Sunday Morning Book Thread 02-12-2017

Library of Tonypete

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes. Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, where men are men, all the 'ettes are hotties, safe spaces are underneath your house and are used as protection against actual dangers, like natural disasters, or rioting in the streets, and special snowflakes do not get respect, but instead, a big load of guffaws. And unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these pants, which man should be embarrassed to wear.

“‎"Since I could only take six books per visit from the library, I had to time it right, or I'd be stuck on Sundays rereading the five Reader's Digest Condensed Books sitting on our red laquered living room shelf.”
― Randy Susan Meyers, The Murderer's Daughters

Steve Bannon's Reading List

So it looks like the most evil man in the universe right now is, get this, not Donald Trump. Rather, it appears to be Steve Bannon (possibly the son of Race Bannon?), who is hated so much by progressives, he's got to be good.

He likes to read books, though:

Bannon, described by one associate as “the most well-read person in Washington,” is known for recommending books to colleagues and friends, according to multiple people who have worked alongside him. He is a voracious reader who devours works of history and political theory “in like an hour,” said a former associate whom Bannon urged to read Sun Tsu’s The Art of War. “He’s like the Rainman of nationalism.”

Well, at least they're not calling him dumb.

Bannon’s 2015 documentary, “Generation Zero,” drew heavily on one of his favorite books, “The Fourth Turning” by William Strauss and Neil Howe. The book explains a theory of history unfolding in 80- to 100-year cycles, or “turnings,” the fourth and final stage of which is marked by periods of cataclysmic change in which the old order is destroyed and replaced—a current period that, in Bannon’s view, was sparked by the 2008 financial crisis and has now been manifested in part by the rise of Trump.

Here is the book, The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny

Strauss and Howe will change the way you see the world--and your place in it. In The Fourth Turning, they apply their generational theories to the cycles of history and locate America in the middle of an unraveling period, on the brink of a crisis. How you prepare for this crisis--the Fourth Turning--is intimately connected to the mood and attitude of your particular generation. Are you one of the can-do "GI generation," who triumphed in the last crisis? Do you belong to the mediating "Silent Majority," who enjoyed the 1950s High? Do you fall into the "awakened" Boomer category of the 1970s and 1980s, or are you a Gen-Xer struggling to adapt to our splintering world? Whatever your stage of life, The Fourth Turning offers bold predictions about how all of us can prepare, individually and collectively, for America's next rendezvous with destiny.

You can watch a lo-res version of Bannon's documentary on YouTube. Mrs. Muse and I watched it a couple of days ago and it's quite sobering. And by "sobering" I mean "both frightening and depressing." Especially when it goes into a discussion of the national debt. I know we haven't heard much of anything about the national debt for, oh, I don't know, I'd say about 8 years give or take a month or two. But don't worry, now that Trump is president, I'm sure that the MSM will soon be seeing to it that it will be a Big Effing Issue. And that Trump is a horrible president because he won't be able to solve it in a year.

The other book mentioned that has influenced Bannon is Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, which the article describes as

It’s a broadside against big government, which Taleb faults for suppressing the randomness, volatility and stress that keep institutions and people healthy. “As with neurotically overprotective parents, those who are trying to help us are hurting us the most,” he writes. Taleb also offers a withering critique of global elites, whom he describes as a corrupt class of risk-averse insiders immune to the consequences of their actions: “We are witnessing the rise of a new class of inverse heroes, that is, bureaucrats, bankers, Davos-attending members of the I.A.N.D (International Association of Name Droppers), and academics with too much power and no real downside and/or accountability. They game the system while citizens pay the price.”

Taleb's remarks on the Trump administration are interesting:

“They look like the incarnation of ‘antifragile’ people,” Taleb said of the new administration. “The definition of ‘antifragile’ is having more upside than downside. For example, Obama had little upside because everyone thought he was brilliant and would solve the world’s problems, so when he didn’t it was disappointing. Trump has little downside because he’s already been so heavily criticized. He’s heavily vaccinated because of his checkered history. People have to understand: Trump did not run to be archbishop of Canterbury.”

Taleb has also written The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, and Fooled By Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets.

To sum up: Steve Bannon was not hired to build coalitions, get along with the opposition, and see that the present government functions all nice and smooth. No, rather, he's there to break things.

Progressives are soiling themselves in fright about this guy, and about the Trump administration in general, but they really don't have anybody to blame but themselves for the present situation.

Mike Flynn

The new national security advisor to President Trump is the author of The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies.

First, a word about the author:

Flynn spent more than thirty three years in Army intelligence, and as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency worked closely with Generals Stanley McChrystal and David Petraeus, Admiral Mike Mullen, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and other policy, defense, intelligence, and war-fighting leaders. From coordinating on-the-ground operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, to building reliable intelligence networks, to preparing strategic plans for fighting terrorism, Flynn has been a firsthand witness to government screw-ups, smokescreens, and censored information that our leaders don’t want us to know.

So when President Trump promised he'd get advisors that are "the most qualified, the best", he wasn't messing around.

Now onto the book itself:

The Field of Fight succinctly lays out why we have failed to stop terrorist groups from growing, and what we must do to stop them. The core message is that if you understand your enemies, it’s a lot easier to defeat them—but because our government has concealed the actions of terrorists like Osama bin Laden and groups like ISIS and al Qaeda, and the role of Iran in the rise of radical Islam, we don’t fully understand the enormity of the threat they pose against us.

In 2011, the Obama administration scrubbed all references to radical Islam from counter-terrorism training materials used by the FBI and other federal agencies. The administration further made it clear that their number one priority was terrorism from right-wing terrorism from white supremacist groups. It's as if they thought the best way to improve their vision was by repeatedly stabbing themselves in the eyes with scissors.

Which, now that I think of it, is the story of progressivism.

Here's a site I found by some atheist guy trying to sort out what's what with right and left terror crimes. He says he's being blocked by Chrlaes Jhosnon on Twitter, so he can't be all bad. He's also got an interesting lgf page for those of who want to wade into all the nuttiness.

Other Books

I couldn't find any book on Amazon written by Molly DeVos, but I did find the, uh, "writings" of this unhinged lunatic who probably still lives at home. Although he does have his own website, which I'm not going to link to because it's stupid, and should be awarded no hits. But, as you might guess, he hates PDT with a blind, psychotic, frothing rage. So much so that he thinks he had something to do with the death of 1990s rapper 2Pac Shakur. It's all explained in The Killing of 2Pac: The Role of Trump In The Unsolved Murder. Rosenberg is the only only one bold enough to ask questions such as:

Where was Donald Trump during the infamous 1996 2pac Shooting? What role does do phone calls from Trump Towers to Alt-Right Gang Members in Las Vegas play? Were Suge Knight and Donald Trump collaborating on a East Coast West Coast alliance that would net both men millions of dollars?

Yeah, you can just smell the Cheetos dust and damp laundry. And who knew there were "alt-right" gangs back in the 90s?

Moron Recommendations

History and/or architecture buffs might be interested in The Architecture of McKim, Mead & White in Photographs, Plans and Elevations

A collection of masterpieces. Synthesizing the best of Georgian, Federal, Greco-Roman and French empire into a style distinctly American, McKim, Mead & White oversaw the design of classic architecture for governments, public enterprises and private dwellings - including turn-of-the-century renovations to the White House - from the 1880's through the 1920's. They don't build them like this anymore; but they really should.

Depicted are over 130 structures � the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pierpont Morgan Library, Tiffany & Company, and the original Penn Station, among others, in New York, as well as many important landmarks in other cities. 435 photographs, over 250 line illustrations.

(h/t bensdad00 for the recommendation)

___________

Moron author Francis W. Porretto recommends a sci-fi novel that might have good Horde appeal. Perilous Waif by E. William Brown. Porretto says it's "absolutely terrific" and you can read his review here. Here's a plot description:

Alice Long is an orphan. She's been raised on a world where the native inhabitants are fiercely vegan and rabid environmentalists. She's been fed a vegan diet all her life that's done nothing but keep her malnourished since infancy....[She] is a 14 year old girl stuck in an orphanage in an all-female society, but escapes before being punished for hunting and eating animals. She makes her way to a spaceport on the other side of her planet, Felicity, with the intent to get into space and away from her restrictive childhood upbringing. Alice succeeds beyond her wildest dreams.

Yeah, if I were stuck in a matriarchal society run by crazed vegans, I'd want out, too. I'll bet they wear p*ssy hats all of the time. I mean, think of the Washington DC women's march, every day, forever.

___________

Don't forget the AoSHQ reading group on Goodreads. It's meant to support horde writers and to talk about the great books that come up on the book thread. It's called AoSHQ Moron Horde and the link to it is here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/175335-aoshq-moron-horde.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as you all know, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Posted by: OregonMuse at 09:03 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 I'm taking over TonyPete's house.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 08:56 AM (EnKk6)

2 How are these books titled GGE?
Posted by: Skip at February 12, 2017 08:50 AM

Posted by: Skip at February 12, 2017 08:56 AM (Frvrc)

3 quattro edition!

Posted by: retropox at February 12, 2017 08:57 AM (oaT7K)

4 missed it

Posted by: retropox at February 12, 2017 08:57 AM (oaT7K)

5 Tolle lege
Hit the post button (I think)and got a Time ad I couldn't get ride of.

Posted by: Skip at February 12, 2017 08:58 AM (Frvrc)

6 Daniel Handler’s “We Are Pirates” – Set in San Francisco, a radio station producer hits the road with his attractive assistant, while his estranged teen daughter and her friend hit the high seas in a stolen booze cruise pirate ship. Hilarity ensues, but so does a series of very unfortunate events.

John Bellairs’ “The House With a Clock in its Walls” was suggested by an ‘ette in the previous book thread and I loved it (and the Gorey illustrations). I was already a fan after reading “The Face in the Frost”, praised by Lin Carter as one of the great works of modern fantasy. I don’t know if I would go that far – Bellairs doesn’t do epic worldbuilding, his adventures tend to take place in creepy Victorian mansions in small western Michigan towns (I approve). Also, here’s where I pimp Carter’s “Imaginary Worlds” on how to make your own.

Just received Joe Lansdale’s weird west tale “Zeppelins West”. The cover art alone was worth it. It looks like a steampunk dime novel.

And also a YA history by Samantha Seiple entitled “Death on the River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Amazon Adventure”, profusely illustrated with photos, as all books should be (lookin’ at you, Herodotus!).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 09:00 AM (EnKk6)

7 Looking at fireplace surround,
Nice library, not complete without a cat sitting on the top.

Posted by: Skip at February 12, 2017 09:00 AM (Frvrc)

8 If they rebooted Johnny Quest, Race would be Dr. Quest's transexual lover, Johnny would be a girl, and Raj would be an illegal alien.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Laugh at a joke, get another joke free! at February 12, 2017 09:02 AM (Yj9qR)

9 A cat is lurking behind that expensive vase.

Really beautiful room, TP. Love the warm colors.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 09:03 AM (EnKk6)

10
Tonypete's library is...well...tony.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 12, 2017 09:05 AM (9q7Dl)

11 Fuck pants, it's going to be near 80 degrees today, I'm wearing my kilt. G'head, say something.

Among the (many) renovations planned for the Refuge is a library. I have to open a hallway and build a wall, but the fireplace is already there.

As stated in the previous thread, I have just obtained my first copy of The Lord of the Rings, so I am finally going to read it for the first time.

Posted by: GGE of the Traveling Horde at February 12, 2017 09:05 AM (+l0tv)

12 Morning Hoard!

Something looks familiar here today. Hmmmmm. . . .

Posted by: Tonypete at February 12, 2017 09:06 AM (tr2D7)

13 I'm actually here for this thread! Hasn't happened in a while.

Been watching two favorite authors go completely SJW.

Rowling, of course, who is arguing with Piers Morgan on Twitter.

But also Rick Riodan. He's put certain types in his latest books. Who cares, not like I can't read about diff. people. But of course, he has to lecture.

Even a little lecturing is fine. My kids have learned plenty by reading his books. Mythology, history, geography. Can't stop there, though. Has to complain about how parents of trans teens are mean and cruel, how police are harder on homeless teens who have darker skin, etc. etc.

I will continue to enjoy his earlier works but I'm not reading the latest to the kids (2nd Marcus Chase book esp.) and won't spend money on any new ones.

Posted by: Mama AJ at February 12, 2017 09:07 AM (gTQoY)

14 Tonypete, isn't it weird seeing your own place on the book thread? Like observing your life through a crystal ball.

Although the Horde Palantir would probably be pointed at showers...

*pulls bathrobe tighter*

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 09:08 AM (EnKk6)

15 I prefer to call him 4Cans Shy (of a 6Pac).

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Laugh at a joke, get another joke free! at February 12, 2017 09:08 AM (Yj9qR)

16 I read Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell. Economic fallacies have a degree of plausibility which make them hang around until they almost become common knowledge. Dr. Sowell shows that one must scrutinize the methods and definitions used to collect the statistics that promote these fallacies. He has an easy to read style of writing, and I'm looking forward to reading Basic Economics by him.

I also read By the Rivers of Babylon by Nelson DeMille. This is a very good thriller which features Israelis vs. Palestinians, captured El Al Concordes, and a battle for survival in the ruins of ancient Babylon. I enjoyed the story and learned some ancient history along the way.

Posted by: Zoltan at February 12, 2017 09:09 AM (ApkN7)

17 Skip, it is titled The Lord of the Rings, the TOC shows six books simply numbered 1-6 divided into three volumes with the familiar names.

Posted by: GGE of the Traveling Horde at February 12, 2017 09:10 AM (+l0tv)

18 'I have just obtained my first copy of The Lord of the Rings.'

The volcano scene was the best.

Posted by: freaked at February 12, 2017 09:10 AM (BO/km)

19 On recommendation I picked up Cannery Row for the first time. I cannot believe I let all these years go by without reading this amazing story!

It is the best writing I have read in a long, long time. I'm about 1/2 way through the sequel, Sweet Thursday.

Very funny books.

Posted by: ghbucky at February 12, 2017 09:13 AM (D2q91)

20 freaked, the volcano scene is the one I really want to read about.

I have been summoned. SWMBO has decreed it is Dunkin' time. Later roonz and roonettez, fear no evil!

Posted by: GGE of the Traveling Horde at February 12, 2017 09:14 AM (+l0tv)

21 Hmm. Those bookcases don't look like they are from Ikea.

As usual, the great difference between other Moron's libraries, and my own, is the visible dust and cat hair.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at February 12, 2017 09:14 AM (NBHj5)

22 Tonypete, isn't it weird seeing your own place on the book thread? Like observing your life through a crystal ball.

Although the Horde Palantir would probably be pointed at showers...

*pulls bathrobe tighter*
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 09:08 AM

--------

Yes, it is!

"I'm somebody now! Millions of people look at this everyday."

Don't bother pulling the robe tighter. It's a bit too late. The cat is already out of the bag.

Ummmm, IYKWIMAITUD.

Posted by: Tonypete at February 12, 2017 09:15 AM (tr2D7)

23 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I wish I could like Tonypete's library but there are just too many things wrong with it. It's neat, clean, well-lit, organized, and people can actually locate books they are looking for. That's not right. Where's the dust? Why are there are decorative objects taking up shelf space that could handle disorganized piles of books and magazines and empty coffee cups? Even worse, Mrs. JTB might see it and think it is better than the current chaotic jumble of our reading materials.

I shudder at the thought. Brrrr! :-)

Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 09:16 AM (V+03K)

24 If they rebooted Johnny Quest, Race would be Dr. Quest's transexual lover, Johnny would be a girl, and Raj would be an illegal alien.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Laugh at a joke, get another joke free! at February 12, 2017 09:02 AM (Yj9qR)

No,no,no.....Race and Dr. Quest would be owner's of a pizza restaurant and Johnny and Haji would be on the menu. Haji is and always was an illegal alien, just from India.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 12, 2017 09:16 AM (5VlCp)

25 And because I'm always thinking of the children:

http://www.boredpanda.com/pop-culture-icons-childrens-book-covers-joey-spiotto/

Or:

https://tinyurl.com/j8tbzjf

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 09:16 AM (EnKk6)

26 I have continued reading the "Ring of Fire" series of books by (or edited by) Eric Flint. 1634: The Baltic War takes up where 1633 left off. I liked it quite a bit; the book is pretty long but does tie-up some of the threads.

I also read 1634: The Ram Rebellion and Ring of Fire II. These are both anthologies and I found the quality of the stories to be inconsistent with some real stinkers. I did like most of Ring...II but Ram Rebellion not so much.

My verdicts:
"Baltic" 4.5 out of 5
"Ring II" 3.5 out of 5
"Rebellion" 2.5 out of 5

An interesting idea in the series is, having access to information from the future and act on it, how that action affects your "new" future.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at February 12, 2017 09:16 AM (5Yee7)

27 Perilous Waif sounds like a horror story. Nowadays, Fascism is a pink hat smothering the human brain forever.

Posted by: no good deed at February 12, 2017 09:18 AM (hJamr)

28 Johny Quest reboot - I don't know how many remember the short lived Adult Swim series "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law" - one of the most hilarious episodes was when Harvey had to defend Dr. Quest in court when Race Bannon sued him for palimony.

They pointed out over and over how neither of them ever had anything at all to do with women, and that there were never any women even seen around them, either.

They were arguably even more ambiguously gay than Batman and Robin.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 12, 2017 09:21 AM (V2Yro)

29 Making my way through Norman Macht's three-volume biography of Philadelphia Athletics legendary manager Connie Mack.

Mack was the manager of the A's from their inception in 1901 to 1950, when he retired at the age of 88. Many of the years were glorious. His first team was in the first World Series and the 1910-1914 team was among the very greatest in baseball history, along with the 1929-1931 team.

Mack dispersed his first dynasty after losing the 1914 Series in a sweep. He finished last in the American League for seven straight years. His second dynasty had to be broken up in the shadows of the Depression; baseball was Mack's sole source of income and he had no cushion to sit on in the downturn.

Mack never truly recovered. By the time he was able to rebuild, the business of the game had passed him by. He never really built a farm system, still relying on tips and scouts. He never surrendered any of his simultaneous responsibilities as manager, owner and general manager. While his team came close in 1948, it was his release in anger of pitchers Nels Potter and Russ Christopher that doomed the A's chances.

And in the end, Mack was a Lear-like figure. His sons squabbled among themselves. He did not bequeath the A's to his forward-looking son Connie Jr. but to the hidebound Roy and Earle, who drove it into bankruptcy and transfer to Kansas City.

Macht's writing is often wince-inducing, but the level of detail is deep indeed. A glorious and eventually tragic story.

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at February 12, 2017 09:21 AM (J8/9G)

30 Many thanks to the Moron(s) who recommended "Watch on the Rhine". Just started it, and it's the guiltiest of pleasures. The commenter who said "John Ringo is being a very naughty boy" was right. There were parts that had me giggling like a 9-year-old with a dirty joke book.

No, it's not great literature, but if you're a Moron who likes tanks, alien invasions and PC leftards getting (figuratively) f***ed up the ass, it's cracking.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at February 12, 2017 09:22 AM (1ouh3)

31 Nothing much going on at Chez Hayes, although I will confess that I have set aside "Washington's Crossing" for the moment, and am re-reading SM Stirling's "Dies the Fire." Always thought it was interesting that the first chief villain was a college professor with deeply authoritarian leanings...

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at February 12, 2017 09:22 AM (xnmPy)

32 I mentioned last week that Lee Valley Tools had reprints of classic books on various topics. I ordered several on sale and have been going through a couple. "The Sailor's Word-Book" is available free as a Kindle book but it is so much fun I ordered the hardback edition and glad I did. This is a VERY thumbable read, as addictive as the OED. The quality of the book is excellent: acid free paper, sewn pages, good quality covers, gorgeous end-papers, and easy to read print. One of those books that is a pleasure to hold. And the content is mesmerizing. If you have any interest in history, sailing, or word usage over the centuries, (or all three) I really hope you will check it out. The company in Canada that produces these books only sells through Lee Valley as far as I can tell. For 15 dollars I consider this book a tremendous bargain. Most of the other books on sale cost much less. There are years of pleasant perusing in its pages. It goes on the shelf with my copies of Patrick O'Brian stories, "A Sea of Words", and other associated historical naval reference books.

Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 09:23 AM (V+03K)

33 I gotta get the CD of those out again - Now I remember the Indian Warrior whose power was the ability to Grow to Giant Size - Harvey Birdman represented him when he sued a local coffee shop. Seems that when the coffeeshop served him boiling hot coffee that then spilled into his lap, he lost the ability to "grow to giant size", and he wanted compensation.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 12, 2017 09:24 AM (V2Yro)

34 I read The Fourth Turning about a year ago. Certainly an interesting book that gets one thinking.

Posted by: Zoltan at February 12, 2017 09:24 AM (ApkN7)

35
Taleb's "Black Swan" reminds me of a late night dormitory bull shit session.

Posted by: Libra at February 12, 2017 09:25 AM (u0gU9)

36 "...but because our government has concealed the actions of terrorists like Osama bin Laden and groups like ISIS and al Qaeda, and the role of Iran in the rise of radical Islam..."

I hope this book blurb doesn't reflect the quality of General Flynn's thought. Our government does not conceal any of these things. It trumpets them loudly. What our government does conceal is the role of Saudi Arabia.

Posted by: Emmett Milbarge at February 12, 2017 09:25 AM (nFdGS)

37
No, it's not great literature, but if you're a Moron who likes tanks, alien invasions and PC leftards getting (figuratively) f***ed up the ass, it's cracking.
Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at February 12, 2017 09:22 AM (1ouh3)
---
Taro, Kratman (or was it Ringo? Think it was the Krat) said the book was a kind of revenge novel for having to deal with lefty squish Krauts who resented their presence but wouldn't pick up the defense slack themselves.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 09:26 AM (EnKk6)

38 Making my way through Norman Macht's three-volume biography of Philadelphia Athletics legendary manager Connie Mack.

------

My uncle played for Connie Mack starting in 1936. He was (my uncle) a hell of a guy and loved to tell BB stories as long as anyone would listen to them. The train trips to away games were legendary.

Posted by: Tonypete at February 12, 2017 09:26 AM (tr2D7)

39 I made our library buy Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins.

THe best book about the space program ever. Going now to pick it up.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 12, 2017 09:28 AM (u82oZ)

40 Nice library, Tonypete!

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at February 12, 2017 09:28 AM (J8/9G)

41 "1984" is on the Kindle Unlimited menu. I plan on rereading it to be able to give a point by point refutation to the progs who think it applies to Trump. "The Handmaids Tale," is also available on Unlimited. I guess because of the upcoming Netflix series. I picked up "The Marvelous Misadventure of Ingrid Winter" from the Kindle First list. If it sucks, I'm not out any money.

I bought "The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story" for my husband, but I'll probably read it too. I'm a Douglas Preston fan. I also read many books of questionable taste this week.

Posted by: no good deed at February 12, 2017 09:28 AM (hJamr)

42 Good Sunday morning! This is my favorite part of the week.

This week I am beta reading V the K's new edition. I'm about two chapters in, and following well enough, considering I didn't read the first 11 books. V the K, sorry about not getting to it sooner, but I had family visiting and a funeral last weekend.

My great uncle Ned Young passed away--one of the few remaining WWII vets, master electrician, ham radio operator, and one of the few in his generation who early embraced computer technology. He was emailing and net surfing long before I was.

Posted by: April at February 12, 2017 09:29 AM (e8PP1)

43 I've been reading The Northern Crusades by Eric Christiansen, because my school history books never even mentioned that there was such a thing. The only mention of the fact that Catholicism made inroads into the Baltic was a single mention in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in which one of the characters is said to have fought in Lithuania. So I'm learning a few new things. For one, I never knew the Baltic countries were so swampy; it must have made travel horrendous.

Posted by: right wing yankee at February 12, 2017 09:30 AM (26lkV)

44 34 I read The Fourth Turning about a year ago. Certainly an interesting book that gets one thinking.
Posted by: Zoltan at February 12, 2017 09:24 AM (ApkN7)

===

See Schlesinger, Cycles of American History.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 12, 2017 09:31 AM (EZebt)

45 I'm reading Le Bon's, The Crowd about groupthink and mobs, After reading Coulter's Demonic and especially the chapter on the French Revolution, I think it's instructive in viewing our current political climate.

Posted by: very irredeemably undude at February 12, 2017 09:31 AM (2X7pN)

46 11 ... GGE, I hope you enjoy LOTR. I envy you a little. I first read LOTR over fifty years ago so the excitement of that introduction is lost in the mists of time. Please let us know what you think about it.

One word of advice: take your time with it and enjoy the poetry and fantasy build as Tolkien creates his world.

Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 09:33 AM (V+03K)

47 Did I kill this thread by remarking on a Coulter book. Embarrelled before noon!

Posted by: very irredeemably undude at February 12, 2017 09:35 AM (2X7pN)

48 April, sympathies for your Uncle. It's tough to lose the elders and feel their wisdom and experience slip away from us.

Posted by: Tonypete at February 12, 2017 09:35 AM (tr2D7)

49 I just noticed that the quote was from "Randy Susan" Meyers.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 09:35 AM (EnKk6)

50 Been reading a number of Mises and Rothbard articles on Marxism and general economic history in .pdf on Mises.org site.

Posted by: TexasJew at February 12, 2017 09:35 AM (7LFd6)

51 Just picked up madeleine l'engle's 4 book crosswicks journals. Supposed to be more fiction than autobiographical. Also found a copy of the camp of the saints at a used book store yesterday so that's next.

Posted by: NCKate at February 12, 2017 09:36 AM (WGymb)

52 So Bannon reads books? You know who else read books?

Hitler.

Posted by: blaster at February 12, 2017 09:37 AM (HV1LS)

53 To sum up: Steve Bannon was not hired to build coalitions, get along with the opposition, and see that the present government functions all nice and smooth. No, rather, he's there to break things.

Which puts me in mind of a comment I saw this week:

171 The leftist media and the left in general are scared shitless because for the first time in a looong time a madman with balls that clank ran for office basically saying he was going to break ALL of their shit, and with a public that got behind him and said fuck yeah dude have at it.
Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at February 08, 2017 12:39 PM (aMlLZ)

Posted by: rickl at February 12, 2017 09:37 AM (sdi6R)

54 Johny Quest reboot - I don't know how many remember the short lived Adult Swim series "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law" - one of the most hilarious episodes was when Harvey had to defend Dr. Quest in court when Race Bannon sued him for palimony.
They pointed out over and over how neither of them ever had anything at all to do with women, and that there were never any women even seen around them, either.
They were arguably even more ambiguously gay than Batman and Robin.
Posted by: Tom Servo at February 12, 2017 09:21 AM (V2Yro)

Thanks Tom! I youboobed it and it is hilarious....I wonder if that Judge is on the 9th circuit?

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 12, 2017 09:39 AM (5VlCp)

55 Do we have any Vic update? I haven't seen anything since he signed off on Wednesday.

Posted by: NCKate at February 12, 2017 09:40 AM (WGymb)

56 55 Do we have any Vic update? I haven't seen anything since he signed off on Wednesday.
Posted by: NCKate at February 12, 2017 09:40 AM (WGymb)

His brother commented in today's morning thread.

Posted by: rickl at February 12, 2017 09:41 AM (sdi6R)

57 If you liked Watch on the Rhine I highly recommend State of Disobedience by Tom Kratman. It was his first novel and is about Texas seceding from the US due to the actions of a psycho female POTUS.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at February 12, 2017 09:42 AM (5Yee7)

58 Oh thanks rickl

Posted by: NCKate at February 12, 2017 09:42 AM (WGymb)

59 wow champion book thread OM!

Posted by: @votermom @vm at February 12, 2017 09:42 AM (Om16U)

60 I still have, adn still treasure, my first LoTR set. She gave it to me on Christmas 1974, from my grandmother, marked in the flyleaf, but it's the 1965 2nd edition. I devoured them immediately, I was a fanatic for a while.

(Yes, I knew who the Witch-king of Angmar was before the Witch-king of Angmar was cool)

That set is still one of the most physically beautiful sets of books I owned when younger, the covers have beautifully embossed images of the One Ring on them surrounded by the Ring's inscription - Book 1 is in Gold, Book 2 is in Red, and Book 3 is royal purple. A bit too beat up from rereading to be terribly valuable now, but I still love them.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 12, 2017 09:42 AM (V2Yro)

61 Came across a copy of 'Don Camillo's Dilemma' at Goodwill. Guareschi is always a fun read.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at February 12, 2017 09:43 AM (oVJmc)

62 Moron cool breeze has a book review up today on my blog.

He says it's a Valentine's Day book that both 'rons and 'ettes will like.

link in nic

(and scroll down for an interview of Moron Rolf yesterday)

Posted by: @votermom @vm at February 12, 2017 09:45 AM (Om16U)

63 Reading "Forbidden Thoughts", a collection of Sci-fi shorts by Correia, Torgusten, Kratman, Hoyt, etc. with an intro by Yianopolous. They all have a SJW/ sad puppies twist. Interesting reading and free with Amazon unlimited.

Posted by: lindafell little rally hitler's schadenbutton! at February 12, 2017 09:45 AM (JNDQi)

64 Oops, correction, $4.99 on kindle. I bought it to support these authors. It's a good cause for our side.

Posted by: lindafell little rally hitler's schadenbutton! at February 12, 2017 09:47 AM (JNDQi)

65 43. Yep. The baltics were some of the last parts of europe to be Christianized. Teutonic knights and all that.

Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine. Glory to Kekistan! No Longer Accepting Harem Applicants at February 12, 2017 09:47 AM (VUgH0)

66 52 So Bannon reads books? You know who else read books?
Hitler. Posted by: blaster at February 12, 2017 09:37 AM (HV1LS)

Heh. Well according to an article at WaPo or NYT (does it matter?) Trump is not a reader at all. They made it sound like he only watches tv when he wants to relax or get information. So NotHitler then?

Not sure I believe them. But if true, maybe Bannon will rub off on him. Though to some on the left Brannon is really Darth Bannon, running the whole show from the sidelines, so then it doesn't really matter what Trump does.

Posted by: LizLem at February 12, 2017 09:49 AM (Zkjpe)

67 I am still reading Oz books. Now into The Land of Oz which was my favorite as a girl because who didn't want to be transformed into a beautiful princess (who, I just realized, was the inspiration for Leia's cinnamon buns) who was the absolute ruler of the land of Oz. I loved the O'Neill drawings possibly more than the story.

I finished Boundless Egomania and he ended with a chapter on victims' rights which is a very dangerous idea, I think. The whole reason we have rights to representation by a lawyer and trial by jury is because, if we are accused of a crime, we have the entire weight of the massive government against us. We need protections against it for any proceeding to be remotely fair. The victim, whose life may have been ended or rendered tragic, has that same massive state on her side so why does the victim need "rights"?

I also would think twice before giving a victim impact statement in front of the victim. If you tell him he ruined your life, you have just given him a great feeling of power, or worse even, stroke material for those long nights in prison.

Finally, if you want to get rid of those incredibly annoying highlights from other people on your Kindle, instructions are here, on an amazon forum: http://tinyurl.com/jpdknor

Posted by: Tonestaple at February 12, 2017 09:50 AM (+DRpa)

68 Bannon calls them Turnings. I call them cycles. We talk about him frequently, but Steven Pressler captures periods of these cycles better than most in his historic fictional novels.

Tides of War , about the Peloponnesian War is one that does it really well .

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2017 09:50 AM (IDPbH)

69 A thank you to liz953. A couple of weeks ago she mentioned "Muskrat", a novel about local on the Eastern Shore of Maryland who design a boat for the America's Cup race. I'm only about 40 pages into it and it is a fun read. There are sections that have me laughing out loud and others that remind me strongly (and pleasantly) of growing up in a seaside town. The author, Douglas Hanks, is clearly a local and knows his characters.

I suspect this is a book JackStraw would like. I certainly do and expect to re-read it over the years.

Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 09:50 AM (V+03K)

70 I saw up-thread a pimping on behalf of Lin Carter. I also give an "up-twinkles." I read most of his "sword and sorcery" **mumble* 30+ * years ago when I was teenager.

Not great "lit'ture" but a lot of fun.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at February 12, 2017 09:50 AM (5Yee7)

71 Tony Pete has such a classy library!
But the dust bunnies deported from his house are claiming sanctuary at mine. Thanks a lot, Tonypete!

Posted by: @votermom @vm at February 12, 2017 09:52 AM (Om16U)

72 "although I will confess that I have set aside "Washington's Crossing" for the moment"

-----

David Hackett Fischer is my favorite historian. Impeccable academic chops married to a great felicity as a writer. Love his books. He actually believes in (gasp!) contingency - that history is primarily the result of people and their actions. None of that Marxist determinism crap, or "guns, germs and steel."

Just look at the titles of his narrative histories - "Paul Revere's Ride", "Washington's Crossing", "Champlain's Dream." A man, and then his action (Champlain's dream being the building of New France.)

BTW, don't be put off by the title of "Paul Revere's Ride". A goodly chunk of it is a ripping account of Lexington and Concord.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at February 12, 2017 09:55 AM (1ouh3)

73 Hey, dust bunnies have every right to be in your house whether you want them or not!!! They were here first and there is a war going on somewhere. They should get benefits too, like being able to live under your beds for free. Where is your compassion???h8ters!!!!11!!!//

Posted by: lindafell little rally hitler's schadenbutton! at February 12, 2017 09:57 AM (JNDQi)

74 We need more ripping yarns and cracking good reads.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 09:57 AM (EnKk6)

75 I have an old paperback edition of the LotR books. I don't know who did the art for the covers, but Gandalf looks like Charlton Heston.

Good casting.

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living at February 12, 2017 09:58 AM (x3uSY)

76 38 Making my way through Norman Macht's three-volume biography of Philadelphia Athletics legendary manager Connie Mack.

------

My uncle played for Connie Mack starting in 1936. He was (my uncle) a hell of a guy and loved to tell BB stories as long as anyone would listen to them. The train trips to away games were legendary.
Posted by: Tonypete at February 12, 2017 09:26 AM (tr2D7)

My father is buried in the same cemetery as Connie Mack, just outside of Philadelphia.

And very nice library, Tonypete. Libraries should have fireplaces, in case you don't like the book you're reading.

Posted by: josephistan at February 12, 2017 09:58 AM (7qAYi)

77 The "Victim's Rights" movement and Victim Impact statement came about as a backlash to the mid-to-late 20th century trend in courtrooms to allow the defendant to bring in a long list of "character witnesses" to tell the jury how he was really a good boy, how much his family will miss him if he's incarcerated for more than 90 days, how he was just depraved and distrurbed on account of he was deprived, and so forth and so one.

It was felt that the pendulum had swung so far in favor of the defendants in this way that juries were being swayed to only focus on what a horrible and terrible thing punishment was, while the suffering of the victim and their family was being ignored. (Judges were disallowing that testimony as not germane to the issue of innocence or guilt)

hence, victim impact statements and victim's rights, in order to counteract that movement, and put a leash on those judges who liked to give a fine and 30 days in the county jail for murder and rape.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 12, 2017 09:59 AM (V2Yro)

78 46 11 ... GGE, I hope you enjoy LOTR. I envy you a little. I first read LOTR over fifty years ago so the excitement of that introduction is lost in the mists of time. Please let us know what you think about it.

One word of advice: take your time with it and enjoy the poetry and fantasy build as Tolkien creates his world.
Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 09:33 AM (V+03K

I read Bored of the Rings from the Harvard Lampoon first. It...... colored my appreciation of LOTR.

*whew*
This is the second try at this comment. The first time it turned out I pasted the entire thread. Thank Ghod for proofreading. Don't need an embarreling today.

Posted by: Vlad the Impaler, whittling away like mad at February 12, 2017 09:59 AM (aBDYc)

79 60 ... I have that set of LOTR as well. They were the first hardcover books I bought for myself, circa 1965. The book store owner, a retired local cop, let me pay for each volume separately as I worked for the money and I got the slip case when I bought the final volume. Good memories.

I still have the set and they reside in a place of honor in my glass front bookcase. They show years of use and the bindings are a bit loose but I still take them out for a reading every year. I even have the fold out maps for each volume.

Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 10:00 AM (V+03K)

80 Read W Is For Wasted (Kinsey Millhone #23) by Sue Grafton, where Kinsey investigates a homeless man who died with her name and phone scribbled on a paper in his pocket. Bad stuff is afoot she has to unravel, fun ep. Need to go backwards to pick up at the letter L.

Read Emerald Buddha (Drake Ramsey #2) by Russell Blake, from his adventure series, similar to the Uncharted video games (whose main character is also named Drake). They are in search of a legendary treasure in Southeast Asia while looking for a missing person for the CIA. Lot of intrigue, gun battles and good characters, fun book.

Posted by: waelse1 at February 12, 2017 10:00 AM (BpcXy)

81 I was half listening to some news item/click bait thing on my staticky car radio and I swear I heard the announcer talking about a woman's daughter who could read at one year old, and who's "love of books began in the womb."

I immediately thought I haven't seen for a while that book quote, "Outside of a dog . . ."

Posted by: Kindltot at February 12, 2017 10:00 AM (ry6W6)

82 Hi.

Posted by: Alice's Clone Army at February 12, 2017 10:00 AM (sEFY/)

83 Also beautiful display of books by Tonypete, nice library pic.

Posted by: waelse1 at February 12, 2017 10:02 AM (BpcXy)

84 Re: Bannon & "turnings": I've noticed that Very Big Things happen in history every century or so, right around this stage of the century. 1917 saw the Russian Revolution, 1815 the end of the Napoleonic Era, 1618 the Thirty Years War, 1517 the Protestant Reformation. Maybe Trump was the Very Big Thing this century, or maybe it's still to come.

Posted by: josephistan at February 12, 2017 10:02 AM (7qAYi)

85 TonyPete has a future Art Thread painting on his wall.

Posted by: @votermom @vm at February 12, 2017 10:03 AM (Om16U)

86 God is good

Posted by: phoenixgirl...14 days until spring training at February 12, 2017 10:05 AM (0O7c5)

87 I read two Pat Conroy books as a kid. The Great Santini and Lords of Discipline. Both awesome to me at the time. Now I can't help but always read between the lines and make a Left or Right judgement of the author. I wonder how I would see these novels today.

I think it's a curse.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2017 10:06 AM (IDPbH)

88 It's good to hear that Bannon likes "The Fourth Turning". I read it a few years ago and liked it very much.

The four 20 year "turnings" are approximations, and they don't have hard and fast starting and ending dates. We're definitely in the "Crisis" stage now, though. The last such Crisis was the Depression and WWII.

Some say that the current Crisis began on 9/11, and while it would seem obvious, it was actually a little too early in the pattern. Bannon suggested the 2008 financial meltdown as a starting point, and I think Obama's election in 2008 is also a good fit.

Posted by: rickl at February 12, 2017 10:06 AM (sdi6R)

89 Robert Howard, "Beyond the Black River"
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600741h.html

The ever-expanding nation Aquilonia, which is sort of Rome and sort of early America, has annexed the land between the Thunder River and the Black River. The problem is that the whole land is full of Picts, who are ex-Atlantean savages . . . in other words, the aborigines in the Americas gone full Black Robe.

One Aquilonian named Balthus is captured in battle and Conan goes beyond the Black River to rescue him. They learn that Zogar Sag of Gwawela has united the ~~Mohawks~~ Picts and are about to take over the disputed lands. They arrive at the first Aquilonian fort too late and must settle for evacuating the settlers.

This might be Howard's best Conan tale. It puts him up against a foe he cannot defeat, namely Aquilonian nemesis. It has much to say about Western imperialism, especially about sending civilians into harm's way when their new land hasn't been secured. (This was something of a problem in the nineteenth / twentieth century Empires.)

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at February 12, 2017 10:06 AM (6FqZa)

90 Tides of War, about the Peloponnesian War is one that does it really well .

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2017 09:50 AM (IDPbH)

I just finished The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan. Best popular history I have read, just edging out Amity Shlaes The Forgotten Man and much better than Barbara Tuchman's prize winning books. I like it even better than Stephen Pressfield's lightly fictionalized Gates of Fire. It reads like a gripping epic novel. It should be a great pleasure to read for anyone with any interest in the period.

Posted by: cool breeze at February 12, 2017 10:06 AM (StZrq)

91 Still waiting for the next Claire Fergusson/Russ van Alstyne mystery. Last one ended on a personal cliffhanger for the newly married (and expecting) couple.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 10:07 AM (EnKk6)

92 One day this week, someone posted a link to a web page that was soliciting SciFi stores based on the idea of a California withdrawal from the Union.

Could someone repost that link?

My search techniques are failing me and there is a lot of stuff posted in a week.

I thought it was the last book thread, but it wasn't.

Posted by: Wendel Willard at February 12, 2017 10:10 AM (NSZ1U)

93 Had a friend wanting a recommendation for Sci-Fi. I wanted to put him onto Gibson but I thought you kind of have to start at the beginning with him to get him - soI sent him to Snowcrash by Stephenson.

Posted by: blaster at February 12, 2017 10:11 AM (HV1LS)

94 I'm wrapping up reading Rowling's play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. i put off reading it because I read a plot summary when the play first came out, it sounded like really improbable fanfic. It's not as bad as all that, but it's not amazing either. I get that plays are meant to be seen, not read, making judging it without seeing the play hard. But she sacrifices SO much needed characterization for the sake of an over complicated plot. I don't know enough about some of the characters to even care if their futures change due to time turner antics. That's not good. It could work better if it was a second series, with the time turner stuff as the overarching plot for all the books. But between writing the fantastic beast screenplays and her Galbraith murder mysteries, maybe she couldn't be bothered.

Posted by: LizLem at February 12, 2017 10:12 AM (Zkjpe)

95 "Sun Tzu, you magnificent bastard -- I read your book", said no general ever...

Posted by: Zettai Ryoiki at February 12, 2017 10:12 AM (kP16F)

96 43 I've been reading The Northern Crusades by Eric Christiansen, because my school history books never even mentioned that there was such a thing. The only mention of the fact that Catholicism made inroads into the Baltic was a single mention in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in which one of the characters is said to have fought in Lithuania. So I'm learning a few new things. For one, I never knew the Baltic countries were so swampy; it must have made travel horrendous.

-----------

As Napoleon invaded Russia, one wing of the army was sent into the Baltic. They met a bad end, and have become a sort of forgotten army of that time. No books exist that I know of that focus on that facet of the 1812 war with Russia.

http://tinyurl.com/hfy5jty

Posted by: josephistan at February 12, 2017 10:13 AM (7qAYi)

97 86 God is good

Amen!

Posted by: April at February 12, 2017 10:13 AM (e8PP1)

98 76
My father is buried in the same cemetery as Connie Mack, just outside of Philadelphia.

Posted by: josephistan at February 12, 2017 09:58 AM (7qAYi)

I was there once, looking for a different grave. I saw Connie Mack's gravesite. It has a large marker, more like a sarcophagus than a typical gravestone. All it says is "McGillicuddy". That's it. No dates or anything.

Posted by: rickl at February 12, 2017 10:13 AM (sdi6R)

99 I've been reading The Battle for Hell's Island by Stephen Moore. Despite the purple-prose title, this a serious history of dive bomber aircrew during the early days of the Pacific War. (Hell's Island referred to in the title is Guadalcanal.) The basic idea is that a relative handful of aircrew prevented defeat in the Pacific much as Churchill's "Few" saved Britain.

The book gives you the down and dirty on dive bomber operations. I've always wondered how pilots, traumatized by battle and low on fuel, were able to find their carriers in the vastness of the ocean especially given that the carrier, possibly with unforeseen problems of its own, wasn't where it had been when they took off. Answer: it was a real problem with frequently fatal consequences. Carriers could send out a homing beacon but the enemy could follow that as well and, if the plane were close enough, the conditions right, and the equipment operating correctly, radar operators could vector the plane home but this frequently failed.

The author goes into a lot of back story on the aircrew about whom he writes which, at first, I found annoying but it does bring out the humanity of the casualties. For example, when one pilot engaged in a simple reconnaissance mission looking for the Japanese carriers on December 7 becomes lost and crashes into the sea, you really feel it.

Recommend for anyone interested in the subject matter.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Laugh at a joke, get another joke free! at February 12, 2017 10:14 AM (Nwg0u)

100 Wendell, it may be the first link here

http://www.bookhorde.org/2017/02/word-around-writer-blogs.html

Posted by: @votermom @vm at February 12, 2017 10:14 AM (Om16U)

101 Posted by: cool breeze at February 12, 2017 10:06 AM (StZrq)

I think I enjoyed Pressfield's Tides of War just a tiny bit better than Gates of Fire. I guess the Peloponnesian War is just a great subject to write about.

Kagan's Origin of War is next on my reading list. Have you read it?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2017 10:14 AM (IDPbH)

102 I immediately thought I haven't seen for a while that book quote, "Outside of a dog . . ."

Posted by: Kindltot at February 12, 2017 10:00 AM (ry6W6)

That was "Backwards Boy" who used to repost that Groucho Marx line on every book thread, until he got banned. Not for that, but for other stuff.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at February 12, 2017 10:14 AM (fklV+)

103 74 ... "We need more ripping yarns and cracking good reads."

All Hail Eris, Ripping yarns and cracking good reads are always in order. I recently got "The Big Book of Swashbuckling Adventure". The subtitle is "Classic Tales of Dashing Heroes, Dastardly Villains, and Daring Escapes". It contains short stories by Conan Doyle, Anthony Hope, Dumas, Sabatini, and others. The two I've read so far are fun and certainly buckle the swash. Even the ones written in the 20th century have that Victorian feel of Dumas or Haggard, dealing with exotic locales and careful, thorough descriptions that put the reader into the story. I suspect younger people might be annoyed at the slower pace of the writing compared to their shoot-em-up computer games, but I love it.

Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 10:14 AM (V+03K)

104 86 God is good

Posted by: phoenixgirl...14 days until spring training at February 12, 2017 10:05 AM (0O7c5)

You're welcome.

Posted by: Barak Obama at February 12, 2017 10:16 AM (fklV+)

105 I think Sun Tzu is a bit overrated. He is a primitive with a lot of platitudes. And there is a lot of Sun Tzu stuff that didn't come from him.

I am not saying reading him is without worth, but people who think he is be all end all are missing the point.

I think a blend of Sun Tzu and Clausewitz is better...

Posted by: blaster at February 12, 2017 10:18 AM (HV1LS)

106 That was ""Backwards Boy" who used to repost that Groucho Marx line on every book thread, until he got banned. Not for that, but for other stuff.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at February 12, 2017 10:14 AM (fklV+)

I like that quote so much I made KTY draw me a dog reading a book to go with it.

Posted by: @votermom @vm at February 12, 2017 10:18 AM (Om16U)

107 Maybe Trump was the Very Big Thing

-
The History ord you're looking for is "yuuuuge".

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Laugh at a joke, get another joke free! at February 12, 2017 10:19 AM (Nwg0u)

108 Wendell, it may be the first link here

http://www.bookhorde.org/2017/02/word-around-writer-blogs.html

Posted by: @votermom @vm at February 12, 2017 10:14 AM (Om16U)

Yes, thank you. As I read it, I see a solicitation for comments, not a solicitation for manuscripts. Probably why I didn't bookmark it when I first saw it.

Thanks for the help.

Posted by: Wendel Willard at February 12, 2017 10:19 AM (NSZ1U)

109 Slightly OT, but last night I went to the Chicago Auto Show. While passing the Toyota booth, I realized their sales spiel on the loudspeakers was discussing how many jobs Toyota provides here in America.

Did that ever happen in the past or under Barky? But that's a new part of the conversation under President DJT.

Posted by: Boots at February 12, 2017 10:20 AM (EBwPV)

110 I recently got "The Big Book of Swashbuckling Adventure". The subtitle is "Classic Tales of Dashing Heroes, Dastardly Villains, and Daring Escapes". It contains short stories by Conan Doyle, Anthony Hope, Dumas, Sabatini, and others.
Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 10:14 AM (V+03K)

The Kindle edition is $9.99. Now I'm wondering how many of of those stories are available for free on Gutenberg.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at February 12, 2017 10:21 AM (fklV+)

111 Posted by: Wendel Willard at February 12, 2017 10:19 AM (NSZ1U)

do you want me to ask Nick Cole if they're accepting stories for it?

Posted by: @votermom @vm at February 12, 2017 10:22 AM (Om16U)

112 from "anti fragile": "obama had no upside because everyone thought he was so brilliant..."

on the contrary, obama had no downside. as i remarked when he was elected, he's the luckiest guy in the world. he came into office after a disaster had struck and had he simply done nothing the economy would have repaired itself and he could take credit, which is close to what happened.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at February 12, 2017 10:23 AM (WTSFk)

113 I still don't like Backwards Boy's banning. He got pissed off at somebody, and let them have it in a comment. That was during the primary, when everybody was testy and snapping at each other. Any one of us could have been banned, if we said the wrong thing at the wrong time and Ace or a cob happened to be watching.

I've seen him at Instapundit sometimes.

Posted by: rickl at February 12, 2017 10:23 AM (sdi6R)

114 Kagan's Origin of War is next on my reading list. Have you read it?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2017 10:14 AM (IDPbH)

No, but I'm definitely putting more Kagan on my reading list and it's his second most popular book after The Peloponnesian War.

Posted by: cool breeze at February 12, 2017 10:23 AM (StZrq)

115 As Napoleon invaded Russia, one wing of the army
was sent into the Baltic. They met a bad end, and have become a sort of
forgotten army of that time. No books exist that I know of that focus
on that facet of the 1812 war with Russia.

http://tinyurl.com/hfy5jty

Posted by: josephistan at February 12, 2017 10:13 AM (7qAYi)

I feel a plot bunny coming on. Werewolves may or may not be involved...

Posted by: right wing yankee at February 12, 2017 10:24 AM (26lkV)

116 Such a serene library Tonypete. So calm and balanced

(*looking at mine with a shelf crammed with comb-bound cook books and wincing*)

Posted by: Kindltot at February 12, 2017 10:24 AM (ry6W6)

117 I think Sun Tzu is a bit overrated. He is a primitive with a lot of platitudes. And there is a lot of Sun Tzu stuff that didn't come from him.
I am not saying reading him is without worth, but people who think he is be all end all are missing the point.
I think a blend of Sun Tzu and Clausewitz is better...
Posted by: blaster at February 12, 2017 10:18 AM (HV1LS)

Pffffffft Sun Tzu. Red Army line up divisions against Fritz 10 to 1 and only stop when we reach Fuhrer Bunker.
Sun Tzu never had glorious T-34/85.

Posted by: Marshal Zhukov at February 12, 2017 10:25 AM (5VlCp)

118 do you want me to ask Nick Cole if they're accepting stories for it?

-------------------

No, thanks. They are collecting a 'dream team' of top writers. Way outa my league.

Posted by: Wendel Willard at February 12, 2017 10:26 AM (NSZ1U)

119 Currently reading Mustafa Akyol, "The Islamic Jesus". So far I gather he is trying to do too much at once.

First there's an attempt to draw chains of descent between variant Christianities - mostly Palestinian / Syrian - to the Qur'an, and to declare them a "Jewish Christianity". The problem here is that there was never a definite sect of Jewish Christianity, at least not since Saint James.

Then there's the attempt to claim Islam as the rightful heir to Saint James' Christianity - basically to unite Jews and Christians under Islam.

One yuuge problem here is that Akyol does not permit the same historical skepticism to enter his study of early Islam that he permits for early Christianity. He first mentions Patricia Crone in page 84 long after he'd told the usual tall tale of Muhammad's revelation. When he does that, others will accuse him of acting in bad faith.

Also, when Akyol is marshalling his predecessors for Qur'anic doctrine about Jesus, he stumbles into a junkpile of pious apocrypha that no serious Christian scholar would allow anywhere near him. Like the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, or Pseudo Matthew, or the Protoevangelion of James. All this stuff is clearly made up after the fact, but Muslims are stuck with it because the Qur'an endorses them. So Akyol is stuck with it too.

I generally detect cognitive-dissonance. He knows that his fellow Muslims have a "Pharisaic" mindset (p. 24). He also knows his sources encourage this - here is what he says about the Qurayza: "the secret connections of the Jewish tribes with the pagans of Mecca led to their tragic expulsion from Medina". PASSIVE VOICE ALERT.

I don't think Akyol is out to deceive us; but he is lying to himself. And *that* is tragic.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at February 12, 2017 10:27 AM (6FqZa)

120 115. Werebears, with Puckle Guns.

Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine. Glory to Kekistan! No Longer Accepting Harem Applicants at February 12, 2017 10:27 AM (VUgH0)

121 I ignored The JEF for 9 years. The left is insane, including media & I am enjoying it.

Posted by: Carol at February 12, 2017 10:28 AM (sj3Ax)

122 Godless by Ann Coulter should be required reading for everyone on the right. It is her masterwork. Especially the first two thirds.

Even if you don't approve of the last third (evolution), at least it will make you think. Especially when you know what the Left has done with AGW.

Before she went Christie Crazy, she was way the hell ahead of her time. And hilarious.

Posted by: Mega at February 12, 2017 10:28 AM (EdXI9)

123 [i hope everyone appreciates that my comment no. 112 indicates i actually read something here.]

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at February 12, 2017 10:29 AM (WTSFk)

124 He's like the Rainman of nationalism.

Referring to someone as 'Rainman' is disrespectful to those with savant syndrome.

*kicks over Oregon's trash can and sets it ablaze*

Posted by: Unhinged Social Justice Warrior at February 12, 2017 10:29 AM (ZFUt7)

125 117. Da, tovarisch marshal! quantity is a quality of its own.

Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine. Glory to Kekistan! No Longer Accepting Harem Applicants at February 12, 2017 10:30 AM (VUgH0)

126 JTB, that looks like a fine collection, though it lacks the required copious Wyeth illustrations.

A kid could learn a lot of useful vocabulary from a book like "Treasure Island":

https://tinyurl.com/h27j8zg

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 10:30 AM (EnKk6)

127 OM, I just heard that comment on the radio and thought "What a waste of broadcast time"

Posted by: Kindltot at February 12, 2017 10:31 AM (ry6W6)

128 'Puckle Guns'

Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine. Glory to Kekistan!
No Longer Accepting Harem Applicants at February 12, 2017 10:27 AM
(VUgH0)

I've been hanging around this blog too long, because my first thought was, 'Is that safe to google?'

Posted by: right wing yankee at February 12, 2017 10:31 AM (26lkV)

129 he came into office after a disaster had struck and had he simply done nothing the economy would have repaired itself and he could take credit, which is close to what happened.
-----------

And he actually did the opposite - everything he could to stop the recovery. Remember... he specificaly wanted to get rid of those "ups and downs" and replace it with the Flatline Glory of a planned economy.

Posted by: Mega at February 12, 2017 10:31 AM (EdXI9)

130 Finished The Empty Throne, Cornwell's latest Saxon Tales/Last Kingdom novel. I liked it better than the last few, its a bit more back to form. Uhtred spends most of the book wounded very badly by his last fight and suffering form his own stubbornness and lack of proper medical care. His youngest son is becoming quite the man himself, and his daughter an amazing young lady as well.

I'm quite fond of how Cornwell portrays women in his books. Some are capable in combat, but have their limitations, some are more political, some are capable in other ways. He doesn't have one grrl power stamp he uses every book like, say, Lee Child has in his Reacher books.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 10:32 AM (39g3+)

131 Even if you don't approve of the last third (evolution), at least it will make you think. Especially when you know what the Left has done with AGW.

Yeah I've brought that up a few times. Global Warming is not the first time the left has used science to promote a social agenda, using "majority of scientists" and shaming, destroying careers, and sloppy science.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 10:33 AM (39g3+)

132 For those of us who enjoy westerns, I've found a new-to-me author: Kirby Jonas. (Yes, that's his real name.) I was reading reviews on a L'Amour book and came across a comment by James Drury, the actor from the show 'The Virginian'. He mentioned Jonas' books and how they compared so well with L'Amour and Zane Grey. (Since Drury narrated the audio books, I thought it was just merchandising. I was wrong.) The comments for Jonas' books are almost all 5 star. I downloaded a few that were 1.99 on Kindle and started "Yaqui Gold". His writing and ability to describe the terrain and characters really does remind me of L'Amour, perhaps on steroids. Five chapters in and I didn't want to stop reading. If his other books remain this good, I have a new western writer to read. Over the years, I've probably read most westerns by L'Amour and Grey and several others. So finding a new western author is a big deal.

To make it sweeter, I have a friend who absolutely loves westerns. He is partially paralyzed from an accident and can't hold a physical book but uses the heck out of his Kindle Paperwhite. It will be great to tell him about these new westerns.

Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 10:34 AM (V+03K)

133 117. Actually knew ONE guy who served in the Romanian army in the eastern front. He was terrified of the shock-armies.

Dude was in an AA battalion - they turned their guns on the advancing Reds to help cover withdrawals and slow down advances. Said there was no stopping them - at best, you could slow them down.

Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine. Glory to Kekistan! No Longer Accepting Harem Applicants at February 12, 2017 10:34 AM (VUgH0)

134
No, thanks. They are collecting a 'dream team' of top writers. Way outa my league.
Posted by: Wendel Willard at February 12, 2017 10:26 AM (NSZ1U)

Are you interested in open submission opportunities?
I'll keep an eye out and blog about any I hear about

Posted by: @votermom @vm at February 12, 2017 10:34 AM (Om16U)

135 I've been hanging around this blog too long, because my first thought was, 'Is that safe to google?'
Posted by: right wing yankee at February 12, 2017 10:31 AM (26lkV)

Yes, it is safe. And not in the Marathon Man way.

Puckle developed a type of flintlock-revolver-wall gun.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 12, 2017 10:35 AM (ry6W6)

136 Tom Servo 77, a good point, but I still wouldn't give the criminal the satisfaction. Can one not simply furnish one's statement to the judge and not give the scumbag the satisfaction of having wrecked your life?

Wouldn't you think a judge would have seen enough to recognize bullsh1t when he sees it and disregard character witnesses for a convicted criminal who, based on his conviction, has no good character?

Posted by: Tonestaple at February 12, 2017 10:36 AM (+DRpa)

137 Library Cat is sleeping behind the big dish on the top shelf to the left.

Posted by: professional cat spotter at February 12, 2017 10:36 AM (ZKlDy)

138 `129 mega: and if congress hadn't stopped him, obama would have added trillions more to the debt for no discernible good.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at February 12, 2017 10:36 AM (WTSFk)

139 I just finished "Gates of Fire." I thoroughly enjoyed it. The character development, and the rawness of the battles were as realistic as could be told. The technology of the time was pretty amazing, too, especially when he was describing the Persian/Egyptian fleet. I also enjoyed "300." I realize that movie played liberally w/the truth, but it was based on a graphic novel of the same name.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at February 12, 2017 10:36 AM (ty7RM)

140 the 1812 war with Russia.

http://tinyurl.com/hfy5jty

-
Very interesting.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Laugh at a joke, get another joke free! at February 12, 2017 10:37 AM (Nwg0u)

141 135 I've been hanging around this blog too long, because my first thought was, 'Is that safe to google?'
Posted by: right wing yankee at February 12, 2017 10:31 AM (26lkV)

Yes, it is safe. And not in the Marathon Man way.

Puckle developed a type of flintlock-revolver-wall gun.
Posted by: Kindltot at February 12, 2017 10:35 AM (ry6W6)

From the wiki entry on "Puckle gun":

Puckle demonstrated two configurations of the basic design: one, intended for use against Christian enemies, fired conventional round bullets, while the second, designed to be used against the Muslim Turks, fired square bullets. The square bullets were considered to be more damaging. They would, according to the patent, "convince the Turks of the benefits of Christian civilization".

Posted by: josephistan at February 12, 2017 10:38 AM (7qAYi)

142 *ATQNA
I just finished listening to a book on Audible called Trust me I'm Lying: the Confessions of a Media Manipulator, by Ryan Holiday.
Make no mistake Holiday is a liberal. That having been said, it is scary to see how easy the media (from small blogs all the way up to the top of the food chain in the NYT) is to manipulate.
The media are profoundly lazy and dishonest, I mean in a bred in the bone kind of way, and they won't bother to do any original research if presented with a story that will draw clicks, or fits an agenda.
If a manufactured story fits an agenda don't ever expect the media to even consider looking into it more deeply.
Paid for blogs--by and larger--(I'm talking Gawker and Politico and I suppose Salon)--care only about page views because that's how they get paid.
As Holiday says, I'm quoting more or less directly by memory "virtual unreality is scary as fuck."
He admits to destroying careers with manufactured stories. And to promoting businesses and individuals with the same manufacturing.

Interesting book.
*Answers To Questions Nobody's Asking

Posted by: Northernlurker at February 12, 2017 10:38 AM (nBr1j)

143 Over the years, I've probably read most westerns by L'Amour and Grey and several others. So finding a new western author is a big deal.

I'll take a look. There are a lot of western authors out there, but most of them are just not very good. Many of the biggest names like Johnstone are kind of hacks.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 10:38 AM (39g3+)

144 "Puckle developed a type of flintlock-revolver-wall gun."

-----------

And advertised it as capable of shooting "round bullets against Christians, and square bullets against Turks", IIRC.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at February 12, 2017 10:39 AM (1ouh3)

145 110 ... "The Kindle edition is $9.99. Now I'm wondering how many of those stories are available for free on Gutenberg."

Hi OM and thanks for the book thread. I suspect some of these stories are available on Gutenberg or even as free e-books. I happen to get an inexpensive used copy that made the Kindle price seem steep.

Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 10:39 AM (V+03K)

146 Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine. Glory to Kekistan! No Longer Accepting Harem Applicants at February 12, 2017 10:34 AM (VUgH0)

Defending the Motherland and having a really hard and miserable life even without war , is a combination that gives you a lethal, I don't give a F , shock trooper.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2017 10:39 AM (IDPbH)

147 ... but given how little obama accomplished, i was puzzled by richard bran son's comment on why he offered his island to obama for a post-presidency vacation. he said obama deserved it after everything he'd done for the world.

...

wtf? i couldn't figure that out until an led lightbulb went on: ahhh, he supports global warming. figures.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at February 12, 2017 10:40 AM (WTSFk)

148 116 Such a serene library Tonypete. So calm and balanced
(*looking at mine with a shelf crammed with comb-bound cook books and wincing*)
Posted by: Kindltot at February 12, 2017 10:24 AM (ry6W6)

That's OK, we'll be looking at yours next week. Thanks for sending the photo.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at February 12, 2017 10:40 AM (fklV+)

149 96

Commodore Hornblower, for all its faults, takes place in the Baltic during the Napoleonic invasion and retreat

Posted by: Bensdad00 at February 12, 2017 10:40 AM (v2eXm)

150 "109 Slightly OT, but last night I went to the Chicago Auto Show. While passing the Toyota booth, I realized their sales spiel on the loudspeakers was discussing how many jobs Toyota provides here in America.

Did that ever happen in the past or under Barky? But that's a new part of the conversation under President DJT."
----------
I recall going to a Chicago Auto Show around the time of Bush I and seeing Japanese manufacturer's booths mention "Made in America". I believe it has always been a sensitive topic for them because US auto makers have always been kept out of the Japanese market by high tariffs, and their success has been driven by acceptance in the US.

Posted by: Western Slope Mope at February 12, 2017 10:40 AM (WrMht)

151 Come on, Sun Tzu, overrated? How many writers from 2300 years ago still have something relevant to say about American politics today?

Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Milos Y., vs the SJW's:

"if your opponent is of choleric (ie, excitable) temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant."

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 12, 2017 10:40 AM (V2Yro)

152 Michael Palin had a TV series entitled "Ripping Yarns" after Monty Python, like John Cleese did with "Fawlty Towers". I saw some of the episodes years ago. They should probably be better known.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtzhTE4T4_8

Posted by: rickl at February 12, 2017 10:40 AM (sdi6R)

153 Damn. I was beat to the Puckle punch.

Morons know their guns.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at February 12, 2017 10:40 AM (1ouh3)

154 Kindltot, Palpatine, this could be interesting. I'm thinking were-polar-bear cavalry with Puckle-type guns mounted on their saddles, operated by a horde of pissed off Finns. The French wouldn't stand a chance.

*evil laugh*

Posted by: right wing yankee at February 12, 2017 10:40 AM (26lkV)

155
I still don't like Backwards Boy's banning. He got pissed off at somebody, and let them have it in a comment.

I, under different nic, defended BB, or at least asked for less than full ban. Ace responded to me, citing the way over the top vitriol which included reference to object of BB's anger's mother.

Back to reading OM.

Posted by: Unhinged Social Justice Warrior at February 12, 2017 10:41 AM (ZFUt7)

156 I read Bored of the Rings from the Harvard Lampoon first. It...... colored my appreciation of LOTR.

I didn't read it first, but it did color my appreciate of LOTR for a good long while after I read Bored.

I have "Doon" around here somewhere and maybe I'll read that this afternoon to forget all my troubles for a while. "Dune" can always stand to have some of its pretentiousness rubbed off.

Posted by: Tonestaple at February 12, 2017 10:41 AM (+DRpa)

157 The media are profoundly lazy and dishonest, I mean in a bred in the bone kind of way, and they won't bother to do any original research if presented with a story that will draw clicks, or fits an agenda.

I wonder if the Trump administration read that -- Bannon probably has -- because it looks an awful lot to me like that's what they are doing. They keep giving the media enough rope over and over again then more information that makes the media look retarded. Have a guy stand in front of the MLK bust, knowing the media will assume its been removed and cannot resist a story about the president removing a bust see, he did it too but since he's a klansman Hitler it was a black man!

Over and over it keeps happening, and I think its to teach the media a lesson. Get all the facts, stop trying to smear us.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 10:41 AM (39g3+)

158 146. I knew a few frontovikii - one was a shock-trooper. Said iy was vodka, benzedrine, and thirst for revenge that motivated him.

Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine. Glory to Kekistan! No Longer Accepting Harem Applicants at February 12, 2017 10:43 AM (VUgH0)

159 " he said obama deserved it after everything he'd done for the world. "

I have a picture of a watermelon patch in Arkansas with a broke down outhouse standing on the edge. That's what Obama deserves after everything he's done for the world.

And he can share it with Bill & Hill.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 12, 2017 10:43 AM (V2Yro)

160 We've been reading aloud the "Magnus Chase" series to our young boys, from author Rick Riordan (he wrote the Percy Jackson series). I think this will be our last book from this guy, as he has decided to inject his gender politics into children's books. There we were, reading along, when out of the blue, a lecture on gender fluidity. Totally inappropriate.

Posted by: Bacon Jeff at February 12, 2017 10:43 AM (VSenK)

161 Oop, just saw the other responses to my Puckle gun question. Thanks, guys!

Posted by: right wing yankee at February 12, 2017 10:43 AM (26lkV)

162 Time to go to Mass

Posted by: josephistan at February 12, 2017 10:43 AM (7qAYi)

163 Puckle demonstrated two configurations of the basic design: one, intended for use against Christian enemies, fired conventional round bullets, while the second, designed to be used against the Muslim Turks, fired square bullets. The square bullets were considered to be more damaging. They would, according to the patent, "convince the Turks of the benefits of Christian civilization".

Posted by: josephistan at February 12, 2017 10:38 AM (7qAYi)

While those on the other side of the isle will probably crap their shorts if they read that, I can't wipe this smile off my face.

I denounce myself.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at February 12, 2017 10:44 AM (fklV+)

164 Commodore Hornblower, for all its faults, takes place in the Baltic during the Napoleonic invasion and retreat

I liked it fine. Its the last good Hornblower book, in my mind. The ones after just didn't work for me. It did always bother me that he was totally loyal to his first wife who he allegedly didn't love, then spent his life sleeping with other women when he remarried to a woman he supposedly loved.

I read Bored of the Rings from the Harvard Lampoon first. It...... colored my appreciation of LOTR.

Really? I just enjoyed it for its own sake. It was loads of fun without being mean to or just mocking fantasy or its fans. it was just goofy.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 10:44 AM (39g3+)

165 Posted by: Bacon Jeff at February 12, 2017 10:43 AM (VSenK)

ugh

I loved the Percy Jackson series.

I can not understand how so many seemingly sane people have bought into the gender fluid madness

Effing aholes are destroying a generation.

Posted by: @votermom @vm at February 12, 2017 10:45 AM (Om16U)

166

Am I right that we never really discussed Oswald Chambers here at the ol' Q?

Posted by: Soothsayer SLE at February 12, 2017 10:45 AM (Wokdz)

167 "if your opponent is of choleric (ie, excitable) temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant."
Posted by: Tom Servo at February 12, 2017 10:40 AM (V2Yro)

DJT: ( *scribble scribble MSM scribble scribble CNN scribble* )

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at February 12, 2017 10:47 AM (fklV+)

168 I don't think Trump and Bannon (and I don't mean to put them together like that) are attempting to teach the media a lesson, they are trying to defeat them.

Trump knows who is enemies are, the press are his enemies, so, Trump smash (and I don't mean to say that he's an unthinking brute). That's pretty much how he works.

Bannon has a different angle, if you think about it, he is Drudge's 3G warfare - Drudge to Breitbart to Bannon. Bannon wants to upend the press applecart so a new press will exist.

Posted by: blaster at February 12, 2017 10:47 AM (HV1LS)

169 87, Sebastian Melmouth, reading The Great Santini freaked me out something fierce because it was obvious (to me) that the father was another angry drunk just like my father. And it, and his other books that I read, convinced me that Pat Conroy had invested his whole life in pretending that everything was just fine, fine, dammit, and how dare you say anything different. Not unlike my sisters.

So I frequently judge the mental health of authors in addition to their politics.

Posted by: Tonestaple at February 12, 2017 10:48 AM (+DRpa)

170 Currently I'm reading Fannie's Last Stand. After watching the documentary on Netflix, I had to read the book and now I have to buy it when I can.

It sounds like a pretty blah concept: the guy from America's Test Kitchen cooks a dinner party from Fannie Farmer's 1896 cookbook (it has menus for parties in the back). But in addition to them describing using exclusively Victorian-era techniques and cooking on a wood burning stove, there's a huge wealth of amazing information in the book about the era, culture, food, and history from the late 1800s US and England. Its a treasure trove on top of fascinating information on cooking like how to make puff pastry, gelatin, food coloring, etc from scratch.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 10:49 AM (39g3+)

171 Er, that's Fannie's Last Supper rather

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 10:49 AM (39g3+)

172 Am I right that we never really discussed Oswald Chambers here at the ol' Q?
Posted by: Soothsayer SLE at February 12, 2017 10:45 AM (Wokdz)

You are correct, sir. At least, not on the book thread.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at February 12, 2017 10:49 AM (fklV+)

173 I've read only seven books from the list of 50 greatest books list ( compiled with an algorithm of 107 other lists) .

I guess I'm not well read.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2017 10:50 AM (IDPbH)

174 I think a lot of Hornblower's character was a rewritten fantasy version of Admiral Nelson's life, especially his attitude towards and relationships with women.

Nelson did NOT treat his wife well.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 12, 2017 10:50 AM (V2Yro)

175 I have read everything Conroy wrote.

He is a good writer. But if you read everything he writes, you see his common threads - the drunk abusive father, the Catholic in a strange land (SC), the domineering mother, and the rape. As he writes, from book to book the rape gets closer and closer to the protagonist. Until it happens to the protagonist.

Posted by: blaster at February 12, 2017 10:53 AM (HV1LS)

176 96 check my goodreads for comments on the whole hornblower series if you want

Posted by: Bensdad00 at February 12, 2017 10:53 AM (v2eXm)

177 117. Da, tovarisch marshal! quantity is a quality of its own.
Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine. Glory to Kekistan! No Longer Accepting Harem Applicants at February 12, 2017 10:30 AM (VUgH0)

Now you tell me....

Posted by: Zombie Field Marshal Paulus at February 12, 2017 10:53 AM (5VlCp)

178 Those are great Bannon links, and really summarize so many problems with billionaires buying policy (or foreign governments buying weapons and policy, in Hillary's case).

LTCM got their bailout in 1999 or so, and many very rich coastal clients got saved, after making big bucks on their computer trading program that distorted markets. We all paid after they got rich on market manipulation and 300:1 leverage. Wall Street Hedge Gang went to the mattresses and Main Street Mob (actual producers) lost dominance. Yet the cheats are still arrogant enough to trash talk the middle America dumb hick Trump voter. "Too big to fail or jail" has to end.

This is an audible interview of Taleb on the black swan subject. 37 minutes or so, I haven't heard it all yet.
(it works for me to just enter that whole thing, though I inserted an "enter" so it would fit and still be clear what the link is)

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/
nassim-taleb-on-living-with-black-swans/

Posted by: illiniwek at February 12, 2017 10:55 AM (RWmbm)

179 I don't think Trump and Bannon (and I don't mean to put them together like that) are attempting to teach the media a lesson, they are trying to defeat them.

That's the other option, they are just working to demolish the media. And while we need an active, vigorous news media, we don't need this one. So I have no problem with that in principle.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 10:55 AM (39g3+)

180 What's the best way to get into the Aubrey/Maturin series? In e.g. Discworld, you can basically skip the first one because it doesn't carry a hell of a lot of continuity over to the rest of the series, and Pratchett hadn't really hit his stride yet. The local library doesn't have the first A/M book, so I picked up the earliest one they did have, and it was set entirely on land, with some character or other trying to hook up with a governor's daughter or something. I felt like I should be drinking rose and eating Hagen Daz out of the carton; not a bit of rum, buggery, nor lash to be seen.

Posted by: hogmartin at February 12, 2017 10:56 AM (8nWyX)

181 Finished "The Lovecraft Code" by Peter Lavenda. For me it was the Atlanta Falcons of a book (good for the first three quarters, but falls apart in the fourth).

Posted by: Darth Randall at February 12, 2017 10:56 AM (6n332)

182 Gen Mike Flynn is in the lede above. He has an exposure over his obfuscating about telling the Russians not to worry about Obama's last minute sanctions. If I have it right, what's not getting attention is that US officials listened in on that conversation and are the source of the story. If so it's a Deep State attack on Trump

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 12, 2017 10:57 AM (bQxkN)

183 177. Guess that whole 'resupply by air' thing didn't quite work out.

Lord, what a nightmare - surrounded by the red army and told not to surrender.

Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine. Glory to Kekistan! No Longer Accepting Harem Applicants at February 12, 2017 10:58 AM (VUgH0)

184
Yeah, OM, My Utmost For His Highest might be the one of the few things we have yet to argue over here at AoS.

Also: Spumoni ice cream. Not sure we ever delved into that, either. (It stinks, btw.)

Posted by: Soothsayer SLE at February 12, 2017 10:58 AM (Wokdz)

185 If you're an author you really don't want your books' reviews to invoke the 2016-17 Falcons.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at February 12, 2017 10:58 AM (6FqZa)

186 I've read only seven books from the list of 50 greatest books list ( compiled with an algorithm of 107 other lists) .

I wouldn't let it bother you. A lot of the books on every one of the lists like this I've seen are crap.

I think a lot of Hornblower's character was a rewritten fantasy version of Admiral Nelson's life, especially his attitude towards and relationships with women.

He was, in part, but the problem is, Nelson spent his entire life as a rake and an adulterer, and Horatio just at the end of his life. It was a reversal of attitude for no discernible reason.

I never read Hornblower for historical accuracy, most of the "amazing new ideas" he has were pretty well standard for every captain in the British Navy at the time. But its fun reading regardless, because Forester is such a talented, skilled author.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 10:58 AM (39g3+)

187 By the way, Rudyard Kipling and Edgar Rice Burroughs had no books in that top 50 list. I guess not intellectually boring enough. Captains Courageous so much better than Moby Dick as sea novels go.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2017 10:58 AM (IDPbH)

188 Slightly OT, but last night I went to the Chicago Auto Show. While passing the Toyota booth, I realized their sales spiel on the loudspeakers was discussing how many jobs Toyota provides here in America.�

I've followed Toyota for years, with more than a little inside information. They should be able to extoll their record, because depending how you count they have between six and eight factories in this country. They're even pulling up stakes in California and moving to Texas. When the economic disorder of 08 hit, they threw a billion into USA operations to save those jobs.

If I were to describe the culture at the top, as regards American manufacturing operations, they're somewhere between Reagan republican and Reagan democrat.

They're not going to pull a Kelloggs or Target or join the Gang of 97 in petition against PDJT. I hope that PDJT leaves them alone. They're friendlies who just want to make high quality cars.

Posted by: Unhinged Social Justice Warrior at February 12, 2017 11:01 AM (ZFUt7)

189 So much so that he thinks he had something to do with the death of 1990s rapper 2Pac Shakur.

====

MOAR WINNING

Posted by: Mortimer, Finish Her! at February 12, 2017 11:01 AM (Gv7El)

190 The local library doesn't have the first A/M book, so I picked up the earliest one they did have, and it was set entirely on land, with some character or other trying to hook up with a governor's daughter or something. I felt like I should be drinking rose and eating Hagen Daz out of the carton; not a bit of rum, buggery, nor lash to be seen.

The second book is the weakest, but unfortunately also sets up running characters for the rest of the series. Its about 50% Jane Austen then it turns into a sea novel again finally. The problem is that the timing puts Stephen and Jack ashore in the Peace of Amiens, so there's not much for them to do in terms of sailing. Jack doesn't have enough interest (political pull, connections) to get a ship in peace, so what are they to do? Go hunting foxes, meet girls, go to dinner parties, etc. Kind of dull stuff to me. The first book is much more rip roaring, as are any of the others -- and when they aren't there's a lot of intrigue and interesting spy stuff going on.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 11:01 AM (39g3+)

191 The attack on Flynn makes me think he is a real asset to President Trump.
How cynical I have gotten.

To stay on topic, Flynn has a book - Field of Fight (not long but I thought it interesting, I have a review somewhere)

Posted by: @votermom @vm at February 12, 2017 11:01 AM (Om16U)

192 164

IMO the best hornblowers are the first and the last chronologically - midshipman and admiral - both of which are more short story collections than novels.

And yrs, his attitude to his wife ( wives) is horrible, surpassed possibly only by his utter contempt for every other officer except admiral pellew.

Posted by: Bensdad00 at February 12, 2017 11:01 AM (v2eXm)

193 170 the detail on the mock turtle soup was fascinating.

Posted by: Bensdad00 at February 12, 2017 11:02 AM (v2eXm)

194 I'm curious why Flynn's aid denied security clearance.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2017 11:03 AM (IDPbH)

195
That's the other option, they are just working to demolish the
media. And while we need an active, vigorous news media, we don't need
this one.
====

When Spicer opened up the questions to relative unknowns at local channels on Skype FIRST , I fully believe that the WH Press Room and the media boardrooms were filled with the odor of fear and poo.

Buggywhips , bitchez. You is 'em.

Posted by: Mortimer, Finish Her! at February 12, 2017 11:06 AM (Gv7El)

196 96, 43 A pretty good Chaucer man told me, "on background," that campaigning on the non-Christian frontier of the Baltics never ended after Charlemagne, only got more or less intense and budgets and other entanglements dictated. It was, for medieval western yerp, its "wild west." And this went on for several centuries. The non-converts were titled, generically, Saxons, although it's doubtful many of them really were. Whether they were village-burnt into extinction depends on whose version of the story you hear.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at February 12, 2017 11:07 AM (H5rtT)

197 Taro, Kratman (or was it Ringo? Think it was the Krat) said the book was a kind of revenge novel for having to deal with lefty squish Krauts who resented their presence but wouldn't pick up the defense slack themselves.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 09:26 AM (EnKk6)

That was demonstrated in the demand by the female (?) ~~Reich~~Bundskanzellor's demand that the rejuvenated SS not survive their encounters with the Posleen, even though they were the only thing standing between her and a bag of thresh.

Posted by: Fox2! at February 12, 2017 11:08 AM (brIR5)

198 Hope this isn't too much of a wall-o-text...

The Aeronaut's Windlass - Jim Butcher
First book I've read of his. Paraphrasing an Amazon reviewer, Butcher has the kitchen sink etc in this thing and it shouldn't work, but does. Note, the villain uses Giant Things Which ATC Does Not Like against the heroes. There are also intelligent cats represented by one of the main characters, Rowl, who is hilarious. Cat owners will recognize the attitude. Must be some sort of genetic engineering going on because there are "warrior born" characters who can see in the dark, have enhanced strength and endurance, etc. Includes a scene where a woman carries a man out of danger, by a character who is larger than average and has a personal history (not warrior born) which requires physical strength. The story is set several hundred years after some sort of apocalypse, which is why everyone now lives in the "cinder spires" of the title. Our Heroes live in the Albion Spire, which is British-ish, so this seems to be Earth (not another planet). The surface is populated by all sorts of nasty critters including the Giant Things, and there is mist covering the world, up beyond the height of the spires (a couple miles). Really enjoyed all the characters, the many explosions, the magic, and of course the flying ships. Butcher drops hints of more stuff to come, setting up another long series. Jerk. Take my money!!

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 12, 2017 11:09 AM (zWAQT)

199 Posted by: right wing yankee at February 12, 2017 10:40 AM

So, yeah, can I be on your beta-read list for that one?

Posted by: April at February 12, 2017 11:09 AM (e8PP1)

200 And while we need an active, vigorous news media, we don't need

this one.

I wholeheartedly agree. I don't even care if the media is partisan. Just disclose it and let people judge through this lens. Don't pretend to be neutral arbiters of truth, when you quite obviously have an agenda.

Posted by: no good deed at February 12, 2017 11:10 AM (hJamr)

201 Really? I just enjoyed it for its own sake. It was
loads of fun without being mean to or just mocking fantasy or its fans.
it was just goofy.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 10:44 AM (39g3+)

"I will not have fun. Fun is the time-killer. Fun is for customers, children and the help. After fun is gone I will have nothing; nothing but my will to succeed.
Damn I'm good"

-- Pall Agamemnides

Posted by: Kindltot at February 12, 2017 11:10 AM (ry6W6)

202 Butcher is rapidly writing himself into a corner with his Dresden books, so I can see where he'd want to do another series.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 11:11 AM (39g3+)

203 "Over and over it keeps happening, and I think its to teach the media a lesson. Get all the facts, stop trying to smear us."

They're so stupid they don't know they're being played by masters. I don't expect their behavior to change. Don't get me wrong I'd be pleased as punch if even just a few of them got a clue, but I'm not looking for that to happen.

Posted by: Tuna at February 12, 2017 11:12 AM (JSovD)

204 Bannon wants to upend the press applecart so a new press will exist.

Tangentially related: if you read the Buzzfeed piece on Bannon's Vatican phone conference (four paragraphs and an unedited transcript), you'll have come away with a pretty clear sense of what Bannon thinks about Christianity, Wall Street, and capitalism. If you read the NYT's story on it, you'll have come away thinking only that Bannon is reading forbidden Fascist books.

So if you read Buzzfeed (!) you're much better informed than if you read the New York Times. (It was the same thing with CNN, Buzzfeed and the Golden Shower Papers.)

Posted by: Geronimo Stilton at February 12, 2017 11:12 AM (i2uPg)

205 As Napoleon invaded Russia, one wing of the army
was sent into the Baltic. They met a bad end, and have become a sort of forgotten army of that time. No books exist that I know of that focus on that facet of the 1812 war with Russia.

It is covered in other books of the 1812 campaign pretty well, The convention of Tauroggen was a treaty between the Prussian Army lead by Lt Gen v. Yorck and Russian Army, it took thd Prussians out and left Feild Marshall McDonald on his own as he did not learn of the treaty till well after. It kept the Prussian Army out of the worst part of ghe retreat.

Posted by: Skip at February 12, 2017 11:13 AM (Frvrc)

206 hi, looks like a great book thread

Posted by: happypuddingday at February 12, 2017 11:15 AM (XGiCI)

207 Hogmartin, in my experience any book can start, eventually you will want to read it in order though.

In my experience, though, you want to split it up and not read more that two books in a row. For all O'Brian's skill and poetry, after a while it is like standing under a sweet, warm waterfall

Posted by: Kindltot at February 12, 2017 11:16 AM (ry6W6)

208 "The Aeronaut's Windlass - Jim Butcher "

I read that several months ago and loved it. Was disappointed to read that Butcher is working on another Dresden book so it's going to be a while for the next in this new series. Insert frowny face.

Posted by: Tuna at February 12, 2017 11:16 AM (JSovD)

209 and a bag of thresh.

Which is worse for the average State Dept. twit,
getting eaten by the Posleen,
or working for PDJT?

Lunch is over quicker.

Posted by: DaveA at February 12, 2017 11:17 AM (8J/Te)

210 If I find my copy of Silmarillion (JRR Tolkien) I should take a look at it again.

Posted by: Skip at February 12, 2017 11:18 AM (Frvrc)

211 On that right-left terrorism site, it seems that attacks are over-attributed to the Right and Christians.

Can't explore it now -- church this morning.

Posted by: Emmie at February 12, 2017 11:19 AM (S2giw)

212 One of the books that does talk about the Teutonic knights and the crusade of the Baltics is the first books of the Crosstime Engineer by Leo Frankowski.

In his books the Teutonic knights were attacking and enslaving the heathen Pruthrenians.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 12, 2017 11:19 AM (ry6W6)

213 149 96

Commodore Hornblower, for all its faults, takes place in the Baltic during the Napoleonic invasion and retreat
Posted by: Bensdad00 at February 12, 2017 10:40 AM (v2eXm)

It also kept him from meeting USF Constitution at sea. Just as spending some portion of the year's 1776-1782 in a Spanish prison kept him from encountering John Paul Jones or Samuel Hull.

Posted by: Fox2! at February 12, 2017 11:20 AM (brIR5)

214 119 Boulder terlit hobo, "He knows that his fellow Muslims have a "Pharisaic" mindset...."

I have often accused Muslims of reducing God to the status of an accountant: you get 100 blessings if you do this, you get 1,000 blessings if you do that. And if you don't put your hands behind your ears in the prayers, the prayers don't count and you have to do them over. Good grief, what kind of God rejects prayers because your "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" gestures are off?

Posted by: Tonestaple at February 12, 2017 11:21 AM (+DRpa)

215 Watched This Week on ABC and now watching NBC's similar offering with Chuck Todd.

The White House's Stephen Miller presented Trump quite well on both shows, despite the efforts of Stephy and Todd to disprove his positions.

The amount of time given Bernie Sanders on NBC was impressive. He cannot possibly be converting anybody.

Posted by: the littl shyning man at February 12, 2017 11:21 AM (U6f54)

216 Book related, sort of. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'm trying to re-learn French so I can enjoy, eventually, Dumas and Verne without having to deal with translations. Among others, I'm using the Berlitz "French Grammar". It is a handy little book and pretty comprehensive but I'm not retaining things as well as I hoped. (Yeah, age might be part of that.) Then I remembered that in class I always took copious notes by hand. I now believe that doing so reinforced what I was studying and to a significant degree. So I'm gong to dig out one of the marbled composition books I have stockpiled, the older type with the thicker covers, to see if that helps. Don't know if others have run into this situation.

Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 11:21 AM (V+03K)

217 A pretty good Chaucer man told me, "on background,"
that campaigning on the non-Christian frontier of the Baltics never
ended after Charlemagne, only got more or less intense and budgets and
other entanglements dictated. It was, for medieval western yerp, its
"wild west." And this went on for several centuries. The non-converts
were titled, generically, Saxons, although it's doubtful many of them
really were. Whether they were village-burnt into extinction depends on
whose version of the story you hear.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at February 12, 2017 11:07 AM (H5rtT)

If you're looking for more info, the book in question starts well after Charlemagne- right around the time of the First Crusade, in fact. From what I've gleaned so far, there were Germans and Scandinavians who wanted to be part of the crusading movement- probably because they wanted to be absolved of their sins- but Jerusalem was difficult for them to reach, so the pope agreed to let them crusade in the northeast parts of Europe.
That's the highly simplistic version, of course; there was never any unity about the motives of the northern crusaders.

Posted by: right wing yankee at February 12, 2017 11:22 AM (26lkV)

218 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 11:01 AM (39g3+)

Thanks, that matches pretty well with my experience. I didn't finish it, so I probably didn't get past the Jane Austen stuff.

re: the Fannie Farmer book you mentioned upthread, you might like Bee Wilson's Consider the Fork (I think I've mentioned it before). It's about how cooking techniques and tools and eating utensils changed throughout history and how they influenced what and how people ate. There's a bit in there about Fannie Farmer, and why Americans generally bake with volumetric measurements (e.g. 5 cups of flour) vs. Europeans who use weight measures (700g of flour).

Posted by: hogmartin at February 12, 2017 11:22 AM (8nWyX)

219 196 96, 43 A pretty good Chaucer man told me, "on background," that campaigning on the non-Christian frontier of the Baltics never ended after Charlemagne, only got more or less intense and budgets and other entanglements dictated. It was, for medieval western yerp, its "wild west." And this went on for several centuries. The non-converts were titled, generically, Saxons, although it's doubtful many of them really were. Whether they were village-burnt into extinction depends on whose version of the story you hear.
Posted by: Stringer Davis at February 12, 2017 11:07 AM (H5rtT)

Huh. I just read a source that claimed that human sacrifices were still going on in Prussia and Lithuania well into the 1200s and 1300s. That's hard to believe.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at February 12, 2017 11:23 AM (fklV+)

220 April- of course you can beta read for me- if this thing ever gets off the ground. I'm adding projects faster than I can finish them, so it might be a while

Posted by: right wing yankee at February 12, 2017 11:23 AM (26lkV)

221 I'm working my way through Eliot Cohen's Conquered into Liberty. It's about how the American way of war was shaped by our struggles against our first great enemy: Canada. It's kind of fascinating.

Posted by: Laura Montgomery at February 12, 2017 11:24 AM (anCs1)

222 I just found the Moron Horde group on goodreads, it's pretty cool. Hope to see more folks over there soon.

Posted by: William Alan Webb at February 12, 2017 11:25 AM (OhYcy)

223 It also kept him from meeting USF Constitution at sea. Just as spending some portion of the year's 1776-1782 in a Spanish prison kept him from encountering John Paul Jones or Samuel Hull.

Timing is always a problem in sea novels. O'Brian admitted that he wished that he'd started further back in history, because there wasn't proper time to accomplish all the stories he wanted to. He kind of extended time a few books to get all he wanted in, so if you look at a timeline there are some inconsistencies. Forester did a great job starting his character out as a midshipman, because that gave you the whole storyline of Hornblower's life, which is missing in Aubrey's.

Timing is a problem in any long series. In an essay, Loren Estleman pointed out date troubles in detective novels. Spenser, for example, started in the early 70s, when it made sense he was a Korean War vet. But now, its never mentioned because he'd be in his late 70s and in no shape to detect anything. Estleman's own series has a Vietnam vet but he's been writing the books since the early 80s and by now he'd be too old. The Alphabet book series by Sue Grafton is set basically in the 80s and never changes, its just frozen in time.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 11:25 AM (39g3+)

224 198
Note, the villain uses Giant Things Which ATC Does Not Like against the heroes.
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 12, 2017 11:09 AM (zWAQT)

Squirrels?

Posted by: rickl at February 12, 2017 11:26 AM (sdi6R)

225 Ugh.

Working today.

I was reading about that "23 and me" genetic ancestry testing thing, and noticed something interesting.

They can tell you the percentage of neanderthal(!) genes you carry.

So, I was trying to think about novels which had modern day neanderthals and I could only think of two-

One, which I can't remember the title but was a kind of eeevil gov't hunts modern day neanderthal girl paint-by-numbers affair released maybe 20 years ago.

And two-

A novel by the very wonderful R A Lafferty titled, "The Devil Is Dead"

and fun novel that kind of eschews all that novelistic stuff like a comprehensible plot and an ending.

But, good luck finding it at a decent price...maybe the 30+ year old paperback version in some vast used book store.

Any other modern day-ish neanderthal novels running about?

Posted by: naturalfake at February 12, 2017 11:26 AM (vZ9Fw)

226 @202 Butcher is rapidly writing himself into a corner with his Dresden books, so I can see where he'd want to do another series.
--------------------

I think he's working toward a series conclusion with Dresden. Skin Game upset some apple carts, and I expect to see more tipped carts as new books come out.

Windlass is his third series. It's not as good as Skin Game, but that's to be expected as its the start of a new series.

Incidentally, his second series came about on a bet that he couldn't write something that combined Pokemon with a lost Roman legion.

Posted by: junior at February 12, 2017 11:28 AM (nsZ+m)

227 There's a bit in there about Fannie Farmer, and why Americans generally bake with volumetric measurements (e.g. 5 cups of flour) vs. Europeans who use weight measures (700g of flour).

Thanks, I'll have to look that up. From what I understand, its better to bake with weight, and that's growing in popularity in America.

I recently discovered a feature at the local public library: their website lets you search all the network of many libraries they are connected to, put a hold on books, and have it sent to any library you want to pick up and check out. So when I see an interesting book here I just clickity click and here it comes

Your library almost certainly does the same thing where you live. If you're like me and haven't the health to hike around a library as big as ours, or don't have the time/inclination, the website will help.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 11:28 AM (39g3+)

228 Tony Pete has such a classy library!
But the dust bunnies deported from his house are claiming sanctuary at mine. Thanks a lot, Tonypete! Posted by: @votermom @vm at February 12, 2017 09:52 AM (Om16U)
=====

So while I am recovering from yet another snit fit of library envy, I will point out the best of Tonypete's alleged library: there is real upholstery. Unwary Morons who might get too comfortable in mear smear libraries with slippery surfaces might just slide right off. That'll teach us library envy folk -- karma will get us. Where are the dust bunnies (or fat cats and lazy dogs), btw?

Posted by: mustbequantum at February 12, 2017 11:29 AM (MIKMs)

229
"One of the things I've learned from working with artists for 40 years is that they are deep-thinking, vital individuals"

- Grammy Awards producer Ken Ehrlich who encourages political speech during the award shows.

*snort*

Posted by: Mortimer, Finish Her! at February 12, 2017 11:30 AM (Gv7El)

230 Humpheys was anti-Trump in 2016 and still claims to be anti-Trump now. Although I have hope he'll turn around

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at February 12, 2017 11:31 AM (6FqZa)

231 I used to get all the media's attention as the boogeyman architect behind W.

Now they're all... Steve Bannon... Steve Bannon.

**sobs**

**runs off to find comfort with his white board**

Posted by: Karl Rove at February 12, 2017 11:31 AM (tyrWm)

232 *mark humphreys, I meant, the atheist "classical liberal" whom Chunky Cheeto told to get off his website.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at February 12, 2017 11:32 AM (6FqZa)

233 223 re timelines

Same occurs with Cussler. In the early books Pitt is a vet and he still is, but now it's implied to be Vietnam rather than WWII. Its a nice problem to have, i guess, writing the same character for over half a century.

Posted by: Bensdad00 at February 12, 2017 11:34 AM (v2eXm)

234 I'm working my way through Eliot Cohen's Conquered into Liberty. It's about how the American way of war was shaped by our struggles against our first great enemy: Canada. It's kind of fascinating.
Posted by: Laura Montgomery at February 12, 2017 11:24 AM (anCs1)
----------------------------
A new history of the pre-Independence invasion of Canada is:

"The Battle for the Fourteenth Colony" by Mark Anderson (2013)

Posted by: RioBravo at February 12, 2017 11:34 AM (OmhcY)

235 I have often accused Muslims of reducing God to the status of an accountant: you get 100 blessings if you do this, you get 1,000 blessings if you do that. And if you don't put your hands behind your ears in the prayers, the prayers don't count and you have to do them over.

Islam suffers from an abundance of lawyers. Seriously, like every non-Christian religion, its works-based, but they take it to an extreme and here's why: the entire structure of sharia law-as-religious-doctrine, the totality of the system, the restriction of interpretation to only clerics, and the rigidity of system means it is particularly prone to tons of rules.

Basically its designed to give you a billion rules, almost as if on purpose. Islam was a wholistic faith by design: civil, religious, artistic, persona, cultural, etc. Its much like the Mosaic law (which, basically Muhammad ripped off) for Israel turned into a modern faith rather than meant only for historic Israel. That's why there's rules on which hand and how to wipe yourself after taking a poo. Its supposed to cover everything.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 11:34 AM (39g3+)

236 Sears and Kmart look to LGF as "the model." http://tinyurl.com/jqnehpn

Posted by: geoffb5 at February 12, 2017 11:34 AM (d3wbb)

237 When A and M are on land there's often revelations about things British at the time, and insights into A and M's characters. e.g., the two friends almost have it when chasing the same dame. Yes, it can get a bit boring, which explains why they always wind up back at sea.

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 12, 2017 11:35 AM (bQxkN)

238 'He's like the Rainman of Nationalism.'

"Seventeen Seventy-Six Eighteen Twelve, Seventeen Seventy-Six Eighteen Twelve..."

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at February 12, 2017 11:35 AM (Ndje9)

239 Anybody else getting 505 errors when they try to post?

Posted by: Tuna at February 12, 2017 11:36 AM (JSovD)

240 I ordered three copies of "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big" by Scott Adams this week. I ordered the first one for me, after he announced he stopped funding UC Berkeley. I got halfway through it and ordered one for my stepson. I read parts of it to my husband and he suggested we send one to his nephew's son. Trevor wanted to be a Marine his whole life and he is one. But he's leaving the service soon.

I guess I can recognize the wisdom in the book and it's told with humor. He encourages you to build skill sets. The two young men I sent it to may not be college material, so I think they will like that point of view. If you've read the Dilbert blog, you've probably got a good idea that he doesn't like goal setting. It's the sort of book that you read, put away and forget about, but it's planted ideas that you'll remember later on and act on.

I'm working on Days of Rage by Bryan Burroughs. I thought I'd read it before but it's new. It's about domestic terrorism in the 70s. He tries to leave politics out of it but focuses on explaining why people thought there was a revolution going on. He covers some groups I haven't heard much about. It's good so far.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at February 12, 2017 11:37 AM (Lqy/e)

241 227

Inter library loan is your friend. The Philadelphia library had gotten me books from 40 states plus great Britain, and from as far back as 1876.

Posted by: Bensdad00 at February 12, 2017 11:37 AM (v2eXm)

242 So if you read Buzzfeed (!) you're much better informed than if you read the New York Times. (It was the same thing with CNN, Buzzfeed and the Golden Shower Papers.)

Posted by: Geronimo Stilton at February 12, 2017 11:12 AM (i2uPg)

Exactly. That Buzzfeed piece is actual journalism. Here's the link:

http://bzfd.it/2lymjAj

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at February 12, 2017 11:39 AM (fklV+)

243 Hay, Horde. I don't do the book threads very often because I don't have much to contribute but wanted to thank all who said "Catch-22" was the funniest book they'd ever read. You were right. Thank you.

Posted by: creeper...Home on her hill at February 12, 2017 11:39 AM (sNYFR)

244 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 11:28 AM

I live in a rural area, so our small library can't possibly keep every book. I love this feature--we're connected to over a hundred libraries statewide, and I just clickety click for my books, also.

Posted by: April at February 12, 2017 11:40 AM (e8PP1)

245 @62 - thanks for the plug. It looks like the facebook page for the movie may have been shadow-banned, so you have to not only like it or follow the page (check it out - if you follow does it show up properly?) you may have to pin it. It's only been up about a week or so, but it's over three thousand followers in spite of the recent banning (look at the fall-off in new "likes and follows this week to last - it's impressive). So those of you who still use FB, let us know by liking it.

No bans on www.thestarscameback.com , of course. It's a free-association zone. Drop by and say "hi."

Posted by: Rolf at February 12, 2017 11:40 AM (DqJgy)

246 177. Guess that whole 'resupply by air' thing didn't quite work out.
Lord, what a nightmare - surrounded by the red army and told not to surrender.
Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine. Glory to Kekistan! No Longer Accepting Harem Applicants at February 12, 2017 10:58 AM (VUgH0)

Ja! I lied.....damn Ju-52 was a fat, slow cow.

Posted by: Zombie Air Field Marshal Goring at February 12, 2017 11:40 AM (5VlCp)

247 For those interested, Kindle and Nook, maybe others, have "Every Living Thing" by James Herriot on sale for 1.99 today. It's the follow on to the "All Things Bright and Beautiful" series, which I enjoyed.

Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 11:41 AM (V+03K)

248 Thanks, I'll have to look that up. From what I understand, its better to bake with weight, and that's growing in popularity in America.

I recently discovered a feature at the local public library: their website lets you search all the network of many libraries they are connected to, put a hold on books, and have it sent to any library you want to pick up and check out.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 11:28 AM (39g3+)

Yep, weight measure is better. Fannie Farmer didn't invent volume measure, she just confirmed it when she wrote her cookbook. She wrote it during a time of massive westward migration, and realized that people were more likely to take a few tin measuring cups, so she wrote it to be as accessible as possible for them.

I'm familiar with inter-library loans, but the library I worked for at the time just didn't have the first A/M on the shelf and I picked up the next-oldest more on a whim than anything. If they'd had the first one - or if I'd had the patience to put in an ILL request instead of just grabbing something for the weekend - I might have had an easier time getting into the series.

Posted by: hogmartin at February 12, 2017 11:43 AM (8nWyX)

249 Oh and today we go into the belly of the beast for the Library Messabout. It's at the Multnomah Library in Portland. My husband organizes it. He's friends with a group of guys into small wooden boats. We set up a room at the library and request old boating books from their closed stacks. There's usually someone there with a laptop and small scanner. Lots of talk about boats and boat builders. We'd planned it in January but freezing rain closed the library that day.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at February 12, 2017 11:43 AM (Lqy/e)

250 51 Just picked up madeleine l'engle's 4 book crosswicks journals. Supposed to be more fiction than autobiographical. Also found a copy of the camp of the saints at a used book store yesterday so that's next.
Posted by: NCKate at February
---------------
I've read them all: they're a cornucopia of reminiscences about her childhood, people in her family history, her teen years, married life, raising children in a small town while running a store, the loss of her mother and her husband..all very good reads. I don't know why anyone would say they were fiction.

Posted by: Brunette the 'Ette at February 12, 2017 11:44 AM (i2SS2)

251 227 241 Is there anyone out there whose library does NOT have inter-library loan by now? If not, why not? Your librarians and library board must know how backward they are.

If you haven't figured out how to use your library's ILL, you owe it to yourself to find out.

Posted by: cool breeze at February 12, 2017 11:45 AM (StZrq)

252 creeper, I only have one Joseph Heller story, but I like to tell it.
Heller was being interviewed on a Big Network Important Show. Somehow or another, interviewer got to ask him who the greatest people were who he ever worked with, or words in that direction, obviously wanting to hear about academia and Hollywood.

Heller said it was the officer corps of the Army Air Forces.
Interviewer is pole-axed. But didn't you write Catch-22, that said...

And Heller cut him off, and asked, Do you know what "fiction" means?

Posted by: Stringer Davis at February 12, 2017 11:46 AM (H5rtT)

253 I found the 4th turning to be somehow comforting. There are routinely long periods of navel gazing, followed by a brief period of rapid change. This long slow decline into socialism is not inevitable. It's gonna really suck for some, but I like the odds that the US will survive, and perhaps thrive after the close of this cycle in the mid-2020's.

Always remember that the US is really the only country on earth that can feed, power, and defend itself.

Posted by: Steve at February 12, 2017 11:48 AM (GBqwd)

254 >> I don't do the book threads very often because I don't have much to contribute but wanted to thank all who said "Catch-22" was the funniest book they'd ever read.

'For the Syndicate!'

Posted by: Milo at February 12, 2017 11:50 AM (oXKWd)

255 I could live in TonyPetes home, perhaps as the maid , yet I won't clean i'll just cuddle up in the chair and read All the books.

Posted by: willow at February 12, 2017 11:51 AM (R7cwD)

256 Sears and Kmart look to LGF as "the model." http://tinyurl.com/jqnehpn

Posted by: geoffb5 at February 12, 2017 11:34 AM (d3wbb)

If I were running Sears/Kmart I wouldn't be looking to drop brands to sell as precious few people are buying what they have to begin with

Posted by: TheQuietMan at February 12, 2017 11:51 AM (auHtY)

257 240 I ordered three copies of "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big" by Scott Adams . . .

Posted by: Notsothoreau at February 12, 2017 11:37 AM (Lqy/e)

******

I ordered three copies of Scott Adams' books, too: one for me and two for my college-age sons.

I've enjoyed following his blog, tweets and Periscopes since about this time last year. I originally came for his insights about the election, but stayed for his perspective about everything else that's going on.

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at February 12, 2017 11:53 AM (NqQAS)

258 She wrote it during a time of massive westward migration, and realized that people were more likely to take a few tin measuring cups, so she wrote it to be as accessible as possible for them.

Well and this was the first time there was readily available any standardized measuring cups, so she took advantage of that as well. Hers was the first major cookbook in the USA that actually used standard measurements (flattened not mounded) we're so used to now.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 11:54 AM (39g3+)

259 The other book mentioned that has influenced Bannon is Antifragile:

Antifragile. Must not be Italian

Posted by: TheQuietMan at February 12, 2017 11:54 AM (auHtY)

260 "212 One of the books that does talk about the Teutonic knights and the crusade of the Baltics is the first books of the Crosstime Engineer by Leo Frankowski.

In his books the Teutonic knights were attacking and enslaving the heathen Pruthrenians. "

If you can find it, the Sergei Eisenstein masterpiece, "Alexander Nevsky", is definitely worth watching. It deplicts Nevsky's victory over the Teutonic Knights in the early 13th century. The famous Battle on the Ice scene is just wonderful. Back in the day, PBS did a series on old Russian movies and Eisenstein's works were well represented. "Ivan the Terrible" is also highly recommended by moi. BTW, Prokofiev's score to "Alexander Nevsky" is beautiful and stirring. I have a recoding of the cantata the composer wrote based on the movie score. You can start by listening to it if you want a flavor of what the movie is like.

Posted by: Tuna at February 12, 2017 11:55 AM (JSovD)

261 Anyone who likes cowboys, steampunk, fantasy worlds with all kinds of different monsters, and sweet Matrix-style fighting abilities would love the Outlaw King series by S. A. Hunt on Amazon.
Some of the books are in the Kindle Unlimited program.

Posted by: Brunette the 'Ette at February 12, 2017 11:55 AM (i2SS2)

262 "anti-fragile"

Or as we called in the old days "being a man".

Posted by: Mortimer, Finish Her! at February 12, 2017 11:55 AM (Gv7El)

263 30: Taro Tsujimoto Watch on the Rhine...John Ringo

If you like WOTR, try Yellow Eyes.. And the first 3 volumes of the Posleen War (Legacy of the Aldenata) series. The rest are good but these 5 are IMHO the best.

Mr. Ringo, John, may I call you John. Write the damn Asian theater PW book! Please!?

Posted by: Fewenuff at February 12, 2017 11:56 AM (gHE26)

264 The book about CA suceding? Are you looking for Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach? I haven't read it since it came out but it's about CA, OR and WA forming a separate country full of peace and love.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at February 12, 2017 11:56 AM (Lqy/e)

265 Anybody else getting 505 errors when they try to post?Posted by: Tuna�

You're probably trying to cut and paste from something Oregon muse wrote, correct?

You have to replace every instance of punctuation In your cut and paste with your own keystrokes.

Not sure what editor OM uses but it's not compatible when cut and pasted into comments.

Posted by: Unhinged Social Justice Warrior at February 12, 2017 11:57 AM (ZFUt7)

266 216---Then I remembered that in class I always took copious notes by hand. I now believe that doing so reinforced what I was studying and to a significant degree..... Don't know if others have run into this situation.
Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 11:21 AM (V+03K)
---------------------------------------------------
For the vast majority of people, writing things down is a HUGE help in retaining material. There are dozens of studies showing this to be so.

One interesting thing is that TYPING notes, though better than no notes at all, does not have nearly the benefits of handwriting them. The human brain is weird.

As someone who has taught foreign languages for over 3 decades --- (which is odd since I am only 29) --- I can attest to the amazing power of personally writing notes, making your own flashcards, etc.

Students today vigorously resist this. They hate handwriting anything and, of course, many of them can't do cursive. But I just tell them to get off my lawn.

(More than few have thanked me later, BTW.)

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at February 12, 2017 11:58 AM (Nox3c)

267 In the Wikipedia article regarding Bannon they reference Strauss and Howe early on, calling it a "little-known" theory. What a joke.
The entirety paints Bannon as fringey fringe obscurantist right wing nutjob warmonger in that clinical, neutral sort of way they have.

Posted by: Bigby's Typing Hands at February 12, 2017 12:01 PM (U0lQa)

268 266,
"For the vast majority of people, writing things down is a HUGE help in retaining material."

Not sure if this has been studied but for me anything that is sung is remembered better than just read or spoken.

Posted by: geoffb5 at February 12, 2017 12:02 PM (d3wbb)

269 My problem with handwriting is twofold.

1) I type much faster than I can write by hand, so the words coming out on the page match up better with the flow in my mind.
2) My handwriting has suffered significantly through the years and now is pretty bad, plus since I haven't written by hand much for quite a while, my hand cramps up really bad in short order.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 12:02 PM (39g3+)

270
I ordered three copies of "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big" by Scott Adams . . .
Posted by: Notsothoreau

Today's Dilbert cartoon says Wally is the highest paid employee.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at February 12, 2017 12:03 PM (IqV8l)

271 "The Great Santini" was made into an absolutely terrific movie with Robert Duvall.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at February 12, 2017 12:04 PM (MZcWR)

272 Moral Strep:

"But if we live through this precarious moment--if his catastrophic instinct to retaliate doesn't lead us to nuclear winter--we will have much to thank this president for."

Harry Truman: "No need to thank me, Hysterical Drama Queen lady--but you're welcome!"

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at February 12, 2017 12:06 PM (Ndje9)

273 I could live in TonyPetes home, perhaps as the maid , yet I won't clean i'll just cuddle up in the chair and read All the books.
Posted by: willow at February 12, 2017 11:51 AM

Best offer I've had for a long time.

I cook, GF cleans and you can read. She doesn't know I know she's fixing to move on to BF V 7.0 so there's that.

Hope you like history, advanced math and calc, cooking, naval history, the classics and antique genres.

You get your own room with bath and covered parking. Dogs welcome if you got 'em.

Posted by: Tonypete at February 12, 2017 12:06 PM (tr2D7)

274 Not sure what editor OM uses but it's not compatible when cut and pasted into comments.
Posted by: Unhinged Social Justice Warrior at February 12, 2017 11:57 AM (ZFUt7)

Heh. I'm using the editor provided in pixy's blogging software.

Wrap your head around that.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at February 12, 2017 12:06 PM (fklV+)

275 YAY BOOK THREAD!

CRT, thanks for the Fannie's Last Supper rec, which I've passed on to my mom--she recently tried to read a similar book, This Victorian Life, and gave up on it because it was so insufferably pretentious. I think I'd prefer Ruth Goodman's work, myself.

Not much (and too much) happening here. One class is starting Canterbury Tales this week, the other Silas Marner. Taking the latter with me to the neurologist tomorrow, either as a good way to make use of the wait time or as a good way to illustrate why I need to see a neurologist.

(The good news is that the cortisone treatments for the ulcerative colitis seem to be working, and I might be done with that by Wednesday.)

Also, while I'm here: I may be in need of a Jewish beta sometime this year. I've just introduced the Jewish character and have a lot more research and writing to do, and three classes eating up what time and energy I have to do them, so it may be summer or later before I'm ready for input. But having a bit of Jewish heritage myself, I want to be sure I get things right!

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at February 12, 2017 12:06 PM (Bbi5h)

276 If I were running Sears/Kmart I wouldn't be looking to drop brands to sell as precious few people are buying what they have to begin withPosted by: TheQuietMan

In their defense, if they *are* actually trying to focus on selling items with the highest profit margin for them (A legitimate strategy for a company in distress) it makes sense. So I'm not turning the outrage knob up. I suspect the left is saying, 'See, we're succeeding! !!!' No they're not. I just suspect the millennial generation has no money to buy a gallon of paint, or some 'name' trinket, because kollege debt.

I like Sears. It's a shame that every one of them within a short drive of me closed down.

Posted by: Unhinged Social Justice Warrior at February 12, 2017 12:07 PM (ZFUt7)

277 "As Napoleon invaded Russia, one wing of the army was sent into the Baltic. They met a bad end, and have become a sort of forgotten army of that time. No books exist that I know of that focus on that facet of the 1812 war with Russia. "

This recommendation doesn't deal with the Baltic incursion but check out "The Illustrious Dead" by Stephan Tatty. It's about the Typhus outbreak that swept though Napoleon's army as they retreated from Russia. Talk about bad luck.

Posted by: Tuna at February 12, 2017 12:09 PM (JSovD)

278 >>I'm using the editor provided in pixy's blogging software.

Well, there's your problem.

Posted by: garrett at February 12, 2017 12:09 PM (oXKWd)

279 Moral Strep:

"But if we live through this precarious moment--if his catastrophic
instinct to retaliate doesn't lead us to nuclear winter--we will have
much to thank this president for."

===

"Fragile"

Posted by: Mortimer, Finish Her! at February 12, 2017 12:09 PM (Gv7El)

280 Anti Fragile

https://youtu.be/dFhSutgkDy8

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at February 12, 2017 12:10 PM (IqV8l)

281 @263 If you like WOTR, try Yellow Eyes.. And the first 3 volumes of the Posleen War (Legacy of the Aldenata) series. The rest are good but these 5 are IMHO the best.

Mr. Ringo, John, may I call you John. Write the damn Asian theater PW book! Please!?
------------------

IIRC, all of the books except for the "core" Posleen novels were collaborations. In this case, I suspect that means someone came up with a good idea, sold Ringo on it, and then did the bulk of the writing. So if you want a Pacific War Posleen book, you'll need to find an author for it first.

Posted by: junior at February 12, 2017 12:11 PM (nsZ+m)

282 I think Pixxy Editor only works while you are outside the normal Time-Space Continuum.

We like to blame Pixxy for these things, but it's Ace's Time Machine, that he totally doesn't have, that is the true culprit.

Posted by: garrett at February 12, 2017 12:11 PM (oXKWd)

283
Moral Strep:

"But if we live through this precarious moment--if his catastrophic
instinct to retaliate doesn't lead us to nuclear winter--we will have
much to thank this president for."

When global warming meets nuclear winter.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at February 12, 2017 12:12 PM (IqV8l)

284 OT: I'm watching a flick that combines AlexTheChick's twin loves of The Dangerous Outdoors and leggy half-clad blondes in distress, "The Shallows".

Bitchin' waveriding photography, and what appears to be a Gam Cam.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 12:13 PM (EnKk6)

285 Heh. I'm using the editor provided in pixy's blogging software.Wrap your head around that.�
Posted by:�OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004�

You want me, a commenter who has to insert an error creating symbol into their nic or posts don't 'take', to believe that? I wasn't born yesterday, you know.

Posted by: Unhinged Social Justice Warrior at February 12, 2017 12:15 PM (ZFUt7)

286 Tony, nd my own parking space? yay!

the colors on the walls are similar to mine in my main living areas. feels like home already!

Posted by: willow at February 12, 2017 12:19 PM (R7cwD)

287 I will, however pass on the calculus texts

Posted by: willow at February 12, 2017 12:22 PM (R7cwD)

288 Eris, is that on Netflix?

Posted by: willow at February 12, 2017 12:23 PM (R7cwD)

289 fkty, am I alone here?

Posted by: willow at February 12, 2017 12:23 PM (R7cwD)

290 This week I started Home, by Harlan Coben, which reunites college roomies Myron Bolitar and Win Lockwood in a witty but dark mystery about two young boys kidnapped with nothing to go on until Win gets an email, 10 years after the fact, saying their location is available.

The "Bolitar" series was always fun even though murder and mayhem were prevalent, but this one is rather icky as it depicts the very real and repellent world of sex slavery.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at February 12, 2017 12:23 PM (joFoi)

291 (nood)

Posted by: Geronimo Stilton at February 12, 2017 12:24 PM (i2uPg)

292 JTB, I've always found I learn best taking longhand notes. Sometimes for research I'll type instead, and tables may or may not be easier to copy into Word, but handmade vocab flashcards? BIG help. I also use spiral-bound notecards for important phrases. Copy out the declension and conjugation tables, too.

The other great learning tool for modern languages is music. I *still* use "Das doofe Fischlied" to help myself remember case endings in German.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at February 12, 2017 12:25 PM (Bbi5h)

293 Very frustrating for me as an author is that I'm working on two projects right now that pay better, but aren't what I want to do. I want to write my paladin story next, but have to finish up a gaming supplement and a book on the Lord's Prayer (which may or may not sell but the gaming stuff actually makes me money). I can't work on more than that at once, so I have to wait.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 12:27 PM (39g3+)

294 http://tinyurl.com/zqg9kl9

There's a classic map of Napoleon's invasion of Russia that's been touted by Edward Tufte as the best informative graphic ever.

Sure enough it shows some of the French branching off into the Baltics.

The map shows the size of the French army with width, which shrinks to "not so much" at the end of the retreat.

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 12, 2017 12:27 PM (bQxkN)

295 Willow, I checked it out of my library. Ergo, it's probably on Netflix.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 12:28 PM (EnKk6)

296 233 223 re timelines

Same occurs with Cussler. In the early books Pitt is a vet and he still is, but now it's implied to be Vietnam rather than WWII. Its a nice problem to have, i guess, writing the same character for over half a century.
Posted by: Bensdad00 at February 12, 2017 11:34 AM (v2e

I was gradually going off Cussler until the book where he himself, under his own name, appeared in the story.
Really? Talk about self-indulgence. Stopped right then and there and never looked at another one of his books.

Posted by: Vlad the Impaler, whittling away like mad at February 12, 2017 12:29 PM (aBDYc)

297 Heh. I'm using the editor provided in pixy's blogging software.

Posted by: OregonMuse
----------

*hmm. sounds like an autoimmune problem*

So, it's like a sort of software eczema? Probably better that we not scratch at it.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at February 12, 2017 12:29 PM (ZO497)

298 @260 There's a piece of that Battle on The Ice score on the third Blood Sweat and Tears album.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at February 12, 2017 12:31 PM (H5rtT)

299 Posted by: SandyCheeks at February 12, 2017 12:23 PM (joFoi)

I'm so jazzed there is a new Myron Bolitar novel! I thought Coben wasn't going to write any more of them.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 12:31 PM (EnKk6)

300 Vlad - hrs still cameoing inI every Pitt novel. Its always a bit Deus Ex, but its almostf like seeing Stan Lee in a movie now...expected.

Posted by: Bensdad00 at February 12, 2017 12:34 PM (fDMmQ)

301 "The Great Santini" was made into an absolutely terrific movie with Robert Duvall.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm
----------

Some possibly interesting background:
"Warner Bros. executives were concerned that the film's plot and lack of bankable actors would make it hard to market. It made its world premiere in Beaufort in August 1979 and was soon released in North Carolina and South Carolina to empty houses. Believing the film's title - which implies it's about circus stunts - was the problem, it was tested as Sons and Heroes in Fort Wayne, Indiana, as Reaching Out in Rockford, Illinois, and The Ace in Peoria, Illinois. As it tested better in Peoria, The Ace stuck, though even with its new title it was still performing poorly. Orion Pictures eventually pulled the film and sold cable rights to HBO along with the airline rights to recoup its losses."

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at February 12, 2017 12:36 PM (ZO497)

302 OK Willow has posted, so this will be a Parthian shot, but

There's a nasty horrifying stream-of-consciousness account of Napoleon's army dying in the Baltics in Anthony Burgess's "Napoleon Symphony."
You have to listen to the whole Eroica while you read it, so it helps if you can read real fast.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at February 12, 2017 12:36 PM (H5rtT)

303 Eris, it sounds like a fun movie. thanks.

Posted by: willow at February 12, 2017 12:37 PM (R7cwD)

304 I saw The Shallows on a flight. Good of its kind

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 12, 2017 12:39 PM (bQxkN)

305 268
Not sure if this has been studied but for me anything that is sung is remembered better than just read or spoken.
Posted by: geoffb5 at February 12, 2017 12:02 PM
---------------------------
Yes, it has been studied, but only a little bit.

I am most familiar with chanting as a learning tool, which is akin to singing. Educators--- (I use the word loosely)--- still use some chanting for little kids. But I have used it extensively with college students, particularly in teaching Latin. It's an age-old trick of the trade.

I did have an ESL student a few years ago, the (spoiled) teen-age son of a rich Venezuelan. He was smart enough but regular ESL classes hadn't worked so I was tutoring him.
Since I knew he liked to sing --- he had a beautiful voice --- I put together a curriculum based entirely on English folk and pop tunes, everything from Woody Guthrie to Frank Sinatra to church hymns.

And it worked! He learned piles of vocabulary and basic English grammar, enough to score well on the TOEFL ----and I made a bundle of money from his happy papa.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at February 12, 2017 12:39 PM (Nox3c)

306 http://tinyurl.com/zqg9kl9

There's a classic map of Napoleon's invasion of Russia ...

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 12, 2017 12:27 PM (bQxkN)

Linky no worky. :-(

Posted by: Spiny Norman at February 12, 2017 12:39 PM (U3sWw)

307 Bankrupt KMart somehow was able to buy/acquire Sears that was asset rich, as I understand it. Sears bonds took a dive on the transaction. Strange Days.

Posted by: illiniwek at February 12, 2017 12:42 PM (RWmbm)

308 http://tinyurl.com/zqg9kl9

Link to Napoleon map.

It overlays the size of the French army (in width) over the geography of the march to and retreat from Moscow.

On the retreat back you can see where half of what was left died when the ice on a river crossing broke

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 12, 2017 12:46 PM (bQxkN)

309 I don't know how accurate the story is but the Hornblower story is very exciting and includes bits like the ships shelling the French troops, the cholera, and the French army's destruction

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2017 12:47 PM (39g3+)

310 I don't think Akyol is out to deceive us; but he is lying to himself. And *that* is tragic.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at February 12, 2017 10:27 AM (6FqZa)

Glad it's you, and not me that reads that crap. I know somebody has to do it; we need to know the mind of the Enemy.

Of course, he lies. When the entire religion is an artifice of the Father of Lies, it's baked into the cake.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 12, 2017 12:48 PM (WDdjT)

311 Hedge fund speculator Eddie Lambert is behind Sears and Kmart. You can bet he's the only one who will profit in the end. Or he's just fucked the whole thing up for everybody, himself included

I thought his play was to unlock the value of owned land and long-term leases by driving Sears stores out of business

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 12, 2017 12:49 PM (bQxkN)

312 . "Though to some on the left Brannon is really Darth Bannon, running the whole show from the sidelines, so then it doesn't really matter what Trump does."

Trump is either an evil, destructive force; or a mere puppet of Bannon, the shadowy evil, destructive force behind the scenes.

Whichever fits the leftmedia narrative of the moment is applicable.

Posted by: RM at February 12, 2017 12:49 PM (U3LtS)

313 Bannon is Trump's wartime consigliere.

"The Almighty says this must be a fashionable fight. It's drawn the finest people."

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 12, 2017 12:51 PM (bQxkN)

314 Napoleon infographic:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/z6pcuo4

and as a 3D Space-Time cube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laXh2cgE2g0

Posted by: cool breeze at February 12, 2017 12:54 PM (StZrq)

315 Bannon's "Generation Zero" was really good. It makes clear the Wall Street "acquisition" of our government was corrupt as hell, though puts a lot of emphasis on our leaders being "blind", while I put "corrupt jerks" seems more accurate.

One thing on the four turnings, they didn't mention the Soviet influence on forcing/funding some of those radical changes. They spoke of Alinsky and Cloward-Piven, but the infiltration by actual communists and fellow travelers marching through our institutions, was more than an organic turning of culture. It was covert warfare, a domestic cold war that maybe "we" lost.

"Modern" communications even in the sixties made such warfare possible more than old radio free Europe days. Axis Sally became Walter Cronkite, and card carrying communists raised up red diaper babies, like Jarret and Obama. The "four turnings" aspect made those youth more vulnerable to such influence I guess, but Sen. McCarthy was thwarted and the communists took Hollywood, media, schools, etc. It was an invasion via psyop warfare.

Hopefully Generation Z will figure it all out, as I retire with Medicare robot doctors.

Posted by: illiniwek at February 12, 2017 12:58 PM (RWmbm)

316 6
Re the Teddy Roosevelt expedition to South America. Candice Millard's "River of Doubt" is a great book. Lots of photos included. I read it some years ago and was surprised this part of Teddy's life is rarely talked about. He really never recovered after returning from that "adventure".

Posted by: Tuna at February 12, 2017 01:01 PM (JSovD)

317 Trump is either an evil, destructive force; or a mere puppet of Bannon, the shadowy evil, destructive force behind the scenes.

Whichever fits the leftmedia narrative of the moment is applicable.
Posted by: RM
-----------

Hmm. Was this theory ever raised by the Left vis-a-vis ValJar? Well, no. That would have been just plain crazy talk.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at February 12, 2017 01:01 PM (ZO497)

318 "Hmm. Was this theory ever raised by the Left vis-a-vis ValJar? Well, no. That would have been just plain crazy talk. Posted by: Mike Hammer

SJWs always project ... that may apply to all the left. They know the Muslim Brotherhood has been in our government process (Morsi in Egypt, exhibit A), so they see through that prism.

Posted by: illiniwek at February 12, 2017 01:30 PM (RWmbm)

319 Note that Forester started the Hornblower books with _Beat to Quarter_ (aka The Happy Return, aka part of Captain Horatio Hornblower). It's the one about Hornblower undertaking a secret mission to aid Central American rebels against the Spanish.* In that book he's already a captain, but it's also mid-way through the Napoleonic wars. Later he went back and filled in HH's earlier career, and modern editions tend to follow internal chronology rather than publication order.

*Also the uncredited inspiration for Wrath of Khan.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 12, 2017 01:46 PM (w7RRe)

320 Has anybody heard about this guy? Jon DelArroz. He's a beginning science fiction writer in California who is being attacked for the crime of voting for Trump. (His version of events is here: http://delarroz.com/?p=431)

I'm tempted to buy his book, but I'm not going to pay for crap just because the author agrees with my politics. Anybody read it?

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 12, 2017 01:48 PM (w7RRe)

321 Many times I've been in a tight spot and wished for a good Chaucer man to help out.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 12, 2017 01:49 PM (w7RRe)

322 266 216---Then I remembered that in class I always took copious notes by hand. I now believe that doing so reinforced what I was studying and to a significant degree..... Don't know if others have run into this situation.
Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 11:21 AM (V+03K)
---------------------------------------------------
For the vast majority of people, writing things down is a HUGE help in retaining material. There are dozens of studies showing this to be so.
--

Writing things down helps me remember specially when I try to visualize what I wrote.

Sometimes even doodling helps - I try to remember what I was doodling and it will help me remember what I was hearing.

Posted by: @votermom (twitter) @vm (gab) at February 12, 2017 02:04 PM (Om16U)

323 13...I will continue to enjoy his earlier works but I'm not reading the latest to the kids (2nd Marcus Chase book esp.) and won't spend money on any new ones.

Posted by: Mama AJ at February 12, 2017 09:07 AM (gTQoY)

My kids liked all of Rick Riordan's books until this Magnus Chase series; now they couldn't care less if he writes another one. The lecturing with the transgender character was too much. Should be interesting to see what happens with his sales figures.

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at February 12, 2017 02:25 PM (THS4q)

324 If you haven't read and understood "The Fourth Turning", your education is incomplete.

Posted by: The Hot Gates at February 12, 2017 02:32 PM (k3uSs)

325 I read Howe & Strauss's _13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Fail?_, which was their take on the group now called "Generation X." Their generational theory is interesting, but . . .

. . . I'm not sure I buy it. Mostly because I think predictive theories of history are the bunk. And in their case because it's always possible to cherry-pick events or personalities to fit the thesis. So their big turnings in American history are the Revolution, the Civil War, Depression+WWII, and now either War on Terror + Financial Crisis or Some Big Thing Coming in 2020.

But why wasn't World War I a great crisis? Or the Panic of 1837? Or the AIDS epidemic? Because they didn't fit the timeline. So it's kind of a tautology. Big Events which fit their about-eighty-years timeline are important, events which don't fit it aren't important, and then the fact that important events happen about every eighty years proves their timeline is correct.

I'm not being critical of Bannon, here, for reading Strauss & Howe, but I hope he's as skeptical as I am.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 12, 2017 02:40 PM (w7RRe)

326 Thanks to all for reinforcing my notion that handwritten notes help with retaining information. It helps that my handwriting, while never pretty, has always been legible and hasn't gotten worse over the years. (I was a big hit with the ladies in the typing pool because they could easily read my stuff.) My typing is slow and inaccurate; terrible for taking notes. And portable computers didn't exist back in my school days, so it was handwriting or nothing. I doubt the teachers would have appreciated the noise of a manual typewriter.

One thing, I have gotten persnickety about writing instruments and paper. Fountain pens with Noodler's or Quink ink, mechanical pencils with good Pentel lead refills, and better quality wooden pencils. I enjoy handwriting and better tools make it more enjoyable.

Posted by: JTB at February 12, 2017 02:44 PM (V+03K)

327 Finally reading the Deliberate Dumbing Down of America. It's about the educational system. 734 pages of very well sourced information. It's available for free via pdf, and not a torrent either. Goes though in depth the evolution of our educational system.

Warning this book will cause rage strokes.

Posted by: Widespread Pepe at February 12, 2017 02:49 PM (apJVd)

328 I visit the book thread every week, but it has been a while since I've posted. Both of the following books were free reads from the amazon prime lending library. And both were independently published.

I read 2 Vietnam war memoirs. Mekong Mud Dogs: The Story of Sgt. Ed Eaton by Ed Eaton. This was a raw and emotional account of his experiences. Next was Flashing Sabre: Three Years in Vietnam by Matthew Brennan. I found his account to be analytical and detached. Both books primarily described multiple search and destroy missions. It is clear that a person would be changed forever by these experiences. However, I don't understand why both me returned after their initial tours.

Both recommended.

Posted by: long time lurker at February 12, 2017 02:50 PM (a+BAV)

329 But why wasn't World War I a great crisis? Or the Panic of 1837? Or the AIDS epidemic? Because they didn't fit the timeline. So it's kind of a tautology.

--

Trimegistus, agree with you. Looking for patterns in a sea of events.

Posted by: @votermom (twitter) @vm (gab) at February 12, 2017 02:55 PM (Om16U)

330 The Fannie Farmer cookbook reminded me that I have "Cross Creek Cookery" somewhere. It's by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of "The Yearling". My grandmother gave her copy to me, so it might be a 1st edition. IIRC, it was half recipes, half stories about dinners and neighbors (early Florida Man).

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at February 12, 2017 03:29 PM (THS4q)

331 Oh, I want that room, Tonypete! Really wonderful. Just spent the last 2 weeks reading historical biography ("Game of Queens" about the plethora of reigning women in the late 15th/16th century, which was a little dry; "The Rival Queens" about Catherine de Medici and her daughter, Marguerite of Valois, which was like watching Dynasty), and show biz biography ("Fasten Your Seat Belts" about Bette Davis, and "Bette Joan", about the storied feud between Davis and Crawford).

Posted by: Bookaday at February 12, 2017 03:45 PM (2qDS0)

332 That was "Backwards Boy" who used to repost that Groucho Marx line on every book thread, until he got banned. Not for that, but for other stuff.
Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at February 12, 2017 10:14 AM (fklV+)

He posts over at Insty's.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at February 12, 2017 04:22 PM (joFoi)

333 251 227 241 Is there anyone out there whose library does NOT have inter-library loan by now? If not, why not? Your librarians and library board must know how backward they are.

Posted by: cool breeze at February 12, 2017 11:45 AM (StZrq)

*waves hand dispiritedly*

We USED to have it, years ago, and I loved it. And all of a sudden, the McDonnell Admin., (yeah, that Bob McDonnell, the gov who was pros -- er, persecuted by the Left for no quid pro quo) said we didn't have the money to keep that going during one general assembly budget cycle. Poof. It was gone.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at February 12, 2017 06:05 PM (joFoi)

334 I'm so jazzed there is a new Myron Bolitar novel! I thought Coben wasn't going to write any more of them.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 12, 2017 12:31 PM (EnKk6)

I swear! We're sistahs from anotha mista! I'd posit we love about 95% of the same stuff.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at February 12, 2017 06:11 PM (joFoi)

335 If you haven't read and understood "The Fourth Turning", your education is incomplete.
Posted by: The Hot Gates at February 12, 2017 02:32 PM (k3uSs)

You may want to look for "The Pendulum," co-authored by Roy Williams. Fas.cin.ating. Williams has been an ad man for decades and was interested to see why ads that worked in the 60's didn't move the needle in the '80s. He and his co-author looked at "pendulum swings" of 40 years that have happened since time immemorial and settled in "Me generations" and "We generations."

The book was written many years ago but is having a popular resurgence, so it may be hard to find. I think it's only available on Kindle as far as Amazon goes.

The really cool thing, according to Wms., is that the east is ALWAYS a mirror opposite of the west in the 40-year cycle. The Reagan years were a "Me generation," which isn't a bad thing. That's where you have idols and icons. This was the top of Michael Jackson's popularity and these years also encompassed heroes like John Wayne.

Now we're in a "We generation," where millenials want to work together for the greater good. (Ugh.)

I think it's the year 2020 where we hit the zenith of the current cycle and then start coming down. The last "zenith" of a cycle like this was 1968...

An aside Wms mentioned that dovetails with the advertising bidness is the election bidness. These cycles also demand that the successful candidate speak to the country in the language that matches the cycle, hence, the wild enthusiasm from the Bernie Bros. and the lackluster response to Ted Cruz.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at February 12, 2017 06:27 PM (joFoi)

336 Thank you OregonMuse for directing me to Mark Humphrys blog.The LGF section alone has me shaking my head in sadness at the dumpster fire it has devolved into.The rest of Humprhys' site is a treasure trove of lefty dissection that I will happily spend the rest of today poring through.

Posted by: Frank_Ballinger at February 12, 2017 07:00 PM (jypbc)

337 Eris glad you liked Bellairs and Gorey! I'll have to check out Lin Carter.

I've agreed to do illustrations for a friend's children's book (yes this can be a tricky proposition, but I think we will make it work), so I've been on a research kick of kids illustrators, which is always fun. Gorey, Beatrix Potter, Garth Williams, Pauline Baynes, Lisbeth Zwerger, Carson Ellis, etc.

Any great kids books you or your kids love, with great illustrations, let me know!

Posted by: LizLem at February 12, 2017 07:12 PM (LiMbk)

338 Thanks, OM and morons for all the above.
Re-reading Fourth Turning, and re-watched Bannon's Generation Zero documentary from the links.
Here is an update, by Neil Howe on current stage, at 5 min to the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbWSpCS_obM

Posted by: foodog at February 12, 2017 07:31 PM (aHULX)

339 Loved Aeronaut's Windlass! Battle scenes with ships can be tricky because you have to explain the mechanics of what is going on to the novice, yet make it exciting at the same time. He did a stellar job. I have trouble envisioning the Spire layouts themselves, even with the map. I appreciate Butcher not wanting to infodump, but I was confused about the basic world at points. That is a mere quibble though, I love the characters and cannot wait to see their next adventures.

Eris I liked The Shallows too! I was completely surprised at the emotional core that the writing and Blake Lively was able to give her character. She goes through a mental journey, man vs self, as well as man vs beast. Better than the average thriller because they pulled that off.

Posted by: LizLem at February 12, 2017 07:32 PM (LiMbk)

340 And an update by Bannon, couple months old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nTd2ZAX_tc

Posted by: foodog at February 12, 2017 07:33 PM (aHULX)

341 DAVID ROSE: How can we trust global warming scientists if they keep twisting the truth

Not all of us were duped:

http://sacredcowonaspit.com/

Posted by: Fred at February 13, 2017 04:57 AM (pKuAW)

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