"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" by John Le Carré (1931-2020)

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Copyright: 1974

ISBN: 0394492196

This novel is considered by many to be the gold standard for espionage novels, and I feel this honour is well deserved.

Some may find the novel hard to get into, but this is primarily the way that Mr.  Le Carré wrote as his goal (at least in my opinion) is to make the reader think about what they're reading. This is a typical writing standard for mysteries, and to a certain point some other genres as well, but compared to these genres doing so in an espionage novels is much rarer, and therefore many people are not used to this form of writing. Mr. Le Carré however excelled at this.

The story for those of you who do not know it revolves around the investigation of a mole that has been planted in British Secret Service by the Russians. The mole has been in place for sometime, and his existence just came to light. The person in charge of what I assume is actually MI-6 but it's called "The Circus" has discovered the existence of the mole but does not know who it is. This leads him to dispatch an agent to acquire this information, however the information he was to require was a plant itself. The plot develops from this premise but I don't want to give anymore away.

The characterization in this novel is excellent, as are the settings. This book is not the first to feature the character of George Smiley, but it is definitely one of the most well known ones.

There have been two movie adaptions made of this book the first from 1979 which starred Sir Alec Guinness as Smiley, and it is by far the best of the two, as it is the closest to the book and is actually a 5 hour miniseries. The second (from 2011) starred Gary Oldman as Smiley is only two hours long and while it has the same general gist as the book they had to leave out a lot of detail. Also, as is typical for Hollywood today they added bits that we're not really necessary to the story.

An excellent read, highly recommended.

Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds by Dawn B. Sofa

 

Publisher: Facts of File
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 9780816082292

Like the first title in this series (Social Grounds), which I already reviewed, this one was also very interesting book. With the rather cloistered outlook that a large portion of the United States has towards sex it is sort of understandable that these books would be challenged. However, it also gives the reader/researcher a rather disturbing insight into what people can be offended by (remember this was written 11 years ago too). Once again I found most of the objections quite narrow-minded and in some cases just plain silly.

A total of 128 books are examined in this book. A short summary of the contents of each book is given, and then the censorship history is examined. Many of the objections seemed to come from parents who were offended when their children were assigned books to read, and a large portion from religious leaders, and school boards as well.

There are two more books in this series that deal with Political, and religious censorship and I am looking forward to reading those as well. They were all written in 2011, and I believe it is time to update them with new editions.

"Captain Nemo: the fantastic history of a dark genius" by Kevin J. Anderson

 

Publisher: pocket books

Copyright: 2002

ISBN: 07434440 6X

This novel is rather unique in its method of telling the story as well as the way it is constructed (for lack of a better term).

The story follows the life of Andrei Nemo who will eventually become captain Nemo of the Nautilis. In the beginning we see him and Jules Verne as young boys who have grown up together. Verne's father is a lawyer, and Verne being the eldest child is expected to take up that profession even though he would much rather write. On the other hand Nemo's father is a shipwright who intrigues and influences both Nemo and Verne with his stories.

Throughout the story we are meet numerous people who will eventually be represented in name at least by characters in Verne's novels. Some of these are Phileas Fogg, Arne Saknussemm, Ned Land, Cedric Harding, Conceil, and many others.

In both of Jules Verne's (1828-1905) stories where we actually meet Captain Nemo ("20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Mysterious Island") we aren't given a whole lot background information about his past life, so Kevin Anderson had a lot of leeway in how he constructed the history of Captain Nemo, and I believe he did an excellent job as it is quite believable within the world Verne has created for his characters. In addition the way he wove the real life of Jules Verne into the story was extremely well done.

Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds by Dawn B. Sova

 

Publisher: Facts of File

Copyright: 2011

ISBN: 9780816082285

This was a very interesting book, that gives the reader/researcher a rather disturbing insight into what people (primarily in the United States) are offended by. I'm not going to pretend to say I understand the rather silly objections that led to some of these bans (most luckily were temporary), but in some cases it was rather humorous to say the least.

A total of 125 books are examined in this book. A short summary of the contents of each book is given, and then the censorship history is examined. Most of the objections seemed to come from parents who were offended when their children were assigned books to read, but a few stemmed from other sources as well.

There are three other books in this series that deal with Political, religious, and sexual censorship and I am looking forward to reading those as well. They were all written in 2011, and I believe it is time to update them with new editions.

The First Team by John Ball (1911-1988)

 

Publisher: Little, Brown and Co.

Copyright: 1971

ISBN: ?

I first read this book many years ago, and since this time have read it a few more times, as I find the characterization and plot to be very well structured. The author did a fair bit of research into the workings of various parts of the United States government, as well as the US Navy.

The story deals with the essentially bloodless takeover and occupation of the United States by Russian forces. While this may seem somewhat impossible to many people the events depicted in the story leading up to the successful takeover are quite plausible, although today somewhat dated as it has been 51 years since this book was first published.

When you consider recent political events in the United States I find it quite likely that something like this could've happened. In the book and outgoing president foresees the future and the dangers coming towards the country when the president-elect takes power and creates an underground to forestall any problems. An intelligent act like this seems to me something that President Obama would've done. When you take into account the idiot who succeeded him, and who is portrayed in the book as a totally ineffectual president then this becomes even more realistic.

At the time I'm writing this review Russian forces are still in the Ukraine after having invaded six months ago. There are massive casualties on both sides, due primarily (in my humble opinion) to the egotistical stupidity of Vladimir Putin, and his attempt to make a name for himself. Unfortunately it's quite likely this name will be warmonger, or something possibly even worse.

While the premise might seem a little unlikely, the novel is well written and for those fans of intrigue and espionage novels is a must read.

"Evolution: The Human Story" by Dr. Alice Roberts

 

Publisher: DK Publishing

Copyright: 2018

ISBN: 9781465474018

Dr. Alice Roberts is the Professor of Public Engagement at the University of Birmingham in England, and a Biological Anthropologist, and host of "Digging for Britain", and is the is the author of a number of books.

This book is a great explanation of the evolutionary process as it applies to the human species. It takes the reader from a time about 8 million years in a past up to modern times in very well written sections that explain the origins of life in general, and then break down the individual stages of human evolution.

It would I believe be suitable for any young person who is interested in the subject, and make a fantastic addition to any school classroom, as it is very well written and easy to understand. It is full of pictures that explain the concepts of evolution, how facial reconstruction works, and much more.

While even though a book as well written as this one is will still likely not convince those people who are adamant that evolution isn't true, it should I believe go a long way towards convincing those who are on the fence.

Highly recommended.

"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne (1828-1905)

 

Publisher: Crown Publishers, Inc.

Copyright: 1983

ISBN: 0517413736

This book is another classic in what would come to be known as science-fiction. It was originally written in 1869, and illustrates Verne's fascination with science. It is true that the science depicted in this and other of Verne's stories does not match what we consider to be science today, but for the most part it is accurate as far as the scientific knowledge of the time is concerned.

This is essentially a story of discovery, in that Professor Arronax is taken on a voyage under the sea, and being a naturalist is enamoured with the things he sees. It is true that the book is quite long, but the detail Verne goes into is excellent. He is one of a number of authors that I would have loved to have met.

I recently rewatched the Disney version of this book which came out in 1954. As is typical the director once again took huge liberties with Verne's story.  However, considering the year this was made they weren't all that bad as the movie would've had to be quite a bit longer to encompass the entire story. One major change they made however was to hint that Captain Nemo had discovered nuclear energy, and that the Nautilus was powered by it, this was also reinforced when at the end of the movie Nemo's base was destroyed, and a telltale mushroom cloud was evident. Neither of these things were part of Verne's story, and considering that the story is set in 1866, it seems rather silly to contemplate as atomic theory was definitely in its infancy, and Albert Einstein wouldn't be born for 13 years. Add to this that the nature of the atom was formulated in 1911, that electron surrounded the nucleus was discovered in 1897, etc. and we are once again confronted with age old puzzle of why Hollywood can't do basic research.

It would be nice to see some studio take on this and many other classic stories and do them as a miniseries, as the author intended.

"The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of reason" by Sam Harris

 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Copyright: 2004

ISBN: 9780743268097

This book was an extremely interesting one to read, not only because of the information provided but because of the stance that the author takes on the subject of religion and especially faith and what it can make normally rational people do in its name.

The opening chapter briefly recounts the events leading up to when a suicide bomber sets off his charge in a bus. And then goes on to examine how this one act is influenced pretty much solely by what the person has been told about their religion.

Now, before you think that Mr. Harris focuses solely on terrorism that is perpetrated by Muslims, he doesn't. He also goes after the other Abrahamic Religions (Christianity and Judaism - Yes, in case you were wondering all three have the same roots). He also exposes the atrocities performed by Christians, e.g., The Inquisition, Witch burnings, and much more. He also points out a rarely admitted / known fact that the Catholic Church was culpable in their condemnation of the Jews, and their support of Adolf Hitler and his cronies. 

Mr. Harris does a wonderful job of telling the facts as they are, and with the addition of footnotes, and a fantastic bibliography to back up his claims he proves without a doubt that faith it's simply a very dangerous thing to have. He does tend to get somewhat philosophical towards the end of the book, but considering the topic I think this is quite acceptable, as it tends to calm readers down after reading the first parts and finding out how inhumane, humans can be to each other when certain philosophies are followed without the person first thinking. 

Highly recommended, especially for those who are on the fence about religion. Any religion.