David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

Reading Level: Adult Non-Fiction

Submitted by Gerti

I have read several books by Malcolm Gladwell already, including “Tipping Point,” “Blink”, “Outliers,” and “What the Dog Saw.” In short, he’s been one of my favorite authors for years now. Several of those books (including “Outliers” and “Blink”) were downright brilliant, so it was with great expectations that I picked up his newest, “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants.” Sadly, it does not live up to the brilliance of some of those earlier works.

As the title might indicate, “David and Goliath” is the story of how improbably one-sided battles can be won by the underdog, how disadvantages can turn out to be advantages. And like many of his books, it includes research and interviews with people who are living examples of the point he is trying to make.

His first story involves why David beat Goliath. This is a famous story from the Bible, in which a shepherd boy goes against a giant war hero who makes even other soldiers tremble, and wins the day with his slingshot and several well-chosen rocks. Gladwell shows how despite appearances, it was Goliath who was at a disadvantage in this battle, due to his acromegaly and poor eyesight. But the point really is that David won by changing the rules. Goliath was only good at hand-to-hand combat, but David using the slingshot to fight him changed the rules enough to insure his success.

Likewise, Gladwell shows how having dyslexia or losing a parent as a child can make a person either a brilliant success or a pathetic failure. Using examples like Richard Branson, Charles Schwab, and several presidents (including Barack Obama), Gladwell demonstrates how these perceived disadvantages made these men work harder and find tricks and shortcuts that allowed them to succeed. It’s a subject he’s touched on before – how 10,000 hours of hard work and not natural talent can make one an expert at something. And since these men spent so much time overcoming obstacles, they became more capable than those who had never had to face obstacles before.

This would be good book for teachers and school administrators as it talks about the value of small class sizes (of lack thereof), but all of Gladwell’s books have clues about how teachers and schools can make students, even the most disadvantaged among them, succeed. Still this work left me strangely unaffected, despite Gladwell’s easy-to-read style and interesting subject matter. The lessons learned from it are also unarguably valid – work harder to succeed, change the rules if you can’t win the game as it’s typically played, and find out what advantage your disadvantages give you. And while it’s fun learning the true story behind a classic Bible battle, and the struggles of iconic leaders like Lawrence of Arabia and Martin Luther King Jr., I would recommend reading “Outliers”, “Blink” and “Tipping Point” before picking up this latest Gladwell book.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Reading Level: Young Adult

Submitted by Gerti

I’m so proud of Northwestern University graduate Veronica Roth for this brilliant debut YA novel. Although teens consider it this year’s “Hunger Games”, that comparison does not mean it is bad. “The Hunger Games” is the story of a young woman’s struggle to survive in a dystopian world, and so is “Divergent,” but in Veronica Roth’s novel, the setting is Chicago, which makes this an even more interesting read for someone familiar with the city and its sights like Navy Pier and Millennium Park. Also in Roth’s favor is the fact that her heroine, Beatrice Prior, has a normal name. Sorry, Suzanne Collins. I think Katniss is a mouthful.

In THG, the brave new world is divided into 12-ish districts, and just about any teen can tell you which tribute comes from which district, and what that district makes or grows. In Roth’s world, there are five factions instead, and they are divided into specific virtues that the survivors of a war decided were important to keep around. Protagonist Beatrice (or Tris, as she becomes later) is from Abnegation, a grey-wearing, Amishesque group who believe that being selfless is the path to true peace. The other groups are Candor (for the painfully honest), Dauntless (for the insanely brave), Amity (for the friendly), and Erudite (for those who like research and reading). But there is movement between the groups.

Just as in THG, teenaged Tris is at this turning point in her life where she must choose what to be. In the Hunger Games, the districts have to send tributes to the eponymous “games”. In Roth’s world, each 16 year old has to undergo a series of mental tests which determine (to a large extent) to which faction they truly belong. Tris has had a hard time being selfless like her parent’s in Abnegation, and her test shows it. But she is something even rarer called Divergent (hence the title), which means that she has elements of various factions. Her test giver changes the results so this fact isn’t automatically known to her superiors, and warns Tris that she should tell no one about the results (not even her family), as being Divergent can be deadly.

Despite some qualms about leaving her family, Tris chooses Dauntless, and her new name comes with her introduction there as a Transfer. Like THG again, there is some training, there are some tests, but like Katniss Everdeen, Tris is able to learn and move from the bottom to the top of the ranks of new Dauntless candidates by playing to her own peculiar strengths. Like any young adult novel, Tris makes friends, faces down enemies, and has several opportunities for romance within her new faction. Of course there are symbols for each faction (think marketing opportunities!) and Tris gets a few tattoos which reflect her heritage and choices. The final scenes of the book involve her foiling an Erudite revolution against Abnegation involving a Dauntless army… and if that sounds too confusing, you must read the book! It is a thrilling trip into a dystopian post-war Chicagoland filled with teenaged angst and adventure. Can’t wait to read the next one!

The Taking by Kimberly Derting

Reading Level: Young Adult
(4 out of 5)

Coming April 29, 2014

I was so lucky to get my hands on an advanced e-galley of this book.  I love Kimberly Derting's Body Finder series and this first book in her new series about alien abductions did not disappoint.  I don't want to say too much about the book and give anything away.  Just know I read this in two days.  I couldn't put it down, it was that good.  I can't wait to read the next one!


A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing.
 
When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas 'n' Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn't aged a day. 

Everything else about Kyra's old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men. 

Confused and lost, Kyra isn't sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin's annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra's father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?(from http://www.kimberlyderting.com/taking.php)

We are Closed: Happy Holidays

All locations of the Lake County Public Library are closed in observance of Christmas Eve (12/24/13) and Christmas Day (12/25/13).  Regular hours will resume on Thursday (12/26/13).

Vixen 03 by Clive Cussler

Reading Level: Adult Fiction
Submitted by Max

Full of mystery, action, and suspense, Vixen 03 is just another literary triumph authored by the acclaimed Clive Cussler.  Involving military secrets, chemical weapons, South Africa and even a battleship, and edge-of-your-seat suspense.  Every chapter is comparable to turning a dark corner, never knowing what lies around the bend.  In this case, if you read this book, excitement, interest, and a great story are around the corner.  Cussler has never failed to create a masterful adventure novel, and this installment is just another example of his consistency.  Some might say the plots are too predictable, but I say, it's the same core story with almost everything completely replaced with something new and creative.  The characters are well thought-out and equally interestingly developed.  Even a bit of humor is thrown into this mix of surprising, entertaining adventure.  I highly recommend Vixen 03 and pretty much any Cussler novel to everyone.  If you do decide to indulge yourself in this first class thrill ride, enjoy.

We are Closed: Happy Holidays

All locations of the Lake County Public Library are closed in observance of Christmas Eve (12/24/13) and Christmas Day (12/25/13).  Regular hours will resume on Thursday (12/26/13).

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

Reading Level: Adult Non-Fiction
Submitted by Gerti

I read this book because the story behind the Essex tragedy is what inspired author Herman Melville to write the classic "Moby Dick," read grudgingly by every American high school student.  I have also read that book, and despite the larger themes and leitmotif's-whatever-this is a far better and more interesting account of the matter.

Author Nataniel Philbrick comes from a family of intellectuals who have been inspired by tales of watery daring-do for several generations now.  But given that fine nautical pedigree, Philbrick scores in this book for me by having access to two accounts of the Essex tragedy-the original account published in the 1820's by First Mate Owen Chase, which inspired Melville, but also a newly found recounting by the cabin boy, Thomas Nickerson, which adds much to the story.

The basics-the Nantucket based whaleship Essex was sunk by an enormous sperm whale which rammed into it twice.  That incident alone made it fairly unique among whalers of that time, who weren't used to prey fighting back.  But what adds pathos to the account is that after the ship was sunk, the survivors made every wrong decision they could have made: heading off in the wrong direction, going east toward South America against prevailing winds instead of west, toward Tahiti; not lashing the 3 lifeboats together and hence wasting time looking for other survivors and backtracking to find them; not taking all the food available from the wreck (tortoises from the Galapagos Islands) when they had the chance, and therefore having to resort to cannibalism to get meat to survive.

Beyond the story, though, the author has researched several subjects which add to the depth of the reader's understanding.  He has access to modern medical information about the nature of starvation, and therefore is able to draw some conclusions about what the crewman actually went through during their long weeks at sea.  He looks at whether racism played a role in the survivors (many of them Quakers) cannibalizing black crew members, who died first.  He understands the strong bond between the crewman who came from off-island versus those who hailed from Nantucket, and explains why that group had the highest number of survivors.  Best of all Philbrick doesn't really pass judgement as much as he brilliantly profiles those sad fellows who were forced to live through more than average people have to, in terms of physical endurance, moral compunction and psychological stresses, and draws clearly understandable portraits that a modern audience of non-seafarers can grasp.

Finally, he looks at the survivors, and how they carried on after going through so much.  Were they able to summon the strength to succeed?  You'll have to read to find out, but oh gentle reader!  It's such a worthwhile journey! I loved this book!