5 comments about Wilbur & Orville : A Biography of the Wright Brothers.

1. This is a very detailed chronology of the Wright Brothers massive achievement to create a flying machine. It details each stage of development and incorporates the other individuals that were both helpful and damaging to the development and eventual recognition world wide of their accomplishments. It is a slow read but very satisfying since you appreciate the enormous difficulties they endured to achieve what we take for granted now - safe, frequent, air travel.
   
   I read this at same time that I read the biography of Alex G Bell by Charlotte Gray which serves as a great contrast in life styles and creative follow through. While both the telephone and airplane define modern life, the achievement of the airplane is orders of magnitude more complex than the telephone.



2. The first 100 or so pages or so pages are an extraordinary account of the Wright brothers development of the first airplane and controled flight. It was interesting to learn why Kitty Hawk NC was selected as a test area; plenty of wind, no trees and sand to land on. Also that development of first plane could be done on the profit from summer earnings from a bicycle shop. Overall this is an excellent and detailed documentary of the Wright brothers achievment and also the impact of the business considerations which followed.

   Ken Kraetzer
   White Plains, NY




3. This is a fine account of the Wright Brothers' lives and achievements. It reads easily, and sets correct some of the myths that have grown around Wilbur and Orville (such as the vignette about building the little sled).

   And I really liked the line in the Preface (...) stating that this particular biography wasn't going to delve into an extensive exploration of the Wright Brothers' ancestry, that some brief information about their family history was going to be presented in the first few paragraphs, and could easily be skipped by the reader. That's definitely my kind of biographer.




4. There are thousands of books produced each year on history and biography that are written by people with a preeminant knowledge of their subject but whose intellect suppresses their passion or perhaps simply masks the truth that they just don't know how to write -- how to let their passion soar upon the page.

   In that respect Donald Howard has done with "Wilbur and Orville" what only the greatest of biographers can do. He opens the roof on a cloistered and inscrutable family and allows you to share with two of its members the adventure of a lifetime. You bear witness to the achievement of manpowered flight, not as an Archimedean moment of "Eureka!" but as a result of a dogged pursuit of knowledge through trial and failure.

   The great genius of Wilbur Wright and his brother is one of unstinting determination. Failure is not defeat but only the next small problem to solve. They knew that experimentation without failure yields only a partial truth -- that failure and success are irrevocably intertwined. Only those with the persistence not to be discouraged by the false thread will find what they seek.

   As a former aeronautics librarian for the Library of Congress, Donald Howard does a tremendous job in defining precisely the nature of the Wright brothers' achievement and in defending them from later detractors who crawled from the woodwork to lay their own partial claims to invention. In truth, the Wrights leaned heavily on the experimentations of others, letting the failures of others serve as a practical classroom. What they invented was not the first machine to rise from the earth under its own power, but the first that could sustain itself and be navigated across the skies.

   As we near the one hundredth anniversary of their first flight, it is an opportunity to reflect and remember those two young men whose vision opened the skies and made our world a smaller, less alien place to live.

   This is THE definitive biography! If you read only one book on their lives (although there are other recent good ones), let this be it. This is the great tale of discovery -- Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" but with a spiritual quest infused with the miracle of invention. It is not just their quest, their discovery. It is mine. It is yours. Just as Kerouac lies awake thinking and dreaming of Dean Moriarty, I think and dream of Wilbur Wright.




5. This volume surpasses another similar effort by Tom D. Crouch that came out at roughly the same time. Both books can be read profitably but Howard is better informed technically and a good deal wittier than Crouch. Howard's description of Samuel Langley's attempt to get his contraption into the air shortly before the Wrights' is laugh-out-loud funny. Crouch also suffers from his association with the Smithsonian Institution, whose scandalous treatment of the Wrights shocks even at this distance.

5 comments about The Coalwood Way (The Coalwood Series #2).

1. Another excellent book by Homer Hickam, If you don't read the trilogy you're missing a true West Virginia experience



2. Dr. Werner von Braun once said, "Matters of faith are not really accessible to our rational thinking. I find it best not to ask any questions, but to just believe..." These words are truly conveyed throughout the second of Homer Hickam Jr.'s memoirs, The Coalwood Way, originally published in 2000. Although following his acclaimed, Rocket Boys, this compelling story does not continue where the last left off. Portions of the memoir take place during the same time period as the last, however, this tome portrays the life of Homer "Sonny" Hickam in a different light. This particular memoir focuses on Sonny's senior year in high school and the hardships he must go through when growing up. In addition to working diligently on creating improved rockets, Sonny must focus on achieving A's in school. Most importantly, he must focus on his family. In 1959 Coalwood, West Virginia is a ticking bomb and as it becomes more and more difficult to keep the mines running, the bomb seems to always be the verge of exploding leaving the people out of jobs, homes and, even worse, their town. Sonny must now try to keep his family together while the town falls apart and yet keep alive the dream of leaving in order to join his role model, Dr. Werner von Braun, at Cape Canaveral.
   Sonny Hickam is on his way to fulfilling his dreams as the book begins. However there a few obstacles on the way. Troubles in his family prevent Sonny from leading an easy, carefree life. His mother, Elsie, is growing increasingly impatient with Sonny's father. Sonny's father, Homer, is the mine superintendent and with the opening of a dangerous new mine, 11 East; ultimately, he is home even less often than usual. The strain on the marriage becomes too much for Sonny's mother and she insists on leaving Coalwood to escape to Myrtle Beach in order to sell real estate. In addition to his domestic hardships, Sonny is having troubles with himself. Every so often, although only lasting a few minutes, Sonny will find himself engulfed in an unexplainable grief. This mystery baffles Sonny day after day. As he searches for the origin of this mystery grief, he learns more than he ever imagined. Sonny's emotions and adventures are vividly depicted through a truly sentimental story, splashed with humor in all the right places. The writing style of Homer Hickam in this memoir is once again captivating and absolutely unforgettable.
   Although one may think memoirs aren't written well due to the lack of an experienced writer, The Coalwood Way reads like an old time fable. It is written in such a way that you are taken from your own world and thrown into the small town in West Virginia. Hickam depicts Coalwood in such a way that the image of every part of the quaint town is etched into your mind. His method of writing will bring you to tears when tragedy strikes and laughter when Sonny finds himself in a humorous predicament.
   This memoir is all about finding yourself and realizing that whenever life trips you up, someone will always be there to catch you when you fall. Throughout this lucid story, Sonny tries to find himself, and while looking down on his beloved town, he finally realizes the answer to what he's being puzzling all along. He understands his feelings, thinking: "My parents, and all the people of Coalwood, had given me the only true gifts they could ever give, that of their wisdom, and of their dreams, and of their love. All fear, sadness, and anger inside me had vanished. I knew who I was and where I came from and who my people were. I was ready to leave because I could never leave." Once Sonny realizes he can let go of the past, he is able to finally leave his hometown with the closure he needs to succeed.



3. "The Coalwood Way" is the part 2 contiuation of the "Rocket Boys", AKA:"October Sky". I just really like the way Mr. Hickam tells his story in his books. I find them to be "Americana" like- a success story from a humble start. I think the series could be a must read for middle and high school students as a way to see their potential in their own future and not just the here and now. A great book (and series) to read!



4. I'm not sure where the below reviewers are coming from. The Coalwood Way, although including the Rocket Boys, is very much different from the first memoir. And it is not a bunch of disconnected stories, not at all! The Coalwood Way opens with Sonny Hickam in a strange depression a year after the death of his grandfather who had lost his legs in the coal mine. It is a depression he struggles with throughout the book and is the core thread. How he determines what is causing that depression really fills out a part of the original memoir that was left out and provides us with insight as to how he ultimately succeeds. Hickam reveals how that last winter in Coalwood so much is happening to him and his friends. His rockets are starting to work, but nothing else does. He even lets Chipper, his mom's beloved squirrel, escape into the winter cold and snow. He also meets Dreama, a young woman also struggling, and wanting Sonny to be her friend. Dreama is considered something like white trash, and is living with one of the most detestable men in town. Sonny also falls for Ginger who dreams of being a professional singer and provides an interesting counterpoint to the coal miners' sons of Coalwood with their dreams of spaceflight. "Dad," or Homer, Sr. is also struggling, trying to open a part of the mine that has defeated previous mine superintendents but upon which the future of Coalwood depends. "Mom," or Elsie, struggles with her failure to win the annual Veteran's Day parade (Coalwood's float has always won before), as well as her continuing attempts to get Homer, Sr. to quit the mine before black lung kills him. Elsie also identifies very much with Dreama and wants to help her but is held back by the "Coalwood way". The story is told with Hickam's tradmark humor and there are as many laugh out loud moments as tears. The dramatic arc of these threads to the story all join in a night of murder and mayhem when Coalwood is also buried in a huge snowstorm and cut off from the rest of the world. This is followed by another night of hope and amazing redemption on Christmas Eve that will cause even the hardest heart to melt. In many ways, this is Hickam's Coalwood Christmas story and it's a great one. You will love it.



5. A story told first time can be fasicnating. As Rocket Boys was. The same story told second time is just boring. The first one had a backbone: boys trying to achieve the goal despite the circumstances. The second one - ranomly selected stories about this or that - I simply don't care. Meaningless and boring

5 comments about Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays.

1. This is a great book for anyone remotely interested in cosmology. This includes the origin of the universe, black holes, or even the concepts of fate and free will. Hawking's essays are written to reach wide audiences, so this book does not require an engineering or other relevant background.
   
   Hawking begins with a brief background on his life, and although brief and concise, it is helpful to get a general understanding of his earlier life at Oxford and Cambridge. It also talks about the effects that ALS had on him in the early and later stages.
   
   The story then unfolds with a series of essays that he has written or given to different audiences, spanning the 80s and early 90s. He discusses in some depth the famous theories of Einstein in the early 20th century. The special theory of relativity in 1905, and the general theory of relativity in 1915, had significant impacts on the way scientists view the world and the universe. General relativity essentially describes the interactions of matter and energy on a large scale. However, small atoms and particles were found to behave much differently. The motion of these particles was defined by quantum mechanics, developed some fifteen years later.
   
   Hawking gives us a stronger understanding of these theories, and discusses the problem facing current scientists in trying to develop a single theory that describes the universe; one that unites quantum mechanics with gravity. He talks about currently theories, including string theory, and the problems those propose.
   
   We also learn much about black holes, the primary focus of Hawking's research. He discusses the big discovery he made in 1974 that black holes are not entirely black, but radiate tiny particles at a constant rate. He delves deep into their mistery, discussing what might happen if one were to fall into a black hole.
   
   Other essays talk about the origin and future of the universe. The problem with current physics is that Einstein's theory predict a singulariy, or "big bang", at the origin of the universe. However, current physical laws break down and fail to describe what existed or happened prior to the big bang. They lead to such profound and controversial questions that include fate and religion.
   
   Overall, the book is a fascinating step into the mind of one of the greatest and interesting physicists alive today. Many consider Hawking to be the modern-day Einstein; take a stroll through these essays, into the questions, observations, and conclusions this man has made, and you may just find yourself in agreement.



2. More from the mind that gave us A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME, this is a collection that helps fill in a picture of the man and the philosophic framework that produced a lofty best-seller. Oh, and by the way, this work is also a semi-autobiography of (perhaps) the pre-eminent physicist of the 20th Century (Time -what else?- will tell. His reputation may eventually eclipse Einstein's, or absorb it like a black hole). Is the discovery of a complete theory of everything at hand? Is there a boundary to thought? Are we accidental tourists in an accidental universe? What recordings do you imagine Hawking would want to be toting if shipwrecked on a desert island? This collection includes the best short description of the current state of scientific knowledge about fundamental particles and forces that I have seen. Deep. And wide.



3. This book consists in two distinct parts. In one Hawking talks about his life, and in the other about his major areas of interest in his researches. Both parts of the work are written in clear and understandable language, though I admit that when he talks about black holes, singularities, and the real heart of his work my own lack of understanding and knowledge prevents me from feeling I really 'get it'. Hawking's work in these areas is considered foundational and of great importance. I cannot possibly evaluate it.
   As for the second simpler section on his life there is the one overwhelming fact. It was only after he contracted AMS that he decided to get down to work, and become a serious researcher. His meeting Jane Wilde was the key here for this gave him hope for his future. She became his wife and the mother of his three children. And though they later divorced he attributes her with having given the hope and belief he needed at that critical time.
   Despite his infirmity Hawking went on to make major scientific discoveries. He at one point lost his power his speech and learned to communicate through a special synthesizer. He is a widely appreciated figure whose 'Brief History of Time' won a worldwide readership. He has continued to speak out on issues such as global warming, the nuclear - war danger, the necessity for human population of space.
   The book is naturally reticent about many questions regarding Hawking's life which no doubt future biographers will more deeply explore.
   One more thought about the 'scientific work'. It seems to me and this is a layman's opinion that a lot of his work is done in areas and ways which are speculative and not as yet verifiable by experimental test. It thus seems to me that comparisons sometimes made of his work with that of Newton and Einstein are probably premature.



4. Very very interesting. Made my husband very happy+



5. An event horizon is the boundary of a black hole, defined by the light that can reach out that far and no further. Hawking himself sometimes uses pictorial metaphors to illustrate abstruse mathematical concepts, and this one occurred to me by way of an analogy of the brilliant illumination that I am trying to persuade to shine out far enough to reach my own dim wits hovering hopefully in the outer darkness.
   
   The whole `feel' of Hawking's discourses reminds me of the stories I have read about Einstein at work - placid, orderly and without excitement (or should I say `perturbation'?). Genius of this kind seems to be a kind of glorified knack - such minds just operate naturally with concepts of this kind, and there is no sense of effort or struggle. Sandwiched between some biographical material and a radio interview, the main material in this book is a collection of essays and lectures. They include Hawking's inaugural lecture at Cambridge where he occupies the chair of mathematics once held by Newton, and all are intended in the first place for an audience of his peers. On the other hand, where Newton and Einstein did not try to address the general public, Hawking, like Russell, seeks to do just that, and he does it superbly. The style of writing is both literate and unpretentious, and the occasional jokes are very good. Readers who, like myself, are intensely interested in the subject-matter but entirely lacking in natural aptitude for it, ought to find this book enormously helpful. There is a certain amount of repetition inevitably, but the more of that the better so far as I'm concerned. Any amateur trying to get a handle on mathematical concepts like these has to get into a mathematician's way of thinking as best he can and stop thinking as a layman. We can all understand the basics of gravitation without being Newton, but if we are still struggling with the general idea of the General Theory of Relativity in 2006 it's worth remembering that it was propounded in 1915 and that physics and astronomy have came on a long way since then, so we had better get our minds round it at last.
   
   At least as astounding to me as Hawking's triumph over his physical paralysis is the fact that this professor of mathematics at Cambridge never graduated in that subject. His degree subject was physics, allegedly on the grounds that the Oxford physics course was easy. Not easy enough to tempt me away from Latin and Greek, I must say, but doubtless for him. Mathematics is just a technique that Hawking invokes as a tool in his quest for a grand unified theory of the entire cosmos. This, said he 20 or 30 years ago, is something he hoped and largely expected could be achieved in 20 or 30 years. I'm sure we would have heard if he thought by now that he had got there, but he honours us with his ideas at the time of writing on the origin and future of the universe. The main obstacle to the final resolution of the issue is apparently that no one has yet successfully integrated old Newton's gravitation with the rest of it. However he also helps us with some more `back-at-the-office' theory concerning black holes, on which topic he appears to be the leading thinker, and that gives him the opportunity to remind us of the outlines of the most important advances since Einstein, namely quantum mechanics and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.
   
   The latter principle enunciates that the better the position of a particle can be predicted the less well its velocity can be predicted, and conversely. Since it is necessary to predict both, all we can do is predict the combination on a `smeared' statistical basis. It seems to come into everything, and Hawking invokes it to try to comfort us with the belief that although everything (and everyone) actually is determined by particle physics, the extent of the unpredictability is such that we might as well consider ourselves to be free agents. For once, I would dare question him. In the first place such a view doesn't seem to require Heisenberg - simply viewing the story of the cosmos as a chain of events constituting causes and effects would surely get us that far, as the permutation of these is incalculably large and therefore only to some extent predictable. Secondly, when we talk about `free will' and `determinism' what are we even talking about? I'm often told in arguments that I can think what I like. On the contrary, I wish I could, but my own observation and reason, such as they are, leave me unable to. When I exercise `free choice', e.g. in choosing from a menu, I can quite understand that my choice might be determined by physical causes (whether that is the truth of it or not). However when I change my mind about something factual or theoretical, which is taken as a sign of free intelligence, I do so because I feel that the evidence leaves me no choice, and evidence is not an `event' or a `cause' or any matter of particles or physics. Where does all this leave `free will'?
   
   Those seeking God or a Creator will find that Hawking hedges his bets, so that any capable by nature of thinking what they would prefer to think remain, I suppose, `free' to do so. The issue is beyond me, and my own quest is for a better understanding of the cosmos I have been born into and will have to leave before too long. May I wish Professor Hawking a long and productive further career. We are much the same age, and his 20-30-year estimate for solving the riddle of the cosmos is up around now. If he finds it, I hope I can recognise it when I see it.

1 comments about Faint Heart Never Kissed a Pig (Reminiscence).

1. Ann Drysdale left London and a failed marriage to make a life for herself and her three children in the North York Moors. Her efforts to raise a variety of small livestock result in weekly columns for the newspaper. These columns became this book.
   Nurturing orphan lambs, trying to milk a goat for the first time, and protecting her ducklings from the local fox give a wry look at making a living on a small farm. The reader can celebrate her successes as she describes the birth of the piglets and sympathize with her frustration as weather, inexperience and other factors complicate her life.
   If you like animal stories (James Herriott), give Drysdale's books a try. If you think you would like to live close to the land and raise animals, read this book for a first-hand account of the difficulties involved in such an undertaking.

5 comments about River-Horse: Across America by Boat.

1. It is a disappointment that many Americans don't read after graduation...let alone know anything about American geography.
   
   A great amount of detail, stories, and fact. I only wish he would have discussed his fellow sailors a bit more. And: more pictures!
   
   Though there may be questions circling around Heat-Moon's style, this was a great read. I followed along his voyage with a map of the US (and a detailed map of Oregon once he reached it...I love my state) and highly recommend future readers do the same. It ads to the experience. Google Earth does as well.
   
   -Brandon



2. William Trogdon, alias Heat-Moon, has a Ph.d in English, and it shows. He has a vast command of the language and has keen observations.
   This is a very interesting book if you take the time to trace his travels on a map, or preferably, Google Earth and see sat photos of the rivers. It is also an excellent education in geography. From the harbor of New York to the Pacific Ocean is pretty impressive. I envy this man for the courage and fortitude to do this voyage.
   My negatives are: a constant search for all things Indian. Trogdon seems to have trouble with his identity.
   The writing is somewhat pedantic and stiff. It takes many sittings to get thru the book. Next, his willingness to eat as much meat as he can makes me sick and I thought much less of him when the book was finished. Finally, he is pretty liberal and makes nasty comments about conservatives.



3. I wanted to read about the fabulous adventure. I only made it through 30 pages of this book. The author must have read too many ancient texts translated by 19th century academics. This one failed to keep me awake. Perhaps if Pilotis (the anonymous first mate for this voyage) published his diary I would be more interested.



4. This book is a must read for anyone who yearns to travel the American experience in a meaningful way, and yet remain seated in your favorite arm chair.



5. Heat-Moon undertook a fabulous adventure with the assistance of a seemingly very capable and helpful (and anonymous) crew; it's a shame one of them wasn't an author who was up to the task of capturing such a remarkable journey. He can't seem to keep the focus on the trip, but instead constantly writes about 'me, me, me, me, me' and how urbane and worldly he is. His expressed surprise and dissapointment at the lack of gourmet dining and Guinness in small river towns across the US is just one of the many examples that gave me the impression that he was a bit out of touch and unprepared for the realities of such a trip. Throughout the book, Heat-Moon never seems to decide if the trip is supposed to be a rugged, Lewis and Clark-type excursion to truly experiencing America by river and along the river, or an opportunity to tell the reader how superior he is by criticizing the rural communities he passes through and the agencies and people that helped make his trip possible.
   
   He does bring up some very valid points regarding their first-hand observations of negative environmental impacts due to land-use policies, but these valuable points are lost in his smug presentation and finger-pointing. His cumbersome and pretentious writing detracts from the book's flow and kept me from feeling any real connection with the author and his story.

2 comments about No Finish Line: My Life As I See It.

1. One can never truly understand a piece of literature, much less an autobiography, without actually becoming that person. In this case, one may "understand" that Ms. Runyan had a painful and frustrating past, but since we are not that ones that experienced it, we do not truly understand. Being blind takes away from you just as much as it gives. You take on a completely unique perspective on life; you take nothing for granted, and take great pleasure in the small things that make life worth living. Ms. Runyan, you will win a gold medal in the Olympics.



2. I'm not legally blind, but I could really understand it and identify with the struggles she endured in being different throughout most of her life. The writing style is so engaging and easy to read that it feels almost like conversation. Just when you have a question, the answer appears. Marla's dry wit is refreshing and intelligent. There is no pity party here!

   Marla has really struggled in life and sport. She continues to learn and perservere as a person and athlete and that is what makes a champion in life and on the track. I can't wait to see her medal in Athens at the next summer olympics. I'm a better person and athlete after reading her story.

5 comments about Let Me Tell You a Story: A Lifetime in the Game.

1. great book awesome stories. i actual went by the restaurant wherte they eat. The game lost an amazing lifer.



2. Of all the Sports that Feinstein covers I think he covers Basketball Best.
   This is a superb tale of the Legendary Boston Celtic's LEADER. I was told that Red grew up in the DC area going to a Segregated Roosevelt High School. I wondered how someone coming from a Segregated Environment could draft one of the first 3 African Americans in the Now NBA. Also how he could select the first African American Coach. Well he grew up in Brooklyn in a multi-cultural Neighborhood. Fascinating stories about the Carnegie Deli area. He went to college in DC (GW) (Which I knew), and then later taught at Roosevelt (Which may have been where the confusion started.) I think it helped that I have been in the Chinatown Restaurants that are the setting for a lot of the stories, This an absolutely Great Read, and one of Feinstein's best.



3. I have never been a fan of the Celtics, but a big basketball fan none the less. Having said that, this book was perfect for me. It is a in-depth, personal look into the life of the greatest coach in basketball history, as told not only by the man himself, but the great writer John Feinstein. This book gives great insight not only the the makings of the Celtic dynasty, but into the beginnings of the games, and how Red has shaped the game into what it is today. Must read for all basketball fans.



4. I'm not the greatest John Feinstein fan. Sometimes he's really good, but sometimes he just seems like he's trying to be elitist. But when I heard about this book, I put it on my list to buy. Two years later I finally got around to it. My loss.
   
   Red Auerbach was the institutional memory of the NBA as well as the guy who created the Celtic dynasty. He was a master storyteller and collector of people. This book is the story of lunch with Red every Tuesday, 11am @ the China Doll restaurant. Just as importantly it is the story of the people Red collected and his influence on their lives.
   
   No one will claim this book is objective-it's not supposed to be. I'm sure Red had flaws, but I really don't care. For older boomers he and John Wooden define greatness in basketball. I'm just glad to have the stories.



5. I read 10 pages of this book while waiting in the doctor's office & bought 3 copies the same day.. one for my dad, one for my brother & one for me.
   
   Great stories & since I'm a native Washingtonian, I love the stories about DC & one of the greatest characters & coaches of all time.

5 comments about The Road to Wigan Pier (Classic, 20th-Century, Audio).

1. Contrary to my expectations, this is Orwell's most personal book. He bares his soul to us. At least I think he seriously tries to be perfectly honest, if not complete.
   After his success with Down and Out in Paris and London, Orwell got commissioned by the influential Left Book Club (Victor Gollancz one of the editors)to write a book about unemployment in the industrial and empoverished northern part of England. This was the mid 30s, the recent depression had led to high unemployment and endless misery in England as elsewhere.
   GO went there and dug in and lived with workers and in boarding houses and crawled through mines (though he was about twice as tall as a miner should be) and talked to people and read statistics and reports.
   The outcome is an oddity. Part 1 is a solid piece of investigative reporting and journalistic sociology. Chapter 1 is along the lines of Down and Out, an account of life in a boarding house in the North. Start with chapter 2 if you are squeamish. The hygienic conditions are worse than anything in Down and Out.
   The following chapters in part 1 give us decsriptions of the life of miners and work in the coal mines, of the miners' leisure time, health, work safety, accidents, the housing conditions in the fearful northern slums (worse than the slums in India and Burma, says GO, because of the cold dampness), of unemployment and malnutrition, of food and fuel, of the uglyness of industrial countries at the time. The strongest chapter in this part, in my opinion, is the one on unemployment and its psychology. This subject is timeless. Even if the slums have changed, the essential condition of unemployment is surely unchanged.
   So far so good and in line with the job description.
   But then the man went and added a second part which deals in first place with himself, an autobiography and history of the thought of GO. Having grown up as a son of shabby genteels, he was raised on contempt for the working class. Public school education enforced the attitude. After school and after WW1, GO took a job in the imperial police in Burma and there learned to hate the system. He quit after 5 years and went into a personal crisis, a kind of horror vacui and hatred against his self. He goes on search of redemption as told with some embellishment in Down and Out. He tries to anihilate his social persona, but learns it does not work that way. The North England job gives him a chance to reconsider his position. He philosophizes about socialism and the classes. Interesting to us (at least to me), but shocking to the Left Book Club.
   They decide to publish it anyway, but Gollancz adds a foreword where he thinks he needs to warn his club members that here is somebody who does not walk the line of good doctrinarism. Very odd.
   By the way, did you know that quite likely fish and chips and the football pools have averted revolution in England by providing 'panem and circenses'? Says Orwell, and I love him for that kind of insight.
   (This concludes my Orwell cycle, unless I decide to re-visit Burma and Catalonia.)



2. THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER is a fabulous bit of muckraking journalism by the most important political writer of the 20th century, George Orwell. O was an accomplished novelist in his own right, but it was in his capacity as an agitator for democratic socialism that his pen was at its sharpest, and in this revealing, often appalling look at the life of British coal miners, he was at his brutally honest best.
   
   WIGAN is actually two books in one - the first half deals with his own experiences in the industrial north of England, where he investigated not only what happened at the mines themselves, but how the miners lived, or rather subsisted, in conditions of disgusting squalor and privation (he also spends a good deal of time examining the fate of the unemployed and "pensioned off"). In the latter half, he offers a pitiless criticism of British socialism, which he sees is the only positive solution to Britain's social and economic injustices, but regards as hopelessly clumsy and dogmatic in its approach, and doomed lose out to fascism unless it changed its message and won over the ordinary British worker.
   
   Orwell's concerns in the book were severalfold. He wanted to expose and improve the lot of the common man; he wanted to make suggestions for how that lot might be improved; he wanted the Left to understand just how bad its image problem was in the eyes of the ordinary British citizen (their target audience); and he wanted, above all things, to hammer home to the world that Socialism stood for "justice and common decency" and not some watered-down version of the Russian Revolution. His greatest fear was that the fascists, by virtue of their superior propaganda and understanding of human motivation, would steal away the common man from the one system that could truly offer him a fair shake.
   
   THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER was commissioned by the Left Book Club, which wanted Orwell to write an Upton Sinclair-esque exposé of the life of the British worker "without whom everyone in England would soon starve." They got what they wanted, but on the bonus plan; his criticisms of Socialism, and by extension, the Club itself, were so vitriolic that the Club inserted a forward in the book which essentially refutes everything in it. The forward is worth reading, if only to unintentionally demonstrate that Orwell's attack on the Socialist leadership was dead-on: they did lack common sense, they had no understanding of the common man or of how badly they themselves were regarded by him, and their propaganda was appallingly bad. Luckily for them, they had Orwell...though my guess is at the time they weren't feeling so lucky when they read it. The reader, on the other hand, will.



3. George Orwell is the man. This is for sure one of the top 5 best books i've ever read. Even if I tried, I couldn't come close to doing the book justice with this review.



4. This work commisioned by the Left Book Club, a socialist group in England in the 1930's contains an incredible description of the miserable working conditions of coal miners in the northern industrial areas of England. Orwell's power of description brings home the awful condiditons to the reader in a very tangible and palpable way. Reminiscent of Jacob Riis' "How The Other Half Lives" or Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle", Orwell's account is unforgettable social historical writing.
   
   The remainder of the book is a polemical piece critical of socialists of his day. To the modern reader that will not have as much relevance except as an example of Orwell's pursuasive writing but the earlier sections of the book are incredibly memorable.



5. The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell is a book requested by the Left Book Club on the issue of poverty and mass unemployment in the industrial north of England. Mr. Orwell does a great job of investigating the harsh job conditions in the coal mines, the foul lodgings, the bad diet, the pitiful wages and the struggle to feed a family. He points out that much of the conditions can easily be changed IF people wanted to change them. The wealth is there it just needs to get to the lower-class.
   The other part of the book is Orwell trying to explain why, if Socialism seems to be so logical, so reasonable, everybody is either turning away from Socialism and, in many changes, turning to Fascism. It seems that while people might agree with many ideals of Socialism they don't like the Socialists they meet. Orwell points out that Socialists need to work on the delivery of their message - less about class systems and more about justice and income.
   When you attack the middle-class you put them on the defense. Why would they join up in a movement that is insulting them? He says the Socialist should drop the idea of the class war and focus on the basic ideals of increasing incomes, better housing for everybody, justice and liberty. He also says that Socialists are linked to progress which many people link with a machine-civilization and therefore a dark, bland future. Funny I also linked Socialism with slowing down progress and Fascism with speeding it up.
   Even while the facts in the book are outdated the problems that many parties today face, such as Libertarians, are the same. How can you take a Libertarian seriously when he is dressed up as a butterfly? In print the ideas of the Libertarians and Socialists and even Democratics look good but sometimes the PEOPLE of these parties make the voters go running to the Republicans. I know many people who did JUST that - they didn't like the Republican's ideas but hated the people the Democratics had picked to run for President. Left-wingers sometimes come out, because of the terms they use or they way their come out as attacking almost everything, as nuts.

No comments about Just as I Am Part 2 of 2 Autobiography of Billy Graham.

4 comments about Now.

1. Lauren Betty Bacall writes a very interesting memior about life and love in Hollywood. She doen't merely name drop. In fact she focuses on her life and the people that revolved into it. She met quite a few interesting people, but doesn't seem to use that to make her book more exciting. It was very interesting to read how the relationship with Bogie happened and how she struggled through the relationship with Jason robards. The book was enlightening as to how a real person in a time of great stress deals with loss and the breakup of relationships. It is a must for true biography readers.



2. Bacall, Lauren.
   Now
   New York: Alfred A. Knopf
   214 pp., $23.00. ISBN 0-394-57412-5
   Publication Date September 1994
   
   Lauren Bacall, is a screen legend, has been a star of movies, television, and theater for over sixty years and her book tells the story of how she feels about her work, her children,
   her homes, her acting, her friends, and more.
   
   The introduction of the book gives a glimpse into what her life was like between the ages of forty and sixty, how she has lived her life and the impact people she has met have had on her life. She views life at 70 as a survivor and considered herself lucky to still be acting at all.
   
   Ms. Bacall does not know what she would do with herself if she did not work. She views working as a reason to get up out of bed, if your working you can pay the bills. The most important thing is that when you work in a movie, on television, or on stage you'll always be doing something you love to do.
   
   She is grateful for being close to her daughter Leslie Bogart. She is more in love with her grandchildren from her sons Steve Bogart and Sam Robards then she ever thought possible.
   
   She has realized late in life that she needs her children which surprises her. She examines all the fears that she went through in getting a country house in Amagansett. Once she had it then she spent years continually making as many changes to it as
   possible. In the end when she sold it she realized she had spent more time living in other places than this house.
   
   She recognizes that the older she gets the more difficult it is for her to be able to still get great roles, she realizes that work is much harder physically. She is human and points out body parts that have changed and is really comfortable with this.
   
   She comes to terms with her own mortality and how hard it is to still be alive when so many of her friends are now gone. Her life has come full circle, her daughter Leslie got married.
   Her son Steve is married with 3 wonderful kids. Her son Sam's marriage ended, but she knows he will find someone else.
   
   In the end she is still alone and she is reconciled to the fact that she no longer wants that for herself anymore. She is always the eternal optimist and thinks that maybe there is someone out there for her. She is a strong woman who has done it her way and not followed all the rules of Hollywood.
   
   She still considers Humphrey Bogart to have been the love of her life and will never get over his death.
   Rachel D. Dvorkin
   Elgin, Illinois



3. Read Bacall's "By Myself" before this - she writes as if she assumes that you have. She actually rehashes a lot of what she wrote in that book: her work on Broadway, people in her life, etc. I didn't necessarily mind that - I read this one directly after the other so it complemented it. I would've found it very slight by itself, though. In this one she also talks about putting together her dream home and finding it lacking, and about her grown kids and their lives, some other topics too.



4. "Now" isn't as fulfilling as was "By Myself" but is still a good short read for anyone interested in Lauren Bacall. The book covers the 15 years after her first publication "By Myself." If you're new to Lauren I would suggest reading "By Myself" first and if you would like to see a more personal side of the actress give this book a try.