Beach Haven

Bibliography
Bunyan, John. 2003. The Pilgrim's Progress. Edited by Susan L. Rattiner. Garden City, NY: Dover Publications.

Review by Michael Beach

Originally published in 1678, this edition is an ‘unabridged replication’ as it appeared in Volume 15 of The Harvard Classics Series in 1909. It is in two parts. The first being the pilgrimage of the protagonist “Christian”, the second depicts the later pilgrimage of his wife “Christiana” and their sons. In truth, I had no idea what to expect when I started this book. I think I had vaguely assumed it to be some sort of early American history, somehow linking the title with the mention of pilgrims in the patriotic song “America the Beautiful” where it says “O beautiful for pilgrim feet, Whose stern, impassioned stress, A thoroughfare for freedom beat, Across the wilderness!” I couldn’t have been further off.

The book was written by John Bunyan in the form of an allegory. The narrator claims to have had two dreams. Each dream is a separate part of the total work and each its own story. In both cases, Bunyan’s dream relates the story of several fictitious pilgrims with a goal of arriving at “the celestial city”. Along the way there are detractors, deceivers, and demons who do their best to thwart the progress of the pilgrims. Every person is given a name that relates to their version of religion, including various Christian sects, or some character trait, either good or bad. Towns likewise have character trait names that describe their population. The main pilgrims eventually arrive at the celestial city with differing difficult events. Some pilgrims fall away; still other characters have no interest in the celestial city.

It's obvious Bunyan writes from his Puritan sect’s point of view. Pretty much every other Christian religion represented are depicted in a negative light, described in ways that make it clear that they are heretical and his brand of Puritanism is true. The opposition’s dogmas are presented in very general terms, more like they are characterizations. Bunyan’s ideas get more specific but seem to me as just one more sectarian interpretation of biblical passages. In particular, his message is that we each are pretty much on our own with occasional help from others. Christian abandons his family who are not interested in leaving their comfortable life for the journey. He finds joy when he finally arrives. How does that work with the idea that God forms us into families? In truth, “neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without the man, in the Lord”. Eventually, Christiana repents and decides to take her sons and follow in her husband’s footsteps. In her case she connects with a guide who goes with them and fights their battles for them.

The story is not all that interesting to me. It feels somewhat like a fantasy epic, but rolls along slowly, with more preaching than interaction. I guess that was the intent of the author. None of the scenes last very long, and the whole story’s feel seems very preachy. There was enough variation from my own Christian beliefs that I found myself rolling my eyes from time to time. Perhaps others whose creeds align more with Puritanism would be less judgmental.
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Bibliography
​Skagg, Ricky, and Eddie Dean. 2013. Kentucky Traveler: My Life in Music. New York: itbooks.

Review by Michael Beach
 
This work is an autobiography by well-known bluegrass and country artist, Ricky Skaggs. He grew up in Kentucky inspiring the title. Skaggs became famous among the bluegrass crowd as he grew into young adulthood. Later he gained larger audiences as he moved into country music, winning many awards. His most famous hits came in the 1980s. Eventually he was able to become independent of record labels, create his own label, and return to his bluegrass roots.

Skaggs is honest about how others helped him on his musical path. He also speaks to his failed first marriage. He wrestles with his decisions to shift from bluegrass to popular country music. He was soundly criticized by bluegrass purists, and he shared some of their sentiment. Yet his struggles with this musical categorization he also points out to how the much larger stage allowed him to introduce new audiences to the old songs and styles. Throughout the book he also speaks to his specific version of Christianity. The larger popular venues also allowed him to share some of that part of himself. Record company executives and producers pushed back at him, worried that approach might cause damage to record sales.

Record sales dropped off as he began to tire of the road and commercialism’s demands. He was in a place in life where he was less dependent on those pressures, eventually leaving the traditional business route. Skaggs began making income by becoming a producer for other artists. With the freedom to create whatever music he wanted, Skaggs returned to his bluegrass routes.

Eventually, Ricky Skaggs became a staple at the Grand Ol’ Opry. He still is. Many famous artists have included him in duets and other productions in their own recordings. I have heard a number of famous artists attribute Skaggs with helping them return to the music they love most after wandering through more popular music. I like pretty much everything I’ve heard from Skaggs. I learned of him during his more popular years of country music, but also really enjoy his more traditional music including both bluegrass and gospel. I read this book as a tale about how Skaggs became what he is through the combination of his own character, and how he was shaped by family, religion and the music business. Like all of us, he is a product of both nature and nurture. His music both influenced and was influenced by many others.
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Bibliography
Ramsdell, Mike. 2006. A Train to Potevka: An American Spy in Russia. Layton: Zhivago Press.

Review by Michael Beach
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This book is an autobiographical sketch of some experiences of a CIA operative working in Russia in the waning years of the Soviet Union. Mike Ramsdell speaks of his early training days in the agency and how his unit was betrayed by another trainee with whom Ramsdell had a friendship. He tells of his bringing up in northern Utah, his marriage and divorce brought on in part by how much he was away on assignments.

The main story of the book is how his unit in Russia was attempting to turn an official into an asset for the CIA. It goes wrong and his unit is told to bug out. That is, the others in his unit are sent to the relative safety of Moscow. Ramsdell is left alone to finish sanitizing the various locations the group of American spies were using. He is eventually ordered to take a train to a safe house in the far away village of Potevka. Before he can make his get away, Ramsdell is attacked by local thugs. He escapes the assassination attempt, but barely. He is beaten and seriously injured. In this rough condition he gets on the train in a lot of pain. It’s the slow train that stops often with the lowest class ticket. He ruminates about his life and what seems to him like abandonment by the agency. As he slept, another passenger steels what little food he had, leaving him to travel for days hungry and bloodied.

Eventually he arrives only to find the safe house empty and with no food. Eventually villagers help him, but not at first. He speaks of how the local people have little for themselves because of the bad policies of the Soviet government. Several times he is stalked by wolves that at one point keep him from walking from the house to the outhouse to relieve himself. After a long stay in the bitter cold and deprivation that included Christmas, he eventually makes his way to rescue and a return to the United States.

Throughout the ordeal, Ramsdell was sustained by his memory of his relationship with his son and a coworker who later becomes his girlfriend and future wife. He wrote to them and imagined future times together. He also considered his own perspective about God and his faith. The humbling experiences at first caused him to question, but then he was drawn closer to God and found his faith growing.

The story is an interesting mix of spy thriller, introspection, and social commentary with a religious connection. Since I lived part of my life in northern Utah, I was familiar with the places he describes. I also made two work-related trips to far eastern Siberia, but after the fall of the Soviet Union. I can see his perspective offering praise and sympathy to the Russian people while questioning their government as well as our own.
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Bibliography
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (2022). Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days: Boldly, Nobly, and Independent: 1893-1955 (Vol. 3). (S. A. Hales, A. Hallstrom, L. O. Tait, J. Woodworth, K. T. Burnside, L. S. Edgington, . . . N. N. Waite, Eds.) Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Review by Michael Beach
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As the title indicates, this is the third volume of church history bearing the title ‘Saints’. There have been many works of history published by and about the church. This particular set of works has focused on the lives of real people and their experiences. The personal experiences shared include prominent church leaders and ordinary church members. Given the years noted in the title, much of this history includes the period of the two world wars and the beginnings of the cold war. Church members’ lives are highlighted that were on all sides of these conflicts.

The temple in Salt Lake City is dedicated at the outset of this volume. Members of the church find themselves on opposite sides of war and political conflict. They also experience the aftermath of conflict. It is a time of rapid development of transportation and communication. Temples spring up in other countries and continents beside North America.
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The back cover quotes Doctrine and Covenants 69:8 as the reason for approaching these sorts of historical retrospectives. It is “for the good of the church, and for the rising generations.” Reading about the challenges faced by leaders and congregates alike helps me, at least, to be able to face today’s chaos and remain firm in the faith. At least, I hope to stay so.

 

Vasquez, Robinson. 2021. Prepare My People for the Singularity: Surviving the Dark Side of the Artificial Intelligence Revolution. Monee, IL: Robinson Vasquez.

Review by Michael Beach
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I struggle with this particular review. This is because I actually know the author. The base assumption to the work is that the singularity is inevitable and will happen soon. The idea of ‘singularity’ refers to the point at which artificial intelligence (AI) systems become sentient and begin to act independent of programming created by humans. Most of the first half of the book makes a case for these two premises in a largely technological determinism argument. The literature and thought of most who study socio-technical issues have left technological determinism behind for several decades now. It’s simply not true that technology advances independent of human choice. It’s not clear that ‘advances’ is even accurate. It seems clear there is technological change over time, but advancement assumes the change is toward some desired outcome. The very linking of change with human goals shows that technical change will follow an inevitable path.

Later in the book, Vasquez makes a shift. He starts discussing how people can avoid a malignant outcome of the singularity. This would put into question his earlier arguments in favor of determinism. Vasquez also speaks to how ‘governments’, ‘corporations’, and ‘churches’ make decisions or could intervene. Such organizations are not independent entities any more than AI is. Organizations are groups of people who interact with each other in a prescribed way. Corporations don’t decide things, rather people within a corporation decide.

Robinson Vasquez even begins linking AI singularity with Christian views of the second coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. He wonders if Christ might even come in the form of an AI, or at least communicate with humans through an AI. He finishes the work advocating for ‘prepper’ actions such as hoarding supplies and obtaining remote property to which one might retreat as AI attacks human civilization. In deed, many arguments he makes are direct references to science fiction works and sees dystopian versions as predictive.

The first half and second half of the book would seem to disagree with each other. I find the idea of a singularity and of its inevitability as unfounded. There are certainly many who have made these arguments, and some of them very highly visible proponents. There is a famous example when an AI invented a unique language in order to carry out its programming in a more efficient way. None of these examples make a sure argument. Many others working in the field of AI make arguments against the idea of a singularity. Although there are some interesting ideas in this book, they are just that… ideas. Much of the logic is muddled. 

Uchtdorf, Dieter F. 2017. The Gospel at 30,000 Feet. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.
 
Review by Michael Beach

Elder Uchtdorf has become famous for finding ways to relate gospel topics in his sermons, with his experiences as a military and commercial airline pilot. This work is a compilation of many of those analogies from his public addresses. These stories feel like fulfillment of the plea to liken the scriptures unto ourselves. The author obviously learns from, and teaches through, real life experience.

I’m not a pilot, but I tend to learn in a similar way as Elder Uchtdorf. Reading, thinking, and hearing all help to plant ideas and attitudes in my head and heart. Until I anchor those ideas and attitudes through direct personal experience they remain just that, ideas. Real life experience makes the ideas sprout and grow to become part of me. They become mine.

Jesus taught in a similar way through proverb, allegory, and parable. He often linked his doctrine with personal stories. Unlike Elder Uchtdorf, the Savior didn’t always use stories directly from his own life or the life of others, but they were every-day examples people could relate to and still can. Jesus did point to real-life examples, often in a negative sense when he rebuked ruling priests, or money-changers in the temple. He usually quoted scripture in the process, as does Elder Uchtdorf.

SAINTS 1846 – 1893
NO UNHALLOWED HAND
Numerous editors and writers
Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2020, 833 pages
Reviewed by Michael Beach
 
This is the second volume of history published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints under the Saints name. It opens during the interregnum period after the martyrdom of the prophet Joseph Smith. In this opening period the church was led by the quorum of twelve apostles, and more specifically by Brigham Young as president of that quorum. The history continues through the exodus to the Rocky Mountains, post US Civil War efforts against the church surrounding the practice of polygamy, and the eventual dissolution of the practice. The review ends with the dedicatory events around the completion of the temple in Salt Lake City.
 
Professional historians meticulously researched and wrote the sections of this work. The approach they used combines traditional historical narration intertwined with personal stories of some of the specific people involved in key events. Stories of individuals help the reader better understand how thought trends were shaped both within the church and within political and journalistic circles. There are plenty of examples of abuse of power by civil authorities. One also finds tensions around the issue of polygamy both within subgroups of church members, families, and even individuals.
 
Another thread the historians follow includes relations between church members settling in the west, and native peoples who were already in situ. Some of those interactions were amicable, but often the contrasting culture led to conflict.
 
Major historical events become more understandable through personal stories. Actions by church leaders, civil authorities, and widely recognizable individual people are more understandable, if not always sympathetic to the reader. 

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SAINTS
1815-1846
THE STANDARD OF TRUTH
Long list of editors and writers
Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2018, 699 pages
 
For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the major historical events reviewed in this book will be familiar. The writers also included are many details lost to most of us who are not focused historians. The macro-timeline is woven together with micro-histories of individuals both central to, and on the periphery of, depicted events. The book is very factual, but written in a way for the lay reader to move along with the story.
 
Though the work is historically weighty and heavily researched by a cadre of academics, the read does not feel daunting. For me, there are many particulars included that help better understand why the people involved may have taken positions and actions they did. Their stories seem more humanized. The editors’ efforts at keeping larger regional, national and international contexts in the narrative also made the story more understandable for me.
 
The work begins with the early life of Joseph Smith and the larger Smith family. It ends just after his martyrdom, and that of his brother Hyrum. Whether one ascribes to the doctrine or organization of the church, the book offers valuable insight into a critical time in American history. It also may help the reader better understand the appeal of a church that has grown globally from very humble beginnings. 

​TO THE RESCUE
By Heidi S. Swinton
Deseret Book Company, 2010, 588 pages
Reviewed by Michael Beach
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As the subtitle notes this book is The Biography of Thomas S. Monson. The book was published not long after the principle was named President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Heidi Swinton wrote the book because she was asked to by President Monson. There have been a number of these official biographies of modern prophets written over recent years. The work is informative and inspirational.

President Monson has clearly led a life of service, lifting others in so many ways. His positive perspective and courage are shown over and over in examples throughout the book. One of the more well known stories was when he was in Navy bootcamp. When the Chief told them to file out for church, calling each denomination, President Monson was still standing in formation, from his perspective he was all alone and facing a grumpy old Chief. When asked what he was, he shouted "Mormon, sir!" only to realize that others behind him were shouting the same thing. He had the courage to stand alone, then realized that he was not alone.

I always find the more I know about the general leadership of the church the more I'm both amazed and saddened. The amazed part is the gratitude I feel to know that the Lord has raised up some wonderful people in our day. The intelligence, the prophetic insight, the loving humanity of these leaders always inspires me. The sad part for me to think of my own life in comparison, how far I still need to go to live up to the truths I have been taught. Then I am reminded of the parable of the talents. I don't have to be as good as anyone in particular. I just have to be better than where I started. Improvement is the goal.