Tony Hillerman

I have come to enjoy Tony Hillerman's mystery novels set in the southwestern United States.   Most characters are Navajo, including Sergeant Jim Chee and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn.  They are with the Navajo Tribal Police that has jurisdiction in lands of the Navajo Nation located in the four corners region--Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado.  Hillerman includes descriptions of Indian customs, beliefs, and rituals.

I found Skeleton Man very interesting since it takes place in and around the Grand Canyon which Kathy and I visited in May.   I recognized many of the towns and descriptions of the region.  The good guys, though they get shot at and get hurt, still overcome the deeds of evil people.

The Last Lecture

Randy Pauch has made his mark. He is the computer science professor from Carnegie Mellon, a father and a husband, who has pancreatic cancer. His last lecture is watched frequently on the Internet and has sparked many interviews. This book gives his viewpoints on life and the end of life. I won't attempt to summarize here -- that would be a disservice to how good the book is written.

Much of what he says he does--which he attributes to his success as a student, teacher, husband, and father--most people I know do also and they are likewise successful. I found his reflections validate my thinking.

The book is a short and easy read. And I recommend you do read it.

A New Author for Me

I just finished People of Darkness by Tony Hillerman. Jim Bade suggested this author if I was interested in native American culture since the main character is Jim Chee, a native American who is a detective with a tribal police force.

The setting in New Mexico, outside major cities, on reservations and in desolate outposts. Chee solves a case of a murdered dying man, a box of rocks that someone is will to pay dearly for its return, and a many-years-old crime.

I found descriptions of culture, including religion, fascinating, fresh and interesting. I've already started a second Chee mystery.

Great Minds

I just finished a fascinating account of Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich. This is the basis for the movie 21.

A group of MIT students, some undergrads and some graduate students, implement a systematic team-oriented card counting system that increases chances of beating the dealer in blackjack. As cards come out of the "shoe", team members count cards in lower third (roughly) as positive one, cards in the middle third as zero, and cards in the upper third as negative one. The greater the positive count, the greater chance a player has of beating the dealer. A computer simulation in the mid-60s produced results suggesting greater positive shoes give about 7-20% advantage to the player over the dealer, depending on the size of the positive count. As the shoe is dealt a team member keeps a running total and signals teammates to enter the play at their table and also gives verbal signals as to the positive count of the shoe. After long periods of time spent in practices, the team goes to Las Vegas and other casinos and earns tens of thousands each day of their play. Their escapades is the main theme of the book. A secondary theme is their interactions among themselves and with casino "security".

Though I have never played blackjack at a casino, I found the book interesting, informative, and entertaining. A good read. I look forward to seeing the movie.

Good Books

I just finished my third book by Homer Hickam, this one titled The Coalwood Way. It is a memoir of Homer's last years in high school in Coalwood, West Virginia. More interesting, in my view, is Rocket Boys which describes growing up in a mining town and some boys' amateur rocketry.

Why do his writings appeal to me? First, we are the same age, both graduated high school in 1960, then college. Second, we came from working class families, though Hickam's must have been a little better off since his father was a mine supervisor while mine was more a laborer. Third, we both have roots in coal mines. My grandfather on my mother's side worked the mines near Uniontown in southwestern Pennsylvania supplying coal and coke to the steel mills of Pittsburgh.

I have become attracted to Hickam's description of life in a coal town, thinking perhaps I too could have grown up in one had my folks not left. I wonder what it would have been like for me to grow up in a mining family. Since I have no direct knowledge of conditions of families and workers, I us Hickam's writings to fill me in on how it might have been, to have a vicarious experience through his writings.

Homer's father stayed in Coalwood to continue in mining. Then Homer left his coal town for college, the military, and an engineering career. My family was a generation earlier, moving to get work in automotive industry. My mother "got out" a generation earlier than did Homer's (as did all her siblings moving to Cleveland and Detroit).

I find Hickam's writings most interesting. I will have to watch the movie movie version of Rocket Boys called October Sky , and am looking forward to his next book.

The Voyage of Discovery

facinates me. I just finished Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage, a biography of Meriwether Lewis with focus on the Lewis and Clark search for a water route to the Pacific.

Explorers and their feats have intrigued me since I was very young. Columbus, of course. Vasco Da Gama, Scott, Shakleton to name a few. Alan Sheperd and Neil Armstrong during my lifetime. The dangers. The beauty. The risk. The reward.

I wonder who the explorers of the future will be and what they will explore.