David McCullough is surely one of our country’s greatest writers of history, and he presents us with a jewel in his depiction of the Wright brothers’ great conquest of the air. As McCullough shares, the Wright brothers remained true to their project and true to themselves to the end. In so doing, they earned the praise of their hometown Dayton, Ohio, their nation, their sister-nation France, and the world. McCullough’s account is heavy on detail…
This book is routinely ranked by critics as one of the best books of the 20th century. It is a tale told by 19 points of view via stream-of-consciousness storytelling. If the reader can follow through the arrangement of the plot, it keeps the final twist hanging until literally the last sentence. The story is set in Faulkner’s famed Yoknapatawpha county. Addie Bundren is the mother of a family in rural Mississippi. She dies in…
Lewis Thomas spent his life revolving around various aspects of medicine – apprenticeship, patients, research, administration, being a patient, and writing. In this memoir, he shares tales and insights from all of these experiences in an easy-to-digest and relatable format. I especially enjoyed his notes from his time as Dean of Yale’s medical school. Perhaps it’s because I work for an associate dean of medicine now. I appreciate his admonishments not to intervene too much…
The notion of this book is very interesting. A Presidential biography written by a fellow President who is also a son. Parallels to the Adams family abound. George Bush the Elder, possessing a lifetime of experience in government, is like John Adams, also a one-term President. George W. Bush and John Quincy Adams are both sons who became President. Both sons had shortcomings which can be linked to their elite birth. Both sons knew how…
This book helped define the genre of management books told as narrative fiction. It teaches management principles while allowing the reader to see what real management looks like in practice. This particular work even introduces a love story to the mix. This story tells the common tale of a generic manufacturing plant and a marriage in crisis. It’s in the ilk of a coming-of-age tale in which the main character Alex learns how to take…
The name William Faulkner evokes a great deal of respect (and perhaps fear) from readers. He is known for long sentences that span more than one page. He is inescapably deep – an abyss. He sees into the Southern American male experience as no other and draws out truths that apply to all of humanity. His allure extends from the South into New England, across the Atlantic to France and down the isthmus to Latin…
Stephen King is one of the most best-selling writers of all-time. In this book, which I read in a tenth-anniversary edition, King shares his insights into the process and lifestyle of writing. Obviously, these insights are of interest to writers who seek to improve their craft. Although I still prefer Strunk and White’s classic more than King’s, I am quite grateful to have spent the time to read this classic. Strunk and White harp on…
Jimmy Carter, America’s 39th president, has been much maligned for being a weak president. Certainly, there are things he wishes that he could redo. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see in this memoir what positive things he did accomplish and how honest he is about the unresolved problems of our world. Carter has been called the most-successful ex-president our country has ever had. He founded the Carter Center at Emory University and has spend a…
I must confess, I am no ardent environmentalist. I am very sympathetic towards causes and policies which manage the environment sustainably, even at the expense of economics. However, perhaps because of my Christianity, I find the aligning of human spirituality and nature somewhat strange. When I am in nature, I see the footprints of God. I definitely do not take a step further and worship nature. Powers’ book seems to take us along that path.…
Catherine the Great is indisputably one of the greatest women Europe has ever produced. She ruled Russia as an enlightened monarch and spread the philosophy of its prior pro-European monarch Peter the Great. She created an intellectual culture in Russia that blossomed with talent like Dostoyevski, Tolstoy, and Tchaikovsky. Ironically, she was not born a Russian but a German. Her marriage to a future king was a failure, but not due to her lack of…