'When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433' by Louise Levathes

When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433, Louise Levathes (3.5)

This is a fascinating review of China’s seafaring culture in the early 1400’s. Written in a rather text-book manner, the author manages to review some of the preceding dynasties (given China’s long history, this is not easy to do without becoming very confusing) while spending most of her time on the 30 years or so a surprisingly outward reaching era. The most shocking fact may have been the size of the ships built (>400 ft long). A graphic shows many Mayflower type ships would have fit in one of the Treasure Fleet ships. In those 30 years one adventure seeking Emperor would send 300 ships to as far as East Africa with many of China’s treasures (silk, porcelain, etc.) to trade. Upon his death, his son reverted to the typical Confucian attitude of isolation and the potential world domination of China was halted. I’m surprised how little has been written about this era, this book seems to do a good job summarizing it.

 

Look Again: The Power of Noticing What was Always There', Tali Sharot and Cass Sunstein

Look Again: The Power of Noticing What was Always There, Tali Sharot and Cass Sunstein (3.5)

The first part of this book discussed how we habituate things in our life generally so that we have less distractions and can focus on important things. They talk about methods to dishabituate so that you can awaken when needed. I found the second half of the group more interesting as it discussed specific cases of where this coping mechanism plays a particular role. The authors discuss the Holocaust and how habituating relatively small behaviors of the Nazis led to the most horrible atrocities. They also explained that Schizophrenics cannot habituate so they are bombarded with sensory input all the time. Given some recent concerns about the step by step degradation of certain rights, this book offers an interesting perspective and encourages us all to be dishabituation entrepreneurs who call out inured behavior.

 

'James' by Percival Everett

James, Percival Everett (4.0)

This book is a retelling of ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ from the point of view of Jim, the slave who escaped down the river with Huck. Different viewpoints can be interesting, but here the author has successfully turned the story by 180 degrees. The title foreshadows the main character’s worldview difference – he is a well-spoken, self-educated ‘James’. He does his best to protect his family while playing the appropriately subservient slave. Once his wife and daughter are sold, he decides to escape, which seemed a bit odd as someone who appreciates the shadows, he then becomes a major target Overall, I appreciated the tone taken that the slaves had a whole culture hidden from others as a survival strategy. I only questioned it when in a time when the average person did not finish 8th grade, the self-educated James with severely limited access to books, pencil or paper, uses vocabulary that is indicative of a college education. 

'Creep: Accusations and Confessions' by Myriam Gurba

Creep: Accusations and Confessions, Myriam Gurba (3.5)

We have all met or are familiar with various ‘creeps’ in life. Ms. Gurba has had more than her fair share. Each chapter highlights a relatively terrible person (herself included) in her life. This book made me quite sad as it represented so many bad behaviors and attitudes in one place. While we should all face that reality, it was not easy to read.  One small consolation was that I was able to see Ms. Gurba in person discuss the book and while a serious subject, she does not seem to have been overly hardened by the events in her life. I would have liked to have seen a bit more editing to remove some repetition in the essays.

'One Soldier's War in Chechnya' by Arkady Babchenko

One Soldier’s War in Chechnya, Arkady Babchenko (2)

While the subject of this book is important, I found it very difficult to read. War told from a first-person perspective is always painful, but the writing (or translation) here was confusing such that I struggled to follow the narrative. At times I wasn’t sure where in the timeline we were. The barrage of beatings, starvation and lack of basic needs read worse than a prisoner-of-war tale. The author did mention that he merged some events and people, but overall it was unbelievable at times to think this was happeng. One take-away was that the Soviet army was horribly mis-managed from a military perspective. When beatings and starvations happen to soldiers from their own regiment, one can never imagine a winning scenario.

'The Personal Librarian' by Marie Benedict and Victoria Murray

 

The Personal Librarian, Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (3.5)

I believe I enjoyed this book more once I finished and realized that the main character existed, survived and even thrived. I now want to find out how and when her secrets were found out. What starts as a story of a young woman, without a college education who is hired to help manage JP Morgan’s collection of famous books. She eventually becomes much more as she goes to Europe and is successful at auctions representing him and obtaining rare books. Throughout her journey she is balancing this new life with a large secret. The authors did a good job in the beginning showing her struggle as the major breadwinner for her family with the new responsibilities and the worry of being discovered. I did feel the book was a little light on how she became so knowledgeable (more than dad’s encouragement) and I wanted to know more about the rare books.

'An Immense World' by Ed Yung

An Immense World, Ed Yong (4.0)

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. I’d say it was eye-opening, but that just underlines the hubris humans have with our favorite sense. It’s easy to forget that virtually every other creature on earth has stronger senses, most of them quite amazing. I enjoyed how in each chapter the author selected a sense (touch, sight, sound, magnetic sensitivity etc.) and illustrated how particular creatures utilized that sense to understand their surroundings. My issue with the second half was the length of examples. I felt it was not as concise with the descriptions and examples which led to information fatigue. As someone in the sciences, I realize if we do ever meet beings from elsewhere, we have very little chance of being able to communicate if we can’t even really understand how the majority of the creatures on earth sense and communicate!