"The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History" Book Review

The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History by Linwood Custalow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History incorporates the sacred oral history of the Mattaponi that has been passed down to Lin "Little Bear" since his childhood, by his father, the late Mattaponi Chief Webster "Little Eagle" Custalow; his uncle, the late Mattaponi Chief O. T. Custalow; and grandfather, the late Mattaponi Chief George F. Custalow; and those that came before. The Mattaponi Indian Tribe, along with the Pamunkey Tribe, was one of the original core tribes of the Powhatan Chiefdom, which the English colonists encountered in the 17th century while establishing Jamestown. For nearly 400 years people have heard the Euro-American rendition and interpretation of events that transpired between the English colonists and the Powhatan Indians. The True Story of Pocahontas is the first public publication of the Powhatan perspective that has been maintained and passed down from generation to generation within the Mattaponi Tribe, and the first written history of Pocahontas by her own people.

This is a written account of the true story of Pocahontas, as told by her people in the oral history of the Mattaponi tribe. The Powhatan, of whom Pocahontas was a celebrated member and whose father was the main chief, are no longer the tribe they once were, but her descendants live on with the Mattaponi tribe.

There is a saying, that history is written by the winners, and for the most part that has been true. I don't think I have heard of another account like this from anywhere else. It is usually only through the persistence of historians that we look back at cultures and people who were destroyed, either by time and/or invaders, and realize they weren't barbarians who were doomed to die off.

I'm a bit shocked by how different the actual happenings of history and what has been passed down in popular culture. In a way I didn't want to think that she had been abused and forced to do things that 'history' credits her with doing out of love, like marrying that English commoner when she was already married and had a child. I also can't believe she died so young. Portraits painted of her make it look as though she had been in England for a lot longer than she actually was.

I really enjoyed learning about the history and customs of the Powhatan and how their hierarchy worked. The repetitive nature of the story didn't bother me too much. In my mind it was like those old Greek tales sans poetry, "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" where they had to repeat everything for the benefit of the listener.

I'm glad I read it. Though general consensus is that John Smith was a lying jerk that not too many people liked, his version is the one most likely to be remembered, so I'm glad they decided to print out what they knew about the events.

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4 out of 5 werowances.

Graphic Designer of the Month: Paul Rand

Picture found here.

Book cover design
by Paul Rand.
Picture found here.

A Short Biography: The man who made corporate America cool was born named Peretz Rosenbaum (Source #1) on August 15th, 1914 in Brooklyn, New York. "He embraced design at a very young age, painting signs for his father's grocery store as well as for school events at P.S. 109. Rand's father did not believe art could provide his son with a sufficient livelihood, and so he required Paul to attend Manhattan's Harren High School while taking night classes at the Pratt Institute, Rand was largely "self-taught as a designer, learning about the works of Cassandre (pseudonym of Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron) and László Moholy-Nagy from European magazines such as Gebrauchsgraphik.

Book covers designed
by Paul Rand.
Picture found here.

"Rand was educated at the Pratt Institute (1929–1932), Parsons The New School for Design (1932–33), and the Art Students League(1933–1934). From 1956 to 1969, and beginning again in 1974, Rand taught design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Rand was inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1972.

"Rand devoted his final years to design work and the writing of his memoirs. In 1996, he died of cancer at age 82 (November 26th, 1996) in Norwalk, Connecticut. He is buried in Beth El Cemetery." (Source #2)

Logos designed by Paul Rand. Picture found here.

What Was His Specialty:
"The International Typographic Style, also known as the Swiss Style, is a graphic design style developed in Switzerland in the 1950s that emphasizes cleanliness, readability and objectivity. Hallmarks of the style are asymmetric layouts, use of a grid, sans-serif typefaces like Akzidenz Grotesk, and flush left, ragged right text. The style is also associated with a preference for photography in place of illustrations or drawings. Many of the early International Typographic Style works featured typography as a primary design element in addition to its use in text, and it is for this that the style is named.

Book cover design
by Paul Rand.
Picture found here.

"Other designers who use this Max Bill, Adrian Frutiger, Armin Hofmann, Richard Paul Lohse, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Emil Ruder, and Jan Tschichold." (Source #3)

About His Work & Influences: "Though Rand was a recluse in his creative process, doing the vast majority of the design load despite having a large staff at varying points in his career, he was very interested in producing books of theory to illuminate his philosophies. László Moholy-Nagy may have incited Rand's zeal for knowledge when he asked his colleague if he read art criticism at their first meeting. Rand said no, prompting Moholy-Nagy to reply "Pity." Steven Heller ( wrote "Thoughts on Rand" for Print magazine in May–June 1997 edition) elaborates on this meeting's impact, noting that, "from that moment on, Rand devoured books by the leading philosophers on art, including Roger Fry, Alfred North Whitehead, and John Dewey." These theoreticians would have a lasting impression on Rand's work; in a 1995 interview with Michael Kroeger discussing, among other topics, the importance of Dewey's Art as Experience, Rand elaborates on Dewey's appeal:

Book cover design
by Paul Rand.
Picture found here.

'[. . . Art as Experience] deals with everything — there is no subject 

he does not deal with. That is why it will take you one hundred years 

to read this book. Even today's philosophers talk about it[.] 

[E]very time you open this book you find good things. 

I mean the philosophers say this, not just me. You read this, 

then when you open this up next year, that you read something new.'

"Dewey is an important source for Rand's underlying sentiment in graphic design; on page one of Rand's groundbreaking Thoughts on Design, the author begins drawing lines from Dewey's philosophy to the need for "functional-aesthetic perfection" in modern art. Among the ideas Rand pushed in Thoughts on Design was the practice of creating graphic works capable of retaining recognizable quality even after being blurred or mutilated, a test Rand routinely performed on his corporate identities." (Source #2)

A set of children's books
designed by Paul Rand.
Picture found here.

Where He Can Be Found: Though this great designer is dead, his website is located here at http://www.paul-rand.com/, with a simple aesthetic I think he would be most proud of.

Effect On Graphic Design: "Rand's most widely known contributions to design are his corporate identities, many of which are still in use. IBM, ABC, Cummins Engine, UPS, and the now-infamous Enron, among many others, owe Rand their graphical heritage. One of his strengths, as Moholy-Nagy pointed out, was his ability as a salesman to explain the needs his identities would address for the corporation. According to graphic designer Louis Danziger:

'He almost singlehandedly convinced business that design 

was an effective tool. [. . .] Anyone designing in the 1950s and 1960s 

owed much to Rand, who largely made it possible 

for us to work. He more than anyone else made the profession 

reputable. We went from being commercial artists to being 

graphic designers largely on his merits.'

Book cover design

by Paul Rand.

Picture found here.

"Although his logos may be interpreted as simplistic, Rand was quick to point out in A Designer's Art that 'ideas do not need to be esoteric to be original or exciting.' His American Broadcasting Company trademark, created in 1961, then used by ABC-TV in the fall of 1962, epitomizes that ideal of minimalism while proving Rand's point that a logo 'cannot survive unless it is designed with the utmost simplicity and restraint.' Rand remained vital as he aged, continuing to produce important corporate identities into the eighties and nineties with a rumored $100,000 price per single solution. The most notable of his later works was his collaboration with Steve Jobs for the NeXT Computer corporate identity; Rand's simple black box breaks the company name into two lines, producing a visual harmony that endeared the logogram to Jobs. Steve Jobs was pleased: just prior to Rand's death in 1996, his former client labeled him, simply, 'the greatest living graphic designer.' " (Source #2)

Paul Rand's book
Thoughts On Design.
Picture found here.

Bibliography: 

• Rand, Paul (1970). Thoughts On Design. Studio Vista Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 978-0289798362.

• Rand, Paul (1985). Paul Rand: A Designer's Art. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300082821.

• Rand, Paul (1994). Design, Form, and Chaos. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300055535.

• Rand, Paul (1996). From Lascaux to Brooklyn. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300066760.

Sources:
- #1 - http://www.kettererkunst.com/bio/paul-rand-1914.shtml
- #2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Rand
- #3 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Typographic_Style

Also, this video, which I first saw here: 

http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/design/video/2012/may/25/

phaidons-great-way-to-start-the-day/.

"A Scented Palace" Book Review

A Scented Palace: The Secret History of Marie Antoinette's Perfumer by Elisabeth de Feydeau
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"This book offers a new look at the world of Marie Antoinette through the story of her personal and exclusive perfumer, Jean-Louis Fargeon. Jean-Louis served Marie for fourteen years until 1789 when the Revolution swept across France, its wrath aimed at the extravagances of the Royal Court and those who served it. Fargeon, a lifelong supporter of the Republican cause but a purveyor to the court, was in a dangerous position. Yet he remained fiercely loyal to Marie Antoinette, beyond her desperate flight to Varennes, her execution and even through his own imprisonment and trial. A Scented Palace is a wonderful window into the world of France during its most brutal and violent days."

I was debating 3 1/2 to 4 stars. It was an interesting book, but not quite of the traditional biographical vein. I had been expecting to learn about the perfumer rather than read about his passion, but I cannot say that I did not enjoy myself.

It was nice to have a closer look at Marie Antoinette. But other than the usual fare about her majesty (her dresses, the lesbian rumors, her 'affair' with Count Axel de Fersen, the Affair of the Neckless), there isn't anything new to read about. Fargeon liked his Queen, but he was still a staunch Republican.

I read, once again, that Rose Bertin, though a talented clothing designer, is a terrible businesswoman and a bit stuck up even for being the Queen's milliner. And also had the gall to price her items at such exorbitant costs. It's still such a shame that there isn't a recently published biography of her; the closest was printed in 1908 by John Long Limited and written by Emil Langlade (according to Goodreads). I'd still like to read it though. There's a French version by Michelle Sapori published in 2004; I hope it's due to come out in English sometime soon.

The ending was a bit anticlimactic (I hope that doesn't give too much away). I liked the appendices and notes pages. It was very interesting to learn about how to make perfume. I imagine it's a tiny bit different now.

Though it was well-written, I kind of wish that some of the french statements and titles had been translated, at least once. It was distracting because I didn't know what it meant. I would've used an online translator, but I don't trust those things.

What was obvious from the first page was the author's passion for perfumery. I had no idea that there was a college whose curriculum centered around learning how to make perfumes and the history behind the art. Figures it would be in France. She was given a Prix Guerlain for this book, an award usually only given to beauty products and the like that actually make good on their promises of better skin, etc.

Overall, an interesting account of perfumery in the time of Louis XVI, but not really a biography.


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I bestow this book with 3.5 out of 5 books.

Graphic Designer of the Month: Luba Lukova

The great Luba Lukova.

A Short Biography: She has a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from the National Academy of Fine Arts, located in Sofia, Bulgaria.

"Internationally recognized, New York based, Luba Lukova is one of the most distinctive image-makers working today. Whether by using an economy of line, color, and text to pinpoint essential themes of the human condition or to succinctly illustrate social commentary, her work is undeniably powerful and thought provoking.

"Lukova has won many awards including Grand Prix Savignac at the International Poster Salon, Paris, France; the Golden Pencil Award at the One Club, New York; ICOGRADA Excellence Award at the Poster Festival in Chaumont, France; and Honor Laureate at the International Poster Exhibition in Fort Collins, CO. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at UNESCO, Paris; DDDGallery, Osaka, Japan; La MaMa, New York and The Art Institute of Boston. She is widely regarded for her editorial illustrations for The New York Times and has received commissions for her work from the Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, Adobe Systems, Sony Music, and Harvard University. Her evocative theatre posters have graced numerous stage productions in the US and Europe. Lukova’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Bibliotheque Nationale de France. Most recently her Health Coverage poster was in a prestigious exhibition during the Inauguration of President Obama in Washington, DC. In 2009 publisher Clay & Gold will release “Speaking with Images”, a new book about her work." (Source #1)

What Is Her Specialty: "Regarded as one of the most distinctive image-makers working today, Luba’s artwork uses metaphors, the juxtaposition of symbols, and bold, deceptively simple graphics to comment on many of today’s social and political issues.

"'I was born and educated in Bulgaria and, of course, this has shaped me both as a person and an artist. I came to the U.S. by invitation of the International Poster Exhibition in Fort Collins, Colorado. They had seen my work at other international biennials and wanted me to be a part of their show. So I’ve lived in New York more than any other place in the world, and that has also had an intense effect on me and my work.'" (Source #2)

About Her Work & Influences: "My grandmother was an artist and I grew up around her, so from a very early childhood I was determined to become an artist like her. I drew a lot as a kid, like almost every child does. I’ve attended many art classes and I graduated from the National Art Academy in Sofia.

"This was a six-year program with a very vigorous training in drawing and painting. I graduated with a masters degree in poster and graphic design. But we were basically trained to do everything and that I think was a very good thing. I cannot say that there is a single influence in my career as an artist. I’m open to so many things. I’ve been definitely affected by artists like Picasso, Goya, Rembrandt, Chekhov, Shakespeare, Charlie Chaplin, and so many more.

"I think art should reflect what is going on in the real world. I’ve never wanted to be a distant, elitist artist and I’ve always felt that drive to tackle controversial issues. Toward the end of my studies at the National Art Academy, I had this thought that if I’ve spent so many years learning how to speak with my art, I should use that skill to say something meaningful and truthful, no matter the consequences. I guess this is a simple idea but it is relevant to me to this day.

[On whether art can affect change or be a catalyst for change:] "I do believe so. It is easy to get discouraged about art’s ability to change the world when we see that abuse and injustice continue despite the creation of so much powerful art. It is impossible for art to fix a declining economy or stop all wars, but art changes the way people see and understand reality. And if we, as artists, often lose faith in the impact of our work, those in power are quite aware of it. If art were so innocent and benign, there wouldn’t be censorship in this world.

"Sometimes I do many sketches, sometimes the process is very fast. I also paint with acrylic paint and occasionally will touch up finished images on the computer. But this is when I’m preparing files for print, the actual image making is entirely done by hand. I love doing research for every piece I create." (Source #2)

Where She Can Be Found: Currently teaching visual communication and graphic design courses as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute, she also has a brand new website located here: http://www.lukova.net/. (Source #1)


Current & Future Projects? When speaking of her publishing company, Clay & Gold, which was established in 2007, to Michael Gibbs of Be Inkandescent Magazine, she had this to say:

"It is an extension of my artistic practice and it allows me to publish my work without any restrictions. The Social Justice series was our first publication. We are in the finishing stages of a new book called 'Graphic Guts,' a comprehensive collection of my political posters.

"The name Clay & Gold comes from an ancient Sanskrit text saying: “To the illumined mind, a clod of clay, a stone and gold are the same.” I thought this might be true for what I’d like to do with my publications. The beauty and meaning have nothing to do with the expense of the materials, it is the ideas and feelings that bring value. So that is why I called it 'Clay & Gold.'"

You can buy prints of Lukova's 'Social Justice' series at Clay & Gold, which can be found here: http://www.clayandgold.com/index.html.

Effect on Graphic Design: I can only speak from a personal standpoint, but I find Lukova's work truly inspiring. In a world where images are multi-layered and tinkered using computer software, Lukova's insistence on hand drawing, for both the illustrations and the typography used in her work, is refreshing. Her bold color choices and specific need to use minimalist images make her posters say the very thing she's trying to bring to the forefront of public consciousness.

I had a project in school where we had to take a public issue and create a series of posters using only three colors (not including white) and use a set of minimalist drawings to inform people about the issue or provoke people into action. This is the way Lukova designs. It is very difficult to come up with a politically charged image that won't represent both sides of the issue when transformed into a minimalist drawing. To make it a little more simple, the teachers allowed us to use a tagline in the piece.


Sources:
- #1 - http://www.pratt.edu/academics/art_and_design/ug_communications_design/faculty_

and_staff/bio/?id=llukova

- #2 - http://trulyamazingwomen.com/the-women/artist-luba-lukova

"The Island of Lost Maps" Book Review

The Island Of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"In 1995, a watchful patron alerted a librarian at Johns Hopkins University that another patron, a middle-aged and well-dressed man, was behaving suspiciously. The librarian called the police, who discovered that the man, a Floridian named Gilbert Bland, had cut four maps from a set of rare books. On investigation, the police were able to attribute dozens of similar thefts to Bland, thefts that had taken place at a score of the country's best-regarded - and, presumably, best-protected--scholarly institutions.

"Like countless other readers, Miles Harvey, a writer for 'Outside' magazine, encountered the news of Bland's arrest as a brief item in the back pages of the morning newspaper. The story stayed with Harvey, who wondered why otherwise law-abiding people behave so badly around antiquities.

"In 'The Island of Lost Maps', a wonderfully rich excursion into the demimonde of what might be called cartographomania, Harvey follows Bland's tracks from library to library, reconstructing the crimes of the man he deems the Al Capone of map theft, following the contours of Bland's complex, sinister character. Along the way, Harvey examines the history of cartography generally, and the ravenous market for old maps - once the quiet province of a few knowing collectors, now invaded by speculators. These maps are just another corner of the overpriced status-symbol commodity market--and one that richly rewarded Bland's nefarious work.

"Harvey's winding narrative, full of learned detours, adds up to a superbly rendered tale of true crime (and, many readers might object, of insufficient punishment), one that will appeal to book lovers and mystery buffs in equal measure."

- Gregory McNamee

*Warning: Use of profanity and, probably, spoilers.*

I originally picked this book up when it had just been published and I was a little girl. I liked it because of the book's size and shape and the cover was pretty without being overdone. I showed it to my mother who made me put it away, laughing "You would never read that." I did eventually get this book, this year actually, at a mini-golf while I was vacationing in Rehoboth Beach. ("Fye upon you, mother!") So, it is finally mine and after having read it I'm not quite sure if I would've enjoyed it at that age. I was always a weird kid though, so maybe.

I enjoyed this book. I found the information regarding cartography, maps and their many contributions to history very interesting. I love reading about those little bits of history. This would've been perfect as a History channel documentary or something. I never realized it before but those maps sounded beautiful and it was such a shame that you could only see bits and pieces of them in the book.

There were only a few problems that I had with this story. I didn't like the bad guy at all and he was the main protagonist. He was a dead-beat, a thief and a lousy business owner. The only reason to have included him in this at all would be to use him as an example of people that librarians and archivists need to watch out for.

I LOVE books and I couldn't stand it that he would cut them up, right in the library, like the useless douche that he is. I mean I can understand doing it for the artwork and stuff, if it's your book or if you have someone else more specialized in books do it so as not to needlessly harm the rest of the book, but to do that to nearly priceless works that you didn't pay for, I hope you loose your dick somehow. That's like cutting up a Monet for one flower.

Anyway, there were about a hundred other more interesting people that the author could've made the book about and still talked about maps and cartography on top of it, but he didn't. I mean, those explorers were far superior in their talents and goals and they were even better at being outright thieves: they got people needlessly killed just so they could look at mountains, steal gold and even steal other maps, off of ships! Gilbert Bland is a pathetic footnote in the history of maps and somehow he's the main protagonist. If he needed someone contemporary, he could've used the map dealer, W. Graham Arader III, he was interesting, colorful and very successful.

The other problem I had was with the author. He inserted himself into it, which is okay, but it is a bit jarring. This same thing happened in "The Pirate Queen: In Search of Grace O'Malley and Other Legendary Women of the Sea" by Barbara Sjoholm. They really ought to change the title of that book because it is blatant false advertising. I thought I was going to be reading about O'Malley but it was mainly little stories about Norse sea goddesses, which was interesting and I liked that. But then the author would break in and start talking about what is was it is like braving the Irish Sea today and it was like "no, the only thing that's interesting about you is your name and that was given to you".

I'd rather read about the maps and cartographers than about the author quite frankly. And I realize as a journalist he probably doesn't get to write himself into the story very often, because the editor would cut it out (because it was needless and doesn't help the story progress), so I can understand that he was "finding himself" (usually lost). But because he put himself in the story the book ran on too long. I would say that he could've taken those last two chapters out and it would've been fine, at the very least that last very pointless chapter needed to go.

It was enjoyable, but it could've been better.

Ironically, just came across this list of the "7 Must Read Books on Maps".

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"Sutton" Book Review

Sutton by J.R. Moehringer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Willie Sutton was born in the squalid Irish slums of Brooklyn, in the first year of the twentieth century, and came of age at a time when banks were out of control. If they weren't failing outright, causing countless Americans to lose their jobs and homes, they were being propped up with emergency bailouts. Trapped in a cycle of panics, depressions and soaring unemployment, Sutton saw only one way out, only one way to win the girl of his dreams.

"So began the career of America's most successful bank robber. Over three decades Sutton became so good at breaking into banks, and such a master at breaking out of prisons, police called him one of the most dangerous men in New York, and the FBI put him on its first-ever Most Wanted List.

"But the public rooted for Sutton. He never fired a shot, after all, and his victims were merely those bloodsucking banks. When he was finally caught for good in 1952, crowds surrounded the jail and chanted his name.

"Blending vast research with vivid imagination, Pulitzer Prize winner J.R. Moehringer brings Willie Sutton blazing back to life. In Moehringer's retelling, it was more than poverty or rage at society that drove Sutton. It was one unforgettable woman. In all Sutton's crimes and confinements, his first love (and first accomplice) was never far from his thoughts. And when Sutton finally walked free - a surprise pardon on Christmas Eve, 1969 - he immediately set out to find her.

"Poignant, comic, fast-paced and fact-studded, Sutton tells a story of economic pain that feels eerily modern, while unfolding a story of doomed love that is forever timeless."(overview via Barnes and Noble)

This is a beautifully written fictionalized biography of William Francis Sutton, a notorious figure known for his charm and nonviolent bank robberies and jewel heists. Though not as well known today as a few of his colleagues, Capone and Dillinger just to name a few, he was one of the most sought after criminals of his time. But also a sort of folk hero, like Robin Hood.

A product of his environment, the banks owned much while people starved and lived on the streets thereby developing a heavy dislike for the rich, he's also charismatic and highly intelligent, escaping prison multiple times and reading the great literary classics and becoming an avid gardener while stuck inside.

It was interesting to meet all of the real-life characters that made up his friends and associates. I would love to read a biography of that lawyer, Samuel Untermyer, he sounds absolutely fascinating.

I felt so bad for Sutton at times, though he was so intelligent and planned his crimes so well, his accomplices would usually screw something up or turn out to be a rat. He couldn't catch a break half of the time. And that had to be one of the worst cases of police brutality I have ever read.

Probably one of the better books I've read all year, I really enjoyed it and hope to read more from the author.

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"Byron in Love" Book Review

Byron in Love: A Short Daring Life by Edna O'Brien
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"From one of our greatest novelists comes this luminous portrait of the world’s first literary rock star. 

"Acclaimed biographer of James Joyce, Edna O’Brien has written an intimate biography that suits her fiery and charismatic subject. She follows Byron from the dissipations of Regency London to the wilds of Albania and the Socratic pleasures of Greece and Turkey, culminating in his meteoric rise to fame at the age of twenty-four on the publication of Childe Harold. With her prismatic eye and novelistic style, O’Brien eerily captures the spirit of the man and creates an indelible portrait of Byron that explodes the Romantic myth. From his escapades with John Edleston, the fourteen-year-old Cambridge choir boy, to those with a galaxy of women that included his half-sister, his wife of one year, and the Italian countess who forsook her satyr-like husband for “the peer of England and its greatest poet,” Byron scandalized the world and inspires “Byronmania” to this day. Byron, as brilliantly rendered by O’Brien, is the poet as rebel, imaginative and lawless, and defiantly immortal."

This was an interesting and brief biography. I grabbed it because I have a huge interest in this part of time: authors and the very important people in general are awesome.

I found that I don't like Byron the man at all. He was cowardly, abusive, incestuous, uncaring and unfeeling. He only realized what he should have done with a lot of the people in his life after they died, which makes it look like he really didn't care anyway.

The writer, Edna O'Brien, was kind of annoyingly snobbish with her unexplained French and Italian statements and the way she wrote wasn't very enjoyable. She kept changing tense which was informative at first and then became confusing because I couldn't remember what year it was supposed to be that he was in Italy then Greece. I would've liked more information, but I knew from just looking at the size of the book that there wouldn't be much. She doesn't list any sources at all, which annoys me to no end. Maybe she should just stick with writing fiction.

Ms. O'Brien obviously loved and admired Byron, but after reading this I cannot completely understand why. The only things from him that were any good, were his poetry, which I haven't read so I can't judge it, and his daughter Ada Lovelace (what a beautiful name), one of the first computer programmers I have ever heard of. In fact, "the computer language Ada, created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, was named after Ada Lovelace. The reference manual for the language was approved on 10 December 1980, and the Department of Defense Military Standard for the language, "MIL-STD-1815", was given the number of the year of her birth. Since 1998, the British Computer Society has awarded a medal in her name[68] and in 2008 initiated an annual competition for women students of computer science." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Love...)

Interesting man, but if I ever read about him again, I'm going to get a better researched and more informed book about him.

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"Neverland" Book Review

Neverland: J.M. Barrie, the Du Mauriers, and the Dark Side of Peter Pan by Piers Dudgeon
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

"In his revelatory Neverland, Piers Dudgeon tells the tragic story of J. M. Barrie and the Du Maurier family. Driven by a need to fill the vacuum left by sexual impotence, Barrie sought out George du Maurier, Daphne du Maurier 's grandfather (author of the famed Trilby), who specialized in hypnosis. Barrie 's fascination and obsession with the Du Maurier family is a shocking study of greed and psychological abuse, as we observe Barrie as he applies these lessons in mind control to captivate George 's daughter Sylvia, his son Gerald, as well as their children who became the inspiration for the Darling family in Barrie 's immortal Peter Pan. Barrie later altered Sylvia 's will after her death so that he could become the boys legal guardian, while pushing several members of the family to nervous breakdown and suicide. Barrie 's compulsion to dominate was so apparent to those around him that D. H. Lawrence once wrote: J. M Barrie has a fatal touch for those he loves. They die."

 This felt a bit like in the last book of the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", where Rita Skeeter writes an unauthorized biography of Albus Dumbledore. Yeah, it felt just as disgusting as that while I read this book, except it was in real life.

It isn't exactly new to suggest writers have problematic lives: many are drunks or drug-addicts (Hunter Thompson, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, etc.), many kill themselves (Hunter Thompson, Ernest Hemmingway, Virginia Woolf, John Berryman, Sylvia Plath, Jerzy Kosinski, Richard Brautigan, etc.), because they're loners and odd they usually face constant rejection in real life and even the literary world (Madeline L'Engle, C. S. Lewis, Margaret Mitchell, Rudyard Kipling, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dr. Suess, George Orwell, Stephen King, etc. I could probably go on forever.). Methinks they're going to have issues. Also, many don't feel comfortable with people their own age, they hang out with children, who are more accepting (Lewis Carroll, alias Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, J. K. Rowling, and Beatrix Potter). J. M. Barrie is among that last group.

While interesting, this book seems filled to the brim with answers to situations that were pulled together by stretching any facts that were found and using fictional works as honest sources to fill in the rest. It can be said that writers base their work on real life; you can go through the facts of their lives, piece together what they may have been feeling at the time, and then read their work as they supposed wrote them and see if a bit of themselves shine through the writing. But I doubt anyone should take the fictional work as fact. I hope this Dudgeon fellow never attempts a biography of Stephen King, Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman or Shakespeare, for that matter: he might try to convince readers that they had been to the world of fairies and haunted meat locker trains based solely on their writings.

While plausible, I doubt anyone will fully know what happened to Barrie's brother, David. The fact that the author of this book dares to insinuate that his death wasn't an accident, but seems to have been a premeditated murder on the part of Barrie so that his mother would love him more, seems like a stretch.

The author worked with Daphne du Maurier and seemed to have been a friend of hers. But the minute she wanted to keep something secret, he pounced on it, like a vulture. Now it seems that everyone and their dog has written a biography of Ms. du Mauriers, but this guy seems to have gone too far with his 'research' and assumptions. But, also, if this is how this guy treats his recently deceased friends, I hope to God I'm never one of them.

While there are a lot of tragic circumstances surrounding the du Mauriers and Mr. Barrie, I don't think he meant them to be unhappy, much less kill themselves. He kept watch over them and paid for their schooling after their parents died. That doesn't sound like an uncaring Svengali. I think he was an odd, little man who was very lonely. Tragedy happens and life sucks.

If the author had really wanted to state that the boys had had their lives drained from them, I find it odd that the Llewelyn Davies boys that killed themselves were either really young (Michael) where hormones were raging so feelings were muddled and confused as many psychologists would say and he was away from home and he had someone else doing it with him so as to ease the tension and fear and not go it alone, and the other one (Peter) waited until 23 years after Barrie's death to throw himself under a moving train. This theory just doesn't hold muster for me.

In the end, I couldn't finish this book. I got about a fourth of the way through the mire of this muckraker's 'biography'. Maybe some people find trashing a dead man's reputation fun and titillating, but I'm still of the opinion that you have to have actual source material instead of hearsay before you can be published.

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"We Are Anonymous" Book Review

We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency by Parmy Olson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"WE ARE ANONYMOUS is the first full account of how a loosely assembled group of hackers scattered across the globe formed a new kind of insurgency, seized headlines, and tortured the feds-and the ultimate betrayal that would eventually bring them down. Parmy Olson goes behind the headlines and into the world of Anonymous and LulzSec with unprecedented access, drawing upon hundreds of conversations with the hackers themselves, including exclusive interviews with all six core members of LulzSec.

"In late 2010, thousands of hacktivists joined a mass digital assault on the websites of VISA, MasterCard, and PayPal to protest their treatment of WikiLeaks. Other targets were wide ranging-the websites of corporations from Sony Entertainment and Fox to the Vatican and the Church of Scientology were hacked, defaced, and embarrassed-and the message was that no one was safe. Thousands of user accounts from pornography websites were released, exposing government employees and military personnel.

"Although some attacks were perpetrated by masses of users who were rallied on the message boards of 4Chan, many others were masterminded by a small, tight-knit group of hackers who formed a splinter group of Anonymous called LulzSec. The legend of Anonymous and LulzSec grew in the wake of each ambitious hack. But how were they penetrating intricate corporate security systems? Were they anarchists or activists? Teams or lone wolves? A cabal of skilled hackers or a disorganized bunch of kids?

"WE ARE ANONYMOUS delves deep into the internet's underbelly to tell the incredible full story of the global cyber insurgency movement, and its implications for the future of computer security."

You can tell it was written by a journalist: clean prose and well-edited, sometimes I really miss that in today's writing. It was well researched - has a timeline, notes and sources, index, and glossary, which is very helpful as these people have their own language and terms for everything.

I don't ever want to make these people angry; they will mess up your life.

It's quite a page-turner of a fascinating world of people. It's books like these that make me realize how big this world is: I had no idea there were so many skilled people out there. It's funny because I used to think I was computer literate (or, at least, where I live I am very computer literate) but these people would scoff at me.

It does make me wonder if the group of people called "Anonymous" like the attention this book is giving them. It does present them as both vigilantes for their cause as well as a huge threat towards the online community. It should be noted, and everyone should read this book, because of the way everything is going online now, it could be very dangerous for people and their stuff to be online and this book tells them, in great detail, why that is. For instance, I will never put all of my stuff in an iCloud. They can never make me, it will never happen.

The one person that I found that I couldn't sympathize with at all was Jennifer Emick. While I wouldn't say that Anonymous does wonderful things, I can kind of understand where they are coming from - they blasted the Church of Scientology and the Westboro Babtist Church, and nobody likes those people. And when they attack companies, it's like 'well, at least they're hitting the big man'. But Emick seems very odd to me. She claims to be raising her kids to be 'self-reliant' but they are not yet teenagers and they have to cook their own food, while she's on the computer for eighteen hour stretches. She got this idea from her parents who made her cook her own food and pay the bills before she was even fourteen, but they were alcoholics and therefore not the prime example for how to be a good parent. Also, Emick has pissed off a group of people who have no problem ruining her financial life by posting her social security number online numerous times and they have even started going after her family. I am wondering if her kids might grow up to really resent her. Also, there must be something off with her personality because she keeps falling out with her business partners and they have even turned around and started going after her, too. I'm wondering if the thrill of catching the bad guy is really all that is keeping her doing this, because she certainly doesn't seem concerned with the safety of her family. She obviously has an addiction to the computer for one thing.

Also, it's kind of interesting that a group whose basis of existence is that they are safe with their numbers and focus on their ability to be invisible, should focus so much on such a small group of people. Also interesting in that Hector 'Sabu' Montsegur should almost rule over these people so long because he has the same bombastic personality issues that Charles Manson and Jim Jones had, while also handing them over to the Feds. They are so emotionally detached and lost touch with reality.

It's a long read, but fascinating and I totally recommend it if you are even remotely interested in the online community.

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"The Devil in the White City" Book Review

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that 'The Devil in the White City' is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. 

"Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. 

"The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. 

"Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing."

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was well done. I, more or less, read it because I had heard it was going to be turned into a movie. I honestly don't know how it's going to translate to the screen. I don't know if it will still be interesting then and I don't know how they are going to do Holmes. I would love to see the White City though!

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"History of A Suicide" Book Review

History of a Suicide: My Sister's Unfinished Life by Jill Bialosky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was so sad, as you can imagine just by reading the title. The pain in these passages of grief has cured me of any desire or thought of an unnatural end for myself. I would never in a million years want to place that blame, sorrow, aching horror on anyone I know. As for the suicide note, for me, there would never be enough time or words to explain to the people in my life what they have meant to me and to thank them for what they have done for me. I'd much rather be with them in the long run and to tell them myself if I plucked up the courage. I'll still have depression, for a while at least, and it may be crippling some days, but I'll fight it. This may have been TMI for many people who might read this review, but this book has touched me and inspired me to be stronger than I am now. It is a shame to learn it from the pain someone else had and still is experiencing from a loss that can only be explained through possibilities and "what ifs" because the central figure is no longer there to say why it happened and why for them it couldn't have been helped or stopped.


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"Paths of Glory" Book Review

Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Some people have dreams that are so magnificent that if they were to achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed. Francis Drake, Robert Scott, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Edmund Hilary, Neil Armstrong, and Lewis and Clark are among such individuals.

"But what if one man had such a dream, and once he’d fulfilled it, there was no proof that he had achieved his ambition?

"Jeffrey Archer’s latest book, Paths of Glory, is the story of such a man---George Mallory. Mallory once told an American reporter that he wanted to climb Mt. Everest, 'because it’s there.' On his third attempt in 1924, at age thirty-seven, he was last seen six hundred feet from the top. His body was found in 1999, and it still remains a mystery whether he ever reached the summit.

"But only after you’ve turned the last page of this extraordinary novel, inspired by a true story, will you be able to decide if George Mallory’s name should be added to the list of legends, in which case another name would have to be removed. Paths of Glory is truly a triumph."
As fabulously well-done as this book was, it has only made me crave for more information regarding this singular person. I enjoyed the book a lot. Found Mallory himself fascinating, as well as his relationship with his family and comrades and one other singular man named Finch. Wonderful book. I recommend it and I hope to read more of this author's work.

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