Isaac's Storm

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
As hurricane Ike hurtled toward Galveston I was reading this book about the 1900 Hurricane that virtually destroyed the same city.



Isaac Cline was the representative of the US Weather Service stationed at Galveston. The book is about him, the weather service, and the hurricance. Weather prediction was in its infancy and Isaac was attempting to learn the science.



It is a story of Government impotency that gives perspective to Katrina.


View all my reviews.

Beethoven's Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved by Russell Martin

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
In 1827 a budding musician cut a lock of hair from the body of a recently deceased Ludwig Von Beethoven.



In 1995 two Americans employed scientists to open a simple locket that contained a lock of hair, purportedly from the great musician, Beethoven.



This book deals with two questions. 1. How did this lock of hair make the journey from early 19th century Vienna to a late 20th century London auction house, and 2. what does the examination of the hair tell us about the life and death of Beethoven.



The first question is enhanced when one considers the history of 20th century Europe and the Nazi attempt to eliminate all things Jewish.



The book has a varied pace, sometimes very slow and cumbersom, at times as quick paced as a mystery. I gave it a 3 star rating (out of a possible 5) because of the slow pace and because after reading it, I now know trivia so trivial it will never even show up on trivial pursuit.


View all my reviews.

Anonymous Comments

One thing that has always bugged the daylights out of me is people who are so cowardly as to make anonymous comments. It began early in the pastorate. An envelope without a return address came in the mail. Being young and inexperienced I opened it to find a 5 page letter. The writer proceeded to complain about everything under the sun. They didn’t like me, they didn’t like the church, they were very critical of everything and they didn’t sign the letter.

It upset me terribly. For one thing, I didn’t think many of the complaints were valid but I couldn’t discuss them with the complainer. I was really bothered by the whole situation. But the thing that bothered me the most was the yellow bellied writer who spouted opinion while hiding from their own comments.

I made a life decision that I followed all my years as a pastor. If a letter came unsigned, I tore it up and threw it in the trash without reading it. If a person didn’t want me to know who they were, I didn’t want to know what they thought, good or bad.

One of the reasons for writing a blog is to open communication with people I couldn’t normally converse with. Every time I write anything concerning Mormonism I get an anonymous comment. Go ahead and look through my archive of blogs. Look at the blog about Mitt. Look at the blog about the Temple in Idaho. That is why I believe the comment on my last blog has more to do with Mitt than with my position on abortion.

Either way, if a commenter doesn’t have the gumption to identify themselves, they don’t deserve a hearing. I don’t have to read them. Beginning with this post anonymous comments are no longer allowed. A commenter will have to identify themselves. It isn’t hard to do, and it doesn’t cost anything. You will have to have a Google, AOL, or Yahoo account to comment. There are some other options, but anonymous won’t be one of them.

Don’t let that stop you. I want to hear from you. But I want to know who you are.