Book Review: 9 Dragons, by Michael Connelly

9 Dragons. Michael Connelly. Vision Press. Hatchette Book Group, Inc. Paperback. 2009. $10

$10 for a paperback? I know many people older than I can remember the days of nickel and dime paperbacks. My memory goes back to $1.75 and $1.99 paperbacks. But, $10 for a paperback? I hope Connelly gets about 90% of the revenue. Otherwise, something is awry in the trade paperback industry. Thomas Friedman might argue the "world is flat," but in the publishing world, New York is still king, which is too bad. In the digital age, why should publishers be anchored to a sole geographic location?

The primary purpose of my book reviews, is of course, to recommend the book or not. However, I also want to impress upon people to pay attention to the geography the author weaves into his or her tale. While reading for pleasure has its rewards with a good story, strong, well-developed characters, and crafty prose, we should not ignore the other elements of a good book. Like Geography.

9 Dragons is the second novel I've read by Michael Connelly. Those familiar with Connelly know him mostly for his Lincoln Lawyer, a Mickey Haller character portrayed by Matthew McConaughey in the film of the same name. If you pick up 9 Dragons thinking you'll read a procedure law thriller, you won't find anything like that in this novel.

Connelly has written far more books with his Los Angeles Police Detective Harry Bosch as the lead character. Bosch is not as flamboyant and brash as Mickey Haller. Bosch is observant, contemplative, yet action-driven. Once he sets his mind in motion to do something, if you're in his way, you'll get bulldozed. He has no patience for laziness, cowardice, and won't trifle the fool who has information which could put a scumbag behind bars. But, he is human, and as we discover in 9 Dragons, acts impulsively. His impulsiveness, or perhaps "single-mindedness" get people hurt. And killed.

Bosch works in Los Angeles, for the LAPD. A call comes in regarding a shooting death at a liquor store near downtown LA. Fortune Liquors was operated by an Asian couple for the local population of predominantly black working-class residents. Those of us aware of the 1992 LA Riots, also called the "Rodney King Riots," know where the liquor store is located.  The 70th block of South Normandie Avenue is a few blocks from the infamous intersection of Normandie and Florence, the site of the most widely-seen portion of the riots captured by local cameras and seen by viewers around the world.

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Certain elements of the liquor store owner's murder lead Bosch to suspect the shooting death was not a simple robbery. None of the expensive liquor was stolen. Too much cash was left behind. And most of all, the place of the shots, three holes in the center of the man's chest, like the points of a triangle, suggested organized crime. Not just any organized crime but one of the hardest crime elements to fight. Chinese mafia. Triads.

"The creation of the triads goes back to the 17th century in China. There were one hundred and thirteen monks in the Shaolin monastery. Buddhist monks. Manchu invaders attacked and killed all but five of the monks. Those remaining monks form the secret societies with the goal of overthrowing the invaders. The triads were born." (46)

Early in 9 Dragons we learn a little historical geography. We have time and place, site and situation. China was invaded and controlled by what would become the Manchu Dynasty. Religion, in the form of Buddhism, is referenced. Later, the triads are compared to the Russian and Italian mafia. When we pay attention to the plot elements we might learn something. Triads are real (WorldCrunch) and the history as spelled out to Bosch, is accurate (Stanford Press).

Bosch's partner, Ferras, worn-out by a wife, kids, and job stress, simply walked away from the case. The Chinese angle force Bosch to enlist the aid of the Asian Crime Unit. David Chu, detective with the LA Asian Crime Unit (ACU), native Chinese-speaker and life long Los Angeles resident, made Bosch uncomfortable. Bosch likes being in control and having to rely on an interpreter did not suit him. Also patronizing and distrustful of Chu, and irritated by the Asian cultural tendency to close ranks in the face of crime, Bosch and Chu were constantly at odds.

Crime scene analysis and interviews led Bosch and Chu to discover a Triad shakedown had led to Mr. Li's demise. Protection money was being paid once per week to keep the Triad happy. When Mr. Li was unable to pay an installment, a Triad enforcer took his life, instead.

Some circumstantial evidence led Bosch and Chu to a Triad enforcer, Bo-Jing Chang. Taken into custody, Bo-Jing claim his innocence. But, Bosch was not interested in Chang's alleged innocence after receiving the most chilling phone call of his life.

The caller indicated he had taken Bosch's daughter, Madeline, captive. Bosch knew Triads had their tentacles in all aspects of Asian society, perhaps even in the LAPDs own Asian Crime Unit. Maddie lived in Hong Kong with her mother, an executive with a local casino group. Hong Kong literally is the base of nearly all Chinese mafia. For Bosch, taking Chang into custody had just made the stakes of his murder investigation murder case personal. Very personal.

Leaving Chang in the hands of Chu and the LAPD, Bosch boarded the first available flight to Hong Kong. He was going to hit the Chinese mafia and get his daughter safe if it killed him.

Connelly has done his geography homework. In the acknowledgements, I suspect Mr. Connelly did some of his own legwork in Hong Kong to bring the geography of the former British colony to life.

"Central Hong Kong is actually an island. But there are other islands surrounding it and across the harbor is Kowloon and an area called the New Territories." Harry has some experience with Hong Kong, as he has traveled a half-dozen times to visit his daughter.

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Once in Hong Kong, Bosch's hunt for his daughter takes him to Wan Chai. Wan Chai is like New York City's Time Square neighborhood of the 1980's. Wan Chai never sleeps, and the strip clubs and dance clubs lining Lockhart Road are active around the clock, and anything a person wants can be obtained for a price. While having been to Hong Kong a few times, Harry had not witnessed the seedier side of Hong Kong.

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We learn more about the geography of Hong Kong as Bosch probes deeper into the area. Despite his daughter living thousands of miles away, Bosch and Maddie talk on the phone. They talk about her homework, and Bosch admits to little more than a textbook knowledge of the local surroundings. When Hong Kong returned to the Republic of China control in 1997, the New Territories along with Hong Kong remained part of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ). In the late 1970s, China opened certain regions and cities along the eastern coast to foreign investment. These special economic zones and open cities were granted special permission to engage foreign capital, investors, and global business. Not initially successful, the Chinese proved pragmatic and modified certain business rules which ultimately made these areas very attractive to companies. Today, Nike, HP, and of course, Apple, contract with factories in these areas of the manufacturing of many of today's most popular products.

Not all areas fair as well, though. Tuen Mun, historical home of Asian pirates, is still home to Asian poor and uneducated populations. And also the Asian criminal organizations of the triads.

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Game of Thrones is running rampant on my Twitter feed, and the books have proven to be immensely popular. In a local bookstore, I discovered a collection of maps illustrating the realm of Essos and Westeros, and detailing the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. I do enjoy the depth of imagination and imagery authors and artists invest in bringing such fantasy to life. I've made many a fantasy map myself in my day, and have constructed maps to depict Tolkien's works and early text-based Infocomm games (Suspended).

However, there is a certain satisfaction one gets from being able to touch the same place as a literary figure, to walk the same streets, see the same restaurants, eat a similar bowl of noodles, or drink chicory coffee as a character in a book. The book becomes real, is real, for that moment in time when your memories of events comingle with a real-life experience. A person can fly to Hong Kong, travel to Wan Chai, or, though I don't recommend doing so, visit Tuen Mun ("Tin Moon").

I entertain doing precisely this as I read authors' works. Did the author do exactly this as they were building their story? If so, how did their story evolve to incorporate the local culture, language, sights and smells? Anyone involved in literature, whether you are simply a consumer of the book, an editor, publisher, agent, want-to-be, new, or seasoned author would want to know these answers, I would think. $10 is a lot to spend on a paperback. Pushing "living content" into a story and making us better, or a little less ignorant, even after reading a work of fiction is not a bad investment for our time and money.

Connelly does weave some twists into his tale of Bosch rescuing his daughter. At times, I feel like I've not really read this book, but I've seen this book. You have, too, if you have seen the movie, Taken. The geography is different, the characters are different, but the over-arching plot is familiar. However, Connelly does a good job of hiding his machinations. He leads us down a path but we don't necessarily arrive at the destination we thought we were being guided to. Exactly what a discerning reader should expect.

My rule of thumb is I give an author two books to make the case for their writing ability. Connelly is a good author, with interesting characters, integrates of geography well into his stories.

I do recommend 9 Dragons as a good summer reading novel for the beach or wherever your vacation takes you, or for what spare time you have available.

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• The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly (socyberty.com)

Book Review: Coyote Waits

"Coyote Waits." Tony Hillerman. Publisher: Harper Torch Fiction. 1990. Paperback. $8

In Navajo mythology the Milky Way was created by the trickster god, Coyote. Coyote also created the world and the Holy People. The Holy People were assigned the task of helping populate the universe with stars. The Holy People were too slow for Coyote's liking and he took their bag of stars and threw them into space, creating our nighttime sky.

Coyote is a trickster god. He would often masquerade as a well-known man after having transmuted the man into a coyote. Coyote would use the man's reputation to his advantage, often trying to sleep with the man's wife. Coyote would also use deception, lies, and trickery to obtain objects of his desire, for despite his supernatural existence, he enjoys the carnal and superficial pleasures of humans. Sometimes, Coyote is benevolent. In "Coyote Kills A Giant," the god finds a way to kill a giant and save his people from death.

"Coyote Waits," by Tony Hillerman

In "Coyote Waits," a car fire puts two committed law officers on the prowl for a killer. The car belonged to Navajo Tribal Policeman Delbert Nez, but the fire didn't kill Officer Nez. A bullet ended his life, as Officer Jim Chee would realize after dragging Nez's body from the burning car. When a drunk healer is found wandering down the middle of a state highway not far from the crime scene with a bottle of too-good scotch in one hand and a pistol tucked into his waistband, the simple evidence is immediately suspicious.

The death of the officer elevates the crime beyond Officer Chee and his supervisor, Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, and into the hands of the FBI. Neither Chee nor Leaphorn are comfortable with Federal law enforcement acting on tribal lands and both initiate their own investigations.

The nuance of the faith healer's involvement bothers both Navajo officers. The officers aren't too fond of the FBI immediate guilt placed on Pinto. Ashie Pinto was not currently known to be a drunk. The crime scene was also hundreds of miles away from Pinto's home, and Ashie doesn't drive. So, what was a medicine man doing hundreds of miles away from home, drunk, with the murder weapon?

Chee's and Leaphorn's investigations lead them along intersecting paths through Navajo culture and lands. Chee is a traditionalist, himself practicing to be a healer, a Navajo medicine man. Leaphorn, while older, is less attuned to his Navajo heritage, familiar with but distant from the spiritual beliefs, family lineage and tribal membership characteristics of his fellow Navajos.

The dichotomy between Chee and Leaphorn provides wonderful insight into Navajo culture and spiritualism. Chee's interest in Ashie Pinto's jish, a small bag containing a shaman medicinal items, provides insight into the importance of traditional medicine and spiritualism within Navajo culture. Chee's developing friendship with Assistant District Attorney Janet Pete illustrates the complex relationships between Navajo tribal society and the non-Navajo society. In Navajo tribal culture knowing a person's tribal affiliation, such as the Bitter Way tribe or the Slow Talking Dinee can determine who a person can marry and whom a person can't.

The search for evidence leads Chee and Leaphorn across the landscapes of Arizona and New Mexico. From the University of Northern Arizona, the Chuskas Mountains, to the Four Corners, the officers cover the geography of northeast Arizona and northwest New Mexico.

Through Chee and Leaphorn we learn about studies of Navajo history and language at UNA and programs to preserve Navajo language and stories at the University of New Mexico. Chee and Leaphorn both run across a Vietnamese immigrant, a school teacher, whose presence illuminates a diversity in culture beyond Navajo and White, illustrating again the dynamics of today's society.

Chee and Leaphorn also discover the lengths people will design in order to track down the ellusive tales associated with notorious American train robber, Butch Cassidy.

Hillerman's stories are immediately engaging and likeable. Chee and Leaphorn provide an interesting contrast in characters. The younger Chee is more traditional and schooled in Navajo culture. The older Leaphorn, well-respected among folks of all backgrounds, is pragmatic and less bound in Navajo tradition despite being Navajo. Hillerman blends Navajo tradition, Navajo culture and history, Navajo language, and academic efforts into an enjoyable tale of how the Coyote Waits patiently in order to gain his prize.

Book Review: Nemesis

Nemesis by Jo Nesbø. Harper Fiction. 2002. Translation 2008. Paperback. $8

"A man walks into an Oslo bank, puts a gun to a cashier's head, and tells her to count to twenty-five. When he doesn't get his money fast enough, he pulls the trigger. The young woman dies--and two million Norwegian kroner disappear without a trace."

And so our story opens. And, if this were only the story, the story of the murder of a bank cashier and Harry Hole's (Hole is pronounced "Hoe-lay") persistence in catching her killer, we would have an interesting story.

Jo Nesbø does not write in such simple ways, though. I recently flew to San Diego. The flight magazines in the seatbacks usually have a map of the airline's routes. Picture the flight lines connecting cities with other cities. Remember the complexity of those maps? Lines which stretched the entire width of the continental United States, and intermediate flight lengths, and shorter flight lengths? Jo is pronounced "Yo," by the way.

I think Nesbø must use those airline service route maps to develop the plots of his novels. Over the last year or so, I have moved from my traditional science fiction and fantasy milieu into procedural crime fiction. I began with Steig Larsson. He was criticized by reviewers for his highly intricate plots. I've read Henning Mankel who write good procedure crime fiction, also set in Sweden. James Lee Burke, who I have reviewed before, sets his stories in southern Louisiana. I've read forensic science authors Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell. Not an immensely impressive resume of crime fiction; I would throw James Patterson in the mix, but honestly, his novels do not come close to intricacies I require. I read two of his Alex Cross novels and I am done. Science fiction and fantasy authors, by their nature, have to create intricate worlds, with themes, allegories, and complex plot devices to draw in their readers. We expect those traits. Having spent all of my childhood and the better part of my adulthood reading science fiction and fantasy, I have become accustomed to reading prose which has a high degree of complexity. The above authors (with the exception of Patterson) deliver to my expectations.

Nesbø's "Nemesis" is probably the most complex procedural crime novel I have read. My opinion may change given enough time, as I only finished his book yesterday. However, I found myself having to re-read passages simply to understand the nuances of actions and details.

The bank robbery is not a bank robbery and a young woman is killed. Identical twin brothers commit a crime and one is caught and one escapes. But, which one killed the police officer and was sentenced to prison and which one got away? Hole killed his lover, or did he? And, what does the jailed twin have to do with her death? A woman commits suicide but on second opinion she might have been murdered by her jealous husband, jealous because she was sleeping with her husband's brother. Furthermore, why is Hole's former partner so intent on having Harry arrested for a murder he may not have committed?

Yes, if those details sound confusing you are not alone. Nesbø ties most of these tales together into one mostly complete novel. I say "mostly complete" because one loose end continues into Nesbø's next novel, The Devil's Star. Yes, I had to re-read some passages simply to keep my head in the game. Near the middle of the novel, Hole has pretty much solved the bank robbery, or so it would appear. From mid-point on the novel almost begins anew, with the introduction of a new character with a new motivation, and a desire to exact some form of retribution against Hole.

When the novel seemed complete at the mid-point, and new characters were introduced I felt as if one of the cardinal rules of crime fiction had been invalidated, something I will call the "trail of discovery." The Trail of Discovery means the author leads the reader through a consistent set of rules and parameters for the unfolding of events. Basically, all stories follow this rule. Authors cannot simply build a pattern of evidence and in the last three pages introduce a new character or new plot vehicle which renders all aforementioned clues irrelevant. Halfway through "Nemesis" I felt Nesbø was doing precisely this; what kept me reading was the fact I was only halfway through. Nesbø has an international reputation and I could not comprehend readers would popularize an author who committed egregious plot contrivances. So, I kept reading. And, the plot became for more complicated than I ever imagined. For good reason, too, as the robbery, the murder, the suicide, the murder all fold into one engrossing tale of lies, deception, and murder. Everything a good crime novel entails.

"Nemesis" was my first Jo Nesbø novel. My rule is I give an author who is new to me two chances to impress me and sell me on his/her style and story-telling. "Nemesis" is the second in at least a trilogy of Harry Hole novels, the first being "The Redbreast" and the third, as I mentioned earlier, "The Devil's Star." Now, I've got to pick up the other two.

Pax

Book Review: Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, by Paul Theroux. Mariner Press. 2008. Paperback. $16

My next door neighbors left for a two-week trip at the beginning of the summer. Their 40-ish daughter wanted to revisit the place of her birth. One can only imagine the thoughts crossing through one's mind causing someone to want to return to the scene of the crime. Their grumblings indicated a slight reticence to indulge their daughter but nonetheless the couple, who are in their late 70s by the way, loaded up their trailer and headed off to South Dakota. Plans were to visit the university where my neighbor first taught. Then, they would all tour the hospital where the daughter was born.

"And, this is the room where the doctors were screaming at your mother to push. They discarded your placenta into a dish located right about here..."

I should not poke fun. I have parallel sentiments. My family is from Kansas and Nebraska, and I spent many a summer playing in the sand along the shoulder of the street my father's parents house was located. A tiny little town in nowhere Kansas, which has become a den of meth and drug addicts today. Main Street was a 20-minute walk along a sidewalk. Along Main Street, you could visit the grocer selling out-of-date soups and canned food. The drugstore sold comic books with the covers missing. As a child, I was irritated by missing comic book covers. Later, I would understand, Frank, the druggist had cut the covers off to get credit for the unsold comics, yet then turn around and sell the comics to me, or some other kid.

As we get older and reminisce about our "Good Ol' Days" the thought of visiting our roots crosses the minds of people. The exploits of our youth, friends and adventures, appeal to us.

In the 70s a married Paul Theroux embarked upon a journey across Asia by train. Alone, with few belongings, a bag with paper, pens, and some clothes, Theroux set out to discover. Simply that: discover. He left behind a wife and the comfortable existence of life in the U.S. and western Europe for the unknown rigors of life in Asia. Along the way he met hundreds of people, friendly, cautious, yet warm and compassionate to an American stranger traveling alone.

In 2006, Paul retraced his steps. To a large extent he was successful, able to traverse a near precise path to the path forged 30+ years earlier. Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan were avoided; too dangerous for a sole American to travel through, or overtly unfriendly to Americans. I suspect had appropriate travel plans been made, Paul may have been allowed to travel in Iran. Rick Steves traveled Iran in 2007 with a government-provided companion and a set of rules to abide by. In fact, Rick's travel video of Iran is available, in full-length, via YouTube (video).

Reading Paul is like reading someone's diary. That Paul reveals so much about himself and his surroundings makes his prose touching, intimate, and powerful. Paul is not writing to communicate the skim coat of life, the veneer of lovely places. As we all know, life is not like that.

An autobiography of sorts, too; Paul shares the demise of his first marriage, making no excuses, and asking for no forgiveness. Traveling as a young man, he perhaps made some poor choices; and his wife herself made some equally poor choices. Anyone who chooses to retrace his or her own personal history may attempt to deflect the memories of the past. Why? Is not the journey itself part of coming to terms with history? Paul essentially asks and addresses his own complicated past while engaging us in the discovery of the past, present, and future of the people along his rail journey.

Theroux is a journalist, an investigative reporter, an essayist, yet he doesn't simply report, he allows us to see his thoughts and feelings, not merely the visuals of his environment, not the droll tidbits of conversation one might have with an interview. His journeys are not the ones you will find in Lonely Planet nor Fodors.

Theroux wants to see people and cultures as they are, not as they want tourist to see them. Theroux endeavors to strip away the lovely bits of society to understand the real issues and concerns of people. When traveling through Cambodia, a state he had to bypass on his first journey, Paul writes

"It gave me the creeps to read all this while I was staying in Phnom Penh. Some of the worst killing had occurred while I was taking my Railway Bazaar trip, and then writing it, complaining that it had been impossible for me to visit Cambodia. Little did I know what was happening here - but not many people on the outside knew much, or cared."

During his Railway Bazaar trip, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were turning schools into prisons, executing fellow Cambodians with farm implements, or bashing children against trees. Water torture, not unlike that condoned by Dick Cheney was used to extract "confessions" from innocent people who were eventually murdered and buried in mass graves. Today, open air museums allow visitors to witness the staging areas, what are today known as "killing fields."

I've thought highly of Singaporean society until reading Paul's account. While Singaporean society is fanatically clean, ordered, and disciplined, Paul paints a picture of inordinate structure and intolerance and little appreciation for humor. People are not polite and lack any incentive to be polite. Strange when contrasted with Cambodians and Vietnamese, against who major atrocities were committed yet have remained spiritual and compassionate. I've entertained notions of visiting Singapore, an Asian Tiger and a society whose technological achievements are equal or superior to the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe. However, Paul makes a convincing argument to visit Cambodia or Vietnam first and learn from people who are some of the most humble people one will ever meet.

As an American abroad, Paul ran across people who felt compelled to share their unique insight into the US involvement in Iraq, and Afghanistan. People by and large sided against the US and especially George Bush. In a few cases, the US had a few allies, places which were draconian, such as Turkmenistan. The affinity of Turkmens with Bush does not bode well; the president of Turkmenistan was a megomaniac who renamed the months of the year after family members, renamed the days of the week after family, and commissioned giant golden statues of himself.

Theroux reunited with people he had met from his first journey and with educators he had been contemporaries with at teaching institutions. Through these conversations, we learn about the cultural changes over the 30 years. In many ways, few substantive changes had rippled through the societies. Extreme cases, such as the removal of Pol Pot had altered Cambodian society but the new government had its own repressive policies. On the other hand, Afghanistan could not be traversed and Pakistan Paul deemed as being unsafe. Daniel Pearl had recently been take hostage and Westerners were being targeted.

The more some things change, the more they remain the same.

In Sri Lanka, Paul was granted an audience with Sir Arthur C Clarke. Sir Clarke, a British expat living on the island, is credited with inventing GPS, or at least setting forth the idea of a network of satellites which would help define location. Clarke is also reknown for his story, The Sentinel, from which his later novel, "2001: A Space Odyssey," grew. A later book, "Rendezvous with Rama," maybe produced into a movie. A sad meeting, though, as Sir Clarke was in his twilight, capable of speaking, yet incapable of really having a coherent conversation. Sir Clarke would pass away not much longer after their meeting.

The lives of people outside North America are so different from what U.S. citizens experience as to almost be alien. In fact, I would argue, their experiences are not alien, ours are. We are the odd ones out, not they. Few US citizens have to subsist on $1 a day, or have to hang out lamps to attract bugs to eat, or find alternate sources of protein and carbohydrates. The vast majority of the world operates under such conditions. A bowl of rice, or a bowl of rice noodles, portioned with some form of meat, chicken, pork, or vegetables. We can avoid witnessing poverty. We don't have to push past poor people, poor children, poor elderly who sit on sidewalks, or run up to us asking for money. Not that places in North America do not exist but back alleys where one could have sex with a child may be merely one block from the main tourist street. This is the strength of Paul's writing; he says what he thinks and communicates what he sees, and pulls no punches. He is persona non grata in Singapore due to his criticism of the government.

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star is not a pretty book; not a "Walking Tour of Britain." Chances are, you will find something offensive, but offensive in a positive way, such as those Western men who travel to Asia to avail themselves to desperate situations and people.

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star was my first Paul Theroux book. I've another cued up to read, Dark Star Safari, an account of his travels across Africa, from Cairo to Capetown. I can't wait to read.

Pax

Book Review: What Teachers Make

What Teachers Make: In Praise of the World's Greatest Job. By Taylor Mali. Penguin-Putnam Publishing. Hardback. 2012. $12

At 197 pages What Teachers Make is short, sweet and to-the-point. Mali has a wide following, having taught in numerous places, with experiences across curriculums and disciplines. He draws from his wide experiences in this brief collection of anecdotes, many humorous, a few serious, and all poignant.

Taylor includes some poetry samples which should be read aloud. I'm a big fan of "spoken word" poetry and Mali has been part of the HBO Def Poetry Jam, a brilliant show.

Taylor Mali on HBO Def Poetry Jam

What Teachers Make is not a salary survey of compensation or benefits. What Teachers Make recounts episodes in Taylor's teaching career in which he has affected or been affected by students (smart and dying), parents (allies and enemies), and bureaucrats (who should act smarter than they do).

Mali's book should be read by anyone thinking about a career in Education. Unfortunately, most teacher wannabees have no idea what they are getting into until he or she begins student teaching. When the real scope of teaching is discovered many teachers, almost 50%, resign from teaching after the first 5 yrs. A person must want to not only be a teacher but also understand the incredible demands teaching makes on a person's life. You will sacrifice time, energy, money, emotions, and a bit of your soul to be a teacher. Teachers spend over $1 billion of their own money to support their classes. And, as Taylor points out, and is well documented, the cost of educating one student per year is 1/2 the cost of incarcerating an adult. In Arizona, for example, the wonderful bastion of tolerance {sarcasm}, studies indicate a child who has failed to read by the 3rd grade will most likely end up in prison.

One idea Taylor presents is putting first year education majors into a real life classroom. Throw them in the pool and see if they can swim, he says. Make them teach something. Take the ones who really want to learn how to educate and help them become better educators. Keep tossing them back in. Why wait until the very end, after 4+ years have been expended, and 5 years thereafter the teacher quits. Better to show them the environment and then spend valuable time on the ones willing and able to learn. I have to admit, I like the idea.

The book will validate many of you who do teach. Having experience as a middle school teacher, Taylor may speak with a familiar voice. Those of you needing some new ideas, or are feelings de-energized by educational politics may also find familiar sentiments.

What Teachers Make are future adults who question, who doubt, who can think on their own, and who can cast a critical eye upon their world.

What Teachers Make would make a nice gift for a teacher as he or she prepares for the 2012-2013 school year.

Book Review: False Economy

False Economy, by Alan Beattie. Published by Penguin and Riverhead Books. Copyright 2009. Paperback. $16.

My interest in economics certainly cannot be traced to my college experience with Micro- or Macroeconomics. Both classes were taught be the same gentleman, Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson tended to be tardy and always arrived with a ceramic coffee cup of the vintage found in cafeterias. The class had to be somewhat forgiving of Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Johnson was old. He was so old I had no trouble imagining him following Adam Smith around the English countryside taking copious notes. I'm pretty sure he pre-dated the invention of the Supple-Demand curve; hell, he probably pre-dated supply and demand.

My only memories of those classes were of Mr. Johnson, all nine decades of him, standing in front of us, gentling cradling his coffee cup in both hands so as to offset the tremor in one and prevent spillage, whispering the notions behind money supply, and lightly scrawling a Supply-Demand curve on the chalkboard.

[caption id="attachment_1029" align="alignright" width="168"] In case you forgot what a supply and demand curve looked like, here is one in all its glory[/caption]

Geography drew me to economics. Geography also drew me to history but that story is for another post. Geography is about the spatial distribution of nouns, people, places, things, and ideas and the relationship among those nouns. When those nouns have a monetary value we can talk about economics.

Economics is also about philosophy, psychology, and sociology. Most people do not realize economics was born from Schools of Philosophy, from notions of Human Choice especially regarding economic choices, where to live, where to work, and now to spend money.

In False Economy, Mr. Beattie weaves several meandering tales which borrow from geography, history, politics, and economics. Mr. Beattie conducts a sort of economic post-mortem on a variety of countries, Argentina, Sierra Leone, Botswana to name only a few to create a narrative in which the reader can understand in context why some countries and their associated economy behave in certain ways.

Often, I hear the uninformed proclaim, "Well, Africa simply needs to put its colonial past behind itself and move on. The past is the past." Alan addresses Africa and colonial histories of Great Britain, France, Germany, and Belgium on the continent. Colonial powers left a near-indelible legacy behind, helping create racial divisions, or augmenting pre-existing tensions to colonial benefit. Coupled with tremendous natural wealth the legacy of poor political institutions and lack of infrastructure has led to considerable and unwarranted suffering.

Mr. Beattie draws from many sources, the unlikely future of the panda, the necessity of airbourne delivery of cash crops to market, and the benefits of having a only a single political party to bribe. These essays bring to the fore-front the difficulty many countries have in choosing appropriate economic paths. Russia, for example, has a history of renegging on trade agreements much to the dismay of other parties. India might experience greater growth if not for the volume of political factions and special interest groups all wanting to divide the financial pie into smaller and smaller pieces. Diamonds. ight be a girl's best friends but diamonds are certainly not a country's best friend.

Be prepared to journey through several centuries within a single chapter. When I got the book I had no expectation of receiving an education on the Hansestic League. Guilds were the predecessors to unions, thus to understand how monarchs and oligarchs lost power one has to investigate the Hanseatic League, at least a bit, to understand how the power of guilds siphoned influence from aristocracy. Make sure your Time Machine has a set of fresh batteries. Don't let the history lessons dissuade; they are a necessary component of understanding today's obstacles.

Having recently finished a quantum physics book in which each chapter was divided into sections I gound myself thinking sections would have been nice in Alan's book. Due to limited times to read, reading from section to section is a nice luxury.

I differ with Alan with respect to China and the presumed need for the Chinese government to adopt some form of democracy. To quote Mao, "It doesn't matter if the cat is white or if the cat is black as long as it kills mice." As long as the Chinese government continues to liberalize the economy, the type of government is almost irrelevant. In fact, a more democratic government could stall growth. Using India as an example, India's economic growth is stymied by caste-based and income-based special interest groups. One could argue the same about the U.S.; political factions in the U.S. undermine growth. China, having nearly 175 million people belonging to 55 different ethic groups, would no doubt find economic and political stagnation in becoming more "democratized."

I did not find the book in the words of James Patterson "unputdownable" but I did find myself intrigued with the tangential topics and hyperbole of discussion. At times, I felt Mr. Beattie may have played a little too fast and loose with history but he is a historian so I will grant him considerable leeway.

The book does fill niche for tying history with economics and geography to help provide insight as to why some countries succeed, others fail, and yet others cannot seem to get out of their own way. While Mr. Beattie argue my use of hyperbole to describe his musings, the reader must be patient in order for Alan to paint his scenarios. Once accomplished, the reader will have a more nuanced understanding of the obstacles many states face.

Yes, I do recommend the book :)

PAX

Book Review: Pakistan On The Brink, by Ahmed Rashid

I have grave concerns over the future health of Ahmed Rashid. Pakistan is not friendly towards journalists, aid workers, politicians, business people, or anyone critical of Pakistani leadership.

Since 1992, 42 journalists have been killed in Pakistan (CPJ.com.) April 20th, 2012, Mutaza Rizvi was found murdered in Karachi, the southern port city of Pakistan. Rizvi was a senior editor for "the Dawn" newspaper, a leading newsource in Pakistan. He had been bound and strangled (ABCNews.com.) According to the web site, "Violence Against Journalists in Afghanistan," eight journalists were bullied, threatened, beaten, or killed in 2011.

Mr. Rashid is a highly esteemed Pakistani author, journalist, former revolutionary, and Central Asian expert. Pakistan On The Brink is the third book in a series which began with Taliban and continued with Descent into Chaos.



In Pakistan on the Brink, Ahmed Rashid presents in a series of essays the importance of Pakistan in the regional affairs of South Asia. The key to a successful Afghanistan is a stable Pakistan. In fact, the cornerstone of a stable South Asia, from Afghanistan to Bangladesh, is a stable democracy and the Rule of Law in Pakistan. The last 12 years in Pakistan, and South Asia, has been anything but stable.

Weaving together a continuous narrative of events transpiring since September 11th, 2001, Mr. Rashid pulls all regional players, the United States, and NATO supporters to describe the political calculus of the Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship, referred to as AFPAK. One cannot adequately analyze, interpret, or seek to explain the nature of geopolitical affairs in Afghanistan nor Pakistan without considering them as AFPAK. Any analysis must also include the influence of respective neighbors, including Iran, India, China, and Russia.

The sub-title of his book, "The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan," is not accurate, in my opinion. Mr. Rashid's essays describe recent conditions and the state of affairs as of 2011 between people, political parties, and countries named, not so much future-looking commentary. If Taliban was a treatise on the modern history of the Taliban, and Descent Into Chaos an examination of the U.S. role in Pakistan during the Bush Presidency (2001-2008), then Pakistan On The Brink provides an interesting framing of the delicate economic, social, and political climate currently existing in Pakistan.

His essays are captivating for those with little a priori knowledge of the geopolitical mires of South Asia. Even with some knowledge, Mr. Rashid clearly demystifies the web of intrigue in AFPAK relations. Mr. Rashid names specific people and organization he views as responsible for tactical and strategic failures across the region. Politicians across the board are implicated, President George Bush, President Obama, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, and the current Pakistani President Asif Zardari and the Pakistani Prime Minister Raza Gilani. Bush was described as "congenial," establishing a rapport with Afghan President Karzai but Afghanistan never was a priority for him. Obama is characterized as aloof, cool and distant, especially in regards to Afghan leadership, yet has done more for Afghanistan in his tenure as U.S. President than in all eight years of Bush's presidency. Economic and military aid for Afghanistan increased substantially under Obama but his reticence to develop a relationship with Karzai has undermined peace negotiations.

The Pakistani leaderships comes across as nothing more than stooges for the Pakistani military and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI). Zardari and Gilani are completely ineffectual for a number of reasons. First and foremost, each is fearful of being removed from office (in the best case), or killed (in the worst case.) The military is the most powerful leadership authority in Pakistan currently, with the ISI close behind. Zardari and Gilani have done nothing to restrain the military and have gone as far as to support myths, lies, and anti-American propaganda aimed at the United States. The 2011 assassination of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan under the noses of the military, ISI, and Pakistan's government gave evidence to Pakistani anti-American sentiments. Silent for two months after the killing, the first Pakistani government comments protested the violation of their airspace. Later, neither Zardari nor Gilani would quell rumors among the general Pakistani population the assassination was an utter fabrication.

Military officials on all sides are named and their ineffectual leadership decisions detailed. The Pakistani military is no doubt complicit in aiding and abetting the Haqqani Network, and by proxy, al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba. The Haqqani Network is a family-run terrorist organization, operated by Jalaluddin Haqqani. With considerable wealth earned in business and construction, Haqqani is able to purchase equipment and run terrorist cells against anyone or any organization in the region. The Haqqani Network is known to support and train al-Qaeda, plus Lashkar-e-Taiba, a terrorist organization managed in Pakistan against organizations in India.

The Taliban cannot be described as a unitary organization. While affiliations may overlap, the Taliban consists of at least two groups, one based on Afghanistan, and one based in Pakistan. Membership may overlap, some philosophies may parallel, both favor the withdrawal of U.S./NATO forces from Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban are "nationalists," they support an independent Afghan state, free of U.S., Pakistani, or Iranian influence. The Taliban in Afghanistan today are not the same Taliban faced by the U.S. military in the early 2000s. The U.S. military dealt with those Taliban already; the previous leaders are dead. Today's Taliban are the sons and cousins of those earlier Taliban leaders. Under the current Taliban authority, some restrictions have eased. About 100 schools have been built throughout Afghanistan, thought most in the north and northwest. Girls are allowed schooling, and more girls are in school in Afghanistan than ever before, over 8 million. The Taliban have banned attacks against schools and have allowed UN organizations to inoculate children.

The Pakistani Taliban, on the other hand, aid and support al-Qaeda, the Haqqanis, and train suicide bombers. The Pakistani Taliban actively fight against the Pakistani government. Members are far more extreme in their ideals. Pakistani Taliban favor overthrowing the Pakistani government, the creation of a regional state based completely on Sharia. Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba are their allies.

Mr. Rashid's writing is compelling. As a Pakistani, his frustration with his country is evident. He often says so, citing Pakistan's important geography, wedged between Iran and Iran, a potential conduit for a world's worth of goods and services, with a population of once highly educated people and noted not long ago as a viable destination of foreign direct investment. How could Pakistan not be successful? he argues.

Pakistan will not be successful for the foreseeable future. The government is weak and unwilling to restrain the military or the ISI. The Pakistani military and the ISI leverage all sides against the other, incite fear and violence, work with adversaries of the U.S. and NATO. The government is fearful of an Afghanistan influenced by Shia Iran. The Pakistani government is fearful of an Afghanistan influenced by rising economic powerhouse of India. External players like the United States, vacillating between support and withdrawal, cutting economic aid and repairing damaging relations simply add to the chaos.

Mr. Rashid's writing feels fast and loose. Months and days are frequently mentioned but no year. Getting lost in all of the details is easy, I discovered. I found myself searching the web for events so I could better establish timelines as his telling might move back and forth over days, months, and years upon a single page.

The level of detail and his familiarity with many of the important people made for fascinating reading. Mr Rashid had lunch, dinner, and breakfast with most of the top-level personalities, Asif Zardari, President Bush, President Obama, and Hamid Karzai. His love of Pakistan and his concern for his country, people, and culture is beyond reproach.

To truly understand the geopolitical complexity of peace and stability in South Asia, in Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and become quickly educated on the regional nuances, Mr. Rashid's "Pakistan On The Brink," should not be passed over.

Pakistan On The Brink. Ahmed Rashid. Penguin/Viking Hardback. 212pgs. 2012. $26.95

Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life?” A Book Review

If one can set aside personal religious dogma and indoctrination, the Universe represents a fascinating field of study. I have never been able to reconcile the vastness of the Universe with religious traditions, teachings, or Faith on a personal scale. Nor have I been able to achieve any relationship at scales below atoms, neutrons, protons, and electrons with spirituality or religion. Science and Religion represent two mutually exclusive domains. I do not read the Bible to understand chemistry or physics or biology. However, Science can be applied in very real ways to Biblical notions and concepts. I am not clear how Religion applies to Science, other than to encourage blind or ignorant beliefs.

I struggle with the daily knowledge of people walking among us who refuse to believe the earth is 4.3 billion years old. Or who cannot accept stars burning in the night-time sky are more distant than 6,000 light-years away, thus visible for longer than any timeline of human existence created from Biblical events.

If you follow in with people who acknowledge only a 6,000 year-old earth, or fall in with the people who believe the Universe was created in 7 days, you will find Paul’s book offensive. But, you should stop being ignorant and read his book. Or, read “The Mind of God,” also by Dr. Davies, and receive knowledge and be illuminated.
Paul is an excellent communicator. Divided into a few chapters, each chapter is further subdivided into sections which address topics even specific detail. For example, Chapter Two, "The Universe Explained," contains 13 sections covering such topics as the "Big Bang and the Expanding Universe," to "Hiding Dimensions of Space." Helping tie material in each section together is a Key Points list at the end of each chapter. Some physics and cosmology books I have read aren't really broken up into easy to manage chunks. These authors must write textbooks.

Paul seems to grasp having small sections allows a reader with 15-20 minutes to kill will encourage the reader to stay focused, without seeming to overburden the reader with so much information and concepts which honestly require frequent contemplation.

Here is a notion I have trouble wrapping my brain around: humans will never be able to see the true horizon of the Universe. The far-flung edges of the Universe are so far away and moving away from us so fast light emitted from stellar objects will never reach any of our instruments. Never. When we discuss the Universe, we have to set some rules. Are we discussing the entire Universe, including the parts we will never see? Or, are we only talking about the part of the Universe only observable to humans? Or, does our discussion include the Multiverse, a collection of universes of which our universe is simply one, like one bubble in a bubblebath. Some scientists use the term, megaverse.

The reader will also be introduced to the cast of characters responsible for developing many of our current insights into the realm of cosmology. Einstein receives considerable credit, but he was not the first nor last scientist to contemplate our universe. Edwin Hubble, Charles Wheeler, Alan Turing, Oskar Klein, Edwin Abbot, and Theodor Kaluza are a few people who have contributed to the field of cosmology and the philosophy surrounding the intellectual pursuit of understanding our galactic domain and human's place among the stars.

Paul's book is not merely limited to the stellar objects of enourmous scale. To understand how galactic objects work, we have to change our scale from light-years to Planck lengths. We have to understand what comprises a neutron and a proton. We have to discuss how atomic level energies contribute to the formation of stars, how stars explode, and how stars use energy. The forces at the quantum level are as important as time-space force of gravity.

Paul will introduce Dark Matter and Dark Energy. We can see Dark Matter, we simply do not know what dark matter is. We cannot appear to measure Dark Energy, though. Scientists can only see the effects of the energy. As of 2012, we have no idea about the nature of Dark Energy. Potential understanding lies with experiments at the Large Hadron Supercollider (LHC) at CERN. 2012 promises to be one of the most significant years in human history. The LHC will collide particles at record-setting energies. The results could lay bare the Higgs Boson, which scientist theorize contributes mass to everyday matter.

The final few chapters of the book deal with more philosophical ideas of universe existence, creation, present state, and future conditions. Though I know I am not using the term correctly, I would call Paul a "cosmolopher." A "cosmolopher" is a person knowledgable in cosmology and can think and contemplate pre-universe, current universe, and optional universe conditions in logical and rational ways, i.e. without having to resort to introducing a Prime Mover to fill in gaps to cover their limited understanding.

Both of Paul's books, the "Goldilocks Enigma," and "The Mind of God," are books for people interested developing a basic understand of the universe, both from a real, physics-based perspective, and also from a more metaphysical viewpoint, allowing for the potential of Intelligent Design. Paul also refrains from using any mathematics. He talks about Euclidian and non-Euclidean geometry, scalar fields, and tensors, but only enough to tell you why these elements matter to quantum mechanics, quantum physics, and cosmology.

"The Goldilocks Engima" can be found used via Amazon. Click the book image above for direction to Amazon.

Paul Davies is a cosmologist and physicist at Arizona State University.

 

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Book Review: The Enemy

Novels contain an immense amount of geography.

The fifth book I've read by Lee Child in two months. The guy can put a story together. 

Take equal parts of the best procedural crime novel you've read with parts of the Walking Tall movie series and that gives you Jack Reacher series of novels. 

For series authors, I give them two books to draw me in. After that, with paperbacks as expensive as they are, I'm either in or out. For example, I read Double Cross, by James Patterson. Out after the first book. I know he is popular, but his plot mechanics and writing; no. I might try again later but I was not enthused about his style.

After my first Lee Child book, I bought another. And, another. And, another. Child can write. His prose is short, succinct, to the point. Every sentence means something; no fluff, no worthless emotions, no worthless dialogue, no page after page of wandering philosophical thoughts, or page upon page of character development, or setting the scene.

Child gets right to work. Not that he does not set the scene, not that he does not include backstory, or develop characters. He does that, the way development should occur, through character action and dialogue. Jack Reacher, the former Army MP Major, unfolds as a character through actions and dialogue, not by thinking his way through the book.

Here is what I mean. I recently read, The Keep, by another favorite author of mine, F Paul Wilson. The book is over 300 pages long but if you only considered dialogue, that would reduce the page count by 80%, at least. Lots of lots of backstory, the main characters "think" about everything, only releasing snippets of information when engaged with other characters. I can tolerate that, as The Keep is part of a series of books that share a common theme, but I really do not care for that too much.

Child develops Jack Reacher in his books by having Jack do stuff, and talk to people, and people act and react around him. In that way, we learn what Jack is like.

Child's plots are, well, not child-like. As I read, I envision that he has an elaborate board of plot details, Post-it notes of timelines, people, events; almost as if he, the author, is trying to solve the case just ahead of Reacher. The amount of detail, conversations, plot complications, and action excellent.

Ok, so what is the novel about?

Jack finds himself swiftly pulled from his MP duty station in Panama to a desk jockey job at an Army Base in North Carolina for no particular reason. His confusion is replaced by irritation, as literally days after his arrival, a 2-Star general is found dead in a cheap motel. Within hours, the general's wife is found bludgeoned in their off-base home. Being the military equivalent of the Homicide Squad, Reacher and his aide scour U.S. and European military bases for clues to the deaths, finding conspiracies and cover-ups, hostile Delta Force members, and little help along the way. 

But, Reacher is not subtle and suffers not the person that stands in the way of the truth and justice, justice which he is not completely uncomfortable in meting out.

Looking for a great, action series that is not mind-numbing, and far-fetched, a la Cussler? Read some Jack Reacher/Lee Child books.

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