Non Beer Book Review - The Beer Thrillers

Book Review: Subpar Parks: America’s Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressed Visitors (Amber Share)

B. Kline — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 18:14:36 +0000

Subpar Parks

Subpar Parks is a fun (and relatively quick) read by Amber Share. I will get into the book review in a bit, but theres plenty to discuss and things before that. (If you rather just skip ahead, go for it, it’ll be under the Book Review heading.)

As a funny note to start off with – on the date I posted the article: New Belgium Brewing and Subpar Parks Join Up For The Lack Of Wildlife Is Alarming, my girlfriend Amy happened to have bought me this book for Christmas.

And I am ever so glad she did. After reading about it, I had already put it on my “to get” list, so hearing Amy tell me she got it for me, I was quite pleased.

It made for a wonderful Christmas gift.

Washington Post Article

If you are able to read it – you might need to use it as one of your free view articles, or if you are paying and behind the paid wall – The Washington Post has a quite article, and small interview with author Amber Share about her book, about National Parks, and about her illustrations. You can find that here: Amber Share turned negative reviews of national parks into an art form.

National Parks

National Parks are key to keeping land safe, protected, preserved, and free (with some charges) for the American people. There are national parks across the United States as well as some of their territories and owned lands.

A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a government declares or owns. Although individual countries designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea: the conservation of ‘wild nature’ for posterity and as a symbol of national pride.^[1] National parks are almost always open to visitors.^[2]

The United States established the first “public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people”, Yellowstone National Park, in 1872.^[3] Although Yellowstone was not officially termed a “national park” in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice^[4] and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world.^[5] However, the Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve (in what is now Trinidad and Tobago; established in 1776),^[6] and the area surrounding Bogd Khan Uul Mountain (Mongolia, 1778), which were restricted from cultivation to protect surrounding farmland, are seen as the oldest legally protected areas.^[7]^[8] Parks Canada, established on May 19, 1911, became the world’s first national park service.^[9]

An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and its World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), has defined “National Park” as its Category II type of protected areas.^[10] According to the IUCN, 6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006. IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park.
National Park – Wikipedia

Landscapes of the Koli National Park in North Karelia, Finland, have inspired many painters and composers, e.g. Jean Sibelius, Juhani Aho and Eero Järnefelt.^[12]
(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

In 1969, the IUCN declared a national park to be a relatively large area with the following defining characteristics:^[14]

One or several ecosystems not materially altered by human exploitation and occupation, where plant and animal species, geomorphological sites and habitats are of special scientific, educational, and recreational interest or which contain a natural landscape of great beauty;

Highest competent authority of the country has taken steps to prevent or eliminate exploitation or occupation as soon as possible in the whole area and to effectively enforce the respect of ecological, geomorphological, or aesthetic features which have led to its establishment; and

Visitors are allowed to enter, under special conditions, for inspirational, educative, cultural, and recreative purposes.

In 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. These include:

Minimum size of 1,000 hectares within zones in which protection of nature takes precedence

Statutory legal protection

Budget and staff sufficient to provide effective protection

Prohibition of exploitation of natural resources (including the development of dams) qualified by such activities as sport, hunting, fishing, the need for management, facilities, etc.

While the term national park is now defined by the IUCN, many protected areas in many countries are called national park even when they correspond to other categories of the IUCN Protected Area Management Definition, for example:^[2]^[15]

Swiss National Park, Switzerland: IUCN Ia – Strict Nature Reserve

Everglades National Park, United States: IUCN Ib – Wilderness Area

Koli National Park, Finland: IUCN II – Surface Area

Victoria Falls National Park, Zimbabwe: IUCN III – National Monument

Vitosha National Park, Bulgaria: IUCN IV – Habitat Management Area

New Forest National Park, United Kingdom: IUCN V – Protected Landscape

Etniko Ygrotopiko Parko Delta Evrou, Greece: IUCN VI – Managed Resource Protected Area

While national parks are generally understood to be administered by national governments (hence the name), in Australia, with the exception of six national parks, national parks are run by state governments and predate the Federation of Australia; similarly, national parks in the Netherlands are administered by the provinces.^[2] In Canada, there are both national parks operated by the federal government and provincial or territorial parks operated by the provincial and territorial governments, although nearly all are still national parks by the IUCN definition.^[16]

In many countries, including Indonesia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, national parks do not adhere to the IUCN definition, while some areas which adhere to the IUCN definition are not designated as national parks.^[2]
Definitions of National Parks – Wikipedia

New Belgium and Subpar Parks Team Up

New Belgium Brewing teaming up with Subpar Parks

From our article: New Belgium Brewing and Subpar Parks Join Up For The Lack Of Wildlife Is Alarming

New Belgium Brewing is teaming up with Subpar Parks to create The Lack of Wildlife is Alarming Pale Ale. This “subpar” pale ale is will be hitting at 6% ABV and will be packaged and sold in 12 oz cans. The can art features Yosemite National Park.

GoodReads Back Cover Description

Before we get into the book review, lets read the back cover description:

Based on the wildly popular Instagram account, Subpar Parks features both the greatest hits and brand-new content, all celebrating the incredible beauty and variety of America’s national parks juxtaposed with the clueless and hilarious one-star reviews posted by visitors.

Subpar Parks, both on the popular Instagram page and in this humorous, informative, and collectible book, combines two things that seem like they might not work together yet somehow harmonize perfectly: beautiful illustrations and informative, amusing text celebrating each national park paired with the one-star reviews disappointed tourists have left online. Millions of visitors each year enjoy Glacier National Park, but for one visitor, it was simply Too cold for me! Another saw the mind-boggling vistas of Bryce Canyon as Too spiky! Never mind the person who visited the thermal pools at Yellowstone National Park and left thinking, “Save yourself some money, boil some water at home.”

Featuring more than 50 percent new material, the book will include more depth and insight into the most popular parks, such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and Acadia National Parks; anecdotes and tips from rangers; and much more about author Amber Share’s personal love and connection to the outdoors. Equal parts humor and love for the national parks and the great outdoors, it’s the perfect gift for anyone who loves to spend time outside as well as have a good read (and laugh) once they come indoors.
Nominee for Best Humor (2021)
GoodReads Choice Award

First Published August 24th, 2021
Subpar Parks: America’s Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressed Visitors – GoodReads

Book Review: Subpar Parks: America’s Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressed Visitors by Amber Share

Illustration by Amber Share

The book is a wonderful mis-mash of illustrations of national parks, of one sentence bad reviews, and then lots of key information on each of the national parks in question.

The illustrations are similar to the one on the right and the above (the New Belgium one, as well as the book cover), simple-ish drawings of a major feature of each park in question. They are pretty, effective, minimalist drawings.

The bad reviews in question are quick little one sentence quotes thrown onto of the artwork. The reviews aren’t offensive or vulgar or anything, they are petty and blandish, with things that are usually contradictory or ironic given the location. For example, Sand Dunes the reviewer says is “too much sand”. Or things like “too many bears” or “not enough bears” for parks that had bears in the name. The reviews aren’t elaborate or that crazy really, they are more like petty nit-picks probably by a person who was there for less than an hour viewing the national park in question. Nothing quippable or witty.

Her information on the national parks itself was great. I enjoyed reading about each park, not just the features we commonly think and know about them. The information is really handy for checking out the parks, and inspired me to add more to my list that I might have passed on when making bucket lists of national parks I want to visit.

All in all its a fun little jaunt through different national parks tied in with the theme of illustration on page 1, quip about the review, and then information of the park on page 2; rinse and repeat. Its a wonderful book. Amber Share’s writing is great, and makes me want to visit all of the parks in question, and fully get to explore them and see just how majestic and beautiful they really are (or if they are just “sand” or “just a hole in the ground”).

My GoodReads Rating: ****
My LibraryThing Rating: ****
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 3.97 (as of 1.3.24)

Some More Book Reviews

Some more book reviews for you to check out:

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Book Review: Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents (Cormac O’Brien)

B. Kline — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 15:43:09 +0000

Presidents of the United States

Simultaneously one of the most revered and the most reviled position or figurehead on the face of the planet. Often demonized or lauded for no reason, the President of the United States is a position of immense power, responsibility…. and folly.

And boy oh boy has there been lots of follies in the White House.

I remember reading the first version of this book back in High School, at the time it came out Bush Jr., had only been in office about a year, so it briefly covered about the first three or so months of his tenure. This edition runs up to about the first year of Obama’s year in office. I can only imagine a new edition now, covering Trump’s term, as well as Biden’s term so far.

So far as I know, there’s been no changes to the past segments, the only new changes from the edition I read in High School to the edition I read here is that it added a full account of Bush’s time in office, as well as Obama’s first year. (I could be wrong, since I don’t have the original copy to cross check.)

Book Review

The back of the book blurb:

Your high school history teachers never gave you a book like this one! Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents features outrageous and uncensored profiles of the men in the White House – complete with hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downright wacko facts. You’ll discover
– George Washington spent a whopping 7% of his salary on booze
– John Quincy Adams loved to skinny-dip in the Potomac River
– Warren G. Harding gambled with White House china when he ran low on cash
– Jimmy Carter reported a UFO sighting in Georgia
– And Richard Nixon . . . sheesh, don’t get us started on Nixon!
With chapters on everyone from George Washington to G. W. Bush, Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents tackles all the tough questions that other history books are afraid to Are there really secret tunnels underneath the White House? How many presidential daughters have bared their all for Playboy ? And what was Nancy Reagan thinking when she appeared on Diff’rent Strokes ? American history was never this much fun in school!
Secret Lives of the US Presidents (GoodReads)

The book is pretty straight forward. Each chapter is about 3 – to – 4 pages and covers each preisdent in sequential order. Some are a little bit more interesting than others, and some are a bit more ‘known’ than others (in the sense that its not bizarre weird trivia about the person).

(I can only imagine if they make an edition of this when it gets to Donald Trump.) For the most part, a lot of the chapters are typical histories of their time in office and their greatest scandals / offenses, with bits of esoteric knowledge of each president thrown in.

It is interesting to see what level of scandals different presidents have, and how thats impacted their political careers and how well their time in office went. It certainly seems like the scandals have ramped up over time. What “passed” for scandals in the 1800s and early 1900s are just mere blips on most Presidential tenures these days.

In the Presidents of the past there isn’t much political bias that creeps in – in the way of authorial voice – but in the more modern Presidents… a little bit creeps in. (In my opinion.) On the whole, I don’t think its bad, and certainly not off putting to the point that it makes it unreadable (either pro or con your side).

Its relatively fair through and through.

Overall I enjoyed the book, its a fun, relatively quick and easy read. Not crazy informative, but does provide some ‘fun reader entertainment level information’. If your a fan of history and not a super academic historian, this is a fun little read.

My GoodReads Rating: ***
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 3.71 (as of 4.26.23)
My LibraryThing Rating: ***

Other Book Reviews

Interested in more book reviews? Then check these out:

Thank You For Reading

Hope you liked this book review. From time to time, I enjoy doing book reviews on the site. Combining my different interests. Sometimes they wll be beer related book reviews, and sometimes not. Either way, let me know in the comments if you like them. Thanks!

Cheers.

-B. Kline

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Book Review: The Essential Salvador Dalí (Robert Goff)

B. Kline — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 21:31:04 +0000

Salvador Dalí

The name elicits a lot of mental imagery, the mustachioed man, the melting clocks, surrealism defined, etc. For most people you have this immediate mental image of him or his works. He is an iconic name in this age, or at least for those who know or have enjoyed artwork from the past century or so.

As I’ve stated on the blog here before, I’m not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to art; my knowledge of art is more confined to the world of comic books than it is to the world of ‘high art’. So thats partly why quick books like this one and the Essential Pablo Picasso are great little entry books for an art neophyte like myself.

But first, let’s talk about Savador Dalí; who he was, when he was born, when he died, what made him tick, etc.

Salvador Dalí from 1939 (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

As per the opening paragraphs of Wikipedia on Salvador Dali (quick biography):

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol gcYC (/ˈdɑːli, dɑːˈliː/;^[1] Catalan: [səlβəˈðo dəˈli]; Spanish: [salβaˈðoɾ daˈli];^[2] 11 May 1904 – 23 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in his work.

Born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain, Dalí received his formal education in fine arts in Madrid. Influenced by Impressionism and the Renaissance masters from a young age he became increasingly attracted to Cubism and avant-garde movements.^[3] He moved closer to Surrealism in the late 1920s and joined the Surrealist group in 1929, soon becoming one of its leading exponents. His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in August 1931, and is one of the most famous Surrealist paintings. Dalí lived in France throughout the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939) before leaving for the United States in 1940 where he achieved commercial success. He returned to Spain in 1948 where he announced his return to the Catholic faith and developed his “nuclear mysticism” style, based on his interest in classicism, mysticism, and recent scientific developments.^[4]

Dalí’s artistic repertoire included painting, graphic arts, film, sculpture, design and photography, at times in collaboration with other artists. He also wrote fiction, poetry, autobiography, essays and criticism. Major themes in his work include dreams, the subconscious, sexuality, religion, science and his closest personal relationships. To the dismay of those who held his work in high regard, and to the irritation of his critics, his eccentric and ostentatious public behavior often drew more attention than his artwork.^[5]^[6] His public support for the Francoist regime, his commercial activities and the quality and authenticity of some of his late works have also been controversial.^[7] His life and work were an important influence on other Surrealists, pop art and contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst.^[8]^[9]

There are two major museums devoted to Salvador Dalí’s work: the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, Spain, and the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Wikipedia: Salvador Dali

He was born on May 11 1904 and died on January 23 1989. He is best known for his piece ‘The Persistence of Memory’. Dali was heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud and his ideas of dreams, father hood, castration, masturbation, and how the themes all interlink and interlock. He also became influenced by Frederick Nietzsche, and later became interested in and influenced by Catholicism and even nuclear physics and how that applies to art and life and time.

The Persistence of Memory

“The famous soft watches are nothing else but the tender, extravagant, solitary, paranoic-critical Camembert of time and space.”
Robert Goff – The Essential Salvador Dali

As mentioned, some of the central themes to Dali’s life was stuff touched upon by Sigmund Freud. Ideas, themes, illusions, dream meanings, etc are the ‘stuff’ of Freud that he lifted and used for his artwork. Using his own symbols and terminology that he and his friends crafted in surrealism (and from before), he incorporated them into his artwork. The putrefaction of items and ideas is one of the many symbols that he incorporated in his earlier works especially. Grasshoppers (which he had a phobia of), portraits of his own face / head, portraits of his father, excrement (feces on shorts, on buttocks, etc.), symbolism of masturbation, castration, clocks in states of disrepair showing the effects of time, ants and other such that lead to the putrefaction of items and symbols,

The Elephants by Salvador Dali

In a piece of work which might both scare and make my mother (a huge Elephant fan) happy, this is Salvador Dali’s “The Elephants”, created in 1948. The elephants are shown as a symbol of strength and are meant to represent the future.

The Face of War by Salvador Dali

The Face of War was drawn by Salvador Dali in the years of 1940 and 1941. A symbol of the Spanish Civil War and the looming threat of World War II. It shows the horrors, the trauma, the death, decay, and wickedness that is war personified.

The Enigma of Desire

The Enigma of Desire was drawn by Salvador Dali in 1929 and was his first piece of work sold by the Goeman’s Gallery. As in many of his works, you can find his own face in the artwork. The Enigma of Desire is meant to be a symbol of the mortality of humankind, of ourselves, of our loved ones (as in his mother, who had recently passed away, which this piece of artwork has the subtitle of ‘My Mother! My Mother! My Mother!).

Archaeological Reminiscence of “The Angelus” by Millet

Archaeological Reminiscence of “The Angelus” by Millet was painted by Salvador Dali from 1933 – 1935. It is currently housed (or lives at) The Dali Museum in America.

The Disintegration of The Persistence of Memory

The Disintegration of The Persistence of Memory was Salvador Dali’s reworking of his original The Persistence of Memory. He created it in the years of 1952 – 1954.

Book Review

The Essential Salvador Dali by Robert Goff was published in 1998 to detail the history and life of both Salvador Dali and his work. The GoodReads back blurb on the book is:

For readers who have little time to spare and are averse to art-world jargon, this series aims to provide an entertaining guide to individual artists and pop culture. Each volume presents an account of the artist’s life, personal and professional anecdotes, concise definitions of cultural and social movements that shaped the artist’s work, and colour reproductions.
The Essential Salvador Dali (Robert Goff) – GoodReads

As I said earlier, and as I said in my review for The Essential Pablo Picasso (which you can read here: Book Review: The Essential Pablo Picasso by Ingrid Schaffner), I am not a huge ‘artsy fartsy smartsy’ kinda guy. I know some art, and I have seen my share of artwork (I know it when I see it), but I’m not the most intelligent about it. I took an Art Class in college (at HACC), and Amy and I did go to the Van Gogh Interactive Experience in Philadelphia this year – but still, my knowledge and understanding of art is pretty limited. I can understand (or guess) some symbols and meaning, but a lot will go over my head. I will freely admit all of this.

So books like this and The Essential Pablo Picasso and other art themed books I’ve been reading this year and the past two or three years, have been my attempts to educate myself a bit more on the subject. This is a great little, quick, easy read that helped me better understand Salvador Dali himself, and his artwork. It gives a run down of his life, as well as little off topic – but related – subject interests like his friendship with Lorca, his wife Gala, his homelife growing up, his place of birth, the Surrealism movement itself, etc. There is also artwork on nearly every other page with descriptions of the piece of work as well, which also helps get a better understanding of Dali and his works.

This was written (by Robert Goff) by someone who loves / loved and enjoys / enjoyed Salvador Dali and his works. Its not biased though, and doesn’t come off as a fanboy gushing; but as a descriptive look back over his life and works, but the ending shows why the author thinks that Dali is still worth considering, looking at, and appreciating; versus how some like Breton say he’s not worth looking into (and thats most likely due to personal reasons from Dali’s falling out with the Surrealism group).

Hardcore Dali fans and art enthusiasts might not get a ton of out this work, but I did, and I appreciated its thoroughness in a brief and quick and concise fashion. If you are interested in learning more about Salvador Dali than it is definitely worth picking up and reading (won’t take you more than an hour or two to read it).

My GoodReads Rating: ****
My LibraryThing Rating: ****
Global GoodReads Rating (as of 12.11.22): 4.00 ( **** )

For Other Book Reviews

For other recent book reviews, you can check out:

By myself – B. Kline:

By Paul R. Kan:

Book Review: Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us (Eli Revelle Yano Wilson and Asa B. Stone)

Thanks For Reading

Thank you everyone for reading the book review. Felt like it was time to do another book review, since its been a little spell since I’ve written some. Paul R. Kan messaged me the other day, and he too will be getting another book review for the blog, so be on the lookout for that – just as a heads up.

We had a big trip yesterday. Amy, Scarlet, and I traveled down to Virginia – to Fairfax Virginia for Chubby Squirrel Brewing, then to Sterling Virginia for Rocket Frog Brewing Company’s close out bash, then to Ashburn Virginia for both Lost Rhino Brewing and Old Ox Brewery. Look for a write – up on that either tonight or tomorrow (most likely tomorrow). You can check out our Instagram to see some of the pictures of that. It was a fun day with us getting to hit up four breweries (three of which were new to us). Its sad to see Rocket Frog Brewing Company closing, but was good to see them have a huge turn out for their Close Out Bash. All four of the breweries we hit up were animal named (Chubby Squirrel, Rocket Frog, Lost Rhino, Old Ox). Thinking of maybe doing an article on the crazy animal themed / named breweries we’ve come across. Who knows, be on the lookout for it if I do.

Once again, thank you everyone for checking us out. We love doing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, hike reviews, and book reviews here on the blog. So if any of these interest you – be sure to like, follow, and subscribe. Comment as well to let us know your thoughts and opinions – we always love hearing from all of you!

Until next time,

Cheers All!

-B. Kline

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #9 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

Book Review: 9-11 (Noam Chomsky)

B. Kline — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 23:33:00 +0000

9-11

I think for most Americans, we can all picture exactly where we were on September 11th, 2001. Same for older generations with Kennedy’s assassination, or Pearl Harbor, or big other catastrophic events. Especially if they hit home or were local.

I was in study hall, early morning, I was 16 at the time, and was sound asleep and woken up and my teacher put the news on. At this point the first plane had hit, and we witnessed the rest live. Not much school happened that day, and I honestly don’t remember being taught a single thing that day, or even the rest of that week or weeks. I had turned 16 on August 27th 2001, and on September 11th, 2001 – the entirety of the world changed in an instant.

Noam Chomsky

A quick biography of Noam Chomsky, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Avram Noam Chomsky^[a] (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian,^[b][c] social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called “the father of modern linguistics”,^[d] Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona and an Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is the author of more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media. Ideologically, he aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism.

Born to Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania. During his postgraduate work in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Chomsky developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he earned his doctorate in 1955. That year he began teaching at MIT, and in 1957 emerged as a significant figure in linguistics with his landmark work Syntactic Structures, which played a major role in remodeling the study of language. From 1958 to 1959 Chomsky was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. He created or co-created the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of linguistic behaviorism, and was particularly critical of the work of B. F. Skinner.

An outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which he saw as an act of American imperialism, in 1967 Chomsky rose to national attention for his anti-war essay “The Responsibility of Intellectuals“. Becoming associated with the New Left, he was arrested multiple times for his activism and placed on President Richard Nixon‘s Enemies List. While expanding his work in linguistics over subsequent decades, he also became involved in the linguistics wars. In collaboration with Edward S. Herman, Chomsky later articulated the propaganda model of media criticism in Manufacturing Consent and worked to expose the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. His defense of unconditional freedom of speech, including that of Holocaust denial, generated significant controversy in the Faurisson affair of the 1980s. Since retiring from active teaching at MIT, he has continued his vocal political activism, including opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq and supporting the Occupy movement. Chomsky began teaching at the University of Arizona in 2017.

One of the most cited scholars alive,^[20] Chomsky has influenced a broad array of academic fields. He is widely recognized as having helped to spark the cognitive revolution in the human sciences, contributing to the development of a new cognitivistic framework for the study of language and the mind. In addition to his continued scholarship, he remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, neoliberalism and contemporary state capitalism, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and mainstream news media. Chomsky and his ideas are highly influential in the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements.
Noam Chomsky (Wikipedia)

For more information on Noam, you can also visit GoodReads – Noam Chomsky, as well as numerous other philosophical and literature based sites on the web. He is a renowned linguist, educator, philosopher, essayist, and political commentator.

Interviewers

Some of the interviewers for this book are:

Book Review

GoodReads Blurb:

In 9-11, Noam Chomsky comments on the September 11th attacks, the new war on terrorism, Osama bin Laden, U.S. involvement with Afghanistan, media control, and the long-term implications of America’s military attacks abroad. Informed by his deep understanding of the gravity of these issues and the global stakes, 9-11 demonstrates Chomsky’s impeccable knowledge of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and South Asia, and sheds light on the rapidly shifting balance of world power. Speaking out against escalating violence, Chomsky critically examines the United States’ own foreign policy record and considers what international institutions might be employed against underground networks and national states accused of terrorism. 9-11’s analysis still stands as a measure of how well the media is able to serve its role of informing the citizenry, so crucial to our democracy in times of war.
9-11 by Noam Chomsky (GoodReads)

It’s now been just over 20 years (read this in February of 2022) since the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9-11 (September 11th, 2001). So there has been some time and perspective, to how the attacks happened, what all has transpired since, and everything else surrounding the world in that time frame. I’ve aged 20 years (good god now I feel old), I’ve witnessed the “War on Terrorism” and our efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and numerous other places in the world. Saw the attack in Islamabad that resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden, and how the world has changed as a whole due to all of this.

It’s amazing how well this piece of work holds up, and how Noam Chomsky’s opinions, intellect, and insights are almost prescient. Especially considering this is a collection of interviews, and not just a full on essay by Chomsky (to be fair – there is an essay at the end of the book).

It is a rushed book, and a rush series of interviews collected and edited into this volume. Which is all the more reason why this is actually an impressive work – twenty years after the fact. Chomsky certainly sheds a lot of light on events leading up to 9-11 from a non-American perspective and gives some form of indication and idea of why the attacks were not a complete and total ‘surprise’ by the world at large. He brings up salient points on how America could (before the attacks) have been considered the largest terrorist active country in the world, with regards to our actions in Beirut, Nicaragua, and elsewhere.

This isn’t an pro-American piece of work, and Chomsky doesn’t paint America in the most sympathetic light. This isn’t to be confused with him believing it was a justified attack. Far from it. Nothing justifies what happened on 9-11 and Chomsky wants to be very clear about that. But our actions in Afghanistan, radicalizing fanatical Islamic groups, our actions in Beirut, and Nicaragua, and numerous other countries over the past few decades (leading up to 2001 – 1990s, 1980s, 1970s), certainly doesn’t make us the complete victims we always believed us to be. And don’t get me wrong here – we are victims in this attack. Its an immeasurable and incomparable attack. Pure innocents and civilians died. This wasn’t a ‘war’ attack on a military unit. This was a terrorist attack on innocents.

Like I said above, Chomsky brings up a lot of good points, many of which I only learned years after September 11th, 2001. Especially since I was younger then, in my teens, and my knowledge and research base wasn’t nearly what it is today. The interviews in the book are done well and Chomsky comes off very well, and in his normal talking and writing style. There is some bad or off point questions, but I believe they’ve edited this enough that its coherent, makes sense, and stays on point and topic and creates a nice piece of work with the book.

My GoodReads Rating: ***
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 3.73 (as of 2.18.22)
My LibraryThing Rating: ***.5

Book Reviews

Interested in more book reviews by us here at The Beer Thrillers? You can check out some below:

Thanks For Reading

Thanks for reading everyone. Stay tuned for more beer reviews, book reviews, hikes, and much more going on in the world of The Beer Thrillers. Please follow us on social media, and leave any comments and questions you have.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Book Review: Thanks a Thousand – A Gratitude Journey (A.J. Jacobs)

BKline — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 03:25:46 +0000

Thanks a Thousand: A Gratitude Journey by A.J. Jacobs

Gratitude

Well, first, before we get into the book, and the book review of it; lets get into gratitude. I know its something I need to work on. I honestly feel like, outside of the Dali Lama and maybe Pope Francis (and maybe even him), its just something that we all need to work on…. and I’m also laying odds that even the Dali Lama would say he needs to work on it.

Many would say its like a muscle, it needs to be worked and exercised regularly. For a good, scholarly, scientific study and article on that very notion and idea, here is: “How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain” by Greater Good Magazine and Berkeley Education.

So that brings us to why A.J. Jacobs wrote his book. He decided he wanted to show more gratitude in his life, and wanted to figure out a way to do so with his writing skills and abilities. (And the cynic in me says – and a way to get a book contract and launch a simple way to make money doing a TED Talk, book deal, and get to do some traveling and discuss his favorite thing – coffee; all at the same time.)

The Book

How this correlates is that A.J. Jacobs (the author) wanted to show his gratitude, by discussing through his book, how he learned to show gratitude for something he took for granted. In this case – coffee. And he was going to show gratitude to everyone and anyone who helped get the coffee to his cup and to his lips and down his gullet.

Since he picked coffee, that means starting at his nearby coffee shop – Joe’s Coffee – and working up (or down?) the metaphorical tree. From barista, to clerks, to the people who made the coffee cup, the coffee lid, the logo, the farmers, the owner or CEO of Joe’s Coffee, to steel mill people, etc.

A.J. Jacobs is known for doing non-fictional ‘gimmick’ type pieces of work. Those books in the vein of “I did X every day for one year” or “I traveled to Y countries in a year”. Some of his books include:

The Know-It All (a book about reading the entire Britannica Encyclopedia)
The Year of Living Biblically (as the name suggests – he lived a year according to the Bible as much as possible)
It’s All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree (a book about family genealogy)
The Guinea Pig Diaries (a book about being used as experiments)

And so – Thanks a Thousand – falls into this trope easily. I don’t want to be too cynical, but, it feels more like “here’s a gimmick, here’s something fun and interesting, here’s something that can attract mainstream attention” and “here’s something that I will enjoy writing and get to do fun things while writing”; rather than truly being about gratitude.

Book Review

I’ve read his “The Know-It All” book and I read his book about family genealogy, and while I must say I did find them interesting, and all, they did strike me as slightly gimmicky, even moreso now reading this, and looking over his history of books and writings. I’m not quite sure how to fully encapsulate that idea or why it is. But the word ‘gimmick’ really stands out with this, and his writings, and his oeuvre in general. Perhaps if he had other books and writings that didn’t rely on a “what if I do something for five months, every day, and write about it”, I wouldn’t think that way of him.

I don’t want to say ‘hack’ or that his writing is hacky or hack-ish. (I find his prose easy and fine to read. And I’m sure most people would say he writes better than me.) But there’s just something to these books. I think some of it, is that we have to take it with a grain of salt. He’s writing these things down post-actions or afterwards, or in a way that we are to assume he wrote some of it while the events were occurring, etc. And I have no doubt to believe he is, and I do not mean to imply in anyway that he is a liar or a cheat; but I think there’s just some level of disconnect. Thinking about him living a year “Biblically” or reading the entire Britannica Encyclopedia, or thanking over a thousand people, etc.

GoodReads Summary of ‘Thanks a Thousand’:

The idea was deceptively simple: New York Times bestselling author A.J. Jacobs decided to thank every single person involved in producing his morning cup of coffee. The resulting journey takes him across the globe, transforms his life, and reveals secrets about how gratitude can make us all happier, more generous, and more connected.

Author A.J. Jacobs discovers that his coffee—and every other item in our lives—would not be possible without hundreds of people we usually take for granted: farmers, chemists, artists, presidents, truckers, mechanics, biologists, miners, smugglers, and goatherds.

By thanking these people face to face, Jacobs finds some much-needed brightness in his life. Gratitude does not come naturally to Jacobs—his disposition is more Larry David than Tom Hanks—but he sets off on the journey on a dare from his son. And by the end, it’s clear to him that scientific research on gratitude is true. Gratitude’s benefits are legion: It improves compassion, heals your body, and helps battle depression.

Jacobs gleans wisdom from vivid characters all over the globe, including the Minnesota miners who extract the iron that makes the steel used in coffee roasters, to the Madison Avenue marketers who captured his wandering attention for a moment, to the farmers in Colombia.

Along the way, Jacobs provides wonderful insights and useful tips, from how to focus on the hundreds of things that go right every day instead of the few that go wrong. And how our culture overemphasizes the individual over the team. And how to practice the art of “savoring meditation” and fall asleep at night. Thanks a Thousand is a reminder of the amazing interconnectedness of our world. It shows us how much we take for granted. It teaches us how gratitude can make our lives happier, kinder, and more impactful. And it will inspire us to follow our own “Gratitude Trails.”
GoodReads: Thanks a Thousand – A Gratitude Journey

There is some interesting anecdotes from the book, and you do learn a little bit about the process behind the coffee getting to your local coffee shop, but it all seems to fall so flat. So little is spent on anything in particular, and its such a quick book, that nothing feels more than skin surface deep. Even his actual comments and work about gratitude itself – the primary thrust of the work – seems to barely scratch pass the epidermis.

I feel like there could be a lot more here. And he does mention an interesting article, “I, Pencil” at one point, which basically follows a similar line as his book does – but about how a pencil is made. (Obviously, without the gimmick behind it all of being about gratitude; but more just about the capitalism and economics side of how the pencil is created.) That sounds inimically more fascinating and interesting than this. This is a hybrid creature of gratitude, capitalism / consumerism, and anecdotes of people who made it all happen, that it ends up flopping around with bird wings, human legs, lion head, and fish gills and can’t breath out of water.

My GoodReads Rating: **
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 3.73 (as f 11.23.21)
My LibraryThing rating: **

Thanks For Reading

Thank you for reading everyone. We’re nearing the end of November, and so far we have been maintaining our blog article per day. On top of that, we’ve had several days with multiple articles (and even got a new writer – Amy – posting as well.)

Also, be sure not to forget our “Free Beer” giveaway. So check that out here:

Small Brewery Sunday Giveaway

So be sure to hop on that and try and get yourself some free beer! (Because whats the best kind of beer? Free beer!)

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Book Review: Life’s Journey According to Mister Rogers: Things To Remember Along the Way (Fred Rogers)

BKline — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 03:12:00 +0000

Life’s Journey According to Mister Rogers – Things to Remember Along the Way (by Fred Rogers)

Who Couldn’t Use Advice From Mister Rogers?

Seriously? Who couldn’t use advice from Mister Rogers every so often. We all grew up on him. (Unless your like 15 or something reading this.) Even my oldest two daughters know him (14 and 12). He was everyone’s favorite neighbor; he was America’s neighbor. Was, and still is, one of the biggest influences on most people’s lives and they don’t even know it.

So I ask again, who couldn’t use advice from Mister Rogers now and again? Just harken back to the time as a small child, sitting there watching him come in through the door, asking us all “Won’t you be my neighbor?”. The man was simplicity, the man was gentleness, the man was kindness, the man was Buddhist lovingkindness. The man was the Uncle, the father, the neighbor, that we all wanted. He was wise like a sage and as gentle as a monk.

Too little do we think about the wisdom he espoused when we were kids; especially now as grownups. As adults with our busy lives that has us running to and fro, scurrying about like mice in the dark with no lights on. Sadly, we’ve all moved away from the little things he imparted on us – love, kindness, respect, gentleness, compassion, empathy, understanding, listening. And we’ve moved on to – busy, money, work, status, importance, etc.

I know personally I’d trade being busy, working, looking important, and status for passion, empathy, kindness, compassion, and understanding every day of the week.

Life’s Journey

Fred Roger’s wife does a good job with writing the prologue. Discussing their dynamic as a couple, saying how she needed to work at the piano, and how it was her form of creativity. You can see in her how much of his thoughts and empathy and philosophy comes through. The two clearly fed on each other for much, despite as she says, “we gave each other our space”. One of the most poignant things, is her discussing how she still hears him even though ‘he’s no longer in sight’, and then later in the book when we read his poem about not seeing people but still loving them and being with them in spirit, even when they ‘completely move on from sight’.

This book has so much to teach us about going through our own journeys through life. Mainly – how everyone’s is different. He talks about a very well educated man who left seminary school to instead become head of a department store, and how some people said he missed his calling, but was then later checked in on; but he wasn’t there at his work, so the man talked to his co-workers, and they talked about how great he was, how he changed the work culture at the department store, etc; and Rogers says to the effect – ‘and he ended up right where he needed to be’.

Book Review

GoodReads Blurb:

An inspiring collection of thoughts to take with us on the paths we travel in life.

For all the roads we choose to travel, and even those we don’t, Fred Rogers has an observation, a story, some insights to share. Whether you’re facing graduation, a new job, a new baby, marriage, any change in your life–expected or not–the wisdom that Mister Rogers offers can contribute mightily to the grace with which you handle the change.

With sections titled Who You Are Right Now, Loving and Being Loved, and Guided Drift, Fred addresses the scope of human transitions. It all comes down to knowing we’re valuable, and that we’re worthy of that value. As Fred would say, “You don’t have to be anything more than who you are right now.”

In her Foreward, Joanne Rogers shares the Fred she knew. With stories from their life together, the joys as well as the struggles, Joanne shows how Fred looked at life as a journey–with the ups and downs and in-betweens.

Known as “America’s favorite neighbor,” Fred Rogers dedicated his life to serving children through public television as creator, composer, writer, puppeteer, and host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. He studied at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Child Development and was ordained a Presbyterian minister, with the unique charge of working with children and families through television. Fred Rogers’ relentless commitment to all that is best in people led to an astonishing array of honors, from induction into the Television Hall of Fame to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Fred Rogers passed away in February 2003.

Family Communications, Inc. (FCI), founded by the late Fred Rogers in 1971 to produce Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and related projects, continues to expand its reach through early childhood trainings, publishing, and new technologies–perpetuating the values and philosophy of its founder.
GoodReads: Life’s Journey (Fred Rogers)

Fred Rogers (photo courtesy of Wikipedia) (see link below)

Wikipedia’s quick opening summary of Mister Rogers:

Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003), also known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister.^[1] He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001.
Born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, Rogers earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Rollins College in 1951. He began his television career at NBC in New York, returning to Pittsburgh in 1953 to work for children’s programming at NET (later PBS) television station WQED. He graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary with a bachelor’s degree in divinity in 1962 and became a Presbyterian minister in 1963. He attended the University of Pittsburgh‘s Graduate School of Child Development, where he began his 30-year collaboration with child psychologist Margaret McFarland. He also helped develop the children’s shows The Children’s Corner (1955) and Misterogers (1963). In 1968, he created Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which ran for 33 years. The program was critically acclaimed for focusing on children’s emotional and physical concerns, such as death, sibling rivalry, school enrollment, and divorce.
Rogers died of stomach cancer on February 27, 2003, at age 74. His work in children’s television has been widely lauded, and he received more than 40 honorary degrees and several awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 and a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 1997. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999. Rogers influenced many writers and producers of children’s television shows, and his broadcasts have served as a source of comfort during tragic events, even after his death.
Wikipedia: Fred Rogers

This is a wonderful short, quick, incisive, and thoughtful book. Its 161 pages, counting prologue, counting acknowledgements, and with a few blank pages. Each page is a paragraph (some paragraphs / thoughts run into two pages) style thought by Fred Rogers, some short, some long. They each express an idea or thought.

You can hear his voice in each piece of this book. You can see him sitting there, taking off his shoes, or coat, coming in from the outside, and telling us these things as we sat there rapt as always as children, now as adults. And this is what we all need to hear from time to time.

Its nothing earth shattering or profound, but its the profound at the time. And coming with the weight and knowledge of Fred Rogers behind it, nothing is an empty aphorism or crappy ‘inspirational quote’ you might hear from “Becky” the girl who peeked in high school and is now trying to sell you Avon or LullaRoe.

He speaks to the children in us as adults, giving us the thoughts and wisdoms we still need, despite growing up. Some of us have moved on, to bigger and better things, some of us have floundered, some of us are still trapped, some of us are working on ourselves, some of us are working to just survive; but we are all working on our journeys. And all of our journeys are different, and that is to be celebrated. It is to be lived, and it is to be human. And that is precisely who Fred Rogers is speaking to with this book – the human progressing through their journey.

My GoodReads Rating: ****
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 4.44 (as of 11.12.21)
My LibraryThing Rating: ****.5

Some Other Recent Book Reviews

Thanks for Reading

As always everyone, thanks for reading. Be sure to hit the like, the follow, the subscribe, and make sure to check out our social media pages and do the same.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Book Review: Buddhism 101 (Arnie Kozak)

BKline — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 19:27:44 +0000

Buddhism 101 by Arnie Kozak, PhD

Book Reviews

In general, I’m going to start trying to do a better job of keeping up with book reviews; where as soon as I read the book and finish it, I’m pulling out the laptop or getting on my desktop computer and opening up the blog, and writing down the beer review. Because as it sits, I have a backlog of book reviews to throw up here on the blog now that I’ve added book reviews to the blog as part of the various sections.

I’m a rather prolific book reader; some might even say ‘voracious’ but thats a cliche and I tend to avoid them (or at least try to). Most years I hit 100+ books as per my GoodReads Book Challenge. This year I set myself up for 110, and I’m woefully behind. (This marks book number 74; though I have about 8 books or so that are all nearing completion). In the old days, before I let life really fully intervene and stress pile up, and everything got backlogged, as soon as I finished a book, I would be doing a quick semi-review / semi-write up thing on GoodReads and it would immediately post to GoodReads and my personal Facebook.

But it seems I am getting further and further backlogged, with articles for the blog, travelogues that are in states of half written or just started or not even written but need to be, old hikes that I did from the summer but haven’t written yet, and now book reviews. I need to get better in the habit of – book closed – or hike completed – or beer drank – and write up the review / article. Now that I have everything kind of condensed on the blog here, I think once I get caught up, my stress of it all will ease up and I’ll be better able to maintain a good steady pace of it.

It will also mean I actually get the articles written 1) on time 2) written period and 3) more written. Keeping myself to the grindstone and making sure I stay in the habit of writing frequently, on time, and as soon as completion, will only help that. Because as you further distance yourself from the event (ie. I finished a day of brewery hopping on Day 2… but start to write it on Day 5… and don’t finish it… by Day 9… I am becoming less and less inclined to write the travelogue) (or if I finish a book on Day 3… by Day 7 I am less likely to write the book review), it seems like you can push and put it off more and more.

So this is my attempt to right that ship and to get into a better habit of writing. Hopefully I can still make the reviews and everything fun to read, wordy, interesting, and with lots of information. I was discussing with a new writer for the blog (she’ll be posting here shortly) about my procrastination with articles seems to stem from all the side stuff. The categorizing, the tagging, the uploading to social media accounts, the making it more presentable, checking SEO rankings, etc, etc. The little nuts and bolts of it all. I love writing and enjoy the writing. Its doing things like copy and pasting HTML code and links, and if I’m writing a beer review with a pop culture reference, tagging things and tying it back in with its property (ie. a Simpsons beer with gifs from the show), that just bogs me down and makes me procrastinate and not write as much.

But not anymore… this is me writing (instead of righting…. see what I did there?) the ship. I just finished this book, and now I am launching into the book review. Huzzah!

The Book Review

Ok, so preamble out of the way. Lets get into my actual book review. Now I am streamlining a bit here. Whereas before I might have done a whole section on the Buddha, on Buddhism, with hundreds of links to various sources, I think I’m gonna opt for simplicity here. (I am also looking to finish Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut today, and having that book review up later tonight as well, where I might do much more of that, especially since today is Vonnegut’s birthday – he would have been 99 today – and its also Veteran’s Day).

At this point, I think most people have a general understanding of The Buddha and Buddhism. If you don’t, here’s two quick Wikipedia links:

This book is a summary of both concepts – the Buddha himself, as well as Buddhism and everything that it all entails. I feel like sometimes / gravitating closer to all the time – that these ‘summary’ style books can be very hit or miss. Either too much information is given and its not really a summary, its a full on dictionary of Event X or Person X or Subject X; or it is such a brief summary that to even get a more rudimentary knowledge of the subject you are digging through websites or running through a bibliography of books.

This is 253 pages of text, plus index and other source notes at the end, and I think it does an overwhelmingly good job of covering Buddhism. I am not an adherent, I do profess that I find it fascinating, I do try my hand at meditation and mindfulness from time to time, but in my ADHD addled brain, and my angst and anxiety, I am horrible at given schedules and times and things and am not perfect (nowhere near it) at keeping to regiments or staying on hand.

My attempts sometimes at meditation and mindfulness is like the old Atari game of pong, but with four thousand balls bouncing around and thirty different paddles. All the while Donald Duck is screaming in the background.

So I have to say I really like Buddhism and what the Buddha stands for. I have read numerous works about the Buddha, read some of the various dharma and teachings, and one of my bucket list goals in life is to trace the steps of the Buddha (as well as Jesus, as well as do the Appalachian Trail). So I have a great admiration for the philosophy / religion and the practice of it.

I am not perfect in my knowledge of Buddhism, but have what I would deem a rudimentary and basic level understanding of it. From karma to the noble truths, to the three fires, the three jewels, sangha, dharma, nirvana, etc. And I also know how Americans / Westerners have misinterpreted much of it. This book does a very good job of righting some of those wrongs. Expressing how karmic values work, and how karma itself works. As well as samsara, and the wheel, etc.

It also does a good job of delving into the aspects of it that makes it more philosophical rather than religious – and vice versa. The book also covers all the various schools, techniques, thoughts, ideas, and expressions of Buddhism and the Buddha.

It gives a great biography of Siddhartha Gotama Buddha and his family life, his path to the middle way, and everything else. It also does a good job of dispelling some rumors and even calls out the beliefs that people have that most likely didn’t happen.

This is a phenomenal starting point for anyone wanting to get a good idea about Buddha or Buddhism. Its not an academic work, its for laypeople and to help give them a clearer understanding and idea of the subject. When checking this into GoodReads I see its part of a series, others in the series include: American Government 101, Astrology 101, Accounting 101, Architecture 101, Anatomy 101, Mythology 101, Grammar 101, Investing 101, Economics 101, Art 101, Management 101, US History 101, Weather 101, Philosophy 101, Poetry 101, Religion 101, US Lit 101, etc etc (some thirty plus books in total).

I honestly only found this because it was in the ‘new non-fiction’ section at the Hershey Library. I find part of why my reading is so eclectic is due to always stopping at the ‘new non-fiction’ and ‘new fiction’ sections right in front of the door when entering. Its the greatest way to broaden one’s ideas and senses – by checking out books that you normally wouldn’t and reading subjects you normally wouldn’t.

I fully recommend this to anyone looking to get more information on the subject of The Buddha, Buddhism, meditation, and/or mindfulness. Its a good read, its quick, well laid out, informative, and written in a nice and concise and fun way.

My GoodReads Rating: ****
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 3.76
My LibraryThing Rating: ****

GoodReads Blurb:

Learn everything you need to know about Buddhism in this clear and straightforward new guide.

Buddhism was founded thousands of years ago, and has inspired millions of people with its peaceful teachings. Buddhism 101 highlights and explains the central concepts of Buddhism to the modern reader, with information on mindfulness, karma, The Four Noble Truths, the Middle Way, and more.

Whether you’re just looking to understand Buddhism or explore the philosophy in your own life and own journey to Enlightenment, this book gives you everything you need to know!
GoodReads: Buddhism 101 – From Karma to the Four Noble Truths, Your Guide to Understanding the Principles of Buddhism by Arnie Kozak

Other Book Reviews To Check Out

Thanks For Reading

Thank you for reading. And thank you to all of our veterans today, on Veteran’s Day. We appreciate your commitment, and time served, and your honor and duty to America.

Be sure to check back later, after my hike at Hawk Rock, and stop at Liquid Noise, when I should be uploading the book review of Vonnegut’s Armageddon in Retrospect on today – what would have been his 99th birthday.

(And be sure to check out our Instagram page as we are likely to be posting pictures!)

Cheers!

–

-B. Kline

Book Review: Plotted – A Literary Atlas (Andrew DeGraff)

BKline — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 02:30:00 +0000

Plotted – A Literary Atlas by Andrew DeGraff

Nerd Alert

This book is chock full of ‘nerd’ love, in the literary world. Not so far into the full on nerdy realms of fantasy, sci-fi, etc, but this is still really right up a nerd alley here. Maybe its the nerd in me (or is it a geek in this case? Are the two interchangeable? When can I say nerd? When can I say geek? Is it politically correct to say either?) but I’ve always loved maps, and there is a certain kind of fun in drawing and looking at maps. To picture somewhere new or strange laid out in map form. Its not just so simple as looking at Google Maps, there is something in seeing a map of say Middle – Earth or Westeros or even a galactic map of the Star Wars galaxy for example; its much more thrilling and interesting, seeing this fictional world (or worlds) brought to life.

In all honesty, what fan of Game of Thrones doesn’t love the opening intro to each episode? Or looking at the map of Westeros and Essos and Southeros? Or what fan of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and Middle – Earth doesn’t like looking to see what Frodo’s trek to throw the ring into Mount Doom looked like? Or what fan of Star Wars didn’t enjoy tracking the Yuuzhan Vong’s invasion into the Star Wars galaxy in the old Del Rey novels (Legends) New Jedi Order series?

Maps

A map of the Odyssey in Plotted by Andrew DeGraff

The above image is one of numerous maps from the book; this one charting Odysseus’s journey in The Odyssey by Homer. As you can see each map is a beautiful full page (or usually two pages, sometimes even more) that shows the travels of a character (or characters) and the settings. The rendering from book to the computer doesn’t do it quite the justice it deserves, as these maps are brilliantly and beautifully drawn.

As the next map shows, from Watership Down:

A map of Watership Down from Plotted by Andrew DeGraff

This one depicts the various rabbits from Watership Down and their travels over the course of the novel. Whereas the one above showed the travels of Odysseus. Numerous other books are broken down into maps as well, depicting the travels of characters. Moby Dick, The Life of Frederick Douglas, A Wrinkle in Time, and much much more.

There is a brief bit about each book and the map and why the map is drawn the way it is that accompanies each map. The essays are written about the books, about the maps, and giving all kinds of little background information on the book in question (as well as the creation of this map).

Review

GoodReads blurb on Plotted:

This incredibly wide-ranging collection of maps – all inspired by literary classics – offers readers a new way of looking at their favorite fictional worlds. Andrew DeGraff’s stunningly detailed artwork takes readers deep into the landscapes from The Odyssey, Hamlet, Pride and Prejudice, Invisible Man, A Wrinkle in Time, Watership Down,A Christmas Carol, and more. Sure to reignite a love for old favorites and spark fresh interest in more recent works as well, Plotted provides a unique new way of appreciating the lands of the human imagination.
Plotted on GoodReads

Overall this is just a fun read. Each map is beautiful and well crafted. There’s a wide range of books that they picked from to cover, from beloved childhood books (Watership Down and Wrinkle in Time) to classics like Hamlet, Pride and Prejudice, and A Christmas Carol.

There is certainly something in this for anyone. For map lovers, for literary lovers, for essay lovers, etc. Its a relatively short read too but you’ll spend much more time devouring each map over and over and looking for little easter eggs and bits of info that you might have missed the first time.

My GoodReads Rating: ****
Global GoodReads Rating: 3.66 (as of 11.8.21)
My LibraryThings Rating: ****

Thanks For Reading

Thanks for reading everyone, and be sure to keep checking back daily for new updates her on The Beer Thrillers! November is still going strong with an article a day so be sure to check back often and regularly!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Book Review: How To Be Interesting (in 10 Simple Steps) (Jessica Hagy)

BKline — Sun, 07 Nov 2021 03:58:23 +0000

How To Be Interesting (in 10 Simple Steps) by Jessica Hagy

I Sure Hope I’m More Interesting Now…

I sure hope that after reading this I’m more interesting, because, according to my one daughter, I needed to read this. Footnote: never take your daughters to a public library sale – firstly, it will end up costing you a hundred (+plus) dollars, and secondly, you’ll be guilt tripped or harangued into buying books similar in title to this. Much like my daughter (Lily) did at Barnes and Nobles and harassed me into picking up 1200 Words To Sound Smarter – she also harassed me into getting this, citing that I wasn’t very interesting and could use this.

So for my daughter’s sake (and I suppose my own) I hope this book has rubbed off on me and I’ve become more interesting. (I think it didn’t work though……)

‘Pop’ Books

This falls under that category of ‘self help’ pop books. Like mainstream, popular, pseudo intellectual churn them out style books. Nothing in this is incredibly deep – but sounds like it is on the surface level; like “inspirational” Facebook memes / posts / pictures. The kind of near interesting quotes or sayings that make you go “oh thats deep”… until you spend an extra thirty seconds thinking about it (which most people don’t do – they click LIKE on it, and keep scrolling) and then you realize its not deep at all. Like swan diving into a pond only to find a puddle.

This book will not make you more knowledgeable, nor wiser, nor intelligent. It will not make you enlightened, or help you attain some kind of nirvana. Pick out that one girl you graduated high school with, but haven’t seen in about fifteen years, she sells Avon or leggins or Mary Kay, or some other similar thing, probably has a fascination with crystals and probably knows the best ‘home remedies’ and ‘protect – alls’ against all kinds of diseases. Scroll through her page, and I’m sure you’ll encounter a lot of her ‘inspiration’ memes. Some nifty quote with a beatific nature picture in the background. Thats what this is.

Every page is one such quote, with a Venn diagram to make it look like its more than it is. Its all really just a pad filler. You can practically read this book in less than thirty minutes, all two hundred or so pages, because most pages are just one paragraph, and some are even less, and they all come with a side page of a Venn diagram that you can easily skip over.

Overall

Overall, is there any merit to the book? Ehhh…… I don’t want to say this is utter and complete garbage. But I think it needs to be realized for what it is. It is obviously not a stellar piece of writing or work, and I think it knows that, and I’m sure the author knows that. This is targeting a niche. Aimed at kids just graduating high school, looking to start out on their own, unsure of themselves, but wanting to feel better, more cool, more in.

The idea that this book could make them interesting; possibly to be the life of a party, or to stand out for a potential partner, or for getting a job, or who knows what; is very appealing. And this is hoping to tap into that – that need, that want to become more than the person is.

So I suppose on that level, it does what it sought to do. So on a technical aspect it works. But on every other merit besides that, its a complete ‘nope’ burger. A big fat failure on anything other than achieving the goal of reaching to the lowest common denominator and giving them hope of being more interesting.

(Spoiler alert: this book will not make you more interesting.)

(Double spoiler alert: in fact it will probably do the opposite when people find out you read it.)

This “just is what it is”. Its not memorable, its not illuminating, its just super quick. Need to hit your Reading Challenge for GoodReads? Then this is the perfect book for it. Its a simple, quick run through of buzz words, pop words, catch phrases, and ‘sounds smart but really isn’t’ slogans that eat up a lot of pages and makes you feel more important / smarter after you read it.

My GoodReads Rating: **
Global GoodReads Rating: 3.69 (as of 11.6.21)
My LibraryThing Rating: *.5

Thanks For Reading

As always everyone, thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this book review, be sure to visit some other recent book reviews here:

We’re now done with six days of November, and even going to change the clocks in a few hours (I’m getting this in just in the nick of time, finishing this up at 11:50PM). Six days so far and we’ve hit our goal of a new article every day. So be sure to be checking in daily for more news, articles, blog posts, beer reviews, book reviews, travelogues, and more. Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Book Review: The Philosophy of Snoopy (Charles M. Schulz)

BKline — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 16:50:57 +0000

The Philosophy of Snoopy by Charles M. Schulz

Snoopy

Snoopy was always my favorite of the ‘Peanut Gang’. Ever since I was a kid, Snoopy was my favorite in the comics (in the Newspaper comic strip section) as well as on the TV movies (No Dogs Allowed, The Great Pumpkin, Peanut’s Christmas, Peanut’s Easter, the one at camp, etc.).

When I was in kindergarten, for the science fair I got a pet mouse and used a rat maze that my Uncle had built and entered the mouse as my science project. Of course – the mouse was named Snoopy. Spoiler alert – I won first prize. And Snoopy ended up living until the summer between my 2nd grade and my 3rd grade. He went from being the “goodest of dogs” on screen to the “goodest of mice” as pets.

Snoopy Dance

There is something just so endearing about the character. He’s always lovable, he’s a wanna be writer, he’s Joe Cool, he’s the Easter Beagle, he’s got a best friend thats a bird (and the whole bird’s family), he’s a perpetual “loyal” friend to Charlie Brown despite not always acting like it, etc.

He’s got a diverse and lovable family of his own that has been explored in the movies and comic strips. He gets the comeuppance on Lucy that she deserves for meddling with Charlie Brown, and of course… he has some killer dance moves.

He can be both cynical and a voice for the viewers / readers, as well as be a downright normal / earthy / regular guy (well… dog). And in that vein of “man’s best friend that also acts like man” (like Brian from Family Guy), he still retains his characteristics of doghood.

So What is the Philosophy of Snoopy?

Well, this book both does and doesn’t show you what that philosophy is. This isn’t a product of deep or intense thought, this isn’t a philosophical treatise. But it is an encapsulation of comic strips that show what Snoopy is, why Snoopy is, etc.

A collection of pages from the book – The Philosophy of Snoopy

So there’s no clear cut answer as to what the Philosophy of Snoopy really is; not so far as is told to us. But we can read and gather it, we can look and read the comic strips, and see how the character of Snoopy acts and behaves, and we can create our own understanding of his philosophy.

And the word philosophy here is being used a bit lightly. Its not like Nietzsche’s philosophy or Aristotle’s philosophy or Spinoza’s philosophy or Camus’ philosophy. Its a philosophy of life (through the fictional character of a dog). Its a philosophy in the way that he lives / acts / interacts with the rest of the Peanut’s Gang.

The Book of Snoopy

The book itself is rather short, its not counted, but its roughly 80 or so pages of comic strips per page (some lightly colored, some not). (GoodReads lists it as 80 pages, so that was a good guess on my part.) The GoodReads blurb reads:

“The world’s most beloved beagle shares his philosophy on life in this beautifully produced gift book for all generations.

In his inimitable style, Snoopy spends his days extolling the virtues of dancing, hanging out with his best bird friend Woodstock, pursuing a full supper dish, and giving his owner — our favorite lovable loser, Charlie Brown — the run-around.

For the millions of faithful Charles Schulz fans, and those who fondly remember the joyful dog with the wild imagination, this is the second in a new series to cherish that will see the beguiling Peanuts gang share their sentiments on everything from food to friendship.”
The Philosophy of Snoopy – GoodReads

Its obviously a quick, cute, fun read. Its not meant to be truly deep or revelatory or life changing. But its supposed to be a fun little afternoon time kill, an uplifting, humorous book, that lets you see life through a series of Snoopy centric comic strips.

It does exactly what it sets out to do, and thats provide a fun diversion to what our lives are. Rush rush rush. Work work work. This lets you sit down, enjoy who and what Snoopy is, and get some laughs out of you all at the same time. Its a beautiful aesthetic book, hardcover but not big, and ends on the two best comic strips to sum things up – especially in a book.

(Spoiler alert for the last two comic strips.)

(Don’t read the next paragraph if you don’t want to be spoiled.)

The penultimate strip is Peppermint Patty asking Snoopy what the secret to living is, and in the next panel its Snoopy giving her a kiss. This is followed up with the ultimate strip of the book which shows Lucy sitting on the floor with an open book in her lap and Snoopy walking by, saying: “Books aren’t everything.” With Lucy having a bit of a stupefied look on her face.

Maybe this sums up life. It seems to for Snoopy, and for his creator – Charles M. Schulz; whose creations are still inspiring the world and bringing love and laughter to the world, years and years after he died and decades after his works were created.

My GoodReads Rating: ****
Global GoodReads Rating: 4.33
My LibraryThing Rating: ****.5

Thanks For Reading

As always everyone, thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this book review, be sure to visit some other recent book reviews here:

November keeps on rolling, and we’re still pumping out the daily (and sometimes multiple articles in the same day) articles. So be sure to keep coming back and checking in with us to see whats new and happening.

Tonight is the Autos and Ales in Hershey, hopefully I’ll see some of you out there. I’ll be in my Boneshire Brew Works hoodie, so say ‘hi’ if you see me.

Cheers!

-B. Kline