Category: SOCIETY

LIFE IS LIQUID

Miodownik explains liquids are everywhere and influence every aspect of life on earth. As a scientist, Miodownik explains understanding liquids is understanding life.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

Author: Mark Miodownik

Narrated By:  Michael Page

Mark Miodownik (Author, British materials scientist.)

Mark Miodownik offers some interesting information about liquids in “Liquid Rules”. It seems Miodownik had some spare time on a long plane trip. Though many know some of what the author explains, it is interesting for listener/readers who don’t think about the importance of liquids in our lives. For example, Miodownik notes how and why Kerosene is the fuel that powers jets.

The qualities of kerosene make it an optimum choice for jet propulsion.

Kerosene is safer to handle because high temperatures are required for ignition which makes it safer than gasoline. It has a low freezing point that allows high-altitude flight where sub-zero temperatures exist. Its viscosity allows it to flow in cold or hot conditions which reduces risk for fuel line’ clogging. Kerosene carries high energy production per unit of volume for longer flights. It is cheaper to refine than other fuels. And most importantly, it is chemically stable which reduces risks of vapor lock or premature combustion.

As Miodownik wings his way across the earth, he casually mentions Susan is a passenger on the same transatlantic flight who is offered a glass of wine.

She suggests wine testing is really a performance art. Her remark is an introduction to Miodownik’s more scientific examination of the sensory and symbolic dimensions of wine tasting. Miodownik explains the role of tannins, taste, and the rituals around drinking a glass of wine. He explains a connoisseur’s way of swirling a glass of wine before his/her nose to sense the bouquet of the libation. One imagines Susan looking askance at Miodownik’s academic review of her off-the-cuff remark. Who is this guy? Is he hitting on me?

Presumably, Miodownik sits back and contemplates the creation of a book about liquids.

Miodownik seems slightly discomfited by his seatmate’s look at him. Does he regret his forwardness in addressing her comment like a nerd? There is a sense of humor and a touch of irony in Miodownik’s choice of subject. One wonders what a woman’s response might be to a person she does not know explaining what she intended when she spoke of wine tasting as an art. In any case, Miodownik has introduced his subject.

As Miodownik’s thoughts move on about a book about liquids, he recalls the invention of ink.

Here is an invention with purpose. He notes the creation of ink that is made to flow predictably, dry quickly, and remain legible for years. The idea of a liquid that makes history, science, and art for the ages, i.e., an eternal gold mine for future generations. Ink reaches back to the caliphs of the Maghreb, rulers of Islamic caliphates in 7th century, northwest Africa. Ink connects with the evolution of the colors of red, green, and blue. From fountain pen writings to pointillist art the creation of ink plays a critical role in modernization of the world.

Water is the foundation of life.

Most know water is an essential need for life as we know it. What is often less thought of is that water is a universal substance that underlies world climate and biological life. Miodownik notes that water is a universal substance that underpins life and the climate systems of the world. It is the vehicle of human metabolism, emotional expression of fear, pain, happiness, and the world’s climate.

Production sweat shops.

Humans produce sweat and a quart of saliva per day. Saliva aide’s digestion, hygiene, health, and emotional expression like crying, anger, or embarrassment. Sweat regulates the bodies temperature. Water plays a role in the advance of technology with the creation of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and OLEDs that power modern screens in phones and aircraft panels. Digital watches, cell phones, movies and general entertainment are a result of liquid’s existence. The irony of water as a liquid is that it can nurture as well as destroy. It refreshes life through cleaning, and food production, but also floods land, drowns life, and erodes soil upon which life depends. Water is an agent of comfort as well as chaos.

Miodownik explains liquids are everywhere and influence every aspect of life on earth. As a scientist, Miodownik explains understanding liquids is understanding life.

Aside from global warming, Miodownik notes the growing issue of plastics pollution and potable water availability will plague humanity. He argues humanity needs to come to grips with earth’s need for natural sustainability. Roads, houses, food, and potable water need to be designed to renew themselves without introduction of new materials or resources.

VICTIMS

Pedophilia is a terrible crime. Unprofessional exposure of its consequence compounds a victim’s trauma. There are no heroes or heroines in Lisa Jewell’s imaginative story.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

None of This Is True (A Novel)

Author: Lisa Jewell

Narrated By:  Kristin Atherton & 9 more

Lisa Jewell (Author, British writer, born in London, has written several novels.)

“None of This Is True” is a disturbing novel. From a happenstance birthday party at a restaurant, two young women find they were born on the same day in the same hospital. One of the women is a podcaster and the other is a housewife. This chance meeting leads to the podcaster agreeing to create a podcast about the life of the woman who had been born on the same day in the same hospital forty-five years earlier. Both are married with children and husbands but one has a story to tell that only comes clear as the podcast unfolds. The circumstances of her life peak the podcaster’s interest because the woman asking to tell her story had married her husband when he was 43 and she was only 16. The thought of such an age difference makes one instantly dislike her husband which only deepens as the story proceeds.

Definition.

This marriage becomes increasingly shocking as the podcaster’s recordings begin. The story tells of this odd marriage to a husband who often stays out all night either drinking or something worse considering his predilection for young girls. The mother is interviewed by the podcaster who characterizes her as a narcissist who regrets ever having gotten pregnant. She seems to care nothing about the impropriety of her daughter marrying a 43-year-old when she is 16.

Victims.

The story becomes more complicated as the victim of pedophilia appears to steal items from the podcaster’s home. At a half-way point in the novel, the reader/listener realizes the podcaster is out of her depth in thinking her podcast is an appropriate way of dealing with the psychological trauma of a victim of her lived life. One begins to lose their baring on who is guilty for having lived a life of misery and dysfunction. Only the specter of pedophilia seems clearly wrong, but the victim of the pedophilia is raised by an uncaring mother that let it happen. Now there is a podcaster caught in the middle of something way beyond her professional ability who is caught in a growing domestic abuse and psychological nightmare.

The inhumanity of humanity.

This is a terrifying book about humanity. One is drawn into its sordid tale to reveal how inadvertently we can be drawn into the drama of another’s life without qualification for dealing with its complexity. As a reader/listener there are lessons to be learned about one’s limitations and how we can become a part of the problem, rather than a solution. Pedophilia is a terrible crime. Unprofessional exposure of its consequence compounds a victim’s trauma. There are no heroes or heroines in Lisa Jewell’s imaginative story.

CONSPIRACY

“Republic of Lies” is a deeply troubling book that explains much about why lies of a President of the United States are ignored.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Republic of Lies (American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power)

Author: Anna Merlan 

Narrated By: Suehyla El-Attar & 1 more

Anna Merlan (Author, journalist, BA degree in Modern Literary Studies from University of California, Santa Cruz, master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.)

Anna Merlan’s “Republic of Lies” explains conspiracy theories are created by people who have real concerns, fears, and grievances about the world in which they live. Some people capitalize on people’s concerns only to satisfy their desire for money, power, or prestige without care or thought about others. Conspiracy theorists seem to believe everything that happens in society is about plots by others to control or create havoc in their lives.

The digital age.

The advent of the digital age has increased the threat of interest groups that see others as alien to their learned beliefs. The fault is not always in the conspiring groups but in listeners who fail to recognize theories are only theories based on different life experiences and beliefs of like-minded people. The root of the problem with conspiracy is that life experience, and differences in one’s appearance provide a basis for prejudicial bias, identification and belief that is as easily wrong as right. Discrimination based on the color of one’s skin or ethnicity become “de rigueur”, i.e. something required by etiquette or current fashion, rather than the substance of who you are as a person.

Investigative journalism is an important part of the American way of life and its search for truth.

Merlan is an intelligent and brave investigative journalist who interviews extremists to find what they believe and why they believe it. Merlan explains how conspiracy theories are by definition beliefs based on perceptions of events in the world. There is a disconnect between what is real and unreal when what human beings see is based on personal life experience and perception. That is why conspiracy is always a theory which can either be right or wrong and still have great impact on and consequence for society.

Alex Jones (Conspiracy radio host, convicted of civil liability for defamation and required to pay over $1 billion in damages to families of Sandy Hook victims.)

Merlan reveals conspiracy theories in the 20th and 21st centuries that have caused an erosion in trust, strained interpersonal relationships, and promoted extremism. Those who share conspiracy theories often deny the proofs of science and what is evident from repeated human atrocities. People become stuck in misbegotten beliefs that polarize groups of humanity who believe you are either one of us or one of them. In that separation, only those who have the same beliefs are worthy of acceptance. Others are disposable and not worthy of life or liberty.

CIA mind-control program.

Merlan reminds listeners of the CIA mind-control program using LSD in the 195os-1970s, and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study of 1932-1972 as acts of American government that erode public trust. Programs like these have created fertile ground for conspiracy theories to argue there is a deep state government that controls the creation and administration of public policy. The formation of QAnon in 2017 is an internet-born conspiracy factory that trades on the mistrust of government. The internet is no longer mere propaganda tool but a decentralized grassroots generator of government-distrusting American citizens’ groups.

“Republic of Lies” is a deeply troubling book that explains much about why lies of a President of the United States are ignored.

The fear of government is legitimized by American government’s mistakes of the past. Turning to an authoritarian President is American citizens answer to distrust of government. The concern one has is in the character of the authoritarian that has been chosen.

RESPONSIBILITY

Adults need to be present, honest, and emotionally available to children under their care. It is a big job for which most of us fail, but children are the world’s future.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

A Beautiful Family (A Novel)

Author: Jennifer Trevelyan 

Narrated By: Ruby Hansen

Jennifer Trevelyan (Author, lives in Wellington, New Zealand.)

Set in the beautiful island nation of New Zealand, Jennifer Trevelyan writes a coming-of-age story of a ten-year-old girl named Alix. Through Alix’s eyes, a listener/reader is reminded of their youth and the many events in childhood that show the truth of human nature. What we see and interpret when we are young is clouded by our ignorance and struggle to appreciate life as it is rather than what we think it should be. Ignorance is usually dispelled as we grow older, lose our innocence, and begin to understand life’s struggles are universal.

Humans are animals with advanced abilities to think and communicate.

Humans cooperate, compete, and adapt to their environment to survive. Our imperfections are legion beginning in childhood and multiplying throughout our lives. As a child, we see the world and interpret what we see with innocent eyes. Whether raised by an institution, two parents or one, a child sees through inexperienced eyes which are only interpretations of a real world that only time and maturity will reveal. Trevelyan shows how a child sees more than adults realize but often interpret what they see incorrectly. Eventually a child loses his/her innocence as they mature and reinterpret past experiences, but the fog of memory often interferes with truth.

Trevelyan’s main character, Alix is you, me, and every child raised in a world of married and unmarried parents or institutions.

Trevelyan offers concrete examples of the fragility and complexity of caring for children of the future. Many examples are given of Alix’s seeing life happen with interpretations that are as often wrong as right. Alix has had explanations of the difference between right and wrong but sees her sister steal make-up from a store, get drunk as a teenager, and befriend others who encourage bad behavior. She sees her mother at a distance who appears to be amorously kissing a stranger. Her mother and father are often confrontational with each other. Her mother takes long solitary walks, and her father shows passive detachment from the family.

Alix is on a vacation with her family at a New Zealand’ beach resort. She is an excellent swimmer who often swims alone.

The risk of swimming in the sea introduces the reality of danger in the world even when the environment is beautiful. One thinks about the many shark incidents on the coasts of the world and Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s death from a riptide while swimming in Costa Rica.

Trevelyan offers many lessons for adults who are raising children in this world. Children see more than adults realize and they interpret what they see in ways that can be as easily wrong as right. They incorporate what they see into their perception of the world. Parents are models of who children become as adults. As parents, or institutions that influence and raise children, it is important to be emotionally available, not just present to children. Keeping secrets or being silent about something is human. However, what a child sees or hears can be harmful when not discussed with a parent or guardian. Parents and institutions need to provide age-appropriate transparency to build trust with children. Those children with siblings should have sibling relationships nurtured by responsible adults. Adults need to take responsibility for the environment in which children are raised.

Being on vacation in an idyllic setting does not mean there are no dangers.

Trevelyan story explains why raising children is important. Adults need to be present, honest, and emotionally available to children under their care. It is a big job for which most of us fail, but children are the world’s future.

LIBERALITY

The conclusion one may draw from “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” is that government liberality is better than authoritarianism

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Author: Gail Honeyman

Narrated By: Cathleen McCarron

Gail Honeyman (Author, Scottish writer and novelist, won the 2017 Costa First Novel Award for “Eleanor Oliphant”.)

“Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine” is a commentary on life’s loneliness which seems a self-imposed choice. There is a comic and mysterious quality to Honeyman’s story. Genetics and life experience inherent in every life is what the story of Oliphant is about. As an observer of life, one may believe experiences of life only reinforce genetic predisposition. If one accepts that belief, little of who we become is under our control. Honeyman’s story infers that is only partly true.

Waxing hair removal.

Life is a struggle for Eleanor. It is not that Eleanor does not make choices about life but that her choices appear other directed rather than inner directed. Life may be just a matter of chances and circumstances rather than inner directed motivation. Her story begins with a visit to a salon for an intimate waxing of her labia majora. (Hot or cold wax is applied to her intimate parts that pulls the roots of pubic hair off.) Eleanor is shocked by the experience. One presumes she is shocked because of the pain but surprisingly Eleanor explains it is because of the appearance it leaves of her naked woo-hoo. She thinks she now looks like an infant rather than a fully mature woman. This is a somewhat comic beginning to the author’s story. On the other hand, it shows Eleanor’s life seems more determined by society than inner direction.

Eleanor is a bookkeeper in a small business.

There is a mystery in this story that is slowly revealed by the details of Eleanor’s life. She lives alone in what is a subsidized apartment paid by social services. She is visited by a case worker and there appears some mysterious reason for her receiving help from the State. The mysterious reason is implied by the interview of Eleanor by a social case worker who pauses as she looks at the last part of a file as she interviews Eleanor. The case worker’s pause is about something written about Eleanor’s past. That past is made more mysterious as one finds Eleanor’s mother is institutionalized for some reason not disclosed.

Cultural differences.

The striking point made by this case worker’s visit to an American reader is the difference between Great Britain’s philosophical and cultural differences in regard to social policy. America rejects socialism while Great Britain endorses it. Great Britain practices democratic welfare capitalism while American democratic welfare is more limited. Healthcare is publicly funded in Great Britain while it is mostly private in America. These differences do not change the truth of Eleanor’s life story but it contextualizes Honeyman’s view of a life in a democratic socialist system rather than a democratic capitalist country.

The waxing incident is a comic beginning to Honeyman’s story, but it reflects on urban life as emotionally isolating despite being surrounded by other people.

Eleanor drinks half or more of a bottle of vodka alone in her apartment at the end of a work day. Her life is depressingly humdrum with hints of a trauma earlier in life. Whatever that trauma may have been urges one to keep listening or reading the author’s story. One’s interest is heightened by a young man that seems interested in Eleanor as a future companion. The young man is Raymond, a co-worker. Raymond is a loved son which is quite different from the family in which Eleanor appears to have been raised

Nearly half way through the book, one finds Eleanor has a scar on her face.

Like stepping into a darkened room, Honeyman shines a light on humanity. We become who we are from genetics and life experience. Honeyman gives many hints in her story that suggest there is a connection between Eleanor’s appearance, her reclusive and withdrawn behavior, her alcohol consumption, her mother’s confinement, and the aid she receives from Great Britain’s welfare system.

The perspective one gains from this story ranges from the horror of human selfishness to the value of caring for others.

One may compare American Capitalism with British Socialism thinking of their strengths and weaknesses or view the story of Oliphant as something that can occur in any social system of government.

Oliphant is rescued from a horrible family environment by Great Britain’s social welfare system to become an independent and productive British/Scottish citizen. One wonders if the same could happen in America with a less liberal system of welfare that relies on self-interest to change people’s lives. Of course, that is an unanswerable question because Oliphant could have been rescued in either country. On the other hand, would more citizens be saved by a more socialist system of democratic capitalism?

The details of Oliphant’s life are horrific. The cruelty of family life is real in every culture, whether authoritarian or democratic. The conclusion one may draw from “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” is that government liberality is better than authoritarianism.

DAMNED & FORGOTTEN

Allen Esken’s story is too tedious and drawn out to be a great work of fiction. However, it reminds one of the injustices of life for those who get away with murder.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Quiet Librarian (A Novel)

Author: Allen Eskens

Narrated By: Livana Muratovic

Allen Eskens (Author, former defense attorney who lives in Minnesota.)

Allen Eskens has written a story of revenge and war without giving it context which diminishes its value. Having visited the former Yugoslavia which is split into 6 ethnic territories, the war that occurred between Bosnian and Serbian people can still be seen in pock marked buildings that were evidence of the war. Our guide for the trip reflects on America and NATO’s failure to aid a peaceful resolution while the conflict killed many people that may have been saved by international intervention. Eskens makes a passing comment about that feeling in his book, but the truth of that conflict is as real today as the people who lived through it.

Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavian ruler 1953-1980, died in May of 1980.)

When Tito died in 1980, Slobodan Milošević, a nationalist Serbian leader promoted the idea of a “Greater Serbia” without accommodation to ethnic differences of the former Yugoslavian people. Milošević capitalized on the historic conflict between Serb’ and Bosnian’ ethnic and religious beliefs to acquire and hold power. Serbian Christian beliefs were used as a tool to incite support of Milošević’s rule of Bosnians who are generally Muslim believers. Many Bosnians and Serbians die as a result of Milošević. Slobodan Milošević retained power for 13 years but is removed in October of 2000 when Vojislav Koštunica won the presidency. Though Milošević supporters try to protest the election results, they fail.

Slobodan Milošević (President of Serbia 1989-1997, died in 2006 of a heart attack.)

Milošević is arrested in 2001, extradited to The Hague, and tried for war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. He is the first former head of state to be tried by the Hague court. The trial lasted for four years. Milošević is found dead in his prison cell. He was 64. Autopsy shows it to be a heart attack. No verdict is reached, leaving no closure to the victims of his perfidy.

The division of Yugoslavia after Tito’s death.

This history does not change Eskens’ story, but it offers context that helps one understand why a Bosnian emigree to America pursued a former Serbian nationalist who brutally raped her mother and murdered her family in front of her during the Bosnian/Serbian war. It is credible fiction of the consequence of war whether in Bosnia or anywhere in the world where the guilty go unpunished. The question becomes, is intent to murder a criminal by one who has firsthand knowledge of another’s heinous act equally guilty of murder? The question is not asked or answered by Esken’s story; probably because it is unanswerable.

The heroine of Eskens story is Hana Babić who emigrates to Minnesota to earn a living as a librarian.

She has adopted the grandson of a close friend who is murdered in the Bosnian/Serbian war. That adoption and her personal experience drives her to find and murder the man who destroyed her life in Bosnia. She has to choose between committing murder in America or letting a murderer go free when she finds her nemesis. However, protecting her adopted boy by letting a guilty person escape vigilante justice is what drives the author’s story. If one sticks with the story, they find her answer.

One wonders about lives of Ukrainians if a tentative settlement proposed by Putin in August 2025 is accepted by Ukraine. Territories under siege in Ukraine would be given to Russia in return for ending the war.

How many Ukrainians will leave their homeland to seek a new life? How many will stay, and secretly fight on? How many will reluctantly accept their homeland’s loss? These were decisions made by Bosnians in former Yugoslavia.

Allen Esken’s story is too tedious and drawn out to be a great work of fiction. However, it reminds one of the injustices of life for those who get away with murder.

DICTATORSHIP

The importance of freedom in book publication and for those who read them is the message Charlie English gives the public in “The CIA Book Club”. It is too bad America’s current President chooses not to read because this book reminds one of how important books are in the world.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The CIA Book Club (The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature)

Author: Charlie English

Narrated By: Michael David Axtell

Charlie English (Author, British non-fiction author, former head of international news at the Guardian.)

“The CIA Book Club” is a reminder of the former USSR and today’s Russian invasion of Ukraine and what is at stake for Ukraine’s citizens that may, once again, come under the repressive return of a dictatorial leader. Putin has adopted many of the same characteristics of Joseph Stalin, a leader who believed in dictatorial control over the media, and isolating or murdering anyone who challenges his leadership. The scale of Putin’s use of gulags, and mass executions is much smaller than Stalin’s but his cultivation of a cadre of followers, rewarded by the power of association and lure of wealth, create a similar dictatorship.

Poland-Europe’s crossroad.

What Charlie English reminds listener/readers of is how Poland suffered under Stalin and what it will mean to Ukrainians when much of their land is taken to settle the Ukrainian war.

Without solid opposition of all Western powers, concession of Ukrainian land seems inevitable. Trump’s waffling opposition to Putin and the fear of nuclear confrontation reduce the likelihood of Russia’s peaceful withdrawal from Ukraine.

Like the repressive actions of the USSR in the Baltics, English explains how brutal Hitler, Stalin, and Stalin’s successors were to Poland even after Stalin’s death.

Strick control over publishing continued after Stalin’s death. Orwell, Koestler, and Solzhenitsyn were banned, and western books were blocked at the border. Polish citizens like Miroslaw Chojecki risked imprisonment for smuggling and/or re-printing forbidden works. The KGB monitored dissidents, writers, and students. English notes that phones were tapped and homes raided. However, a CIA program continued to provide copies of banned books to Polish dissidents. Polish citizens became partners in covert activities to smuggle and re-print books for their countrymen and women. A Solidarity movement against censorship and discrimination is formed by Polish patriots. This reminds one of the resistances one hears when visiting today’s Baltic countries and stories of citizens whose families were jailed, tortured, and sometimes killed during Stalin’s occupation.

Poland, a spectacularly beautiful country.

Poland is an important trade and agricultural producer at the crossroad of Europe. It has no natural land barriers between itself and the great powers on their borders. Its strategic value to European aggressors has made it a victim of a history of foreign occupation. In the 13th, 17th, 18th, and 20th centuries Poland was occupied by Mongols, Prussians, Germans, and Russians. Poland’s diverse population seems to have been unable to create a strong centralized authority that could successfully resist their powerful neighbors who confiscated their riches and occupied their land. Charlie English’s book reminds reader/listeners of what makes Poland a great nation. It is its diversity and its pursuit of intellectual development. Sadly, its geographic location has threatened its existence for millenniums. America is blessed by its geographic location and shows how it could survive as a free democratic nation. Through clandestine operations and support by the CIA, Polish patriots were able to reproduce banned books during the cold war that aided the intellectual growth of Poland despite Stalin’s repression.

America’s current President impedes the influence of freedom in Europe by dismantling surveillance oversight, undermining the EU-U.S. Data privacy framework, and by shutting down the GEC (Global Engagement Center) which is designed to counter foreign disinformation.

Trump’s intent is to save money. The author notes the same thing nearly happened with the CIA book publishing support of Poland when some of America’s leaders tried to cut its funding. The CIA prevailed and the financial support continued.

The importance of freedom in book publication and for those who read them is the message Charlie English gives the public in “The CIA Book Club”. It is too bad America’s current President chooses not to read because this book reminds one of how important books are in the world.

MARK TWAIN

Chernow’s biography is a mirror of Twain’s time and life. Chernow implies Twain could see imperfections of society without seeing his own. Twain’s genius to entertain America and readers around the world is not diminished by Chernow’s well written book.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Mark Twain 

Author: Ron Chernow

Narrated By: Jason Culp

Ron Chernow (Author, journalist, biographer, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the American History Prize for his 2010 book “Washington: A Life”.

No stranger to historical biographies, Ron Chernow has written an interesting biography of the peripatetic humorist Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. Samuel Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri, two weeks after Hailley’s Comet passed Earth in 1835, he died in 1910 when Hailey’s Comet made its closest approach to Earth in 1910. Chernow’s biography explains how Clemens became a steamboat pilot, frontier journalist, author, and American gadfly in his journey through 74 plus years of life.

Chernow’s biography of Mark Twain reminds one of Donald Trump without the power of the Presidency.

Clemens is noted as a stretcher of truth who told stories of his time that illustrated the contradictions of race, slavery, and morality that live through today. Twain is shown to express himself in humorist ways that challenged racial norms and societal conflicts which made some laugh, and others cringe with disgust or anger. Chernow argues Twain’s use of language shaped American literature. He gave American literature a unique voice that blended humor with criticism. Twain humanized the Black community and the iniquity of slavery, but Twain’s upbringing suggests he did not escape the false belief of innate Black’ inequality. Chernow painted a picture of Twain that showed how society was filled with the promise and pitfalls of Americans’ character.

Chernow shows how Clemens reinvents himself, not from formal education but from life experience.

At 21, Clemens begins training himself as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi river, a highly praised, prized, and well-compensated position. Chernow suggests Clemens found his nom deplume, Mark Twain, based on the language of riverboat pilots. (“Mark Twain” is the 12 feet of depth needed for safe navigation of a riverboat.) As material transport changed after the steamboat era, Twain had to find a new career. He traveled to Nevada with the hope to become rich as a silver baron during the gold and silver rushes of the late 1850s. However, he never struck it rich, lost other people’s money, and turned to earlier work experience in newspapers when he lived in Missouri. He had learned the typesetting business and had written a few articles for the paper in his hometown. He settled in Carson City, Nevada, eventually becoming a journalist. On the one hand his stretching of the truth got him in trouble as a journalist but, on the other, it opened him to another career. His wit and way with words led to a role as lecturer and performer.

Chernow shows Twain changes jobs based on his innate abilities and external events.

The development of mass media, America’s Civil War, the industrialization of America, and the growth of a celebrity’ culture influence Twain’s life and made him a cultural symbol of America in the same way Dickens, Dostoevsky, and Chinua Achebe became symbols of their countries. Twain exemplified American life, its contradictions, its greed, and its biases that were blended into the personal tragedies and experiences of his own life. He turned his life experience into an art that reflected America’s growth as a nation. He became a writer and lecturer.

Chernow explains how Twain did not just read his lectures, i.e., he performs and acts their meaning to an audience.

Twain blends storytelling with satire and theater to entertain his audience. His reputation as a public speaker is made in California, but he becomes a global star. He performs in London, Berlin, and Bombay with what became cultural events about American humor and American foibles. His lectures are folksy with tinges of intellectualism that make him revered, respected, and laughed about by his audiences. Chernow believes he created an image of one who speaks truth to power about imperialism, religion, and human folly.

Chernow does not sugar coat truth about Twain.

Like all human beings, Twain had his blind spots. He was silent about lynching and its immorality, and he was trapped in his vision of racism by treating it as a troubling fact of American life despite his championing of civil rights. At best, he appears to be an agnostic when it comes to religion. There is criticism of Twain’s close relationship with teenage girls that he dismisses as a public concern by saying “It isn’t the public’s affair”. Twain is reckless with other people’s and his own money and investment. He exhibits behavior that suggests a gambler’s view about getting rich quickly. Twain could be vindictive, and melancholic because of his gloomy view of humanity. His family life suffers from his impulsivity and emotional distancing toward his wife and daughters. In one sense, Chernow makes Twain more human by noting he is like most of us except for his insightful sense of humor and talent for extemporaneous public speaking.

The archive of Twain’s letters is in the thousands which spans his entire adult life.

Chernow gathers much of his understanding of Twain from his personal letters rather than his books. He does note a number of Twain’s family members and friends are models for characters in his novels. However, Chernow’s focus is on Twain the man who appears morally inconsistent, a poor manager of other people’s money, and prone to anger when aggravated by other’s opinions. Whether this is fair or not, it describes many people today.

Chernow’s biography is a mirror of Twain’s time and life. Chernow implies Twain could see imperfections of society without seeing his own. Twain’s genius to entertain America and readers around the world is not diminished by Chernow’s well written book.

WEALTH

What is wrong about Housel’s investment recommendations is that his life experience sets a table that is not the same table as those who have much less to eat.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Psychology of Money (Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness)

Author: Morgan Housel

Narrated By: Chris Hill

Morgan Housel (Author, two-time winner of the Best in Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.)

“The Psychology of Money” is a plain-spoken examination of the value of wealth, how it is attained, retained or lost, and why its’ real value is independence. A superior perception of reality would certainly be ideal, but Housel implies no such thing exists, and that the presumption is too theoretical to be useful. Every human being becomes a product of their life experience. Unquestionably, all human beings have genetic inheritance, but Housel suggests personal life experience molds that genetic inheritance. All true, but it helps if your parents are upper middleclass and have a mindset for saving rather than spending their income.

Housel argues high intelligence is no guarantee of success in achieving wealth.

To achieve wealth, Housel argues one needs to be a consistent saver, a long-term thinker, an index fund investor in the stock market, and one who resists impulsive decisions to sell investments or use savings during financial instability. These guidelines are based on a wealth-seeker’s “margin of error” calculation of financial need during market weakness. One’s objective is to maintain one’s independence and freedom to live as they wish without risking that freedom by buying luxuries from short-term gains to only appear wealthier than others.

Cutting through the lessons that are listed by Housel’s suggestions is the ancient Greek recognition of the importance of “knowing thyself”.

Are you a crazy risk taker, do you think about the value of wealth, are you more interested in what others think of you than who you are to yourself, are you goal oriented or a “go along to get along” kind of person? These are clues to who you are and whether you should change to assure a life of freedom to live as you wish.

Janitor Ronald Read Leaves Behind $8,000,000 Fortune at his death

Housel gives the example of the janitor millionaire from Vermont who had no formal financial education. Ronald Read worked as a janitor and gas station attendant during his working life. He lived frugally while investing in blue-chip stocks that he held until his death. He amasses a fortune because of small savings and investments while never having high income but investing unneeded cash based on the way he chose to live. By being patient and disciplined over the course of his life, Read died in 2014 at the age of 92, donating $4.8 million to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, $1.2 million to Brooks Memorial Library, and $2 million to his stepchildren, caregivers, and friends. Like Ben Franklin, Read lived a long life, accumulated great wealth while living the life he wanted. Just like Franklin, Read lived his life as he wanted and contributed his savings to eleemosynary institutions and people who were important to him during his lifetime.

Warren Buffett (The Oracle of Omaha.)

Warren Buffett is another example offered by Housel to explain that time and compounded returns on investment are key to one’s independence and success for living as one chooses. Buffet’s genius is not in just choosing the right stocks, but in staying with investments over the long term. Housel notes 96% of Buffett’s immense wealth came after his 65th birthday.

The discipline outlined by Housel is difficult for a young person to accept because of the tendency of human nature to impress others with their success.

When young, image is important for reasons ranging from attracting desirable partners to impressing others with one’s success by driving expensive cars, wearing elegant clothes, and living in luxurious homes. Many people believe image is as important as substance and fail to realize its folly when they are too old to do much about it. Freedom to live as we choose is a mixed blessing. Being disciplined about money and investment when one is young is an important lesson but hard to follow, particularly in a free society.

Piketty argues that the income gap widens after World War II.  He estimates 60% of 2010’s wealth is held by less than 1% of the population.

Housel comes from a family of savers who appear to have followed the path he recommends in his book. Though what he recommends makes sense, his starting point seems better than most middleclass or poor families in America. He chooses a very conservative investment strategy because of his life experience. He only invests in index funds and lives in a house without a mortgage. His story is not a typical American middleclass family story. What works for him is based on his personal life experience. What is wrong about Housel’s investment recommendations is that his life experience sets a table that is not the same table as those who have much less to eat. This is not to say Housel’s advice is wrong in recommending living within one’s means, investing for the long term, and letting wealth accumulate over time. It is good advice but where one starts in life makes a difference because your life experiences mold a large part of who you become and how you choose to save or spend your money.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE

Technology is a key to social need which has not been well served in the past or present and could become worse without pragmatic accommodation.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Daughters of the Baboo Grove (From Chian to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins)

Author: Barbara Demick

Narrated By: Joy Osmanski

Barbara Demick (Author, American journalist, former Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times.)

This is a brief and fascinating historical glimpse of a government policy gone awry. Like America’s mistaken policies on immigration, Barbara Demick’s story of China’s one-child policy traces the effects of government overreach. Demick tells the story of a rural Chinese family who births twin sisters during the time of China’s unjust enforcement of their one-child policy. One sister is abducted by Chinese government officials, and is adopted by a family in Texas. The ethics of an inhumane Chinese government policy and the perfidy of free enterprise are exposed in Demick’s true story of two children’s lives.

The territorial size of China in respect to continental America.

China’s one-child policy leads to a Chinese criminal enterprise to capitalize on kidnapping and selling children born to families that could not afford the fines for having more children than the law allows. Undoubtedly, most children born were cherished by their parents, but the hardship of life and human greed leads to unconscionable human trafficking. Kidnapping became a part of a legal and criminal enterprise in China. Government policy allowed bureaucrats and scofflaws to confiscate children from their parents and effectively deliver or sell children to orphanages or people wanting to adopt a child. Demick recounts stories of grieving parents and grandparents that cannot get their children back once they have been taken.

Child trafficking, broken families, loss of personal identity, human shame, and the immoral implication of other countries interest in adopting children are unintended consequences of a poorly thought out and implemented government policy.

Demick becomes interested in this story because of a message she receives from a stepbrother of an adopted Chinese sister that has a twin that lives in China. Because of Demick’s long experience in visiting and reporting on China, she had a network of people she could call. Using adoption records, Demick is able to find the Texas stepsister who had been kidnapped when she was 22 months old. She was trafficked to an orphanage in the Hunan Province of China. Years later, through messaging apps, the twins communicated with each other and shared their photographs. They eventually meet in China in 2019.

One is hesitant to argue a government policy is a unique act of China when every government makes policy decisions that have unintended consequences.

America’s policy decisions on immigration are a present-day fiasco that is as wrong as the one-child policy in China’s history. The one-child policy is eventually rejected by the Chinese’ government but Demick’s book shows how bad government policy has consequences that live on even when they are changed by future governments. America’s policy on immigration will be eventually reversed but its damage will live on.

Getting back to the story, Demick is instrumental in having the mother of Esther (aka E) and the twins meet in China.

One is hesitant to argue a government policy is a unique act of China when every government makes policy decisions that have unintended consequences. The twins are initially reticent but warm to each other in a way that bridges the cultural and language divide between the sisters. The two mothers see their respective roles in their daughter’s lives. E and her identical twin, Shuangjie, are reserved when they meet because of the cultural distance that was created by E’s adoption.

E. appears more confident than Shuangjie who is more reserved and less assured.

However, Demick suggests they seem to mirror each other in subsequent meetings. One feels a mix of emotions listening to this audiobook version of “Daughter’s of the Bamboo Grove”. They have grown up in different environments but seem to have been raised in similar economic circumstances, though the two economies are vastly different in income per household, the two appear to be raised in similar economic classes.

Every person who reads/listens to “Daughter’s of the Bamboo Grove” can view the story from different perspectives.

There is the perspective of identical twins raised in different families, cultures, and histories. How are identical twins different when they are raised by different parents and in different cultures? Another perspective is that Xi and Trump have had dramatic effects on the societies their policies have created. The Twin’s meeting in 2019 is one year after my wife and I had visited China. Xi had become President after his predecessor began opening China’s economic opportunities. Two incidents on the trip when Xi had become President come to mind. The first is the feeling one has of being monitored everywhere and the internet restrictions when used to ask questions. The second was an incident in a crowded Chinese market when I was approached by a beefy citizen who raised his arms and seemed to be angrily talking to me in Chinese which I sadly did not understand. The distinct impression is that I was not welcome. This was a singular incident that did not repeat in our 21-day tour, but it seemed like an expression of hostility toward America.

This listener/reader thinks of the unintended consequences of Trump’s treatment of alleged illegal immigrants.

Trump’s immigration policy is similar to China’s earlier mistake with the one-child policy. America’s, China’s, and Japan’s economies are highly dependent on youth which is diminished in two fundamental ways. One is by public policy that restricts birth, and the other is immigration. Freedom of choice is a foundational belief in democracy while considered a threat in autocracy. In America today, it seems there is little difference between America, Japan, or China in regard to government policy that threatens the future. All have an aging population that can only be aided by younger generations. Even though manufacturing may become less labor intensive, public need in the service industry will grow. Technology is a key to social need which has not been well served in the past or present and could become worse without pragmatic accommodation.