Sea Stories:  My Life in Special Operations. William H. McRaven. 2019.

[4 of 5 stars]

Bill McRaven is an intelligent, strong, dedicated, and patriotic American, and I'm glad to know that he and people like him are around to maintain and preserve the good life that I've continued to enjoy in the U.S. His book is an account of the challenges he and others faced as they strove to keep America safe, whether in training and developing their own knowledge and skills or successfully overcoming risks to bring Osama bin Laden to justice. That said, as a piece of good literature, this one suffers from a bit too much distracting detail (which of course is no doubt a key to planning successful military operations, if not a literary effort) and what seems to be over-the-top praise for every single person with whom he ever served in his illustrious career, which is a little suspicious for me (although admittedly, I've never served in the military). I'd give this one a 3.5 if that was possible, but have rounded up to 4.0, rather than down to 3.0, in respect to the author and his career.  

Don't Stop the Carnival. Herman Wouk. 1965

[4 of 5 stars]

This is a good, entertaining work of fiction that gets better the deeper you get into it. Readers who have visited the Caribbean will probably best understand Norman Paperman's interest in escaping the cold weather and rat race of New York City to an apparently idyllic island, with its laid back lifestyle, blue skies and white beaches, and warm weather. Reality soon arises as Paperman's endeavor -- running a hotel on the fictitious island of Amerigo -- is hit with nearly every bit of bad news that might be imagined, so much that it becomes humorous. A rather surprising ending seemed a bit disappointing, however. 

The Norman Conquest: The Battle of Hastings and the Fall of Anglo-Saxon England. Marc Morris. 2012.

[4 of 5 stars]

My four stars for The Normal Conquest: The Battle of Hastings and the Fall of Anglo-Saxon England primarily recognizes the author's ability to collect, assimilate, and analyze information from a small number of old documents to weave together a cogent, readable piece of work about the Norman conquest of England, the events leading to it, and its legacy. While I learned many big-picture things about this history, I have to admit not being able to keep up well with a huge cast of historical figures, some more minor than others. Still, author Morris does a good job with this narrative look at history. I must confess, though, that my initial interest was primarily based on a recent discovery (very tentative for now) that some of my ancestors are among the historical figures noted by Morris. Otherwise, I might not have been as much interested. 

The Power of Bad:  How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It. John Tierney and Roy F. Baumeister. 2019.

[5 of 5 stars]

The Power of Bad offers excellent insights into the disproportionally large effect of the negative thoughts, ideas, and events on human behavior. Most generally, and supported with research for which links are provided in a well-developed bibliography, it takes about four good, positive things to overcome the negative effects of a single bad thing. This has tremendous implications in our personal lives, our work lives, and in human society everywhere. But despite the apparently well-documented support for those implications, the skeptic in me can't help but wish for any possible critics of this work to weigh in too. I still give it a five because I've believed for a long time in a need to keep negativity in proper perspective, as this book suggests. 

The Room Where it Happened:  A White House Memoir. John Bolton. 2020.

[3 of 5 stars]

Not a bad book for its descriptions of how decisions are made and unmade at the top levels of the Trump administration, and in that way quite disturbing, although confirming the chaos and disarray that many people have long suspected. But author John Bolton could have called this memoir "The Smartest Man in the Room: A White House Memoir" because that's how he generally represents himself. 

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong about the World -- and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. Hans Rosling. 2018.

[5 of 5 stars]

Everyone -- especially any American interested in separating truth from fiction in the news of the day -- should read this book, and then read it again. It's that eye-opening, offering strong evidence that much of what we think we know about the rest of the world is outdated and often entirely wrong, to the our own great detriment. The author, the late Hans Rosling of Gapminder.org fame, identifies the human traits that keep us, well, dumber than we think we are. In response, he calls on humility and curiosity -- humility meaning, among other things, that we become aware of how our instincts often keep us from getting the facts right -- and curiosity meaning, among other things, an openness to new information and seeking it out. I've tried to  subscribe to this way of thinking for many years, which just might be why I'm enamored with this book. If I have a complaint, it's the author's use of the first person, which seems off-putting at first, but in the end acceptable after he offers several circumstances in which he, just like the rest of us, has been wrong, a victim at times of his imperfect human thought processes. And too, most other book reviews agree mightily.

Clanlands:  Whisky, Warfare, and Scottish Adventure Like No Other.  Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish. November 2020.

[2 of 5 stars]

One star for the effort involved in producing a book, and maybe one more for a smattering of interesting historical information, are all I can muster for Clanlands. Made up of largely of banter between two stars of the Outlander television series during a fairly short road trip through the Scottish Highlands, the book relies too much on readers being fans of that program. Yes, I've seen maybe eight episodes, most of which were so-so enjoyable, but I never became captivated by it. Frankly, reading this, I felt like a guest at a small party among a boring, self-enamored clique of people who knew everyone else, but no one knew me and didn't try to do so. I can only conclude that the many other strongly positive book reviews of this tome were written by folks smitten by the show and its characters. 

Sirens of Titan. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 1959.

[3 of 5 stars]

As a fan of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Slaughterhouse Five and Breakfast of Champions (at least, I was fan when I read them decades ago), it troubles me to say that I just didn't "get" this novel. It seemed disjointed, confusing, and meaningless. Much of the simple syntax and sentence structure for which Vonnegut is known remains appealing and noteworthy, so I'll go as high as three stars, although 2.5 stars would be a better fit. Oh, I determined that the book's general message concerns the need for free will among humans, but it would seem that there's a more direct, less-meandering way to give that message to readers. I wanted more out of this book but didn't find it. 

The Girl with Seven Names:  A North Korean Defector's Story. Hyeonseo Lee. July 2015

[4 of 5 stars]

This personal account describes how a young woman left her native North Korea for China, just across the 11-yard-wide Yalu River from her hometown, on a teenage lark. She found herself on her own for many years in China, and was able ultimately to find her way to South Korea. The story brings to light the plight of people fleeing autocratic governments, unsafe living conditions, and a deplorable quality of life for hope of a better life somewhere else. That's worth noting and remembering, and The Girl with Seven Names helps greatly in that regard. 

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know. Malcolm Gladwell. September 2019.

[5 of 5 stars]

This book offers fascinating insights on how we can often misread the intentions and feelings of others. I recommend it highly, as do many other book reviews.

Guns, Germs, and Steel:  The Fates of Human Societies. Jared Diamond. 1997

[5 of 5 stars]

This view of human history from 100 miles up -- or maybe even from 1,000 miles up -- offers a fascinating insight into how and why we (i.e., all of the human societies on Earth) got to where we are today. Geography was a major player, according to author Jared Diamond, producing advantages for some groups and disadvantages for others, mostly in simple ways that produced great variety in human development. The book is generally well-written and easy to understand, although a bit repetitious at times.  Highly recommended.