Sebastian Junger, best known for The Perfect Storm and the documentary Restrepo, presents the reader with an odd little book in Freedom. For much of a year, Junger and three friends—a conflict photographer and two Afghanistan War veterans—walked the railroad lines of the east coast. It was a strange experiment in personal freedom. Dealing with railroad cops, sleeping under bridges, cooking over camp fires, and drinking from creeks and rivers, the four men forged a unique reliance on one another over time.

While doing all that walking for a year, Junger also pondered what freedom consisted of. How did the Apaches defeat the much stronger and numerous Spanish? How did small groups in history keep their freedom when confronted by more powerful forces?

Just glance down at the Table of Contents and you’ll see Junger’s answers. GRADE: B

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

BOOK ONE: RUN — 1

BOOK TWO: FIGHT — 53

BOOK THREE: THINK — 95

SOURCES AND REFERENCES — 135

I knew Jim Butcher wrote some graphic novels but I hadn’t seen one until I was at a Library Sale and there it was: Welcome to the Jungle. I bought this ex-library edition for a dollar (it’s $19.95 brand new). One of the reasons I enjoyed The Dresden Files series was that Jim Butcher included mysteries in the books for Harry Dresden to solve. Dresden is a wizard and a private investigator who sometimes works for the Chicago Police in solving “unusual” crimes.

Welcome to the Jungle opens with a murder at a zoo. Some of the cops want to blame the gorilla for the death, but they can’t explain how the gorilla would have opened his cage, killed the guard, and locked himself back up in the cage again. Enter Harry Dresden who senses supernatural forces at work.

I have never encountered Ardian Syaf’s artwork before, but Syaf is a talented illustrator. I’ll be looking for more of his work!

If you’re a fan of graphic novels, you’ll enjoy this mystery infused with magic. If you’re a Jim Butcher/Harry Dresden fan, you’re going to love Welcome to the Jungle for its mix of humor and action. GRADE: A

I always liked the surreal cover by Dick Shelton on the hardcover edition of The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sixth Series. The ACE cover is a little busy for my taste. This anthology presents one of Poul Anderson’s most famous stories, “The Man Who Came Early,” an accidental Time Travel story. Anthony Boucher also includes Anderson’s Conan-pastiche, “The Barbarian.” “And Now the News…” shows Theodore Sturgeon at his best. C. M. Kornbulth’s “The Cosmic Expense Account” will bend your mind.

The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sixth Series continues to present excellent SF short stories from a changing mix of writers. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction / [Anthony Boucher] — i
The cosmic expense account / C.M. Kornbluth — 9
Mr. Sakrison’s halt / Mildred Clingerman — 36
The Asa rule / Jay Williams — 45
King’s evil / Avram Davidson — 67
The census takers / Frederik Pohl — 78
The man who came early / Poul Anderson — 87
Final clearance / Rachel Maddux — 116
The silk and the song / Charles L. Fontenay — 126
The shoddy lands / C.S. Lewis — 158
The last present / Will Stanton — 167
No man pursueth / Ward Moore — 172
I don’t mind / Ron Smith — 213
The barbarian / Poul Anderson — 215
And now the news… / Theodore Sturgeon — 226
Icarus Montgolfier Wright / Ray Bradbury — 250

U218 was released in 2006 and ended up being the seventh best selling music CD of that year. U218 includes 16 songs that were released as singles plus the 17th track is a cover version of The Skids‘ “The Saints Are Coming“, recorded with Green Day to benefit Hurricane Katrina charities. The 18th and closing track was a new song entitled “Window in the Skies“.

Some might consider U218 as a “Best of” CD, but too many of U2’s iconic songs are missing. No “Angel of Harlem” or “All I Want is You.” But, for U2 fans, there are some rarities here, like alternate single versions of songs that differ from the album versions, to make U218 worthwhile. Are you a U2 fan? See any of your favorites here? GRADE: B+

TRACK LIST:

Wonderful Beth Fedyn sent me a copy of Mark Polanzak’s The OK End of Funny Town. The OK End of Funny Town‘s 19 stories feature characters like a giant who sets up camp in the middle of a city (freaking everyone out!) and a complicated and annoying little robot that you don’t know whether you should love or hate. Mark Polanzak plays with magic, surrealism, and whimsy in these stories. If you’re looking for tales out of the realm of the familiar and normal, take a trip to The OK End of Funny Town. Thanks, Beth! GRADE: B

Table of Contents

I. MEET FABULOUS STRANGERS!
1. Giant — 11
2. Complicated and Annoying Little Robot — 16
3. Genie — 25
4. The Mime — 30
5. Unidentified Living Object — 46
II. TRAVEL TO FANTASTIC PLACES!
6. The OK End of Funny Town — 63
7. Our New Community School — 71
8. Camp Redo — 79
9. A Proper Hunger — 83
III. WITNESS MAGICAL THINGS!
10. Porcelain God — 101
11. Gracie — 112
12. An Exact Thing — 116
13. Test — 125

14. How You Wish — 135

IV. EXPERIENCE SURREAL TIMES!
15. Out of Order — 151
16. Ready Set — 160
17. Oral — 169
18. Kind Eyes — 179
19. Used Goods — 187

Acknowledgements — 191

About the Author — 193

Colophon — 196

MARVEL’S M.O.D.O.K., is an American adult animated stop motion television series created by Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt for the streaming service Hulu, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. The series is produced by Marvel Television, with Blum serving as showrunner.

Patton Oswalt stars as M.O.D.O.K., a supervillain struggling to handle his company and family. Aimee Garcia, Ben Schwartz, Melissa Fumero, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Beck Bennett, Jon Daly, and Sam Richardson also star. Genius M.O.D.O.K., frustrated after spending years failing to gain control of the world and battling superheroes like Iron Man (and losing!), finds himself removed from his company A.I.M. after it falls into bankruptcy and is sold to a rival company, GRUMBL. M.O.D.O.K. begins to deal with his troubled family while facing a mid-life crisis. This is silly stuff, but I found it mildly entertaining. This is one case where Father DOES NOT know best! GRADE: B

Mike Hayes writes about his experiences as a Navy SEAL and his post-SEAL experiences working in the White House for both Bush and Obama. Hayes includes stories of his work for a hedge fund and his current job as Chief Digital Transformation Officer at VMware.

The parts of Never Enough (2021) that resonated with me were Hayes’s descriptions of his SEAL missions in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Some of Hayes’s SEAL teams took horrendous damage by explosives, ambushes, and hand-to-hand fighting. Hayes discusses what it’s like on the battlefield and what decisions he and other commanders had to make under extreme conditions.

If you want to gain insight into what our armed forces deal with in our dangerous world and learn how the SEALs make their difficult decisions, I highly recommend Never Enough. GRADE: A

Table of Contents

Author’s Note ix

Introduction 1

Section I Never Excellent Enough

Chapter 1 Choose the Hard Path-Excellence in Knowledge and Capacity 17

Chapter 2 Build Comfort with Discomfort-Excellence in Strength and Control 43

Chapter 3 Live with Incredible Confidence and Extreme Humility-Excellence in Accountability and Orientation 63

Section II Never Agile Enough

Chapter 4 Be a Leader and a Follower, and Know When to Be Which-Agility in the Roles You Play 87

Chapter 5 Learn How to Think, Not What to Think-Agility in the Decisions You Make 114

Chapter 6 Gain Authority by Giving It Away-Agility in the Organizations You Lead 136

Section 3 Never Meaningful Enough

Chapter 7 Push Your Values Out into the World-Finding Meaning as an Individual 169

Chapter 8 We Live and Die for People, Not Causes-Meaning in the Bonds We Build with Others 195

Chapter 9 Make Differences Where They Will Count the Most-Meaning in Contribution to the World 219

Acknowledgments 229

Frederick Kaufman believes that money has incredible power. He takes a historical approach to explore how humans went from trading goats for chickens to trading goats for sea shells, to exchanging goats for gold coins. And then Kaufman goes through the evolution of paper money.

Not surprisingly, Kaufman believes digital currencies like Bitcoin are the future of money. Right now, there are over 2000 crypto-currencies circulating in today’s world economy.

I found Kaufman’s approach to money as a metaphor very convincing. If you’re interested in money–now and in the future–The Money Plot lays it all out in clear, concise, and understandable language. GRADE: A

Table of Contents

I Small Money

Behind the Curtain 3

1 The Shell Game 7

2 The Trophy Wife 37

3 Acts of Violence and Other Words 55

4 The Soul of Money 69

5 The Crusade 87

II Big Money

The Silver of Count Hieronymus von Schlick 127

6 Money Wants to Be Free 131

7 The Buck Starts Here 145

8 The Float 179

9 How to Make Money 211

10 The End of Money 243

Acknowledgments 253

Timeline 255

Glossary of Selected Terms 261

Bibliography 267

Illustrations 287