Review - The Scratch of a Pen - 8/10

In my previous post, I reviewed the book, “The American Experience” and where that book takes a very broad look at life during the colonial ages this book “The Scratch of a Pen” takes a more specific look at the impact of the French and Indian war. Actually the book only briefly discusses the war itself; but instead, the focus is on the ramification of this war.

Interesting to note that not before or since has so much land changed hands from one occupier to another and this books specifically looks at how it impacted the people living one these lands including the French, English and the Indians.

On a side note: where it seems most modern books like to take the theme that Indians were good and white people were bad, this book takes a more balanced approach. Calloway the author does talk about how many Indians were forced off their land unfairly and how some settlers wanted nothing but genocide for the natives; but he also discusses where in many cases the native people worked well together with the settlers forming profitable trading and hospital environments for all of the occupants. He also discusses how not all native people were above approach, in fact some were down right ruthless and violent. I think that is a lesson that can be taught for us in this day and age, and that is that not only is helping your fellow man, not matter what race or religion he is rewarding for us as individuals but it is also facilitates a more prosperous society for all who partake. Conversely, not treating your fellow man with respect produces strife animosity and hurts the overall condition of the society.

Review - The Americans: The Colonial Experiance - 9/10

This year I have entered one of my book reading phases where I have been interested in learning about colonial America. I have been wondering what life was like during this time to live on this new land before it was actually a new nation. This book fulfills much of those curiosities.

I like the way the book was organized. This first section I found the most interesting when Boorstin discuss the various different colonies that settled in the Americas and how they were all here for different reasons such as religion, politics and the search for a better life.

I also like that Boorstin discusses just the all around way of life during this time. Some interesting anecdotes are that the although the Europeans were far more advanced medically, many times Americans did far better left alone than they would have been if they were treated by a doctor. Or that Americans lacked books or the ability to produce books so the periodical and new papers became very popular.

All in all, this book is a good start to learning about the colonial era.

Review - Company 6/10

At first I thought to myself that this story is so implausible that I almost could not continue reading it.

The story is about a company and the corporate culture at the company, but the twist is this company is not really a company but actually a case study on corporate productivity. What is really going on is that the company is just a front and the people in the company are being experimented on to see how corporations can maximize productivity from their employers.

How you could possibly keep that a secret so that no one who is working there knows, and no one out side the company knows is beyond me; but this is the premise of the story.

Once you wrestle your brain to get past this elephant in the room, the story telling is not all that bad and at times the story is intriguing and the characters are interesting. Steve Jones is a good lead character and his interaction with Eve is compelling.

Also the story asks an interesting ethical question: What should you do if you know the truth about something, but if you tell someone involved with the truth statement you could ruin their life. If you are compelled to tell them one way or another, do you tell them the truth or do you lie to them?

I believe that in the end, Jones makes the correct choice.