The History Book Club discussion

JANUARY
1. Poul Anderson
Finish date: January 2013
Genre: Science fiction
Grade: C
Review: This is the first of many volumes of the collected stories of Anderson's Polesotechnic League future history. The stories here are fun, but the writing is not that great. These are mostly from the days when SF paid almost nothing, and you had to write quickly. It shows. But if you can look past that, it's a fun read.

Great, Peter, double check the spelling of January and put in bold.

And don't forget the author's link, Peter.

2. Jon Meacham
Finish date: January, 2013
Genre: Biography
Grade: B
Review: Given the very strong reviews that this book got, I was somewhat disappointed. It is a good biography of Jefferson, but I don't feel it is a great one. It seemed a little disjointed and I didn't get an overall sense of Jefferson. I preferred
by Joseph J. Ellis.

3. Julian Havil(no photo)
Finish date: January 2013
Genre: Mathematics
Grade: B
Review: Irrational numbers are those that cannot be written as ratios (fractions). The first number proven to be irrational was the square root of 2, it was shown to be so by the Greeks. In this book, Julian Havil traces the history of the irrational numbers with all sorts of interesting associated numbers. The math level was a little high for me (I think it would be suited to someone who was a math major in college) and I think Havil could have explained things a bit more and made the book accessible to a much wider audience.

4. Ed Lin (no photo)
Finish date: January 23, 2013
Genre: Mystery
Rating: C
Review: This is a mystery/police procedural set in New York City's Chinatown in the 1970s. The "snakes" of the title are illegal Chinese immigrants. The protagonist, Robert Chow, is a policeman assigned to Chinatown. Initially, he is investigating two murders, but it becomes his self-imposed mission to stop "snakeheads" - the people who smuggle the immigrants into the USA and then abuse them.

There's some good atmosphere about Chinatown and its demographics, but the plot meanders a bit and the dialogue is rather wooden. All the characters sound alike, and none of them sound the way real people sound in conversation.

5. Robert Crais
Finish date: January 28, 2013
Genre: Thriller
Rating: B
Review: This is the latest paperback in the series featuring Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. This one has both of them in it. If you know that series, you will know what to expect, but this book stands alone. For those who don't know, Cole and Pike are both very tough detectives. They remind me a little of Spenser and Hawk from the Robert Parker series, in that Cole is the more "civilized" one.

This novel starts when a young woman (Krista) disappears and her mother hires Cole to find her. The mother thinks Krista has run off with her boyfriend, but the truth is far darker. They have been kidnapped by bajodores, who typically kidnap undocumented workers and extort money from their families.

The action picks up quickly and doesn't stop for much.

Note: There are scenes of torture in this book. They are not extraordinarily graphic, but they may be disturbing to some.

FEBRUARY
6. Rayburn: A BiographyD.B. Hardeman(no book cover or author photo).
Finish date: Feb 9, 2013.
Genre: Biography
Rating: B
Review: This is a good basic biography of Sam Rayburn, who was Speaker of the House for longer than anyone in history. Hardeman and his co-author, Donald C. Bacon, trace Rayburn from his roots in Texas to the House and up its leadership role. They do a good job of portraying the man and his role in history. Rayburn didn't fit easily into the liberal conservative continuum - he varied issue by issue, being conservative on civil rights, moderate on labor and liberal on many other issues.

The book is somewhat marred by an odd style that is hard to describe except by example; in particular, they use similar sentence constructions over and over in a way that is almost comical. The most common is (adjective)(adjective)(person's name or state he/she was from) - "The crusty Texan", "The affable, kindhearted Missourian".

It was good to read this book just after Robert A. Caro, since Rayburn was Johnson's mentor and backer.

7. Larry Niven
Finish date: Feb 10, 2013
Genre: Science fiction
Rating: B+
Review: I first read the classic SF novel Ringworld many years ago. It tells the story of two humans, a kzin and a puppeteer and their voyage to, and on, the Ringworld, a world shaped like a ring around a star.

I liked Niven's portrayal of the aliens and of Teela Brown, a very lucky human. It's a fun read.

8. How You Can Play Like an Expert, Without Having to Be One: Mel's 21st Century Rules and Other Guidelines for Winning at Your Level and AboveMel Colchamiro(no cover or photo)
Finish date: Feb 11, 2013
Genre: Bridge
Rating: B+
Review: This is a collection of short chapter on various of "Mel's rules" on how to be a better bridge player. It is pitched to intermediates (which I am). The tips are good, as far as I can tell, but this is a book to be read slowly and with your bridge partners.

Peter, I very much enjoyed The American Sphinx too. I think though that both have very different themes and outlooks. One is much more psychological while the other deals with the more concrete and analytical. You might just enjoy one thematic focus more than the other. Very different approaches in both books.

Joseph J. Ellis

9. Ian Rankin
Finish date: Feb 18, 2013
Genre: Crime
Rating: A-
Review: This is the latest in the series by Ian Rankin about John Rebus, a Scottish detective. Rebus drinks too much. He has bad relations with authority figures. He has troubled relations with others. But he's a very good detective. I have enjoyed this series and this is an excellent addition to it. Here, Rebus is investigating a set of crimes that all relate to child abuse and multiple murder. It's a dark book.

Peter, on message 10, just add a title link since it does not have a bookcover.

10. Andrew Solomon
Finish date: Feb 23, 2013
Genre: Psychology
Rating: A-
Review: This book is subtitled "Parents, children and the search for identity". The title comes from the idea that the "apple doesn't fall from the tree" - that is, that children are not that dissimilar to their parents. But the book is about children who do, indeed, fall far from the tree. Each chapter except the first and last is about a difference: Son, Deaf, Dwarfs, Down Syndrome, Autism, Schizophrenia, Disabilities, Prodigies, Rape, Crime, Transgender and Father.

This book will I am fairly sure, change the way you think about those "different people". It tails off in the last 10 pages or so, where the author gets rather too philosophical; other than that I would have given it an A

11. Roger Hobbs
Finish date: Feb 23, 2013
Genre: Crime fiction
Rating: A-
Review: The protagonist of this excellent first novel is a thief. The novel is about two very high level crimes, each of which takes months of planning by a team and each of which could net the participants millions of dollars. The title refers to the protagonist's specialty: He can disappear, not in some supernatural way, but by changing his appearance, mannerisms, voice and so on so as to become unrecognizable. Unusually for novels in this genre, the character is more interesting than the plot, although the plot is quite good as well (e.g., in his spare time, the protagonist translates the classics from Latin and Greek).

Hobbs is a recent college graduate; I hope he has a long writing career.

12. Mike Lawrence(no photo)
Finish date: Feb 23, 2013
Genre: Bridge
Rating: A-
Review: Another excellent book on bridge from Mike Lawrence. This is one of his earliest books, but still relevant. His goal here was to discuss issues that cause confusion for a lot of intermediate players. Most of the book is on bidding and some on defense. He did not include a section on play because he feels no play problems met his criteria.

MARCH
13.
John D. Fox(no photo)
Finish date: March 6, 2013
Genre: Statistics
Rating: A
If you know about regression but want to learn more, especially about how to do it in R, then you won't find a better book than this one

14. Alexander McCall Smith
Finish date: March 7, 2013
Genre: Humor
Rating: B+
Review: This is a very light short novel, the first in a series about Dr. Professor Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, professor of Romance Philology at Regensburg. He is vain, anxious, nervous, envious ... and very funny! Nothing profound here, but what's wrong with amusing?

15. Stefan Fatsis(no photo)
Finish date: March 12, 2013
Genre: Games
Rating: B
Review: A lot of people play Scrabble, at least occasionally. But the world of competitive Scrabble is something else again. The top players have memorized huge portions of the dictionary; they are stunningly good at anagrams and they have mastered the surprisingly deep strategy involved with Scrabble. In this book, Stefan Fatsis reports on how he got hooked on competitive Scrabble and on some of the people he met while doing so. He conveys the beauty of the game, but concentrates too much on the oddities of some of the top players, giving the impression that Scrabble is played by more strange people than it really is.

What a fun book, Peter. Our family played Scrabble all the time and my father was the champion of 7 letter words. I can't imagine how skilled these competitive players must be. I will be looking for this book. Thanks for the tip.

16. Larry Niven
Finish date: March 17, 2013
Genre: Science fiction
Rating: C
Review: This is the sequel to Ringworld but I found it much less satisfying and compelling.

17. John Lescroat (no cover or image)
Finish date: March 23, 2013
Genre: Thriller
Rating: A
Review: This is the latest in the author's Wyatt Hunt series. It begins when Hunt gets a text message: "How did your mother die?" Hunt has always known he was adopted at an early age by the Hunt family. In this novel, he learns about his biological parents. Because this is a Lescorat novel, this involves murders and cover ups and danger right down to the present day. This book iv violent but not especially graph (i.e. there's lots of death but the killings aren't described in detail). A page turner in the best tradition of page turners.

18. Larry Niven
Finish date: March 28, 2013
Genre: SF
Rating: B
Review: The pak are a species of featherless bipeds. They live life in three phases: Childhood, breeder and protector. Now, one of the protectors is coming to the solar system. This book tells what happens next.

19. David G. Hartwell
Finish date: March 29, 2013
Genre: SF
Rating: B
Review: This is a large anthology from 2003, consisting of the editor's choices for great stories from "Hard SF". As with any such anthology, opinions will vary. I agree with quite a lot of Hartwell's opinions and disagree with others. If you are a fan of hard SF, this is a worthy read.

APRIL
20. Gregory McDonald
Finish date: April 5, 2013
Genre: Mystery/Police
Rating: A
Review: This was a re-read.

Francis Xavier Flynn is an inspector in the Boston Police Department (he is the only one of that rank). At the start of this book, a plane explodes over Boston. Flynn is assigned as liaison to the FBI, but Flynn never takes such assignments seriously, instead, he goes about solving crimes in his own way. Here, he winds up investigating judges, boxers, the Human Surplus League and a delegation from the Republic of Ifad.

Fun, sardonic and wonderful.

Looks like an interesting thriller.

21. Gregory McDonald
Finish date: April 7, 2013
Genre: Mystery/police
Rating: A
Review: Another re-read in the same series. In this one, Inspector Francis Xavier Flynn needs to find out who is attacking Professor Louis Loveson (if anyone is, in fact, doing so). He also needs to find out who nailed his daughter's boyfriend's ear to a tree, and why.

Thinking about why I like these books, one thing that comes to mind is that each character has a distinct voice; I think this is a characteristic of good fiction.

22. David Toomey(no photo)
Finish date: April 7, 2013
Genre: Science
Rating: B+
Review: Life is weird. But this book isn't about how life for us humans is weird, it's about weird life, either on Earth or elsewhere. Until recently, scientists thought that life could only exist in places with liquid water and sunlight. It turns out that they were wrong - there is life inside some rocks; there is life near thermal vents (far above boiling point of water) and there are other places where extermophiles live. ("Extremophile" is the word for life that lives in extreme conditions). But Toomey also writes about life that might not be based on DNA or even on carbon. Weird.

Well written and very accessible, this is a fun and informative read.

23. Gregory McDonald
Finish date: April 12, 2013
Genre: Mystery/police
Rating: B
Review: This is another in the Flynn series. In this one, Flynn is called to the exclusive Rod and Gun Club to investigate a murder. Then there are more murders. The reason this one doesn't get an A is that the eccentricities of the members of the club seem overdone.

Peter, in message 27 you need to move the book cover currently at the end to before the author's picture. So it should look like message 29.

24. Thomas Perry
Date finished: April 16, 2013
Genre: Suspense
Rating: A
Review: The Butcher's Boy pits a hit man known only as "The Butcher's Boy" against the Department of Justice. It also involves the mafia, corporate corruption and a little bit of social justice. Thomas Perry tells the story in multiple voices, mostly those of the butcher's boy and Elizabeth Waring, a brilliant analyst who is acting as a field agent. Lots of twists and turns, including (somewhat unusually for this genre) major errors by Waring.

This is a somewhat old book (written in 1982) and another interesting aspect is tracing how society has changed. (With lines like "Where is your computer terminal?" and smoking sections on airplanes and so on).

Okay, so I'll bite. If your other ratings are on an A to F scale, what does an S mean?

Craig wrote: "Okay, so I'll bite. If your other ratings are on an A to F scale, what does an S mean?"

It means I made a typo. Now fixed

25. Alexander McCall Smith
Date Finished: April 18, 2013
Genre: Humor
Rating: B
Review: This is the second in the series of short novels about Prof. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, professor of romance philology at Regensberg. Igelfeld continues to have misadventures due to his pomposity, vanity and insecurity, but it all works out alright (more or less) in the end. Light and funny.

Peter, great progres. You are on a roll and a good mix of books. Keep it up!

26. Frederick Forsyth
Date finished: April 21, 2013
Genre: Suspense
Rating: A
Review: This is one of the very finest novels of its type I have read. Decades ago, when I first read it, it was the first book to keep me awake turning pages.

In the early 1960's a group of fanatic reactionaries in France, feeling betrayed by DeGaulle's decision to leave Algeria, form a group to kill him. They try, unsuccessfully, several times. Their organization is infiltrated by the French authorities and is losing support. That much is fact. In this novel, they decide to hire a professional assassin to kill DeGaulle. He is brilliant but he is up against the entire French authority and, in particular, against Claude Lebel, the police officer placed in charge of the operation.

This will keep you turning the pages even though you know DeGaulle was not assassinated (and, if you had forgotten, Forsyth tells you). Masterful. And, if you're much younger than me (I'm 53) you can learn what it was like to make a phone call in the old days.

PS I read this on my Kindle; this edition includes an amusing prologue by the author. I don't know which print editions include the prologue, but try to get one that does, for a couple laughs.

Great review, Peter. I'm putting this one on my list.

27. Daniel Walker Howe(no photo)
Date Finished: April 22, 2013
Genre: History
Rating: A
Review: This was a group read book on this list, so probably quite a few here have already read it. It's an excellent book. Howe combines the typical sort of overall history with a number of sidelines, all of which illustrate the profound changes that occurred in the USA over these decades.

Peter wrote: "26. Frederick Forsyth
Date finished: April 21, 2013
Genre: Suspense
Rating: A
Review: This is one of the very finest novels of..."

I also thought this book was terrific, Peter. As you say, even though we know that DeGaulle was not assassinated, it kept you reading late into the night. A pretty good British film was made in 1973 starring Edward Fox as the Jackel.....I have nothing to say about the re-make with Bruce Willis.

28. Gregory McDonald
Date finished: April 28, 2013
Genre: Mystery
Rating: B+
Review: Irwin Maurice Fletcher arrives in Boston, drops his bags in the apartment he will be using (arranged by a swap with a man who is using his place in Italy), goes out to dinner and comes home to find a beautiful naked woman in bed. The only problem is, she's dead.

Luckily for Fletch, the case is assigned to Francis Xavier (Reluctant) Flynn, who doesn't like to arrest people.

More twists than a corkscrew and a lot of fun to boot.

29. Thomas Perry
Date Finished: April 29, 2013
Genre: Mystery
Rating: B
Review: This is the sequel to Thomas Perry which you really should read first.

After the mayhem he caused amid the mafia families, the hit man known only as The Butcher's Boy is living in England with his girlfriend. Then, someone tries to kill him and he is lured back to the States. Further mayhem ensues, again involving Elizabeth Waring of the Justice Department as his main legitimate opponent.

One of the strength's of the earlier book was the protagonist's near-omniscience; here, though, he makes some mistakes. In addition, the plot is a little less relentless than the earlier book. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable read.

Warning: As you might expect in a book about a hit man and the mafia, there is a lot of violence.

MAY
30 Nataly Kelly
Date finished: May 7, 2013
Genre: Nonfiction
Rating: C
Review: This is an interesting collection of tidbits about translation, but it lacks an overall structure and the tidbits sort of run together after a while. It's also somewhat repetitive. Still, interesting.

31. Peter Lovesey
Date finished: May 12, 2013
Genre: Mystery
Rating: B-
Review: This is the first novel in the Peter Diamond series. Diamond is a police officer in Bath, England. Here, he is investigating a murder - first to determine who the victim was, then who the murderer was. There are plot twists aplenty and the book held my interest, but I didn't find Diamond an engaging character.

32. Amy S. Greenberg
Date finished: May 13, 2013
Genre: American history
Rating: A
Review: The author covers the history of the American invasion of Mexico by concentrating on five men: The three famous ones listed in the subtitle (Henry Clay, James Knox Polk and Abraham Lincoln) and two much less famous men: John Hardin and Nicholas Trist. She covers both the war itself and the reaction to it by Whigs and Democrats; its effects on the regional voting that had held for years until the war; the organized opposition to it and (a little) its role in creating the conditions for the Civil War.

Well written and fascinating.

Sounds good Peter.

33. Ian Stewart
Date finished: May 26, 2013
Genre: Math
Rating: B
Review: Ian Stewart is one of the best math popularizers around. In this book, he looks at 14 great mathematical problems, one to a chapter, along with introductory and concluding chapters. I found some chapters much more interesting than others.

In terms of level - it's tricky to say. You don't need much formal mathematical training to read most of this book - there's no calculus, for instance. But you need a lot of mathematical sense.

JUNE

34. John Scalzi
Date finished: June 7, 2013
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: B+
Review: This is a collection of "episodes" (the author's word) from the world started with , also by John Scalzi.

This book was a lot of fun; like much of SF, it (and the series) requires a few suspensions of disbelief, some of which are common to many SF books (e.g. that the universe will be full of aliens who are close enough to us, technologically, that war breaks out and isn't immediately won by one side; that faster than light travel is possible) and some unique to the series. But if you are willing to suspend your disbelief and go with it, there's a lot to enjoy here.

However, you should read at least one other book in the series before you read this, or you'll find it a bit confusing.

35. Steven Weinberg
Date finished: June 9, 2013
Genre: Essays/Science
Rating: B
Review: This is a collection of essays, most of them from early in this century, by the noted physicist Steven Weinberg. He's learned, opinionated and modest; he's also occasionally funny. He writes mostly about things related to science, but not science exactly; some of the essays are a little dated. In terms of politics and philosophy, Weinberg is a liberal, a Zionist and an atheist. People who don't share his views may be put off.

36. by Frederik Pohl
Date finished: June 12, 2013
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: A-
Review: This is a continuation of the series started with , also by Pohl. You should read the books in order. It's a lot of fun and Pohl does a wonderful job with the Heechee (an alien race), making them quite different from us, but also intelligent.

37. by Ace Atkins
Date finished: June 15, 2013
Genre: Mystery
Rating: B+
Review: Ace Atkins was chosen by Parker's estate to continue the Spenser series. In this latest novel in the series, Spenser's friend Henry Cimoli asks him a favor: He is being pushed out of his condo and he wants to stay. Given that this is a Spenser novel, it will surprise no one that Spenser's investigation leads to mayhem, the mafia and murders.

This novel also features Spenser's new sidekick: The Cree Indian Zebulon Sixkill; Atkins is aging Spenser, and I wouln't be surprised if there is eventually a series featuring Zebulon. The usual cast of characters makes their appearance here, with the exception of Hawk, who is out of town.