The Gales of November

The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon

The Edmund Fitzgerald (Fitz) is well known from the Gordon Lightfoot song of the same name. The majority of this book is a history of shipping on the Great Lakes, but goes into detail about the Fitz. The ship was specifically built as an ore transport on the great lakes, and was extremely well known at the time for the records in set. The author also goes into a brief history of the song, which of course gave a wider exposure to the ship beyond people who were 'lakers'.

1942

1942: WHEN WORLD WAR II ENGULFED THE GLOBE by Peter Fritzsche

As the title indicates this is a chronicle of 1942, a pivotal year in WW2. The author does go into the years leading up to 1942 to provide background, while there is not really new material in this book, it is well written and organized.

The Big Year

The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik

In birding, a Big Year is when a person starts on January 1st and spends the year listing as many birds as they can for one year. While there is no prize invovled it is very competitive for the participants, who become obsessed with having as big a list as possible. While this can involve many people, this book concentrates on the activities of 3 people to tell the story. This was made into a movie, which I have not seen.

Launching Liberty

Launching Liberty: The Epic Race to Build the Ships That Took America to War by Doug Most

This is a history of the Liberty Ships that were the work horse for the Allies in WW2. The ships were built in several locations in the US, and while they didn't exist at the beginning of the war, by the end they were being built at record speeds. Several different companies built these ships, but this books concentrates on the California shipyards of Henry Kaiser. Kaiser was the person who build Hoover damn. As part of his innovation in building the ships, he wanted his workers to have access to health care without having travel far, so he created what would become Kaiser-Permanente.

Bringing Up Beaver

Bringing Up Beaver: Two Orphaned Beaver Kits, Their Humans, and Our Journey Back to the Wild by John Aberth (Simon & Schuster, 2025)

This is the chronicle of a licensed animal rehab person who lives in rural Vermont. He takes in lots different animals, owls, hawks etc. This book covers a little over a year of his taking in a baby beaver, whos parents were killed when there lodge ws demolished. Many people see beavers as a nuisance and try to elimate them from their property. The amount of work that the author goes through to accomodate this baby beaver is amazing. What is especially challenging is that he is rehabbing this animal with the goal of ultimately being released back to the wild and not kept as a pet. He does a lot of evangelizing about how we treat wild life and what should change. A great story of a dedicated volunteer.

Shade

Shade: The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource by Sam Bloch (Random House)

A thorough analysis of a timely and important topic. The author is an environmental writer who has produced this interesting volume on the history and importance of shade its impact on people’s health. Historically shade was engineered into the planning of towns and cities. If we think of the narrow streets of warm weather countries like Spain and Mexico, the narrow streets provide a lot of shade for people in the street during the day when they don’t want to be exposed to the blazing sun. Also, and abundance of trees on streets and in public places like parks providing cooling shades for people walking or hanging out. Several factors have influenced the disappearance of shade as a standard feature of cities, first air conditioning has replaced the need for shade, but this also has had social implications. Instead of hanging out on our shaded front porches and under a tree, we are now all inside and not mingling with our neighbors and socializing. Also in urban settings, law enforcement has suppressed the planting of trees and encouraged their removal as the block the ability of provide surveillance of an area and they provide cover for the ‘bad guys’.

This book could also have been titled ‘Heat’. The author spends a lot of time illustrating the health affects of excessive heat, particularly on people who spend a lot of time out of doors, such as agricultural workers and the homeless. The ill affect of excessive heat becomes exaggerated in the elderly. With the warming of the planet places that were typically very temperate all of a sudden find that they have to deal with excessive heat. Many homes and businesses in these areas do not have air conditioning because they never needed it. This now puts an economic strain on communities and individuals who have to have AC installed and who have to pay for the electricity to operate it.

There are also societal implications to excessive heat, people are much more likely to get angry during heat waves. As the author points out “Heat is an irritant that makes us angrier, more aggressive, and even more vengeful. It can override more rational thoughts.”

Everest, Inc.

Everest, Inc.: The Renegades and Rogues Who Built an Industry at the Top of the World by Will Cockrell

As the title suggests this is a history of the industry of guides bringing people up Everest. It is an interesting evolution of the business. The first people were guided up the mountain in 1982. Which I was kind of surprised about, since I would have thought it would have happened much earlier. Before that it was private adventurers and national teams that would attempt Everest. It is also interesting that after Tenzing Norgay summited Everest with Hillary, he never went up the mountain again. The first companies that would take clients up the mountain, and other Himalaya peeks, were western owned, but employed many native Sherpa to carry loads and set rope. Over the years that evolved into a situation that now most of the companies guiding people in the Himalaya are native Nepalese owned businesses.

There is also a lot in this book about how Everest is viewed in the world and presented in the press. The many failed attempts and deaths on the mountain and the more dramatic moments that receive a lot of publicity. But also presented are the statistics that show that it is not as dangerous as the reputation that it has.