Beyond band of brothers: the war memoirs of Major Dick Winters/ major dick winters with colonel cole c. kingseed

This book can be seen as a companion reader to Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers. But it’s a story in it’s own right.

Much of the book will seem familiar to readers of Band of Brothers. I thought this one has additional insights from Major Winters, who was a significant character mentioned in Stephen’s book. But surprisingly to me, his memoir was written in a manner that ended up less about himself but more about the exploits of the company. Reflective of Major Winter’s genuine humility.

Some new perspectives: how Band of Brothers (both the book and the HBO series) was conceived; the author’s friendship with Stephen Ambrose; pointers on leadership.

After the HBO series, which moved the sales of the earlier book, a reader wrote to Winters saying that he (the reader) was inspired and moved by the exploits of Easy Company in Band of Brothers. He could identify with the men’s heroism, and felt it was achievable, because the men of the 101st were ordinary people who achieved extraordinary outcomes.

Other notes:

His association with the Barnes couple while being billeted in England prior to the Normandy invasion. On his cultivation of his own leadership qualities:
P53 “today I realize what the Barnes family did was help me develop the most fundamental element in good leadership – lead by example, live by setting a good example.

How combat made him see what was essential to him and what wasn’t.

P115 “All other things had become extra, nonessential, and I could not be bothered or burdened with nonessentials. Not when battle was the payoff.”

P162 on nothing worthy to write, in the aftermath of combat.

P249 he pays tribute to his commanders. How Colonel Sink was able to shape a group of undernourished and poorly educated citizen soldiers into an elite fighting force from scratch, and without benefit of established paratroop doctrine.

He described his frustrations on the increasingly slackening attitudes of newer soldiers and the army.

On adjusting back to civilian life, and life after war (including being called up for the Korean war and then being able to voluntarily drop out just before deployment.

P256 “Like all veterans I had to adjust to society, the life that you are going to share with others in order to make a living. I certainly never confused the challenges in the workplace with what I had experienced in combat. There would be no life-and-death struggles in the corporate world. Business hardly equates to war. Such comparisons demean the word.”

Prior to the Europe campaign, he devoted his free time to studying and re-reading training manuals. He felt lives depended on his tactical decisions in combat and he needed to be very throughout.

P289 “I would also urge
about who gets the credit, you get a lot more done.”

And how self-reflection was important; on the implications of decisions. He reflected on actions during lulls in combat.

P290 “Lastly, “Hang Tough!” Never, ever, give up regardless of the adversity. If you are a leader, a fellow who other fellows look to, you have got to keep going.”

“How will you know if you have succeeded? True satisfaction comes from getting the job done.”

Coach Wooden: The seven principles that changed his life and will change yours/ Pat Williams

Seven “creeds”

Be true to yourself.
Make each day your masterpiece (be the best that you can be)
Help others.
Drink deeply from good books
Make friendship a fine art
Build a shelter against a rainy day by the life you lead
Give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance everyday

***

Be the best that you can be. Not necessarily better than someone else. Maximize one’s own potential. Don’t worry about the rest.

Chapter 5. The author’s tips on reading:
Set time aside regularly
Be discriminating (time spent reading is a cost)
Have books available for reading
Don’t just read; interact with books (actively reflect)
Have books around the home (own some books)
Set aside some vacation time for a reading sabbatical
Share one’s reading enthusiasm with others
Use what is learnt
Read widely (interesting side story of Danish engineer, Carl Kroyer, who successfully raised a ship in 1964 Kuwait by using styrofoam balls; he drew inspiration from a Walt Disney comic)
Encourage others to read, especially the young

Why we run: a natural history/ Bernd Heinrich

ISBN: 0060958707

Epilogue: “If modern runners were drawn around a campfire in a warm African night, they would, like any Bushman, poke the embers and relive the run all the way to the finish line and beyond. That’s what I’ve tried to do here.”

Adrian recommended this book to me. An autobiographical account of a runner, who’s also a biologist. The book is interspersed with personal anecdotal experiences of his introduction to the world of ultramarathon running, his childhood, his training, his scientific training and understanding about the human condition thorough comparisons with insects, birds and mammals.

Hawk Moths and Pronghorn Antelopes and long distance running.

P65. “The distance runner must fairly float along the ground, and sometimes for hours on end. Ideally, he has light, thin bones and long, thinly muscled limbs, like a bird. The key to the distance runner’s performance is to supply his fat-burning muscles with a sustained supply of oxygen…” consequently that requires a large support system: heart that can pump large volumes, large arteries, large fuel depots in muscles, the liver…

Mitochondria: microscopic power units with batteries of enzymes that covert fuel and oxygen to energy, used by muscles for contraction.

Muscles needed by Sprinters and throwers do not need Mitochondria and such support systems for oxygen delivery.

P66. Blood, oxygen, Hemoglobin and Myoglobin.

P73. “Gems or generalisations?”

P83. On the individual ability to get more aerobic work out of the same volume of oxygen taken in. “… it turns out that what you have is less important than what you do with it.”

P86. Champion distance runners may have traits inherited from the maternal line.

P97. Insect wings have no muscle; the flight muscles are inside the body, e.g. Thorax (contrast this with mammals like birds).

P124. “Play serves a vital function in many animals. It serves the ultimate function of practice, and it is motivated by pleasure. Pleasure is the proximate mechanism for achieving many ultimate benefits.”

P136. On camels not being fast runners over short distances. “… they provide us with a lesson: slow and steady wins the race.”
*

The book starts off a little slow, in that he described the scenes from one of his practice run. I thought it odd for a book to start like that. But maybe that was the point. Running is as much about conscious act of running, as well as observing and appreciating life that is around us.

I could be overanalysing it of course, but this book is definitely philosophical book several levels. Running is a mental game, as the book explains several time. Runners ultimately compete against themselves.

Having run in my youth (though not marathon) I could relate to his experiences. Especially his blow-by-blow, step-by-painful-step of his best race.

This book made me want to pick up running again. And gives one the feeling that “we can”.

Chpt 16, his views and approach on Diet, for ultramarathon races.

P255 “After all, two sets of numbers designating birth and death dates say little about a person. It is the in-between that matters”.

About Jenga: The remarkable business of creating a game that became a household name/ Leslie Scott

ISBN: 9781608320028

This book was not what I thought it was.

I thought it was about how Jenga was marketed. Game development, Business strategy — that sort of stuff.

But to my pleasant surprise, it’s an autobiographical account by the creator of Jenga. From deciding to make and sell Jenga, to learning about the toy trade, to publishing a gift catalogue magazine (and learning about the magazine trade), to being a game designer.

Reading the initial chapters, it seemed that her life was a series of convenient coincidences. E.g. Ending up with friends, and one of them introducing her to her first corporate job, which she credits as giving her the marketing and business background.

Essentially, she convinced herself one day to produced a few sets of a game she named Jenga. Then started promoting them to friends and contacts, some of whomever were interested enough to act as her agents (by helping distribute/ sell through their contacts or existing businesses).

In the end, my take on the book is that it’s as much about the story of Jenga and also about Leslie Scott, the person who invented Jenga.

And that success in any endeavour is about skill, luck, opportunity, taking chances, making mistakes and surviving them, family and friends, and having fun.

Like playing a good game.

P17. Author isn’t quite sure but the possible origin of her playing the equivalent of Jenga was in her childhood, where their family placed stacks of wooden blocks (Takoradi Bricks) and invented the rules.

P35. Importance of communication. She related her story of how she told someone her company, Intel, made microchips. Her office, in 1975, was in the building of the Potato Marketing Board in Oxford, UK. That person brought in a sack of small potatoes and asked for them to be tested.

P37. While working with Intel as a marketing communications executive, she decided to devise games for sales teams as a training/ comms tools.

P43. As part of planning a festival/ carnival-themed fund-raiser dinner, she provided several of her blocks for others to play. After witnessing how many people enjoyed playing it, she decided the next day that she should try to bring the game to market.

P49. Mentions Anthroposophy.

P53. How the name Jenga was decided. They were trying to name a dog. Then hit upon the idea of using a name from the Swahili language (she grew up in Africa). Then it occurred to her to use a Swahili term for her game. Decided on “Build”, which was “Jenga” in KiSwahili.

Next chapter discusses on why some invented words/ names stick (like Jenga) while some don’t.

Chpt 6. Her consultation with a Patent lawyer, advice received (i.e. possible to patent but maintaining the patent license in various jurisdictions and financial ability to take legal action were separate matters). Advised to trademark the name as well.

Chpt 7. She discusses her thoughts/ experiences and readings on issue of intellectual property. Cites Lawrence Lessig (but Creative Commons not explicitly mentioned). Mentions Lessig’s work and issue of Disney taking ideas from Grimm Brothers and then lobbying for a prolonged copyright regime. Cites her experiences in seeking copyright permissions from authors (in developing a game, Ex Libris, for the Bodleian and British Library).

P101. Mentions how she failed to “watch her step” and “allowed the rights and ownership of Jenga to slip away” from her.

P106. She belatedly realised she signed away all her rights for very little in return (trademark, ownership, how-how rights) to a distant family relative.

P111. Mentions how games like Yahtzee and Scrabble were published.
P113 – 114. Signed away worldwide rights for 22% of royalties, but there was an unspecified amount for administrative fees to be deducted. She “came to regret” her decision in agreeing to those rights after she realised she wasn’t getting what the game creator traditionally would have been compensated.

P116. “hard but useful lessons learned”: “obviously, if anyone presents you with a contract — however close your relationship — consult your own lawyer before you sign.”

P140. “in my general ignorance of the toy business, I had believed that all I had to do with Jenga was to package it well and to introduce people to this marvelous game and orders would come flooding in.”

P141 – 144. The realities of the Toy market. About costs and advertising budgets before the game itself.

P149. Sat Dec 17, IRA bomb attack on Harrods (1983?) where she was slated to conduct demos for Jenga, sold at the store.

Chpt 10. Her experience in a joint publishing venture.

P157. She cautions against seeking/ relying on friends and family for financial investment in one’s business; that should the business fail, relationships inevitably gets strained.
P160. If one has to rely on friends/ family for financial support, she advises that a business plan is drawn up and to get a 3rd party to speak to the friend/ family member to understand expectations.

P175. Mentions how in 1982 when Trivial Pursuit was introduced at the Toronto Toy Fair, it was considered as antiquated (compared to video games) but its success took people by surprise.

Last few chapters on branding, Jenga being used/ mentioned in science articles as metaphor, inspiration for “Jenga chips”, art, fiction and assorted mainstream works.

Persepolis: The story of a childhood/ Marjane Satrapi

ISBN: 9780375714573

Have heard so much about this graphic novel but it was frequently off the shelf. Until recently, when I came across it at one of our public library by chance.

From the inside cover blurb:

WISE, FUNNY, AND HEARTBREAKING, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating war with Iraq.

It is all that the blurb says, and more.

I couldn’t help but like the precociousness of the little girl. And I get a sense why people are able to live through the tyranny. And why they finally cannot.

With each ‘chapter’, I was progressively drawn into the life of the Satrapi family (they are directly related to Iran’s last emperor), against the backdrop of an oppressive regime. The protests. The violence. A divided populace. A shock of war with Iraq. National pride. Inept leaders and futility sacrifice of the nation’s young (child-soldiers being sent to battle with no more than mental indoctrination).

Yet, there is celebration and defiance (both covert and overt): arguments with unreasonable teachers, youthful rebellion, wearing jeans beneath formless skirts, smuggling in contraband posters of pop singers, parties and secret wine-making at home.

Life still finds a way to go on. Or at least, people still try to.

Up to a certain point.

And I saw, from the author’s eyes, the anguish and heartbreak when her parents decided to send her away from the country.

The introduction, by the author herself, gives a concise overview of the history of the country/ region. And this line was especially poignant:
“… this old and great civilization has been discussed mostly in connection with fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism. As an Iranian who has lived more than half my life in Iran, I knpw that this image is far from the truth. that is why writing Persepolis was so important to me. I believe an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists…”

I thought that’s why works like Persepolis is important, in addition to reading what journalists portray on TV and print.

Persepolis goes beyond mere telling of facts. It’s a story of the human condition. Of the ordinary citizen.

Wise, funny, and heartbreaking. Indeed.

It’s been a good life/ Isaac Asimov; edited by Janet Jeppson Asimov

ISBN: 1573929689

It’s always a joy to read Asimov, the person in particular. I feel no public library SciFi collection is complete without Asimov.

This book is a compilation of letters — excerpts from Isaac Asimov’s autobiographies, namely:
“In memory yet green” (1979)
“In joy still felt” (1980)
“I, Asimov” (1992)

The letters touch on themes like his childhood years, the war years, on his becoming a writer (how/ why he met Campbell face-to-face), entering academia, his own religious perspective (or non-religious, rather), a lot about his writing process, his idiosyncracies (like how he doesn’t like criticisms of his drafts), and also including his heart attack.

The epilogue is by his second wife, Janet, that “reveal the true story of Isaac’s final illness and death” (he acquired AIDS from tainted blood after his heart surgery). It’s rather sad, now that I know it. The sadness comes from having felt like I’ve known him as a friend (through his writings, of course). The redeeming part is that in his letters his attitude, that he’s had a good life, comes through.

I consider this my re-acquaintance of one of my favourite authors, whose writings I’ve lost touch for several years. What struck me was his “coming of age”; personal and professional development. It shows the very human side of him, with his acknowledgment of his flaws yet not harping on them, so much so they get in the way of living.

P15. “However trashy pulp fiction might be, it had to be read. Youngsters avid for the corny, lightening-jagged, cliche-ridden, clumsy stories had to read words and sentences to satisfy their craving. It trained everyone who read it in literacy, and a small percentage of them may then have passed on to better things…”

P19. On religion; his views as a ‘Rationalist’ and why he prefers that term to Atheist.

P21. Once you value learning, the rest is easy.

P29. How/ why his father got him a library card (because his father didn’t want him to read the ‘trashy’ stuff they sold in their store).

P31. On the role and value of public libraries: “I received my fundamentals of my education in school, but that was not enough. My real education, the superstructure, the details, the true architecture, I got out of the public library. For an impoverished child whose family could not afford to buy books, the library was the open door to wonder and achievement, and I can never be sufficiently grateful that I had the wit to charge through that door and make the most of it.

Now, when I read constantly about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that the door is closing and that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.”

P35. He invents the plots as he writes, but he always has in mind a resolution to problem that his characters are trying to solve.

P46. On how he realised his passion was to write a SciFi story, not make money, and have it appear in a magazine (and this part made me think if all good writers have this hunger for their craft, rather than wanting to make it big).

P114. decision to write simply.

P119. It was after he had earned his Ph.D. And started working as an academic, and the year his sales topped almost $5,000 (almost what he was earning as an academic) that he realised he could really be a full-time writer.

P121. Briefly, on the McCarthy “witchhunts” for suspected communists.

P123. The increasingly ‘estranged’ relationship with Asimov and Campbell, where Asimov is torn between loyalty/ gratitude and a growing sense of a less rationalist aspect of Campbell.

P289. Bibliography and publication years of his works. Subjects/ genres cover: Fiction (SciFi, Mystery, Fantasy, anthologies), Non-fiction (general science, mathematics, astronomy, earth sciences, chemistry and biochemistry, physics, biology, history, the bible, literature, humor and satire, his autobiographies).

An autobiography or the story of my experiments with truth/ Mohandas K. Gandhi

(Translated from the original in Gujarati)
Other title: Satyanā prayogo athavā ātmakathā
NLB Call No.: 954.035 GAN

This book is about his pursuit towards self- realisation. It’s not an autobiography and some parts of the book, Gandhi presumes you know the context.

It’s a must-read to know more about the man, rather than the myth.

BOOK HIGHLIGHTS
Index pages 458 – 461 is an excellent summary of key points in his life, as described in the book.

Gandhi clarifies it is a book documenting his observations of his seeking various Truths. His Life’s Experiments.

In his Introduction, he explains why he agreed to write the book.

p X. “If anything that I write in these pages should touch the reader as touched with pride, then he must take it that there is something wrong with my quest, and that my glimpse are nothing more than,mirage. Let hundreds like me perish, but let the truth prevail. Let us not reduce the standard of truth for even by a hair’s breath from judging erring mere mortals like myself.”

“I hope and pray that no one will regard the advice interspersed in the following chapters as authoritative. The experiments narrated should be regarded as illustrations, in the light of which everyone must carry on his own experiments in accordance to his own inclinations and capacity.”

Says the title Mahatma (Great Soul) “has deeply pained” him.

He was timid and shy child as a child. Didn’t dare mix with his peers. Preferred to run home to wait upon his father who’s ill. Devoted to his father especially.

Knowingly did wrong (ate meat and stole) but also has conscience (which partly goes to explain his shyness and fear, which he says saved him from evils like visiting prostitutes — suggested that many youths engaged in undesirable actions bec they were introduced by friends and don’t have the courage to say no). Felt strongly about honesty (wrote a letter to his father to admit his guilt of eating meat).

Shy and uncomfortable in public speaking throughout his studies in England and even until his first court case. But already he had the foundations of courage (sticking to his vows and beliefs, like friends attempts to convert him to eat meat) and practice of non-violence.

From the cases he took on, he came to be associated with the struggle for justice, and most significantly, a philosophy of non-violence and voluntary subjugation to the laws of the land.

Non-violent Non-cooperation, i.e. Civil disobedience: a simple and powerful idea, yet requiring a mental paradigm shift, I think. You consciously disobey an unjust law without resorting to violence. And willingly submit to the consequences of breaking the law (e.g. Fine or jail). Inherent in the idea is that you will not lose your life in breaking the law. But Gandhi doesn’t define Civil Disobedience and leaves the casual reader uninformed.  [Again, one of the criticisms of the book, as Gandhi assumed he was writing for readers of his day rather than a text that long survives him. Then again, it could also be an example of his unassuming nature.]

p264 – his professed love of reading

281 – his Bhramacharya vow

288 – his wife’s refusal to break her religious vow by taking beef-tea when it may help her recover. [In this regards i've mixed feelings. If at that time beef tea was only available would I drink it, placing self before ideals? Should ideals come before life? But it's a matter of degrees i think. Let's say i'm stranded on an island with 2 other passengers. To survive we have to resort to cannabalism. Would i do it? It's against my nature right now to do it and i've thought about this. In the end, even if i did, guilt would plague me and it might be even worse than death itself. So i can understand their religious stand. To say they were folly would be to impose my own Truth onto them. Which is a form of cultural fascism. Definitely not a Truth.]

p 294 – a caution.

p295 – Suggests a sch for ppl muslims, Hindus, christians. In Singapore this isn’t strange but in gandhi’s time it was, and remains so in places today. He recognised early that human beings have more in common, even religious doctrines, than differences.

p299 – leading by example

p300 – he suddenly mentions the Tamil training he learned when in jail but so far no explicit reference to why and when he was jailed. Also preceding chapter on Salt issue.

Final chapter (titled Farewell) he says his life from that point of writing has been so public that he longer needs to write about his life. Says his pursuit of the truth is still on-going and he’s not yet free of feelings of love, hatred, attachment and repulsion.

Angela’s Ashes: A memoir of a childhood/ Frank McCourt

As the title says, it’s an account of the author’s childhood in improvished Ireland. One wonders how he managed to survive at all (I’ve inadvertently paraphrased the author’s words) — here’s the second para of the opening page:

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood… Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”

On the same page, the third para just about sums up the essence of the book:

“People everywhere brag and whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bully schoolmasters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years.
Above all — we were wet.”

One does not have to be Irish or poor to appreciate this book. It’s one of those “unputdownables” (I didn’t invent this word!) — you just keep looking forward to the next page, and the next, and when the story finally ends you feel a twinge of sadness that the tale has ended.

The writing style is conversational, spiced with colloquiums and laced with self-effacing humour. McCourt coveys the poverty, injustice and bleakness without moralising.

Some who read the story may feel genuine sadness in the death of his siblings. Or baulk over the terrible living conditions; feel a sense of injustice in the mockery of the poor by those who think that they are of a higher station. We may share a sense of brotherly pride when we read how the young ones share what little they have with each other. Perhaps we may laugh with the young Frank when he worries over what to tell the priest over his first confessional.

We may even find voyeuristic embarrassment over his discovery of what might be real love, as well as his fumbling explorations of his developing (but dogmatically repressed) adolescent sexuality. It wouldn’t surprise me if we share his anger and hate over the man who took advantage of his mother’s vulnerability.

A tragic and sad story, no doubt, yet ultimately it’s really a story of hope. What makes it remarkable is that it’s a real human story — at least I don’t doubt a word of McCourt’s account of his childhood. Even if parts of it were made up, it made such wonderful reading that I can’t imagine him making any part up. I can understand why it won the 1997 Pulitzer.

Angela’s Ashes: A memoir of a childhood/ Frank McCourt
Call No.: 929.20899162073 MAC (General Non-Fiction section)

RELATED BOOKS available at NLB libraries:

• The sequel — ‘Tis: A memoir (Call No.: 974.710049162 MAC) — is also an excellent read. It continues his story of his further coming-of-age in 1949 U.S.A.
• Another related book: A monk swimming by Malachy McCourt, brother of Frank McCourt (Call No.: 304.873 MAC)

At the time of this post, all 3 titles mentioned were available at NLB libraries, under the General Non-Fiction section.