Book Review

Book Review: “Sphere” by Michael Crichton

/ Peter Martuneac / 6 Comments

Deep in the Pacific Ocean, a spaceship is discovered. A spaceship that is older than the Declaration of Independence. But how? And where did it come from?

A friend at work loaned me his copy of Sphere, and being in a bit of a reading funk, I gave it a go. I read it over Thanksgiving break and came away impressed! I’m not usually a fan of sci-fi but I really enjoyed this one.

Norman Johnson, the main protagonist, is a psychologist flown out to a top-secret location in the Pacific Ocean. He believes he’s there to speak to survivors of a plane crash but soon realizes the truth: the government has brought him to the site of a possible alien spaceship.

The reason given was that Norman had once written a report for the government on what to expect and how to proceed in case of alien contact, a report he never took seriously but for which he was paid handsomely. And so the team of experts he had proposed to be on site if aliens ever visited, which included himself, has been dutifully assembled.

I was never crazy about the validity of this. I know the government is the undeniable king of wasteful spending and longshot projects, but even this felt like a stretch. It felt forced on me in order to move the story along. But hey, I was enjoying the story so I kept reading.

The characters were expertly done. What at first felt like obnoxious personalities in some of the characters ended up being pivotal to the plot during the climactic scenes, which surprised me. The first sixty pages or so is mostly setting and character development, but going forward Crichton kicks the tension into high gear and never comes back down. I kept finding myself saying One more chapter, just one more chapter and then I’ll go to bed.

I won’t speak to the plot any further than I have already because a story like this is best enjoyed fresh. But, just like the last book I read, the ending was exactly how I had hoped it would be, and I really enjoyed it. I highly recommend this one if you haven’t read it already!

After reading the book, I learned there was a movie made in 1997 with Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sharon Stone, so I watched that, too. I’ll give a review of the movie next week, so stay tuned!

Book Review: “Decision Points” by George W. Bush

/ Peter Martuneac / 11 Comments

After reading Ulysses Grant’s Memoirs, I’ve decided to read more of the books written by past US Presidents. I think it’s a fascinating way to get inside their heads, to see how they portray their lives, their upbringing, and their presidency.

The construction of Bush’s memoires was interesting. He laid out his life story from birth to the presidency in a linear manner, but then once he gets to his presidency, each chapter focuses on the major issues of his time and carries them through to the end of his administration in 2008. First, as you could probably guess, he spoke about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and how he used the government intelligence agencies for the next 7 years. He then spoke about Afghanistan from 2001-2008, then Iraq from 2001-2008, then his education polices from start to end, and so on.

And that makes the book title make sense: Decision Points. Bush’s book is a book about major decisions he made and how he justifies them.

I always felt a little bad for Bush. By his own admission, he wanted to be a reform president who was known for his education and financial policies. Instead, 19 Saudi hijackers forced him to become a wartime president.

It was interesting to see how much the attacks on 9/11 tinted the lenses on his presidency for the remaining seven years in almost every arena. He approved broad, and what some might call unconstitutional powers to intelligence agencies and the military because he did not want a second 9/11. He invaded Iraq because he feared they would develop nukes, that these nukes would end up in the hands of terrorists, and then there would be a nuclear 9/11. Ditto for North Korea, he feared dissemination of rogue nuclear devices that would trigger a nuclear 9/11.

The parallels to Eisenhower’s administration are unmistakable. The Japanese surprise attack at Pearl Harbor deeply wounded the psyche of that generation of Americans, and with the advent of atomic weapons the fear of a surprise attack that annihilated an area the size of New York City created full-on hysteria. While Eisenhower made admirable steps to rid the world of nukes by offering the Soviets chances to work together to decommission their weapons, when these attempts failed he leaned hard into the production of more and bigger nuclear weapons for the US arsenal.

Why? Because he feared an atomic repeat of a surprise attack that had scarred a nation.

Obviously, what you make of Bush’s book will largely depend on whether you support him. I grew up a Bush-supporter because that’s how my parents voted. I may have voted for Bush in 2000 had I been old enough, but certainly not in 2004. I think now I have a better understanding of why he made the decisions he did, and I think I came away with my view of Bush slightly elevated, since the book reminded me of some of the good he did in areas that had nothing to do with war or terrorism.

I do think that, in decades to come, Bush will receive more favorable reviews than he’s had thus far, but I would still peg him pretty far down the list of my favorite presidents.

I also recommend this book to anyone interested in modern American history! George W. Bush was, for better or worse, an extremely consequential president, and it might provide you some valuable insight if you choose to read it. Right now I’m going through an audiobook version of Barack Obama’s Promised Land, so I’ll have a review of that ready when I’m done.