Why I Hate Canadians

This book is ironically on loan from, and recommended by my Canadian friends here in New Zealand. Much like them, the author, Will Ferguson, doesn't really hate Canadians (being one himself), but more sets out to dispel a few myths (The Beaver as a national symbol? Honestly!), right a few wrongs (the misguided ideals of separatist Quebecois), and bring people closer to understanding just what being a Canadian even means (in short, it depends on who, and where you are). I do think it's fair to say that there are a few Canadians that Mr. Ferguson cares for much much less than most. One item noted is the (generalized) tendency Canadians have for self-deprecating humor. With this in mind, it makes one of my favorite quotes from the book even funnier.

"[upon having difficulty finding a job]The opportunity for respectable work denied me, I became a journalist, although when my parents asked, I told them I was a piano player at a whorehouse to avoid bringing excessive shame on the family."

This book does have its comedic moments, but much more than that it is a view of Canada and Canadians that I never would've really suspected even existed. When one thinks of exciting regions of the world, and areas of historic and cultural distinction, one's mind doesn't likely jump to Canada...say...as even a top 10 or 20 choice. Canada is, however, a highly diverse country, and has been instrumental in the efforts of world peace (see: major supporter of U.N. peacekeeping operations). I would recommend this book, if for no other reason than to gain a bit of insight into the diversity possessed by this small population of a fairly large country.

Collapse: Redux

I posted a brief note about Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed awhile back and finally wrapped this book up a couple days ago. This book presented a really interesting read about a really interesting subject. He layed out examples of past civilizations of varying types...isolated, interdependent, seafaring, farmers...and broke down the various points that brought those societies to total ruin and failure, or allowed them to thrive in the face of adversity. He then discussed parallels and differences between them back then, and us today. To give away the ending, the author does indeed still have hope that humanity won't extinguish itself. After reading his book, he must be one heck of an optimist. The picture painted between the covers is some pretty alarming stuff. Ours is a planet on which our survival requires some strong leadership and some practical decision making. I'll leave it to you whether or not you think we have any shred of that kind of leadership at any level of any of the governments with the clout to make a difference.

Three Cups of Tea

This is some more catching up. I read this awhile ago, and simply must mention it. Three Cups of Tea was written by Greg Mortenson (from Bozeman, MT) and David Oliver Relin, and is the true story of Greg's failed attempt at reaching the summit of K2, getting lost and taken in by a village in Pakistan, and his subsequent promise to build them a school (their kids were sitting out in the open, at 10,000 feet, trying their best to learn with no supplies while trying not to freeze). He recovered and eventually headed home. For a lot of people, this is where the story would end. Greg, however, is not a lot of people. He scraped together money from wherever he could find it, he learned much about the customs of a completely foreign land and culture, and he kept his promise. He saw the building of the schoolhouse he promised, and then went on to build many more. In the process, he did all of this without asking anything in return of the villagers except that they would educate their children. He didn't push them to switch religions, or to accept any "western" conventions. Through his efforts he has seen children who may have otherwise ended up in fundamentalist training camps go on to become educated people who return to help out their fellow countrymen. He is successfully doing what billions of dollars of war money is failing to do, and doing so on a shoestring budget. He is providing an amazing example of help and understanding. The world could use more Greg Mortensons. You really should read this book. Seriously.

My Steve

Known as Steve and Me in the States, this book, written by Terri Irwin, is about Steve as she knew him. It's not about the Croc Hunter, it's about her friend, her husband, and her soul mate, who just happened to also be the person the rest of the world saw on TV wrestling crocs. I can't really say what I expected when I picked it up to read it, but what I found surprised me. It was funny. It was sad. It was "Holy cow!" It was a good, interesting read from start to finish. You learn over the course of the book that whether the camera was on or off, he was Steve. He was the consummate wildlife warrior, hell-bent on single-handedly saving the planet through his conservation efforts, and intent on bringing the rest of the world along for the ride, giving everything to impress upon the rest of us the importance of his mission. It was sewn into the fabric of his being from his early youth. There are pretty excellent odds that he has successfully passed on the torch through his wife and children, who bravely carry on a life's work that started out as his, and over time became theirs. One can only hope their passion and enthusiasm for saving animals, habitat, and ultimately ourselves will rub off.

More catch-up

Here are some more past reads (a collection of Bill Bryson stuff).

In a Sunburned Country (U.S., Down Under everywhere else)

Another excellent travel book. All of his books have been great, but this one has been my favorite so far. He makes his way around Australia and has an enjoyable and hilarious time. Much of the amusement often comes at his own expense, as you come to expect in his books. At times the guy just doesn't have much talent or luck.

Notes from a Small Island

Travelling around the U.K. this time, in traditional Bryson style, uncovering strange customs (and even stranger people), and bungling through seemingly easy tasks.

A Short History of Nearly Everything

This one's NOT a travel book. This one covers scientific progress from beginning to end, in easy to understand words, and on only 5 easy-to-turn cardboard pages (with pop-ups)! I jest. It's written with a smattering of humor, as that's just the way he writes, but it's a very interesting read in that it does cover a fair amount of science, putting things into interesting perspective. You need not be a Ph.D. physicist to understand the concepts he describes. It was a very nicely done book.

Notes from a Big Country

I just finished Bill Bryson's Notes from a Big Country (known in the U.S. as I'm A Stranger Here Myself). It's a collection of columns he was asked to write for a newspaper about his experiences living in the U.S. after 20-some years of living in England. The guy knows how to write really funny, yet educational books that often cut to the heart of a society's often strange behaviors. I've read a handful of his books now and will continue reading. I have yet to read one that wasn't enjoyable, and can't recommend them - any of them - enough.

Digital Fortress

This is another Dan Brown novel...I believe this will be the third one now that I've read (mostly) on a flight to or from somewhere. They really do make good plane fodder. It's easy to kinda melt into 'em and ignore the screaming kid in the seat behind you. Anyway, this was a fun read about cryptography, and the customary better-looking-than-any-real-nerd set of characters who go, fight, win to triumph over adversity. The central plot is, the NSA has received an unbreakable encryption code and are, in essence, being held hostage by the author. Do they give in to demands? Have people "rubbed out"? It was, as with his other works, quick paced and enjoyable to read. The bits and pieces tie together pretty well in the end, though I must say, Mr. Brown seems to have some "thing" about the dashing leading man and the voluptuous leading woman ending the story, post-shag, staring longingly into each others eyes whilst "Let's get it on" plays in the background... Perhaps he views this as some literary cigarette after the main story.

Professional Development

Here's some fun! This will probably be the most highly reviewed post on here! I'm working through the Oracle Database 10g Real Application Clusters Handbook. My employer is moving to a RAC environment soon, and this is part of the prep work for that. I can say, without hesitation, this is the best RAC book I've ever read! (it's the only one, so not necessarily the boldest of statements) Much has been written about this topic, giving the reader a lot of choice, but this book seems pretty good. It covers the nuts and bolts well. I'll revisit this post with updates after we've actually gone through the installation and upgrade process. We've already drawn on this book to answer some infrastructure questions we've had leading up to the install.

Jerry

A bit of catching up

Every book can't be some amazing deep-thought piece. Sometimes it's nice to read stuff purely for entertainment (much like d-list movies, MST3K, etc). With that in mind, some odds and ends from the fiction section:

Harry Potter and the Massive Royalty Checks (uh, I mean Deathly Hallows)

Fitting end to the series says I. Does Harry, Voldemort, both, neither, or any other major characters die or otherwise turn into some nonliving state? These mysteries and more revealed. Overall, I can't claim to be a ravenous fan, but I enjoyed the series. I don't fully understand the completely wild success this series has had, but any books that get kids reading again certainly can't be bad. I also don't fully understand some of the criticism that has come up (particularly the religious debates of whether or not this'll turn all the little munchkins into wee witches and warlocks). It's standard good vs. evil fare. I don't believe J.K. has any ulterior motive (though I hear the other members of her coven were strongly pressuring her into using the books as a platform to advance their cause). I would imagine the detractors were the same lot who were concerned about The Da Vinci Code. Now that sounds like a great segue to...

The Da Vinci Code

I thought this book, along with Angels & Demons (by the same author, sharing the same primary character), were good, quick-paced reads. There is an earth-shattering revelation of a religious nature that has been covered up by the Church for ages, the truth is on the verge of coming out, bad guys, chases, double-crossing, loose women...well, maybe not that last one, but you get the idea. I enjoyed them and thought the stories fit together pretty well. This one REALLY caused an uproar amongst the religious community, and more than one author spent considerable time debunking the proposed ideas. Debunking a work of fiction seems a bit silly to me (though I've often considered researching the real truths and setting the record straight on the so called Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh..."silly old bear" indeed). My thought with this, and other works of fiction that rile the religious is fairly simple: if a work of fiction is threatening enough or so overpowering that it shakes your religious principles to the core, than those principles couldn't have been that strong to begin with. This is an excellent segue to... ok. Can't really link that to anything here. But, the author did also write...

Deception Point

Similar pacing to his other books. The plot is about forged science and the many people and levels involved, all that good stuff. Is justice served? Is it cold? Is it in a dish? (wait, that's revenge) If you enjoyed Da Vinci Code, you'll probably like this one too.

The Spiderwick Chronicles (5 books)

Ok, this book is aimed at primary school kids. It's about some kids who find a book that opens them up to the normally unseen world of goblins and such. Cute stories though, and I was able to talk about them with my primary school kid, so there. Same goes for...

The Series of Unfortunate Events (13 books)

Again, nothing monumentally amazing about the plot line, but fun reads. Three children with unusually bad luck, a primary evil villain and some supporting not-quite-as-evil-but-still-rather-un-nice villains all work out their problems in only 13 books (ooo...that number even seems a bit unlucky...wonder if that's a coincidence). I have to say, they weren't bad, and I persevered and finished the series, but I probably would've enjoyed them more if I were in fact my son's age. As it was, it was starting to get a bit monotonous toward the end.

Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed

I'm currently in the middle of this book by Jared Diamond. So far, pretty interesting stuff. He's covering the collapse of some old civilizations and the various influences (environmental, social, economic) that led to their collapse . Interestingly enough, the book starts out in Montana! It's enlightening and a bit sobering to read that in places such as Montana, which are generally considered remote and unspoiled, that there are numerous environmental problems that create significant socio-economic issues. Currently in New Zealand, also oft thought of as reasonably environmentally responsible, one doesn't have to look far to see problems here that could be managed better. If the "green" places of Earth can't hack it, what hope is there for the rest of the planet?!