a deeply layered and multifaceted account

Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska by Warren Zanes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is like a biography, except it's for an album rather than a person. In "Deliver Me from Nowhere", Warren Zanes brilliantly delivers a deeply layered and multifaceted account of the birth of the amazing album "Nebraska" by Bruce Springsteen. In this book, we learn the backstory of Nebraska, get acquainted with all the people involved, but most interestingly, we get to see how and why it was written, recorded, "produced", and released. Every aspect of this story is fascinating. Especially interesting to me (besides my being a lifelong fan of Bruce and his music) were the technical details of the recording, mixing, and mastering. Being a retired Electrical Engineer, who for 40 years have felt some regret for not pursuing the music industry in my career, and having run sound equipment, mixers, and recording setups for artists and bands on the amateur level, the techie section was pure joy. Nebraska was one of the first Springsteen albums I purchased in college, right after it was released. I've loved it in many ways over the years. Today, i went back and put the CD on after i finished the book, to relive the album with all the details fresh in mind. Given the excellent writing and amazing subject matter, this was an easy 5 star rating for me.

Note that this book inspired the recently aired PBS Television special entitled "Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska - A Celebration in Words and Music", narrated by Warren Zanes and featuring many artists performing the songs live. Especially love Noah Kahan's version of Atlantic City!!
https://www.pbs.org/show/bruce-springsteens-nebraska-a-celebration-in-words-and-music/

View all my reviews

rewrite of the Jack Kirby saga

Eternals by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A rewrite of the Jack Kirby saga, which i haven't read. It was interesting, but my interest was tempered by recent revelations. Too bad. The art was much improved over the original (comparisons in the appendices).

View all my reviews

A fun geeky read

The Iron Road: An Illustrated History of the Railroad by Christian Wolmar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm in the process of collecting a lot of books to donate to the Friends of the Library, and ran across this one that i decided to read before donating. Its a very high level history of the development of railroads globally. Written on the level of a middle/high school text book with generous illustrations, it was fascinating to follow the birth and evolution of rail travel and transportation over the centuries. Coming off spending a month on the trains in Italy and other adjoining EU countries, i found it interesting to see how those rails systems developed. A fun geeky read.

View all my reviews

an amazing worldview

Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi by Richard Rohr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is my first overview of the Franciscan way. I have read other writings and books by Father Richard, but this was a first book about the Franciscan way. I picked it because we were in the process of planning to go to the town of Assisi this past summer. I have been inside of Christianity most of my life, and in my view, the Franciscan way is the most credible and worthy form of Christianity i have ever seen. Offhand, i can't even think of a close second. What an amazing worldview. I recommend this book.

View all my reviews