The Fish that Ate the Whale

By Rich Cohen

Who was Sam Zemurray? Where did he come from? Where did he go? What did he do? If you do not know all of the answers to these questions, you will be in for a true surprise. For starters, he was the son of a Jewish wheat farmer in Bessarabia (present-day Moldavia). After his father's death, he emigrated to the United States, specifically Selma, Alabama. Not content with the status quo, Sam went on to bigger and better things: bananas! He started out with "ripes", bananas too ripe to reach market in time. Then he moved on to trading in green bananas from Central America which fared better. His next step was to buy land in Central America, specifically Honduras, and streamline the banana growing business. Lastly, he took over the United Fruit Company, one of the most notorious or glorious companies of the first half of the 20th century, depending on how you look at it. Along the way, you will come across military coups, bribery, colorful characters who seem like they came out of a novel or movie and the colorful public and private life of Sam Zemurray, a constant overshadowing theme throughout the book.

I advise you to hold onto your seats when you start reading this book, because Rich Cohen takes off at a gallop and never slows to ensure the reader that there is never a dull moment. I took the time to read some of the reviews on this book Amazon, and there is a tendency to criticize Mr. Cohen's role in this book, especially how he uses the first person and, to the taste of some, conjectures too much about Zemurray. Even though some of this may be true, I particularly champion the author's style. The way I see it, there probably wasn't a lot of factual, objective information about Zemurray's life, his private life in particular. So what Mr. Cohen artfully did was to breathe life into the skeleton of Sam the Banana Man. I would equate this strategy to colorizing a black and white photo. You have to guess the original colors, but with common sense and a creative bent, you can approximate the original colors. In fact, you may color the photo better than if it truly had been a color photo. I think that if the author had stuck to his research, the plain facts, this book would have read like an encyclopedia article: dull, boring and lackluster.

If you have read any other books about United Fruit or the banana trade as I have, you will be pleased by the fact that this book is not academic in the sense that the language is scholarly and filled with footnotes. The author's tone is somewhere between academic and casual, and he really wants you to participate in this tale of business and adventure. You won't find yourself standing on the sidelines; you'll be in the ring with the author and Zemurray and the other characters. Though I wouldn't classify it as an easy read, if you stick with it, you will be rewarded by an insightful, entertaining and unique experience. You can also use this book as a springboard to delve into the banana trade, politics, Central America and many other issues.

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The Price of Escape-David Unger

The Price of Escape

 

by David Unger

This is a book in which two dissimilar worlds collide: a monumental clash of cultures and desires that persists throughout the book. It starts out with the first misfortune of Samuel Berkow, the main character, whose last city of residence was Hamburg. Though he was a Jew, he considered himself more German than anything. He belonged to the wealthy merchant class and was accustomed to the comforts of life. After Kristallnacht, there were many anti-Semitic incidents that led Samuel's uncle Jacob to insist, and more importantly, finance Samuel's flight from Europe. His destination would be Guatemala City, where his cousin Heinrich lived. It was supposed that Heinrich would get Samuel on his feet. So Berkow sailed to Panama, and from there to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. You could say that Puerto Barrios is the direct opposite of Hamburg in many ways: it is hot, dirty, smelly, backward, desolate, desperate-and many other sad and rundown adjectives that could be strung along with this sentence. Even compared to the rest of Guatemala, it is an area in and of itself. In fact, it is really more a part of the Caribbean, bordered by Belize to the north and Honduras to the south. It is home to many Anglophone blacks or Garífuna, as they are called.

Though seemingly in the background, the United Fruit Company, a US company notorious for taking over parts of Central America and planting banana plantations, was very much a part of Puerto Barrios. In fact, it was responsible for the town’s boom as well its bust. When the United Fruit Company’s operations were headquartered in Puerto Barrios, it was in much better shape, but when the company decided to move inland to Bananera, Puerto Barrios was reduced to a mere port, and it suffered greatly. This gave locals reason to be resentful toward the company and speak poorly of it and spread rumors. There was even an American United Fruit Company employee, the colorful Alfred “Alf” Lewis, who felt cheated because he was stationed in Puerto Barrios when his true desire was to join the management and enjoy the status and salary that he felt he deserved.

You can imagine that Samuel was utterly unprepared for this entire ordeal. In fact, he was. He went through countless tribulations before leaving Puerto Barrios, and in addition to this, having been uprooted from his native Germany seems to have made him reminisce about his melancholy past. Samuel spent many days and many nights trying to get out of Puerto Barrios, and the author has a way of making it seem like he was there for months, when in fact, his stay was much shorter.

 

I like this book because it was simple in design, but always kept me on my toes. I was always asking myself “What is Samuel going to do next?” “What terrible thing is going to befall him?” “Who is going to either cross him or help him?” And perhaps the most compelling question with an equally compelling but cryptic answer: When is Samuel going to leave Puerto Barrios?

I didn’t find myself paging backward to find out something that I had forgotten about the plot. Mr. Unger wrote coherent content and has a style that flows naturally. It is interesting to note that the author was born in Guatemala but raised from a young age in the United States. I followed the writing style carefully to see if there was a hint of Spanish in it, and the truth is that there is not. In fact, I find his grammar, syntax and sentence length to be especially Anglo-Saxon in nature. However, the backdrop is entirely Latin American, and some of the characters fit the bill as well.

 

One last thing I came away with after reading this book is that Puerto Barrios, like any city or town a person has lived in, is an inner as well as an outer experience. Samuel’s version of or experience in Puerto Barrios is much different than Alf’s or that of a visiting American artist who had a great time on the bay. After reflecting on the matter, I really think that Puerto Barrios was Samuel’s own personal hell that he transported from Germany to Guatemala.

 

This book was written for adventure seekers. Though it exceeds your garden-variety dime store novel by leaps and bounds, you won’t have to invest too much of your attention span, which means that you can focus on the adventure, excitement and despair. Furthermore, you can either read it voraciously or during snatches of your free time (on the bus, in the doctor’s office waiting room or before going to sleep).

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To learn more about the author, click here.

Amazon Prime-beware of free trial!

Although you will not have to pay for the service for one month, if you do decide to go for the free trial (as I did), US$99 will flee from your bank account and be refunded who knows when. So let's say, you have less than $99 in your checking account and no line of credit.-You could be owing your bank money for something that was initially "free". I chatted with a customer service representative, and was explained that I did not have to pay this money. But still, Amazon should tell me that they are going to debit my account before they do this sneaky trick. That way, I know my options. So I will never, ever, ever, ever buy anything from Amazon again!

Cast Away for These reasons Economic Jihad

Cast Away for These reasons Economic Jihad by Jo M. Sekimonyo

 

To understand what this book is about, you must first understand what the author is about. He is not just another man on a rant, speaking unintelligibly on his soapbox. No. He is a master thinker with much to teach and share to those who will listen. He has his eccentricities such as listening to vinyl records only, and he takes great pleasure in finding troves such as Thelonious Monk albums (a musician whose work I probably enjoy as much as he does). A common theme in this book is poor distribution of wealth and also the folly of economists. Mr. Sekimonyo is something of an exception in his sociopolitical ideals. I am used to someone who speaks of social injustice and economic inequality as being either Marxist, socialist or communist. And there are those, as he rightly states, that pigeonhole him as such and shut him out. That is most definitely their loss: in fact, the author is none of the above, however he does say that capitalism has some serious problems. Indeed, he writes: "...people fail to realize that Capitalism was part of paradigms based on barbaric social norms and practices." Unlike some economists in their ivory towers. Mr. Sekimonyo ventures out into the world. He will ride Greyhound buses over thousands of miles of highway and fly to Africa, where poverty can be observed in its crudest state. Major problems there were corruption and repression. He makes a poignant observation that problems in Africa are found in the Western Hemisphere as well. As an example, he cites when former Gov. of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich was arrested for trying to sell Barak Obama's vacant Senate seat while in public office. I commend the author for bringing this up because as Americans, we are taught that there are certain events that do not take place in our country, but rather in remote, Third World countries. In the coming chapters, the author continues to show us more examples of social inequality and injustice-always preceded by meticulous research and first-hand knowledge, never taking people or events at face value.

 

I picked up this book by chance, and, normally accepting of capitalism and, I admit, ignoring poverty, though it abounds in my adopted country, Chile, I went through three phases: Phase 1: I didn't believe what the author was saying, I wanted to give counterexamples and shut it out. Phase 2: I kept going, compelled by the author's solid style and well-thought-out arguments, I began to see that he had a point. Phase 3: I saw the light. Even though my ideology is different than his, I saw the need to support the poor, to make a difference, in other words, I answered the wake-up call.

 

I can think of myriad reasons for reading this book and a whole spectrum of people who would be interested in it. The first reason that comes to mind is, no pun intended, to open your mind. We are dealing with a person who, though his ideas differ from those of the majority, explains himself well and captures your attention. Another reason would be to get a good grade (in high school or college) in an anthropology, history or sociology class by writing a book report. I'm sure that you would surprise your teacher/professor. Perhaps you are just a freethinker, someone who isn't quite content with the status quo. In that case, this book will give you material for many, many conversations and discussions to come.

 

To buy the book, for only $3.99, please click here.

Slide Spin

Slide Spin by Subbarao Mukkavilli

Slide Spin

Since this book is full of wisdom, some in the way of famous quotes, I thought I would add one myself: "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."--Benjamin Franklin. In fact, this is one of the underlying tenets of Slide Spin, an e-book on how to prepare business presentations in PowerPoint and other comparable software suites that will make you and your company successful. That is to say, if you prepare for a top-notch presentation with help from this book, the outcome will be more than satisfactory. The book itself is divided into three sections: 1. "The rationale behind creating compelling presentations..." 2. "the core concepts of creating effective presentations." 3. An outline of "… various concepts, ideas and online tools to further fortify our message." Another component of this book that I particularly like is a list of myths about what is needed to create a presentation and the rationale proving them wrong. Here are a few of those myths so that you can get an idea: 1. I am not a creative person. 2. My current job is not in demand of presentation skills. 3. We have very good content on our website, plenty of advertisement material designed by our ad agency… I can include all these in my presentation. 6. Creating presentations is a daunting task but I don't have an expert to help me. Why start something I cannot complete? 7. I'm not an expert in graphic design. I know nothing about creative tools. Here the author brilliantly provides you all the reasons that you can indeed prepare dazzling PowerPoint slides.

Though I am not a business executive, I clearly understand the author's motive and true willingness to help the reader. I am able to project the outcome of a potential presentation by following the book's instructions. One of the best lessons I learned was to focus on the content of the presentation rather than the design, fonts, etc,. What I really like about this book is that it is not written by some lofty professor with little or no hands-on experience; it is written by someone who has been out in the business world preparing and exhibiting his own presentations. In other words, he walks the walk and talks the talk, and he backs everything up with actual slides and tables, so the reader can see for him or herself what it's all about. His tone is lively without being dense. In fact, he employs interesting elements or "spice"- which is yet another incentive to keep reading his book. In addition, there is always something new, refreshing and exciting coming around the bend. I felt compelled to finish the book.

There are many reasons for acquiring this book. Some are:

It will catapult you into a successful career through superb presentations.

It is entertaining. Even if you did not learn anything from the book (which I guarantee you will) you will have fun reading it!

You don't have to enroll in a special course to pick up something new for your career. Sometimes it is enough just to read a book or for someone to give you some sound advice.

It is inexpensive. Only 6 dollars!

Below is are relevant links.

Main Website

Author Site

Amazon Slide Spin ebook

 

Supernatural Hero

by Eran Gadot

 

This is a heart rending novel that no pre-teen and his or her parents want to miss. Andy, the main character, is at that age where he is neither a child nor an adult. Sometimes he tries to do adult things and is treated like a child. Other times, his parents treat him like a child and his reaction is much closer to an adult’s. Andy is a self-declared nerd and is especially good at math but doesn’t play sports. He lives with his parents and older sister, Lynn who only has rude comments for him. She has no qualms about making fun of her brother in front of her friends. Since both Andy’s parents are busy, Andy mostly relies on his grandfather for moral support. They get along great!

 

Andy is especially keen on winning the heart of Zoe, a classmate. He feels that this is impossible because he is a nerd and she is popular. In the meantime, Andy learns that his grandpa has terminal cancer and dies shortly thereafter. This marks a difficult time for the whole family. Something very peculiar happens to Andy—he can see his grandpa’s spirit and talk to him and his grandpa can talk back to him too. This becomes a big issue for his parents and they want to take him to a therapist. Andy tries not to talk out loud to his grandpa while he’s around other people but he is nevertheless overheard on occasion. Andy’s grandpa continues to give him advice, specifically to ask Zoe out on a date.

 

This book touches my emotions. It takes me back to when I was in the sixth grade and had problems like Andy and I wanted to be more grown up, but couldn’t always. It was translated from another language, but I wouldn’t know that if it weren’t stated at the beginning of the book. It reads like a native English text! I’m also drawn to the supernatural issue. Andy’s grandpa cares about him so much that he lingered around Earth to talk to him and give him guidance. That’s amazing. What a brilliant move by the author!

 

This book should be required reading at school because it is both interesting (I couldn’t put it down) and it teaches core values such as family unity and unconditional support. On that same note, parents should read Supernatural Hero along with their children too because it shows them the hidden things that children don’t always tell their parents for fear they won’t understand. Buy it here!

Unplugged

by P.D. Quaver

Technology is everywhere in our lives today. We are forced to use it on many occasions and on others, we just use it over other activities. This teen novel starts out as a group of teenagers from well-to-do families addicted to technology: cell phones, computers and other devices. At their parents' behest, they all check into a boarding school to cure them of their technology addictions. Although they are definitely sequestered from technology and the outside world as they know it, it soon becomes apparent that the school, The Natural Path, has other designs for them. Dr. Zarkov, the head of the program, turns out to be involved in a kidnapping plot. The kids are flown off to a tropical island far away from home. They interact with each other and learn coping skills and share humor with each other despite the circumstances. I was constantly on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next. A couple of times, I sincerely thought that some of the students would lose their life—for diverse reasons.

 

I found this book to be a pleasant read. It took me back to when I was the characters' age. There was some technology back then — but of course, nothing like now. I found myself engaging with the hostages in my head, pretending to give them advice and laughing along with them. This is something that happens to me when a book is well-written by a skilled author.

 

Whatever stereotypes might have fit the kids at first (rich, nerdy, living outside the law in the case of the hacker) either disappeared or were fleshed out as the story leaped out of bounds on an endless roller coaster. This is something not a few authors neglect to do—describe characters so they are three dimensional and not just flat, cursory descriptions. Yet another talent of P.D, Quaver’s that comes to light.

 

I recommend this book for any teenager who wants to experience an entertaining story and also contemplate their own personal situation. If their parents are so inclined, they can read it too and have another reason to bond with their children. You can purchase it on Amazon and download it to your e-reader in less than a minute!