J's Updates en-US Sun, 20 Apr 2025 09:18:55 -0700 60 J's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review5896282248 Sun, 20 Apr 2025 09:18:55 -0700 <![CDATA[J added 'Elon Musk']]> /review/show/5896282248 Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson J gave 3 stars to Elon Musk (Hardcover) by Walter Isaacson
Isaacson seemed like an apologist in the beginning 1/3rd chapters. His biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo DaVinci, Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs were far more interesting because of their depth.

Musk felt more like a memoir in the third person where Isaacson channels the "hero� - artifice over objectivity.

I want to like Musk, but I never saw moments of warmth and fuzziness. Instead, He is a risk taker in steady ascendancy who remains, as yet, unaffected by calamitous falls. He’s a man driven to be in the limelight.

My takeaway? Elon Musk is undoubtedly bright, but he’s an a**hole - I won’t feel bad if/when he crashes, burns, or dies because of his heartless character.

Does he care about humanity? I doubt it. How could someone want you to save Humanity and be such a cold, heartless jerk? Who is he saving Humanity for? More a**holes?

What can I say? I’m not impressed. The guy is an obstreperous, hateful person. I’m not sure why people would hold him in high regard. The capacity to make loads of money can’t be what this world has come to by way of admiring personalities.

I’m sure I’ll get grief over this review, and who cares what I think anyway. But my life won’t be improved by meeting this person - we would have little common ground to meet upon. It doesn’t seem like many other people who have engaged him came away with much, other than being able to destroy things and consider it fun. His circle of trust seems extremely limited and what he owns seems to be his biggest draw.

Getting to other worlds, ostensibly to save humanity means little if he goes about being a jerk to those who are subordinate to him. Collecting loads of wealth means nothing if he can’t treat people with dignity and respect.

Walter Isaacson is a great writer. But his subject this time around? Not so much. Musk is a popular figure, no doubt. And because of that, this character study has come too early. His meteoric rise is not the final story. There are yet more chapters to be written about Elon Musk. Let’s see how much of a hand he has in destroying Democracy. ]]> Review7500270175 Fri, 18 Apr 2025 22:30:13 -0700 <![CDATA[J added 'The Women']]> /review/show/7500270175 The Women by Kristin Hannah J gave 1 star to The Women (Hardcover) by Kristin Hannah
Powerful- painful and difficult to take in at times.

I think I’ve coined a new term; “Boomer Lit.�

“…People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.�
[in review of a book]
Abraham Lincoln

“The Women� is an intense story filled with tragedy, a little gratuitous for find measure that may resonate with a certain demographic but it ends up like an over- sugared cup of espresso. Bing! Bam! Boom!

That’s just it—I don’t fully feel it.

Hannah did her research, and from what I know about Vietnam, much of it lines up. But there’s one aspect that doesn’t sit right: the collective denial—especially by men—of women’s involvement in the war, or even the notion that women could be heroes. I know that simply isn’t true.

Then again, this is the Boomer generation we’re talking about—arguably one of the most indulged cohorts to ever come along. Their self-absorption shows up at every turn, even in current politics. This “me first� mentality has become nearly pathogenic for democracy.

The story is compelling, but it’s weighed down by a relentless string of tragedies—so much so that it veers into the territory of legend, rather than reality. It starts to feel like listening to someone stuck in a perpetual “woe is me� narrative. When you’re in an Eeyore state of mind, it seems like the sky is always falling.

What doesn’t resonate for me is the sheer volume of hardship thrown at Frankie. It’s as if she’s trapped in a reverse-Pollyanna story, lurching from one disaster to another. Everything but the kitchen sink gets tossed her way.

I think about the history of New Mexico Latinos—how much tragedy is baked into our story. We’re a proud people, shaped by a blend of Indigenous and Moorish influences, steeped in machismo, and yet we lost the war for the American Southwest without even fighting the invasion. The 1848 loss—New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, and California—was swallowed up by Manifest Destiny and the Gold Rush. That kind of cultural defeat bruises a collective masculine ego. It diminishes, ignores, and erases. Sounds a lot like what happened to Frankie.

That’s the kind of blow that feeds a victim narrative. And honestly, what else could we expect from a generation that came of age during the post-WWII economic boom, when rural families and the generationally poor suddenly experienced abundance—and spoiled their kids in the process? Of course they grew into adults who expect the world to cater to them. Of course they became demanders—obligate ones—believing life owes them something.

That mindset shows up everywhere, no matter which side someone took during the Vietnam War. I could go on about the gratuitous sex scenes and the endless parade of horrors Frankie endures, but again, the story might’ve worked better had it focused on just a few incidents—or told a broader range of women’s stories. That’s where the title feels like a misstep. The book claims to center on women, plural, yet the narrative mostly sticks to one woman’s saga. The two other women are relegated to supporting roles—honorable mentions as they marry, raise families, or become activists.

The tragedies here feel so inflated, they border on myth. I doubt they occurred with the kind of hyper-concentration Hannah describes.

As a New Mexico Latino, I know my people were deeply involved in Vietnam. We had one of the highest participation rates per capita. I worked at the VA hospital from 1982 to 1987. I know the stories. I know the sacrifices. And I know, for a fact, that the idea women weren’t involved is false. Vietnam vets, male and female, stuck together—and they still do. They even vote as a bloc, which is part of how we ended up with such a strong Trumper contingent. It’s strange, but not surprising. Boomers often vote in ways that protect their own interests rather than thinking of the collective good—be it domestic policy, workers� rights, or climate change.

It’s a 4-to-5 star book if we treat it as a collection of wartime experiences. But its biggest failure is in trying to force all that into one single, overloaded character arc. I get why it was written that way—but in the end, it reads like a hyperbolic Boomer self-narrative, epic in tragedy, and inflated to near myth.

I wonder if this is a theme Hannah repeats in her other books. ]]> Review7334501050 Tue, 18 Feb 2025 18:26:08 -0800 <![CDATA[J added 'Skeptic: Viewing the World with a Rational Eye']]> /review/show/7334501050 Skeptic by Michael Shermer J gave 5 stars to Skeptic: Viewing the World with a Rational Eye (Hardcover) by Michael Shermer
Excellent book - I enjoyed the essays. Shermer is brilliant - I wish all Americans had his level of intellect. ]]> Review7309903399 Mon, 10 Feb 2025 16:59:11 -0800 <![CDATA[J added 'Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead']]> /review/show/7309903399 Daring Greatly by Brené Brown J gave 4 stars to Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (Hardcover) by Brené Brown
]]> Review7305164661 Sun, 09 Feb 2025 07:08:48 -0800 <![CDATA[J added 'Klara and the Sun']]> /review/show/7305164661 Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro J gave 1 star to Klara and the Sun (Hardcover) by Kazuo Ishiguro
]]> Review7239318088 Mon, 20 Jan 2025 19:38:59 -0800 <![CDATA[J added 'The Alabaster Girl']]> /review/show/7239318088 The Alabaster Girl by Zan Perrion J gave 1 star to The Alabaster Girl (Paperback) by Zan Perrion
This guy seems entirely full of himself—a legend in his own mind. I can’t imagine what kind of woman would be drawn to, let alone desire, someone like him.

Frankly, I smell bullshit.

Then again, maybe there’s an audience for a man wielding a thesaurus, drowning his literary love potion in syrupy obsequiousness toward women while simultaneously downplaying his supposed brilliance and charm—all in a single run-on sentence.

I’m disappointed he missed the chance to recount how he saved a busload of nuns and blind orphans from certain death, by steering a six-ton vehicle with failed brakes down a 25-mile mountain riddled with hairpin turns.

I had expected something insightful, perhaps an exploration of the feminine mystique. Instead, I got a kitschy cash grab from an over-adjective-slinging, alliteration-obsessed, self-identified Lothario.

This one goes straight to the pile of books that feel like a sad waste of money.

This book deserves zero stars. ]]> Review51767480 Sat, 11 Jan 2025 21:24:43 -0800 <![CDATA[J added 'Letter to a Christian Nation']]> /review/show/51767480 Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris J gave 5 stars to Letter to a Christian Nation (Hardcover) by Sam Harris
Sam Harris presents compelling arguments about organized religion. His call for reasoned dialogue has, thus far, largely fallen on deaf ears. He lays out the denial of tangible realities in a clear, common-sense manner. Yet, to many believers, this book is perceived as a threat. I found his arguments thought-provoking, and any believer who truly values their faith should read this little book—not because it questions the existence of G_d, but because it examines how the very concept is shaped and tainted by human bias. ]]> Review1639212702 Fri, 10 Jan 2025 22:43:31 -0800 <![CDATA[J added 'Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution']]> /review/show/1639212702 Rising Strong by Brené Brown J gave 5 stars to Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution (Hardcover) by Brené Brown
I first read Rising Strong in January 2032. It’s better this time around. maybe I was just more open and ready for it. ]]> Review75024618 Wed, 01 Jan 2025 22:43:09 -0800 <![CDATA[J added 'Fahrenheit 451']]> /review/show/75024618 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury J gave 5 stars to Fahrenheit 451 (Mass Market Paperback) by Ray Bradbury
bookshelves: american-fiction, american-literature, big-thinkers, classics, davenport-discussion, favorites, human-nature, humanity, inspiration, self-actualization
Four decades have passed since my eyes raced through this book.

I missed so much. And the irony of Bradbury's message is summed up in the book which its protagonist, Ray Montag committed to memory - Ecclasties;
"... And when it came his turn, what could he say, what could he offer on a day like this, to make the trip a little easier? To everything there is a season. Yes. A time to break down, and a time to build up. Yes. A time to keep silence and a time to speak, Yes, all that. But what else? Something, something...And on either side of the river there was a tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; And the leaves of the tree were for healing the nations."

I am not in total agreement with a quote often attributed both George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde that laments over how youth is wasted on the young. But, as I listen to the Byrds, "Turn Turn Turn" I am convinced there is no better time for young adults to read this book. For it is in revisiting that which caused so much contemplation in - the absence of experience - ideas were planted. Ideas that could never bear so sweet a fruit as that borne out through a lifetime.

How I wish I could have met that amiable fellow whose writing rings so familiar. In the days of my isolated youth, Ray Bradbury became my friend. And thanks to Fahrenheit 451, I find our friendship has matured. Like atoms that randomly bang into one another, Ray Bradbury altered my life trajectory, and in retrospect, his words never abandoned me. And, as evidenced in the words of the Byrds, he impacted an entire generation.

"...To everything
Turn, turn, turn
There is a season
Turn, turn, turn
And a time
To every purpose
Under Heaven..."

Long my he run. ]]> UserChallenge56751267 Wed, 01 Jan 2025 04:43:24 -0800 <![CDATA[ J has challenged himself to read 30 books in 2025. ]]> /user/show/1839249-j 11627
He has read 5 books toward his goal of 30 books.
 
5 of 30 (17%)
Create your own 2025 Reading Challenge » ]]>