Another new reader joined us this month, Shayne from Kansas City! Interesting life story — he was trained in PsyOps [Psychological Operations] at Ft. Bragg (KY) and has spent considerable time overseas. He’s also had a separate career in IT, also working for the government. Took the DOGE buyout and is starting to think a bit about going back to work.
Pre-book discussion focused on casinos and Las Vegas. Two members have actually been to Monte Carlo! Post-books we talked about the upcoming AI house-of-cards collapse.
All in all, seven readers joined us for the October Book Lovers SIG, matching last month’s attendance.
Our core group of regulars rounded out the group:Â Michael, Jim, Peggy, Beth and Linda.
Speaking of Beth, she finished her 100th book. Nicely done!
In all, 35 books were read/discussed/reviewed. The full list can be found here:
https://mamensa.org/category/book-lovers-sig-book-talks/
Book Lovers SIG always meets the second Sunday of each month; in this case November 9. We meet online using Zoom, so it is easy to join in.
Folks generally start checking in around 2 p.m. for a bit of socialization.  Book discussions begin around 2:30 p.m., more or less, or when Peggy says, “OK, Let’s talk about books!â€
To join us on Zoom, simply click on the link shown below:
https://tinyurl.com/BookLoversSIG
You can also open your Zoom app and use these parameters:
Meeting ID: 946 0436 4344
Passcode: 844358
*****
Linda
Boomerang, by Michael Lewis. About the financial meltdown of 2002-2008 and how several different countries handled it.  ***
Culpability, by Bruce Holsinger. A fatal car accident results in questions about who is at fault. Following that, a family vacation at the beach intersects with a wealthy tech mogul and more catastrophes ensue, with more questions of fault. ****
In Any Lifetime, by Marc Guggenheim. A scientist traverses multiple universes trying to find his dead wife. The universe fights back. ****
The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai. In Chicago’s gay community in the mid-80s AIDS crisis, a gallery works on acquiring an important collection from an aging woman. And in 2015 a woman travels to Paris to track down her missing adult daughter. Character overlap between the two plot lines. Likeable characters. ***
A Slowly Dying Cause, by Elizabeth George. The latest Lynley/Havers mystery. Involving a murdered man and his heirs, as well as Lynley’s Cornwall family. Not enough Lynley/Havers and too much of the other characters, most of whom are not admirable. ****
Apostle’s Cove, by William Kent Krueger. Cork O’Connor is recruited to revisit a 25-year-old murder where he may have allowed the wrong man to go to prison. ****
The Fifth Risk, by Michael Lewis. A review of what some of our government agencies do, and how the FIRST Trump administration hampered them. Some fascinating people profiled. And this was published before the SECOND Trump disaster. ****
NIghtshade, by Michael Connelly. First in a new series about Detective Stilwell of Catalina Island. ****
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach. All you ever wanted to know about dead bodies: Their use in forensic science, autopsies, medical education, funeral practices, and many other topics. Fascinating, as long as you’re not squeamish. ****
When We Had Wings, by Ariel Lawhon, Kristina McMorris, and Susan Meissner. I almost gave up on this because I thought the writing style was amateurish, but continued because of the subject matter: Nurses serving in the Philippines in WWII, who ended up being POWs (the first and possibly only American women). The style got better later on, possibly because the book was written by multiple people. Although this was fiction, and somewhat chick-lit, I learned a lot about WWII era Philippines. It also extended my previous knowledge of the barbarism of Japanese forces toward POWs and even civilian non-combatants. ***
Michael
A Haunting on the Hill, by Elizabeth Hand. A return to the horror of Shirley Jackson’s Hill House. Another spooky sentient house story.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies, Heather Fawcett. Not, as the title suggests, a YA or Chick Lit book, but more than that. Just as sci-fi books can be judged as good or bad only after accepting that the futuristic science described in them is real, so to, this book can be judged as good or bad only after accepting that fairies are real. Once you have accepted that, it’s a well-written story of a couple of Cambridge academics researching a final type of fairy to be included in an Encyclopaedia of Fairies to be unveiled at an upcoming conference. The different types of fairies and their preferred relationships with humans are described as well as which specific types are dangerous and should be avoided. The love story is predictable, but there are enough unseen twists and turns in the story to keep it interesting.
Also, don’t forget, as J.M. Barrie warns us in his book Peter Pan, every time a child says, “I don’t believe in fairies!†one of them dies!
The Dancing Wu Li Masters, by Gary Zukov. A more-or-less successful attempt to define and explain quantum mechanics to the layperson without using scientific jargon or mathematics. What I now know, having read the book, is that there’s nothing in the universe except energy wandering around in different forms in a big empty space and, if you look for it, it will move before you get there so you won’t ever find it.  I hope that helps.
The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience, by Francisco J. Varela. Published by MIT in 1991, this is a very lengthy and heavy academical treatise on the relationship between cognitive science and Buddhist meditative psychology in relationship to other traditions such as phenomenology and psychoanalysis.  Contemporary nihilism is discussed and compared with Buddhist no self and Zen positive emptiness concepts.  Conclusions recently reached in the study of quantum mechanics follow on neatly, I think, from the conclusions of this book.  A heavy read.
They Dreamed of Empires, by Elviro Enrigue. An alternate history of Cortes’s invasion of the then Aztec empire.  The Spaniards are babes in the woods wandering around wondering what’s going on and depending on unreliable translators who are keeping then unaware of Moctezuma’s actual plans, which include killing them all and stealing their horses.  Moctezuma’s empress sister/wife is an active participant in all this and the ending of the book is a surprise which I will not disclose here.
Heroes, by Stephen Fry. Following up on his terrific retelling of Greek myths in his book Mythos, comes this continuation covering the great human heroes of Greek mythology, including Perseus, Heracles (Hercules), Bellerophon, Orpheus, Jason, Atalanta, and Theseus.  The familiar stories are told in greater detail than you are probably familiar with.  I was continually surprised at how many places on or near Greece, like the Hellespont, retain names given in ancient times.  Fry has promised a third volume based on the Trojan War.
Shadow Ticket, by Thomas Pynchon. Just out!  The 88-year-old’s first new novel since 2013!
Peggy
Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival, by Stephen Greenblatt.  The author, a notable Stratfordian scholar, thought that Christopher Marlowe was a more interesting character than Shakespeare.  He was a cobbler’s son, went to grammar school and Cambridge on scholarship, spied for the crown, wrote plays on Tamburlaine and Dr. Faustus.  But a gay atheist is bound to get into trouble, which is why he died before 30.
The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown. Â Robert Langdon is in Prague this time and caught up with the CIA, near death experiences, epilepsy, and the afterlife. Not as good as DaVinci Code (I know, low bar) but read the first chapters and then skim 400 pages or so.
The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces, by Seth Harp. Unexplained deaths at Fort Bragg have been connected to drug trafficking in elite units, as well as dozens of fatal overdoses, domestic violence cases, etc.  Corrupt police, military cover-ups, American complicity in the Afghan heroin trade, and the consequences of continuous war make this a depressing read.
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler, by Susana M. Morris. Â A cultural biography of the best known black female science fiction writer. Â Butler died in 2006 at the age of 58. Â Kindred, her best-known novel, was filmed in 2022. Â It’s a story of slavery and time travel.
Shayne
I’m Starting to Worry about This Black Box of Doom, by Jason Pargin.  Pargin diverts from his usual fantasy-horror-humor genre to write a book set in the present. Sets a good mystery hook right off the bat with a character being approached by a stranger offering them $100,000 cash to drive them and a black box they can’t ask any questions about across the country and leave all their phones, smart watches, laptops, etc… behind and navigate with a map and pay cash for everything along the way. Great characters and world building and lots of conundrums that come from people of different eras and subcultures having issues understanding and trusting each other. I meant to read this over weeks and ended up absorbing it over days.
Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About it, by Cory Doctorow. Doctorow expands on his essay and themes of how Platforms and services have utilized large up front investments, regulatory capture, mergers, etc… to isolate them from market forces and allow them to become former shells of the vibrant communities they once were. Author loves to deep dive and footnote other works so the chain of how things like small changes standards and practices for technology end up creating monopolies.
Beth
The Cuckoo’s Calling, by Robert Galbraith. First book of the Cormoran Strike series. This is a great detective yarn about a reinvestigation of an apparent suicide. Lots of nasty characters set against the ongoing sexual tension of the main characters.
Paladin’s Strength and Paladin’s Hope, by T. Kingfisher.  Set in the world of multiple gods, real magic, shapeshifters, and berserkers: about the debauchery of greed and those who would fight back against it. Good character development and realistic world building.
SevenEves, by Neal Stephenson. The moon exploded into 7 pieces, and then 8 billion. This is a story about how humanity would reinvent itself when faced with extinction. Lots of hard sci-fi and orbital mechanics before we get to genetic engineering.
Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson. About the debut of cryptocurrency set against the backdrop of present day and WWII. A very prescient view, except he left out the criminals and psychopaths that would take over.
A House between Sea and Sky, by Beth Cato. This is a version of the Baba Yaga tales, only in depression era California and the movie industry. Actually a fun and interesting read about commitment and moral codes.
Jim
The Almagest, by Claudius Ptolemy. ISBN-1.3 978-888009-43-9
This is the classic, definitive source of the earth-centric theory of the universe that Ptolemy created in the first/second century CE.  This is what became the official position of the Catholic Church, and caused Galileo and Copernicus to be punished for claiming that the Sun was the center.  Here is defined the epicycles that the planets moved on.  This persisted until Johannes Kepler put the nail in the coffin on the earth-centric theory.
Special and General Relativity, by Albert Einstein. ISBN978-1-804-567-5
This is written for the non-physicist. He explains relativity in everyday terms, using his famous thought experiments. There are some math-centric appendices.  Very well written and explained!
Brad (56/21,632)
Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold on to What Matters, by Charan Ranganath.  Somewhat repetitive of the book on memory I reported on last month, except this author cites repeated examples from his own life, focusing on songs he heard growing up.  I found this distracting. There are better books on memory out there. ***
Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison. This is a story about three generations of a Black family, the chapters alternating through history, the different family members and the struggles they faced. No doubt Morrison is a good writer, but gradually lost interest after a while, and obviously I couldn’t relate to any of the characters. ****
Dark Horse (Orphan X #7), by Gregg Hurwitz. This time Orphan X is called on to assist a Mexican drug dealer, whose daughter has been kidnapped by a really bad Mexican drug dealer. This turns out to be a modern-day version of Romeo and Juliet, leaving Evan Smoak the almost impossible task of rescuing the daughter and her boyfriend, the son of the really bad drug dealer. Great writing and great character development, as always. *****
Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, by Julie Andrews Edwards. This is a follow-up to her first autobiography, Home, which was the story of her growing up in England through to her first appearances on Broadway. This book focuses on her man film roles since then. It is interesting, but also a bit boring. ***
Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Memoir & Autobiography (2019)
Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain’s Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War, by Ben Macintyre.  Origin story of how the SAS came about, led by men who didn’t really fit into the role of a proper British soldier. The British mentality at the start of WWII was the same as it always had been — march in straight lines and engage the enemy in battle along a well-defined front. The SAS changed all that, deploying small groups of soldiers behind enemy lines attacking airfields, fuel depots, ammunition dumps, basically creating havoc any way they could. Reminds me of the Rat Patrol (in Color!). ****
The Measure, by Nikki Erlick.  Simultaneously small boxes appear on the doorstep of every person in the world over the age of 22. Each box contains a string, which indicates the measure of your life. Neither the box or the string can be destroyed. Society fractures, with people segregated into categories, based upon the length of their string. Short stringers are considered possible terrorist threats, since they know their lives will be short and they have nothing to lose. Politicians exacerbate this fear, since that’s what politicians do.
I didn’t care for it; a bit heavy-handed. ***
Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Science Fiction (2022), Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Debut Novel (2022)
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History, by S.C. Gwynne.  Excellent history of the native Americans, primarily focusing on the Comanche and their various bands. What happened to the People is simply horrifying.
“They hated Indians with a particular passion, considering them something less than fully human, and thus blessed with inalienable rights to absolutely nothing.
“The greatest threat of all to their identity, and to the very idea of a nomadic hunter in North America, appeared on the plains in the late 1860s.  These were the buffalo men.  Between 1868 and 1881 they would kill thirty-one million buffalo, stripping the plains almost entirely of the huge, lumbering creatures
“A hunter named Tom Nixon once shot 120 animals in 40 minutes.  In 1873 he killed 3,200 in 35 days, making Cody’s once outlandish-sounding claim of killing 4,280 in 18 months seem paltry by comparison.
“Within two years these hunters, working mainly the Kansas plains close to Dodge City, had killed five million buffalo. Except for the tongues, which were salted and shipped as a delicacy, the carcasses were left to rot on the plains.  In Kansas alone, the bones of thirty-one million buffalo were sold for fertilizer between 1868 and 1881. Mostly people didn’t trouble themselves with the consequences.  It was simply capitalism working itself out, the exploitation of another natural resource.
“Killing the Indians’ food was not just an accident of commerce; it was a deliberate political act, destroying any last small hope that any horse tribe could ever be restored to its traditional life.  There was no such thing as a horse Indian without a buffalo herd.  Such an Indian had no identity at all.â€
Highly recommended. *****
