The Rabid Reader

The J. Golden Kimball Stories (Eric A. Eliason, University of Illinois Press, 2007, 186 pages)

"With his gaunt figure, magpie voice, and fiery vigor, J. Golden Kimball (1853-1938) embodied the down-to-earth humor he so unselfconsciously provided his people.  He was loved by all Latter-Day Saints.  Even religiously disinterested 'jack-Mormon' farmers and wayward youths emptied fields and pool halls to gather around the radio to hear his sermons. . . As he toured the Mormon settlements of the West, 'Uncle Golden,' as people of no particular relation often called him, charmed congregations with frank talk and refreshing, if slightly irreverent, quips occasionally peppered with salty language."

The J. Golden Kimball Stories, compiled by Eric A. Eliason from original fieldwork and previously unpublished archival resources, shares the beloved and iconoclastic Uncle Golden's opinions on death, marriage, love, hell, and God.  A couple of my favorite stories:

--"J. Golden Kimball began one of his conference addresses supposedly by saying, 'Brothers and sisters, how many of you have read the seventeenth chapter of Mark in the New Testament?'  When many hands went up, Kimball said, 'Well, you're the people I want to talk to today.  There are only sixteen chapters in Mark and my sermon for today is on liars and hypocrites!"

--"J. Golden Kimball was once asked his opinion of women wearing cosmetics, which some church leaders in the early part of the 1900s frowned upon. J. Golden Kimball, 'Well, a little paint never hurt any old barn.'"

--"In his last years, J. Golden Kimball met a friend in the street who said to him, 'How are you Golden? How are you getting along?' 'Well, to tell the truth, I'm not doing so good.  Getting old and tired.  You know, Seth, I've been preaching this gospel nigh onto sixty years now, and I think it's time for me to get over to the other side to find out how much of what I've been saying is true.'" 

How to Be Black (Baratunde Thurston, Harper, 2012, 272 pages)

Baratunde Thurston is the director of digital content at The Onion, the co-founder of Jack & Jill Politics, a stand-up comedian, and a globe-trotting speaker. He was named one of the 100 most influential African-Americans of 2011 by The Root and one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company magazine.  

How to Be Black, published just in time for Black History Month 2012, is part memoir, part satire, and part guide to the complexities of racial relationships in America.  Very funny, often poignant, and always thought provoking. 

The Poetical Writings of Orson F. Whitney: Poems and Poetic Prose (Orson F. Whitney, Nabu Press, 2010, 222 pages)

Orson F. Whitney (1855-1931) was a politician, journalist, poet, historian and academic. In 1878, Whitney began a career in writing with the business office of the Deseret News, the newspaper owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He later became a reporter and the city editor. During a mission in Europe for the Church from 1881 to 1883, he acted as editor of the church publication the Millenial Star.  In 1906, Whitney was called to serve as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which together with the First Presidency, is the governing body of the Church.

The Poetical Writings is, as the title suggests, a collection of Whitney's poems, particularly his religious verse.  While a good collection, Whitney's most famous poem, The Soul's Captain--a response to William Henley's Invictus ("It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul")--is not included here, unfortunately.  

The Soul's Captain (Orson F. Whitney)

Art thou in truth? Then what of him
Who bought thee with his blood?
Who plunged into devouring seas
And snatched thee from the flood?

Who bore for all our fallen race
What none but him could bear–
The God who died that man might live,
And endless glory share?

Of what avail thy vaunted strength,
Apart from his vast might?
Pray that his Light may pierce the gloom,
That thou mayest see aright.

Men are as bubbles on the wave,
As leaves upon the tree.
Thou, captain of thy soul, forsooth
Who gave that place to thee?

Free will is thine -- free agency
To wield for right or wrong;
But thou must answer unto him
To whom all souls belong

Bend to the dust that head "unbowed,"
Small part of Life's great whole!
And see in him, and him alone,
The Captain of thy soul.

 

Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink (David Margolick, Knopf, 2005, 432 pages)

David Margolick is a long-time contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He has held similar posts at Newsweek and Portfolio.  For fifteen years he was a legal affairs correspondent for the New York Times.  He is one of my favorite writers.  Beyond Glory, published in 2005, is Margolick at his best. 

Few sporting events aroused more passion than the heavyweight boxing fights in the 1920s and 1930s.  The 1936 and 1938 bouts between Joe Louis, a black American, and Max Schmeling, a hero of Nazi Germany, were no exception.  Those fights, perhaps more than any others, had more meaning outside the ring than inside because they symbolized the hopes, hatreds, and fears of a world moving toward total war.  Schmeling beat Louis in 12 rounds in 1936.  Louis repaid the favor in one round in 1938.    

Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch (Sally Bedell Smith, Random House, 2012, 688 pages)

Interesting and comprehensive in scope but far too fawning for my taste.

Little Caesar: A Biography of Edward G. Robinson (Alan L. Gansberg, New English Library, 1983, 248 pages)

A fine biography of one of my favorite actors.

Joseph Fielding Smith: Gospel Scholar, Prophet of God (Francis M. Gibbons, Deseret Book, 1992, 524 pages)

Joseph Fielding Smith was the grand nephew of Joseph Smith, who organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1830.  Joseph Fielding served as the 10th President of the Church from 1970 to 1972. To members of the Church, myself included, Joseph Fielding is regarded as a modern day Apostle of Jesus Christ, a prophet of God, and a successor to his great uncle Joseph Smith.  

Gibbons biography of Smith is serviceable, though not terribly inspiring.  His approach is somewhat cold and clinical and fails to capture the spirit of Smith's lifelong ministry.

Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party (Ying Chang Compestine, Square Fish Publishing, 2009, 272 pages)

This from my own Rabid Reader who is in the 5th grade:

Revolution is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine is a memoir about Compestine’s childhood. She grew up in the city of Wuhan during the Cultural Revolution. In the story Compestine’s is a brave girl named Ling. Several events in the story show Ling’s bravery.

The first example is when the Red Guards barged into Ling’s House and take her father away. Ling had to live with her mother for almost two years. Ling was very brave in this situation to live without her father. She knew was that her father would come back.

The second example is when Red Guards tore up her mother’s pearl necklace and Ling’s doll Bao-Bao. They also tore up one their chairs. She was brave enough to say to the Red Guards, “I hate you!” The guards said, “We are doing our job. If the enemy hates us we should keep on doing it.”

The third example is when Ling goes to school and Gao, the young pioneer, beats her up. He throws an abacus and a ball at her. The next day when Ling returns to school she gets revenge by throwing the abacus at Gao. She pins him to the ground and punches him in the face and Gao bleeds everywhere. Gao yells, “Help! She is punching me. She is killing me.”

The final example of Ling’s bravery is when the lice in Ling’s hair becomes so bad she is forced to cut all her hair off. In Ling’s culture cutting all of your hair off can be very embarrassing. When Ling went to school, Gao did not say a word. Ling was expecting him to say something mean.

Ling’s experiences teach us that sometimes to be free we must be brave. Being brave means standing up to people that try to harm you and protecting your family. Ling was a brave girl who would fight for her freedom.

What Is Six Sigma? (Pete Pande and Larry Holpp, McGraw-Hill, 2001, 98 pages)

Maybe not a real page turner but nonetheless important for the business minded. 

Originally developed by Motorola in 1986, Six Sigma is a system for improving the quality of organizational processes. Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects (errors) and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. The term Six Sigma originated from terminology associated with manufacturing, specifically terms associated with statistical modeling of manufacturing processes. The maturity of a manufacturing process can be described by a sigma rating indicating its yield, or the percentage of defect-free products it creates. A six sigma process is one in which 99.99966% of the products manufactured are statistically expected to be free of defects (3.4 defects per million). Motorola set a goal of "six sigma" for all of its manufacturing operations, and this goal became a byword for the management and engineering practices used to achieve it.

What Is Six Sigma? is a concise summary of the core themes and processes of Six Sigma. Unlike almost all other books on Six Sigma, it is written for the employees of organizations rolling out Six Sigma and not just managers.