I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This novel was billed as a post-apocalypse sci-fi novel, but sci-fi fans would be disappointed in it, I think. I was. Enger is quite the wordsmith and very imaginative. He was probably some creative writing teacher’s star pupil. But the plot has too many holes and eye-rolling implausibilities for my taste. One minor example that grated for much of the book is when the main character flees the U.S. to go Canada and when he gets there, can’t spend his money since they won’t accept U.S. So he barters away some prized possessions, but when he returns to the U.S., he has no U.S. money and the bartering continues. What happened to his money? His continued physical and emotional impoverishment is an important continuing theme, but not necessary if he has money. It kept me busy while I waited in the clinic waiting room, but that’s about all I can recommend it for.

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It’s that time again for some newsworthy W3W word combos.

I searched Pacific Palisades for appropriate combinations and the most interesting one in the burned area I found was buzz.entire.city, appropriate for the fire retardant aircraft, but sad because it is near a parish school that was destroyed. The nearby church was damaged, but not destroyed. Close by in Topanga Canyon, in the evacuation zone, was blaze.erase.gone. A few miles farther I found blaze.fries.cars and burns.entire.cities. Those last two are in Los Angeles, near to but outside the fire zone. Ironically, that last one is right between the Chatsworth Fireside and BBQ store and Flame Enterprises.

Moving on to an even sadder event, let’s look at Trump’s upcoming inauguration. Due to the fact Trump was afraid his outdoor crowd size would be markedly smaller than Obama’s in similar weather conditions, he has moved it inside to the Capital One Arena. While I didn’t find a killer combo, that place is large and I found several spots inside it that at least hint at the uncomfortable truth to come. Here’s a list. I’m too lazy to posts the links, but they all go to the Arena. You know how to work W3W if you want to check.

For Melania:

• enhancement.larger.best (The R must have been dropped)
• dame.belong.posed

For the rich oligarchs (how they see themselves)

• dollar.people.noble
• cost.twice.booth
• status.above.empire

For his MAGA cult members generally

• sheep.walks.crew
• palm.fills.arena

And for our POTUS-to-be:

• entry.stage.badly
• loving.fats.thanks
• trial.myself.blame (if only)
• robe.season.wasp

Devil in the Stack: A Coding Odyssey by Andrew Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author, who began as a non-coder, dove deep into the culture of computers and computer programmers (“coders”). The book describes coding in simple terms as he himself learned how to write code and what the cultures of the coding communities are like. I use the plural because the different computer languages seem to carry their own cultures. He settles into the Python world and despises C. He spent over four years researching and writing the book. It is filled with interviews with iconic coders around the world and the industry. After moving through what it’s like to learn to code, he moves on to how software has changed our lives for both good and bad and describes the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) to produce even greater good and greater evil. He prefers the term machine learning (ML) to AI as he explains why he thinks AI is a misleading term. The book is well-written and readable, even for those outside the computer/coding world.

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The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This novel might better be classified as a collection of short stories. The main character, Mary, a young Scotswoman at the beginning, marries a British diplomat then serving in China circa 1903. The first third of the book remains set in China, but it shifts to Japan for the remainder of the book. The story (or stories) end at World War II. The writing is superb, with descriptions and characters that are fascinating and believable. It evoked fond memories of my days in Japan. But my main dissatisfaction with the book is its lack of a plot. As mentioned, it is more a series of stories, and they depict the Orient (a term now out of fashion) over a period of decades, especially Japan. The author was born in Japan and writes with an insider’s knowledge. Mary’s circumstances and character seem to change radically over time, mainly to suit the story the author means to tell about that particular time frame. I didn’t find her a particularly sympathetic character, either. Even so, the stories, even if they don’t hang together well, are engaging. The writing merits seeing it through to the end. It’s a worthwhile read.

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The Object by Joshua T. Calvert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A mysterious object is detected in the far reaches of the solar system. Is it a comet? An asteroid? Melody Adams is the discoverer. She is also a former astronaut who never got to go into space because a competing candidate cheated on a final test and got the slot. There is a lengthy section where the author shows the depth of his research about space travel and extraterrestrial science as the scientists in the story argue about whether it is a natural object or, as Melody believes, a spaceship. Many chapters – too many in my opinion – are spent on the Melody’s struggle within NASA to promote her views and increase her rank. A halfhearted love story is developed between her and another character. Eventually a mission is authorized to explore the object. You can guess who becomes the mission leader. I won’t say more on the plot to avoid spoilers.

The author’s research is impressive but his manner of displaying it is rather clunky. There are a lot of conversations between scientists and astronauts where person A explains some basic science to person B when clearly anyone in person B’s position would certainly already know that. Some of the “science” is speculation or imagination, which is perfectly acceptable in science fiction, but it can be distracting when we don’t know if we’re supposed to believe it or not. Various crises arise which are resolved in dubious manners. In the end the nature of the object is discovered and it is quite imaginatively resolved, although it is not very plausible. I’m rounding up to four stars from three and a half.

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The world is overpopulated (by humans, that is). This is a fact, although there will be some who dispute it. We people are causing all sorts of environmental damage, much of which threatens our own existence. So reducing the birth rate sounds like a good thing, and to an extent it is, in my opinion. The birth rate is steadily declining worldwide which contributes to the slower growth rate in the population. There is still a positive rate of growth due to reductions in the death rate, especially among children.

Within the United States the fertility rate (number of births per woman of childbearing age) is about 1.7. This is well below the replacement rate of 2.1, and most developed countries are also below the replacement rate. There are only six countries in the world with rates above the replacement rate. Four of those are in Africa, one in Micronesia, and one in central Asia. The population of the US is still increasing but mainly because of immigration but also due to lowering death rates, mostly among the old. Experts predict that by 2050 the worldwide fertility rate will have dropped to the point where deaths exceed births and population levels off, then begins to decline. This will be great for the environment and other species, like fish.

But what happens in the long run? This is where it gets tricky and we see politics, religion, and moral beliefs muddy the waters.  The death rate has to level off since people must eventually die. It can’t reach zero. That means if the fertility rate continues to drop, or just stay below the replacement rate, humankind will eventually breed itself out of existence. There are people who worry about this, and it is not a trivial matter. A few may think that’s not such a bad thing, but most people would disagree with that. Personally I think it’s a valid concern, but I don’t believe that will come to pass. I believe it likely that when there is plenty of arable land per person, birth rates will go up again. Now with automation, a relatively few farmers would easily be able to feed the world. Those who want to can easily grow crops or raise livestock enough to feed their own families. I think there will be enough women who will be willing to have more than two children that an equilibrium will be reached. I foresee a sort of automated hunter-gatherer society emerging.

But one thing seems certain: the future world population will look quite different. In particular, it will be darker. The fertility rate among dark-skinned people, especially Africans, is much higher than among the white and east Asian people so their representation in the future population will be higher than it is now. I believe this fact is behind the so-called white replacement theory. That theory is a false, racist theory believing there is a plot, probably led by the Jews, to cause white people to go extinct. That is ridiculous of course, but there is a kernel of truth in it. The white race will go extinct, or at least darken, but it will be because white women will almost certainly continue to choose to have fewer babies than the darker races, and more intermarriage is inevitable. I see no problem with this.

The bigger problem is the imbalance in ages. Older people are continuing to live longer during non-productive years, causing younger people to work more to support them. Most species have their older members die off once they are no longer reproducing. This would be more efficient for humans, too, but I don’t see any way that is going to happen. Older people control most resources and governments and will not willingly agree to die faster. This may become permanent.

Finally, I believe this will all work out in future generations. As the population drops, there is more wealth of all kinds available to each person and there will be less need for both spouses or partners to work. Crime will drop and quality of life will be high. This will be many generations in the future. Women are already beginning to find liberation to enter the work force is not always as rewarding as they once thought and the rewards of motherhood are high. Women’s liberation was a good thing and should continue, but that ceiling has mostly been broken now. I see more and more young women drop out of college or graduate school, or quit working after a few years of the daily grind and choose the mommy route. They should have the choice to do either. I’m hopeful the fertility rate will eventually come back up; just not yet. For now it is more important to mitigate the environmental harm we are doing. Religions are certainly pushing for more babies. I think consciously or not, that is the motivation behind the antiabortion movement. It really has nothing to do with saving souls.

The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Shane Collins is a heavy-drinking veteran CIA agent relegated to Bahrain to finish out his lackluster career. He inherits a low-level informant who manages to scrape together enough intel to satisfy his new station chief, a pudgy bureaucratic “rising star” with a flame up his ass. Shane meets and falls for a beautiful local artist. There are some fellow CIA personnel, a Navy admiral and his aide in the mix, various expats and skeezy locals and the stage is set for dead drops, surreptitious meetings, betrayals, and talk of revolution against the king. The Arab Spring is approaching. The plot is exciting, if more than a bit implausible toward the end, but page-turning fun nonetheless.

But the best part of the book is the gritty reality painted in beautiful prose conveying the sad on-the-ground hellhole that is Bahrain. At least I think it is what the real Bahrain is like; the author has me convinced, anyway. Clearly the author, a former CIA agent herself, knows her stuff and makes it feel so real I was tempted to shake the sand from my shoes after a reading session. I’ll stretch my 4.5 to 5 stars for this one. It’s the best spy novel I’ve read in years.

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If you follow the news, you know that Donald Trump named Kash Patel, a right-wing FBI hater, to become the next head of the FBI. I doubt he will be confirmed, but if he is, he has promised on day 1 to close the FBI Headquarters Building (currently named the J. Edgar Hoover Building) and to reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state.

So I checked my favorite authoritative place-naming site, What3Words.com,, and discovered the U.S. already has a Deep.State.Museum. It’s located in San Antonio, Texas, in an intersection between Autozone, Schlotzky’s Sandwiches, and Sherwin Williams paint stores. Maybe Patel is confused. On the border of Washington D.C. there is a deed.state.museum in Mt. Rainier, Maryland, only 3 miles from the FBI building. That’s probably what he was thinking of, or possibly the feed.state.museum in Laurel, Maryland, only 5 miles from NSA Headquarters. It’s in a gas station … at least that’s what the deep state has disguised it as.

Then maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong place. Museum.deep.state is also in the U.S., in a forest in Wellsville, Ohio. Closer to D.C. there are a couple of other logical museum sites:

• museum.deep.stage: Potomac, Maryland
  museum.jeeps.state: Damascus, Maryland.

If Patel isn’t confirmed, he should be able to set up his museum in one of these likely spots.

Look Closer by David Ellis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Simon is a law professor, the only child of two lawyers, both of whom are long dead as the story opens, his mother by suicide, his father murdered. Simon was once suspected of the murder, but that was in the distant past. Vicky, the woman in his life now, is the sister of Monica, also dead of suicide after being dragged into addiction by some scumball. Simon and Vicky met in a suicide survivors support group.

But soon we see Simon’s journal entries. It seems he has run into Lauren, a beautiful woman who once worked in his father’s law firm. She was Simon’s first crush and those amorous feelings seem to be coming back to him, but she is married to a rich older man. Vicky, meanwhile, professes not to love Simon now. She meets Christian, a conniving money manager who promises to make her fabulously rich once she gets her hands on Simon’s trust money, which is currently tied up and untouchable. Everybody seems to be scheming to cheat everyone else out of that trust money, and at least one of these characters ends up dead at some point.

That’s a great setup and it hooked me in from the beginning. I had to ration my reading so the book would last longer and I could enjoy the suspense for days. As you might expect, I used the word “seem” for a reason: because things, some of them anyway, are not as they seem. The book is full of twists and turns right to the end. You won’t know whom to root for, if anyone, as all the characters seem rather unsavory. There’s that word seem again. Withhold judgment; that’s all I can say.

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Extinction by Douglas Preston
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In a twist from Jurassic Park, the author has conjured a super-rich vacation enclave where de-extincted megafauna roam free in the Rocky Mountains. Visitors can see mammoths and other non-aggressive vegetarian species from eons past. A young couple vacationing there is murdered under mysterious circumstances. From there the tale becomes fanciful, fast-paced, and “shocking” (although you’d have to be pretty slow not to see that some sort of scientific skulduggery was going to be revealed). Overall it was interesting enough to keep me going and is worth a few stars, but the characters were all incredibly dislikable except for the heroes, a spunky female state agent and a crusty male local sheriff, who, of course, start out at odds and slowly become attracted to each other amid gunfights and explosions. The plot is eye-rolling all around, but if you like schlock sci-fi thrillers, you’ll enjoy this one. By the end I was just glad it was over.

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If you’ve read my blog regularly, you’ll be familiar with how this works. If not, the short version is that the location company What3Words.com has assigned three-word combos to every one meter square spot on earth and I have fun finding W3W combination that are prophetic, ironic, or simply entertaining. You can see more here and here, or just search W3W in the search box above.

I could have told you Matt Gaetz’s nomination would be sunk because attorney.general.gates lands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. So does Gates.withdraws.nomination.

Personal names are not used by W3W unless they happen to be valid words in one of the languages they support. Trump and Musk happen to be such valid words, so you can have a lot of fun with them. For example trumps.cabinet.selection is deep in Russia. An illegal spy?

The pressure is now on the U.S. Senate to serve as a guard rail to keep Trump from appointing unqualified people to key positions (Rudy Giuliani as FBI Director? One of the cop-killers from Jan. 6?) So I searched Senate chamber for any clue as to how well they would do. Sadly, the best I could find was that it is one of those prime.actors.areas.

Setting politics aside, I see that California is expecting an atmospheric.river.storm, so I decided to look up where it will hit. According to W3W that will center on West San Jose about 8 miles from my house. Yikes!

Lastly, on a whimsical note, I just read that some crypto billionaire bought that stupid “art” consisting of a banana duct taped to a wall for $6.2 million. Since duct is not a valid W3W word (confuses with ducked) I had to settle for duck.taped.banana, which is located in a federal intelligence facility in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. That’s not creepy!

I think high inflation is harmful for an economy and should be stopped or reduced if possible, But the reality that is often overlooked is that it actually helps many people. In particular, retirees. Many retirees have some form of pension or rely on Social Security. In my experience these all have cost of living adjustments (COLAs) every year. But the COLAs typically use the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to compute the increase. The CPI, in turn, includes housing as a major component, about 1/3. But most seniors do not have increased housing costs. Homeowners usually have paid off, or soon pay off, their mortgages by retirement so their costs go down. If not, the monthly payment is usually fixed, not increasing. Renters and homeowners both usually move to cheaper areas for retirement and often downsize from a full-size house to something smaller, e.g. a cottage, cabin, or trailer. Obviously, individual circumstances vary, but the bottom line is that disposable income for these folks goes up faster than their living costs during inflation.

How the World Ran Out of Everything: Inside the Global Supply Chain by Peter S. Goodman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Goodman has written a well-researched book explaining not only how the U.S. came to have the massive shortages around the time of the pandemic, but also why inflation is baked into our economy. The basic principles are set forth clearly: way too much dependence on China to manufacture our goods, adoption of just in time (JIT) manufacturing here in order to minimize inventory costs (and thus inventory) and pay higher dividends, consolidation of many vital sectors to monopoly or near-monopoly status (ocean shipping, longshoremen, meatpacking, computer chips), weak antitrust enforcement, etc. The details are fascinating, although it does get somewhat repetitive as the same factors play out again and again. The author makes a wise choice of explaining step-by-step how one small toy manufacturer in Mississippi, Glo, had to get its product manufactured in China and shipped to the U.S. in time to fulfill orders for the Christmas season during the worst of the Covid pandemic. It was harrowing and the reader is cheering for Glo in the face of a dearth of shipping containers, overcrowded ships, broken contracts, a failing U.S. rail system, and so on. I was tempted to rate the book a 4, but it’s a bit dry for the average reader. Still, I recommend it.

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Deer Season by Erin Flanagan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book a great deal, but find it hard to categorize. I think I found it on a list of “thrillers,” but it’s not the typical action-filled thriller. It’s not really a psychological thriller, either. The tension comes from the building suspense over Peggy, a flirty teenage girl who goes missing. The small farm town focuses their suspicions and hatred on a young retarded farmhand, Hal, who is both handsome and simple-minded. He has a crush on Peggy, despite the age difference. Is she dead? Did she run away? Hal went missing from his deer hunting party the same night Peggy went missing, and he came home with blood on his truck, deer blood he claims. Later, a private detective is hired to unravel it all, but it is not really a detective novel either, as he is a rather minor character.

The book shines as a beautifully-written depiction of small town farm life in Nebraska in the 1980s. Alma and Clyle, Hal’s employers, are the central characters. Alma loves Hal like a son, perhaps as a substitute for the children she could never have. She is fiercely protective of him as the town turns against him. Their marriage appears to be in trouble. Peggy’s 12-year-old brother Milo, another central character, goes through a coming of age process. The author absolutely nails it with respect to Milo and his obnoxious cousin George – the obsession with girls, the pimple popping, and the rest of it. The farm life is described in detail, but almost invisibly as the inevitable and endless chores interrupt scenes as mundanely as sunrise and sunset. I found myself imagining that existence, growing up there. The mystery deepens chapter by chapter as Peggy remains missing, but it is resolved in the end with a clever twist. The author, a professor of writing, is very talented. She has penned a beautiful description of a dreary but very believable setting and relatable characters. While it’s not a page-turner, it’s so realistic that it makes you feel like you live in a time warp in Gunthrum, Nebraska while you read.

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Fear Is Just a Word: A Missing Daughter, a Violent Cartel, and a Mother’s Quest for Vengeance by Azam Ahmed
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This true life story of a woman who fought the Zeta gang in San Fernando, Mexico is both inspiring and disheartening at times. It’s heartbreaking to see how criminals prey successfully on ordinary citizens with rarely any consequences. It must be a terrible place to live. The heroine of the story, Miriam Rodriguez, lost a daughter to the gang violence. The daughter was kidnapped, then ransomed, then beaten and killed despite the fact the ransom was paid. Miriam went on a vengeance rampage and was successful in getting many of the gang incarcerated and some killed by the Mexican army. I read this only because it was chosen by my book club, and I can’t recommend it. The writing is terribly repetitive and disorganized. The many Zetas and police and how or what they did were identified and explained over and over again. The storyline jumped back and forth as new details about past events emerged. It was almost impossible to keep track of who was dead or incarcerated at any point in the narrative. The beginning was mostly history of the area and backstory on some of the people involved, but was rather boring. Part two is where the action begins, and it becomes action-filled quickly. To avoid spoilers, I won’t say more.

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Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In a future space opera world, Murderbot is a robotic part human security unit (SecUnit) who is an efficient, emotionless hired guard/killer. He’s also, despite disavowing any emotion, loyal to Dr. Mensah and other human “clients,” who are equally loyal and affectionate to him(it?). In short he is more like a loving pet, say a pit bull/doberman mix who can hack computer systems and pass for a human. This is the fourth installment in the Murderbot Diaries. Like with the first one, which I reviewed here: All Systems Red I enjoyed the plausible technobabble and the cute denial Murderbot displays about his love for Dr. Mensah and her crew of humans. There’s not much substance, but it’s a short, fun read with plenty of action. I listened to the audiobook, which has a good reader.

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The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning by Ben Raines
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This outstanding narrative begins describing how just before the Civil War a wealthy southern landowner bet he could bring a load of African slaves into Alabama through the blockade the federal government had set up to enforce the ban on such slave importation. He had a boat, the Clotilda, outfitted specifically for this task and set out to Ouida, Dahomey, then the slave trading capital of Africa. He partially succeeded in his task, although there were setbacks. The first chapters introduce the three main locales: Mobile, Ouida, and Africatown, the community later established by the slaves who were on the ship, the very last one to import slaves to the United States.

The book then goes on to describe how the ship returned with its load, was hidden and burned to conceal the crime, one punishable by death. The author, an investigative journalist and Alabama tour boat guide, is the one who eventually found the ship 160 years later. He tells how information he gleaned from descendants of those slaves and his own knowledge of the rivers and the local history led to this find despite earlier failed attempts by others. The discovery confirmed many of the accounts of the slave descendants and debunked others from many sources. The subsequent history of many descendants, those of slave traders, slaves, and the Africans who sold their fellow Africans to the whites, are all explored. It brings exposure to the reprehensible treatment Africatown received at the hands of the whites in power over the years. It’s fascinating as both a detective story and a social and political exposé.

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The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This novel, one I read only because it was a choice of my book club, is a historical fiction depicting the interplay between Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla over the “war” between direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC). The central character is Paul Cravath, the original founder of what became the famous law firm Cravath, Swaine, and Moore. The female lead is Agnes Huntington, a renowned singer of the day and later the real Paul Cravath’s wife. There are many more characters and keeping them all straight is rather difficult. That may be one reason I didn’t much enjoy the book. I found the historical part interesting, although much of it highly implausible. The author’s notes declare it to be mostly true or at least plausible, but I find that hard to believe. The way the author describes it, everyone, including governments, police, and common citizens lived in fear of Edison, J.P. Morgan, or Westinghouse sending Pinkerton agents to kill them or ruin their lives. Many supposed events that were critical to the plot, like Tesla’s mental breakdown and amnesia, are not even mentioned in the lengthy Wikipedia entry on Tesla. The Tesla in the book is a near lunatic with no sense of business and no social graces, yet other public sources indicate that he founded and ran profitable companies and socialized with many famous people. I realize that the book is a novel, but I find it disturbing when historic events and people are presented in what seems to me to be an inaccurate way. Use fictional characters if you want to tell a fictional story. The writing style is florid and the love story is perhaps the most implausible part of the plot. Still, the story of the science and technology breakthroughs and rivalries kept the book interesting enough.

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Like most people, I get tired of listening to the same songs and need some variety. Unfortunately, I just don’t like the popular stuff coming out these days. So I’ve been plumbing the depths of music archives, in particular Freegal.com. Freegal (Free + Legal) is a service for libraries and their patrons. Our county library has a subscription which allows its users, e.g. me, to sign in with their library cards and stream or download songs. The archive is mostly from Sony Music and is paid for through your library, i.e. taxes. It doesn’t carry the new stuff, but that’s fine with me. So below is a list of stuff I have retired (but may bring back some day) from my mp3 playlist and stuff I have added. I last did this a year ago, so you can compare if you like;

Retired songs

Added

On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service by Anthony Fauci
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Perhaps the most famous doctor in America, the author sets forth his experiences as the nation’s leading infectious disease specialist. After a short, rather egotistical personal history, he describes what it was like treating patients and wrestling the bureaucracy over the many epidemics that our nation faced over half a century. He describes numerous flus, MERS, SARS, HIV, AIDS, Zika, Ebola, Malaria and, of course, Covid outbreaks. His writing is clear and very readable. The book would be better without so much ego in it, but it is very informative. Although Fauci never describes other persons in derogatory terms, it becomes clear through the actions of the many politicians he dealt with which were morons (e.g. Peter Navarro) and which were caring people who just wanted the best medical advice for dealing with a health crisis (e.g. both Bushes, Obama, Biden). Although it’s not riveting reading, I enjoyed it and felt better informed for having read it.

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