July 2022
Happy Birthday, America! We got to go to the Kansas City Sporting match on the 3rd. The New York Red Bulls put on a shameful show of sissiness and crying. Sporting put in some hard work, but couldn’t find the net. It was hot. We taught Jet how to yell at the ref. Millie loved the fireworks show after the match. For the 4th, the kids lit a lot of their fireworks and we managed to keep all our fingers and toes. There was one rocket that acted like a bomb instead of flying to a safe height before exploding, but Jet was clear before it went off.
Millie and I have been doing some more fishing since my dad came out and got her set up to fish with worms. Today, she caught three fish with the same worm. She always combines great style and fishing.
I’m sure some of you got a good chuckle at my struggles with technology. Embarrassingly, I sent out June’s email with December listed in the subject line. I tried to send out a corrected email but managed to lock myself out of my email account on my laptop before it went out, so when I worked my way back in, it was released in the middle of the month, nowhere near July 1 where it belonged. Thank you for not ridiculing me.
Skip to the end for book giveaway details if you are easily distracted.
Here are the books I finished in July 2022 and my short reviews of them:
Shorts
A Little Nonsense… by David Megill
A gift of poetry for his folks who did not lose sight of their purpose during the pandemic. This short collection includes silly short poems, love poems, and limericks. There are some deep thoughts about America and some notes on Christmas. An excellent distraction from the weight of the crazy world we live in.
Think about how much our world has changed with the invention and progression of computers. Not all of these changes have been for the best. Randomize is a story about a Vegas con job made possible by the invention of quantum computers. With quantum mechanics, it becomes possible to crack a random number scheme almost in real-time so games relying on “random” number generation become vulnerable. This creates opportunities. Using physics and leaning on another characteristic of quantum computers - quantum entanglement, a tech-savvy couple rig the keno game at a big casino. Will they get away with the big score?
Fiction Books
The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino
Hafid is the greatest salesman in the world (ancient middle east). This is his story of how he gained great wisdom and wealth and how he passed it on. He first learned that failure will never overtake you as long as you are determined to succeed. Hafid tries to learn how to be a salesman starting with a single robe. He tries to sell the robe for days, but eventually led by love and awe, he gives the robe to a poor baby in a manger. His master sees this as a sign to pass the ten scrolls of wisdom on to Hafid. His master gives him the scrolls and 100 talents of gold before passing away. Here are the lessons from the scrolls: 1- I will build a daily habit of reading the scrolls. 2- I will greet this day with love in my heart. 3- I will persist until I succeed. 4- I am nature's greatest miracle. 5- I shall live this day as if it is my last. 6- Today I shall be the master of my emotions. 7- I will laugh at the world. This too shall pass. 8- I will multiply my value 100 times. 9- I will act now. 10- I will pray only for guidance. Using these values to guide his actions Hafid builds a trade empire. In his old age, when it is time to pass on the scrolls and their wisdom, he is visited by a man who brings the single robe that Hafid started with so long ago, and Hafid knows it is a sign to pass the ten scrolls on to this man. I like these old stories of wisdom. They reinforce the values my parents taught me, like how to work hard, learn and grow every day, and take advantage of the gifts God has blessed me with. I am practicing the wisdom of scroll 3 and scroll 9. Which scroll resonates with you?
This book is for anyone looking for a way out of mediocrity.
(Rated PG, Score 8/10, audiobook read by Mark Bramhall, 2:33)
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive 2)
Book 2 continues the story arcs from Book 1 for Kaladin, the fearless soldier, and Dalinar, the Blackthorn and war leader. Kaladin is the captain of the King’s bodyguard and deals with leading his men and several assassination attempts. He loses hold of his honor but works his way back to it. Dalinar grows from warlord to visionary as he strives to unite the High Princes against a common enemy. He leads the armies on a final march hoping to end the war in a final stand but meets a foe from the nightmares of history. The final story arc transitions from Jasnah to Shallan, and her narrative dominates this book. She begins as a ward, still studying under Jasnah and still timid and naive. As she survives a shipwreck, bandits, traitors, and chasm fiends, she stretches her powers and learns who she is and all the power she is capable of wielding. Through her pairing with a logic spren, whom she named Pattern, she has powers of light and illusion. Coupled with her mastery of drawing, she becomes a powerful figure in the quest to save the world from the new storm that is coming. Spren are visible forms of ideas and emotions. The strongest spren chose a human to bond with, giving that human powers, which are historically called Radiance. Kaladin, Dalinar, and Shallan all develop their powers during this book, and at the end, each has fully embraced their role as one of the Radiance. The book is filled with action, intrigue, politics, strategy, leadership lessons, and colorful characters. The author subtly explores the psychology of recovery from trauma, coping, processing grief, and staying true to one’s self. There are also several plot twists along the way that truly surprised me. I am coming to appreciate clever and surprising plots more as I learn that many stories are predictable.
This is for anyone looking for a long, enjoyable story.
(Rated PG, Score 10/10, hardback, 1100p., audiobook read by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer)
Non-Fiction Books
How to Tell a Story by Meg Bowles
I’ve been collecting stories to honor my parents and grandparents. I love these stories. They bring us together. They remind us who we are. Shared stories are powerful. Well-crafted stories are even more so. I love telling and hearing stories - bonfire stories, dinnertime stories, adventure stories, remembrances, and yarns. So, this book caught my eye because it is a how-to guide from The Moth staff and all their experience and genius in cultivating thousands of stories. It includes many recorded examples of the concepts as they are discussed. For the book, these stories are true and told on stage in front of live audiences. For the novice storyteller, the context could be family dinner, a toast at a celebration, or a eulogy. The important bit is to show how you changed over your story, or how you were impacted by the events or emotions. In most stories, there is an inciting moment or a moment of clarity where the audience learns the stakes-why does this matter? Three building blocks are used in stories: scenes, summaries, and reflections. These blocks should be chosen by the storyteller strategically to build a story arc. Introduction scenes can set the mood and set the stakes, summaries can fill in gaps in time without bogging the story down with too much detail, and reflections can tie the whole arc together to describe what the story means. Rehearsed stories always turn out unique in the telling, but the first and last lines are extra important. Knowing your first line allows you to start with the right tone and energy. Knowing your last line gets you off the stage with the resolution you want to nail.
This book is for anyone wanting to know how to tell better stories.
(Rated R, Score 8/10, audiobook read by many readers with excerpts from stories, 10:07)
The goal of a pilot is to prove that he has the right stuff. Maybe that’s not true of all pilots, but definitely for fighter pilots and flight test pilots. To do this he must be able to take any machine on any day against all odds, taking his craft to the edge of the envelope, hanging over that edge and pulling it back from the brink, and taking it home. The questions: Do I have what it takes? Do I have the mojo, the juice, the guts, the skills, the righteous stuff? And if the answer is yes, you are a part of the fraternity, the brotherhood. This book is about that fraternity of pilots and their quest to prove they had the right stuff during the space race and the cold war. The story of the first seven astronauts. This story is told through an ironic and satirical voice, allowing readers an alternate, darker side of the story compared to the mainstream media story. The author pulls back the curtain and airs the dirty laundry version of the story. Wolfe weaves the narrative through the pilot's home lives, training, mindset, and challenges. Wolfe describes the political climate and world events surrounding their rise through the ranks. The astronauts are compared to ancient heroes selected as single-combat champions. This explains their treatment by the country and the psychology of the space race. Finally, the astronaut's missions are described and compared to similar missions executed by their counterparts- Russians and chimps. I struggled with this book a bit because of the author’s tone (and probably because I’m an outsider looking in). I thought the history, perspective, and psychology were interesting and informative.
This book is for history buffs and adults trying to understand if they have the right stuff.
(Rated R, Score 5/10, audiobook read by Dennis Quaid, 15:42)
Preview/Currently Reading-
Your Leadership Edge by Ed O’Malley
I track my books in a database called Goodreads. You might find it helpful in managing your reading lists.
Final Thoughts-
Two shows came out this month that are based on books I have reviewed: The Gray Man and The Terminal List. These are some of my favorite characters in print, so seeing how someone else imagines their stories is a little scary. After how badly American Assassin and Mitch Rapp were treated in that movie, I was skeptical. The Gray Man is a Netflix movie and it turned out better than I expected. The strong cast and big special effects complimented the action-packed narrative. They departed pretty heavily from the book making connections to the books in future movies more complicated. The Terminal List is an eight-episode show on Amazon Prime. Although the show differs from the book, the biggest differences are the order of events. The writers rearranged events to better suit an episode structure and made the show more dramatic and engaging. I liked the show a lot, though it is not for everyone. Aubrey disappeared about halfway through the first episode. This quote is my favorite line and it sums up the show “…it’d be a mistake to push a man to violence if violence is what he has dedicated his life to perfecting.”
Book giveaway- I’ll allow entries for each of the following (comment, text, or email):
- Your favorite movie or show based on a book.
- The book that you think Hollywood abused the worst in their translation.
- The movie or show that you think is significantly better than the book it is based on.
I’ll draw a winner or two on August 15th and send them the book of their choice.
Thanks for adventuring with me.
Joshua
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