Peterson's Rules are better than Gibbs (and there are fewer of them)

12 Rules For Life, An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson; 2018; $25.95; 409 pages; Random House Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 978-0-345-81602-3; checked out from Multnomah County Library, Albina; 5/3/19-5/23/19

One of our teachers at church, who was also a classmate of mine in high school mentioned this book on Easter Sunday.  I decided to pick it up.  It is a great read and I am going to purchase a copy so that I can mark it up.  Each of the rules make sense after reading the book and many are self explanatory.  I think lots more people should read this book. 

10/10

Rule 1 Stand up straight with your shoulders back

Rule 2 Treat yourself like you would someone you are responsible for helping

Rule 3 Make friends with people who want the best for you

Rule 4 Compare yourself with who you were yesterday, not with who someone else is today

Rule 5 Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them

Rule 6 Set your house in perfect order before you criticise the world

Rule 7 Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient)

Rule 8 Tell the truth – or, at least, don’t lie

Rule 9 Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t

Rule 10 Be precise in your speech

Rule 11 Do not bother children when they are skate-boarding

Rule 12 Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street

Nothing to See Here

Lost Portland Oregon by Val C. Ballestrem; 2018; ;$21.99; 158 pages; The History Press, Charleston, SC; 978-1-4671-3953; checked out from Multnomah County Library, Central; 4/29/19-5/3/19

Three weeks after I finished reading this I decided to review this slim volume.  There are great stories of people who built great buildings and now no one remembers either the building or the person it was named.  The architect is likely the most remembered person.  Luckily the author was able to find pictures, postcards or lithographs.  If you ever wondered what used to be somewhere before it became a chrome and glass monolith or a parking lot this is the book to refer to.  
8/10

Amos Decker is growing

Redemption, An Amos Decker Novel by David Baldacci; 2019; $29.00; 420 pages; Grand Central Publishing, New York, NY; 978-1-5387-6141-0; checked out from Multnomah County Library, Sellwood; 4/24/19-4/29/19

Amos Decker returns to his hometown on his late daughters birthday to visit the graveside of her and his wife.  As he is in town he is confronted by someone he put in his prison who asserts their innocence.  Before Amos is able to follow the man is killed in a horrific manner.  Amos begins to investigate what was his first case as a detective that sent a man to jail for life.  In Amos's obsessive quest for justice more people are killed.  The investigation runs it's tentacles throughout the town until the FBI takes notice and it becomes much more than an investigation into a long ago multiple murder.  Conspiracy, money, foreign influence, laundering and trafficking all come together before all is said and done.  
Throughout the story Amos is becoming more empathetic, less robotic and his brain is changing.  

10/10

Power corrupts

Absolute Power by David Baldacci; 1996; 470 pages; Warner Books, New York, NY; 0-446-51996-0; checked out from Multnomah County Library, Capitol Hill; 4/18/19-4/24/19

The President of the United States is a horn dog who will do whatever he has to stay in power.  
One of his illicit tryst goes bad when he decides to get rough with the wife of one of his best friends.  She attacks him with a knife and he yells and the Secret Service agents fatally shoot her.  He is so drunk that he doesn't really know what has happened but his Chief of Staff orchestrates a cover up, with the two Secret Service agents and the President.  Unbeknownst to any of them there is an eyewitness to the entire encounter, who also holds a key piece of evidence. 
When he gets fed up with the President's hypocrisy he decides to blackmail the President in a unique way.  At that moment the saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely comes true.  All the forces the President commands come down on the eyewitness.  
One man stands in the way.  

If you saw the movie with Gene Hackman and Clint Eastwood, you only got half the story.  There is a central character in the book who was dropped in the movie.

10/10