The latest in a sequence of lists of recently-read books, listed in reverse chronological order.

• Nikki Mark [2023]: Tommy’s Field: Love, Loss and the Goal of a Lifetime. Union Square. This is a moving account of the loss and aftermath of the author’s son, Tommy Mark, who died in his sleep in 2018 at the age of 12. Tommy Mark was apparently mature beyond his years and a gifted soccer player, and the family decided to honour his life and achievements by raising funds for a dedicated soccer pitch in a park in Westwood, their home suburb in Los Angeles. Despite the proposed field in the park being in poor condition and mostly unused, they faced intense opposition from some other people living near the park.
  

  Her son had played in teams in different parts of LA, in a sport which was more popular among young Spanish-speaking Americans than any other. From the comments she cites of opponents of the proposal, the opposition was strongly centred on the race of the children who would use the soccer field. The book gives a detailed and fascinating account of the local public consultation and lobbying of local government bodies she undertook, and the opposition she faced at every step. Ultimately, she was successful and Tommy’s Field was inaugurated in Westwood Recreation Center on 26 September 2021. It can be viewed here.

  The book is also an account of her transformation from a vague secular agnosticism to a strong overt belief in an after-life, underpinned by her frequent experiences and dreams of communication, direct and indirect, with spiritual entities. Of course, as I have argued before, any such experiences we have may be the result of delusion, and even self-delusion. But this is not how these experiences are felt by those who have them. Ms Mark’s account of her experiences is honest and strongly compelling. I was reminded of the account of Mary Le Beau (pen-name of Inez Travers Cunningham Stark Boulton) of her conversations with spirits of the dead published in 1956 (Beyond Doubt: A Record of Psychic Experience), which is also very compelling.

• David Vaiani [2024]: Jeremy Catto: A Portrait of the Quintessential Oxford Don. Unicorn. An interesting but repetitive account of a medieval historian who seemed to know everybody (academics, politicians, rock stars), and get everywhere. The book could have done with better editing, but it would then have been shorter. One factual snippet I did not previously know: Catto was apparently the person who informed the lawyers defending the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet that Law Lord Leonard Hoffman had links, through his wife, to Amnesty International which he had not declared when hearing the appeal case in the House of Lords. I doubt anything good that Catto may have done in his life would compensate for that one single act of complicity with great evil. I wonder how he lived with himself afterwards.
• Kim Carr [2024]: A Long March. Monash University. This is a memoir by former Australian Labor Party Senator and Minister Kim Carr. The book contains almost nothing of a personal nature. Once, Carr refers to his children without telling us anything about them, not even their ages, nor about his marriage. I understand his need to keep his personal life private, but the effect is to lessen the impact of his memoir.
  

  I had not realized that Carr had long held a vision of a renaissance of Australian manufacturing, reinforcing and extending the country’s presence in sophisticated and complex manufacturing by linking it to advanced research in science and technology. His vision for manufacturing was akin to that of John Button, also a Victorian Labor Senator and Minister, although they were from different party factions of the ALP. What a pity for Australia’s future that this Victorian vision was annulled by the anti-manufacturing bias of Australia’s other states.