The Devil in the White City by E. Larson

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

This book is chalk full of interesting informational tidbits about a variety of things that intersect with the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and falls into my Meal for the Mind category.  Journalistic in style, with just the right touch of narrative aspects; gives the feeling of reading news reporting of days gone by.   Larson did his research, and like any good research writer included the documentation of the factual aspects of this book.   Absolutely fascinating and would highly recommend this read for anyone into historical detail, true crime, or architectural development of the U.S.

Larson brilliantly intertwines two stories of the time period.  One is the quest of Chicago to create a World's Fair that would top the Paris Exposition.  This tale is full of architectural detail about not only the creation of the elegant buildings that became known as the "White City"; but also the political strife, games, and complications of committees and overseers.  The book explores the influences and lives of the architects who brought a far reaching vision to reality.  This alone was fascinating and informative, but the other tale of H.H. Holmes takes the book to another level.   

At the same time that all the politics and creation of the World's Fair is going on, H.H. Holmes (an alias) is committing a host of atrocities just a few blocks away.  For some the reading of these crimes may be horrifying and hard to believe; however, what really gets you is the same question that arises when similar situations occur today... "How did they escape detection for so long?  How did they get away with these heinous acts?" For that, there is never an easy answer.  

This book illuminates so many fascinating aspects of this time period.  In many ways, time sweeps away the realities of the past leaving only the gleaming triumphs or epic failures that changed the world as we know it.  However, in reading Larson's wonderfully crafted account of this strikingly dark time period, the picture becomes a bit more clear.  Though the mediums of how we discover, report, ans spread information has changed vastly; the information itself has not changed all that much. Money, power, fame have always been motivational tools for the human psyche.  The question is whether those motivations are used to create something that fascinated thousands of people with its beauty and majesty; leaving lasting impressions and influences for years.  Or, those motivations are used to commit acts that are so vile and base that the knowledge of them is seared into ones memory.   These are the diametrically opposed tales that Larson weaves together with skill and style.

• Lexile Measure: 1170L 
• Paperback: 447 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (February 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375725601
• ISBN-13: 978-0375725609

The Truth Machine by J. Halperin

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• The Truth Machine by James L. Halperin

How honest can a human society really be and still be able to function? Could human society adapt to a world in which Everyone must tell the absolute truth because technology has been created that can tell within 99.9% accuracy if an individual is indeed telling the truth.  How honest do we really want people to be?   Well that is exactly the heart of this novel and surprisingly the world this book creates does not seem implausible, it actually seems realistically possible in many ways. This is a Meal for the Mind book that is well worth the read.

This intriguing novel was penned in 1997 and covers a time period from the early 1990's to the year 2049.  What is fascinating to a reader today is what has occurred in the world between 1997 and when the reader sits down to read this book.   Each chapter of the book starts with  the "headlines" of news from the time period that is to be covered in that chapter.  So when written in 1997 the majority of the book was based on speculation and logical conclusions of what might occur.  Indeed, Halperin writes in the prologue that he consulted many people in a variety of fields of study to help create these events.  So reading the book in 2013 there are now 16 years of events that have occurred and to see what has come to pass as was written in the novel... well Mr. Halperin evidently consulted some very connected and intelligent people.

The story follows the lives of friends who change the world as we know it by the various ways they are connected to and influence the development of "the truth machine".  The main inventor, Pete Armstrong, is driven by something more powerful than greed which gives the book its moral compass for how it approaches the whole question. Had the main character in fact been motivated by the all to realistic capitalistic ambition the novel most certainly would have taken a much darker and more fearsome tone.  However, this novel ends up as a hopeful and inspiring look at how the world might be, could be, but likely never will be.  Thus, there are readers who will find it a bit on the "cheesy" side of fiction.   

This is also not an action story, it is a thinking novel.  It is a read that should make you think, ponder, identify with one of the characters and then that should cause you to pause and think about why you identify with them.  It is a story of choices, positions that ask for compromise of ideals and ethics, challenges priorities and motivations.   I will admit that the author could have pushed these human questions so much farther, he does accomplish the mere task of taking the reader to the point of at least thinking about them.

This book is definitely a love it or hate it kind of book.   I found the premise fascinating and intriguing.   The close to the mark headlines that Halperin penned for the last 16 years caused a few goosebumps. It is quaint and a bit on the cheesy side; but, even cheesy novels have their merits.  Honesty; is it the best policy?  Take a trip trough the pages of this book and decide for yourself.        

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• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; Reprint edition (June 29, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345412885
• ISBN-13: 978-0345412881

Jane Eyre by C. Bronte

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Am I a book nerd?  Undoubtedly. So when I was looking through the vast collection of stored paperbacks in my parent's house and I came across this 1955 Cardinal Pocketbook $0.35 edition, I was a bit giddy.   Granted, I have read this book a time or two, but like Austen and Shakespeare, it is one of my go to reads. Additionally, a book club I belong to picked this as the summer read- so I again dove into the world of class and restriction, of expectations and elegance, of elevated language and logical matches.   It is a classic story that indeed stands the test of time thus making it a Meal for the Mind book.

For some this book is tedious and often readers give up before they get to the heart of the story.   This has a lot to do with the way literature has changed and what a modern audience expects from story development. "...and eyes like Miss Scatcherd's can only see those minute defects, and are blind to the full brightness of the orb." (pg 72)  During the mid 19th century, establishing a persons past, family, connection was simply expected.  It is for this reason that the first 120 pages are full of detail that seems unimportant and tedious.  This is then followed by the slow and very subtle development of the relationship of Jane and those of Thornfield Hall.  In fact it isn't until about page 275 that the meat of the story really starts gripping you.  There are those that may then be tempted to jump the opening segment, get to the heart of the matter but in doing that you lose the connection, the feeling for Jane, the desire to root for one truly good thing to occur.  This is what makes the heart of the story so gripping.

The classic novel tackles the questions of how we, as a society, define loyalty, fidelity, love, contract, responsibility, and marriage.  These ideas and questions still exist; to some degree, even more so now.   It is a question that both Jane and Rochester must face and consider.  Would the reader themselves have the same reaction, make the same choices, be strong enough to follow through on the choices that were made.  The novel exhibits a strength of character, that has in many ways, been lost in our "what I want" society.  Jane endures, survives, and holds true to belief and character; even when it causes her unbelievable pain and loss.

Heartbreaking, hopeful, enduring, a classic because the questions that Jane must face endure to this day. The details shift, circumstances change, a modern twist is added, yet still..... can one explain what the heart wants and have the strength to endure walking away from it? To this day we still try to find the answers and/or explanations with such little success.  The human question.... it is what binds great literature to us no matter what the future holds.           

• Paperback: 517 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books, Inc. Cardnial Edition 3rd Printing; Nov. 1953 New York
• Language: English
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• Modern Editions
• ISBN-10: 160459411X
• ISBN-13: 978-1604594119

Speaker for the Dead by OS Card

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card 

This is the second book in the "Ender" series.   I was introduced to Card's work with Pastwatch  a few years ago and followed up that read with Ender's Game.  As the movie is about to launch I wanted to read the next book in the series. This book fits into my Meal for the Mind category as it pushes the brains digestive powers. What I love about Card's writing is the human question that he always places before the reader, yet never presumes to know the answer to.  He sets up his books in a way that allows the reader to question many attributes of society that if questioned in a current setting would be tantamount to going against the things we believe in as a society.  By using his creative and unique futuristic worlds we can explore these questions as a reader and apply them to world we are currently in as we feel comfortable.  His books open the door to many issues that the human mind often resists but should explore.   Speaker is positioned as a book of redemption for Ender Wiggins, but the book is strong enough to stand alone as a great read whether you have read the previous installment or not.  The story takes the reader on the emotional journey of the characters and explores deep philosophical questions about how we, as humans, approach cultures, people, lands, ideas that are new and/or foreign to us.  It tackles the age old questions of interference, the study of, the understanding of, the misunderstanding of, and the process of learning about "new" things.   In the end, this book; at the very least, makes the reader think about these things; at the very best, it pushes the reader to explore where they stand on issues they may not have explored or considered specifically before finishing this book.

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• ISBN-13: 9780812550757
• Publisher: Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC
• Publication date: 8/28/1994
• Series: Ender Quintet Series , #2
• Pages: 416
• Lexile: 850L