This is the story of former college professor Darrell Standing, serving a life sentence in San Quentin for murdering a colleague. Another prisoner, Cecil Winwood, convinces forty other convicts to join him in a jailbreak. At the appropriate time, the guards capture everyone and throw them into solitary (little better than a dungeon). They knew about the jailbreak ahead of time, because Winwood had turned stool pigeon in hopes of reducing his sentence for forgery. All of the “conspirators” are beaten by the guards, including Standing, some to the point of becoming permanent physical or mental cripples. Winwood then tells the warden that a supply of dynamite to be used in the jailbreak is hidden somewhere in the prison and only Standing knows the location. He then finds himself the subject of torture by the warden and guards, including, among other things, being left in a strait jacket for days at a time. Of course, there is no dynamite.

He escapes the pain and torment by astral travel, withdrawing into dreams of his past lives during his “eternal recurrence on earth.” At one time, he is a nobleman in medieval France. Another time, he spends years shipwrecked on an outcropping of rock barely one-half mile square in the middle of the ocean; his only possession was an oar on which he wrote his tale. While in prison, he got word to a famous museum that just happened to have that oar in storage. Still another time, he is an Englishman living in 1600s Korea. For a time, he is a trusted friend and confidante of the Emperor. When the political winds change, he and his Korean wife are made outcasts by the new Emperor. For twenty years, they are forbidden to leave Korea, and they are also not to receive any assistance from the local population.

Back in the real world, during one of his periodic beatings by the guards, Standing, having wasted away to a bag of bones, is able to defend himself just enough to give one of the guards a nosebleed. For this “assault,” he is sentenced to hang, not for killing his college colleague.

Having spent time in prison for vagrancy (today it’s called “being homeless”), this is London’s attempt to expose the horrors of prison. It’s not his most famous novel, But it’s still very poignant and thought-provoking, and is well worth reading.

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Sky (short for Skylar) Eccles is a young woman with several “strikes” against her. In the insular Mormon community, she is considered a half-breed (in her case, her father was Mormon and her mother was Protestant, the religion under which she was raised). She is unmarried; Mormon women are supposed to marry young, stay home and have lots of children. Sky agrees to marry a man named Archer Benson, a man about as true-blue Mormon as they come. But they decide not to have a Temple wedding (not to get married in the Mormon church), a decision which doesn’t go over well with the relatives. Not only does Sky work outside the home, she writes for the Other Newspaper in Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune, the one not owned by the Mormons.

Raised with something of a double identity, Sky is forced to look at her own family history, containing several instances of women who entered into mixed marriages. Her career in journalism clarifies her vision of herself and her ancestors. Suffering a series of devastating events, Sky begins to see that her future is up to her, that she must find her own way in the world.

This is a fine piece of writing. It gives quite a look inside a culture with which few outsiders are familiar, it’s a “quiet” book that says a lot, the characters are real people, and, overall, it’s well worth reading.

Buck Fourcade is a tycoon from Louisiana who has turned American politics on its head. Plugging into the discontent of the people, the Presidential election becomes a marathon as results take much longer than expected, or are changed more than once. The election is declared inconclusive, so attention shifts to the Electoral College. Some states just happen to have a law on their books saying that the Electoral College elector doesn’t have to vote the way the state did during the election. The political chaos continues as the next stop is the House of Representatives. Fourcade supporters encourage the House to choose Buck as President by surrounding the US Capitol with a ring of four million supporters. Congress gets the message, and Buck Fourcade is soon sworn in as President. He quickly sets about changing things in Washington, promising to run America like a business. He changes the Cabinet positions into Vice President For positions, cracks down on corporations who don’t pay taxes and institutes Government By 1-900 Number. (Remember Ross Perot in 1992?)

This is seen through the eyes of Doug Murphy, middle-level employee of Continental Brewing, and living in the Midwest town of Brookville. He is your typical apathetic person who totally believes in the American Dream. Still, he notes the increasing number of For Sale signs and closed businesses in town, along with wave after wave of layoffs at work. He also notices how some of the town’s leading citizens are not just Fourcade supporters, but obsessed with him.

That obsession turns to anger when Fourcade is assassinated. Seeing plenty of “suspects,” they take to the streets, letting out their anger on anything and everything. Doug watches as things like newspaper delivery, street repair and trash pickup become things of the past. The situation in Washington can best be described as “chaotic.” Policies of the past 20 or 30 years, like running up a multi-trillion dollar debt and printing paper money without the gold to back it up, come to the forefront. What passes for a national government divides the country into security zones and deploys troops to quell the growing internal rebellion. Canada and Mexico move troops to their borders to stop fleeing Americans. As unemployment skyrockets (Doug is one of the victims), the only businesses left are convenience stores, sporting goods stores (suppliers of knives and guns) and those run by Fourcade supporters.

This is not an optimistic novel, but it is very much a Must Read. It’s also quite spooky (not so much “horror movie” spooky as “very plausible” spooky). For those, like Doug Murphy, who are total believers in the American Dream, this book may just change your mind.

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Matt joins the Navy SEALs, partly to prove to his father, and himself, that he is good enough. Since SEAL stands for Sea, Air and Land, Matt practices all kinds of scenarios with the other members of his squad, of which he is the leader. Each member of the squad has their own area of expertise, but the intention is that they also function as one unit. Matt passes SEAL training, but not exactly with flying colors.

Meantime, the government of Egypt is on the brink of collapse. An Islamic fundamentalist leader named Banadar has been gaining popularity among parts of the military. The transformation of Egypt into a fundamentalist government would be a disaster for America and the West, so the decision is made to invade Egypt to keep that from happening. Matt’s squad has the task of discovering the size and strength of Egyptian forces at one section of the international airport in Alexandria. They must then relay that information to a group of Army Rangers who are just behind them and will do the actual taking over of the airport. Unfortunately, the Rangers get shot out of the sky by the Egyptian military, so Matt and his squad must now wait several hours for assistance. The military units stationed at the airport know that something is wrong, and it’s only a matter of time before they pinpoint the squad’s location and open fire.

This one is quite good. The squad members are real people, and not just tall, square-jawed military stereotypes. It’s short and easy to read and it feels very plausible (it had better be plausible; the author is a former real Navy SEAL). This novel is well worth the reader’s time.

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It’s a methodology for pursuing continuous improvement in profit and customer satisfaction applicable to any sort of business, not just manufacturing. If the problem is to be found at Point X in the process, it would be easy to say Fix Point X and the problem is solved. What if fixing Point X creates a new problem at Point Y? Six Sigma looks at improving the entire strategic plan instead of focusing just on the trouble spot. It can be applied to everyday, real-world problems like increasing sales, cost reduction and inventory control.

This is a very specialized and very technical book (much of which was over my head), but it is much better than the average dry business textbook. For most people, this book can be skipped. But, for those in middle or upper management, or those for whom defect reduction is a daily concern (shouldn’t that be everyone in management?), this book is very much worth checking out.

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Jamal, a graffiti artist who calls himself “Sketch,” lives with his grandmother. Jamal’s father, Ranger, came back from Vietnam a cocaine addict and spends most of his time living on the streets. Ironically, just when Ranger seems to have his addiction actually conquered, he is caught in the middle of a drive-by shooting. Because of the family’s built-up resentments and recriminations, a period of emotional turmoil results, and, each in their own way, the family comes out the other end stronger and more united than ever.

The family is helped in their journey by an older, eccentric woman named Victoria. Never one to venture outside without looking “presentable,” her obsession (?) grew until she reached the point where she dressed all in white, including white pancake makeup on her African-American skin, and believed herself to be invisible. She is accompanied by the book’s narrator, the spirit of a 300-year-old African slave, who has “adopted” Victoria for the time being.

This story works in several different ways. It’s a must read for urban residents forced to watch the transformation of their neighborhood into something unrecognizable. It does a very good job at showing one family’s attempt to come to grips with the legacy of the Vietnam War. For those who like their fiction with a touch of strange, the author does a fine job with the Latin American magic realism. This novel is well worth the search, and well worth reading.

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Garth and his live-in girlfriend, Angie, a jewelry designer, suddenly find themselves in a rapidly growing mystery, all centered on the squirrel. It involves a stuffed loon, more dead bodies, tuning forks, Soviet-era secrets, thugs in plaid cummerbunds, and Garth's older brother, Nicholas, who Garth hasn't seen in 15 years. Along the way, Garth and Angie find themselves inside the retro-swing music revival and discover a mind control conspiracy involving digital TV. It also involves some very interesting things hidden inside Pipsqueak, and his two colleagues from the General Buster Show, Howlie the Wolf, and Possum, his sidekick.

This one rates pretty high on the Strange Meter. It has something for everyone, and it will certainly keep the reader entertained. Wiprud has done another fine job; this one is very much worth reading.

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When a group of students stages a protest march or petition drive to get their university to get their apparel supplier to get the clothing factory to improve conditions for their workers, the usual response from the university is to ignore them. Given enough pressure, and enough solidarity from other groups on campus, the administration usually comes around. Many universities joined the industry-led Fair Labor Association as a way to get the students to be quiet. Under more student pressure, they switched sides and joined the student-run Workers Rights Consortium.

Naturally, the corporations are not just sitting around, hoping the students will go away. When they get wind of a protest planned for one of their stores, they start by deploying plainclothes security and video surveillance, and go from there.

The concern (or criticism) has been raised by African-American students at these same schools that USAS (United Students Against Sweatshops) focuses on conditions overseas so it won’t have to discuss the sensitive issue of race relations here at home. When white students protest an issue, they at least get a meeting with the school administration. When minority students protest an issue, they get totally ignored. Some USAS chapters have gotten the message, and begun to focus on issues closer to home, like a fair wage for hourly employees at the university.

To those who think that all American college students are apathetic partiers, this book will help change your mind. It’s (too) short, very easy to read and tells of young people who are actually doing something to change things around the world. It’s highly recommended.

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Allen is not a creationist, but he does not dismiss the influence of a force or principle at work that some people call God. The fundamental nature of the cosmos is such that all life contains spirit (specific and varying segments of perfection, or whatever God consists of) and that it is able to rise to higher levels, eventually terminating in none other than God himself.

Did you know that the universe has an impenetrable boundary? The solar system is rushing toward it, but the period of time before it will become a problem can be measured in millions of years.

The author spends much of the book exposing several large holes in the Big Bang theory of universe creation. He asserts that the observable evidence just doesn’t add up. A much better theory is that of Continuous Creation (a series of smaller Bangs). At a certain point, universe expansion turns into universe contraction, eventually leading to another Small Bang. Most of his other objections to the Big Bang were beyond this reviewer.

Allen takes the reader painlessly through cosmology, starting with the earth, the sun and the solar system, and spreading out to nearby stars, quasars, pulsars, black holes and continuing on to nearby galaxies. There is a blessed lack of equations and technical jargon in this book. He does a fine job at “layman level” science, but the point comes at which some previous knowledge of cosmology would help. For professional scientists, and for those who simply want a different view of the universe, this book is well worth reading.

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