Darkness Visible - Stryon

 

If you’re normal, or consider yourself normal, would you ever read a book about depression?  If you had, perhaps, a bout with “the blues” maybe following a divorce, loss of a job, or perhaps a death in the family, quite possibly you were down for awhile, and thought you were depressed.  I doubt, even still, you would have warrant to go read a book like, “Darkness Visible”, by William Styron, one of the great American novelists from last century.  Styron wrote this memoir after his own run in with depression after he quit alcohol.  He was in his sixties when he first recognized it’s grip, and it terrified him.  When his pain grew into thoughts so dark his decision to end it all was firm, he sought help, perhaps, as Kay Redfield Jamison, describes, night was indeed falling fast.  He survived, at least until he was 80.  Many, with the pain he describes in this book do not.

So we can establish, that if the pain of depression is as real as Stryon describes, those with depression will resonate with his description of something beyond description, the noise, or the storm in ones mind brings on a suffering so real, pain has been the only way to describe it.  Physical pain, say as a result of nerve damage, so severe as to drive a person to suicide, might be the only way to describe the despair that someone with depression feels when they are at the brink.  Stryon was at the brink.  His explanation is heart wrenching and felt.  But perhaps his greatest contribution, and the one we must heed, comes early in his book.  And it has nothing to do with insight for the depressed, they already know, but it is worth mentioning here for everyone else.  He says, “That the word ‘indescribable’ should present itself is not fortuitous, since it has to be emphasized that if the pain were readily describable most of the countless sufferers from this ancient affliction would have been able to confidently depict  for their friends and loved ones...some of the actual dimensions of their torment, and perhaps elicit a comprehension that has been generally lacking; such incomprehension has usually been due not to a failure of sympathy but for the basic inability of healthy people to imagine a form of torment so alien to everyday experience”.

Society in general does not understand depression.  Styron goes on to paint the actual word depression as too cheap of a word to describe what’s really going on in the minds of the depressed.  Depression, or clinical depression, or severe depression, is not your garden variety rainy days, and Monday’s type of blues.  It is a critical affliction as severe as cancer, because, in some cases, the outcome of the disease is terminal.   Society at large will never read this book.  But, I recommend this book, not to the depressed, but to those caring for anyone who may have this disease.  A sister, a brother, a parent, grandmother, a co-worker, or perhaps someone much closer, a spouse or a child.  Understanding the storm and it’s anguish is the first step in helping with this ancient affliction.  Styron get’s five stars from me for this great work.

H is for Hawk - MacDonald

It’s been two weeks since I finished this book, “H is for Hawk”.  Typically I can write a review quickly as I form a lot of opinions and write about the book in my head as I read.  I might even have my review written by the time I finish the last page.  Then I just need to quickly write down my thoughts before I forget. With this book, however, even when I closed the cover I had nothing coherent written in my head. Not even close. I knew what she was doing but even two weeks later I’m still not sure how to express her quest and her transformation in writing...but it’s time to get it done so I’ll begin with something easy...the title.  Helen MacDonald named her book “H is for Hawk”.  There is nothing in her writing that is remotely suggestive as to why she chose this title...other than literally to say “H” is for Hawk.  I’m not buying it.  I believe Helen is for Hawk, or more correctly “H” is for Helen.  It seems to me it was necessary to remind herself in the title of her book that “H” was, in fact, for Hawk. It’s the only thing that makes sense.  That statement requires some explanation.  After her father died, which really is the impetus behind the story,  MacDonald slipped away from humanity, and into the life of her goshawk, Mabel. As she struggled to train the most difficult bird within the fascinating world of falconry, her despair deepened.  Eventually she slipped into a depression.  There is a similar despair prevalent in the writings of T.H. White.  T.H. White you say? The author of the “The Once and Future King”? The author who created, Merlin, the magician? The author who spawned most modern day depictions of King Arthur and his court as well as several generations of medieval role playing D&D geeks?  “The Sword in the Stone” anyone?  Yes, T.H. White.  And as it turns out T.H White wrote more than just medieval fiction.  He also wrote books that included subjects that can only be described as of the “50 Shades of Gray” variety.  And, in addition, he wrote a book about raising a hawk to hunt...but not just any hawk...a goshawk, just like Helen MacDonald.  I don’t just happen to know these facts, MacDonald provides these details in this book.  In many ways “H” is for Hawk is an almost complete retelling of this older text which T.H. White, entitled “Goshawk”.  The book was on MacDonald shelf as she obsessed over falconry as a child and later would take it up as a hobby.  It was only after her father’s death that she decided to train the most difficult of these hunting birds, the goshawk, and revealing her obsession, turned to the writings of T.H. White to use his book as a guide.  She relives and retells  his story as she tells us her story.

This book, then, is also a journey. Thus as you travel through its pages it delivers you someplace you never expected.  Some of it very dark as MacDonald sorts through her emotions and struggles to take a wild bird and make her less wild.  It has been known for hundreds of years, that while you can train a wild bird to hunt, you can’t train the wild out of the bird.  These birds, if they so choose, could return to the wild on their own and live happy and productive bird lives.  Many of them do.  Which is why you learn it is necessary to attach multiple bells to your bird and at least two radio transmitters, just in case, despite all your hard work, the bird decides on its own to become wild again.  It happens that quick.  But as she struggles you are led to wonder if she is training the goshawk to be tame or if the goshawk is training her to be wild.

It’s complicated...so let me tell you how she weaves multiple stories together.  Here are the ones I pulled out of the text.

How to train a goshawk

The stages of grief when coping with the loss 

The retelling of the book “Goshawk” by T.H. White

The biography of T.H. White

The narrow edge between being wild and not being wild

The morality of living, let living, and the taking of life

The search for Merlin the magician

Turning into a goshawk

For any author to be able to pull this off in a coherent manner is a testament to her literary skills.  She had a vision that doesn’t manifest until the end.  But if you read carefully and look at these story threads you can fashion several clues together...not the least subtle of which occurs when she was a young girl and wants to become a hawk even going so far as to sleep with her arms behind her back as wings.  Later, with her fixation on Merlin, and his ability to change “The Once and Future King” into various animal forms, one of which was a hawk, it is clear she is on a quest, a bit more subtle.  When she finds Merlin’s cabin in the woods, it’s almost as if she has transformed internally into being a hawk, and was always searching for Merlin so his magic would complete her transformation physically.  Spoiler alert...she finds Merlin, and with this great discovery, comes back to the real world, and, perhaps not fully healed from the loss of her father, she can begin to live again…as a human...not as a hawk.  But can there  be any doubt, “H” was and is for Helen? 

Keep in mind this book is nonfiction.  A modern day quest for Merlin? What a surprise read this year...one that will stick with me for the rest of my life.  Start with 5 stars for an amazing story and should I choose to ever train a goshawk I will know where to begin.  But I will deduct ½  star because of repetition in goshawk training and another ½ star on far too much biography on T.H. White.  I think most criticism of this book from other reviewers could be cleaned up by reducing it in these two areas... Nevertheless everything else she has achieved in the book has made it a best-seller.  Four stars overall.

Gold, Love, Survival, and a Twist of Jurisprudence...

I love a good story about the search for gold...whether that be prospecting, buried treasure, or searching for shipwrecked booty. The dream of sparkly riches became real for some who went west seeking their fortunes.  Few hit paydirt.  Many perished.  “Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea”, might be, perhaps the best search for gold story, with the best ending...and it was all  true. But that book is about a shipwreck...with a lot of gold, a lot of gold (15 tons).  But where did all that gold originate?  It came out of the ground during the California Gold Rush (1849), flake by flake, nugget by nugget, on the backs of good people who went West to strike it rich...and could barely dig up enough to survive...the work consisted of long back breaking days, week after week, producing enough gold, each day, to buy perhaps enough food and clothing to return the next day to dig again.  The novel “Heartbroke Bay”, based also on a true story, details the legend surrounding the mystery of a small clan of prospectors during the Klondike or Alaskan Gold Rush (1896), some fifty years later.  Same requirement to do back breaking work, day in and day out, but with the added feature of an Alaskan wilderness, with all its beauty and it’s harsh climate.  It also includes the fictional musing of the author, Lynn D’Urso (aka Lynn Schooler), who explores the short prospecting lives of four men and a one woman, who set out on their own, based on the rumor of a remote find, in an Alaskan Bay, (very close to Glacier National Park) and the trials and tribulations that befall such a foolhardy endeavor and a group of people tossed into austere circumstances...there are hints of tidal waves and I suspect cannibalism...but none of that materializes...

D’Urso tells a story of love, greed, survival, and hard work.  He’s captured the passions of the lone women on the journey, who elopes with her husband prior to the move to Alaska, only to find she is attracted to another member of the prospecting team once they get there.  Go figure.  He carries the story extremely well, as it’s told through her eyes, interspersed with pages from her journal that describe what she is feeling deeply.  At the end, when D’Urso reveals to us, that he based the story on actual facts, and that the women was real and came from England in exactly the same way, and the final fate of the team, also true, with an amazing twist of jurisprudence, that I will not reveal here, was a shocker. I fully expected him to tell us that the pages of her journal, were thus also real...alas, not so.  But, D’Urso has terrific skill as a writer and has done a wonderful job capturing the passion and conflict in her heart which added incredible authenticity  to his prose as he described the beauty of the Alaskan wild.

Beauty, adventure, passion, tragedy, and gold...it is well written and deserves for Hollywood to buy the rights and start filming soon...D’Urso deserves 4 1/2 stars for his prose, which is captivating and real as well as for his sleuthing of the story over a ten year period.   But I will deduct half a star for perhaps, incorrectly, attributing the finality of the book, with the resulting requirement for jurisprudence, to the wrong cause...as well as the tsunami that never came...four stars overall...

Bad Blood - Carreyrou

Sociopath.  Harsh words.  But in the closing pages of “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup”, Pulitzer Prize winning author John Carreyrou, suggests Elizabeth Holmes might actually be one.  After reading his book, and watching a few videos of Elizabeth Holmes in action, speaking about Theranos, I still cannot tell if she is a sociopath.  She is definitely lying, even though the power to believe her is as compelling as her blue eyes, blonde hair, and black Job’sian turtleneck.  She was living the Silicon Valley dream of “Fake it till you make it” and giving her the benefit of the doubt, she brought this brand of business ethics mainstream like no other.  Is she a lying, sociopathic scam artist?  Or is she faking it, till she makes it, Silicon Valley Extreme Makeover Edition style?

Theranos was the quintessential Silicon Valley startup that at one point reached a $9B dollar valuation and her the cover of Forbes magazine.  Given all that, it’s hard to believe Carreyrou is telling the truth.  Let me say that again.  It’s hard to believe a Pulitzer Prize winning author at the Wall Street Journal is telling the truth. Investors, wealthy men, and women, who we all respect, would also find it difficult to believe Carreyrou.  Does that sound familiar?  The false narrative we all want to believe is true, a disruptive, game changing technology, making health care affordable, taking on the titans of the medical industry is a story we all want to believe.  But it all turns out  to be a lie.  Yet we still wish it it to be true or that it can be made to be true, she just needed more time.  Some investors wanted it to be true so badly they invested $100M of their personal fortures. Rupert Murdoch the owner of the WSJ for example.  How’s that for putting Carreyrou in a pickle?  That fact alone might win Carreyrou another Pulitzer.  It’s important to note that Carreyrou has reported that Murdoch was approached by Holmes, not once, but twice to put the kibosh on his  story. Both times Murdoch trusted his editors to get the story straight and allowed it to go to press.  That might be the single most important fact in the mountain duplicity that surrounds this case.

Even though now in hindsight, her behavior seems to defy logic.  Her motives, while the facts of this case have been well sourced and recorded, remain as secretive as she the elusive nature of the technology behind the patents with her name on them.  As it turns out, literally, one day after I finishing the book, Holmes and her boyfriend were indicted as criminals in a Federal court.  It’s possible that over the course of the criminal trial, all of the facts in the case will finally reach the light of day and we will get our answer...maybe.  But I still don’t think she is a sociopath.

So, how does, a 19 year old, Stanford dropout, with no biomedical engineering, software, or healthcare experience, raise $700M in venture capital? That is the phenomena that Carreyrou reports in this book.  It is a compelling as any business book I have read.  And it’s easy to see how it may also top the charts of best business books of the year...or “How Not to Run A Business” book of the year if there were such a category. Thug tactics are not the best way to run a business.  But it’s easy to see how she did not run her business like a true Silicon Valley unicorn.  She was no Peter Thiel or Elon Musk where the inspiration and perspiration goes into the technology.  Her inspiration and perspiration went directly into raising capital and covering up for the non-existent technology until they could invent it.  Which again raises the “what if?” question.  What if she would have focused on the technology? Could she have invented something, while well short of the Theranos dreamstate, could still be defined as medically useful?  I think the answer is no.  Gates wrote MS-DOS. Job’s invented the Apple in his garage.   Zuckerberg banged out the code for FaceBook in his dorm room.  Similarly, Elon Musk banged out the software that would become Paypal.  Holmes didn’t like needles. That’s insufficient knowledge to change the world. It’s easy to see that wanting to be like somebody else is also insufficient motivation to change the world.   I don’t think she is a sociopath.  I do think she believed in her vision, she just didn’t spend enough time in the lab to realize that her vision was an evolution too far. She was chasing a unicorn that didn’t exist and was unwilling to listen to her people simply because she didn’t,  and still doesn’t, understand the technology.  Unlike other Silicon Valley startups, a few cans of Red Bull and an all night coding session doesn’t change biomedical science.

I’m giving this book 5-Stars because it’s a page turner, it’s well written, and a necessary story about the ethics of a Unicorn start-up.  I will deduct 1-star because words like sociopath, as applied to Holmes, seem like a personal attack and an easy out when trying to find the motivation behind her actions.  There is a far less complex answer starring Carreyrou in the face which in my mind is an even more damning indictment of Holmes given that she started Theranos. She not an engineer and simply the worst biomedical scientist ever to run a biomedical company.

Remember Sara Hall

Even if you decide not to read this book you should remember Sarah Hall.  She can write, perhaps too well.  And she can tell a story.  The story of Cyrill Parks, "The Electric Michelangelo" is not for everyone.  It is, at it's core, the biography of a tattoo artist.  From his early formative years, though several epochs of his life, and into his later years, Hall spins a deep narrative about how one might become an artist whose canvas is their client's skin.  Having read this book shortly after reading Jeffery Archer's "Path's of Glory", it is interesting to compare the story of an Englishman of some privilege and leisure growing up to be, George Mallory, with the story of another Englishman of somewhat less privilege growing up between the seams of society to become a scrapper, or tattoo artist.  We can compare their early lives, parents, and friends along with their education and chosen profession.  These, after all, are two men growing up in England between 1900 and 1930.  There are some interesting parallels, like George Mallory's father was a minister and Cyrill Park's mother "helped" women with unwanted pregnancies.  But there are probably more useful comparisons to be made between the craft of Sara Hall whose career is just taking flight, and the writing of Jeffery Archer, whose career is in it's twilight. Out of respect for both authors I will not do that here.  I will say that I read this book because I am considering a tattoo, not to read great literature.  That was the only reason I read this book -- I am and will be for the rest of my life more interested in mountain climbing -- even if I do continue with my plans for a tattoo.  But to me I now know Cyrill Parks as if I grew up next too him for his entire life, perhaps better than I know most of my own friends.  George Mallory, on the other hand, is just an acquaintance, someone of passing interest I met in a newspaper article.  Sara Hall can write, but I've said that.  Read this book, get a tattoo if you can determine what part of your heart and soul should be on display to the world, but do not forget Sara Hall.

Savage in Tendency

 

Just finished US Special Forces and CIA covert operative Billy Waugh’s biography called “Hunting the Jackal”.  The book was published in 2004 and much has transpired in the past 18 years.  For instance in the book Waugh tells us he believes Usama Bin Laden (UBL) was turned into  DNA in the caves of  Tora Bora.  We now know that the cockroach didn’t die that early but was later exterminated by special forces with a bullet to the head in Pakistan in May 2011.  The other thing is that we have withdrawn from Afghanistan, that I’m sure, breaks Billy Waugh’s heart.  Of course the Russians are on the offensive in Ukraine, getting their butts kicked.  We’ve just come through COVID.  Sadly, as I write this on New Year’s Eve, 2022, I just finished my first run-in with COVID.  Yeah…a lot of travel the past month, and for me, thinking my protocol has been sound, I succumbed.  I’ve been boosted 3 times.  Will we ever know what really works?  

Waugh quotes Orwell at the start of the book,   “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf”.  (Not actually Orwell but it’s not  clear who said it…but it’s correct regardless)  This cannot be any more true than in the life of this rogue warrior named Billy Waugh. Not to steal credit from the title of Dick Marcinko’s book about Navy Seals but by that name all our special forces are warrior’s and by definition rogue.  I’m using the definition of rogue to mean savage or destructive in tendency.  Which is exactly the mission we have in mind for these forces. Another definition of rogue is “unprincipled”. This however is the antithesis of Waugh’s work.  When it comes to executing violence on those who would do us (The Country) harm, Waugh is the furthest it would seem from unprincipled. 

The other thing that has recently occurred is that Argentina just won the World Cup.  A December World Cup, one to be remembered.   I only mention that because in one of the book reviews I just read about this Billy Waugh the reader refers to him as the Greatest of All Time or GOAT as it pertains to special forces fighting men.  

To be the GOAT you have to be literally the Greatest of All Time.  The greatest soccer player of all time, just led Argentina to victory.  Lionel Messi.  Not Diego Maradona, the other Argentine  who once could lay claim to being the GOAT.  Pele in Brazil (RIP Pele), or Ronaldo from Portugal. But the facts as they stand, Messi is not the current GOAT as he just lived out his destiny  to become the GOAT.  To which all others will be judged.  Can we determine if Billy Waugh is the GOAT of special forces?  It’s not an easy task.  

Can there be a GOAT in this category of warfighting men (or women)?  There are so many heroes out there.  Is there even a category?   Audey Murphy springs to mind as the most decorated American Soldier of all time.  Surely he was the GOAT of something.  Other warfighters who they write books about should be examined in this category.  The Russian sniper Vasily Zaytsev played by Jude Law in the movie “Enemy at the Gate” has over 242 confirmed kills.  The American sniper, Chris Kyle, played by Bradley Cooper in the movie “American Sniper” had 80 confirmed kills.  Just getting Bradley Cooper to play you, might make you the GOAT, although Jude Law put in a strong performance.

Another testosterone laden category of warfighting men is that of fighter pilots.  German Ace’s tend to dominate the skies with Manfred von Richthofen aka “The Red Baron” tallying 80 aerial kills in WWI.  However another German Ace, Erich Hartmann, shot down 300 of his adversaries aircraft in WWII, making him the GOAT of the skies. Nobody even comes close to Hartmann.   In the US we tend to hero worship ACEs such as Richard Bong with 40 kills in Korea and of Course Robin Olds, an American ace in three different wars, which is interesting to be sure.  Olds is memorialized every year in the USAF during March where airmen try to outdo one another by growing the most outlandish Robin Olds Mustache.

Without proper criteria it’s hard to argue Billy Waugh is the GOAT.  He would need that World Cup trophy.  He would have needed UBLs head on a pike as his supervisor at the CIA, Coffer Black,  described to him the mission at hand just before he went to Afghanistan.  The fact that Billy Waugh was on the ground in Afghanistan, with the CIA, at age 71 certainly puts him in a unique, if not GOAT like category.  Had he actually returned to Cofer Black with UBL’s head, on a pike, or in a box, I certainly would have said yes, to GOAT..  That would have fulfilled his destiny and come full-circle from those moments on the ground in Khartoum, Sudan in Africa   where Waugh had multiple opportunities in the early 90’s to personally end UBL’s life.  That was reported as real in Ric Prado’s book, Black Ops.  That would have made a fine movie had we come full circle.  We did not.  But what else distinguishes his career from other mere mortals where we can find the ground to elevate Waugh into GOAT territory.  We need heroes of this caliber.   

Waugh’s first principle,  rough men who stand ready so we can sleep at night.

This is both a true statement and a necessary condition of peace.  Those who don’t have the stomach to consider the necessity of violence, or the threat of violence do not live in the real world and do not understand a thing beyond their own personal comfort. I don’t say that lightly.  Homospapiens suck as a species.  Left to our own devices we will never stop finding reasons to kill one another.  Only sane and well considered members of our society will find ways  to reason and make laws by which we can peacefully coexist.  But then we must also have the manner in which humans are governed to include law enforcement internal to one's state and a military, to defend against aggression from abroad (and within as we’ve recently discovered). 

So let’s consider what Billy Waugh tells us about his life in this biography. This is a brief synopsis, read his book to hear it in his words and his war stories which are fascinating and I wish I was in a bar with him, hearing of the exploits first hand.  

Waugh started in the Army in 1948 and went to Airborne School before going to Korea.  After Korea Shortly after the end of the Korean War, he trained with Special Forces and was assigned duties in Germany. He deployed to Southeast Asia and began doing counter insurgency against the North Vietnamese in places not on the map, like Laos.  He was injured multiple times, the most significant being awarded this 6th Purple Heart for action under fire during the battle of Bong Son. Serving until 1972 in Vietnam he was a Command Sergeant Major before retiring from the Army.  He began contract work for the CIA through Edwin Wilson (Ed Wilson’s War) in Libya, perhaps providing camera footage arguably later instrumental in Operation Eldorado Canyon. In the 80’s he worked as a security cop out at Kwajalein Missile Range in the Pacific to disrupt Russian agents/military attempting to collect intel on our long range missile testing.

In the 90’s he again worked for the CIA in  Khartoum, Sudan where he found and kept under surveillance “the Jackal”  for which his book is named. And he also kept a close watch on Osama bin Laden.  Sadly not putting that dog down and saving the world from that scourge and several decades of GWOT.  Then of course his historic Post 9/11 entry into Afghanistan as an advisor at the age of 71. (Gary Schroen - “First In” although Schoen does not mention Waugh by name his presence there is indisputable).

So, summing up.  Huge American. Highly decorated.  Savage in tendency.  All the right principles. A legend. A motivator.  A leader. I’m glad we have American’s like Billy Waugh giving their all for our Country.  But Billy Waugh as the Special Forces and Covert Operative GOAT?  Probably not.  But exactly one of the rough-men (or women) we need on the frontline protecting us as we sleep.  Four-stars for Billy Waugh putting all his war stories in one place for us to relish.

How Special Forces Grew Up

We’ve all read plenty of WWII history.   I’m a history buff.  My dad, more so than me.  We’ve studied WWII, read many books, and when I was younger we built models.  We built the P-51 Mustang…the greatest ever!!  And instead of playing army men, with little plastic features, we recreated battle scenes.  Anzio beach was my favorite.  A definitive battle as the Allies landed in Italy to begin the invasion of Europe from the south.  Yes army men, but also clay, and whatever else we could throw into the diorama.

Of course commandos were also a common topic.  But most of the commando raids we knew about were left to Hollywood and that interpretation, “The Dirty Dozen”, with Telly Savalas playing the mad man, he was a crazy MF’er.  As if all the prisoners they recruited for that mission somehow didn’t have a screw loose.    But now, Ben Macintyre brings us the facts. In his great book “Rogue Heroes”, he tells us the true story of the real men who started the British SAS.  Arguably the definitive unit that brought special ops into modern times.

The men who started the SAS were not criminals on a suicide mission.  Perhaps they thought a little differently. For instance, they hated authority and they hated rules.   Huh, that sounds familiar.  But also that’s what it took to be in a special unit that by design was not going to play by the rules.  All’s fair in love and war, right?  Thus they were unified by both a common ethos and a common goal.  They hated the enemy and knew they must win.  An unconventional tactic could be a game changer.  A strategic offset in today’s Pentagon parlance.  Sure the British SAS did not invent Guerrilla warfare… It's been around since the American Revolution.  Practiced worldwide,  guerrilla warfare gathered plenty of acclaim during the Boer Wars.   But by creating a unit, devoted to a few principles and a few of the right men, they  could institutionalize the war fighting construct.  And they did, led by the genius and insight of David Sterling.  Macintyre brings us their story.

The book is solid gold, at least the first half, and well worth the read.  The founding of the British SAS is a chapter in history that has defined special ops ever since.  And now the history of these rogue heroes has been given to us in spectacular detail.

Hero’s who would jump from an airplane without so much of a care that the art of skydiving really had not been invented yet.  Particular at night.  David Sterling learned that fact on his first jump, as he ended up paralyzed from the waist down…a condition, from which he mostly recovered (don’t worry, not a spoiler, it’s the first page of the book). He had to, he went on to lead the SAS.  

But later, the definitive, jeep.  With aircraft guns mounted.  That could roll rapidly through an unforgiving desert in north africa, inflict carnage, and retreat.  Never to be followed, because who would be stupid enough to try to live in the Sahara desert?

They also created, out of necessity, several other weapons and tactics, still alive today, whose lineage is owed to the British SAS.  Before tactics, and GPS, they had to learn to navigate in the desert.  Celestial navigation was key.  

They had to be men of great resilience and no complaint.  Living in tremendously uncomfortable conditions, rather than Shackleton's men of the ice, freezing cold and continuously wet, they were bone dry, without water, ridiculously hot and covered in sand.  Lost in this sand, some of them walking across an unforgiving desert a hundred miles drinking only what remained in their bodies.  Only to recover, and sent back again into the parched landscape, to strike again. These unconventional tactics, looked down upon by the regular military, had to prove their worth to leadership in order to earn their place.

The first half of this book, while in the desert of North Africa, Macintyre tells the story in great fashion.  I give the first half of this book five stars.  The second half of the book, Macintyre doesn’t really tell a story, rather he just records mission after mission as the remains of the original teams, take leading roles in multiple units, and mercilessly kill enemy soldiers, behind the lines, sometimes as they slept (preferably).   These men.  With a vision of how they could change the course of the war…could bring it to and end quicker.  There was much work to do…many would pay the ultimate price.  And eventually, after winning in Africa, then Italy, and then France, rolling into Germany to find the real reason, and the horror behind why not winning, was not an option.  It was dirty work, but the threat they faced, the evils of the Third Riech cannot be underplayed.  Four stars for this book for the much richer understanding of how special forces grew up.

Ringworld - Niven

When you think of classic science fiction you always start with HG Wells.  And then you can say Isaac Asimov,  or Arthur C. Clarke.  But you can’t go too much further without saying Ringworld.  You may not say Larry Niven directly--although you should---but you can’t, not, include the title Ring World in the same breath when mentioning the greats.  When you pull science fiction apart, there is the improbable and the probable.  HG Well was always inside the probable.  Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, to some extent, try to be.   Larry Niven is so far outside the probable, as to be light years into the future and somewhat beyond that…  Not only is a Ringworld itself so improbable, most of the concepts contained within Niven’s novel are also improbable and to be entirely accurate, physically impossible.  Even his notion of probably, the math he tries to imbue, not just the science, is wrong.  Let’s just completely forget about  physics, let’s forget science, let's forget math…and go for it. Well, it is fiction, after all… 

Thus Ringworld, and who wouldn’t want to live there, can’t be real.     A mere factional wedge (or belt)  of a Dyson sphere inside the Goldielocks zone circumscribed around its central star. Perfect is all it’s design detail.  Safe from anything that might threaten it.  Engineering to hold not the people of an overpopulated planet, but perhaps a universe full of people.   From the tiny thread that holds the sun shades in orbit above the ring surface to the speeds necessary for the travelers in the story to get to Ringworld, Niven is completely wrong.   All of it.  To wit, Larry Niven pushes back against his critics and says to them with his own theories and axioms, when Arthur C. Clarke tells us, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”, Larry Niven says, bite me, rather more correctly, “Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."  Niven breaks the paradigm and as the greatest novelist of all has told us, just for the fleeting instance we stretch our arms out further, and beat back against the current of the genre, Ringworld is magic.  Magic that is brought alive through Niven’s narrative. It is pure science fiction.  No wonder it won awards.  No wonder it still inspires me today.  No reason, necessarily, to read further into Niven series…and I never have.  What must follow in his series (pure speculation) can only be at best an improbable defense for the indefensible  or at worse an apologetic

Yet here we are with such a fantastic story, without much of the defining detail as to how? To me, to provide that defining detail would be crushing. It would  lose it’s fantastic nature.  Even millions of years into the future.  There is no physics that could possibly support any of it. So don’t try.  This scale rivals the scale of human comprehension.  It is massive and beyond understanding. And the result is breathtaking.   Three  million times the surface of the earth--with walls around the edges stretching 1000 miles high. A lifetime just to walk across it’s 100,000 mile width laterally, let alone head out toward the base of the arch…a mirage of the ring, disappearing behind the horizon and reappearing as the ring itself.  I don’t know what Niven was thinking…but we are so much richer for him having created it.  A book shelf needs bookends…Ring World is my book end for science fiction. 

When I read Ringworld in my teens it was real.  Not the reason I became an engineer…but certainly an  influencer.  Reading it again in my 50’s it’s so physically wrong as to be laughable but so fantastically right with regard to what science fiction ought to be.  Too many writers are trying to stay within the realm of physics as they know it…not courageous enough to take their potential detractors head on.  Again, bite me, it’s fiction.  It’s a magnificent flight of fancy.  If you want exactly the engineering required and accept no possibility of magic, read Weir.  Despite the many  criticisms, Niven’s awards are absolutely  justified and the book itself will always stand the test of time.  It will always be millions of years in the future…at the time when spooky magic at a distance is understood and magic becomes ubiquitous.  But there is so much more beyond technology.

Niven also dealt with several sticky social aspects of multiple alien species living together, super advanced life forms (Nessus the puppeteer), warlike species that look like giant cats(Speaker to Animals a Kzin, and the humans (Wu and Teela -- who are on a life extension program).  Niven has been criticized, probably by the woke generation, for being somewhat bleak in his portrayal of women…given that he wrote this in the 60’s can’t we give that a pass?  He’s characters are all somewhat of a stereotype.  Turns out stereotypes exist for a reason.  Wake-up woke people and chill the hell out. Yes cat’s eat meat.  Carnivores eat meat. Get over it.

Yet despite his somewhat old fashioned view of women and despite the  colossal  story and engineering behind the existence of the Ringworld itself,  the actual story being told, and the hero of the story is the female human, Teela Brown.  The story actually isn’t about technology, Niven just needed a backdrop for what he calls the luck of Teela Brown. The real story is about what Einstein calls, shooting craps with the cosmos.  Does God roll the dice?  Can it happen? Does it happen? What happens when it happens?   Beyond the gift of Ringworld, Niven has given us the gift of Teela Brown.  Whereas Teela never became the messiah, it’s not too far of a stretch to understand that’s where Niven might have headed had he not gotten caught up in the debate over the technology.  Particularly if the Teela Brown character would have been slightly more appealing.  Had he written her character today, and dressed her in prose to resemble a smarter character, a Lizebeth Salander for example, he might have given us a Christ figure. What we do have, from the Marvel series, is Domino.  Cute…and powerful…but not the messiah.  Marvel gave us Domino in 1991.  Twenty years after Niven gave us Teela Brown as the savior of Ringworld. Niven’s aspirations for her must have been incredible.  And certainly the math he chooses to use/or ignore, is just as fantastic.  He does state early on that random flips of a coin have no memory. He must have hated that…or couldn’t understand it.  To review,  one flip of a coin is 50/50 heads or tails.  Another flip is 50/50.  Just because the more recent flip was 50/50 there is no bearing on the subsequent one. The next flip is again, 50/50.  And so it goes, as Kurt Vonagut might say.   If you are looking for a heads-up coin flip  every time, Teela Brown is that coin flip.   The problem here is that Niven, while examining the material, never quite understood what was going on…and couldn’t explain it sufficiently.  Had he argued the math, only slightly better, he might have been considered a theoretical genius in the area of statistics.  He might have handed us mathematicians of the world a conjecture with consideration.

So here’s what’s happening with Teela Brown…that Nevin couldn't prove, but wanted to.  I’ll call it the Niven conjecture.  He might not have understood what he was saying either.  Teela Brown is not  flipping the coin repeatedly and landing on heads.  She’s switching her choice back and forth as the coin is being filled, seemingly without memory, and choosing heads or tails.  But in her case, she’s always right. She always makes the right choice.   The first time you flip, it’s heads or tails. Then you flip it again and you have heads, or tails, but also the branch of what might have been.  Then you flip it again, and you have heads or tails and what might have been and what might have also been.  Then you flip it again and have heads or tails and what might have been and what might have been and what also might have been.  This goes on forever.  Everybody’s life plays out according to one of those paths, Teela’s life plays out precisely because she is always on the path that is correct as to the flip of the coin. The longer the flips go on…the longer the sequence.  Those with an infinite mindset know that there are an infinite number of paths and thus if an infinite number of monkeys were seated at a typewriter and were allowed to hit the keys continuously, one of those monkeys would type out the novel “War and Peace”.  Well I can’t find the number of letters in the novel but Tolstoy put 587, 287 words into “War and Peace”…so loosely multiple x  five so maybe three million individual characters…allowing for spaces and punctuation.  Call it five million unique characters a monkey would have to tap out all in exactly the right sequence all in order to create the book.  So if that were the case it would not take an infinite number of monkeys…that number also is finite and knowable…it’s just very big.  It would take 5 million factorial x 26 plus a few special characters.  (5,000,000! X ~26)  That’s 5,000,000 x 4,999,999 x 4,999,998 x 4999,997… all the way to 1.  It’s a big big  number, a really really big number…but it’s not infinite.  

But that’s also not what’s happening with Teela Brown either.  Day to day, minute to minute, we don’t have to make a life and death decision.  Evolution has seen most of that already over the past six billion years. We already have much of the luck of Teela Brown behind us.   Thus the remainder of our life isn’t random monkeys typing “War and Peace”.   We live perhaps for 35,000 days.  We don’t even make a life or death decision every day…if we would do that, a lot more of us would be dead.  The question correctly posed, is how many near death experiences befall us throughout  our lifetime.  That is for sure, a much smaller set.  Thus, the number of monkeys required to sit at the keyboard and type our life is a lot closer to the book “Goodnight Moon”.  There are 131 words in Goodnight Moon.  So let’s go with 131 characters that a smaller set of random monkeys would have to strike the keys on a typewriter to randomly write the story of Teela Brown's life so 131! X 26 or 2.2 x 10 raised to the 223rd power.  The question is can you find such a person living…and if they found that person in Teela Brown?    To be sure the number would need to be much smaller…the number would need to be on the order of no more than 15 life or death decisions…and you actually could find such a person…given that about a trillion people were your sample size.  1 x 10 raised to the 12th power. 

Anyway, that’s not the conjecture.  The Niven conjecture isn’t about doing the actual math.  Because as we’ve learned, math from statistics will not work here.  It’s wrong. Statistically Teela Brown will not win. She will lose, and lose quickly.  As she begins flipping the coin will lose, if not at 15 flips, shortly thereafter.   Beyond that the numbers move toward infinity, or as close to infinite as the human mind can comprehend.  That must not be what’s happening statistically.  If we are to believe there is math behind it, something else must be going on.  I can’t figure it out.  But someone, somewhere might.   The conjecture therefore  is more about whether or not  something mathematically magical is happening on the way to this  infinity.  And the answer is, yes.  It must.  Why? Because we are all here to observe the outcome of this math.  Every single life form on planet earth, animal, insect, plant, has survived though time to be living and breathing the atmosphere of our Earth.  Everything, to exist today, has been done so with the Luck of Teela Brown. Is this magic?  Is this deterministic?  Is this proof of God?  That’s what Niven was really talking about when he wrote Ringwold.  And beyond the technology we have the math behind his magical thinking.  I like that Niven is a magical thinker.

I five Niven 5 full stars for Ring World.  It’s just what science fiction should be…extra-ordinary science (and probability)  wrapped up in brazen fiction!

Paths of Glory - Sir Jeffery Archer

 Jeffery Archer is a fine story teller and one of my first beloved novelists having read a few of his early works, "Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less" and "Shall We Tell the President' before I even attended college.  I looked forward with great interest, some 25 odd years later, to digging into an engaging story about a great mystery on an exciting topic, mountaineering and the early attempts at climbing the unclimbable, Mt Everest.  "Paths of Glory" is a quick and inspiring read.  However, it is far too superficial in it's treatment of the characters to build anything more than a Harlequin type romance and the subsequent tragedy of lost love to equate this historical fiction to a real world account of George Mallory's life and times.  Mallory's story, from the perspective of his possible victory over Everest, had to be told nevertheless.  And I am glad someone as esteemed as Archer took on the burden for the Mallory fans and for England.  I am a Mallory fan, I wish in my heart that he actually made the summit, but I know in practical reality that the victory of his expeditions were not in reaching the summit but in providing all the lower rungs of the ladder necessary for future expeditions, and in fact Hillary and Norgays successful bid almost 30 years later.  If you read about Hillary's bid one understands how truly difficult it is to climb Mt Everest. 

I was disappointed in this book because I thought perhaps, or was lead to believe early on, that this book was really a mystery novel that delved deep into the evidence of the case, a forensics examination for instance.  As it turns out, there is still very little evidence to support even a modest claim that Mallory made the summit.  The eye witness testimony of Dr. Odell and the hearsay account of Mallory's daughter that Mallory always carried a picture of his wife intent on leaving the picture at the Summit.  The fact that the picture was not with Mallory when is body was discovered in 1999 seems to be the only compelling argument that he made the summit, which of course, is based on nothing factual at all.  Nevertheless the intrigue of the mystery remains. 

In the end this a light novel that introduces the drama of early mountaineering along with the politics and personalities of the Royal Geological Society in England during this time period...not a penny more, not a penny less.

 

 

Sea Stories - Mc Raven

Navy Seals don’t write books.  That still should be the adage.  It compromises the very long standing quiet professionalism of our special forces.  Yet, there is still a demand to know.  Should we just let Clancy write the books, and perhaps, consult with the warfighters?   Or should we let those who have been there, tell the tale.  I’m truly of mixed mind on the topic.  But I’ve been reading a lot about Special Forces recently and I’m glad I picked up William McRaven’s book, “Sea Stories, My Life in Special Operations”.  Having just read “No Easy Day”, about the life of Mark Owens, one of the Seals  in the assault unit that helped cap that jack-off Osama Bin Laden (may he burn in hell), McRaven tells the story from the top.   Owen was on the ground and had to train and physically  do the Op.  McRaven had to get the Op planned and approved for execution.  It was a nice way to see both sides of the planning. 

But there is so much more in McRaven’s book.  His childhood, his mentors, and the various missions he undertook during his career. Of particular insight are the memories of his dad and his compatriots, all noble warfighters in their own rite.  Straight out of the annals of USAF history, fighter pilot types, with Robin Olds charisma.  His early days doing things kids do, trying to save the world, one tree fort at time.  A story that resonates with the many tree forts I constructed in my youth, most from lumber that was acquired in the many ways kids acquired the necessary resources to undertake such construction.  And then the missions they would embark on, without the gadgetry of a 007, but with Sean Connery on their mind.  Given the penasch of a gentleman spy, the lack of the necessary subject matter within the confines of a tree house, Playboy magazine for instance, seems suspiciously absent from his childhood.  

Mcraven ends each chapter with a soliloquy that is both uplifting and Spiritual.  Uplifting in the sense that he gives justification for the rough men that stand ready to do what needs to be done to keep us safe and spiritual in the sense that he seems to be in prayer, giving thanks to a God that is clearly present and real for him, a God that though an unseen hand, has kept him alive though circumstances that others haven't survived (or been as lucky) and extracted justice  from and upon the forces of evil that seem to separate humankind from crimes that clearly give most of the world the higher ground.  No laws seem to govern the lawless terrorists who believe their God, justify their actions against innocent lives and other seemingly indiscriminate atrocities that most of civilization judges to be, both legally and morally abhorrent.  Mcraven is correct in my opinion and I'm glad he included these sermons surmising each chapter to remind us how ugly the human heart can become, let alone the ugly business of war.  But with some principles of decency which tend to be more prominent within the vastest of  human behavior, he uses Hellen Keller's unique character to bolster his position in the words she spoke.   

One criticism of McRaven which could be incorrect, and thus  it's a compliment to him and a flaw in my own character, is that he portrays himself as a complete boy scout.  If everything he has ever done with the integrity behind which seems unassailable, and in his own words are absolutely true, he is the last boy scout.   But knowing what I know is the human condition, it stretches credibility to believe that he has only lied once in his life.  Knowing what I know and attempting to read between some of the lines,  it seems fair to believe his words cannot be taken completely accurately. Whether it be to protect national secrets or professional dealings with bosses or subordinates, particularly as it might reveal personal relationships or sensitive information, it all cannot be true.  Whether it be an act of human frailty or for political expediency, saying that you never lie, or portraying yourself thus, is to in fact engage in dishonesty.  I don’t believe everything he has written.  Ironically I would believe him more if he confessed to a few more acts of something less than seemingly  infallible integrity.  This is a minor point, but a conundrum for me.  It is not an accusation of any sort to impugn the integrity of this great and decent man, who at a minimum, kept his planning for the OBL raid, under incredibly tight lips.   

His walk through life does seem to be a series of sea stories from which he drew his life lessons.  McRaven is a man of principle, discipline, and considered thinking. I’m sure he has many more stories to tell.  I think he should tell them in a similar fashion.  These are the stories from the air he heard around the table at the Officers club from his dad and friends while growing up.  Sea stories of this fashion do not jeopardize national security.  They are the stories that should be told, the stories that make us bold, and dream of an  exciting life.  Without these anecdotes of life passed down through generations, as happens in countless military families, we wouldn’t have a culture of proud Americans willing to volunteer for the opportunity to defend our freedoms that we hold so dear.

Well written.  Glad I read this book. Four stars for this 4 Star Admiral

Trade Off - Maney

Malcolm Gladwell has given us three lenses through which we can view certain market phenomena that on the surface seem mystifying.  "The Tipping Point", which allows us to see that once things reach a critical mass with "stickiness' ' and the right combination of salesmen, connectors, and mavens a product might undergo explosive growth.  In "Blink" we were introduced to the idea that sometimes a very complex event can be dealt with in a very intuitive way, just an instinct for making the right decisions.  In "Outliers' ' Gladwell provided us a framework to understand how some successes are more than random.  Gladwell helped us see that there are a lot of market phenomena occurring that we don't fully understand, he gave them a name and some exposure to see that it is happening, but not necessarily what to do about it. With the release of Kevin Maney's new book, "Trade Off - Why Some Things Catch On and Others Don't", we are treated to another lens through which to view seemingly mystifying market events.  But he has given us what Gladwell missed, a practical business tool to build a working strategy -- as so many of the successful business leaders he covered did intuitively.  It is no surprise Maney wrote this book.  First, after covering technology for 22 years for the USA Today, Maney had a front row seat to digest, understand, and report on the rise and fall of many technologies, he is an expert.  Second, having put in the requisite 10,000 hours as a journalist, as Gladwell would suggest is the necessary number of hours for mastering his reporting skills, who better than to report the phenomenon he has dubbed in the first chapter as "The Fidelity Swap".  And finally, and most importantly, Gladwell was never really able to definitively explain "stickiness", that unknown phenomenon that produces an attraction to a product or service.  Maney has now given us the essence of the Gladwellian "stickiness".  It is that characteristic about a product or service that compels us to love it or require it in our lives...as a necessity.  The two extremes of that which we love, those high fidelity, high quality experiences that move our every sense which we are willing to sacrifice and pay top dollar for, and that which we need, to use, consume, or connect everyday by either force of habit or necessity that must be simple, convenient, and cheap. The markets continuously trade between fidelity and convenience because the consumer makes the same swap in their daily lives.  With all that has been written about the complexities of the economy and drivers of our markets Maney has given us something simple, intuitive, and more important fundamentally true.  I have used his simple lens to view my experiences.  I have not found a single instance where I would argue his framework does not hold up.  Sure there are products that fall into his "Fidelity Bubble" which for lack of something we love more or has not been very convenient, we are forced to use.  It is here, on the axis of his "Fidelity Swap" that he has given the next generation of entrepreneurs an incredible advantage and has given corporate leaders a framework for discussing their intuitive vision of products and services.  The Wharton School of business should immediately award Maney an honorary MBA for giving us the concept of a Fidelity Swap. We are principally sensory beings equipped for live performance with all of our senses turned on.  We are also very lazy.  The fidelity mirage is the ultimate dream state -- titillate all of our senses from the comfort of our own beds.  Maney has pegged the human condition in the epoch of high technology.

David and Goliath

David and Goliath, the Tortoise and the Hair, The Little Engine that Could... these are the stories we grew up with that spoke to us about overcoming the odds.  As if somehow learning as a child that overcoming the odds was not only possible it was a good thing.  When you're a kid with nothing to lose you might dream big…”This only goes to show what little people can do” to quote from the Musical Les Misérables.  As we grew older we understood more deeply just how impossible overcoming the odds can be.  To truly overcome the odds the reality of the “Kobayashi Maru Scenario” sets in.  From Star Trek the Kobyashi Maru Scenario is the no-win scenario that cadets going through Starfleet Academy must face.  Only one cadet ever won the Kobayashi Maru Scenario.  That’s would be Captain James T. Kirk.  How did he win?  He cheated. OK, for the most part, these “David and Goliath” tales of youth are fictional.  Enter Malcolm Gladwell and his forth is a series of winning titles starting with “The Tipping Point”, “Blink”, and then “Outliers”.  Now Mr. Gladwell brings us “David and Goliath -- Underdogs, Misfits, and the art of Battling Giants”.  He’s not coining a new phrase as he did with his other books.  We all know the story of David and Goliath and we know it’s about doing something that ought not be possible.  Except instead of fiction, Mr. Gladwell brings us a series of real life accounts of underdogs prevailing against the mountain of odds stacked against them.  These are real life David and Goliath stories as only Mr. Gladwell can tell them...  deep, compelling, and expertly told...his trademark.  How did these underdogs prevail?  In some sense they cheated.  As Capt Kirk would say, “He changed the rules”.  In all cases it’s about seeking advantage from the strengths you have, versus trying to capitalize on the traditional strengths that you will never have.  And no matter how hard you wish for it, the odds will forever, not be in your favor.  If you're a Hunger Games fan. So changing the rules of the game is always necessary.  Only after the fact can one judge whether the ends justified the means…and that’s a slippery ethical slope.

These real life “David and Goliath” stories stand well on their own, overcoming dyslexia, winning with a full court press in basketball, defeating childhood leukemia, prevailing in the race struggle in Birmingham Alabama, and outwitting the Nazi’s in Vichy France.  And Mr. Gladwell brings them to us with epic and sometimes heart wrenching prose...tears were streaming down my face at least twice.  He brings to us a different perspective on what’s necessary to win...and if an underdog does win, look closely, there’s something else going on, and then sometimes...winning big might mean ultimately losing.  This is where his attempt to bring too many stories together...with a single logical thread...seems to break down.  Is he trying to say if you're an underdog you should cheat?  Is he trying to say, maybe, we shouldn’t win?  That’s harder to tease out.  The main premise however is that If you’ve grown up an underdog you have a hidden strength you can exploit...just because you’ve survived the adversity that makes you an underdog you must have some strength in you. And this is definitely inspiring.  Sadly, many more underdogs don’t survive to be those underdogs...and those overwhelming numbers don’t show up in the text...but they must be huge.   We only hear about the underdogs that win.  David was the big winner and he rose to become a king. We don’t hear about he David’s that lost...and I can assure you there are many more of those out there...countless Davids have lost.

So in the end, Mr. Gladwell gives us something interesting to read, stories to tell, and true to his journalistic form, an extremely well written book.  But he hasn’t given us the same game changing insights he brought forth in his earlier three works.  This is only a must read for his fans, so I can’t give it 5 stars.  And it is nowhere near the same book that is  “The Tipping Point”, “Blink”, or “Outliers” so I will deduct another star.  Three stars for “David and Goliath”, Mr. Gladwell may have reached a “Slipping Point” of his own.  I hope he can recover.

Ready Player One

 

In 1981 I remember sitting with my friends Jim  and Karl as they recorded and dubbed their own voices over top of Rutger Hauer speaking to Harrison Ford at the end of the movie “Blade Runner”. “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe…”  This was all Betamax enabled.  Fast forward thirty years and with a few clicks you can find that same scene in under 10 seconds.  With a few more clicks, and the right software, Rutger Hauer can be made to sing, “What Does the Fox Say?”.   Fast forward another thirty years and your avatar from Second Life will enter any movie and interact with any scene you choose. You name it, “War Games”, “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off”, or “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”.  This is how far the on-line gaming community will have advanced the internet.  Oh yes, it will be our passion for online gaming that will turn the internet into our true second life.  At least through the creation of Ernest Cline’s first, and his (I can’t wait for the movie) best selling novel, “Ready Player One”.  It doesn’t end there.  Pick any computer game ever invented and tuck  it neatly into a consolidated worldwide virtual environment.  Inside the OASIS everything we consider to be society will be enabled.  Schools, commerce, entertainment, crime, our every need will be met.  In theory our only need outside of OASIS would be food  delivery and a functioning toilet nearby.  Add a true online quest for a $250 billion dollar prize and the ultimate game is on...Ready Player One...

Ready Player One is a fascinating glimpse of the 1980’s that takes us 30 years into our own future asking us to go back 30 years in order to go forward.  Cline not only has an encyclopedic recollection of music, movies, computer games, and the 1980’s culture, he has a keen view of how our society  could emerge if we fail to solve some of our biggest problems with energy and the environment.  If you can envision people living in vertical trailer parks you will immediately get the idea.  

Epic in scale and as intimate as the text messages between two best friends who have never met in real life. Cline has documented several of our geek generations and invited us all to relish in our memories of music, movies, and technology, and to think about how important they will all still be in 2044...with new technology making it even easier to access everything ever recorded or printed. Throw in an absent government, a love story, the greed of an evil corporate empire, the quest for a copper, jade, and crystal key, with a touch of indentured servitude, and you will understand this book.  This is vintage future fiction.  I think Cline has invented a new genre. I’m giving it 5-Stars, and did I mention, I can’t wait for the movie.

When the Mountain Mist Clears

As the Lance Armstrong saga continues to unravel...the damning evidence presented by USADA, the stripping of his titles, his lifetime ban from sports, stepping down as chairman of his foundation, “LiveStrong”, with other allegations that are being reported, and now the sponsors who have supported him for years kicking him to the curb.  Lance said at a “LiveStrong” fund raising gala last night, “I’ve been better, I’ve also been worse”.  Among other things, Lance is a spectacular PR man.  He is a natural promoter, leader, visionary, and will survive this seemingly limitless setback orchestrated by the USADA.  It’s been called a witch hunt, I’ve called it a witch hunt, but as it turns out, there are actually some witches involved.  And even though Lance is being burned at the stake, he will continue to be a part of the American fabric for decades to come.  Why? The reasons are complex and go to the core of human motivation...and on these points Lance, in my book, is still a winner.

At  the first brilliant point in his life, after he survived cancer and won his first Tour de France (TdF), he wrote the book, “It’s Not About the Bike”.  Which is what we, along with the 80 million people who wear the distinctive yellow bracelets will continue to support.  Why? Because it’s true.  The profound good that this organization can do in our world stands clear, and,  it is indeed not about the bike. Lance knows this...he wrote the book.  However, shortly thereafter, having come back from the dead, Lance confused his own beliefs about his foundation and the meaning of his bike. Professional road racing, the extreme spectacle of a TdF win, the challenge of winning more, and of course the bike, took hold of him in a way that became an obsession.  Why?  Because while he can’t personally cure cancer, he can make money.  To make the most money he must win the most bike races.  If winning bike races is what it takes to cure cancer, the end’s must surely justify the means.  As it turns out the bike takes front and center.  Winning is the solution, the goal, the obsession.  The bike is the mechanism for the win however the motivation for the win has fundamentally changed.  That motivation obscures everything in it’s path until it’s it no longer about the bike.  At least for him.  For everyone else in professional cycling, the bike remains important.

Professional road racing is an exhibition. Sponsors, above all others, understand that exhibition is what sells product.  The TdF is an extreme exhibition,  hence extreme product endorsement.  The participants who compete are not like regular humans.  They are extreme specimens shaped with decades of preparation.  All professional sports are exhibitions, without sponsors there are no exhibitions.  Few events are as extreme as the TdF.  It extracts an extreme toll physically, mentally, and even spiritually on the human body.  Participates sacrifice, most, if not all of their lives riding a bike in pursuit of winning.  And those of us who are spectators, pay to see it happen.  We pay to see, in the great voice of Jim McKay, “the human drama of athletic competition” at it’s greatest and at it’s worse.  Once a year, in France, during the month of July, all of these things come together in professional road racing.  For exhibitions where one prepares a lifetime, the motivations are a varied as the participants who ride.  In this story, the motivations of Lance Armstrong, outweigh most, if not all, of the other riders.  If Lance want’s to use this spectacle as his platform to cure cancer, he must win at the TdF.  Sponsors like a winner.  They too, if they can back a winner, make a contribution to his foundation, and sell more product.  Lance’s sponsors  have a win-win-win situation on their hands.  The riders on his team, if they can catch a “boost up the mountain” in his slipstream also, boost their careers.  They have a win-win situation.  And if there is one thing that is certainly true about the TdF, Lance knows he cannot do it alone.  He must exploit the win-win to facilitate his sponsors win-win-win to promote his foundation.

But winning the TdF is not easy.  It’s not even hard.  It is extremely difficult. To win the TdF you have to have best five things money can buy.  First, a large team from which to choose the strongest riders.  Second, the best technology. Third and fourth, the best coaches along with the best tactics on the road.  And finally,  the very best physical training available.  Coupled with the physical training comes nutrition and health, recovery and therapy, and psychology programs.  No team will win the TdF without having all of these categories covered.  In every category teams are constantly stretching the limits, within the rules,  to top out in each area.  Performance enhancing drugs fall into the category of physical training.  As it turns out, and something that should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone even remotely acquainted with this sport, most of all the sponsors, including Nike, Anheuser-Busch, and Trek, that pay for their name in lights and on the podium, finding an advantage is the nature of business. Kicking the athlete when he is down must also be good for business.  The teams that were winning were the teams that found a way to boost their physical performance without being caught by the rule book.  Lance, as it turns out, rewrote this rulebook and found a way to win...seven times.  Performance enhancing drugs were necessary or another team, pick one,  that was using them would win. He leveled the playing field.   But no way Lance wins without the other things also in place and also at the very peak of their performance. The team, the equipment, the coaching, the tactics on the road are just as important.  Just ask the other teams.  The ones that were doping but failed in the other categories, and the teams that were not doping were not even in the top 10, maybe not in the top 20.  And there are only 24 teams in the TdF.   

Yet let’s not forget about the the race itself.  These superhumans don’t come from nothing.  Give me an injection of EPO and I still don’t make it to the first turn in the road. These superhumans still have to have talent.  They still have to ride, something still has to be accomplished.  And in the case of the TdF, extreme tasks must still be completed. The riders, with all their preparation, still have to push back the pain and endure 21 stages.  No matter how many drugs you have in your system, to say it’s a gruelling race to the top of Alpe D’huez, to fight through the mist, dueling wheel to wheel with another rider, pushing your body to it’s limits, is as extreme an understatement as the 2,200 miles of racing is long.  The fact that the race is physically punishing confuses every issue even more.  The sacrifices made to train, to be apart of a great team, to give up you life to pursue a career in professional road racing, for the sake of being a professional road racer are real.  These demands cannot be imagined.  When someone offers you better equipment, an easier way to reach the top, particularly when it’s coming from the king of the sport, the option to say no is unavailable.  

Lance found a formula for his team to win.  And maybe it’s a technicality, but it;s an important technicality.  Lance Armstrong never failed a drug test and neither did most of his riders.  The rules are established...you play by the rules but you seek every advantage possible within the guidelines as they are established.  If you find a loophole you drive a truck through it. Companies, like the companies who sponsored Lance, have legions of lawyers looking for legal loophole, trying to gain a corporate advantage in an extreme marketplace.  It is beyond hypocrisy to seek your own advantage, yet spurn those who do so also.  Some may go beyond the law.  When they get caught, hopefully they get prosecuted and go to jail.  Their motivation...greed.  Maybe, just maybe, in amateur sports, and in venues like the Olympics, where there is some ethereal belief that we are admiring the natural limits of the human body, this might not be true.  But my observation is that Olympic athletes, even these “non-professionals, are far from natural.  The Special Olympics, or Paralympics might be the better venues to admire natural limits of the human body, or better yet, the local high school competition or Little League. The line between cheats and those who play fair is extremely long, extremely crooked, and wafer thin. In politics the term is gerrymandering, redefining a congressional district to gain the advantage of demographics in a particular region.  Do we call that cheating?  Lance chose his path and took his team down that road.  

Society is no longer looking the other way, the norms society has deemed as the rules are no longer in Lance’s favor.  So be it. Wanting to gain an advantage is human nature.  Stretching the rules is human nature. If you lean too far forward and go beyond the bounds of the legal loophole and get caught, you should pay the fine imposed by society.  An eye for an eye, etc.  In this case, since everyone in the TdF was doping, in that society, good or bad, right or wrong, it was acceptable behaviour as long as your drug test was clean.  If you get a speeding ticket, you pay the fine.  Does that mean you are going to stop cheating the posted speed limit of 55 mph?  That depends on your motivation.   If you are keeping up with traffic, perhaps you are OK.  If you’re speeding alone because you are late for work and might lose your job (your riding career) as a result, the officer who pulls you over might have little compassion.  However, if you are rushing a bleeding child to the hospital, perhaps the ends justify the means and the officer who pulled you over might overlook the infraction.  The USADA, in this case Tavis Taggart, is officer who pulled Lance over.  He doesn’t see the bleeding child the back seat of Lance’s car.  In fairness to Taggart he sees a bleeding child that is the use of performance enhancing drugs in professional athletics.  Whichever side of the argument you might be on, finding a cure for cancer betters the human condition.  Suppressing human nature from seeking a competitive advantage also suppresses the human condition because it is human nature.  Lance beat cancer.  He had the very best science and the financial wherewithal to seek the latest treatments.  He cheated death as a result.  Many  others do not have the resources to cheat...so they lose their race.  LiveStrong want’s to level that playing field.  Lance’s desire to level the playing field at  the TdF is no more or less troubling, at least not to me.  As self-serving as it may sound, the only one speeding with a bleeding child in their car was Lance Armstrong.  His foundation, his obsession, his desire to cure cancer became his bleeding child.   He survived, he can win, he can live strong for others...it’s not about the bike  but the necessity to win with the bike became his reality...to save all bleeding children.

Lance was paid to win.  We all paid for him to win.  We pay to see champions.  We pay to see the human drama.  We will continue to buy Nike shoes and drink Anheuser-Busch products. We will continue to push an army of Lance’s to the extreme.  Extracting a penalty from the offenders we carried forward, that exceeds what can be established as a societal norm, is unfair.  The USADA has a different agenda.  Maybe they have cracked the “code of silence” surrounding the practice of doping.  And that’s a good thing.  If the TdF is completely clean, nobody has to speed, and maybe that’s better in  the long run.  But for Lance there are still bleeding children in his car.  When the USADA witch hunt is over, the fog will roll back in, something else will take the place of drug doping that will stretch the rules and help teams gain an advantage over one another.  The mountainous toll cancer will take on society will continue.  On another day two riders will emerge out of the mist on some unknown high mountain pass.  Lance Armstrong will be one of those two riders breaking and chasing back the wheels of death all the way to the top.  I personally hope that Lance will find another way to level the playing field with a winning team behind him.  You can bet death will be looking to cheat him at every opportunity.  But as death is now riding against a great champion, times seven, don’t count Lance Armstrong out...to be continued...

Waiting for One More Wave

Hurricane Bertha is kicking up swell in the middle of the Atlantic.  It's already dark and I've just come back from watching about 40 surfers catch waves down at Sebastian inlet.  I watched them all finish up their set and catch a final wave while they could still see the bodies of other surfers bobbing in front of them.  As I walked back to the parking area along the top of the jetty I looked back into the surf and could barely make out one last guy in the water waiting for his last wave.  Since there was only one guy left I fancied that it was Kelly Slater, trying to catch one more before going in.  I would like to meet Kelly Slater, the man, the champion, the surfing legend.  I just finished reading Pipe Dreams--a Surfer's Journey, a little late since it was published in 2003.  Co-written by Slater and Jason Borte a surfer/writer/teacher from Virginia Beach, VA, it's a nice book, with quaint stories about Kelly's journey from grommet to manhood to world champion -- 6 times (the book stopped before his world title career continued).  Unfortunately it does not read like the life of a world champion -- it is not a world class biography.  It reads more like like it was written for his fan club -- with short anecdotal accounts of his formative years followed by even shorter accounts of the many repetitive competitions required to capture six world tour victories.  Since Slater is in the upper stratosphere when it comes to his craft -- where only world class talent belongs -- his book should also have world class appeal -- sadly it does not.  I lay the blame at the feet of his co-author and perhaps his editor.  I don't know much about surfing, and I probably know even less about surfing after reading Pipe Dreams.  This is a shame.   Slater hints of a second book where he details some secrets to surfing.  This would probably be a better story.  That's not to say Slater's story shouldn't have world class appeal -- it has too -- the story just isn't told in this book.  Kelly Slater is now an eight-time world champion -- that puts him in extremely rare company, dare I say Lance Armstrong.   What you can barely glean from the narrative is that Kelly Slater is a deep introspective person -- hugely complex and sophisticated in his thoughts -- this is readily apparent in his life story yet you do not get this directly from the pages, you must read between the lines and theorize that there is way more to what we are being told -- I hope there is, otherwise Slater has lived a very shallow life.  Perhaps a surfer's journey is shallow -- but I doubt it.  This book is a must read for all surfers, young and old and at heart, so they can say they've read Slater's book, but it is no better than the the worst written TV shows or movies about surfers it criticizes.  When a world class athlete decides to write a book, they have to go with  world class help -- please Kelly -- for the sake of your fan's and for the sake of your profession, get some help with the next one. I'll be waiting for that wave.  This one gets three stars because I finished it without too much trouble and the awesome cover jacket (which ironically is world class).