|
Class of 1957 Book Review Site. ©2007. To add a Book Review, or to comment on a book already in this listing, send your material or review to Sam Coulbourn at Persnav@shore.net. Photo at top of each page shows VADM C. Turner Joy (1895-1956). Joy was Commander Naval Forces Far East for most of the Korean War, presided over Armistice Talks with the North Koreans, and then came to Annapolis to serve as Superintendent. He was our Supe during our plebe year. Revised 3 August 2008. |
|
HEALTH
HEALTH How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter
By Nuland, Sherwin B., 1994.
Sherwin Nuland is a surgeon who teaches surgery and the history of medicine at Yale University. He has written this book to describe not why we die (e.g., cancer, stroke, heart attack, etc.) but how we die, i.e., the physiological processes that culminate in death. This is not a morbid book. This book is not written to frighten, but to make the process of dying understandable. Since “no one gets out of this world alive,” it can be helpful to understand what is happening and why it is happening as the end of life approaches. Nursing home staffs and hospice workers recognize the symptoms; Nuland supplies the physiology to “demythologize the process of dying” and undergird the dignity of those reaching end-of-life. Not everyone will appreciate what he has done, but those who do can benefit from the material he has provided.
Reviewed by Paul Roush.
SELF IMPROVEMENT SELF IMPROVEMENT Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
By Lynne Truss, 2004.
It may be equally appropriate to list this book under humor rather than self improvement. Certainly the author makes it fun to learn how to write with the additional clarity that proper punctuation bestows on any text. Here’s how Publishers Weekly describes the book. “Who would have thought a book about punctuation could cause such a sensation? Certainly not its modest if indignant author, who began her surprise hit motivated by "horror" and "despair" at the current state of British usage: ungrammatical signs ("BOB,S PETS"), headlines ("DEAD SONS PHOTOS MAY BE RELEASED") and band names ("Hear'Say") drove journalist and novelist Truss absolutely batty. But this spirited and wittily instructional little volume, which was a U.K. #1 bestseller, is not a grammar book, Truss insists; like a self-help volume, it "gives you permission to love punctuation." Her approach falls between the descriptive and prescriptive schools of grammar study, but is closer, perhaps, to the latter. (A self-professed "stickler," Truss recommends that anyone putting an apostrophe in a possessive "its"-as in "the dog chewed it's bone"-should be struck by lightning and chopped to bits.) Employing a chatty tone that ranges from pleasant rant to gentle lecture to bemused dismay, Truss dissects common errors that grammar mavens have long deplored (often, as she readily points out, in isolation) and makes elegant arguments for increased attention to punctuation correctness: "without it there is no reliable way of communicating meaning." Interspersing her lessons with bits of history (the apostrophe dates from the 16th century; the first semicolon appeared in 1494) and plenty of wit, Truss serves up delightful, unabashedly strict and sometimes snobby little book, with cheery Britishisms ("Lawks-a-mussy!") dotting pages that express a more international righteous indignation.”
SELF IMPROVEMENT Message to Garcia
By Elbert Hubbard, 1899.
In all this Cuban business there is one man stands out on the horizon of my memory like Mars at perihelion. When war broke out between Spain & the United States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba- no one knew where. No mail nor telegraph message could reach him. The President must secure his cooperation, and quickly. What to do! Some one said to the President, "There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can." Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How "the fellow by the name of Rowan" took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, & in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail. The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?" By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing- "Carry a message to Garcia!"
SELF IMPROVEMENT What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained
By Robert L. Wolke, 2003.
The author is both a chemistry professor and a Washington Post food columnist. He explains the chemical and other scientific processes that occur when we prepare our food. He tells us how to maximize the taste of food by having us understand the chemical mysteries of sweeteners, salt, fats and oils. The differences between surf and turf extend well beyond our common understanding. The chapter on fire and ice probe the depths of heating and cooling in the various aspects of cooking and freezing food. The chapters of microwaves and on tools and technology are filled with hints on how to improve everything we ought to be doing in the kitchen..
Reviewed by Paul Roush.
HUMOR
HUMOR Too Soon to Say Goodbye
By Art Buchwald, 2006.
Buchwald hasn't lost his touch even while in a hospice in DC waiting to die. His humor facing death is terrific. Raised as an orphan in a foster home in the Bronx he quit high school early and joined the Marines. He entered USC but was told that he could not graduated because he didn't finish high School only to be a awarded a Doctors degree at a commencement address about 14 years ago. Buchwald wants to control his funeral arrangements and so he prints his friends and daughters eulogies at the end of the book. Hilarious reading.
- HUMOR Jokes, By George
By George Bouvet, (Class of ‘57), 2006
A fantastic joke book. 121 pages of goodies arranges by category. Perfect reading when you are feeling low or as a gift to a sick friend. Available at no charge in a compressed file by e-mailing Big George at georgebouv@msn.com. (No real raunchy material.)
SPORTS SPORTS The Education of a Coach
By David Halberstam, 2005
Focuses on Bill Belichick’s football coaching career and development from his days when his father Steve was a coach at the Naval Academy. Many references to Bill’s growing up in Annapolis, his admiration for the Brigade and his earlier interest in analyzing football games films with his father.
RELIGION
RELIGION Holy Bible- The New Revised Standard Version
Imprimatur: Reverend Daniel Pilarczyk Old Testament, 1071 Pages New Testament, 245 Pages
Old Testament · Genesis · Exodus · Leviticus The Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament contains the moral, ceremonial, dietary and civil laws. The Moral law is the Ten Commandments, (contained in the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy), the Ceremonial laws dealt with sacrifices for atonement, and the Civil law with their punishments was used for governance under a Theocracy, and later under a series of Kings. These civil codes were one of the things that set the Jews apart from other civilizations at that time; beside worshiping one God, and having the 10 commandments as a personal standard for life. These commandments are summarized by, Love the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul, and thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself. The word neighbor as used in the Bible is quite different from the meaning of neighbor in the Koran. Some of the Civil Laws dealing with "sins of the flesh" ( for example, adultery) carried with them punishments of stoning, that seem very harsh by today's standards. Others dealing with murder, accounted for 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree and corresponding punishments. A careful reading of these laws would lead one to acknowledge that they were for the most part very similar to our own laws, and quite different from the harsh punishments dealt out by other civilizations of that period of time in history. The often quoted eye for an eye etc, merely meant in that time let the punishment suit the crime, as defined by the civil laws and was never taken literally and is one of the differences that set apart Jewish society from others whose punishments were quite cruel. With that background, Jesus the Christ of the New Testament, according to the Bible came to fulfill, not abrogate, the ceremonial and Moral law for all mankind, through one sacrifice of a perfect life. (sinless against the Moral Law) Also according to New Testament scripture, Jesus made it clear, that there was no longer a Theocracy, that one is to render unto Caesar’s that which is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God. Let he has no sin, cast the first stone to those who would stone a prostitute, and to the prostitute go and sin no more.
Review by Ted Almstedt, April, 2007
· Numbers; Deuteronomy; Joshua; Judges; Ruth; 1 Samuel; 2 Samuel; 1 Kings; 2 Kings; 1 Chronicles; 2 Chronicles; Ezra; Nehemiah; Tobit; Judith; Esther; 1 Maccabees; 2 Maccabees; Job; Psalms; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Song of Songs; Wisdom; Sirach; Isaiah; Jeremiah; Lamentations; Baruch; Ezekiel; Daniel; Hosea; Joel; Amos; Obadiah; Jonah; Micah; Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah; Haggai; Zechariah; Malachi. New Testament · Matthew; Mark; Luke; John; Acts; Romans; 1 Corinthians; 2 Corinthians; Galatians; Ephesians; Philippians; Colossians; 1 Thessalonians; 2 Thessalonians; 1 Timothy; 2 Timothy; Titus; Philemon; Hebrews; James; 1 Peter; 2 Peter; 1 John; 2 John; 3 John; Jude; Acts of the Apostles; Revelation.
RELIGION Atlas of the Bible
By Rogerson, John, 1985
A great companion book to the Bible with much needed maps and explanation of historical locations and travels in both the Old and New Testament.
Part one- The Bible and its Literature
Part Two- The Bible and History
Part Three- The Bible and Geography
RELIGION Walking The Bible: A Journey by Land through the Five Books of Moses
By Bruce Feiler, 2005.
The intent of the author was to validate the bible – fact, fiction or no way to tell – by physically going to places/sites described in the bible. Very interesting read without any hocus pocus.
BIOGRAPHY BIOGRAPHY Alexander Hamilton
By Ron Chernow, 2004.
Reading this book was, for me, the equivalent of scales falling from one’s eyes. I had not the slightest understanding of the tremendous debt our nation owes to Hamilton’s efforts in our nation’s birth pangs. Born in what was then called bastardy in the Caribbean, he came to America as a young man, excelled in the university, served with distinction in the military as a close confidant of Washington during the Revolutionary War, and eventually went on to put in place the essence of the financial system that sustains us to this day. Chernow also demonstrates how Hamilton’s foolish, long-term illicit affair with a woman with no redeeming character traits severely impeded his opportunity to have an even more enduring impact upon our nation’s future.
|
