Review: From the Earth to a Star: My Incredible Life

From the Earth to a Star: My Incredible Life by Seamus Burke

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I tracked this book down from a reference to it in [b:Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women|178148|Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women|Ricky Jay|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312005285s/178148.jpg|172090]. I really enjoyed reading it and it caused me to see out this rare, privately printed memoir and I had inter-library loan it and wait for weeks. I thank Burke & Jay for making me so excited to track down a book again, something I haven't felt since Amazon.com, Google Books, etc. made such hunts to easy. So, I wanted to know the secrets of "enterology" - the trick of getting both into and out of locked trunks and sewn tissue bags. In the intro, Burke says he will not reveal, but will explain. After that there is a fascinating life of poverty, street singing for money, fighting for Achi Baba in 1915 during the World War I Gallipoli campaign, and penning songs for performers during the variety/vaudeville heyday before the rise of the revue forced him to discover "automatic drawings" (rather like exquisite corpses done from the middle out, they festoon the book) and the powers of enterology before finishing out a career as assistant to Gracie Fields. How was enterology done? Burke asserts it was a trance-like de-materialization and a mystery to him. Looking at the unconvincing photographs I wonder if this is an Irish tall tale repeated by Jay (maybe with a wink) and something that never happened, or didn't happen as described. Why did Burke skip over his own career as imaginative playwright? I am unable to find any evidence his enterology occurred outside such sources as himself and Jay....



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Review: My Lobotomy: A Memoir

My Lobotomy: A Memoir by Howard Dully

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Some how, I missed the popular 'Sound Portraits' episode that introduced Dully to the world. This book is an expression of all the material and coming to grips with being lobotomised through the mechanizations of a wicked step mother when he was twelve. You cannot fit all that into a 22-minute radio documentary. This goes more into detail on the written reports Mr. Freeman (I can't call him "Dr.") made on this case and how Howard took decades to rebound. Besides meeting the famous brain damager, Howard has Zelig-like brushes with others, like Napoleon Murphy Brock of The Mothers of Invention, Olympians, singer Connie Stevens, etc. Dully shows remarkable forbearance and lack of vindictiveness in what is a quest for understanding, not blame. This paperback edition has added material that includes MRI results showing his young brain compensated mightily for the damage of the ice pick assault.



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Review: My Lobotomy: A Memoir

My Lobotomy: A Memoir by Howard Dully

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Some how, I missed the popular 'Sound Portraits' episode that introduced Dully to the world. This book is an expression of all the material and coming to grips with being lobotomised through the mechanizations of a wicked step mother when he was twelve. You cannot fit all that into a 22-minute radio documentary. This goes more into detail on the written reports Mr. Freeman (I can't call him "Dr.") made on this case and how Howard took decades to rebound. Besides meeting the famous brain damager, Howard has Zelig-like brushes with others, like Napoleon Murphy Brock of The Mothers of Invention, etc. Dully shows remarkable forbearance and lack of vindictiveness in what is a quest for understanding, not blame. This paperback edition has added material that includes MRI results showing his young brain compensated mightily for the damage of the ice pick assault.



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Review: The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers

The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers by Bryan Christy

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was a fascinating look into the claustrophobic world of reptile smuggling: claustrophobic because there are few smugglers at the top with elite chased by a few (underfunded Fish & Wildlife Service officers) and the smuggled reptiles are crammed into socks and pillow cases. Even adding to the enclosure, key personnel here have similar backgrounds and overlapping history. One feels for the mistreated, unfortunately profitable animals and the animal police held back by lack of resources and toothless laws.



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Review: Snuff

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



These Pratchett novels are like comfort food; warm and welcoming. I like to dip into one from time to time for especially the pithy quips that feel like equal parts Douglas Adams and Stephen Wright: "male intuition" and pickle jars that are never empty when stirred up with a spoon. this one had a lot of social commentary with the civil rights battle for a goblin underclass.

I think I like this writing the most since it makes me think of the humour and imagination of [a:Douglas Adams|4|Douglas Adams|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1189120061p2/4.jpg].



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Review: Columbine

Columbine by Dave Cullen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



It is hard to imagine a book more definitive on the tragedy than this one, so I had to give it four starts. It has the timeline and details of the killer's attack (with all the ineffectual timed bombs and effective pipe bombs I didn't recall), the ineffectual and glacial police response (and cover up of pre-attack investigations) and the later life arcs of key survivors and participants. The attack is played out early on and something about this audiobook (maybe that it was spoke to me and not read by me) seemed almost excited, dare I say gleeful, about it. That was rather unsettling.

One thing the book makes clear is out these teens surprised law enforcement with their arsenal and the their level of weaponry. The point is made is that this contributed to a trend in police taking an active response to an active shooter. Now, in Ferguson, MO we see the pendulum has swung to far in the direction of militarization of the police.



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Review: Columbine

Columbine by Dave Cullen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



It is hard to imagine a book more definitive on the tragedy than this one, so I had to give it four starts. It has the timeline and details of the killer's attack (with all the ineffectual timed bombs and effective pipe bombs I didn't recall), the ineffectual and glacial police response (and cover up of pre-attack investigations) and the later life arcs of key survivors and participants. The attack is played out early on and something about this audiobook (maybe that it was spoke to me and not read by me) seemed almost excited, dare I say gleeful, about it. That was rather unsettling.



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