Books I couldn’t finish
The past couple of years there have been so many books I’ve wanted to read that I decided if I wasn’t enjoying a book after reading about 100 pages of it I would stop reading it. It isn’t worth my time to continue trudging through a book if an author hasn’t done a good enough job in the first 100 pages to make me want to continue reading it. There are too many other books I want to read. Since I don’t want to review a book that I didn’t complete, I won’t write a full review or rate these books, but rather list them here and make a brief comment about them.
- A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge: I could not figure out what the heck was going on the first 100 pages of this multiple award winning science fiction book.
- Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert: Is there a new Kwisatz Haderach? Can a lush and green Dune really be bad for the planet? By book 5 in the Dune series, I no longer cared enough to find out.
- Neuromancer by William Gibson: Considered a classic my many, but the gritty language and unengaging characters turned me off after 100 pages.
- Startide Rising by David Brin: I simply wasn’t able to take the talking dolphins seriously.
- Memory by Louis Bujold: Maybe I shouldn’t have started with book 8 in a series?
- Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny: Are the characters gods? Are they humans? After 100 pages I didn’t care.
- Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman: Was this supposed to be funny?
- Happiness by Matthieu Ricard: Nothing revelatory here except for how much it dragged.
I’m not saying that all of the above books are bad, I’m just saying that for whatever the reason I simply decided not to finish reading them. In hindsight, my enjoyment of a few of them may have more to do with my own reasons than any reason of the author’s, such as starting with book 8 of a series. Some I would not rule out trying again at some point, such as A Fire Upon The Deep. But for each of these, I felt that after a certain point in the book my time would be better spent reading something else.
Stocks vs. Bonds
Think about this:
The federal government wants stock prices to remain low in order to attract investors to treasury bonds.
The federal budget deficit is running at record levels. In order to finance the deficit, the federal government issues treasury bonds. If no one bought treasury bonds, the government would not be able to finance their deficit without having the federal reserve purchase treasuries directly through money it “prints” from nothing. In order to avoid that obviously inflationary measure, the government needs to attract investors into purchasing treasury securities.
If returns on stocks are flat or negative, or if recent history has proven that the stock market is subject to potentially large losses, investors will naturally turn to the safety of bonds. The income from treasuries is seen as one of the safest investments there is. Even if demand for treasuries increases to the point where 3 month treasuries are only yielding 0.01% (as they were in December 2008), that was still seen as a better investment than stocks at the time.
In this respect, the federal government competes with private companies for funding (through private and foreign investment) and has every incentive to make their financial product seem as attractive as possible.
Pedro signs with the Phillies
Anyone who thinks that Pedro Martinez is going to make any meaningful contribution to the Phillies did not watch him pitch with the Mets the last two seasons.
Book reviews: The Year 1000 and 1215
The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium: An Englishman’s World by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger was not coincidentally published just before the turn of the last millennium. Millennial hype aside, the book intends to describe what life was like around the year 1000, rather than be a history of events occurring in the year 1000. The book’s primary source and focus is the Julius Work Calendar, a document written sometime around the year 1000 describing and illustrating life at the time. While I did appreciate the light tone of the writing, the subject matter bounced around somewhat too much despite the attempt to focus each chapter on a single topic related to a month of the year as described by the Julian Work Calendar. There may have been a few interesting facts and nuggets of information, specifically regarding the origins of certain words in the English language, but overall the book left little lasting impression on me.
1215: The Year of Magna Carta by Danny Danziger and John Gillingham is a very similar book both in its theme and writing style (one of the authors is the same as The Year 1000) but the results are somewhat more enjoyable in 1215. Instead of the Julius Work Calendar, the focus of 1215 is centered around the Magna Carta. The discussions of the document itself are saved until the latter third of the book, with the beginning focusing on life in England after the Norman conquest and then more of what you would describe as the historical aspects of the time, specifically the reign of King John. This broader focus actually makes for a more informative and enjoyable book.
I haven’t read many other books on this subject, but I would say that if you are interesting in learning about medieval England, skip The Year 1000 and give 1215 a try.
Rating for The Year 1000: 5 out of 10.
Rating for 1215: 7 out of 10.
Throw beats the runner
In yesterday’s Yankee game, Derek Jeter was called out on an attempted steal of third base on a play where the replay showed that Jeter avoided the tag at third. But in my opinion, the umpire made the correct call. The throw beat Jeter to the bag, and the third baseman applied a tag on Jeter. The tag missed Jeter only because Jeter held his left hand and arm back as he slid head first into third base, where his body moved forward right into the tag but his hand and arm never got tagged.
When I saw the play originally in real time on TV, there was no doubt in my mind that Jeter was out. Why was that? Because the throw beat Jeter to the bag and the third baseman applied a tag on Jeter right as he hit the base. I truly believe that anyone umpiring third base that day would have made the same call. It was only through Jeter’s clever but unnatural holding back of his arm was he able to avoid the tag and the human eye would only pick up on this in a slow motion replay.
Even watching the replay and knowing that the tag was not applied, I still think Jeter should have been called out. I am a believer that if the throw beats the runner and a tag is reasonably attempted, then the runner is out no matter if the tag actually touches the runner or not. I think that the general principle of the defense executing a play in getting the ball and being in a position to apply a tag upholds the spirit of the law even if it does not conform to the letter of the law.
Also, I think that the most difficult judgment call that a baseball umpire has to make is if a tag has been applied or not. When arms and legs are moving at the speeds which professional athletes move, it can be extremely difficult to judge if a glove grazes someone’s jersey or if it misses by a fraction of an inch. Because of that, I feel that it is reasonable to assume in any case where it could be argued that a tag was or was not made, then a runner should be called out. I realize that this still leaves room for interpretation and judgment by an umpire, but I think this is actually an easier judgment call to make than trying to determine if a glove makes contact with a runner.
Mistaking CD ownership with being a fan
Just because I own a CD from a particular band or artist does not mean I am a fan of them. Some people only purchase CDs from which they have heard many of the songs and from artists they are fans of. I own lots of CDs and like to occasionally hear different things or explore new music – sometimes buying music without ever having heard a single note from an album. As you would expect, sometimes I might go on to enjoy the album and buy more from that artist and other times the CD sits on a shelf never to be played again.
Still other times I simply want to listen to a CD to enjoy a few songs knowing full well that I won’t be a lifelong fan of the band. The Steve Miller Band has a few good songs on their Greatest Hits collection that I liked and wanted to own, so years ago I bought the CD. By no means would I consider myself a fan. I can’t name any other album they released, nor can I name a single member of the band. I can’t even remember the last time I played that CD. There are numerous other CDs like that in my collection. Some were bought on a whim, some were bought with the intent of experiencing new music, and some were bought simply because they were cheap. Because of those facts, I realize I am not going to like every single CD I have ever bought.
