Book Review: Vicious

 The #ReadICT challenge is back for another year, and the first category on the list was a book with a single word for the title.  After a brief search, Vicious by VE Scwabb became the choice.  I've enjoyed Schwabb's other series, Shades of Magic.  Schwabb does a good job of world building, setting up characters that have good depth in world's that give them difficult choices to make.  In Vicious, Scwabb explores a world where people with extraordinary powers exist.  A pair of college classmates attempt to find what gives people these powers, to try to find how to make themselves extra ordinary. The results of these experiments change their paths and many around them forever.  The story is tight, clocking in at a bit under 340 pages.  It is set between several characters, mostly the main pair of Eli and Vic.  The setting mostly revolves around a few days, with a lot of flashbacks to college and the previous months for both characters and their accomplices.  Its an enjoyable look into the darker side of superheroes.  Its not nearly as dark as The Boys, but it certainly gives a grittier look than most superhero work out there.  It did feel like the resolution came abruptly, but was still fulfilling. It had snuck up on me, and left me wanting a longer look into the work. Overall this is definitely a recommended book, and hopefully the next one will be just as enjoyable.  Four stars out of five.

Book Review: The Green Rider

 In trying to find a book that fit the ICTReads category for a strong female lead, my wife found a book at the library called The Green Rider by Kristen Britain.  The book follows a young woman Karigan on her journey after being expelled from her university.  She becomes embroiled in a plot that threatens the whole kingdom from an ancient foe, and reluctantly takes up the mantle of the hero.  This is actually my favorite part of this story, because it breaks the typical story these YA Heroine type books, where all the hero wants to do is get into the action.  Karigan also is skilled, but not unrealistically so for her background.  She frequently needs some outside assistance but is able to also use her quick thinking and wit to get herself out of trouble.  The book has some pacing issues, with a few of Karigan's adventures stretching out a bit too much in a few places.  But the book picks up quite well from the middle onwards, Not my favorite series, but I'll probably at least give the rest of the series a glance. 

Book Review: Milk, A 10,000 Year Food Fracas

Mark Kurlansky is probably one of my favorite authors.  I got Salt several years ago and did not realize how deeply its importance ran through the ancient world.  A book about a mineral would be tough to say it was a cant put down, but it was the truth.  I followed it up with Cod, and again, a topic about a seemingly minor part of the food chain was page turning in its execution.  I recently got Milk for Christmas, and after finishing some other books I dove right in.  Much to my chagrin, this book didn't hit the way the other's had. The book follows milk production across several continents, taking the reader from ancient debates about whether Milk is warm or cold food, to the modern era and the changing of dairy farms and practices.  There are a lot of recipes throughout the book, which at first had been thought to be an extra bonus.  However, their constant presence made reading tiresome instead of spell binding. They would be much more appreciated mostly residing in an appendix, with a few sprinkled in to illustrate a certain point.

Overall this is a 6.5 or 7, because the information was still valuable.  It just was a much more sloggy book, almsot having to just jump pages at a time to get past the recipes.

Book Review: Son of the Black Sword

I've had this book read and ready to be reviewed for several months now, but I just kept missing time to actually sit down and write it out.  Larry Correia's Son of the Black Sword is a fun fantasy novel set in a world of order about to be brought to chaos.  The book is action packed, jumping into fights with th Demons that plague the world's oceans and have forced humans to be isolated from one another following a great war of the Heavens.  The book follows Ashok Vadal, a Protector of the Law, who will have to face what that means as malevolent machinations begin to come to a head.  Several other characters are followed as well that Ashok meets, helping to bring a richer picture of life in this world and break from Ashok's limited view.  Overall there is a lot of exciting action, and solid world building to set up the rest of the series.  Its a good read, and was tough to put down.

Book Review: Carthage Must Be Destroyed

I finally got a chance to finish reading this book, which had been in my part way done pile for about a month.  Not because it wasn't interesting, but just because its been a busy end/ start to the new year.  

The problem with most books detailing Carthage and Rome, is that most of the history we have of the period was written by Romans following the destruction of the once mighty city state.  Miles attempts to delve into a period of history before the Punic Wars, and show how Carthage had influenced the Mediterranean for generations before.  Its very well researched, with almost 150 pages of notes and references, and it reads fairly easily.  The book traces the founding of the Dido of Tyre, as a port to facilitate trade with other Phoenician states to the last days of the city as Scipio Aemilianus laid waste to it. The book does I think slog a bit during the overview of the Punic Wars, but not because its poorly written.  There is just far too much emphasis on the Roman point of view, with long discussions of Roman fears and thoughts.  It would have been more interesting to have more information from Hannibal interspersed (Although the section on the propaganda war waged by him was very good).  Barcid Spain is also glossed over a bit, which would have been interesting to get details of like the book had earlier done with the Carthaginian cities of Sicily. 

The book overall is quite good, even if it comes back to Rome in the end.  I enjoyed the read and learned quite a bit, and the extensive notes list certainly gives an avenue for other literature that might be interesting to read now. 

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry: Review

A book that I have had on my list to read for forever is The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry.  Its a book that starts with a bit of a tangential mystery but delves into the world of Psychiatry and the phenomenon of diagnosing Psychopaths.  As defined a psychopath is a person who exhibits anti-social behaviors that are at the basis caused by a person's complete lack of empathy.  Jon Ronson wrote another very interesting book, The Men Who Stare at Goats, so I was quite excited to delve into this one.

Ronson begins his journey after receiving a request to help solve a puzzle that went out amongst a slew of Academics.  Ronson's path to find who sent the puzzle eventually leads him down another path, one to examine what separates most people from those who posses the traits that make up a Psychopath. Ronson introduces a wide variety of people on his quest to find psychopaths and what makes them.  From Bob Hare who invented the most widely used list of traits, to Scientologists who battle the psychiatry profession as being far too willing to label everyone with a disorder.  The book introduces people like Tony, who has been institutionalized while likely scoring high on the checklist, to the former CEO of Sunbeam Al Dunlap, who definitely scores high.  That story moves from Ronson being a self proclaimed expert at spotting Psychopaths, to a more nuanced view of how hard it actually is to spot personality disorders, especially ones as dangerous as Psychopathy.  

The book is very good.  Ronson has an easy reading style, and the book is relatively short.  Its an engaging book that really makes you start to wonder just how clear cut so many mental disorders ad labels are.  A definite suggested read.

Movemind: Speculative Short Stories Review

I'm really a big fan of the mind bending genre.  Stories with a twist or another way to look at the world are always intriguing, so when I saw Movemind: Speculative Short Stories while perusing the free section on Amazon, so I jumped right on it.  As it tends to be with most of these self-published books, this was hit and miss.  The highs were really good, with The Patriotic Amnesiac and Second Fear delivering on the twist and futurism fear.  Devilish Tricks might be the best of the bunch, exploring how we're never as smart as we think we are.  Others, like the Legend of the Lost, are light hearted and fun.  However, there were several low points. The Principled Principal felt more like a Hallmark film, while the Lost Chapter was just a dud.  The First and Second Constants were just te author ruminating on feelings and political beliefs, not exactly mind bending or asking people to examine a situation in a new unique way.  If this book is cheap I would pick it up because the highs are quite good, but most of the good stuff is up front. 

Economics of the Undead Book Review

Economics is one of the tougher sciences to get started with studying.  Many of the basics are dry, and the further you go the more complicated it feels.   Many books have tried in the past t help ease the pain, like Freakonomics and The Undercover Economist.  They do a good job, and I;ve found them entertaining.  However, Economics of the Undead: Zombies, Vampires and the Dismal Science! examines many basic economic ideas with an appealing twist.  The Undead have been a lens to examine humans for centuries now. and this collection of essays does a good job introducing a lot of good economics thought in a relatable pop way.  One of the better essays uses the the trope of Vampire Boys and the girls that love them to explain suppland and demand, and hit more advanced topics like discount rate. Another uses Zombie Insurance to look at the risk factors that having insurance can create.  A later essay takes a bit of a tongue cheek approach to voter registration, as how the dead always turn out to vote.  Overall just about every essay was entertaining and gave a good look at some economic ways of thinking.  I would definitely recommend this book for fans of the Undead, as well as anyone looking to get some basic grasps of economic theory.

Book Review: The Gordian Knot

For the ReadICT book challenge this year, there was a category for Book from a Genre you don't read.  I'm not really a crime/ mystery reader, but while on vacation the ship's library had a few options so I picked up The Gordian Knot. 

The book overall is intriguing, but utterly unbelievable in the end.  The story follows Georg Polger, a German living in Southern France who has hit a rough patch in life.  His career as a translator has diminished, and the woman he moved with has left him.  However, he finds a bit of luck being hired by  a new company for a hefty salary, and soon stumbles into love with the company secretary.  His fortune only increases as he buys up another translation firm and wins a contract to translate for a big aero-defense project.  Georg however discovers this all has been a ruse, as Francoise (the secretary) has been stealing photos of the helicopter plans.  His whole bit of luck was simply a way to get the plans to him so they could be stolen.  Francoise leaves him, and he is threatened by the police because they are of course in the pocket of the forces conspiring against him.  He deduces through more luck that Francoise has left for the US, where she is really from.  He somehow manages to find her, and unravel the whole espionage mystery.  This, despite facing off against the KGB and other adversaries with decades of experience in the field. 

The story is a bit nonsensical, with many of the characters making choices that seem to only be to further the plot, and instances where Georg simply should not be able to move forward but does.  Its definitely a light read, but it is not a book I would recommend to folks to read beyond something to simply fill time. 

Book Review:Storm Before the Storm

The end of the Roman Republic is one of the most studied periods of history  Not only was it the end of one era, it seems especially important to the minds of Americans as the Roman Republic had given the Founding Fathers so much inspiration.  However, while Caesar crossing the Rubicon was the moment it ended, the roots of that action stretched back generations in the republic.  Mike Duncan in a very accessible way traces several of these causes in Storm Before the Storm.

Duncan lays out that the Roman Republic was not just its mighty armies and impressive trade prowess, but a set of customs and unwritten rules.  The rules governed how political actors governed and how generals conducted themselves n the field.  However, as different political factions struggled for supremacy they slowly began breaking these rules to get their projects and legislation passed.  The book begins with the Gracchi brothers and their attempts at land reform.  Their attempts broke major rules of decorum, and ended with violence as opposition forces took these breaches as a reason to rise up and end the Gracchi lives.  The book then traces other personalities over several generations, as Rome found huge riches and fought several invasion attempts.  Each crisis brought more suspension of rules and traditions, as actors found it expedient to break tradition and pander to lower classes for votes and further violence.  This culminated itself in the question of Citizenship for non-Roman Italians, and an open civil war.  This crisis gave way for men like Sulla and Gaius Marius to turn loyal troops into personal armies.  This moment of Sulla marching through Italy and seizing power gave the blueprint for Julius Caesar to do so years later.  The main theme throughout the book is the continuous decay of rules to constrain actors that brings about the possibility for the end of the republic.  That each event on its own might not have done it, but that each event allowed the next bending of the rule to be easier, and be done much more quickly.

This book covers a lot of territory, and towards the end starts to hurry things along a bit too much.  Overall though it is a great overview of a pivotal moment in world history.

Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology: Book Review

Vacation gave me plenty of time to catch up on some books that had been sitting in my to read pile.  The first on the list was Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology.  Gaiman retells some of the important stories in Norse legend in an engaging and modern way. Covered are some tales anyone who's had a small interest in mythology would have heard, like how the world was created and Ragnorak, the end of this world. Most of the characters we encounter time and again everyone is familiar with, like Odin, Thor and Loki. But Gaiman also gives some people are unlikely to have heard, like how poetry entered into existence; or how the Gods had sown the seeds of their own destruction with Loki's children. A personal favorite was the tale of Thor needing to retrieve his Hammer from a giant that had stolen it. Thor and Loki must pretend to be Freya and her hand maiden to get back to the Giants realm and seek vengance.  As a person that was interested in but not deep into this collection provides a good stepping off point for more examination of Norse Mythology.

Red Star Over the Pacific, Second Edition: Book Review

I don't read many current affairs books.  Often its difficult to judge actions while they're going on, and in just a few years thinking now can prove to be wrong.  However, the case that Toshi Yoshihara and James R Holmes lay out in Red Star Over the Pacific is an important read for consumption to understand a true growing challenge for the United States.  This is a dense book. to be sure  Its target audience really is US military planners and civilian leaders, but the information presented is accessible to everyone.  And its an important case to be made to the American public about the growing strength and ambitions of the PLAN (Peoples Liberation Army Navy).

The authors lay out the strategic reasons for why China would be expanding its navy from a mostly defensive force to envisioning a true peer blue water fleet to the US.  Largely driven by the geography of the First Island Chain, the Chinese seek to secure their future as a maritime and world power.  Examining both current Chinese defense literature and the writings of early communist defense writers, the book lays out why the Chinese seem to be on a true Mahanian course for their build up. The current development of some of the most advanced anti-ship missiles in the world help to under gird a network of quickly growing in quality warships to secure the first island chain in the event of a conflict.  This build up would allow the Chinese then to project power to the Second Island chain.  The end thrust of the book points to how the US and its western allies have moved to a post-Mahanian navy, and the dangers that could entail in the future.  This point is underscored today by the recent report from ProPublica on the USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain tragedies in 2016.  The authors are quick to point out the US and CHina are not neccessarily on a collision course for armed conflict, but explores several possibilites that could lead to one.

This overall is a very timely read.  The book reads well even for more novice folks, and is a good look at the dangers of the current situation in the Western Pacific.  US leaders must walk a fine line between preparing for but not exacerbating a conflict in this theatre.  This book provides a good reason for why there must be action taken sooner rather than later.

Book Review: Empire of the Summer Moon

One of the bigger gaps in my knowledge is inside the Old West here in the US.  I have a vague knowledge of many of the bigger events, but its superficial at best.  When on a podcast then about a month ago they had the author on of a book detailing the Comanche People's interactions in the West, I thought this was a place to start filling in.  SC Gwynne weaves an incredible amount of information into a very easy to read novel that covers much of the recorded history of the Comanche Nation in Empire of the Summer Moon: Qanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches.

The book begins with the brutal raid at a frontier homestead, a story that would play out over and over again as folks from the Eastern United States streamed West into the vast plains of Texas and Oklahoma.  There, Cynthia Ann Parker and several memebers of her family that survived were captured by the Comanches and taken for years.  Cynthia Anne would eventually integrate into Comanche life, with her son to play a larger role for the tribe in its waning years.  This story serves as a driver to the history Gwynne details thouroughly thotughout the book.  It is also I think the weakest part of the book, largely because outside a few sightings and then a chapter that describes her dreadful forced reintegration into her past culture, Cynthia Anne plays no role.

 But the history getting between her capture and eventual "release" is one of two clashing empires.  The COmanche had become the most powerful Plains tribe by virtue of the unmatched horesmanship and a penchant for fighting war's to the hilt.  Originally driven into Wyoming by other tribes, the Comanche essentially had disappeared before somehow obtaining some wayward ponies from the failing Spanish empire.  From there, they became the finest horsemen with nearly unmatched skill.  With these horses, they conquered and controlled lands from Wyoming to Mexico and as far East as Kansas and Oklahoma.  The book details how the Comanche essentially blunted the Spanish move into the US hinterland, and also kept the nation of Mexico from succeeding as well.  Their ability to travel vast distances (over 400 miles for a raid) was at the forefront of their power.  The book does an excellent job of detailing the back and forth battles that the Comanche fought with the US, and does a good job not to moralize either side.  It walks a fine line of describing a true battle of Empires, and the reasons why a peace could not be found between the adversaries.  

The later portion of the book follows Qanah Parker, Cynthia Anne's son.  He had escaped fromt he cavalry group that returned Cynthia to the US territory, and so continued his life as a COmanche.  He grew to be an esteemed war leader, and eventually after being defeated became an instrumental leader for the Tribe living on the reservation. 

Overall this is an enjoyable book with a lot of history packed in.  It paints a vivid picture of frontier life and life for the Comanche in throughout the 19th century, and all the changes that occurred.  The book can drag in a few spots, but overall it reads easily.  I woudl recommend it if you are interested at all in the frontier West.

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World Review

For almost every millennial there was a period in life where the prime obsessiion in their life was dinosaurs.  Whether it was triggered by Jurassic Park or something else, everyone I have known has at some point loved dinosaurs.  They still are one of the most fascinating species to have ever walked this Earth.  The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World is a wonderful examination of how these beasts came to be the massive creatures they were, and how they so quickly disappeared from the planet.

Author Steve Brusatte is quite gifted.  His presentation is a mixture of his experiences and people he's met hunting for fossils as well as the tale of those fossils.  The book reads quite easily, but it is jam packed with interesting information about dinosaur life.  It begins in the Permian world, tracking down differences in sprawling creatures that would resemble modern day crocodiles most.  It traces their lineage through the early Triassic period, where dinosaurs were small and definitely at the bottom.  They rise however in a world that was breaking apart as the continents drifted and weather became more stable   Brusatte spends several chapters developing the dinosaur lineage, coming to dominance of the behemoth Tyrannosaurus Rex and his contemporaries like Triceratops.  Each chapter follows Brusatte as he's excavated a set of fossils pertaining to that period of dinosaur development, or a quest by a dear colleague of his to find some new information about a specific species.  If there is one critique it is the name dropping that is persistent, but its only a very minor annoyance by the end.  

This book is an absolute classic.  It is entertaining throughout, and filled with wonderful new information.  It is a definite 5/5 stars and I would recommend it to everyone who has any interest in dinosaurs or even if they dont to discover just a wonderful sotry

Book Review: Civilization: The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson

Civilization: The West and the Rest examines how the Western World has come to dominate the globe, despite being so far behind the near and far East in the early period of the Middle Ages.  Ferguson breaks the reasoning into six different portions (Killer Apps as he calls them) that allowed the backwards kingdoms of Europe to catch up to the Chinese Empires as well as the Ottomans. 
The six apps he identifies are : Competition, Science, Property Rights, Medicine, Consumer Society and Work Ethic.  Each App gets a chapter devoted to it, with a lot of details and anecdotes to highlight the differences in the different areas.  A few of the apps, like Competition make several appearances throughout each other chapter as well.The book is dense with anecodtes and facts, so it is certainly not a light read.

Overall I enjoyed this book, though a few of the premises I find a bit of a stretch.  The Work Ethic chapter for instance I believe is a bit thin, and it really relies more on competition than perhaps being its own App.  The Medicine chapter also really should fal into the Scientific chapter, since it mostly highlights the change from faith based healing to medical science.  The chapters also have a tendency to meander, and include some facts that dont really fall into lien with the main thrust of the chapter.   For these reasons I think it compares a little lower to Guns, Germs and Steel which I thought hit a great line of reasoning and defended it quite well.  However, it is still a thought provoking book, and provides a lot of interesting facts and figures to consider.  Overall a 3.5 star effort.

Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire. Review

On one of the Podcasts that I listen to they do a book club style episode every month or so and there was one that stood out to me.  However, the Library didn't have it in stock, and I felt like I might need a little it more of an introduction to the Mediterranean in the 14th to 18th centuries.  So I turned to one of the books that was available, Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire.  Written by Jason Goodwin, this 325 page book is an introduction from the humble beginnings of the empire as a group of nomadic warriors to an empire that stretched from Baghdad into Europe and all through the Mediterranean. 

This book was tough to read.  Goodwin's style is a bit flowery and poetic, which makes it tough to retain the focus on the source material.  While roughly organized in chronological order, there are a lot of instances of jumping around in each chapter.  This makes keeping all of the main players difficult, as you try to track which Sultan is still in control or Vizier is making the calls for a particular campaign.  THe content of each chapter is also only roughly organized, with descriptions of fortifications on the frontier intermingling with descriptions of poetry and an out of date tax system. 

Apart from the style, the book also is mostly concerned with the European portion of the Empire, with long details of holdings in Eastern Europe and exploits there, with only a cursory look at the Turkish people that made up a majority of the empire.  There is also a large reliance on works by Europeans visiting the Empire versus primary sources of Turkish origin.  The descriptions of many of the campaigns and important battles are built more narrative than likely should have been for such important inflection points in the Empire's history.  The Siege of Vienna especially was written without any insight into the tactical moments.

Overall I'm a bit disappointed in this book and its overall ability to give a real working history of the Empire, and to provide a framework for which to study the topic further.  I would only give 2 stars for it.

WPL 2018 Reading Challenge: Superman: Red Son Review

Another month another book checked off the list.  I'm typically not a fan of graphic novels, but I decided to a do a pair of them for this challenge to really try to push myself a bit outside my normal likes and dislikes.  A friend who is very much into Graphic Novels recommended Superman: Red Son as one of the best pieces in the genre and its well recieved by pretty much everyone that reads it.  I found it to be a good story, although with a bit of a weak ending.  The art style is very good, which is what typically will pull me off a comic.  Its also a good introduction to the genre, since most of the named characters are well known enough to even casual fans and the story is not set in the middle of several other arcs.  The rest of the review will contain some spoilers, so I'll put it beyond the jump. 

WPL 2018 Reading Challenge: The Jackaby Novels Review

I'm a bit behind on writing up my reviews for the Reading Challenge, but I'm at least on pace to finish my books.  For this review, I needed to to a detective or true crime novel.  I really dislike these novels though.  My mother is an avid reader of detective novels, but I just never could get into them.  So I decided to search out a book in a genre I typically like, that of the supernatural.  And lo and behold, Amazon brought me to Jackaby.  I didn't pay too close of attention to it before heading over to the library, and checking out the first three books in the series that they had.  If I had, I would have noticed it was a Teen/ Young Adult series.  Not that this was an issue.  I often find these books to be good quick reads that don't try to be too smart with extra plots and an inexplicable page count. The three novels I read are Jackaby, Beastly Bones, and Ghostly Echoes.  The Dire King was not at the library, but hopefully they will have it soon.

Jackaby is a detective of the paranormal, because he's also a Seer.  He can actually see the true form of many supernatural creatures that hide in our everyday world.  The novels are told from the point of view of Jackaby's assistant, Abigail Rook.  She's newly entered into the job, fresh from Europe and a potentially stodgy life in England.  Each novel reads easily and the stories follow a larger building story arc that should conclude in the 4th book. The culprits in each book are a little obvious for an adult reading it, but the plot moves along and doesnt ever get bogged down so reading isnt tedious.  The first novel introduces the township where Jackaby and Abigail reside, and they work a case that introduces most of the main players.  The second book reads easily and has several very funny bits in it, as well as a bit of drama.  The third book continues the over arching story arc and brings in some other mythological components.  The story takes places in the 1880s, which helps lend to some of the mysticism and creatures that exist before video capture and other recordings.

William Ritter did an exemplary job in creating his characters.  Jackaby is a bit off, but not so much that a reader questions how he existed in the world before Abigail entered his life.  For her part Abigail could have fallen into the trope of Damsel-Not-In-Distress, but rather has several vulnerable moments and an actual plot related reason to not want to only live as a Gentleman's wife back in England.  The two match up quite well, and the other tertiary characters evolve along with them and make rational choices based on what we know about them. 

Overall I enjoyed reading these books, and hope to find the last novel to finish it off.   They are pretty easy reads (I maybe spent about 5 hours between the three novels).  For many folsk the conspirator will be pretty obvious before the characters make the same discovery, but for someone that enjoys a bit of the supernatural this would be an excellent quick read.  I'd also recommend it for its target audience, since it avoids a pitfall too many YA novels seem to hit now of trying to be overly edgy.

Book Review: The NFL, Year One: The 1970 Season and the Dawn of Modern Football

I think readers of this site will notice I'm a football junky.  I love to watch the games, but also to delve into the intricate details of plays and how games flow.  Its important though to understand the evolution of the game, and Brad Schultz's The NFL, Year One: The 1970 Season and the Dawn of Modern Football captures one of the league's biggest years. 

Schultz begins by talking about the old NFL-AFL rivalry, the history of both league's leading up to the merger and how an intense feeling of dislike helped to build intrigue week in and week out.  This section is expansive, going back into the NFL's rise in the 1950s and the AFL's sudden jolt in the 1960s. Its amazing to think that despite the NFL's grasp as the more venerable league, the AFL was able to take two of the four super bowls played at the end of the decade.  Its largely due to the inventiveness many AFL teams were willing to commit to, such as favoring a more open passing game and more soccer style kickers. 

As he starts exploring the season, each team gets at least a little attention, spotlighted in a weekly game that gets broken down for how it unfolded in a chapter.  Injuries leading up to it, quotes from players and coaches and storylines that made the game intriguing.  The team's remaining season is expounded upon, and the author includes some more future information for teams that did not make the playoffs in the 1970 season.  Some of the highlights were the recaps of Georga Blanda's miracle come backs, Tom Dempsey's record shattering field goal to beat the Lions, and Paul Brown's eventual revenge against his namesake team, the Cleveland Browns.  This section is nice, but I would have liked a little more for each game.  The future information was nice because it did help describe how 1970 was a high or low point for many of the league's teams. 

The book then moves to a brief recap of each playoff game leading up to the Colts and Cowboys meeting in Super Bowl 5.  The way Schulta describes the lead up to the game is great.  Both teams are trying to shake off ghosts of their past failures, and they're acutely aware of it.  The Colts needed redemption for Super Bowl 3, while the Cowboys had come to be known as "Next Year's Team".  The game though was a massive let down, with many writers lamenting the lack of AFL-NFL rivalry heat going in, and neither team having played very well through the playoffs.  The game did turn out to be a dud, which would have major implications for the future for the league and many of the players involved. 


Schultz ends the book with some thoughts on how the 1970 season affected the league going forward.  Fresh in the minds of league officials was the mess that was Super Bowl 5, which lead to a lot of rule changes to help offenses move from the simple ground games that had dominated for so long.  1970 had started with a labor dispute, which Schultz pointed out set the stage for players to continue to win more concessions from owners in future years.  Broadcasting took a big step forward in 1970 with Monday Night Football starting to hit a stride, and it continues into this day.

The book is good, but its fairly short.  I enjoyed it overall, but would have loved to have some more emat for each game and get some more player interviews and insights. 

WPL 2018 Reading Challenge: BAEN Free Library Short Story Review

The Wichita Public Library has done several reading challenges over the years, and this time I am going to participate.  The first item on the list that I'm checking off is the collection of short stories.  Crafting a good short story is tough.  Its easy to just keep chucking problems at characters and trying to fit too much in.  A well done short though will open and close a universe in a way that leaves the reader satisfied, and wanting to hear more in the universe.

Right around Christmas I had seen someone tweet out a link to BAEN publishing free library.  Its a collection of several books that start series or are free short story bundles for the most part.  Its a nice way to check out if you like an author's style before needing to buy the book.  I will warn you, several of these books have series that are more than 4 or 5 long, so if you like it you might end up investing quite a bit.

I chose the 2017 Short Story collection, and overall I was mostly pleased with the choice.  For free, getting 16 stories is a nice bargain. I do think they should have changed the order a bit, since I think the collection starts a little weakly. The first, Does a Bear Shoot in the Woods? by Wen Spencer was intriguing, but overall was just a little too goofy for me.  DEI Britannci really needed a follow up, since its just a prologue for a book.  The Arenaverse story was poorly edited, and just made no sense.  Into the Gonebeyond was the best of the lot so far, with some fairly well developed lines and a nice finish.  Cutting Corners was a bit forgettable, since nothing of importance happens.  Fire on the Hill needed a bit more fleshing out, and has a nice universe for future stories though.  Feldspar and Bullet Catch are both award winners, and were pretty darn good.  I also enjoyed Force Multipliers being What They are, although the heroes I think have too easy of a time.  The Powhatan should have some follow up tales set in that world, with odd mutation people and the Romans being in North America.  What We're Made Of might be the best in the book, posing some good ethical questions and good military tension, as well as hitting some harder sci-fi notes.  Children of the Dust and The Blue Widow both I think warrant a read, and I need to find if there are more stories in those universes.  CHildren of Dust combining a bit of a Dystopia and High Sci Fi feel, while Blue Widow deals in a world where ghosts and monsters are daily occurrences.  The collection ends with a couple of duds though.  Sufficient Unto the Day was odd, and fairly pointless over all.  On Site for the Apocalypse I think breaks the cardinal rule of Short Stories by hitting you with a Continue Later at the climax.  Either make it part of a larger book, or don't write it if the climax is read my next book.

Overall the collection was good, with some very strong entries and some very weak ones.  The editing I must warn is in dire need, since in a few stories entire paragraphs were missing.  For the price, you can't beat it though.