Getting some reading done on vacation 
"Crescent Dawn" by Clive Cussler. This is Cussler's newest book, a Dirk Pitt novel. But unlike his earlier books, this is co-authored by his son, Dirk Cussler. A few posts above, I said that the previous Pitt book was disappointing. CD, in contrast was some classic Dirk Pitt sand Al Giordino adventuring! And a much better job was done of weaving in and balancing the additional storylines required by Dirk jr and Summer Pitt. The historical Mytholougy was integral to the plot, as in the best Pitt novels. And I won't bother explaining the story because they're all the same if you're a dirk Pitt fan. I recommend Crescent Dawn. "Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. So I'm a decade behind the cool kids here. Gladwell was all the rage in 2000 when everyone read this book and the entire world made more sense to them. I got this for Xmas last year and finally got to it. Sort of. I read the intro a month ago and it was so bad-reeking of junk science- that I put it down. I tried again this week and happily found it more fun than the intro suggested. TP purports to explain "epidemics": why things suddenly take hold and spread like wildfire. Be it syphyllismor trendy shoes or a rash of suicides 'Gladwell's got the explanation. He uses chapters of classic psychology results coupled with zippy coined terms, like Maven, Collector, and Salesman to explain the key people needed to take something from equilibrium and push it to it's tipping point so it spreads like an epidemic. I found the surveys of classic psychology very interesting, since I don't have any psych education. But the theory-of-everything of tipping points and epidemiology left me unconvinced. It's a fun perspective and gives useful Ideas for running your business or promoting your product. But as a true explanatory model, it has no predictive ability and is written as mishmash of marginally related ideas. I won't say it's junk science, but it's not thorough or complete science. "Kingdom Come" by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. I'm not a comic collector, but I enjoy the genre and have been reading some classics in graphic novel form in recent years. Kingdom Come has the premise that Superman's idealistic decency has been passed by by society's more vengeful desires for "justice" and has left, living in seclusion. As he went, so went the rest of the Justice League. In their absence arose a new generation of heroes and villains that now are tearing apart the world. As the world's affairs become more desperate, everyone is pulled into play struggling, warring, positioning for power. And in my limited knowledge, it is indeed everyone. Every superhero and supervillain I've heard of and a good number I've not are pictured and given large or small roles. For the avid comic reader, who knows the long stories and interplays of the DC and Marvel universes, this must be an especially rewarding collection of characters, relationships, and implied stories to pore through. But even for me, a casual and infrequent reader, it was a rich and engrossing story. If you enjoy comics, this is highly recommended. And if you're familiar with the genre, I'd appreciate further recommendations.
"Crescent Dawn" by Clive Cussler. This is Cussler's newest book, a Dirk Pitt novel. But unlike his earlier books, this is co-authored by his son, Dirk Cussler. A few posts above, I said that the previous Pitt book was disappointing. CD, in contrast was some classic Dirk Pitt sand Al Giordino adventuring! And a much better job was done of weaving in and balancing the additional storylines required by Dirk jr and Summer Pitt. The historical Mytholougy was integral to the plot, as in the best Pitt novels. And I won't bother explaining the story because they're all the same if you're a dirk Pitt fan. I recommend Crescent Dawn. "Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. So I'm a decade behind the cool kids here. Gladwell was all the rage in 2000 when everyone read this book and the entire world made more sense to them. I got this for Xmas last year and finally got to it. Sort of. I read the intro a month ago and it was so bad-reeking of junk science- that I put it down. I tried again this week and happily found it more fun than the intro suggested. TP purports to explain "epidemics": why things suddenly take hold and spread like wildfire. Be it syphyllismor trendy shoes or a rash of suicides 'Gladwell's got the explanation. He uses chapters of classic psychology results coupled with zippy coined terms, like Maven, Collector, and Salesman to explain the key people needed to take something from equilibrium and push it to it's tipping point so it spreads like an epidemic. I found the surveys of classic psychology very interesting, since I don't have any psych education. But the theory-of-everything of tipping points and epidemiology left me unconvinced. It's a fun perspective and gives useful Ideas for running your business or promoting your product. But as a true explanatory model, it has no predictive ability and is written as mishmash of marginally related ideas. I won't say it's junk science, but it's not thorough or complete science. "Kingdom Come" by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. I'm not a comic collector, but I enjoy the genre and have been reading some classics in graphic novel form in recent years. Kingdom Come has the premise that Superman's idealistic decency has been passed by by society's more vengeful desires for "justice" and has left, living in seclusion. As he went, so went the rest of the Justice League. In their absence arose a new generation of heroes and villains that now are tearing apart the world. As the world's affairs become more desperate, everyone is pulled into play struggling, warring, positioning for power. And in my limited knowledge, it is indeed everyone. Every superhero and supervillain I've heard of and a good number I've not are pictured and given large or small roles. For the avid comic reader, who knows the long stories and interplays of the DC and Marvel universes, this must be an especially rewarding collection of characters, relationships, and implied stories to pore through. But even for me, a casual and infrequent reader, it was a rich and engrossing story. If you enjoy comics, this is highly recommended. And if you're familiar with the genre, I'd appreciate further recommendations.
