"Without Warning,” by John Birmingham

“Without Warning” by John Birmingham, (New York: Del Rey Books; 2009), 533 pages.

The premise of Without Warning is the question “what would the world be like if one day the U.S.A. ceased to exist? Author John Birmingham plays out this alternative history on the eve of the commencement of the 2003 Gulf War and Invasion of Iraq, when a large energy field called “the wave” descends on most of Canada and the U.S.A. destroying all human life (but not property).Thereafter, the energy wave of unknown origin remains in place over the U.S.A. and Canada destroying all human life that comes into contact with it. After this event, all that remains untouched or unaffected of the remains of the U.S.A. are Alaska, Hawaii, and the Seattle area (plus Guantanamo Bay in Cuba).Birmingham develops this alternative history by deploying a shifting narrative based on people in those locations, as well as others in France and the United Kingdom, plus some professional smugglers in the Pacific Ocean, and the U.S.A.’s military command in the Middle East. In this alternative parallel universe without the U.S.A., the world turns very nasty very quickly. France erupts into civil war, Venezuela invades Guantanamo Bay, war breaks out in the Middle East, Israel takes drastic action to ensure its survival, the smugglers upgrade their craft and become pirates, and the survivors of what‘s left of the U.S.A. come to terms with the new circumstances and try to return to normal life with varying degrees of success. Birmingham’s point is that a world without the U.S.A. would be a much more dangerous, violent, and bleak place. On the whole, the world is a better place because of the part played by the U.S.A.

This is not an uplifting book, even though it is a bit of a thriller with a message that employs all of the techniques to keep the reader engaged and the pages turning. It’s a book that will be enjoyed by fans of alternative history, as well as speculative thrillers with a contemporary military involvement. Birmingham has stated that this is the first of another of his three book series, so we will have to wait for the remaining two books to see how the story works out, to see if this bleak story is followed by more uplifting or hopeful events in books two and three.

A Life In Progress, by Conrad Black

“A Life In Progress,” by Conrad Black (Toronto: Key Porter Books; 1993), 522 pages. ISBN 1-55013-520-1

Overview

A Life In Progress is the first volume of Canadian newspaper proprietor Conrad Black’s autobiography. At time of publication, Black was aged 49 years, and seeming at the peak of his profession as the proprietor of a global newspaper publishing business. The book account’s for Black’s rise from privileged Canadian child, through to his numerous educational and business successes to him attaining his position as a global media magnate.

Black provides the reader with an extremely detailed account of his privileged and successful life. Born into a wealthy Canadian business family, Black enjoyed the numerous privileges afforded a family of their status. He was educated at private schools. His family had the means to enjoy summer vacations abroad, occasionally in Europe. He was a child and youth accustomed to socializing and dealing with other wealthy people, and Canadian citizens of influence. He attended college, and during that time made the acquaintance of numerous judges and politicians that he encountered during his regular card playing sessions. He later earned a law degree, and subsequently set out, without confidence, to become a newspaper proprietor. He used the tactic of financing his newspaper purchase by going into debt, and quickly repaying that debt by turning around the paper’s finances by aggressively cutting costs. So successful was his method, that he employed it over and over again until he owned a chain of Canadian newspapers. He employed the same method to take control of Argus Corporation, a venerable Canadian industrial company best knows for its subsidiary Massey Ferguson, the tractor manufacturer. His successful enterprises were replicated in the United States, Great Britain and Australia. At the time of his writing A Life In Progress, he owned or controlled the companies that published London’s Telegraph, The Jerusalem Post, The Chicago Sun Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, and a large chain of papers serving suburban and regional areas of North America.

Among all the frenetic coming and goings of his wide-reaching business activities, Black retained a constant devotion and support of conservative politics. Originally his participation and support was confined to Canada, however, as he business expanded to the United States and Great Britain, his influence in conservative politics likewise expanded. He was an acquaintance of Presidents of the United States, as well as the Prime Minters of both Great Britain and Canada.

Black says that the story of his life, up to that date, is also the story of Canada. I’m not sure if Black’s claim to equivalence is appropriate. Nonetheless, the story of his life is a very good illustration of how a person with a good head start in life, born into his position in life, can use his connections and acquaintances to advance his career.

Black also appears to have been blessed with the ability to be a savvy judge of character. He uses his ability quite deftly to his advantage in numerous business negotiations.

Black also devotes a lot of his book to the problem of the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec, and its fractured and difficult place within the Canadian Federation.

We are also given brief glimpses into Black’s personal life, including his courtships, marriages, and his conversion to Roman Catholicism in the 1980’s.

A notable feature of Black’s book is the astounding level of detail. Black must have a near perfect recollection of conversations, meeting and phone calls going back almost 30 years. He must have a remarkable memory, or very good diaries to include such detailed and intimate conversations.

The book is also illustrative of what it takes to become a successful global newspaper proprietor, namely confidence, self-assurance, a bit of luck and drive. It also helps to be born into a family of wealth, and have access to the highest level of government and connections and acquaintances with people able to provide debt financing.

If this book has a weakness it is its “Canadian-ness;” many of the political tales and business dealings within Canada may not resonate with non-Canadians, or people unfamiliar with Canadian politics and businesses. A great deal of Black’s comments and lessons on Canadian politics were lost on me because of my general ignorance of Canadian history and politics.

Black also has a tremendous command of the English, which he puts to use with great effect. He knows a lot of big words, and he doesn’t hold back in using them, especially when criticizing another person’s character. His colorful turn of phrase is at times entirely appropriate, while at other times, arguably borders on showing-off. This may not endear him to some readers.

Another of the book's weakness is Black's rather superficial explanation of his conversion to Roman Catholicism. He gives an explanation, but it is seems to be lacking. When dealing discussing matters of eternity, or the salvation of his soul and where it will reside during eternity, Black does not evangelize by giving a detailed and lengthy account of his spiritual conversion. He devotes many more pages to his business dealings than he does to his conversion. This is curious to say the least. Perhaps there’s another detailed book yet to be written on this subject.

This book should be of interest to Canadians, readers with interest in general business and investing, newspapers proprietors and their staff, conservatives, and people interested in what it takes to build a global business operation.

“Supreme Courtship: A Novel,” by Christopher Buckley

“Supreme Courtship: A Novel,” by Christopher Buckley (New York: Twelve / Hachette Book Group; 2008), 285 pages.

American political institutions have been previously satirized by Christopher Buckley in Thank You For Smoking (political lobbying), Florence of Arabia (diplomacy), and Boomsday (Social Security). In Supreme Courtship, Christopher Buckley satirizes the method of appointing justices to the United States Supreme Court.

Buckley mocks the difficulties sitting Presidents face when nominating a person to the Supreme Court. The stumbling block is the body that can either confirm or not confirm the President’s nomination, the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. In Supreme Courtship, the President of the United States unsuccessfully nominated two successive candidates for one vacant seat on the court. The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who asked the President to appoint him to the open seat on the Supreme Court, blocked both appointments for entirely spurious or bogus reasons. The President was so angry at the Senate committee for rejecting his perfectly capable nominees that he decided to chose as his third nominee the star of a reality television courtroom show. Naturally, his advisers try to convince him against making such a nomination but the President would not be deterred. The television judge, somewhat reminiscent of Judge Judy, is vivacious, feisty, outspoken and blunt, and not above being convinced by the President to be a nominee to a position she considers herself unqualified to hold. To the horror of Washington insiders (except the President) and to the delight of the public, the President’s third nominee (the television judge) is nominated for the vacant court position, and thereby made subject to confirmations hearings, all while keeping down her day job of being a television star. The Senate Committee is outraged, as is the nominee’s television producer husband who thinks her obligations to fulfill her television contract are more important than being placed on the Supreme Court. From this premise, the story unfolds in two parts; the humorous preparation for the hearings and the actual confirmation hearings, and second, after her confirmation, her actions as a Supreme Court judge during three important decisions, the most important being one that decides the result of a presidential election.

Buckley again succeeds in satirizing America’s political institutions. His method this time is to highlight the juxtaposition between the snobbish, elitist, east-coast educated Washington insiders and the populist, plainspoken vivacious television star of the people, a person who didn’t want to be a Supreme Court judge, who admits that she’s not qualified for the job, but accepts the nomination because the President asked her. Nonetheless, there are a few aspects of this book that some readers may find objectionable. For example, there is some profanity, but not of such frequency to make it all that memorable. There is some implied adultery or fornication that is neither explicit, nor essential to the story. In fact, it could be argued that the entire sub-plot consisting of the romantic relationship between two characters was only included to enable the author to use a play on words in the title. Without this contrived relationship, there would be no courtship to enable the book to be titled Supreme Courtship.

Putting these quibbles aside, the strength of this book’s humor is that it plays to the average American’s distain for Washington D.C. and Washington D.C. insiders. Buckley mocks the Supreme Court justices (who try to one-up each other in their use of Latin legal terms), the hypocrisy of Congressmen who speak of their years of “public service” but really mean “self service.” He also mocks the Washington D.C. establishment’s distain for non-elites that refuse to ingratiate themselves with these insiders, the sort of people that didn’t go to the right college, have memberships of the right club, and live in what is now pejoratively called “flyover country,” the vast expanse of the United States that rests between the two coasts. Despite this stinging rebuke of the American ruling class, Buckley is optimistic about America, average American’s, and the resilience of the institutions of American government. To Buckley, these institutions are so resilient and American people so full of good sense, that, in his view, even a vivacious, feisty and blunt television judge can be placed next to the clowns running one of the highest institutions in the country and against the prevailing wisdom of all, except the general public, do a good job and make the right decisions when it really counts. Who could not enjoy a story such as this?

“Richistan: A Journey Through The 21st Century Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich,” by Robert Frank

“Richistan: A Journey Through The 21^st Century Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich,” by Robert Frank (New York: Random House; 2007), 277 pages.

Richistan is a new spin on an old story: how the rich are different from the rest of us. The new spin on this old claim is that there is a separate country populated entirely by rich people within the United States. The country of Richistan has no borders, but has some well-identified traits and characteristics and unusual anthropological features. Robert Frank reports like a brave explorer in the mold of Captain James Cook in that he goes out on numerous journeys to explore and chart this strange place called Richistan, and its inhabitants. This book is the report of the findings of Frank’s journeys to the locations and lives of the rich.

Frank’s book tells us that the citizens of Richistan have butlers, but they don’t use the antiquarian term of the landed leisure class, preferring the more modern and professional title of “household manager.” The new breed of butler has all the good sense and knowledge of P.G Woodhouse’s Jeeves of yesteryear, but also possesses the latest knowledge of personal and electronic security, human resources, computers and electronics, wine, jewellery, and all other things of interest to the citizen of Richistan.

The citizens of Richistan earned their wealth from a variety of means: salaried wealth; selling their business; managing money; being beneficiaries of their private employer (in which they hold share options) going public; and founding companies. The Richistani did not inherit wealth. They are what used to be called “new money,” and they possess all the vulgar trappings of “new money” that include ostentatious displays of their new wealth, such as expensive cars and boats, high profile chairing of philanthropic charity balls, ownership of private jets (both outright ownership and fractional ownership), exclusive residential estates, rich people only vacation resorts, exclusive artworks, competitive altruism and philanthropic donations, and their participation in politics. The Richistani also deal with problems peculiar to the rich, such as their worries about simply being rich, and how to prepare their children to cope with becoming beneficiaries of large inheritances.

Richistan is an interesting analysis of the new rich. It shows just how different the rich are from others. The inhabitants of Richistan are not the modest and unsuspecting millionaires that were the subject of The Millionaire Next Door. The Richistani the polar opposite of the “millionaires next door:” they are not modest or unassuming; they are not afraid of displaying their wealth, and appear neither humble nor circumspect. Detailed explanations and examples of Richistani traits and features tend to tax the reader’s patience. Unless you are particularly interested in the subject matter, it is possible that Richistan may not grasp the attention of the average reader for all 277 pages. It’s neither uplifting nor inspiring, and rather than grab the reader’s attention and fail to let it go, it tends to drone on about things that are of interest to a narrow range of reader. The book, to its credit, makes no judgment on the ways of the rich: it is neither accusatory of blaming, but rather is explanatory. It shows us who the new rich are, how some of them became rich, and what they do with their wealth, and leaves it us to us to decide what we will of it all (if we can get through to the end of the book).

"The Story of Ernie Pyle," by Lee G. Miller

“The Story of Ernie Pyle,” by Lee G. Miller (New York: The Viking Press; 1950), 439 pages.

The biography of a writer is rarely full of action and excitement. The writer’s life is in one sense solitary, consisting of lonely hours with pen and paper, or paper and typewriter, activities that do not make for exciting reading. Lee G. Miller’s biography of columnist and war correspondent Ernie Pyle is somewhat unusual in that it records the life of a man who spent most of his life reporting on his findings in the field. Pyle travelled widely in the United States and other parts of the Americas, and most famously as a war correspondent during World War II where he travelled to North Africa, Europe and the Pacific and observed and reported the wide range of human events he witnessed. Miller’s book is the report of the life of an active and well-travelled man who spent his life researching and telling other people’s stories during some of the most momentous years of the 20^th century.

Miller’s biography of Ernie Pyle, published over 60 years ago, was written when Pyle was relatively well known. Pyle’s work was well known to the newspaper reading public. He was widely read before World War II and became even more widely read as a war correspondent on the North African, European and Pacific campaigns. Miller’s biography nonetheless tells of Pyle’s childhood, youth, college years in Indiana, military service during World War I, career as a newspapers journalist and later columnist at a mid-western and later Washington D.C. newspapers, and his marriage. Pyle was one of the first aviation columnists and was well known among the early aviation community. He subsequently took to the road as a travelling columnist filing columns from all parts of the country, as well as reports from his trips to central and South America. Much of this book is devoted to chronicling Pyle’s life as a travelling correspondent and as a war correspondent.

Unfortunately, this book hasn’t passed the test of time all that well. To this reader, too much time and space is given over to the matters of Pyle’s personal life (i.e. the contents of personal letters, opinions, conversations and recollections of friends and acquaintances) and too little space devoted to Pyle’s views and opinions of the fantastic events he witnessed and reported. For example, the author mentions, on separate occasions, that Pyle met General Dwight Eisenhower and General Omar Bradley, yet we never know Pyle’s recollections or opinions of these meetings. Perhaps such things weren’t disclosed in those days, or perhaps Pyle’s reading public already knew his views from reading his columns, so Miller chose not to include them. The modern reader doesn’t know. The book also suffers from Miller’s practice of rarely quoting from Pyle’s famous columns; but when he does, it’s with terrific effect. For example, Pyle’s column describing his walk on Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day, his survey of the wrecked material, equipment and dead servicemen is very moving. Miller’s use of this quotation is done with so great effect that this reader wonders why he chose to quote Pyle’s columns so infrequently. Miller’s failure to use Pyle’s greatest works left this reader with a thirst to read more of Pyle’s original columns rather than continue with this biography. By reading this biography of Pyle, I became more interested in Pyle’s work, than in the Miller’s biography of his life. So, if you are interested in what made Ernie Pyle so revered in the United States, I suggest that you bypass this book and instead peruse some of Pyle’s books, such as Brave Men, Here Is Your War, Men of Iron, or Ernie Pyle in the American Southwest. If you must read a biography of Pyle’s life, you may want to consider more contemporary works that may place Pyle’s work and legacy into context, such as James Tobin’s Ernie Pyle’s War: America’s Eyewitness to World War II, or Ray Boomhower’s The Soldier’s Friend: A Life of Ernie Pyle.

“The Road from Coorain,” by Jill Ker Conway

“The Road from Coorain,” by Jill Ker Conway (New York: Vintage Books; 1989), 238 pages.

It’s not uncommon for autobiographies to read as boastful summaries of the author’s achievements and successes. Such books contain large tracts of recollection where the author places himself/herself at the center of everything, and takes sole credit for their successes. These books also tend to be critical of rivals and competitor’s, pointing out the splinters in their rival’s eye while failing to notice the beams in their own. The Road from Coorain is not such a book; rather it’s a journey of discovery (or coming of age) of an unusually bookish girl in the 1940’s and 1950’s in Australia. Her early years were spent as a home-schooled child on a remote and vast sheep station (ranch). In recalling her early life, she describes the stunning beauty of remote rural Australia, its bountiful appearance after soaking rains, and its slow and relentless decline into drought, where life is slowly strangled from plants, animals, and ultimately from the people that try to farm it. Ker Conway writes of the people that live in these wretched places and how isolation, biblical droughts and loneliness tend to breed hardy people. Not all can take the harshness and remoteness of rural Australia and seek refuge in the bottle, or for more desperate people, suicide. Ker Conway beautifully describes her family’s struggle farming their drought-stricken property, the death of her father, and her mother’s decision to move to Sydney and employ a manager to run their station “Coorain.” 

Ker Conway writes of the difficulty of county kids, such as her, to fit into life in the city. She quickly settles down and with a persistent and increasingly fragile mother, hunger for learning, and a bit of luck blossoms into a confident student at an exclusive high school. Her high school success propelled her to the University of Sydney, where she achieved notable academic success, and slowly realized after a few set backs and travel, that to achieve success in her chosen academic field that she would have to leave Australia for the United Stated.

The Road from Coorain gives us an insight into the Australia of the 1950’s, and all of the not uncommon prejudices, discriminations and disappointments of that time. It also shows one person’s encounter with this world, and one ambitious woman’s response and reaction to it. This beautifully written narrative is both particular and universal for it provides the lovely story of growing up in both rural Australia and the city, as well as the universal theme of how one uses their talents to find their way in the world.

"That’d be Right: A Fairly True History of Modern Australia," by William McInnes

"That’d be Right: A Fairly True History of Modern Australia," by William McInnes, (Sydney: Hachette Australia;  2008), 320 pages.


That’d be Right by William McInnes is labeled as “a fairly true history of Australia”, a history viewed through the author’s eyes, with a particular emphasis on sport and politics. The author approaches Australian “history” through recollection, primarily his recollections of various sporting and political events, and what he was doing when those events occurred in Australia from the 1970s through to today. McInnes narrates a series of loosely related political and sporting stories. The only relationship or connection that these political and sporting stories have with each other is the author. He connects them via a chain of recollections, observation and anecdotes, that are at time humorous, to attempt to add color and interest to what many people would ordinarily be a rather thin gruel of politics and sport. For example, he recalls his family and friends’ activities during some of the events of his youth (the 1975 Australian Federal election), a famous cricket match (the 1977 Centenary Test), events he watched was in college in the 1980’s (political rallies and other sporting matches/races) through to political and sporting events and cultural events he attended as a spouse and father.

McInnes should be lauded for writing about sport and politics from the vantage point as an interested opinionated outsider, and the impact and influence of these events on people’s lives. Many books about sport and politics are written from the vantage point of the privileged insider (journalists), participants (politician or sportsman), or historians. McInnes’s departure is that he writes about these events that span a period of at least 35 years from his perspective, while liberally garnishing it with side stories and anecdotes, much in the same way that made his earlier book such an enjoyable read. The effect is to produce humorous insights, emotional events and sentimental recollections of people’s lives during momentous events in Australia’s recent past. Unfortunately, the attempt at a so-called “fairly true history of Australia” (which may just be a marketing ploy) comes across, at times, as half-baked. At times it reads as a quickly cobbled together collection of stories loosely woven around a theme of sport and politics in a way to cash in as a follow-up to his superior first book.

McInnes is a fine storyteller and should be applauded for memorializing his recollections; however, given that McInnes places himself in the center of events (and his recollection of events) in this book, it is surprising that we know so little of our author. He comes across as somewhat two dimensional. Apparently McInnes is a well regarded actor, and has had some success on both the stage and screen (both movie and television). This success is alluded to but never addressed; it’s as though it’s assumed or taken for granted that if you read William McInnes’s books, you know who he is, and of his acting career. Many readers do not, and may even wonder aloud when reading this book, who this author is and why his views are important enough to read, if at all? Maybe it’s modesty that keeps McInnes from writing about his career achievements in his chosen profession. Or maybe it’s a wish for privacy, or a male preference to discuss manly things like politics and sport. It seems odd though that in a book about essentially about his recollections of major sporting and political events of the past 35 years that he fails to tell the reader about his rise from struggling acting student in Western Australia to established and accomplished stage, film and television actor.

Despite these minor quibbles, McInnes has written a fine book that should resonate with every lover of good, fresh stories based on the observations and conversations of ordinary suburban people. The only thing that this book lacks is the story of McInnes’s career. No doubt he could have enhanced this book with the details of how he became an expert in his chosen profession. No doubt it would be a story worth telling, and when told by McInnes, be entertaining and a useful guide as well as an account of lessons he learned in establishing himself in a most competitive profession. I suspect that he is leaving those stories for another book. Let’s hope he takes the time to writes it one, because if it is like this book, and his previous book, it would be a humorous and enjoyable read.

"The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine," by Michael Lewis

“The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine,” by Michael Lewis, (New York: W. H. Norton & Company Ltd; 2010), 266 pages.

The Big Short tells the story of a select group of individuals that foresaw and profited from the 2008 collapse of the United States’ property bubble. Lewis identifies the cause of the collapse as cheap housing finance funded initially by reckless bank lending, where loans were converted into mortgaged-backed securities (bonds) and a variety of derivative products designed to enable “Wall Street” to profit from over indebted lower and middle class Americans. Lewis’s book tells the story of certain individuals that saw the long term foolishness (at best) or insanity (at worse) of this behavior, and how they were able to profit handsomely, both for themselves and their investors. Lewis tells the story from the vantage point of a number of such investors. We learn of the lawyer turned investor who was once an equities analyst specializing in sub-prime lenders who figured out how to short specific mortgage-backed bonds. We read about the west-coast physician who gave up practicing medicine to run a hedge fund and make hundreds of millions of dollars for his investors by almost single-handedly discovering a way to profit from the collapse of house prices. We learn of the man responsible for selling derivatives to investors, such as the ex-lawyer and former physician, and how the salesman’s own firm let him sell what was basically insurance on mortgage-backed bonds without any company capital backing the risks (i.e. they never thought the housing bubble would burst, and therefore not have to pay any claims). We also learn of two friends in California who go from part-time investors to multi-millionaires as they identified and profited from the mortgage bond collapse. Lewis also shows how some other smart investors saw the pending collapse in sub-prime mortgage bonds, and were able to profit very handsomely and the expense of “stupid” banks and other financial institutions, and benevolent regulators that permitted such activity to occur (there was nothing apparently illegal so they were unable to regulate what was beyond the scope of the regulations they enforced).

Lewis’s style of writing tends to be to tell a big story by focusing on a number of individuals and explain the big picture by explaining the actions of a these few participants in the bigger story. In The Big Short, he does an excellent job of showing how some smart people made fantastic fortunes (some as great as tens of billions of dollars) by basically betting that house prices would fall, thereby profiting by the collapse of mortgage backed securities by purchasing derivative contracts that exponentially increased in value with the decline in value of the mortgage back bond from which they were “derived”. We all now know how these activities threatened the solvency of numerous money center banks and the stability of the entire financial system. Lewis shows how the nimble, smart hedge fund guys who went against the herd mentality of the bumbling, establishment institutions, won the day. Hooray for them!

As an analysis of how the smart guys won big, The Big Short is a first rate story told very well. But one has to wonder of the effect of this book on the reading public, particularly those he seeks to influence. Lewis, at heart a moralist; he admits that his first book, Liar's Poker, may have been an attempt to say something like, “I hope that college students trying to decide what to do with their lives might read it and decide that its silly to phony it up, and abandon their passions or even their faint interest, to become financiers.” Lewis admits that his message in Liars Poker was mainly lost on his readers, and that most students read Liars Poker as a “how to" manual. One wonders, given his failure to get his message across in Liar’s Poker, whether The Big Short will be read as a "how to" manual for aspiring contrarian hedge fund managers, rather than a vindication of Lewis’s views that the boom era of high finance (and its associated excess and insanity) is over. Like a dog returning to its own vomit, Lewis covers the same fertile ground in The Big Short that he covered in Liar’s Poker, and in some instances the same people he used to work with. I wonder if the sins of Liar's Poker are being repeated on a larger scale in The Big Short (except with much larger sums of money). I wonder whether the bright kid from Ohio State who reads The Big Short will be encouraged to become, say, an oceanographer and spurn the offer from Goldman Sachs and set out to sea. It would take an exceptional young person to reject such temptation. When given a choice between a bucket of money and ocean spray in the face, most young people would chose the bucket of money. But our scorn for the choices made by young college graduates could equally be made against successful authors. Lewis is free to write about anything he wants. He has written about the grubby “low-art” of finance, as well as comparatively more noble and uplifting subjects in Moneyball and The Blind Side. Perhaps Lewis will return to sharing the uplifting stories he is clearly capable of writing, and avoid the temptation to return to the field of finance, which, according to his past experience, seems to encourage bright young kids from Ohio State to go to work at Goldman Sachs. 

"Sheetrock and Shellac: A Thinking Person’s Guide to the Art and Science of Home Improvement,” by David Owen

Sheetrock and Shellac: A Thinking Person’s Guide to the Art and Science of Home Improvement, by David Owen, (New York: Simon and Shuster; 2006), 303 pages.

Sheetrock and Shellac is the reminisces of the lessons learned by David Own in almost 30 years of home improvement projects, home renovation projects, and home construction. Owen recalls the lessons learned, mistakes made and general improvements he and his wife made o their New York City apartment, and later to their 200 year old house in Connecticut. Having learned many lessons, Owen also tells the story of how he and his wife built a cabin, from site location and land purchase through to the final finishing touches.

The book is arranged somewhat chronologically. Owen starts with his recall of alterations they made to their New York apartment as newly-weds through the arrival of their children. Owen then tells the story of their purchase of a 200 year old house in Connecticut, and the various renovations they made (e.g., yard and house exterior, basement, office, and kitchen). Having learned much along the way by asking questions and watching experienced contractors, Owen does more of the renovations and, where necessary, with the help of experienced tradesmen. Almost half of the book details the construction of their cabin. Owen explains the reasons for his compact and economical design (no McMansion in the woods for him) and the reasons behind every construction decision. In providing such detail, he also explains why certain construction methods are used (and not used) why specific techniques have to be followed, and demonstrates how his decision to build a well constructed cabin was the culmination of information and knowledge acquired over the years.

Owens’s Sheetrock and Shellac is an entertaining book that combines memoir, lessons learned in home improvement, and precautionary advice for potential home renovators and builders. It’s the story of how home owners with no formal training in the manual arts can, with curiosity, interest and initiative learn and acquire the skills necessary to maintain, improve and build a home. Owen demonstrates how homeowners can achieve such feats, not be overconfident in their own abilities and know when to pay an expert to do specialist jobs. Neither encyclopedic nor instructional in the manner of how-to books, Owen’s book contains a wealth of practical information learned through experience, and to our benefit, he shares them with us. His hand on tips, canny insights and interesting stories (such as the history of Portland cement and concrete) entertain both the budding handyman and curious observer. 

Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha,” by Jeff Matthews

“Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha,” by Jeff Matthews, (New York: McGraw Hill; 2009), 298 pages.

Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha is hedge fund manager Jeff Matthews’s account of his trip to the 2007 and 2008 Berkshire Hathaway Annual General Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. The book is an expansion and revision of Matthews’s reports previous made on his blog, “Jeff Matthews Is Not Making This Up.” Matthews’s book expands on more than just the Berkshire Hathaway Annual General Meeting. He also writes about his difficulty in getting to Omaha, his impressions of the city, events in Omaha secondary to Annual General Meeting, the comparatively unexciting procedural matters of the Annual General Meeting, and what everyone was in Omaha for, the famous five hour question and answer session presided over by Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffett, and his friend and business partner Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charles Munger. Much of Matthews’s book is Matthews provides a detailed reconstruction of the question and answer session, where Buffett and Munger answer questions from shareholders, unscripted, and without assistance from lawyers, public relations people, or other types of people you normally see at annual general meeting who seem to have the job of filtering out uncomfortable or embarrassing questions for management. Matthews not only reconstructs the question and answer sessions, but adds considerable background, analysis and commentary based on his extensive knowledge of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett and Munger, and the various Berkshire Hathaway businesses that he has come to know and study during his three decades as a professional investor. The every-curious Matthews also includes many of his own findings and observations of Berkshire Hathaway gained during conversations with managers, discussions with shareholders, and a visit to one of Berkshire Hathaway’s famous subsidiaries, the Nebraska Furniture Mart. Matthews also includes some difficult and uncomfortable questions that came to him during his 2 visits to Omaha, questions about the entire “Woodstock for Capitalists” experience (a euphemism coined for the Berkshire Hathaway Annual General Meeting) such as the divergence between Buffett’s speeches and sayings and his actions, and the performance of various business units within Berkshire Hathaway and what this says about Buffett’s way of doing business.

Matthews’s great strength in Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha, and what sets it apart from nearly all other books is that he hasn’t bought into the cult of personality that surrounds Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett and Charles Munger. Many books on Buffett tell the story of Buffett’s success (i.e. how to invest like Buffett, how Buffett made his fortune), but few, if any, take a rational and clear eyed view at the subject. Don’t be mistaken in thinking that Matthews’s book is an attack on Buffett: it isn’t. Matthews is full of professional praise for Buffett’s success in achieving unparalleled investment returns, the unique way in which he and Munger handle annual general meetings, and their willingness to identify irrational and foolish conduct in the business community. Nonetheless, Matthews raises some questions of his own that other shareholders failed to ask (in fact, Matthews is somewhat curious that some shareholders ask Buffett and Munger questions unrelated to the performance of the Berkshire Hathaway Businesses (such as “what should I do with my life”). Matthews’s questions include the following.

• Has Buffett’s tight-fisted or thriftiness impeded the growth of the businesses he owns? How come Nebraska Furniture Mart, a company Buffett purchased about the same time that a one-store Minnesota company changed its name to Best Buy, and since then, Best Buy has grown to 1000 stores with $40 billion in sales whereas Nebraska Furniture Mart has 3 stores and $1 billion in sales?

• Buffett, who is critical of board executive compensation committees, has been on many boards, but no executive compensation committees. Why hasn’t he asked? What company would risk the publicity of refusing to have Buffett on their executive compensation committee?

• How has Buffett managed to escape any collateral damage from scandals that occurred on his watch (i.e. the “gallon pushing” accounting anomalies while serving on the board at Coca Cola in the 1990’s, and the criminal prosecution of managers he praised at Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary General Re?

• How does Buffett, the very rational conservative investor, explain his well-known social progressiveness/liberalness to his predominantly lily-white shareholder audience of ageing baby-boomers?

• Will Berkshire Hathaway survive in its current form when Buffett passes away?

• Is Buffett a hypocrite by outwardly praising meritocracies, and opposing inherited dynastic wealth, yet when he buys family businesses he retains family business managers? Did Nebraska Furniture Mart fail to become a national business because it is family run?

• How can Buffett call derivative financial instruments “financial weapons of mass destruction,” yet he has purchased numerous derivative contracts and claims he will make money on every contract?

• Buffett likes businesses that aren’t capital intensive, so why has he recently purchased capital-intensive companies such as power utilities and railroads?

Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha is an essential book for the student of Buffett and any person interested in the unique company that is Berkshire Hathaway. Matthews is both full of praise for Buffet and Berkshire, yet does not shy away from raising some difficult and legitimate questions that while acknowledge Buffett as an exceptional or even unique investor, recognize that he too is prone to human foibles, frailty and error. Few books on this subject have done this, and for this reason alone is a reason to buy this book.

West of the West, by Mark Arax

West of the West, by Mark Arax, (New York: Public Affairs Books; 2009), 347 pages.

West of the West is a collection of essays written by former Los Angeles Times journalist Mark Arax about the lives of some of the Golden State’s least known residents. Arax doesn’t write about the lives of the glamorous or the famous, but the lives of some of the forgotten or overlooked peoples of the vast population patchwork that is California. Arax combines journalism, essay, and memoir to capture the lives of Asian immigrants seeking to make a better life for their families in the United States, and in particular, one family in Los Angeles’s San Gabriel Valley. He also writes on the varied lives of people in California: the life of the United States’s largest pomegranite grower; the lives of hippies (both old and young) using their entrepreneurial skills in the marijuana capital of the United States; a somewhat disturbing F.B.I. investigation and prosecution of a terrorist suspect in Northern California; and, among other stories, the deeply personal epilogue to the murder of his father in California’s Central Valley more than 30 years ago.

This book is the first book in some time that I’ve failed to finish. The stories are well written, and at times tend to emphasise the bleak, troubling and disturbing sides of life. This may be the author’s intention, to alert the reader that like anywhere, life in the Golden State is not all glamor and glitz, or peaches and cream. My choice not to finish this book is not a reflection of Arax’s skills as a writer and the quality of this book. Rather, its a reflection on me and the fact that at the moment, I’d rather read something a bit lighter. Plus, I have a large pile of other books to read, and I have to get this one back to the library to avoid the overdue charges.