‘Assembling California’<\/b><\/p>\n
Book by John McPhee<\/p>\n
As part of my crash course on California before joining The Bee’s editorial board at the start of the month, I read several books on history, politics and public policy.<\/p>\n
But the one that sticks with me the most is John McPhee’s “Assembling California,” a literary tour of the state’s geology. And the most affecting passages were his telling of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. <\/p>\n
“On Summit Road, near the Loma Prieta School, a man goes up in the air like a diver off a board. He lands on his head. Another man is thrown sideways through a picture window,” McPhee writes.<\/p>\n
“At the University of California, Santa Cruz, three first-year students from the East Coast sit under redwoods on the forest campus. As the shock waves reach them and the trees whip overhead, the three students leap up and spontaneously dance and shout in a ring. Near the edge of town, a corral disintegrates, horses run onto a highway, a light truck crashes into them and the driver is killed. Bicyclists are falling to the streets and automobiles are bouncing.” <\/p>\n
The 6.9-magnitude quake – the first major one on the San Andreas Fault since the 1906 San Francisco quake – killed more than 60 people, injured some 3,700 and caused nearly $6 billion in property damage. While big, McPhee explains, it was not the dreaded “Big One.”<\/p>\n
When I told people I was thinking of moving to California, they invariably said they envied the weather. A few, however, gave that nervous laugh and mentioned earthquakes.<\/p>\n
While McPhee’s book dates to 1993, it’s still a compelling read on how precarious life in California truly could be. For me, it’s not so much scary as a reminder of the need for common-sense seismic precautions – and of the wisdom of making the most of every day. You never know when the real Big One will come. <\/p>\n
– Foon Rhee<\/p>\n
‘On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Economic System’<\/b><\/p>\n
Book by Henry M. Paulson Jr.<\/p>\n
The title of this book is perfectly descriptive. Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson describes how essential it was to rescue the financial system. This was not about “bailing out banks” but having a workable credit system not only in the United States but around the world. Without the rescue, he makes clear, it would have been 1933 all over again.<\/p>\n
The book also has very revealing – and riveting – details about presidential character. Paulson has a blow-by-blow description of the meeting between President George W. Bush and the two presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama – with the leadership of the House and Senate and Vice President Dick Cheney also in attendance.<\/p>\n
Obama “sketched the broad outlines of the problem and stressed the need for immediate action.” He “spoke without notes – much less a teleprompter – and spoke eloquently.” <\/p>\n
McCain, who had called the meeting, held a single note card: “He glanced at it quickly and proceeded to make a few general points.” <\/p>\n
Paulson’s conclusion: “McCain’s comments were anticlimactic, to say the least … when it came right down to it, he had little to say in the forum he himself had called.” <\/p>\n
There’s more about how “the room descended into chaos as the House and Senate members erupted into full-fledged shouting around the table.” Paulson said he’d “never seen anything like it before in politics or business.”<\/p>\n
The larger point: This country needs a president who has some understanding of economics and the political savvy to get above the dysfunctional fray in Washington.<\/p>\n
– Pia Lopez<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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