cameling does NF and NNF in 2012

January Reads
The Wanderer : The Last American Slave Ship and the Conspiracy that Set Its Sails - Eric Calonius
The Hare with the Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal
The Man in the Empty Boat - Mark Salzman
Emperor of All Maladies - Siddharta Mukherjee
Operation Mincemeat : How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory - Ben Macintyre
Stradivari's Genius :Five Violins, One Cello and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection - Toby Faber

Going through my reading list for 2011, I think the best non-fiction books I read in 2011 were:

The Grand Inquisitor's Manual - Jonathan Kirsch
The Red Market : On the Trail of the World's Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers, and Child Traffickers - Scott Carney
I Shall Not Hate - Izzeldin Abuelaish
How We Decide - Jonah Lehrer
Robbing the Bees : A biography of honey - Holley Bishop

Honorable mention goes to Rosalind Franklin and DNA - Anne Sayre

Aaagh! It's only January 1 and I'm making rounds of the threads and collecting wishlist items. Added the bee book. With my spiffy new Netflix app for the Nook, I watched a documentary on colony collapse disorder last week.

I read Rosalind Franklin and DNA shortly after it was published, when I was in HS, and I was indignant!

Caro made it! Caro made it! Yah! I've had I Shall Not Hate on the WL for far to long. I need to get to it. The Red Market also sounds great.

Katherine, I was disturbed when I learned about the aggressive African bees and the chaos they're causing to the European bee colonies. This is a wonderful book, in my opinion, although, it made me seriously consider setting up my own little apiary in my back yard. I went so far as to research vendors of hives and starter bee kits ... and my husband let me discuss this, even plan the site for the hive and potential plants to put in the ground for a few weeks, before gently reminding me I have a black thumb and almost everything I plant either dies or is most unhealthy ... so either our bees would die from starvation, kidnap their own queen and flee their hive for a more hospitable one, or mutiny and make some really disgusting honey.

I too was indignant on Rosalind's behalf after reading the book. I've a friend who works in Crick's Coldstream Harbor labs down on Long Island, and I've asked if there's anything in their campus reference library on RF, and she said no.

Hi Marky-Mark ... The Red Market is absolutely horrific and fascinating at the same time. Granted, the author has concentrated on the red market in India only because he lived there for a number of years, but he does make a few references to the markets in China and Eastern Europe as well, fleetingly so. And I've heard rumors that Steve Jobs had gone to India for a (by now not so hush hush) liver transplant.

I'd been aware of some of the organ sales from India, but I'd no idea about the blood farms. That one sent chills down my spine.

But it's a really good book.

6: Maybe the bees would help your plants. :-) I picked up a magazine-style guide to backyard beekeeping not long ago, though I don't know whether city ordinance allows it, and I have similar reservations.

The documentary blames colony collapse disorder on systemic pesticides, which are absorbed into the plant rather than sprayed onto it, and have been decreed safe by... the companies that manufacture them. There's another documentary in my queue and I'm curious whether it arrives at the same conclusion.

i think the bees would pack up and leave in disgust, and leave the plants to their inevitable demise, Katherine.

Which documentary was it that you watched on colony collapse?

I've got Honeybee Democracy on my obese wish list but with my book buying austerity drive this year, I think I'll go to my library and ask them if they can get a copy of the book for me. The last time I checked, they didn't have it in their inventory.

I've finished my first NNF for 2012:

The Wanderer : The Last American Slave Ship and the Conspiracy that Set Its Sails by Eric Calonius.

In 1794, under George Washington's presidency, the first anti-slave act was passed wherein it became illegal for vessels to be equipped within the US, to carry on trade or traffic in slaves to foreign countries. However, it did not prevent slaves being brought into the US on non-US vessels. Further improvements were made on this act until 1820, when not only was it illegal to carry and introduce African slaves into the US on vessels, but individuals working on ships that carried slaves from Africa to the US were now considered pirates, and subject to the death penalty.

Although there were Southern ship owners, after the 1820 act was passed by Congress, who continued to try bringing new slaves into the US from Africa, none were successful after The Wanderer brought the last known cargo of 400 African slaves to Jekyll Island in 1858.

This book doesn't focus only on the horrific slave trade and the conditions they were forced to endure during the sea journey, but the inhuman status they were accorded by 'gentlemen' of the South. The trial of the Wanderer's captain and crew, and the ineffectiveness in the court in bringing the real conspirators to trial highlighted the degree of corruption and power in Savannah held by Charles Lamar and the other 'fire-eaters', a group of pro-slavery individuals.

The trial was the catalyst that Lamar and Leonidas Spratt used to launch plans of disunion. Spratt's fiery speech is captured in full in this book, calling for secession.

For a relatively slim volume, this book packs a punch and provides good researched material into so many fronts, the history of the Lamar family, starting with his father Gazaway Lamar and the Pulaski tragedy, the failed attempts before the group of conspirators' final successful plan with the Wanderer, the Northern pressure on the Southern legal system to mete out the justice they deemed fitting on slave traders, the key individuals involved in this slave trading run, and the secessionists who pushed for disunion.

I wish the author could have provided more research though, on some of the slaves on board the Wanderer. He did allocate the final chapter to a man named Cilucangy, a slave who was renamed Ward Lee, who ultimately became a free man and who gained recognition and some fame in 1908 when an anthropologist from the University of Chicago interviewed him. His family have gone on to include lawyers, teachers and other professionals.
4.8 stars

9: Not a book I'd heard of. And with only 26 copies on LT, I guess I'm not the only one. Useful information in your review. Onto the wishlist.

I thought it was really interesting and an area of American history that I was unfamiliar with. I think you'll enjoy this, Katherine.

Great review of "The Wanderer". Sounds terrific and will have to go on the old WL. Sea of Poppies also discussed and described the horror of slave ships.

SOP went into more detail about the horror of slaves aboard these ships than "The Wanderer" did, I thought, Marky-Mark. I remember feeling rather nauseous at some of the descriptions.

Just finished The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal.
Having inherited 264 netsuke, Japanese wooden and ivory carvings, Edmund de Waal, a ceramicist, decides to try and trace the origins of these little ornaments. His search and research take him to how netsuke are created and then segues into the history the man who bought and built this collection, Charles Ephrussi, the youngest son of the House of Ephrussi from Odessa, the Kings of Grain, the family he belonged to and ends with the author's connection to the family.

His research becomes more than just tracing the journey made by these netsuke and the vitrine they were placed in. It takes him to the history of the family Ephrussi, from the time they became powerful grain merchants in Odessa, to a powerful dynasty spreading into France and Vienna through the 19th and early 20th Centuries, to the tragedies during the Nazi occupation and the resettlement of various family members across America, Japan and the UK after WWII.

At some point, the netsuke take a back seat to the unfolding family history, but they do remain in the background, never forgotten, and at times they leap back into the spotlight, and the story behind their survival against Nazi looting is short of miraculous.

It had a bit of a rocky start, but smoothed out quite nicely by the halfway point and then it just sailed calmly towards the end. The illustrations and photographs added a nice touch.
3.7 stars

Thanks for the review of The Hare with amber eyes - it's come by me several times at work, and I've thought it looked interesting. Good to know it was a good read so I can add it to the never-ending list of books I want to read.

It turned out to be more interesting than I had initially expected Ardene, which is always a nice surprise.

The Man in the Empty Boat by Mark Salzman is a touching and at times humorous memoir of the author's battle with anxiety, writer's block and his sister's tragedy. Having read 'Iron and Silk', 'The Soloist', 'True Notebooks' and having attended one of the author's book reading sessions in Cambridge during his book tour for Lying AWake, I hadn't thought the writing journey was such an arduous one for the author.

I love how he brings us into the joy and love of family ... even if the family eventually has to include a dog with special needs. And I had to laugh at his description of the increasingly frequent panic attacks that struck him, before he was properly diagnosed. And I grieved along with him when he spoke of his sister's failing health and her children he embraced and folded under his loving wings while their father tried to keep their business afloat and be at the hospital with her.

Understanding and finding peace within oneself is the quest that the author tries to share with us and the source he ultimately learns from makes for a nice surprise.
4 stars

In hind sight, I think my high star rating is due to the fact that I really like this author.

His memoir Iron and Silk though, deserves a 5 star rating. It's an extraordinary book about the author's interest in learning Chinese and martial arts, and using his interest to teach English in China when it was still pretty much closed to the outside world. His observations of the people, the culture and his interaction with people who had never seen a Caucasian before made for a very entertaining and eye-opening read.

The Man in the Empty Boat sounds really interesting--I have it on my wish list now.

Hey Caro, maybe I can actually keep up with you on this thread, hm? :)

I'm reading The Emperor of All Maladies right now and really enjoying it, although it's taking me longer to get through it because it's not something that reads quickly. But it's making for a very interesting and at time scary reading.

It took me a while, but I've finally finished Emperor of All Maladies and what a journey it has been.
With the progression of medical research, man has been able to successfully eradicate diseases such as small pox and polio, prevent the previously fatal consequences of measles,influenza and HIV, among others, but while progress has been made in cancer treatment and research, it still remains an illness that strikes fear in the hearts of many.

This biography traces cancer, from its appearance more than four thousand years ago and the attempts to understand it, control it, prevent it and cure it that continue into this Century. While it is clearly written with compassion, the author doesn't pull any punches with details on the ravages wrought by the vicious disease and some of the drastic attempts at putting a stop to the aggressive invasion of these mutant cells in the human body.

It's fascinating, horrifying, saddening and yet hopeful. It gave me a better understanding of the disease in all its forms, and more importantly, I'm comforted that there are organizations and individuals still determined to find better treatments leading to perhaps a cure in the near future.
4.5 stars

Hi Caro- Good review of Emperor of All Maladies. I am hoping to get to this one in the near future. I am nearly done with nothing to Envy and I highly recommend that one for you.

hey I've heard some good things about Nothing to Envy and it's been on my obese wish list for a while. Is it good enough that I should cave in and get a copy sooner rather than later, Marky-Mark?

I think you'll enjoy Emperor of All Maladies .. if I had a dead tree version instead of on my Kindle, I'd send it to you.

Hi Caro- Short answer: YES! It has quickly become my top read of the year.

On that very vehement response, I've bought a Kindle copy, Mark. ;-)

Operation Mincemeat : How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory by Ben Macintyre was a really fascinating read and an interesting part of history I was unaware of.

It's a rare gem when history is unfolded for us in such a detailed and thrilling form. In 1943, Ewan Montagu of the British Naval Intelligence and Charles Cholmondeley of MI5 came together in collaboration of a complex plan of deception. The plan that was ultimately approved was to take a suitable corpse, dress it in a suitable military uniform, place certain well-planned personal items, attach to it a chained briefcase containing fake official documents and personal letters, and then drop it the ocean close to Huelva in Spain, where German agents and sympathizers were known to work. The objective? To deceive Hitler and his army that the Allies were going to use Sicily as a cover, but that they were going to attack Greece and Sardinia instead. If the plan was successful, Hitler would move his troops away from Sicily, thus leaving this underbelly of Italy vulnerable to the British armada and air attacks.

Sicily was identified as being the pivotal point at which a successful Allied attack could destroy Germany's hold over Italy. Secret agents and double agents were seemingly living cheek by jowl in Spain, and both Great Britain and Germany built an impressive network of spies in Spain.

What makes this a fascinating read is the attention to the cast of characters that had any part at all in this particular secret operation, both on the British side as well as on the German side. The personalities of all characters, their background before, during and after the war, and the parts they played, both in the development, and the witting and unwitting execution of Operation Mincemeat are carefully detailed. And this includes the life of the person who took the central spotlight in this play - the corpse, who never in his living days thought he'd be serving his country in such a dramatic fashion.

The unfolding of Operation Mincemeat once the corpse was released into the water was a non-stop thrill. There were so many opportunities for the plan to go pear-shaped but the way in which the British spymasters manipulated their network was sheer genius and eventually led to the successful invasion of Sicily, wrenching away Germany's control and the toppling of Mussolini.

There is a reference to a similar outline of a plan to use a corpse by Ian Fleming, and indeed it could have given the duo the idea, but credit must be given to both Cholmondeley and Montagu for crafting and thinking of all angles to this plan and then being instrumental in executing it so successfully.
5 stars

I enjoyed Operation Mincemeat too, but I liked Macintyre's Agent Zigzag, which I read first, even better. There was an old movie made of the story in Mincemeat, but it differed from the book in a variety of ways. I believe it was called "The Man Who Never Was."

25: Not a part of history I was aware of either. The same author has written a bunch of books that appear to be similarly interesting.

Great review of Operation Mincemeat! This looks like a Must Read! Great job.

#26 : Hey snap! I read Agent Zigzag before Operation Mincemeat too, Rebecca. They're both different and I like them both. I thought Agent Zigzag exposed how difficult and dangerous it was to be a double agent.

I've not seen the movie 'The Man Who Never Was'... I think I should Netflix it. It'll be something I know the hubster will enjoy, him being a major fan of all war movies.

#27 : So Katherine.. have I tempted you? ;-)

I hadn't realized how many books of the era he'd written, but after reading both Operation Mincemeat and Agent Zigzag, I'm now firmly in his camp and am planning on hunting down the other books that he's written. It's hard to write about history in a manner that keeps the reader engaged the whole time, I think, and Ben Macintyre definitely has a gift for presenting the facts without losing the story.

#28 : I think it's a Must Read, Marky-Mark. In fact, i know you'll enjoy this one.

Stradivari's Genius :Five Violins, One Cello, and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection - Toby Faber
Stradivarius violins are reknown for their beauty and powerful voices. This book traces Antonio Stradivari's life, that of his children, and more importantly, the journeys made by 5 violins and 1 cello made by him. The Lipinski, the Viotti, the Messiah (which almost never was played), the Paganini and the Khevenhuller are the violins and their owners are followed and described in this book, and the Davidov, the cello currently owned and played on by YoYo Ma.

Having worked from violin designs from Nicolo Amati, another famous Cremona luthier, research provides descriptions of the adjustments that Stradivari made in the structure of his violins over time, perfecting the sounds can be coaxed from the more than 1000 instruments that were made in his workshop.

The secrets that Stradivari took to his grave continue to confound makers of violins, cellos and violas today. Despite all that technology allows today, there are no instruments that produce the beautiful depth of sound as beautifully as a Stradivari.
4 stars

Caro, Stradivari's Genius sounds fascinating. I will need to watch for it. We attend many chamber music concerts and I often find myself wondering about the musician's instruments: how they chose them, where they got them, whether they are on loan from a foundation or have been purchased.