Book Report

Here's a quick rundown of what I've been reading lately. Surprisingly, there isn't much science fiction or fantasy in the lot:

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara: The 1975 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, this is an account of the Battle of Gettysburg, told from the point of view of key generals on both sides. I found it extremely compelling. There was a certain doomed inevitability to the whole business. I remembered enough of my American History to know that The South Doesn't Win and to recognize names like "Little Round Top" and "Pickett's Charge" but not enough to know exactly how the battle would unfold. I couldn't put it down.

I followed that with The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara, Michael's son. This is more historical fiction, taking us from the aftermath of Gettysburg to the Lee's eventual surrender. I don't know how accurate the Shaara's portrayals are but again the storytelling is compelling. The scene in which Joshua Chamberlain receives the arms of the defeated Southern army is incredibly moving.

Then I made an ill-fated attempt to get through Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter. This book has been kicking my ass for over a decade. I still can't get through it. This time I made it to about page 200 before my head started to melt.

I crowed earlier about finding a first-edition of Frank Herbert's "The White Plague" so I won't recap it again. I did reread it, and enjoyed it again - some of the politics don't really make sense any more but it holds up pretty well.

When I bought that I also picked up a copy of George Will's Men At Work: The Craft of Baseball. This was a big seller back in the day and I had always wanted to read it. There are those (including many amazon.com reviewers) who believe this is The Ultimate Book On Baseball. I beg to differ.

There's plenty of good information in the book, which includes sections on managing, pitching, hitting, and fielding, but the concepts are hardly earth-shattering. You mean teams employ advance scouts to see how their competition is playing? Shocking! And get this - pitchers, hitters, and fielders all make small adjustments according to the situation. This new learning amazes me! Filter this through Mr. Will's sanctimonious style and hidebound traditionalist attitudes and you've got a tough read on your hands. I skimmed quite a bit of it.

At one point he writes that America is "going to hell in a handbasket." And why is that, you ask? Because kids aren't playing baseball as much any more. Some of them are playing soccer! And basketball! My Stars!

Ok, enough of that.

I was given a copy of Ben Mezrich's Bringing Down The House for my birthday, and I enjoyed reading it. It's a very entertaining "beat the system" story and a fun read. I heard that a movie based on the book is in the works, which I can see, to an extent. The story has plenty of the ingredients for a fun film - an unlikely meteoric rise fueled by secret identities and loads of cash, which leads to salad days of excess, followed by an equally meteoric fall - but there don't seem to be any real consequences for the main protagonist. I'll be interested to see what kind of conflict/resolution the filmmakers introduce to "punch up" the ending a bit.

Next on the docket is Lance Armstrong's autobiography It's Not About the Bike. I'll let you know what I think.