Books Blog: books.elliottback.com

I just finished reading Out of Bounds: Inside the NBA’s Culture of Rape, Violence & Crime by Jeff Benedict. It tries to give its readers a taste of the NBA culture of crime and lawlessness. Did you know that “four out of every ten NBA players have a police record involving a serious crime?” I didn’t–until I read Out of Bounds.

The book claims to be divided into three sections: Sexual Liberties, Above the Law, and Bad Heroes. In actuality, it’s really just one continuous section. The theme of Out of Bounds never changes. It’s all about how NBA players commit sexual and physical violence due to a basketball culture that gives immature men everything they want and never says “no.” The book also explains how NBA players get preferential treatment in the US justice system, often avoiding charges or simply doing community service for crimes that would put an average citizen behind bars for life.

It’s an eye-opener for sure, but I am only giving it a three-star rating: :3star:. There are a few problems with the book. First, its material is repetitive. We see the story case by case by case, with little explanation or variance in the narrative. Hearing about NBA players committing violent crime is only interesting if it serves something higher. Second, there’s a lack of explanation for the crimes themselves. I feel as if Out of Bounds is just a photogallery of crime. I wonder why? Why do they commit crime they know they will be caught for? Why do they spurn authority and order? Why do they have a predelection for crime in the first place? Why does the NBA allow it? Instead, all I get is a picture of how these crimes go on and on. This, I think, is the most serious academic failure of the book. Otherwise, it’s an entertaining and informative read.

Another resource in evaluating this book is its own website from Harper Academic.

Terry Brooks’ Morgawr, the third in his fantasy series The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara is a 401 page mixed bag. On the one hand, it provides a few hours of entertainment on a rainy day. On the other hand, you might be better off just putting on your rainboots and splashing in the puddles.

The book takes off where the last one left off. Druid Walker is dying, and his legacy is a reborn Isle-Witch. Transformed by the mystic sword of Shannara, the Isle-Witch realizes the full weight of her childhood deception and becomes a catatonic Grianne. It ultimately takes her brother Bek’s forgiveness and love to bring her back to full reality. Her true self, she confronts her old mentor Morgawr, and with the help of her brother defeats him.

There are numerous side-tales, however. Airship battles, strange reptilian creatures, wraiths and shapeshifters, and some magic swords all help make the book come a little more alive. But, in the multiple threads, the story is lost. When a half dozen different parties are slowly reunited, the content you can include for each party is pretty low. So we get to watch in grand overview the reuniting of the party, the defeat of their enemy, and a love triangle between Bek, his sister Grianne, and his girlfriend Rue Meridian. Still, it’s not enough–there’s far too much overview, and not enough detail.

For that reason, I’m giving Morgawr :2star:. It doesn’t have the richness of Tolkien, or the action you find in a Mercedes Lackey novel, but in the end, it’s still not a terrible read–give it a go if you’ve nothing else to do, or like me just want to finish the series.

For a limited time, Amazon.com is selling Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for only $17.99. See Fatwallet for more discussion. Get it while it’s hot!

Wired News has a story on the delightful assortment of geeky books available this holiday season. Among the highlights are Spam Kings, and in-depth look at the lives of notorious spammers “Dr. Fatburn, Terri Tickle, Mad Pierre and the Spam King himself — Davis Hawke.” Also up on the plate is Tangent, a hacker thriller about a freelance network security expert named Ash.

Of course, if this isn’t your kind of thing, you can always go with Amazon’s popular gifts in books, and buy your family another Davinci Code

A meme for you book lovers:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around and look for the “coolest” book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.

“Each Householder transformation must be applied to the remaining unreduced portion of the matrix, but it will not affect the prior columns already reduced, and hence the zeros are preserved through successive transformations.”

Yes, I just had my Numerical Analysis final, and the book is close nearby. Leave more in the comments!!