Non-Fiction – Page 33 – Ryan's Book Blog

American Sniper

September 6, 2018 by Ryan Leave a Comment

Background

The book American Sniper came out in 2012 well before the movie. Chris Kyle is credited as the sniper with the most confirmed kills of any American before. The story is in his words and was completed before he was killed in 2013.

My Thoughts

I still haven’t seen the movie so I was very interested in the book. I work with our Marines on a daily basis and was interested in the book purely on that merit. Much of the war aspects rung true with what I had been told in my years of working with the Marines. Of course, Chris Kyle was a Navy SEAL but he frequently worked with Marines and was very complimentary of them.

I was struck in particular of how plain his words were. We have heard so much rhetoric in our society, I enjoyed hearing an unvarnished version. No apologies, no excuses. He simply was who he was and was just fine with it.

My personal opinion is that war really sucks. It is also sometimes justified. Rarely are there black and white decisions. Chris Kyle says he sees things in mostly black and white with very little grey. I suppose he had to think of it that way to do his job.

I had a discussion a long time ago with an older gentlemen on the topic of war. The man told his sons, “Be loving in peace but be terrible in war.” I had a hard time with that concept then. I’m still struggling with it now. However, I do see the utility in the statement.

Recommendation

If you are an adult who is relatively secure with yourself, I would suggest you read this book. I did enjoy it and the thoughts it spurred. However, it is graphic and violent and generally not for folks with a forming or weaker constitution. It discusses a topic we should all know about and we are very fortunate to have avoided.

The American Civil War

September 1, 2018 by Ryan Leave a Comment

Background

Yet another of the “Great Courses” series, The American Civil War is a lecture given by Professor Gary W. Gallagher, Ph.D. of the University of Virginia. This lecture series is over 24 hours of lecture. As such it took me a while to get through… Professor Gallagher takes us from what lead up to the war before the election of 1860 and details everything through the early parts of reconstruction and how we remember the war today. It was recorded in the early 2000’s.

Comments

I live in Virginia and continue to be very interested in what happened during the civil war. Although this was a long lecture, I was kept engaged and found myself wanting to know more. I very much enjoyed Professor Gallagher’s presentation of each side and how he touched on many of the theories and popular misconceptions about the war. I feel he gave a balanced account to what had happened and he made sense of a subject highly sensationalized and used for propaganda on both sides. I still want to know more about it and I feel I have been given a good foundation.

Recommendation

This lecture series is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of material and it will take some time to get through it all. However, I highly recommend it to all Americans. Both those who want to know more about the war and those who should want to know more.

Power over People: Classical and Modern Political Theory

August 23, 2018 by Ryan Leave a Comment

The Book

Yet again, not a book but a lecture series by the Great Courses. Power over People: Classical and Modern Political Theory, is given by Professor Dennis Dalton, Ph.D. of Barnard College, Columbia University.

The Scope

There are 16 lectures in the series with each lecture being 46 minutes. Dr. Dalton quickly covers all the ground from the Greeks to 20th century thinkers and how they saw their world around them.

Take Away

Honestly, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I did the last course on Greek Philosophy. In some elements, this course and the other are in opposition. Dr. Dalton states Plato was a fond student of Socrates while Professor Roochnik states that wasn’t the case.

Not to disparage the course, I found Dr. Dalton to be engaging and very interesting. Perhaps it was just too broad of a sweep since he had too much ground to cover. Still, many of the facts presented were new to me. Karl Marx’s abject poverty and his writing in London. Gandhi’s inspiration from a quote by Thoreau. The climb of power of Hitler and so on. I was glad I experienced it.

Rating

I would recommend this to most people. It was a good overview.

An Introduction to Greek Philosophy

August 19, 2018 by Ryan Leave a Comment

The Book

In this case, the book isn’t really a book. Rather is a series of 24 lectures from Professor David Roochnik of Boston University. They are part of the Great Courses Series.

Scope

The lectures took us from the early Greek philosophers and we made it to Socrates at lecture 8. Lectures 9 – 16 were on Plato and 17 – 23 were on Aristotle. The final lecture was on the “Philosophical Life” which wrapped it all together. Each lecture was 30 minutes long.

Take Away

I enjoyed the lectures. Professor Roochnik did a wonderful job of keeping me engaged through the series and I feel I learned a great deal. I have always been interested in philosophy and I was pleasantly surprised with how much ground the Greeks covered and what impact they had on Western thought.

I had no idea Socrates was such a minor figure. After all, Bill and Ted picked up Socrates not Plato or Aristotle… I came away thinking of Socrates less like the Grandfatherly figure shepherding his young students along to more of a Rodney Dangerfield was just “can’t get any respect”.

I knew of Plato’s Republic. I had heard of his analogy of the shadows on the cave wall but I didn’t know he only wrote in conversations and never really came out and stated what he as Plato felt. This seems to be very subjective…

I knew nearly nothing of Aristotle. Of course, I had heard the name and knew he was Plato’s student but that was really about it. I appreciated seeing where he differed from Plato and how he thoughts were the basis of thought throughout so much of Western history. I’m left to wonder what the role of women would have been in the last 2000 years had Plato been the last word on the subject.

Rating

I would definitely recommend it to others

Bossypants

August 14, 2018 by Ryan Leave a Comment

The Book

Bossypants is a book by Tina Fey and published in 2011.

Scope

277 pages of Tina Fey talking about her life to 2011.

Take Away

I liked Tina Fey before and now I like her even more! I can’t unsee the man arms on the cover of the book but I guess it does apply. Sort of…

Tina Fey is hilarious! I don’t agree with everything she does and says but I do enjoy her humor. It was great seeing behind the curtain of how she got into writing, ended up doing Sarah Palin on SNL and how 30 Rock started. It makes me want to watch it all again.

Rating

I would definitely recommend this to anyone.

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

August 10, 2018 by Ryan Leave a Comment

The Book

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is written by Neil de Grasse Tyson in 2017.

Scope

It is 202 pages covering a wide swath of knowledge in science. If you have watched Dr. Tyson’s reboot of “Cosmos”, most of the material will not be new.

Take Away

Dr. Tyson is a master instructor and lecturer. I have listened to his podcast “Star Talk” since the beginning so none of the information presented was new or even unexpected. However, I loved it! He did a great job wrapping all those thoughts together and presenting it in an understandable form. A quick read and a good reference item.

Rating

I would definitely recommend this to anyone