Johnny Jackhammer > Recent Status Updates

His prose is dense and, therefore, difficult to warm up to. So far, I dislike most every character. Perhaps that’s why I’m not yet riveted.

First time reading Vonnegut - and the novel was described as "his best book." So why not start with the best!

I enjoyed it, and I didn't expect it to be so rooted in Science Fiction.

Why was this book written? It tackles the meaning of life, or lack thereof. God is indifferent. The joy of life is found in being used (and therefore, useful.) And be present in the current moment. And accept life as a gift.

I was going to read this at bedtime to my wife - I'm not sure I will. I'm compelled to keep going, but this is not a bedtime book. There are some horrifying descriptions of survival and death. But there promises to be a payoff in perspective, I'll bet.
Still - not the best for bedtime.

Chapter 21 on surrender is where the book increased its connection with me as the reader. Until now, it was part biography, part auto-biography, and mainly sharing touchstones in her relationship with her father.
Now, the book becomes about Kate Fagan and her changing viewpoint of what failure and success perhaps really are.

An important read, regardless of your gender and orientation. There's smart stuff in here - unfortunately, I suspect the people who would need these lessons won't read this book. The focus is women who want/love/play with women. But as a cis male, I enjoy reading this. And I see more examples of how fucked up societal teaching has been for boys. Women should be guarded, and it's too bad our world is this way.

It is remarkable how much Franklin contributed to his varied communities once he fully retired from business/working.

As early as 1731, Franklin saw the confusion and harm that happens when parties split on a position and hold ground. He conceived of a United Party for Virtue, which would act with benevolance and always consider the common good when making policy and taking positions.

Again, utopian themes that can't take hold because of big power held by a comparatively few small people.

My favorite part of Franklin's biography - and the part I have read several times over the years - is his endeavor to improve himself in 13 virtuous areas. It's worth seeking out. His approach is realistic, not depriving, and sensible.

I find myself to be of like-mind to Franklin when it comes to religion and sex. (separate topics). I enjoy his definition of Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

In other words - enjoy the pleasures of sex insofar as you are mindful, engaged, and have full consent from all you are involved with.

Part 1 was enjoyable. I want the secret journal, that expands on his memory of: "that hard-to-be governed passion of youth hurried me frequently into intrigues with low women that fell in my way, which were attended with some expense and great inconvenience, besides a continual risque to my health by a distemper which of all things I dreaded, though by great good luck I escaped it."

Franklin likes his women dirty.

The stories of his formative years in the printing business have a message that holds true today: if you are reliable, if you are willing to work hard, and if you are willing to actively continue your personal growth you will succeed in most any discipline. That success may not always look the same or reach the greatest heights. But, there will be success.

Franklin's formative stories are well shared; this is a dense work that grabs you in like a novel, but only one short passage at a time. In each memory he shares a wisdom or lesson that you want to stop and reflect back upon.

The purpose of this book is to provide guidance to his son; it's clear with how much shared wisdom runs through his stories.

What started as a dry run through history became an adventure story of his passage from NY to Philadelphia: with disaster at sea, walking many miles as a vagrant, begging for a roof, hitchhiking boats, and arriving dirty, tired, hungry, and broke except for a Dutch dollar. The story is peppered with wisdom and observations, such as a man is sometimes more generous when he has a little money than when he has plenty.

We're at election time 2016 . . . and I did not see how splintered some families became at the Trump candidacy. Naturally, it didn't take long to find out, but I imagined that we'd all be able to continue to support each other as Americans. That became something that many, many people do not want to do. Even in times of crisis. Which, I think, is a new attitude to the last 5 years.