All posts in What I’m Crunching

This is the second book of three in Edmund Morris’ excellent work on the 26th President of the United States. The first book was excellent and all three have great reviews.

I enjoy seeing how the different personalities of various US Presidents worked themselves out within differing periods of our nation’s history. Each period required and received leaders with nuanced differences in their approach to leadership.

Roosevelt’s swashbuckling approach to life and nation-building would be so out of place today. But, it was exactly what the US needed at that time and resulted in remarkable advancements for our interests globally.

I finished this one this week and, wow, what a narrative. Theodore Roosevelt represents a mindset in leadership that I’d love to see our country return to. In learning about some of the experiences that made up his early life, I’m more convinced now than ever: leaders are formed in the crucible.

Perhaps we have few good leaders today because of the good times (prosperity) created by men such as Roosevelt, who suffered many hardships. It has been said:

Hard times produce good men
Good men produce good times
Good times produce weak men
Weak men produce hard times

After being disappointed in Foundations by Asimov, a friend and reader of the site here suggested the Ringworld series by Larry Niven. I’m nearly done with book #1 and, so far, it’s much better than Foundations. The pace is better and the story is more cohesive. There are some calculations (mostly distance, since they’re in space) that are tough to follow listening to the audiobook but, other than that, it’s enjoyable.

I started reading this one because the Foundation series by Asimov is considered seminal. Even Elon Musk recommends the series.

I’ve not been impressed with it. Maybe the problem is with me? I don’t know. It seems to bounce around too much, moving forward in time too quickly without adequate detail to keep up. I won’t be continuing in the series.
Serving on an 11-person transition team has given me opportunity to revisit work I’d done years ago to better understand the two biblical church offices: Elder and Deacon. This book on Deacons is well done, simple to understand, and quite comprehensive. I’d recommend it to anyone wanting a true-to-Scripture evaluation of the office of Deacon.

The WWII battles fought in North Africa don’t get much attention, but are arguably the most important of the entire war. Why? They opened up the pathway to Italy for the Allies.

From Goodreads:
Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson provides the definitive history of the war in North Africa. The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is an epic story of courage and calamity, of miscalculation and enduring triumph. “An Army at Dawn” begins on the eve of Operation TORCH, the daring amphibious invasion of Morocco and Algeria.