From a historical perspective, the author could have done more with describing the scenes and the scenery along the way - inside and out. In a way, Carl Veno has written a whole book in "just the facts" hard news style. Still, even in his sketch observations of the places he has lived and worked, Veno delivers insight into regular daily life back then.

For instance I may have to steal this line somewhere along the way - "These writing minds at this insignificant newspaper amazed me; their fate saddened me."

Brilliant.

The book could easily have been twice as long as its 193 pages. His face on the back cover clearly shows a mischievous grin. The reader can almost feel Veno straining against the temptation to spill all the beans.

Veno takes you through his life but only through what he's seen and done. There's very little introspection. For instance, he had lung surgery, but he doesn't go into the turmoil that caused or the worry. He mentions both, but doesn't explore.

Also, there are allusions to how he should have been there more for his family. That he liked to nightclub, and didn't like to go home immediately after work. But it's not explored so you don't know if it's just a self-perceived trait or whether he could have truly done more.

One small story stuck with me more than any other after I closed the book. Towards the end of the mini-biography Veno describes having non-emergency leg surgery in a "dilapidated Veterans Hospital" during the vietnam War in 1971. He wrote:

"The toilets and washroom were filthy, deplorable by any health standards. I saw wounded vets limping around the hallway looking for drugs and booze. Hospital personnel were overloaded and uncaring. ... One of the saddest moments of my stay occurred when I took the elevator to the wrong floor and walked into a ward that had paralyzed and basket-case veterans, no arms and no legs, just torsos. I prayed that they were well taken care of. I complained to hospital officials, but no one seemed concerned. Public officials were aware, but stalled in doing anything."

My brain jumped ahead as I thought of how Veno, the editor and newspaperman, would detail how he wrote up an investigative piece about what was happening there. He did not — "Years later, LIFE magazine did an expose on the hospital."

He did not investigate the hospital but he does not, as I did, wonder why. At least not in the pages of "Invisible Ink."