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Every Town Needs A Castle
Dwayne Hunn Non Fiction |
9.3 /10
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9 reviews |
How review is different from comment?
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N 475
Scott Rubel ( Country: USA , Age: 50-65 ) Michael Clarke Rubel, Quintesential American The title "Quintessential American" has been laid on quite a few deserving souls, and Michael Rubel is right up there with them one hundred percent. He carried in him the rugged do-it-yourself spirits the old time citrus ranchers of Southern California bequeathed him, along with the entertainment gene passed to him by his gregariously eccentric parents. Michael spent his entire life building the quintessential American castle, or at least the essential California version of it. A recently found letter from old friend Ted Shepherd thanked him for building a place where "older boys and girls (that is, you and me!) can again be young and once more be charged with the energy of wonder and happiness that accompany children..." This is the type of tribute that comes across from everyone who knew him, as Michael welcomed one and all. Whatever your station in life in the outside world, you had a place at Rubel Castle. Michael was even up to the challenge of entertaining true European royalty. When Prince Philip visited Rubel Castle in the 1980s, Michael proudly gave him a tour, but humbly offered, "I know my castle can fit in one of your fire places." He could even make a prince laugh. The title of the book was chosen deliberately. It is a remembrance of a remarkable recent history, lived by the author, which carries forth his passionate hope for what could be, if we but had a teacher and friend like Michael Rubel in our lives. In the words of friend Criswell Guldberg: "When Michael left the planet, the world lost one of it's most unique people. He was the unwilling recipient of the charismatic gene that attracted many people. Those of us fortunate enough to have crossed paths with him were the chosen ones. We got lucky. What we built was not a place: a bottle house, a box factory, a tin palace, a tree house, a bird bath, a Castle. We got to build our lives. We got to create ourselves and create a spot for ourselves in the Universe. We don't hold you responsible, Michael. We just thank you!" When you visit Rubel Castle, you will not have the fortune of hearing Michael's laughter and stories, but the Castle itself still offers up its happy stories and, to some, its lessons. This book is a personal account of universal lessons learned by one humble subject of the Kingdom of Rubelia. A hunk of mythic life has left us. Michael will live on for many of us for the rest of our lives--the man and legend. 9 /10
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N 440
Buster ( no country , no age ) Dwayne manages to expound on an undiscovered treasure which was built on a unuque amalgimation of personalities, hard work ethic, positive attitude and tithing from depression era mentality parents. This illustrates what people can built with almost nothing invested when they put their mind to it! Dwayne bounces around in the book but knowing him personally-this is part of his perky personality! It's a rare find with a very unusual angle of content. 9 /10
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N 137
Anonymous ( no country , Age: 50-65 ) Just finished your book....and I not only thoroughly enjoyed it ,but found it rejuvenating and inspiring. I remember spending some time at the pharm with you...working hard (among other things) eating well and sleeping like a dead person or a dead drunk person. There was always a positive and challenging attitude toward every project that was laid before us... I loved being a part of that! I also remember laughing a lot.....You pharm hands were an eccentric and very diversified talented group. In other words you were all crazy!... but in a good way. I have nothing but fond memories of my visits and working weekends with you, Michael, and Glen. Jack Mayo 10 /10
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N 131
jevans ( Country: United States , Age: 66+ ) Every Town Needs A Castle Tucked close to the San Gabriel Mountains in an upscale neighborhood in Glendora, California on 2.5 acres of land sits a pile of junk rising 80 feet in the air. The junk pile has a clock tower that holds a large old fashioned clock which chimes like Big Ben. For most people, the junk would have been taken to a landfill to be covered by earth moving equipment. Instead, it was recycled into an 80 foot tall edifice complete with catwalks and battle mounts that today is seen as a magnificent structure of historical significance. In building their edifice, the workers followed two simple principles: One, There is nothing on this planet that cannot be recycled. And Two, If we work together, we can remain free individuals, and accomplish more than we ever dreamed was possible. The patriarch and owner was Michael Clark Rubel. Many people helped Michael recycle the junk, but there were five principals who were especially important. Dwayne Hunn was one of the principals. His book chronicles their collective experience. In his book, Dwayne addresses three questions: What was Michael's inspiration? How did the dream become reality? And, why does every town need a castle? Dwayne addresses the first and second questions in a wondrous tale that is humorous and entertaining, and makes the reader eager to turn each page. The third question is equally entertaining but is discussed more subtlety than the first two questions. Dwayne Hunn's work shows rather than tells the reader the story of young Michael's dream. Dwayne shows the reader how Michael's dream not only never went away but became Michael's life work. Dwayne is brilliant in creating scenes that enable the reader to feel they are part of the story. The result is the reader feels what the boy feels as the boy's dream becomes transformed over a lifetime into the reality known as "Rubelia." What is especially gratifying about Dwayne's narrative is that the reader feels what it means for a person to live with themselves, and in community. As well, the reader feels that the process of achieving an accomplishment is as fulfilling and sometimes greater than the accomplishment. In the end, the reader understands that the Castle is a metaphor for what every town needs. As such, castle can be anything from a physical structure, to an idea, or to something written. Perhaps, most of all, the reader feels the passion Michael felt when he said about the process of building the castle: "This is how people have to live when nothing in their lives is working." What Michael meant by this, Dwayne explains, is that people are eager to help each other when the going gets tough. But Dwayne takes Michael's passionate observation of the human condition to another level. Equally as passionate as Michael, Dwayne says that people shouldn't wait for tough times to help one another. Rather, we should all learn to live each day in community. Indeed, Dwayne says, the process of building the castle is a model for all of us to live by. So, like the economic historian, R. H. Tawney who wrote about abstract structures that hold together social edifices, Dwayne uses Castle as a metaphor for the structure that holds together the social edifice known as town, i.e., castle becomes the abstract structure that helps society become a community. And what the reader sees and feels in Dwayne's narrative is that community is about living with yourself, and living with others. It's about rebellion and personal discovery. It's about process and completion. It's about redemption. It's about "Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda," becoming "We did it." Dwayne shows that a community cannot develop without people demonstrating courage, taking risks, and thinking and doing outside the box. Most importantly, Dwayne shows that rugged and free individuals are stronger and freer when they work together, when they share, and when they help one another. In conclusion, Dwayne Hunn shows the reader what "Green Sustainable Construction" is, and how it's done. He explains that the Rubellian Castle is filled with stuff from the 1920s and '30s. And all of it works! One of the nicest touches is that Dwayne shows that the Castle was built in a setting evoking earlier times and earlier feelings, and while the book may not lead to a new career job offer, especially in an economically depressing 2010 decade, it offers lots of old fashioned tips on how to live a richer life, even when depressions try to get in the way. In the end, Dwayne Hunn's book is an inspiration to all the community builders and all the Do It Your Selfers who wonder if they can make it happen. To this, Dwayne and Michael, and all the other Rubellians say, "Yes You Can," and "Have Phun Doing It." Dwayne Hunn's book is a story that will delight, entertain, and make you cry with joy. It's a must read. It's an especially good end of summer read. Incidentally, Every Town Needs a Castle is the first of an “Every…” series. Every Country Needs a World Service Corps is in its embryonic stage. James Evans, Ph. D., is a retired Professor from University of San Diego. His teaching and research areas encompass Public Policy, Economics, American Politics, and Political Theory. In other lives, Jim was a Force Recon Marine, a Gunsmith, a Cowboy on a Wyoming cattle ranch, and a National Park Ranger on horse patrol in Yosemite. Like Rubellians, Jim tries to have Phun in his work. 10 /10
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N 122
Moby ( Country: USA , no age ) The author did an excellent job of memorializing Michael Rubel - as unique an individual as anyone may ever come to know. Michael's family, friends and adventures gave me both chuckles and food for thought. The author's personal background as noted in the extended AFTERWORD is a surprising and interesting inclusion. I enjoyed all parts. 9 /10
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N 118
Chuck Ryan ( Country: United States of America , Age: 66+ ) Every Town Needs A Castle If you enjoy stimulating your mind and heart through reading, you will enjoy "Every Town Needs A Castle". If you love history, the excitement of current events, public policy and insights into humantity, this book has the power to capture your imagination. It will transport you to exotic places and introduce you to unique people. You can almost see, smell and hear the activities on the "Pharm". This book reflects the "wisdom of grandfather Deuele, Michael Rubel and other wise men and women. In this book, you will share the "dreams of dreamers" mixed with the realities of modern day life in the late twentieth century in Southern California.The "Pharm" served as a meeting place for people from all walks of life. The author has an outstanding ability to write with emotion, insight and humor. So read, reflect, journey, laugh and cry. "Every Town Needs A Castle" is a great read. Thank you Doctor Hunn. Chuck Ryan, Saint Joseph College, Indiana, Class of '65. 10 /10
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N 111
Dr. Tom King ( no country , no age ) The Castle of Rubelia: Philosophy Becomes Architecture Never mind castles in Spain. How about one smack in the middle of the ‘burbs of California? And how about instead of quarried stone it’s made with every dadblamed thing handy, including lots of tin cans and junk, the whole mess assembled any which way but straight, clean high as the turrets, riz up to a towering, beautiful extravaganza of cemented wonder? Reading this book, you’d be sure you had to be reading sheer fiction if it weren’t for those brain-bumping photos throughout, snapshots that make it undeniable that somewhere along the Pacific side of America, as visitors the likes of Ike and Mamie, Jack Benny, Henry Kissinger, Harry Reasoner, Barbara Walters could testify, the Castle of Rubelia is as real as death and taxes. Even better than this, though, is how the castle got built, and the assortment of unlikelihoods who played their parts in its hard-to-believe history. Therein hangs a tale. This is a book that recovers something lost—something as precious as a birthright. We all hear the lament that what once was is now not: that what we once valued most, and called these United States, has perished from the earth. What WAS that? I think Mark Twain would have been able to tell you, and show you. Great gallivanting galluses and golly Aunt Polly!, old Sam Clemens would’ve loved this book. Imagine the arrival of Huck Finn to this California craziness, this loony excuse for architecture that started out as a ruin. “Seems to me, Jim, that we’ve got ourselves to thish ‘ere part a the country where folks ain’t ezackly in their right minds. But it kinda grows on you, don’tcha find?” “Reckon so, Huck.” What grows on you, the reader, is not just a castle that stands like a parody of the grand edifices of the Old World, but the unique spirit of this book. It’s not easy to nail a spirit. The best I can do is to point again in the direction of what we all feel has slipped away from our sense of what it is to be Americans. Have you noticed that going to college now is all about so we can eventually make more money than the dropouts? It wasn’t always like that. A liberal education, once upon a time, was supposed to teach us what would allow the fullest awareness of just what being a human being amounted to. To expose us to all the great minds and the great books of the world, like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. And to make us see that life, instead of a security blanket, is itself as wild an adventure as we let it be. Well, Dwayne Hunn, who’s a modest fellow, is not one who’d claim to stand alongside the great humorist from Hannibal, Mo. Nevertheless, Sam Clemens would be the first to clap him on the shoulder, because he’d know a brother of the craft when he met one. Adventure? You better believe it! Loveable characters? Bet your long johns on it in a cold winter in Kansas. Humor? Yep. Wager major with any tough teenager that he can’t get through the read without cracking up, ‘cause this sucker is FUNNY. Wait till you read how a defecating pig running wild in his house turns out to be the making of Grandfather Deuel’s fortune. Read about how he played strip poker with fan dancer Sally Rand. Stay calm and solemn till you read how his charismatic grandson, Michael (one day becoming the master architect of Rubelia Castle), at age 12 became the hero who, singlehandedly, warded off the great invasion of Azusa Canyon. You want wit and wisdom? Try to keep a straight face while you soak up the endless epigrammatical sayings of Grandfather Deuel. You like fascinating characters? Meet Grandfather’s beloved bevy of loyal friends like Stanley Baird and Odo Stade, or the good witch Mrs. Friezner. But the true harvest here is with Michael and his grandfather, and everything that is represented in the way they take hold of life and live it. Grandfather Deuel, very much a Man of the People, grew up in the old schoolroom of working class folk who believed that hard work was the bedrock of character. But he also believed that making money had its place, and that what could happen when volunteers building a castle, loyal friends who gathered regularly to hear stories told while Gallo jug wine was passed around in shrimp cocktail jars, took priority over rising up in the world. How much Michael Rubel loved his grandfather, no one can miss. Nor can anyone miss how the man who wrote this tribute to them, Dwayne Hunn, loved the both of them. Or why. 8 /10
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N 67
Anonymous ( no country , no age ) The perfect mix of reality, nostalgia, small town politics and the pursuit of a personal vision embraced by a cacophony of personalities who live with gusto day in and day out. If you're not afraid to reduce the number of sleep hours, because you simply can't put the book down and close it because you're falling asleep, start reading it early Saturday morning. If you're one that squeezes the feelings and lets your imagination run away, as if you're watching a 3D, technicolor, stereophonic series of events that surrounds you, then you will go a lot slower and you may have to call in sick rather than dislodge yourself from the content of the pages in this wonderful story. I will have to read it again... 9 /10
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N 57
KsBp ( Country: USA , Age: 50-65 ) I have known Dwayne Hunn, the author since 1972 when he was my teacher in High School. He lived at "The Castle" with Michael and the rest of the gang. This book is an excellent memorial to Michael Rubel and was equally a funny memoir to those who didn't know Michael well or even knew of him. The end pages of Mr. Hunn's book were interesting because this was the time I first met him and didn't quite understand what was happening in his world. I am forever grateful for his teachings and of his patience with everything in his life. 10 /10
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