Johannes Cabal

I recently listened to the audio book versions of Johannes Cabal: Necromancer and Johannes Cabal: Detective, by Jonathan L. Howard.  These were right up my alley, in that they were dark, but not too dark, and laugh-out-loud funny in places.  Imagine a less creepy Neil Gaiman. 

In Necromancer, we meet Cabal, a brilliant scientist who has sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for knowledge of necromancy.  Alas, necromancy does not work quite right for the soulless, so Cabal wants it back.  A bored Satan makes him an offer:  If Cabal can collect 100 souls in one year, he can win back his own. To this end, the Devil lends him an evil, traveling carnival, a la Something Wicked This Way Comes.

In Detective, Cabal is escaping a death sentence in a foreign land by disguising himself as a government official and catching a ride on the last aeroship out of a county descending into civil war.  Unfortunately, he finds himself on board with a murderer.

Both books were lots of fun. I'm looking forward to reading the third book in the series: Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute.

The Start Up of You

The Start Up Of You: Adapt To The Future, Invest In Yourself, And Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reid Hoffman is the co-founder of LinkedIn, so I thought this book might just be an extended commercial, but, in fact, it was quite useful. It helps the reader understand what a network is, how to build one and how to use it in a non-creepy, mutually beneficial way.

The Ridge, by Michael Koryta

When I downloaded The Ridge, I thought it would be a serial-killer book, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover a good ghost story. 

Why did Wyatt French build a lighthouse in the middle of the Kentucky woods?  After his death, a small-town sheriff's deputy and a local newspaper reporter begin to suspect he wasn't just a crazy old drunk, but was, in fact, one of the few people who knew the secret of Blade Ridge.

This book brings a nice creepy vibe without being terrifying.

Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Even though Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is classified as young adult, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's part mysterious ghost story and part coming-of-age adventure tale.  Jacob is nearly 16 when his grandfather dies violently.  His last cryptic words send Jacob to an island off the coast of Wales where his grandfather, as a child, had taken refuge from WWII.

Old photos, meant to be the ones Jacob's grandfather showed him, are included throughout, adding to the creepy atmosphere of the story.  The clues are laid out and secrets are slowly revealed as Jacob unravels the mystery of his grandfather's youth, discovering in the process that his grandfather's grisly fate could also be his own.

There are a few violent deaths that might make this inappropriate for younger children, but the gore isn't excessive. It should be fine for junior high and up.

I.O.U.S.A.

The documentary I.O.U.S.A is currently available to stream on Netflix.  It's a nice overview of the problem with the size and rate of growth of the national debt.  It doesn't focus on how to fix the problem. Instead it mainly focuses on convincing people that there is a problem which is only getting bigger.

This film was produced in 2008, well before the election, so it does not contain any distracting attempts to fix the blame for the current budget debacle on Bush or Obama. Just understand that the numbers are nearly twice what they were then. It's almost quaint to watch people freak out over a "mere"  $8 trillion in debt.  I guess those debt clock guys had to buy a new clock, because the debt clock in this film only had space for 12 digits.

Even though it's only 3 years old, this film is a valuable primary source document on the rapidly changing politics of the debt. First, many people from both parties were concerned about the debt, even before the election of a black man.  Someone tell the New York Times.  Second, Paul Tsongas, candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 1992, co-founded The Concord Coalition, a non-partisan fiscal responsibility group. In this film, he sounds like a Tea Partier.  Fiscally conservative Democrats are not the unicorns of the Washington, D.C. They really did exist.  Third, Republicans love them some deficit spending.  That's why there's a Tea Party.

Recommended

Avoid This

Do not get the audio version of David Brooks' The Social Animal. The. narrator. speaks. in. a. very. slow. monotone.   I narrowly escaped slipping into a boredom-induced coma. 

Perhaps the producer was going for a sophisticated tone.  "We don't need all that vocal variation to entertain our erudite audience." Yes, yes you do.