Review: Central Station

Central Station by Lavie Tidhar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really interesting, and different, book. There is not much plot, it's more a patchwork of interwoven characters and little vignettes. But the characters and setting are so imaginative, so bizarre, and sometimes weird. It combines elements from many different genres, particularly fantasy and sci-fi, and has several callbacks to classic sci-fi.

I would have preferred a plot, a focus or problem that gets resolved by the characters through their choices. But this was still enjoyable because Tidhar crafts such creative settings and plays with the unfolding of future history in fascinating ways. (I was sometimes more curious about the past that is alluded to in the book, than the book!)

View all my reviews

Review: Rise and Kill First: The Inside Story and Secret Operations of Israel's Assassination Program

Rise and Kill First: The Inside Story and Secret Operations of Israel's Assassination Program by Ronen Bergman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an amazing work. It is detailed and specific (where it has to be and where it can be). It covers a wide breadth of Israeli history, starting in the pre-state period and runs up through Obama presidency. At times it reads like a Gabriel Allon novel: the level of detail and narrative for some of the operations is incredible: exciting, scary, thrilling.

It is, in part, a history of Israel: a history through the lens of fighting for survival and trying to get the upper hand in its wars through covert operations. But through this lens Bergman shines a light on many facets of Israel society beyond the Mossad or other Israeli covert agencies.

But it also humbling and a difficult to process work, for a Zionist like myself. I hold no illusions of Israel's perfection: moral or technical, but it is still a challenge to look at some of those failings squarely. There were many mistakes, errors: killing the wrong person, failing to kill the 'correct' person (missed opportunities to have taken out consequential targets), killing of innocents (so-called collateral damage). There were so many points when one has to stop and wonder how history might have been different if this particular event in time had turned out differently.

The two main questions Bergman wants the read to struggle with is: Were these targeted killings effective? Were they are justified? The answer, it seems to me after reading this book, is very mixed. Some operations were both, some where justified, but failed to achieved either strategic or tactical goals; and others were not justified. Some of these latter might have been mistakes about identity, but sometimes they were from overzealousness, overconfidence, or complacency.

In the end, Bergman's answer seems to be that while Israel's killing operations where quite often tactical successes, the long-term strategic consequences have been and are ambiguous at best, but in some cases worse. Worse, not so much because of the assassination itself, but either from unintended consequences due to the assassination or from the overreliance on this tool instead of other strategies. Personally, I am not sure. Trying to figure how things might have gone, the counterfactual, can be a fool's errand: we just can't know how things would have turned it out, so it is hard to compare scenarios. But the morality of such killing is troubling to me -- though better one or two operatives than tens of thousands of conscripts on a battlefield. And many of those killed deserved what they had coming to them, but I am not sure that justifies it. I'd rather live in world where diplomacy solved everything. But we don't. We live in world where there are evil people trying to do evil things and sometimes the only thing to do is to kill such people. But that's a dangerous and perilous road.



View all my reviews

Review: Nine Dragons

Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A lot of classic Bosch here, with some twists. Unlike most Bosch novels, a good chunk takes place outside of LA. This is also the first of the Bosch novels to bring in Bosch's daughter, Maddie, in a substantial way and we begin to see the important role she will play in his life and the books going forward. It opens up a very different side of Bosch. Even though he's had partners and love interests, he's really a lone operator. But Maddie is going to force Bosch to have to adapt. It'll be interesting to see the similarities and dissimilarities between the tv show relationship and the book relationship.

Overall the story in this was action packed, the mystery took several different turns. Some of it a bit far-fetched, but kept you guessing.

View all my reviews

Review: Not in the Heavens: The Tradition of Jewish Secular Thought

Not in the Heavens: The Tradition of Jewish Secular Thought by David Biale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

David Biale’s survey of Jewish secular thought is fascinating. It is wide-ranging, covering from the premodern periods into the medieval and modern eras and up through twentieth century thinkers. While Biale does bring in the various precursor traditions, most of the book, understandably, focuses on ways in which the Jewish thinkers dealt with, wrestled with, and tried to reconcile the various movements of modernity: rationalism, mysticism, nationalism, and so on. There is a way to read this book as a history of European modernity from the Jewish perspective(s). As such, much of it centers around Spinoza: his specific contributions to what becomes secular thought and also how later thinkers take and use Spinoza’s ideas for their own secularism.

The book looks at idea from philosophy, language, culture, or nationalism; and explores how Jewish thinkers responded to, innovated in, and rejected aspects of these on their paths to and through secularism. One of the themes, though not explicitly so, is that much of Jewish thought is focused on what it means be to be Jewish and to be a Jew. This takes on heightened importance in secular thought where one cannot merely point to religion, but even the religious traditions in Judaism struggle with this issue -- as evidenced in the Talmud itself. There are so many ways to be Jewish, even religiously, that this question is inescapable. And importantly, it provides the space within which secularism is born and grows.

Biale highlights key thinkers and how they deal with these issues. Some of these are more obscure, others are well known (figures such as Freud, Einstein, and Ben-Gurion). The intellectual tradition is rich and fruitful (though there are many dead ends as well). It is not a long book, though at times dense. By necessity, much is left out in order to provide the focus it needs. There are extensive notes and references for those wishing to use this as a jumping off point. I profited much from book and think it will provide a framework for future thought.




View all my reviews

Review: Leviathan Falls

Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Coming to the end of a book or book series that one loves is always bittersweet. It’s thrilling to see the story completed; to experience the totality of the work. But it’s sad to know it’s over: that one has to say good bye to the characters and to the world they inhabit. The Expanse series is just such an experience. The authors created indelible characters and set them in a fascinating universe. It never got dull or predictable; it balanced the small intimate moments and the cosmic level struggles. I appreciate how the characters (or at least some of them!) struggle with the ethical dilemmas and choices they face: there is a deep respect and open-eyed love for humanity in these books.

I wasn’t sure how the authors would land this plane: though I suspected something like the way it did as the only way. Nevertheless, the particulars were well-executed and helped to tie the whole series together. It is sad and tragic but also filled with hope.


View all my reviews

Review: Star Wars: The High Republic: Path of Vengeance

Star Wars: The High Republic: Path of Vengeance by Cavan Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have to admit, I got a bit confused/lost at times. Partly this is because this overlaps somewhat with Cataclysm, but I didn't realize that at first so there were a few times where I was like, wait, didn't this already happen? I was a little disappointed in Marda's development: she seemed to shift around a bit in what she was doing and why. The romantic angles were at times awkward. There were some interesting twists though and I think this likely helps set up some later events in the HR era. I think the variety of Jedi in Phase 2 is helpful. The Skywalker era tends to have just one kind: the warrior-monk (or fallen), so seeing the diversity of ways the Jedi existed when they were at the height provides more context. In all, I enjoyed it, though it is not the best of Phase 2.

View all my reviews