Tag: books

BOOK LOVERS

In the end, “…History of the Book…”is brought together by Smyth’s review of book circulation. From early written manuscripts, small accumulations by the few grew into massive libraries for the general public.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Book-Makers (A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives) 

By: Adam Smith

Narrated By: Adam Smith

Adam Smyth (Author, Professor of English Literature and the History of the Book at Oxford University.)

The Gutenberg press is invented in the mid-15th century in Germany. Not surprisingly, the most widely printed book is the Christian Bible that began with the Guttenberg Bible, a 42-line Bible also called the Mazarin Bible, printed in 1455. Adam Smyth notes the first non-religious, widely popular book is printed in 1494, titled “Das Narrenschiff” or “Ship of Fools”.

“The Ship of Fools” is written by Sebastian Brant in 1494. It is a collection of satirical poems and illustrations depicting the foolish behavior of humans and the corruption of the church.

Printed originally in German in Basel, Switzerland, “The Ship of Fools” was lavishly illustrated and became a best seller in Europe. Its popularity came from its satirical content, wide translation, and visual appeal. Smyth explains the book critiques human folly and vice with 112 chapters, each of which is accompanied by a woodcut illustration.

Smyth explains how bookbinding and printing grew as an art.

Contributions to the art were made by both men and women. Elizabeth Collett and Sarah Benlowes were instrumental in improving the quality and continuity of noted books in the 17th century. They pioneered a “cut and paste” technique that made famous books more consistent, unique, and artistic without changing their author’s meaning.

John Baskerville (1706-1775) created and, with the management of his wife, distributed the Baskerville typeface. Not surprisingly, no picture is available on the internet of his wife Sarah Eaves.

John Baskerville and his future wife, Sarah Eaves, made significant contributions to the quality of the printed page. Baskerville created Baskerville typeface in 1757. The new typeface set a new standard for typography with sharp serifs, high contrast thick and thin strokes, and overall clarity. His future wife managed their print business and helped implement Baskerville’s innovations. Together, they improved ink color and sharpness to provide higher quality printing for books.

No story of the “History of the Book…” could be complete without addressing Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790).

Smyth reveals the contributions Franklin makes while using Caslon typeface created by Baskerville for the publication of newspapers, advertising, and the most successful non-religious book of the 18th century, “Poor Richard’s Almanac”. Franklin is the quintessential American by exemplifying the strengths and weakness of capitalism.

Money is important to Franklin in different ways.

Franklin used his newspaper to support and print paper money for the U.S. government. Franklin’s industriousness is well documented by historians, but Smyth notes a glaring flaw in Franklin’s character. Of course, this flaw is taken out of historical context and Franklin eventually changes his view, but he supported and brokered the slave trade between the 1750s and 60s. He is seduced by amorality, presumably because of the human desire for money, power, and/or prestige. Of course, this is being human; like all citizens of any economy or government.

Franklin’s views on slavery changed in the 1780s when he became a vocal abolitionist, but he certainly enriched himself in slavery’s earlier years.

Smyth flashes back to the invention of paper. The early beginning of paper is traced back to China in the 2nd century CE. Ts’al Lun (Cai Lun), a court official, is credited for developing papermaking techniques. Paper production spreads to the Islamic world in the 7th century with the printing of the Koran. It extends to Europe in the 12th century. The truly big jump in paper production came in the early 19th century with Louis-Nicolas Robert in France. The Fourdrinier machine could produce huge rolls of paper, but Louis-Nicolas Robert is unable to capitalize on the process because patenting was not available in France. Paper production process improves with John Gamble and Bryan Donkin in England. Paper production became faster, more efficient, and cost-effective.

The truly big jump in paper production came in the early 19th century with Louis-Nicolas Robert in France.

In the end, “…History of the Book…”is brought together by Smyth’s review of book circulation. From early written manuscripts, small accumulations by the few grew into massive libraries for the general public. Access to great and inane writings of genius and pulp producers reached wider and wider audiences. The final chapters address some of the great writers of modern times, particularly poets of which this reviewer is minimally interested and sadly ignorant.

One of the largest libraries in the world is in France, The Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

CHILDREN

Klune’s fantasy offers no clear answer to “the best way” to raise children, but he crystalizes how important they are to the future of the world.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, Book 2) 

By: T.J. Klune

Narrated By: Daniel Henning

T.J. Klune (Author, winner of the 2021 Mythopoeic Awards)

“Somewhere Beyond the Sea” is a wild ride by an author with an extraordinary imagination. Some listener/readers will be inclined to reject Klune’s book because its flights of imagination obscure the author’s social criticism. This is a fantasy novel offering a message about mistakes parents and society make when raising children.

One might view “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” as a simple fantasy novel about extraordinary children cared for in orphanages.

However, every parent of a child will see themselves and the mistakes they may have made in raising their children. Though science explains much of who humans become is genetically determined, the influence of parents and acquaintances affect genetic predisposition. A child may mature to become a Jesus or Hitler without human understanding of why they became the best or worst of society.

Klune’s fantasy is about an orphanage populated with magical children that have powers beyond rational belief.

They are morphological creatures with powers capable of destroying or creating reality. Being free of parental guidance and raised in an orphanage, the maturity of these children is institutionally influenced. As is true in any orphanage, or any parental home, there are good and bad management practices. As either an orphanage manager or parent, one wonders if they are making the right decisions in the way they are influencing their children.

Klune obviously believes letting children become who they are, as long as they do no harm to themselves or others, is a life goal.

That seems a fine ideal, but parents and institutions are made of humans who are trapped by personal experiences of their own that influence how they raise their children. Some are disciplinaries, others are not. Some are physical punishers of bad behavior; others believe physical punishment only releases a parent’s anger and actually reinforces bad behavior. Despite bad parenting, some children grow to become great contributors to society, regardless of how they were raised, others become criminals of every type.

Does the way we raise our children make a difference in who they become?

There seems no disciplinary practice that guarantees the best outcome of a child raised by either institutions or parents. This is particularly concerning to parents of children who become unhappy and choose to pursue unhealthy relationships, become drug addicts, criminals, or suicide statistics. Parents become victims of guilt. They wonder how they might have been better managers of their children’s lives, thinking that could have made the difference.

Klune’s fantasy offers no clear answer to “the best way” to raise children, but he crystalizes how important they are to the future of the world.

FAME

With the death of Riley’s brother from suicide, a spiraling downward seems inevitable for Lisa Marie Pressley. Surprisingly, Lisa Marie rallies after the suicide of her son, but the negative consequence of fame remain. The pressure of fame, like poverty, are equal opportunity killers.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

From Here to the Great Unknown (A Memoir) 

By: Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough

Narrated By: Riley Keough, Julia Roberts

Lisa Marie Presley (Singer, song writer, daughter of Elvis)
Danielle Riley Keough (Actress, eldest grandchild of Elvis)

“From Here to the Great Unknown” begins rather shakily because it is unclear about who is narrating and being represented in the story. Listeners who stick with the story begin to see that Keough’s voice is of herself while the non-tape-recorded voice by Julia Roberts is Lisa Marie, telling and filling gaps in Danielle Riley’s story. The two photographs above are meant to show Lisa Marie in her prime and Riley in the present.

This memoir explains Danny Keough (Danielle’s father and Lisa Maries first husband) is an ever-present person in Riley Keough’s life.

The book reveals the thrills, fears, and tragedy of inheriting fame. Danielle Riley Keough assembles a memoir from tape recordings by her mother and recollections of Elvis Pressley’s only daughter, Lisa Marie Pressley. “From Here to the Great Uknown” infers genetics may have something to do with descendants’ lives but the consequence of fame magnifies life’s proclivities.

Lisa Marie is shown to idolize her father who loved her dearly.

As most know, Elvis descended into addiction. This is not a story about Elvis but about Lisa Marie who loved her father, struggled with her mother, and created a career for herself in the music industry. She never achieves the fame of her father but had some success with “Lights Out”, “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”, “Dirty Laundry”, “S.O.B”, and “Over Me”. Keough briefly talks about traveling with her mother on tour. Keogh explains her mother dabbled with drugs in earlier years but seemed to kick the habit as she began establishing her own career. Lisa Marie meets and marries Danny Keough, and has two children with her, Riley and a son named Benjamin. Despite a divorce in 1994, Riley Keough and even her mother remained close with Danny.

Lisa Marie’s divorce seems precipitated by a growing intimate relationship between Lisa Marie and the famous King of Pop, Michael Jackson. After divorce, Lisa Marie marries Jackson in 1994.

Keough mentions Jackson’s pedophilia accusations in 1993 that makes one wonder if the marriage had anything to do with the accusations of five boys. Lisa Marie and Jackson divorced in 1996. Riley suggests Jackson’s desire to be in control created friction between the couple that led to the divorce. Jackson was acquitted of any pedophilia charges in 2005.

Lisa Marie marries again in 2002 to the actor, Nicolas Cage, but they are divorced two years later.

Despite three failed marriages, Riley explains her mother wishes to have more children and decides to marry Michael Lockwood in 2006. Through invitro fertilization, Lisa Marie becomes pregnant with twins. She has a cesarian delivery that births Harper and Finley who become Riley’s sisters. Riley explains her mother had quit drugs which she had gone through in her younger years but recovering from the cesarian operation led her back to drugs. She separates from Lockwood in 2016, and they divorce in 2021.

One begins to think about the famous film “Alfie” that came out in 1966.

Michael Caine, who is Alfie, looks back on his life and his famous line in the film is “What’s it all about Alfie?” Riley suggests Lisa Marie was a great mother because she had an instinct for caring about her children. Riley believes her mother slipped back into drugs because of the pain killers she took from the cesarean delivery of her twins.

Living a life of fame has consequences. One can argue that no singer in modern times has exceeded the fame of Elvis Pressley. Maybe Taylor Swift is nearing Elvis’s fame. Time will tell.

The price of fame is loss of privacy, mental strain to maintain an image, isolation, hangers-on self-interests, constant public exposure, and personal security concerns. Riley’s memoir of her mother’s life suggests fame influences Elvis’s, Lisa Marie Pressley’s, and Ben’s lives and deaths. All three had problems with drug use, but Elvis had a heart attack and Lisa Marie had a bowel obstruction thought to have caused excessive weight-loss and death.

With the death of Riley’s brother from suicide, a spiraling downward seems inevitable for Lisa Marie Pressley.

Surprisingly, Lisa Marie rallies after the suicide of her son, but the negative consequence of fame remain. The pressure of fame, like poverty, are equal opportunity killers.

LIBRARIES’ EVOLUTION

The well-made point of Orlean’s history of the Los Angeles Central Library is that a listener/reader can learn a great deal about the world and other people’s life experience from books. The loss of a book is not like human death, disease, or disability. A book is a liberation and broadening of life’s narrowness.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Library Book 

By: Susan Orlean

Narrated By: Susan Orlean

Susan Orlean (Author, American journalist, tv writer, staff writer for The New Yorker.)

“The Library Book” is not a thriller, but it is an appreciation of a public service available in nearly every community of the United States. Libraries can be found in communities of less than 8,000 people or megalopolises of millions. Susan Orlean focuses her book on the great fire in 1986 at the Los Angeles Central Library where over 400,000 books were destroyed, and an estimated 700,000 were damaged. Though this was not the largest library in America, it was the largest library fire in U.S.’ history. Orlean’s research suggests the arsonist was a Wanna-Be actor named Harry Peak. However, there is no concrete evidence to confirm his guilt. No one is convicted for the library’s alleged arson. The cause remains undetermined.

It is interesting to note that Orlean admits there were electrical problems in the old building that had been recorded by building inspectors, but fire inspectors concluded it was arson.

It seems somewhat disingenuous for the City or Orlean to accuse Peak as an arsonist but that is not the primary message of her book. Her message is that many, including this reviewer, love the knowledge and experience of others who write books. Arguably, public libraries are one of the greatest public services in America, and at a cost much less than most public services in America.

The last chapters of her book address the history of the creation and renovation of the Los Angles Central Library. It reaches back to the 19th century. She recalls the liberal leaning of librarians and their early adoption of women in the workplace. Two women became Library’ managers in the 1800s. Orlean notes in a joking conversation with a manager of the library about the unlikely promotion of a political conservative as a head librarian.

An interesting note from the author is that the Los Angeles library has historically been a haven for the homeless, a problem that has dramatically risen in the 21st century. Some librarians have expanded their services to help the homeless. It seems noteworthy that the libraries in Las Vegas and those visited in other cities do not lock their bathroom doors the way private businesses like Starbucks choose to do.

The Los Angeles Library took six years to rebuild while workers carried on during the course of reconstruction. She notes that a new book generally requires a week before it hits the shelf because of time needed for proper cataloging. A somewhat distracting habit Orlean uses is recitation of a book’s Dewey Decimal’ number that begins most of the chapters. An interesting note from the author is that the library has historically been a haven for the homeless, a problem that has dramatically risen in the 21st century. Some librarians have expanded their services to help the homeless. It seems noteworthy that the Los Angeles Central library and libraries in Las Vegas do not lock their doors the way private businesses like Starbucks have chosen to do.

The Los Angeles Library is rebuilt to be better than it was before the fire.

Orlean explains library managers in LA are pushing to expand services their libraries provide. Having personal experience of traveling the world, countries like Finland show they have modernized libraries with a concept highly recommended in Orlean’s history of the Los Angeles’ library. Helsinki, Finland’s state-of-the-art library is a dramatic example of the services a library can provide. Everything from music instrument rentals, to recording studios, to sewing machine tables, and cooking kitchens are added to the library’s book inventory. All of these features have been created in Helsinki’s modernly designed library. It is a multi-purpose building that serves both children and adults.

The well-made point of Orlean’s history of the Los Angeles Central Library is that a listener/reader can learn a great deal about the world and other people’s life experience from books.

The loss of a book is not like human death, disease, or disability. A book is a liberation and broadening of life’s narrowness.

Many of the Los Angeles Library books were recovered but the process of recovery required the help of many of LA’s businesses. The books that got wet needed to be frozen to keep them from molding. City businesses made room for soaked books in their commercial freezers. The Los Angeles Central Library is rebuilt to be better than it was before the fire. Many of the books survived with the feint smell of smoke. The library continues to expand and enlighten Angeleno’s lives.

POWER IN INTIMACY

Purnell’s biography implies the drive to succeed for women is based on intimacy rather than inherent human equality. Though that is not the intent of Purnell, intimacy has historically been the avenue women have had to take in society to open opportunity’s door.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Kingmaker (Pamela Harriman’s Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue)

By: Sonia Purnell

Narrated By: Louise Brealey

Sonia Purnell (Author, British journalist, worked at the news magazine “The Economist”)

Every writer is influenced by the country in which they were born. Sonia Purnell writes an interesting biography of Pamela (Digby-Churchill) Harriman in “Kingmaker” but from the perspective of a British journalist. This is not to argue Purnell’s interesting perspective is wrong but that there is a spin that is nationalist, more than objective, about Pamela Harriman’s life.

During the beginning years of WWII, America avoided the war until Pearl Harbor when it became clear that a policy of isolationism would not work.

The reluctance of many American businessmen and industrialists like Joseph Kennedy and Henry Ford would not see Hitler for what he was, a fascist racist planning to dominate as much of Europe as Germany’s war machine would allow. Some in the American government, like Franklin Roosevelt, understood Hitler was a threat to all of Europe if not America. Roosevelt maneuvered the government to support England with a Lend/Lease program to defend themselves against German aggression, despite a political majority’s desire for isolationism.

A SIDE NOTE: Donald Trump believes a negotiated settlement to cease hostilities, even with losses for Ukraine, is best for America. Trump reminds one of Joseph Kennedy and Henry Ford who implied peace and appeasement would avoid war.

Getting back to Purnell’s history of Pamela Harriman, Purnell explains the important role Pamela played, before Pearl Harbor, that mobilized America’s entry into the war. Pamela Harriman is unquestionably an English patriot. Her close relationship with Winston made her an ideal conduit and influencer in smoothing the relationship between America and the British government. The intimate relationship she developed with Harriman is a tribute to her contribution to the formation of an allied force to defeat Germany.

The massive Lend-Lease program is created in the late 1930s because of the Neutrality Acts that kept America out of direct engagement in the early days of WWII.

The program began in 1939 as a cash and carry program that evolved into a Lend-Lease program in 1941. American could lend or lease military equipment and supplies to any country that allies themselves with the U.S. if it were to enter into the war. The United Kingdom, Russia, and China were considered crucial to any alliance that might be created to defeat Germany. The complexity and logistics of Lend-Lease required astute management by American managers. Harry Hopkins was its first administrator, but Averill Harriman was needed to become a diplomatic political expediter for the process.

Purnell argues the political process in the American/United Kingdom relationship was smoothed and improved by Pamela Digby Harriman who was married to the son of Winston Churchill, Randolph Churchill.

Randolph has at best, a mixed reputation. He was a heavy drinker, reckless, and rude. He was married and divorced twice and had gambling problems that were a constant debt problem that disrupted Pamela’s life. She became closer to Winston Churchill than to her husband and became much more politically involved and astute than her husband in government affairs. That experience made her a perfect match for building a closer relationship with Avrill Harriman that became an affair between two married adults. Harriman was twenty-eight years older than Pamela but had a reputation as a suave ladies’ man.

Harriman
Murrow
Whitney
Khan
Agnelli
de Portago
Rothchild
Anderson
Portal
Paley

Purnell reflects on the many affairs of Pamela Churchill Harriman beginning with Averell Harriman, then Edward R. Murrow, and proceeding to John Hay Whitney, Prince Aly Khan, Gianni Agnelli, Alfonso de Portago, Baron Elie de Rothschild, Frederick L. Anderson, Sir Charles Portal, and William S. Paley. The story becomes stale.

There is a cloying sense of unfairness in “Kingmaker ” because Pamela’s skill seems trivialized by her sexuality.

Pamela simply wanted an equal opportunity to succeed in the pursuit of money, power, and prestige, i.e. all the secular objectives men take for granted. Purnell’s biography implies the drive to succeed for women is based on intimacy rather than inherent human equality. Though that is not the intent of Purnell, intimacy has historically been the avenue women have had to take in society to open opportunity’s door.

JAMES BALDWIN

James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time” gives advice that resonates with the troubles of the world today.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Fire Next Time

By: James Baldwin

Narrated By: Jessie Martin

James Baldwin (Author, 1924-1987, African American writer and civil rights activist.)

“The Fire Next Time” consists of two brief essays by James Baldwin that are seminal works on the equality of all human beings. Published in 1963, the first essay is “My Dungeon Shook” which is advice to a young black American. The second, “Down at the Cross…” is a criticism of Catholic and the Nation of Islam religions.

The first is a message to Baldwin’s nephew about white America’s prejudice toward black Americans.

He is telling his nephew to reject white America’s stereotypical view of black Americans. Baldwin tells his nephew to embrace who he is as a human being, neither better nor worse, and to pursue life and living with the truth of his being.

RELIONS OF THER WORLD

“Down at the Cross” is a criticism of religion, particularly the Christian and Nation of Islam faiths. Baldwin argues that both diminish the truth of God by feeding the flames of anti-spiritualism and social inequality.

Baldwin argues through love and understanding of differences among religions and races, the divisiveness of inequality can be erased.

The fundamental point of Baldwin’s writing is that NOI offers a part of what black America needs by instilling self-respect and identity. However, he criticizes NOI’s separatism as counterproductive and extreme. Baldwin advocates love and understanding among all human beings.

Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975, Religious Leader of NOI)

Elijah Muhammed’s advance of the Nation of Islam (NOI) is credited for advocating black empowerment, but Baldwin implies that empowerment mitigates against belief in the equality of all human beings.

Baldwin evolves to a more humanist view of life and declines to take a prominent role either in the Nation of Islam, or the Pentacostal religion he left twenty years earlier. James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time” gives advice that resonates with the troubles of the world today.

THE GUILTY

Is there a line that can be drawn that separates those who should be executed, incarcerated, or rehabilitated by the State?

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Dark Tide (Growing Up with Ted Bundy)

By: Edna Cowell Martin, Megan Atkinson

Narrated By: Morgan Hallett

“Dark Tide” is a journey into the “Heart of Darkness”. Like Joseph Conrad’s story, Edna Cowell Martin, with the help of Megan Atkinson, tries to make sense of human madness, societal hollowness, alienation, and lies. Edna Cowell Martin is the cousin of the notorious Ted Bundy who admits to and is convicted of the murder, rape, and mutilation of 30 or more women in the 1970s. Ms. Martin is in her 70s when she finally chooses to tell the story of her cousin, Ted Bundy, who was like a brother in her family.

Ted Bundy (1946-1989, American serial killer.)

Bundy was an illegitimate child raised by a mother and stepfather. His mother refuses to reveal who his father was which is of little consequence except to Ted Bundy and the impact it might have had on who he became. Bundy is shown to be a bright student who graduated from the University of Washington, went to Yale to study Chinese, and became close to the Cowell family. The Cowells were an artistic family with a father who was a classical pianist who traveled the world and became a music teacher at “The College of Puget Sound” and professor emeritus and Chairman of Music at the University of Arkansas.

The author, Edna Cowell Martin, interviewed by Piers Morgan.

Despite Ms. Martin’s wide travel experience because of her father’s profession, she appears to have lived a middle-class life in the state of Washington. Many years after Ted Bundy’s execution, Martin finally writes and publishes “Dark Tide” about this American serial killer, kidnapper, and rapist. She explains the close relationship that the Cowell family had with Ted Bundy. Whether it offers any insight to the mind of such a terrible person remains a mystery.

Ted Bundy at trial for murder.

Bundy appears as a relatively handsome, intelligent young man with a girlfriend and potential for becoming a successful American lawyer, businessperson, or professional. He becomes close friends with the Cowell family. When he is arrested as a murder suspect, none of the Cowells believe he is guilty. They support his release and send letters to explain why he could not be guilty of the crimes for which he is accused. Bundy is released on bail and returns as a friend to the Cowell family.

Bundy as a youth and adult.

Edna Cowell and her friends meet with Bundy after his release and gather at a local restaurant.

Bundy appears to be happy and is glad to see everyone. However, his face is recognized by strangers in the restaurant, and they ask him if he is the “Ted Bundy” in the news. Bundy’s response is unexpected. He appears delighted by the recognition and creates a scene in which he extols his notoriety. This is the first time Edna becomes suspicious of Bundy’s innocence. She does not believe he is guilty but that his glorification of association with a murderer makes her uncomfortable. Why would anyone want to be associated with such a horrible crime? Is any kind of fame okay to Bundy? This is not the person she thought she knew.

Edna keeps turning this incident over in her mind. She begins to wonder if Bundy might actually be guilty, rather than just wanting to be the center of attention.

The terrifying aspect of Edna Cowell Martin’s memoir is what does one person really know about another person? Think of all the people you know and what has happened since you first met them that changed your mind about who they are, what they believe, or what they have become, i.e. at least in your mind.

What is somewhat off-putting is that Edna Cowell Martin argues the State should not have the right to take one’s life even if they are guilty of murdering an innocent person.

Bundy killed and raped an unknown number of women. Is there justification for the State to execute someone for a heinous act that is confessed to by a perpetrator? Is it less humane to incarcerate someone for life who has confessed to a heinous crime? Are human beings, regardless of their crime, capable of being rehabilitated? Every human being is guilty of some transgression in life. Is there a line that can be drawn that separates those who should be executed, incarcerated, or rehabilitated by the State? “Dark Tide” raises all these questions in one’s mind.

AMERICAN SLAVERY

The truth Everett reveals in “James” is that men and women of color are neither the same nor different than other people of the world.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

James (A Novel)

By: Percival Everett

Narrated By: Dominic Hoffman

Percival Everett (Author, Distinguished Professor of English at University of Southern California, winner of the Booker Prize in 2024 for “James”.)

The Booker Prize is a prestigious British literary award for “…the best sustained work of fiction written in English”. The award was first created in 1969. Percival Everett’s “James” is an imaginative work well-deserved of the award. Everett recalls a version of Samuel Clemen’s (Mark Twain’s) character Huckleberry Finn and makes him a white-boy companion of a self-educated slave in the American South. The slave’s name is “James”, called Jim in Everett’s story.

Jim and his family are about to be separated with his sale to a New Orleans slave owner.

Jim finds out that he is to be sold by his owner. Jim chooses to leave the family he loves to avoid separation from his wife and daughter in Hannibal, Missouri. His hope is to reunite with his family by somehow earning enough money to buy his family from their slave owner, i.e. an unrealistic prospect considering the owner’s loss of a slave’s sale. Jim escapes on a raft to an island on the Mississippi river and comes across Huck, a young boy who also escapes to the island. Jim is acquainted with Huck from a friendship he has with Tom Sawyer who plays tricks on people in the neighborhood.

Huck , as most know, is Mark Twain’s creation in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”.

Huck is characterized as Mark Twain described him, i.e., the son of a white father who abuses him. In Jim’s escape to the island, he finds Huck’s father’s body. Huck’s father is dead. Huck is unaware of his father’s death and Jim chooses not to tell him. Huck and Jim decide to leave together on a raft. Jim leaves for obvious reasons. Huck presumably leaves with him because of his troubled relationship with a father who beats him and a mother who has been dead for years.

What is cleverly explained by Percival Everett is how Jim is a teacher to black children in his Hannibal neighborhood.

The essence of Jim’s teaching is to hide the intelligence of black people by teaching children how to hide their intelligence. Jim explains they should talk in the patois of black slang while keeping their own council, appearing respectful to their white enslavers. Everett is symbolically illustrating how slaves were the equals of their slave holders by showing they hid their innate intelligence. Everett’s hero understands the truth of slavery’s iniquity with the story of Jim’s escape and eventual triumph.

What makes Everett’s book an award winner is its pacing and descriptive events that draw reader/listeners into the history of American slavery and the advent of the Civil War.

Everett clearly shows the horror of being a slave. Men and women are beaten, raped, and murdered at the discretion of white people who believe the color-of-one’s-skin marks human beings as property, qualifies them for enslavement, and proves their inequality.

There are a number of incredible surprises at the end of Everett’s story. The Civil War has begun and the fight between North and South are made clear in Jim’s apocryphal return to Hannible with Huck. Huck’s relationship with Jim grows into something Twain never suggests.

The truth Everett reveals in “James” is that men and women of color are neither the same nor different than other people of the world. They are simply human beings.

Everett shows how powerful social interests can grow to treat powerless cultures as property and make them think and feel inferior.

SERVICE TO HUMANITY

Harari explains why bureaucracy and A.I. can mislead as easily as inform. A.I. should never be considered a decision maker but a tool for human understanding of a complex world.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Nexus (A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI)

By: Yuval Noah Harari

Narrated By: Vidish Athavale

Yuval Noah Harari (Author, Israeli medievalist, historian, and public intellectual serving as a professor in the Department of History at Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Yuval Noah Harari’s “Nexus” is a perspective on information networks and how they evolve from neanderthal grunts to the fundamental link of society. Harari dissects human history and information networks with an eye toward the existence and future of Artificial Intelligence. Harari’s point is that information networks create, control, and compel change. Civilization began with verbal, then written, then video, and finally digital information that brings human beings together into larger and larger groups.

Networked information creates interest groups. Harari explains these interest groups rise from the evolution of information networks.

With written documents and invention of the printing press, the influence of information spreads across the world. Reproduced documents like government Constitutions, the Bible, Quran, The Torah, The Vedas, The Tripitaka, The Guru Granth Shib, The Tao Te Ching, and The Bhagavad Gita create followers whose understanding of society is reenforced by bureaucratic organizations. Villages, towns, cities, and nations grow from religious organizations and government bureaucracies.

Harari notes how information network’s compel obeisance to group think.

Human conflicts may be based on the desire for money, power, and prestige, but Harari’s point is that the agency of change is the information network. Without cohesiveness of an information network, governments, rebellions, and invasions fail. Successful governments, whether formed from rebellions, or invasions succeed or fail based on bureaucracies that use information networks to influence and indoctrinate citizens of established or acquired territories. The power of information networks is exponentially increased by A.I.

The crux of Harari’s concern is the difference between autocracy and democracy and the harmful potential of a digital age that uses information networks to weaponize and control society with the addition of A.I.

The next great economic revolution, after the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions is today’s Information Age. I would argue America nearly lost control of the great wealth it created by making the rich richer and the poor unchanged. American democracy’s inequality of opportunity remains a work in process.

America’s failure to provide income equality.

Providing equal economic opportunity is a complicated achievement because it begins with the birth of newborns, acceptance of legal immigration and an education system that fairly serves the needs of society. America is among the wealthiest nations in the world but unlike the Nordic countries and its northern neighbor, Canada, it ranks below the middle for income equality. America’s economic tide is not raising all boats. The Information Age provides an opportunity for America to get its economy right by using A.I. to create a more equal income opportunity for its citizens.

We are moving out of the industrial age.

We are entering the human services age. A.I. presents a second opportunity for America to address income inequality by educating young Americans, immigrants, and citizens to serve the needs of themselves and the people of society. America needs to smooth the transition from being just a product producer to both a producer of goods and services. As A.I. reduces employment for product production, workers should be reeducated to become workers in service to society.

Harari’s book is erudite, enlightening, and worth one’s time to read and understand. He advises of many things beyond what is mentioned in this brief review. Harari explains why bureaucracy is both a good and bad thing and that A.I. can mislead as easily as inform. A.I. should never be considered a decision maker but a tool for human understanding of a complex world.

TO BE FREE

The neglect and brutal treatment of Lithuanian citizens by Russia during WWII is graphically depicted in “Between Shades of Gray”.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Between Shades of Gray 

By: Ruta Sepetys

Narrated By: Emily Klein

Ruta Sepetys (Author, Lithuanian American writer of fiction, daughter of a Lithuanian refugee.)

This is a novel that many Americans will choose not to read. It is so relentlessly brutal that one is inclined to stop listening to, or reading, the novel. Many Americans take freedom for granted. Sepetys’ story reveals how ignorant the generational free are about what it is like to exist in a nation ruled by an unrestricted authoritarian leader. Sepetys recreates a story from a young girl’s notes and drawings of a Lithuania family’s loss of freedom during Stalin’s authoritarian rule.

The weight of “…Shades of Gray” makes one’s heart go out to the many Ukrainians losing their freedom and lives at Vladimir Putin’s monomaniacal direction.

Sepetys makes one see and understand how fortunate Americans are to live in a democratic country. The broad outline of the story is about the rounding up of Lithuania citizens during WWII to be sent to work camps in Siberia under the control of the Russian NKVD, the precursor of today’s Russian SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) and GRU (General Staff of the Armed Forces). At the beginning of WWII, Stalin orders the taking of the Baltic States into the U.S.S.R. by dismantling the in-place governments of the acquired countries. Any political opposition is to be arrested and deported to labor camps designed to serve the Russian economy.

Sepety’s novel is the story of one group of Lithuanians that are rounded up, sent to Siberia, and later moved to an even more hostile camp inside the Arctic Circle.

The essence of the story is based on a young girl’s notes and drawings about her experience. The neglect and brutal treatment of Lithuanian citizens by Russia during WWII is graphically depicted in “Between Shades of Gray”. The title alludes to the few Russian guards that surreptitiously aid the work camp prisoners. It is only gray because the help is often in return for cooperation or favor from the un-free.