The Johnstown Flood

Book type: History

Summary: Before he wrote 1776  and before he won the Pulitzer Prize for Truman or for John Adams (which HBO famously made into a mini series), David McCullough wrote The Johnstown Flood: The Incredible Story Behind One of the Most Devastating Disasters America Has Ever Known. In fact, he wrote The Johnstown Flood before he wrote anything else. This very first book of his, originally published in 1968, tells the story of what happened to a handful of communities in the mountains of Pennsylvania–communities who lived in the shadow of a large lake held back by an earthen dam, a dam which burst just after Memorial Day in 1889. What is surprising to learn about the Johnstown flood, is that it really wasn’t a huge surprise at all. It had broken several times before the final blow amid constant rain in the spring of 1889, and it even became “something of a local joke,” something that everyone kept waiting for and then never happened; until it did (66). Here are some lessons we can all take away from the tragedy that devastated a Pennsylvania valley and that gripped a nation over a century ago.

Lessons:

1. If you’re going to go about changing the natural order of things, you’d better know what you’re doing. The South Fork dam was a manmade construction, and ultimately it failed because the men who owned the property it was on failed to heed warnings and make necessary repairs that could have saved thousands of lives. The water that broke loose from the dam “charged into the valley at a velocity and depth comparable to that of the Niagara River as it reaches Niagara Falls. Or to put it another way, the bursting of the South Fork dam was about like turning Niagara Falls into the valley for thirty-six minutes” (102) and by the time it was over–an extremely brief amount of time at that–over two thousand people would be dead, and the bodies of many would never be recovered. After the flood, many writers “took up the old line that if God had meant for there to be such a thing as dams, He would have built them himself. The point, of course, was not that dams, or any of man’s efforts to alter or improve the world about him, were mistakes in themselves. The point was that if man, for any reason, drastically alters the natural order, setting in motion whole series of chain reactions, then he had better know what he is doing” (262). Frankly, much of the time, man has no conception of what the possible outcomes may be. Countless times throughout history humans have made alterations to an ecosystem just to find that their brilliant idea wasn’t so smart after all. Whether it’s introducing new species to an area or decimating a species to help with something else, too often we make things worse by trying to make things in nature better. Be careful how you play with the Earth, my friends.
2. Don’t assume that you’re safe in the hands of others. The South Fork dam was owned by a group of businessmen from Pittsburgh who liked to visit their manmade lake for fishing and “roughing it” in comfy cottages. These businessmen were almost all millionaires of the steel industry, and the people who lived in the valley all year round made the mistake of thinking that the rich people who owned the dam wouldn’t let it fall into disrepair. After all, why would they want to run the risk of the dam breaking on them too? Unfortunately, these men weren’t engineers and they never consulted experts to weigh in on the safety level of the dam. Because the people in the valley assumed the rich guys knew what they were doing, they didn’t press them about potential safety hazards or necessary repairs, and when the dam finally broke for good, many of them didn’t even know what hit them. Literally. The floodwaters tore down trees, telegraph poles, houses, barns, and anything else along the path down the mountain, such that when the flood was nearly upon residents in the various cities, they couldn’t even see the water. All they saw was the debris. Many people heard the devastation coming but didn’t see it was a flood. (Of course several knew the rains were probably the cause, or may have known that the dam had broken, but all they saw was the wreckage straight at them.)
   

   This stone bridge caught much of the debris (human as well as timber) when the flood made its way down the mountain. The same night as the flood, the wreckage caught fire and several people were trapped inside. Eventually, it would take a large amount of dynamite to break it all loose.

    

3. Don’t jump to conclusions. So often we’re tempted to provide our own theories of how a tragedy has come to pass without having all the facts, and the days after the Johnstown flood definitely illustrated this principle. Some argued that it was the start of the Final Judgment and everyone else should prepare for what was to come, while others blamed the rich guys for not maintaining the dam properly, and still others said that clearly it was God showing his displeasure with the sins of Johnstown, a judgment in line with the Old Testament story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
   

   It was a line of reasoning which many people were quick to accept, for at least it made some sense of the disaster. But it was a line of reasoning which met with much amusement in Johnstown, where, as anyone knew who knew his way about could readily see, Lizzie Thompson’s house [a brothel] and several rival establishments on Green Hill had not only survived the disaster, but were going stronger than ever before. “If punishment was God’s purpose,” said one survivor, “He sure had bad aim” (252-253).

4.  Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than to be good. Several people survived the disaster out of pure luck (or providence, depending on your point of view), when seemingly everyone else around them died. As a train car full of people fled for the hills when the water was almost upon them, the baggage master J.W. Grove, hopped on top of a train engine nearby instead of following everyone else to the hill. “Every other loose engine in East Conemaugh was dumped over, driven into the hillside, or swept off with the flood, except the one he picked” (124). Additionally, all of Johnstown’s three or four blind people survived the flood, while around them, “Ninety-nine whole families had been wiped out. Three hundred ninety-six children aged ten years or less had been killed. Ninety-eight children lost both parents. One hundred and twenty-four women were left widows; 198 men lost their wives” (195). There was no sense in who died and who was spared, most of it was pure dumb luck, like the family of six who survived having their house thrown on its side and impaled by an oak tree. Sometimes you can’t know what you should do in a given situation and have to hope and pray you just make it out. As one of the steel mill owners said in a speech to the community during their first church service after the flood, “‘Think how much worse it could’ve been. Give thanks for the great stone bridge that saved hundreds of lives. Give thanks that it did not come in the night. Trust in God'” (236).

 

The most amazing fact is that the house is still mostly in one piece, unlike almost every other house in the town.

 

A final review/recommendation:

McCullough’s book is a captivating look into a historical tragedy that dominated all the important newspapers of the time for several days (it was the front page story for the New York Times for five straight days) and yet one that most Americans have probably never heard of. It’s a story of death, but also of rebuilding and community, of people losing their families, but also helping to save others, and it offers several insights that are just as true for us now as they were for the residents of the cities in the shadow of the South Fork dam in 1889. For those who are history fans and for those who are not, it’s a heart-wrenching story and it’s worth checking out.

 

Photo credits:

Book cover: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hY-4lomJSGs/STd5INqgYuI/AAAAAAAAAwo/dxFdjDgggWU/s1600-h/Johnstown%2BFlood.jpg
Stone Bridge: http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/5johnstown/5images/5img3bl.jpg
Treehouse: http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/lindariesphotoguide/johnstown%20tree%20in%20house.jpg

The Journey Continues

Greetings everyone! When I started reading a new book at the beginning of last year, I was considering writing a blog, but didn’t know what shape it would take. After reading a few books in January of last year and thinking about how I could use my reading to better myself and those around me, I decided to start this blog and share the lessons I was learning from my books. I hope the last year has brought you some amusement, joy, and made you pause for reflection here and there, as I know it has for me. In the new year I plan on reading some longer books to give the blog more variety, so this may mean a delay in lessons here and there. I will incorporate other fun or thought-provoking entries to make up for this lag, when it occurs.

Thank you for your support of me, my reading, and my writing over the last year, it truly means a lot to me. I read 36 books this past year (pictured below with the exception of a few I’ve loaned to others or that I borrowed from the library), which tied my record from 2011 when all I did was sit in a room in Germany and read books or listen to live baseball games on my computer. Knowing that you were here this year, ready to read my next installment, pushed me to read so many books and to learn as much as I can from them to go on and share with you.

If you have any comments from 2013, or suggestions (books to read or otherwise) for 2014, please share them with me; I’d love your feedback and input. Forgive me if life gets in the way from time to time (as it did in the picture below when I was working on getting a good photo), and again, thank you for visiting. Come back soon!

Me: “I love you, but you’re in the way!”
Hickory: “I love you and I love having my picture taken, so shoot!”

Life and Times of Michael K

Book type: Fiction / Novella

Summary: Set in Coetzee’s native South Africa, Michael K is a man who sets out with his mother from Cape Town, trying to return her to the place of her youth in the country so that she can recover from an illness. Things don’t work out the way they planned, however, and Michael ends up in labor camps, then lives on his own cultivating a garden of fruits and vegetables, and then is housed in a rehabilitation facility. At every step he is trying to escape a war he wants no part of (and probably doesn’t understand), but he’s constantly pulled back from the only way of living he knows–a life in a garden–to confinement. Until he escapes.

Lessons:

1. From time to time, contemplate why you are where you are and why you’re doing what you’re doing. In the book, Michael asks himself “So what is it…that binds me to this spot of earth as if to a home I cannot leave? We must all leave home, after all, we must all leave our mothers” (124). In Michael’s case (as in the case of many of us), when he asks himself this question, he is in the right place for him at the time: he’s in the country, the place where his mother  wanted to return to, and he’s cultivating his garden. Still, it’s good here and there to reevaluate and ask ourselves if the space we’re in, physically as well as mentally/emotionally is the right space for you. If it’s not, start making moves.
2. Don’t assume you know another person’s situation better than they know it themselves (even if maybe you do). When Michael is in the rehabilitation facility, his unnamed nurse/caretaker tries to get him to do various things, chief among them to eat. He doesn’t understand why Michael would refuse to cooperate: the nurse says if he eats and gets healthy, then he can leave the confines of the infirmary and join the others outside (who, it should be noted, are being forced to exercise with the expectation that they’ll go on to work in the labor camp). To the nurse, the worst thing imaginable is to lie in a bed all day, not moving, doing nothing but watching doves out one’s small window. To Michael, the choice between getting healthy and having to do manual labor, or remaining weak and living peacefully, is an obvious one. Acknowledge that your experience is just that, yours, and that someone else’s belongs to him or her; and instead of dwelling on the unbelievability that anyone would want to live in a way you wouldn’t, just keep focused on how you want to live. Keep tending your garden.
   
3. “It is difficult to be kind to a person who wants nothing. You must not be afraid to say what you want, then you will get it” (179). I read something once that said if you want people to like you, ask them to do you a favor. Now, you’d think it would be the other way around, but it’s not. Apparently people will feel more connected to you if you’ve asked them to help you, versus you offering to help them. Always consider whom you’re asking the favor of, however…
   In all seriousness though, the best way to get what you want, is to be able to articulate what that want is. It’s also a worthy investment to try to understand how different people operate so that you can explain what you want in the most effective way for the person involved. How many of us have had supervisors who assign us tasks in a way that we don’t appreciate? Probably all of us. Never stop trying to understand people and how they operate so that you can help them and they can help you.
4. Sometimes the only way to avoid gloominess is to throw yourself headfirst into your work. At one point in the book, Michael feels content with the work he’s doing, but then also feels a sense of pain (or fear) about the future, and the only way for him to avoid the gloominess that comes with this fear is to work even harder at caring for his garden. Obviously it’s not good if you avoid making necessary plans for the future all the time because it’s unpleasant to consider, but sometimes what we need when we’re bogged down by the thought of the future, is to distract ourselves with a task in the present.

A final review/recommendation:

Life and Times of Michael K is a short book, and in many ways a sad one. At the same time though, it’s a story about one man living his life on his own terms, despite being misunderstood by everyone around him. In that way, it’s an inspiring story and definitely one worth reading. It’s very realistic, though, in both its content and its pacing, so if you’re someone who needs a lot to happen on each page, it may not be for you. But if you’re looking for something set in an unfamiliar place, dealing with unfamiliar people and historical events, Michael K is a great–and above all, short–book to start with.

Photo credits:
Book cover: http://fumichronicles.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/life-and-times-of-michael-k-by-j-m-coetzee.jpg
Granny Gun Show: http://pigroll.com/img/grandma_can_you_do_me_a_favor.jpg

The Alchemist

 

Book type: Fiction / Allegory

Preface: If you decide to read this book you’ll figure out that it’s all about realizing your dreams and discovering what’s important to you. Well, this past weekend, a family reunion and my new puppies were pretty important to me, hence the delay in posting this book lesson. Thanks for your patience, I know you had a hard time sleeping the last two nights due to the anticipation for my next entry. Well, fear not, dear reader, restful sleep can now be had!

Summary: Coelho’s book is an allegory focusing on the dreams and destiny of protagonist, Santiago, as he travels from Spain to Egypt in search of treasure he has dreamed about and been directed to find. And no, Santiago is not “the Alchemist” in the book; the Alchemist is one who has already learned the lessons that Santiago needs to understand. The Alchemist helps Santiago on his journey of realizing his abilities and the importance of perseverance in fulfilling his destiny.

 

Lessons:

1. The biggest lesson Coelho wants you to learn is this: “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation” (22). Santiago’s entire journey in this book is a test to see whether he will realize his destiny. I once watched an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s Master Class in which she talks about realizing one’s destiny. She says, “A lot of people don’t know their purpose. And if you don’t know your purpose, your immediate goal is to figure that out,” because the sooner you can figure out what your purpose is, the sooner you can start working on that purpose. This idea struck me when I watched the episode with my Mom and sister-in-law in my parents’ family room because I had been out of college for about a year and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life; I only knew things I didn’t want to do. And to be honest, I still don’t know what I want. Hopefully you do know your purpose, but if you don’t, and even if you don’t feel like right now is the time you want to put all your energy into figuring out your purpose, keep this lesson in the back of your mind and revisit it here and there to keep yourself on track. In the book there’s a shopkeeper whose dream his whole life was to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, but he never goes because he’s afraid he won’t have anything to hope for after he’s done it, so he just keeps working and saving money for his “eventual” trip. Don’t be the shopkeeper. If you have a dream, work toward achieving it without losing sight of what it is and getting stuck in the comfort and predictability of the day-to-day.
   

   Maybe your dream is to have her badass Davie Crockett haircut. Well then, make it happen!

    

2. “Sometimes, there’s just no way to hold back the river” (59). Some things are inevitable. Change happens whether you like it or not, so take a lesson from Coelho and Epictetus and figure out what’s inside and outside of your control, and if the river comes and you can’t hold it back, learn to adapt to what it brings with it, because either you adapt or you drown.
3. Be aware of how you view the world around you. Coelho notes that “Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place” (131). I heard a statistic not long ago that being a skeptic or a pessimist can  have its benefits, namely that one  takes more action to secure one’s health, happiness, etc. versus just accepting whatever comes one’s way, and that makes sense to me. So be a little bit skeptical, but don’t be so skeptical that it clouds nearly all situations you find yourself in, such that you never seem to be happy with what’s going on in your life. Remember, sociopaths are threatening and you should be skeptical and avoid them, but that doesn’t mean that the universe itself is threatening. Try to be aware of the frequency of your skeptical face, if only to keep from getting more wrinkles.
   

   “You mean to tell me this look isn’t doing anything for me?” No, Mr. Cleese, no it’s not.

    

4. Do what your heart tells you. This isn’t even a sappy lesson, really. The Alchemist tells Santiago to follow his heart even when it’s tired of going on, because the heart knows one’s true purpose. When Santiago asks why he should press on despite really not wanting to, the Alchemist tells him: “Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside you…” (129). So, if only to avoid that nagging feeling that you’ll get for not realizing your destiny, do what your heart tells you. If you’re like me, your heart is probably telling you it’s getting weak and you need to do some cardio, so if nothing else, start there.

 

A final review/recommendation:

Depending on where you are in your life, this book might be life changing for you when you read it. It wasn’t for me, maybe because I have  been thinking about all these things for the last couple years since I finished school, to the point that sometimes I wish I could just forget about them and follow Emerson’s advice a little more: “Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.” So if you’re worrying too much about your destiny and you’re having trouble figuring it out, experiment a little more and maybe chill out a bit. But if you’re just going along never thinking about your purpose, well then, you’ve got work to do, and this book is a good reminder of that.

 

Photo credits:
Book cover: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MhCmVyadL.jpg
Oprah’s roadkill haircut: http://static.oprah.com/images/tows/200909/20090916/20090916-tows-oprah-hair-tina-600×411.jpg
John Cleese what?: http://www.reactionface.info/sites/default/files/imagecache/Node_Page/images/1312291457832.jpg

Just My Type (of font, not man)

 

Book type: Graphic Arts/Typography

Summary: The byline of this book’s title says it all: this is a book about fonts. But that doesn’t really say it all. I feared that, upon turning to the first page, I would find chapter after chapter of descriptions as to the curve of a lowercase  “g” or the curl of capital “Q.” This book is so much more. It’s a book about the ubiquitous nature of fonts, it’s about the eccentrics who have invented them over the years, and it’s about the impact a font can have on an industry, a political campaign, and on our lives.

 

Lessons:

1. Pay more attention to the things you never think twice about. Now, I know that’s a bit of a challenge–notice things you never notice. That being said, Cyrus Highsmith, a type designer and New Yorker, decided to do just that a few years ago. He attempted to live, for a day, without the font Helvetica, a font that is so ubiquitous that it’s like oxygen: “‘You have little choice but to breathe it in'” (126). He decided that he would avert his eyes from any sign displaying the font, that he wouldn’t take the subway (all signs being in Helvetica), that he wouldn’t eat anything with Helvetica on the packaging. He couldn’t read the New York Times, couldn’t browse the internet, couldn’t use any new bills (new money also having Helvetica printed on it), couldn’t use his credit cards. You get the point, which is: he could barely do it. You would’ve died had you given up Helvetica for Lent this year. Mind: blown. (By the way, the font you’re reading at this very moment is Helvetica Neue. Ha!)
2. Fonts are some of the subtlest forms of mind control, so watch out. Here are a few examples, we’ll explore: the “Barack Obama Font,” the “Movie Font,” and lastly, the “Porn Font.”
   First, Barack Obama’s appeal to a lot of young people during his 2008 Presidential campaign was due to a sense that a lot of us had that he understood our world; he was still kinda young, and was definitely cool. And one of the most obvious displays of all this was his font–the perfect boldness of his capital H-O-P-E set under the edgy red, white, and blue headshot of the upward-looking, serious candidate. It said it all. It said “I get you. And I’m the one.”
   

   Now that’s my kind of Prez.

   Second, Trajan, aka the “Movie Font.” I don’t even need to say anything about this one, just watch this short video.
   

   Third–and I know this is the one you were probably most curious about–the “Porn Font.” Hell, you might’ve even skipped the first two just to get to this one. If you did, go back in a minute and read them too. (And definitely watch the video.) Anyway, this is the “Porn Font.” It’s called Souvenir, and this picture is featured in Garfield’s book.

   

   I don’t know if this is supposed to be read in the voice of Ron Jeremy or not, but that’s definitely how I read it.

   This font is despised by many. Type scholar Frank Romano once said “‘Souvenir is a font fatale…we could send Souvenir to Mars, but there are international treaties on pollution in outer space…remember, friends don’t let friends set Souvenir'” (301). Ouch, he really doesn’t like Souvenir. But guess what? No one likes this next one…
   Comic Sans. Everybody’s favorite font in fifth grade has become the most hated font in the font world, reviled to the point that some bloggers have written a manifesto and rallied to “Ban Comic Sans” (they even have a website: bancomicsans.com; you should check it out).

3. This lesson is really important: look out for typos, they can change your morals.
   Do you see it? Line 14? “Thou shalt commit adultery.” I wonder how many people got to the pearly gates and tried to argue with St. Peter that “Really, it’s God’s fault. I never would’ve shacked up with our neighbor had He just made sure His book said the right thing. I’m just sayin’…”

4. If you have a question about which font to use in your next thank you note, break up letter, work resignation, or what have you, you should 1) Read this book and it’ll tell you what to do, or 2) Spell out “Hamburgerfont,” “Handgloves,” or “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” to get a feel for what your font will look like when your letter is all typed up.

 

A final review/recommendation:

This is a great book, and especially so if you’re interested in graphic design, fonts, the history of printing, or stories about odd people who have been really passionate –about typefaces and much more (cough, Eric Gill of Gill Sans fame).

Photo credits:
http://www.tug.org/books/images/justmytypeus.png


my photo, page 244 of Just My Type

The Art of Living (And No, The Message isn’t “YOLO, Y’ALL!”)

Book type: Philosophy/Inspiration

Summary: This is a book of sayings from the ancient philosopher Epictetus. He never wrote his maxims down, but his students passed them on and they’ve since been translated for us.
As Sharon Lebell notes in her prologue, Epictetus’ “prescription for the good life centered on three main themes: mastering your desires, performing your duties, and learning to think clearly about yourself and your relations within the larger community of humanity” (xii).
For this entry, I won’t really be making up my own lessons (since, duh, it’s a book of lessons–and one by someone significantly more established than I), but I will give you a sampling of what I found to be some of his most poignant ideas.

Lessons:

1. “Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and can’t control that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible” (3).
   ——Obviously, distinguishing these things isn’t easy, otherwise we all would’ve mastered it already. It can be a very fine tightrope balancing act between accepting that there are things out of your control and throwing your hands up and declaring that anything that hasn’t gone your way was out of your control. By the same token, you can have influence on some things (and only to some extent), but practice on figuring out when to let go.
2. “As you think, so you become” (25) and “You become what you give your attention to” (52)
   ——Stop and read that again. Maybe even one more time. This is a big one. We forget sometimes that “you are what you eat” isn’t the only example of something internal manifesting itself externally, too. Your thoughts determine who you are, so if you occupy your mind with worry, self-pity, disdain, or–conversely–thankfulness, generosity, and hopefulness, you will become those things. This leads into lesson number three.
3. “Who exactly do you want to be?…It’s time to stop being vague. If you wish to be an extraordinary person, if you wish to be wise, then you should explicitly identify the kind of person you aspire to become” (50).
   ——Then remember lesson two.
   

   See? Even the interwebs knows the influence of Epictetus.

4. Start living your ideals: “Now is the time to get serious about living your ideals. Put your principles into practice now. Stop the excuses and procrastination. This is your life! From this instant on, vow to stop disappointing yourself. Separate yourself from the mob. Decide to be extraordinary and do what you need to do–now” (79).
5. And lastly, my favorite: “Make it your business to draw out the best in others by being an exemplar yourself” because “One of two things will happen when you socialize with others. You either become like your companions, or you bring them over to your own way” (54, 98). Therefore, “Don’t sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others” (23).
   ——This conglomeration of quotes sums up what a lot of us probably forget most of the time; namely, that we have an effect on the people around us. Our Western/American philosophical history constantly tells us that we’re only responsible for ourselves and that other people are responsible for themselves. This may be true in a lot of cases, but if you knew that just how you are could change how other people are also, wouldn’t that make you think twice about the import of your behaviors, reactions, or even your tone of voice? This reminds me too, of a favorite Goethe quote of mine: “If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.” Ok, this has been a lot of serious philosophizing. I think it’s time for a nap. (If that’s putting off becoming who I should become, so be it. Deal with it, Epictetus!)

A final review/recommendation:

This is a great–and above all, short–book, ideal for reading on your lunch break as a reminder to keep on the path toward becoming who you wish to become. It also makes great bathroom or bedtime literature, since each page takes about one minute to read. Either way, get this and read it. I insist!

Photo credits: