The New Northern Rambler

2020-06-22

"Secret Language: Codes, Tricks, Spies, Thieves and Symbols" by Barry J. Blake

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 9780199579280

I have had this book in my collection for quite some time, but never got around to actually reading it. I suppose in an off-handed away this is one advantage to the COVID-19 pandemic as none of the library's here are open so I am forced to actually read books that I've been meaning to (in some cases for years).

As it turns out this book is absolutely wonderful and Mr. Blake goes into significant amounts of detail with lots of examples from various languages, cultures, and history. A brief introduction deals with why people want to be mysterious. He then goes on to talk about topics related to anagrams and cryptic crosswords which includes things like palindromes and acronyms which he gives numerous examples of.

His next topic is all about riddles. Riddles have been with us for centuries, and have appeared in many forms. He discusses things like the rebus, the charade (and how it has changed from it's inception, into the kids game people are familiar with today). And then goes on to give some riddles that the reader can try.

The next section is one that I found extremely fascinating and that was on codes and ciphers. He deals with the history from pre-Roman times up to the present and the use of computers. Once again he gives the reader some interesting challenges.

The next three chapters deal with biblical secrets, words of power, and words to avoid. These are explored from a historical as well as a cultural viewpoint. His next chapter deals with jargon, slang, argot and various secret languages.

He ends the book with a discussion of things like politeness, humour, euphemism, abusive language, oxymorons, parody and satire to name but a few.

I found this to be an excellent book, and was quite sorry that I hadn't read it many years ago. It is especially renewed my interest in codes and ciphers, and I'll be reviewing another book that I have on that in the future.

2020-06-15

"Methuselah's Children" by Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)

Publisher: Signet Books

Methuselah's Children is one of the more important novels written by Robert A. Heinlein. It is part of his Future History series which includes: "The Man Who Sold the Moon" (February 11, 2019), "The Green Hills of Earth" (February 18, 2019), "Revolt in 2100" (January 14, 2019), "Orphans of the Sky", and "The Past Through Tomorrow". The first three of these I have already reviewed on the dates shown.

These six books lead the reader into the World as Myth series, the first book of which is "Time Enough For Love" (1973) which I'll be reviewing in a few weeks. The other books in the future history series are: "Number of the Beast" (1980), "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" (1985), "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" (1987). Which will be reviewed in the future, but I'm not sure exactly when as they are all rather long books.

As for Methuselah's Children it introduces and tells the story of the Howard Families who are extremely long lived individuals. This is due to the fact that they are the result of an experiment in eugenics. In which individuals were encouraged to marry and have children within a select group who have a history of long lived relatives.

At the beginning of the story there is a crisis within North America because the general population has found out about the existence of the Howard Families, and mistakenly believe they have found the fountain of youth through some experimentation of their own. Because of this erroneous idea the government is being pressured into obtaining the secret of their long life for everyone.

This is when we first meet Lazarus long, the senior of the Howard families (the oldest member at 214), who is attending one of their meetings for the first time in a number of decades. Due to the above crisis things quickly come to a head and Lazarus is forced to act for the families and help them escape before they are arrested and tortured for their 'secret'.

IN the course of this novel we are also reacquainted with another character Andrew Jackson Libby, a mathematical and engineering genius, who was introduced in the short story 'Misfit' from the 'Revolt in 2100' collection.

This is an extremely good story, which I have read a number of times. It does tend to drag slightly in the beginning due to backstory being presented, but for the most part this not only doesn't detract from the story, but in fact helps in introducing the Lazarus character. It may be considered by some to contain slightly more mature themes than would normally be recommended for very young adults, but this shouldn't mean they can't read it, but that it might take a little explaining on the part of someone older.

2020-06-08

"Crimes Against Logic" by Jamie Whyte

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

ISBN: 9780071446433

Mr. Whyte takes a very interesting and revealing look at how statistics, logic, and various arguments are misused by politicians, the clergy, journalists, and various other repeat offenders.

He covers various topics starting with a discussion of whether you have the right to your opinion, goes on to cover motives, the authority empty words, looks at begging the question, the existence of coincidence, the use of empty words, the misuse of statistics, and finally a look at morality. In all cases he gives very relevant, humourous, and in many cases eye-opening examples (that most people wouldn't typically consider) of what he means and this allows the reader to understand the points that he makes that much better.

This isn't a long book but it is a very interesting read that definitely shows the reader how they are being guided into thinking things that are not true, especially when dealing with politicians, the clergy, and most recently journalists. At times this is being done intentionally by the politicians and at times the clergy. While under other circumstances a journalist is guilty of it because they simply do not understand statistics or in some cases choose to ignore statistics or facts in favour of getting a good story.

A great book that should be read by all.

2020-06-01

“MAS*H” by Richard Hooker (1924-1997)

Publisher:New York : William Morrow and Company, 1968.
Edition:First Ballantine Books edition.
Copyright Date:©1968
Characteristics: 211 pages

Richard Hooker was the pseudonym for H. Richard Hornberger a surgeon, and MASH was based on his experiences during the Korean War.

For those readers who are familiar with the movie version of MASH it follows the book quite closely, which detailed the lives of a group of surgeons while they were posted in Korea for approximately 15 to 16 months.

The two main characters in the book are Hawkeye Pierce, and Duke Forest, both surgeons who arrived at the 4077 MASH at the same time. In the movie & series the lead characters are Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre. There are certain characters in the book though that do not play anywhere near as big a part as they did in the television series, such as Major Houlihan, Major Burns.

The book is very well written and gives a good account of what the surgeons and medical staff of a typical MASH unit went through on a daily basis. There's a fair amount of medical terminology which might confuse, or at least slow down the understanding of someone who isn't familiar with it.

There are a number of scenes in the book that appear in the movie, but do not appear in the TV series, such as the suicide of Painless Pole, The football game, and the trip to Japan to operate on the Congressmans son (and play golf). There is also a great section where Trapper John poses as Jesus Christ and sells autographed pictures of himself in order to raise money to send Ho-Jon to medical school in the States. This I'm sure would have been great had it been in the movie, but I'm also sure that the religious right would have had a rather large fit about it.

This book is a very good read, and I would recommend it as an interesting comparison to what you have seen or might see if you have never seen either the movie it the series.

2020-05-25

"Solar Science Projects" by D. S. Halacy Jr. (1919-2002)

Publisher: Scholastic Book Services
Copyright: 1971
Pages: 96

This is a book I've had in my collection for quite a few decades, and really enjoyed making these when I was young. It was originally published under the title "Fun With the Sun". The projects in it are quite suitable for students of any age, but some might be best if they were attempted by those in the higher grades as working with tools in necessary in some cases.

The book gives a general overview of why we should consider using solar energy, and then goes on to give plans and directions for seven projects:

A Reflector Cooker: Suitable for any grade, but the younger ones may need assistance even though it is made with cardboard. A handy junior of high school student could easily adapt the plans to use other more durable materials.
A Solar Still: Which can be used to purify water. This project would likely be best suited for someone in junior high or high school as it involves working with wood, metal, and glass.
A Solar Furnace: This is another project that would be suitable for the higher grades as it involves wood work, and when completed could be dangerous to use by a young person as the unit uses a fresnel lens to focus the suns rays on a target.
A Solar Oven: This project is definitely more geared towards high school aged students as it involves sheet metal work. The end product is a functioning oven that could easily be used to bake with.
A Solar Water Heater: This could be a project for junior high school students and higher, and the end product would be a very useful addition to any camping expedition. It wouldn't be able to be carried in a backpack without redesign, but if you are travelling vehicle then hot showers might be the result.
Solar Motors: While it is possible to simply buy a kit to construct a solar motor at most large hobby shops, this project gives you the ability to make one from basic components. It would be more suitable for a high school project as depending on your source of materials soldering may be required.
A Sun-Powered Radio: This project is definitely more suited to high school as it takes the builder from the basics to the end product. Construction involves use of power tools such as a drill, soldering connections etc.

Have fun building these projects.

2020-05-18

"A Member of the Family" by Nick Vasile

Publisher:Tom Doherty Associates 1993
Edition:First Tor edition.
Copyright Date:©1993
ISBN: 0312853491
Characteristics: 320 pages

This book is a fascinating look (albeit fictional) at the world of the Mafia. I found it to be well researched, and the characters very believable. In some instances it might be compared to "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo, however I believe it is superior to that work in that it tells a concise story rather than telling you the history of a family. This is not to put down Mr. Puzo's work which was also very good, but which is also very long.

Mr. Vasile is a Washington D.C. undercover police officer and New York City private eye and used his experiences in the telling of this story. This same background was also been given to the lead character Paul Dante.

The story revolves around Dante who is hired by the Washington D. C. Mafia to locate a missing person, the newly married son-in-law of the Benedetti Family's underboss Santo Benedetti, and brother to the godfather.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this novel which I believe is why I enjoyed it so much as the author gets you thinking about why things happen the way they do, and then as many good authors do he'll throw you a curve that you never expected.

The only bad thing I can say about this book, is that it seems to be the only one that Mr. Vasile has written, which is a shame as I would love read more of his work.

High recommended.

2020-05-11

"Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

This book takes an in-depth look at what humans believe, why we believe it, how we are led to believe certain things, the consequences of us believing them both good and bad.

Dr. Sagan was a very famous popularizer of science, one a few in the field. His explanations are very clear, but his amazement at how people can be bamboozled, and led astray definitely comes through in his writing. But then again this was his goal in writing this book.

He goes into a great deal of detail with regard to the history of skepticism, and gives the reader very good examples with regard to ways in which people nowadays can easily detect when they are being taken advantage of.

I found this book to be a fascinating read, with literally tons of valuable information regarding history, current scientific methodology, the way unscrupulous practitioners deal in their trade, etc. It is a no holds barred look at what people in the past and present believe, why they believe it, how they were led to believe it, and unfortunately in many circumstances why they refuse to believe the truth when it is revealed to them.

Highly recommended.

2020-05-04

"Agent to the Stars" by John Scalzi

Publisher: Tom Doherty, New York
Copyright Date:©2005
ISBN: 9780765357007
Characteristics: 385 pages

I am fairly certain that this is first book of John Scalzi's that I read. I am not so certain however, how I came across it, but chances are that I was browsing the shelves at the library. I've always been quite interested in stories that feature first contact scenarios, and this is likely what drew me to the story. Since that time, which was probably about 4 years ago or so, I've read the story a coupe more times, and each reading has brought a new enjoyment at the plotting, and the characters.

The story revolves around a peaceful alien race that wants to contact Earth, but as one of the aliens puts it "We have seen The Blob, and it is us". Add to this the fact that they communicate olfactorily and you have a nice little problem to solve.

It think I've alway enjoyed first contact stories, but sadly the vast majority of them are ones that focus on the military. Those that offer the scenario up in a peaceful manner are somewhat few and far between.

Mr. Scalzi has written a very enjoyable book here, that I'm sure will appeal to readers throughout the science fiction arena. I would highly recommend you check it out.