Lost Worlds of the Guiana Highlands
Stewart McPherson
I’m guessing most viewers of the Pixar flick Up were convinced that the surreal, twisted landscape on the top of the mountain where the balloon-house landed were figments of overheated animators’ brains. However, based on the pictures in Lost Worlds of the Guiana Highlands, it is clear that much of the artwork was straight still-life renditions of the eerie scenery at the top of these remote cloud-shrouded mountains. The tepuis, mountain islands shooting vertically thousands of feet into the air, have been objects of fascination and speculation for centuries. Until the 1800s, no one had ever managed to climb to the top of the straight and treacherous mountains. Despite their immense inaccessibility, numerous stories have...
Micro
Michael Crichton and Richard Preston
Despite being dead, Michael Crichton has managed to still write quite prolifically. The book, finished posthumously by science writer Richard Preston, has its moments. The premise is pure old-school Crichton. An evil tech company owner shrinks down a bunch of science grad students and they must survive in a jungle. The descriptions of the micro world from a tiny size are lovely and intriguing. Crichton/Preston provide tons of fascinating details on insects, spiders, birds and the plants of a Hawaiian jungle. Aspects of being super-small that I had never considered become excellent plot points – gravity has much less effect, bodies run through massive amounts of calories, micro people need to break the...
Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History
Ben Mezrich
I’m tempted to add a new category for books called “what the hell were you thinking?” Mezrich, author of The Accidental Billionaires (later made into the movie The Social Network) never seems to come close to answering this question. Sex on the Moon chronicles the brief rise and spectacular fall of Thad Roberts. Within a few short years of being thrown out of his crushing Mormon family, Roberts finds himself working at NASA. Driven by an immense desire to be an astronaut, Roberts flies through a triple major, extra-curricular groups and anything else he can do to increase his changes of someday walking on Mars. He is rewarded with an internship-type position at NASA. Then, mysteriously and so very close to a full-time...
Malled
Caitlin Kelly
Caitlin Kelly’s tell-all working retail behind the cash register is both shocking and unsurprising. Everyone knows that retail is a dead-end and most would work almost anywhere else. However, the total blind-eye that management and the average shopper turns to those working sales is both a sad, sickening and clearly why companies still continue to make massive profits. Despite often being the only contact a shopper may have with a company, these poorly paid peons have to know products (often with no training), clean the store, stock, ring up sales and returns and a myriad of other exhausting tasks, all with a required smile. Kelly does her research well and, in addition to her own battle stories, talks about retail work and workers in...
Halfway to Hollywood: Diaries 1980 – 1988
Michael Palin
The second installment of the diaries of actor and writer Michael Palin is an excellent continuation of Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years. Palin continues to chronicle both the successes and failures of himself and his Python cohort, but also his own family’s growth, his wonderful spunky mother and the sad decline of his sister into depression. Like diarist Sir Samuel Pepys (1633 –1703) his own personal comments show Palin to be a warm, caring, colorful and brilliant man. In addition, those of us who enjoy nosing around the backstage of life will enjoy descriptions of the humdrum and everyday workings of the rich and famous. The end product of a movie, play or book may seem effortless but the energy and work going on behind the...
Catch Me If You Can
Frank W. Abagnale
The movie version of Catch Me If You Can is exciting and fast-paced, with plenty of Hollywood glitz that adds a glossy veneer, making many of Frank Abagnale’s exploits seem fake and overblown. While enjoyable, the movie doesn’t begin to compare to Abagnale’s descriptions of his short but highly lucrative life of crime. With a wickedly quick mind, Abagnale kept one step ahead of the FBI by continually changing his strategy and learning new cons. While almost all were based on cashing phony checks, the complexity schemes grew by leaps and bounds. Many of his earlier attempts at passing bad checks would, and should have been, caught. However, like “Clark Rockefeller” Abagnale also understood the importance of...
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit
Mark Seal
“The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed.” – paraphrased from Joseph Goebbels
There is something simply unbelievable in the stories of serial imposters like Frank Abaganle and “Clark Rockefeller”. How, you ask yourself, could so many people possibly believe such twaddle? And yet they do. Far above the class of metal-siding salesmen, these world-class liars create entire personas for themselves. Their tightly woven stories, embellished with the most garish and outrageous of stories, are costumed and acted day and night. The mask never slips. When someone gets too close, another mask is made in its place. While most imposters create their new selves to acquire wealth and power, in the case of German...