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October 13
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Charles
gave
to:
Mainspring (Hardcover)
by Jay Lake
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Charles
gave
to:
Humboldt's Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt and the Latin American Journey that Changed the Way We Se (Hardcover)
by Gerard Helferich
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in October, 2008
Charles said:
"This is a great book about Alexander Humboldt's voyage in 1799 -1804 to northern South America, Mexico and Cuba. He did a great deal of scientific work -- geography, ecology, geology, anthropology, all in an integrated way. The voyage ended with hi...more
This is a great book about Alexander Humboldt's voyage in 1799 -1804 to northern South America, Mexico and Cuba. He did a great deal of scientific work -- geography, ecology, geology, anthropology, all in an integrated way. The voyage ended with him visiting Jefferson in Washington just after Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark off on their voyage, which in many ways was similar to Humboldt's. In the first half of the nineteenth century, Humboldt was world famous as a result of his explorations, and he deserved to be.
I wish only that the book had been longer and gone into more detail about Humboldt's experiences. ...less
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October 02
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Charles
gave
to:
How the States Got Their Shapes (Hardcover)
by Mark Stein
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in September, 2008
Charles said:
"I recently found three books on state boundaries of the USA. This is the best. The other two are State and National Boundaries of the United States by Gar...more
I recently found three books on state boundaries of the USA. This is the best. The other two are State and National Boundaries of the United States by Gary Alden Smith and The Shape of the Nation by Jim Feldman. Feldman's book appears to be self-published and is brief with sloppy maps and text missing here and there. The Smith book is worth reading. He has entries about things of interest to us geeks like the Vermont panhandle (did you know that Vermont has a panhandle?) that the Stein book does not have. I do wish Smith hadn't repeated the description of each boundaries twice, once for each state. Stein's book gives a bigger and more informed historical overview and is very well written.
...less
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Charles
gave
to:
The Shape of the Nation-Why the States are Shaped Like That (Paperback)
by Jim Feldman
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Charles
gave
to:
State and National Boundaries of the United States (Hardcover)
by Gary Alden Smith
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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September 21
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New comment on Charles's review of
Beyond the Zonules of Zinn: A Fantastic Journey Through Your Brain
reply to this comment
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July 22
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Charles
installed the Goodreads Facebook Application 
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June 26
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Charles
gave
to:
The Dragons of Babel (Hardcover)
by Michael Swanwick
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in June, 2008
Charles said:
"This is the best fantasy novel I have read since the last one I read by Gene Wolfe. It is not as deep or subtle as a Wolfe novel but it has interesting, growing characters and a great plot. Every sentence is brimful of ideas, in a way like no other...more
This is the best fantasy novel I have read since the last one I read by Gene Wolfe. It is not as deep or subtle as a Wolfe novel but it has interesting, growing characters and a great plot. Every sentence is brimful of ideas, in a way like no other author's writing except Neil Stephenson.
This book is a descendant of Rudyard Kipling's Kim -- a protagonist who gradually learns who he is, in a world full of many different kinds of creatures and cultures. I was disappointed at first in the plot because it seemed episodic -- one set piece after another -- but, by the end you see it wasn't that way at all. Not a bit! And it has a wonderful postmodern ending that is in a way the exact opposite of a heroic fantasy ending, yet just right and totally satisfying.
I am now in a hurry to get a copy of the other book set in this world, The Iron Dragon's Daughter.
...less
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May 27
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Charles
gave
to:
America's Hidden History LP: Untold Tales of the First Pilgrims, Fighting Women, and Forgotten Founders Who Shaped a Nation (Paperback)
by Kenneth C. Davis
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in May, 2008
Charles said:
"New takes on many events in early America. One of the most interesting is his story of Benedict Arnold, who was a hero for our side and then went over to the British. Arnold had to wear a special boot to compensate for his wounded leg. But he was ...more
New takes on many events in early America. One of the most interesting is his story of Benedict Arnold, who was a hero for our side and then went over to the British. Arnold had to wear a special boot to compensate for his wounded leg. But he was a hero at Saratoga; the author credits his defeat of the British there as what finally convinced the French to come into the war on our side. Well, they couldn't very well put up a statue of Benedict Arnold to commemorate that victory, so they put up a statue of his boot with an inscription to "the most brilliant soldier in the Continental Army" -- but without naming him.
This book covers some of the same material as Tony Horwitz' A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World (but Horwitz doesn't cover Benedict Arnold or George Washington). Horwitz usually has more detail in the part they both deal with....less
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Charles
gave
to:
A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World (Hardcover)
by Tony Horwitz
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in May, 2008
Charles said:
"About the early voyages of discovery and attempted settlement of North America up to Plymouth Rock. The author visited many of the places that the early visitors saw. The stories, about the explorers and about the places as they are now, are both i...more
About the early voyages of discovery and attempted settlement of North America up to Plymouth Rock. The author visited many of the places that the early visitors saw. The stories, about the explorers and about the places as they are now, are both interesting and depressing.
DeSoto was a mass murderer, and Coronado was only a little better. The people at the historical sites, or at the places that thought they were historical sites, have no interest in historical evidence.
The people in northeast Florida were particularly bad about this. Huguenots settled there in 1564 to get away from French Catholic persecution (the first settlement in the New World resulting from religious intolerance). They were soon murdered, men, women and children, by Spaniards from a nearby fort, but they were in fact on the way to murder the Spaniards. But the locals take (both) sides in spite of the evidence. And it MATTERS to them what their ancestors did. Appalling.
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