The Terminal Man (9)

The Terminal Man (9) Michael Crichton Read Oct 14, 2020 I read this book back in High School after reading an excerpt in my Psy textbook. It is the story of a man who has blackout where he turns violent. It all happened after a car accident where he incurred brain damage. The doctors will insert electrodes into his brain to stimulate it and stop the violent attacks. Much as a pace maker stimulates the heart. Of course it goes wrong and action ensues. Still an interest book, written in 1972 still very readable. Crichton has written many book probably most notable is Jurasic Park. I have read a number of his books and do enjoy them. The end notes say he went to Harvard and Harvard Medical... didnt know that...

Tony Mandrich (8)

Ty Cobb My Life In Baseball (7)

Ty Cobb My Life in Baseball (6) With Al Stump Read 9/21/2020 Ty Cobb one of the greatest baseball players ever, and one of the best Tigers ever. Much malined and till controiversal 100 years later. The sub title to the book is The True Record. Written in 1960 about a year before he died this was Cobb's attempt to refubut all his critics and have the last word on seemingly every disagreement he ever had. It was exactly what I expected. He was still very bitter after all those years. First thing that surprised me was they he was born into a highly respected and educated family. His father, a US Senator was disapointed he didnt study law, and instead played ball. Over all the book was a bit tedious with lots of very specific information about games, people etc. If you were a baseball fanatic I am sure this is gold. He talks glowingly about teammates and opponents alike. He lived and breathed baseball, and has some intersting stories about some of the greatest players of the game. The one thing that stuck me was he talking about how great a pitcher Cy Young was and how he had trouble hitting him... We forget he was an ACTUAL pitcher, one of the best, and not just an award at the end of the season. He didnt have anything good to say about the modern (1960's) game, thought the players were soft and did not like the long ball. While bitter a lot of what he said still rings true. The coddling of pitchers, and players in general... the length of the games... the moving around of players that breaks the traditional rivalaries and appeal of the teams, and the leagues. I am sure he would be discusted at the present game... but so are some of the fans, myself included. In closing I think he was a complex man. One of great skill that attracted people that wanted to tear him down. I dont think he was a saint but I also dont believe all the wild rumors you hear about him either. Those rumors were there when he played too, and I think he kept quiet or promoted them as an imtimataion factor against his opponenets.

Maya Civilization

Maya Civilization (5) By Capitvating Histroy Read Sept 6, 2020 Interesting book discussing the major phases of the Mayan civilization, their customs, rituals, writing, beliefs etc. Includes some pics and maps, and a nice retelling of the Mayan creation story. Read this on my tablet via Kindle, trying to read more on my tablet as I am trying to get rid of some of my stuff... and a lot of my stuff are books.

We (4)

We Yevgeny Zamyatin translation by Natasha Randall Read Sept 2020 This book was written in Russia in 1918 and considered to dangerous to publish there (it was finally published there in 1988). It is a dystopian view of the world in the distant future when people live by logic and everyting is preplaned for happiness and efficiency. Our hero becomes infatuated with another woman who is trying to start a revolution which he unwittingly becomes part of. This book is said to have been read by Orwell and Huxley before they wrote their dystopican classics. And I can see similarites in the love story and retraining from 1984, and the structure of the world from Brave New World Over all I had trouble following the story... I really didnt get it lol. But I can now say I have read it.

I'll see you again Lady Liberty (3)

I'll See You Again Lady Liberty Ernst W Floeter Read Aug 2020 Story of a young man growing up in NW Germany when Hitler came to power. He turns 18 in 1945 and is drafted in the Army, by a set of concoindence and luck he gets transfered several times before his old unit takes heavy losses. He is caputred as an American POW shortly after D day in France. They are sent to the US and move through several different place. He spends most of his time in Texas and New Mexico during farm work. After the war he is sent home to destroyed Germany. Within 10 years he is given the opportuity to move to the US and he and is wife and small child move here where he starts a new life working largely in photography. A really interesting look a life in German prior to WW2 and how not everybody was caught up with Hitler's movement. Ernst had always like the US he had learned from movies and books and was thrilled to be able cross the country by train as a POW en route to he new camp. He settles in a small town near Lansing MI, where I live. There is a German supper club there which I was a member of for a while and I recall Ernst there, I didnt really know him, but I recall him taking a picture of me and my young daughter at a Xmas party.

The Freemasons (2)

The Freemasons (2) Jeromy Harwood Read Aug 2020 I have been cleaning out some of my books and ran across this book which I dont remember getting. Read it after the Detroit Temple book. It starts off ok, the author had some familiarity with the Masonic ritual, the first few chapers where interesting looking at some of the symbolism of Masons. It kind of gets off track after that, he goes into great deal about the arcituture and geometry and he was way off, some of it is intersesting but not that important in the ritual... I feel at some point he is just trying to fill pages.

Detroit's Masonic Temple (1)

Detroit's Masonic Temple Alex Lundberg & Greg Kowalski Read July 2020 This is largely a picture book of the Detroit Temple, the largest in the world. Has a lot of interesting history on the construction and detail of the building. Unfortunately the book is all in black and white so it fails to capture some of the glory of the building. As a Mason I have toured the Detroit temple and it is a masterpiece!