As one reads through history, it’s hard not to think that life in ancient Japan would be fairly mundane. Samurais ruled the country, and the social order, at first glance, seems fairly set into stone. Sam Browne’s first book of historical fiction calls this narrative into question. This coming-of-age tale follows the life of a samurai named Tanaka as he learns how to balance his lifestyle as a ronin (a traveling samurai without a set…
Thompson has an interesting professional biography. He earned a PhD in rhetoric, taught at a community college, decided he didn’t like academe, and went into police work. I have never met anyone who has combined police work with rhetoric, but Thompson seems to have been successful at this task. His main content consists of teaching about rhetoric – or less pretentiously, verbal communication. However, he entertains by filling in with stories about police work, family…
Those who follow me might notice a trend. I am reading a series of books on freelance writing and on writing and communication in general. This book, part of a series by Writer’s Digest, talks about how the author continues to pursue a career in freelance writing. Petit talks about the art of the query (i.e., pitching an idea), how to freelance both as a full-timer and as a part-timer, and what to expect from…
How do writers put bread on the table and figure out places to publish their works? This reference resource, republished every year, is a big part of the how. Perusing its listings will put the writer in better shape for publishing her/his works. The first section of this work (about 900 pages long!) is about the business of writing – how to pitch pieces as a freelance writer and how to manage a business in…
Writing is as much of a tradition as it is an art form, and like most traditions, tricks of the trade are passed down from practitioner to apprentices. This book, informed by Flanagan’s 20 years of experience as a writer, introduces readers to the publishing industry. As the title implies, this work is specifically geared towards writing magazine articles. Flanagan describes how to organize one’s self towards the production of copy for magazines. This book…
What was life like before Columbus ventured into the “New” World? Chances are you were taught in school that there was a lot of wilderness to tame and that American Indians sparsely filled the continents in a passive manner. Citing new research on many fronts, Mann contends that this picture is simply incorrect. The Americas have been filled with many civilizations that were more advanced, in some respects, than their European counterparts. They lived in…
Have you ever wondered what makes people orient to their worlds differently? Such is the realm of philosophy. This book attempts to turn medical thought – what makes doctors act the way they do – into a philosophy. Admittedly, it’s just a beginning, but this quick read explains a lot about how healthcare works today. In this short series of essays, Mukherjee defines three “laws.” (1) “A strong intuition is much more powerful than a…
Anyone who attempts to biography Jesus is bound to fail. An author is bound to project herself or himself onto the narrative. That’s why all theology eventually turns into autobiography. In Parini’s work, clearly, both the object (Jesus of Nazareth) and the subject (Parini the author) are worth learning from, and the reader can find much to aspire to. Much of late twentieth and early twenty-first century studies on the Jesus of history devolve into…
When was the last time you heard the word “polio?” It was probably in reference to a vaccine, not the disease. So thoroughly have the effects of polio vaccination been felt that less than 2,000 cases exist each year and only in remote regions of Nigeria, India, and Pakistan. Ridding the world of it forever (in other words, complete eradication, like with smallpox) is in sight. Polio once caused swimming pools and movie theaters to…
I’m often concerned that American culture is increasingly splitting into two groups that don’t interact much. Our politics and our regionalism tends to reinforce that. There are a few voices which seem to traverse the divide, and Vance’s is one of them. Specifically, he traverses the Appalachia/Rust-Belt divide with Northeastern elites. As such, he can speak to both audiences at the same time while enlightening us all about his experiences. Vance’s family life was incredibly…