Category Books

Author: Madeleine L’Engle
Copyright: 1962
Copy: Paperback from the Friends of the Kaneohe Library.

Gist: Meg and her savant brother Charles Wallace wonder where the heck their father has gone.  He seems to have disappeared while working for the government and no one knows exactly what he was doing.  Strangers show up on a dark and stormy night and take the children to a distant planet to help rescue their father.  Come to find out baby brother Charles Wallace has a special ability to read people in a curious way and Meg has a special ability that is not totally explained during the book.  The kids experience new worlds, new dimensions, time travel, and an evil pulsing brain that tries to take away their freedom of choice.

My Ideas: This is one of the earliest novels I can remember ha...

Author: Eric Hoffer
Copyright: 1951
Copy: A great friend of mine from college gave me a copy.

Gist: I can’t write about this book without mentioning how amazing the author is.  Here is a link to Eric Hoffer’s wikipedia page.  Basically, at the age of 5 while his mother is holding him falls down a flight of stairs and he loses his eye sight.  He had already learned how to read and write in enligsh and german and then at the age of 15 his sight miracilously returns.  Afraid he may loose his sight again, Hoffer consumes every book he can get his hands on.  He specifically works jobs near great libraries so he can spend is free time reading the best books.  Truly an amazing story.  Suck it Good Will Hunting – you never had to go blind!

One of the results of his endless reading, Ho...

Authored by Fernando Pacheco from the Honolulu-based ska band Pimpbot

“Punk Rock Dad”
Author: Jim Lindberg
Copyright: 2007
Copy: Hardback given to me as a “surprise” gift

Gizzle (gist): Jim Lindberg, formerly of the punk rock outfit known as Pennywise, shares moments of his life before, during and after becoming a father three times over.

Is it relevant to musicians who aren’t dads?

Absolutely!  This book is relevant to any musician, or other entertainer, that would like to live a life off the stage.  If you plan to spend 365 days of the year eating cup o’ noodles and living off of canned goods in a stinky tour, this may not be the best book for you.  The lesson in this book is one that I also learned when touring with the band, Mustard Plug...

Author: Anonymous, Michael Scheuer
Copyright: 2004
Copy: Paperback used for grad school

Gist: The  analyst who was in charge of the CIA unit over Usama bin Laden (UBL) during and prior to 9/11 talks about why things went wrong and why he’s not to blame.  He points fingers at those who he considers to be responsible in the intelligence community for failing the United States on 9/11.  The author also details why UBL is really after the U.S., that we failed in Afghanistan following 9/11, and the steps we should be taking in order to mitigate the reason UBL and Al Qa’ida are targeting the U.S.

My Ideas: First off, the thing that impressed me the most with this book was that the author, Michael Scheuer, was able to maintain a pissed off tone throughout the whole text...

Author: Dr. Seuss
Year Copyright: 1954
Copy: I stole the big orange hardcover copy from my almost three year old daughter.

Gist: An elephant named Horton finds out that there’s a planet full of people living on a speck of dust.  Horton can apparently talk to someone who lives on the speck and they find themselves having cute little conversations.  Horton sometimes appears  crazy since he’s talking to no one visible.  Horton spends a lot of time trying to convince other people in the jungle that there really are people on his speck and that they are important and since they’re smaller they need to be protected.  Horton says, “A person’s a person no matter how small.”  Some characters call Horton crazy and try to stop him from giving so much attention to the speck and his imaginary friends...