One prison for seven guys

Long Knives and Short Memories by Jack Fishman (364.138 FIS) is about the Spandau prison in Berlin and its seven infamous residents. After their convictions, seven of the top Nazi leaders were sent to prison at Spandau gaol. In a prison that was originally designed to hold six hundred inmates, it now only held these seven people:

Rudolph Hess

Walther Funk
Albert Speer

Baldur von Schirach
Konstantin von Neurath
Karl Doenitz
Erich Raeder

The prison was three stories high. The wall surrounding it rose to thirty feet. There was a 10 feet high barbed wire fence encircling the prison as well. If that wasn't enough of a deterrent to prevent anyone from escaping, it was also constructed with 6 foot high electrified barrier, with a 4,000 volt charge. Built into the wall, 9 machine gun posts.

Considering the number of inmates, the staffing was enormous: 2 officers, 2 sergeants, 6 corporals, and 44 privates. The responsibilities of manning the prison fell on the four superpowers: the United States, Great Britain, U.S.S.R., and France. Coming to a consensus on what the punishment for their crimes should be and how long they should be incarcerated and to what degree was a delicate matter. Some political leaders favored the death penalty, but ultimately, life sentences were decreed.

Reading about the lives of each of the residents is amazing, since some admitted no guilt, and one had such false hopes of reclaiming the German power.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

If only science text books could be this entertaining!

Author Robert Kunzig, who is the European editor of Discover magazine, has a way of making The Restless Sea (551.46 KUN) an entertaining read. I can't help but compare it to Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything (500 BRY), except Kunzig's book isn't about everything - just the world beneath the waves.

Amazingly, the author says that little was known about the bottom of the seas until research was done in the 1980s. Until then, most scientists believed that it was a relative "desert" where little lived. How wrong those scientists were! When soil from the bottom of the ocean was first taken to the surface, they discovered it teaming with life. One of the creatures they found is the largest one-cell, amoeba-like animal that can grow to the size of a human fist.

While reading these various books for the blog, I'm finding that authors list some contribution by some Iowan. This book is no exception. Bruce Heezen, son of a turkey farmer, was going to the University of Iowa in 1947 when he was hired to explore the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Kunzig humorously makes a reference to Heezen not eating turkey for some 20 years after leaving the farm.

I know I'm getting off track, but I can relate to that. I'm the son of a farmer, also. Every year my parents purchased baby chicks in the Spring. Every Fall, we butchered the majority of them to eat during the next year. After I left the farm, I refused to order chicken in any restaurant for many years.

Getting back on track: Heezen became the first person to map the ocean floor in that area, and he proposed the idea that the earth's crust under the ocean was expanding.

Kunzig gives the history of researching the oceans and about the findings in a way that anyone can understand. I think you'll like The Restless Sea.


c Waterloo Public Library 2007

A man of many witty words

Several years ago, my best friend Tom loaned me Anguished English by Richard Lederer, which was laugh out loud funny. Unfortunately or library does not have that book, but we do have A Man of My Words (401 LED), which is also good.

If you enjoy watching British TV, you may have been puzzled by some of their English. You'll enjoy the hilarious contrasts he makes between the two countries' languages. (Even I know the difference between soccer and football - and I'm not into sports.)

Another chapter talks about how we can misconstrue words. His wacky Southern definitions echo those told on "Blue Collar TV" - you know, by that Jeff Foxworthy guy.

Readers who enjoyed the recent bestseller Eats, Shoots, and Leaves by Lynne Truss (428.2 TRU) will enjoy the witty writing of Richard Lederer. If you know of anyone who owns Anguished English, you might consider asking to borrow it - it's well worth reading.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Gypsies: people with no country

When I went to see the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, a few years ago, I was shocked at the number of people killed during that time in history. Of course, I new about the Jews and a few other groups, but I was shocked that whole communities of Gypsies (also called Romas) were also murdered.

I really didn't know much about their culture until I read Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and their Journey by Isabel Fonseca ( 909.0491 FON). Fonseca was accepted into the Gypsies' lives, witnessing their daily lives,participating in a funeral and a marriage. Her writing is very matter of fact, talking about their high illiteracy rate - books are unheard of, relying on oral stories to pass down from generation to generation. In fact, their vocabulary is very limited.

She discusses the persecution they have endured in Europe and Asia. Germany, Turkey, Romania are just a few countries mentioned.

Bury me Standing is an intimate look at a misunderstood people with no country to call their own.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

"Goldfinder" is a treasure to read

Sorry about the bad pun in the title for this article. I couldn't help myself.

As a child I remember spending hours pretending to look for buried treasure. I became so involved with the idea of striking it rich that I proceeded to dig a hole in the grass, figuring that I should start looking. I didn't get very far with digging because the grass roots were too tough for a scrawny kid like me. My parents were not pleased when they caught me with the shovel. I was a naughty, inquisitive child.

Keith Jessop fulfilled his dream of finding gold - but in the ground. He struck it rich with gold he found at the bottom of the sea. In Goldfinder (387.55 JES) he writes how he first became involved with underwater reclamation. His first dives are to bring up the metal from ships to sell for recycling. After getting familiar with the whole, dangerous process of underwater diving, he sets his sights for the H.M.S. Edinburgh, a ship that was bombed by torpedoes and sunk. The process of salvaging the gold from this ship makes an incredible story.

If you find yourself intrigued by stories like this, there's another book I'd like to recommend: Dragon Sea: A True Tale of Treasure, Archeology, and Greed off the coast of Vietnam by Frank Pope (910.45 POP in the New Book Section).

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

History of the Pony Express

Old movies and television shows glamorize the Wild West days. In actuality they weren't that much fun. Especially if you're talking about the Pony Express. Orphans Preferred by Christopher Corbett (383.143 COR) fills you in on all the details.

With the gold rush in California more and more people were moving westward from the east. Before the Pony Express, it could take months for a letter to go across the continent.

The Pony Express route was between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, a distance of 1,950 miles. The first rider for the Pony Express was Johnny Frey who left St. Joseph, Missouri, on April 3, 1861 at 7:15 p.m. carrying 49 letters, some newspapers, five private telegrams, and many telegraphs. William Hamilton left Sacramento at 2:45 p.m. on April 4. The two met in a small town called Sportman's Hall.

Soon notices were in the newspapers promoting the new business exclaiming that it only took nine days for letters to be sent from San Francisco to New York.

The company paid good money to the riders and bought the best horses. But, the job was extremely treacherous, going through all sorts of nasty terrain and weather.

The history that leads up to the development of the Pony Express is rather fascinating. Different types of transportation were tried. Even camels were imported to the west to be used for carrying supplies. If they worked in the Middle East, why not in the dry Southwest?

Orphans Preferred is the perfect book for readers interested in the Wild West.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Written by the founder of Habitat for Humanity

A Simple, Decent Place to Live (363.5 FUL) is about author Millard Fuller's life. He's the founder of Habitat for Humanity, which started in 1976.

In case you didn't know, Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization has built forty thousand homes for people who are living in substandard housing. It's not just a national organization, but international, with chapters in forty-six other countries.

Millard Fuller was a millionaire already in the '70s. He was driven to compete, win, and make as much money as possible - that was until his wife got fed up with him. He was shocked that all the money, homes, clothes, and vacations were not enough for her. What she wanted was to have him home and not working so much. In desperation to save his marriage, he turned over a new leaf.

The book is a very personal examination of the author's life - a very inspiring book.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007