Book reviews: \u2018Taking Midway\u2019 and \u2018Algospeak\u2019<\/p>\n
Published 1:00 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025<\/p>\n
Taking Midway: Martin Dugard<\/b><\/p>\n
Martin Dugard is still best known for co-writing non-fiction books with former FOX News host Bill O\u2019Reilly \u2013 \u201cKilling Lincoln,\u201d \u201cKilling Kennedy,\u201d the recent bestselling \u201cConfronting the Presidents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dugard also pens a series of World War II books on his own: \u201cTaking Paris,\u201d \u201cTaking Berlin,\u201d \u201cTaking London\u201d and now focusing on the war in the Pacific, \u201cTaking Midway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking Midway\u201d adheres to the same format as the past \u201cTaking\u201d books and the \u201cKilling\u201d books. Terse sentences written in suspense-filled paragraphs in relatively short chapters.<\/p>\n
But there are some differences in \u201cMidway.\u201d At least some differences that if they occurred in the past \u201cTaking\u201d books were not as noticeable as they are in \u201cMidway.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dugard often speaks directly to the reader; for example, letting readers know if they will or will not meet a historical character again later in the book.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMidway\u201d is filled with several diversions. Readers expecting a straight-forward volume of 300-plus pages detailing only the Battle of Midway will be disappointed, or pleasantly surprised.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dugard spends chapters on the human history of the Pacific atoll known as Midway \u2014 how it was discovered, its home grounds for thousands of albatross, how it became both a touring destination for wealthy travelers and a fueling station for the United States Navy, and how it became a pivotal piece of property in the early years of the Pacific Theatre in World War II.<\/p>\n
While Midway was definitely an American battle against the Japanese during World War II, Dugard introduces numerous British touches in early chapters of \u201cTaking Midway,\u201d perhaps as touchstones to the previous \u201cTaking\u201d books which revolved around England\u2019s battles during World War II. For example, Winston Churchill, the predominant person in the first three \u201cTaking\u201d books, returns for \u201cTaking Midway.\u201d Various British naval figures, along with others, also make appearances.<\/p>\n
Some readers may find it intriguing, or odd, that Dugard chooses to tell a large portion of the Battle of Midway through the eyes of Hollywood director John Ford, who filmed the battle and created a short documentary about it.<\/p>\n
These choices and diversions may prove frustrating for some readers of military and history books, while proving fascinating for others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dugard provides an interesting angle on the battle that came six months after the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. At Midway, American forces won a decisive victory at sea. Dugard brings the Battle of Midway to life in a new way.<\/p>\n
Algospeak: Adam Aleksic<\/b><\/p>\n
If you want to know what \u201cskibidi\u201d or \u201cOhio\u201d or \u201criz\u201d or any number of other words mean that kids are saying, posting or texting, then Adam Aleksic\u2019s \u201cAlgospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language\u201d is not necessarily the book for you.<\/p>\n
Even though \u201cAlgospeak\u201d was released July 15, Aleksic admits in the early pages that words and even emojis that were hot when he was finishing the book last fall are possibly passe now.<\/p>\n
But if you want a better understanding of how such words become viral overnight \u2014 how they may be an anomaly one day, viral the next day, universal the next day, then dead and gone the next day \u2014 or how some of these words transcend social media and become part of our spoken language with actual staying power, then \u201cAlgospeak\u201d is relevant and the book for you.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlgospeak\u201d is not a glossary of current terms or the double meaning of certain emojis. Instead, Aleksic uses these examples to explain how they became social media trends and how social media is shaping the use of language.<\/p>\n
Language is always evolving, but it used to do so in a slow pattern that once took generations then decades, years, etc. Now, language can change by a TikTok video hitting an algorithmic chord and going viral. Or by social media users finding new ways to express certain colorful words and expressions to bypass social media censors.<\/p>\n
Aleksic knows his stuff. He is a linguist and content creator best known online as the person behind the \u201cEtymology Nerd\u201d educational videos, which regularly reach an audience of more than 3 million people. He admits in the book to remain relevant as a content creator, one must always pay attention to the algorithms on multiple formats daily. Ignore one format for too long and a creator will lose their mojo on that site.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlgospeak\u201d is a fascinating book, insightful for people who want to better understand how trends gain traction on social media, crucial for people wanting to create and disseminate content via social media, and possibly maddening for language traditionalists who will realize there\u2019s no way to stop \u201cskibidi\u201d or any other new words coming their way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Book reviews: \u2018Taking Midway\u2019 and \u2018Algospeak\u2019 Published 1:00 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025 Taking Midway: Martin Dugard Martin…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":101516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1022,171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-101515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114935401282423088","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}