Ghost Wars Is Certainly Scary

I first saw Steve Coll's Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invations to September, 10, 2001 in a bookstore in Dublin, Ireland. The title itself is intriguing. When I got back to the States I saw it at a local bookstore and haven't wondered why I bought it. At the time, the Bush administration was coming under increasing criticism for the war in Iraq and it was soon clear that the US had entered the war under false pretenses. This book is an unbiased looked at US and Mid-East relationships that greatly strengthens the arguments of protestors.

Coll did a tremendous amount of research, evident in the details he weaves in a narrative format and the almost 100 pages of notes at the end of the book. It also demonstrates a clear lack of communication not just between intelligence agencies, but among them as well. From those who saw Islamist radicalism as a problem before it was on the US radar to those who did nothing despite reports outlining the rise of Islamist radicalism and rising terrorism, too many wires were crossed and information did not meet the right people. It reminded me of the game telephone. You pass a message along down the line, and it is a gross mutation of the original message by the time it gets to the end.

Ghost Wars also demonstrates how Afghanistan was a priority during the Russian invasion, and then slowly slipped under the radar and out of the budget at America slipped into a state of denial. A bi-product of our support and subsequent pull-out left Muslim countries fending for themselves. A rich man by the name of Osama Bin Laden turned the frustration of Muslims into angry action against the US; the entity responsibile for their down-trodden, poverty state.

I was appalled when I read that America pulled out before following-through on the promise of establishing democracy and security. American politics dictated that America pull out even though the job wasn't done. The US left behind a skeleton crew, people scattered about to monitor anything of interest. There certainly was interest. Middle Eastern politics is fascinating. The structure is interesting, and being part of the royal family has benefits but also causes a good deal of in-fighting, leading to overthrows and what seems like a continuous change in power. America establishes a relationship with the ruler only to have it crumble as the ruler is ousted and replaced. America learned to walk a thin line between waring factions, appeasing one and fighting the other, then vise versa in order to keep favor.

Coll does an excellent job in illustrating all the different factors that came into play prior to September 11, 2001. Staying the middle so as not to upset either side that might be in power the next day was no easy task, and caused for many missed opportunities in developing relationships.

This is not a book for the faint hearted. There are parts that are very difficult to read and often too realistic. For example, I had just read about a bombing only to hear the following morning about the Underground bombing in London. That was much too close for comfort. The depth of detail is astounding, and not what you will find in a history book. You'll learn more about the US government as well as its place in recent global events than you will by reading the news or history books.

You may, as The New York Time quote states on the cover, "want to rip the page and yell at the American counterterrorims officials he describes" but you may also gain a better understanding in why it is important for America to remain in Iraq, even if the understanding is still jaded like mine.

Ghost Wars will open a new set of doors into the world of America and its place, from a politicial as well as economic viewpoint. Sums of money change hands that only few can imagine. Ghost Wars will make you question what those large sums of cash bought, and if September 11, 2001 was an invetiable by-product of American involved in the Middle-East.

Broaden your mind and check it out the next time you're at the library or browsing in a bookstore.

Rating: G$_G$_G$_G$

Blurring of Fabrication and Reality

James Frey has gotten himself into a little bit of a pickle over his supposed memoir, A Million Little Pieces. He took quite a beating on Oprah and has lost his agent.

This whole ordeal has shed light on dark crevices in the publishing industry that have gone unchecked. That rather delicate element of trust has been ripped apart. Readers can't trust the publishers who can't trust the agents who can't trust the writers. Readers can't trust the writers.

However, let's take a step back and examine what memoir means: a narrative composed of personal experience. Basic, simple definition. A narrative composed of personal experience. Personal experience isn't necessarily truthful. The mind plays tricks on a person so they may not remember every little detail or the exact order of events.

But in today's day and age, fabrication and fact blur. An example that comes readily to mind is The Da Vinci Code. A thoroughly researched book with an intricate plot line that could very well be real. Many many people believe it is real. Yet, it is fiction. So what are readers to do? Believe the classification? Believe the writer?

Or, believe the words on the page. Believe the story being told. Have faith in the story being told and take it for what it is worth, good or bad. Julie Keller of the Chicago Tribue makes a good point in her January 30, 2006 column titled Sorry, Oprah. The writing is the real draw. People are drawn to the subject because of the writing. Oprah picked it for her Book Club because of the writing. The writing makes the subject matter come to life, just as the writing of The Da Vinci Code made the subject matter come to life and has people questioning it as being more non-fiction than fiction.

And it is also the writing of A Million Little Pieces that has caused the questioning and the controversy that has erupted after The Smoking Gun published its story highlighting the lies prevelant in A Million Little Pieces. If the writing wasn't so amazing, if the Smoking Gun staff hadn't heard so much about the book, if Oprah had not chosen it for her Book Club, A Million Little Pieces wery well might have remained a best-seller without the controversy.

Memior writers wouldn't have to worry about whether or not the validity of the information would be put under a microscope, every little checkable piece of information verified before their memiors will be published.

Readers wouldn't have to stop and wonder if the memoir they are reading is classified correctly. There wouldn't be this underlying feeling of dishonesty, that a well-written memoir is actually fiction.

Still, the publishing industry as well as readers of the world have to ask themselves: are authors or the words on the page worth trusting? If the words move you but the author does not, then don't the words speak to you more than the author?

Do the words communicate what you cannot? Do the words point you in a direction you did not consider?

Regardless of a book's classification, the words have the impact, not the author, not the publisher.

The Google Story -- Part II

Okay. So it has taken longer than expected to bring you more about The Google Story and the book is sitting inside my nifty new sliding-glass door bookcase. But there is allo this talk on places like Search Engine Watch and on the Matt Cutts' blog about "Big Daddy," the next Google search engine shake-up. Many of them will tell you that such things strike fear into the hearts of marketers like myself because it usually means Google is perfomraing a major algo tweak thus ruining all the hard work that has been put into achieving those rankings lost during the last tweak. However, BigDaddy is different, which reminds me of how The Google Story talks about Google's quest to improve search. Not just make listsing to queries more relevant, but to actually produce the exact item, document or what-have-you for which a person may be looking.

In a sense, Big Daddy looks like another step towards "perfect search" which is mentioned in a previous post on this blog and talked about extensively in The Search. Big Daddy actually returns more relevant results, which is rather impressive and has always been the goal of Google.

Accoring to The Goolge Story, Google has never been about making money. It has been about making every scrap of information free and available to the public. Google struggles to maintain that "Do No Evil" sense, and foster its open-minded, easy-going yet hard-working culture. The Google Story offers a rare glimpse into this culture, and a culture that is vastly different than anything anyone has experienced. Not only do they offer free meals made by an award-winning gormet chef, and healthy meals at that to cater to its international employees, but it also conducts business quite differently.

The Google Story highlights Google's first IPO, done completely opposite every other IPO. Google set its own terms, disclosed what information it wanted and caught the FTC and Wall Street completely off guard. Though they did make conscenions on revealing information as required by the FTC before the IPO could be accepted, the manner in which was done is an illustration of the brash and foward-thinking ideals of a generation that is too full of give-it-to-me-know people. Google really worked for its IPO, it really worked for improved search results. They made the business plan up on the fly, but there was an over-arching goal in mind that made everything else secondary. They had the forsight to give into the venture capitalist and bring in Eric Schmidt as CEO.

The Google Guys understood, on some level, that if a guy like Mr. Schmidt handles the business and day-to-day dealings of running a company, then they are free to do what they do best: create technological innovations that forever change the world landscape. They still have final say in everything, but the hassels that come with running a business and often sap creativity are turned over to Mr. Schmidt.

There is an awful lot of intelligence harboured at Google. They know they have built an excellent company, and The Google Story illustrates how they have done it and continue to do so even under such tight scruntiny that comes after going public. That has deterred their desire to innovate, as the news has pointed out. Even in the big stink over China, Google still believes it is better to have something than nothing. You can read more about Google and China on Google's very own blog. The Google Blog is another example of a company using its own technology, something The Google Story continually highlights.

Overall, I was very impressed with David Vise and Mark Malseed. They had extraordinary access to information inside Google, people associated, currently and formerly, with the search engine and Mr. Vise and Mr. Malseed did not waste it.

If you spend any time on the Internet at all you probably use Google and at some point you might wonder exactly how those listings pop-up when you type in a word and hit ENTER.

Read The Google Story and you'll much more about Google, its culture and how it will continually change the world landscape from business to education to unknown areas that haven't been touched yet.

Rating: G$_G$_G$_G$_G$