"Age, especially old age has its prerogatives, we no longer need to apologize for simple mistakes, we can pretty much say what we want..."
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Reflections On Anything and Everything:
Visions of the Past and Present by Charles Huhtanen Trafford Publishing
book review by Linda Murdock
Snippets from the life of an eighty-five year old man is the best way to describe this group of writings. One cannot help but wonder what could have been revealed had the author not given us just the abbreviated Twitter-like version of his thoughts. Whether from a sense of privacy or modesty, this book of essays tells us very little about the author and condenses scientific discourses into sound bites.
He does, however, ponder many diverse subjects with the childlike wonder of a true explorer, as can be seen in his observations of animals, plants, and the natural world around him. This wonder came naturally, since he studied and catalogued the minutiae of microorganisms through much of his working life. His "reflections" are equally cautious statements without passion or bias. He writes only in his comfort zone and relies heavily on the dictionary, Shakespeare, the Bible and facts from Wikipedia to fill his pages.
Science buffs might enjoy his observations about light, gravity and Einstein's theory of relativity, and his discussion on calculus is intriguing. No doubt these are the comments of an intelligent man. But, in trying to make his "reflections on our times... as objective as possible," he has left his audience searching for the soul and purpose of the book. Certainly this man deserves a greater legacy.