Michael Walker

I am reading 'Hitch-22. A Memoir' right now and I think it is one of his best books, possibly because the subject is mainly himself. Hitchens recalls his education at a public school, then at Oxford University, where he was a radical, left- wing student and a member of the Labour Party for a while. He graduated to a successful career in journalism in London, on various newspapers, and traveled to many of the world's trouble spots to report on hostilities. Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Cyprus were some of the countries he went to. He went to the Middle East mostly. Hitchens emigrated to the United States , which was a good decision overall.His writing improved noticeably in the US. He chose Washington as his home, close to the Beltway and political action, which he relished. He supported the invasion of Iraq, surprisingly. He strongly disliked Henry Kissinger and Bill Clinton among others. He frequently expressed his controversial opinions on You Tube, where he was a natural debater. Often he criticized Islam, the religion and the culture. ' Hitch-22' is also about his friendships with other writers: Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis, Ian McEwan-novelists all- and James Fenton the poet. Having loyal friends made Christopher Hitchens' life so much more enjoyable. He was born for friendship.

I liked the short book very much. It is about Christopher Hitchens' terminal illness of cancer of the esophagus, which had metastasized to other parts of the body. Mr. Hitchens fell ill on a book signing tour on June 8, 2010. He felt extreme nausea and had to be hospitalized. After his cancer was diagnosed, Christopher underwent many cancer treatments in hospital, at first as an outpatient. He found chemotherapy very difficult to take (' this chemo-poison'). Nor did he find the proton beam radiation at all pleasant; it left red rashes on his body. Intermittently, he was losing a lot of weight, as the cancer ate into body fat and muscle. Christopher Hitchens died on December 15 2011, in a hospital in Houston, Texas, having lived nineteen months after diagnosis. In that time he was writing down random thoughts, like diary entries. He referred to his new state of sickness as living in 'Tumortown'. He thought about his mortality and how it related to his life. He quoted lines from John Betjeman's dark but brilliant poem 'Five O'Clock Shadow', p. 69; and thought about the German philosopher Nietzsche, who wanted to see the Superman arise above the mediocre mass of people around him. I want to see that also. Friedrich Nietsche sought a better attitude than Christian forgiveness, which he saw as weakness. Nietsche's own later life was unfulfilled, dogged by ill health then insanity, but his philosophy endures with many people. Christopher became an atheist, after leaving a Methodist school in England, but he still knew and quoted the scriptures. Incidentally, I am Catholic. In his last weeks Christopher thought about prayer, perhaps more than anything. He knew that Christians of various churches were praying for him . He quoted Ambrose Bierce's definition of prayer :' A petition that the laws of nature be suspended in favor of the petitioner'. He did not find that very convincing. He did not change his mind and convert or call a priest. He was losing his voice and the ability to write. I think that Christopher fought the cancer manfully, even though there was little or no chance of a cure. He is much missed as a nonfiction writer and speaker on You Tube. .

I bought this book soon after it was published in 2006, and, on a book tour to Auckland, Allison signed the title page for me. The book launch was in an upstairs office somewhere in Queen Street, well attended; Allison gave a half-hour talk about her new book and her life as a medium, before signing for the people. Allison DuBois is a well known medium, or psychic, who gives readings to clients who have lost a child or parent to death. She channels messages from the deceased to their loved ones who are grieving. She was the inspiration for the TV series 'Medium', which was a drama series based on herself, her husband Joe, and their children. Allison has written several other books, like 'Talk to Me' and 'Don't Kiss Them Goodbye'. In the Introduction to 'We Are Their Heaven', she writes that the deceased stay near to their family by choice, and feel joy 'when we are talking about them or to them'. She believes in God and 'a heaven, a flawless place where we exist after we die'. I agree with that. Conversely, we are also heaven for those who have crossed to the other side if we stay in touch with them. She calls passing on a message from a spirit in the afterlife 'bringing them through'. The first five chapters have a similar structure.Allison narrates the story of a client who has been bereaved, seeks a reading from her, and receives messages from the deceased. It is some comfort for their grief. Allison then lets the client tell their own story in their own words, and usually adds her own comment after that. The reading may be over the phone or in person. One woman, who lost her nineteen- year-old son Brian received a text message from him on her phone: 'I love you mom'. Allison terms the client 'the sitter' in the dialogue. Allison relates how her own father passed in 2002, but they stayed in touch, partly through another medium. Her dad's favorite song 'Last Dance', by Donna Summer, kept coming on when she walked into buildings. It was like a last dance together, as her dad was a professional ballroom dancer. Allison touches on those who have passed through committing suicide, or have been murdered. A person who commits suicide had a chemical imbalance, which caused worsening depression, in her opinion. She is sympathetic to victims of murder, but obviously not to the criminals. She has been helpful to police in Phoenix and the Texas Rangers with crime scenes.She goes far beyond the crime scene photos. I identified most with the chapter 'Angels of the Hospice'. Her mother's friend Shari was dying from cancer in Gardener Home, Phoenix, and Allison visited her at the end. Entering the hospice was difficult. 'I was bumping into those who had died as I walked down the hall'. A kindly chaplain helped Shari with crossing over to the other side and, coincidentally, spoke at her funeral.'There were many angels in that hospice'. In 2006, I had seen my young brother pass away from cancer in an Auckland hospice, a traumatic experience for the whole two weeks, as he just got worse and worse. I had my own grief issues to deal with for quite some time afterwards-one reason I bought this book. I cannot say for certain if all Allison's claims are true or not. Thirteen years have passed since her book launch.I do know that her book helped me greatly at the time. Now I have regular dreams in which my parents and brother appear. It is my only contact with loved ones gone from me. Finally, Allison talks of her book tour to Australia and New Zealand. 'Auckland was my first stop. It has a small-town charm'. An understatement I guess.

David Lange ( 1942-2005) preferred to write his own autobiography, and he wrote it well. 'My Life' was published in 2005, not long before his death. Mr Lange was a member of parliament for Mangere 1977-1996, and Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand 1984-1989. Before politics, Mr Lange was a lawyer, in Kaikohe and Auckland.I was his near contemporary at Auckland University in the 1960s and I noticed him on campus. David Lange devotes the early chapters to his family ancestry and parents. They were long established New Zealanders. His father's side of the family were from Germany originally. His great-grandfather was a tailor in Thames. On his mother Phoebe's side, the Reids came from Scotland and some of them migrated to Tasmania. A few moved from there to New Zealand. David's father, Roy, was a single-practice doctor in Otahuhu, South Auckland. Roy had his medical practice at home. They were a Methodist family, the mother being more religious than the father. Even at primary school, David was overweight and little interested in sports. At Otahuhu College, he liked academic subjects-French and Latin-and public speaking. He won speech competitions. David Lange tells his life story in chronological order, without flashbacks in time. His life was very busy, and I can give only the main events.. His profession was the law. He studied law part-time while working for a firm. He graduated LLB in 1966, and was called to the bar in March 1967. He became a defence lawyer in mainly criminal cases, in Kaikohe then back in Auckland. He had his own law offices.He was successful in getting many clients acquitted. He met his first wife Naomi on an overseas trip to England. They were married in Newark, Nottinghamshire, where she was from. Soon after they returned to New Zealand. Later, they had three children. In 1977 David Lange won a by-election for the seat of Mangere. I remember that as I was teaching in a local high school then. Once in parliament, Mr Lange spoke well in the debating chamber, rose in opinion polls and defeated BobTizard to become deputy leader of the party. Bill Rowling stepped down early in 1983 and David Lange was elected leader by caucus. A meteoric rise. Labour had lost the 1978 and 1981 elections, even though they won a majority of the popular vote. The Prime Minister Robert Muldoon called a snap election in July 1984 and this time Labour defeated National easily. Mr Lange and his finance minister Roger Douglas decided to devalue the NZ dollar by twenty percent, even before they took office. Rob Muldoon had to agree to it, before departing. As Prime Minister David Lange had a mixed record. He gave regular press conferences and televised reports of Cabinet meetings. All good. He let his cabinet ministers get on with the job. He was a witty and popular public speaker, specializing in one-liners. His government was criticized, however,for its economic reforms, which looked right-wing. He and Douglas introduced a GST tax of ten percent on all goods and services. Prices went up. The biggest tax cuts- to compensate-went to those on the highest incomes, although the cuts were across the board. David Lange endorsed Labour's nuclear-free policy regarding American ships docking at NZ ports. He saw that as more important than the ANZUS agreement. He stood up to George Shultz and Bob Hawke in talks about the issue.

I have liked Dylan's music since the 1960s and an early album 'John Wesley Harding' stood out for me. I read 'Chronicles. Volume One' some time ago and it made an impression. The book was first published in 2004: it is divided into five sections. It is 1961 and 'Markin' up the Score' begins in West 70th. Street, New York. where the young Bob Dylan is writing folk songs and singing in clubs in Greenwich Village. There is no time wasted on family background or genealogy. Dylan had hitch-hiked from the Midwest to New York, 'the city that would come to shape my destiny'. He accompanied himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica while singing in the clubs . Although he had signed with Leeds Music, his main recording contract was with Columbia Records. It still is. The talent scout, John Hammond, brought Bob to Columbia.Of course, Dylan heard many other musicians and was influenced by some of them. He mentions a favourite singer of my youth, Ricky Nelson. Dylan played clubs like Cafe Wha,where he could earn 20 dollars a night. His big break came when Dave Van Ronk offered him a spot at the large prestigious Gaslight club. 'I'd come from a long ways off and had started from a long ways down. But now destiny was about to manifest itself. I felt like it was looking right at me and nobody else'. In New York Dylan used to stay at Dave Van Ronk's home, or with a couple named Ray and Chloe. He was happy to sleep on a couch in the living room.Thanks to Ray's large book collection, Dylan became self taught in literature, notably poetry. Dylan found that 'New York City was cold, muffled and mysterious, the capital of the world'. Thus ends 'The Lost Land'. Chapter 3 'New Morning' begins in the late 1960s. Bob's father died in the Midwest, ' my father was the best man in the world and probably worth a hundred of me, but he did not understand me'. Dylan had a motorcycle accident but he recovered. He was now living in Woodstock with his wife and five children, but that town became too cramped, not enough privacy, so they moved again. The poet Archibald MacLeish wanted Dylan to write some songs for his play 'Scratch' and at first it went well. However, the collaboration went nowhere and the play lasted only two days on Broadway. He and his family now lived in East Hampton. He went to Nashville to talk to his record producer Bob Johnston about making a new album. They recorded 'New Morning' in New York's Columbia studios: the album was only a moderate success. Fast forward to 1987 and 'Oh Mercy'. Dylan and his wife and children lived in Woodstock for a while, but it became stifling because of lack of privacy. They moved to East Hampton. He tried recording more songs with the producer Daniel Lanois, in New Orleans, where the studio sessions were difficult and tedious at times, but they were both happy with the record, which included the great songs 'Dignity', 'Most Of The Time', and 'Man in the Long Black Coat'. Well done Daniel. He did not rely too much on overdubbing. The men parted on good terms. So to 'The River of Ice'. Dylan talks about his birthplace, Duluth, Minnesota, and his schooling in Hibbing in the same state.Hibbing was near Lake Superior. He remembered Harry Truman speaking at a rally in Duluth. He liked Woody Guthrie's songs the more he heard them. Dylan was in Minneapolis for a while before he went to New York. Never far away was ' The Mississippi River, the bloodstream of the blues'. Like flying in the Great Circle, Dylan returns to New York of 1961, and name checks Joan Baez and his steady girlfriend the glamorous Suze Rotolo. Albert Grossman becomes his manager. If you like Dylan's songs, you would profit from reading this book.

I liked this controversial book, which was first published in 1984, when I bought it. The book is topical right now on the fortieth anniversary of the accident, and many articles have been written in the New Zealand 'Herald'.Because there are so many technical aviation details and the navigation evidence given by Air New Zealand is very complicated, however, it is not an easy book to review. I can only give a bare outline of the story, leaving out very many details; and say why I liked 'Verdict On Erebus'. Justice Peter Mahon, the author, was a one-man Royal Commission appointed to determine the causes of the air disaster of 28 November 1979 when an Air New Zealand DC10, Flight TE901, on a day trip sightseeing flight to Antarctica, crashed at 1500 feet altitude, into the lower slopes of Mt. Erebus, on Ross Island. There were no survivors among the 21 crew and 236 passengers. Justice Mahon was assisted by legal counsel, while other lawyers represented the passengers consortium and their families and the Airline Pilots Association. Lawyers also represented Air New Zealand and Civil Aviation in what became an adversary-type trial between the two hostile sides. Judge Mahon also asked questions of witnesses. The Royal Commission began hearings on 7 July 1980, would last 75 days and 52 witnesses took the stand and were examined and cross-examined. Air New Zealand's executive pilots, then Civil Aviation were called first to the witness box . They all blamed the pilots for breaching the minimum safe altitude for Antarctica of 16,000 feet ,or 6000 feet flying down McMurdo Sound. However, counsel assisting the Commission essentially demolished the altitude defense, by proving that there had been flights over McMurdo as low as 2000 feet, one with 'the boss' on board, in 1978. The altitude defence of Air New Zealand collapsed. The Chief Executive, Mr. Morrie Davis denied knowing about the articles in 'The Travelling Times' and 'Air New Zealand News' pamphlet. Hardly credible. Obviously, a pilot would fly low if possible to give the passengers a better view of the spectacular beauty of the Antarctic terrain. Objective evidence about the last 30 minutes of flight was collected from the crash site. The 'black box' ( flight data recorder) on a computer printout showed that all the aircraft systems were working perfectly, as well as showing the aircraft manoeuvres, position and speed. The cockpit voice recorder ( CVR) was of poor sound quality, and what was actually said by the five speakers in the loop is debatable in places. Captain Collins, the First Officer ( co-pilot), two Flight Engineers, and the in-flight Commentator, Peter Mulgrew, were the speakers , and one pilot had to respond. to anything that was said.The aircraft was thus flown by a team, not just the Chief Pilot. What they said, in short clipped sentences is in the book's fascinating transcript. I do accept that the two flight engineers expressed uncertainty and questioned Collins' decisions. The two pilots expressed no alarm, though. About 40 miles from the destination waypoint Mac Centre offered the crew a radar- assisted letdown to 1500 feet. There was cloud cover with a base of 3000 feet to descend through. Because there was a large break in the clouds, the captain declined radar assistance and flew two descending orbits on VMC, relying on eyesight. Here I have to wonder if the outcome would have been different if it was a radar letdown. Flying in clear air under cloud cover is not the same as flying in a cloudless sky. TE901 flew on in clear air-proved by passenger photographs- but also in a deceptive whiteout so they did not see Erebus at all, and crashed at 1500 feet on the mountain slopes. unfinished, resume tomorrow.

'102 Minutes. The Untold story of the fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers', by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, focuses on 353 people inside the towers when the buildings were struck by hijacked planes on September 11, 2001. The North Tower ( WTC 1) was hit at 8:46 am. and collapsed at 10:28 am. ( 102 minutes). The South Tower ( WTC 2) stood for less than an hour after impact: 9:02am.-9:58 am. The book also tells the less important story of people in the Marriott Hotel ( World Trade Center 3) at the time of the attacks. Many thousands of workers escaped from the Trade Center, but 2,749 lost their lives that morning when heaven and hell met. Most people who were trapped, or killed, were on or above the floors of impact. Each tower had 110 floors. An attempt to rescue people by helicopter from the roof of both towers did not happen, because of locked doors. Each chapter begins with the time in either the North Tower, or the South Tower, so that the clock is ticking away throughout the narrative. The changes in towers and floors gives the effect of a roving video camera. While the workers were going down the stairways or elevators, firefighters were coming up, trying to save people and get them out. Many firefighters gave their own lives. The drastic fires from the jetliners' fuel exploding were too high up to be extinguished. Floors 93-99 in the North Tower: floors 77-85 in the South Tower were impacted. The authors touch on the shortcomings of the Trade Center owners- the Port Authority- who allowed inadequate fireproofing on the trusses, only three stairwells in each tower with the exits too close together, and too few elevators on the high floors ( 78-110); which either caused the towers to fall or workers to get trapped. Other shortcomings were the new ( 1968) building code, which allowed more lightweight construction materials and little solid masonry; floor space was maximized at the expense of safety and escape exits; the stairways were clad in just a few inches of drywall. The authors give transcripts of cellphone calls which office workers made to loved ones, trying to contact the 911 system and the fire command center on the ground. Many calls were fruitless, through lack of time before the cellphones lost contact. There were many heroes that morning, some unsung until now. Frank De Martini, the manager of construction in the Trade Center, freed many in the North Tower below the 90th. floor by getting them out of offices, elevators which were stuck, and clearing a path through debris for them. He saved them. Frank De Martini and his assistants, Pete Negron, Carlos De Costa, and Pablo Ortiz, were never seen again. I will never forget their names. In the South Tower, Rick Rescorla, the security director at Morgan Stanley, supervised the evacuation of over 2500 employees of that firm, out of their offices, down the stairwells to the lobby or concourse and on to Liberty Street. Rick Rescorla was last seen on the tenth floor, giving instructions with a bullhorn. Rick saved Morgan Stanley, but not himself. He too will not be forgotten. Running through the narrative, like a refrain in a poem, or the leit-motif of a symphony, are reminders of the February 26, 1993 truck bomb attack in the parking basement , which caused mayhem in both towers and killed six people. The reminders of 1993 are what appealed to me most about the narrative.The terrorists were from the Middle East, Muslims like the hijackers of September 11, 2001.Were the lessons of 1993 heeded? Was the Port Authority vigilant enough to prepare for another possible terrorist attack, and practice escape drills? Did the Bush administration remember what happened in 1993, when there was talk of Al-Qaeda flying jet airliners into buildings in 2000 and 2001? Or were George Bush and his Cabinet too complacent about preventing the attacks? I could not put this book down.

I liked Tom Frame's 'The Life and Death of Harold Holt' very much.There is dramatic appeal, as Harold Holt, who had been Liberal Prime Minister of Australia for only a year,1966-1967, swam out to sea off Cheviot Beach, never to be seen again. His friends were watching from the shore, powerless to help. Did Holt drown accidentally, or did he effectively commit suicide? Frame thinks that it was an accident, but it is not certain. Earlier chapters in the biography cover Holt's successful career as a politician, becoming minister of various portfolios including Treasurer. He made the economy boom for a while. As Minister of Native Affairs,he was was noted for treating Aboriginal people fairly, ending the 'White Australia' immigration policy. Harold Holt also played an important role in an inquiry into the aircraft carrier 'Voyager' sinking, after it collided with a destroyer. Holt's opinion about the cause of the 'Voyager' sinking was proved correct. A friend from Adelaide told me that Holt was like a breath of fresh air after Bob Menzies. Tom Frame's biography of enigmatic Prime Minister is balanced and well worth reading.

Martin Dugard, the journalist and author, takes the reader on a three-week drive in a Citroen, then a Volkswagen Passat, clockwise around France through twenty-one stages of the 2005 Tour de France, which was won by Lance Armstrong, for the seventh time since 1999. Hence the title. Martin drove with his friend, Austin Murphy and, for a while, Neil Leifer the photographer. Dugard saw the start in Fromentine, and the start of most of the other stages. He would drive ahead to the town where the finish line was, to see that too. The Tour went east on flat roads,.dipped into Germany, then south to the Alps and across to the Pyrenees, then north to Paris for the finish, as always. The author keeps the reader entertained by what happened in each stage, the first ten overall placings, by time, for the whole Tour, which is a team race against the clock. Even so, I would have liked to know who the first three placings in each stage were. This is not clearly given. Along the way, Dugard gives his opinions about French food ( camembert he liked, also quiche ), the hotels he stayed in, details of the long history of certain towns , the good manners of the French people he met everywhere, their helpfulness, but also the habit of too much smoking by Tour officials and in hotels and cafes. In some towns, Martin took time out to go for a run. Out of Fromentine, David Zabriskie, ( CSC team), an unassuming cyclist from Salt Lake City, won the twelve-mile prologue by two seconds from Armstrong. Zabriskie kept the yellow jersey for the next three stages, but on stage 4,out of Tours, he crashed and was never again a factor in the Tour. A pity, I wanted him to win the Tour. In my opinion,Zabriskie was more than an American 'no-name', as Martin Dugard calls him. Thereafter, Armstrong ( Discovery Channel) took over the lead and the yellow jersey for most of the remaining stages to Paris. His main rivals were : Ivan Basso (CSC), Jan Ullrich ( T-Mobile), Floyd Landis ( Phonak), Jens Voight (CSC), Mickael Rasmussen from Denmark (CSC), and others. Some of them won a stage or stages, without threatening Armstrong's overall lead for long. There was a rest day in Grenoble, the beginning of 'Part II Mountains' . Dugard notes that Grenoble was founded by the Gauls in 43 BC ; now the town looked 'boxy and sad'. I lived in the city in the mid-1970s and I could feel history in the air too, living as I did on the Avenue Jean Jaures.The author changed to a Volkswagen in Grenoble and you would feel yourself in a bigger, more powerful car as you climbed the steep mountain roads right to the top to see the finish. Sometimes you would take a gondola. The most humorous incident was in Montpellier, where Martin went into a deserted amphitheater near the finish line, next to the podium itself and stood on top, 'as if waiting for my yellow jersey to be delivered'. The fans could see him now but he resisted the urge to throw up his arms in mock triumph. Stage fifteen was a good day for the Disco boys, as Armstrong tied with Ivan Basso ( CSC) in a fast enough time to ensure ( virtually) his overall win. 'In that instant the Tour was over'. Armstrong kept the yellow jersey for the final six stages, and won the Tour by 4:40 minutes from Ivan Basso; and 6:21 minutes ahead of the German Jan Ullrich. However the allegations about Lance using illegal drugs would not go away. The great American cyclist Greg Lemond was one accuser. On 22 October 2012, the UCI ( Union Cycliste internationale) and the USADA ( US Anti-Doping Board) took away all Armstrong's titles since 1998. He lost all seven Tour wins, and was served a lifetime ban from cycling. They did this because of him using banned substances ( cortisone,blood transfusions, EPO, testosterone patches) and persuading his US Postal teammates to do the same Considering his cancer ordeal, it was a sad end to Lance Armstrong's career.