Derpus McDerp

A Great California Novel

Revisado: 01-25-25

I haven’t read much of Steinbeck, but this was magnificent. Highly recommend. Now I have to go explore his other works.

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Great followup to Tokyo Vice!

Revisado: 10-03-24

Jake’s work is illuminating and fascinating, while being immensely informative and entertaining. As with his other books, I feel I’ve been let in on a side of Japan’s history that isn’t very well known outside of the country.

Highly recommend!

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Fascinating history of the rise and fall of the Yakuza

Revisado: 05-24-24

A great followup to the Tokyo Vice book - really enjoyed learning about the organized crime world of Japan

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Holy shit that was INCREDIBLE

Revisado: 04-28-23

One of the best books in recent memory. Visceral and jaw-dropping. Extremely impressed with the prose - I felt I was there. Damn.

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Right-wing trash

Revisado: 04-19-23

Anti-vax, anti-woke, anti-science, full-tilt Russian propaganda masquerading as “taking back our families” and even manages to label Greta as mentally ill. Yikes. Oh and of course it advocates homeschooling. 🙄

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Awful narration - lip smacking and swallowing ugh

Revisado: 05-20-22

Great book but god they need to redo the recording. Absolutely terrible - breathing into the mic, lip smacking, swallowing sounds - gross. I expect better.

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Where’s Alex Haley’s epilogue????

Revisado: 10-08-20

The book isn’t complete without Haley’s epilogue! It just stops suddenly.

Fishburne’s performance is amazing but what’s the point of truncating the book?

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Way way too short

Revisado: 06-28-20

I mistakenly thought this was going to be an actual book about the history of Gay Rights in America and the history of Pride Month, but it’s just a podcast.

I was hoping for more history, more context, more of a well-rounded explanation of Pride and it’s not even an hour long.

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First time reading again in 30 years

Revisado: 05-12-20

And boy what a great book! Absolutely riveting story. So beautifully fleshed out and rich with scientific detail that just almost makes it plausible. Crichton’s finest work, hands down.

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Incredible book on a world-changing decade!

Revisado: 11-04-19

It’s easy to forget that a lot happened between the 1940s and 1960s. I would say (and Halberstam posits) that the country completely changed during the 1950s. Documenting the fall of radio as the dominant means of mass communication to the rise of television, that alone makes this a worthwhile read. Politics was forever changed during the first Presidential debate in 1960 between JFK, a minor senator with little experience, and Nixon, who had been Vice President for nearly 8 years and had met a whole host of world leaders. But Nixon simply wasn’t likable, and his profuse sweating made him look like a liar on TV. By all accounts, Nixon should’ve won. But JFK was simply more likable.

But there was so much more. Entrepreneurs such as two brothers named McDonald in San Bernardino who had an idea for hamburgers prepared quickly and uniformly. A small time home builder from Texas on a frustrating road trip realizing that most motels sucked (and went on to create Holiday Inn). From the development of The Super (the hydrogen bomb) and Oppenheimer’s objections to it leading to his fall from the upper echelons of the scientific military community, to the Pill and Alfred Kinsey and his biggest fan, Hugh Hefner. I Love Lucy to Tennessee Williams, the Indochina conflict developing into the Vietnam War, the Red Scare in the US to the secret CIA coups in Central America, and the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement and militarized school integrations, it was a hell of a decade.


David Halberstam’s book was immensely fascinating, organized beautifully, and I was captivated the entire time.

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