Book Reviews as Autobiography

Posted on September 13, 2025 by John Walters

A recent comment on one of my past book reviews points out, somewhat critically, that in the review I talk about myself as much as I do the book. By way of explanation, I offer this essay, which appeared in one of my book-length collections of reviews; until now, though, I don’t think I’ve posted it on my blog. To clarify: I make no apologies, now or ever, for the autobiographical tone of my reviews. It is inevitable that my personality and background will affect whatever I write. My words, on whatever topic, erupt from the core of who I am.

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Preparing this volume of Reviews and Reflections on Books, Literature, and Writing has caused me to think about the role not only of reading books but also of writing book reviews in my life. Long ago, when I was raising my young family in Greece, I started my author website/blog: johnwalterswriter.com. Around that time I decided to write reviews of almost every book I read. That decision was not made solely to have material to put into the blog. I had already started to make a list of all the books I read, and it seemed a natural progression to then write something about how those books influenced me. I realized that in reading a book I was not only interacting with a person, the author of the book, but also choosing to spend some of the finite time I have on this planet undergoing an experience brought on by the words presented to me on the page.

To write about the thoughts and impressions brought about by a book is as valid as writing about a physical journey that I take to another location. The author of the book serves as my traveling companion. To undertake the reading of a book is a fascinating experience in that as a reader I have voluntarily stripped myself of my senses, except the vision that allows me to see the words on the page, and I have put myself at the mercy of someone, most often a stranger, who constructs a mental and emotional world out of words, places me in it, introduces me to its inhabitants, and then draws me into a story based on all the assembled parts. This is true for nonfiction as well as fiction.

How can someone not be changed by such an experience?

Because of the inevitably profound effect that books have on me, I have to be careful about what books I read. If you are what you eat, physically, then you are what you read, mentally. I try to select books that entertain me and also nourish and strengthen me mentally and emotionally. After all, as I mentioned above, we have a limited amount of time; it is important that we use well the years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds at our disposal. For this reason, I have become more liberal about tossing aside books I begin that I soon realize are not good, or at least not good for me at that specific time. Life is short; I want every moment I spend reading to be a quality experience. I also have an aversion to writing negative book reviews. I’m a writer; I know how I would feel if someone wrote and published negative comments about something I had written. Rather than subject a fellow author to such a discouraging experience, I’ll stop reading the book, or, if I’ve already finished it, I won’t write a review. My purpose in writing reviews is not to skewer my peers; it is to provide helpful insight.

My reaction to books is not the same as yours. How can it be? We are two different human persons with unique backgrounds, educations, environments, and methods of processing the input we receive. The thoughts I have and the conclusions I come to concerning the books I read say as much about me as they do about the books. Two travelers may enter the same country, go to the same places, and even meet some of the same people, and yet the memoirs they would write would be completely different. Each would be comprised of the individual personalities, proclivities, and decisions of its author; each would be profoundly diverse from the other. If we consider a book as a place that we explore and a book review as a travel memoir, the same principle applies. Every writer approaches their subject matter differently, and every book review says as much about the reviewer as about the book.

In my opinion, any reviewer who pontificates as if speaking en cathedra is laughingly pretentious. Reviewers are just people; they have their opinions and you have yours. Their opinions count little when you portion out the moments of your own life. These are your decisions, not theirs.

In conclusion, let me emphasize that I write book reviews because I enjoy writing them, and I hope you enjoy reading them as well. If they guide you to books you want to explore, fine. If you only read the reviews and yet never read the books they describe, that’s fine too. Decide for yourself. One of the glories of human existence is freedom to choose. I’m glad, at least, that you have chosen to be my companion as we take this journey together through some of the books in my life.

I’m a professional writer; I make my living by my words.  I’m happy to share these essays with you, but at the same time, financial support makes the words possible.  If you’d like to become a patron of the arts and support my work, buy a few of my available books or available stories. To send a one-time or recurring donation, click here. You can also donate via my Patreon account. Thanks!

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Book Review:  The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau

Posted on September 6, 2025 by John Walters

Apart from selected essays, I have never had a strong desire to read any of Thoreau’s books other than Walden, which is a true masterpiece, self-contained, effervescent, powerful, luminous, wholly original, and life-changing. However, recently circumstances have caused me to make two trips to Maine, and while searching for background literature about my destination, I supposed that I should give The Maine Woods a try. It wasn’t easy to obtain the book. The Seattle Public Library, usually well-stocked with a wide range of books of all kinds, didn’t have it; a knowledgeable used book dealer I frequent (who didn’t have it in stock) told me that he sells forty copies of Walden for every one of all the rest of Thoreau’s books. Fortunately I found a used copy of The Maine Woods that I could order online.

While essentially Walden is a philosophical treatise, The Maine Woods is more of a straightforward travelogue and nature study. It is divided into three sections, each corresponding to journeys that Thoreau made with companions into the Maine wilderness in 1846, 1853, and 1857. In the first, called “Ktaadn” (Thoreau’s spelling of Mount Katahdin) he travels with several others up rivers and across lakes to the titular mountain with the intention of climbing it. According to Thoreau, he was the only one to make it to the cloud-wrapped summit. In the second section, called “Chesuncook,” named after a lake in the wilderness, he travels with an Indian (Thoreau’s term for a Native American) and another companion. The Indian is intent on hunting moose, but Thoreau simply wants to observe the local fauna and flora. He writes that “every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it.” And: “it is the poet; he it is who makes the truest use” of the wilderness. In the third section, Thoreau describes another journey up rivers and over lakes in the company of an indigenous guide and a friend. He spends a lot of time cataloging the local wildlife and vegetation, and he seems to relish the hardships they encounter in their travels. Of a storm while they are crossing a lake by canoe he says that “it was a pleasant excitement.” He observes that “invariably the best nights were those when it rained, for then we were not troubled with mosquitoes.” And he considers the “solitary pioneer” in the wilderness as being more respectable than “the helpless multitudes in the towns who depend on gratifying the extremely artificial wants of society and are thrown out of employment by hard times.”

I have to admit that The Maine Woods does not rise to the level of the brilliant and insightful Walden. Some of the descriptions, especially in the third part, are somewhat lengthy and repetitive. However, Thoreau is an excellent writer, and his accounts of his journeys allowed me to vicariously travel into the Maine woods of old, immersing myself in the primeval wilderness that is rapidly disappearing but even now exists in a few secluded parts of the North American continent. I might not recommend this book for everyone, but for those who enjoy well-told true tales of explorations of remote regions, you might like to give The Maine Woods a try.

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Tools for the Road

Posted on September 3, 2025 by John Walters

This week in my newsletter The Perennial Nomad: For Those Who Wander with Intent I discuss what you’ll need to set out on a road adventure. It’s probably less than you think!

We’re assuming that you have the mind and heart of a perennial nomad and you’re waiting like a runner at the starting line for the right moment to take off. What do you need in the way of material items to assist you in your journey? It varies from person to person, of course, but we’ll assume you need a few things at least to make life not just bearable but enjoyable. Not many people would be willing to imitate Jack Reacher in the TV series and the Lee Child novels, who travels from place to place with nothing more than the clothes on his back – not even a change of underwear, or Saint Francis in the movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon, who wants none of his former attachments and so strips down in the town square and leaves his parents’ home and the town of Assisi buck naked. The nomadic lifestyle is often simple, and sometimes even stark, but in my experience it is also usually comfortable and occasionally even luxurious.

Click on this link to read the rest.

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Book Review:  The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams

Posted on August 30, 2025 by John Walters

I had a difficult time deciding whether to review this book or not. There is no question that it is significant and worthwhile, but I usually focus on more secular titles. What tipped the scales is the historical importance of some of the authors. The Dalai Lama fled his homeland of Tibet in the late 1950s and established a haven for Tibetan language, culture, and customs in exile in Dharamsala, India. Since then he has been an unceasing advocate for world peace. For his efforts, he has received the Nobel Peace Prize and the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal. For decades Desmond Tutu battled apartheid in South Africa. When apartheid was abolished, he led the nation’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a groundbreaking effort that highlighted a new more compassionate way to move forward after the overthrow of oppressive regimes. He also was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; in addition, he has received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The occasion for the interviews that culminated in The Book of Joy was the eightieth birthday of the Dalai Lama. Although Tutu was suffering from cancer, he agreed to travel to Dharamsala to collaborate on the volume, which they hoped would be able to instruct many in the ways of peace. The main writer is Abrams, who conducted the interviews and added extra material corroborating the Dalai Lama and Tutu’s observations with current research by scientists and psychologists. It is important to emphasize that the authors address all the peoples of the world, not only Christians and Buddhists; they are inclusive of all of humankind regardless of their beliefs or lack of beliefs. In a way their message of hope and the possibility of potential joy for everyone has a bittersweet tang when we read about so much hate and intolerance in the news these days, but it is precisely because the world is so full of greed, hatred, frustration, pain, rage, and sorrow that they took the time and made the effort to share their thoughts. As Abrams reminds us: “Our empathy does not seem to extend to those who are outside our ‘group,’ which is perhaps why the Archbishop and the Dalai Lama are constantly reminding us that we are, in fact, one group – humanity.”

The book is broken into various sections corresponding to the questions Abrams put to the two leaders on each interview day. On the first day, they discussed the nature of true joy. On the second and third days, they spoke of the obstacles to joy, which include fear, stress, anxiety, frustration, anger, sadness, grief, despair, loneliness, envy, suffering, illness, and fear of death. On the fourth and fifth days, they shared the eight pillars of joy: perspective, humility, humor, acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, compassion, and generosity.

The birthday celebration itself took place at the nearby Tibetan school. Among the most touching passages in the book are accounts by students of how they had to be smuggled out of Tibet by relatives to come and study at the school at Dharamsala; they had to leave their families and their way of life behind, and they had no idea when they might be able to see their loved ones again. But it was the only way they could study the Tibetan culture in the Tibetan language, which was forbidden in their homeland, at least as of 2015 when this book was written.

The Book of Joy may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but to those who venture into its pages it offers solace, reassurance, and, well, joy.

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Book Review: The Edge of Maine by Geoffrey Wolff

Posted on August 23, 2025 by John Walters

I recently took a trip to Orono, a small town near Bangor where the University of Maine is located, to visit one of my sons, and soon I’ll be returning for a couple of weeks to dog-sit while my son joins a team to study permafrost in Alaska. Whenever I travel to a new place that is for me unexplored territory, I like to learn as much as I can about it, so as prelude to my journey, I searched for books on Maine at the Seattle Public Library. There were surprisingly few; there was not even a copy of The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau. I searched a few used bookstores downtown and came up empty as well. One of the owners told me that he got at least forty requests for Walden for every request for anything else by Thoreau. I suppose the same imbalance might occur if someone went into a library or bookstore in Maine and looked for volumes on the Pacific Northwest; a local venue will always place more emphasis on what’s close. At the library I did, though, come across The Edge of Maine, published in 2005 as part of the National Geographic Directions Literary Travel Series.

The Edge of Maine does not purport to be a comprehensive travelogue or history. Instead, it meanders from place to place along the Maine coastline at the author’s whim; it is more like a collection of disparate essays than a single sustained piece. Still, it tells some interesting stories. For instance, the author describes his visits to a few of the thousands of islands off the Maine coast and tells tales of the lobstermen who live there and the tremendous Atlantic tempests that pound them in winter, turning these idyllic havens into storm-swept alien environments. He tells of the once-thriving shipbuilding industry, which took advantage of the incomparable timber in the area, using white pine for masts, oak for keels, and “cedar, spruce, maple, and elm” for “ribs and stems and decks.” He also offers a fascinating history of the ice industry; when the Kennebec River froze in winter, the ice would be cut out in blocks, stored in warehouses, and shipped to cities along the east coast of America, to the Caribbean, and even to faraway India, a journey of six months. The booming ice business came to an abrupt end, of course, with the invention of electric refrigeration.

Another section of the book deals with long-time Maine residents attempting to preserve the environment from those who would exploit it by building dams on the rivers, nuclear power plants, and other potentially devastating industries. He also delves into the often strained relationships between permanent residents and summer-dwelling wealthy outsiders who cause property taxes to skyrocket with their elaborate mansions and vast tracts of manicured landscapes.

As I said, the book is not thorough, but in the subjects it touches on it offers a glimpse into the unique character of Maine and its inhabitants. Wolff writes with irony, satire, and tongue-in-cheek humor, but sometimes his prose is a bit dense and convoluted. Still, his insights into some of the more esoteric aspects of the history and society of Maine make this a worthwhile read for those who want to learn more about the state located in the far northeast corner of the United States.

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Book Review:  The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss

Posted on August 16, 2025 by John Walters

I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember, and bookstores have always been a source of wonder and excitement for me. When I was wandering the world with nary a possession but what could fit in my duffle bag, I could only carry one book at a time; however, when my wife and I settled in Greece to raise our family, we began to accumulate books. In Greece it was difficult to find enough high-quality English-language books to slake my appetite. We had access to a high school/college library, but it was small. A bookstore in town at a large shopping center had a fairly decent selection of English language titles, but these books were expensive. So whenever I’d make a trip to the States for whatever reason, I’d seek out used bookstores and browse for titles to bring back to Greece.

Times have changed. New and used books are so easy to find online these days that the number of physical bookstores has greatly diminished. I remember on one trip to Seattle more than a decade ago I walked a circuit of at least half a dozen used bookstores in the University District alone; now, though, only one of those bookstores remains. I’ve visited the iconic Strand bookstore on a visit to New York and the no-less-iconic Powell’s, which proclaims itself the world’s largest independent bookstore, in Portland. Bookstores are magical places from which you can extract portals that can carry you away to lands unknown.

Friss’s book is an ode to bookstores. He starts with Benjamin Franklin and his printing press, and then moves on to booksellers in the last few centuries. There are chapters on the Gotham Book Mart, the Strand, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon Books. There are also sections on Black-owned bookstores, sidewalk booksellers in New York, and independent bookstores. Throughout the text, Friss’s appreciation of the value of bookstores is obvious.

It would have been impossible, of course, to include more than a small sample of the bookstores that have helped shape American thought, and yet some of Friss’s choices puzzle me. In a stark contrast with the positive, vibrant tone of the rest of the book, he includes a chapter on the hate-filled Aryan Book Store, which appeared in Los Angeles before World War II to distribute Nazi propaganda. It injects a pall of darkness into what is otherwise an upbeat, hope-filled book. Also, it is the only west coast bookstore Friss focuses on. I had been looking forward to at least reading about the history of the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco and Powell’s Books in Portland. Instead, Friss concentrates on bookshops in Chicago and on the east coast. Maybe he’s planning a sequel. I hope so, because incomplete as it is, what he has shared about the history of U.S. bookstores is fascinating. I’ll take a bookstore or a library over an amusement park anytime, and I know a lot of other people feel the same way. After all, that’s where you have access to the true multiverse of the mind.

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Book Review:  The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature by Charlie English

Posted on August 9, 2025 by John Walters

This true story of spying and smuggling takes place in the 1980s, when Poland, as a part of the Soviet-dominated East Bloc, suffered brutal repression. Its citizens had very little personal freedom; most books from the outside were banned, and the only media people had access to were government-sponsored publications and radio spewing out crass propaganda. Realizing that the battle for freedom must first be fought in the minds of their countrymen, to counter the all-pervasive despair brought on by this subjugation, teams of rebels printed underground journals and distributed them along with provocative books smuggled in from the West. In 1980, the Polish trade union Solidarity made its first appearance during a strike at a major shipyard; for a time it appeared as if it would herald greater freedom in the country. However, in late 1981, a military coup led by General Jaruzelski imposed martial law and began arresting union leaders and other dissidents. It became more difficult than ever to smuggle in vitally-needed literature as well as the presses and other equipment that kept the underground journals in print.

The title of this book is a bit of a misnomer. The CIA’s only role in the operation was assisting with financing. This was crucial, of course, but the organizational work, as well as the on-the-ground smuggling itself, was carried out by Polish people within the country who were in constant danger of arrest and imprisonment; Poles in exile in France, England, Belgium, and Sweden; and other sympathetic Europeans. These are the true heroes of this story.

What I find fascinating about this account is the emphasis on the value of works of literature as weapons to sway the hearts and minds of people attempting to survive under a traumatic political situation. Those who produced and distributed these works were aware that they were in great danger and might be arrested and imprisoned at any moment, and yet they nevertheless continued their vital work. They knew that if they didn’t, people would despair, and the flame of insurrection might die. So they persevered, and some of them were caught, and beaten, and tortured.

The book starts off in the first chapter with a harrowing account of a prison experience of a man, Miroslaw Chojecki, who becomes one of the most important expatriate smugglers. The account is so excruciating, in fact, that I almost stopped reading. Hang in there, though; the author launches into an explanation of the book program in the second chapter, and the tale of subterfuge and chicanery begins. It’s an exciting story, full of triumphs and setbacks and regroupings and heroism. It ends, of course, with the fall of the East Bloc and victory for the Polish people. The main revelation, though, in the retelling of this history is in the power of printed words to shape minds. During the decades of communist oppression, literature was much more important than weapons to the underground. And it was the ideas expressed in literature that ultimately won the war.

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Thoughts on This Immortal by Roger Zelazny

Posted on August 2, 2025 by John Walters

Recently I needed a book that I could take with me on a journey by plane without adding much to the weight and volume of my carry-on luggage. It also had to be well-written and absorbing, something that would hold my attention despite the uncomfortable circumstances of modern plane travel. My thoughts turned quickly to this perennial favorite, a novel that I always keep on my shelf for whenever I need the comfort, excitement, and satisfaction of reading a true classic.

I’m not sure exactly how many times I have read This Immortal. At least three times, and maybe four. I’ve written two previous reviews of the novel, which you can find here and here. It’s one of my favorite science fiction novels of all time. To put it in perspective, in 1966 it won the Hugo Award for best novel of 1965 in a tie with Frank Herbert’s Dune – and I like This Immortal better. Dune, of course, became an acknowledged classic and has experienced a revival with the new award-winning two-part film, while This Immortal remains much more obscure. Despite the imbalance of popularity, here are some reasons I find Zelazny’s amazing novel so alluring.

First of all, Zelazny was a brilliant writer with a unique, intelligent, fast-paced, and poetic style. (I speak in the past tense because he died of cancer at the age of 58 in 1995.) No one has ever written like him before or since. His stories are action-packed and larger than life, yes, but they are also imbued with mythological and literary references that give them great depth and emotional resonance. Despite these references, though, the prose is never ponderous or slow; it is obvious that Zelazny had great fun writing it, and the ebullience is infectious.

And much of This Immortal is set in Greece, where I raised my family with my Greek wife. This is an added attraction for me. The main character, who tells the story in first person, the “immortal” of the title, has lived for several centuries under various guises. Much of Earth has been devastated by an apocalyptic nuclear holocaust that has left large portions of the planet almost uninhabitable, and the majority of humankind has left for other planets and solar systems. In irradiated hot spots mutants have arisen that are uncannily similar to mythological creatures. The protagonist leads a team of humans and an alien observer to historic sites in Haiti, Egypt, and Greece while evading perils and attempting to discover what the alien’s motives are.

Another advantage of this novel is that it is short. I don’t mean to say that length determines quality; however, many modern novels encapsulate a novella’s worth of story in a gigantic, ponderous door-stopper of a book that would be more effective if it was a third of the length. Zelazny’s novel is lean yet strong, the exact length it needs to be to tell the story well and not a word longer. Reading it once again made me long for the days when writers didn’t feel the need to pad their prose with extraneous bullshit on the supposition that longer stories will sell better. Gone are the days, it seems, when writers can simply tell their stories and then stop rather than stuff them with an abundance of cloying superfluities.

All that to say that This Immortal is one of those tales that gets better and better with each rereading. In my reviews I often say that I “highly recommend” this book or that, but even that superlative is inadequate. This Immortal is a classic. You can read it once, twice, thrice, and experience greater pleasure every time. So what are you waiting for? Find a copy and get started.

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Not a Tourist

Posted on July 30, 2025 by John Walters

This week in my newsletter The Perennial Nomad: For Those Who Wander with Intent I discuss the differences between nomads and tourists.

I can’t emphasize this enough: a perennial nomad is not a tourist. This has nothing to do with how long you are gone or the distance you travel. If you even consider these measurements to assess your qualifications as a nomad, you are missing the point. A tourist has deep roots in a place called home, and whether the trip is planned down to the day or has a looser format, the objective is always to return to the point of origin. A perennial nomad, on the other hand, has no itinerary and no timetable because the journey is lifelong.

Click on this link to read the rest.

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Book Review:  Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet by Kate Marvel

Posted on July 26, 2025 by John Walters

For days I have been immersed in this fascinating new book on the environmental impact of human activities. Marvel is a climate scientist with a PhD in theoretical physics who works with computerized climate models to study climate change. At first glance this may all sound dry and distant from everyday life as we know it, but in fact the opposite is true. She has the academic credentials to give clout to her research, but she does not approach climate science from some lofty perch but rather from a visceral level. She is concerned about the impact of climate change on all of us.

She is not only insightful, but also clear in her explanations of what causes climate change – so clear, in fact, that it is impossible for me not to picture climate change deniers as those three monkeys in a row covering their eyes, ears, and mouths. You know: “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” In other words, turn a blind eye to uncomfortable truths.

And Marvel takes her explanations beyond mere fact-finding. She acknowledges the impact on humans of climate change by dividing her book into nine chapters conforming to nine possible emotional reactions to its ramifications: wonder, anger, guilt, fear, grief, surprise, pride, hope, and love. In her introduction she states: “Isn’t this unscientific? Aren’t researchers supposed to be perfectly objective, unemotional, and neutral about the world we study? I can’t be.” And: “Pretending we feel nothing about our changing world doesn’t make us objective. It makes us liars.” She goes on to explain that she wrote the book to “share some of the science behind climate change,” but also to “explain a little about how it feels to do this science in a rapidly changing world.” Her speculations about the uncertainty of a future she is sending her children into cannot help but elicit deep feelings.

Throughout her analyses of what climate change is and does, she enriches her explanations with examples from history and mythology. For instance, she says that “there is an obvious comparison between the mythical Cassandra and modern-day climate scientists like me.” Why? Because according to Greek mythology, Cassandra was a priestess who could make accurate predictions about the future, but no one believed her – just as there is no doubt that human-caused climate change is happening, but many people, especially in positions of power, scoff at the predictions of climate scientists because they do not fit into their selfish predetermined world view. As she expresses in her chapter on anger: “Yes, it’s real. Yes, it’s us. Yes, it’s bad. Yes, we’re sure.” As she goes on to say: “There has been an incredibly long history of this nonsense: scientists finding things out, others pretending we didn’t.” Fossil fuel companies know the truth, because they have done studies that corroborate it, but for fiscal reasons they deliberate obfuscate these findings. Our rampant fuel consumption produces greenhouse gases, and “all of the warming trend we’ve experienced in recent decades is due to greenhouse gases.” Anyone who follows the news encounters daily evidence of the results of global warming: catastrophic weather events, plagues, and rising sea levels, to mention some of the most obvious.

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Acknowledging that there is a problem is not the same as finding a way to put everything right again. Marvel discusses several possible solutions, but they are all complex, and at this stage it is impossible to fully assess their efficacy. Meanwhile, the Earth continues to warm; what has been set in motion cannot be wholly undone, at least not easily or quickly. It involves weaning ourselves completely off fossil fuels, but even that is only one step of many. Still, we must do what we can. After all, we cannot afford to think only of ourselves; we have to consider our children and grandchildren and generations beyond. Long after we are gone, they will continue to inhabit the world we have built for them. Maybe it will never be the same as it used to be, but we can do what we can to leave it in the best shape we can. It’s true that each of us is only one among billions, and it’s easy to use the excuse that what we do won’t make a difference, but that’s how the human race is set up: we all have to make our own decisions to do what is right or not. If we all paid more attention to books such as Human Nature, we could at least find the right path, though it may be a long and difficult one, to reclaiming our planet and its wondrous natural treasures.

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