Review: Ten Years Gone

Ten Years Gone by Jonathan Dunsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am so glad to have stumbled onto this! A classic hard-boiled mystery set in in 1940s Israel. The mystery is well done, there are several twists that keep you guessing. Lapid is a tough, intuitive detective with a heart of gold. Like classic hard-boiled detectives, Lapid lives by a strict code of morality and honor -- though not a conventional one. Willing to hurt and even kill, it always serves a kind of justice. Lapid's hardness is rooted in his past: a former Hungarian police officer, he survived Auschwitz, though his family does not. This accounts for his heightened sense of vengeance and justice; his survival ability; and his doggedness in pursuing the truth.

The social dynamics of post-independence Israel play an interesting role in the plot and characters as well.

I look forward to diving into this series.



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Review: Cataclysm

Cataclysm by Lydia Kang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first half was not as engaging, but the second half carries the rest of the book. Partly this is because there is just a lot more action with battle scenes and several surprising deaths. Much of the mystery of the Nameless is left unanswered--which makes sense given the role they played in Phase 1. Marc Thomson's reading is as always fantastic (though some of the female voices are a bit off).

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Review: The First Eagle

The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I like Leaphorn and Chee, their interactions and the contrasting, but complementary characters are what make the Hillerman books so good. But the actual mystery in this novel is not very complicated. There is usually a bit more that turns on something in Navajo culture but this one really doesn't. Nevertheless, it's still a good read.

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Review: Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: A Brief History

Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: A Brief History by Charles H. Kahn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The focus of this book is primarily on how Pythagoreanism influenced thinkers from ancient times up through Kepler in the 17th century. My main take away is that Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism really become a catch-all symbol of a sage-like, mystical philosophical/mathematical musings. It's not even really clear to me that the ideas later referred to as something called Pythagoreanism is all that connected to the historical Pythagoras--of whom we seem to know very little. Pythagoras seems to become a kind of omniscient sage symbol rather than a philosopher of distinct ideas and arguments.

Kahn argues for some influence on Plato and his Academy and through this and Neoplatonism gets picked up by others in later antiquity and in the Renaissance. The content of this influence on Plato is somewhat opaque, and seems centered on two main ideas: the cosmological role of numbers and geometry and the transmigration of souls. But it's also not entirely clear where these ideas really come from and how they find their way (and the extent that they really do) into Plato (though I think they are there in Academic Platonism and later Neoplatonism -- I'm less sure about Plato himself).

The book doesn't really get into the ideas themselves as such, it's more focus on tracing the lines of influence from thinker to thinker. It won't really be of interest to someone looking for a precis of Pythagoras or his ideas. I found it enlightening at times but not really what I was looking for.

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Review: The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human

The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A thoroughly enjoyable look at the role that stories have on us and our lives. Gottschall explores why we tell stories, what stories do for us, what impact stories have on us, and what the future of story might be. He grounds his arguments in psychology and evolution, while also playfully including various kinds of stories. One of the big take aways is the universality of human storytelling: it is integral to what human lives are and how are societies work.

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Review: The Stand

The Stand by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading The Stand post-covid is a bit terrifying. Obviously, covid was nothing like the superflu, but the sense of the spreading dread and confusion was all too real at times. While the superflu is the proximate cause of the setting, this is really an epic battle of the forces of Good and Evil given embodiment in the characters. There are divine, mystical forces at work here, though the humans are not mere playthings of these forces. King does a good job of showing how the characters make the choices that ultimately align them with each side. There are natural tendencies this way or that, but each character makes choices that put them on the path they end up on.

The Dark Man, Randall Flagg, embodies nihilistic evil. We don't know really where he comes from or what his goals might be, but in the end he's really just seemingly interested in destruction and chaos. He just wants to watch the world burn. Part of what King is saying is that there is a little bit of that in all of us; maybe that's why almost all the characters dream of him. There is real evil in the world. But, and this is part of the story as well, we don't have to follow Flagg(the evil), we can reject that nihilism and instead choose creation, connection, love, and trust.

One of the things that really struck me was how dated much of it felt. Word choice, cultural references, and similar sort of things read like the 70s and early 80s. This makes perfect sense, but it threw me a bit. I read the complete and uncut version which is nearly 1200 pages. There was definitely some room to trim that down a bit; but the book is meant to be epic, and so needed to be long. Though the middle gets a bit bogged down, the last third of the book gets cooking. It's worth the time and investment of time to read.



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Review: The Examined Run: Why Good People Make Better Runners

The Examined Run: Why Good People Make Better Runners by Sabrina Little
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm writing a review of this book for a journal, so I can't say much here. But here's the short of it. This a well-written book that tackles some interesting and important questions but is really disappointing because it utterly fails to take account of and engage with the philosophy of sport literature. (Not a single reference!) This is a book published by a prestigious academic press that failed to do the basic research necessary.

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Review: Path of Deceit

Path of Deceit by Tessa Gratton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am sometimes amused that the YA books are often better than the 'adult' books. I found this book to be refreshing and the plot more focused. The portrayal of the Jedi was not as simplistic as some of the High Republic Jedi. And the story took some surprisingly dark twists. I think I will continue listening to the SW:HR books -- Erin Yvette does a great job.

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Review: Lethal White

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rowling continues her Cormoran Strike series with this fourth volume. Picking up almost immediately following book 3, we see the the relationships of the main characters develop and evolve. The mystery keeps you guessing, with many red herrings and misdirection. For some it might get a bit too intricate or complicated, but I enjoy the writing and story telling. Rowling draws such vivid characters and tells a good story that keeps you engaged, on your toes, and wondering where things will go.

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