Review: Swordfishtrombones

Swordfishtrombones by David Smay

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I never knew about the formal connection of Beefheart and Waits (Herb Cohen) as well as the artistic influence (in Kathleen Brennan's LP collection), but it was one of the tidbits I gleaned on the reclusive waits from this paean to Waits' opus, his carnival and skid row style, and penchant for fantastic hyperbole. Much of it is empty if entertaining imitative wordplay. Good for the Waits fan; brief and fairly focused.



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Review: Mind Tools: The Five Levels of Mathematical Reality

Mind Tools: The Five Levels of Mathematical Reality by Rudy Rucker

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



In my reading, something happened between considering a tetrahedron’s vertices labeled Disease, Death, Loneliness, and Struggle and the passage: “The symbol 0 seems egg-like, female, while 1 is spermlike and male. Can this really be an accident? …An egg is round, and a sperm is skinny. …Formally speaking, both zero and one are undefinable.” I began to wonder why Dover reprinted this peculiar work. Into “Number”, after a discourse on Pythagorean metaphysics heading toward numerology, the book takes a turn into material that is worth keeping in print.

[See my full review on MAA Reviews.]



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Review: One Man's Initiation: 1917

One Man's Initiation: 1917 by John Dos Passos

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I have felt I should read Dos Passos at some time, and thought I'd start with this early, semi-autobiographical novella. Well, this is no [b:All Quiet on the Western Front|355697|All Quiet on the Western Front|Erich Maria Remarque|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388243875s/355697.jpg|2662852] and I think the best thing about it is its brevity. Apparently having no pressing obligations to associate with their unit or do any fighting, American and French would-be warriors idle about chatting, philosophizing, and reminiscing.



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Review: Dr. Mary's Monkey: How the Unsolved Murder of a Doctor, a Secret Laboratory in New Orleans and Cancer-Causing Monkey Viruses are Linked to Lee Harvey Oswald, the JFK Assassination and Emerging Global Epidemics

Dr. Mary's Monkey: How the Unsolved Murder of a Doctor, a Secret Laboratory in New Orleans and Cancer-Causing Monkey Viruses are Linked to Lee Harvey Oswald, the JFK Assassination and Emerging Global Epidemics by Edward T. Haslam

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The premise of odd duck David William Ferrie and Dr. Mary Sherman working under armed guard at a US Public Health Service facility with a linear particle accelerator crafting super-cancer to kill Castro only to have Ferrie's twisted hate direct it to a genocidal attack that unleashes AIDS is a but much to swallow. On top of that, Lee Harvey Oswald working under Dr. Alton Ochsner at this task with Judyth Vary Baker author of [b:Me & Lee: How I Came to Know, Love and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald|6686737|Me & Lee How I Came to Know, Love and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald|Judyth Vary Baker|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328763811s/6686737.jpg|6882068] is all a bit "conspiracy a go-go". Still, Haslam puts together some interesting facts:


1] The linear particle accelerator sure seems to fit Dr. Mary Sherman's death scene and supported by a realistic look at cremation

2] We are coming around to the reality of cancer viruses

3] It makes as much sense as Stone did of Clay Shaw, Guy Bannister, Jim Garrison, and the mafia-seasoned Crescent City milieu.

Interesting for me, this book has a side show in the sniper incident I plan on reading of soon in [b:A Terrible Thunder: The Story of the New Orleans Sniper|832540|A Terrible Thunder The Story of the New Orleans Sniper|Peter Hernon|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348006227s/832540.jpg|818178].





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Review: Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




I found this account of one man's journey from imbecility to super-intelligence and back to be very moving as a young man. I enjoyed it just as much this time, and probably got more out of it.

I first read it as a banned book made available to me by an open-minded if rule-breaking asst. librarian.



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Review: Gurdjieff

Gurdjieff by Louis Pauwels

My rating: 3 of 5 stars




Vindictive demonizaiton or non-fiction? You decide. Plenty of surrealist plates, too.



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Review: The Decline of the West. Complete One Volume Edition

The Decline of the West. Complete One Volume Edition by Oswald Spengler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




An important look at the history of Western civlization written in 1917. An incredibly probing look into the meanins of culture, philosophy, etc. from a mascroscopic, pan-historical view. Very heavy, I can scarcely handle five pages a day. Now, I am over half-way through volume II. The reading here gets near impenetrable, though some sections like Nobles and The Priesthood are thick with deep thoughts worth considering. I finally finished this after months of effort. I have read no finer work of historic and pan-cultural study. Here on the eve of WWI, Spengler predicted the Cold War, American apathy with a corrupt political system and much more



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