Billy Mitchell already know in 1924 that Hawaii would be hit by the Japanese

Sometimes it's just fun to walk up and down the isles looking at the books with no thought of what you want to read. That's how I came across this book, The Billy Mitchell Affair by Burke Davis (358.4MIT).

Billy Mitchell fought in WW I. After the war, he really stressed that the U.S. needed to expand the use of airplanes. At this time, the Navy oversaw the small division of airplane pilots. The Navy was against spending more money on the airforce. It would be perceived as having weak battleships that could not do their jobs.

To illustrate his point, Mitchell had some planes perform target practice on some decommissioned battleships, sinking them. The Navy, however, downplayed the efficiency of the airplanes.

He was sent to inspect the military preparedness of Hawaii. He reported that the various branches of the military were not working together, making Hawaii a prime target for attack. In fact, he laid out how easily the Japanese could travel over to Hawaii by island hopping, and catch the military off guard.

From there he traveled to China and Japan. In China, he said that with the huge population, they could become a strong military country. When he visited Japan, he noticed a lot of anti-U.S. sentiment, with a willingness to even sacrificing their own lives for their country. In his 1925 detailed report on Japan, he mentioned several sites that were manufacturing parts for airplanes, and the estimated production per month. Again, his superiors downplayed the report.

When he arrived back to the states, it wasn't long before he was court-martialed.

Read this fascinating book about a general who was ahead of his time when it came to military warfare.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

A true campus murder

Whenever there is a murder on a college campus, the public and media always seem to ask why it happened. Author Melanie Thernstrom tries to understand what happened at Harvard in 1995 when Sinedu Tadesse murdered her roommate, Trang Ho. After her travels, visiting both sets of family and friends of the two roommates, Thernstrom wrote Halfway Heaven (364.1523 THE).

Sinedu , a shy but very determined, intelligent young girl, grew up in Ethiopia, a country that was torn apart by civil war. In the village where she grew up, almost the entire town stops everything when there is a funeral which is done quickly after the death.

Boston magazine featured "25 Who Can Save Boston," including such prominent people as the mayor, the governor, the president of MIT. One entry is of a Harvard freshman named Trang Ho who destiny was ruined by the hand of Sinedu who stabbed her over and over in her sleep.

This is a heart wrenching story about a promising young student who was killed by a polite, quiet roommate - an act that baffled everyone who knew the two.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Was the car accident real or a cover-up?

Cape May Court House by Lawrence Schiller ( 364.1523 THO) is a fascinating true story with twists and turns. The year was 1997. In Cape May Court House, New Jersey, Eric Thomas, a popular young doctor, and his wife, Tracy, were involved in an automobile accident. Tracy, who was pregnant, was driving and did not survive the crash. Her husband was fortunate to have the help of Tracy's parents to help raise Eric and Tracy's daughter, Alix.

Dr. Thomas filed a lawsuit against the Ford Company claiming that the airbag killed his wife. He claimed that the bag inflated improperly, causing his wife to suffocate.

Ford countered with their own attack on Eric, claiming that the airbag was not the cause of death. The real cause of death was strangulation - in fact, that Eric killed his wife.

This legal thriller reads like a piece of mystery fiction. But it's not; it's the true court case between a young doctor and a huge corporation.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Fatal Facts

Fatal Facts: A Lively Look at Common and Curious Ways People Have Died ( 306.9 LON) is a really quirky book. It's full of strange, short entries about subject of how people die. If you like "News of the Weird" that's in the Waterloo Courier, you might get morbid enjoyment out of this book.

Authors Kim Long and Terry Reim write about specific events that have happened as well as overall statistics on how people die.

Each entry is just a page or two long. It's a book that you can read a portion, put aside, and read another section later without losing any continuity. Think of it as the Reader's Digest of Death.

The humorous graphics with their old-time look adds to strangeness of Fatal Facts.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Native Americans

My only contact with Native Americans when I was growing up was attending the Indian Powwow in Tama. Of course, we kids had to have souvenirs from the event. I remember my sisters getting dolls with beaded dresses. How stereotypical could my family get?

It wasn't until I lived in Sioux City for a while that I was able to meet and get to know people with Native American heritage.

The book, Killing the White Man's Indian (323.1197 BOR) by Fergus M. Bordewich dispels the stereotypes that most of us grew up with. For hundreds of years, treaties with Indians have been broken. They were almost thought of as second citizens throughout the years. It was until recently that they have been able to take more control of their lives.

Bordewich does a great job giving the history of Native Americans beginning with the "purchase" of their lands through the twentieth century. It's quite different than what I was taught in school.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

There's nothing like cat humor

I'm a cat lover who enjoys a good joke, so The New Yorker Book of Cat Cartoons ( 74105973 NEW)fits me well. Sometimes, I just need a book that is lighthearted and mindless.

What can I say about this book: The title says it all. I'm sure most of you are familiar with The New Yorker and the off-beat cartoons it contains. Some are obvious sight gags, some are more subdued and reflective. Some I don't quite get - just like I couldn't always get Gary Larson's Far Side cartoons.

This is a compilation of cartoons, written by a variety of artists in a variety of styles, is sure to please all cat lovers (and even those who aren't).

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Norma Wallace: a powerful woman who ran a house of prostitution in New Orleans

The Last Madam (306.742 WAL) is refering to Norma Wallace, who ran a house of prostitution in New Orleans during the '70s. Before writing The Last Madam, author Christine Wiltz interviewed the former prostitutes who worked for Norma Wallace. Also, two years before her death in 1974, Wallace began tape recording her memories. By using these two resources, Wiltz is able to really flesh out her life and expose the underbelly, seedy side of New Orleans.

Norma Wallace was born in a life of poverty.

As to the year that she born, it's not known for certain, since she was preoccupied with her age all of her life and wasn't above shaving a few years off depending on whom she talked to. She began as an underage teenage prostitute. During this stage of her life, she added years to her age so that prospective clients would not be scared away for fear of getting caught and charged with a more severe crime. I love this quote: "Don't ask me what year (I was born) because I lied so much about that I don't even know anymore. My mother caught me lying about my age once. Then she started lying about her age, and I wound up older than my mother."

It wasn't long when she moved to New Orleans and set up her first house of prostitution above a bar in the French Quarter. Even during prohibition, alcohol still flowed freely at her establishment. Of course, there were raids and she was thrown in jail a few times, but nothing major. She had connections around town.

This book is full of the salacious husbands and lovers she had over the years. At the time of her death, she was married to a younger, attractive man - a rocky marriage that seemed to be more for prestige, proving that the aging grand dame could still attract young men.

1975 was a violent, bloody year for Norma Wallace. The end of the life of The Last Madam.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

Britney Spears should talk to Brian Wilson

Wouldn't it be Nice: My Own Story (781.66 WIL in the biography section) is written by Brian Wilson, the genius behind the Beach Boys.

Already as a teenager, while living at home, he started having success with the Beach Boys. His demanding father declared himself the manager of the group and, much to Brian Wilson's dismay, was able to coerce Brian into turning over his ownership of the early Beach Boy songs that he wrote.

This was the beginning of Brian's troubled life with his family and the band. Brian's obsession with writing and producing the Beach Boys was all consuming. His competitive nature and his desire to be accepted by his father caused him to spiral out of control. He started using drugs, not taking care of his hygiene, and poisoned his family relationships. His emotional distance with family members even continued with his own daughters, Wendy and Chynna (who became popular with their own group, Wilson Phillips).

Those who have been keeping track of Phil Spector's unusual life will enjoy Brian's perspective on that strange man.

Brian Wilson's depressing life is a dramatic contrast to the whimsical, upbeat music that he wrote and produced over the years.

Know, he has been able to be productive again after many years of self-exile. He just came out with an album a few years ago.

As I said in the heading, Britney Spears could learn a thing or two from Brian Wilson about getting good therapy and turning own's life around.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

"How one man went from head of the household to the bottom of the pecking order"

I like the heading for this article. I wish I had thought of it: It's actually the subtitle for this book, Enslaved by Ducks (636.088 TAR).

Author Bob Tarte grew up on a farm where he was surrounded by animals. But he never felt as displaced as he did when his wife started adding various animals to their household.

It all began with a parrot. It didn't take long for Bob to be busy supporting a large cast of animals including an the original parrot, a Muscovy duck, an amorous dove, just to name a few.

I'm an animal lover myself, and grew up on a farm where my large family owned dogs, cats, ducks, turtles, fish, chameleons, and parakeets. I know how animals can make their way into your heart. Their personalities are just as varied as humans, something that Bob discovers in Enslaved by Ducks.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

The Parrot Who Owns Me

Parrots have been around for 40 million years. As far as parrot-human interaction, it's been about 130,000 years ago.

Unlike cats and dogs, the parrot has never been successfully breed to fully remove its wild nature. That's what Joanna Burger found out when she "adopted" an adult Red-lored Amazon Parrot named Tiko. The Parrot Who Owns Me (636.6 BUR) is Burger's story of her relationship with Tiko.

Because Tiko is the sole parrot in the household, he performed the mating ritual on Joanna, even going so far as to building artificial nests to woo her. Burger expands on the mating behaviors of parrots in the wild. They are monogamous, mating for life just like geese, herons, and most seabirds. Biologists have even seen same sex pairing occur with parrots - and the bond between two males can be so strong that when a female is introduced, she is shunned.

Joanna Burger is a professor of biology at Rutgers University.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008

The life of a country vet

Author James Lucas is a retired Iowa veterinarian who chronicles some of his experiences in Birth in a Chicken House ( 636.089 LUC). If you haven't guessed by the cover illustration, he's a humorous story teller.

Growing up on a farm in Iowa, I could relate to some of the stories. Lucas was a small town vet who was expected to rush to a farmer's aide at a moments notice, whether it was to help a birthing cow or help a pet who had just been run over by a car. Being a vet was hard work, although he constantly reminds readers that it's extremely rewarding. Although he finds humor in some of these sad stories, it's not malicious - he does it with sensitivity.

He also tells stories about his experiences going to Iowa State College in the late 1950s as well, which was quite different than what students have today. He was required to wear a white shirt with a bow tie. The instructors were tough, failing at least a tenth of the students, and many students dropping completely out of vet school within a few weeks.

Birth in a Chicken House is a quick read, with each essay on a few pages at the most.

c Waterloo Public Library 2008