noVack

The sheer extent of the creative process

Revisado: 02-07-24

If only there was a bit of timeline in one place laying it all out

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Unsparing & magnificent

Revisado: 02-08-22

There are several stretches within this audiobook where you’ll find yourself rewinding again again. You’ll just be struck by the dogged stare into the heart of things presented. You’ll also find yourself reaching for your own copies of his works … to orient yourself.

Because some highbrow (and, maybe, well intentioned) reviewers have opined that the voice of Bailey the author is far too aligned with his subject, let’s address that at once: So what? This is an authorized biography and surely Bailey intends to channel Roth. (and interlope Zuckerman) He succeeds in tracing the interconnection between Roth’s lows and highs, his real grudges, treachery from those whom he trusted, fictionalization of experience in his writings and his experimentation with the limitations of the novel form. And oh how Roth blurred those boundaries and, what is more, how others (critics, lovers, rivals) distorted his writings to suit their own conceits. It’s all in there…. This book is a fitting biography of the man, in part, because Bailey lowers his own voice at times so we can hear his subject's voice clearer; yet Bailey offers many subtle wags of his finger.

I adored the narration. (You’ll have to listen to the book to get the joke) Guidall's voice connected with Roth’s Weeqauhic heritage and made listening to this long book feel like hearing the voices of a community that’s now largely deceased; like recordings of family high gossip at a reunion. The tone is very suitable.

The final section is very Roth. You feel the unfolding decline as parts of his network of loved ones pass away. The explanation of Roth's decision to bequeath his collection of books to the Newark Public Library demonstrates his defiance and is very moving, like so much of his life. There’s an inevitability about his light dimming and going out but the telling is measured and unflinching.

If you loved his books this audiobook will make you laugh but it will also make you question Roth. And it will reawaken your grief at our loss of his great heart.

Thank you Mr Bailey for delivering him to us once more in this form. I will also purchase the physical book. It needs to sit on the shelf alongside the 31.

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How did Boeing get away with….!?

Revisado: 01-04-22

That question is frustratingly not addressed head on. One almost needs a counterpart book explaining the FAA itself. Despite that, for anyone who is not an airline industry insider or watcher, this book is a gut punch. This book is similar to revelatory books on Enron or Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. In real time, as the airplane was becoming unsafe, experts who realized that there was a deepening conflict between commercial motives and airworthiness, could find no legit desk to get the MCAS software stopped. And the FAA remains, essentially, the compliance division of Boeing despite the loss of lives and the industry losses. And of all the people in the world, grateful for the pandemic, one has to count the management at Boeing among them…because it’s taken the scrutiny off of the Max.

Has the FAA learned? No. Has Boeing? Yes. They’ll be far more effective in covering up the root causes of the next crash because there’ll be nobody around from the Max mess to put up any resistance.

You can be certain that Boeing has read this book and will be ready. Good luck to the victims of the next disaster.

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Man, we sure could use an LBJ around here

Revisado: 07-13-20

This is a substantial telling of the life and times of the man. The multiple perspectives of the oral biography style works well in this audiobook format. It has the authoritativeness of many first hand accounts of LBJ all flowing along like an extended conversation. You come away feeling as if you'd just missed meeting the man. As if he was just here a few minutes ago. This oral biography really does make it quite clear that LBJ's legacy was so much more than the Vietnam debacle. (Did you know he almost concluded the peace agreement?) It is hard to understate the breadth of his accomplishments in such turbulent times. His genius for bipartisanship and fostering relationships with rivals, even enemies, sounds strange, even unrealistic. And yet, it was during this very time that the pendulum had begun to swing to the right in electoral politics. Without the burden of the war in Vietnam, what would the Great Society have become....?

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Because of Talking to Strangers (by Gladwell)

Revisado: 02-29-20

I decided to listen to Amanda in her own words in her own voice. (Full disclosure: I barely knew her plight & didn’t follow the media circus. And somehow, I still judged her.)
This is a brave & frank account of her nightmare. In retelling it there are moments when, despite her even tone, her frustration & anguish come through. This miscarriage of justice that befell her could’ve, & indeed does, happen all around the world: we see what we want to see & our prejudices often obscure what’s at risk. Amanda is very lucky. How many are rotting in jail because our policing & our courts have not caught up with the research, the science or the learning ... it’s NOT the Italian justice system only. The antiquated adversarial mode in which truth is a contest for the court’s favour and this often gets things dangerously wrong.
Listen to this if you want an impactful account of what it means to be misunderstood, especially without safeguards.

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Rome was yea BIG

Revisado: 11-04-19

Fagan, as other reviewers have pointed out, seemed frustrated by the format of this Great Course. One does not envy him. It is an enormous task to compress a survey of Rome into 23 hours. What else could he do but generalize, be selective and illustrative? The course is NOT called "a comprehensive survey of Rome" ... And yet, it is still amazing. One has got to appreciate the implications and what is left unstated. Exercise one's own mind so to speak. This course is a framework for understanding what we have inherited from Rome. I don't know if the Tribunes are less fascinating then the Emperors or the historical process itself.

What one wants now is to ply Fagan with endless questions over a vast supply of wine and beer. He makes it quite clear that this course is only scratching the surface on a very intricate and enthralling world.

I'm not sure which he did better: Present us with riveting and humanizing depictions of Roman public life OR instill in us a deep contradictory feeling of admiration and revulsion of the highs and lows of the wider historical drama.

Even within the limitations of this format, the passion and the intellect of Fagan help shine a bright light on a subject that is just titanic. Bravo sir!

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We have been conned by carbs and the food industry

Revisado: 09-03-19

Read this book if you want to understand the breadth and depth our our predicament. Read this book if you want a reasonable chance to change how you should eat and understand why. Its the WHY that makes this book so very astounding. We get fat because carbs make us fat. But the implications will make you angry. We've been fed a lot of rubbish about fat (the nutrient) and how we get fat (the physiological condition) without understanding the processes by which our bodies use, store and convert energy. And carbs are everywhere in every processed food. We have been told and sold and fed for YEARS that fats are bad carbs are good. The FDA has a LOT to answer for...! BUT so do we. The reality is, public policy does not feed you, you do. But public policy informs choice and it has been based on weak or nonexistent research. The fact is we can live better healthier lives if we stripped carbs wholly out of our diet. Do it if you want to live.

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An unprecedented survey & no reasonable doubt

Revisado: 09-02-19

This is a formidable case. Taubes makes it very clear that we are in serious trouble. We have underestimated the span & the depth of our medical predicament. And we’ve trusted the worst nutrient in the worst way possible. EVERYONE who wants a frank & serious explanation of the case against sugar ought read this book.
Yet Taubes is not a zealot- he repeatedly says what we do not know and carefully explains why the matter contains uncertainty... but if this were any other substance except sugar, we’d demand that the sugar industry be dismantled.
I was by turns dismayed about our failure to act, disappointed by the part public authorities have played in this mess & disheartened by the persistence of wrong or outmoded knowledge about nutrition & health. Taubes convinced & frightened me. I think sugar is probably guilty as charged.

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Man: Will we or won’t we...

Revisado: 01-14-18

We will become victims of our own success. Or will we? This is a broad survey & it would be a cheap shot to accuse Harari of dystopian depression. His contention is that just as we’ve created a United polity, the vast majority of us are now at a distinct disadvantage as the existential battle turns away from disease hunger & war towards bliss immortality & expanded consciousness.
It’s painful to read his determination about humanism & capitalism but the upshot remains that if he’s even half right, most of us have already bet on the wrong future for our descendants.
Read this book if you want to consider what the year 2150 will NOT have in common with 2020 but be prepared to be annoyed by Harari’s unsympathetic eye.

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Brave & profound

Revisado: 11-12-17

Ferguson has shanked the received wisdom about The Great War. He finds it our greatest mistake. This is an astonishing claim. Moreover, it takes considerable intellectual courage to face up to the possibility that the entirety of thinking on WW1 is vastly skewed by the outcome of subsequent western history, especially what then goes on to happen in WW2 and Europe for the 100 years hence.

Do not say that Ferguson is not entirely convincing - he is not trying to be. He is proposing a reconsideration & in the light of the weight of what he lays out, we have to uncurl our grip on the proportion of blame to be borne. And what he lays out is not straightforward. Yet this is part of the satisfaction of the case; the survey contrasts with quick pc assessments.

Of course WW1 remains a horror unlike anything & Ferguson’s work etches fresh pain into it. This is because the frailty of the economic & financial situation in Europe he reveals shows how very fraught the society really was. He unmasks the personal responsibilities of key figures (who’d often published memoirs absolving themselves because they were overwhelmed by larger historical forces....uh huh)

We’ve become accustomed to the cant about necessary war. Ferguson goes a long way towards proving that excesses of righteousness, chilling indecisiveness & imbibing our own propaganda contributed to a decision to enter the war & afterwards with the benefit of the outcome known, casting these decisions as if they were entirely coherent, buttressed by complete information & a clear reading of the future. All false & off to war the world went.
Ferguson should be applauded for this courageous work repudiating the why of WW1.

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