Always Looking Up By: Michael J. Fox

I loved this book.  I was attracted to it after reading his other book "The Lucky Man"  Lucky Man Review  Fox is an intriguing personage that is extremely inspiring.

Faced with a debilitating disease that will trap him in his own body, he does not allow it to stop him.  His tenacity towards life is awe inspiring.  Fox has an appealing view of life, politics and even religion.

This book deals with more of the details regarding his political activism as well as his life as a husband, father & brother.  Fox takes you through his emotional acceptance of his sister K.C.'s, that also suffered a brain disorder (epilepsy) eminent death and how they needed to make the decision to disconnect her from life support.  Fox describes how her brave, successful, yet risky surgery to quell the seizures gave him the strength to undergo his own surgery.  

Fox's speech he gave for his son's Bar Mitzvah was very aper-pot for the occasion and gives you the overall tone of the book.  He talks about how he was determined to teach his son how to ride a bike.  He takes his son, strangely, to a baseball diamond to learn how to ride the bike.  During this process, and after successfully riding his bike around the diamond, Fox looks up and does not see his son on the orange clay.  He comes to the realization that his son must now chart his own course.  

He is a word-smith, and I hope he writes another book.  The proceeds of the books go entirely to his foundation.  I plan to make a donation to his cause. 

Stand up gentlemen.  


Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Hyperion (March 31, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1401303382
ASIN: B002LITSEI   

Shadowbosses: Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind By: Mallory Factor

This book is a very well written book.  Although it is a bit partisan, you can read it and make your own conclusions as to the the benefits or hindrance of public sector unions.  This book is controversial in the sense that it covers a subject that is considered a third rail by many folks in this country.  I know I will get flack for my comments but will try to be as non-partisan as is possible.

Mr. Factor takes on the idea of public sector unions and the harm they have done and are in-line to do.  I once read somewhere, a quote that was credited to, strangly enough, FDR that said something like, Unions are a monopoly on the worker and the company.  I will start by saying that in NO WAY, am I accusing the true workers that are union members. 

In this book, Mr. Factor exposes the differences between private sector and and  public sector unions.  The private sector unions are somewhat, if that is possible, less pernicious than that of the public sector.  The reasons given in this book will shock you as to the crony-ism involved in public sector unions.  A politician looking to get elected, is funded by hard cash (Donations directly to the campaign) and soft cash (the phone banks, get out the vote efforts etc).  Then once the politician is in a position of power, the unions go in to either redo exiting contracts or unionise new sectors of government and even non-government workers.  If the politician decides after he/she is elected to do the right thing, the union will turn on them and get them out of office by supporting the challenger.

Although I try not to trash Obama and try to give him the benefit of the doubt (although most of time, I end up with egg on my face), I will say that the unhealthy relationship between Obama and the labor unions is scary.

The book compares and contrasts the Union states and the non-union states and their financial statuses of the respective states.  The pernicious "check off" provisions and forced union membership is egregious.    In some states, the unions working with bought politicians managed to  unionise the home care people of that states without even allowing them to choose if they even wanted a union.  One day, they received a letter in the mail saying that from this day forward, they [the care givers] would need to pay the unions the dues.  In other states, you are discriminated upon and your first amendment right of freedom of association (not implicit in the constitution but is implied and was upheld by the supreme court) is trampled on by forcing you to belong to a Union as a requirement for your employment.  Some states allowed for a substitute teacher that only taught one day in school to receive a full teachers pension.

In addition to that, the book covers the practice of "spiking" where the worker will be afforded massive amounts of overtime during the last three years of their employment.  Since the pension is calculated using the last three years of work, the worker's pensions end up costing millions more.

I have been against unions since day one.  They never made sense to me even as a young electrician helper when I was urged to join a union.  I really don't get it.  However, with that being said, I know some folks understand it and support it.  For a private company or a publicly traded company that wants to have unions or allow unions that is fine with me because at the end of the day, they are beholden to the board, investors and shareholders.  If the CEO makes a bad contract with the unions and makes the company lose money, he/she will be held responsible likewise, if the company makes bad choices with the unions, they could face bankruptcy.  With the government though, its a bit different.  The "CEO" do not really care where the money comes from, since the cities cannot really go bankrupt, this forces them to continue to give in to the union's demands or face risks to the public (e.g. Police, Fire striking while no one is available or rather willing to do anything).

Anyone who can, in their minds except the unions bosses to have the monopolistic powers they do while criticising the corporations of the same is at best disingenuous.  The books is a good book and truthfully, I recommend you read it even if you are a union supporter.  I know that my views on the subject may taint the review, but I tried to read the book with an open mind.


Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Center Street (August 21, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1455522740
ISBN-13: 978-1455522743

American Pastoral By: Philip Roth

This book was recommended by a friend of mine.  When I started to read it, I was a bit confused.  It is a Pulitzer Prize Winning book.  The author's alter ego Nathan Zucherman seems to be giving you superfluous info about his adoration of Seymor "Swede" Levov, a childhood hero of his that was an inspirational figure since they were kids.  Swede is a glove manufacture like his father before him. Zuckernam continues to idolize Swede long after they mature and move on to adulthood.  The author assumes this good looking, successful, athletic guy has had a stellar life and while Zuckerman himself has never married or had kids, it only serves to magnify the affects. 

As the story unravelled, we found that Levov has three successful sons and when Zuckernam begins to peel back the onion after finding out Levov died,  he finds that Sweed's daughter Merry is actually "The Rimrock bomber" a radical ant-war Communist  who bombed a post office in their small town and killed and innocent man; a doctor. She has been on the run ever since.  Years pass and it appears that Swede and his wife Dawn are finally getting back to anything resembling normal, we see how he finds his daughter and in no time, his life begins to turn for the worse.

******Spoiler*****

Swede's life becomes unravelled during the course of a day and a dinner where he finds out that his wife has been cheating on him with a friend and has elected plastic surgery for what Swede no suspects to be their mutual friend.  He also finds out that Merry's former speech therapist hid her while she was on the run and never told Swede who was, BTW having an affair with the same speech therapist.  He also finds that his daughter is still alive and has not only been raped but has also killed three others in similar bombings. 

The book tells the story of the downward spiral of a seemingly normal "perfect" life.  He did it right, ran a business, married a beautiful woman, had a great house, and his daughter turned out a mess, blaming her parents for all that is wrong and bad in this world. His wife and his infidelity.

The books has comedy as the author uses great characters, sex, sex (yes I meant to say it twice), infidelity, death, murder and destruction.  The ingredients of a great story.   I DID however learn more about gloves and glove making than I ever though I would need to know.

Lucky Man By: Michael J. Fox

This is a touching story about the bravery and resilience of a person who has charged himself with beating the odds.  I believe biographies are the best books to read and this one only strengthens that belief.  Fox is a funny person in-spite of his obvious predicament.  This book covers his struggles with his personal, family, and public life and how this debilitating disease has in someways helped him to become a better person.  I find it remarkable that he is able to say that.

One of the interesting things I found out by reading this book is that ironically, not only was Fox really bad in school save drama, music and art he actually dropped out of high school to pursue his career in acting.  Born and raised in Canada, he like others knew that to conquer "Hollywood" he would need to make a journey.

Fox describes the whirlwind life he lived with substance abuse as well as his own self-destructive tendencies not to mention the hidden life of Parkinson's Disease.  Fox tells the tail of having to figure out when he needed to take his meds to ensure he would not find himself "off" as he puts it.  

Fox tells of his first signs of his disease, the surgery he tried to quell the tremors as well as the realization that the disease "was doing what it was suppose to do" referring to progressively taking over his body.  He described the difficulty of working in a career where he was in the public eye and hiding a dark secret that could end his career while popping medicine routinely to get through the next scene.

Later when Fox was unable to work as before, he took on a role of the face of PD.  He sat before a Senate sub-committee twice to lobby for funds to help research for the disease.

A couple of things I want to note that is outside the review of the actual book.  The amount of money that out government flushes down the toilet on wars, programs that are not reviewed, tracked and unfunded if no producing while we have the ability to help those in need here in our own country.  I would rather close the 900+ bases overseas, stop foreign aid, kill useless programs, scale back the government and use some of the saving to help fund cures for diseases.  I support the stem cell research because I am diabetic and I too, could be helped by its research.  Especially when the embryos are discarded anyhow.

The second thing is, Barbara Walters is a $&@*.  During a pre-interview with Fox, and as he was leaving, he struggled to get his jacket on.  She asked him if that was because of the PD, he answered, Yes.  She wanted him to show the audience during the interview how he struggled with the jacket as if he was a circus act.  Has she no shame?  The man is pouring out his guts on an already difficult thing and now you want to exploit him for you ratings.  Fox's wife stepped in and said NO WAY.  Well Played Tracy, well played.

Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Hyperion (April 9, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786888741
ISBN-13: 978-0786888740

Fahrenheit 451 by: Ray Bradbury

This was my first of Ray Bradburry's work I have read.  The writing style is not what I am used to reading.  The book takes place in a dystopian society where people do not read books, as a matter of fact, it is illegal to do so.  Firemen, in this society do not put out fires, they actually set them.

The book revolved around the awakening of Guy Montag which witnesses many life altering situations from meeting a young girl that is not scared of him and he connects with later to find out she has died (although book is unclear); to his wife's botched suicide, to the burning of an old lady by her own hand when the firemen come to burn her books.  The ever pressing WAR which weighs heavy on Montag throughout the novel. He questions the logic behind not reading books and eventually falls prey to their power, which eventually while bring about his potential demise.

Its funny to read books from older periods where they try to predict the future.  Compared to what we have today, this would be "lame".  Not a long book but certainly good.  I enjoyed it.

Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (January 10, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1451673310
ISBN-13: 978-1451673319

DemoCRIPS and ReBLOODlicans: No More Gangs in Government By: Jesse Ventura and Dick Russel

Ventura is a strange seed.  He has historically claimed his Libertarian beliefs yet this book has many inconsistencies when compared to the "Libertarian" platform.  Ventura implicitly supports the "rich" to pay 90% in taxes.  Although I do not believe that corporations or their executives should not pay $0.00, I disagree that someone, because they have succeeded on their own merits or have created exceptional products should be penalized by taking 90% of their earnings.  With that said, I am opposed to crony-capitalism and companies and "CEOs" getting rich by stealing from the public. 

Additionally, Ventura eludes to the support of Universal Health Care, Climate Change, and other "DemoCRIPS" ideology.  He is extremely hard on the "ReBLOODlicans" yet somewhat gives the "DemoCRIPTS" a pass.  Here are just a few of his inconsistencies:

1. Koch Brothers sent out a letter/memo telling their employees who to vote for.  Ventura neglects to say that the almost 100% "democript" Unions do the same thing.  I do not necessaarily agree with the practice but he had the opportunity to do some equal opportunity bashing.

2. He call Paul Krugman a "level headed" economist.  Nuff Said.

3. Tea party are BAD while OWS are GOOD.  He rants on and on about how the Koch brothers funded the Tea Party making it "AstroTurf" instead of a grass roots movement.  However he neglects to let you know that the OWS movement was also being funded by the democript's "shot caller" (To use his gangster analogy) George Soro's

I agree with a lot of what he said.  He seems to be a far left leaning Libertarian and supports massive regulation over free market, however he seems level-headed enough (save the conspiracy stuff) and has enough common-ground to be able to work with to get true change. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a hard core, even "radical" Ron Paul supporter. The presence of the chapter on Paul was very appealing to me.

The book is good and points out both sides', albeit lopsided, ignorance and involvement in this spiralling downward society where soon, if unchecked, will become a dystopia.

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing; 1 edition (June 11, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1616084480
ISBN-13: 978-1616084486

Steve Jobs By: Walter Isaacson

I watched the 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' about 300 times.  I used to do this religiously on Sundays so that I could start work on Monday charged up and ready to "change the world".  Most of the beginning of the book is a rehash of that movie and I learned nothing new.

The book covers his professional career and life but falls short of a "traditional" biography.  Very little is covered about his pre-Apple years.  Even so, the book keeps you engaged as only Mr. Job's career could. 

My take on Mr. Jobs is that he truly was a "A-Hole".  He was mean, heartless and cold as ice.  He was not a genius in the sense that technically he relied on other people's talent however he was a genius in design and in pushing people to do what they perceived as impossible.  I never met him personally, but I know people like him that say things in such a way that even if you know it to be wrong, you second guess yourself.  I assume Steve was this type of person.


The book is filled with irony. For example, Steve rails on about how MP3 downloads was considered theft and bad karma however he had no qualms about loading HIS personal iPod with the bootleg copies of Bob Dylan's music.  Along the same lines about stealing, ironically he stole the 'Graphical User Interface' from Xerox while accusing Microsoft of stealing it from them (Apple).

Steve Jobs was a remarkable person.  His vision of products truly revolutionized the world and the way we live it.  Although very few, if any Apple product were actually original Apple products, Jobs had a way of putting his flare into the product and making it better and a success.  For instances, the 'Smart Phone' had been around for a while, as was a tablet PC, and an MP3 player,  Steve just made them better.

Seeing him contemplate death was very difficult.  For a person that was a control freak and ALWAYS got his way, it must have been the most debilitating experience for him.  Additionally, his relationship with his middle daughter or rather lack thereof was equally difficult.  I could imagine Steve giving President Obama a rash of $H!7 for being unfriendly to businesses.  Steve was on the money when he said that the politics makes things not work.  I agree with him.  The politics of the day, only serve to divide and conquer and no one wins when they pit one group against another. He was also on the money when he told Obama that teachers should be treated as professionals and not factory workers being unionized.  

I was a bit let down because I wanted to know the last days of Mr. Jobs, how he passed on and what was the funeral like.  What was his state of mind; was he at peace?  Did he have closure with Lisa?   Was it minimalist?  Who attended; who eulogized him; and how and where he was buried?  I hope some one writes a book about Steve Jobs that covers more of the beginning and the end as I feel Mr. Isaacson fell short.   


As a side note, the fact that I watched 'The Pirates of Silicon Valley' so many times, twisted my view a bit because I kept seeing Noah Wiley who played Jobs on the movie as I was reading the book.  He did, by the way, do a great Steve Jobs.

Hardcover: 656 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (October 24, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1451648537
ISBN-13: 978-1451648539