Claims And Issues

From an American Author to Martin Niemoeller in 2024.

 

First they came for books of fiction, and I did not speak out because I was not a fiction writer.

 

Then they came for memoirs, and I did not speak out because I was not a writer of memoirs.

 

Then they came for children’s books, and I did not speak out because I did not write children’s books.

 

Then they came for my books, and there was no one left to read them.

 

 

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.  Interested in more Claims and Issues?  Interested in many things including Claims and Issues?  Check out my Substack newsletter. 

 

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A TALE OF TWO BOOK CLUBS.

For years I have been a member of my local Bar Association's book club.  As you might have guessed, over the years all but one of the members have  been lawyers.

          I also joined my church's book club for a year.  I wanted to investigate the way the two book clubs operate, and specifically the way that the respective members contribute to the discussions and what kinds of books are selected for discussion.

          I found that there are no significant differences between the two groups, their members' contributions to the book discussions, or the kinds of books selected.  In fact, on the last measure, sometimes the two groups read the same books!

          Every other member of the church group was a woman, while about 2/3 of the lawyers' group have been women over the years.

          The members' contributions to the book discussions were very much alike.  Some members contributed more than others, in my judgment, and some had more to say to my liking than others had to say, but there was no difference between the membership of each group on that score.

          The result of my forensic investigation of this very small sample of book clubs was that, in the end, I personally enjoy being around people who read books and talk about what they have read.  There is no other talent worth mentioning, to my mind, when you find that there is no difference between book club groups, only among the people who belong to them.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

TRICK OR TREAT, BUT DON’T EDIT?

(Photo by Dennis Wall)

This may be a trend.  In two weeks I have seen two errors in publications that I have never seen before, and never expected to see at all.

In a book on finance, an equation did not compute that was published in a book by a major publishing house and written by distinguished authors who are experienced in business reporting, Gretchen Morgenson & Joshua Rosner, These Are The Plunderers (Simon & Schuster 2023).  (The equation involved simple arithmetic, so that even I could see that it just did not add up.)

In another book, Sheldon Whitehouse & Jennifer Mueller, The Scheme (The New Press 2022), readers were expressly referred to another book by author and title.  Unfortunately the referred author is not the author of the referred book.  I know because I searched out the other author and the other book.  In other words, the authors of The Scheme referred their readers by name to a book and a person who did not write the book they recommended.

Today may be Halloween but it’s always the time of year to edit your stuff before it gets published.  We all make mistakes.  That’s why we have proof-reading and if we’re too busy, then we have copyeditors.

GO FORWARD, WRITERS.

THE POWER OF ONE.

Or, in these cases, the tail wags the dog.  It's a distraction.

          It's intentional.

          The story from Miami-Dade County has it that one parent objected to Amanda Gorman's poem at Joe Biden's 2021 Inauguration so it was pulled from elementary or middle school students (it is not clear to me which).

          The media reporting has tended to focus on the continuing attacks on books and ideas, forcing their removal from schools and libraries.

          I have focused instead on the fact that one person can make such a difference.  (If you or I ever thought that by ourselves we did not make much of a difference, we need to think again.)  How is it that one person can move thousands?

          It's a designed distraction.  By that I mean that there is a huge story, for example, of the Walt Disney Corporation pulling out of what was billed as a $1 Billion investment in a new Lake Nona Town Center area in Orange County.  I am uncertain how many thousands of jobs were lost, but it's a lot, perhaps as many as 2,000 jobs.

          Or the story of the same corporation shutting down a hotel in the Walt Disney World Resort.

          These stories and many stories like them have not gotten as much play as they would have, embarrassing as they are to the current "Top Guv," were it not for the distracting story of book bans.  Or in the case of the one Miami-Dade person, poem bans.

          That's what I mean when I say that this is a designed distraction.  It's a distraction by design.  If you run for president, after all, you can't have all this talk about losing billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

"SOMEBODY TOLD ME I COULD" HAS JUST BEEN PUBLISHED!

I was there.  I saw it, heard it, and lived it.

Dianne McTaggart Wall is a Polio survivor, an inspiration, a musical genius, and now she is an author.  She is also my wife.

So I could see up close and personal, as they say, what it took for her to write this book.  And what it took for her to live this story.  And what it still takes.

See for yourself.  Here is a link to the Amazon Books page where you will find information about the book and Sample Chapters from it:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BR8PLTYK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JIBQI7PU8DF4&keywords=dianne+mctaggart+wall&qid=1672317795&s=books&sprefix=dianne+mctaggart+wall%2Cstripbooks%2C100&sr=1-1.  I have read the entire book many times.  Reading the Sample Chapters on Amazon made the book new again to me, with appreciation and wonder.  I could see it through your eyes, fresh and joyful. 

Give yourself a reward.  Take a visit.  Sit down with Dianne.  Live, learn, and most of all, thrill to the story of how every person's life is well lived.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

BOOK REVIEW: "HOLDING THE LINE" by GEOFFREY BERMAN.

Gettysburg 2022 (Mark McClain / Washington Post)

The author mentions one time in 316 pages that Rudy Giuliani was his law partner.

He also mentions one time that he applied for a different job but took this one as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York when it was offered to him after the previous occupant was forced out. 

The title of this book describes the author's view that, like others, he would not confront Bill Barr or Mr. Barr's boss, if he could help it (at least until he himself was forced out by Mr. Barr under false pretenses), because it was better for us and for him that no-one else was in his position in the government.  The thinking went that if people like him were there, things would not be as bad.

The author is convinced that this path he is pushing was the right way for him to go, that of all possible options, he took the high ground.  As a reader, I was not convinced.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.