Directions: The date at the beginning of each book is the date on which my review was published in this blog. Each review consists of three parts: 1. “Why read it?” 2. Sample ideas from the book, either paraphrased or quoted, and 3. Final, thought-provoking quotes. To locate the review, look at the “Blog Archive” at the right of the blog. Click on the year 2007. Find the month in which the review was published, click on it and go to the date of the review.
Monday, June 25, 2007. I, Claudius: From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, Born BC X--Murdered and Deified AD LIV. Robert Graves. Novel. My research revealed Claudius to be far from the benign, scholarly narrator of Graves' I, Claudius. He was as cruel as his predecessors and the emperors who followed him.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007. Iliad. 800 BC. Homer. Events of a few days near the end of the Trojan War, focusing on the withdrawal of Achilles from the contest and the disastrous effect of this act on the Greek campaign. Took place in the 13th century B.C. Four centuries later, the material was organized and attributed to Homer.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007. The Immense Journey. Loren Eiseley. Series of essays concerned with the meaning of evolution. Eiseley views evolution as a continuing process, changing to become--who knows what? Men and women as they are now will not be the men and women of the far future. We are working out what we are going to be.
Thursday, June 28, 2007. The Innocents Abroad or the New Pilgrims' Progress. Mark Twain. Twain looked at hallowed European landmarks from a fresh and humorous point of view without reverence for the past and poked fun at both American and European prejudices and manners. A very entertaining look at tourism.
Friday, June 29, 2007. In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam. Robert S. McNamara with Brian Van DeMark. There were eleven major causes for our disaster in Vietnam: McNamara explains each of the eleven causes, half or more of which were also true in Iraq. Didn’t any U.S. government official read this book before repeating our Vietnam experience in Iraq?
Sunday, July 1, 2007. East of Eden. John Steinbeck. Parallel to the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. Steinbeck's philosophical musings are interesting. Themes of evil vs. good and heredity vs. free will. Vivid portrait of California farming.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007. Jane Austen (1775 - 1817). Carol Shields. Biography. Jane Austen was one of the finest writers of English novels, often rankked with Shakespeare. One reason to read this biography of Jane Austen is to realize the degree to which women of her time were restricted by living in a man's world. We've come part of the way, Baby.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007. The Jane Austen Book Club. Karen Joy Fowler. Novel. Presents an interesting contrast between the life styles of Jane Austen and the characters in her novels and 21st-century liberated American women. A thoughtful look at the role of women in society--then and now.
Thursday, July 5, 2007. Justice at Nuremberg. Robert E. Conot. Read to understand the enormity of the Nazi atrocities. And to understand that vengeance might have been better served by summarily executing the German leaders without a trial, which refused to allow the defendants the logical defenses that the Allies had used in their histories, the very atrocities—the Boar War and concentration camps and the extermination of Native Americans, for example—with which the Nazis in WWII were charged. A travesty of American justice.
Sunday, July 8, 2007. Karl Marx: His Life and Environment. Isaiah Berlin. This is a biography of ideas, not a biography of action. We can learn some things from Karl Marx, who said, "I am not a Marxist." One idea that especially influenced me was Marx's belief that the history of the world involves economic exploitation. Also, his view of competition and cooperation. Today's business models emphasize both processes.
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