Review: Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A cute excellent memorable book I plan on reading aloud to my daughter when she's a bit older.

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Review: Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President

Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President by Robert J. Rayback
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was actually a pretty enlightening book. I knew nothing about Millard Fillmore, but had the general impression that he was a failure as a president. He pretty much was a failure, but then again he's one of those people who had been successful until becoming Vice President and then, when Zachary Taylor died, was thrust into the presidency. To his credit he had no intention of ever running for another term. To his discredit, he got bullied into doing it anyway, and in a pretty hopeless situation to be used as a pawn.
Having said that, however, I imagine all presidents will be mediocre until Lincoln comes around. Slavery is obviously a pressure cooker waiting to explode (if that's an expression), and all these presidents keep trying to compromise and, frankly, pass on the buck. Fillmore certainly compromised, and I don't think it's wrong to judge him unfavorably for not taking a stand. People knew slavery was wrong and counter to everything the United States stood for, but they also were political, to the point of literally approving slavery (not sure how to make that point more obvious).
Anyway, aside from this, kudos to Fillmore for being against the annexation of Hawaii or Cuba (suddenly he had morals here). The book also mentions some apparently embarrassingly bad correspondence sent to the emperor of Japan, but doesn't say what was so embarrassing about it, which is a bit disappointing.
I got the impression from this book that the skills that landed Fillmore the Vice presidency are the same skills that made him a bad president and made him lose reelection. He was good at working with others and tried to mediate and compromise, without being boastful or showy or really making a stand for anything.

3.5 stars rounded up because I doubt a 5 star biography could ever be written for this president.

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Review: Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children

Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children by Sara Zaske
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is basically "Bringing up Bébé" (French children don't throw food), substituting Germany for France. Both authors moved to their new country with a husband and a daughter, and then had a son while there (I think Druckerman had twin boys in France, but otherwise it was pretty similar).
At first I was a bit annoyed at the book. The author introduced her different life in Germany by talking about her experience with its bureaucracy, which basically entailed waiting in lines, having to bring many forms, and having to speak German. She also happened to be 15 minutes late for an appointment (due to snow), so she had to reschedule. None of that seems overly bureaucratic to me, quite frankly. Maybe because I grew up dealing with Italian bureaucracy, and I just went through my wife's green card process for the US, which were both nightmares in their own way.

She then talks about how and why her family ended up in Germany, as well as a general history of modern Germany and German-americans. It was probably useful and somewhat interesting, but it took some time before getting to "the German art of raising self-reliant children". However, once she did, I rather enjoyed it.

I should say, here in Charlotte things don't seem to be as extreme as Zaske makes them out to be in the US. Children are playing in playgrounds all the time, including climbing, swinging and hanging off things. You don't see children walking to and from school, but that's mainly because everything is so spread out. No one walks unless they're downtown.
Some interesting notes (I'll skip through the ones on German healthcare. Suffice to say it's better than in the U.S., which is pretty much known):
Homeschooling is illegal in Germany
Every German child from ages one to six is guaranteed a spot at a child-care center
The atheist organization in Berlin actually prefers that religion is taught in schools
The United States is the only country in the world that has not ratified the United Nations' Convention on The Rights of the Child (CRC)
Takeaways:
Leave your baby alone when she's happy
Send children outside everyday
Give them time to play without parents around

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Review: Methodism: Empire of the Spirit

Methodism: Empire of the Spirit by David Hempton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This should probably be the second book you read on Methodism. It lacked a basic standard history and overview of the religion, with its beginnings, progress, changes, up to the present day. A book containing those details would be great preparation for this book.

As it stands, this book is full of details you probably can't find anywhere else. It has things like discussions on the parallels and differences between Methodism in the US and in Britain, but in one chapter it compares Kilham to O'Kelly, in another Bunting to Asbury, and then talks about Taylor expanding to 5 continents, and these names mesh together with those of other itinerant preachers and believers, so it's hard to form a coherent outline of the religious movement due to all the details that are given (and in no chronological order).

Here is another telling passage: "As every undergraduate knows, John Wesley had a particular genius for organization..." (p. 128). While I probably could have guessed he was good at organization, since the fact that he founded Methodism was pretty much all I knew about him before reading this book, I doubt that any undergraduate I ask would 'know' this.

In other words, knowing a basic outline of the history of methodism is almost required to get the most out of this book.

Having said that, there are some very interesting tidbits.

Some of my notes:
Wesley actually never left the Church of England, since he thought Methodism didn't veer from it at all. He also was against the American revolution, was against capitalism and against enlightenment rationalism. Given all this it's amazing how it thrived in the US.
Methodists and Baptists were much more popular among oppressed African americans than other religions.
By the 1850s, Methodists had built almost as many churches in the US as there were post offices.

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Review: Strange Weather in Tokyo

Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I agree with the reviewer who said that a gloomy room with alcohol is probably the best setting to read this book.

This book was probably close to a 3 for a good while, but then became a strong 4 the more I read it. On the surface barely anything happens, but in the meantime we get to learn about two quite different people who get closer and closer to each other. We also see a generational divide, which translates (somewhat) into a more Western/modern vs. a more Japanese/traditional divide. We also get to read a lot about food, food and food (and plenty of drinking). Interspersed are memories from high school, mushroom picking in the mountains, a concert in a park, a trip to an island, and many nights in a bar. Oh, and some magical realism too.

Oddly enough I had both "The briefcase" and "Strange Weather in Tokyo" in my wishlist, not realizing they were the same book. "The briefcase" is probably the more apt title, but "Strange Weather in Tokyo" worked much better for me (as did the cover design).

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Review: Storia minima della popolazione del mondo

Storia minima della popolazione del mondo by Massimo Livi Bacci
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is all new to me and much of it is a tad too technical for me. There were some fascinating tidbits, however (for example, apparently in the year 0 the world population was 252 million).

There were parts that reminded me of Yuval Harari (the paleolithic had a lower mortality rate than the subsequent neolithic age, mainly because the former was a hunter/gatherer society while the latter was a farming society, so viruses and sicknesses could spread), as well as Matt Ridley (in the short and medium term demographic changes cause problems, but in the long term they tend to get solved).

Also, I had always heard that the world population would peak at around 10-11 billion, and then, as fertility rates decreased worldwide, they would drop somewhat. Now I'm not as convinced.

On the other hand, parts of it were just outdated (it was written in 1989), and other parts seemed to be wanting. It mentions how, as societies tend to get richer the fertility rate seems to decline, although sometimes it doesn't (sub-saharan Africa's GDP / capita in the 1950's equaled that of France 100 years prior, but the fertility rate hadn't dropped accordingly) and so we can't be sure if an increase in population is good or bad for well-being (??). This seems to be confusing cause and effect. When countries have high fertility, as in bigger families, resources are used up more quickly, but when countries start getting better off, their population increases (through higher fertility in general, not bigger families, and through immigration), which tends to be good. As it mentions, 4 million people are more likely to produce a genius than 400 people. But once again, this isn't my field so maybe I missed something.

Some of my notes:
The diet of hunter-gatherers was probably more complete than that of settlers.
Malthus's theory becomes less compelling when taking into account industrial advances and technological innovation
Population growth can be both dependent and independent. e.g.: better land leads to more people moving there, but more people moving there can improve the land through new methods of cultivation.
Black death caused less vegetable consumption (fewer fields being farmed)
Long distance emigration occurred from countries with an increase in agricultural employment
There is no reason to believe that poor country fertility will decline to rich country levels, even once they attain the same level of richness.
Abortion was widespread and easily attainable in China in the 1970s.

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Review: Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor by John S.D. Eisenhower
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Going through some mediocre presidents now, and it shows. Taylor seems to have been a pretty good general who was unfortunately unprepared (or just not cut out) for the presidency. He wanted to be "The people's president", so he refused to become too entrenched with his own party (the whigs), and thereby lost out on a lot of goodwill, while not gaining much ground with the opposition (the democrats). This seems to be a trend with generals who become presidents (Eisenhower, Washington, etc.)

Interesting to note he coined the term "First lady", for Dolly Madison's death.

The book mentions a claim that, had he survived, he might have been able to avert the civil war, being a Southern slave holder who opposed slavery. I very much doubt it.

I don't like giving it 3 stars, even though it's a 3 star book, mainly because I doubt it could have been much better, given the material. Let's say 3.5 for now.

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Review: What Catholics Really Believe--Setting the Record Straight: 52 Answers to Common Misconceptions About the Catholic Faith

What Catholics Really Believe--Setting the Record Straight: 52 Answers to Common Misconceptions About the Catholic Faith by Karl Keating
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've had this book for close to 10 years now, and I finally got around to reading it. All in all it is a quick read (so shame on me for not tackling it earlier). It just basically lists 52 false claims about Catholicism, and refutes them one by one. In doing so, Keating provides an explanation for the Catholic view on many different subjects.

So basically, if you are interested in learning more about Catholicism, this is probably a great place to start. It won't go much into detail, but will probably mention more than a couple points you hadn't considered (I was raised Catholic, and I confess I didn't know quite a few of these points).

Also, it goes without saying that you don't have to be Catholic to read this. In fact, you'll probably get more out of it if you're not. I'm not saying you'll necessarily agree with his points, but it'll be an enlightening read nonetheless.




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Review: The Warburgs: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family

The Warburgs: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family by Ron Chernow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was my third Ron Chernow book, and the other two were also about banking dynasties. As with the others, and even more so, we are dealing we a family lasting several centuries, with cousins branching off into extended families, and many people sharing the same name. However, I thought Chernow did an excellent job at keeping things (more or less) clear, and the main members of this family are each portrayed in vivid detail. In general it follows a chronological order, although not always, which is probably best, since, once again, it would just be a mess of cousins in different continents with similar names entering into similar financial wheelings and dealings.

Of course, Nazi Germany and the persecution of the Jews makes up a great part of the book as well, in addition to life in Germany, in the US (and somewhat in London and Sweden as well), and a broad history of finance throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

In fact, I found it very interesting to read about how Nazism crept into Germany, and how it was viewed from the perspective of a German-Jewish family, and how they felt just as German as Jewish. In fact, they were discriminated against in their own Germany for being Jewish, but then, due to their nationality (and accents), were discriminated against in London and New York for being German as well.



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Review: The Sound of Waves

The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The only thing I knew about this author was that he attempted a coup d'état, committed seppuku, and he wrote books. So I figured his stories would be intense and possibly anti-government. Anyway, this story was nothing like that. A love story taking place on a remote island called Utajima, which I am guessing is Sugashima in real life, although I may be wrong. Also very interesting to read about island life and about the ama divers. I look forward to reading more by him.

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Review: If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I confess I didn't enjoy this book all that much. I realize it's a different, more poetic style, without a distinct plot, but more a narration of events, mostly several years in the past, with a storyline in the present that become more clear as the book progresses. The issue may be that I just don't enjoy this style all that much. I realize it's different and it conveys emotions, more than a chronology of events leading up to a climax, but I always feel books like this are just trying too hard. I'm not even sure what that means, since obviously authors are trying to write a good book, but it's just a feeling I get.

Anyway, given all that, in retrospect I decided to increase my rating to a 4, since I found myself thinking about the storylines and the events and people quite a bit after having finished the book and having given it some time.

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Review: Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768

Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768 by Philip A. Kuhn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I expected this to be a book on a very esoteric subject, which it was, but it was interesting to read how it tied into the Qing dynasty (during the reign of Qianlong) and everything going on during that time, from the economy in general, to the poorest strata of society, up to the very top (the emperor himself).

Anyway, this is a great overview of how court cases were dealt with, how confessions under torture worked, how bureaucracy worked during this time, how the emperor dealt with his subordinates, as well as how the sorcery scare happened and progressed. Very interesting to see what perfect targets itinerant buddhist and taoist monks were, since they were anti-confucian (leaving their family and not having children), were outsiders, and were "well-versed" in sorcery and spells. The emperor ended up taken it very seriously, since one of the acts they were accused of doing was cutting off peoples' queues, which could be seen as subversive to the Manchu dynasty and an act of rebellion.

All in all a very thorough look into an interesting time of the Qing dynasty. I agree with the reviewer who said it seems inspired by Jonathan Spence (or something like that. I can't find the review anymore). It's in the same vein, trying to make serious, scholarly work more interesting to the general public.

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Review: The Elegance of the Hedgehog

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: Cosmos

Cosmos by Carl Sagan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a classic that has aged remarkably well, considering it's about scientific discoveries and it's 40 years old. I love Sagan's contagious passion. It's a bit sad to hear how optimistic he is about the near future. I can't help thinking we've disappointed him, even though some of his wishes have come true (Mars Rover, etc.) in the meantime. All in all, this book is an excellent overview of pretty much everything, and still very readable.

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