KathyK

Funny, provocative, and unique

Revisado: 09-25-23

This is a wonderful and varied collection of essays. Shriver is engaged with the issues of the day and does not shy from controversy or self-exposure.
Shriver is about a decade older than I, so I appreciated her thoughts on aging and watching your parents grow old and incompetent, as they rang true to my experience and observations. Her political ideas are refreshing, observant and so well-written that I enjoyed them even when I disagreed with her. She is a wonderful stylist even at her most curmudgeonly. I highly recommend the book for anyone who appreciates thoughtful provocative writing. I will undoubtedly listen again and give to friends.

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Fascinating, Disturbing Stories Beautifully Told

Revisado: 02-21-21

This book tells many stories about past misdeeds of the US government, particularly the CIA, in studying and perhaps engaging in biological warfare - against crops, animals, and people. It also tells stories about the life of a dogged researcher, the frustrations about and ridiculousness of Freedom Of Information Act enforcement and failures to follow the law.

Despite many redactions and government refusals to produce old documents from the 1950s, Baker gathers convincing evidence of US use of biological weapons. The history of US employment of Nazi and Japanese biological warfare specialists is a blight on the US. The evidence of research conducted on US soil was alarming.

The book is a convincing argument for complete overhaul of US secrecy laws to allow greater transparency. Documents more than 50 years old should not be withheld or redacted.

Baker intertwines these numerous interesting stories with very brief anecdotes about his daily life. The contrast between a quiet life of reading, writing, pets, and weather, and the tales of criminal actors perpetuating or attempting to cause mass crop failure, disease and death, was striking.

While I found Baker’s narration a bit slow, I loved the humanity of his voice and genuine audible despair about his awful discoveries. Many questions remain about the stories told, but it’s impossible to know if the answers are still obtainable or forever erased from history.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in history, the US in the 1950s, FOIA, research, and science.

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Fascinating account of historical events leading to the Information Age

Revisado: 10-08-17

Gleick pulls together historical events and stories of scientists, theoreticians, mathematicians, and more, to show the evolution of knowledge and “informa

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