Sunday Morning Book Thread: 01/14/2018

I can't do anything while I read. I tried to exercise and read, but that was awful. I kept stopping and reading, or stopping the reading when I got winded and was breathing out of my eyes.

I have seen people read and drive, but I am reasonably confident that isn't a good idea.

So what about you....are all of you pretty much like me, or can you multitask while reading?

******
This is ALH's collection of decorating books, nicely stored inside a rather nice looking cabinet that her husband restored for her.
ALH Collection.jpg

In my younger and more vulnerable years I considered collecting Hemingway first editions, but after hunting for them all over the Bay Area and finding only two, I decided that it wasn't really my thing.

Anyone in the vast Moronosphere collect books? If so, what sort, and why?

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I wrote a bit about Jack London last week, and that his politics intruding into his books. That reminded me of another California writer whose politics also crept into his writing, but not nearly as obviously.

John Steinbeck wrote some wonderful stuff, but his work is, at least for me, tarnished a bit by his socialistic tendencies. He was immersed in the pre-war communist world, although to his credit he was not completely doctrinaire.

Luckily, he could write. Some of his short works are powerful, and a few of his novels are excellent. "Grapes of Wrath," with all of its obvious political and religious imagery, is an excellent book that borders on great.

But one short story, two short novels and one non-fiction book are what stand out for me.

"The Chrysanthemums" (PDF) is a wonderful and odd short story that has an interesting perspective, and one that I would not expect from Steinbeck. The writing seems almost awkward, and if you read it you will understand why.

"The Red Pony" is in many ways a YA book. It's short and simple, but it describes the landscape of the Salinas valley so wonderfully, and the emotions of the protagonist are tortured but heartfelt.

Yes, we all read "Of Mice And Men" in grade school or high school, but it is still a taut, interesting book that crashes toward an ending that everyone knows is coming but still hurts.

"Travels With Charley." It's just fun. And it shows a bit of the man behind the writer. Whether much of it is fiction, or as Steinbeck claimed, completely true? I don't know, and I don't care. It shows a love for this country that is conspicuously absent from his modern equivalents.

******

Medicine At The End of the World

Misanthropic Humanitarian tipped me to this free pdf download, Survival and Austere Medicine: An Introduction. With medical care obviously still necessary in remote, adverse, or hostile parts of the world, the authors say

We believe that intelligent lay people with some basic medical knowledge, skills, and equipment can deliver high quality health care. While it is obviously impossible for lay people to safely and competently deal with every medical problem, and there remain many complicated diagnoses requiring equally complicated or technologically advanced treatments, for 80-90% of the health problems afflicting humanity, simple things done well are all that is required to preserve life and limb and help alleviate suffering.

This is medical care you don't need a lot of fancy equipment to perform. Glancing through the table of contents of this 600+ page tome, it looks like there's a lot of useful information here that might come in handy when you least expect it.

I am not around to monitor this thread (life intrudes), so no lesbian pron links and absolutely no spitballs!

Posted by: CBD at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Tolle lege

Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 08:56 AM (aC6Sd)

2 Need earbuds

Posted by: Bear phone at January 14, 2018 08:58 AM (2835Q)

3 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. We are in for some colder than usual temps for a while. Perfect reading and cooking weather. The only only things to do outside are a few errands and feeding the birds

Posted by: JTB at January 14, 2018 08:59 AM (V+03K)

4 Oh yeah. Top ten for a change.

Posted by: JTB at January 14, 2018 08:59 AM (V+03K)

5 In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Col Jackson down the mighty Mississip'
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we fought the British in the town of New Orleans

Reading Brian Kilmeade's Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans, its pretty good, about 1/3 of the way and would recommend it for young readers.

Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 09:00 AM (aC6Sd)

6 My book collection is 99% National Socialism/Holocaust.

That, and Star Trek.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 14, 2018 09:01 AM (EZebt)

7 Re reading Brave New World. Not as good as I remember.

Posted by: Blutarki-esque 0.0 at January 14, 2018 09:02 AM (+Tibp)

8 Ie. listening to a book, like What Happened? That'll get the adrenaline going.

Posted by: Bear phone at January 14, 2018 09:02 AM (2835Q)

9 Just finished "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien.

Short book about a lib's experience in Vietnam. Got it at the used book store and when I was done with it threw it in the dumpster to protect future customers from wasting their time and money.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at January 14, 2018 09:03 AM (EoRCO)

10 Ah, most of the world flirted with socialism between the wars, the Great Depression was a world wide event giving lots of people the idea capitalism was broken.

Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 09:03 AM (aC6Sd)

11 Good Sunday morning! Nope, can't read while body is in motion. Except for rocking in a chair, I can do that.

I also have trouble reading with radio or tv on. I like quiet so I can focus.

Posted by: April at January 14, 2018 09:04 AM (e8PP1)

12 Prefer not to read and do anything else. I have been able to be on a treadmill walking and to read at the same time, but didn't enjoy it.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 14, 2018 09:04 AM (8+Ozj)

13 I started "Killer Angels" this week. Civil War historical fiction. Enjoying it so far.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Bama's Boot Stomping on the Face of College Football Forever at January 14, 2018 09:04 AM (ks6bw)

14 ahhh, the book...

well, i'd say minnesota -3

and for the upset, jacksonville +7!

oh, you mean that kind of book.

sorry.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at January 14, 2018 09:05 AM (Pg+x7)

15 Reading on the crapper. A kings' ransom.

Posted by: Corona at January 14, 2018 09:05 AM (88+VL)

16 "Travels With Charlie." It's just fun. And it shows a bit of the man behind the writer. Whether much of it is fiction, or as Steinbeck claimed, completely true? I don't know, and I don't care. It shows a love for this country that is conspicuously absent from his modern equivalents."

THIS!
CBD nailed it. I've mentioned in earlier threads but Gary Sinise has an audio book of "Travels" that is wrth every penny. His reading adds texture that I missed even after decades of re-reading it.

Totally off the wall thought: Sinise would be wonderful narrating the Matt Helm books.

Posted by: JTB at January 14, 2018 09:05 AM (V+03K)

17 I can read and take a dump at the same time. Is that multi tasking?

Posted by: BignJames at January 14, 2018 09:05 AM (0+nbW)

18 Not just any historical fiction, btw. I think it won a pullutzer back in the 70s.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Bama's Boot Stomping on the Face of College Football Forever at January 14, 2018 09:06 AM (ks6bw)

19 I read the first 100 books of The Executioner series behind the wheel of a Plymouth Reliant K-Car on a 90 minute commute. One 5mph bumper hit in stop and go traffic, but otherwise so road havoc or moving violations. Best $25 at a used bookstore ever.

Posted by: Downcast at January 14, 2018 09:06 AM (GQdGp)

20 Read "Jesus Today" which is a devotional by Sarah Young. I quite liked it. I think it would be helpful to people going through crises who are also Christian:

https://tinyurl.com/ybwbsdw8

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 14, 2018 09:06 AM (8+Ozj)

21 I also have trouble reading with radio or tv on. I like quiet so I can focus.

Posted by: April at January 14, 2018 09:04 AM (e8PP1)

Try reading with hearing protectors on!

Posted by: Perry Helion at January 14, 2018 09:06 AM (gwPgz)

22 A week ago, an author of a 2010 book about allied bombing during WWII noticed that his book was suddenly showing up in Amazon's best seller categories.

The reason?

Confused readers were mistakenly ordering his "Fire and Fury: The Allied Bombing of Germany, 1942-1945" when they meant to order the Michael Wolff book of a similar title.

Link to NY Post story:

https://tinyurl.com/yb4d7xx4

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at January 14, 2018 09:07 AM (NqQAS)

23 Good morning Morons and 'Ettes of the printed word. As I've been reading an Oxford edition of The Histories of Herodotus I took out from the library a Landmark version because of the embedded maps and illustrations to supplement the Oxford's slightly preferable, to me, translation. As I've toyed with purchasing the Landmark edition (they aren't cheap) I've noticed other works by them on classical history. Are any of you familiar with them and are any highly recommended?

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 09:07 AM (y7DUB)

24 I can read and take a dump at the same time. Is that multi tasking?
Posted by: BignJames at January 14, 2018 09:05 AM (0+nbW)

Ummmmmmm....Yes.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at January 14, 2018 09:08 AM (EoRCO)

25
I am not around to monitor this thread (life intrudes), so no lesbian pron links and absolutely no spitballs!
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It's a trap!

Posted by: Weasel at January 14, 2018 09:08 AM (Sfs6o)

26
My book collection is 99% National Socialism/Holocaust.

That, and Star Trek.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 14, 2018 09:01 AM (EZebt)

Same here (mostly). I just finished James Farner's books on Kindle about 2 brothers on the opposite sides of the fence during the Hitler years. The book follows the brothers and one being pro Nazi and the other being in the resistance in Poland...Lots of twists and turns in the books (7).

Posted by: Colin at January 14, 2018 09:08 AM (kgR70)

27 Confused readers were mistakenly ordering his "Fire and Fury: The Allied Bombing of Germany, 1942-1945" when they meant to order the Michael Wolff book of a similar title

-

They were ordering the book to laugh at that idiot Trump.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Bama's Boot Stomping on the Face of College Football Forever at January 14, 2018 09:09 AM (ks6bw)

28 I can't multitask and read. Reading is too important for distractions.

The closest I come is to have instrumental music playing in the background. If it is vocals, I start singing/humming instead of reading.

Posted by: JTB at January 14, 2018 09:09 AM (V+03K)

29 Woo hoo! Daddy left us alone without a babysitter!

*shoots spitball at Captain Hate*

Posted by: bluebell at January 14, 2018 09:10 AM (kNasr)

30 Am really thinking of getting Lenin - The Man, the Dictator and the Master of Terror by Victor Sebestyen. He was on Prager's show last week.

Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 09:11 AM (aC6Sd)

31 Try reading with hearing protectors on!
Posted by: Perry Helion at January 14, 2018 09:06 AM (gwPgz)

I do keep earplugs handy, because my beloved is on of those tv-on-all-the-time guys.

Posted by: April at January 14, 2018 09:12 AM (e8PP1)

32 Have to read when on the recumbent exercise bike. Otherwise it's way too boring. Also, need total quiet. always have always will. Do not know how hubby reads with the tv on.

Posted by: never enough caffeine at January 14, 2018 09:13 AM (N3JsI)

33 I do keep earplugs handy, because my beloved is on of those tv-on-all-the-time guys.

Posted by: April at January 14, 2018 09:12 AM (e8PP1)

Huh? What?

Posted by: BignJames at January 14, 2018 09:13 AM (0+nbW)

34
Posted by: bluebell at January 14, 2018 09:10 AM (kNasr)
--------
Howdy!

Posted by: Weasel at January 14, 2018 09:13 AM (Sfs6o)

35 Love that refinished cabinet ALH uses. I have a three-tier, glass front bookcase I use for my best and/or favorite books. Inherited from my grandfather and it was made in the late Victorian period. Can't believe the glass has survived so long. I regard it as a treasue that holds treasures.

Posted by: JTB at January 14, 2018 09:13 AM (V+03K)

36 So what about you....are all of you pretty much like me, or can you multitask while reading?

Listening to music I can handle. Being online? NFW.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 09:13 AM (y7DUB)

37 ( dips bluebell's pigtail in the ink well)

Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 09:14 AM (aC6Sd)

38 I have a small collection of cookbooks, about 30 including newest addition- the Deplorable Gourmet! This is funny considering that I'm not a very good cook.

Posted by: Hokiemom at January 14, 2018 09:14 AM (WUYxS)

39 Morning, y'all, from a chilly SE Texas!

Brrrrr.

Still waiting for someone to take my bet that this will be "one of the warmest ever"....

Posted by: Anon a mouse at January 14, 2018 09:14 AM (7LY+6)

40 Steinbeck may have changed his views a bit as he entered his twilight years. His last writing was as a war reporter in Vietnam, where his sons were fighting. He was considered to be a hawk at the time.

Posted by: josephistan at January 14, 2018 09:15 AM (ANIFC)

41 Good grief, What a bunch of bimbos-ordering the wrong book through Amazon:

I thought, Well, it's not quite my fault, mate said Hansen.

LOL

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 14, 2018 09:15 AM (8+Ozj)

42
I can drive a listen to music or talk radio or an audiobook, but I can't read and listen to TV or radio.

When I read, I want to be immersed in the story. Same with movies. I want to be totally in that alternate reality. When I get into arguments with the writer, or the characters, I don't want to be in that reality any longer, and the book or movie gets put on the shelf.

Posted by: Andrew Chin at January 14, 2018 09:15 AM (GroCc)

43 I read while riding a recumbent exercise bike. Not too fast though, just enough to burn some calories.

As for collections, yes, I'm a collector.

I own copies of just about everything Winston Churchill wrote. I need to find his "Life of Marlborough" and his novel and I think that's it. Oh yeah, "The Eastern Front."

I have most of Tolkien's works (six copies of LotR for shared reading purposes) and most of Evelyn Waugh's stuff.

Not a lot of contemporary stuff, though. And - oddly for a sci-fi writer - I don't read a lot of sci-fi.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at January 14, 2018 09:16 AM (cfSRQ)

44 I have one book which is old (printed in 1792) Still in great shape. Its a medical book (mostly) probably carried west by the pioneers for reference on medical help. I think of all the history since that book was printed in Philadelphia so long ago.

Posted by: Colin at January 14, 2018 09:17 AM (kgR70)

45 Skip

Can I have your books?

*Ducks as sporks fly at Skip.*

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 14, 2018 09:17 AM (hyuyC)

46 My old man was (and still is) a voluminous book collector, mostly of a few particular authors (where his collections are amazing), but in his early days of collecting he bought ancient illustrated religious volumes. As a young man I remember him stopping family dinners to show the trapped audience his newest old book, about which he would have a little speech prepared.

Collecting is a disease, he like to say. It does seem to be, since all the book collectors I know are unable to stop until they pretty much run out of money, and even then they start culling their collections and trading duplicates for a new volume instead of stopping.

If their houses were go go on fire and their collections burnt, would that be a tragedy or an opportunity to start all over? I can't say.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, critic de Cinema Verite at January 14, 2018 09:18 AM (ylUqT)

47 What a bunch of bimbos-ordering the wrong book through Amazon: "

Which, of course, tells all that they really aren't wanting the book, rather, it's all signaling.

As an aside - talked to the younger mouse this AM, found out that Puerto Rico's water system is, for all practical purposes, back to full capacity. Those working on the system deserve far more thanks than they'll ever get... What an amazing feat.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at January 14, 2018 09:19 AM (7LY+6)

48 Howdy Weasel! I'm assuming you've been busy at work - barely seen you here all week.

I've been reading a book I picked up at my FIL's house a couple weeks ago. It's called Christmas Memories with Recipes and it's a collection of essays, remembrances of Christmases past, from famous food writers. Each essay is followed by a recipe (or frequently more than one) that was mentioned in the recipe. The authors are people like Julia Child, Craig Claiborne, Marcella Hazan, Marion Cunningham, etc.

It's light reading, of course, but I really enjoy the stories of what makes something special to someone. I've mentioned before that that was my favorite part of putting together our Moron cookbook.

Posted by: bluebell at January 14, 2018 09:19 AM (kNasr)

49 Am really thinking of getting Lenin - The Man, the Dictator and the Master of Terror by Victor Sebestyen. He was on Prager's show last week.
Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 09:11 AM (aC6Sd)

His Revolution 1989 is outstanding in a number of ways, particularly the firing squad deaths of the Ceausescues (they seemed a lot like how Slick and Curb Dive would react if we were ever so lucky...) and how Poppy Bush pulled back the reins, like a RINO POS, after Reagan had green lighted the Eastern bloc's quest for freedom.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 09:20 AM (y7DUB)

50 I can read and eat at the same time. I seemed to have passed that skill down to my sons.

Posted by: freaked at January 14, 2018 09:21 AM (UdKB7)

51 I accumulate books rather than collect them. But I have wound up accumulating over 700 military history books, and about 200 Star Wars books

Posted by: josephistan at January 14, 2018 09:22 AM (ANIFC)

52 *throws paper airplane at the back of Skip's head*

Posted by: bluebell at January 14, 2018 09:22 AM (kNasr)

53 Just poked my head in for a second to check whether you were behaving...

Bluebell and Skip, go to the principal's office!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 14, 2018 09:23 AM (ZJshx)

54 Any ideas for listening to books while walking the dog? Amazon Audible?

I love the dog but find it boring and repetitive to watch her sniff every last blade of grass.

Posted by: Smilin' Jack at January 14, 2018 09:23 AM (zMj9Z)

55 Aw, Dad!!!!! No fair!

Posted by: bluebell at January 14, 2018 09:23 AM (kNasr)

56 I whined about this last week but only at the end of the book thread so this may count as a fresh whine for most.

I've been foisting Mark Kurlansky's "Cod: a biography of the fish that changed the world" on people for years. Upon the repeated suggestion of those people and others I am now reading "Salt".

It is tremendously disappointing. He seems to have just published his notes. Cod had an interesting conceit, here's a unifying thread which relates a lot of world history to other bits. Salt, because it is involved in literally everything, has no limiting principle. There's nothing to hold him back from mentioning everything that's ever happened.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 14, 2018 09:23 AM (fuK7c)

57 I can read and eat at the same time and have a cup of coffee and read.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 14, 2018 09:24 AM (8+Ozj)

58 Multitasking: I can read and have a mini-poodle in my lap at the same time. Does that count?

Posted by: LochLomondFarms at January 14, 2018 09:24 AM (dE417)

59 Back when my treadmill worked I would regularly walk and read at the same time. It was tricky at times and I couldn't go faster than 3.5 mph because then the book or magazine would bounce around too much, but reading kept me going longer on the treadmill. In my younger years I would sometimes walk down the street reading a book and managed to avoid any accidents.

I can also knit and read at the same time, as long as it's a very simple pattern, but I haven't done any knitting since I broke my wrist two years ago. I need to get my yarn and needles out.

And there are some books that I can read very effectively during the 2-3 minute commercial breaks while watching tv. It has to be a certain type of book and I have to turn the sound down on the tv, but somehow knowing I'm only reading a two pages at a time focuses the concentration.

Posted by: biancaneve at January 14, 2018 09:24 AM (A/iod)

60

I am not a collector of books. I don't think of books as a 'kind', as in what kind of book. I want something interesting and will read anything that interests me.

"e - The story of a number" interested me, and I have a copy of it. History can be interesting.

If I could collect books, I would get the leather bound works of Robert Heinlein - 'The Virginia Edition'; everything he ever wrote. That would be the third thing I would get if I won big in the lottery. Then I would hire a librarian and collect science and engineering textbooks.

Posted by: Andrew Chin at January 14, 2018 09:25 AM (GroCc)

61 I made a pleasant reading discovery this week: Early American Life magazine. I ignored it for years presuming it was just about house projects for the rich. But it was praised on the muzzleloading forum I frequent for the many historical articles they publish. The folks on that forum have serious interests in history, especially colonial and early American, so their opinions carry weight with me.

I will probably end up subscribing. It will make good companion reading to Muzzleloader magazine and Backwoodsman.

Posted by: JTB at January 14, 2018 09:25 AM (V+03K)

62 I read Battle Officer Wolf by A.H.Lloyd because it got mentioned on the book thread a while back and I believe the author is a fellow 'Ron. It is a retelling of the portion of the Beowulf saga involving the monster Grendal and his mother; this time in a science fiction setting on the planet Heorot. There was some clever handling of the themes in the Beowulf saga. Unfortunately, I really wanted to like it more than I did -- the first half of the book spent too much time on the back-story and was rather boring. The fighting with Grendel and his mother was more exciting and the author should have spent more time on that portion of the story. Still worth a read if you are a fan of the Beowolf saga. Rating = 3.0/5. This is a print-on-demand paperback and I got mine through Amazon.

This lead me to reread that portion of Beowulf. My copy is the 1939 Heritage Press edition of the 1925 transliteration by William Ellery Leonard that keeps the verse form of the Anglo-Saxon original. I've mentioned Heritage Press before: they usually produced pretty handsome books, each different in appearance from the rest, and this version of Beowulf is in a tan/brown linen binding using heavy rag-paper with lithograph illustrations. Most of the Heritage Press books can be obtained fairly inexpensively (I often use abebooks.com in my searches) if you are wanting some of classics for you personal library that don't have a uniform look.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at January 14, 2018 09:25 AM (5Yee7)

63 Posted by: bluebell at January 14, 2018 09:19 AM (kNasr)
--------
Hey! Yep, last week was THE WEEK. This week and next will be busy but I'm sort of over the hump. The tax reform dealio has added some additional revaluation and disclosure antics but all in all things are going well.

Speaking of books, I'm assembling a nice little reference collection of used forestry books. I mentioned this a few weeks ago but I really enjoy getting a gently used book at a bargain price.

Posted by: Weasel at January 14, 2018 09:25 AM (Sfs6o)

64 I too have everything Evelyn Waugh wrote. PG Wodehouse, Patrick O'Brian, lots of Hemingway (especially his short stories and his later novels, like Islands In The Stream, which I greatly prefer to the earlier novels), Austen, the Brontes, every Asimov novel I could find, and thrillers. I really like Connelly's Bosch novels and Silva's Allon series.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, critic de Cinema Verite at January 14, 2018 09:25 AM (ylUqT)

65 "A week ago, an author of a 2010 book about allied bombing during WWII noticed that his book was suddenly showing up in Amazon's best seller categories.

The reason?

Confused readers were mistakenly ordering his "Fire and Fury: The Allied Bombing of Germany, 1942-1945" when they meant to order the Michael Wolff book of a similar title."

One of the first public domain books that I redid in paperback was a Civil War novel titled "The Crisis" by Winston Churchill -- NOT the British Prime Minister but an American who had several best-selling historical novels around the turn of the 20th century. Finding "The Crisis", which is a pretty interesting read by the way, can be difficult because searching for it keeps leading you to "The World Crisis" by the British Churchill.

Posted by: Secret Square at January 14, 2018 09:26 AM (9WuX0)

66 I made a pleasant reading discovery this week: Early American Life magazine. I ignored it for years presuming it was just about house projects for the rich. But it was praised on the muzzleloading forum I frequent for the many historical articles they publish. The folks on that forum have serious interests in history, especially colonial and early American, so their opinions carry weight with me.

I will probably end up subscribing. It will make good companion reading to Muzzleloader magazine and Backwoodsman.

Muzzleloading Forum? I'm a member there....

Posted by: Grey Fox at January 14, 2018 09:27 AM (bZ7mE)

67 Posted by: bluebell at January 14, 2018 09:19 AM (kNasr)
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Oh! And I gave a copy of TDG to a friend at work and,her unsolicited comment is how much she is enjoying reading the little personal stories. She said she and her husband are actuality reading it like a book!

Posted by: Weasel at January 14, 2018 09:28 AM (Sfs6o)

68 veggie tales do the Grapes of Wrath -
youtube.com/watch?v=Fw1hgdp7EdY

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at January 14, 2018 09:28 AM (6FqZa)

69 Actual reading and multitasking, no. But audio books changed my life. They help me not fall asleep on long drives, great for business trips, air travel, etc. The reader can make or break it. The best for depth - two words, Jim Dale. Neil Gaiman does a decent job reading his own and as much as I loathe Wil Wheaton he did a decent job of reading Ready Player One.

Posted by: SkinnerVic at January 14, 2018 09:28 AM (nbwH3)

70 I have a recumbent bike I hit almost daily. I always have a book, usually nothing too heavy, and music blasting through noise canceling headphones. I've tried exercising without one or the other. I don't see how people do without.

Book series collection? Well, not like collecting for value, but I hunted down and bought every year of the AP "History As We Lived It" annuals, from I think 1964 through 1977. As far as I know, that's all of the series they ever published.

Read them from cover to cover. They're fascinating reads. Well worth tracking down.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 09:28 AM (Pz4pT)

71 Wow, Huck, I'd love to have everything Wodehouse ever wrote. I have a few of his books, but I've read everything our library has of his, most of them several times over. Do you really have all 96 books or whatever the number is? Good for you!

Posted by: bluebell at January 14, 2018 09:29 AM (kNasr)

72 And not surprisingly it's clear that people ordered "Fire And Fury" because they didn't vote for Trump and don't like him, and they want further rationale for that. very few 1 or 2 seat reviews. I guess Amazon removed those. i don't like Hillary Clinton and I don't see a need to read exposes of her

This made me laugh, though:

Honestly reads like the worst Kitty Kelly book of all time. This book is just one insult after another and it is starting to be a bore to me, we are even suppose to think the president can not even read or write even if he attended Wharton! It appears to be a lot of boring crap.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 14, 2018 09:30 AM (8+Ozj)

73 A friend has a sister in Vermont who owns a double house and rents out the other side. Her whole house (she's single) is full and I mean full of mostly romance novels. Every room is full of homemade shelves loaded with paperbacks. Thousands of paperbacks, and shes knows
where every book is!

I told her (she knows) that my Kinddle could contain her whole collection. She retorts that when the next big EMR hits she will have something to read.
She works for Duke Energy in the wind turbine area, so she is tech savy.

Posted by: Colin at January 14, 2018 09:30 AM (kgR70)

74 Ouch!
- - - -

62
I read Battle Officer Wolf by A.H.Lloyd because it got mentioned
on the book thread a while back and I believe the author is a fellow
'Ron. It is a retelling of the portion of the Beowulf saga involving the
monster Grendal and his mother; this time in a science fiction setting
on the planet Heorot. There was some clever handling of the themes in
the Beowulf saga. Unfortunately, I really wanted to like it more than I
did -- the first half of the book spent too much time on the back-story
and was rather boring. The fighting with Grendel and his mother was more
exciting and the author should have spent more time on that portion of
the story. Still worth a read if you are a fan of the Beowolf saga.
Rating = 3.0/5. This is a print-on-demand paperback and I got mine
through Amazon.

- - - -

In my own defense, I was following the pacing of the poem, consciously trying to include all the detail. Yes, I rejoiced when Wolf arrived, but it goes the same way in the poem.

You might like Man of Destiny stuff. The first books is the slowest because I have to set the scene, but they gain velocity after that. The Imperial Rebellion moves at a sprint.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at January 14, 2018 09:31 AM (cfSRQ)

75 I'm assembling a nice little reference collection of used forestry books.

Norman Maclean (A River Runs Through It) wrote several pieces about working for the forestry service in the 1918-ish era, which you might find enjoyable.

Also "Young Men and Fire" about smoke jumpers post WWII getting caught in a horrific blowout.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 14, 2018 09:31 AM (fuK7c)

76 Weasel, that's great! And the fact that she's still talking to you after seeing the cookbook is great, too.

Posted by: bluebell at January 14, 2018 09:31 AM (kNasr)

77 Also "Young Men and Fire" about smoke jumpers post WWII getting caught in a horrific blowout.
Posted by: Bandersnatch

I've recommended this book to a lot of people.

Posted by: Blutarki-esque 0.0 at January 14, 2018 09:32 AM (+Tibp)

78 OT - How do I cut and paste multiple rows in excel? This talk of book collecting reminded me I need to update my catalog of books in my collection.

Posted by: josephistan at January 14, 2018 09:33 AM (ANIFC)

79 And of course, people write reviews not having even read the book-as they did for "The Deplorable Gourmet" evidently. ;^) but at least they were funny. I think half the people who gave "Fire and Fury" five star reviews just read excerpts from the Woolf book if even that, because you don't actually had to have read the book to say, "It's clear that Trump has serious issues and should not have been elected President.". How does that tell me anything about the book?!!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 14, 2018 09:35 AM (8+Ozj)

80 Ah, most of the world flirted with socialism between the wars, the Great Depression was a world wide event giving lots of people the idea capitalism was broken.
Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 09:03 AM (aC6Sd)

The Great Depression was exacerbated by governments thinking, "We've got to do something!" rather than letting the market self-correct. That's why it lasted almost a decade in the U.S. under Hoover and then FDR. WWII is what ended the Great Depression in the U.S.

Of course, Captain Utopia and his Marxist stooges learned absolutely nothing and repeated all the same errors in 2008 with the same results: eight years of misery. It is truly amazing that President Trump comes in and simply says, "Hey, this stuff doesn't work," gets a tax cut for business and the economy starts to rebound. The irony is that, if President Obama had simply refrained from actively interfering with the market, he would have overseen a roaring economy within a year or so of taking office. Of course, the difference is that Obama hates America and Trump loves it, so that colors their thinking of what is the right thing to do.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at January 14, 2018 09:35 AM (5Yee7)

81 Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 14, 2018 09:31 AM (fuK7c)
-------
Thanks Bandersnatch! I will look for those.

I also picked up, but haven't started, a history of the Appomattox area during the 19th century. Looks good!

Posted by: Weasel at January 14, 2018 09:35 AM (Sfs6o)

82 slowly walks to principle's office

Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 09:35 AM (aC6Sd)

83 When we moved last summer (to Florida -- it was 39 this morning), donated hundreds of books to the local libraries. Got no kids, so who will want them?

It killed me to do this

Posted by: Smilin' Jack at January 14, 2018 09:36 AM (zMj9Z)

84 How do I cut and paste multiple rows in excel? This
talk of book collecting reminded me I need to update my catalog of books
in my collection.

Posted by: josephistan at January 14, 2018 09:33 AM (ANIFC)

As usual, there are several YouTube videos on how to do this...

Posted by: Colin at January 14, 2018 09:37 AM (kgR70)

85 If you've got the time, read "The World Crisis," "The Aftermath" and then "The Second World War" in that order.

An incredible account of what Churchill himself called the second Thirty Years War.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at January 14, 2018 09:37 AM (cfSRQ)

86 The Great Depression was exacerbated by governments thinking, "We've got to do something!"

some believe that it was caused by progressives exercising new found power...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at January 14, 2018 09:37 AM (7LY+6)

87 Yes, I multitask while reading. Things I have done while reading:

-Eat (almost every meal for the last 32 years, I have had a book or e-reader in hand)
-Vacuum/dust/pick up the house
-Cook (and not just the cookbook)
-Read to the kids (read my book while reciting their book - I have much of Dr. Seuss's oeuvre memorized at this point)
-Exercise (specifically, squats on the total gym, which don't require hands)
-Dry my hair (preferably with e-reader nowadays, but for many years, I routinely stood on one leg and used the other knee to hold the book open while both hands were occupied with the brush and dryer)

Basically, if it doesn't absolutely require both hands and both eyes, I have read a book while doing it.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 14, 2018 09:37 AM (JPRju)

88 The Red Pony and The Black Pearl were middle-school required reading that, while vividly and well written - and probably partly because of that - soured me on Steinbeck because they were relentlessly emotionally draining.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at January 14, 2018 09:38 AM (2kiKp)

89 84 How do I cut and paste multiple rows in excel? This
talk of book collecting reminded me I need to update my catalog of books
in my collection.

Posted by: josephistan at January 14, 2018 09:33 AM (ANIFC)

As usual, there are several YouTube videos on how to do this...
Posted by: Colin at January 14, 2018 09:37 AM (kgR70)

But hordesourcing means I get to keep reading & posting here.

Posted by: josephistan at January 14, 2018 09:38 AM (ANIFC)

90 Lord Peter Wimsey was a book collector.

Posted by: Emmie at January 14, 2018 09:39 AM (/A+Cl)

91 slowly walks to principle's office
Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 09:35 AM (aC6Sd)
--------

Don't do it, Skip - it's a trap!

Posted by: bluebell at January 14, 2018 09:39 AM (kNasr)

92 69 Posted by: SkinnerVic at January 14, 2018 09:28 AM (nbwH3)'

What method do you use to listen to audiobooks?

Posted by: Smilin' Jack at January 14, 2018 09:39 AM (zMj9Z)

93 I like to read while I eat.

I don't mind reading without eating but I like reading while eating more than not reading while eating.

Posted by: logprof at January 14, 2018 09:39 AM (2ZFNo)

94 I don't collect books in the sense of first editions but I sometimes want complete series, especially books and series I will re-read. I have all the Liturgical Mystery series, Matt Helm books, Martha's Vineyard mysteries, Longmire books, the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey books, even the Cadfael series. There are others but that gives you an idea. If I can find inexpensive hardbacks, fine. Paperbacks will do the job as well. The Cadfael books are mostly on Kindle.

An ongoing project is to have, in one format or another, most of Churchill's books. The ones he wrote himself rather than the ones about him. And I have a fair start on CS Lewis' nonfiction essays and books. Between Lewis and Churchill you have some of the finest use of English in the last hundred years.

Posted by: JTB at January 14, 2018 09:39 AM (V+03K)

95
78 OT - How do I cut and paste multiple rows in excel? This talk of book collecting reminded me I need to update my catalog of books in my collection.
Posted by: josephistan at January 14, 2018 09:33 AM (ANIFC)
----------
Click and drag on the desired row numbers (far left) to highlight the desired range, then right click and use insert/delete command options. Ctrl+C to copy then Ctrl+V to paste.

Posted by: Weasel at January 14, 2018 09:39 AM (Sfs6o)

96 Landmark editions are all great. I must confess that I'd already read (& enjoyed)Penguin Classic versions, and have not fully reread one Landmark in full yet. The exception is Ceasar which I've intended to start as soon as it arrived. The only dissapointment with Land.Ceasar after a very long wait, is that most of the supplemental essays are not physically in the book. (They are available as a free pdf online).
I'm very much looking forward to the Ceasar read, especially after reading two library books recently;

The Greater Roman Historians�by Laistner
& Inside Roman Libraries: Book Collections and Their Management in Antiquity, by G Houston

I hope we don't have to wait another 4 years for next book in series. (Xenophon's Anabasis, or Polybius )

Posted by: Southeast PA lurker at January 14, 2018 09:40 AM (vFHFh)

97 Apparently I will be subjected to hearing Kamala Harris' name mispronounced by national media types for the next election cycle.

People, Imma gonna go ahead and get this out of the way now, it's "KAH-mah-lah."

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 14, 2018 09:41 AM (EZebt)

98 I can't do anything else while I read; I'm too easily distracted, I guess. The only exception was when I was nursing my babies. I got a lot of reading done during those endless nursing sessions. I actually had forgotten that until just now.

Posted by: bluebell at January 14, 2018 09:42 AM (kNasr)

99 10 Ah, most of the world flirted with socialism between the wars, the Great Depression was a world wide event giving lots of people the idea capitalism was broken.
Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 09:03 AM (aC6Sd)

In 1939, ten years after the crash on Wall Street, the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., told the House Ways and Means Committee:
We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started And an enormous debt to boot!

Posted by: rhennigantx at January 14, 2018 09:43 AM (BtQd4)

100 "it's "KAH-mah-lah."

Pronounced "Camel-a" right?

Posted by: freaked at January 14, 2018 09:44 AM (UdKB7)

101 Pronounced "Camel-a" right?
Posted by: freaked at January 14, 2018 09:44 AM (UdKB7)
Camel a toe

Posted by: rhennigantx at January 14, 2018 09:44 AM (BtQd4)

102 I recently read a book called ALONE ON THE ICE about explorer Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition. Very good book. Did not prevent me from bitching about 40 degree weather, however.

Now rereading Dresden Files - I got to thinking about them yesterday and wanted to reread because I was forgetting some details. I usually wait until a couple weeks before the next one is due out to reread the series, but not this time.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 14, 2018 09:44 AM (JPRju)

103 I read while riding a recumbent exercise bike. Not too fast though, just enough to burn some calories.

As for collections, yes, I'm a collector.

I own copies of just about everything Winston Churchill wrote. I need to find his "Life of Marlborough" and his novel and I think that's it. Oh yeah, "The Eastern Front."

I have most of Tolkien's works (six copies of LotR for shared reading purposes) and most of Evelyn Waugh's stuff.

Not a lot of contemporary stuff, though. And - oddly for a sci-fi writer - I don't read a lot of sci-fi.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at January 14, 2018 09:16 AM (cfSRQ)

A fellow recumbent bike reader!!

I got about halfway through the first volume of "Life of Marlborough." That was years ago. The subject was simply not interesting enough. I love his writing, and Marlborough of course, is an important character in English history.

It's just... I don't know. Meh. Too much politics of the time, which I couldn't even tell you now why it wasn't interesting to me.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 09:44 AM (Pz4pT)

104 "I started "Killer Angels" this week. Civil War historical fiction. Enjoying it so far."

Great read, and enlightening. Shows Gettysburg as a fight for the high ground, moral and otherwise. Was made into the movie Gettysburg.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 14, 2018 09:46 AM (pV/54)

105 My husbands book is out! Africa Never Forgives is the title and its available on all the usual places, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles etc. it is a work of fiction but based on all his hunting expeditions in Africa.

Posted by: IC at January 14, 2018 09:46 AM (m5xYa)

106 Most stories about the persecuted Church are written by Christians but In Search of Japan's Hidden Christians by John Dougill is the outlier. He describes himself as a European who is interested in Asian beliefs and it shows as he has *no* understanding of the motivations of Christians and Christianity. This makes the book extremely frustrating, although in fairness it is quite informative, to the point that I can only read it for a short time and then need to read something else for a week. The latest stopping point was when the author expressed puzzlement that the native Christians and Jesuits who were condemned to their death were content (even happy) to be crucified. I couldn't help saying "Come on, actually *try*! Why *would* crucifixion as martyrs be acceptable to a group known for valuing life?"
So I start again tomorrow and will see how far I can get.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 14, 2018 09:47 AM (rp9xB)

107 The Killer Angels is excellent.

The followup books by the author's son, not so much.

The movie version sucked rocks.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at January 14, 2018 09:47 AM (cfSRQ)

108 I can read and take a dump at the same time. Is that multi tasking?

*******

Have I got the perfect book for you.

"Muldoon's Library of Limericks, Volume 1"

"Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but limericks and water."
-- W.C. Fields

Use Ace's Amazon link so he gets a nickel or two.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1981167811/?tag=aoshq-20

Posted by: Muldoon at January 14, 2018 09:48 AM (wPiJc)

109 Only thing I can do while reading is eat. Back when I was single I tended to cook a lot of stews and such, things that were thick enough that I could get a spoonful without looking away from the page.

I don't thing reading on the toilet counts.

Collections ? Hmmmm.
ACS Monographs. Preferably old ones. Everything known about chlorine, or chromium, or sulfuric acid, or ...

I might own every book H. Beam Piper and R.A. Lafferty ever wrote.

Probably more, but I can't think of them right now.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez, they are gaslighting us 24/365 at January 14, 2018 09:48 AM (oVWx5)

110 23 ... Good morning Captain,

I have the first three of the Landmark histories and love them. The maps alone are great and provide fine context. But I get them from the used bookstore for 5 to 10 bucks. As you said, they are expensive.

Posted by: JTB at January 14, 2018 09:48 AM (V+03K)

111 100, 101

You got it! Tell a friend!

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 14, 2018 09:48 AM (EZebt)

112
* rips corner of paper from tablet and sneaks into mouth *

* dismantles Bic pen *

* waits for CBD to return *

Posted by: Acme Trucking Enterprises, White Truck Division at January 14, 2018 09:48 AM (2FqvZ)

113 Great Books had us reading The Red Pony well before we read it in Junior High. I hated it both times. We had a pony and the idea of the ending happening to her was nightmarish.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 14, 2018 09:49 AM (rp9xB)

114 Finally finished the Longmire series on Netflix last night. Is the book series worth investigating?

Posted by: Blutarki-esque 0.0 at January 14, 2018 09:49 AM (+Tibp)

115 So today is National Dress Up Your Pet Day?

Posted by: logprof at January 14, 2018 09:50 AM (2ZFNo)

116 How do I cut and paste multiple rows in excel? This talk of book collecting reminded me I need to update my catalog of books in my collection.
-----

I had a similar problem. I wanted a simple percentage calculation (column 'a' divided by column 'b')

so the formula was in that cell. selecting that cell produced what Microsoft calls a 'handle', a special mark. Put the mouse cursor on the handle, hold down the left mouse button, move the mouse and the cell was replicated.

I suspect the column header and the first-row header cell function in a similar fashion, but that is only a guess. You'll have to experiment to see what it does.

This is one of the things that drive me crazy in the modern graphical user interface; secret little icons that do unexpected things if only you know the trick.

So - take advantage of Microsoft Cortana and ask, or as I do with MSWord, go to the search box and asked, "how the hell do I format an effin paragraph" and help appears like magic.

Because of the vagaries of the Engrish language, you might want to try searching in the address box of a new tab in your web browser. Sometimes, it will find a clue that you can use to experiment with.

I hope you find your answer. I might have a question of my own later.

Posted by: Andrew Chin at January 14, 2018 09:50 AM (GroCc)

117 "Ah, most of the world flirted with socialism between the wars, the Great Depression was a world wide event giving lots of people the idea capitalism was broken. "

The British recession of the 1930 was bad, but only half as deep and only half as long as ours. The Forgotten Man by Amity Schayles is a good account.

FDR's policies choked free enterprise.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 14, 2018 09:50 AM (pV/54)

118 all his hunting expeditions in Africa.
Posted by: IC at January 14, 2018 09:46 AM (m5xYa)

===

Wait, wut? Has there been more than one?

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 14, 2018 09:50 AM (EZebt)

119 'So today is National Dress Up Your Pet Day?'

Really? Our doggy Kasper is wearing a fashionable translucent green cone.

Posted by: freaked at January 14, 2018 09:51 AM (UdKB7)

120 I can't remember reading any of Steinbeck's work. Either I did and it didn't make that big an impression on me or I never did.

There are a lot of books I "should" read/have read, but never have or don't remember doing so. Moby Dick, for example. I've started it several times and each time I've put it back down again. I just can't get interested in it, and I refuse to read anything I can't get interested in.

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at January 14, 2018 09:51 AM (vbvxt)

121 Posted by: Weasel at January 14, 2018 09:39 AM (Sfs6o)

Thanks!

Posted by: josephistan at January 14, 2018 09:52 AM (ANIFC)

122 My late father was a serious collector of two quite disparate topics, all things Watergate for one. He hated Nixon with the passion of ten thousand suns, and that whole scandal was the happiest time of his life. He actually went down to the GPO store in Atlanta in the middle of the night to be first in line to purchase the tape transcripts, and then poured over them wit the fever of a monk. He did find a very interesting conversation in those transcripts that seemed to prove that Nixon & co. cooked the evidence against Alger Hiss, for what it is worth, though.

His other passion was H.L. Mencken, and he had signed first editions of every one of his major works, as well as multiple copies of just about everything the man wrote in book form. He told my mother that the collection would be immensely valuable and told her to make certain to sell it (and the Watergate collection) as a whole after he passed, and that she would make enough from them to provide for a very comfortable retirement. The same rare book seller that had sold him so many of those books had to break the sad news to her that, no, that was not the case anymore.

Posted by: John the Baptist at January 14, 2018 09:52 AM (MPH+3)

123 Apparently I will be subjected to hearing Kamala Harris' name mispronounced by national media types for the next election cycle.

People, Imma gonna go ahead and get this out of the way now, it's "KAH-mah-lah."
Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 14, 2018 09:41 AM (EZebt)

Give me just one good reason why any of us should want or care to pronounce or spell it correctly?

She's the cupcake they elected in Californica, right?

I'm going to ask you to imagine Julie Andrews in the Alps, with her arms spread wide... that's all the f**ks I give about that trollop politician and her stupid name.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 09:53 AM (Pz4pT)

124 > I can't do anything else while I read.

audio books, bro. Audio Books.

Posted by: ArthurK at January 14, 2018 09:53 AM (XMCS3)

125 Thank you for the Landmark feedback.

Btw I was given, at a Russian Orthodox Christmas party last night (not literally, a friend when he was in law school started a personal tradition of having a party when everybody returned from Christmas break) Lenin on the Train by Catherine Merridale. He knew I was a big fan of Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army 1939-1945 but was less enthusiastic about her book about the Kremlin, Red Fortress.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 09:53 AM (y7DUB)

126 Blutarski, Longmire books are better than the series. I quit the series after a the beginning of the second season, but I've enjoyed all of the books.

Yeah, I know it's preposterous how many murders there are in his county, but isn't that the case with all the murder mystery writers? I really love Craig Johnson's style and humor. Books are quotably funny.

Posted by: April at January 14, 2018 09:54 AM (e8PP1)

127 Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat is my favorite of his. I re-read the chapter about the Pirate's dogs seeing a holy vision quite often, and it's still entertaining.

Posted by: Furious George at January 14, 2018 09:54 AM (2Omzf)

128 On the Kindle, I finished reading Space Team by Barry J. Hutxhiaon. This is an attempt at comical sci-fi. For me, it was the sort of book that was just good enough to keep on reading in the hope that it would get better. It didn't. This is the first in a nine-book series, so I guess some people enjoy it.

Posted by: Zoltan at January 14, 2018 09:54 AM (T8WeQ)

129 I also accumulate books rather than collect them, but I keep a pretty tenacious grip. The only author I am collecting is science fiction writer Jack Vance- the only SF writer who can put me on another world on demand.

Posted by: Tarwine at January 14, 2018 09:54 AM (g0ume)

130 Was made into the movie Gettysburg.
Posted by: Ignoramus at January 14, 2018 09:46 AM (pV/54)

Which I always assumed was made because Ted Turner invested in the fake beard industry.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 09:55 AM (Pz4pT)

131 Growing up in a loud family, I learned to create my own bubble of silence around me (and, no, I don't know how I do it) but I can read (and have) practically anywhere. When I was young, i tried to read while doing almost everything. Some were ok, some pretty stupid. I used to read while driving. I tried to keep it only at stoplights, but of course, the book is right there on the steering wheel. I've been known to read while mowing (I know, I know), while riding a bicycle (not recommended), under the covers with a flashlight (very thick glasses before the miracle of lazik), in a tree (broken bones). Sixty years later, I still like to read, although today I have audiobooks and my Kindle. Now that's progress.

Posted by: Akua Makana at January 14, 2018 09:55 AM (YkUJb)

132 My "non-fiction" choice after In Search of... was Discipline by Mary Burton, which it turns out is actually a novel. It is from the early 1800s though so counts as a "classic". It is fine. Fairly heavy handed in morality by the standards of even Christian novels of today, but not awful, and since I'm listening while doing other things it's a decent book.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 14, 2018 09:55 AM (rp9xB)

133 I'm going to ask you to imagine Julie Andrews in the Alps, with her arms spread wide... that's all the f**ks I give about that trollop politician and her stupid name.
Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 09:53 AM (Pz4pT)

--I love when Steyn and others mispronounce Barack Obama's name as the singular of barracks.

Posted by: logprof at January 14, 2018 09:56 AM (2ZFNo)

134 Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 09:53 AM (Pz4pT)

LOL. You're right, It's not that big a deal. But Sometimes it's worth it to name your opponent.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 14, 2018 09:57 AM (EZebt)

135 I cannot read and multitask anymore. When I was a kid, I could read under the desk and answer the questions my teachers asked. Now, I tell my children to make sure I make eye contact when they interrupt me while I'm reading. If I'm not looking at them, I'm not listening. I'm sucked into a story.

Posted by: no good deed at January 14, 2018 09:57 AM (eIQHF)

136 Steinbeck - I confess that my favorites are Cannery Row and Sweet Tuesday.
I used to read a book while on the recumbent bike at the gym because I had to do it for about forty minutes and it was damn boring. And reading while eating - sure! With classical music on, but that is my usual audio wallpaper.

Currently alternating between Rosemary Sutcliff's "Mark of the Horse Lords" and an interesting new release I got from Amazon Vine to review - Luke Barr "Ritz and Escoffier" which is about belle epoch Europe and the creation of a certain kind of hospitality industry, catering to the well-born and well-heeled. I'm only about a third through that book, but the review will be titled "Who Put the Belle in the Epoch-Epoch-Epoch?!"

I've already started on the next Luna City book, and posting chapters at the website lunacitytexas.com if any 'rons and 'ronettes want to drop by. The matter of the human skull found at the end of the last book will be explained ...

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at January 14, 2018 09:57 AM (xnmPy)

137 The alternative fact-based theory is that Watergate was orchestrated by Deep Throat Mark Felt and FBI #2. You see Nixon wanted to bring a rogue FBI into line after the J Edgar years. Felt retaliated out of personal pique for being passed over by Nixon for #1, and to protect the FBI's prerogatives.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 14, 2018 09:57 AM (pV/54)

138 114 Finally finished the Longmire series on Netflix last night. Is the book series worth investigating?
Posted by: Blutarki-esque 0.0 at January 14, 2018 09:49 AM (+Tibp)

The book series is both quite different and far better than the video series. There are many similarities, but is is almost like Craig Johnson wrote an entirely different series based on the Walt Longmire character and based in the same area for the videos.

Posted by: John the Baptist at January 14, 2018 09:58 AM (MPH+3)

139 In my own defense, I was following the pacing of the poem, consciously trying to include all the detail. Yes, I rejoiced when Wolf arrived, but it goes the same way in the poem.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at January 14, 2018 09:31 AM (cfSRQ)

When I re-read Beowulf I saw what you did and understand why you did it. It just slowed-down the narrative. I did like how you took themes from the saga and then "re___d" them into Battle Officer Wolf.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at January 14, 2018 09:58 AM (5Yee7)

140 Not being able to read and do other things at the same time is why I love Text-to-Speech. If I *were* to exercise I have a pouch I made to hold the bag and could use earbuds as well to ensure I can hear.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 14, 2018 09:59 AM (rp9xB)

141 @139 I have no idea how re___d got turned into re____d. Damn, you Pixy!!!!1111!

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at January 14, 2018 09:59 AM (5Yee7)

142 Heh. Truth is, I was a psychopath. I was just messin' with 'em. They fell for the "rabbits" bit. LMAO.

Posted by: Lenny at January 14, 2018 10:00 AM (/qEW2)

143 Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 09:53 AM (Pz4pT)

LOL. You're right, It's not that big a deal. But Sometimes it's worth it to name your opponent.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 14, 2018 09:57 AM (EZebt)

Name? No. Mispronounce and misspell it. As a weapon.

Know your enemy? Sure, absolutely. Always.

And yes, enemy, not opponent.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 10:00 AM (Pz4pT)

144 @141 Wow, Pixy doesn't like hyphens: Let's try this again

re____d == re - imaged

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at January 14, 2018 10:00 AM (5Yee7)

145 Okay I feel a little better now.

- - - -

When I re-read Beowulf I saw what you did and understand why you
did it. It just slowed-down the narrative. I did like how you took
themes from the saga and then "re___d" them into Battle Officer Wolf.

- - - -
This is a recurring complaint. Maybe I should update the author's note to warn people.

It was also my first book. I think I'm getting better at this sort of thing.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at January 14, 2018 10:01 AM (cfSRQ)

146 Lonesome Dove -- the miniseries on TV was very true to the book. Both book and video were excellent.

Posted by: Smilin' Jack at January 14, 2018 10:01 AM (zMj9Z)

147 126 Blutarski, Longmire books are better than the series. I quit the series after a the beginning of the second season, but I've enjoyed all of the books.

Yeah, I know it's preposterous how many murders there are in his county, but isn't that the case with all the murder mystery writers? I really love Craig Johnson's style and humor. Books are quotably funny.

Posted by: April at January 14, 2018 09:54 AM (e8PP1)

Watching the series, I remarked to my wife: "We're never moving there, too many dead bodies."

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at January 14, 2018 10:03 AM (2kiKp)

148 If I do anything while listening to an audiobook I often miss a lot of the material. I guess I absorb better visually. I like listening before taking a nap and setting the sleep timer on my Fire.

Posted by: logprof at January 14, 2018 10:03 AM (2ZFNo)

149 He did find a very interesting conversation in those transcripts that seemed to prove that Nixon & co. cooked the evidence against Alger Hiss, for what it is worth, though.

I thought the Venona papers proved Hiss was a traitorous commie fuck.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 10:04 AM (y7DUB)

150 Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 09:53 AM (Pz4pT)

--I love when Steyn and others mispronounce Barack Obama's name as the singular of barracks.
Posted by: logprof at January 14, 2018 09:56 AM (2ZFNo)

I've spent the last couple decades misspelling Hillory's name. And when referring to her husband, spelling his name "Bill Clitton."

They don't deserve their names to be respected, to the point of getting it right. And of course, neither does Barak Obmama.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 10:04 AM (Pz4pT)

151 123
I'm going to ask you to imagine Julie Andrews in the Alps, with her arms spread wide...

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 09:53 AM (Pz4pT)

*****

Temba, his arms wide open.

Posted by: Darmok at January 14, 2018 10:04 AM (NqQAS)

152 107 The Killer Angels is excellent.

The followup books by the author's son, not so much.

The movie version sucked rocks.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at January 14, 2018 09:47 AM (cfSRQ)

Mrs IMG got me Killer Angels on audio book back when I was a commuter (been working from home for 10 years now).

I listened to it 3 times, I think.

As to the movie version, keep in mind who was backing it.

On the plus side, that movie introduced me to Stephen Lang. I liked him even more in Gods and Generals as Stonewall Jackson.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at January 14, 2018 10:04 AM (di1hb)

153 Two compilation books: "Texas Crude", out of print, a collection of sayins and coloquialisms (forgot author).
"Dear Dead Days", Charles Adams' collection of morbid photos and advertisments. Bronze baby shoes? Howabout the whole baby? Yes, that's in there too.

Posted by: Adobe Juan Kenobe at January 14, 2018 10:05 AM (MhXS/)

154 I should probably add that you will probably hate "Scorpion's Pass."

Normally authors don't disparage their own work, but it's a Jane Austen-style romance set on a desert planet and it moves at that pace - or as close to that pace as I could endure.

I had fun writing it, the few people I've given it to enjoy it, but it's also my worst-selling book. I think I hit the sour spot between romance and sci-fi genres.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at January 14, 2018 10:05 AM (cfSRQ)

155 Wow, Huck, I'd love to have everything Wodehouse ever wrote. I have a
few of his books, but I've read everything our library has of his, most
of them several times over. Do you really have all 96 books or whatever
the number is? Good for you!

=================

I don't have his Boys Life stories, or any of his early magazine pieces really. And lots of his books are really just slightly expanded versions of those, so it sounds like more than it really is in substance. I have them because I used to live near the old Strand Bookstore in NYC and the owner loved Wodehouse, so they always had lots of pulp-y (bad reprints) inventory available. Also, whenever I used to go to Milwaukee on business I used to paw through that wonderful old used book store they had downtown (later on, it expanded to an airport location too) whose name I've forgotten. They used to get a little Wodehouse every now and again.

No one else in my family reads these but me, so the bookshelf is still relatively intact. I know because if my daughters like something, it generally disappears, never to be seen again.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, critic de Cinema Verite at January 14, 2018 10:06 AM (ylUqT)

156 The same rare book seller that had sold him so many of those books had to break the sad news to her that, no, that was not the case anymore.
Posted by: John the Baptist at January 14, 2018 09:52 AM (MPH+3)

The internet has totally changed the valuation of books. Signed editions that used to take months of effort to find now can be found in moments.

Example: I was looking to a set of books written by Donald Featherstone (a British wargamer) and found a broken set with the first three volumes listed by a seller in Australia. Even allowing for air-mail, it cost me about half of what the set cost in the U.S. Found the orphan fourth volume from someone else.... Boom, I had the complete set after about 15 minutes of searching on the inter-tubes.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at January 14, 2018 10:07 AM (5Yee7)

157 He did find a very interesting conversation in those transcripts that seemed to prove that Nixon & co. cooked the evidence against Alger Hiss, for what it is worth, though.
----------------------
I thought the Venona papers proved Hiss was a traitorous commie fuck.
Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 10:04 AM (y7DUB)

Who found evidence of what, where?

Hiss was guilty. Period. End of discussion.

Chambers proved his criminal perjury. Whatever did or did not occur elsewhere is fairly irrelevant. Nobody pinned any other crime on Hiss, but he was drop dead guilty of all of it. The Venona papers are clear on that point. And Hiss is burning in hell now. So it's moot.

Whatever the Nixon committee did or didn't do, we were at war. I'm not the least bit concerned about whether they played fast and loose with evidence of this or that.

Hiss was a commie spy. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 10:08 AM (Pz4pT)

158 audio books, bro. Audio Books.
Posted by: ArthurK at January 14, 2018 09:53 AM (XMCS3)
----------

When my kids were little, and we were forever in the car going to ballet lessons, sports practices, piano lessons, field trips, etc., we always had audio books on. We did go through a lot of books that way. We also took three cross-country driving trips with the kids, and the audio books were lifesavers.

I'm just not in the car nearly as much now, so I don't ever think of it. I've tried borrowing e-audio books from the library, downloading onto my phone and doing things around the house while listening, but I still get distracted.

Although now you have me thinking how much fun it would be to make an audiobook out of the cookbook, with each Hordeling reading his/her own recipe. After all, we did try really hard to keep everyone's "voice!"

Posted by: bluebell at January 14, 2018 10:09 AM (kNasr)

159 Getting ready to send youngest kidlet back to school -- should be her final semester (the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise) -- and she will support her aged parent and elderly pets with her civil engineering degree. jk

Anyway, I think I will start a reread of Montefiore 'Potemkin'. No doubt I am thinking of political facades, but I do remember how much Potemkin really was fond of C the G, not just as her political and military lackey.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 14, 2018 10:09 AM (MIKMs)

160 If the weather isn't good enough for taking a hike to get some cardio exercise, I always take a book to the gym to read while I'm on the Step Mill. I can't imagine doing 30-40 minutes of gym cardio without a diversion (since the odds of an attractive woman in yoga pants in front of me don't seem to be very good anymore). Otherwise, most of my reading happens when I crawl in bed.

Posted by: Lawrence Larson at January 14, 2018 10:09 AM (d/r2I)

161 Lonesome Dove -- the miniseries on TV was very true to the book. Both book and video were excellent.
=================

If you enjoy reading Larry McMurtry I recommend the Berrybender Narratives (a 4 book series). Not as gritty as the Lonesome Dove series, but really interesting writing.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, critic de Cinema Verite at January 14, 2018 10:09 AM (ylUqT)

162 I'm going to ask you to imagine Julie Andrews in the Alps, with her arms spread wide...

when a Bf 109 Messerschmidt appears on the horizon

Posted by: Acme Trucking Enterprises, White Truck Division at January 14, 2018 10:10 AM (2FqvZ)

163 I collect the Arkady Renko series by Martin Cruz Smith, and anything by Thomas Perry. Love caper/thrillers!
I have about 60 art history books - used to have more but I had to downsize - and dozens of ancient history books about Greece and Rome.

Right now I am re-reading The Periodic Table by Primo Levi, an Italian Jew whose chemistry skills kept him alive in Auschwitz. He identified people in his life with elements; the chapter about Vanadium is powerful. He needed vanadium to create a compound in the camp and met a German officer who years later, wrote him asking for forgiveness. Here he reports what he wrote back:

"I admitted that we are not all born heroes, and a world in which everyone would be like him -that is, honest and unarmed - would be tolerable, but this is an unreal world.

"In the real world, the armed exist, they build Auschwitz, and the honest and unarmed clear the road for them; therefore every German must answer for Auschwitz, indeed every man, and after Auschwitz, it is no longer permissable to be unarmed."

I think of this when I think of the so-called progressives who are silent while people are beheaded, or speakers are silenced, or groups are targetted or censored for their political or religious beliefs.

Posted by: vivi at January 14, 2018 10:10 AM (11H2y)

164 149 He did find a very interesting conversation in those transcripts that seemed to prove that Nixon & co. cooked the evidence against Alger Hiss, for what it is worth, though.

I thought the Venona papers proved Hiss was a traitorous commie fuck.
Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 10:04 AM (y7DUB)

They did, I don't think there was ever any serious doubt about him, but Nixon et al just couldn't let that play out, apparently. There is a veiled reference in one of the transcripts to "building a typewriter" to frame John Dean, that's an old spy trick (according to dad, who did some elint work with the OSS in WWII) to make it seem like documents came from a specific person's office. Looks like the documents in the "pumpkin microfiche" were doctored that way.

Posted by: John the Baptist at January 14, 2018 10:11 AM (MPH+3)

165 147 126 Blutarski, Longmire books are better than the series. I quit the series after a the beginning of the second season, but I've enjoyed all of the books.

Yeah, I know it's preposterous how many murders there are in his county, but isn't that the case with all the murder mystery writers? I really love Craig Johnson's style and humor. Books are quotably funny.

Posted by: April at January 14, 2018 09:54 AM (e8PP1)

Watching the series, I remarked to my wife: "We're never moving there, too many dead bodies."
Posted by: Jeff Weimer at January 14, 2018 10:03 AM (2kiKp)

We know what you mean.

Posted by: Cabot Cove, Maine's Chamber of Commerce at January 14, 2018 10:11 AM (ANIFC)

166 They don't deserve their names to be respected, to the point of getting it right. And of course, neither does Barak Obmama.
Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 10:04 AM (Pz4pT)

--the JEF has so many great nicknames anyway.

Posted by: logprof at January 14, 2018 10:11 AM (2ZFNo)

167 Lonesome Dove -- the miniseries on TV was very true to the book. Both book and video were excellent.
Posted by: Smilin' Jack at January 14, 2018 10:01 AM (zMj9Z)

McMurtrey was involved in the production of the miniseries which was my first true appreciation of the talent of Robert Duvall.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 10:12 AM (y7DUB)

168 Steinbeck - I confess that my favorites are Cannery Row and Sweet Tuesday
============================

I loved Cannery Row so maybe I'll pick up Sweet Tuesday. Can't say I've ever even heard the name before, but that may be because I know nothinck (to quote the great thinker, Sgt. Schultz).

Posted by: Huck Follywood, critic de Cinema Verite at January 14, 2018 10:14 AM (ylUqT)

169 66 ... Hi Grey Fox, I love that forum. My ability to do hand crafts is, to be generous, limited. But I enjoy the many subcatagories on making gear, recipes (that is how I got started making my own sauerkraut), and all the shooting topics. I think Spense10 is probably my favorite commenter.

Posted by: JTB at January 14, 2018 10:14 AM (V+03K)

170 All writers are a product of their time. Great literature survives the temporal limitations of the writer. From the Aeneid to Shakespeare to Dickens, we see Jung's archetypes, the role of pride in the downfall of the powerful, and how love and jealousy are universal and eternal.

Posted by: IanDeal at January 14, 2018 10:15 AM (qcIL3)

171 Audio book options:
Audible- easiest to use, tons of reviews

Listen Audiobook Player by Jared Bracken
app - great tool to listen to burned mp3 audio books
I typically use to listen to library cds & libravox titles. Don't have to change discs & can bump up speed.

Audiobooks.com - similar to Audible, but I'd say only advantage is large collection of free Librivox titles easily available.

Librivox - like project Guttenberg, except audio. Great source for free books in the public domain. Reader quality varies greatly, but I love this resource.

Posted by: Southeast PA lurker at January 14, 2018 10:16 AM (vFHFh)

172 Steinbecks short pieces on America are stunningly good - the 2002 collection entitled America and Americans is a must have.

Posted by: rammajamma at January 14, 2018 10:17 AM (MCpv7)

173 re____d == re - imaged

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at January 14, 2018 10:00 AM (5Yee7)

I think it's more likely you dropped the 'a'. re___d should have no problem - it's i-m-g img.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at January 14, 2018 10:17 AM (/qEW2)

174 My wife purchased the James Herriot books for my Christmas gift. She knows me well enough (after 34 years) to know not to purchase the hard covers, which fetch around $100 apiece. Paperback is good enough for me. Maybe some day I'll be rich enough to splurge and find a set of the original hard covers.

Used book stores are a magnet. I've noticed that the longer I linger, though, the less likely I will actually purchase something. They all look good at first glance, but when I think it through, they go back on the shelves. Usually.

Posted by: windbag at January 14, 2018 10:18 AM (8Soy4)

175 I'm a little depressed this morning. At church the two ministers went on long anti-Trump rants. They started off by saying how difficult their lives currently are, what with the country being ruled by an out-and-out racist. Literally, that's how the first guy kicked off. I couldn't stop myself and responded "bullshit!" from my pew when he said it and people looked around at me. After immigration we moved on to mass incarceration. Again.

I don't think I'm going to be welcome at church much longer.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, critic de Cinema Verite at January 14, 2018 10:18 AM (ylUqT)

176 I'll be darned the hyphen did mangle it.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at January 14, 2018 10:18 AM (/qEW2)

177
Read the Chrysanthemums linked in the post.
Liked the writing, the descriptions, but I missed the punchline, the moral of the story.

I could use a clue.

Posted by: Andrew Chin at January 14, 2018 10:19 AM (GroCc)

178 As someone stated above I'm more a book accumulator, but i have made the effort to collect certain authors-

1) British comic writers are a YUGE influence on my writing and I've tried to collect all the works of -

PG Wodehouse
Evelyn Waugh
Kingsley Amis
Tom Sharpe

mostly in paperback unfortunately but that's what mostly available.

2) At one point, I decided I was going to collect/read all of Anthony Burgess "99 Great Novels of the 20th Century" in hardback cuz all the ones I'd read up to that point were interesting.

Bu-u-u-ut, some of those were very tough finds and often first editions. Ultimately, to expensive as well.

Henry Williamson's "A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight" kind of broke my will on that effort. It's a 15 novel opus. Ridiculously tough to find at a decent price, though I did eventually do so accidentally. If you want to read something wholly at odds with the path and progress of the 20th Century in all ways, he's your guy. Dude can write though he does seem to rather like the idea of fascism, which you know

3) Various authors where I've more or less collected all their works just cuz I wanted to read them all:

Harry Matthews - oddball writer. Think of a low watt but in some ways better Thomas Pynchon

RA Lafferty - oddball SF writer who when he's on target will turn your thinking inside out and make you laugh at the same time

etc...etc

4) One thing I'd really like to get as a collection/reading thingy is a pre-WW1 set of the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

I saw one in perfect condition at a Tokyo bookshop when in Japan- W-A-A-AY TOO Expensive.

But, fascinating to read - as the confidence in the British Empir and Western Civ in general was at it's high water mark.

Thus, you get the Crusades described as a romping great adventure rather than something we should all beat ourselves with thorn branches and wear sackcloth over.

If you have one I'll take it off your hands for a nickel.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 14, 2018 10:20 AM (9q7Dl)

179 He did find a very interesting conversation in those transcripts that seemed to prove that Nixon & co. cooked the evidence against Alger Hiss, for what it is worth, though.

I thought the Venona papers proved Hiss was a traitorous commie fuck.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 10:04 AM (y7DUB)

Yes. The Venona intercepts, which naturally were not released until decades later following the collapse of the Soviet Union, did show that Hiss was a Soviet agent.

Indeed, the Venona intercepts blew up all sorts of myths promulgated by the Left, and boy howdy were they ever pissed about that. Such as how McCarthy and the HUAC bunch were in fact correct about Communist infiltration of the government, Hollywood and the media, and Alger Hiss was a Soviet agent, the Rosenbergs did indeed richly deserve their fate, etc, etc. Something else they revealed was that the smartest thing FDR ever did was to replace Henry Wallace with Harry Truman as his running mate in 1944. Wallace knew Roosevelt was dying and assumed he was the preezy heir apparent. In his arrogance he even announced who he was going to have in his Cabinet after FDR croaked. Only problem was, the guys he named for secretaries of State, Treasury and Labor were all Soviet agents. One can guess that the Venona (or whatever they were calling the program back then; it was actually started in the late 1930s) people gave FDR a heads up and he dropped Wallace in favor of Truman. Say what you will about Truman, but at least he wasn't a damned Communist.

Another thing I found amusing was that I first heard about the Venona program from a documentary that ran on the History Channel. Ordinarily the History Channel will run a given show a thousand times to squeeze every bit out of it. Not this one. They ran that Venona documentary ONE time, and it vanished thereafter. Given how much damage it did to the Cause, this is not surprising I guess...

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at January 14, 2018 10:21 AM (1q8rq)

180 If you have one I'll take it off your hands for a nickel.
=====

Fat chance.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 14, 2018 10:23 AM (MIKMs)

181 Even at $390 and a fan of Pat Hodgell, this price is a bit too steep for these four books. These are the Hypatia Press edtions from 1994. Besides if I did succumb and buy, would mean I would have another copy of Seeker's Mask from Hypatia. Though having a matched set is tempting as opposed to the hodgepodge now have.

https://preview.tinyurl.com/y9hwl9wf

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at January 14, 2018 10:24 AM (fueNj)

182 Multitasking. I can read and fart at the same time. Really.

Ok, enough with the silly. Y'all have shamed me back on to my reading list. Read an oldy this week: Red Square, by Martin Cruz Smith. Just as good as Gorky Park. Arkady is investigating in Moscow and Berlin as the Soviet Union is falling apart. Descriptive writing at its best. You can see every scene in detail and, having lived through 1991, they are an historic reminder. Damn, is he good.

And you bastiges have got me into The Expanse, both written and on screen. First season is free on prime and then they have you on the hook.

Posted by: RI Red - Expert on everything expert at January 14, 2018 10:25 AM (bfIes)

183 I don't think I'm going to be welcome at church much longer.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, critic de Cinema Verite at January 14, 2018 10:18 AM (ylUqT)

Even assuming their doctrinal statement on their website is orthodox it raises the question ... if a church's main function is to deliver Democrat party talking points, at what point does a church cease to be a church? And do they get to keep their 501(c)3?

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at January 14, 2018 10:25 AM (/qEW2)

184 Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 10:04 AM (y7DUB)

They did, I don't think there was ever any serious doubt about him, but Nixon et al just couldn't let that play out, apparently. There is a veiled reference in one of the transcripts to "building a typewriter" to frame John Dean, that's an old spy trick (according to dad, who did some elint work with the OSS in WWII) to make it seem like documents came from a specific person's office. Looks like the documents in the "pumpkin microfiche" were doctored that way.
Posted by: John the Baptist at January 14, 2018 10:11 AM (MPH+3)

Uh huh. One of the problems with using the OSS as your source of info is that they were so fully infiltrated with commies, that they were roughly comparable to our so-called intelligence communities of today. As in, so full of our enemies as to render pretty much everything they do suspect.

And again. We were at war. Nixon understood that.

Pussyfooting around with these people would have resulted in irreparable damage, the likes of which we cannot contemplate. Nixon was a hero.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 10:28 AM (Pz4pT)

185 I listen to music and read--that's it. I do very poorly at listening to my wife and reading.

Posted by: Northernlurker, am I lurking or am I skulking at January 14, 2018 10:29 AM (nBr1j)

186 Just wanted to give a BZ to Mary Poppins etc. etc.
I read his short story "Thirteen Moons" the other day and thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done. Hoping for more.

Posted by: That Deplorable SOB Van Owen at January 14, 2018 10:32 AM (ipyio)

187 Another thing I found amusing was that I first heard about the Venona program from a documentary that ran on the History Channel. Ordinarily the History Channel will run a given show a thousand times to squeeze every bit out of it. Not this one. They ran that Venona documentary ONE time, and it vanished thereafter. Given how much damage it did to the Cause, this is not surprising I guess...

Posted by: The Oort Cloud

It is hard for MOST Americans to understand just how deeply the Soviets had penetrated our culture, and how they had influenced so much of what happened before and after WWII (and still echoes down the corridors today).
Two Books (to tie this together) that have probably been mentioned before
The Sword and the Shield, The Mitrokhin Archive by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin

and

KGB: The Inside Story by Christopher Andrew and Oleg Gordievsky

Reading these gives a great insight (with many details) of what the NKVD/KGB did over the years, and how THEY perceived the world.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....menace to society at January 14, 2018 10:32 AM (S6Pax)

188 We'll take the Haitians and the Somalis, but we won't take the Irish.

-- Schmuck Schumer

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 14, 2018 10:33 AM (pV/54)

189 They ran that Venona documentary ONE time, and it vanished thereafter. Given how much damage it did to the Cause, this is not surprising I guess...

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at January 14, 2018 10:21 AM (1q8rq)

Most Americans never heard of Venona. They sure as hell don't teach about it in schools.

We live today with a youth growing up thinking communism isn't so bad. Capitalism is bad. We're brainwashing, not just a single generation, but series of generations. And the fate of this nation hangs in the balance.

I don't have much hope. I honestly don't.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 10:33 AM (Pz4pT)

190 I read Venona by Haynes and Klehr in 2001, which directly led me to what is possibly the best autobiography that I have ever read: "Witness" by Whitaker Chambers. Chambers bares his soul and details his life with such authenticity that it is simply impossible to imagine that the Hiss story was all a setup. We sometimes forget how many bien-pensants saw communism as the inexorable wave of the future back in the 1930's.

Posted by: Lawrence Larson at January 14, 2018 10:33 AM (d/r2I)

191 Oh wow, we have a version of ALH's bookcase (Eastlake) except the center section of ours is a roll-top desk. My grandparents got it in 1930 and it has survived six children, seventeen grandchildren, and many great-grands. And of course, it has always been full of books.

Posted by: Miss Sippi at January 14, 2018 10:34 AM (MSzII)

192 Finished "Grant" by Charnow a little after 2:30 this AM. For those who have this on their 'reading list' I recommend moving it to the top. A really good readable absorbing biography. Charnow presents a balanced and fair look at the enigmatic Grant as a man, General, and President during the most tumultous time in our history.

For Steinbeck readers I suggest 'To a God Unknown'. This was Steinbeck's first published book. It is a very intense read - don't be surprised if you have to put the book down, walk away for awhile, and then go back to the book. It can be unsetteling and challenging.
He wrote this book while heavily influenced by his friend Joseph Campbell (The Hero with a Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth). That friendship ended with Steinbeck taking Campbell's wife.

I lived in the Monterey/Salinas area for many years; knew many who knew Steinbeck. Most despised him as a combative drunk and habitual and untrustworthy liar but recognized his writing talents.

Posted by: Lurking Cynic at January 14, 2018 10:35 AM (5YQl/)

193 One thing I can't do is read while my wife is watching TV. She wants to talk to me about things that are happening and then she gets upset that I'm not following it. You would think she would learn.

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at January 14, 2018 10:36 AM (vbvxt)

194 Sorry about the OT. With the news of Twitter and their 'control of content', in mind, I've been trying to find info from anyone about NFL playoff kneelers. There seems to be a complete blackout on twitter, facebook, google, Bing on any info regarding any knee takers. I'm wondering if anyone knows anyone attending these games if they've tweeted, posted, whatever about any protests. I understand the networks are not broadcasting the anthem to try and hide the actions of these millionaire idiots, but I'm cannot find ANY confirmation that anyone IS or IS NOT taking a knee. Someone with better google-fu have insight?

Posted by: RedDish on the table...err tablet at January 14, 2018 10:37 AM (Qk+aA)

195 Reading these gives a great insight (with many details) of what the NKVD/KGB did over the years, and how THEY perceived the world.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....menace to society at January 14, 2018 10:32 AM (S6Pax)

One thing I found especially amusing in that documentary, even though it did not relate directly to the Venona program, was a clip from an interview with a former KGB general who had defected to the West. This guy admitted that the story about J. Edgar Hoover being a crossdresser was planted by the KGB in the American media, who swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Say what you will about Hoover, but back in the day he and his crew did make things uncomfortable for the Commies operating here, and this was a bit of payback for their trouble.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at January 14, 2018 10:37 AM (1q8rq)

196 We sometimes forget how many bien-pensants saw communism as the inexorable wave of the future back in the 1930's.
Posted by: Lawrence Larson

It's still out there. Only really stupid and simple people still believe in the economics of Marxism. But the prevalent virus that still sickens us is the cultural Marxism that is so insidious in entertainment and news.
A lot of people don't even have a name for it, or understand how it is sickening our society.

Using gays to attack Christianity, normalizing mental illness (transgender), creating false science/Lysenkoism to justify more government control over society (global warming).
The ensuing chaos will eventually drive people to ASK for a form of authoritarianism, and presto! There is the Marxist - Leninist answer.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....menace to society at January 14, 2018 10:39 AM (S6Pax)

197 One thing I found especially amusing in that documentary, even though it did not relate directly to the Venona program, was a clip from an interview with a former KGB general who had defected to the West. This guy admitted that the story about J. Edgar Hoover being a crossdresser was planted by the KGB in the American media, who swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Say what you will about Hoover, but back in the day he and his crew did make things uncomfortable for the Commies operating here, and this was a bit of payback for their trouble.
Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at January 14, 2018 10:37 AM (1q8rq)

And it's just about the only thing everyone "knows" about Hoover today.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 10:40 AM (Pz4pT)

198 68
veggie tales do the Grapes of Wrath -

Lesbian grapes ?

Posted by: Off the reservation at January 14, 2018 10:41 AM (vWMNq)

199 Such as how McCarthy and the HUAC bunch were in fact correct about Communist infiltration of the government, Hollywood and the media, and Alger Hiss was a Soviet agent, the Rosenbergs did indeed richly deserve their fate, etc, etc.

========

They finally won by infiltrating the educational system and convincing a critical mass of gullible Americans and obviating the need for spies and plants. So they may have the last laugh.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at January 14, 2018 10:42 AM (/qEW2)

200 Coming Out of the Ice by Victor Herman should be read also for the human interest angle.

He was an American kid uprooted from the US and moved to the USSR because his father, who worked in the auto industry, wanted to help modernize the USSR.

Victor set a parachuting record in the USSR. Because he refused to renounce being an American he was sent to the gulags where he spent WWII and beyond.

Him and his family finally managed escape to the US. The final irony from the book is when he says his parents are buried under a parking lot.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at January 14, 2018 10:42 AM (fueNj)

201 Most Americans never heard of Venona. They sure as hell don't teach about it in schools.

We live today with a youth growing up thinking communism isn't so bad. Capitalism is bad. We're brainwashing, not just a single generation, but series of generations. And the fate of this nation hangs in the balance.

I don't have much hope. I honestly don't.
Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 10:33 AM (Pz4pT)

Even though the USSR collapsed, the commie scum had succeeded in co-opting our schools, universities, and large chunks of our government (State Department for example) well beforehand. The cancerous ideology lives on and continues to rot us from within.

Posted by: Insomniac - mostly stable at January 14, 2018 10:44 AM (NWiLs)

202 Does anyone know when the second Cinder Spires book by Jim Butcher is due out?

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 14, 2018 10:44 AM (rp9xB)

203 Good morning, all.

To answer the first two questions: I read a lot when I'm in the kitchen because much of the work there is interruptible. If I'm making bread, I put up the bread/milk/butter to heat, and while it's cooling, I read. I mix in the flour, and I read during the first rising, and later on during the second rising. If I'm making a beef stew, I can read while I'm browning the meat and onions.

Have never been able to read Steinbeck. Is it a guy thing, like the Three Stooges?

Since Brown Line and I moved house last November (after 34 years in the same house) we did a HUGE purge of possessions, especially books. The criterion was, "Am I ever going to read this again?" - no matter how good it was; if the answer was "No," then out it went. We still have plenty, though, and now that we've discovered Kindle, we can carry around lots of books, and the little machine weighs no more than when it was empty.

Recently discovered the novels of Barbara Pym, and am happily immersed in those for now.

Posted by: Annalucia at January 14, 2018 10:45 AM (S6ArX)

204 Him and his family finally managed escape to the US. The final irony from the book is when he says his parents are buried under a parking lot.
Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at January 14, 2018 10:42 AM (fueNj)

When they were originally buried it was paradise.

Posted by: Insomniac - mostly stable at January 14, 2018 10:45 AM (NWiLs)

205 Oops.

Forgot Peter DeVries, a wonderful American comic novelist.

I've got all of his stuff.....on purpose.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 14, 2018 10:46 AM (9q7Dl)

206 Posted by: RedDish on the table...err tablet at January 14, 2018 10:37 AM (Qk+aA)

Same with the Iran revolt. MFM decided *they* were over it so it was over. Practically impossible to get any info now. Hopefully Trump's administration is doing what they can in support.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 14, 2018 10:46 AM (rp9xB)

207
I don't think I'm going to be welcome at church much longer.
Posted by: Huck Follywood, critic de Cinema Verite at January 14, 2018 10:18 AM (ylUqT)

----------

This is the clerics' big chance to posture themselves as Martin Niemoller, but without any actual risk of ending up in a concentration camp.

Cheap virtue.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 14, 2018 10:47 AM (c8EhQ)

208 I had the brainfart idea that 'gulag' and 'fascist' have the same etymology in different languages. Horseshoe theory confirmed! But no.

'Fascist' and 'f�g' have the same root though, both mean bundle of sticks.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at January 14, 2018 10:47 AM (rnAwa)

209 I was pondering a language question recently. Perhaps the august minds of the book thread can put some knowledge.

Most of our words for primal things are German. House, arm, fire, hearth, earth. Most of our words for ephemeral things are Latinate. Like, ephemera.

The words for the cardinal directions, east west north south, are similar in the Germanic and the Latinate languages. So I started to wonder, who started thinking in terms of cardinal directions? How did they get into the culture(s)?

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 14, 2018 10:47 AM (fuK7c)

210 So I started to wonder, who started thinking in terms of cardinal directions? How did they get into the culture(s)?

Sunrise and sunset.

Posted by: Off the reservation at January 14, 2018 10:49 AM (vWMNq)

211 They finally won by infiltrating the educational system and convincing a critical mass of gullible Americans and obviating the need for spies and plants. So they may have the last laugh.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at January 14, 2018 10:42 AM (/qEW2)

Yes, very true. My stepdaughter graduated from college about three years ago (education degree, natch), and boy howdy, did she ever drink the fucking Kool-Aid. I swear, you would not believe some of the errant nonsense that comes out of her piehole now. She didn't get "educated", she got indoctrinated through and through. Really sad to see because you can't reach her. You tell her that this crap she was taught is BS, and it goes in one ear, propagates across a hard vacuum and out the other.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at January 14, 2018 10:49 AM (1q8rq)

212 Now reading Weinberg's "A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II." It's a behemoth of a book at nearly 900 pages without notes and is generally lauded as the most exhaustive treatment of WWII history. Covering both theaters of war--and the important interrelationships between the two--it's remarkable for its readability. As a young boy, I was so addicted to the TV show Victory At Sea that my parents bought the LP of the music for me. Later, the amazing documentary "The World At War" narrated by Laurence Olivier also captivated me. Weinberg's book is filling in the many gaps in my knowledge of the conflicts. The only complaint I have is that the book is so darned heavy that it is awkward to read ;-)

Posted by: Lawrence Larson at January 14, 2018 10:50 AM (d/r2I)

213 The immigration fight will center in the Senate.

Schumer is in a dilemma: leave the Dreamers in limbo, or give Trump his wall. So expect Schumer to instead knock over the 9-D chess board with a government shut-down.

This time, I bet Trump won't pay government workers their lost pay. Trump can take actions to make the government work fairly effectively during this shutdown. So Schumer can't win a shutdown stalemate. Most Americans will back Trump.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 14, 2018 10:51 AM (pV/54)

214 So I started to wonder, who started thinking in terms of cardinal directions? How did they get into the culture(s)?

Sunrise and sunset.
=====

The procession of the equinoxes.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 14, 2018 10:51 AM (MIKMs)

215 Him and his family finally managed escape to the US. The final irony from the book is when he says his parents are buried under a parking lot.
Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at January 14, 2018 10:42 AM (fueNj)

When they were originally buried it was paradise.
Posted by: Insomniac - mostly stable at January 14, 2018 10:45 AM (NWiLs)

The pink hotel is nice though.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 10:53 AM (Pz4pT)

216 The only complaint I have is that the book is so darned heavy that it is awkward to read ;-)
=====

I got a bloody nose a few times falling asleep with hardback tomes. Told my librarians that paperbacks were fine with me.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 14, 2018 10:54 AM (MIKMs)

217 The only complaint I have is that the book is so darned heavy that it is awkward to read ;-)

Posted by: Lawrence Larson at January 14, 2018 10:50 AM (d/r2I)

Another reason I like Text-to-Speech on the Kindle. My hands were getting to the point of not being able to hold books for extended times right when the publishers also started putting out volumes that were enormous.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 14, 2018 10:56 AM (rp9xB)

218 This guy admitted that the story about J. Edgar Hoover being a crossdresser was planted by the KGB in the American media, who swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

At least they're becoming better writers. "Pissed on by hookers" is much more creative.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at January 14, 2018 10:56 AM (/qEW2)

219 Yes, very true. My stepdaughter graduated from college about three years ago (education degree, natch), and boy howdy, did she ever drink the fucking Kool-Aid. I swear, you would not believe some of the errant nonsense that comes out of her piehole now. She didn't get "educated", she got indoctrinated through and through. Really sad to see because you can't reach her. You tell her that this crap she was taught is BS, and it goes in one ear, propagates across a hard vacuum and out the other.
Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at January 14, 2018 10:49 AM (1q8rq)

I watched my own daughter get rolled. It's sad. We had her in a private school for a while, where she thrived. Then she spent her high school years in a public school, and we slowly watched this person change into someone I no longer recognize.

I'm the bad guy.

Fine, she's an "adult" now. It's time for her to learn some hard lessons. I wish I could teach her about the world, but no, she wants to the world to be her teacher. So be it. Go. Learn. Grow up or don't. I no longer have any control over any of it.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 10:58 AM (Pz4pT)

220 @Polliwog the 'Ette I guess that's true. The revolt, any revolt, against a favored (by the left) institution must be hidden. I would be a bit pissed tho if I was ranting in my best first amendment manner about something so trivial - comparatively speaking - and finding my speech banned.

Wish I knew someone who attended one of these games. Would ask them to tweet and see what happens.

Posted by: RedDish on the table...err tablet at January 14, 2018 10:59 AM (Qk+aA)

221 Posted by: mustbequantum at January 14, 2018 10:51 AM (MIKMs)

It's "precession" ... and that would have come much later.

Posted by: Off the reservation at January 14, 2018 10:59 AM (vWMNq)

222 Nail's Crossing. Get this debut novel online. Am greatly enjoying it on my old Kindle.

Mix Elmore Leonard with Tony Hillerman. If you like those authors' works, you're gonna love this one.

Indian cops, savage murder, horses and mules, fast cars, meth dealers, and nasty Cajuns. Nice mix. And spare, droll writing. Dutch Leonard is smiling.

Posted by: Les Kinetic at January 14, 2018 11:01 AM (5LDjk)

223 I'm afraid I'm more a book hoarder than a collector. I just buy whatever strikes my fancy at the moment. The internet makes it much too easy to say, "Hey, that looks interesting!" *click*

Posted by: rickl at January 14, 2018 11:02 AM (sdi6R)

224 >>Same with the Iran revolt. MFM decided *they* were over it so it was
over. Practically impossible to get any info now. Hopefully Trump's
administration is doing what they can in support.

Kindo of related: Insty linked to an excerpt from Julian Assange's book* re: meeting with Google's Eric Schmidt and 3 others, and Assange then describes what he believes was going on. Specifically, Google and other tech firms' desires/accomplishments in embedding themselves in domestic politics and foreign policy, how they are tight with/hired CFR types and partnering with the Dems as well as US (and I assume other) governments.

It's creepy, and underscores how co.'s like Google aren't just online tools, but becoming big players in politics and foreign policy behind the scenes.

https://wikileaks.org/google-is-not-what-it-seems/

Posted by: Lizzy at January 14, 2018 11:02 AM (W+vEI)

225 Book thread has been updated with a new item.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Global Rethinker at January 14, 2018 11:03 AM (zY7k3)

226 209 ...
The words for the cardinal directions, east west north south, are similar in the Germanic and the Latinate languages. ...
Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 14, 2018 10:47 AM (fuK7c)

Latin words for cardinal directions (e.g. borealis) originally came from Greek (e.g. boreas). Later, the Germanic words replaced the original Latin ones (see barbarians).

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at January 14, 2018 11:03 AM (di1hb)

227 >> The cancerous ideology lives on and continues to rot us from within.

very true. It is upsetting to see the left complaining about US intervention overseas, (like influencing elections and such) and how the US is evil, but totally ignoring the commie and maoist programs that destroyed so many countries and did so much damage to the US and europe.

Posted by: Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest at January 14, 2018 11:04 AM (LWu6U)

228 The muslims invented directions. Is your nose two inches from somebody's ass? That's East, (or 'Assed'). The other directions were derived from that reference point.

Posted by: NASA at January 14, 2018 11:08 AM (cW490)

229 Exercise at the gym bores me. Kindle plus treadmill is winning.

Posted by: The Poster Formerly Known as Mr. Barky at January 14, 2018 11:08 AM (6xYv/)

230 Book thread has been updated with a new item.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Global Rethinker at January 14, 2018 11:03 AM (zY7k3)

Yes. For eons, literally, humans took care of their own health. As best they could. Now, I'm not going to disparage modern medicine, because it certainly has its uses, but if we forget how to do that... what we lose, what we've lost...

It is of course, another form of control that is being foisted on humanity. For what purpose? Oh hell, we know.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 11:09 AM (Pz4pT)

231 Posted by: Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest at January 14, 2018 11:04 AM (LWu6U)

I love the idea of pushing back with the argument that Marxism is European Colonialism. It's true and uses Marxism's own arguments against it.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 14, 2018 11:09 AM (rp9xB)

232 Lawwrence Larson: ""The World At War" narrated by Laurence Olivier"
This was one of my favorites, too. When I saw it in the 1970s, there were segments on the various generals and admirals, but when I bought the DVD, that part was missing. I particularly wanted to review the biography of Yamamoto and the story of shooting down his plane. I have never been able to find where those episodes can be watched.

Posted by: Alifa at January 14, 2018 11:10 AM (bawhL)

233 The first page of chapter 13 of, "East of Eden," is entertaining. Also, the end of Steinbeck's, "The Murder," is special.

Posted by: Marooned at January 14, 2018 11:11 AM (8hRlF)

234 As a young man I used to read Playboy while otherwise occupied.

Posted by: Javems at January 14, 2018 11:11 AM (g15mL)

235 This time, I bet Trump won't pay government workers their lost pay. Trump can take actions to make the government work fairly effectively during this shutdown. So Schumer can't win a shutdown stalemate. Most Americans will back Trump.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 14, 2018 10:51 AM (pV/54

From your keyboard to God's ears.

Posted by: Infidel at January 14, 2018 11:13 AM (EGFUD)

236 My ISP is so slow and I load 3-5 sites at a time so I read while those sites are loading. Or in between text conversations while waiting for a response.

Multi tasking!!!

Didn't they say that was bad for you?

Posted by: jakee308 at January 14, 2018 11:14 AM (YOHxA)

237 Why put those valuable looking vases on the TOP SHELF!!!!!

Posted by: jakee308 at January 14, 2018 11:15 AM (YOHxA)

238 "Finally" won? No, the world-left was in the education business first. Before they ever tried anything else. You can find it in the foundational documents of Horace Mann, in which he calls teachers in universal education "agents of the state."

You could go as far as to posit the concept that world leftism grew out of mandatory education, not the other way around. Either way, quit pearl-clutching as if the commies just showed up in your baby's college a couple of years ago. They have been there since the classical curriculum gave way to the Great Books program, not long after the Civil War. Perhaps, as some say, when the Unitarians took over Harvard and Yale, before 1810.

It has been a long damn march.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at January 14, 2018 11:16 AM (H5rtT)

239 Worth the click:
https://tinyurl.com/greatestsnowman

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at January 14, 2018 11:16 AM (ty7RM)

240 I might see if it's in book form. My phone doesn't get good reception at "The End Of The World".

Posted by: t-bird at January 14, 2018 11:16 AM (cW490)

241 Medicine At The End of the World

Here's some other titles in that genre that come highly recommended:

The Survival Medicine Handbook: https://tinyurl.com/ycvpwm94

Where There is no Doctor: https://tinyurl.com/yccdns87

Where There is no ~~NeverGiveUp~~ Dentist: https://tinyurl.com/ycug3hk5

Posted by: Country Singer at January 14, 2018 11:19 AM (yzxic)

242 Exercise at gym+Audible=Time well spent

Posted by: Tuna at January 14, 2018 11:19 AM (jm1YL)

243 Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at January 14, 2018 10:36 AM (vbvxt)

How long you been married?

You know you can't win that argument. Or any argument for that matter. Are you new?

Posted by: jakee308 at January 14, 2018 11:21 AM (YOHxA)

244 You Book People are smart. Like the Chess People.

Posted by: Weasel at January 14, 2018 11:22 AM (Sfs6o)

245 Posted by: Stringer Davis at January 14, 2018 11:16 AM (H5rtT)

We had two civics teachers (how ironic) that were both straight up leftists.

And that was in the early '60's.

The infiltration started during WWII. or the Depression. Hard to tell.

Posted by: jakee308 at January 14, 2018 11:22 AM (YOHxA)

246
Thanks for the update. Looks like a good 'prepper' book. I went looking for a hard copy and found this snide comment " From a suspiciously-anonymous clique of medical writers comes a suspiciously-free "do-it-yourself" manual."

I'm not finding anyone with a printed copy. You could take the pdf file to your local office supply store that does document and manual printing, but I can't find the price per page for printing. I would guess ten cents per page, probably more.

Posted by: Andrew Chin at January 14, 2018 11:23 AM (GroCc)

247 >>> Survival and Austere Medicine: An Introduction.

No chapter on survivalist hormone therapy, breast implants or gender reassignment surgery. WTF?

Posted by: Bradley Manning at January 14, 2018 11:26 AM (/qEW2)

248 I can't read on the treadmill either - not even magazines. Watching The Great Courses CDs works though; I especially like Robert Greenberhs classical music series.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&&V my laptop died at January 14, 2018 11:28 AM (8qne4)

249 What if a survivalist in the woods becomes suicidal because xer biological gender is wrong? Sex reassignment surgery is survivalist medicine.

Posted by: Bradley Manning at January 14, 2018 11:28 AM (/qEW2)

250 How long you been married?

You know you can't win that argument. Or any argument for that matter. Are you new?

Posted by: jakee308 at January 14, 2018 11:21 AM (YOHxA)

Two years, but for the third time.

I'm not new to this, but she kinda is, it's only the second time for her and I'm a lot different from the first one. Better, says she (and of course, says I).

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at January 14, 2018 11:29 AM (vbvxt)

251 Just made a rough pass through our 2017 taxes.

Now I'm in a bad mood. Nobody talk to me!

Posted by: Weasel at January 14, 2018 11:29 AM (Sfs6o)

252
Greetings:
If
I may, I will take advantage of your "book thread" aspect by
recommending Mark Bowden's "Hu� 1968" as the best book I've read this
year (???).
I've previously read the author's "Black Hawk Down"
and "Guests of the Ayatollah" and enjoyed them both. Bowden, in spite of
being a man of his times, manages to keep those impulses under
adult-level control and any lapses are both marginal and easily
forgiven. (Expect, perhaps in his "Epilogue wherein he waxws a bit poetic.) He tells a complex military (his)story well combining both
strategies and anecdotes without getting bogged down in either.
By
far my favorite (p330) was that of a young Marine infantryman whose
M.O. include both my bayonetophobia and my affinity for magazine counts
in the high twenties.

Posted by: 11B40 at January 14, 2018 11:29 AM (evgyj)

253 Is All Hail Eris missing a book thread? That's unnatural.

i finished Anathem (it was a re-read). I'm wondering if I should give Seveneves a shot. Does anyone have an opinion either way on that one?

Posted by: hogmartin at January 14, 2018 11:31 AM (y87Qq)

254 ''Now I'm in a bad mood. Nobody talk to me!''

Geez, I forgot that it's "That time of year''. Thanks for reminding me. Not.

Posted by: Tuna at January 14, 2018 11:32 AM (jm1YL)

255 "They have been there since the classical curriculum gave way to the Great Books program, not long after the Civil War."

I must have missed the memo identifying the Great Books program as a leftist indoctrination tool... silly me, I thought it was all about preserving the best of Western Civilization...

Posted by: Secret Square at January 14, 2018 11:32 AM (9WuX0)

256 Obama and Clinton made their government shut-downs painful for Americans, and gave fed workers a paid holiday.

Trump can make a shut-down relatively painless for most Americans, and in effect furlough many fed workers without pay, and thereby win the stand-off. This can have significant long-term effects.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 14, 2018 11:32 AM (pV/54)

257 Worth the click:
https://tinyurl.com/greatestsnowman

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at January 14, 2018 11:16 AM (ty7RM)

========

Even the flag is the same. They must have filmed it and selected a still.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at January 14, 2018 11:32 AM (/qEW2)

258 Bradley, dear, you'll be surprised to know that the title "Coddling the Mentally Ill in a Survivalist Setting" is still available. Start writing!

Posted by: t-bird at January 14, 2018 11:32 AM (cW490)

259 Reading and eating, that's a constant. When I was kid I would read while eating cereal, and if there was nothing to read I would read the frigging cereal box. These days I read here over coffee.

No reading during sex though, the book keeps sliding off her ass.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Divison at January 14, 2018 11:32 AM (aMlLZ)

260 Active book collecting came to a screeching halt with unemployment during the dot-com bust and I never regained the desire to start back up. Up 'til then, I had been colllecting signed first editions of Sue Grafton, William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, and Walter Mosley. Sold off the Gibsons. Probably should get rid of alll the others but I just don't care enough anymore and it's depressing to realize how much value they've lost since I bought them.

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at January 14, 2018 11:33 AM (7oUUT)

261 So I guess no need for single payer healthcare after all...

Posted by: Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest at January 14, 2018 11:33 AM (LWu6U)

262 I can read and drink wine at the same time! I got skillz!!

Posted by: Jewells45 at January 14, 2018 11:33 AM (dUJdY)

263 @255
Surprise.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at January 14, 2018 11:37 AM (H5rtT)

264 Is All Hail Eris missing a book thread? That's unnatural.

Good point. I was about to yell at all of you for letting the book thread flag. I pretty much rely on the book thread and the art threads for sustenance. I was, well, I was becoming disappointed in y'all.

So who stole Eris and when do we get her back?

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 14, 2018 11:37 AM (fuK7c)

265 Audio books are the solution for enjoying books while exercising, doing chores, or busywork at the office.

Had to read "The Red Pony" in school. It was "Old Yeller" with 100% better writing, which was OK. I liked the other story about the old man with the sword a lot better. Like the young hero, I knew there was a greater story there, of which only the briefest moment had been revealed.

Posted by: exdem13 at January 14, 2018 11:37 AM (W+kMI)

266 257 Worth the click:
https://tinyurl.com/greatestsnowman

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at January 14, 2018 11:16 AM (ty7RM)

========

Even the flag is the same. They must have filmed it and selected a still.
Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at January 14, 2018 11:32 AM (/qEW2)

Looks like the snowmen have a 50 star flag.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at January 14, 2018 11:37 AM (di1hb)

267 The period between the wars was indeed a period of great interest in socialism and communism. Not just in the USA, but all over.
If you weren't a commie, you were a "rat fink".
This, of course, ended poorly.

Posted by: navybrat, enjoying covfefe at January 14, 2018 11:38 AM (w7KSn)

268 (returning from Principles office)
Had to write 500 times
I will not dip girls hair in ink wells anymore

Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 11:38 AM (aC6Sd)

269 Collectible books IMO is like collectible cars...why? They were made to be used (and maybe slightly abused) and enjoyed. If you are buying them to put them up on blocks in an environmentally controlled garage for the collectibility then IMO you are misusing them.

I can understand how books back in the age of hand binding and single line typesetting printing presses were extremely valuable...maybe even priceless...and therefore worthy of being locked in a vault, but I am a philistine I guess.

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at January 14, 2018 11:40 AM (vbvxt)

270 I will not dip my pigtail in Dawn Wells...
I will not

OK think I've got it now.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at January 14, 2018 11:40 AM (H5rtT)

271 @255
Surprise.
Posted by: Stringer Davis at January 14, 2018 11:37 AM (H5rtT)

You might have your curmudgeon set too high.

If you're going with "the road to hell was paved before they invented pavement," you might need to scale it back a bit.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 11:41 AM (Pz4pT)

272 Stringer, the few remaining colleges which have Great Books curricula tend to be conservative and the program contains heavy doses of the Greek and Roman classics. Are you saying universities should have stuck to teaching mainly dead languages?

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&&V my laptop died at January 14, 2018 11:42 AM (8qne4)

273 Yes, I have to have something to read while I eat, whether it's a book, newspaper, or mostly, the internet.

Actually, I don't read books while I'm eating. I wouldn't want to get them messed up.

Posted by: rickl at January 14, 2018 11:42 AM (sdi6R)

274 Posted by: Lizzy at January 14, 2018 11:02 AM (W+vEI)

Voltaire said... to find out who rules you, find the one you can't criticize...

Big Tech is making themselves that very ideal...

Posted by: Don Q. at January 14, 2018 11:42 AM (NgKpN)

275 ''i finished Anathem (it was a re-read). ''

I remember picking that book up a B&N. I actually enjoyed it. Of course, the constant back and forth to the appendix got old after a while and I think an ereader format would have made my the experience better, but that was before I discovered the joys of Nook, then Kindle. I be tried to persuade others, including my son, to read it with no luck. They always say they started but just couldn't get into it. No amount of persuasion to stick with it makes a dent in their determination to avoid at all costs.

Posted by: Tuna at January 14, 2018 11:42 AM (jm1YL)

276 One thing I found especially amusing in that documentary, even though it did not relate directly to the Venona program, was a clip from an interview with a former KGB general who had defected to the West. This guy admitted that the story about J. Edgar Hoover being a crossdresser was planted by the KGB in the American media, who swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Say what you will about Hoover, but back in the day he and his crew did make things uncomfortable for the Commies operating here, and this was a bit of payback for their trouble.
Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at January 14, 2018 10:37 AM (1q8rq)

And it's just about the only thing everyone "knows" about Hoover today.
Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 10:40 AM (Pz4pT)

Welp, now I'm good and depressed. There was so much of this out there as gospel by the lying cocksuckers that I assumed some of it must have been true but didn't care ultimately because he hated the commies at least as much as I did. But to be lied to pisses me off worse than anything.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 11:42 AM (y7DUB)

277 I read books while waiting for appointments in Drs. offices and such..

Kindle....

Posted by: Don Q. at January 14, 2018 11:43 AM (NgKpN)

278 I love Cannery Row. I have chunks of it memorized ("Lee Chong is more than a Chinese grocer. He must be. Perhaps he is evil balanced and held suspended by good, an Asiatic planet pulled toward Lao Tze and pulled away from Lao Tze by the centrifugality of abacus and cash register. Lee Chong suspended, spinning, whirling, among groceries and ghosts. A hard man with a can of beans; a soft man with the bones of his grandfather..."). Also love East of Eden.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 14, 2018 11:44 AM (JPRju)

279 Medicine At The End of the World

You know, that could be made into a really good and useful series for a community college. (Which would be shot down immediately by 'concerned' medicals)

Posted by: t-bird at January 14, 2018 11:44 AM (cW490)

280 So I started to wonder, who started thinking in terms of cardinal directions?

In the northern hemisphere, it came from the rising and setting of the sun.

https://tinyurl.com/ydegkgdb

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at January 14, 2018 11:44 AM (6FqZa)

281 I'm not finding anyone with a printed copy. You could take the pdf file to your local office supply store that does document and manual printing, but I can't find the price per page for printing. I would guess ten cents per page, probably more.
Posted by: Andrew Chin at January 14, 2018 11:23 AM (GroCc)

Most "copy" shops have bulk rate deals. Mrs. Muse can get 6 cents per copy if she buys 100 in advance at our nearby UPS store.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Global Rethinker at January 14, 2018 11:44 AM (zY7k3)

282 Lots of well-meaning people leaned left in the 30s, 40s and into the 50s.

But it was like we kept running experiments that kept proving people like Hayek to be right. Following the road to Socialism inevitably leads to Totalitarianism. Witness Venezuela for a recent example.

If you refuse to see this you're either Overly Educated or have another kind of agenda.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 14, 2018 11:45 AM (pV/54)

283 I think people understood directions right from the start, so those terms are probably some of the earliest words in every language.

The sky used to be much more important to people.

Like the moon. It amazes me how few people seem to understand how the moon works - simple stuff like full moon rising in the East at sunset, or knowing vague direction by the moon.

We used to live in a world defined by the sky.

Posted by: Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest at January 14, 2018 11:45 AM (LWu6U)

284 I read Travels with Charlie when I was in HS. I found it rather boring at the time, perhaps I was too young to appreciate it.

Posted by: PaleRider, simply irredeemable at January 14, 2018 11:47 AM (84F5k)

285 Great Books had us reading The Red Pony well before we read it in Junior High. I hated it both times. We had a pony and the idea of the ending happening to her was nightmarish.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 14, 2018 09:49

Didn't the pony die on page 3 ?

Posted by: JT at January 14, 2018 11:47 AM (8oqCi)

286 I conditioned myself from a very young child to read while taking a bath. I used to spend hours and hours in there at a time, and sometimes still do. Also, I'm a night reader with fire and coffee. I love to read all night while taking the breaks to stoke the coals and used to go 2 or 3 days straight reading a good book or researching before I hit the wall when I needed sleep. I read while listening to a baseball or football game.

But I love reading at night. My dad used to stay up most of the night reading and finishing up work. It's something that's like it's in our nature as men to do so as we stand watch over our loved ones until we know they are safe and sound, and we are rewarded with silence to strategize and brood about the day, week, life, and issues in our own lives or those in a book.

Posted by: Monk at January 14, 2018 11:49 AM (g4lFK)

287 World at War series was a big favourite and didn't miss a episode on its first run for me. Started my life long military history quest.

Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 11:49 AM (aC6Sd)

288 Should have posted this in the pet thread, but I enjoyed reading this one.

How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain
by Gregory Berns

Probably tried to do the same with cats but couldn't get them in to a CAT scan. nyuk nyuk

Posted by: navybrat, enjoying covfefe at January 14, 2018 11:50 AM (w7KSn)

289 It amazes me how few people seem to understand how the moon works - simple stuff like full moon rising in the East at sunset, or knowing vague direction by the moon.

The moon to me is tides. A full moon means a midnight high tide on the outer beaches of Cape Cod. The bay is an hour behind, the sound is its own thing. Knowing this means that I can look at the moon phase and know the tides.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 14, 2018 11:51 AM (fuK7c)

290 270 What about Tuesday Welds???

Posted by: MAxIE at January 14, 2018 11:51 AM (9TR2V)

291 CBD is spot on about Steinbeck. I love his imagery, but his understanding of economics or society seems childish.

I have not read Grapes since I was a kid, but even then I thought he left out way too much, and the bit at the end made me think he was just nuts. How can someone know how to do a roadside ring job, and not know that there are two halves to every transaction, and if someone is buying stuff, then they have money and the only interesting question is why are some people doing well while others are not.

Posted by: Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest at January 14, 2018 11:51 AM (LWu6U)

292 Should we warn the parents who send their kids to Hillsdale and St. John's that the kids might become radicalized if they read Cervantes and Dostoyevsky?

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&&V my laptop died at January 14, 2018 11:52 AM (8qne4)

293 283 I think people understood directions right from the start, so those terms are probably some of the earliest words in every language.

The sky used to be much more important to people.

Like the moon. It amazes me how few people seem to understand how the moon works - simple stuff like full moon rising in the East at sunset, or knowing vague direction by the moon.

We used to live in a world defined by the sky.
Posted by: Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest at January 14, 2018 11:45 AM (LWu6U)

Yes. Nothing beats laying down at night staring up into the sky until the Earth Swallows you and the heavens and stars above wrap around you like a large comfy blanket. It's a beautiful and spiritual thing to experience.

Posted by: Monk at January 14, 2018 11:52 AM (g4lFK)

294 "Scale it back a bit."

Don't, for the love of all that is holy, take my argument for it. I'm just reporting. Start with "The Twelve-Year Sentence," and work your way back through the cites in that. There was an "industry-wide" debate about it at the time.

On the "mostly dead languages" issue, I suggest you take it up with your local bible scholar.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at January 14, 2018 11:52 AM (H5rtT)

295 Of course, the constant back and forth to the appendix got old after a while

Posted by: Tuna at January 14, 2018 11:42 AM (jm1YL)

I had about the same experience. I started it when it came out and Could. Not. Be. Bothered. Just absolutely couldn't get into this dumb book that obviously wanted so hard for me not to get into it. I gave it up after the first few chapters because it was like homework - mind, you've put in all this effort to get through those chapters, and still not a damn thing has happened. All that homework and no payoff!

Then I tried it again after a few months and found something kinda neat - by, say, 1/4 of the way through, over that hump, the goofy vocabulary started being second nature. I got used to it to the point that I didn't need to consult the glossary, and even caught myself starting to think in terms from the book by halfway through.

So it really rewards readers who can just put their head down, get a running start, and knock themselves out cold running into it a few times before they break through. On the other hand, as much as I love it (and like most Stephenson, it seems to be more enjoyable every time through), I absolutely don't fault anyone who tosses it aside in frustration before they get there.

Posted by: hogmartin at January 14, 2018 11:52 AM (y87Qq)

296 Collectible books IMO is like collectible cars...why? They were made to be used (and maybe slightly abused) and enjoyed. If you are buying them to put them up on blocks in an environmentally controlled garage for the collectibility then IMO you are misusing them.

I can understand how books back in the age of hand binding and single line typesetting printing presses were extremely valuable...maybe even priceless...and therefore worthy of being locked in a vault, but I am a philistine I guess.

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at January 14, 2018 11:40 AM (vbvxt)

I used to be that way with guitars. I had certain ones put away that were basically unplayed. I still have some that way, but over the years I learned you're only keeping them nice for the next guy who only wants them cheap anyway, so my new attitude is fuck the next guy, he's getting them used.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Divison at January 14, 2018 11:53 AM (aMlLZ)

297 Thanks CBD and OM!

Decorating tells you the history of man and how people lived through the ages.

Posted by: ALH at January 14, 2018 11:54 AM (/01mw)

298 Lonesome Dove -- the miniseries on TV was very true to the book. Both book and video were excellent.

Posted by: Smilin' Jack at January 14, 2018 10:01 AM (zMj9Z

I concur.

Posted by: JT at January 14, 2018 11:54 AM (8oqCi)

299 What about Tuesday Welds???

Posted by: MAxIE at January 14, 2018 11:51 AM (9TR2V)

I prefer Saturday Solders.

Posted by: Country Singer at January 14, 2018 11:55 AM (yzxic)

300
Mark Bowden's "Hué 1968"
11B40 at January 14, 2018 11:29 AM

Looks like an interesting book. Seems to have provoked quite a discussion on Goodreads with lots of reviews and the inevitable leftist historians.

Posted by: Andrew Chin at January 14, 2018 11:55 AM (GroCc)

301 >>But I love reading at night. My dad used to stay up most of the night reading and finishing up work.

I like reading at night or in the early a.m. - love it when it's a completely quiet, peaceful house. My problem with staying up late reading is because when it's a good book, I want to reach the end!! That is a big problem when it's a book like REAMDE

The kindle makes this a little harder because it's not as easy to gauge how much is left vs. feeling the right side of the book get lighter, thinner (the % mark on kindle is not tangible!).

Posted by: Lizzy at January 14, 2018 11:56 AM (W+vEI)

302 Any ideas for listening to books while walking the dog? Amazon Audible?

I love the dog but find it boring and repetitive to watch her sniff every last blade of grass.

-
As mentioned before here, the Chet and Bernie mystery series by Spencer Quinn is fun. They are legitimate mysteries but also humerous. The humor comes from Chet, the first ~~person~~ dog narrator's imperfect understanding of the ways of homo sapiens. Chet's partner, Bernie, is a rough around the edges private eye given to drink possibly because he was fired from the police for being too honest so his wife took his son and left.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now On the Gorilla Channel at January 14, 2018 11:57 AM (+y/Ru)

303 Of course, the constant back and forth to the appendix got old after a while

=====

Could be one of the reasons (among many) that Pratchett really took hold. Footnotes at the bottom of the page. Read an interesting biography of one of the 'black' Italians -- checking endnotes the whole thing was invented of whole cloth -- aside from the facts that the man was born and died.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 14, 2018 11:58 AM (MIKMs)

304 Hiss was a commie spy. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 14, 2018 10:08 AM (Pz4pT)

And his name rhymes with piss.

Posted by: JT at January 14, 2018 11:58 AM (8oqCi)

305 I do think that some of the books I've collected I'm only keeping nice for the next guy, and I don't have a problem with that.

The problem is I don't know who the next guy is. I wish I had somebody to leave them to.

Posted by: rickl at January 14, 2018 11:59 AM (sdi6R)

306
What about Tuesday Welds???

Married to J.B. Weld

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 14, 2018 12:00 PM (IqV8l)

307 boulder hobo's linked article refutes what I said above, but it was written by a linguist so I think the kind of guy who would wander around in the woods for weeks if he ever got lost and not someone I would trust to understand, well, anything really.

Humans had to have those words very early on.

Posted by: Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest at January 14, 2018 12:01 PM (LWu6U)

308 Steinbeck and Fitzgerald were authors I loved in my teens. I never finished Grapes of wrath, though. I loved East of Eden.

One thing I remember from Travels with Charlie was Steinbeck saying that when he was growing up in Salinas everyone there was Republican. Sigh.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&&V my laptop died at January 14, 2018 12:02 PM (8qne4)

309 McMurtrey was involved in the production of the miniseries which was my first true appreciation of the talent of Robert Duvall.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 10:12 AM (y7DUB)

Same here, but with Robert Urich.

Posted by: JT at January 14, 2018 12:03 PM (8oqCi)

310 92. I listen to them on my phone as mp3. I rip them from CD. You can hold a whole book, offline without audible or crap like that.

Posted by: SkinnerVic at January 14, 2018 12:04 PM (8oFWM)

311 I do think that some of the books I've collected I'm only keeping nice for the next guy, and I don't have a problem with that.

The problem is I don't know who the next guy is. I wish I had somebody to leave them to.

Posted by: rickl at January 14, 2018 11:59 AM (sdi6R)

Yeah that's my problem too.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Divison at January 14, 2018 12:05 PM (aMlLZ)

312 I collect pop-up books because I like them.

Posted by: bour3 at January 14, 2018 12:06 PM (KXQr+)

313 We sometimes forget how many bien-pensants saw communism as the inexorable wave of the future

-
Like a Hillary presidency.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now On the Gorilla Channel at January 14, 2018 12:06 PM (+y/Ru)

314 Looks like the snowmen have a 50 star flag.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at January 14, 2018 11:37 AM (di1hb)

========

Correct - I must be suffering from early onset Obama disease.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at January 14, 2018 12:06 PM (/qEW2)

315 118
all his hunting expeditions in Africa.

Posted by: IC at January 14, 2018 09:46 AM (m5xYa)

===

Wait, wut? Has there been more than one?

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 14, 2018 09:50 AM (EZebt)
More like over twenty times

Posted by: IC at January 14, 2018 12:07 PM (a0IVu)

316 From President Trump's twitter feed Hillary's 33000 emails might not be missing after all:

https://tinyurl.com/hfkpkag

Posted by: An Observation at January 14, 2018 12:08 PM (fe4ub)

317 In the northern hemisphere, it came from the rising and setting of the sun.

https://tinyurl.com/ydegkgdb

That was just painful. I wanted to leave the author in the quad hanging by his underwear.

Posted by: t-bird at January 14, 2018 12:09 PM (cW490)

318 I tend to buy in areas of interest, mostly textiles and plants but ones that connect to people/uses rather than academic. I have one book from 1890 The Leaf Collector's HandBook. The author says the purpose was as an "aid in the preservation and in the classification of specimen leaves of the trees of Northeastern America." The owner of the book actually used it that way, and in fact there are notes that a group of ladies got together one afternoon and collected leaves for the book that are still in the book. Very fragile, but in the book!

Posted by: Lirio100 at January 14, 2018 12:09 PM (JK7Jw)

319 G'day, Moron Literati.

A quick plug for a new collection of stuff my late brother-in-law wrote. Family hasn't let me get my hands on our copy to read, yet, but I can tell you about it anyway!

(Links below include AOSHQ kickback reference)

Scraps of Sorrow & Joy
by Vince Clark
http://amzn.to/2FCg6K4

Vince's earlier detective novel:
http://bit.ly/Vince-Clark-Confidants

And as long as I'm taking a spot for promo-ing brothers in law, Vince's younger brother Jack's several publications - gritty city detective stories, and fascinating family reflections.
http://bit.ly/jack-clark

End of plugola

Posted by: mindful webworker - literally literate at January 14, 2018 12:09 PM (ECLlc)

320 311 Lotsa people here have no kids, some have few and I don't know any who had many
goddamn shame

Posted by: MAxIE at January 14, 2018 12:10 PM (9TR2V)

321 NOOD

Posted by: Skip at January 14, 2018 12:10 PM (aC6Sd)

322 320 I guess we're saving America for foreigners to enjoy just like those books

Posted by: MAxIE at January 14, 2018 12:11 PM (9TR2V)

323 Apparently I will be subjected to hearing Kamala Harris' name mispronounced by national media types for the next election cycle.

People, Imma gonna go ahead and get this out of the way now, it's "KAH-mah-lah."

-
I thought it was Ooo Eee, Ooo Ah Ah, Ting Tang Kamala Walla Bing Bang.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now On the Gorilla Channel at January 14, 2018 12:13 PM (+y/Ru)

324 Posted by: JT at January 14, 2018 11:47 AM (8oqCi)

Beginning of book, end of story.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 14, 2018 12:14 PM (rp9xB)

325 Just made a rough pass through our 2017 taxes.

Now I'm in a bad mood. Nobody talk to me!

Posted by: JT at January 14, 2018 12:16 PM (8oqCi)

326 Just finished The Coldest Winter, David Halberstam. An account of the Korean War-the first four years, anyway. Macarthur-a poisonous personality and a lesson in why generals should not general in their golden years. Kim Jong (original flavor)-Whoa Fat gets it honest.
I am sure Halberstam gets his left liberal digs in there, but his intense research shows in a treatise on a war I know little about-and I am a serious reader of war accounts.
Macarthur wasn't fired for threatening China with nukes-he was fired for being an insufferable asshole ( I assumed view #1 until now).

Posted by: dickdurk at January 14, 2018 12:16 PM (h81CE)

327
Kevin Sorbo Banned from East Coast Comicon Because He's 'Pals with Sean Hannity'

https://tinyurl.com/yax95hdh

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 14, 2018 12:16 PM (IqV8l)

328 Speaking of books, I have a recommendation for dems, never trumpers, and the media(BIRM). Forget about The Art of the Deal and read The Art of War. It would help explain why DJT is running rings around you.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 14, 2018 12:17 PM (gC2IV)

329 Watch Skip run......into back of car in front!? from who the tool bowls......

Posted by: saf at January 14, 2018 12:18 PM (cS/ge)

330 Back in my Weekly Wednesday comics buying days, I sometimes would read a comic while driving home to devour the lot. But only at stoplights. Funny how the light suddenly changes and catches you by surprise.

I consider myself a comics accumulator rather than a collector. I bought what I liked, and when a title went sour, I purged it from the list.

The list is kaput now; my comics buying is now strictly trade paperback collections.

Some comics fans, however, are COLLECTORS. Some will even buy every appearance of Character X no matter how poorly written or drawn that particular comic is.

BTW, good to see other Bolan and Helm readers here.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 14, 2018 12:23 PM (PWPy3)

331 boulder hobo's linked article refutes what I said above, but it was written by a linguist

They were linguists who marked the family-tree of Proto-Indo-European, showing how Hittite branched off from a common ancestor and then how the rest of us invented the wheel and chariot. These linguists also pointed to the Ukraine steppe as the most-likely point of origin.

Genetics has proven the linguists right, here. So the linguists have a good track record IMO.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at January 14, 2018 12:24 PM (6FqZa)

332 if I should give Seveneves a shot.

Did NOT make sense in the setup or the long story.

Posted by: DaveA at January 14, 2018 12:25 PM (FhXTo)

333 It's just weird to read a comment like, "yeah, I asked a question about astronomy, and I got a response linking a professional astronomer, but pfff... that link was just to an egghead astronomer".

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at January 14, 2018 12:25 PM (6FqZa)

334 Welp, now I'm good and depressed. There was so much of this out there as gospel by the lying cocksuckers that I assumed some of it must have been true but didn't care ultimately because he hated the commies at least as much as I did. But to be lied to pisses me off worse than anything.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 11:42 AM (y7DUB)

You put your finger on it. A book that was recently discussed on the Book Thread is "The Survival of Freedom", a SF anthology edited by Jerry Pournelle. I read that book back in 1979 or '80, and that one book more than anything is what made me a conservative. Mainly because after reading that book, I realized just how much I had been LIED to by these leftist cockholsters all those years and I was well and truly enraged. And in all the years since I have come across nothing to counter the points made in that book about these lying bastards, and just what it is they have in store for us.

Unfortunately I'm afraid it's too late to do anything about it. They are too deeply infiltrated into the institutions and the populace is, overall, dumbed down too much. A pity, it was nice while it lasted.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at January 14, 2018 12:27 PM (1q8rq)

335 >>I collect pop-up books because I like them.

Posted by: bour3

Want to see my pop-up?

Posted by: Anthony Weiner at January 14, 2018 12:27 PM (2cuLk)

336 if I should give Seveneves a shot.

I listened to a lot of the audio on my latest Boulder/Houston excursion. If you can stomach the smug against "climate deniers" and for "Diversity!!", it's engaging enough.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at January 14, 2018 12:27 PM (6FqZa)

337 Welp, I'm off to "do things" with Mrs Hades (out of the gutter please, I mean things we have to leave the house for) so I'm out. Later roonz and roonettez, fear no evil!

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at January 14, 2018 12:31 PM (vbvxt)

338 Mr. terlit hobo, since it was I who asked the original question I shall thank you for the link.

I'm a little bogged down in the Polynesian left/right stuff, but I will power through it all.

Thanks.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 14, 2018 12:35 PM (fuK7c)

339 I guess we're saving America for foreigners to enjoy just like those books

Posted by: MAxIE at January 14, 2018 12:11 PM (9TR2V)

========

Most of them probably can't even read English.

I agree, it is sad. Death of a country, of a culture by attrition.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at January 14, 2018 12:36 PM (/qEW2)

340 Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at January 14, 2018 12:27 PM (1q8rq)

Thanks for that insightful response. I've been married for 42 years and part of the reason for the longevity of the relationship is that my wife values my being truthful with her. In fact the only strains have been brought on by either of us being less than completely forthcoming with the other, primarily me because I'm just not as open of a person as she is.

What is continually frustrating to me is how she explicitly trusts everything the MFM says to her when I make it a point to out and out tell her that they're lying to her or at the very least being extremely selective on what they present to her. Since she worked in and with the MFM before retiring, I know she finds it difficult to admit that; although I don't have any problem owning up to the fact that a lot of people in my former field, IT, would be quite content to create the perfect software with which to efficiently control people who don't think like they do. I'm not sure the light will ever go on.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 12:49 PM (y7DUB)

341 My point was that a linguist is probably one of those people who can not look up at the sky and know which direction is East.

It is kind of absurd to think that humans did not need to know direction until recently.

Posted by: Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest at January 14, 2018 12:55 PM (LWu6U)

342 Love the bookcase!

I just finished "The Moving Hand" audiobook. Unusual Agatha Christie because the narrator is just a regular guy and Miss Marple doesn't show up until the last quarter.

Started "Master and Commander " but uncertain whether I'll finish before it's due. Hope springs eternal!

My physical books are mostly poetry, compilations of short SF, and Asian Christian biography and autobiography. On Kindle I have old favorites and a few new SF. Someone earlier mentioned Cadfael mysteries; I'm replacing my completely destroyed paperbacks as they go on sale on Kindle.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at January 14, 2018 12:57 PM (G8B7r)

343 Since she worked in and with the MFM before retiring, I know she finds it difficult to admit that; although I don't have any problem owning up to the fact that a lot of people in my former field, IT, would be quite content to create the perfect software with which to efficiently control people who don't think like they do. I'm not sure the light will ever go on.
Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2018 12:49 PM

I have loved ones at this point. When they see how shoddy the newspaper coverage has gotten, they are upset. But they don't consider the same problems on broadcast.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at January 14, 2018 01:00 PM (G8B7r)

344 97 Apparently I will be subjected to hearing Kamala Harris' name mispronounced by national media types for the next election cycle.

People, Imma gonna go ahead and get this out of the way now, it's "KAH-mah-lah."
Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 14, 2018 09:41 AM (EZebt)

Wrong. Hate to correct a fellow Moron, but it's "Kolyma Harris". She was named after a popular vacation spot in the Workers' Paradise.

Posted by: George LeS at January 14, 2018 01:34 PM (+TcCF)

345 Plenty of writers let their politics show in their books, including some on our side. Sayers, John Dixon Carr, and of course, Kipling. In so far as GKC can be said to be "on our side", he certainly did. H G Wells on the other, along with many more.

But the trend of hammering it is new. Well, there was Dickens, but he was so committed to the underdog that the French aristocrats, who start the book as vile scum, become heroic a the end. Unlike modern lefties, he really meant it.

One I suspect (don't know for sure) is O'Brian. He seems conservative. Jack is a true-blue Tory (of course), but Stephen is a reformed radical. There's a fun scene in which he argues with a captured French radical.

Posted by: George LeS at January 14, 2018 01:42 PM (+TcCF)

346 The words for the cardinal directions, east west
north south, are similar in the Germanic and the Latinate languages. So
I started to wonder, who started thinking in terms of cardinal
directions? How did they get into the culture(s)?
Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 14, 2018 10:47 AM (fuK7c)

I think it has something to do with the archbishops.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 14, 2018 01:46 PM (2K6fY)

347
But the trend of hammering it is new. Well, there was Dickens, but
he was so committed to the underdog that the French aristocrats, who
start the book as vile scum, become heroic a the end. Unlike modern
lefties, he really meant it.

=====

George Bernard Shaw. Fabian Socialist. Extraordinary writer.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 14, 2018 01:48 PM (MIKMs)

348 Travels with Charlie is a great, fun book and completely different in tone than most of Steinbeck's other work. Another alternate tone book of his is The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights which is the best collection of the Arthurian tales available. Many of the stories are kind of dark: it wasn't all knights in shining armor, but its wonderful stuff. Much easier to read than La Mort d'Arthur and less weighted down with psychobabble and modern ideas than The Once and Future King.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 14, 2018 01:56 PM (39g3+)

349 The only other tasks I'll do while reading is eat or listen to music. Anything else and I lose my focus and don't enjoy the reading as much.

I will listen to audio books while playing Skyrim or World of Warcraft, though.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 14, 2018 02:01 PM (39g3+)

350 'A Modest Proposal' -- extreme rhetoric. (Just reminded of that from yesterday's slave discussion.)

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 14, 2018 02:04 PM (MIKMs)

351 Oh, and I wanted to recommend Charles Kuralt for his very good Americana video essays. I'm sure he emulated 'Travels With Charlie'.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 14, 2018 02:07 PM (MIKMs)

352 * pedant mode ON*

The title is "Travels With Charley." E-Y.

(I've never read any Steinbeck, but I know the titles.)

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 14, 2018 02:07 PM (G+J43)

353 WG -- Soooooorrreeee (Steve Martin voice). Actually thank you because I am very imprecise (and hand-waive a lot) and forget that I am writing to people rather than talking to them. Heaven knows that I have confuzzled more stuff than I can even remember here.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 14, 2018 02:18 PM (MIKMs)

354 'A Modest Proposal' -- extreme rhetoric.

While true, it was deliberately written as a political tract. He didn't try to disguise it as a story. All of Swift's writings were political satire, but it was up front. Gulliver's Travels was done more of an allegory than a fictional novel that was packed with his political viewpoints. Same with Dickens. He wrote fiction, but it was meant to be political statements and to try to change the culture.

And I tend to give lefties in the past a bit of a pass because the culture was nasty and awful most of the time, so it needed fixing desperately. Slavery, extreme poverty, complete contempt for humanity, exploitation etc. Writing against that stuff isn't just reasonable, its pretty much mandatory.

But today? When racism consists of eating a taco? Get the hell out of my face.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 14, 2018 02:29 PM (39g3+)

355 mustbequantum --

Comment was aimed at everybody.

It works in reverse; I could spell a lot of newsmakers' names but didn't know how to pronounce them because I don't watch TV news.

BTW, you ever heard of a sadly short-lived '90s comics series titled "Quantum and Woody"? Wannabe super-hero and his layabout buddy. Hilarious. Publisher folded.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 14, 2018 02:57 PM (G+J43)

356
BTW, you ever heard of a sadly short-lived '90s comics series titled
"Quantum and Woody"? Wannabe super-hero and his layabout buddy.
Hilarious. Publisher folded.

=====

No, but I'll ask youngest kidlet (who is wearing her Rick and Morty tshirt today) if she has heard about it.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 14, 2018 03:33 PM (MIKMs)

357 264 Is All Hail Eris missing a book thread? That's unnatural.

......

So who stole Eris and when do we get her back?
Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 14, 2018 11:37 AM (fuK7c)
----
I apologize for being tardy to the argy-bargy, but in my defense A) I woke up at around 1400 hours, and B) the only thing I read of note didn't really merit mention, Daniel Clowes' graphic novel Patience. It's a time-jumping murder mystery with no real resolution, more about sordid secrets revealed and strength of character belatedly found.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 14, 2018 03:57 PM (qJtVm)

358 "...but it was written by a linguist so I think the kind of guy who would wander around in the woods for weeks if he ever got lost and not someone I would trust to understand, well, anything really."
----

Your reasoning is sound, sir.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 14, 2018 03:58 PM (qJtVm)

359 1. Shaw's socialism was real, but idiosyncratic in his plays. In Major Barbara, a capitalist is favorably portrayed. I think he like the idea of centralization, private or state.

2. Swift was anything but a leftist. Quite the opposite. Like Aristophanes, Juvenal, and Waugh, he was a true reactionary.

But the real question isn't about overtly political writers, e.g., Orwell. Everyone knows what to expect from Chesterton, for instance, or Shaw. It's the ones who don't put it up front who are interesting. That's why I mentioned O'Brian; I'm not sure.

I suspect that Wodehouse had a (very slight) left streak.
(a) IIRC, Archie Moffam is the only hero who served in WWI, which considering the world he wrote about, is astonishing. He did express (privately) some semi-pacifist sentiments.
(b) While he does sometimes poke fun at the left, it's often a lot more affectionate than the portrait of Spode. (See Comrade Bingo, or Psmith.)
(c) He doesn't seem to think much of productive work. This runs through a lot of his stuff.
(d) At the time, the reformist theme in Psmith Journalist was catnip to the progs. Of course that changed, but it doesn't matter here. That's about the only genuinely serious cause I recall PGW taking up.

I wouldn't want to push this too far. But I think it's there.

Another point: IIRC, the only time Rex Stout really showed his lib politics was in the very last (and one of the worst) Nero Wolf novels. Watergate is central to it. Until then, it was limited to a fondness for rich guys to be guilty. But then, that's true of many right wing mystery writers as well. Rich settings are more interesting.

Posted by: George LeS at January 14, 2018 03:58 PM (+TcCF)

360 Posted by: vivi at January 14, 2018 10:10 AM (11H2y)

Yay! Another Thomas Perry Fan. Currently reading his lates, The Bomb Maker.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at January 14, 2018 04:24 PM (ihzOe)

361 Grannie MoFo's secret sauce for her meatloaf looks like it has mustard, ketchup, Worstershire, A-1, and some sort of spice mix in it. I would personally put in some Jerk spice, plus lots of fresh parsley and garlic.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 14, 2018 04:40 PM (qJtVm)

362 Wrong thread! Excuse moi!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 14, 2018 04:41 PM (qJtVm)

363 Rereading C L Bevill's Bubba mysteries. They're light, funny and a very good read when you're fighting a cold.

Posted by: gingeroni at January 14, 2018 04:50 PM (GIqnq)

364 I'm pretty sure reading is like eating - it should be done exclusive of anything else to reap the full benefit.

By the way, _Emil and the Detectives_ is a great kids' book, and the James Boschert _Talon_ series so far (I'm on number two) is fantastic. Also, there's a new book out about the Black Prince (by Michael Jones), can't wait to read it!

Posted by: Lisl at January 14, 2018 05:43 PM (OAB5z)

365 I never caught the First Edition, First Printing bug, although I had a couple of customers who did have it. One last bought two copies of every hardback -- one to read and one to collect and keep in perfect condition, just like action figure collectors buy toys and never take them out of the box. I figure it's because once I started working in a bookstore, I discovered they could actually print them faster than I could read them, and it wasn't worth further cluttering the house with more books than we already owned. There's a couple of authors I buy in hardback first day -- David Weber's Honor Barrington book, C.J. Cherryh 's Foreigner series, and Carol O'Connell's Mallory series.

But I do collect favorite authors. Since I was forced into retirement (long story, don't ask; I can bend your ear all day long), I've gone back to re-read authors I enjoyed in the day but was too busy to reread. If I can't get the book, I buy the cheapest mass market available on ABE. As long as it doesn't fall apart on me, I'm happy.

Posted by: Deplorable Lady with a Deplorable Basket of Deplorable Cats at January 14, 2018 05:58 PM (T3JzS)

366 "lady" not "last". Damn autocucumber.

Posted by: Deplorable Lady with a Deplorable Basket of Deplorable Cats at January 14, 2018 05:59 PM (T3JzS)

367 No, I cannot multi-task while reading. That was one of the big reasons why I stopped watching TV over 50 years ago.

Posted by: LCMS Rulz! at January 14, 2018 06:14 PM (o7l6R)

368 BTW, you ever heard of a sadly short-lived '90s comics series titled "Quantum and Woody"? Wannabe super-hero and his layabout buddy. Hilarious. Publisher folded.

They're being put out again, great, hliarious comic

Another point: IIRC, the only time Rex Stout really showed his lib politics was in the very last (and one of the worst) Nero Wolf novels.

I always got the sense that Archie was a lefty and Nero a staunch conservative, as far as their politics went -- which wasn't far. Until the end, like you say. The people who picked up the series and kept writing them were a bit more political, but not much.

Generally speaking the rich and the powerful are the bad guys in mysteries because they have the resources and ability to cover things up and make a mystery. Joe blow living in the Salvation Army center doesn't have the will or the money to cover anything up. There's never really a mystery, either you know who did it and find out soon... or nobody ever finds out.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 14, 2018 08:33 PM (39g3+)

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