view and that does creep in many times. However, I did not read the book to argue or debate theology. It's obvious that Bradford was a very learned man as he make references to Seneca and and previous French actions (which he does not explain) of selling weapons to the wrong country. I think all Americans should read this truthful account of the "Pilgrims." There are some amusing parts (to me), such as the trial of a 16 year old who had sex with a donkey, horses, a turkey, a cow, etc. Sadly, this young man was found guilty and executed. (this part was not funny) I feel this is a very honest rendering of conditions in Plimouth from 1620-1647. A very important primary source. 111 pages This was written in what is described as "Puritan Plain" language, although Bradford was not a Puritan. My guess is that he was educated by a Puritan in England.

We Were Feminists Once
Andi Zeisler
3/5 stars
This book came out in 2016 and talks about how feminism was politicized, taken over and turned into a media trend without any real change in how women are treated at work and in the media. I thought the author made some good points.

Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity
Neal Gabler
4/5 stars
Gabler does a thorough job tracking Winchell’s career, relationships with his family and friends and his ups and downs in the publishing arena, vaudeville, radio, TV business and the gossip culture against the background of what was going on in America in the time period he worked in. I never realized how prolific he was in his career. Very interesting!

I'm starting The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy by Stephanie Kelton

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women
Kate Moore
5/5 stars
Radium was an element first discovered by the Curies and was thought to be a wonder drug used in many preparations. Unfortunately, this wonder drug turned into a horrible predicament for the girls who worked in factories applying the radium paint to watch dials in various factories including one in Illinois and in Newark and Orange, New Jersey. The dial painters were instructed to lick the paint brushes before applying the radium which resulted in poisoning the girls who eventually died from it but not before they suffered through their bones dissolving and their inability to work and take care of their families. Eventually the families and workers rose up to fight the companies that caused their deaths and disfigurements. This is definitely a page turner but also a sympathetic look at the workers and the greed of industry that denied for years to help the women who were afflicted.

>39 JulieLill:. That book made my teeth hurt while reading it!

I finished the short gem, Art and Fear. This book puts into words the battles of artists with themselves to continue to create despite self doubt and lack of approval from the world, exploring the question of why artists quit.

I'm now working my way through a massive scholarly biography of Charles Fourier, Charles Fourier: The Visionary and His World. This book is very similar in scale and purpose to a book I read last year on Fourier's contemporary William Blake, Erdman's Blake: Prophet against Empire. So I've already cultivated the sort of attention it demands, and I'm enjoying it.

I'm reading Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision by Barbara Ransby. I'm finding it a bit of slow going, but that's more because I'm mostly trying to read while watching baseball games these evenings. The writing is fine and the subject matter is fascinating.

Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan C. Slaght was a non-fiction read in which the author recounts his quest to identify, tag, and create a conservation program for Frog Owls, the largest species of owls. These owls reside mostly in northeast Russia, Japan, and Korea. This PhD. research project was not without its problems, primarily being that the tagging transmitters did not work in spite of having a high price tag. This was a very interesting look at how one scientist tried to stave off the extinction of this owl, which is on the endangered list. 370 pages 5 stars

I am reading The Crimean War: A History by Orlando Figes. I've read books that referenced the war and heard about the charge of the light brigade but never really knew more than that. So far it is an interesting read and I have learned a lot about British foreign policy to the Ottomans.

Dancing In The Street: A History of Collective Joy
Barbara Ehrenreich
3/5 stars
Ehrenreich explores the rich tradition of collective religious and nonreligious festivities through the years including bans on them and the way people reacted to the festivities. Were they sinful or just an out pouring of collective emotion that needed to be released? Interesting book but at times, for me, there was just too much information to process in certain sections.

Still reading Joan Lady of Wales about King Johns illegitimate daughter who was married to Llewlyn the Great. First read about this history via Sharon Kay Penmans excellent HF, here be dragons Im liking this book, certainly covers more ground that the HF, but parts are a bit too detailed. Fun to read tho and compare to Penmans fictional account.

I just finished Hidden Valley Road which was like a train wreck from which I could not tear my eyes away. The book chronicles the life story of the Galvin Family of 12 children, 6 of whom develop schizophrenia. Alternating chapters explain the psychiatric theories and advancements during their lifetime, and how the family presented a fairly unique opportunity for study. Highly recommended.

>48 vwinsloe:, that book really is fascinating!

I have just acquired a copy of The Master and his Emissary after it had been on my wishlist for almost ten years, and it is fascinating. It puts all kinds of knowledge I had about the brain in context. Especially, many things I had already accepted as facts about humans, such as the tendency to think we're right when we're not, are actually signs of an overactive left brain.

I think I will also have to reread The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat because it is an excellent illustration of many points of the book, even though it is not in the bibliography so the author did not get the information from there. Also interesting: the only reason I have some idea of the main points of The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat is that my son took it with him last time we went on vacation, which was a good opportunity to reread some of it.

>50 wester: one of my fav science writers; take a look at his bio on the move and if you haven't read it yet awakenings (the movie adaptation is not to bad either)

>51 cindydavid4: I have read most of Oliver Sacks' books. I think Awakenings still suffers a bit from being too technical, one of those books where he would use a term like bradycardia instead of slow heartbeat. The story inside the technicalities is brilliant and touching, of course. My personal favorite of his is A leg to stand on.

oh I do not know that one, I'll have to look at it. Re Awakenings, I had a similar problemwith Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain This is a topic near and dear to my heart but could not plow through some of the details and discussion. Maybe Ill try again some time

>53 cindydavid4: I had high expectations for Musicophilia too and was similarly disappointed. Later I learned that he wrote it while he had just learned he had cancer, so he probably was somewhat distracted.

>53 cindydavid4:
>54 wester:

Musicophiliawas a DNF for me. I had such high hopes!

I'm going to start The Bulldog and the Helix: DNA and the Pursuit of Justice in a Frontier Town by Shayne Morrow.

Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood
Danny Trejo
5/5 stars
This is the amazing autobiography of Danny Trejo, actor who starred in numerous films and became quite successful. However, his life growing up was not easy. Involved with drugs and gangs, he ended up in jail but he was able to turn his life around. I read this in a few days because I could not put this down. Highly recommended.

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville de Tocqueville was a great observer of American politics and politicians. A very learned man who had much to say. 4/5 stars

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough As usual, a good read from this author. Covers the time period 1837-1867. 4/5 stars

>58 Tess_W: Loved that book. Learned so much not just about the artists. writers, composers and students and their connections (which was fascinating in itself) but so much about the commune in Paris. Had no idea that they were still fighting long after The Terror. And this , from the review " American ambassador Elihu Washburne, who bravely remained at his post through the Franco-Prussian War, the long Siege of Paris and even more atrocious nightmare of the Commune. His vivid account in his diary of the starvation and suffering endured by the people of Paris (drawn on here for the first time) is one readers will never forget." I so agree!

Finished The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe by David Kertzer Pulitzer Prize winner in 2015 . This book challenged the accepted narrative that the Italian Catholic Church fought courageously against Mussolini and the Fascists. The author's thesis rests on newly released materials (2011) which paint Pius XI as a not so benign contributor to the rise of Fascism in Italy in the 1920's and 1930's. It began when Pius took a trip to Poland and saw how the Poles were treated by the Bolsheviks. He then was an avowed anti-communist and thought Fascism would be better than communism. Weird truce-like state between Mussolini (atheist) and Pius, which Pius came to regret and was in the process of trying to withdraw the church from this alliance when he died. The author also argues that the Italians have been very good at revisionist history, denying any alliance between the clergy and Mussolini. Great read if you are interested in history. 592 pages

Goldwyn
A. Scott Berg
4.5/5 stars
A. Scott Berg does wonderful job on this comprehensive biography of producer Samuel Goldwyn originally known as Schmuel Gelbfiz who flees from Poland in 1895, walking as he makes his way to America doing odd jobs. He eventually gets hooked up with Jesse Lansky and Cecil B DeMille to make his first motion picture and becomes one of the most powerful men in film.
This was so interesting- he also covered a lot of the history of Hollywood and film.

The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson 2/5 stars. Less about eels than other things: Rachel Carson, dodo birds, etc.

I'm reading Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy by Ben MacIntyre

>64 LynnB: I've read several books by MacIntyre and enjoyed them.

Silhouette In Diamonds: The Life Of Mrs. Potter Palmer
Ishbel Ross
4/5 stars
This is the fascinating story of Bertha Honore, who in 1871 married millionaire Potter Palmer of the famed Chicago Marshall Field’s and Palmer House. She was very involved in philanthropy and when the Chicago fire destroyed the city, she helped her husband recoup his finances and also helped to restore Chicago. When her husband died, she continued to help others. The book also explores the time period in which she lived and the famous people she met and worked with. I never heard of her but what an intriguing biography and history of that time period.