Book Review - Full Black by Brad Thor

In this day and age, the exciting tales of spying between the United States and the Soviet Union have given way to fighting terrorism instead. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, many authors are reluctant to explore these untold stories, which could include a wealth of breath-taking action.

Brad Thor, however, tackles the subject full-on in his series about former Navy SEAL Scot Harvath. Harvath is now part of a super-secret organization that takes on the anti-terror jobs that the CIA and other government organizations won't do. In Thor's world, the government just isn't getting it done, and thus these people are there to take care of the free world in their places.

I haven't followed this series before, but Full Black is the 10th book in it, and I would assume the previous books are much like this one, at least in tone. It's set in the current day, with the same type of history as the real world has. Only the names have changed. There were terrorist attacks on 9/11 in New York City. While the names have changed, the world hasn't. Basically, pseudo-Bush was president for eight years, and now pseudo-Obama is president. The previous president would do whatever it takes to keep America safe. The current president is softer and more likely to want to negotiate (hence this super-secret agency).

Anyway, my review of Full Black is up on Curled Up With a Good Book now, and you can check it out.

From the review:

Scot Harvath is a fomer Navy SEAL and former Secret Service agent who has been recruited to join a secret group of ex-spies and other military operatives to do the jobs that the CIA won't to combat radical Islamic terrorism. They take on missions that are so sensitive that they aren't just classified; they don't exist. This time, Harvath and his team are tasked with infiltrating a terrorist cell in Sweden to find out what major attacks the network is planning. Meanwhile, a foreign wet works team attempts to kill movie producer Larry Salomon, who is working on a documentary that will expose one of the world's richest men (James Standing) as the man who will take down America and plunge it into chaos. Good thing that Salomon is buddies with another ex-Special Forces guy who is able to help him. Can Harvath stop the inevitable wave of attacks that will be sparked across the United States?

The problem is, and the reason for this doesn't really come out in my review because the editor understandably omitted when I got a little bit personal, I basically agree with Thor about a lot of things that he says in this book. Yet the way Thor presents his viewpoints in the novel drag it to a screeching halt every time the book threatens to start getting good again.

I like my politics in political books. Or at least illustrated by events in a novel. I don't want the characters to start spouting off political theories when I want to see them stop the bad guy.

Check out the review for the rest of my thoughts on the book, though. I did ultimately enjoy the book. Just not as much as I really wanted to.

Should the Holocaust be Taught in Schools?

That does seem like a stupid question, doesn't it?

(Thanks to the Telegraph)

Yet that's what one former Education Secretary is proposing for Britain. Lord Baker, who was Education Secretary under Thatcher and designed the National Curriculum, is advocating that History classes stop teaching children about the Holocaust. But it's not because he doesn't think that the kids can handle something that horrifying.

No, it's because it is supposedly giving kids a bad view of Germany. Yes, present-day Germany. Because, you know, kids are too stupid to separate modern Germany from the horrors of Hitler and Nazism.

This all appeared in an article in the Telegraph. I have checked for recent mentions of Lord Baker in the news, and this was the most recent article, so it doesn't appear that he's recanted or changed his mind or anything.

Actually, the idea about children is not totally off-base, though I don't believe that kids are "stupid." However, depending on how young they are, they are impressionable, and if the subject is not taught right, then it is possible to tar Germany in total with that brush. That shouldn't be a reason to stop teaching it, though. That should be a reason to improve the teaching of it, and History in general.

From what I understand, the teaching of History in school is not in a good state, and I think that needs to be improved.

This is actually the part of Baker's statements that I agree with, which is that German history shouldn't be taught at the expense of British history. He's quoted as saying "Why I’ve got a thing against the Holocaust and all of that is I think you study your own history first," and "I'm sure that German children are not studying the British Civil War, right?" Yes, British kids should have a good basic understanding of British history, just like American kids should have a good understanding of American history (which sadly, as a whole, they don't).

The problem is that this is not enough, in my view. Kids should understand their whole country, but they should also understand how the world works, and how it worked in the past. The Holocaust is such a huge thing, a worldwide horror, that I don't think it can just be dismissed. As James Smith, chairman of the Holocaust Centre, is quoted as saying in the article, "The period of the Nazis was not just a blip in German history; the Holocaust was a Europe-wide crime." It affected not just Germany, but all of Europe. And its ramifications have been felt worldwide, including in the troubles that plague the Middle East to this day (yes, I do realize that there is much more than that, but it's certainly in there).

I don't want kids to have no inkling that something like this happened within the last 100 years unless they happen to catch a special on the History Channel. I don't want "Never Forget" to turn into "Well, we don't want people thinking *bad* things about Germany, so we'll just ignore this."

I did like one other thing that was in this article. Baker's suggestions come during a time when a committee has been formed to overhaul the current curriculum. One of the suggestions is that History be compulsory until age 16 instead of the current 14. I think this is an excellent idea, and I hope they implement it.

History is such an important subject, and while I don't think people need to study it to the microscopic level that historians do, I do believe a basic knowledge of History is essential to anybody's education. It requires teachers that make it interesting rather than a chore, engaging rather than boring. We don't always get those, but I'm sure they are out there. In my schooling, I only had a couple of teachers who really made it come to life. Thankfully, I was already hooked even on my own, so I was able to get past all of that. I wish I could say the same for others.

I realize that you can't teach everything about History, even if you do raise the age where compulsory History-studying ends. Something as big, as world-effecting as the Holocaust? There's no way that this should be ignored.

Book Review - Pacific Air by David Sears

Those of you who know me know that I'm a huge World War II buff, having read numerous books on the subject. In fact, I remember having read every book on World War II in the Wilson Elementary School library by 3rd grade and wondering where I was going to find more to feed my hunger (Public library? What is this thing you speak of?).

That hasn't gone away as I've grown older. In fact, while my interests have branched out to a huge swath of history, I still love me a good World War II book, especially if it's about something I didn't know a lot about.

Thus comes David Sears' new book, Pacific Air. This book is all about the naval aviation aspect of the war in the Pacific Ocean against the Japanese. It talks about the pilots, the aircraft, the trials and tribulations as well as the triumphs of these flyboys. The other good thing about the book is that it's not totally American-centric. Sears does examine the life of a Japanese pilot as well, adding a fresh perspective to the whole thing.

It's a very good book, and one I'm glad I read. My review has now been posted on Curled Up With a Good Book.

From the review:

Students of World War II know that a large part of the war in the Pacific Ocean against the Japanese consisted of huge carrier battles, where enemy ships never saw each other and the war took place among the planes in the sky. These planes were based on aircraft carriers and the war was a back-and-forth battle between these planes to try and sink the enemy carriers before your own were sunk. Pacific Air by David Sears examines the war from the viewpoint of these pilots, and it's a great read.

Sears begins with the aircraft themselves, detailing how before the war, Grumman became one of the mainstays for the building of naval aircraft. He talks about the flight tests, the strengths and weaknesses of some of the first planes to fly off the assembly line. It is important to get a basic understanding regarding what these pilots were actually flying. However, while the first chapter starts with the reaction of the factory higher-ups when the attack on Pearl Harbor was announced (they were opening a new plant on the same day), and the second tells us about the first naval pilot casualties as they attempt to land in Hawaii and were shot at by panicked ground gunners, this does not make a riveting story for those readers just beginning the book.

Yes, the beginning of the book is really slow, but it definitely picks up and becomes an interesting read.

I give it a big thumbs up, though you pretty much do have to have an interest in World War II or it may not have the same effect that it had on me.

Merry Christmas to all of you

I don't know if I'm going to be doing another blog before Christmas Day, so I figured I'd do this one now.

I am very thankful for my wife and family who love me. I'm thankful to have a group of such wonderful friends, whether I've ever met you or not. I forget that sometimes, and still do miss having any immediate friends in Vancouver (I'm slowly working on that). But I have to realize that there are still plenty of people out there who love me.

I had a lovely evening with two very good friends last night, and it's always a highlight of my Christmas trip home. But some of you I've never even met, but I still feel close to you.

This time of year always makes me nostalgic, like I'm sure it does everyone. Remembering Christmases past and future (or imagining the future ones, anyway). It's in this spirit that I want to wish you all a truly merry Christmas and all the best in the new year as well.

I shared this song on Facebook yesterday, but I want to share it with all of you too. It's my favourite Manneheim Steamroller Christmas song, their rendition of "Silent Night." It's truly beautiful, and I remember the first Christmas that I spent far away from home, after I had moved to Seattle. The song moved me to tears. It still gets me too.




To all of you, either family, friends, regular readers of the blog who don't otherwise know me, or if you just stumble by, I hope you a great holiday.

The Trap of Self-Recrimination

Many people in this world do not have a great self-image, suffer from self-doubt, and all of that good stuff. While I don't believe in the "self-esteem movement" that basically indoctrinates kids to not worry about striving to be their best (but that's a whole other argument), I do believe that it's valuable to have a good opinion of yourself.

I've suffered from this for a long while, and it's been hard sometimes to bring myself out of these self-induced funks (which may be one of the things behind the writing ones I referenced on Saturday), but I am slowly getting better. It's hard work sometimes building that self-confidence that what you do is valuable, or that people actually like you for what you are.

It's these types of feelings that have led to recent posts in the last few months, such as "Companionable Silence," "The Limits of Sympathy," and "Reading Minds." Those posts stemmed from an outward expression of these self-doubts, wondering what your friends are "really" thinking rather than just taking them at face value.

It's a vicious cycle that can very possibly make you miserable. It's also a tough habit to break, no matter how much you've talked about it before.

Let me give you a recent example.

There was an instance in the past couple of weeks that I want to share. It involves something that I sometimes have felt  internally that I haven't helped enough with, though the person involved keeps assuring me that I'm doing fine. Recently, due to other circumstances, I started doing a bit more. The person involved said later "I think it's awesome that you're helping with [fill in the blank]. I really appreciate it and it's made doing it a lot more fun." (not an exact quote, and I'm not saying what it was so as to not reveal who I'm talking about. This person will recognize it if they read it, however).

This person has always been open and direct with me. If there's a problem, it's stated. Yet my very first thought when hearing that was "that's a veiled slam at me not helping on this earlier, isn't it?" Thankfully, because of our history together, I very quickly dismissed that and took that to be the compliment and gratitude that it was. But it says something that my first thought went in that direction.

The other reason that I know this wasn't a veiled shot at me is because this person doesn't allow me to get down on myself, often asking why I said something when I do ("oh, that was my fault." "Why would you say that? It just happened."). So there's no reason that this person would have some kind of hidden meaning behind the words. They know what effect that would have on me.

I like to believe I'm getting better about these things, though I do have my stumbles. While I sometimes don't feel I'm doing as good of a job as I would like, I am doing things that I would not have done a few years ago (like putting myself out there on podcasts, for example). As those posts I shared above indicate, I don't always succeed, but the fact that I'm recognizing the issue is, I think, a good thing.

Then again, the trick is to avoid getting into the self-recrimination trap about self-recriminations. That would be a loop that's almost impossible to get out of it. Getting down on myself because I get down on myself so often?

Yet, funnily enough, that does happen on occasion too. It's like somebody saying "Stop apologizing!" and you say "sorry about that." Yeah, I'm apologizing for apologizing too much. That's helpful.

I think it's always a good thing to examine yourself and see if there are areas of improvement that you can implement. You just have to be constructive about it and actually work on improving that area, or accepting the fact that you are who you are, and that part will never change.

Either way, self-examination: good. Self-recrimination: bad.

(I didn't plan on this being a promotional link-fest, but I feel those posts illustrate things perfectly).

Book Review - Betrayal of Trust by J.A. Jance

I've been a fan of J.A. Jance mysteries, with J.P. Beaumont as the detective, for a while now. I first came onto the Beaumont series because they take place in Seattle, and so it was cool to hear about things that I already kind of knew. Jance's writing is what kept me reading, of course. I haven't read all of the Beaumont books, but I have read all the recent ones, and they are excellent reads for the mystery fans.

Jance's latest book is Betrayal of Trust, a book that starts out seeming like it was about political corruption (or at least something to do with politics) and political families with skeletons. It quickly turns into a page-turner about the trials and tribulations of growing up.

Regular readers of this blog may remember that I wrote briefly about this book back in October. It was my post about story beginnings, and how typically authors are encouraged to grab the reader on the first page and keep a grip on them. Betrayal of Trust doesn't do that, though. Its first six pages drag on and on and on and...well, you get the idea.

Anyway, all that aside, it's an excellent book, and my review of it has now been posted to Curled Up With a Good Book.

From the review:

Beaumont and his "new" wife Melanie (this book apparently takes place about three years after Long Time Gone, the novel in which they met) are officers of Washington State's "Special Homicide Investigation Team" (yes, they get the joke about the acronym a lot), a unit created and run by the state Attorney General. Beaumont and Mel are called in to investigate a video message sent to the grandson of the governor's husband who has been living in the governor's mansion. In the video, a young girl takes part in a “choking game" that turns all too real. In trying to track down the victim and determine whether the young boy is involved, Beaumont and Mel find themselves unwinding a sticky web of adolescence gone wrong.

The mystery is pretty cool, with lots of twists and turns that will keep you guessing.

I know I enjoyed almost every minute of it.

After it really started, of course.

Podcast Stuff - Ep 25 of Down the Hall

It's our last episode of the year, and we've got a real winner for you.

The Christmas Season is upon us, and what better way to celebrate than by giving? I talk to Denise Lauritano, co-chair of the UBC Community United Way Campaign. She stepped in at the last second when our originally scheduled interview fell through, and not only agreed to do it, but was quite enthusiastic about it too. It was amazing, because I knew her back when she worked at a different position at UBC, before she left to go somewhere else where it was in the middle of nowhere. So when I thought of doing the United Way and looked at the page to see who I might talk to, seeing her name there was a wonderful surprise! I didn't even know she had come back.

Jenny and I also have a great discussion on e-textbooks and whether they are the future of post-secondary course materials. Don't worry. It's not all for the college crowd, though, as we do talk about e-books in general as well, and some of the e-textbook stuff is certainly applicable to you Kindle readers! And Nook, and...well, e-readers in general.

There are a lot of laughs in this episode. I think you'll enjoy it. You can find it here.

Also, don't forget that if you want to subscribe to us, you can find us on iTunes! But if you don't want to use iTunes, you can subscribe to us in any blog reader by using this address.

And most importantly, like us on Facebook!

Yet Another Blogging Update

It's been one of those writing funks that are just incredibly hard to get out of. I realize that it's December 17, and I have only posted once this month, and that was a bi-weekly podcast notification post.

I'm not sure what the problem is right now, but I just haven't had the wheels turning in my head, and I've been so easily distracted that it's annoying. It also really pisses me off that these "blogging updates" have become so frequent over the last few months. They always say that to write, you just have to sit down and do it. That's really half the battle. Sure, what you write initially may be crap, but just getting the juices flowing again is the most important thing. You can always edit later. Or just throw it out and write something else.

I do most of my writing on weekend mornings, and I have managed to bang out a couple of book reviews over the last little while. I'm pretty much caught up, though there are three books that are older that I haven't reviewed yet. I've caught up on the recent books I've read. Even that has changed, though. I used to review everything I read. Now I only review books that I received from Curled Up With a Good Book.

There have been a few things that I thought would be worth posting about recently, news stories that struck me as interesting, but I sit down, stare at the keyboard, and say "eh, maybe not."

I avoid New Year's resolutions like the plague, but I am resolving to myself that I am going to be better at doing this. Hopefully better quality, but definitely better timeliness. I look back at this blog, over 700 posts, and I remember the idealism I started with. "I'm going to post every day" I said. "They're going to be interesting and worth reading!" I said.

That has tapered off (the timeliness, hopefully not the worth), and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Blogging every day isn't necessary. I used to think that it was the only way to keep readers interested and subscribed. That if I took days off at a time, these people would drop away. I know that's not the case now, but it's still in the back of my mind. You blogging friends of mine, who manage to keep the readership despite posting very infrequently, I admit I get a little envious sometimes. It shows you've made a connection with people, something that transcends time.

Anyway, that all sounds a little self-pitying, so I'll stop that now.

Let me just say that I will be posting more in the next little while, and I am going to do my best to keep it up. I have made promises like this before, both to you and myself, and they've fallen through. So I'm not going to promise that it will all happen. I do promise to re-dedicate myself to it, and to do my best to get this blog back up to where it was before.

I've got a podcast post going up later today, a book review tomorrow, and maybe some things that will be of interest to other readers who aren't interested in podcasts or book reviews.

I do plan to blog on my travels next week as well. At least, I hope so.

Until then, stay tuned, and stick around. I hope you do it voluntarily.

Handcuffs chafe.

Podcast Stuff - Ep 24 of Down the Hall (Radio EPLT)

It's our one-year anniversary! Yes, the podcast is one year old, and we're celebrating with what I think is a great episode. What makes it so great? Because in addition to your usual awesome hosts, we also have an interview with Carl Leggo, from the Language & Literacy Education department at UBC. He's a fascinating guy that I've known almost since I started at UBC 13 years ago (has it really been that long?). I haven't had the opportunity to work directly with him, but he's always interesting to talk to. So we thought we'd get him on the show! It was a fun interview to do, and I hope you have as much fun with it as I did. Dawnie, I think you might really like this one.

Jenny and I also talk about the podcast itself and how it's changed over the last year, as well as bringing back former co-host Sharon to talk about what she's been up to.

You can find the episode here. Let us know what you think!

Also, don't forget to "like" us on Facebook!


Wow, has it been almost two weeks since I've posted? Sorry about that.