Book notes: Rocketman: Astronaut Pete Conrad's Incredible Ride to the Moon and Beyond

The Paragraph Farmer (aka Patrick O'Hannigan) says he liked this book:


Rocketman: Astronaut Pete Conrad's Incredible Ride to the Moon and Beyond

Click on the book cover to go to Barnes & Noble. From that page:

FROM OUR EDITORS

Charles "Pete" Conrad (1930-99) seemed to be the last person destined to make history. The dyslexic son of debt-ridden parents, the Philadelphia-born future astronaut took odd jobs at an airfield before landing a Navy scholarship to Princeton, where he majored in aeronautical engineering. A born risk taker, he became one of the nation's elite test pilots, then joined the Mercury Space Program, only to drop out. Some people thought that he was too free-spirited or too short in stature to become an astronaut. Conrad proved them wrong. On his four Gemini flights, he spent nearly 1,200 hours in space, but he is best known as the commander of the second lunar landing in November 1969. His first words on the moon were not exactly tailored for history: "Whoopie!" he shouted, "That may have been one small step for Neil, but it's a long one for me!" In Rocketman, Conrad's widow joins with Space Cowboys screenplay writer Howard A. Klausner to capture the life and achievements of a high-flying hero.

A toast to enjoyable art and music

Just because I know some of you like to look at nice paintings and enjoy classical music, here's a post at Benning's Writing Pad about (drum roll, please) paintings by Daniel Ridgway Knight and music by Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Franz Liszt, and Georges Enesco (aka George Enescu), with a side mention of Moody Blues and the Beatles. :-)

And, no, right off the top of my head I don't think I know anything more about Enesco/Enescu than this post provides. That's one of the reasons I'm linking... Note to self: Find out more about Georges Enesco's music...

When war is between ways of thinking

Marc Schulman reprints "Separating Truth and Belief" by the French philosopher André Glucksmann, with his own emphasis. This goes hand in hand, I think, with the Dr. Sanity post I linked to the other day.

I don't endorse either post whole-heartedly (they are necessarily simplified to get the foundations of their arguments across quickly -- please keep that in mind), but I think they provide useful background and perspective, especially when read in tandem.

Just for laughs

Note: If you are offended by blonde jokes, you should probably stop reading right now to save yourself a bit of annoyance...

Two guys from City Hall were sent out to measure a flag pole. They got to the flag pole and stood there looking up at it. They traded off ideas on how to measure it, but, really, none of the ideas seemed to be workable.

A blonde walked up to them.

"Whatcha doing, fellas?" the blonde asked.

"Oh, we have to find out the height of this flag pole," one of the guys said.

"OK," the blonde said. She reached in her purse and took out a wrench. She loosened a couple of bolts at the base of the flag pole and then tipped it over until it was laying on the ground. She reached in her purse and took out a tape measure. She measured the flag pole from end to end.

"Eighteen feet," the blonde said, and then she walked away.

"Isn't that just like a blonde?" one of the guys said. "We ask her for the height and she gives us the length!"

Book notes: Fragile Innocence by James Reston Jr

I was reading A Daughter's 'Fragile Innocence' on National Public Radio's website, about a recently released book by James Reston Jr. It didn't seem to be NPR's regular fare, somehow. It's about his daughter, who became horribly ill as a toddler and has been brain damaged since. I was amazed because it read like so many posts I've seen by the parents of children with severe disability, who find blessings they didn't expect to find. (See here and here for links to some of the more recent.) That this man faced challenges he didn't expect, and rose to the challenges, and loves his daughter just as she is comes shining through. So far, so good.

But this being NPR, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sure enough, in the excerpt, along with all the prose about the amazing amount of love spread by Hillary Reston is the assertion that this girl puts a human face on the need for stem cell research and other controversial medical experiments, like animal organ transplants, etc. Hmmm. The NPR article and excerpt didn't specify which type of stem cell work, not that I could find, anyway. When it isn't specified, and I'm on a liberal leaning site, I have a nasty habit of assuming the worst until I find out otherwise. So I went to Barnes & Noble to read the write-ups there, looking for clues. The publisher's note danced around it, but the Publishers Weekly review mentioned embryonic stem cell research specifically. Sigh. It figures.

Overall, otherwise, it sounds like a worthwhile and probably inspiring read, celebrating a life that some people these days would like to sweep aside as not worthy.

From the Kirkus Review (via Barnes & Noble):

...Though Hillary lived, she sustained severe brain damage, losing her ability to speak. Here, Reston chronicles two decades of family life. Gradually, he and his wife, Denise, move from tortured self-pity to an absolute adoration of Hillary and an understanding that she is wonderful just as she is. Hillary's older siblings emerge as heroes, though near the end of the book (and none too soon) Reston reflects on the ways each of his older children has been shaped, and perhaps a bit scarred, by growing up in such stressful circumstances. There is real polemic threaded through this memoir-an insistence that disabled, retarded or handicapped children's lives matter just as much as everyone else's. (If you imagine that no one would say otherwise in this politically correct age, think again; sometimes even Hillary's physicians suggest that, well, if her kidney failure kills her, maybe everyone will be better off.)...

The author and I disagree on embryonic stem cell research and maybe some of the other medical experiments he seems to want to champion, but I am celebrating the fact that a writer who appears to be highly regarded in circles other than my own is speaking out for the value of life of the disabled and retarded among us, and also that left-leaning media is giving him air time and column space to promote that.

The NPR article is followed by a long list of links for medical, legal and other web resources. I haven't checked these out yet, but this is NPR, so expect a slightly different list than I'd compile ;-).

For the information available at Barnes & Noble, click on the book cover:


Fragile Innocence: A Father's Memoir of His Daughter's Courageous Journey

There must be more on this book out there. Hang on as your blog hostess searches...

There is another excerpt from the book at MSNBC/Newsweek (Feb. 7, 2006) -- in the health section. The NPR article, by the way, was listed under "children's health." (Can you imagine John Gunther's memoir Death Be Not Proud being listed under a Health heading? Are these people trying to tell me something about the book, or is this just the way they think about anything with hospital visits in it?)

OK, here's another Newsweek entry, also Feb. 7, also under health, but this is an interview of James Reston by Jennifer Barrett. Pretty interesting.

There must be something more than this, though...

Ah, here we go: The Demands of Love, by reviewer Suki Casanave (Washington Post, March 5, 2005, Page BW01). This is unexpected:

..."In the early years," Reston writes, "we often wondered, angrily, why our child had been singled out, and why we, far from perfect perhaps, but good and decent people, had been cursed. We demanded an answer about the randomness of tragedy.... We demanded to comprehend the incomprehensible." Meanwhile, the burden of managing Hillary's complicated care while still trying to provide a semblance of normal life for their other two children was a daily challenge. Their lives became a saga of doctor visits, medical jargon and complex drug regimens. Through it all, they lived with a persistent sense of loss.

A turning point came one night in the hospital, when 4-year-old Hillary lay near death. On top of everything else she had suffered, there was a problem with her kidneys, and her lungs had suddenly collapsed. Doctors predicted she would be gone within hours. Desperate, Leary climbed into the hospital bed with her daughter, settling in among the tangle of ICU wires. She held Hillary, caressed her, spoke in her ear -- and made a bargain with a God whom she doubted: She promised to "never, never again measure the losses ... only the gains. But let Hillary live."

This plea marked a new beginning in the journey of loving Hillary. From this moment, Reston suggests, the realization of how much they had took center stage in their lives, even in the midst of what felt like ongoing tragedy...

For more on Reston and his books, see restonbooks.com.

Variations on a different theme: Missionaries in France

A while back, I found out through Mom 2 Mom Connection: Meet author Mary DeMuth that DeMuth and her family were in France to help plant a church. DeMuth's website is Relevant Prose.

This got my attention for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that I'd already been popping over from time to time to the Daveys de France blog, written by a missionary family from Wales living in France.

And then today I ran across A girl with a plan... to be a missionary in France when she grows up.

Hmmm.

S. Michael Craven wonders about the possibility of "A New Italian Renaissance?"

S. Michael Craven starts this article by noting a recent manifesto signed by more than 70 Italian leaders in government, trade unions and universities blasting the 'moral and spiritual crisis' that leaves Europe lacking 'the courage to react' to Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. Then he looks at history, and at how similar small groups have countered a morally declining hedonistic culture -- and changed the culture.

Mentioned in passing is the book The Sociology of Philosophies by Randall Collins (Harvard University Press, 1998). Click on the book cover below to read the publisher's write-up and critics' reviews at Barnes & Noble.


Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change

Variations on a theme...

At GM's Corner, GM (who is battling lung cancer), shares a few thoughts on Conquering Fear!. In addition to his own observations, he shares some great quotes. I like this Eleanor Roosevelt one especially:

There are many famous quotes regarding fear. Franklin Roosevelt’s probably being the most famous: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." But his wife Eleanor said it better: "You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do." ...

In this post, GM talks about how he learned a lot from his grandfather, including a lot about optimism.

Over at Townhall.com, Mike S. Adams writes about what he learned from how his grandmother lived her life after she got cancer, in a column under the headline Life and how to live it, Part V. I especially like this bit that Dr. Adams writes:

Self-pity and gratitude are mortal enemies. Where one exists the other cannot. Since both are highly contagious, individuals must choose gratitude before becoming too thankless to do otherwise.

I should probably mention that his grandmother set a good example for gratitude. Not that other attitude.

Postmodernism under the microscope

Pat Santy, aka Dr. Sanity, addresses some of the seeming contradictions of the Postmodern intellectual left in her post Why Kant couldn't, and still can't.

Amongst other sources, she references this book by Stephen Hicks.


Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault

The next time you are seriously considering becoming a hermit...

...you might want to read (or reread) The magnetic power of the herd by Garrison Keillor.

The not-always-obvious ways the UK has increased its tax take

"Stealth" taxes have been rising dramatically in the UK in recent years.

Jennifer Hill, writing in the Scotsman, has some of the details in 'Fiscal drag' and other ways Brown quietly gets your cash. For instance:

The scale of the impact of these so-called "stealth" taxes is startling. Typical middle-to-high income earners now pay up to 50 per cent of their incomes to the Treasury by way of taxes, compared with 36 per cent in 1996. And, since 1997, revenue generated by stealth taxes, fiscal drag and stamp duty has increased a staggering 78 per cent - to £123bn today from £69bn.

One of the most dramatic increases can be seen in stamp duty land tax on house sales: revenue here has risen from just £675 million in 1996 to £5.5bn in 2004 - a more than eightfold increase...

[...snip...]

Soaring house prices have also created an inheritance tax bonanza for the government. They have contributed to an 81 per cent increase in IHT revenue - to £2.9bn from £1.6bn in the past eight years.

That has been driven by a surge in the IHT take on property, which has risen 129 per cent since Labour came to power in 1997 - to £1.1bn from £480m.

[...snip...]

Money is flowing into Revenue coffers from more surprising areas, too: more than a quarter of everyday motoring costs go to the government through a variety of taxes....

The same page has tips on ways you might be able to cut down on the tax you pay, if you live in the UK.

Book note: Pooh and the Philosophers, by John Tyerman Williams

Pooh and the Philosophers: In Which It Is Shown That All of Western Philosophy Is Merely a Preamble to Winnie-the-Pooh

What a way to learn a little bit about various famous philosophers, and also enjoy some of the best bits from Winnie-the-Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner.

From the publisher (via Barnes & Noble):

In this splendidly preposterous volume, John Tyerman Williams sets out to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the whole of Western philosophy - from the ancient Greeks to the existentialists of this century - may be found in the works of A. A. Milne. Williams shows how Pooh - referred to here as "the Great Bear" - explains and illuminates the most profound ideas of the great thinkers, from Aristotle and Plato to Sartre and Camus.

The book has illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard, straight out of the Pooh books.

I am trying to think how to describe this book. I'm not sure this is quite right, but think the sort of scholarship where the scholar takes himself way too seriously, draws things out to their logical conclusion, and then keeps on mentally hopping and skipping beyond what any sensible person would do. In this case, though, it's done with a wink and some wit.

I'm about halfway through the book. I've had to take several stops along the way to give my mind a rest, and also to catch my breath from laughing so hard. It's great fun, but it's also a little relentless (in a better sort of British comedy kind of way).

I'm of two minds about recommending this book. I suspect that many, if not most, A.A. Milne fans would enjoy this book, but I'm also certain that some will be rather strenuously put off by it. From another angle, I know some folks in education who would love the lampooning of the worst sorts of dissertations and the comeuppance given their most pompous colleagues, and others, including of course the more pompous sorts, who will find the gentle and not-so-gentle jabs quite uncalled for and possibly unforgivable. I can think of some C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton fans who love this sort of intellectual high jinks mixed with real learning possibilities, but on the other hand...

Update: Sigh. The book proved too relentless for me after all, and I gave it up before I was done. If it were my own copy, I might have put it on the shelf and taken it off from time to time for small doses, but it was a friend's copy, on loan, and so I either had to keep at it at a goodly pace or give it up...

Law Students for the Right to Life

Here's a pro-life group I didn't know about before today: Law Students for the Right to Life. Read the mission statement here.

See especially: Rebel With A Cause.

hat tip: The Alliance Alert

lgf: Hollywood, Now and Then

This Little Green Footballs post has a list of 18 notable actors from yesteryear who served in the military (American and otherwise).

hat tip: Photios.

Related post: Hollywood Goes to War

Ralph Peters, reporting from the streets of Southeast Baghdad

In Dude, Where's My Civil War?, Ralph Peters shares what he saw on a recent trip around Baghdad, and also his ideas on why so much of the reporting coming out of Iraq is so negative.

hat tip: What if they gave a civil war and nobody came? at This isn't writing, it's typing.

Misunderestimated Germans : Clashing Mindsets

Michael Meyn writes about German mindsets, American mindsets, the media mindset in both countries, and how his Little Rib went from being a Bush-hater in Germany to a Bush fan after she came to America.

Flat Alexis gets a tour in Texas

Quite a while ago now, some customers of ours walked into our bookstore carrying a large paper doll, obviously handmade, and gave it a tour and took pictures of it visiting our bookstore. This seemed a bit odd, to tell you the truth. But the people with this paper doll explained. They had a young relative who lived elsewhere, and this was a school project. She'd made a 'Flat' version of herself, and mailed it off to them, and they were to take it around and teach it about where they lived, and send back pictures to the young relative to show where she'd been.

These people were having a blast taking Flat Samantha (or whatever her name was) around. The kids took her to school with them. The parents thought up field trips. A good time was had by all.

For a while. But then the children of the family decided that Flat Samantha (or whatever her name was) was insisting that everyone wear swimsuits. This being the middle of winter, this was not seen as a great idea by the parents. (But Mom, Flat Samantha really, really wants to see what it's like to run around in the snow wearing swimsuits. And she needs us to do it with her.) And then the children came up with other lovely ideas of what Flat Samantha wanted to do. I believe at that point Flat Samantha was mailed back to live with Real Samantha.

But until the children went insane with it, a good time was had by all.

Right now, a Flat Alexis is getting a tour of Texas. Her adventures so far are chronicled here, here, here, here, here, and here.

New Book: Infamous Scribblers, by Eric Burns

Aram Bakshian Jr. reviews Infamous Scribblers by Eric Burns (Opinion Journal, March 8, 2006).

The title of the book is taken from one of George Washington's letters to a friend, in which he admits to being sick of the abuse of the gutter press of his day.


Infamous Scribblers: Journalism in the Age of the Founding Fathers

Book note: Getting America Right, by Edwin J. Feulner and Doug Wilson

Over the coming weeks, Doug Wilson will be writing about the blueprint put forth in a book he co-wrote with Ed Feulner. In particular, the authors feel there are six questions that should be asked and answered about every government action or policy that comes up for discussion.

In his first column in the series, Wilson looks at question number one: "Is it the government's business?"


Getting America Right: The True Conservative Values Our Nation Needs Today

Just another day at the bookstore...

The following is paraphrased, and altered slightly in the name of discretion (I'm rather protective of my customers and colleagues). But I think you'll get the picture.

Them: Do you have any books on Greek mythology?

Me: Some. Is there anything in particular you had in mind?

Them: We want a book on the Greek myth about the Eucharist.

Me: (Silence at first, as the brain tries to digest this. Then, slowly, carefully, hesitantly, not knowing quite what else to say, the following...) I think that Eucharist means the same as communion, doesn't it?

Them: No, there's a Greek myth about Eucharist. Not the Eucharist like with a church. The other one. It's Greek.

Well, yes it is. Utterly. I'm lost.

There follows an involved exchange wherein I wrack my brain for every Greek (or possibly Roman) myth I can think of that has something, or someone, in it starting with a similar sound, or that has something in it rhyming or nearly rhyming. We don't get very far, in part because I'm not as well versed as I might be in Greek/Roman mythology, and in part because my mind, having been started down the wrong path, is refusing to turn all the way around. The situation is further complicated by the fact that "Them" in this case is not the person who wants to buy the book, but someone who is trying to help someone else find a book she thinks she heard about somewhere. "Them" doesn't know the title, the author, whether the book is for adults or for children or for young adults, or if it was published recently or long ago. I know this because I ask about these things, searching for clues. "Them" also isn't sure that the person who wants to buy this book knows the title, the author, whether it is for kids or adults, or whether it was published recently or long ago. But he ("Them") knows she ("the potential customer") wants the book. She thinks it sounds interesting. We end the conversation for the time being, with me promising to work on it.

My husband and I have an intellectual conversation over dinner, in which we firmly establish that neither one of us knows as much Greek mythology we might, much less as much as we're sure we used to know in our school days.

Later, having been struck with a brainstorm, I have another go at it.

Me: What is this myth about?

Them: It's about flying too close to the sun.

Me: Got it. I know exactly what you mean.

That is an exaggeration to save face. I know exactly which myth he means (it being one of the few I know about), but my mind is crawling with all sorts of Names That Weren't Right that cropped up during earlier conversations and I couldn't give him the right name to save my life. I break off to go search on the Internet.

Guess first, if you'd like. The answer is here.

That hurdle cleared, we now get to move on to trying to figure out what book this person wants, and whether we can get it for her. My husband offers to take it from here. (The last I heard, he'd ordered in two different titles for her to look at, but they hadn't arrived yet.)

This sort of situation happens all the time. You would be surprised how few people ask for a book by its actual title or author. As often as not, we get something close to right, but not quite right. (Like the above example.) Most of the time this doesn't faze me. Most of the time I enjoy solving customer-caused riddles.

But, I have to admit, this one threw me for a bit of a loop, right there at the front end.

I know. I know. It should have been easy. In hindsight it's obvious.

What can I say? I was blindsided by this one.