What We Are Reading

by Joseph J. Romm

Joseph Romm administrated multiple facets of hydrogen and transportation fuel cell research for the Department of Energy during the Clinton Administration. So, when can we expect hydrogen powered vehicles as the primary transportation on our nation’s highways? Not very soon.

Romm addresses the technological, economic and infrastructure impediments in clear, simple language, and provides us with a thorough perspective of hydrogen technology. Hydrogen is the most plentiful element on earth, and is also the smallest and lightest in molecular terms. A kilo of the stuff has the same amount of energy as in a gallon of gasoline, however, to store sufficient amounts for practical use, either space or weight impracticalities are quickly apparent. Because of its’ small molecular size, Hydrogen under pressure readily escapes seals and containment, and to make matters worse, it is highly combustible. Hydrides, chemical attachment to powdered metals, provide for safe storage, but a compact car would require a fuel tank that weighs 600 lbs., just to go 200 miles.

Along with the technological limitations, the cost of fuel cells in limited production is also prohibitive. Mass production would quickly bring down the per unit price, however, a huge financial investment would have to be made at great risk. Because once you have a fleet of hydrogen cars, where do you fuel-up? Potentially displacing technologies make developing an infrastructure to deliver hydrogen an equally risky venture.

How do you transport the stuff over large distances? Liquefying it takes a lot of energy, special transport tanks, and you still have the evaporative escape rate addressed earlier. If you develop a distributed model of hydrogen production, what materials will you use to produce it: a steam reformation process utilizing methane? You still produce lots of carbon emissions. How about electrolysis of water? Where does the electricity come from? Almost 70% of electricity in the USA is produced by burning fossil fuels.

Add to the mix political impediments supporting the perpetuation of a petroleum economy, a lack of funding and support to pursue development, and you quickly reach an irreconcilable dilemma. Romm thoroughly covers the challenges associated with the development of a hydrogen economy. Additionally, he provides educated insight into the direction our energy production will move, along with projections of carbon emissions and the resulting consequences. Sobering.

Mia Thermopolis couldn’t be more embarrassed. Her mother is dating her Algebra Teacher; the boy she loves doesn’t know she exists and, guess what? - Mia just found out she’s a princess.

These popular novels are full of drama and humor. Though Disney made a movie out of the series, don’t expect the books to be anything like it. Grandmere, the queen of Genovia, more resembles an evil stepmother than Julie Andrews, and Mia does not make a flawless ugly-duckling-to-swan transformation in just one make-over. Instead, her coming-of-age is far more awkward and, consequently, engaging.

The books are truly addictive, but at the same time, I found the characters were hard to like. Mia is highly insecure and selfish, and unlike the movie, she is not very endearing. The other characters, like Mia’s best friend and her awful Grandmother, are even less likable. Though the concept is intriguing (hmmm…what would I do if I were a princess?), the execution of that concept is a little less than regal.

Complexity is Littell’s trademark in his fasincating CIA-based novels. And that’s what I like about them. Nothing is straight forward, nothing is what it seems, and everything has purpose and meaning, although perhaps not the purpose or meaning that they say. The Sisters was originally published in 1986 so the battle is with communists, but Littell's knowledge of Soviet Russia and the Cold War mentality of the CIA ring very true. Great characters—all with their own twitches including a young women named Kaat who collects words that begin with the letter ‘a’—and imaginative spins on the world as we know it—or perhaps only think we know, Littell delivers a bizarre world of spies and spying. Sign on and, of course, tell no one what you know.

by Thomas P.M. Barnett, PhD.


This is a peculiar perspective of achieving world peace through war, environmental degradation and socio-political homogeneity. Frightening in its’ purview because Thomas Barnett is a Harvard PhD., and advises the Pentagon.

War has a new construct: we have the “Leviathan” force that brings a nation to its’ knees, and then a “SysAdmin” force that wins the peace. The “SysAdmin” component is analogous to disaster relief. A myriad of agencies convoke to restore infrastructure and services to the disparaged community. We can evaluate this competency by looking at the Katrina rebuilding, or the reconstruction of Iraq. Barnett does find fault with the “SysAdmin” effort employed by the U.S., however, in my opinion he spends too little time understanding the cultural differences that preclude such an altruistic hypothesis.

Before a nation can clean up their environment, they must develop a strong economy through exploitation, depletion and denigration of their resources. Then they can have enough money to clean things up. This is one of the new “rule sets” contained in “silos” of information. Perhaps we could conduct a survey by hanging out a bunch of “How are we doing” signs?

Third world developing nations are referred to as “Gap” states and economically developed first world nations are the financial nucleus of the “Core” states. By bringing the “Gap” into the “Core” and uplifting all those billions of people to a standard of living comparable to ours, we will eliminate the motivation for war. How nice! Never mind that we need four planet earths to accommodate that level of consumption. Barnett explains that we are not looking at the history of earth and the human species in the right manner. “Statistically” things have always improved, more people than ever are eating on a daily basis, there is less war, and there is more wealth generated and distributed around the globe than ever before.

Yes! And a race car can be going top speed, just before it runs out of gas. The hypothetical underpinnings of this book absolutely have merit, however, some serious comprehension of the finiteness of our ecosphere, the harbinger of global warming and the accounting realities of our consumption attributes need to be factored in to realistically redefine the parameters of what is possible, and what is unrealistic.

by Gary Paulsen


Absolutely, without a doubt, the funniest book I have ever read, re-read, and read again. An eleven year-old young man loses his parents to alcoholism, and goes to spend the summer on his relative’s Minnesota farm.

Knute Larson is the taciturn patriarch of this farming family. His wife Clair and daughter Glennis nurture their boys with plenty of love, discipline and most importantly cooking. Farmhand Louie is an original, and then there is Harris. Irrespective of the nature of animals, the laws of gravity and the prospect of physical harm, Harris is Tarzan, Evil Knevil, a rodeo rider, a Spanish bullfighter and in all likelihood would have been a hero of World War II, were he not nine years old. He is fearless.

Whether it is attacking the “commie-Jap” porcine residents of the farm, fending off the psychopathic rooster, Ernie, or surviving Buzzer, the sociopath disguised as a lynx, Harris leads his cousin on a series of adventures that are too crazy to have been made up. I can’t help but feel Gary Paulsen is writing a bit of his autobiography here.

You’ll see. Maybe the episode of the electric fence will convince you. Or perhaps the roped rigging designed for intra-farm travel, after having read a Tarzan comic will be the tipping point. But the phrase, “We’ll have to wait till they go to town” will remove all doubt as Harris and his cousin resurrect a bicycle in the image of Lazarus, appropriate the gasoline engine from Claire’s outdoor washing machine, and motorize and pilot the beast into immortality.

by Steven D. Levitt


Wow!

Take a trip through the irresolvable abyss of sensitive social issues, and prepare yourself for answers that will challenge so much of what you think. Whether it is a fresh insight on parenting - what works and what doesn't - or how Roe vs. Wade shaped our current urban demographics, there is an array of conclusions that topple the status quo.

Steven Levitt, a world renowned economist who teaches at the University of Chicago, applies economic methodologies, principles and mathematics to bring us to the edge of reasonable quantitative analysis.

Expertly discerning between correlation and causality, and showing us how he got there, Levitt shows us a new way to consider the world. Absolutely deserving of its’ place on the “Bestsellers” list.

At first glance, Avalon looks like any other high school. There are your popular kids, like Will the quarterback, Lance, Will’s best friend, and Jennifer, head cheerleader and Will’s girlfriend. And then there’s Elaine, the new girl. She’s tall and geeky; her parents are professors of medieval literature and chronic nerds. They keep old swords in the house and even insisted on naming Elaine after the Lady of Shalott, some chick from the Arthur legends that killed herself over a guy.

But when weird things start happening at Avalon High, it looks like all those old legends about Camelot and King Arthur might be true after all. Could Elaine and her friends really be the re-incarnation of Arthurian heroes? Would that explain why Elaine and Will feel like they’ve met before? And does that mean that Will is fated to die?

Avalon High is an incredibly fun read, especially for those who are familiar with the Arthur legends. The book offers romance, humor, magic, high school dramatics, and fun twist at the end. The plot may be a little predictable (if you know the Arthur legends, you have a pretty good idea of how the story goes), but the ride is well worth taking.

Written way back in 1984, Gibson dreamed up and wrote about several high tech things years before they ever came about in reality, such as the internet. In this postmoderm, cyberpunk classic he is responsible for coining the phrase cyberspace, among several others, again way before their inception. The story is a bizarre, twisted tale that is most difficult to follow (or even understand) beyond what is happening on the surface, yet one just while reading there is much to ponder underneath the storied words. Well worth reading, even if you don't wish to delve into the deeper realm beneath the story. Definately a Sci Fi classic written decades before it's time.

I had read all the cult classics about Hayduke and the rest of the Monkey Wrench Gang, but never done any of Abbey's more serious work and figured that winter was a great time to. The book takes place in Utah, mostly describing one summer season he worked as a Park Ranger in one of Utah's National Parks before it got a paved access road into it. Abbey spends quite a lot of time describing the minutae of the desert, the animals, insects, and the heat. So it was a good choice for winter wandering. I personally very much enjoyed the read, but could only take it in fairly small doses. Besides the minute descriptions, I also rather enjoyed the short stories of some of his adventures, which included a raft trip down the Colorado pre Glenn Canyon Dam.