Saturday, January 27, 2007

a couple for the ages

nonfiction is tough. when it's written poorly, it can be devastatingly hard to drag out the information you're seeking. when it's convincing, we start to wonder who's telling the truth. when it's revealing, we wonder how the author could really have known everything involved. still, the best nonfiction offers revelations about areas of the world and life we have never been. i make an effort to read a fair amount from the nonfiction shelf; here are the two i've just finished.

knockoff: the deadly trade in counterfeit goods
-tim phillips

maybe there are enough books already pointing out what's wrong with the world. who decides which things should be exposed? are authors motivated purely by altruism, or do some of them seek more to reshaped the world to their own liking. here, we learn where fake fashion, music, video, and other products come from and how our lives are effected by illegal use of intellectual property. although he trots out the terrorists and organized crime as orchestrators of much of the counterfeiting, phillips does a credible job of problematizing some of the sensationalism this invites. protection rackets, rivalries, and attacks on investigators are all revealed, providing plenty of reasons to swear off purchasing fake luxury items. even without the violence, there is plenty of scary stuff going on when you start talking about counterfeit prescription drugs. the writing never got in my way, and his britishness adds interesting personality in unexpected places. is 'garrett the ferret' a perfect rhyme? it is the way i pronounce those two words, but it isn't for phillips.

the looming tower: al qaeda and the road to 9/11
-lawrence wright

how close were we to spoiling the plot? sure, maybe you'll never know, but this book gives a tantalizing view of what went wrong. part history of al-qaeda, part critique of the intelligence services' pre-9/11 performance, it finds and follows a hero within the fbi, john o'neil. remarkable details of both government intelligence efforts and terrorist groups' history come out in boldly painted fashion. osama bin laden's family life, career, and descent into what might be arrogance, extremism, or excess are revealed.

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