Sunday Morning Book Thread 07-23-2017

King's College Library, Cambridge University

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 gorgeous, safe spaces are underneath your house and are used as protection against actual dangers, like natural disasters, or Literally Hitler, and special snowflakes do not last. 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 the sport of curling actually encourages, believe it or not.

Our Betters

I guess progressives don't like Hillbilly Elegy. Here's a guy who works in an independent bookstore, who's all butthurt that he has to sell it:

But when it comes to the above conversation concerning J.D. Vance’s bestselling memoir, there is something a bit more personal at stake, viz. my moral objection to the book that has become, for conservatives and liberals alike, a means of understanding the rise of “Trumpism.”

So he's got a "moral objection." Whoop de do. What, exactly, is his beef with it?

I don’t intend to review Elegy here. More capable pieces have already been written about the book’s “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” message, its condemnation of a supposed culture of poverty, its dismissal of the working class’s material reality as a determining factor in their lives, and its callous claim that the welfare state only reinforces a cycle of dependency.

You get the idea. The article is one long sneer at people who think differently than he does about social issues. The very existence of ideas he doesn't like evidently causes hm pain. His solution is to recommend "alternative titles" and to "start conversations". I can't believe he's serious about the latter. The word "conversation" implies a more or less equal give-and-take, but when it comes to those of us who *do* think that welfare reinforces dependency, does he expect us to believe tha he'd like to really know why we think this? Hardly. the progressive idea of a conversation is "shut up."

But if he wants to swap titles, I suppose I could recommend books such as Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell or Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 by Charles Murray. Both books go a long way to establish the intellectual and moral basis for free-market capitalism, and why, yes, indiscriminate welfare is actually harmful.

Fun fact: Do you know who *doesn't* complain about selling books he doesn't like? Jeff Bezos, that's who.

It's clear from the article that the author of this piece doesn't actually own the bookstore he's working in, which, maybe if he had to look at the bottom line every month, he'd be less worried about this kind of nonsense and more worried about how his store could bring in enough money to pay his lazy-ass slacker clerks. But if he is just a paid employee of a bookstore, then the solution to his big "moral" problem presents itself. Namely, he can always, get this, quit his job and do something else, like barista work at a coffee kiosk, or perhaps put together an acting troupe and see if there's any money doing Hipster Dinner Theater.

And one last thing about the author:

Working at an independent bookstore in the Greater Boston area...

And why are we not surprised? I'll bet he reads Vox "hot takes" and believes every word of them.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

To NIFFLE is to waste your time.

Usage: This stupid 'Russia hacked the election' narrative makes my niffles ache.

Looks Like A Fun Book

I found out about The LawDog Files from the Monster Hunter himself:

I’ve known the Lawdog for about twenty years now. He was one of the original alpha readers for my first book because we were both moderators on the same gun forum. Ian is a great guy.

As a small town Texas cop he used to post these funny true life stories, and they were hilarious. Seriously, the guy has a gift. Some of these stories have become internet legend, like the amorous armadillo, the pink gorilla suit, and the shootout with Santa.

After nearly two decades of us bugging him, Lawdog has finally written a book! ... Lawdog is funny, talented, and has a way with words that can be making you laugh one minute, and punching you in the feels the next. I’m so glad he finally put together a book.

Amazon blurb:

LawDog had the honor of representing law and order in the Texas town of Bugscuffle as a Sheriff's Deputy, where...he chronicles his official encounters with everything from naked bikers, combative eco-warriors, suicidal drunks, respectful methheads, prison tattoo artists, and creepy children to six-foot chickens and lethal chihuahuas...rang[ing] from the bittersweet to the explosively hilarious, as LawDog relates his unforgettable experiences in a laconic, self-deprecating manner that is funny in its own right. The book is more than mere entertainment, it is an education in two English dialects, Police and Texas Country. And underlying the humor is an unmistakable sympathy for society's less fortunate - and in most cases, significantly less intelligent - whose encounters with the law are an all-too-frequent affair.

Correia was pursuaded to write a forward for this book, which is available on Kindle for $4.99.

Books By Morons

I heard from moron author Daniel (A Place Outside The Wild) Humphreys a few days ago that Silver Empire Publishing did podcast interviews with several writers at LibertyCon recently, and the first two podcast episodes features Humphreys, as well as moron author Hans (The Hidden Truth) Schantz.

Podcast with Daniel Humphreys
Podcast with Hanz Schantz

Both are approximately 15 minutes long.

___________

A lurking moron wanted a bit if pimpage for a novel published by a friend of his, since they "do not get any kind of publicity besides me emailing this thread." Loci Periculosi, by Richard Largaux. Set in the late 17th century Europe and Massachusetts, it sounds very interesting, at least to me:

Thomas Rake arrives in the late seventeenth-century dissenters’ lair of Lowestoft as winter’s grip brings a new onslaught of witch trials. With specious claims to disputed farmland, Rake systematically antagonizes the town authority, ultimately sparking a parlous religious disputation. Heretical statements striking at the heart of Protestant principles of predestination and sola scriptura bring for Rake indictments and an evolving gravity toward the stake.

A narrative that sweeps across battlefields of the Nine Years War, over the decks of William’s and Louis’ warships, and through the fires that consume the martyrs of the new heresy, Loci Periculosi presents an alternative Diet of Worms from the reverse perspective… exactly half a millennium after Luther conceived the ninety-seven theses.

I'd buy that (book) for a dollar! I'd also buy it for its current price on Kindle, $3.99.

Mr. Largaux has a previous novel, Calx, that asks the question

Is Western culture the result of random good fortune, or is it an outcome of design by otherworldly super-sentience? Philosopher John Walker roams America delivering a narrative that suggests the latter, and a controversial message evolves to a dangerous manifesto as both supporters and detractors are motivated to action by their misinterpretations, driving the nation to its second civil war.

$2.99 on Kindle.

What I'm Reading

This week, I finally got around to reading a mystery novel I mentioned here last January, Slow Death in the Fast Lane by J.W. Kerwin. The blurb starts out

If you hate the IRS, you'll love this book!

That's why I bought the book, and I must say it very much lived up to this claim.

Here's more of the blurb:

Years of creative accounting have landed Harvey Berkowitz in court, charged with criminal tax fraud. The government has a mountain of incriminating evidence and what appears to be an airtight case. But Harvey has Brendan O’Brian, an unconventional defense attorney with a reputation for winning seemingly unwinnable cases.

O’Brian turns the tables on the government, putting the Tax Code and predatory IRS practices on trial with strategies that create a circus-like atmosphere in the normally staid federal court.

O'Brian's bamboozling courtroom antics vs. the IRS and the sitting judge are hilarious. And if you don't hate the IRS now, you will after you finish this book. I think I already knew this, but I was reminded that the U.S. tax codes are so complicated, no one really understands them, and there's some financial firm or magazine that puts together a hypothetical individual with income, deductions, etc. and then gives the data to thed top 6 or 8 accounting firms with the instructions to generate an accurate tax return. And every year, each of the tax returns turn out to be different from each other, often remarkably so. O'Brian brings this up in court. Also mentioned are a couple of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations where complying with one particular regulation will necessarily cause you to violate another. And then they come at you with an army of lawyers, forensic accountants, and all the resources of the federal government that can be brought to bear.

We're The IRS. We Don't Care. We Don't Have To.

So I finished that one, which you can still buy for 99 cents on Kindle, and started on the second Brendan O'Brian mystery, A Stranger In My Own Hometown. Here, O'Brian takes on a Muslim pressure group called the "Council for Islamic Religious Respect (CIRR)". Gee, I wonder who that's supposed to be?

O'Brian is defending a hottie reporter (whom he is romantically involved with) who wrote bad things about Islam and is being sued by CIRR for "defamation of Islam."

Kindle version $2.99. Still pretty reasonable.

___________

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 09:04 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Tolle lege

Posted by: Skip at July 23, 2017 09:02 AM (9g/6M)

2 th!

Just finished "The Letter of Marque" as I read and enjoy my way through the O'Brian classic. Got side tracked and am now reading several dog related books recommended here. The training books, I'm reading out loud to Conor in hopes that he'll pick up a few tips on how he's supposed to behave!

Posted by: Hrothgar at July 23, 2017 09:04 AM (gwPgz)

3 OK, rd

Posted by: Hrothgar at July 23, 2017 09:04 AM (gwPgz)

4 Fir-- ...

... nuts.

Posted by: FireHorse at July 23, 2017 09:05 AM (zkGZ8)

5 Reading about the D-Day invasion planning The Cross Channel Attack from the US Army Center of Military History. About 1/4 of the way through.

Posted by: Skip at July 23, 2017 09:06 AM (9g/6M)

6 Just snapped up Lawdog Files for the Kindle. Thanks for the tip!

Posted by: RM at July 23, 2017 09:06 AM (eP+dt)

7 You do need to get up awful early to beat me.

Posted by: Skip at July 23, 2017 09:07 AM (9g/6M)

8 Pretty close to the top, this AM.

Books: Just finishing "The Blue Nile" by Alan Morehead, a history of exploration and exploitation of the Blue Nile, from 1700 to 1870. Excellent - much history that I did not know. Will then start on Morehead's "The White Nile."

Posted by: Gref at July 23, 2017 09:07 AM (AMIL/)

9 Top ten?

Posted by: NALNAMSAM - not as lean, not as mean, still a Marine at July 23, 2017 09:08 AM (+ldAm)

10 I've got a third niffle.

Posted by: Antonio Scaramucci at July 23, 2017 09:10 AM (BO/km)

11 PhD bud on FB was complaining about Hillbilly Elegy & the 'bootstrapping.' He offered suggestions to other works re: Appalachian poverty. Posted to him: what no Deliverance? Soooo smart but no sense...of humor.

Posted by: This River Don't Go To Antry at July 23, 2017 09:10 AM (bc2Lc)

12 5 Reading about the D-Day invasion planning The Cross Channel Attack from the US Army Center of Military History. About 1/4 of the way through.

Posted by: Skip at July 23, 2017 09:06 AM (9g/6M)
===

Lots of interesting material in the official histories posted at the CMH site. I'm plowing through the WW2 Ordnance Corps volumes right now.

Posted by: Gref at July 23, 2017 09:11 AM (AMIL/)

13 You do need to get up awful early to beat me.

Posted by: Skip
________

I was in the EMT with another tab open, hitting refresh every few seconds. I have another tab open playing music on YouTube. This morning is an uplifting trance kind of day so far, so I went on that to play a Nitrous Oxide track. He's from Poland, and he makes some nice music. So it's his fault. Besides, Poland isn't taking in its share of refugees and the whole country feels emboldened in its policy because of Trump's recent visit there. So it's Trump's fault.

(Can't be too down about it, however; not with "Red Moon Slide" playing.)

Posted by: FireHorse at July 23, 2017 09:12 AM (zkGZ8)

14 Amazing what you can do with gray paint...Lots of gray paint.

Posted by: Colin at July 23, 2017 09:12 AM (B3bgT)

15 Top 12!

Posted by: Weasel at July 23, 2017 09:12 AM (573j3)

16 Damnit!

Posted by: Weasel at July 23, 2017 09:13 AM (573j3)

17 "Do you know who *doesn't* complain about selling books he doesn't like? Jeff Bezos, that's who."

I seem to recall multiple instances of amazon mass censoring politically incorrect reviews it didn't like.

Not to mention Bezos' aggressive backing for a soft coup through his ownership of the Washington Post.

Posted by: cool breeze at July 23, 2017 09:13 AM (TKf/P)

18 Yay bookthread!

those Kerwin mysteries sound great - will hgave to blog them

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 23, 2017 09:13 AM (hMwEB)

19 You do need to get up awful early to beat me.

Posted by: Skip at July 23, 2017 09:07 AM (9g/6M)

I've noticed that!

Posted by: Hrothgar at July 23, 2017 09:13 AM (gwPgz)

20 Good Sunday morning, horde! More rain in the forecast, good day for reading and baking.

Posted by: April at July 23, 2017 09:13 AM (e8PP1)

21 7 You do need to get up awful early to beat me.
Posted by: Skip at July 23, 2017 09:07 AM (9g/6M)

I don't do morning beatings anyway. Come back later.

Posted by: Insomniac, Professional Nobody at July 23, 2017 09:16 AM (0mRoj)

22 Morning everyone, do hope the top photo is merely an ink drawing of said edifice of learning.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 23, 2017 09:16 AM (678B2)

23 There must be some good Dunkirk books but none I have read, do have the journal from Purnell's History of the Second World War series on it. Might re read that before seeing the movie.
From memory after the German Army trapped the allies in the Dunkirk pocket they needed a pause in operations. Goring offered to grab the glory and talked Hitler into letting the Lutwaffen finish them off. Unsuccessfully as it turned out.

Posted by: Skip at July 23, 2017 09:16 AM (9g/6M)

24 I have a Kindle book on the German side of the invasion. All stories of the Germans (who lived through it) When the mighty guns of the battleships opened up and devastated the great concrete bunkers the Germans had. It was hell on earth for them....

Posted by: Colin at July 23, 2017 09:16 AM (B3bgT)

25 This week I read the excellent The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt. Haidt is a moral psychologist who through his research developed a theory of a moral matrix with six foundations: care/harm, liberty/oppression, fairness/cheating, loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion, and sanctity/degration. The liberal moral matrix is based mostly on the care/harm and liberty/oppression foundations with some thought to the fairness/ cheating one. On the other hand social conservatives draw on all six almost equally.

Haidt started out as a typical knee-jerk progressive who thought all things conservative were bad; but his research led him to see that the three moral foundations held by conservatives must be present in a society to obtain the maximum good for the maximum amount of people. Not an easy book to read, but well-worth the time. It gave me much insight as to why my progressive brother and I differ.

Posted by: Zoltan at July 23, 2017 09:16 AM (go62B)

26 We've started discussing Meditations on the group...

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 23, 2017 09:18 AM (hMwEB)

27 Here's a book I'm not reading: A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold.

Everyone hails it as a seminal work of the conservation movement. I got it about fifteen years ago and read a few pages. I just tried to read it again. The introduction claims that one of its charms is Leopold's delightful writing style.

It's unreadable. Sanctimonious, smug, purple-prosy.

As an actual conservationist I hate the waste of pulp.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at July 23, 2017 09:19 AM (gIRsn)

28 Cambridge eh? Commies hiding among the shelves?

Posted by: BignJames at July 23, 2017 09:20 AM (x9c8r)

29 Still reading first Bosch novel. It's engaging enough that I cared when a witness was killed, but I still find Bosch to be awfully distant.

Reading "Feisty Fido" by Patricia McConnell for ideas on helping my dog remain calm when other dogs appear on the scene, especially when they appear suddenly.

Still reading the book explaining Catholic Bible concepts, all about God's various covenants with His people.

And I have just conceived of the idea of working on sight reading by going through the hymnal page by page. I have a little keyboard app on my Fire so I can pick out things to check myself. Sight-reading is endlessly frustrating and this is the first remotely reasonable idea I've come up with. Singing chords other than 1-3-5 is hard and then recognizing intervals in anything other than C is really hard.

Posted by: Tonestaple at July 23, 2017 09:20 AM (QqILu)

30 "The Blue Nile" by Alan Morehead

Those two books were my education on the early history of British exploration that area. Still on the bookcases upstairs.

In my readings I have discovered how to make the Sampo. Turns out it's not so easy:

http://tinyurl.com/yarsg563

Posted by: freaked at July 23, 2017 09:20 AM (BO/km)

31 A lot of times, my allergies make me NIFFLE.

Mornin', ya lot of wildlings!

Posted by: @DangerGirl (gab.ai) and her 1.21 Gigawatt SanityProd (tm) at July 23, 2017 09:22 AM (/o9Qk)

32 Don't forget the AoSHQ reading group on Goodreads.
________

Just signed up. A new discussion group started to share thoughts about "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius. Some links (including free copies) are in the discussion thread.

(Huge shout-out to votermom and cool breeze for maintaining that group!)

Posted by: FireHorse at July 23, 2017 09:23 AM (zkGZ8)

33 Great book thread, Oregon Muse!

I do not read for edification, I read for amusement. Since I'm out of new reading material, I just finished Booth Tarkington's "Seventeen," and now I'm on to "Penrod." I've probably read each if them close to 100 times.

They are very funny and exquisitely written, and would never be published in today's environment of thought control and speech sanitization.

Posted by: Ladylibertarian at July 23, 2017 09:23 AM (TdMsT)

34 Good Morning fellow Book Threadists and many thanks, as always and well deserved, to OM for this weekly foray into enjoyment.

It's been an interesting week of reading at Chez JTB.

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

35 1) I read The Imperial Governor by George Shipway because it had been recommended on the Book Thread a while back. It is a novel about Boudicca's rebellion in Roman Britannia from the point of view of the Governor, Suetonious Paulinus. Shipway does an excellent job of in portraying Roman attitudes and has brilliant phrasing at times. While there are accounts of fighting, the book is more a "memoir" in which Paulinus recounts his challenges in dealing with both Britons and Romans told in a blunt, earthy style that I found very believable. One thing that surpised me was, for a book published in 1968, Shipway dealt very frankly with the Roman attitudes towards homosexuality (i.e., they didn't care).

For me, a couple of minor points that I didn't like was that Shipway didn't use some correct Roman military terms and used modern British names of some of the locations, but that was probably done for ease of understanding for a broader audience. Conversely, he mentions "milliary" units repeatedly and expected his readers to know that he meant units of 1000 men, rather than the standard units of 500. All those issues could have been dealt with by a small glossary.

I really liked the book: rating = 4.5/5.

2) I also tried to read 1634: The Bavarian Crisis but it couldn't hold my interest. An Austrian princess doesn't want to go along with an arranged marriage; some strong female characters and discussion of religious freedom but BOOOORING. Rating = 2/5.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 23, 2017 09:23 AM (5Yee7)

36 Some Lunar reading since in 1969 two men from Earth safely landed on the Moon.

We Reach the Moon by John Wilford Noble
Men From Earth by Buzz Aldrin and Malcolm McConnell
The Last Man on the Moon by Eugene Cernan with Don Davis
A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin

If its video, there is always the series The Moon Machines.
Episode 1 - Saturn V Rocket
https://youtu.be/o39UlJlMce8

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 23, 2017 09:26 AM (678B2)

37 But if he wants to swap titles, I suppose I could recommend books such as Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell or Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 by Charles Murray. Both books go a long way to establish the intellectual and moral basis for free-market capitalism, and why, yes, indiscriminate welfare is actually harmful.

Trusting people with PhD's in relevant fields rather than a book store clerk? That's just crazy talk. We need to have a conversation.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 23, 2017 09:28 AM (/qEW2)

38 My niffles are hard.

Posted by: Sandra Fluke at July 23, 2017 09:29 AM (89T5c)

39 Skip, re: Dunkirk: I've read a number of books about the 1940 campaign and haven't seen a consistent story emerge about how the Germans failed to grab the whole bag.

A few interesting things I do recall, on the Allied side:

Lord Gort did a terrific job looking ahead and getting the BEF in motion towards the coast early enough to avoid being cut off from any ports. But there had to be at least an unofficial fall guy for the Northern France and Belgium debacle, and Gort never commanded troops again.

The French were PO'd that more French troops were not evacuated from Dunkirk, and bitched about it. Churchill then did some dumb stuff to try and mollify them; I think sending 3 Division (?) to Calais where it was trapped and surrendered almost completely was one result.

Posted by: Gref at July 23, 2017 09:31 AM (AMIL/)

40 I read The Righteous Mind last year and found it very interesting and informative. Definitely helps explain the different worldviews of progressives and conservatives.

What's weird - I know a handful of progressives who have read the book and it confirmed their bias that progressives are morally superior, which I just don't understand. I think Haidt was trying to hard be neutral, but it's impossible to read the book and not conclude that conservatives are more balanced in how they view moral dilemmas.

Posted by: biancaneve at July 23, 2017 09:31 AM (QeLWM)

41 Finished the THE GREAT SIEGE: MALTA 1565

Good book the Knights of St. John were very brave men. Europe would be very different if they lost Malta to the Turks. They planned on using Malta as a stepping stone for an invasion of Italy.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at July 23, 2017 09:33 AM (dKiJG)

42 Fir-- ...

... nuts.

Posted by: FireHorse

fur nuts.

Posted by: attack squirrel at July 23, 2017 09:33 AM (/qEW2)

43 Probably the best cinematography of D-Day I know from the German perspective is the Longest Day when Hans Christian Blech is in his bunker and first sees the invasion then the fleet opens fire.

Posted by: Skip at July 23, 2017 09:35 AM (9g/6M)

44 So,

Is niffle a noun or a verb?

Posted by: Emmie at July 23, 2017 09:36 AM (ZapPq)

45 Remember in The Fifth Element that little pet thingy that Zorg had in his desk? I think Niffle would be the perfect name for it.

Posted by: @DangerGirl (gab.ai) and her 1.21 Gigawatt SanityProd (tm) at July 23, 2017 09:38 AM (/o9Qk)

46 What I've read recently:

The Song of Annie Moses by Robin Wolaver, Christian musician/songwriter and founder of the Annie Moses Band. Autobiography beginning with her grandmother, a sharecropper who wanted the gift of music for her child, and progressing through the generations to Robin's 6 children, all of whom became musical prodigies.

Probably of more interest here:The God Players, by Phil Valentine, conservative talk show host and filmmaker. This novel explores the ramifications of discovering not only a "gay gene," but a procedure to alter the gene in utero. Fast-paced legal drama. Free for Kindle Unlimited, $2.99 to purchase.

Posted by: Rarity at July 23, 2017 09:39 AM (Zs7hr)

47 Niffle?

Niflheim, resident of?

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 23, 2017 09:39 AM (678B2)

48 As the more cultured and morally superior among us are aware, next month's Goodreads Horde group book is Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations". Several of us have already started it. At least a few of us are using the Gregory Hays translation.

To say the book is interesting is a huge understatement. Aside from the value of Aurelius' words, it is throwing out many branches that cry out to be investigated. So far I've looked up an Emerson essay, Gray's poem "Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard", a couple of passages from Robert Heinlein books, and am acquiring other books by Greek and Roman philosophers that relate to Meditations. And I just finished the second book in the collection. My reading has been rich, contemplative and deliciously slow.

I'm dedicating a notebook to the references and thoughts resulting from this reading. There is too much to try to keep in mind.

Whether you join the Goodreads group discussion or not, give Meditations a look. It has been a delightful surprise.

Posted by: JTB at July 23, 2017 09:40 AM (V+03K)

49 Good morning Horde! My latest vintage book project is "Around the World in 72 Days" by Nellie Bly, the New York World reporter who in 1889 set out to beat the fictional circumnavigation record of Jules Verne's hero Phileas Fogg. It's a fun read and a great snapshot of the Victorian world at the time, plus, Bly was IMO a genuine "feminist" hero with a sense of class and dignity, not a special snowflake. If anyone told her something couldn't be done, or that she couldn't do it because she was a woman, she just went out and did it rather than complain about it.

Posted by: Secret Square at July 23, 2017 09:42 AM (9WuX0)

50 I received Hillbilly Elegy as a Christmas present from my Mom and just recently read it (fast read btw) and I really enjoyed it. I half expected it to contain today's modern day sjw drivel about why the hillbillys have it so hard. It didn't. The writer is himself of hillbilly stock and he made an honest examination of their culture and failings. One thing I found very interesting was the recruitment effort after the war by large steel companies where they'd go to the hills of KY and damn near hire the whole holler. I've always wondered why places like Lorain, OH (next community over from me) and Butler County,OH have such large hillbilly contingents. It's just something we've always referred to, but I never knew why.

Posted by: Obamaisacommunist at July 23, 2017 09:42 AM (pLB5t)

51 Highlights and lowlights from my reading in the last six months or so:

Best books:

The Black Obelisk by Erich Maria Remarque
The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes
The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan

Biggest disappointments:

How The Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill
G�del, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter

Best horde-written books:

Hallow Mass by J.P. Mac
Life Unworthy by Christopher R. Taylor
The Hidden Truth by Hans G. Schantz
The Director's Cut by Christopher DiGrazia
A Flowershop in Baghdad by Michael Banzet

Politically incorrect fun:

People's Republic by Kurt Schlichter
Watch on the Rhine by John Ringo and Tom Kratman

Posted by: cool breeze at July 23, 2017 09:43 AM (TKf/P)

52 I read Elegy when it came out and disliked it greatly. It's just one big cliche. My biggest peeve is calling yourself a hillbilly when your grandparents left the hills when they were young teens, your parents weren't born in the hills, neither were you. Guess his San Francisco born kid is a hillbilly too.

Posted by: NCKate at July 23, 2017 09:44 AM (2R5JV)

53 What JTB said! (#4

Seriously: If you're even slightly interested in the practical side of philosophy, "Meditations" is a go-to work.

Posted by: FireHorse at July 23, 2017 09:44 AM (zkGZ8)

54 Just finished "Operation Mincemeat" by Ben MacIntyre. It's about the British plot to fool the Germans into thinking the Allies were invading via Greece and Sardinia instead of Sicily. Lots of players to keep track of (including Ian Fleming), but I thought it was a well-written, fascinating book.

Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at July 23, 2017 09:44 AM (YidHP)

55 Lawdog Files peaked at (I think) #87 on *all* of Amazon during the book bomb. I imagine Lawdog will have quite a hefty residual check coming soon.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at July 23, 2017 09:45 AM (17QyB)

56 This week I read the excellent The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt. Haidt is a moral psychologist who through his research developed a theory of a moral matrix with six foundations: care/harm, liberty/oppression, fairness/cheating, loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion, and sanctity/degration. The liberal moral matrix is based mostly on the care/harm and liberty/oppression foundations with some thought to the fairness/ cheating one. On the other hand social conservatives draw on all six almost equally.

I do harm because I care! If you want liberty, you are OPPRESSING me!

Posted by: Professor Bikelock at July 23, 2017 09:45 AM (/qEW2)

57 Target Tokyo is another good book about the Dolittle raid. One of the reviews for the book is the son of the Co Pilot of the Ruptured Duck and he praised the book. I still think the Japanese were worse than the Germans, in terms of their inhumanity.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at July 23, 2017 09:45 AM (dKiJG)

58 Reading Frank Chadwick's "The Forever Engine" based on a Moron recommendation. So far, very good.

Posted by: That Deplorable SOB Van Owen at July 23, 2017 09:47 AM (IJX6l)

59 I love Jules Verne so I will have to add that book to my list of ever growing list.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at July 23, 2017 09:48 AM (dKiJG)

60 I think calling yourself a hillbilly is valid if you're raised by them, albeit not in the hills of KY, and if you grow up in a community entirely populated by them. If you were born in Boston after the potato famine in Ireland and your parents were from Ireland, would you say you were Irish?

Posted by: Obamaisacommunist at July 23, 2017 09:48 AM (pLB5t)

61 Y'all will never believe this:

Someone on the linked Twitter thread used niffle in a sentence to insult Trump.

Posted by: Emmie at July 23, 2017 09:49 AM (ZapPq)

62 Get ready for the next political piece of shit from HBO

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/270818/

Posted by: steevy at July 23, 2017 09:50 AM (rmVvL)

63 The Left would have book burning Bonfire parties if they could get away with it.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 09:50 AM (IDPbH)

64 'Allo Book Horde! In book news I'm just about finished reading "The Siege of Sydney Street" by Donald Rumblelow. It's about Russian emigre terrorist attacks in London in 1910-11, and the police & Army attack on a stronghold in London. They were let in thanks to Britain's good-intentioned but short-sighted immigration policy. Sound familiar?

I finally picked up the first volume of Manchester's biography of Churchill, I've had vol. 2 for the longest time, but didn't read it since I didn't have vol. 1.

Posted by: josephistan at July 23, 2017 09:51 AM (ANIFC)

65 I read Basic Economics a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

Posted by: Emmie at July 23, 2017 09:51 AM (ZapPq)

66 I made a disturbing discovery this week. I was half way through the latest Numa Files novel by Clive Cussler, maybe 200 pages, and found I was bored. I mean bored to the point that I closed the book and returned it to the library. I've been a huge Cussler fan since his earliest books and still enjoy the Isaac Bell series. But the other series have become so predictable in approach, action, and characters that they don't keep my interest. Not sure if this denotes a change in me or the books or both.

Posted by: JTB at July 23, 2017 09:52 AM (V+03K)

67 Just got back from walking puppy. Walk, walk, run for 3 seconds, walk, repeat.
Fun but tiring.

great post on Meditations, JTB

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 23, 2017 09:53 AM (hMwEB)

68 @54 - I love Ben Macintyre's WWII books. I recently read Double Cross then passed it on to my dad. He complained about how hard it was to keep track of who's who because everybody had at least three names - their real name, German spy name, and British spy name - so he finished the book and then immediately reread it. He said he enjoyed it more the second time. I need to find a copy of Agent Zigzag for him. I think he'd really like it.

Posted by: biancaneve at July 23, 2017 09:54 AM (QeLWM)

69 Posted by: Secret Square at July 23, 2017 09:42 AM (9WuX0)

My wish list includes an out-of-print book by another early "feminist." The book is "What's a Woman Doing Here? A Combat Reporter's Report on Herself" by Dickey Chappelle. She took up war reporting in WWII, was captured crossing the Hungarian border and was imprisoned for a time there, attached herself to the Marines, who loved her dearly.

As wimmens go, she was kind of a badass, yet I'm sure she would not have aligned herself with feminists under any circumstances.

I found her book quite by accident in the Columbus library some years ago, and what great find it was.

Posted by: April at July 23, 2017 09:54 AM (e8PP1)

70 Not a hillbilly but perceived to be a coonass incorrectly by all the Northeastern HR departments I interviewed with. That's in spite of being raised by parents from NYC.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 09:54 AM (IDPbH)

71 'Someone on the linked Twitter thread used niffle in a sentence to insult Trump.'

If there were ever two words better suited to go together than "niffling twitter" I don't know what they are.

Posted by: freaked at July 23, 2017 09:55 AM (BO/km)

72 Any recommendations for books about Napoleon's campaigns in Italy? I'm surprised I don't have anything in my collection, and looking around online, I can only find a couple of reprints of contemporary accounts. Which is surprising considering how important the Italian campaign was to making Napoleon Napoleon.

Posted by: josephistan at July 23, 2017 09:55 AM (ANIFC)

73 I am waiting for the release of the book:

"Billionaires need help!" by Mark Cuban and Jeb Bush. Davos Press. 2019

Posted by: William Eaton at July 23, 2017 09:55 AM (MuTTO)

74 "Meditations" is a good book to read when going through a bad time. Eep, one that looks likely to stick around for a while.

Or, you are just generally feeling down about life and your place in it.

Not a rah-rah feel good book at all, but a serious meditation(!) on Life and one's place within the various aspects of it. And how to make your way though it all.

Great stuff.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 23, 2017 09:56 AM (9q7Dl)

75 73 I am waiting for the release of the book:

"Billionaires need help!" by Mark Cuban and Jeb Bush. Davos Press. 2019

Posted by: William Eaton at July 23, 2017 09:55 AM (MuTTO)

With a foreword by Elon Musk

Posted by: josephistan at July 23, 2017 09:57 AM (ANIFC)

76 Yes, Twitter is a true niffle. So is Facebook.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 23, 2017 09:57 AM (678B2)

77 I finished reading The Terror by Dan Simmons. Historical fiction about the lost Franklin expedition. Started out so good and then abruptly took a turn for the goofy near the end. Felt like I wasted a lot of time reading those 700 plus pages.

Posted by: Dang at July 23, 2017 09:57 AM (8b+oT)

78 >>>give Meditations a look.

I practice self-meditation. In fact, I'm practicing it right now. *hic*

Posted by: Hillary Clinton at July 23, 2017 09:59 AM (/qEW2)

79 66 I made a disturbing discovery this week. I was half way through the latest Numa Files novel by Clive Cussler, maybe 200 pages, and found I was bored. I mean bored to the point that I closed the book and returned it to the library. I've been a huge Cussler fan since his earliest books and still enjoy the Isaac Bell series. But the other series have become so predictable in approach, action, and characters that they don't keep my interest. Not sure if this denotes a change in me or the books or both.
Posted by: JTB at July 23, 2017 09:52 AM (V+03K)

I was told by the research librarian at my library that most of the big-name fiction writers no longer write their own books. A lot of the writing is hired out to ghost writers and can be very sub standard.

Posted by: Ladylibertarian at July 23, 2017 09:59 AM (TdMsT)

80 Just finished P. D. James's "Death at Pemberley."

It's a murder mystery. Very enjoyable. I saw a film adaptation about a year ago that made, of course, Mrs. Darcy, nee Elizabeth Bennett, the sleuth. It's a fun take on what could have happened after Darcy weds Eliza and Bingley marries Jane.

There are even cameo references to characters in "Emma" and "Persuasion."

Posted by: JAS at July 23, 2017 10:00 AM (UnDQI)

81 For the second time I picked up and put down "Sherman - Memoirs of General W T Sherman".

Made it approx 300 pages in this time (beginning of the Civil War) but simply too much detail concerning, to my mind, mundane matters.

Probably my state of mind - I have too much going on that needs attention to devote the needed time to digest a 1000 page memoir properly.

Posted by: Tonypete at July 23, 2017 10:01 AM (tr2D7)

82 You can milk anything with niffles.

Posted by: Greg Fokker at July 23, 2017 10:02 AM (0mRoj)

83 Posted by: Tonypete at July 23, 2017 10:01 AM (tr2D7)

I'm sure you were surprised that he was the first President of LSU.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 10:02 AM (IDPbH)

84 One of the things I find fascinating about Meditations is knowing that Marcus Aurelius was writing this but by bit at night after a day of fighting in the boonies.

It would make a great model for a fictional character, either hero or villain, right?

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 23, 2017 10:03 AM (hMwEB)

85

I have been niffling something fierce for at least the last two weeks.

Posted by: Malthe Leftwrench at July 23, 2017 10:03 AM (m9X4Y)

86 You can milk anything with niffles.

Posted by: Greg Fokker at July 23, 2017 10:02 AM (0mRoj)

Pipe?...w/threaded niffles?

Posted by: BignJames at July 23, 2017 10:04 AM (x9c8r)

87 I'm sure you were surprised that he was the first President of LSU.
Posted by: Jack Sock
---

Yes! Very.

Posted by: Tonypete at July 23, 2017 10:05 AM (tr2D7)

88 "The Hangman's Daughter"

I highly recommend this book. I think it's the first of five in the series. I'm normally a military/techno thriller geek. I've never really thought about reading historical fiction. Amazon sent me a notification that I could "borrow" it as a Prime customer. I read the blurb and gave it a try.

Well worth the time and it doesn't leave you with the frustration of having to read the next book. Well researched and a very good translation to English.

4 star Amazon review.

Posted by: weirdflunky at July 23, 2017 10:06 AM (38w5p)

89 Urban Dictionary says niffle means a nondescript and variable act of physical affection. Typically mild and/or gentle, but potentially quite intimate.

OED says To waste time or work slowly; to act in a trifling manner.

So, "my office mate and I were just niffling and the boss was nowhere in sight, so we shared a nice niffle."

Posted by: Bandersnatch at July 23, 2017 10:07 AM (gIRsn)

90 I started thumbing through a couple of books I have on restoring and maintaining hand tools for wood working. This started when I found a pair of vise grip pliers that have gotten pretty rusty. I haven't used them in a while but I do have some good quality wood working hand tools, some are usable antiques, and I should make sure they are in shape. Like cleaning guns, there is satisfaction in maintaining good tools. And using them for some small projects would be fun and give me a bit of needed exercise.

Posted by: JTB at July 23, 2017 10:08 AM (V+03K)

91 Speaking of books hard to complete. I put down Culture of Corruption by Michelle Malkin after about 50 pages. She needed a better editor.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 10:08 AM (IDPbH)

92 I second the recommendation for Lawdog Files. I read a couple of the better ones out loud to my family when they demanded, "What's so funny?"

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 23, 2017 10:09 AM (THS4q)

93 Posted by: Bandersnatch at July 23, 2017 10:07 AM (gIRsn)

Sounds like limey speak.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 10:09 AM (IDPbH)

94 Because it was a joke-reference on a couple different episodes of MSST3K, I looked up 'The Group.' Turns out it was a feminist novel about a group of Ivy League college women dealing with abusive marriages, lesbianism, sexual harassment in the workplace, and abortion.

It was a NY Times bestseller... in 1933.

Third wave feminists think they invented all those issues, but their great-grandmothers were already whining about that crap when Herbert Hoover was president.

Posted by: V the K at July 23, 2017 10:10 AM (jn7FC)

95 Posted by: V the K at July 23, 2017 10:10 AM (jn7FC)

I felt bad about all the suffrage going on back then.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 10:12 AM (IDPbH)

96
Niffle (in my world) translates to doin jack squat and feeling no guilt about it whatsoever.

Good descriptor without resorting to vulgarity.

Posted by: irongrampa at July 23, 2017 10:13 AM (S/hVx)

97 Sounds like limey speak.

That was the 58th niffle reference in this thread and you're yelling at *me*?

Posted by: Bandersnatch at July 23, 2017 10:13 AM (gIRsn)

98 One of the things I find fascinating about Meditations is knowing that Marcus Aurelius was writing this but by bit at night after a day of fighting in the boonies.

I like biting butt at night too. Maybe I should write a book.

Posted by: Shep Smith at July 23, 2017 10:13 AM (/qEW2)

99 I felt bad about all the suffrage going on back then.
------
**snort**

Posted by: lin-duh meh at July 23, 2017 10:16 AM (kufk0)

100 Finished the THE GREAT SIEGE: MALTA 1565

Good book the Knights of St. John were very brave men. Europe would be very different if they lost Malta to the Turks. They planned on using Malta as a stepping stone for an invasion of Italy.
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio

Verily. Jean is short for Jean Parisot de la Valette, my old LGF handle was delavalette and before that on various boards and bbs. Their role while Europe slept was critical.

Posted by: Jean at July 23, 2017 10:18 AM (9TU00)

101 "...and its callous claim that the welfare state only reinforces a cycle of dependency."

This is where progs lose the plot: "callous" is a feeling word. It doesn't dispute a factual claim. It simply assigns a feeling to an indisputable fact: the welfare state does indeed reinforce a cycle of poverty. But, it's a callous fact, so, ignore.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at July 23, 2017 10:18 AM (ty7RM)

102 Posted by: Bandersnatch at July 23, 2017 10:13 AM (gIRsn)

Au Contraire . I'm just joining the conversation and adding that it is probably British in origin. I wouldn't yell at you Mr Snatch.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 10:20 AM (IDPbH)

103 Because it was a joke-reference on a couple different episodes of MSST3K, I looked up 'The Group.' Turns out it was a feminist novel about a group of Ivy League college women dealing with abusive marriages, lesbianism, sexual harassment in the workplace, and abortion.

Sexual harassment in the workplace by lesbians really sucks. But you need to grit your teeth, lie back, and think of Iran.

Posted by: Huma Abedin at July 23, 2017 10:20 AM (/qEW2)

104 Bandersnatch: "This was the 58th niffle reference and you're yelling at me?"

Posted by: Future Bandersnatch, wih Cybernetic at July 23, 2017 10:22 AM (l12Jm)

105 I assumed "fap" was limey speak before I learned that it was anime onomatopoeia.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at July 23, 2017 10:22 AM (gIRsn)

106 Speaking of books hard to complete.

"Team of Rivals." Doris Kerns-Goodwin should stick to giving knobbers. I was about 275 pages in, and Lincoln was just getting the nomination.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at July 23, 2017 10:23 AM (ty7RM)

107 79 ... "
I was told by the research librarian at my library that most of the big-name fiction writers no longer write their own books. A lot of the writing is hired out to ghost writers and can be very sub standard."

Cussler has been doing this for a while with the different series but he well into his eighties now, so not a surprise. His co-writers are talented authors and I can't say the writing is worse now. I think I'm just tired of the formula. Also, my reading interests have definitely shifted away from current day action/adventure novels.

Posted by: JTB at July 23, 2017 10:24 AM (V+03K)

108 Since Hillary is busy writing her newest book (like hell) I'm sure her ghost writer is being well paid to write shit.....

Posted by: Colin at July 23, 2017 10:24 AM (B3bgT)

109 Team of Rivals was a good 400 page book crammed into 900 pages.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at July 23, 2017 10:25 AM (gIRsn)

110 JTB, one trick I use for removing rust is rubbing at it with aluminum foil with a few drops of water.
The rust usually transfers to the foil.

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 23, 2017 10:25 AM (hMwEB)

111 Morning everyone, do hope the top photo is merely an ink drawing of said edifice of learning.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 23, 2017 09:16 AM (678B2)

Those bookshelves look awfully thick. As though you could open a secret door in the end, and find an orgy going on inside.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 23, 2017 10:25 AM (XUcIQ)

112 105 I assumed "fap" was limey speak before I learned that it was anime onomatopoeia.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at July 23, 2017 10:22 AM (gIRsn)

AOS is what I imagine the Great Library of Alexandria was like for knowledge.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 10:27 AM (IDPbH)

113 This is where progs lose the plot: "callous" is a feeling word. It doesn't dispute a factual claim. It simply assigns a feeling to an indisputable fact: the welfare state does indeed reinforce a cycle of poverty. But, it's a callous fact, so, ignore.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at July 23, 2017 10:18 AM (ty7RM)

Rank-and-file Progs are all about the feelz not the results. Leadership Progs merely mask their will for power and money with blather about "equality."

The Righteous Mind sounds interesting although I don't know if I agree that Leftists think about a Liberty/Oppression scale; I would say their measure would be Individuality/Sameness (Equality).

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 23, 2017 10:28 AM (5Yee7)

114 Those bookshelves look awfully thick. As though you could open a secret door in the end, and find an orgy going on inside.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 23, 2017 10:25 AM (XUcIQ)

Interesting observation on the pic. of the Cambridge library......Open the secret door and its all Technicolor inside...

Posted by: Colin at July 23, 2017 10:28 AM (B3bgT)

115 Sorry to mention politics so early on the book thread, but couldn't help but notice that Jeb! has called out Republicans for "remaining silent" on the Russia probe into Trump.

And I don't think he meant that they should be more vocal in telling the media to move on.

Posted by: RM at July 23, 2017 10:29 AM (U3LtS)

116 That's in spite of being raised by parents from NYC.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 09:54 AM (IDPbH)

Youse gots ta woik on the accent.

Posted by: Insects Rabbit at July 23, 2017 10:30 AM (/qEW2)

117 onomatopoeia
I don't wanna
see ya
speakin' in a
foreign tongue

sorry

Posted by: BignJames at July 23, 2017 10:31 AM (x9c8r)

118 I seem to recall multiple instances of amazon mass censoring politically incorrect reviews it didn't like.

Not to mention Bezos' aggressive backing for a soft coup through his ownership of the Washington Post.

Posted by: cool breeze at July 23, 2017 09:13 AM (TKf/P

I believe this to be an unproven allegation. I've seen reviews suddenly disappear, but I don't think they're limited to just conservative ones.

Why the number of reviews on a book suddenly goes from 900 to 700 is a bit of a mystery, though.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 23, 2017 10:32 AM (OiLIO)

119 108 Since Hillary is busy writing her newest book (like hell) I'm sure her ghost writer is being well paid to write shit.....
Posted by: Colin at July 23, 2017 10:24 AM (B3bgT)

Is that really true? Is Hillary writing another book?

It baffles me that publishers insist on wasting trees and money on books that will hit the remainder bins in three months and disappear from memory within a year.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at July 23, 2017 10:32 AM (nBr1j)

120 For the aviation minded like Mike Hammer is about World War II, I would avoid the book Bf-109 Aces of North Africa and the Mediterranean by Jerry Schutts as published by Osprey.

Cover art is of Gelb 14 flown by Hans Joachim Marseille of JG27. Overall the depiction is correct with RLM78 upper and RLM79 under surface with white theater markings except the artist omitted the yellow undercowl of the DB-601E. This omission is repeated in the Color Illustrations section for all JG27 aircraft but is shown for JG53 Friedrichs and Gustavs.

On pg 28 of the book is a photo of Marseille seated in the cockpit with a Black Crow strapping him in. The caption says this might be a photo of Marseille in the Bf-109G-2 that killed him. Except it isn't, in fact in Franz Kurowski's book German Fighter Ace Hans-Joachim Marseille on page 129 is an uncropped version of the picture that clearly shows Marseille is seated in one of the Bf-109F-4/Trops with Kennziffer Gelb 14. Kitchens and Beaman in their book The Luftwaffe Ritterkreuztrager 1939-145: Hans Joachim Marseille identify this plane as Bf-109F04/Trop Werkenummer 10059 in which Marseille scored victories 52 to 75.

So in other words be wary when using this book. Though everything in regards to Marseille has to be carefully studied since I just noticed a possible typo or two in the Kitchens/Beaman book.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 23, 2017 10:34 AM (678B2)

121 Any GoT fans know why the bookshelves in the great library have chains over them?

Posted by: josephistan at July 23, 2017 10:35 AM (ANIFC)

122 Just finished "ENGINEER TO WIN - The Essential Guide To Racing Car Materials Technology" by Carroll Smith.

Kind of a folksy, layman's guide to mechanical engineering by a layman as it applies to his profession (building race cars and running them).

You'd probably have to be deeply into racing to enjoy this OR be deeply into metals and mechanical engineering (my case)

This is my second book this year, which is probably a record for this century. I thank and credit the Book Thread for that.

Posted by: t-bird at July 23, 2017 10:35 AM (kuiuS)

123 My biggest peeve is calling yourself a hillbilly when your grandparents left the hills when they were young teens, your parents weren't born in the hills, neither were you. Guess his San Francisco born kid is a hillbilly too.
Posted by: NCKate at July 23, 2017 09:44 AM (2R5JV)

Hey, San Francisco has hills, too, ya know:

Telegraph Hill, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Rincon Hill, Twin Peaks, Mount Davidson and Mount Sutro.

Seven hills. Like Rome, I guess.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 23, 2017 10:35 AM (OiLIO)

124 110 ... "JTB, one trick I use for removing rust is rubbing at it with aluminum foil with a few drops of water.
The rust usually transfers to the foil."

Hi votermom, That's a new one for me. I'll have to try it. Even if it just starts the process, it would be useful. Thanks.

One advantage of being obsessive about firearm maintenance, especially black powder guns, is I have plenty of materials that will keep other tools in good working order once they are cleaned up.

Posted by: JTB at July 23, 2017 10:36 AM (V+03K)

125 Jeb! has called out Republicans for "remaining silent" on the Russia probe into Trump.

Heh... Senor Yeb! needs to go away. He and the rest of the Shrubs are still butt-hurt he didn't get the Republican nomination. He could probably do with reading Aurelius's Meditations himself.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 23, 2017 10:36 AM (5Yee7)

126 Sorry to mention politics so early on the book thread, but couldn't help but notice that Jeb! has called out Republicans for "remaining silent" on the Russia probe into Trump.

And I don't think he meant that they should be more vocal in telling the media to move on.

Posted by: RM

*sigh*

http://nypost.com/2017/07/22/jeb-calls-out-gop-for-backing-trump-amid-russia-scandals/

He is such an assclown. I can't figure out if he's a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, or an opportunistic idiot who thinks he can win the love of liberals by supporting their views, or just a spiteful little beotch.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 23, 2017 10:36 AM (/qEW2)

127 Bander. Guess where I am.

Posted by: bluebell at July 23, 2017 10:36 AM (sTBcq)

128 It baffles me that publishers insist on wasting trees and money on books that will hit the remainder bins in three months and disappear from memory within a year.

It's like speaking fees: the whole publishing thing is a way to game payoffs to hack politicians. It's simply money laundering, keeping her fat ass rolling in dough. In 3, 2, 1: "My Life with a Weiner" by Humid Abdomen.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at July 23, 2017 10:37 AM (ty7RM)

129 The book I put down after a 100 pages or so and never have finished is one that people rave about being the best of that genre. If I was that kind of person it might make me question myself.

Lucifer's Hammer

It's been a few years. I might give it another shot .

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 10:37 AM (IDPbH)

130 Read an interesting though failed ( i believe) novel by Richard Condon ("The Manchurian Candidate", "Prizzi's Honor") titled,

"The Whisper of the Axe"

The story is about a Black woman, Angela Teel, who institutes a plan to destroy America through widespread, well-funded, and unrelenting terrorism starting on July 4, 1976.

She's an interesting character for this reason: she isn't trying to build anything at all. She just wants to punish everybody. Whites because of the way they set up society and Blacks because they take the way society is set up. She simply wants society burned to the ground and millions killed and doesn't worry about what follows because she assumes it will be better....or worse. She doesn't care but everyone will be punished.

This gives a somewhat contemporary feel to "TWotA" as her plan more or less mimics the Left's current obsession to culturally burn the West and American society to the ground through mutually contradictory actions, beliefs, and violence. With no thought or plan of what is to follow, except they assume, that they will be on top.

The bulk of the book is concerned with how she sets up her plan, which involves financing through drug sales and terrorist training/brainwashing in camps set inside Communist China.

Necessarily, this involves a lot of Telling and not Showing, which is simultaneously boring and a lot of fun as the funhouse version Condon presents of America seems all too real after a while. Esp. the massive corruption existing in Washington DC and among "Our Betters".

Condon establishes a lot of characters who you believe will have important parts to play but then just as the novel gets going, just as the action is coming down to the wire,

he short circuits it all with some silly decisions by his characters to come up with a "twist" that's not really a twist and whoops-a-daisy! the book ends.

This reads like a novel, which Condon got tired of writing so he bails out.

Cuz "TWotA" is all build up and no climax.

I guess he wrote the most interesting part for him (the burning down plot?) and had no real interest in wrapping things up dramatically. Probably would've meant writing 100-200 pages more.

Anyway, interesting idea which by the end feels like it could happen, spotty execution, lazy ending.

I can't really recommend it, but it's an interesting failure if that appeals to you.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 23, 2017 10:38 AM (9q7Dl)

131 I read an SBS book about Nellie Bly many, many years ago when in elementary school. Among other doors she knocked down, she stayed undercover in one of the day's charming asylums and then wrote about it.

Even at the time, I remember thinking she must have been one amazing, brave person.

She should be (and perhaps is) on the short list of any profile in courage type compilation.

Posted by: RM at July 23, 2017 10:39 AM (U3LtS)

132 Why the number of reviews on a book suddenly goes from 900 to 700 is a bit of a mystery, though.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 23, 2017 10:32 AM (OiLIO)

I think generally Amazon is pretty honest and carries all the books....I see Milo's book is on the NYT's best seller list. I guess Barns and Nobel doesn't carry the book though....

Posted by: Colin at July 23, 2017 10:40 AM (B3bgT)

133 Dismissal if the working class's material reality.

When progs start complaining about someone else dismissing reality, it's time to pop the corn and settle down with a good book.

Posted by: Simplemind at July 23, 2017 10:41 AM (ZuGkg)

134 Is it The Times bestseller list that only surveys independent book stores, or do I have that mixed up?

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at July 23, 2017 10:42 AM (ty7RM)

135 Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 23, 2017 10:36 AM (/qEW2)

I read a blurb somewhere that Jeb! is suspected of initiating pee-pee papers.

Posted by: BignJames at July 23, 2017 10:42 AM (x9c8r)

136 I think there are fake reviews and fake clicks that Amazon tries to crack down on.

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 23, 2017 10:42 AM (hMwEB)

137 Just finished "ENGINEER TO WIN - The Essential Guide To Racing Car Materials Technology" by Carroll Smith. "

Oh wow. Get your hands on his "Nuts and Bolts" book.

And the Bosch automotive handbook. ..

Posted by: Anon a mouse... at July 23, 2017 10:45 AM (MINbv)

138 126,
Embrace the power of "and"...

Posted by: Anon a mouse... at July 23, 2017 10:46 AM (MINbv)

139 Alexa!

Using our list "Trump Targets and Supporters", and confining your search to the Beltway, compile transcripts for this week of any conversations using the words "Russia" or "Putin".

Posted by: Jeff Bezos at July 23, 2017 10:48 AM (OBJWS)

140 Germans didn't have logistics to do more to trap allied armies. End of tether.

Posted by: mudd at July 23, 2017 10:48 AM (HJL0m)

141 127 Bander. Guess where I am.

Posted by: bluebell at July 23, 2017 10:36 AM (sTBcq)

Well, the question answers itself. Lucky girl.

Now, let's talk about why you're in the book thread hiding from the in-laws.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at July 23, 2017 10:49 AM (gIRsn)

142 I really like the Harry Bosch novels. Yes, he comes off as a bit edgy/chilly/emotionless.

I have read most of them. I have several in storage and am buying the new ones on Kindle Due to the storage issue, I may have missed a few.

In any case, the Bosch novel that I think is most recent features Bosch working with his relative, who is a very out of the box attorney (introduced in "The Lincoln Lawyer").

My sense is that as the Bosch novels have been written, Harry is also evolving as a more sympathetic human being.

Posted by: RM at July 23, 2017 10:49 AM (U3LtS)

143 Lucifer's Hammer

It's been a few years. I might give it another shot .

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 10:37 AM (IDPbH)

I read it once, 30 (?) years ago and no urge to ever read it again. Part of problem is that the book it too long and too many character threads AND I stopped caring about them.

Contrast that to Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (rather than an asteroid, it's post-nuke societal collapse). Much shorter book and fewer characters to follow: primarily the ex-Marine officer and his family. The decisions made by the characters in Frank's book "ring true" to me and I have re-read that book numerous times and generally like the residents of Fort Repose, Florida.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 23, 2017 10:50 AM (5Yee7)

144 >>>She's an interesting character for this reason: she isn't trying to build anything at all. She just wants to punish everybody.

Yes. When it comes to America, I think most liberals are into "repeal and replace".

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 23, 2017 10:51 AM (/qEW2)

145
Finished reading Escaping the Trap: The US Army X Corps in Northeast Korea, 1950, by Roy E. Applebaum. The story Chosin Reservoir battles by both the Marines and the Army are recounted, followed by the subsequent withdrawal of all UN forces from NE Korea in December 1950.

Very detailed retelling with some interesting "what if" scenarios offered up at the end. With better communications, the Chinese forces may have been able to destroy the better part of their opponents' forces in the vicinity of the reservoir. With a little less hubris and headstrong behavior, MacArthur might have left his forces in a better position to repel the Chinese and fare better in the fighting yet to come. Recommended.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at July 23, 2017 10:52 AM (pNxlR)

146 Expect anti-trump narrative to implode. Federal budget is their holy script and Trump knows it.

Posted by: mudd at July 23, 2017 10:52 AM (HJL0m)

147 Well time to get ready for work. Tschuss.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 23, 2017 10:52 AM (678B2)

148 Bandersnatch: "this was the 58th niffle reference you are yelling at me?"

Whew. For a minute there, we all wondering if you were going bite on that. But I told everyone, hey just be patient, I know the guy like the back of my hand. He will make the niffle reference and, like a butterfly's flapping of wings, will save this timeline.

Oh sorry, just sit back and appreciate all the effort put into this venture - from the seemingly random introduction of the term niffle, to all the extras (thanks guys you can knock off for the day) each dropping the word niffle into the conversation, like synchonized swimmers passing over and under and through each other 58 times, and then the hush of anticipation as the window approached and , for a brief but terrifying moment there, almost slammed shut.

But you said the word! And we slammed the door shut, like a lion tamer who's rampaging beast miracously stepped back in the cage. Well done!

Shorter - it was vital to this particular reality that you felt unfairly oppressed. You'll understand why later (again, butterfly wings) but you just saved Scranton Ohio, and in doing so saved the world.

Sorry to be so scatterbrained, but this was our 5th iteration of stopgaping a fix to the timeline, and some of our less level heads were ready to nuke the entire node and start from scratch back at the Crab Nebula. Can you believe it? Some people. Smh.

Also psst! When your old buddy from college asks you to ride shotgun for a double date with a set of red head twins, DONT DO IT. Those girls are vampires. Litterally vampires.

Catch up with me soon. Ha ha.

Posted by: Future Bandersnatch, wih Cybernetic at July 23, 2017 10:53 AM (l12Jm)

149 Why the number of reviews on a book suddenly goes from 900 to 700 is a bit of a mystery, though.

Posted by: OregonMuse at July 23, 2017 10:32 AM

My guess is that Amazon weeds out the reviews from people who didn't buy the book from them.

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 23, 2017 10:53 AM (THS4q)

150 137
Just finished "ENGINEER TO WIN - The Essential Guide To Racing Car Materials Technology" by Carroll Smith. "

Oh wow. Get your hands on his "Nuts and Bolts" book.

And the Bosch automotive handbook. ..

Posted by: Anon a mouse... at July 23, 2017 10:45 AM (MINbv)

I'm saving this comment for gifts for son at Christmas. Thank you!

Posted by: Tami, Public Ineffectual at July 23, 2017 10:54 AM (Enq6K)

151 Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 23, 2017 10:36 AM (/qEW2)
I read a blurb somewhere that Jeb! is suspected of initiating pee-pee papers.
Posted by: BignJames at July 23, 2017 10:42 AM (x9c8r)

Yup....not surprised. Jeb! is still all mesmerized by bodily functions, their sound, smell and texture.

Jeb! 2020....because it's never too late to learn a foreign language.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at July 23, 2017 10:54 AM (5VlCp)

152
She needed a better editor.

Malkin always needs a better editor. Ditto for any columnist who packages their routinely issued screeds into a "timely and pertinent" book. I've learned not to bother caring about reading, much less buying, such offerings.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at July 23, 2017 10:56 AM (pNxlR)

153 So I've read enough John Lange "Norman", Tarnsman of Gor to reach a conclusion.

Norman is trying to do Edgar Rice Burroughs, except with moar chains and whips. His world, Gor, is a Lagrange Point Counter-Earth with lower gravity and (somehow) two more moons than us. Every nation here lives by a strict code of domination and subsmission.

So the hero gets captured and tortured a lot. There are also women; they get captured a lot too. Highly stylised rituals of subjection are performed.

I'm not sure what the stakes are here. The cities rise and fall based on a game of Capture The Flag, the flag being a useless inscripted stone. They don't really do battles on the field, unless a city has lost their stone, after which point armies come to take command of the disoriented mob.

On another note, a few years ago I'd also bought Spinrad's The Iron Dream. This too had stylised rituals of domination and submission. Except that Spinrad was mocking it. At the time I thought it a colossal straw-man. Well, now at least I know what Spinrad was mocking.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at July 23, 2017 10:57 AM (6FqZa)

154
Jeb! has called out Republicans for "remaining silent" on the Russia probe into Trump.

Health care billionaire and GOP donor Mike Fernandez said Thursday that, had he been a doctor at the time, he would have killed President Donald Trump as a baby.

Like many other GOP members, Fernandez joined the “Never-Trump” protests during the election, and put more than $3.5 million into anti-Trump ads in 2016. He also donated $3 million to former candidate Jeb Bush’s campaign.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 23, 2017 10:58 AM (IqV8l)

155 Back in the 80s, there was a book called "The Myth of Heterosexual Aids". At the time, Conventional Wisdom held that soon, literally, 20% of the entire world's population would die because of Heterosexual aids.

The book strongly (and correctly) dismissed that idea. I went to a major chain bookstore and asked to buy five copies. The clerk assured me no such book existed. I pointed out that it was advertised on the Rush Limbaugh Show.

He laughed in my face.

I went behind the counter, looked on his computer screen and showed him that the book store ordered 520 copies. He said there were in other locations of the chain.

I went to five other book stores. At the fifth, I found all 520 copies - hidden in a dark corner with a tarp thrown over them.

And bookstores wonder why they're going out of business.

Posted by: Ron Stanford at July 23, 2017 10:58 AM (/R4ru)

156 Now, let's talk about why you're in the book thread hiding from the in-laws.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at July 23, 2017 10:49 AM (gIRsn)
---------

Ha. I am just waiting for everyone to get their stuff together. We are going for lunch in Deluxbury.

Posted by: bluebell at July 23, 2017 10:58 AM (sTBcq)

157 Haven't read the whole thread, so apologies if this is repeating what someone else has already said.

Dunkirk. I am currently reading my way through Winston Churchill's 6-vol history of WWII. Regarding Dunkirk: he says that the Germans *were* bombing the evacuees, or trying to, but didn't succeed because (1) lots of the bombs just landed in the sand or the water, and buried themselves there harmlessly, and (2) the RAF harassed the shit out of them, shot them down, and kept them at bay.

OK, maybe "harmless" isn't the word I want. But the fact is they didn't blow up, which was a Good Thing.

Posted by: Annalucia at July 23, 2017 10:59 AM (a5bF3)

158 "Why the number of reviews on a book suddenly goes from 900 to 700 is a bit of a mystery, though.

Posted by: OregonMuse at July 23, 2017 10:32 AM"

I just finished an obscure book that I bought solely on the basis of Amazon recommendations and because it was cheap on Amazon. I was leery and turned out to be right. It was bad. The positive reviews almost all had a certain sameness.

Maybe they are somehow trying to police the reviews from love bombs (or hate bombs), but I am not sure how they could do that without introducing subjectivity and bias into their own attempt to ensure an honest forum.

Posted by: RM at July 23, 2017 11:00 AM (U3LtS)

159 I bought the poems of John Donne on Audible this week...only $3.96.
The narrator is Richard Burton (I assume the actor, not the explorer.) So my favourite poet and a great voice. It should be good.

Posted by: Northernlurker, Phillips screwdriver of the gods at July 23, 2017 11:01 AM (nBr1j)

160 Health care billionaire and GOP donor Mike Fernandez
said Thursday that, had he been a doctor at the time, he would have
killed President Donald Trump as a baby.

Like many other GOP members, Fernandez joined the
"Never-Trump" protests during the election, and put more than $3.5 million into
anti-Trump ads in 2016. He also donated $3 million to former candidate
Jeb Bush's campaign.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 23, 2017 10:58 AM (IqV8l)

Who says shit like that?

Yeah, Trump's the one with an issue. Dude....get a mirror.

Posted by: Tami, Public Ineffectual at July 23, 2017 11:03 AM (Enq6K)

161 Olivia Koski and Jana Grcevich, Vacation Guide to the Solar System: Science for the Savvy Space Traveler! is a bite-sized overview of this solar-system's highlights based on the latest findings and colonisation speculation.

Ten years ago a Brit, Giles Sparrow, wrote a Traveler's Guide to the Solar System. It was shorter, probably because less had been found or (properly) envisioned. So K&G gives us Pluto, the bright spots on Ceres, and the clouds of Venus.

However I still recommend Sparrow over K&G. Sparrow was funnier and had more pictures.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at July 23, 2017 11:03 AM (6FqZa)

162 So I've read enough John Lange "Norman", Tarnsman of Gor to reach a conclusion.

Norman is trying to do Edgar Rice Burroughs, except with moar chains and whips. His world, Gor, is a Lagrange Point Counter-Earth with lower gravity and (somehow) two more moons than us. Every nation here lives by a strict code of domination and submission.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at July 23, 2017 10:57 AM (6FqZa)

I read that book in 7th-8th grade many moons ago. I liked it but got tired of the series after a while and Norman got way more into the whole "women are sex-toys thing."

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 23, 2017 11:04 AM (5Yee7)

163 My wife (the lovely and gracious Annalucia) and I read books aloud to each other: I read while she cooks dinner, and she reads while I do the dishes afterwards. Right now, we're reading "Heads and Tales," which is an autobiography of sorts by Malvina Hoffman, the sculptor who created the Hall of Man busts that are now on display in Chicago's Field Museum. Her stories are fascinating, particularly when she writes about her around-the-world trip to create the sculptures in the Hall of Man exhibit. Also, as a young artist, she studied with Rodin, and her reminiscences of the great man are well worth reading. Likewise, her description of how bronze casting was done, from prehistoric times up to the advent of 3D printing, is absolutely fascinating. Hoffman's work is deprecated nowadays, a victim of the PC plague, but anyone with eyes to see knows that she was a gifted artist with a sensitive eye, a sure hand, and a heart filled with empathy for the people whose portraits she was creating.

By the way, "Heads and Tales" was published in Britain as "A Sculptor's Odyssey" -- same book, different titles.

As for "Lucifer's Hammer," I found the second half -- how the survivors organize themselves, and the attack of the cannibal hordes, to be *meh*. There, Niven and Pournelle let themselves climb on the soapbox 'way too often. But the first half, from the discovery of the comet through Hammerfall, is riveting. I was given a copy for my birthday when it was first published, and I sat up through the night reading it: I literally could not put it down.

Posted by: Brown Line at July 23, 2017 11:04 AM (a5bF3)

164 Northern Lurker, 119, prompted me to go look at abebooks.com for anything by Hillary Clinton. The first five books, four of which were "Living History," were going for $3.48 with free shipping. Given that amazon.com almost always shows a shipping charge of $3.99, this means we are being paid to please, please, please, we're begging you, please take this waste of space off the seller's hands.

It's tempting. I could spend between now and eternity* regaling the book thread with the wit and wisdom of the egregious Mrs. Clinton.

*Defined as "the second I get banned."

Posted by: Tonestaple at July 23, 2017 11:06 AM (QqILu)

165 Health care billionaire and GOP donor Mike Fernandez said Thursday that, had he been a doctor at the time, he would have killed President Donald Trump as a baby.

That's kind of redundant. The liberal definition of health care is killing babies.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 23, 2017 11:07 AM (/qEW2)

166 Oh wow. Get your hands on his "Nuts and Bolts" book.

And the Bosch Automotive Handbook. ..

Thanks, those both look good. I liked Smith's style of going over a technical subject (my field) as it related to something I have no clue about (racing). More entertaining that way.

Posted by: t-bird at July 23, 2017 11:07 AM (pszv/)

167 Norman doesn't actually treat the woman as a sex toy in Tarnsman. She has agency and tries to escape several times. Until she finds out how much worse all the other men are. Then she begs for slavery.

I could have gone along with it if there hadn't been so much BDSM in the rest of the book.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at July 23, 2017 11:08 AM (6FqZa)

168
My use of published reviews at any commercial site is simply this: read the negative ones to find out what is wrong with the product. Act accordingly.

Sycophants who suffer from terminal lip-lock on authors' dangly appendages typically have nothing useful to offer regarding the quality of the product being sold.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at July 23, 2017 11:08 AM (pNxlR)

169 Although, it's not nearly as bad as the Mord Sith in Terry Goodkind's book. Where the hell did that come from?

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at July 23, 2017 11:09 AM (6FqZa)

170 good morning, booklovers.

Before I go read the comments, I wanted to tell you that a few days after President Trump's election, Hillbilly Elegy's author came to the liberal arts college here. I attended his remarks.

Also, another book that explains why Trump: Boom, Bust, Exodus: The Rust Belt, The Maquilas, and a Tale of Two Cities, which I'm reading now. It's about the closing of Maytag in Galesburg, where I'm from, and the plant's removal to Mexico in 2004.

Posted by: booknlass at July 23, 2017 11:09 AM (6Xf+s)

171 Josephistan - sorry, got here late, hope yr still here.

OK, if you are a real fan... there's a two-volume book entitled, "Napoleon as a General" by Count Yorck von Wartenburg ("Colonel of the General Staff of the Prussian Army"). Edited and published by a Major Walter H. James, the seventh book of the "Wolesey Series." It is undated, no publishing house. my guess, around the turn of the century - 1897ish. In 1942, the US Army Department of Military Art and Engineering, USMA West Point published an accompanying (and highly detailed) map book. I inherited all three and have set them aside, waiting for a free decade so I can meticulously follow the Scourge.

Good luck.

Posted by: goatexchange at July 23, 2017 11:11 AM (YFnq5)

172 >>Ha. I am just waiting for everyone to get their stuff together. We are going for lunch in Deluxbury.

Lucky you.

Posted by: JackStraw at July 23, 2017 11:12 AM (/tuJf)

173 I went to five other book stores. At the fifth, I found all 520 copies - hidden in a dark corner with a tarp thrown over them.

And bookstores wonder why they're going out of business.

Posted by: Ron Stanford

Heh. Reminds me of HGG. "With a sign in front of it saying 'Beware of the leopard'".

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 23, 2017 11:12 AM (/qEW2)

174 I read Gor books in grade school iirc. Coz I would read anything. My mom had no idea.

Anyway, what I remember to this day is his description of how to break the will of a slave and make her loyal.

Basically keep them head down for a couple of days, treated coldly/cruelly by others. Then the one who was gonna be her permanent master would come release her so she could have eye contact for the first time in days with another human, and she would be scared, but the master must smile kindly. So that feeling of relief would translate into devotion.

I remember it because as a kid that just struck me as so evil.

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 23, 2017 11:12 AM (hMwEB)

175 Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 23, 2017 10:50 AM (5Yee7)

Thanks I'll put that on my list. I love this genre.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 11:13 AM (IDPbH)

176 "I liked Smith's style of going over a technical subject (my field) as it related to something I have no clue about (racing). More entertaining that way. "

It has surely been discussed here, but I had the same reaction when I read The Great Bridge by David McCullough (sp?). It is about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and takes it from concept all the way to completion.

If it sounds dry, it isn't. The design and work that went into the caissons is "like, totally insane, dude". Just putting it that way because I had NO idea of what was involved and it was a real eye opener.

Posted by: RM at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (U3LtS)

177 So K&G gives us Pluto, the bright spots on Ceres, and the clouds of Venus.

Pluto is NOT a credentialed planet, by the way. Venus has nothing to do with Pluto (*ptui!*), and these attempts to 'associate' the two are rank subversion.

Posted by: SJW Astronomers at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (kuiuS)

178 More entertaining that way. "

Indeed. FWIW, the Bosch Automotive Handbook series is the least possible entertaining prose ever written. Dry German techo translated to English...

Which of course, means that I buy each edition upon release and read it cover to cover.

Posted by: Anon a mouse... at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (MINbv)

179 Hasn't that Gor series of books been around since, approximately, forever? I remember seeing them as a high-schooler.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (XUcIQ)

180 Norman doesn't actually treat the woman as a sex toy in Tarnsman. ...
I could have gone along with it if there hadn't been so much BDSM in the rest of the book.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at July 23, 2017 11:08 AM (6FqZa)

Tarnsman of Gor is ERB with sex. The later books in the series got way more into BDSM. I stopped reading them after about the 6th or 7th book; the sexual subjugation stuff was getting way too weird for me and I was teenaged boy that was very interested in that whole sexual intercourse thing!

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (5Yee7)

181 145 Finished reading Escaping the Trap: The US Army X Corps in Northeast Korea, 1950, by Roy E. Applebaum. The story Chosin Reservoir battles by both the Marines and the Army are recounted, followed by the subsequent withdrawal of all UN forces from NE Korea in December 1950.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot
---
In a similar vein, not long ago finished The Last Stad of Fox Company by Drury and Clavin. Covers a slice of the broader retirement mentioned above but from the perspective of Fox Co./7th Marines. Very highly recommended.

My Dad joined the 7th Marines as a Navy Corpsman in '51 and was with them until wounded twice during the Vegas/Carson/Reno Outpost fighting in '53.

Posted by: Tonypete at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (tr2D7)

182 163 My wife (the lovely and gracious Annalucia) and I read books aloud to each other: I read while she cooks dinner, and she reads while I do the dishes afterwards.

--

that is so incredibly sweet

*melts into puddle of goo*

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (hMwEB)

183 Posted by: JackStraw at July 23, 2017 11:12 AM (/tuJf)

Final today in Newport at the only grass court tournament in the USA.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (IDPbH)

184 A little late this morning because I stayed up playing Shenzhen I/O...

Proof copy of my first book arrived and is being checked by the wife (I'm away from home). Next to last 'alpha reader' feedback was very positive. Gamed out pricing, and have a kick-ass cover that everyone seems to love, and people are signing up a mailing list. Looking at going live in September.

It's gonna happen.

Posted by: Apostate at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (n1dE4)

185 Lucky you.
Posted by: JackStraw at July 23, 2017 11:12 AM (/tuJf)
-------

I know, right?

Beautiful here today.

Posted by: bluebell at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (u4NIS)

186 Lucifer's Hammer

It's been a few years. I might give it another shot .
Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 10:37 AM (IDPbH)

===

Dad loved it and insisted I read it when it came out. Its a soap opera and it sucked. No wonder they made soapy movies about the idea.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 23, 2017 11:15 AM (JvZF+)

187 Read Crichton's Rising Sun, where detectives investigate the murder of a young woman at an L.A. party for a Japanese corporation. The theme is Japan controlling the world economy, which used to be a popular topic. Liked the story and characters, the usual infodumps pop up now and then, good book.

Posted by: waelse1 at July 23, 2017 11:15 AM (+7KtG)

188 We are going for lunch in Deluxbury. "

So I traveled to NoVA a few days back, and who's not there?

Posted by: Anon a mouse... at July 23, 2017 11:15 AM (MINbv)

189 Congrats Apostate!

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 23, 2017 11:15 AM (hMwEB)

190 182 163 My wife (the lovely and gracious Annalucia) and I read books aloud to each other: I read while she cooks dinner, and she reads while I do the dishes afterwards.

--

that is so incredibly sweet

*melts into puddle of goo*
Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (hMwEB)

Ewwww. Somebody get a mop!

Posted by: Insomniac - Not Disappointed, Just Angry at July 23, 2017 11:15 AM (0mRoj)

191 >>I know, right?

>>Beautiful here today.

It's always beautiful where you are heading.

Posted by: JackStraw at July 23, 2017 11:16 AM (/tuJf)

192 So I traveled to NoVA a few days back, and who's not there?
Posted by: Anon a mouse... at July 23, 2017 11:15 AM (MINbv)
------
You declined to bring Bluebell ice cream, so I skedaddled.

Posted by: bluebell at July 23, 2017 11:16 AM (u4NIS)

193 The theme is Japan controlling the world economy, which used to be a popular topic"

It's kinda fun reading the "pop lit" of different eras and reading of the concerns that filled the airwaves...

Posted by: Anon a mouse... at July 23, 2017 11:17 AM (MINbv)

194 The design and work that went into the caissons is...

Crap, I'm a sucker for physical books. That's a third recommendation to pop into my Amazon cart today...

Posted by: t-bird at July 23, 2017 11:17 AM (zEjuG)

195 One aspect of "Meditations" reinforces an attitude I reached a few years ago: don't bother with books about current politics or, especially, political figures. These books typically give new depth to the term ephemeral. That decision has saved me a lot of time and money.

I was reminded about this after the latest Jeb! upchuck criticizing Republicans for not going after Trump and the Russia BS. This disdain also applies to the 'smart' people and their 'smart' million dollar donations that were wasted on a dunce. There are so many matters I can pursue that will make me better informed, hopefully a better person. These clowns ain't it.

Posted by: JTB at July 23, 2017 11:18 AM (V+03K)

196 By the way, the *second* book of Lawdog stories is available for preorder on Amazon. These are the Africa stories, of which my very favorite is Bob the Not-a-Russian and Something Angry In A Sack

Absolutely hilarious. You want to read it.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at July 23, 2017 11:18 AM (hnzFp)

197 You declined to bring Bluebell ice cream"

WRONG!!!!

In fact, I know where the better part of a gallon is hiding out in Fairfax City....

But I ain't tell'n.

Posted by: Anon a mouse... at July 23, 2017 11:18 AM (MINbv)

198 Amazon has had a lot of fake reviews, but some of them were hilarious reviews on odd products done in the name of humor

"How to Avoid Huge Ships" had some very funny ones

http://tinyurl.com/ybyznlab

Read the reviews on any album by David Hasselhoff and do not have liquids in your mouth when reading them

Posted by: kbdabear at July 23, 2017 11:19 AM (3i2nH)

199 Bake me a cake for my nazi skinhead wedding.

Be the party planner for it, too, and supply all the swastika flags we'll use lining the center walkway.

Posted by: Les Kinetic at July 23, 2017 11:22 AM (U6f54)

200 Hasn't that Gor series of books been around since, approximately, forever? I remember seeing them as a high-schooler.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (XUcIQ)

I have a fairly rare hardcover version of Tarnsman of Gor published in 1969 and it indicated a 1966 copyright date.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 23, 2017 11:22 AM (5Yee7)

201 I think generally Amazon is pretty honest and carries all the books....I see Milo's book is on the NYT's best seller list. I guess Barns and Nobel doesn't carry the book though....

Posted by: Colin at July 23, 2017 10:40 AM (B3bgT)

It is self-published after Simon and Schuster bailed on it, so there may not be a bookstore distribution channel (yet).

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at July 23, 2017 11:23 AM (17QyB)

202 But I ain't tell'n.
Posted by: Anon a mouse... at July 23, 2017 11:18 AM (MINbv)
-------

Boo.

Posted by: bluebell at July 23, 2017 11:23 AM (u4NIS)

203 "@189: Congrats Apostate!"

Thank you. It's being published under a pen name (because reasons). If anyone is interested in the current placeholding page, you can find it here:

https://www.createspace.com/7328018.

Feedback welcome. The description and stuff is still protean.

Posted by: Apostate at July 23, 2017 11:25 AM (n1dE4)

204
Hasn't that Gor series of books been around since, approximately, forever? I remember seeing them as a high-schooler.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM

MST3K did a number on Outlaw of Gor.

Same Gor?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 23, 2017 11:25 AM (IqV8l)

205 That's a very ornate library, but its very disappointing for a place like King's College. It looks less academic and literary than opulent.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at July 23, 2017 11:25 AM (39g3+)

206 It's tempting. I could spend between now and eternity* regaling the book thread with the wit and wisdom of the egregious Mrs. Clinton.

*Defined as "the second I get banned."

Posted by: Tonestaple

I wish NASA had accepted her.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 23, 2017 11:26 AM (/qEW2)

207 I enjoyed Lucifer's Hammer by Niven/Pournelle a lot and have read it several times. The first half is fascinating, and the second half though dated is still good to me. Haven't read a better big-rock-hits-the-Earth book.

Posted by: waelse1 at July 23, 2017 11:27 AM (+7KtG)

208 bluebell go to Farfars for ice cream.

Trust me on this one.

Posted by: JackStraw at July 23, 2017 11:27 AM (/tuJf)

209 MST3K did a number on Outlaw of Gor.

Same Gor?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 23, 2017 11:25 AM (IqV8l)

Never seen it so can't say for certain, but probably. Outlaw of Gor is a book title in the series.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 23, 2017 11:27 AM (5Yee7)

210 Reading three books at once right now.

Two are John Sanford hunt-the-killer novels, one with the usual Lucas Davenport character and the other with the better one (for me), him being Virgil Flowers.

The third one and I am halfway through, is called Tears of Dark Waters. Pretty well-written story of the Somali pirate capture of a sailboat, and the aftermath.

Posted by: Les Kinetic at July 23, 2017 11:30 AM (U6f54)

211 Currently reading Matthew Kressel, King of Shards. This is the first attempt I have found by an English-speaking Jew in the field of heroic fantasy. It was also hard to find, for a 2015 print; I had to buy a used copy. (No Kindle?!)

(I'm not counting critiques and parodies of Christian heroic fantasy by alienated products of mixed Jewish-Christian households, lookin' at Gaiman and Grossman especially. Although Kressler himself looks whiter than I am - by a lot. The man should be wearing a kilt.)

Kressel's theme is the Lamed(h)-Vav, the 36 people who hold up the universe. The protagonist Daniel is one such. He's about to get married and then a demon kidnaps him, and drags him to Gehinnom. That's when the fantasy gets started.

In Kressel's mythology the universe is scattered with broken shards of universe, which G-d created before starting with this one. Gehinnom, here, isn't the valley of Hinnom (Daniel lampshades this, that he's aware of the scholarship); it's a world.

Gehinnom is a magical land stuck in the Bronze Age, so there are ancient cities in the desert stacked one on top of the other. Kressel, not the most subtle of writers, has Daniel explain THAT IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE A JEWISH STORY OF ANCIENT CANAAN. Except with cacti, because Kressel can't envision a desert without cacti.

So here's the bad news: Kressel is not as smart as he thinks he is, and his editors are total idiots. He talks of "ashlar" blocks as if they are a material, probably because he saw the word in a book and thought it looked cool and Semitic. Ashlar is, rather, an ancient construction technique: big "cyclopean" blocks are arranged offset, layer by layer, so that vertical cracks don't develop. Kressel also renders the poem "Ozymandias" in a scene, which was obvious and superfluous. We already know the irony of broken statues of dead forgotten kings.

Neil Gaiman, for all that he's a SJW douche, wouldn't have made these rookie mistakes. On the other hand Gaiman would have made a lot of snarks against Judgey Hypocritical Christianity which Kressel does not.

I'm going to grade King of Shards as a "good effort". Someone had to write a Jewish fantasy just to prove it could be done, and Kressel did it. Maybe someday someone will actually do it competently.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at July 23, 2017 11:30 AM (6FqZa)

212 184 A little late this morning because I stayed up playing Shenzhen I/O...
Proof copy of my first book arrived and is being checked by the wife (I'm away from home). Next to last 'alpha reader' feedback was very positive. Gamed out pricing, and have a kick-ass cover that everyone seems to love, and people are signing up a mailing list. Looking at going live in September.
It's gonna happen.

Posted by: Apostate at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM (n1dE4)

Excellent. E-mail me with the particulars when it comes out and I will provide some book thread pimpage.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 23, 2017 11:32 AM (OiLIO)

213 The climate needs a good spanking.

Posted by: Al Gor at July 23, 2017 11:32 AM (/qEW2)

214 go to Farfars for ice cream.

Posted by: JackStraw at July 23, 2017 11:27 AM (/tuJf)

Better than J.P. Licks?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 23, 2017 11:33 AM (wYseH)

215 163 ... Brown Line, Thanks for mentioning "Heads and Tales" by Malvina Hoffman. I just ordered a copy. She sounds interesting and Rodin is a favorite. If she was good enough to be his assistant, she must have been extraordinary.

Posted by: JTB at July 23, 2017 11:35 AM (V+03K)

216 Hasn't that Gor series of books been around since, approximately, forever? I remember seeing them as a high-schooler.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 23, 2017 11:14 AM

I thought they were written mostly in the 1960s and 70s.

I've read the first two. My standing-on-one-foot review: better than I expected.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 23, 2017 11:36 AM (OiLIO)

217 FWIW, the Bosch Automotive Handbook series is the least possible entertaining prose ever written.

Good heads-up, thanks. Maybe I'll look for a German version instead.

Posted by: t-bird at July 23, 2017 11:36 AM (zEjuG)

218 >>Better than J.P. Licks?

It's very good, been there forever.

Posted by: JackStraw at July 23, 2017 11:37 AM (/tuJf)

219 Coldstone Creamery has good ice cream. But nothing beats home made.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at July 23, 2017 11:37 AM (39g3+)

220 "E-mail me with the particulars when it comes out and I will provide some book thread pimpage."

Willco, thank you.

Posted by: Apostate at July 23, 2017 11:37 AM (n1dE4)

221 Also mentioned are a couple of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations where complying with one particular regulation will necessarily cause you to violate another.

That's like laws in general in Belgium. It's literally impossible to not break the law there.

Posted by: Jim S. at July 23, 2017 11:39 AM (ynUnH)

222 Last Bosch novel I read was 1/2 inch Cordless Hammer Drill.

Posted by: Skip at July 23, 2017 11:40 AM (9g/6M)

223 i would wager -harvard book store in harvard square cambridge. they have never carried any conservative best sellers and constantly have anti-Trump book displays. constant theme windows against GWB. silence for the Obama years then the pearl clutching began again. second guess- booksmith in brookline.

Posted by: mrmittens at July 23, 2017 11:41 AM (nZjhE)

224 66 I made a disturbing discovery this week. I was half way through the latest Numa Files novel by Clive Cussler, maybe 200 pages, and found I was bored. I mean bored to the point that I closed the book and returned it to the library. I've been a huge Cussler fan since his earliest books and still enjoy the Isaac Bell series. But the other series have become so predictable in approach, action, and characters that they don't keep my interest. Not sure if this denotes a change in me or the books or both.
Posted by: JTB at July 23, 2017 09:52 AM (V+03K)

I was told by the research librarian at my library that most of the big-name fiction writers no longer write their own books. A lot of the writing is hired out to ghost writers and can be very sub standard.

Posted by: Ladylibertarian at July 23, 2017 09:59 AM (TdMsT)

Precisely. I was a big Clive Cussler fan dating back to the late 1970s, and remained so for many years. At least until he retired the Dirk Pitt character, because after that he stopped writing. One thing I learned long ago was when you start seeing a big name author's work appear as "Clive Cussler and Joe Blow", the reality is it was the second name that wrote the book, not the "big name author". The most Cussler (as an example) might have done is provide a story outline for the book, but that's it.

Seen the same thing with other well known writers. Sir Arthur C. Clarke comes to mind. Or Tom Clancy. Last few years of his life, Clarke was not actually writing anything, the "second author" named on his books was doing the work. And oh yes, it showed. Books like this are indeed generally substandard compared to the author's earlier works that he wrote himself.

But it is generally a case of the guy's getting old, and does not have the energy or brain power to write as he once did. But they still (usually) have a fan base out there who want new stuff, and you can bet the writer still needs some income to live on. So this is what happens.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - No-Longer-Deplorable Source of all SMODs at July 23, 2017 11:42 AM (T1H5V)

225 Currently reading "The Third Terrorist" by Jayna Davis.

The FBI being politically active in pleasing their Democrat masters/mistresses narratives is not a new thing.

Posted by: geoffb5 at July 23, 2017 11:43 AM (d3wbb)

226 Better than J.P. Licks?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo

Lot of mention of the Bosch novels.

*cough* *art thread* *cough*

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 23, 2017 11:44 AM (/qEW2)

227 But it is generally a case of the guy's getting old

I think it's money. Publishers know that people might take a chance on "Thrice Is A Fapping by William Shakespeare and t-bird".

Posted by: t-bird at July 23, 2017 11:48 AM (OBJWS)

228 bluebell go to Farfars for ice cream.

Trust me on this one.
Posted by: JackStraw at July 23, 2017 11:27 AM (/tuJf)
-----

Making a note! At Windsor House. Lovely.

Posted by: bluebell at July 23, 2017 11:50 AM (u4NIS)

229 Necessarily, this involves a lot of Telling and not Showing, which is simultaneously boring and a lot of fun as the funhouse version Condon presents of America seems all too real after a while. Esp. the massive corruption existing in Washington DC and among "Our Betters".

I returned Brad Thor's Full Black midway into it, because the expository interview with the George Soros guy was too long, and too depressingly familiar. I think if you're writing fiction, a few deft hints are the best. We'll know what you're talking about. Tom Clancy did an effective and funny caricature of Lynne Stewart in one of his novels.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 23, 2017 11:50 AM (/qEW2)

230 I think it's money. Publishers know that people might take a chance on "Thrice Is A Fapping by William Shakespeare and t-bird".

Posted by: t-bird at July 23, 2017 11:48 AM (OBJWS)

I'd buy that for a dollar!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 23, 2017 11:50 AM (OiLIO)

231 163 ...........Malvina Hoffman, the sculptor who created the Hall of Man busts that are now on display in Chicago's Field Museum.

could not put it down.

Posted by: Brown Line at July 23, 2017 11:04 AM (a5bF3)
------------------------

I thought they had taken those down as they were "racist" somehow.

My son had an all expense paid trip to the Fields offered to him by the museum, including a private tour of a collection. Alas, he didn't take them up on it. He had sent them a video and some photo's of a site in Iraq.

Posted by: Javems at July 23, 2017 11:51 AM (yOqwj)

232 >>Making a note! At Windsor House. Lovely.

You are less than a mile from my old house. Enjoy.

Posted by: JackStraw at July 23, 2017 11:51 AM (/tuJf)

233 Has anyone written any non-fiction? There are no "so you want to" style preparatory books for one of my professions (in STEM). I'd have loved one when I was starting out (shit's hard), so I suspect there would be a market for it. Perversely, it would be both easier to write and apparently command a higher price than fiction.

Posted by: Apostate at July 23, 2017 11:52 AM (n1dE4)

234 I've read two books by Ben Kane involving Rome. It focuses on a pair of twins, one a girl and one a boy, and they track through Caesar's life. The boy becomes a gladiator, escapes, and becomes a legionnaire despite it being death to be discovered as a slave. He's with Croesus when the army is destroyed against the Parthians and what's left of the legion has a choice: serve the Parthians or die.

The books are interesting, but the format isn't particularly welcome. He does a good job with historical details and combat scenes, but the device of alternating between the two characters is disjointed. Kane also has a tendency to every single chapter put his characters into absurd danger and threat then get them out in some way, over and over and over again. His writing of the girl is a bit annoying as well, she alternates between being indifferent about sleeping with someone to considering it horrific evil, or even rape. She spends the entire two books a victim 90% of the time, a prostitute, then helplessly surrounded by inexplicably hostile and aggressive men.

They are okay books but between these features and the huge page count I can't recommend them.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at July 23, 2017 11:53 AM (39g3+)

235 My son had an all expense paid trip to the Fields
offered to him by the museum, including a private tour of a collection.
Alas, he didn't take them up on it. He had sent them a video and some
photo's of a site in Iraq. Posted by: Javems at July 23, 2017 11:51 AM (yOqwj)
=====

Oriental Institute might be a good trip.

Posted by: mustbequantum at July 23, 2017 11:54 AM (MIKMs)

236 Currently reading "The Third Terrorist" by Jayna Davis.

The FBI being politically active in pleasing their Democrat masters/mistresses narratives is not a new thing.
--

That's a great book, I read it years ago.

Makes you wonder if that was another reason for the Iraq war.

Posted by: shibumi at July 23, 2017 11:56 AM (aT+Bx)

237 Joy Reid Nood
( shutters)

Posted by: Skip at July 23, 2017 11:56 AM (9g/6M)

238 On the store EMPLOYEE who will try to steer patrons to another selection, or discuss politics with customers...

Does the OWNER know he is doing this???? I'd fire his damn ass so quick his feet wouldn't hit the floor on his way out the door, with my size 10 boot print on his ass....

Posted by: Don Q. at July 23, 2017 11:57 AM (NgKpN)

239 Re writing non-fiction in the context of STEM, you are going to attract serious nerds, whose population isn't nearly as large as the population of Eat, Pray, Love readers.

If you can get an academic publisher, it'll command a high price, but the publisher will be walking away with it. Academics publish to bolster their CV, not to get paid (directly).

I wouldn't know about style guides, beyond general guides to writing.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at July 23, 2017 11:58 AM (6FqZa)

240 I think it's money. Publishers know that people might take a chance on "Thrice Is A Fapping by William Shakespeare and t-bird".

Posted by: t-bird

I've tried a lot more than thrice. Doesn't seem to be working, lately.

Posted by: Caitlyn Jenner at July 23, 2017 12:00 PM (/qEW2)

241 Amazing what you can do with gray paint...Lots of gray paint.
Posted by: Colin at July 23, 2017 09:12 AM

No sh*t! We've been proselytizing this for what, like, a hundred years!!?!

Posted by: Chief Bosun Mates, USN at July 23, 2017 12:02 PM (DMUuz)

242 233 Has anyone written any non-fiction? There are no "so you want to" style preparatory books for one of my professions (in STEM). I'd have loved one when I was starting out (shit's hard), so I suspect there would be a market for it. Perversely, it would be both easier to write and apparently command a higher price than fiction.
Posted by: Apostate at July 23, 2017 11:52 AM (n1dE4)

Course material both in the Military, and for Network Engineering courses.

Real key is to stay focused on the subject matter.. I used Objective Based Learning criteria where you decide the endpoint of the training, or subject, and then figure out the steps needed to get to that endpoint...

Because its easy to get off on tangents, to suddenly be talking about something which is not part of the original subject...

Posted by: Don Q. at July 23, 2017 12:02 PM (NgKpN)

243 176 RM, I enjoyed The Great Bridge immensely. The cops' and builders' lives and their times added drama. Weren't there anarchists involved?

Posted by: booknlass at July 23, 2017 12:03 PM (6Xf+s)

244 I felt bad about all the suffrage going on back then.
Posted by: Jack Sock at July 23, 2017 10:12 AM (IDPbH)

"Suffer the children?" He asked hopefully.

Posted by: jwpaine at July 23, 2017 12:04 PM (PLsKH)

245 241 Amazing what you can do with gray paint...Lots of gray paint.
Posted by: Colin at July 23, 2017 09:12 AM

No sh*t! We've been proselytizing this for what, like, a hundred years!!?!

Posted by: Chief Bosun Mates, USN at July 23, 2017 12:02 PM (DMUuz)

Once for dust, twice for rust.

Work it may, shine it must.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at July 23, 2017 12:05 PM (17QyB)

246 I think if you're writing fiction, a few deft hints are the best.

I agree, its easy to preach or have long Randian passages of arguments proving your point when nobody can talk back but its not very interesting to read. And its easy to put real characters in a book then fill their mouths with the worst of what they have or might say, and show them as awful but a little goes a long ways.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at July 23, 2017 12:06 PM (39g3+)

247 LOL, George Martin says maybe 2018 for Winds Of Winter

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at July 23, 2017 12:06 PM (6FqZa)

248 "Re writing non-fiction in the context of STEM, you are going to attract serious nerds..."

What I'm contemplating will be aimed at high-school graduates or twenty-somethings who intend to go into a particular field of STEM (electrical engineering, in this case), and want to see what it is and/or prepare. I looked for such things before I entered the field; would have been very helpful if I'd found them. EE was not like I expected it to be.

Smaller field of readers like you say, but not so small as an expensive academic text aiming at credentialed practitioners. 150 pages or so soft-cover would surely be sufficient.

Might be worth aiming at high school and college counselors, parents as well.

Posted by: Apostate at July 23, 2017 12:06 PM (n1dE4)

249 Posted by: Apostate at July 23, 2017 12:06 PM (n1dE4)

I would buy something like that for my son.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at July 23, 2017 12:08 PM (17QyB)

250 LOL, George Martin says maybe 2018 for Winds Of Winter

I think it was on this blog that I first saw the theory that Martin is a troll, that he loves to tease and make miserable fans of fantasy. That's why his books are full of misery and death and failure. The theory states that he'll never, ever put out that last book because of this.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at July 23, 2017 12:11 PM (39g3+)

251 LOL, George Martin says maybe 2018 for Winds Of Winter

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at July 23, 2017 12:06 PM (6FqZa)

The Beatles' producer. I thought he died last year?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at July 23, 2017 12:14 PM (auHtY)

252 I think it was on this blog that I first saw the theory that Martin is a troll, that he loves to tease and make miserable fans of fantasy. That's why his books are full of misery and death and failure. The theory states that he'll never, ever put out that last book because of this.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

He doesn't have an ending. Or rather he can't get to his intended one. He wrote himself into a corner and was waiting for the TV show to bail his sorry ass out.

That's my working theory, anyhoo.

Posted by: Brother Cavil, not a damn failure at July 23, 2017 12:19 PM (66CWr)

253 George Martin says maybe 2018 for Winds Of Winter
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at July 23, 2017 12:06 PM (6FqZa)

I am glad HBO will Finish the damn thing.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at July 23, 2017 12:20 PM (dKiJG)

254 90 I started thumbing through a couple of books I have on restoring and maintaining hand tools for wood working. This started when I found a pair of vise grip pliers that have gotten pretty rusty. I haven't used them in a while but I do have some good quality wood working hand tools, some are usable antiques, and I should make sure they are in shape. Like cleaning guns, there is satisfaction in maintaining good tools. And using them for some small projects would be fun and give me a bit of needed exercise.
Posted by: JTB

I've done a bit of that. Flea market finds (greasy, grimy, rusty). I don't collect. I restore them to put them to work. I avoid the pieces destined for a beauty shot in Country Living (overuse of the wire wheel and a drill).

For rust removal on tools, I like Evapo-Rust (or one of the non-acid rust removing clones). It will dissolve rust, but leave the underlying steel or cast iron alone.

1. Clean and degrease
2. Chip off any scale.. Brush loose rust by hand. I use a steelo toothbush type.
3. Soak in Evapo-Rust. I check it hourly
4. Wash with soap and water and a scrub brush. Flush with denatured alcohol
5. Paint, oil, wax as appropriate

That stuff will get into the joints of pliers, pipe wrenches, etc and remover the rust in there. I but it by the gallon. I'll use the acid based stuff if I am in a hurry. Reuse either product until it's no longer effective.

The piece

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at July 23, 2017 12:20 PM (di1hb)

255 Just started one of the latest John Sandford's, Golden Prey, mainly to see if he was still so libtarded. Within the first 50 pages there are dirty cops who have their "Obamacams" turned off and our protagonist has evidently saved the life of the female presidential candidate in the last episode.

If this story wasn't so rip-roaring, I'd have quit as soon as I got to the Obamacam mention.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 23, 2017 12:20 PM (joFoi)

256 Posted by: Hrothgar at July 23, 2017 09:04 AM (gwPgz)

I don't even own a dog but was fascinated to see a guy on the "Home" show demo teaching basic commands to the shelter dogs he trains for TV/movies.

Lucky Dog Lessons: train your dog in seven days, by Brandon McMillan, came out in 2016 and is phenomenal. His parents were animal trainers in the circus so he knows of whence he speaks.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 23, 2017 12:24 PM (joFoi)

257 I think it was on this blog that I first saw the
theory that Martin is a troll, that he loves to tease and make miserable
fans of fantasy. That's why his books are full of misery and death and
failure. The theory states that he'll never, ever put out that last
book because of this. Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at July 23, 2017 12:11 PM (39g3+)
=====

He reminds me of Stephen Donaldson and Thomas Covenant. Bleeech. So dark it just became some kind of pron.

Posted by: mustbequantum at July 23, 2017 12:27 PM (MIKMs)

258 Evapo-Rust recommendation seconded - for the right jobs. Magic for small metal parts you can submerge, soak overnight.

About half-way through "The Burning Shore" by Edward Offley. Account of the German U-boat offensive against the US east coast at the beginning of the war (following US entry).

Sort of a popular style, vs. heavy and academic, though interesting. Main take-away so far is the jaw-dropping lack of response from the US Navy to the offensive, for which they were forewarned in some detail by the British naval intel center.

So far the author hasn't seemed to come down firmly that this was dereliction by Adm. King and others, or merely the desperate shortage of resources and the priority of North Atlantic convoy work, or some combo of both. But it is striking - even Adm. Donitz was shocked at the lack of any seeming response to his offensive (delighted, but mystified).

Posted by: rhomboid at July 23, 2017 12:27 PM (iynDC)

259 On George Martin, I liked much of his SF short stories and the novel "Armageddon Rag" but never got into anything after including Thrones which I tried to watch but got turned off during the 1st season and dropped watching it.

Posted by: geoffb5 at July 23, 2017 12:33 PM (d3wbb)

260 He reminds me of Stephen Donaldson and Thomas Covenant. Bleeech.

Yeah I couldn't get into those books. My older brothers loved them but they were too lush in description, the hero so pathetic he was obnoxious (and horrible), and the stories were just evil

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at July 23, 2017 12:34 PM (39g3+)

261 "even Adm. Donitz was shocked at the lack of any seeming response to his offensive (delighted, but mystified)."

It was my understanding that it was not very effective, and a misuse of German resources. Every submarine that wasn't sinking convoys headed for British forces was a submarine wasted.

Posted by: Apostate at July 23, 2017 12:34 PM (n1dE4)

262 124 110 ... "JTB, one trick I use for removing rust is rubbing at it with aluminum foil with a few drops of water.
The rust usually transfers to the foil."

Hi votermom, That's a new one for me. I'll have to try it. Even if it just starts the process, it would be useful. Thanks

Sorry for continuing the off-topic topic but since we probably won't get a tool restoration thread any time soon...

If you have more than light surface rust, here's a method that brings the chemical warfare:

http://tinyurl.com/2apw8kn

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at July 23, 2017 12:41 PM (7oUUT)

263 Remember, books backward is skoob.

Hi. Just popping in to annoy ye literati hoidi toidi, this thread getting kind-of long in the tooth and all.

Doncha jus' hate when you're re-reading something that's been online for years, and discover a misspelling? Liaison! I blame the French.

I don't know who to blame for "officiaries." Tossed a coin between "officials" and "functionaries" for the correction, but the coin landed on-edge.

And possibly a mixed tense (was should be is)? All this on just one page.

I'm-a gon' fire my editor. And my ghost writer.

…

An angry, obviously hostile building inspector came by, but the first person he talked to was Paul. The inspector, Gary, is now our liaison with the city code department.

Health inspectors and government officiaries started coming by, each hostile, each won over.

Police detectives followed.

Some people don't think there was any connection, any significance to this parade of hostile government people, but I'm concerned (a little) about the pattern of inimical inspections and undue attention.…

Posted by: mindful webworker - click at your own risk at July 23, 2017 01:01 PM (PG1FL)

264 bookinlass, it's been several years and I don't specifically remember anarchists in The Great Bridge. There was every type of political shenanigan the whole way through the process, and I would be surprised if there weren't anarchists in the stew somewhere.

Totally amazing how everyone just hammered away to get the job done.

Posted by: RM at July 23, 2017 01:02 PM (U3LtS)

265 The bookstore owner should read Hillbilly Elegy before he condemns it. The author realizes that he had a lot of lucky breaks and people that helped him along the way. The sad thing is that his grandmother would not have been acceptable to the crowd he travels with now.

Truly, there's nothing Lefties hate more than someone that won't stay in their place. It's why they despise Dr. Ben Carson so much.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 23, 2017 01:09 PM (Lqy/e)

266 I keep recommending 'Rocket Boys' (or October Sky) because it really captured the small-d democratic ideals of public education and small towns.

Posted by: mustbequantum at July 23, 2017 01:16 PM (MIKMs)

267 Finished 'The General', C.S. Forester, this week. A good read. Provides a glimpse inside the thinking of the Brit military during WWI.

Started a Baldacci book, 'True Blue'. Formulaic, vapid, i.e., a beach book. I got this among a lot purchase of some books.

On the upside, this week I picked up a nice 1923 copy of 'The Vicar of Wakefield', which I've never read.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 23, 2017 01:17 PM (OdK9v)

268 "next month's Goodreads Horde group book is Marcus Aurelius' 'Meditations'..."

Any opinions on the various translations? Clarity, accuracy, readability, etc?

Posted by: pst314 at July 23, 2017 01:26 PM (HzHFO)

269 " Just started one of the latest John Sandford's, Golden Prey, mainly to see if he was still so libtarded. Within the first 50 pages there are dirty cops who have their "Obamacams" turned off and our protagonist has evidently saved the life of the female presidential candidate in the last episode.

If this story wasn't so rip-roaring, I'd have quit as soon as I got to the Obamacam mention."

Absolutely love the Davenport novels and have read all of them, most two or three times. I don't care for the underlying tone and presumption in the books of general liberal goodness, but Davenport is way too ruthless, pragmatic, and focused in his pursuit of psycho bad guys to serve as any type of lefty role model. Having him meet a good, squishy liberal would probably make them react like a vampire getting a cross shoved in its face.

Posted by: RM at July 23, 2017 01:29 PM (U3LtS)

270 About hillbillies and their urban migration, Dwight Yoakum has a great song called "Readin', Writtin', Route 23". His grandfather was a coal miner in Kentucky but his parents moved to the city.

https://youtu.be/FS8zCFN1h1g

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 23, 2017 01:31 PM (Lqy/e)

271 About hillbillies and their urban migration,
--------

'The Doll Maker', Harriett Arnow.

http://tinyurl.com/y8pb8tex

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 23, 2017 01:35 PM (OdK9v)

272 "I just finished an obscure book that I bought solely on the basis of Amazon recommendations and because it was cheap on Amazon. I was leery and turned out to be right. It was bad. The positive reviews almost all had a certain sameness.

Maybe they are somehow trying to police the reviews from love bombs (or hate bombs), but I am not sure how they could do that without introducing subjectivity and bias into their own attempt to ensure an honest forum.

Posted by: RM at July 23, 2017 11:00 AM (U3LtS)"

Sheer speculation on my part:
Every Amazon review has a "report abuse" button and a "was this helpful" button. Maybe Amazon is using downchecks as a trigger to further investigate reviews: Scan reviews by User ID and by IP address, looking for signs that they are formulaic and likely fake.

Posted by: pst314 at July 23, 2017 01:40 PM (HzHFO)

273 I thought The Dollmaker was great the first time I read it. I tried to re-read it several months ago and there was too much SJW for me.

Loretta Lynn's autobiography is about that urban migration as well.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 23, 2017 01:45 PM (Lqy/e)

274 Fake Reviews (like Fake News) was epidemic for years. I remember someone with the handle 'Harriet Kushner' who, if the number of reviews posted was actually reading any of them, would be reading over 50 books per day.

Posted by: mustbequantum at July 23, 2017 01:46 PM (MIKMs)

275 39 Gref

Late to the thread.

Gref, the Siege of Calais involved three of the best regiments (battalions in US parlance) the British had available in reserve (The Rifle Brigade, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, and 3 Royal Tank Regiment). These troops stopped the southern German pincer just long enough for others to escape, but very few escaped captivity.

Later Churchill did waste the 51st Highland Division and part of an Armored Division in an effort to keep the French from surrendering. Those troops were lost. Also lost were a very large number (>5,000) of service troops in a most underreported shipping disaster: the HMT Lancastria sinking off of St Nazaire.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 23, 2017 01:47 PM (hyuyC)

276 "next month's Goodreads Horde group book is Marcus Aurelius' 'Meditations'..."

Any opinions on the various translations? Clarity, accuracy, readability, etc?

Posted by: pst314 at July 23, 2017 01:26 PM (HzHFO)

I did a little research on this. The versions/translations that get mentioned most often as being the best are, in order, Hays [2003 second edition], Hicks [2002] and Hard [2011]. There is a more extensive active discussion of this in the goodreads group.

Posted by: cool breeze at July 23, 2017 01:50 PM (TKf/P)

277 Sorry this is so late, I slept late today. Anyway, Boulder Terlit Hobo... in response to your comment re: King of Shards... have you ever read Mark Helprin's Winters Tale?

Pleaseexcusemylackofpunctuation, my keyboard is dying.

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain at July 23, 2017 01:52 PM (3/HOt)

278 I've mentioned the Connie Willis duology, "Blackout" and "All Clear" previously, but reading the thread today am reminded that there is a plot element in which one of the time travelers gets involved in Dunkirk. He heads out in a barely functional fishing boat with an elderly fisherman and the fisherman's grandson. Willis writes wonderful "you are there" description.
This week am reading Eric Cline's "Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archeology" - very interesting. This is the same man who wrote "1177 B.C. The Year Civilization Collapsed" which I swear I'm going to finish someday. The archeology book is a much easier read. It helps to have had a few courses in ancient history.
Amazon reviews: I posted a review for a friends' book, gave it four stars (it deserved two) and told her that it made Amazon suspicious when little books like that got a bunch of five-star reviews. She begged all her friends to post reviews - she is a brilliant story-teller but a poor writer. Her FB posts are wonderful and hysterical and she'd be so much better off writing a book of vignettes instead of trying for the folksy novels. The whole episode made me even more leery of reviews than I was already.

Posted by: Miss Sippi at July 23, 2017 01:56 PM (5fPhA)

279 B the B @ 262 - yes, electrolysis is absolutely the bomb for rust.
A buddy does sculpture restoration, and the big tank is the first step for anything steel that comes into his shop.

And thanks, vm, for the interesting tip, I'll have to try that one.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez, they are gaslighting us 24/7 at July 23, 2017 02:08 PM (Mcvvl)

280 Thanks to all for the tool restoration suggestions. All the information has been noted for the great process.

Posted by: JTB at July 23, 2017 02:27 PM (V+03K)

281 Online archive for Galaxy Magazine:

https://archive.org/details/galaxymagazine

"Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980."

Posted by: The Literary Hat at July 23, 2017 03:04 PM (vBeA5)

282 "next month's Goodreads Horde group book is Marcus Aurelius' 'Meditations'..."

Any opinions on the various translations? Clarity, accuracy, readability, etc?

Posted by: pst314 at July 23, 2017 01:26 PM (HzHFO)

I did a little research on this. The versions/translations that get mentioned most often as being the best are, in order, Hays [2003 second edition], Hicks [2002] and Hard [2011]. There is a more extensive active discussion of this in the goodreads group.

Posted by: cool breeze at July 23, 2017 01:50 PM (TKf/P)

Thank you VERY much!

Posted by: pst314 at July 23, 2017 03:08 PM (HzHFO)

283 Russia is a nifflesburger TM

Posted by: Deacon Blues at July 23, 2017 03:09 PM (dZGNV)

284 248, Apostate, I would aim a little lower: 9th grade-ish. If you can get them absolutely fascinated with the possibilities before high school, they will be more motivated to take the hard stuff. And better still, maybe include a list of fiction related to the field, especially science fiction, that would go way past anything you could write to make the field seem exciting and filled with possibilities.

Posted by: Tonestaple at July 23, 2017 03:23 PM (QqILu)

285 Just finished re-reading Frank Herberts "Children of Dune". I hadn't read it since high school and I thought it was kind of meh at the time, I have to say that I enjoyed it much more this time.

Posted by: Darth Randall at July 23, 2017 03:34 PM (6n332)

286 Mark Helprin's Winters Tale... no, I haven't read it. But it's here in the library

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at July 23, 2017 03:36 PM (5bz7Q)

287 I bought Calx and was enjoying it....right up until the authorial voice declared there was no afterlife. So what seemed to be an interesting take on something almost like Theism or a form of Calvinism in a modern setting turns out to just be Stoicism and class-ism.

Not sure if I'll keep reading or not.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at July 23, 2017 05:17 PM (xJa6I)

288 "248, Apostate, I would aim a little lower: 9th grade-ish. If you can
get them absolutely fascinated with the possibilities before high
school, they will be more motivated to take the hard stuff."
Posted by: Tonestaple at July 23, 2017 03:23 PM (QqILu)

I would start earlier than that, probably 6th grade. You need to have algebra in 8th grade if you're going to get to calculus by 12th grade. If you don't have at least trigonometry before college, that puts you behind in physics, and it will take longer than 4 years to graduate in engineering.

Sally Ride started a STEM education foundation for girls that was aimed at 4th -6th grade. Science Olympiad here starts in 6th grade, and that is very good for exposing kids to a broad range of possible STEM careers. Mr. RFH and I have volunteered at both.

On the other hand, it was having to write four career reports in 9th grade that led me to engineering.

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 23, 2017 05:57 PM (THS4q)

289 Mark Helprin's Winters Tale... no, I haven't read it. But it's here in the library
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo
----------

Easily worth the read, for the prose alone. And, of course, A Soldier of the Great War, which is often mentioned here.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 23, 2017 06:55 PM (OdK9v)

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