Book Review of "The Einstein Prophecy" By Robert Masello

I found it a little odd that Einstein would be used as a character in a supernatural mystery/thriller novel, but here it is. He plays kind of a secondary character, but a key one nonetheless.

The story involves the main protagonist: young army lieutenant Lucas Athan (formerly a college professor) and his accidental discovery of a sarcophagus from an Egyptian tomb. As with many Egyptian stories involving a sarcophagus, this one is no different in that there is a curse of sorts for any unfortunate soul who disturbs it.

The sarcophagus is delivered to Princeton New Jersey (think Raiders of the Lost Ark here), where Lucas is assigned to study it along with archaeologist Simone Rashid (his love interest). Princeton New Jersey of course is where Einstein and his good friend Kurt Godel are working together on the Manhattan Project (the project where the nuclear bomb technology was developed). The reader finds out that there is a supernatural connection between Einstein and this box (ossuary).

I know it sounds kind of far fetched, but somehow I found the story amusing more than thrilling. I liked the descriptions of Einstein and his work and his friendship with Godel. I also liked Lucas and Simone and how their relationship develops. The book was kind of weak on building tension, which is what a good thriller would do.

I liked the plot because it was not completely predictable. Sure the general plot can be guessed at, but the finer details are surprising, yet not too over the top. so, I enjoyed the flow of the book.

This book won't win any awards, but it is still an enjoyable read nonetheless.

Rating (out of 5 stars) ★★★☆☆

Book Review of "Foundation" By Isaac Asimov

After I finished listening to the Robot Series by Isaac Asimov, I thought I would delve into his other well known series "Foundation". The original series is 3 books, but this was later expanded into 5 or 6 books. Anyway, this is an interesting book. I didn't find it as good as the Robot series, because the Robot series deals with a question that seems more present than that problem which Foundation rests upon. In the robot series we are confronted with the question of how we deal with new technology (robots) and how do we deal with artificial intelligence (A.I.).

In any case, the real question (as I see it) posed by Asimov in Foundation is what are the long term prospects for the human race? Will we colonize other planets? Will the human race survive?While Asimov comes from a humanistic point of view he does explore the roles of politics, science and religion in his foundation series. That is the setting of the book. The galaxy has been colonized and organized into a galactic empire.

One scientist (a psycho-historian) named Hari Seldon predicts the end of the empire using the techniques developed in psycho-history; and he predicts how the decline can be reversed by the creation of a quasi-political entity called the Foundation. Each "Seldon crisis" (detailed predictions of what they will be facing (a crisis point that places the foundation in jeopardy) is an opportunity to see if Seldon has predicted correctly the crisis and has predicted a way out of it.

So the book goes like this: crisis, resolution, crisis, resolution, crisis, resolution. It sets the reader up for it's sequel.

Overall, I thought the book was good. But for me it lacked human interest on a character level. There is interest as far as humanity as a whole, but there was no clear interest or crisis in one particular character. There was focus on particular characters for brief periods, but the overall tenor of the book read like a history textbook: somewhat interesting, but certainly not riveting. The drama is created by the various crises, but this is on a very large scale. I did not become invested in any of the characters to any great degree.

I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review of “The Accursed” By Joyce Carol Oates

This novel is primarily about a curse that is inflicted upon members of the Slade family (immediate and extended) in the environs of Princeton New Jersey during the years 1905-06. As with a sickness, the curse begins to have very small effects, and gradually grows to a climactic point and then is finally removed by the end of the novel. The reader is left wondering throughout the novel what might be the cause of the strange goings on in this time period.

The narrator of the story, a historian Pierce Van Dyck, shares the fruits of his historical labor with his reader. He apparently has access to primary sources such as diaries, letters and the like. It lends a kind of credulity, even though we as readers know that this whole story is created for us out of the fertile imagination of Mrs. Oates. By the way, Mrs. Oates’ writing style in this tale is superb. It is what you would expect from a first class author who has refined her craft over decades.

Gothic novels have a tendency to sprawl. This is the case here. We get small glimpses of families and individuals told in fine detail almost to the point of pedantry, but not quite. The detail feels necessary to the story. The prose is refined. For example, in some chapters we read entries from a coded diary (of Mrs. Adelaide Burr) that gives us insight into the mind and feelings of the Mrs. Burr. As I read, I was impressed by the language of the diary, which seemed to reflect accurately the manners and customs of the early 20^thcentury New Jersey privileged class.

Mrs. Oates keeps the reader guessing until the end. Who or what is to blame for the curse? She holds the reader’s attention fairly well. I think though that in our day, many will not have the patience to wade through this one. This is both the strength and weakness of this book. That is, it is not fast food fiction. The impact of this novel is heightened by the pace at which one reads it. If the reader savors each page and does not hurry through the narrative, they will be left shocked and thrilled by the end.

Book Review of "Before, During, After" By Richard Bausch

I listened to the audio book edition of this novel. I personally liked the characters in this story. I thought both Michael and Natasha were believable, yet flawed characters. The story revolving around 9-11 was more of a plot device than anything else. The impact to the characters was due to either personal factors or personal tragedy.

Bausch could have left out the 9-11 part from the plot and the novel would have worked just as well. The main theme of this novel is "Can we put our past behind us and forge a new better tomorrow?" I also liked how Bausch explored the themes of fear, guilt, regret, and anger.

As a reader I felt what the characters felt. The dramatic tension was there. Bausch succeeds in this regard. Where he did not succeed was with the novel's ending. It lacked emotional closure in my opinion. At the end of the story, Bausch gives the reader hints that things will work out for the best. I would have liked to have read about how they actually did work out. I would have like to have seen a little of their lives together. Also of interest is the baby. Who's is it? If it had not been Faulk's, would Faulk have tried to track down Nicholas Duego? Would he have done something drastic? What was Duego's point of view?

Book Review of “I Funny: A Middle School Story” By James Patterson

Book Overview (amazon.com)

Jamie Grimm is a middle schooler on a mission: he wants to become the world's greatest standup comedian--even if he doesn't have a lot to laugh about these days. He's new in town and stuck living with his aunt, uncle, and their evil son Stevie, a bully who doesn't let Jamie's wheelchair stop him from messing with Jamie as much as possible. But Jamie doesn't let his situation get him down. When his Uncle Frankie mentions a contest called The Planet's Funniest Kid Comic, Jamie knows he has to enter. But are the judges only rewarding him out of pity because of his wheelchair, like Stevie suggests? Will Jamie ever share the secret of his troubled past instead of hiding behind his comedy act?

Following the bestselling success of the hilarious Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life, James Patterson continues to dish out the funnies in another highly-illustrated, heartfelt middle school story. (Includes more than 175 black-and-white illustrations.)

Author Introduction

It is no surprise that in January, 2010, The New York Times Magazine featured James Patterson on its cover and hailed him as having "transformed book publishing," and that Time magazine hailed him as "The Man Who Can't Miss." Recently, NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams profiled Patterson's prolific career, AARP named him one of the "50 Most Influential People Who Make Our Days a Little Brighter," and Variety featured him in a cover story highlighting his adventures in Hollywood.

Book Review of "The Age of Edison" By Ernest Freeberg

Book Overview (amazon.com)

The late nineteenth century was a period of explosive technological creativity, but more than any other invention, Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb marked the arrival of modernity, transforming its inventor into a mythic figure and avatar of an era. In The Age of Edison, award-winning author and historian Ernest Freeberg weaves a narrative that reaches from Coney Island and Broadway to the tiniest towns of rural America, tracing the progress of electric light through the reactions of everyone who saw it and capturing the wonder Edison’s invention inspired. It is a quintessentially American story of ingenuity, ambition, and possibility in which the greater forces of progress and change are made by one of our most humble and ubiquitous objects. 

Author Introduction

Ernest Freeberg grew up in New England, attended Middlebury College, and worked as a reporter for Maine Public Radio. Now a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at the University of Tennessee, he has published two award-winning books. The Education of Laura Bridgman won the Dunning Prize from the American Historical Association, a biennial prize for the best first book in any field of American history. His more recent Democracy's Prisoner was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist in biography, and won both the David Langum Award for Legal History and the Eli Oboler Award from the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Roundtable. His 2013 book, Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America, examines the social and cultural impact of electric light on American society in that invention's early decades.

Book Review of "Super Boys" By Brad Ricca

Book Overview (amazon.com)

In time for the 75th anniversary of the Man of Steel, comes the first comprehensive literary biography of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, creators of the DC Comics superhero Superman and the inspiration for Michael Chabon's Kavalier and Clay

Drawing on ten years of research in the trenches of Cleveland libraries, boarded-up high schools, and secret, private collections, and a love of comic books, Brad Ricca's Super Boys is the first ever full biography about Superman’s creators. Among scores of new discoveries, the book reveals the first stories and pictures ever published by the two, where the first Superman story really came from, the real inspiration for Lois Lane, the template for Superman’s costume, and much, much more. Super Boys also tracks the boys’ unknown, often mysterious lives after they left Superman, including Siegel's secret work during World War II and never-before-seen work from Shuster.

Super Boys explains, finally, what exactly happened with the infamous check for $130 that pulled Superman away from his creators—and gave control of the character to the publisher. Ricca also uncovers the true nature of Jerry’s father’s death, a crime that has always remained a mystery. Super Boys is the story of a long friendship between boys who grew to be men and the standard that would be impossible for both of them to live up to.