What I’m Reading 6/23/09

Last night I finished reading Mark Levin’s book, Liberty and Tyranny.  For the most part, it was excellent…I’ll try to give the full review in the next day or two, but I don’t have the book with me and wanted to make a few detailed comments on it.  It probably won’t be tonight, because I think we are having dinner with friends, but perhaps I can get to it tomorrow sometime.  Anyway, I enjoyed it, and if you have not read it, I think you should. 

I’m almost done with Sahara, and I’m also enjoying that immensely.  I think the next fiction book I read is probably going to be another Clive Cussler novel, because this one has been a lot of fun.  I’ve got Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett sitting at home, which I’ve pondered reading next, but it’s quite lengthy and I don’t feel it’s quite as “escapist” as the Cussler novels.  For my next non-fiction book, I’m thinking of tackling something a bit more weighty, so I want to balance that with something that’s a lot of fun.  I had a stack of non-fiction out last night, trying to decide what I should move on to now that I’m done with the Levin book.  I eventually brought Time on the Cross to work with me today, along with The Prize.  The first is an economic look at the institution of slavery in America.  I started reading it last year, and was really enjoying it, when a friend lent me Son of the Morning Star.  That was a book I had been wanting to read, and since I was borrowing it, I put aside the other stuff I was reading at the time to work on that.  But now I think I am ready to pick up Time on the Cross again.  It’s not a long book, and while it does involve economics, it’s not difficult to read.  It also contained a lot of information that most people either didn’t know or were misinformed about, and I found it to be a very educational read.

The Prize, on the other hand, is a MUCH weightier book, one that I am considering adding as a third book to my stack of “stuff I am reading.”  It’s all about the history of oil, and I heard it recommended last year by some guy from Real Clear Markets as the definitive book on the oil industry.  It’s not light reading material, however.  It is almost 800 pages, with pretty small font, and a LOT of information.   It’s not difficult persay, it’s just a massive amount of information about a subject that I am not real familiar with, which is why I want to read it this year.  And with the price of oil fluctuating  so wildly, I think it would be helpful to have a bit of knowledge about the industry…especially in seeing through all the bluster put forth by politicians who have only a limited knowledge of the oil industry themselves.

And I’ve been keeping up with daily Scripture reading as well.  I’ve been rereading the Gospels and the Book of Acts.  I just recently read of a Scripture reading plan that recommended reading the Gospels in addition to other daily reading, to keep the mind Christ-focused.  I thought this was a good suggestion, so I’ve incorporated it into my own daily reading.

So now you know what I’m reading.  Exciting, isn’t it?  I’m interested in knowing what other people are reading as well…so if you have any good book recommendations, or are in the process of reading a book, let me know about it.

A Little Bit of Everything

This is going to be rather a generic post covering a broad range of stuff, since the day is drawing to a close and I don’t have a lot of time to post.  I’m trying to be more consistent in keeping this blog updated, so even when I don’t have anything major to say, I still want to put something up.

The first thing, for friends and family who have been wanting to know the status of my wife’s pregnancy, is that she has created a blog specifically for the purpose of giving all the information regarding where we are at and what is happening in our situation.  Most of you by now are aware that about a month ago, when we went in for the ultra-sound that would determine the sex of the baby, we discovered a broad range of issues which place this pregnancy at high risk.  I won’t discuss them all, since some of you already know them, and for those that don’t, they can be found in detail on my wife’s blog.  It’s a very difficult time for us, and we desire your prayers.  Currently, we are waiting for another ultra-sound on June 16th which will hopefully give us more information regarding the baby’s status, and direct us  as to what we can do to help our child.  Please pray that God can work a miracle between now and then.  And if you would like to know further information about what’s going on, feel free to check out the blog.

Heather also is beginning the process of looking for a position in a human resources department come January.  We are hoping that Bryan Cave, the law firm where she is currently serving a temporary apprenticeship of sorts, will be able to hire her full time after she graduates, but with the slow economy, it’s possible they won’t be able to.  If not, she will need to find a position somewhere, so please be in prayer that some doors open for her between now and then.  If you know of a company looking to fill a position in H.R. with a fully qualified employee with a graduate degree in Human Resources from a highly respected university, let me know.  With everything else that’s been going on, having this issue settled before the end of the year would be a big relief, so pray that we can get an answer soon.

On another note, I finally finished reading Public Enemies, which I guess is quite obvious since I posted a review of it yesterday.  Now that I’m done with that, I’ve moved on to a few other books.  I usually try to read one non-fiction and one fiction book at the same time, although I usually breeze through fiction books much quicker.  Right now, the non-fiction book I’m reading is one that is at the top of the New York Times Bestseller List and has been for quite some time.  It’s Liberty and Tyranny:  A Conservative Manifesto by Mark Levin, an attorney who worked in the Reagan administration, and now hosts his own radio talk show as well as serving as president for Landmark Legal Foundation.  I had previously read Levin’s book Men In Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America, and found it to be a great book and an expose on judicial activism.  Liberty and Tyranny is somewhat in the same vein, although it’s a much broader and more scholarly work than Men In Black.  I’m about three chapters in, and so far it’s been addressing the fundamental beliefs of conservatism in general, although Levin acknowledges the broadness of conservatism, everything from neo-conservatives to libertarians.  He quotes liberally from our founding documents, and from thinkers like Edmund Burke and Alexis de Tocqueville, in order to support conservative beliefs.  It’s a great read so far…much more scholarly than past such “manifesto’s” from other conservatives. 

The fiction book I’m reading is Sahara, by Clive Cussler.  This is my first time reading a Clive Cussler novel, and so far I’ve really enjoyed it.  Cussler, in my opinion, is a much better writer than some other notable authors, and my only real complaint is that sometimes his characters are a little too smart for their own good.  Overall, though, he’s done a great job of keeping me entertained, and the book has a lot more depth and intrigue than the movie adaptation that was released a few years ago.  He reminds me a lot of another author I like (or liked, now that he’s deceased), Michael Crichton.  Crichton always had such a grasp of the subjects of his books, and he was always able to explain them in such a manner that even if you had no prior knowledge of, say, quantum physics, you could understand what he was talking about.  Cussler seems to be much the same way…he’s a pretty brainy guy with a lot of life experience, and it shows up in his writing.  I really, really enjoy and envy authors who have those kinds of experiences under their belt and are able to use that knowledge to bring a story to life.  Provided Sahara continues to impress, I’m looking forward to reading more Cussler novels.  There’s a small, used bookshop about 10 minutes from my house that carries a lot of cheap paperback novels, and the last few months I’ve been venturing over there and expanding my library, so next time I’m that way, I’m going to see if they’ve got some Dirk Pitt adventures I can add.

I’m constantly on the lookout for new stuff to read.  I’ve been comprising a list of books I’m interested in, and that doesn’t count a whole stack of books I’ve got sitting at home that I’ve never read, so I’ve got a lot of work to do.  But you can take a look at my list and see if there’s anything in there that interests you, or perhaps you’ve got some books that you think were good that I might want to add to the list.  Here’s a few I’ve written down:

Socialism by Ludwig von Mises, The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Overdosed America by John Abramson, America’s Great Depression by Murray Rothbard, How Capitalism Saved America by Thomas DiLorenzo, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, And The Shofar Blew by Francine Rivers, The Creature from Jekyll Island by Edward Griffin.

Some people might note that there are quite a few books on there by proponents of the Austrian school of economics….I admit, I’ve become pretty interested in this.  I’ve been trying to educate myself more, especially since the economic meltdown last September, but I’ve got a long way to go.  And I’ve got scant few fiction books on there, I know.  I’ve heard quite a few people say that of Cormac McCarthy’s books, Blood Meridian is one of the best but also a very grim portrayal of a dark time in American history.  The Francine Rivers book I saw recommended by multiple ministers, and I was intrigued…I read her book A Voice in the Wind a long time ago, and thought it was good but not particularly outstanding.  However, a while back I heard several ministers recommend her book And the Shofar Blew as being particularly relevant when it comes to the modern day church, and ministers who would be tempted to sell out the Gospel in order to attract a crowd, so I’m anxious to pick it up and read it.

Well, that’s all for now.

Public Enemies Review

Last night I finally finished a book I had started reading several months ago.  It was entitled Public Enemies, by Bryan Burrough, and it was one of the best books I’ve read in quite some time.  The length it took me to read the book was not due to any issues with the book, but issues with my schedule.  I was within 50 pages of finishing about a month ago, and got sidetracked by life, and consequently never got around to finishing it until last night, when I sat down and read the final few chapters.  I am glad I did.

Burrough does more than write a compelling book about a very interesting period of time and some very interesting characters.  He takes cold hard facts, right from the pages of FBI documents, personal accounts, and research, and weaves a fascinating drama about some of the 20th centuries most violent men.  By the time I was halfway through the book, I was in awe.  It was clear that Burrough had a deep passion for his subject, and he knows how to tell a tale in a way that few other historical works have done. 

The book deals with an 18 month period of time during the Great Depression in which a violent crime wave swept America, and how that this in turn birthed the law enforcement machine we know today as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The title of the book, in fact, is actually; Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34.  It focuses primarily on three or four different gangs:  John Dillinger and his gang, the Barker gang led by Alvin Karpis, and Bonnie and Clyde.  It deals with other characters at the time, including Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, and many others, as well as law enforcement officials like J. Edgar Hoover and Melvin Purvis.  It gives brief backgrounds for each of these players, but it dwells in depth on their activities during the period mentioned by the title; that is, the years 1933 to 1934.

I’ve always been interested in books dealing with criminals, but this is by  far the best one I’ve ever read.  Burrough just does such a magnificent job of making the characters come to life, detailing their little idiosyncrasies, and the things that made them tick.  He takes all conversations straight from the FBI files and incorporates the dialogue into the story, so the characters seem as much like people from a novel as they do historical figures.  And he does a good job of balancing their stories.  Obviously Dillinger, as the most notorious, seems to have the most prominent role, but Burrough does such a great job of detailing other, lesser known individuals who played roles in the crime wave that swept America.  Particularly interesting, I thought, was his characterization of Baby Face Nelson, who ended up being part of the Dillinger gang.  Nelson was an interesting character I had little knowledge of, but the author brings him to life in all of his homicidal tendencies.

He never minces words, either, giving the FBI praise when it was due them, but pointing out the many mistakes and flaws they made in their infancy, and detailing how Hoover made the FBI into a top flight law enforcement group while still being, for lack of a better word, a jerk.  At the same time, the criminals are never portrayed as solely bad or solely good…they are shown in all of their complexity, real people living in a difficult time in America.  Showing this depth of character separates Burrough from historians who get caught up in agendas…Burrough’s agenda seems to be to tell a good tale, showing both the good and bad along the way.  And he does a masterful job of it.  I cannot recommend this book highly enough.  It is the best book I’ve read this year.

Xanadu Film Reviews

I’ve been saying for some time now that I was going to make some changes to the way I blog.  Namely, I was going to create a new blog on which I would share my opinions and reviews on film, and use this one to discuss my personal opinions on everything from politics to sports to my life.

That time has finally come.  For the last month or so, I’ve been posting film reviews and updates on a new blog called Xanadu Film Reviews.  The link for it can be found in the blog lineup section of The Nate Review, to the right of this post.  I encourage everyone with an interest in films to go check it out.  I’ve posted some trailers, several reviews, and some updates over there regarding movies that are going to be released.  Like the Review, I haven’t had the time recently to keep it as freshly updated as I’d have liked, but there is still quite a bit of material over there.

I’m not doing Xanadu Films alone…my friend Ray Ayers, who knows a lot more about movies than anyone I’ve ever met, is co-hosting that blog with me, and will be posting his own reviews and thoughts.  I’ve always enjoyed hearing his opinions on films and entertainment, and he has a vast knowledge of the subject.  Between the two of us, I think we can steer you in the right direction in terms of what you should watch.

And by the way, some people might wonder why I chose the name Xanadu…I’ve got a page explaining it on the blog, but I’ll repeat it here.  Xanadu is the home of Charles Foster Kane in the film Citizen Kane, which is widely considered the greatest movie ever made.  Since I wanted to have some connection with classic films (which are usually my favorite) I decided to go with a connection to the most famous one of all. 

So check it out, if you get a chance.  I hope it becomes as successful as the Nate Review has been.

Cardinals vs. Reds: Game Four

This afternoon as the work day was winding down, my wife, who is back at work after a two week period of bed rest, called to tell me that one of her coworkers had tickets to the Cardinals game against the Cincinnati Reds.  She wanted to know if I wanted to go, because the seats were in a good location and the coworker was giving them away.  At first I was a bit hesitant…it’s been a very rough couple of weeks (for those aware of our situation), and coming home to quiet evenings has been a nice haven in the storm, so to speak.  However, Chris Carpenter was scheduled to start tonight for the Cardinals, so I thought the game should be a fairly good one, and with the promise of good tickets for nothing, it was too tempting to pass up.  My boss, who is always generous, let me leave early, and at 5:45 this evening, Heather and I headed off to Busch Stadium in hopes of seeing a decent game.

I’m glad I didn’t pass it up.  The seats were more than good, they were fantastic, the best seats I’ve ever had.  They were in the diamond box in section 156, just five rows behind the visitor’s dugout, which is on the third base side of the field.  We were close enough to see the player’s jock straps through their uniforms.  It was fabulous.  Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, but suffice it to say that I would have got some great pictures had I had it with me.

The closeness did have it’s drawbacks.  In the second or third inning (I can’t remember which), Alex Gonzalez, the Reds shortstop, swung at a pitch, missed, and lost his grip on the bat.  It went flying into the stands, glancing off a lady caddy-corner to us and SLAMMING into the seats directly in front of us before being snatched up by some doofus sitting another row up.  The bat came very close to hitting Heather, so we were lucky the seats were there.  Further, we were just beyond the foul screen, so a couple of screaming foul balls flew over our heads…any lower and we might have left plenty bruised up.

The game was great.  Carpenter pitched a gem, giving up only three hits and one run, and that run wasn’t even until late in the game.  The Cardinals offense continues to have its fair share of struggles…they hit into something like four double plays, and Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel just looked lost at the plate.  But when its crunch time and the Birds need production, who can they count on?  You guessed it.  Albert Pujols drove in the only three Cardinals runs, with a two run homer and then later on a run scoring double.  Colby Rasmus got another hit, and even Carpenter got his first hit of the season.  Unfortunately, the Cardinals didn’t do enough to capitalize on some of their opportunities, but with Carpenter pitching, and with Pujols bat, they got just enough done.

I’m hoping Ludwick can turn it around soon.  He really looked bad at the plate…struck out twice, and the final one he was swinging at pitches down in the dirt.  I know he’s coming back from both an injury, and before that a severe bout of the flu, but he needs to start showing some signs of life.  Right now the Cardinals outfield, save Rasmus, is massively underachieving.  Ankiel is batting just above .200, and even though he had a long drive into straightaway center field tonight, he also struck out with runners on and just does not look like the Rick Ankiel we saw last year.

The good news is that the pitching is still doing well, and it can’t be overstated how much having Carp in the rotation means to this ballclub.  It’s like chalking up an automatic W in the win column every fifth day, and Adam Wainwright is almost as good.  Kyle Lohse is on the DL, but Pinheiro should be back this weekend, and he’s had some solid starts lately.  As for Lohse, the Cardinals called up Jess Todd, but I think they should start Brad Thompson until Lohse comes back.  In the last five years, the Cardinals are 18-7 in games Thompson has started, and he pitched five solid innings the other day after not having pitched for 16 days.  They at least ought to give him a chance.

Anyway, very glad Heather and I went tonight, it was a welcome respite from all the stress we’ve been under lately.