Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

Longitude is one of the books I purchased for my Kindle, but actually started reading the hard copy.

Kristie and I were on our Christmas holiday, and I had finished my book before she had finished hers; I was going to read The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary after her. So while we were up at the cabin, I noticed that one of the books that they had on the shelf was Longitude; so I started reading. Wow! What a great book!

Dava Sobel takes a really could have been a dry story, and makes it incredibly interesting.

As the first word in the title suggests, the book is about how mariners managed to calculate longitude while they were on the high seas. The hero of the story, because there are heros and villains in the story, is John Harrison (My new hero). John wanted to create a special time piece that would help sailors keep proper time while out at sea. Up until this point (the late 1700's), clocks and watches were very unreliable as they often gained or lost time due to various issues such as temperature, friction, etc. But John had a vision of creating the perfect time piece.

Like I mentioned before, the hero was John, but there are many other characters that help weave this story into no only a good non-fiction book, but what could have been a story out of Hollywood: Villians (Maskelyne), Side kicks (William Harrison, Issac Newton, Edmond Halley), and Conspirators (The Board of Longitude).

I think that this book could actually easily be retooled to be a screenplay, and even a wonderful movie. Even if you're not interested in Longitude or any type of science, I think you will find this book a delight to read.

5/5

The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary - Andrew Westoll

I am loathe to say too much about this book as Leo hasn't read it yet.  I will say that this is a fantastic book that explores the nature of invasive chimp research and even more importantly, how they are treated in their "retirement" years.  While providing useful facts, the book also retains a strong narrative which I enjoyed.  Furthermore, the character development (chimp and human) was also robust.

It is a testament to the quality of this book that I raced through it over the Christmas holidays.  I am usually much more plodding with my non-fiction reads.  Even people who don't typically read non-fiction are likely to enjoy this book and I therefore recommend it without qualification.

Breaking the Time Barrier: The Race to Build the First Time Machine

I got this book with an Amazon gift certificate that I got as a Christmas present. It wasn't a book that I was looking for initially, but was a recommendation from Amazon based on previous book purchases.

As the title suggests, (I don't think this will be much of a spoiler) the book is about the idea of building a real life time machine. The author discusses the idea of breaking the time barrier as it had first appeared in literature, and brings forward various chapters as time goes on, that shows the scientific progress that would supposedly enable mankind to build a time machine.

Each chapter actually does have very good science written into it. The book discusses various aspects of physics that are both proven and theoretical.  But it is what the author does with this information that I find a bit hard to believe. She basically takes good science and then dives down a rabbit hole to show that building a time machine is possible.  Essentially, I think she takes good science, and turns it into science fiction. I think that it is fair to say that Ms. Randles is a true believer in the idea of time travel, as the last chapter will attest to.

If the idea of this book was to expose the reader to good science through wild speculation and hyperbole, then I think that it does the job well, but if the idea is to make the reader believe that time travel is just around the corner, then I think it may be quite a long time...

The Iron Lady

Let's forget for a second that I really don't like Margaret Thatcher's politics, and let's forget for a second that a movie that condenses the life of a historic figure into about two hours is going to leave a lot on the cutting room floor. What we can't forget about this movie is the performance that will pretty much guarantee Meryl Streep a Best Female Lead award at the Oscars. She was absolutely flawless in this movie.

As you might have guessed by the blog title and the poster accompanying it, this movie is about Margaret Thatcher; where she came from, and who she is now. It is a very interesting portrait into the life of The Iron Lady. The movie goes back and forward through time to try to give to context to each story, but it works really well in this movie.

Aside from the fact that in her political life, she became tough as nails, one of the things that I enjoyed about this movie is her relationship with her husband Denis Thatcher, played with characteristic excellence by Jim Broadbent. I came away from this movie believing two things:

1. Maggie was a hard ass that wanted nothing for the best for her nation.
2. Maggie love her husband more than she loved Britain.

As mentioned earlier, Meryl Streep was outstanding in this movie, and Jim Broadbent was excellent as well. While the movie may only gloss over her life, it was still very interesting to watch.

5/5

Beginners

The more I think about this movie, the more I dislike it.

Don't get me wrong, the movie was very well acted, great directing, and what should have been an interesting story. But there is where the rubber hits the road. The story, which could have been quite enjoyable, went down in flames.

This was a sad movie. Not a depressing movie, a sad movie. The main characters were sad people who seemed to want to find some other sad people to share their life with, and make each other sad.

A quick plot synopsis is that Oliver (Ewan McGregor) is a very successful, good looking and well off artist who is very unhappy. Anna (Melanie Laurent) is a very successful, good looking and well off actress who is very unhappy. Oliver's dad, Hal (Christopher Plummer), is a senior who has recently come out of the closet after losing his wife, has some issues with his boyfriend's fidelity, and is diagnosed with inoperable esophageal cancer...Hal is absolutely over the moon with happiness! This whole movie was a big mix up!

I think what probably happened is that en route to production, the script fell out of its binder and all the pages got mixed up. Hence the people with reasons to be happy are now unhappy, and the people who should be unhappy are all smiles and giggles.

Seriously! The movie itself even mentions in its dialogue that Oliver and Anna obviously are too narcissistic in their unhappiness...or something to that effect.

Look, if you like a good story gone wrong, if you like the feeling of wanting to slap a character across the face to smarten them up, then please go and see this film. Otherwise, I'd recommend something a little happier...maybe the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach

After a bad run a couple months back, I seem to be on a winning streak again (at least with books; oh, and the Muppet Movie).  I guess it helps when you read a book that has been on so many end-of-year top 10 lists.  At any rate, I really enjoyed the world that Chad Harbach created in the Art of Fielding.  It reminded me of Skippy Dies in that you became a part of the characters' world and it's one that I would never otherwise experience.  For a few days I was immersed in and inhabiting the world of baseball players at a college in the US.

To put it in broad terms, this book tracks the life of several baseball players (and other members of the college community) throughout the course of a single season.  It touches on a range of interesting issues: the pressure that athletes are put under by themselves and others, the toll that athletics can take on a body, the perils of alternative lifestyles in a conservative environment, depression, and a myriad of others.  Because many of these issues are quite universal, it doesn't matter if you're a baseball fan, the book still resonates.  I don't think it would make my list of top-10 books of the year, but I did really enjoy it.

Hen's Teeth - Manda Kelly

I loved this book for what it was!  Thrillers are my guilty pleasure and this one had it all, including a health angle.  In this book, the main character is a doctor who is unofficially tasked with solving the murders of her former lover and her former mentor.  Her trusty sidekick is a "gothy" pathologist and together they solve the very unusual puzzle. It was a quick read and one that would be perfect for someone with a holiday in front of them.  Indulge in this smart thriller--you won't regret it.