Bill Masom's 2011 non-fiction books

So far this year, I have read the following non-fiction books.

North to the Pole by Will Steger 2-11-11
A first-person account of the 1986 dog-sled expedition to the North Pole, the first to reach the North Pole without resupply since Robert E. Peary in 1909. Good if your into that sort of thing.

CompTIA Network + All In One Certification, Fourth Edition by Mike Meyers 2-17-11
Told you I was an IT guy

A Soldier's Story by Omar Nelson Bradley 2-28-11
I was a little disappointed with this book. I wanted an autobiography, which this is, but only during the WWII time period. I also thought it lacked in the writting. But it was a great account of the why of WWII.

Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman by millermerle::Merle Miller 4-7-11
This was my 2nd Truman book. And yes, before I read it, I was aware that Miller may have taken "liberties" in writting it. Basically read it to get it off my TBR pile where it had been sitting for years.

Arctic passage: The turbulent history of the land and people of the Bering Sea, 1697-1975 by huntwilliamr::William R. Hunt 4-25-11
An attempt to write a history of the Bering sea. While interesting, it did drag a bit, and seemed to lack flow.

The Snow People by herbertmarie::Marie Herbert 4-28-11
A British couple with their baby daughter live with the Inuit's in Greenland for a little over a year. It is a good look at the Inuit culture, through the lens of a Westerner. I liked it.

Currently reading American Caesar, Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964 by William Raymond Manchester. Will be a while on that one.

Bill Masom

Over on the intro thread, you mentioned enjoying books on exploration. That's a favorite subject of mine as well. It'll be fun to exchange notes.

The Snow People looks interesting -- I like books about exploration, but especially like books about encounters between different cultural perspectives / assumptions. (FYI, your touchstone grabbed the wrong book.)

drneutron,

Do you have any particular area of exploration your most interested in? In general, I like it all, but especialy enjoy the ones I mentioned in my intro post. I feel I was born 120 years too late. I would have loved to have been an explorer, traveling to uncharted places, and seeing things for the first time.

qebo,

If encounters between different cultures is an interest, then I think you will truly enjoy The Snow People. I read it more for the Arctic angle, but it was a fascinating look at a different culture. What I admired most about it, is she never looked down her nose at the people she lived among. While not always approving of their culture, she never comes across as the superior one. Very well written, and again, a look at a people and culture not many will ever get to see, and probably is all but extinct.

All

I forgot to publish a link to my listology page. I have a page of all the books I have read since about the middle of 2004. There are 287 of them on there now, and with out counting, I would say about 2/3rds are non-fiction.

Link to books I have read o Listology.
http://listology.com/bmasom/list/books-i-have-read

Link to my listology page, with all my book lists.
http://listology.com/user/109027/content

Feel free to peruse the list, and comment on any of the books I have read.

I started the listology page long before I found LT, and I still keep it going as it is the best way I have found to just keep a list. I use both Listology and LT as I like the ease of just making a list with Listology, and all the great features of LT. I would hate to only have to use just one.

Bill Masom

4: Well I should hope not, considering she'd gone to their home.
I hadn't been aware of Listology. Clicked the Random button several times. Eclectic, but I prefer the loose conversation of LT. I'm hoping though that LT eventually develops a list feature.

#4 -

I'm finding myself interested in Arctic/Antarctic exploration in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Arctic Grail was the latest I've read on the subject. I've put Arctic Passage and Snow People on my list.

I also got interested in The Lost City of Z and River of Doubt on Amazonian exploration. So I guess the real interest is in why these people do what they do!

Fascinating! This nonfiction book group is the best, well, next to some other LT groups I like. Nevertheless, The Snow People is on my wish list now. (dang touchstone is not correct!). I loved River of Doubt and join drneutron in wonderting why these people do what they do when they go where they go....

I enjoyed The Lost City of Z too. And, on the polar theme (even if it's the wrong one!), Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. Incredible, indeed.

Finished American Caesar, Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964 by William Raymond Manchester (6-19-11)

My attempt at a review.

This was a very fascinating book, very detailed, and very well researched. Only about the last 6 paragraphs of the book did not have end notes associated with them.

MacArthur was, as a Japanese statesman said to John Gunther in 1950, “Not a simple man”. And this book could not have been a simple book to write. Neither completely sympathetic to the General, nor a trashing of the General, I felt this book took a very good “middle-of-the-road” approach to the subject. Manchester treads a fine line in praising the General when it is richly deserved, and knocking him justly when that to is deserved.

It feels like Manchester truly tried to understand a man that is very hard to understand. And what a man to try and understand! Perhaps one of the most brilliant strategic offensive Generals in the history of the United States (if not the world), but it could be argued, he wasn't too good at defensive fighting. The inexcusable lack of judgment leading up the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, for example, is outweighed by the brilliancy of the strategic fight he lead in the Pacific after that. And by all arguments, the amphibious landing at Inchon was a master stroke of military leadership.

Where I think he will (and should) go down in history as a great leader is by the people of the Philippines, and Japan. His proconsul-ship of the defeated Japan, the very same Japan he defeated on the battlefield, is what will always cement his reputation, both there, and here at home.

The book spent almost a full chapter on the public fight between the General and Truman. And pretty much lays the blame for it in both corners. Both men made drastic mistakes, both men did the right things, in the wrong manner, and neither man would surrender. It is my opinion, after having read several Truman biographies, and now this book, that neither man could get through to the other. Neither made an effort to see things from the others point of view, and both were pig-headed enough to never back down.

All and all, a very good book, well written, and enjoyable to read.

On a side note: In this book, Manchester debunks Merle Miller's claims in “Plain Speaking” that MacArthur slighted Truman at Wake Island. The only documented source of this slight is Miller himself, all other sources do not concur with that. Ref page 588 of Manchester's book for that discussion.

Bill Masom

I enjoyed reading your take on this classic piece of Am. history. Thanks.

Just finished Woman in the Mists by Farley Mowat

Another attempt at a review:

I read "Gorillas in the Mist" back in 2004, and liked it. But that was the story of the gorillas. This is the story of Dian Fossey. Of course, a lot of Fossey's life is intertwined with that of the gorillas, this book spends very little ink on their lives. Which is as it should be.

A reviewer for the New York Times Book Review said, "A rare gripping look at a heroic, flawed woman". And this book definitely is that. Fossey was heroic, and very flawed. Mowat is very sympathetic to Fossey, while still showing Fossey's warts.

Probably the most enlightening part of the book was the fight between Fossey's Digit Fund, and the Mountain Gorilla Fund, and how donors thought they were helping Fossey, only to find out that the money was actually going to an organization that did very little (some would say nothing) to help her or her organization.

Only negative thing to say about this book is that I personally do not like seeing people embarrassed. And there are times Fossey would be truly embarrassed by this book. Never mean spirited, but none the less, Mowat does not spare Fossey embarrassment. All in all, Mowat tells the tale. He isn't trying to embarrass her, but he lets her embarrass herself. Which is probably as it should be in a biography, but I just don't enjoy that.

Written in 1987, it makes me want to know more about what has happened to Karisoke in the aftermath of Fossey's death. What is the status of the park? What is the gorilla situation? Are things better, or have they gone to hell in a hand basket?

Good read if you are looking for something like this.

Bill Masom

Bill,
In case it's helpful, just fyi it's possible to create lists on LT posts using some html tags.

If you use *less than sign* ol *greater than sign* you can create an ordered (numbered) list. Then for each numbered list item you want, type *less than sign* li *greater than sign*. To complete the list and stop numbering things, type *less than sign* /ol *greater than sign*.

Use the symbols rather than what I typed out here. -- If used the actual symbols, it would make a list like this:

1. This is the first item in my list.
   
2. HTML Dog is a book about HTML that I haven't read.
   
3. Lists are fun!
   

If you don't want the numbers, you can use the unordered (bullet points) list tag: *less than sign* ul *greater than sign* to start the bullet point list and *less than sign* /ul *greater than sign* to finish it, with the *less than sign* li *greater than sign* tags for each bullet point you want in between.

• This is my first bullet point.
  
• Point number two.
  

Happy listing!

Latest books read:

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America by Timothy Egan (7-8-11)

My review:

I am of several minds about this book. I grew up in Missoula, Mt, headquarters of Forest Service Region One. The National Forests in this book are all known to me, I grew up in them. I wanted to be a smoke jumper in my late teens, but my mother would not sign the papers, so I never did get to do it.

On the one hand, I do not disagree with the creation of the National Forests. I feel that they were a solution to a problem that needed to be done. It has created something for the "future", and I can appreciate that.

I guess my biggest critic isn't with the period of history covered in the book, it is with what has happened afterward. And I don't know who rightly to blame for it. Growing up in Montana in the 70's & 80's, I saw the National Forests being mismanaged. I think the "powers to be" mean well, and I am not entirely certain all the blame lies with them, though I think some of it does. I know that "Conservation Activist", what we grew up calling "Tree-Huggers" bare a large part of the blame as well.

You cannot "preserve" something for the future without maintaining it. Any historical site, building, or artifact, needs proper care and maintenance. Leaving something alone, even with good intentions, is to have it decay and become blighted, crumbling, and eventually, worthless to anyone. And that is what I feel has happened to the National Forests, at least in my old "neck of the woods". There has not been proper husbandman-ship of the forests, in the interest of "preservation", i.e. wilderness. And the dichotomy of letting the forests be wild and unspoiled, verses fighting every fire that started is mind boggling. Even back then, foresters knew that fire is an essential part of a healthy forest, but by taming the fires, they were harming the very thing they were trying to save. And then in modern times, when foresters want to do selective harvesting of the forest, or to clear undergrowth and sick trees, to promote new growth and healthier forests, as well as lower the fire danger, they get sued.

I have seen activist conservationist do way more harm than good, when it comes to the National Forests. Using the courts to stop practical policies and prudent procedures from being implemented, making the forest a privileged domain of the elites, and not the play ground of the common man. They want to forests for themselves, and want to keep the unwashed masses out of them, all in the name of preservation.

Off my soap box now. This book is a very interesting read. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about the creation of the National Forests, or about a really fascinating period of time from a place I call home.

Man in the Shadows by Efraim Halevy (8-4-11)

My review:

If you are expecting a Tom Clancy type cloak and dagger thriller, this is not the book for you. There is very little of that in this book. It is mostly about the policies and descisions of the Israeli government, during the past 40 years. There is some very good insight to the "Middle East problem", from the Israeli veiw point, from a man that was in the middle of it at a high level for many years.

Started Henry Adams and the making of America by Garry Wills

Bill Masom

Bill, my father was born in Kellogg shortly after this big fire and so The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America was very interesting to me, also, for that personal connection. And I also recommend it because I found it to be a good history, a topic which often is boring to some readers and for which I think this book can be an anecdote, not boring at all!

13: The Big Burn is already on my wishlist, though I don't know when I'll get around to it. Your perspective on preservation is useful. Thanks.

I have read the Henry Adams histories of the Jefferson and Madison administrations. I thought they were excellent. He uses a lot of contemporary sources. I have the Garry Wills book but I never could get through it. I will be interested to see how you like it.