Mountain Views News          Saturday, August 27, 2016

B2

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Mountain Views-News Saturday, August 27, 2016 

Jeff’s Book Pics By Jeff Brown


Hidden Figures: The American 
Dream and the Untold Story of the 
Black Women Mathematicians 
Who Helped Win the Space 
Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

 The phenomenal true story of the 
black female mathematicians at NASA 
whose calculations helped fuel some 
of America’s greatest achievements 
in space. Soon to be a major motion 
picture starring Taraji P. Henson, 
Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, 
Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner.
Before John Glenn orbited the earth, 
or Neil Armstrong walked on the 
moon, a group of dedicated female 
mathematicians known as “human 
computers” used pencils, slide rules 
and adding machines to calculate the 
numbers that would launch rockets, 
and astronauts, into space.Among 
these problem-solvers were a group 
of exceptionally talented African 
American women, some of the 
brightest minds of their generation. 
Originally relegated to teaching 
math in the South’s segregated public 
schools, they were called into service 
during the labor shortages of World 
War II, when America’s aeronautics 
industry was in dire need of anyone 
who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these 
overlooked math whizzes had a shot 
at jobs worthy of their skills, and they 
answered Uncle Sam’s call, moving to 
Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, 
high-energy world of the Langley 
Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.
Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws 
required them to be segregated from 
their white counterparts, the women of 
Langley’s all-black “West Computing” 
group helped America achieve one of 
the things it desired most: a decisive 
victory over the Soviet Union in the 
Cold War, and complete domination of 
the heavens.Starting in World War II 
and moving through to the Cold War, 
the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, 
Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts 
of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine 
Johnson and Christine Darden, four African 
American women who participated in some of 
NASA’s greatest successes. It chronicles their careers 
over nearly three decades they faced challenges, 
forged alliances and used their intellect to change 
their own lives, and their country’s future.

Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the 
Revolutionary World by Maya Jasanoff

 This groundbreaking National Book Critics 
Award Winning book offers the first global history 
of the loyalist exodus to Canada, the Caribbean, 
Sierra Leone, India, and beyond.At the end of the 
American Revolution, sixty thousand Americans 
loyal to the British cause fled the United States and 
became refugees throughout the British Empire. 
Liberty’s Exiles tells their story. This surprising 
new account of the founding of the United States 
and the shaping of the post-revolutionary world 
traces extraordinary journeys like 
the one of Elizabeth Johnston, a 
young mother from Georgia, who 
led her growing family to Britain, 
Jamaica, and Canada, questing for a 
home; black loyalists such as David 
George, who escaped from slavery in 
Virginia and went on to found Baptist 
congregations in Nova Scotia and 
Sierra Leone; and Mohawk Indian 
leader Joseph Brant, who tried to find 
autonomy for his people in Ontario. 
Ambitious, original, and personality-
filled, this book is at once an intimate 
narrative history and a provocative 
analysis that changes how we see the 
revolution’s “losers” and their legacies.

How Everything Became War 
and the Military Became 
Everything: Tales from the 
Pentagon by Rosa Brooks 

 The first serious book to examine what 
happens when the ancient boundary 
between war and peace is erased.Once, 
war was a temporary state of affairs—a 
violent but brief interlude between 
times of peace. Today, America’s 
wars are everywhere and forever: our 
enemies change constantly and rarely 
wear uniforms, and virtually anything 
can become a weapon. As war 
expands, so does the role of the US 
military. Today, military personnel 
don’t just “kill people and break 
stuff.” Instead, they analyze computer 
code, train Afghan judges, build 
Ebola isolation wards, eavesdrop on 
electronic communications, develop 
soap operas, and patrol for pirates. 
You name it, the military does 
it.Brooks traces this seismic shift 
in how America wages war from an 
unconventional perspective—that 
of a former top Pentagon official 
who is the daughter of two anti-war 
protesters and a human rights activist 
married to an Army Green Beret. 
Her experiences lead her to an urgent warning: 
When the boundaries around war disappear, we risk 
destroying America’s founding values and the laws 
and institutions we’ve built—and undermining the 
international rules and organizations that keep our 
world from sliding towards chaos. If Russia and China 
have recently grown bolder in their foreign adventures, 
it’s no accident; US precedents have paved the way 
for the increasingly unconstrained use of military 
power by states around the globe. Meanwhile, we 
continue to pile new tasks onto the military, making it 
increasingly ill-prepared for the threats America will 
face in the years to come.By turns a memoir, a work 
of journalism, a scholarly exploration into history, 
anthropology and law, and a rallying cry, this book 
transforms the familiar into the alien, showing us 
that the culture we inhabit is reshaping us in ways 
we may suspect, but don’t really understand. It’s the 
kind of book that will leave you moved, astonished, 
and profoundly disturbed, for the world around us 
is quietly changing beyond recognition and time is 
running out to make things right.


All Things Considered By Jeff Brown

ZIRYAB: A FORMER SLAVE WHO 

CHANGED SOCIETY

Ziryab (789-857 AD) was a Persian polymath: 
a poet, musician, singer, cosmetologist, fashion 
designer, celebrity, trendsetter, strategist, 
astronomer, botanis, geographer and former 
slave. Most people have never heard of Ziryab, 
yet at least two of his innovations remain to this 
day: he introduced the idea of a three course meal 
(soup, main course, pudding) and he introduced 
the use of crystal for drinking glasses (previously 
metal was the primary material). He introduced 
asparagus and other vegetables into society, 
and made significant changes and additions to 
the music world. He had numerous children, 
all of whom became musicians, and spread his 
legacy throughout Europe. He could perhaps be 
considered an ancient Bach. The list of societal 
changes Ziryab made is immense – he popularized 
short hair and shaving for men, and wore different 
clothes based on the seasons. He created a pleasant 
tasting toothpaste which helped personal hygeine 
(and longevity) in the region, and also invented an 
underarm deodorant. He also promoted bathing 
twice daily.Ziryab revolutionized the court at 
Córdoba in Spain when he settled there and made it 
the stylistic capital of its time. Whether introducing 
new clothes, styles, foods, hygiene products, or 
music, Ziryab changed Andalusian culture forever 
. The musical contributions of Ziryab alone are 
staggering, laying the early groundwork for classic 
Spanish music. Ziryab transcended music and 
style and became a revolutionary cultural figure in 
8th and 9th century Iberia.


SEAN’S SHAMELESS REVIEWS: 

By Sean Kayden

toymaker15 inchglitterball$75
jinglebells8 inchglitterball$15
shiningstar16 inchsilverglitterstar$20
candycane8 inchcandydiamondswirl$15
jollyholly5 inchmirrorball$10
rudolph’s 
nose12 inchredshinyball$50
SIERRA MADRE
HELP TRIM THE COMMUNITY TREE 2016 
FIVE SONGS THAT YOU NEED TO HEAR

Adam Olenius – “Feels 
Like Feels Right” – The 
lead singer of Shout Out 
Louds recently released his 
debut solo EP called “Looking Forward To The 
New Me.” It’s an amazing 5-song EP featuring the 
standout track, “Feels Like Feels Right.” The wistful 
endeavor spans the course of four minutes and 
forty-six seconds. It’s immaculate tune that’s quite 
mellow and serene on the music side and incredibly 
reflective. This five-song collection should surely 
hold Shout Out Louds fans over until their new 
album next year. In the meantime, “Feels Like Feels 
Right” definitely feels right on all cylinders. 

 Plastic Flowers – “Lucy” - Dream pop two-
piece Plastic Flowers dropped their sophomore 
LP, “Heavenly” a few months ago. It’s a perfectly 
packaged hazy pop composition featuring the 
shimmery, “Lucy.” The duo, originally from 
Greece but now hail from London, weaves together 
echoing guitars, subtle synths, and live drums into 
a summery and bouncy indie-pop song. There’s 
a 80s feel here, which is great for those looking for 
nostalgia. If not, it’s still a lovely effort worth looking 
into as well as the entire record itself.

 courtship. – “Stop For Nothing” – The new Los 
Angeles based duo of Eli Hirsch and Micah Gordo, 
two talented songwriters in their own right, come 
together for courtship. Within 3 weeks of knowing 
each other, they had already started a project. “Stop 
For Nothing” is the band’s first song and it has the 
potential to be a huge late summer/sleeper hit. Both 
members have said artists like MGMT, Passion 
Pit, Starfucker, and Stevie Wonder has inspired 
them. “Stop For Nothing” is a synthpop / indie 
rock hybrid, lively, and cheerful in its hopefulness. 
Soft backing instrumentals and sleek vocals segue 
into the swelling, exuberant chorus, one that you 
just can’t help but croon along to. It’s the catchiest 
summer tune and while they seem to be relatively 
unknown, I see that changing in the foreseeable 
future. 

 Cymbals Eat Guitars – “Have a Heart” – NYC 
rockers, Cymbals Eat Guitars are gearing up to 
release their fourth studio album, “Pretty Years” 
next month. “Have a Heart” is a sentimental yet 
wistful number that collects all of the record’s 
noted inspirations, which range from Bruce 
Springsteen, David Bowie, and The Cure. The track 
is an easy listening rock exertion from a band that 
consistently puts out solid records. However, with 
their fourth release looming, Cymbals Eat Guitars 
are slightly trying to reinvent themselves with this 
retro offering and frankly, it’s working in their 
favor. “Pretty Years” will be out September 16 on 
Sinderlyn.

 Midnight Faces – “Heavenly Bodies” – “Heavenly 
Bodies,” the new single from Midnight Faces, is a 
snyth-pop charged rocket ship blasting into celestial 
space. The L.A. trio synthesizes the gloss of ’80s new 
wave and drive of post-punk to a crisp but dreamy 
sound. Originally collaboration between Matthew 
Doty and singer Phil Stancil, the band now includes 
drummer Paul Doyle as a full-timer. The threesome 
have completed work at L.A.’s The Ship studio on the 
third Midnight Faces album and the follow-up to 
2014’s “The Fire Is Gone.” “Heavenly Bodies” is the 
title track, starting at leisureliness before reaching 
takeoff with a swish of effects and Stancil’s longing 
vocals.

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