Book Log 2018 #27: The Secret Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

We most often think of trees as solitary plants, living mutely among its fellow plants. Wohlleben, who spent 20 years working in Germany's forestry service, makes the case that this is far from the truth. Using recent scientific discoveries and his personal experience, he makes the case that trees are social and communal life forms, providing assistance to neighbors, communicating potential dangers, and helping to raise younger plants.

In some ways this book reminded me of Charles Mann's 1491, in the way it uses new information to dispel traditional - and often uninformed - ways of thinking about the given society (pre-Columbian in that book, arboreal in this one). I do find that this book drifts a little bit into more philosophical (some may say fanciful) notions of the interconnectedness of trees to other life forms - human included - but that doesn't take away from the more engrossing notions of how trees live. Where most people - myself included - don't really think about trees beyond having to rake leaves, this book challenges you to open up your thinking, which is never a bad thing.

 Book Log 2018 #26: Silesian Station by David Downing

As Europe lurches towards war, journalist John Russell finds himself being pulled ever deeper into the world of espionage. He agrees to work with American intelligence in return for citizenship, hoping it will protect him and his loved ones. It doesn't help; the Gestapo arrests his girlfriend, forcing him to use his Soviet connections to feed them disinformation. He agrees, but then also strikes a deal with the Soviets to work for them as well.

If that's not enough, Russell also investigates the disappearance of a girl shortly after arriving in Berlin, which only serves to put him in further danger.

I'll admit to being on the fence about this series a bit - it's good storytelling, but it's difficult to buy into the idea that Russell can be a triple agent without any of his masters deciding he's more trouble than he's worth. Still, I do think it's worth sticking with. The series is an interesting contrast to Alan Furst's Night Soldiers series, mostly in how they're structured (the more tightly connected books in Downing's series versus the looser connections in Night Soliders). 

 Book Log 2018 #25: Dead Man's Ransom by Ellis Peters

The English civil war rages on, and when the sheriff is taken prisoner, a swap is arranged for a young Welsh prisoner from the other side. The sheriff is brought to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, but is murdered before the swap is completed. Suspicion falls on the other prison, who just so happens to have fallen in love with the sheriff's daughter.

It's a pretty typical Cadfael plot, though the blurb I read about the book just now says that in helping the young prisoner Cadfael doesn't know that "the truth will be a trial for his own soul."  I didn't remember why that was, so I read a longer synopsis and, honestly, I don't think it's much of a trial. Cadfael has always been one to lean more towards natural justice than the law, and what goes down here fits that model.

 Book Log 2018 #24: The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin

The sixteenth Rebus novel moves between a murder of a rapist that may be the work of a serial killer and the death of a member of parliament that Rebus is getting waved off of as it may sully an important international meeting. You can imagine how Rebus takes that.

I was worried that the political aspect of the MP's murder would feel off, but it didn't. I do like it when Rebus bumps up against higher-level law enforcement and intelligence types. It would be weird if he was able to completely foil them, so the amount of success he does have seems realistic.

Book Log 2018 #23: Revolution for Dummies by Bassam Youssef

Bassam Youssef was a doctor in Egypt, and didn't see himself as being particularly political. All that changed during that country's uprising during the Arab Spring of 2011, when Youssef created and starred in a TV program that, much like The Daily Show and its cousins, used humor as a platform for critiquing the government and the ruling class.

Even with the changes that appeared to be in the air, doing this could get you into trouble. Youssef was charged with crimes, interrogated, and had his TV show shut down. Worried for his own safety, he fled Egypt.

These events (and more) are covered in this book, which provides both a personal history of the uprising and a look at how an authoritarianism survives, even when the people at the top change. It's an eye-opening book for those of us who live in a (somewhat) stable democracy, and who only saw the most basic coverage of what happened during the various Arab Spring protests.  It's also very funny, which makes it easy to see why the government wanted to shut him down. Bullies like nothing less than being laughed at.