Jacob Hamblin - His Life in His Own Words - with a foreword by Richard Lloyd Dewey

 This little book (127 pages) is a first-hand account of life here in St. George in the 1860s and 1870s. Leonard ordered this book because Brett Smith, a youngish fellow sealer, recommended it. They frequently have Brother Hamblin's grandson in their sealing sessions in the St. George Temple. Leonard wanted to learn more about him, but since he doesn't see the print well, gave it to me.

I didn't anticipate liking this book. I don't enjoy most "real" history, although I loved John Muir's memoir. So maybe my taste is maturing??? At any rate, I did enjoy this book. It was frustrating, at times, since he leaves out so many details, but there's enough meat on the bones to learn about a very hard life out here on the desert. I also learned about his unquestioning faith in God's prophecies, and in President Brigham Young's counsel. 

It was interesting that Hamblin was frequently called on to help guide parties around this area safely, and that he interacted with the local tribes very fruitfully. He learned a lot of their tribal languages, he adopted an Indian son. He could be relied on and trusted by both the whites and the Indians. I learned a lot about the differences in the tribes as well. The Navajo, for example, were always stirring up trouble. Other tribes here were more peaceful and they worked together well. Brigham Young always counseled Hamblin to treat them with respect, which was good to read!

There were many tribes and places I have never heard of before. And all of this happening then has left its mark on our area today...for example, the Jacob Hamblin home is open for tours and I am committed to go and see it!!! 

He was a brave man, and was frequently threatened by Indians, but was always able to negotiate his way out of difficulties, always relying on prayer and his experiences. He almost died in multiple ways, fording rivers, getting sick from exposure, and many other ways. He doesn't say much about his family life; indeed it sounds like he was seldom home! It was worth reading the forward, since that revealed that he had three marriages. S

Half Broke Horses - A True-Life Novel by Jeannette Walls

 When I read the first page of this book, I sighed with pleasure. THIS is the kind of writing I've been yearning for! Interesting characters, insights, and engaging & exciting story. The first chapter about this amazing woman, Lily Casey Smith, immediately drew me in when she was caught in a flash flood and had to climb a tree to save her life. I loved the first-person narrative and her no-nonsense dealing with huge obstacles and seemingly impossible situations. She was brave. She was a problem-solver, she was direct and brazen. 

I knew Walls was a great writer from her first book, The Glass Castle. In it, she describes her childhood growing up with parents who were homeless and determined to stay that way. It is an incredible story, and her mother features prominently in the story. This book is about Walls' grandmother, the woman who raised her mother. Half Broke Horses also describes Walls' mother's childhood and we learn more about her unusual life and determined personality. Three generations of interesting, stubborn, courageous women and the forces that helped shape them come together in these two books. Both are enlightening and entertaining. I learned that the line between mental illness and sanity is very thin... There are only hints of the coming of mental illness in this book, however. 

The story of Casey's life is hard to believe. She was larger than life. She broke horses, even as a child, she taught school in very tough circumstances, she became a pilot, she raised two children, she asked for donations for gas on her travels, she fought for an education and did it piece-meal so she could be hired as a teacher, and she did it all during the Depression and under impoverished circumstances. This is the story of GRIT. When she was helping her husband manage the ranch, raising her children, and teaching school, I wondered if she slept at all. There is no mention of recreation of any kind. 

There is one troubling chapter about her encounter with early Mormons, which doesn't show them in the best light. And the granddaughter's knowledge of these and other events is surely limited, but still it all rings with truth. It's refreshing to read the story of a woman who fought back against so many of the dampers that society was putting on women at the time; yet it's not done in any sort of "cause" way. Lily seems to be the ultimate practical person who just used her own common sense to deal with obstacles. 

Another troubling aspect of the story is Lily's beating of her daughter, Rose Mary. It's told with a clear understanding of how she (Lily, the mother) was out of control. Yet she doesn't seem to wallow in guilt or shame about it. She doesn't dwell in remorse. She moves on quickly. This aspect of her personality called into question for me this mother's role in her daughter's later mental illness. And in the daughter's choice of husband who was clearly more of an adventurer and alcoholic than good family material... 

It's been awhile since I've read The Glass Castle, and I'd like to read it again now, knowing the history of the mother. Another enjoyable aspect of this book is Walls' descriptions of the difficulties of farming and raising cattle in arid areas of Texas and Arizona. The land and weather play a vital role in the challenges Lily faces. It's instructive to read about the way, for example, Lily's husband Jim deals with the water shortages. He figured out how to capture the water from the rain by building dams; something that wasn't typically thought of on private land. I really admired this character, Jim, for his quiet knowing ways with animals and nature in general, including human! 

All in all, this book is a keeper. 

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Melissa gave me this biography for Christmas. It's a treat because it's new, it's hardbound (and heavy!) and has some fascinating photos. It was a good read, despite Isaacson's occasionally confusing syntax. He did a masterful job of getting into Jobs's professional life and associations. There is less about his personal life, but we do get glimpses of Jobs's wife and children. It's often a story of our time and the development of iconic technology tools. It was fascinating to read about how these tools and ideas developed under Jobs's passionate attention. The book also reveals quite a bit about Bill Gates and other key players of this era.

Points to remember...

• Steve Jobs was passionate about DESIGN. This includes how products look, feel, and function. He lived at the intersection of the humanities and technology.
• He designed the new Apple campus building in a way to encourage people in different departments to intersect.
• He was diametrically opposed to Gates's open archetecture and instead controlled the user's experience from end to end.
• He launched a series of products over three decades that transformed whole industries: (pp. 565-566)
• Apple II - took Wozniak's first circuit board and turned it into the first personal computer that was not just for hobbyists.
• The Macintosh, which begat the home computer revolution and popularized graphical user interfaces.
• Toy Story and other Pixar blockbusters, which opened up the miracle of digital imagination.
• The iPod, which changed the way we consume music.
• The iTunes Store, which saved the music industry.
• The iPhone, which turned mobile phones into music, photography, video, email, and web devices.
• The App Store, which spawned a new content-creation industry.
• The iPad, which launched tablet computing and offered a platform for digital newspapers, magazines, books, and videos.
• iCloud, which demoted the computer from its central role in managing our content and let all of our devices sync seamlessly.
• And Apple itself, which Jobs considered his greatest creation, a place where imagination was nurtured, applied, and executed in ways so creative that it became the most valuable company on earth.
• He was very difficult to work with...and the author traces Jobs's personality development over time. It's an interesting story which Isaacson offers with compassion.

My favorite part of the book is the final word which Isaacson gives to Jobs. It's what he hoped his legacy would be, and revealed what he cared about. Page 567 onwards...worth reading again...