Doug Lewars's Blog

The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity by Douglas Murray

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

The author takes us through a number of contentious issues which tend to create a mob mentality. I found the book quite interesting although I doubt those on the political left would care for it. Unfortunately, what the author doesn't do is offer any real solutions.

This book has quite a bit of reference material at the end, but some of this consists of links which return 404s so it's a bit out of date.



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The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense by Gad Saad

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

The author makes a pretty good case for ideological biases in universities and on social media acting in a manner directly contrary to the stability and continuance of western society. There are a couple of things I think he overlooked. He assumes colleges and universities are mandated to be centers of learning and education where students are taught to deal with a plethora of ideas sorting out truth from fiction. I think more accurate keywords are 'should be'. In fact, I think universities and colleges are businesses with largely unemployable students arriving from high school being transformed into useful contributors to business and the economy in general. In the process, the business extracts large sums from tuition, government funding, and alumni donations. The administrators, it seems, focus more closely on the dollars and the product - i.e. graduates. As a result, they're all too willing to placate dissenters by whatever means necessary to keep the peace, and, by extension, keep the cash flow stable.

A second point where I think the author misses the mark to some degree is in his assessment of those not pushing back against the politically correct ideologies flooding campuses is cowardice. Admittedly there is some, but I think plain and simple laziness plays a larger role. With the flood of data filling every corner of the internet, it's difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff and doing so requires quite a bit of background research. For any issue it is possible to find any number of 'experts' pontificating on both sides. Developing sufficient factual knowledge to challenge even one issue is exceedingly difficult. It's small wonder then people fall into one of the two polarized camps rather than figuring out what is actually true.

Frankly I don't see any obvious solution to this, but it might help if universities and colleges completely closed their humanities departments and focused instead on STEM. Yes, there is some radical creep in these areas as well but most students in such programs are far too busy to bother with whining ideological rants. Humanities may have value but at the moment they're leaving their students unprepared for life after university and doing their best to poison minds and attack Western society.

This book was very well written and well worth reading, although if one considers him or herself 'woke' it probably won't do much for you.



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The Door on the Sea by Caskey Russell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


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This was a pretty good story although it was not what I was expecting. I thought it might be a compilation of indigenous myths possibly reworked into a modern setting. In fact, it is a fantasy adventure novel set on a world different from our own. Part of my confusion came from the story starting with Raven, the trickster but he was the only holdover from myth I could identity - not that I'm an expert on indigenous myth so perhaps there was other stuff I missed; nevertheless, most of the book seems unrelated to anything which has gone before. Although the plot was well done, I had to struggle with the names, and had I read the text as opposed to listening to the audio version, I might have had much more serious difficulties. This is book one of a series and I doubt I'll bother with the rest which is just as well because they haven't been published yet and may not even have been written. There is some character development as the protagonist tries to understand tradition, how it came to be, and whether it can be changed for the betterment of all. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to ignore his soul searching and get on with the story. In addition, the author sneaks in a dash of environmentalism, but it too is easy to ignore. I think I can recommend this book if you don't mind a bit of whining on the part of the protagonist and enjoy a good fantasy.



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Other Evolutions by Rebecca Hirsch Garcia

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


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This book gets 3 stars because I honestly don't know whether I liked it or not. It's fiction but resembles a memoir. It contains an element of science fiction, but this part doesn't begin until close to the end of the book. In many respects it's quite nihilistic. The plot is paper thin until near the end when the protagonist decides to rescue a robot. I don't know if there's any character development, but we do learn more about the characters as the book progresses, although we may not want to. It reminded me a bit of the old Smothers Brothers routine of 'mom always liked you best', albeit without the humour. I listened to the audio version, and the reader was excellent. She spoke in a very clipped no-nonsense tone, and I could almost swear I've heard her voice before, but where and when eludes me. While I don't know, and have never met the reader, I'm certain someone I know shares her voice inflections. In any event I can't say I enjoyed the book, but it was great for listening to while doing other things. The narrator kept rattling around in the background and it was as if someone was relating something over coffee and just chatting on whether I was interested or not.



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Tattered Huntress by Helen Harper

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

Until reading a couple of Helen Harper's books, I had no idea Scotland contained so many supernatural entities. In Edenborough, for example, magic is considered commonplace. In any event, I mostly enjoyed this book although I have to admit I disliked some parts of it. This was my own fault. Normally, before selecting a book, I check the keywords in Goodreads. Because I'd read 'Waifs and Strays' before this, i made the mistake of assuming this series would be much the same. I really should have known better and had I checked the keyword list, I would have spotted the dreaded 'r'-word and never started this one. Fortunately, it never got TOO saccharine and contained a fairly good adventure fantasy story, so I enjoyed it, mostly. I doubt, however, I'll continue with the seri3s. The author has a number of other series, so I'll check them and from no on I'll try to be more careful checking keywords before beginning.



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On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization by Douglas Murray

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

This book provides considerable insight into the Hamas and Israeli conflict. While acknowledging a threat from the terrorists to the West as evidenced by the lunatics running around wielding the red, white, black, and green flag, he doesn't fully explore it. I would have preferred a more detailed analysis of how the middle east conflict is being spread here. In any event this is an excellent book and well worth reading ... unless, of course, you support terrorism.



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Waifs and Strays by Helen Harper

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

I absolutely loved this book ... at least most of it. It was a great story and I found the protagonist an engaging character. Having said that, the ending was just plain awful ... not sad or particularly violent ... in fact the author refrained from using it to set up the next book in her series, but it was totally, utterly cloying. Still, the rest of the book was so good I chose to overlook the ending and still give it five stars. I listened to the audio version and the reader was terrific, just the perfect voice for the central character and tone of the book. Now, if someone happens to be the sort of reader who wants deep introspection and character development, this might not be for you. This is for those who like a good rip-roaring adventure set in modern times but with strong elements of fantasy.



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Eamon by Martha Carr

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


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DNF at about the 33% mark. The book started out well. Our heroine got stabbed and almost died. Regrettably, her grandfather used dark magic go save her life. Then he had the decency to fall into a pool of water and drown. End of book, right? No. Despite being stone, cold dead, she is brought back to life ... presumably since the author didn't think she could make it to the end without her main character despite having a second plot involving a prison rescue on the go.

When I select books to read, I usually go to Goodreads and check the keywords. Things might have gone better had the author added YA to the list. Yes, the language was decidedly crude, but these days it seems children learn this vocabulary before even learning to read, so I don't consider the two utterly incompatible. My main problem with this book was the characters. None of them showed even the tiniest modicum of common sense. In the opening scene, the protagonist finds herself being held at gunpoint in a robbery. Using magic, the thwarts the would-be thief and dumps him in a rather deep hole of sorts, telling him he can stay there until the police arrive. Evidently the hole isn't quite deep enough because he jumps out and stabs her, but what bothered me was her choosing to turn her back on someone who had tried to kill her and who was still very much alive and not obviously injured to any serious degree. This sort of stupidity continues. Then, having received a stab would so serious it almost killed her, she goes back to work in three days. Now if the stab wound hadn't been intentional but, say, part of a medical operation, she'd have been told to life nothing and stay away from any activity which is even close to strenuous. Still, up she gets and back she goes. This is not someone to whom i can relate. I do not recommend this book.



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The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

This was a pretty good book. There was plenty of intrigue and some exciting battles. Because this is the second of a three-volume work, and I hadn't read the first, it took a while to get acclimatized to the characters and the various factions, but I managed and it was good thereafter. However, I am not inclined to go back and read the first or continue on to the third. I enjoyed it but didn't find it without flaws. Specifically, Vin, like so many modern characters, can't seem to make up her mind, and blames herself whenever things go wrong whatever their cause. It's becoming tedious to encounter this in book after book. Fortunately, there's sufficient action to overcome this flaw or at least make it to the end of the book without DNFing it.



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The Glass Coffin Society by Shiromi Arserio

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

If I like a book, I normally give it 5 stars. Likewise, if I dislike it, I give it 1 star. The only time I use 3 stars is if a book is really bland, or, in this case, if there are some things I loved and some I hated.
The good news is the author is a competent wordsmith. In addition, she keeps the plot moving nicely. The bad news is this author, like many others, seems to feel it necessary to have her protagonist constantly second-guess herself. Toss in a bit of angst, and a lot of guilt and you pretty much have the central character. Frankly I sick of it. Ms. Arserio is far from alone in this trait. There seems to be a trend among modern authors, and particularly female one - although some males are just as bad - to try to make parts of their books as maudlin as possible. I'm not sure why this is but I'm having increasing difficulty finding authors who tell a good story without writing goo all over the page. If you like that sort of stuff, this author writes well, but as for me, I think I'll look elsewhere for my reading material.



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