Reviews: e-books and audiobooks: the Monopoly story, true horror, a voyage
To say that Drowned by Corn is shocking is to downplay the horror readers will feel about the deaths of two boys in Illinois, in the US, who, as the title indicates, died by drowning in corn. Erika Hayasaki gives a blow-by-blow account of the senseless accident in 2010, when a 15-year-old found himself in quicksand-like conditions while trapped in the sump pit of a silo holding grain.
by Erika Hayasaki
Amazon Digital Services
(e-book)
To say this book is shocking is to downplay the horror readers will feel about the deaths of two boys in Illinois, in the US, who, as the title indicates, died by drowning in corn. Erika Hayasaki gives a blow-by-blow account of the senseless accident in 2010, when a 15-year-old found himself in quicksand-like conditions while trapped in the sump pit of a silo holding grain. Two of his friends jumped in to help, but they, too, found themselves in trouble. Only one of the pair survived after being hoisted out by a rescue team. None of the boys was wearing a hard hat or harness, and none had studied safety procedures. The book suffers structurally because of unnecessary extracts from books such as Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma (which says that more than a quarter of supermarket items now contain corn). But it spotlights industrial accidents and tells how this tragedy helped tighten regulations to increase safety for grain-bin operators in the US. In that year alone, 31people – including the two boys – died in 59 grain-bin entrapments.
by Mary Pilon
(read by Chris Sorensen)
Recorded Books
(audiobook)
Next time you're passing Go and collecting $200, or buying up Mayfair and Park Lane, remind yourself that Monopoly was created as a protest against capitalism and not an endorsement of it. But there's more to learn from Mary Pilon's book, which often veers off in unanticipated directions as she documents how, for decades, it was wrongly attributed to "inventor" Charles Darrow. Parker Brothers, which bought the idea from him in 1935, went on to make untold profits because the game, which appeals to the competitive nature of people, sold when times were good or bad. Pilon traces the game back to Elizabeth Magie, whose The Landlord's Game, patented in 1904, was a teaching tool inspired by anti-monopolist Henry George. Her role was uncovered in the 1970s by economics professor Ralph Anspach, who was battling Parker Brothers over a game he created called Anti-Monopoly. Chris Sorensen's nasal narration will make you want to send him straight to jail, but you may want to bring out your board: the book details rules that will be new to many players.
