Life in America, By: Mike Proko - Book Review

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Most of the time, strong opinions about politics and religion aren't received well. People are easily turned off by other people who give their opinions and turn a deaf ear to those who try to convince them to believe what they believe. However, Michael L. Proko's collected columns titled "Life in America: Musings, Stories and Opinions about life in the U.S. of A" is both uplifting and entertaining.

In each of his columns, Proko meticulously dissects issues both about the USA and human life. He brings to light issues that we face daily and speaks about them encouragingly. He addresses topics such as human relationships, family, imagination, money, politics, God, children, striving to act like children as adults, making a difference in people's lives, showing kindness, and forgiveness. He shares experiences such as pool-hopping as an adolescent that gives the reader a sense of authenticity and a glimpse into the type of person Proko is, and the life-lessons he learned.

One of Proko's primary words of advice is to not give up and make the changes necessary to improve character. This Proko can attest to in a very special and specific way. At the prime of his life, he suffered two strokes and was told his life would never be the same again. He was told to expect permanent paralysis and for a while, gave in to this new way of life; feeling useless and defeated. However, he soon decided to make a critical change, which was to work hard to improve himself physically and emotionally. Through endless hours of physical therapy and working out, he was able to overcome his physical limitations and prove to himself and those around him that if you work hard enough to change your life for the better, it is possible to jump over hurdles that seem impossible to overcome. He uses this life experience to encourage his readers to make the changes necessary to better their lives, and to never give up. As a reader, hearing this advice from someone who lost all hope and then worked hard to gain his life back, written with gentleness and without shoving it in the reader's face, I gladly took this advice.

The most enjoyable aspect of Proko's book is his memories of being raised under the guidance and love of his grandparents interwoven throughout the work. He refers to simple life lessons taught to him when he was young; giving the same advice to his readers because he believes he is who he is because of their influence in his life. "They taught us how to swim, how to behave like ladies and gentlemen, how to look at life. but most importantly, how to keep your sense of humor when life comes at you. They, too, had made their fair share of mistakes but they had a goal and they just kept on striving to that end. Simple folks. Simple lessons." This passage sums up his tone of voice throughout the piece. Again, he emphasizes the importance of not giving up. He mentions his grandparents and their influence on his life throughout the book, which gives the reader further evidence the advice he gives is based on experience and wisdom.

This is a refreshing read for anyone who is tired of negativity and prideful political opinions about America and its people. Without stuffing it down the reader's throat, Proko delivers his advice and opinions carefully and with humor, ending almost every column with, "At least, that's the way I see it." Whether or not the reader agrees with what he discusses in each column, that line is a reminder these are merely his opinions based on his life experiences. Life in America is surprisingly cheerful and encouraging, even when it comes to America and its politics.

Reviewed by: Tamar Mekredijian, Pacific Book Review

http://www.pacificbookreview.com/

The Imperial Cruise By James Bradley

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AppId is over the quota

World War II holds a certain interest for me. I have to wonder if it is because I would be speaking a completely different language and my country would be a little red blip on the world map if events had turned out otherwise. Anyway whatever the reason I do read the occasional book on that era. This book is about the previous 100 years and the reasons why Japan bombed Pearl Harbour on that fateful morning of December 7th, 1941. Now after saying that you won't necessarily like the answers that this book holds.

Bradley is also the author of Flags of Our Fathers - the book about his father's role in raising the flag at Iwo Jima and how no one knew about his level of his involvement until after he had died. The humility of that generation coined the Greatest by Tom Brokaw is exemplified by his behaviour in the Pacific. Bradley probably was intrigued by the attack of the Japanese as that changed his family's history dramatically. He researches the presidencies of McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt and also the involvement of Taft and his work with Roosevelt out in Asia specifically with this subject in mind.

Just about everything I knew about Teddy Roosevelt was a fallacy. As a heads-up, this book was incredibly hard to read with respect to the way that many people were treated. Roosevelt wanted the world to view him in a certain way and never was photographed in some situations and always in others. He was the original media and public relations junkie. He often would have one conversation with a world leader but then relay a completely different notion to the American press.

In the summer of 1905 Roosevelt sent then Secretary of War William Howard Taft and his oldest daughter, Alice on a diplomatic mission across the Pacific. Alice was hugely popular as she lived a relatively wild life and the press and people of the US loved her. Alice was to keep the reporters and photographers busy while Taft met secretly with several leaders. Civilizing the Asian people was the idea of the trip for Roosevelt. These meetings would set up the groundwork for America's Pacific engagement but would come back to bite the people of the US less than 40 years later.

Bradley never gives his opinion throughout the book which is admirable. He just writes how history went down and who met with whom and why America was so interested in Asia and the Pacific. Personally I found the chapter on the opium wars very interesting with Queen Victoria being the most notorious 'dealer' along with some pretty heavy hitting names from American history. Worth your time especially if you are at all interested in world politics.

You can find more of my book and movie reviews at: http://ukchica.com/

How I Killed Pluto by Mike Brown Book Review

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If you are older than 15, you probably learned at school that the solar system includes 9 planets. This was not always the case. In ancient times there were only seven. Seven is a good number. It is a meaningful number as there are seven days in a week. Earth was the center of the world and did not count while the Sun and the Moon did. During and after the Copernican revolution the number changed quite often. Earth become a planet but the sun and moon were deleted from the list. Then came William Herschel and discovered Uranus, then came Adams, Leverrier and Galle predicting and finding Neptune. Meanwhile more large objects were found in what's now called "The Asteroids' belt" (Ceres, Palas, Juno, Vesta) and for some time they were also counted as planets and finally Clyde Tombaugh found Pluto in 1930 making a nice (but meaningless) number of 9 Planets. Then come Mike Brown and on his pursuit to find the tenth planet actually killed the ninth.

Mike Brown's story is detailed in his book "How I killed Pluto and why it had it coming". Well Pluto is not to blame for anything. It is just there, but Mike managed to write a story which is a great mix of: history, biography, science, philosophy and even a thriller. A thriller you might ask? Yes, chapter nine is written as a thriller and describes how private observational data was exposed on the Internet and might have been used by other researchers to get first credit for Mike's discovery (I can't resist to compare this case to James Watson and Francis Crick who used Rosalind Franklin's data without her knowing about it to get the breakthrough they needed in their DNA research). In this chapter you will also read Mike's philosophical thoughts about science, why and when some observations must be kept secret, and why others must not.

The story reaches its climax when the International Astronomical Union (IAU), in 2006, decided what is a planet (and thus deciding if Mike discovered new planets or the opposite, reduced the number of planets by removing Pluto), and although Mike had much more to gain as a planet discoverer, he strongly felt that Pluto should not be a planet. If you need someone to blame for Pluto's fate, Mike is a good choice, and occasionally he gets a number of complaints on this issue. However, even though Pluto is not a planet, it is still important, as the rest of the distant objects out there, since their existence requires new theories about the creation of the solar system itself and Mike relates to this subject throughout the book.

As you read, you will enjoy the story, as it goes from Mike's early childhood to that of his daughter, Lilah. You do not have to be an astronomer to enjoy the book (although it helps). However, as an amateur astronomer I liked the fact that Mike is also an observer. Mike isn't just a researcher, looking through telescopes (and the biggest ones - Keck and Hubble) and at thousands of pictures of the sky to find new planets (sorry, not planets but "dwarf planets"!). Throughout the book Mike shows us what it is to observe, he describes how much he loves to watch the moon and the planets. The book ends with Mike describing the conjunction of Venus Jupiter and the moon. It happens from time to time and I remember hosting a star party to share this experience with people from my community. Also, Mike gives a good explanation about naming the new objects he finds, and although the meaning of Haumea, Makemake, Eris and Sedna is known and written in many places, the reasoning behind giving these names is detailed in the book.

Read more astronomical articles at The Venus Transit site.