The Cheese Man Autobiography

Cleese, John.  So, Anyway...  New York: Crown Archetype, 2014.  ISBN: 978-0-385-34824-9

Are you a Monty Python fan?  No, then why are you reading this?  Oh, you want to find out more about the twisted mind that came up with Fawlty Towers, A Fish Called Wanda, and Fierce Creatures?  Well, this tome will help, but beware, it is a long and winding road.

In So, Anyway..., John Cleese breezily writes out a partial tale of his life, speaking directly to the reader in sixteen chapters.  He covers his early life and schooling in some depth and makes it interesting by letting the reader know what shaped him as a comedian and as a man.  Then comes his University life in Cambridge where he met future Monty Python collaborators, got his first taste of performing, got his degree (barely) and then tossed it aside to enter the world  as a writer and performer for the BBC.  The last eight chapters cover Cleese's work, performance, and travel adventures.  Those adventures included being in a musical without being able to sing, touring with the Cambridge Circus in  New Zealand and then America without losing his BBC position, and getting married (for the first time).   Then, Cleese informs the reader on the BBC shows for which he wrote and/or performed in, and the movie scripts he and Graham Chapman worked on writing for Peter Sellers and others. Finally, Cleese describes the coming together of talent which created The Monty Python Show in 1969.  Unfortunately, that is where So, Anyway... ends, right where many folk's interest congregate.  Cleese does provide a postscript chapter that discusses the success of The Monty Python Reunion Show in 2014 revealing how some of the Monty Python sketches were created.  But that is just a teaser for what could be revealed.  Hopefully, John Cleese is busy writing the rest of his story and provide a willing audience his insight on the creation of Fawlty Towers, A Fish Called Wanda and other movies and television shows. 

An Examination on When, Where, and Why We Learn!

Carey, Benedict.  How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where and Why It
       Happens.  New York: Random House, 2014.  ISBN: 978-0-8129-9388-2


Learning takes place everywhere and in many surprising ways.  Benedict Carey mines the research literature on learning to provide the results scientists, psychologists, and educators' labors.  In ten short chapters with titles like "Breaking Good Habits," "The Hidden Value of Ignorance," and "Learning Without Thinking," the reader accompanies the author on an exploratory voyage on the frontier of learning theory.

One key fact Carey discovered is that scientists and others are still just laying the groundwork on how learning actually happens, so be prepared to change your strategies in the future.  How memory works is still under construction so what is known is almost overshadowed by what is not known.  However, the author does provide ways for the reader to increase the odds of their efforts being rewarded.  Besides, looking at study habits, sleep habits, long-term vs short term memories, pretesting material before actual reading the material, and many other bizarre practices, the author improvises ways you can utilize what is know in improving how you learn. 

How We Learn is easily read, but take the time to think through the implications of Carey's findings and then try implementing  one or two of the strategies.  Good learning to you!

Missing Scriptures: A Brief Examination.

Hoffman, Joel M.  The Bible's Cutting Room Floor: The Holy Scriptures Missing From Your Bible.
        New York: Thomas Dunne, 2014.  ISBN: 978-1-250-04796-0

Anyone who has read through the whole Bible knows that books are mentioned that are not available today.  Anyone who has looked at various versions of the Bible has encountered books such as the Maccabees that appear in Catholic Bibles, but not Protestant Bibles.  If you have read about the extended process of creating the Bible, you would know that not all books that some believed to be scripture made it into the Biblical canon.

Readers may find the subtitle (The Holy Scriptures Missing From Your Bible) to be misleading as this book does not provide a listing of scriptures missing from the Bible.  Rather, Joel Hoffman provides, in the first chapter, background on the social/political and cultural milieu during the writing of Scripture.  He next provides a chapters on locating the Dead Sea Scrolls and the impact on Biblical understanding. This is followed by a chapter on the Septuagint and its influence on the Bible we have.  He does a similar examination on how Josephus' writings interact with Scripture.  Joel Hoffman then has three chapters that critique The Life of Adam and Eve, The Apocalypse of Abraham, and The Book of Enoch in relation to what these titles reveal that is not found in the rest of Scripture.  He finishes with a look at the big picture of missing Scripture.  He also includes an appendix of recommended sources for further investigation 

Overall, the book is worth reading more for the broad picture Joe Hoffman paints regarding the multiple sources that inter-played in the creation of the scriptural canon  than the look at individual books.   

Another Operation Market-Garden Tale

Van Lunteren, Frank.  The Battle of the Bridges: The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in 
        Operation Market Garden.  Philadelphia: Casemate, 2014.  ISBN: 978-1-61200-232-3

The Battle of the Bridges covers some of the fiercest fighting during Operation Market-Garden.  The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) of the 82nd Airborne Division captured the Maas River Bridge and the Mass-Waal Canal Bridge on September 17, 1944,  the first day of Operation Market-Garden.  Then on September 20th, the 504th launched a daylight river crossing to capture the bridges over the Waal River at Nijmegen against fierce opposition.  They succeeded at great cost.  The 504th continued to hold part of the front line until relieved in November 1944.

Frank Van Lunteren relates the story of the 504th PIR using as much as possible the veterans' own words.  He has done extensive research, interviewed as many remaining veterans as possible, and used their letters to home and diaries.  He also mined the official records and quoted from the texts of the medal citations.  He tells an exciting story which is reasonably well organized around particular events and time periods.  However, due to the narrative style he chose, the tale is episodic and sometimes repetitive.  He provides little background and the  numerous switching of character viewpoints can lead to confusion.

The Battle of the Bridges is great for World War II aficionados who want a first-hand account of the 504th PIR's exploits during Operation Market-Garden.  However, if you have not read many accounts of World War II, especially those dealing with airborne operations, the reader will want a campaign map and more detailed background than is provided in this book.

Do Not Believe All You See or Read!

Seife, Charles.  Virtual Unreality: Just Because the Internet Told You, How Do You Know It's
      True?  New York: Viking, 2014.  ISBN: 9780670026081.

 Based on his own experience as a journalist and a professor, Charles Seife provides a readable account of having to live with the Internet run amok.  He opens with an interesting warping of reality, the case of the Muppet Bert's affiliation with the terrorist Osama Bin Laden.  What had started as a joke with the  "Bert is Evil" website was transformed in to strange reality when someone made up posters using images off the Internet.  This segues into eleven chapters and three half chapters that covers a lot of ground regarding the effect the Internet has on your life (the half chapters provide a longer look at specifics covered in the previous chapter).  He then finishes with a Top Ten list for the Internet skeptic.

Seife provides plenty of material for information literacy discussions with his discussions of the interaction of information versus knowledge versus wisdom, the problem with authority (citing sources and proving sources), trolling, fake people, interconnection rather than communication, copyright issues, etc.  He also discusses the problems of too much information with noise drowning out signal, the dumbing down of intelligence, and the use of public/private information being used for private gain by companies and individuals.

Charles Seife packs a lot of information in a small book with the unfortunate result that it feels like a collection of essays rather than a coherent argument.  The coverage of multiple and divergent topics and some of the examples used will leave this book feeling dated in a few short years.  That being stated, the author has provided many coherent arguments that should be examined and discussed not just by librarians, information literacy specialists and academics, but by the public as a whole.

Ethan Allen and the Formation of the Republic of Vermont

Bennett, David.  A Few Lawless Vagabonds: Ethan Allen, the Republic of Vermont and the
          American Revolution.  Havertown, PA: Casemate Publishers, 2014.  ISBN:
          978-1-61200-240-8.

In A Few Lawless Vagabonds, David Bennett provides plenty of background and details regarding Ethan Allen and his cronies involvement in the formation of the Republic of Vermont before, during and after the American Revolution.  My earliest impression of this time and place was from the book I Was There With Ethan Allen And The Green Mountain Boys which glossed over the details to tell a decent story.  And the details are what makes A Few Lawless Vagabonds such an interesting read.

David Bennett opens with a reconstruction of the problems facing the New Hampshire Grants settlers in relation to New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.  The British Crown only confused matters.  Ethan Allen became involved in opposing the enforcement of New York claims in the region, raising the Green Mountain Boys as a militia.  That same militia was used at the beginning of the American Revolution to seize Ticonderoga, Crown Point and the invasion of Canada in 1775.  After Ethan Allen was captured in 1775, the focus of the book switches to Ira Allen and others involved in the forming of Vermont as a separate state/colony/republic.  Bennett carefully documents the involvement of the state in the destruction of Burgoyne during the Saratoga campaign.  He also documents the cease fire and neutrality practiced by Vermont's government and the case that can be made that Allen and his cronies would have been willing to rejoin Britain to gain their independence from New York.  In the end, after a few years as a independent republic, Vermont became the fourteenth state of the United States.  Ethan Allen and his cronies did succeed to that extent.

David Bennett provides a readable, yet scholarly look at the background and formation of Vermont as an independent entity while providing an in-depth look at the characters and events that made this possible. 

What is Matter Made of?

Miodownik, Mark.  Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous  Materials That Shape Our Man-Made  
        World.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.  ISBN: 978-0-544-23604-2

Writing for a general audience, Professor Miodownik shares his knowledge of materials in this readable look at the composition of materials.   He opens each of the eleven chapters with the same photograph, but labels a different material each time.  This mnemonic device provides continuity among the diverse materials such as chocolate, metals, concrete, porcelain, etc., that he chose to focus on.  He freely admits that the choices he made are arbitrary and chosen to illustrate concepts.

When reading the book, the reader is struck by the mastery Mark Miodownik has of  material science and by the joy he brings in describing our interaction with the "stuff" that makes up our world.  Stuff Matters reads quickly, one chapter being easily consumed in a sitting or the whole book over a long weekend.  Appropriate illustrations are provided within the book.  And for those readers whose appetite has been whetted for more on the topic he provides a title list for further reading.  

Anyone wanting to know about the materials that make up our world will profit and likely enjoy reading Stuff Matters.