Sunday Morning Book Thread - 05-15-2022 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(ht: Art Lindsay)

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (do you use the same process for fossilizing squirrels?). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material, even if it's nothing more than DOCTOR Jill Biden's "bestselling" memoirs. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(What the hell is this thing?)

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, heat up that breakfast burrito, and crack open a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

According to Wikipedia, the National Library of Kosovo has had a controversial and turbulent history. For about a decade (1989-1999), the library was used for alternative purposes to house refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Much of the collection was also destroyed during this time. After the war in Kosovo, numerous international organizations cooperated to restore collections and library services. This is one area where international organizations can do a lot of good, I think. The building itself has a unique and distinctive architecture. The official line is that the style is meant to reflect a blending of Byzantine and Islamic forms, though there are other interpretations.

IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR WORD POWER

Today's entry comes to us courtesy of the Ghost of Endor, the Head Ewok In Charge himself, ace:

xeric (/'zerik/) - adj - of an environment or habitat containing little moisture; very dry

Comment: When I first saw this word in the context of Senator Elizabeth Warren, I thought it was some sort of new pronoun. No, it turns out ace was referring to her ladybits...

first time i ever used the word "xeric" which I just learned a couple of years ago and I'm glad I got to use it with you guys
Posted by: ace at May 12, 2022 12:55 PM (0G13K)

"PERFESSOR" SQUIRREL RECOMMENDS...

...The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

I recently decided to "upgrade" my old copy of this book, which was falling apart. My new, hardcover copy perfectly captures the spirit of this book, as it features a copper-colored cover, two-colored text inside to represent the inner and outer stories, and lovely two-color art at the beginning of each chapter. Physically, the book is a representation of the book-within-the-book, which only adds to the charm of this timeless classic.

The Neverending Story tells the tale of a young boy with the unlikely name of Bastian Balthazar Bux who is NOT hero material. He's fat, short, weak, and while reasonably intelligent, is not known for being a good student. The only gift he has is making up his own stories. He stumbles across the titular book one day while hiding from bullies in an old bookshop. Bastian steals the book and is then sucked into a whirlwind adventure as he follows Atreyu's journey to find a cure for the Childlike Empress. He then undergoes his own magical journey of self-discovery. Unlike most epic fantasy, the struggles and challenges faced by Bastion and Atreyu are much more complex than a simple battle between "good" and "evil." It's much more about the battle of man v. nature in Atreyu's quest and the conflict within oneself in Bastion's journey to discover who he really is.

On the surface, this may seem like a conventional fantasy story, but it's quite layered as there are numerous stories within stories. It's very much like Inception in that there is always one more layer to explore. Even though the story uses fantasy tropes as the framing device, at the end of the day, it's really about a sad little boy who is struggling to deal with the grief of losing his mother at a young age. He escapes temporarily into a fantasy world, but discovers--almost too late--that the real world is where he belongs. His father, too, is suffering, and Bastion is unable to connect with his father so that the two of them can deal with that grief and move on with their lives together.

If there is a moral to this story, it's this--while imagination and creativity are an essential part of being human, we should not lose ourselves to fantasy. We see that everyday on this blog when we discuss the delusional ravings of the left. They are completely unmoored from reality, lost in their own minds, unable to cope with the real world. This is the danger that Bastian is eventually able to overcome within himself.

It's been several decades since I read this book. I've had many of my own adventures and life experiences that deepen my appreciation for this book. But that is another story, and shall be told another time.

++++++++++

++++++++++

BOOKS BY MORONS

Howdy!
My name is Aaron Cummins.
I'm a long-time lurker at Ace o' Spades and a first-time author.
My first book, The Cartographers Guild and the Search for the Jade Mask will be released on Thursday on Amazon.
It's an Indiana Jones-style romp through the Pamir Mountains of central Asia. It's got bandits, dangerous mountains, wild animals, a lost city, and even a fight with some yetis.
I would be much obliged if you could toss me a link this week in the Sunday book thread.
Thanks,
Aaron Cummins
Texas moron

Comment: This sounds like a real hoot! I enjoy a good mish-mash of genres, such as treasure hunting, strange monsters (Lovecraftian preferred, but I'm ok with other types), and ideas just crazy enough to work.

REMINDER: The Lone Star Book Festival will be held in Seguin, Texas (east of San Antonio) on May 28th and 29th. All Moron authors are encouraged to attend! (ht: Sgt Mom, who will be there at booth M5, on Donegan St. in front of the courthouse)

++++++++++
MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

I just finished reading The Dog Who Wouldn't Be by Farley Mowat on Kindle. I am sure you and almost all readers of the Pet Thread would like it. To be fair, I laughed many many times while reading this. I think it is almost the perfect Pet Thread book!
I'll probably be sending this to the Book Thread as well.
Thanks for picking up the Pet Thread, I stand in awe of the august body of COBs that help keep the wheels of the AoS empire turning, even though I know you are probably just in it for the Ace Dental Plan!
Take care, stay safe, and be well!
Regards
Hrothgar
-- This is the day that the Lord hath made,
treat His "present" to you with the respect it deserves!

Comment: Hrothgar sent this to the Pet Thread, but it's also a good comment for the Book Thread. From the Amazon blurb, it sounds like this is an excellent book about a boy and his beloved dog. We should have an "animal themed" Book Thread one of these days...Animals are almost always a welcome addition to a story because they are endlessly entertaining.

+++++

This Christopher R. Taylor chap seems quite the erudite and clever fellow. [Responding to comments from Christopher R Taylor from last week's Sunday Morning Book Thread - PS]
The Horde is reminded that his Life Unworthy is an outstanding novel involving a werewolf, Nazis, Roma, the occult and devastated wartime Poland. I hate werewolf stories with he fiery heat of a trillion exploding suns, but I absolutely loved this book. Cannot recommend it more highly.
Posted by: Sharkman at May 08, 2022 09:20 AM (8gxrg)

Comment: Like Sharkman, I'm not generally into werewolf stories, though there are exceptions. This one sounds right up my alley!

+++++

This week I started reading Theistic Evolution, a collection of essays that explore the viability of the argument that God used the forces of random mutations and natural selection to create humans and all the other critters. It also delves into whether these forces, quite apart from the existence of God, could have caused humans to develop. I have about 800 more pages to go, so I can't evaluate the quality of the arguments yet. I will applaud the writers and editors for making the essays accessible to the non-scientifically educated layman. I don't want the 6th grade version, but I don't have a degree in molecular biology either. I'll give my final review in about 6 months when I'm done...
Posted by: PabloD says start up the rotors at May 08, 2022 09:52 AM (ZfIh5)

Comment: This is one of those topics that will make your brain explode if you think about it too much. Anti-theists will proclaim that evolution through natural selection over billions of years was able to create humans. But is that really the whole story? Considering the sheer number of mutations and generations required to get from single-celled organisms to humans, it just doesn't seem like 3.5 billion years is enough time. It's truly remarkable that we exist and that we have created the civilization we now enjoy.

+++++

I am starting to read The Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab. I want to know exactly what is in the thinking of one of our enemies. I read Mein Kampf once. I considered it an appalling book. Schwab's book is appalling in a similar fashion. The world, not just us, is under assault by what I consider demonic/satanic forces.
Posted by: kraken at May 12, 2022 08:35 AM (Vr12I)

Comment: Kraken makes an excellent point here. Reading the books of our enemies is one of the key ways we have for understanding them and ultimately defeating them. Remember, they are PROUD of the things they write in their books! For them, they take an almost orgasmic pleasure in detailing just what they will do when they finally take over the world. Read, and prepare yourselves accordingly.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE!

+-----+-----+-----+-----+

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

Brothers of the Wind by Tad Williams

That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding my Sunday Morning Book Thread. This is a very special place. You are very special people (in all the best ways!). The kindness, generosity, and wisdom of the Moron Horde knows no bounds. Let's keep reading!

If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or writing projects that you'd like to see on the Sunday Morning Book Thread, you can send them to perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com. Your feedback is always appreciated! You can also take a virtual tour of OUR library at libib.com/u/perfessorsquirrel. Since I added sections for AoSHQ, I now consider it OUR library, rather than my own personal fiefdom...

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 05-08-22 (hat tip: vmom stabby stabby stabamillion) (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 T10?

Posted by: Weasel at May 15, 2022 09:00 AM (0IeYL)

2 Happy Sunday.

Posted by: Ciampino at May 15, 2022 09:00 AM (qfLjt)

3 Tolle Lege!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 15, 2022 09:01 AM (PiwSw)

4 That library is hideous.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 15, 2022 09:01 AM (Msys3)

5 Tolle Lege
Still slowly working on Richard Pipes Russian Revolution, getting more convinced we are rhyming that.
Our Intelligentsia is driving ours just as the Russians had.

Posted by: Skip at May 15, 2022 09:01 AM (2JoB8)

6 4 That library is hideous.
Posted by: Tonypete at May 15, 2022 09:01 AM (Msys3)

I don't know, it's quite creative, and I bet it took a long time to get all those chains from inner-city basketball hoops...

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 15, 2022 09:02 AM (PiwSw)

7 Morning, Horde...How goes it?

Only 51 pages to go in my current book, Brothers of the Wind by Tad Williams...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 09:02 AM (K5n5d)

8 The building itself has a unique and distinctive architecture.

-
The cold pricklys.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 09:03 AM (FVME7)

9 That library is hideous.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 15, 2022 09:01 AM (Msys3)

It looks like a beehive on crack.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 09:03 AM (45fpk)

10 For those looking for Library/Collection quality books, check out this link to The Folio Society...

https://tinyurl.com/yyl8dpz8

Posted by: Thomas Bender at May 15, 2022 09:03 AM (fHm5h)

11 For years I always thought the guy who sings "The Never Ending Story" was a chick. Then he was on the radio one day talking about it and I was wow!

Dude had a weird girl's name so what ya gonna do...

More coffee.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 15, 2022 09:04 AM (R/m4+)

12 The only reading accomplished this week was reading to the grandkids/little stinker that I sit for.

"Read it again Papa!" never gets old.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 15, 2022 09:05 AM (Msys3)

13 That library looks like a honeycomb, no?

Posted by: dantesed at May 15, 2022 09:06 AM (88xKn)

14 4 That library is hideous.

Agreed.
Everything in cages?

Posted by: Ciampino at May 15, 2022 09:06 AM (qfLjt)

15 Is the chain mail on the building to keep it protected from arrows and lances?

Posted by: Skip at May 15, 2022 09:07 AM (2JoB8)

16 Add me to the list who loves Life Unworthy by Christopher R. Taylor. I only read it because he is a Moron, because otherwise I would probably not consider a book about werewolves.

But, it isn't really a book about werewolves. The werewolf is tool for Good.

I read it several years ago; I think it's time to charge up the kindle for a re-read.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at May 15, 2022 09:07 AM (OX9vb)

17 I'm in the process of loading up my Kindle for vacation. Light beach reading, nothing heavy. I'll need about 8 books. Rev will need 1. He's a big John Sandford fan, so that'll be easy.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 09:07 AM (45fpk)

18 Is the chain mail on the building to keep it protected from arrows and lances?
Posted by: Skip

A very basic Faraday cage?

Posted by: Tonypete at May 15, 2022 09:07 AM (Msys3)

19 "What the hell is this thing?"

I have no idea but those pants are fine. I would wear them to barbecue babies in my back yard.

Posted by: zombie Georgia O'Keeffe at May 15, 2022 09:08 AM (vrz2I)

20 I have no idea but those pants are fine. I would wear them to barbecue babies in my back yard.
Posted by: zombie Georgia O'Keeffe

Seriously. Wow.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 15, 2022 09:09 AM (Msys3)

21 I read the excellent novel The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles. This well-written, interesting story is about the American Library in Paris during the WWII years and the years leading up to it. There are some flash forward chapters to a small town in Montana during the 1980's where a librarian settled after becoming a war bride. The book is rich in interesting characters and there is even a revealing little twist at the end.

Posted by: Zoltan at May 15, 2022 09:09 AM (WqAy2)

22 I scored a Robert Ludlum book at a book sale this week, in honor of The Simpsons:

*Hans Moleman, standing in the airport bookstore "Just Crichton and King"*

Moleman: "Do you have any Robert Ludlum?
Clerk "Get out!"

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 15, 2022 09:10 AM (PiwSw)

23 I really love the squirrel in the pimp hat. Much better than those apes during the week.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 15, 2022 09:10 AM (EZebt)

24 Currently reading Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management by Jack Alexander. It starts a little slow, but picks up after a bit. Really enjoyed the part on risk, uncertainty and the cost of capital.

Posted by: Weasel at May 15, 2022 09:11 AM (0IeYL)

25 Alas, the Lone Star Book festival has been cancelled this year, for a variety of reasons - and I am crushingly disappointed. I got the email about it late yesterday afternoon. Sorry, Professor - but I will send links to books by other Texas authors, who would have been there. Quite a few of them are awfully good, are very nice people, and ought to be better known. Like Ernie Lee, who lives near Canyon Lake, and wears a big alligator head to amuse the kids when he does an event. His best-known is a thriller about an enormous prehistoric alligator who lives in the subterranean aquifer, until one day ...
https://tinyurl.com/28zuvhrc

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at May 15, 2022 09:11 AM (xnmPy)

26 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Mine was varied and interesting.

Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 09:11 AM (7EjX1)

27 Willowed:

MP4, I watched a movie called Jungle Bride with a hottie named Anita Page. Any background info on her?
Posted by: MAGA_Ken at May 15, 2022 08:55 AM (cMXNt)

Mmmm, I love Page. She was in one of my favorite movies, 1929s The Broadway Melody. She was a Flushing girl who got signed to MGM in 1928. She was incredibly popular during the silent era, working with Lon Chaney, Clark Gable and Buster Keaton, among others. She was also a crush, reportedly, of Mussolini, who is said to have made repeated offers of marriage!

She retired from movies in 1933, though she made a 'comeback' in the early 1960s. Then, sadly, she returned once again to appear in several low-budget horror films in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

I would definitely recommend watching The Broadway Melody. Page shows off her lovely legs and the movie is one of the earliest examples of the Hollywood 'stars are really unhappy people' genre.

https://tinyurl.com/2p9x6amn (Page is on the right, 'sister' Bessie Love on the left)

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 15, 2022 09:11 AM (2JVJo)

28 Add me to the list who loves Life Unworthy by Christopher R. Taylor. I only read it because he is a Moron, because otherwise I would probably not consider a book about werewolves.

But, it isn't really a book about werewolves. The werewolf is tool for Good.

I read it several years ago; I think it's time to charge up the kindle for a re-read.
Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at May 15, 2022 09:07 AM (OX9vb)
---
That's good enough for me. I just ordered my own copy, which should be here on Tuesday! (I always prefer the physical copy over kindle, when possible--I remember the reading experience much better).

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 09:12 AM (K5n5d)

29 Currently reading Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management by Jack Alexander. It starts a little slow

I would imagine.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 09:12 AM (45fpk)

30 Living on the edge Weasel.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 15, 2022 09:12 AM (Msys3)

31 "and even a fight with some yetis."

That sounds like fun. Is there any sex with Yetis?

Posted by: zombie Georgia O'Keeffe at May 15, 2022 09:13 AM (vrz2I)

32 I've been reading through Malcolm Guite's "Heaven In Ordinary". It's a collection of the weekly columns he does for the Church Times newsletter in England. They are not intended to be profound, in theory, but to take note of, and find significance in, everyday events. He succeeds. Each brief column has made me think and contemplate the connections even the most sights or situations can inspire appreciation of the world.

Just using the word 'catharsis' brought to mind how rare and fleeting such moments of release can be in current culture. And how important these moments are before being befouled again by the constant sludge of injustice, arrogance, and stupidity that washes over us from so many sources. But the point of the essays is to take heart from these glimpses of grace and beauty and what they represent.

Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 09:13 AM (7EjX1)

33 That library is hideous.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 15, 2022 09:01 AM (Msys3)

It looks like a beehive on crack.
Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 09:03 AM (45fpk)

It looks like a Balkan nightmare where they couldn't decide on Orthodox domes versus minarets so they opted for a worst of all worlds hideous compromise.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 15, 2022 09:13 AM (y7DUB)

34 Just downloaded a sample of The Cartographer's Guild. It sounds like something I would like.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 15, 2022 09:13 AM (2JVJo)

35 The Kosovo library looks like it is clad in the reactive armor they put on tanks to defeat armor-piercing shaped warheads. Considering it is Kosovo, maybe it is

Posted by: cool breeze at May 15, 2022 09:14 AM (UGKMd)

36 Currently reading Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management by Jack Alexander. It starts a little slow, but picks up after a bit. Really enjoyed the part on risk, uncertainty and the cost of capital.
Posted by: Weasel at May 15, 2022 09:11 AM (0IeYL)
---
I'm guessing the audiobook is narrated by George Costanza...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 09:15 AM (K5n5d)

37 Yes, life is too short to read lousy books, but I'm weak. So I forced myself to finish "Imperial Stars," the first book in a science fantasy series of the '70s. I use "science" only because interplanetary travel is involved, and it's treated like driving to work.

The series, Wikipedia says, is based on a short story by E.E. "Doc" Smith. I would like to read that, but I can do without this galactic empire, with its hereditary nobles. The writing is almost up to par with Smith's -- and let's face it, Smith was no master of prose. His strength was imagination.

At least it's off my shelves. Waste of 52 cents.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 15, 2022 09:15 AM (Om/di)

38 I've been reading Windswept House by Malachi Martin, as many here have recommended.

Since I'm not an Actual Catholic--I identify as Catholic-curious, it gives me some perspective on what Vatican II was about, and how the Catholic church has fallen prey to much of the same liberalism that modern Protestantism has.

It is prompting me to pray harder for us to be victorious over the evil that encompasses us.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at May 15, 2022 09:16 AM (OX9vb)

39 I'm guessing the audiobook is narrated by George Costanza...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 09:15 AM (K5n5d)

Gilbert Gottfried

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 15, 2022 09:16 AM (PiwSw)

40 I'm reading "The Nature of Oaks" by Douglas Tallamy about the importance of oak trees, especially white oaks, in the ecology of local areas. How everything from insects to bird populations to soil conservation and enrichment benefit from healthy oak stands. It sounds dull but Tallamy's writing is lively enough to keep the layman interested and even intrigued. Without going full greenie-weenie he makes a good case for his position. The month by month organization of the book makes it easy to appreciate the varied ways oaks effect nature.

Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 09:16 AM (7EjX1)

41 Last week's mention of Tom Swift and Tom Swift Jr. started me on some research. I found a site that describes each of the TSJr. book, including cover art, synopsis, and a list of inventions for each story, with commentary on the feasibility of each gadget and their possible uses.

The site is www.tomswiftinfo.home.

Turns out that Stratemeyer Syndicate put out three more Tom Swift series -- no Jr. -- in the
'70s, '80s, and '90s. I'll stick with TSJ.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 15, 2022 09:16 AM (Om/di)

42 Currently reading Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management by Jack Alexander. It starts a little slow, but picks up after a bit. Really enjoyed the part on risk, uncertainty and the cost of capital.
Posted by: Weasel at May 15, 2022 09:11 AM (0IeYL)
---------

Nerd.

Posted by: bluebell - NoVaMoMe 2022! at May 15, 2022 09:16 AM (ENJDE)

43 36 Currently reading Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management by Jack Alexander. It starts a little slow, but picks up after a bit. Really enjoyed the part on risk, uncertainty and the cost of capital.
Posted by: Weasel at May 15, 2022 09:11 AM (0IeYL)
---
I'm guessing the audiobook is narrated by George Costanza...
----
Do you mean the George 'Double-Dipping' Costanza?

Posted by: Ciampino at May 15, 2022 09:17 AM (qfLjt)

44 I pretty much hated "The Last Unicorn" probably because I read it pretty much right after I read "The Lord of the Rings" for the first time.

It seemed like a sidewalk mud puddle compared to the Mariana Trench Deep Fiord of LOTR.

That was long ago and faraway, so I might have different opinion today.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 15, 2022 09:17 AM (5NkmN)

45 I've been reading a lot of Joseph Roth's works this past week, after enjoying his WWI era novels The Radetzsky March and the Emperor's Tomb. Roth is largely unknown today because the Nazis banned his work (he was Jewish) and after the war, it took a long time for his books to be republished and translated. But for a time in the 1920's, he was one of Europe's most highly paid journalists, a sort of roving correspondent who traveled all over Europe and was interested in everything, from old cathedrals to bullfights in Provencal towns (he sided with the bull), tiny peasant villages and jazz era Parisan nightclubs. He evokes a Europe that doesn't exist anymore, not only the little Eastern European Jewish villages (like the one he grew up in) but agricultural, peasant Europe.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at May 15, 2022 09:17 AM (HabA/)

46 Since every other large building in Europe invariably gets covered in scaffolding maybe they decided to make it a permanent part of the structure.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 15, 2022 09:17 AM (y7DUB)

47 Been reading a lot of trashy action novels lately. Basically there are two categories. I like them. Don't judge me. Haha.

One where the men act like men..ie.Reacher and Dirk Pitt novels (Cussler). The other is ones where the men are accessories to the mary sue suprrr battlegirl who has everything, suprrr smaht and mad skillz from engineering to theology. That's pretty much everything else.

The thing I hate most about these sorts is that the book starts off with the male characters being normal, but they then get degraded as the wammenz are introduced and then become useless to the story except for the wammenz to eye roll while they save they day. Ughhh.

Question. Any other good action books for men?

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022 09:17 AM (rjpjQ)

48 In a previous comment I mentioned oak trees. I've been rereading "Celebrating Birch". Not from an ecology point of view but how the birch tree has been so important, sometimes critical, to mankind for millenia. I grew up loving the look of birch trees and the beautiful photos add to the informative sections. So many uses from eating utensils and drinks, to gunpowder, tar, bark structures and vessels, cordage, decoration, and many other things. It's a lovely and pleasant read.

Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 09:17 AM (7EjX1)

49 Need to run some errands. Be back in a while.

Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 09:18 AM (7EjX1)

50
Nerd.
Posted by: bluebell - NoVaMoMe 2022! at May 15, 2022 09:16 AM (ENJDE)
---
Well, yes!

Posted by: Weasel at May 15, 2022 09:18 AM (0IeYL)

51 The Kosovo library looks like it is clad in the reactive armor they put on tanks to defeat armor-piercing shaped warheads. Considering it is Kosovo, maybe it is
Posted by: cool breeze at May 15, 2022 09:14 AM (UGKMd)
===
The building at the Israel Museum housing the Dead Sea scrolls is a bomb shelter that sinks below ground level in case of an attack.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 15, 2022 09:18 AM (EZebt)

52 This week I continued my reading through Theistic Evolution. The authors are still doing a good job of keeping the scientific explanations simple enough for a dummy like me to follow along.
I almost never read more than one book at a time, but YouTube keeps feeding me clips from the 2021 Dune movie and now I want to re-read the series (at least the first 4 books). It's been at least 29 years since I read them, so clearly I could read as an infant.

Posted by: PabloD says start up the rotors at May 15, 2022 09:19 AM (ZfIh5)

53 Morning, all!

Since our esteemed moderator mentions both Peter S. Beagle and werewolf stories: PSB published a short story called "Lila the Werewolf" back in the '80s, and it is a delight. It has some of the same tone as Ghostbusters and, much later, Seinfeld, but the characters are quite likeable. It would have made an interesting film with Bill Murray in the lead, too.

I just finished reading Dennis Lehane's 13th novel, Since We Fell. At the start it does not seem like a crime story, but it evolves into one while remaining fascinating throughout. Good stuff. But then all of his novels, from the early private-eye series through to Mystic River, have been great.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:19 AM (c6xtn)

54 I agree that Christopher Taylor's Life Unworthy is really very good

Posted by: cool breeze at May 15, 2022 09:19 AM (UGKMd)

55 The building at the Israel Museum housing the Dead Sea scrolls is a bomb shelter that sinks below ground level in case of an attack.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 15, 2022 09:18 AM (EZebt)

That is both cool and very sad.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at May 15, 2022 09:19 AM (HabA/)

56 I had a pretty unsatisfactory week of reading. Picked up The Rise and Fall of the British Nanny, which was not as interesting as I had hoped. Read 1957, but the book was superficial, dull and badly in need of an editor.

So I re-read an old fave, The Diary of a Nobody*

And for those of you looking for summer reads, I recommend (as ever) my own new novel, The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of:

https://tinyurl.com/2p8atch9

*Ken Russell made a short film of the book in 1964:

https://tinyurl.com/2p9dap4e

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 15, 2022 09:20 AM (2JVJo)

57 Book Thread !! *

*rubs hands together

*pulls out credit card and sets it on table by chair

Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at May 15, 2022 09:20 AM (zG9TM)

58 Reading Ferguson’s The Vikings. Currently reading about Alfred the Great and Ranger Lodbrok’s son Ivar The Boneless. Interesting.

Posted by: Head puddi at May 15, 2022 09:21 AM (xMh1R)

59 (I always prefer the physical copy over kindle, when possible--I remember the reading experience much better).
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 09:12 AM (K5n5d)

I mostly read hard copy books. That's why I have to charge up the kindle. I didn't realize there was a physical copy of this one. I need to get that.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at May 15, 2022 09:21 AM (OX9vb)

60 I have a one volume hardcover of CS Lewis' space trilogy coming today. I realized that my ancient paperback copies had long since disintegrated, so I splurged on the hardcover. I haven't read the stories held in my hands for many years and I'm looking forward to the experience again.

Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 09:21 AM (7EjX1)

61 And for those of you looking for summer reads, I recommend (as ever) my own new novel, The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of:

I just finished that yesterday, Mr. Poppins! What a fun read! I left a review.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 09:22 AM (45fpk)

62 Question. Any other good action books for men?
Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022

***
No idea, CtW, about modern novels. You might enjoy the Matt Helm spy series by Donald Hamilton. Ignore the silly spoof films with Dean Martin and the private-eye TV series with Tony Franciosa. These are more realistic (but never dull) spy stories written and set in the then-modern day (1960 onward). Good, gruff stuff.

The Parker the professional thief stories by Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake) are solid as well.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:23 AM (c6xtn)

63 When my twin brother and I were in our sixties we discovered that as kids we had the same favorite author, but we had never discussed it! Joseph A. Altsheler. He wrote a series of eight books about the French and Indian war. The first book I ever bought, I saved my babysitting money and ordered The Young Trailers from a tiny bookshop across from the library. I was nine maybe? I didn't even know the French and Indian war was real, but I knew a good story when I read it.

My brother as an adult cruised ebay and assembled the whole series and it was only when he told me about it with pride that we discovered we were both fans.

Altsheler, BTW, is cited as a major influence by both Saul Bellow and Mario Puzo. He never became famous, but he stayed in print a long time--the books were originally printed in the 1910's.

My brother died just before Christmas. His wife remembered that conversation, and on Thursday a package arrived with all of his Altsheler books. So that's what I'll be reading for a while, feeling him looking over my shoulder.

Posted by: Wenda at May 15, 2022 09:23 AM (TK9+5)

64 I have a one volume hardcover of CS Lewis' space trilogy coming today. I realized that my ancient paperback copies had long since disintegrated, so I splurged on the hardcover. I haven't read the stories held in my hands for many years and I'm looking forward to the experience again.
Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 09:21 AM (7EjX1)
---
Sounds like a worthy investment! I upgraded from my incomplete Narnia series in paperback format (I only had the first four) to the one-volume hardcover omnibus edition. All of the books are arranged in chronological order (starting with The Magician's Nephew and ending with The Last Battle.)

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 09:23 AM (K5n5d)

65 My brother died just before Christmas. His wife remembered that conversation, and on Thursday a package arrived with all of his Altsheler books. So that's what I'll be reading for a while, feeling him looking over my shoulder.

Posted by: Wenda at May 15, 2022 09:23 AM (TK9+5)

What a nice remembrance.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 09:24 AM (45fpk)

66 READ YOUR ENEMY
Farley Mowat was a life long socialist and enviormentalist

Posted by: Steve Bannon at May 15, 2022 09:25 AM (B+OKC)

67 Question. Any other good action books for men?
Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022
---
In one of my earliest Sunday Morning Book Threads, I shared a book by Moron author Vince Milam, The Texas Job. It was a pretty fun read and definitely a good action book for men. It's part of a larger Case Lee series (like Jack Reacher in some ways, but he's not quite the same loner).

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 09:26 AM (K5n5d)

68 I just finished that yesterday, Mr. Poppins! What a fun read! I left a review.
Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 09:22 AM (45fpk)

Thank you, grammie! I look forward to reading it. I'm glad you liked the book. I'm sketching out a Bara novelette now, to take place in 1932 after the supposed suicide of starlet Peg Entwistle:

https://tinyurl.com/yf93tjb2

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 15, 2022 09:26 AM (2JVJo)

69 Little Winger did a tour in Kosovo. He really liked it. Did a lot of skiing.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 09:26 AM (45fpk)

70 Is the chain mail on the building to keep it protected from arrows and lances?
=====

My first impression was of chain mail and I actually loved the buildings. Second impression the same. Ditto third.

I really liked it. Defense is my thing (I'm from Chicago and the Bears).

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 15, 2022 09:26 AM (MIKMs)

71 I've been re-reading a book by David Mamet, _The Secret Knowledge_. It's really a collection of short essays, but he keeps returning to some central themes so it works as a book. He wrote it not long after his notorious "Why I Am No Longer A Brain-Dead Liberal" piece in the Village Voice, essentially to explain at greater length. This was all during Obama's first term and it's almost quaint to look back on those days.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2022 09:26 AM (QZxDR)

72 My sister is pushing me to read "5 People You'll Meet in Heaven" and I'm resisting. The very title turns me off. How can anybody alive assert who you'll meet in Heaven (besides the Lord) or what Heaven will be like? She likes these feel-good books and since she's been having a tough time lately, I cut her slack. But I have different taste in books.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at May 15, 2022 09:27 AM (HabA/)

73 62 Question. Any other good action books for men?
Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022

***
No idea, CtW, about modern novels. You might enjoy the Matt Helm spy series by Donald Hamilton. Ignore the silly spoof films with Dean Martin and the private-eye TV series with Tony Franciosa. These are more realistic (but never dull) spy stories written and set in the then-modern day (1960 onward). Good, gruff stuff.

The Parker the professional thief stories by Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake) are solid as well.

Ok. Will get some. I read some Nero Wolf. Those were good but a little dated. Gave a good vibe of living in old New York. The Archie character was a good character. Not like the modern TV series at all.

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022 09:27 AM (rjpjQ)

74 I missed out on a lot of the traditional kids' books. I went from the Hardy Boys and Roy Rogers/Gene Autry Westerns, along with Superman Family comics, to Alfred Hitchcock anthologies, James Bond and Nero Wolfe, then Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr, then Alastair Maclean, etc. So I never got into Narnia. I'd probably appreciate them even more now.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:27 AM (c6xtn)

75 For children's books let me throw in a plug for the Oz books. The ones by L. Frank Baum, anyway. Great stories to read to little ones, and perfect for when they're starting to read for themselves.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2022 09:30 AM (QZxDR)

76 This week I started reading Theistic Evolution, a collection of essays that explore the viability of the argument that God used the forces of random mutations and natural selection to create humans and all the other critters.

It doesn't matter what lies they spin to justify denying the six day creation model (which is also in the ten commandments).

Theistic Evolution is heretical because it posits that death preceded sin. Nothing else matters if you accept the premise that death and destruction for millions of years is considered "very good".

Posted by: Reuben Hick at May 15, 2022 09:30 AM (AHeqJ)

77 66 READ YOUR ENEMY
Farley Mowat was a life long socialist and enviormentalist
Posted by: Steve Bannon at May 15, 2022 09:25 AM (B+OKC)

Doesn't mean he didn't write a good dog book though.

Jack London was a socialist, but you can enjoy his work without being one. I won't give any money to living authors with crappy political views (like Stephen King) but if I banished all authors with crappy politics from my library, I'd have to give away a lot of my books.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at May 15, 2022 09:30 AM (HabA/)

78 . I read some Nero Wolf. Those were good but a little dated. Gave a good vibe of living in old New York. The Archie character was a good character. Not like the modern TV series at all.
Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022

***
Yes, the Nero Wolfe stories are very much of their time -- an alternate USA and New York that changed over the decades, though Wolfe and Archie and their satellites don't age. Stout's literary skill is undeniable -- his Archie writes the same way he talks, for instance -- but he never wrote a dull NW story except maybe a couple near the beginning (pre-1947) and maybe a couple near the end of his run. Still, you want to spend time in that old brownstone and travel along with Archie as he comments on Wolfe's quirks. ("When a hippopotamus is peevish it's a lot of peeve.")

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:30 AM (c6xtn)

79 Yay bookzxz!!!

Just finished Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn: The Hero of Ages last night...er this morning. What an ending!

I hear the next book to read, logically, is The Secret Mysteries?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 09:32 AM (kf6Ak)

80 I listen to a lot of books on Audible. I mostly listen to books in the car.
At the moment I'm listening to Deep River by Shusaku Endo, which is one of his masterworks. (The other is Silence.)
Just like Silence it is very emotionally intense, which means I occasionally have to take a break.
Death, loss, spiritual emptiness, emotional cruelty and the challenge of being Christian in deeply secular society all get covered.
I'd call it a great novel. I'm not sure I enjoy it.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, my trench is full of chickens at May 15, 2022 09:32 AM (eGTCV)

81 Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022 09:27 AM (rjpjQ)

I'd recommend the Donald Lam and Bertha Cool series by Erle Stanley Gardner. Lam is a streetwise PI employed by Cool, and he is, in true gumshoe fashion, at odds with the cops, often on the wrong side of a gun and always ready with his wits and fists. Start out with Traps Need Fresh Bait to get a sense of the series.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 15, 2022 09:33 AM (2JVJo)

82 Last night, we went to see a Beethoven Cover Band.

They played the Ninth. It was glorious.

Before the Ninth, they played a mercifully short modern composition titled "A Kiss for the World". Only like most modern orchestral music this Kiss was a smeary, slobbery, harsh, post vomit kiss from a hobo that hadn't bathed since the Depression full of tongue and chewed bits of sandwich.

The point being....then immediately thereafter the Ninth started and you knew instantly you were in the hands of a timeless master and you could relax and simply let the music wash over and guide your thinking and enjoyment. The difference was night and day.

Reading a book is much the same, what a joy it is to find yourself in the hands of a master. You can relax and simply read. I don't have to agree with the author, so to speak, but I do require good writing and story-telling.

Any particular books or authors, you find yourself simply relaxing into because of the quality of the opening and writing?

Posted by: naturalfake at May 15, 2022 09:33 AM (5NkmN)

83 Just wanted to say: perfesser squirrel's online compendium of Moron book recommendations is such a TERRIFIC idea! Can't wait to see it fill in more. I've already purchased 2 books from the list - David Crawford's "Lights Out" and T Kingfisher's "The Hollow Places" and have just started the latter.

Posted by: Guy Smiley at May 15, 2022 09:33 AM (HsAzN)

84 I've been reading about the Romans and Roman literature. While times change, people sure don't.

Posted by: fd at May 15, 2022 09:34 AM (vrz2I)

85 Helm, check.

Parker, check.

Add the original Executioner series. Action with introspection.

Top off with the earlier Destroyer books. Action with humor.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 15, 2022 09:34 AM (Om/di)

86
Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022

The Nero Wolfe books were like popcorn to me. I read them quickly, thoroughly enjoyed them and rushed out to a local used bookstore to dig up more Wolfe books.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at May 15, 2022 09:34 AM (HabA/)

87 Christopher's Life Unworthy is possibly the best horror-fantasy I've read, and I read a lot of that genre.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 09:35 AM (kf6Ak)

88 Perfessor Squirrel, I am noting your personal touches in your post and I must say I love what you've done with the book thread!

Posted by: Emmie at May 15, 2022 09:35 AM (6RgRK)

89 I missed out on a lot of the traditional kids' books.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:27 AM (c6xtn)

I've never read a lot of those classic books. I have no interest really in fantasy stuff. Never read Tolkien or Lewis. Read a few of the Gor books my brother had, but they were silly after a while. Mostly prefer Holmes and non-fiction.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 15, 2022 09:36 AM (7bRMQ)

90 I missed the Roman book discussion a couple weeks back, but one of my all-time favorites in the genre is Alberto Angela's fantastic "A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome." Few books give you more of a "you are there" experience. Love the work of the translator too, who not only did an excellent translation, but did so while retaining the "Italian-ness" of Angela's writing.

Posted by: Guy Smiley at May 15, 2022 09:37 AM (HsAzN)

91 84 I've been reading about the Romans and Roman literature. While times change, people sure don't.
Posted by: fd at May 15, 2022 09:34 AM (vrz2I)

The fundamental error of the Left is that human nature can be changed for the better and human beings can be perfected. (And those who resist are inevitably killed because "progress.")

No, human nature doesn't change. We have learned and discovered and created more since Roman times, but we remain fallen creatures.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at May 15, 2022 09:37 AM (HabA/)

92 The author of "The Neverending Story" should be sued for fraud.

It ended.

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at May 15, 2022 09:38 AM (WVJo4)

93 4 That library is hideous.
Posted by: Tonypete

It looks like it's chained/imprisoned. Perhaps the library will walk away if they let it.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 09:38 AM (kf6Ak)

94 I don't think the pants guy owns a weedwhacker. (if you catch my drift.....)

Posted by: JT at May 15, 2022 09:38 AM (arJlL)

95 Any particular books or authors, you find yourself simply relaxing into because of the quality of the opening and writing?

Posted by: naturalfake at May 15, 2022 09:33 AM (5NkmN)

There are authors I snap up when they're on discount or Kindle Unlimited. I used to choose anything Daniel Silva or Louise Penny for instance, until their politics started to leak out.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 09:38 AM (45fpk)

96 Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 15, 2022 09:36 AM (7bRMQ)

I am not a fan of fantasy generally speaking, but I really ended up loving LOTR.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at May 15, 2022 09:38 AM (HabA/)

97 Yes, the Nero Wolfe stories are very much of their time -- an alternate USA and New York that changed over the decades, though Wolfe and Archie and their satellites don't age. Stout's literary skill is undeniable -- his Archie writes the same way he talks, for instance -- but he never wrote a dull NW story except maybe a couple near the beginning (pre-1947) and maybe a couple near the end of his run. Still, you want to spend time in that old brownstone and travel along with Archie as he comments on Wolfe's quirks. ("When a hippopotamus is peevish it's a lot of peeve.")
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09

There was one story where wolf was sure he could find the killer by reading the manuscripts found at the scene of the crime because he could tell whether it was written by an author or some one imitating the author. The neat thing about it was the Nero Wolfe story kept changing between styles to show how its done and it sort drew you in. I think the stoudt was just showing off. People don't write like that much any more.

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022 09:39 AM (rjpjQ)

98 I've never read a lot of those classic books. I have no interest really in fantasy stuff. Never read Tolkien or Lewis. Read a few of the Gor books my brother had, but they were silly after a while. Mostly prefer Holmes and non-fiction.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 15, 2022

***
Strangely, though I write the stuff myself, a lot of fantasy bores me too. I think it's perfectly possible to write a thriller-adventure set in a fantasy world, but most authors don't seem to know how to do that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:39 AM (c6xtn)

99 I missed the Roman book discussion a couple weeks back, but one of my all-time favorites in the genre is Alberto Angela's fantastic "A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome." Few books give you more of a "you are there" experience. Love the work of the translator too, who not only did an excellent translation, but did so while retaining the "Italian-ness" of Angela's writing.
Posted by: Guy Smiley at May 15, 2022 09:37 AM (HsAzN)

I love that book! Angela did a sequel, The Reach of Rome, which follows a sestertius coin as it travels from the imperial mint in Rome all through the empire during the reign of Trajan. Well worth reading.

He also wrote a bio of Cleopatra, which I have been reading, though I don't find it as enthralling as his two Roman books.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 15, 2022 09:39 AM (2JVJo)

100 That sure is a lot of net to capture a building that doesn't, you know, move.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 09:40 AM (8gxrg)

101 Library looks like a chain link fence.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 15, 2022 09:41 AM (VwHCD)

102 There was one story where wolf was sure he could find the killer by reading the manuscripts found at the scene of the crime because he could tell whether it was written by an author or some one imitating the author. The neat thing about it was the Nero Wolfe story kept changing between styles to show how its done and it sort drew you in. I think the stoudt was just showing off. People don't write like that much any more.
Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022

***
The plagiarism story, Plot It Yourself. There was another, earlier one, Murder By the Book, that also deals with manuscripts and the publishing world.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:41 AM (c6xtn)

103 Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 15, 2022 09:39 AM (2JVJo)

There's a sequel??? Thank you so much! Ordering it post-haste!

Posted by: Guy Smiley at May 15, 2022 09:41 AM (HsAzN)

104 Isn't there a Simpsons episode where Lionel Hutz mentions his lawsuit against Disney because the Never Ending Story movie had an ending?

Posted by: PabloD says start up the rotors at May 15, 2022 09:41 AM (ZfIh5)

105 "Ill-gotten gains come quickly to an end."
- Cicero

I'm holding out hope that this once again proves to be true. On the timeline of history though, "quickly" may mean decades.

Posted by: fd at May 15, 2022 09:41 AM (vrz2I)

106 Perfessor Squirrel, I am noting your personal touches in your post and I must say I love what you've done with the book thread!
Posted by: Emmie at May 15, 2022 09:35 AM (6RgRK)
---
Thank you! I'm getting much more comfortable with my role in maintaining the Book Thread. My goal is to provide a comfortable place for ALL of us, even if we don't share the same tastes in reading. We all appreciate books, literature, and the act of reading itself for pleasure and knowledge.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 09:42 AM (K5n5d)

107 Good morning! I'd been running a sleep deficit for a couple of weeks and last night my body decided to balance the books. I can't remember the last time I slept in pas 9 a.m.

Reading and writing have been few and far between since I last visited this thread a fortnight ago. My book in China is at the 1911 revolution, so things are about to get real, spring cleaning has destroyed my domestic tranquility and I haven't added a word in more than a week.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 09:42 AM (llXky)

108 It's been ages since I've read a new novel. I go to the bookstore, I look at the shelves, and I feel a deep desire not to buy any of them. All books now seem to be written by, and for, neurotic overweight girls with weird hair.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2022 09:43 AM (QZxDR)

109 60 I have a one volume hardcover of CS Lewis' space trilogy coming today. I realized that my ancient paperback copies had long since disintegrated, so I splurged on the hardcover. I haven't read the stories held in my hands for many years and I'm looking forward to the experience again.
Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 09:21 AM (7EjX1)

The third book, That Hideous Strength, is eerily prophetic. I believe CS Lewis was describing the kind of human hubris that led to the atrocities and horror of WW2 and we are seeing similar developments today.

Posted by: Emmie at May 15, 2022 09:43 AM (6RgRK)

110 *pulls out credit card and sets it on table by chair

Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin

*nods in resigned agreement

I've been using Thriftbooks for my purchases as much as possible, to avoid amazon. I see that Life Unworthy is there, 50 copies, new.

Moron authors, can/do you market through Thriftbooks the same as you do amazon? If I buy a new copy through Thriftbooks, does the author make the same profit (yeah, I know, "profit," lol) as on amazon?

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at May 15, 2022 09:43 AM (OX9vb)

111 Strangely, though I write the stuff myself, a lot of fantasy bores me too. I think it's perfectly possible to write a thriller-adventure set in a fantasy world, but most authors don't seem to know how to do that.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:39 AM (c6xtn)

Most fiction bores me to tears, even though I write it. I think the main reason I write Theda Bara stories is to share my love of silent movies and a wonderful world that's long gone.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 15, 2022 09:43 AM (2JVJo)

112 i'm sure I saw those pants at the Georgia O'Keeffe art museum in Santa Fe N.M.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 09:43 AM (CwtvX)

113

(starts singing...)

Take these chains
from my library
and set it free....

Posted by: JT at May 15, 2022 09:44 AM (arJlL)

114 Moron authors, can/do you market through Thriftbooks the same as you do amazon? If I buy a new copy through Thriftbooks, does the author make the same profit (yeah, I know, "profit," lol) as on amazon?

I didn't know about Thriftbooks. I'll have to check it out tomorrow.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 15, 2022 09:44 AM (2JVJo)

115 It's been ages since I've read a new novel. I go to the bookstore, I look at the shelves, and I feel a deep desire not to buy any of them. All books now seem to be written by, and for, neurotic overweight girls with weird hair.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2022

***
Threadwinner!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:44 AM (c6xtn)

116 Any other good action books for men?

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022 09:17 AM (rjpjQ)

Try Fast One by Paul Cain, which is hard-boiled noir. The action is non-stop, slowing only slightly for a few sentences whenever the narrator loses consciousness, or yet another character gasps their last breath, both of which happen frequently.

Or the 19-book Quiller spy series.

Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia is nonfiction that reads like a gripping adventure novel.

Posted by: cool breeze at May 15, 2022 09:44 AM (UGKMd)

117 A nice example of block chain architecture.

Posted by: Half Dozen at May 15, 2022 09:45 AM (dJs6r)

118 It looks like it's chained/imprisoned. Perhaps the library will walk away if they let it.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 09:38 AM (kf6Ak)
---
In Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, many of the books in the Unseen University library are chained to the shelves. Not to protect the books, but to protect the patrons.

Many of them are very dangerous to even approach without proper safety precautions.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 09:45 AM (K5n5d)

119 100 That sure is a lot of net to capture a building that doesn't, you know, move.
Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 09:40 AM (8gxrg)

Of course it doesn't move. It's being held down by a huge net.

Posted by: Emmie at May 15, 2022 09:45 AM (6RgRK)

120 --
In one of my earliest Sunday Morning Book Threads, I shared a book by Moron author Vince Milam, The Texas Job. It was a pretty fun read and definitely a good action book for men. It's part of a larger Case Lee series (like Jack Reacher in some ways, but he's not quite the same loner).
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 09:26 AM (K5n5d)

Thanks. Will do

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022 09:45 AM (rjpjQ)

121
Most fiction bores me to tears, even though I write it. I think the main reason I write Theda Bara stories is to share my love of silent movies and a wonderful world that's long gone.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 15, 2022

***
Way back in 2012, before I ever saw an episode of Mad Men, I was writing some private-eye stories set in 1962. Another world that is long gone.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:46 AM (c6xtn)

122 Chained books were a real thing, especially in the days before printing, when a single volume represented hundreds of man-hours of hand-copying. So medieval libraries resulted to brute-force anti-theft measures.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2022 09:46 AM (QZxDR)

123 It's been ages since I've read a new novel. I go to the bookstore, I look at the shelves, and I feel a deep desire not to buy any of them. All books now seem to be written by, and for, neurotic overweight girls with weird hair.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2022
---
They are in charge of the mainstream publishing industry.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 09:46 AM (K5n5d)

124 @98 --

Glen Cook's Garrett series does that. Private investigator in fantasy realm.

I read only the first one, but the series lasted for years.

I had an opportunity to scoop up nearly all of them, but I thought the likelihood of me finishing them all was minuscule, considering that the TBR list is extensive.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 15, 2022 09:46 AM (Om/di)

125 Maybe I'm being too harsh on "The Last Unicorn". I also felt much the same about Gormghast and the Worm Oroboros thingy.

I was pretty much about to give up on fantasy, but then...I read CS Lewis' Space Trilogy, which was every bit as chewy, deep, and thinly as LOTR if completely different.

To this day, though, I'm not much of a fantasy reader cuz of the wild variance of quality in the genre. And my tastes tend more to the comic.

A good intersection of both, fantasy and the comic, is "Expecting Someone Taller" by Tom Holt. It's his best book, and a pure joy to read.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 15, 2022 09:47 AM (5NkmN)

126 What reading I've done is centered around Pu Yi's autobiography (aka "The Last Emperor"). The movie skips the years of "Manchukuo" (which is always in scare quotes in the book), but he does write about them and how miserable and deluded he was.

Obviously the book was influenced by ChiCom censors, but the personal details are quite sad. This guy was not actually born to be emperor but was instead adopted into the succession. That meant that his father was just a prince. Also, due to the weird Chinese Court marital arrangements, he had four mothers, all of whom detested him.

It's very interesting, and what stands out is what a weak, unprepared ruler he was. The Manchu Dynasty fell for many reasons, but the biggest was that it allowed its sons to become creatures of the court eunuchs and the various empresses dowager (Tzu Hsi being the most famous).

His life story is basically one of being forced onto the throne against his will, hating it, losing it, deciding he wanted it back, and all the while being too weak to act in his own interest.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 09:48 AM (llXky)

127 115 It's been ages since I've read a new novel. I go to the bookstore, I look at the shelves, and I feel a deep desire not to buy any of them. All books now seem to be written by, and for, neurotic overweight girls with weird hair.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2022

***
Threadwinner!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:44 AM (c6xtn)

This.!!!!! The book must be a Marysue magnum opus or it won't get published.

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022 09:48 AM (rjpjQ)

128 Finished Time of Hope by CP Snow, the first chronologically of an 11 part series, Strangers and Brothers, but not the first written, about the early life of Lewis Eliot who came from a lower middle class English family but devoted himself to improving himself as a lawyer. He seems to be intelligent enough but has the misfortune to get emotionally addicted to his hellish wife and seems to be the only person, including her father, unaware of the downsides of having anything to do with her. The book is written in a strange style of short sentences and chapters laced with Brit legal terms. It's an easy book to read for a while, put down and then pick up later without losing anything. Since I read multiple books at once it's oddly suited for that, like the Aubrey/Maturin series in a different genre.

Anyone else read any books in this series?

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 15, 2022 09:48 AM (y7DUB)

129 Thanks to the Moron/ette (Eris I think?) who mentioned, and quoted from, Leif Enger's "Virgil Wander". What a beautiful book. Gentle and sweet but also dark, mysterious, and creepy, in a low key way. It has some great laughs too, and Enger's prose... Just. Damn. It will be a re-read for me sometime soon, since there was obviously a lot of stuff going on under the surface. I don't read a lot of recent fiction but this I recommend wholeheartedly.

Posted by: Plum Duff, North America's newest cryptid at May 15, 2022 09:49 AM (6sf5f)

130 thinly = thinky

Thx AC!

Posted by: naturalfake at May 15, 2022 09:50 AM (5NkmN)

131 In a moment of weakness, I spend way too much money ordering some Masters of Kung Fu comics. I hope the reviewers were right and they really are a spiritual successor to Enter the Dragon.... And if they aren't, I hope I can find Enter the Dragon on a streaming service to make up for it...

And I guess that brings up a question: are there any good kung fu books out there? I image that would be hard to do in text form...

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 15, 2022 09:51 AM (Lhaco)

132 Here is the thing about Nero Wolfe books. When you go to the book barn to buy them they still cost $6. Never in the $1 bin.

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022 09:51 AM (rjpjQ)

133 I've been to that library several times during my deployments to Kosovo. I understand why it has such a reputation for being ugly, but it's certainly more interesting, visually, than most modern buildings. It's also pretty huge, in person...tough to judge the scale from the exterior photos.

Inside is a little weird as well...
https://tinyurl.com/yk63ktvb
https://tinyurl.com/3eck7na9

Posted by: Military Moron at May 15, 2022 09:51 AM (JCZqz)

134 It's possible too to have comedy, or at least humor and wit, in a fantasy world story. You have to know the world well, enough to be able to see the absurdities or comic elements. My man Larry Niven was able to have actual funny dialog in his early Known Space stories because he could see the comedy in it or among the people involved -- even if some of those people were aliens.

From Ringworld: Louis Wu is using his flashlight laser to cook some meat. His fellow explorer Speaker-to-Animals, a huge felinoid alien who prefers his meat in simpler fashion, says dubiously, "The meat is not fresh, but cremation is not the answer."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:53 AM (c6xtn)

135 Saw Liam Neeson's Memory. It could have been good, but it's not totally bad. Strong cast.

It aspires to be a genre crosser (Memento memory/Bad Ass Lead/Righteous Revenge), but the souffle didn't rise. The script didn't use the memory thing nearly as well as Memento. The direction didn't create a consistent tone, instead it's a muddle.

Cross-overs in movies can be the best. e.g., Alien is better than the horror theme of ten trapped teenagers because the sci-fi context makes the setting plausible.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 15, 2022 09:53 AM (i0slg)

136 I read some science fiction by Cyril M. Kornbluth and came across this account of his death.

Kornbluth died at age 34 in Levittown, New York. On a day [March 21, 1958] !when he was due to meet with Bob Mills in New York City to interview for the position of editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, he was delayed because he had to shovel snow from his driveway. After running to meet his train following this delay, Kornbluth suffered a fatal heart attack on the platform of the station.

The commentator blamed his death on his exertions and exposure during the Battle of the Bulge. He, like Kurt Vonnegut, was in the Army Specialized Training Program, a program developed to meet the anticipated need for junior officers and technicians in what was thought to be a longer war. In the event, the war preceded both more quickly and more bloodily than anticipated. The Army found itself more in need of rifle men than technicians so all the ASTP students were transferred from the classroom to the frontlines just in time for the Bulge. William Wharton, author of A Midnight Clear about the Bulge, was another author transferred to the ground pounders.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 09:54 AM (FVME7)

137 Anyone else read any books in this series?
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 15, 2022

***
I know *of* C.P. Snow, but have never read anything of his. Sounds cool.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:55 AM (c6xtn)

138 OK, folks, going to see if I can enjoy part of the day.

It's not a prayer request, since it isn't that serious, but I could use some good thoughts. I'm going back to transcription (2 days / week) on Tuesday and I do not want to. I have to, though, since I am backed into a corner.

I know I am going to be depressed for a long while until I get my mind straight, so any happy wishes to help me out would be appreciated.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 15, 2022 09:55 AM (2JVJo)

139 According to Wikipedia, the National Library of Kosovo has had a controversial and turbulent history. For about a decade (1989-1999), the library was used for alternative purposes to house refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Much of the collection was also destroyed during this time.

Never help people.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at May 15, 2022 09:55 AM (R8uWY)

140 I finally started reading a book. Its been awhile. Its called Black Ops-The life of a CIA shadow warrior. Its written by a retired CIA counter terrorist chief of operations, Ric Prado. He was the dude who spearheaded organizing the Contras to fight the Sandinistas. He escaped cuba as a young kid, came to America, and eventually went into the military. Die hard pro-American, fiercely anti communist, and doesn't have any love for the media, the left, and academia. Joined the CIA as a way to pay back the marxists for destroying his family. I'm about half way through, its been a good read.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 15, 2022 09:55 AM (VwHCD)

141 I think translators make or break a book. No matter how popular or meaningful, without an able and intuitive translator, nobody will ever get it. Eco is one of those where I enjoyed his first few English-translated books and then he totally lost me. Went back and found that his translator changed.

Like ancient texts (back to the Roman and Biblical discussions).

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 15, 2022 09:57 AM (MIKMs)

142 35 The Kosovo library looks like it is clad in the reactive armor they put on tanks to defeat armor-piercing shaped warheads. Considering it is Kosovo, maybe it is
Posted by: cool breeze at May 15, 2022 09:14 AM

I know this comment was mostly joking, but Kosovo is pretty stable, and I wouldn't expect any significant conflict there.

Bosnia Herzegovina, however, is becoming more of a shitshow by the day, and I could very easily see that nation violently breaking up.

Posted by: Military Moron at May 15, 2022 09:57 AM (JCZqz)

143 Way back in 2012, before I ever saw an episode of Mad Men, I was writing some private-eye stories set in 1962. Another world that is long gone.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:46 AM (c6xtn)

Having been around since 1962, and looking at stuff Lileks and others post about, I wish it still was the early 60s. Sure, some things are better about society, but a lot isn't. Design seems so much cooler then: cars, clothes, buildings, etc.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 15, 2022 09:58 AM (7bRMQ)

144 I totally agree about Life Unworthy by Christopher Taylor. I actively dislike monster stories and only bought it to support a Hordeling, and I *did* like his other books. I didn't *like* Life Unworthy per se, but it was definitely worth the time to read and I may reread it at some point.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 15, 2022 09:58 AM (nC+QA)

145 @143

In 1962, the USA was young and full of possibilities.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 15, 2022 10:00 AM (i0slg)

146 It's been at least 29 years since I read them, so clearly I could read as an infant.

Posted by: PabloD says start up the rotors

Three excellent books on whether Darwin's theories are correct have been written by Stephen C. Meyer of Seattle's Discovery Institute:

Signature in the Cell (about the statistical probability of random mutations leading to viable new forms), Darwins Doubt (the Cambrian Explosion of new forms without antecedents), and Return of the God Hypothesis (about the lack of evidence for anything but intelligent design). Meyer is a genius and very deeply educated about the history of science and he presents his arguments very clearly.

Another author along these lines is Michael Behe, who's written Darwins Black Box (about itreducibly complex organic systems - which sounds complicated but isn't hard to understand), The Edge Evolution (limitations to Darwin's theory), and Darwin Devolves (DNA evidence against evolution).

Six books by scientists who use the scientific method to follow the evidence where it leads, rather than simply believing modern materialistic theory that only believes in matter.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 10:00 AM (8gxrg)

147 Grammie--yes, I'm very grateful. I'm having trouble getting started reading because it keeps getting misty in here.

Posted by: Wenda at May 15, 2022 10:01 AM (TK9+5)

148
Kornbluth died at age 34 in Levittown, New York. On a day [March 21, 1958] !when he was due to meet with Bob Mills in New York City to interview for the position of editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, he was delayed because he had to shovel snow from his driveway. After running to meet his train following this delay, Kornbluth suffered a fatal heart attack on the platform of the station. . . .

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022

***
I had never heard that about Kornbluth. He was a very imaginative writer -- his "The Marching Morons" and "The Little Black Bag" postulate a world in which the sub-100 IQ people have been breeding faster than the brighter people, and several hundred years from now we have Idiocracy. I'm sure Mike Judge was inspired by Kornbluth's stories. Kornbluth's editorship of F & SF would have been extra special.

CMK also has a neat "mental vampire" short called "The Mindworm." Look for it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 10:02 AM (c6xtn)

149 A few weeks ago, there was a discussion of Bible translations and which one is best. I think it's a classic example of asking the wrong question because the variance in translations is less important than the way one approaches reading it.

By happy coincidence the Orthodox Gen Xer priests at The Lord of Spirits podcast did an episode on this only last month. My extended take is currently the top post on my site (see my nic). The episodes are rather long, but they make nice background noise, especially while driving.

For the TL;DR crowd, the Orthodox (and Catholic) approach is not to read just the Bible or to read it independently, but rather to do it liturgically, thematically, moving through the Old and New Testaments so that you see how they interrelate.

Both traditions also emphasize the whole body of scripture, not just the Bible because there are literally thousands of years of learned commentary to draw upon. Don't fall into the modern conceit of thinking that we're so much smarter than all of them.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:03 AM (llXky)

150 I know *of* C.P. Snow, but have never read anything of his. Sounds cool.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 09:55 AM (c6xtn)

Judging from the lower than expected availability of his books at the library, which is usually good as a repository of culture, I think his popularity waned after never reaching a very high level. He's probably in danger of falling through the cultural cracks; like I'm afraid Harry Crews is.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 15, 2022 10:03 AM (y7DUB)

151
In 1962, the USA was young and full of possibilities.
Posted by: Ignoramus at May 15, 2022

***
In videos of real people walking on the street in the late '50s and early '60s, the populace looked . . . happy. Optimistic.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 10:03 AM (c6xtn)

152 @131 --

I got most of the MOKF comics by Doug Moench in one swoop at the used-book store a few years ago. Trouble is, the gaps are story climaxes, and those issues are hard to find -- and pricey.

Speaking of Moench, I remember that his Moon Knight run seemed to be cutting-edge when I was buying those comics. Now they seem formulaic. I guess part of the attraction was having to wait a month or two between each issue.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 15, 2022 10:03 AM (Om/di)

153 Never help people.
Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy

Homeless always eventually trash libraries

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 10:03 AM (kf6Ak)

154 Homeless always eventually trash libraries
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 10:03 AM (kf6Ak)
------------

Only because Politicians made it impossible to kick bums who misbehave out into the street.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 10:04 AM (5pTK/)

155 I am currently reading a fictionalized account of the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. I have, of course, read "Lead us not into temptation" by Jason Berry, but I thought I would try the novel. So far, all of the lawyers working on the side of the church, or their insurance companies, are so unremittingly evil that they are almost cartoonish. We shall see.

My other book is "Character and Viewpoint" by Orson Scott Card. I am really more skimming it than reading just to think about sources for ideas for the characters and why they are the way they are. I read another book as research called "Predators" by Anna Salter who is an actual forensic psychologist and that one I read very closely. Everyone I've told about my idea universally says, "Wow, that's really dark," to which I reply, "It's Seattle."

This city is run by monsters, and I'm not talking about politics. I think often of a C.S. Lewis quote about "immortal horrors" and "everlasting splendors." And while we are obligated to assume everyone is a splendor at least at the get-go, so many around here turn out to be horrors.

Posted by: Tonestaple at May 15, 2022 10:05 AM (InThs)

156 MP4 Prayers for you.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 10:05 AM (kf6Ak)

157 Farley Mowatt's book "Grey Seas Under' Is one of the greatest books ever. About a salvage Tug in the Canadian Maritime provinces in the 1930's. Different, intense filled with adventure. The man can write.

Posted by: G.L. Snodgrass at May 15, 2022 10:05 AM (5QeuL)

158 I am currently reading The Prize - the Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power.by Daniel Yergin.

With a New Epilogue. (not an old crappy epilogue)

Posted by: JT at May 15, 2022 10:05 AM (arJlL)

159 Design seems so much cooler then: cars, clothes, buildings, etc.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 15, 2022 09:58 AM (7bRMQ)

It's funny to me that young people consider "mid-century" stuff so cool now. We had the formica table in the kitchen and by the late 60's we were begging our parents to get rid of it because it was so out of style. To our relief, the 50's stuff was finally replaced - by harvest gold and orange! Yuck! It's fascinating to me how our perception changes on a mass scale with the decades. Those beehive hairdos and ducktails of the '50's still look odd to me, but so does the big hair of the '80's - and I had big hair in the '80's.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at May 15, 2022 10:06 AM (HabA/)

160 What Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa, by David Murphy, about Soviet intel and Operation Barbarossa.

Written by a former spook who had access to a lot of Soviet archives during that window ('91 - ?) when many of them were opened up. So far quite good, especially the detail and bio info about hitherto unknown-to-me Soviet intel figures who were big but not headliners.

Amazing to me some of the documents he was able to get at - reports to Stalin, and of course Stalin's margin notes and scribbles on them. I've been reading it off/on, will bear down and get through the rest this coming week. But very good so far. I don't think it will produce any new bottom lines - most understand that Stalin was given, repeatedly, very high quality intel about Barbarossa, up until the day it happened, but disdained all of it.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 15, 2022 10:06 AM (OTzUX)

161 A gent popped into one of yesterday's gender threads and dropped this comment:

"In college (engineering) in the early 80s, I noticed that 'gender' was replacing 'sex.'

For over forty years I scandalously correct anyone who uses the 'G-word' with 'Nouns have gender; people have sex!'

The idea of sex differences being a part of the soul plays an important background role in all of my novels of 'Machine Civilization,' for humans and machines alike.

Posted by: Clayton Barnett (https://machciv.com/)"

On the strength of his comment I went and downloaded his first two novels from Amazon ($0.99 each), called: "The Fourth Law" and "Echoes of Family Lost". They're relatively short (200 or so pages) so I'll have 'em done by next Sunday and will report back to the Book Nerdz on what I think.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 10:07 AM (dYZo0)

162 MP4 Prayers for you.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion

Seconded !

Posted by: JT at May 15, 2022 10:07 AM (arJlL)

163 In another early Known Space tale, Larry Niven has his hero, Beowulf Shaeffer, conversing with his employer, a puppeteer -- a 3-legged deerlike creature with two heads on long flexible necks -- who are widely known to be cautious to the point (to humans) of cowardice. The puppeteer asks Shaeffer: "Why did you use the dictaphone to call me a cowardly two-headed monster?"

Shaeffer: "You were off the line. I had to use the dictaphone."

An exchange worthy of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. And when I met Niven years ago, he told me that he did indeed read Stout when he was growing up.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 10:07 AM (c6xtn)

164 This.!!!!! The book must be a Marysue magnum opus or it won't get published.

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022 09:48 AM (rjpjQ)
---
I generally frequent only used book stores but the last time I was in a "current" one, I was fascinated to see that there was a whole section of books about nothing else but trying to validate homosexuality.

Row after row of "really, it's okay and fun and normal." Seriously, if you have to constantly read that in order to validate being "born that way", you weren't actually "born that way."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:08 AM (llXky)

165 Great thread, perfessor.

I completed my trifecta of terrible this week. "Assassin" by Ted Bell.

Good grief, I know action adventure is supposed to be a bit over the top, but, Mr. Bell seems to have been channeling Lester Dent when he wrote "Assassin."

On the other hand, reading "Assassin" made me long for the erudition of Vince Flynn or David Baldacci. So, not a total waste of time.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 10:09 AM (5pTK/)

166 Read it again Papa!" never gets old.

My 2 year old grandson is in love with school buses. I’ve read dozens of school bus books to him in the past month or so. You’re right. Reading them over and over never gets old.

Posted by: RetSgtRN at May 15, 2022 10:10 AM (NVtgT)

167 I've been reading about the Romans and Roman literature. While times change, people sure don't.
Posted by: fd

I used to think the excesses of the Romans must surely have been exaggerated because there was no way people could sink so low. Boy, was I wrong!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 10:10 AM (FVME7)

168 He's probably in danger of falling through the cultural cracks; like I'm afraid Harry Crews is.
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 15, 2022 10:03 AM (y7DUB)

They're not the same at all but that was/is going to be the fate of SF writer RA Lafferty, one of the best and most under appreciated out there.

Finally, post-death, he seems to have found a few champions, who have re-published much of his work.

But, act now, who knows how long that will last.

Anyway, Harry Crews needs the same. But, the whole woke thing makes champions scarce cuz raising him will threaten their careers.

He just may get plowed under by wokism.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 15, 2022 10:11 AM (5NkmN)

169 Ugh.

That library upthread looks like something I might have made with my Erector Set, a few ping-pong balls and a milk carton or two when I was six.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 15, 2022 10:12 AM (5NkmN)

170 If you have a fantasy you are writing and the ending an't been written yet.

That is an uncontrollable nightmare.

Hillbillies just call that Monday.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 15, 2022 10:12 AM (J8LnB)

171 If you have a fantasy you are writing and the ending an't been written yet.

That is an uncontrollable nightmare.

Hillbillies just call that Monday.
Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 15, 2022 10:12 AM (J8LnB)
------------

New Haiku form?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 10:13 AM (5pTK/)

172 Stalin was given, repeatedly, very high quality intel about Barbarossa, up until the day it happened, but disdained all of it.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 15, 2022 10:06 AM (OTzUX)
---
The Germans moved how many million troops along with their equipment, supply trains, etc. to the Soviet border? Yeah, it was noticed.

Both sides knew the pact wouldn't last, the question was when. I think Stalin assumed Hitler would finish of Britain first, and there was a lot of propaganda noise about doing that in the spring of 1941.

Churchill's memoirs are full of preparations for that.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:13 AM (llXky)

173 Yes it was a good premise executed terribly the villain is cqrtoonish vince flynn handled it better in executive action, with a pampered prince directing a series of executions

Posted by: No 6 at May 15, 2022 10:13 AM (i0Lci)

174 {{{Wenda}}}

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 10:13 AM (kf6Ak)

175 It doesn't matter what lies they spin to justify denying the six day creation model (which is also in the ten commandments).

I commented last week, in a somewhat snarky manner, that, basically, you can argue "random" or you can argue "God." Choose one or the other and make your case.

Posted by: Oddbob at May 15, 2022 10:13 AM (nfrXX)

176 Row after row of "really, it's okay and fun and normal." Seriously, if you have to constantly read that in order to validate being "born that way", you weren't actually "born that way."
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:08 AM (llXky)
------------

Sounds more like marketing than justification.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 10:14 AM (5pTK/)

177 Not a book, though I think it's based on a novel, but Grit is running Face of a Fugitive, a '50s Western film. I mention it because it is superbly done, with a built-in ticking clock. The protagonist (Fred MacMurray), a train robber who is wanted for (an accidental) murder, is trapped in a town where he is pretending to be someone else . . . and Wanted posters are going to arrive the next day with his likeness on them. It's a classic example of believably making a criminal character do a 180 and become an admirable hero. One of MacMurray's greatest performances too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 10:14 AM (c6xtn)

178 Baldacci covered some of the same material in his second series

Posted by: No 6 at May 15, 2022 10:14 AM (i0Lci)

179 Inside is a little weird as well...
https://tinyurl.com/yk63ktvb
https://tinyurl.com/3eck7na9
Posted by: Military Moron at May 15, 2022 09:51 AM (JCZqz)

Looks cool to visit. Also feels a bit alien.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 10:15 AM (kf6Ak)

180 In college (engineering) in the early 80s, I noticed that 'gender' was replacing 'sex.'
For over forty years I scandalously correct anyone who uses the 'G-word' with 'Nouns have gender; people have sex!'
=====

Not for the prissy neo-Victorians of the current fashionable crowds. 'Legs' were 'limbs', etc. Bowdler wins!

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 15, 2022 10:15 AM (MIKMs)

181 Not that I totally get this ebook experience but see if not on line, and not previously up on the Kindle app, a book in my library can't be recalled at a moment in time?

Posted by: Skip at May 15, 2022 10:16 AM (2JoB8)

182 If you dismiss Creation what part of the Bible are you gping to believe.

Posted by: No 6 at May 15, 2022 10:16 AM (i0Lci)

183
Sounds more like marketing than justification.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 10:14 AM (5pTK/)
---
I'm sure there's some of that as well, but no one has to tell straight men that liking sex with women is normal and fun.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:16 AM (llXky)

184 If you have a fantasy you are writing and the ending an't been written yet.

That is an uncontrollable nightmare.

Hillbillies just call that Monday.
Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 15, 2022

***
One of my fantasies I began like that. I knew I wanted a climactic clash between the hero and villain, a kind of Aristotle vs. his pupil Alexander story, but I didn't know *how* they would clash -- a duel between magicians, maybe. It evolved as I went into something much more tragic and heroic.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 10:16 AM (c6xtn)

185 The fundamental error of the Left is that human nature can be changed for the better and human beings can be perfected.

-
Old and busted: New Soviet Man

New and cool: New Social Justice QWERTY

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 10:18 AM (FVME7)

186 Morning.

Is coffee like a book?

Posted by: Robert at May 15, 2022 10:18 AM (1Yy3c)

187 Cr@p

Namsi Pelousey stumbling and bumbling on ABC. Blaming Wuhan Flu, Putin, and low unemployment for inflation and supply chain issues,

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 15, 2022 10:18 AM (dzNug)

188 Morning.

Is coffee like a book?
Posted by: Robert at May 15, 2022

***

A novel can be bitter, and need some sweetening to be palatable. And it can wake you up. So maybe.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 10:19 AM (c6xtn)

189 most understand that Stalin was given, repeatedly, very high quality intel about Barbarossa, up until the day it happened, but disdained all of it.
Posted by: rhomboid at May 15, 2022 10:06 AM (OTzUX)

Only Stalin's ruthless willingness to kill everyone around him kept him in power as long as he lasted. That and the complicit cluelessness of that shitstain Delano.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 15, 2022 10:20 AM (y7DUB)

190 178 Baldacci covered some of the same material in his second series
Posted by: No 6 at May 15, 2022 10:14 AM (i0Lci)

Baldacci writes some good stories. Not sure of the order he wrote them all in. I was reading one, yep next thing you know he's doing the marysue is better than the "main" character of the book. It was so bad I thought well he's off the list of easy reads. I guess he evolved. Critical Drinker and nerdrotic talks about this a lot in movies. Must subvert strong male characters.

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 15, 2022 10:20 AM (rjpjQ)

191 If you dismiss Creation what part of the Bible are you gping to believe.
Posted by: No 6

Well, I like "Render unto Caesar."

Posted by: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at May 15, 2022 10:20 AM (FVME7)

192 I've long found it amusing "Occams Razor" is applied to all kind of scientific explanations, but, when it comes to Creation versus Evolution, somehow, it's tossed aside.

Funny, that.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 10:22 AM (5pTK/)

193 Doll Eyes Alex render unto plinth?

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 15, 2022 10:22 AM (dzNug)

194 If you dismiss Creation what part of the Bible are you gping to believe.

Posted by: No 6 at May 15, 2022 10:16 AM (i0Lci)
---
The thing is, the way the Bible describes Creation is so heavy in symbolism that it's hard to argue against any of it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:22 AM (llXky)

195 most understand that Stalin was given, repeatedly, very high quality intel about Barbarossa, up until the day it happened, but disdained all of it.
Posted by: rhomboid

The Volga isn't just a river in Russia.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 10:23 AM (FVME7)

196 Vmom, the next set are the Wax and Wayne series that takes place 300 years after The Hero of Ages. First book is the Alloy of Law. They are fantastic. The characters are amazing. Out of all the Sanderson books I've read so far, I like this set the best. There is a 4 th book due out in November called The Lost Metal. I can't wait.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 15, 2022 10:24 AM (Y+l9t)

197 well Lee child is a lefty from Panorama, when the BBC isn't left enough for you, but he understands the other side, Andrew Rollins is the Australian version,

Stalin had a deep cover agent in the German high command, who masqueraded as a a Russian,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 10:25 AM (i0Lci)

198
Both traditions also emphasize the whole body of scripture, not just the Bible because there are literally thousands of years of learned commentary to draw upon. Don't fall into the modern conceit of thinking that we're so much smarter than all of them.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:03 AM (llXky)

Read your blog post and was gonna comment this but don't have a typepad id:
Yes, this is why I've been on a search for a good study bible. Context and history is everything.
Some people try to read the Bible as if it were the I Ching

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 10:25 AM (kf6Ak)

199 hey quoted and closed for first deal (verbal). Came in about 3k under budget. As we had no formal quoting software I had to get a system, setup the back office, and then move my paper notes into line item pricing.

Turnaround from walk through to quote was about 4 days. 2 of those day were getting the owner to tell me how to price the line item units in the back office.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 15, 2022 10:25 AM (yrol0)

200 Help! Years ago I read a police procedural I really enjoyed, and want to recommend to a friend, but I can't remember the title. It's set in a city which shares physical space with another city on a different plane. One city is dingy, poor and Eastern European, the other is bright, prosperous and kind of neo-Ottoman. There are fractures between the planes in random spots, where the people in the cities can see each other. The catch is that in order to peacefully share space, there is a law that the citizens must conspicuously ignore what they see of the other city, or a mysterious enforcement organization whisks them off somewhere. Sound familiar to anyone?

Posted by: schizuki at May 15, 2022 10:25 AM (5YmYl)

201 One of the 'tells' of German invasion plans was the frequent over flights of Soviet territory by Ju 88C bombers taking photographs.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 15, 2022 10:26 AM (dzNug)

202 The the Old Testament if nothing else sure seems to have the way the earth evolved from the so called " big bang" and written thousands of years before science came to the same conclusion of forming the planet, plant life, animals then man is quite a coincidence.

Posted by: Skip at May 15, 2022 10:26 AM (2JoB8)

203 as a white Russian, pre Vlasov I think,

evolution teaches everything is random, so there is no order, and hence no morality,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 10:26 AM (i0Lci)

204 {{{vmom}}} Thanks.

Posted by: Wenda at May 15, 2022 10:27 AM (TK9+5)

205 192 I've long found it amusing "Occams Razor" is applied to all kind of scientific explanations, but, when it comes to Creation versus Evolution, somehow, it's tossed aside.

Funny, that.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 10:22 AM (5pTK/)

Funny that Evolution was accepted but the sexual selection side of his theory was just ignored.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 15, 2022 10:28 AM (yrol0)

206 In 1962, the USA was young and full of possibilities.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 15, 2022 10:00 AM (i0slg)

Oh, blaming me for it changing eh?!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 15, 2022 10:28 AM (7bRMQ)

207 The the Old Testament if nothing else sure seems to have the way the earth evolved from the so called " big bang" and written thousands of years before science came to the same conclusion of forming the planet, plant life, animals then man is quite a coincidence.

Posted by: Skip at May 15, 2022 10:26 AM (2JoB

---
It's quite remarkable compared to other creation myths involving giant turtles and gods pulling pranks on each other.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:28 AM (llXky)

208 @177 --

Oh, Grit is a streaming service or cable channel? When I was a young geek, it was a publication. (Couldn't really call it a newspaper.)

Neighbors of ours took it. When we would visit them, I always went through their copies for the Wishing Well feature (my number was 5) and the Two-Minute Mystery.

TMM was written by Donald J. Sobel, who gained more fame with the Encyclopedia Brown kids' mystery books. He used a lot of the same plots in EB -- toned down, EB didn't investigate homicides.

I have a couple of TMM collections. Dr. Haledjian is one my favorite fictional sleuths. Brown, however, is easier to pronounce.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 15, 2022 10:28 AM (Om/di)

209 196 Vmom, the next set are the Wax and Wayne series that takes place 300 years after The Hero of Ages. First book is the Alloy of Law. They are fantastic. The characters are amazing.

**

Sharon, I am gonna give myself a little break before I read them - have another author to catch up on first (Wen Spencer). But I am looking forward to them!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 10:29 AM (kf6Ak)

210 exactly if you wanted to explain the Big Bang in Bronze Age terms, how would you do it, now did it take only 6,000 that was darrow's jibe to bryan,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 10:29 AM (i0Lci)

211 New Haiku form?
Posted by: blake -

Haiku kilt by hillbilly music. Mmm. I like it.

FBI never come here.
We don't play.
Many toys, old games buried with tombstones made of paper straws.

Let's dance.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 15, 2022 10:29 AM (J8LnB)

212 Help! Years ago I read a police procedural I really enjoyed, and want to recommend to a friend, but I can't remember the title. It's set in a city which shares physical space with another city on a different plane. One city is dingy, poor and Eastern European, the other is bright, prosperous and kind of neo-Ottoman. There are fractures between the planes in random spots, where the people in the cities can see each other.
=====
Fringe (video series).

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 15, 2022 10:29 AM (MIKMs)

213 200 Help! Years ago I read a police procedural I really enjoyed, and want to recommend to a friend, but I can't remember the title. It's set in a city which shares physical space with another city on a different plane. One city is dingy, poor and Eastern European, the other is bright, prosperous and kind of neo-Ottoman. There are fractures between the planes in random spots, where the people in the cities can see each other. The catch is that in order to peacefully share space, there is a law that the citizens must conspicuously ignore what they see of the other city, or a mysterious enforcement organization whisks them off somewhere. Sound familiar to anyone?
Posted by: schizuki at May 15, 2022 10:25 AM (5YmYl)

Wasnt this a series about 10 years ago. On HBO maybe.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 15, 2022 10:29 AM (yrol0)

214 Funny that Evolution was accepted but the sexual selection side of his theory was just ignored.
Posted by: rhennigantx at May 15, 2022 10:28 AM (yrol0)
--------------

Yeah, I've used the "how does homosexuality promote the survival of the fittest/species" argument against lefties.

Usually results in the subject being ignored or completely irrelevant answers.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 10:30 AM (5pTK/)

215 I should add that a Catholic monk did pioneering work on genetics and of course the Big Bang Theory was conceived by a Catholic priest.

But let's go with that "religious people can't do science" thing.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:30 AM (llXky)

216 1962 was the year of the port huron statement, the war cry of the sds which became weathermen which is so called antifa,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 10:31 AM (i0Lci)

217 That library is hideous.
Posted by: Tonypete at May 15, 2022 09:01 AM (Msys3)

Indeed. Byzantine hemorrhoid, or islamic pile, you decide.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 15, 2022 10:31 AM (966p/)

218 Oh, Grit is a streaming service or cable channel? . . .

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 15, 2022

***
No, it's an over-the-air channel. I don't have cable and I haven't signed up for any streaming things. It comes in over the antenna on my 2020-model TV. Most of what they show is Westerns -- they're having an Eastwood day today, with Joe Kidd on right now.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 10:33 AM (c6xtn)

219 I don't think it will produce any new bottom lines - most understand that Stalin was given, repeatedly, very high quality intel about Barbarossa, up until the day it happened, but disdained all of it.

Posted by: rhomboid

I've read a couple of books by Victor Suvorov about this subject, and he concluded that Stalin was going to hit Germany with his own invasion on July 5, 1941. Had he done so, he'd probably have gone all the way to the English Channel.

But Hitler beat him to the punch and 39 million people were killed.

Several commenters on here told me Suvorov is full of shit, but his reasoning was sound and his information was new. "Icebreaker" and "The Chief Culprit" are the books.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 10:33 AM (dYZo0)

220 I should add that a Catholic monk did pioneering work on genetics and of course the Big Bang Theory was conceived by a Catholic priest.

But let's go with that "religious people can't do science" thing.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:30 AM (llXky)
---
The more I learn about the scientific wonders of our universe, the deeper my faith in a divine Creator grows...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 10:33 AM (K5n5d)

221 That library is hideous.
Posted by: Tonypete at May 15, 2022 09:01 AM (Msys3)

You should see their librarians.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 10:33 AM (45fpk)

222 yes there is no evolutionary basis for homosexuality, or any of the other 57 gender classifications,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 10:34 AM (i0Lci)

223 Welp. If I don't move from this chair, the dogs won't eat this week.

I'll try to check in later when Christopher R. Taylor is up and ask if he makes any money if I buy his book from Thriftbooks.

Later, horde! Have a blessed and beautiful day!

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at May 15, 2022 10:34 AM (OX9vb)

224 Darn you, morons! I've bought three books on your recommendations.

Until they arrive, I'm reading a library book: "The Killing Floor" by Lee Child. Several friends have recommended the Jack Reacher series.

On a related note, here's something about not reading depressing books. https://tinyurl.com/2p8wh9zk

Posted by: NaughtyPine at May 15, 2022 10:34 AM (/+bwe)

225 1962 was the year of the port huron statement, the war cry of the sds which became weathermen which is so called antifa,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 10:31 AM (i0Lci)
---
Antifa was in Spain during the 30s. Today's version uses the same colors/flags.

Interesting that as "orthodox" Marxism (Communism) collapsed, the libertarian version of it (Anarchism) became more popular.

Thinking over the road to war in 1936, the use of assassination was a key feature and of course the murder of Jose Calvo Sotelo was event that precipitated the July Rising. I'm writing about China, but Spain remains very much on my mind.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:34 AM (llXky)

226 Grammy Winger, for light beach reading try Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher. Wholesome, fun fantasy. It also has a good dog character.

Posted by: Laura at May 15, 2022 10:34 AM (P3rBV)

227 My sister is pushing me to read "5 People You'll Meet in Heaven" and I'm resisting. The very title turns me off. How can anybody alive assert who you'll meet in Heaven (besides the Lord) or what Heaven will be like? She likes these feel-good books and since she's been having a tough time lately, I cut her slack. But I have different taste in books.
Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V

It's not terrible. Somewhat reminiscent of It's a Wonderful Life in that it asserts that even ordinary lives have meaning. The basic idea is that in Heaven you will discover the reasons you went through all that you went through. But if you don't feel like reading it, don't read it.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 10:35 AM (FVME7)

228 Grammy Winger, for light beach reading try Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher. Wholesome, fun fantasy. It also has a good dog character.

Posted by: Laura at May 15, 2022 10:34 AM (P3rBV

Thanks Laura - I'll give it a look!

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 10:36 AM (45fpk)

229 That library is hideous.
Posted by: Tonypete at May 15, 2022 09:01 AM (Msys3)

You should see their librarians.
Posted by: grammie winger

!

Hiya Grammie !

Posted by: JT at May 15, 2022 10:36 AM (arJlL)

230 Anyway, Harry Crews needs the same. But, the whole woke thing makes champions scarce cuz raising him will threaten their careers.

He just may get plowed under by wokism.
Posted by: naturalfake at May 15, 2022 10:11 AM (5NkmN)

If so it will be particularly bad because his appeal crosses over lib/conservative boundaries. When his name is brought up you can see it in the eyes of the true believers.

Sometimes it's just dumb luck that makes people aware of things. Without the Burgess book it's unlikely I'd have sampled CP Snow.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 15, 2022 10:36 AM (y7DUB)

231 A while back I asked for some advice about books that had dialog, like a graphic novel, to encourage my 5 yr old granddaughter to participate when I read to them instead of being a passive listener. I knew she a.ready had great reading skill but she seemed shy about demonstrating it.
I found a book about a Narwhal set up just that way. I took the part of the Narwhal and she became the squid in the story.
Worked! She understands question marks, emphasis, sounds and acted out the part. Knew every word. It was so much fun. Moved on to the Unicorn Diaries, now pulling the 3 yr old into it.
Being a Grammy is so much fun.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 15, 2022 10:36 AM (Y+l9t)

232 216 1962 was the year of the port huron statement, the war cry of the sds which became weathermen which is so called antifa,
Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022

***
I consider it to be the last "good" year in American history. Every year since then, with JFK's assassination kicking the sequence off, has been unpleasant in one fashion or another. I'm sure '62 had its problems -- the Cuban Missile Crisis for one -- but America was still optimistic and we had no EPA or TSA or CRT.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 10:36 AM (c6xtn)

233 It's funny to me that young people consider "mid-century" stuff so cool now. We had the formica table in the kitchen and by the late 60's we were begging our parents to get rid of it because it was so out of style. To our relief, the 50's stuff was finally replaced - by harvest gold and orange! Yuck! It's fascinating to me how our perception changes on a mass scale with the decades. Those beehive hairdos and ducktails of the '50's still look odd to me, but so does the big hair of the '80's - and I had big hair in the '80's.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at May 15, 2022 10:06 AM (HabA/)

Well, I like the avocado, harvest gold, and orange stuff! In fact, we still have a vintage green pie server, green with plastic handle. Just used it a couple of weeks ago. Don't care for all the old styles though.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 15, 2022 10:36 AM (7bRMQ)

234 "Grammy Winger, for light beach reading try Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher. Wholesome, fun fantasy. It also has a good dog character.
Posted by: Laura "

Just started that book last night. I'm enjoying it very much.

Posted by: Tuna at May 15, 2022 10:37 AM (gLRfa)

235 I'm a YUGE fan of the Reacher books !

Posted by: JT at May 15, 2022 10:37 AM (arJlL)

236 Hiya JT!

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 10:38 AM (45fpk)

237 Cuthbert the Witless:
Somebody already suggested Donald E Westlake. I'd add in his Dortmunder novels. Very funnny stuff.

Posted by: who knew at May 15, 2022 10:38 AM (4I7VG)

238 suvorov was a veteran of prague, before he went into the spetznaz, it makes sense if one thinks that stalin had a long game, which he did, he thought the social democrats were the big obstacle to the communists, that's why he defamed them, the catholic center was done in by the depression and the nazis were the last domino, and germany was the largest continental power, france had the socialists, who had ticked off the traditional radical parties,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 10:38 AM (i0Lci)

239 I've read a couple of books by Victor Suvorov about this subject, and he concluded that Stalin was going to hit Germany with his own invasion on July 5, 1941. Had he done so, he'd probably have gone all the way to the English Channel.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 10:33 AM (dYZo0)
---
No. Soviet offensive performance was pathetic at that point. If anything, the USSR might have actually lost the war by September.

Why? Because they would be at the limit of their logistics train while Germany would be sitting on their railheads. A huge percentage of Germany's losses in 1941 were due to the attrition of moving deep into Russia. If the Russians wanted to fight the thing out on the Polish border, so much the better for the Reich.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:38 AM (llXky)

240 136 I read some science fiction by Cyril M. Kornbluth and came across this account of his death.
----
Yes, very sad. He wrote great stuff.
I like the old-fashioned SciFi stuff, Asimov, A. E. Van Vogt, Philip K. Dick, etc.
Hate fantasy.
Loved Westlake, even the comical series with Dortmunder. Am a fan of Reacher. Also Jonathan Maberry - Joe Ledger series,
I also/mainly like Spy stuff, but the convoluted stuff specially. Loved Spy Who Came In From The Cold but no other from author John le Carré; Vince Flynn (RIP); Daniel Silva ignoring the AGW nonsense; couldn't get enough of Red Sparrow and the sequel (any more in the series?).
I will take recommendations on spy stuff and Reacher-like stuff.

Posted by: Ciampino at May 15, 2022 10:39 AM (qfLjt)

241 another beautiful fantasy is The Last Dragon by Silvana de Mari

Posted by: Laura at May 15, 2022 10:40 AM (P3rBV)

242 The more I learn about the scientific wonders of our universe, the deeper my faith in a divine Creator grows...
=====

I insisted on my kidlets having some form of organized religious instruction, in our case roman catholic, I was constantly bombarded with 'six days, what a joke' and the like. My answer to all of those gradeschool 'gotchas' was define a 'day' to an infinite being.

It worked.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 15, 2022 10:40 AM (MIKMs)

243 and I had big hair in the '80's.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V

Kewl !

Hiya Donna of the Ampersands !

Posted by: JT at May 15, 2022 10:40 AM (arJlL)

244
I've read Tevye the Dairyman by Sholem Aleichem, the novelistic basis for Fiddler on the Roof. Whereas Tevye in the musical is a jolly figure turned tragic, the Tevye in the book is an outwardly jolly figure who's actually a mess inside: a garrulous bore who's neglectful of his family (he drives one daughter to suicide), scornful about women, blaming God for his own failures, a passive figure who evades his responsibilities by cocooning himself in his religion. Yet he never is quite weighed down by the death of his wife, the death of his son-in-law Motl, the expulsion from his town. His egotism carries him through.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 15, 2022 10:40 AM (/U27+)

245 If you dismiss Creation what part of the Bible are you gping to believe.
Posted by: No 6 at May 15, 2022 10:16 AM (i0Lci)

all of it keeping in mind that it is descriptive without understanding what it describes

Posted by: Kindltot at May 15, 2022 10:41 AM (xhaym)

246 Always wanted to read the Neverending Story but I figured I would never have the time.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 10:41 AM (cnTzX)

247 Hiya JT!
Posted by: grammie winger

Posted by: JT at May 15, 2022 10:41 AM (arJlL)

248 Always wanted to read the Neverending Story but I figured I would never have the time.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter

ISWYDT

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 10:42 AM (dYZo0)

249 that museum looks like it has a poorly chosen object rendering

Posted by: Kindltot at May 15, 2022 10:42 AM (xhaym)

250 The fundamental error of the Left is that human nature can be changed for the better and human beings can be perfected.

-
Old and busted: New Soviet Man

New and cool: New Social Justice QWERTY

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 10:18 AM (FVME7)

In all times and in all places that's what they say, but what they really mean is we want power and we mean to get it no matter how many must die.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (7bRMQ)

251
I had big hair in the '80's.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V

It's a sign of my bad taste that I've always liked women with big hair.

*blushes*

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (/U27+)

252 "Another beautiful fantasy is The Last Dragon..."
Sho' Nuff!

Posted by: PabloD says start up the rotors at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (ZfIh5)

253 Why? Because they would be at the limit of their logistics train while Germany would be sitting on their railheads. A huge percentage of Germany's losses in 1941 were due to the attrition of moving deep into Russia. If the Russians wanted to fight the thing out on the Polish border, so much the better for the Reich.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:38 AM (llXky)
------------

I've long pondered what would have happened, had Germany planned for winter quarters when they invaded Russia.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (5pTK/)

254 My sister is pushing me to read "5 People You'll Meet in Heaven" and I'm resisting. The very title turns me off. How can anybody alive assert who you'll meet in Heaven

There are a ton of people I want to meet in heaven. It will take me an eternity to talk to them all.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (45fpk)

255 Naughty pine, also a big fan of the Reacher books having read them all. Just be prepared for some late nights. They jump right into the story so they become can't put it down til you finish books.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (Y+l9t)

256 I insisted on my kidlets having some form of organized religious instruction, in our case roman catholic, I was constantly bombarded with 'six days, what a joke' and the like. My answer to all of those gradeschool 'gotchas' was define a 'day' to an infinite being.

It worked.
Posted by: mustbequantum at May 15, 2022 10:40 AM (MIKMs)

Since New Testament scripture from Jesus says pretty much the same thing I would say you are correct

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 10:44 AM (cnTzX)

257 this is why matt weiner chose that year to kick off mad men, to subvert the indian spring, as Don Draper, is a shiny fraud, so consequently all the William Whyte and other commentary,

certainly anarchist violence goes back to the turn of the previous century, Barbara Tuchman made that clear, the French version, was touched off in part by the Canal Scandal,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 10:44 AM (i0Lci)

258 It's a sign of my bad taste that I've always liked women with big hair.

*blushes*

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (/U27+)
---
My wife's been growing her hair out and she complains that it's totally 80s big hair.

I agree, and fail to see the problem.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:45 AM (llXky)

259 There are a ton of people I want to meet in heaven. It will take me an eternity to talk to them all.
Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (45fpk)
--------------

Gosh, think you'll have time?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 10:45 AM (5pTK/)

260 Gosh, think you'll have time?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 10:45 AM (5pTK/)

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 10:45 AM (45fpk)

261 I suspect that "Five People You'll Meet in Hell" wouldn't be as popular. It might be a good title for a tourist's guidebook for Philadelphia, though.

Posted by: PabloD says start up the rotors at May 15, 2022 10:45 AM (ZfIh5)

262 I've long pondered what would have happened, had Germany planned for winter quarters when they invaded Russia.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (5pTK/)

Of course they thought the conquest would be over long before winter would arrive. God also intervened by bringing one if not the worse recorded winter in.history.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 10:46 AM (cnTzX)

263 Just finished Brothers of the Wind by Tad Williams. It's a prequel to his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. It tells the tragic tale of a dragon hunt gone horribly wrong. The beast is slain, but it scars the main character with its blood, leaving him in twisted agony. Because he's also one of the immortal elf-like Sithi, his suffering will never end. It's truly a tragic story of a good man who undergoes horrific torment. Somehow he has the strength to carry on, though eventually he leaves behind all of the ones he loves to go on an neverending quest to find a cure for his pain.

When the main story begins in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, it's made clear that he's still suffering that same unendurable agony over a thousand years later. His mother can still touch him in her dreams and experience his pain.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 10:46 AM (K5n5d)

264 Red Sparrow, was great specially the cuisine elements at the end of each chapter, and how Dominika had this sixth sense, that was part of her interior dialogue, needless to say the film inspires Bon fire of the Vanity style rants, for how they didn't even try,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 10:47 AM (i0Lci)

265 An interesting analytical book about the "Creation" is "The Creator Beyond Time and Space" By Eastman/Missler.

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar (hOUT3) ~every book has been totally rewritten ~ at May 15, 2022 10:48 AM (hOUT3)

266 During the last few months I read (listened) to a half dozen books by Mark Rashid. Started with 'A Good Horse Is Never a Bad Color', and ended up listening to all that are currently available on Audible plus.

All books focused on horses and their nature, personalities and problems (mostly human induced). My only horse experience was when oldest daughter took lessons for a few years. Obviously I enjoyed them enough to keep going.

Thanks to library options like Overdrive/Libby and Hoopla, I've spent minimal $$ on audible lately. When audible started the plus catalog of unlimited 'loan' titles, the selection seemed extensive. Unfortunately looking at titles 'added' in the year+ since, nothing recent is anything I'd want to spend time with. There is no thought diversity among audible editors.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at May 15, 2022 10:48 AM (C/fpg)

267 I had big hair in the '80's.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V
*
It's a sign of my bad taste that I've always liked women with big hair.

*blushes*
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 15, 2022

***
Eighties hair . . . love it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 10:48 AM (c6xtn)

268 There are a ton of people I want to meet in heaven. It will take me an eternity to talk to them all.
Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (45fpk)
--------------

I want to visit that room full of monkeys to see how their book is coming.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 10:49 AM (cnTzX)

269 261 I suspect that "Five People You'll Meet in Hell" wouldn't be as popular. It might be a good title for a tourist's guidebook for Philadelphia, though.
Posted by: PabloD says start up the rotors at May 15, 2022 10:45 AM (ZfIh5)

The five Peeps You Meet in Beaumont is about purgatory.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 15, 2022 10:49 AM (yrol0)

270 Schizuki: the book you're thinking of is _The City and the City_ by China Mieville.

It's a great book. Mieville is a Trotskyite shit, but he is a genuinely great writer.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2022 10:49 AM (QZxDR)

271 Hulu Declines Opportunity to Make 'Rodham,' an Alternative Universe Story About Hillary

-
I guess that there'd be racial harmony, universal prosperity, and peace on Earth. Hillary would do what Jesus should have done.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 10:49 AM (FVME7)

272 Just got back from the errands which, happily, took us next to a used book store. Perfessor discussed "The Neverending Story" hardcover in the post. What greets my eager eyes? A pristine edition of the book for fifty whole pennies!!. The dust jacket is different but it has the same features and illustrations and translator as pictured above. Hot diggety! Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

The Neverending Story was written long after my childhood but I enjoy many of the classic children's books in my advanced years. I'm looking forward to reading this one. And since I haven't seen the movie, it will be fresh and new to me.

Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 10:49 AM (7EjX1)

273 Inside is a little weird as well...
https://tinyurl.com/yk63ktvb
https://tinyurl.com/3eck7na9
Posted by: Military Moron at May 15, 2022 09:51 AM (JCZqz)

Hard to miss the thousands of books lining the shelves, oh, wait...

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 15, 2022 10:50 AM (QylXR)

274 243 and I had big hair in the '80's.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V

Kewl !

Hiya Donna of the Ampersands !
----
Cool band name Donna And The Ampersands.

Posted by: Ciampino at May 15, 2022 10:50 AM (qfLjt)

275 Those pants are fine. I would war them to my psychiatrist's office for my upcoming Rorschach test.

Just to mess with his head.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 15, 2022 10:50 AM (kXYt5)

276 I want to visit that room full of monkeys to see how their book is coming.
Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 10:49 AM (cnTzX)

In Scary Movie X or something the, a play off the Planet fo Apes movies, the monkey given the intelligence drug are throwing their shit.

Lead scientist says Yes, but now they keep score.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 15, 2022 10:51 AM (yrol0)

277 Hulu Declines Opportunity to Make 'Rodham,' an Alternative Universe Story About Hillary

-
I guess that there'd be racial harmony, universal prosperity, and peace on Earth. Hillary would do what Jesus should have done.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 10:49 AM (FVME7)
---
I thought they already did this. Wasn't there a show about some Madam Secretary or something?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:51 AM (llXky)

278 There are a ton of people I want to meet in heaven. It will take me an eternity to talk to them all.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (45fpk)

iswydt

Posted by: BignJames at May 15, 2022 10:51 AM (AwYPR)

279 Just got back from the errands which, happily, took us next to a used book store. Perfessor discussed "The Neverending Story" hardcover in the post. What greets my eager eyes? A pristine edition of the book for fifty whole pennies!!. The dust jacket is different but it has the same features and illustrations and translator as pictured above. Hot diggety! Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

The Neverending Story was written long after my childhood but I enjoy many of the classic children's books in my advanced years. I'm looking forward to reading this one. And since I haven't seen the movie, it will be fresh and new to me.
Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 10:49 AM (7EjX1)
---
LOL! What good fortune! I think you will enjoy it!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 15, 2022 10:51 AM (K5n5d)

280 Of course it doesn't move. It's being held down by a huge net.

Posted by: Emmie

Hmmmmm

*ponders thoughtfully*

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 10:52 AM (dYZo0)

281 271 Hulu Declines Opportunity to Make 'Rodham,' an Alternative Universe Story About Hillary

-
I guess that there'd be racial harmony, universal prosperity, and peace on Earth. Hillary would do what Jesus should have done.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 10:49 AM (FVME7)

At a moment like this
I cant help but wonder
What would Hillary do??

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 15, 2022 10:52 AM (yrol0)

282 At a moment like this
I cant help but wonder
What would Hillary do??

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 15, 2022 10:52 AM (yrol0)
---
Cackle. Always with the cackle.

And then have someone killed.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:53 AM (llXky)

283 I thought they already did this. Wasn't there a show about some Madam Secretary or something?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022

***
A TV drama with Tea Leoni as Secretary of State. Despite liking Tea very much, I never had the slightest interest in seeing the series.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 10:53 AM (c6xtn)

284 I'm a YUGE fan of the Reacher books !
Posted by: JT at May 15, 2022 10:37 AM

Several morons are. I'm checking them out of the library because I really have run out of room on the bookshelves. I find Kindle hard to enjoy.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at May 15, 2022 10:53 AM (/+bwe)

285 Good morning, book nerds!

Lots of Dragonriders of Pern chatter in last week's Book Thread, and by great good fortune I happened to have repurchased copies of the Harper Hall trilogy (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums). Rereading Dragonsong was a delight. What a pleasure to read a slender volume with a tale well told, instead of a herniatic sandbag of a story.

The best cover art is by Elizabeth Malczynski Littman. Her fire lizards capture the feline grace of the little dragons.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 15, 2022 10:54 AM (Dc2NZ)

286 yes morgan freedman's in kind of contribution and how they ruined homeland,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 10:54 AM (i0Lci)

287 That library looks like a high security book prison.

Posted by: 13times at May 15, 2022 10:56 AM (hLlnK)

288 A TV drama with Tea Leoni as Secretary of State. Despite liking Tea very much, I never had the slightest interest in seeing the series.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 10:53 AM (c6xtn)
---
Ah. I remember seeing it a while ago. I only watch TV on Saturdays in the fall and sometimes I see the promos for stupid shows I will never watch.

I just finished Magnum p.i. on DVD and have started Miami Vice. Love that 80s hair!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:56 AM (llXky)

289 Report Says That Western Weapons in Ukraine Being Sold on Encrypted Messaging App

-
I could use a half dozen Javelin anti tank missiles.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 10:56 AM (FVME7)

290 Worked! She understands question marks, emphasis, sounds and acted out the part. Knew every word. It was so much fun. Moved on to the Unicorn Diaries, now pulling the 3 yr old into it. Being a Grammy is so much fun.
=====
Drummer Hoff Fires It Off and Zin Zin a Violin are other participation books that we enjoyed back in the day. Before I forget, Stone Soup is another.

They know the words, they know the punctuation, and have a great time reading it to you.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 15, 2022 10:56 AM (MIKMs)

291 Don't know if this means anything but I just got back from a used bookstore. It has a decent poetry section but there wasn't one damn volume of Tennyson's works. Not nice hardcovers or cheap paperback 'selected' poem editions.

One of the employees told me any Tennyson books that come in don't last a day on the shelf. What the hell is going on? I'm sort of pleased but a nice leatherbound volume of his poetry, for about ten cents, would have been nice.

Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 10:57 AM (7EjX1)

292 this is the hillary term but with more brawndo, all the key players are on deck,

jason matthews seems to really know what's he's talking about dominika is imagine if anna chapman the hawt red head was working for the Company, while networking in the FSB,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 10:58 AM (i0Lci)

293 Ran out of library books on my Kindle so read two $.99 books I had bought the last time we were directed to a sale thread. Both are classic Sci-fi which I don't read much anymore. David Drakes With the Lightnings was the better of the two, the other being Harry Harrison's Deathworld. I enjoyed them but found them lightweight compared to what I read normally so I guess, perfect $.99 book.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 15, 2022 10:59 AM (Y+l9t)

294 I had big hair in the '80's.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V

It's a sign of my bad taste that I've always liked women with big hair.

*blushes*
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (/U27+)

Hiya, handsome!

Posted by: Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry at May 15, 2022 10:59 AM (4I/2K)

295 There are a ton of people I want to meet in heaven. It will take me an eternity to talk to them all.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (45fpk)

----------

I've heard they have a hell of a band.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at May 15, 2022 10:59 AM (XG2Fi)

296 I had hair in the 1980s. Started losing it shortly afterward.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2022 11:00 AM (QZxDR)

297 Biden Plans to Go Big on "Clean Energy" in Questionable Attempt to Fight Inflation

-
Our inflation and energy problems are behind us!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 11:00 AM (FVME7)

298 Speaking of time, the first thing I thought about in the movie Passengers is that it was supposed to take 120 years to get to the colony planet. The passengers would be more than a century behind in technology. Would Earth have discovered a mode of travel that would take only half the time during that period? Etc etc.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 11:01 AM (cnTzX)

299 I had hair in the 1980s. Started losing it shortly afterward.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2022 11:00 AM (QZxDR)

Some folks hair doesn't turn gray...it turns loose.

Posted by: BignJames at May 15, 2022 11:01 AM (AwYPR)

300 NaughtyPine, the Reacher books do not have to be read in order. Just an FYI.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 15, 2022 11:02 AM (Y+l9t)

301 I am in a people of a certain age reread classic sci-fi book club. We just finished Enders Game.

I had forgotten how much a Mary Sue Ender was. A lot less enjoyable than I remembered because of that.

Posted by: blaster at May 15, 2022 11:02 AM (9otr5)

302 Naughty pine, also a big fan of the Reacher books having read them all. Just be prepared for some late nights. They jump right into the story so they become can't put it down til you finish books.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM

Oh, no! I have been reading before bedtime. As of right now, I can put it down at a break in scene without any problem because it's seems to be the set-up stage (Reacher just left the barbershop).

Posted by: NaughtyPine at May 15, 2022 11:03 AM (/+bwe)

303 Eighties hair . . . love it.
=====
As my sisters informed me, the vaguely conical pads appearing in drawers of old junk are shoulder pads, not bra pads.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 15, 2022 11:03 AM (MIKMs)

304 Plant-Based Food Industry Faces Challenges Due to Its Products Being Terrible

-
Now, that is some insightful analysis!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 11:04 AM (FVME7)

305 251
I had big hair in the '80's.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V

It's a sign of my bad taste that I've always liked women with big hair.

Kamala looks down her panties - drat, shaved.

Posted by: Ciampino at May 15, 2022 11:04 AM (qfLjt)

306 "translators make or break a book."

--------

"Translations are like women. If they are beautiful, they are not faithful; if they are faithful, they are not beautiful."

Posted by: Schizuki at May 15, 2022 11:04 AM (5YmYl)

307 109 ... "The third book, That Hideous Strength, is eerily prophetic."

emmie,
I agree and parts of the third book are difficult for me to read. Too close to the current state of things that enrage and frustrate me. It was bad enough when I first read the books back in junior high school. But some of the humor and the sections dealing with Merlin are still enjoyable.

Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 11:04 AM (7EjX1)

308 Did Vince Flynn make a series with Mitch Rapp?

I did read American Assassin but for whatever reason did not search out any other of his books. I was distracted by reading the rest of Steven Pressfield's books.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 11:05 AM (cnTzX)

309 NaughtyPine, the Reacher books do not have to be read in order. Just an FYI.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice)

Seconded !

Speaking of that, I just finished the latest Badge of Honor book, I've read ALL of them, but this last one stunk !

Posted by: JT at May 15, 2022 11:05 AM (arJlL)

310 I think the first problem with trying to translate the Bible is that with respect to the Old Testament, originally written in Hebrew, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a specific meaning apart from the sound the letter makes. And each word combines those specific meanings into the word's own meaning.

Not explaining it well at all. I had a book about this subject in my storage shed, but mice ate the thing. Probably because Stan knew the author was onto something and so he sent some of his minions to dispose of the book.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:05 AM (dYZo0)

311 More insightful analysis.

Kevin D. Williamson: Inflation Proves Biden Has Done Everything Wrong All at Once

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 11:05 AM (FVME7)

312 A lot of the Reacher books start with him being arrested. Just sayin.....

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 15, 2022 11:06 AM (Y+l9t)

313 ..The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

************

No Spoilers - a limerick

I'd really like to read this book, my friends
But my literature enjoyment all depends
So don't reveal the key plot twists
Nor say who dies. I must insist!
And I sure don't want to know how it ends

Posted by: Muldoon at May 15, 2022 11:07 AM (kXYt5)

314 I had big hair in the '80's.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V

It's a sign of my bad taste that I've always liked women with big hair.

*blushes*
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (/U27+)

With too much lipstick and, uh
too much rouge
leaves me excited and feeling confused.

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 15, 2022 11:07 AM (4I/2K)

315 They gave up on turning lead into gold.
Now the focus is turning lettuce into a cheeseburger.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 15, 2022 11:07 AM (J8LnB)

316 Dennis Prager's Rational Bible is a retake from Hebrew to English interpretation.

Posted by: Skip at May 15, 2022 11:07 AM (2JoB8)

317 I guess that there'd be racial harmony, universal prosperity, and peace on Earth. Hillary would do what Jesus should have done.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston

Instead of being utterly incompetent at any job she ever had, murdering people, and drinking the blood of infants, like she did in this life.

Ugh. What an evil bitch.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:08 AM (dYZo0)

318 With too much lipstick and, uh
too much rouge
leaves me excited and feeling confused.

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 15, 2022 11:07 AM (4I/2K)

Cocktail waitress in a Dolly Parton wig?

Posted by: BignJames at May 15, 2022 11:08 AM (AwYPR)

319 When I first moved to NY in the 80's the first job I got was a manager of a CVS ( this was when CVS was located just in the NorthEast. I couldn't keep Aquanet on the shelves.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 11:09 AM (cnTzX)

320 Dennis Prager's Rational Bible is a retake from Hebrew to English interpretation.

Posted by: Skip

I will need to check that out. Thanks, Skip.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:09 AM (dYZo0)

321 Kevin D. Williamson: Inflation Proves Biden Has Done Everything Wrong All at Once

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 11:05 AM (FVME7)
---
Williamson is a noted expert on doing things wrong.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 11:09 AM (llXky)

322 Now the focus is turning lettuce into a cheeseburger.

Posted by: humphreyrobot

"May I introduce to you, the . . . COW!"

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:09 AM (dYZo0)

323 yes he doesn't suffer fools, I guess that's part of the gig if you're an MP,

american assasin, as an origin story, doesn't work terribly well, compared to what came before,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 11:11 AM (i0Lci)

324 The 5 People You Meet in Heaven was a good read. I haven't read the sequel - The Next Person You Meet in Heaven.
Earlier this year I got an e-library card to the Brooklyn Public Library. It is the 55th largest library in the country, measured by # of titles. It doesn't have all the titles I look for, but as long as I don't mind waiting, saving a lot of money.

Posted by: Laura at May 15, 2022 11:11 AM (P3rBV)

325 I'm reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Krebs vs. Karnot mentioned it a thread yesterday and that reminded me that I own it and haven't read it; it's hard to put down.

Posted by: m at May 15, 2022 11:11 AM (6i1Yo)

326 Cocktail waitress in a Dolly Parton wig?
Posted by: BignJames at May 15, 2022 11:08 AM (AwYPR)

Yeah, ain't she great!

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 15, 2022 11:11 AM (4I/2K)

327 More insightful analysis.

Kevin D. Williamson: Inflation Proves Biden Has Done Everything Wrong All at Once
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 11:05 AM (FVME7)

---------

If John Kerry hadn't monopolized the title so ruthlessly, Joe Biden would be the John Kerry of political judgment.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at May 15, 2022 11:12 AM (XG2Fi)

328 220 Perfesser Squirrel, St. Thomas Aquinas defined God (according to Bishop Robert Barron) as "the very essence of the verb 'to be'". He, God, has no contingent explanation for his existence: He is the root of everything.

This does nothing to resolve "creation" vs. "evolution." The big bang was creation; most else was evolution. Except dogs. Dogs are the obvious sign of an intelligent and infinitely benevolent creator.

Posted by: Tonestaple at May 15, 2022 11:12 AM (InThs)

329 While the 5 people in Heaven conversations could go on a long time, the 5 in Hell would be shorter yet interesting as well, like WTF were you thinking?

Posted by: Skip at May 15, 2022 11:12 AM (2JoB8)

330 It's amazing what can be done combining silicone and helium.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 15, 2022 11:13 AM (J8LnB)

331 Morning Hordemates.
I've not been reading much this last week. Mostly just the directions for my new woodchip burning grill. And this isn't good as I have about five books in the queue.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 15, 2022 11:14 AM (anj39)

332 "Schizuki: the book you're thinking of is _The City and the City_ by China Mieville.

It's a great book. Mieville is a Trotskyite shit, but he is a genuinely great writer.

Posted by: Trimegistus

--------

Yes! That's the one. Thank you!

Posted by: Schizuki at May 15, 2022 11:14 AM (5YmYl)

333 While the 5 people in Heaven conversations could go on a long time, the 5 in Hell would be shorter yet interesting as well, like WTF were you thinking?
Posted by: Skip at May 15, 2022 11:12 AM (2JoB

--------

Do they have water cooler discussions in hell? How long do the breaks last?

Asking for a friend.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at May 15, 2022 11:14 AM (XG2Fi)

334 I think the first problem with trying to translate the Bible is that with respect to the Old Testament, originally written in Hebrew, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a specific meaning apart from the sound the letter makes. And each word combines those specific meanings into the word's own meaning.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:05 AM (dYZo0)
---
Translation isn't just words, it's concepts and if the concept doesn't exist in that language, it's hard to convey it. This was a big issue with translating the Bible into Mandarin and the first attempts at doing it created a hybrid Confucian Christianity that culiminated in a bloody rebellion (the Taipings).

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 11:14 AM (llXky)

335 yes the english translation for volpi and gabriel vasquez, for
instance is better than the spanish original, they are mexcan and colombian authors I'vre reference before,

one translation of ivan denisovich was so terrible I still remember it, not in a good way,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 11:14 AM (i0Lci)

336 Until they arrive, I'm reading a library book: "The Killing Floor" by Lee Child. Several friends have recommended the Jack Reacher series.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at May 15, 2022 10:34 AM (/+bwe)

Just read that recently too. The paperback version I had had an intro from the author about how he came up with the Reacher character. Interesting.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 11:16 AM (kf6Ak)

337 I was constantly bombarded with 'six days, what a joke' and the like. My answer to all of those gradeschool 'gotchas' was define a 'day' to an infinite being.

It worked.
Posted by: mustbequantum

This.
I checked with an aspiring rabbi the hebrew creation (same order as the old testament's 6 days) against modern Big Bang and what order *stuff* had to occur. It turns out the science and the religious agree on the sequence.
I went through RC school through HS and asked our family priest about 'creation vs. the-science' in HS. He asked me how I interpreted it to which I replied: God started it with a bang and then it took as long as God wanted it to take. There is no way to know how long God's *days* are." He said "You started with God did it and after that you're fine".

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:16 AM (CwtvX)

338 208 @177 --
.......TMM was written by Donald J. Sobel, who gained more fame with the Encyclopedia Brown kids' mystery books. He used a lot of the same plots in EB -- toned down, EB didn't investigate homicides.........

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 15, 2022 10:28 AM (Om/di)

'Grit' was before my time (or just never part of my life) but I remember reading a lot of Encyclopedia Brown books in my youth. Still remember the critical clues of some of them: a squirrel will never crawl backwards down a tree (thus, the witness is lying), and there was one where a witness was slyly answering test questions only in palindromes, implying the perp was also a palindrome (Bob).

And in response to a different comment: I do have the first Moon Knight Omnibus, and have read the first part of it. When the series was a back-up story for the Hulk magazine the stories were pretty brutal, and had some cool coloring (looked almost like watercolor). But it did become more 'normal' when it became a solo series. At least as far as I have read...

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 15, 2022 11:17 AM (Lhaco)

339 "May I introduce to you, the . . . COW!"

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:09 AM (dYZo0)
---
I'm seeing the fur industry is trying to make a comeback by pointing out that their products don't use oil but instead are sustainable, ethical, biodegradable and all-natural.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 11:17 AM (llXky)

340 Williamson is a noted expert on doing things wrong.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 11:09 AM (llXky)
------------

Whenever an NRO type NeverTrumper pops their head up, all I can think of is the scene from "Office Space" where the guy is hollering at the two Bobs, "I have people skills."

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 11:17 AM (5pTK/)

341 To my friends on the left: Don't F#ck with Mollie Hemingway! She's got a purse full of receipts in that beautiful conservative mind.

Posted by: Mean Tweets at May 15, 2022 11:17 AM (BOJAx)

342 I had forgotten how much a Mary Sue Ender was. A lot less enjoyable than I remembered because of that.
Posted by: blaster at May 15, 2022 11:02 AM (9otr5)

Correct term is "Gary Stu".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 15, 2022 11:17 AM (Dc2NZ)

343 Well, I guess it's time for me to sign off. I've got puttering, procrastinating, and idling to do!

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2022 11:17 AM (QZxDR)

344 it didn't help that honq quing (sic)was a certifiable maniac, but epistemology can hamper proper communication,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 11:18 AM (i0Lci)

345 Do they have water cooler discussions in hell? How long do the breaks last?

Asking for a friend.

Posted by: Cicero

*looks at watch*

"Break's over! Back on your heads!! (in the lake of boiling blood).

-- Stan

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:19 AM (dYZo0)

346 I'll procrastinate tomorrow.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 11:20 AM (FVME7)

347 319 When I first moved to NY in the 80's the first job I got was a manager of a CVS ( this was when CVS was located just in the NorthEast. I couldn't keep Aquanet on the shelves.
Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 11:09 AM (cnTzX)
--

The Goth Invasions were a catastrophe.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 15, 2022 11:20 AM (Dc2NZ)

348 I picked up The Never Ending Story a week or so ago. Read the first chapter. Wasn’t sure I am up for fantasy. Looks go, though.

Posted by: Head puddi at May 15, 2022 11:20 AM (Qlrph)

349 I'll procrastinate tomorrow.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 11:20 AM (FVME7)
-------------

I see a flaw in your plan to procrastinate until tomorrow.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 11:20 AM (5pTK/)

350 it didn't help that honq quing (sic)was a certifiable maniac, but epistemology can hamper proper communication,

Posted by: no 6 at May 15, 2022 11:18 AM (i0Lci)
---
Yeah, and there were strong elements of Han vs Manchu (south vs north) in play as well.

It is interesting to see how a handful of Baptist tracts can go so spectacularly wrong.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 11:21 AM (llXky)

351 God started it with a bang and then it took as long as God wanted it to take. There is no way to know how long God's *days* are." He said "You started with God did it and after that you're fine".
Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:16 AM (CwtvX)

---------

Outside of our universe, the concept of time probably has no meaning anyway. Time and space were created in the Big Bang and they exist only within our universe.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at May 15, 2022 11:21 AM (XG2Fi)

352 Translations: Last night in an antique store, as a decoration, I spotted a translation of Caesar's Commentaries -- the Gallic War stuff. It was not a recent book, though I could not find the copyright date. It was labeled several times as a "literal" translation. Perhaps it was intended as a kind of Cliff's Notes for Latin students back then. Anyway, what surprised me was the length of it and the density. No doubt Caesar dictated it to secretaries rather than writing it all out in longhand himself? Even so, his accounts seemed quite long and detailed.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 11:21 AM (c6xtn)

353 This was a big issue with translating the Bible into Mandarin and the first attempts at doing it created a hybrid Confucian Christianity that culiminated in a bloody rebellion (the Taipings).
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

*******

My wife's cousin and his wife lived in a remote village in the jungles of Papua New Guinea for 20+ years developing a Bible translation for the local tribe. The first half of their sojourn involved developing (or perhaps expanding) a very rudimentary written language. Given cultural constraints, concepts like Christ and redemption had to be re-couched into symbols that were present in the local area (trees, rivers, etc.)

Posted by: Muldoon at May 15, 2022 11:23 AM (kXYt5)

354 Outside of our universe, the concept of time probably has no meaning anyway. Time and space were created in the Big Bang and they exist only within our universe.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43)

God was around even before there was time!

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar (hOUT3) ~every book has been totally rewritten ~ at May 15, 2022 11:23 AM (hOUT3)

355 The Goth Invasions were a catastrophe.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 15, 2022 11:20 AM (Dc2NZ)
----------

I knew a gal way back when who, when in high school, competed with her friends to see just how big they could get their bangs.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 11:23 AM (5pTK/)

356 One of the employees told me any Tennyson books that come in don't last a day on the shelf. What the hell is going on? I'm sort of pleased but a nice leatherbound volume of his poetry, for about ten cents, would have been nice.
Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 10:57 AM

Maybe someone recently published an article about Tennyson? I had been looking for a collected works of Dunstan Thompson's poetry after his "reversion" to Catholicism. Well, I found a brand new copy, arranged to buy it from the university (free with subscription), and then it became unavailable. Turns out that a biography (and preview articles) had led to his early poetry being rediscovered by gay men, and the book suddenly cost $400. (Really weird, considering that period was after he and his lover eschewed the gay lifestyle and lived as celibates. Most of that collection was previously unpublished; he was no longer a darling of editors and publishers.)

I finally found a used copy for about $30 (including shipping from England).

Posted by: NaughtyPine at May 15, 2022 11:23 AM (/+bwe)

357 Given cultural constraints, concepts like Christ and redemption had to be re-couched into symbols that were present in the local area (trees, rivers, etc.)
Posted by: Muldoon at May 15, 2022 11:23 AM (kXYt5)

---------

The Trinity as three coconuts, separate while all aspects of the same coconut.

Yeah, I could see that.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at May 15, 2022 11:24 AM (XG2Fi)

358 56 "And for those of you looking for summer reads, I recommend (as ever) my own new novel, The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of:..."

I am reminded of a book I heard of that was about quantum mechanics, titled "The Dreams that Stuff is Made of".

Posted by: Ray Van Dune at May 15, 2022 11:25 AM (4OVxK)

359 Aquanet is and was perfect for putting grips on motorcycle handlebars. It helps them slide on and then dries to a permanent glue/seal.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:25 AM (CwtvX)

360 No doubt Caesar dictated it to secretaries rather than writing it all out in longhand himself? Even so, his accounts seemed quite long and detailed.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 15, 2022 11:21 AM (c6xtn)

It was so long he had to break it into three parts....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 15, 2022 11:26 AM (7bRMQ)

361 My wife's cousin and his wife lived in a remote village in the jungles of Papua New Guinea for 20+ years developing a Bible translation for the local tribe. The first half of their sojourn involved developing (or perhaps expanding) a very rudimentary written language. Given cultural constraints, concepts like Christ and redemption had to be re-couched into symbols that were present in the local area (trees, rivers, etc.)

Posted by: Muldoon at May 15, 2022 11:23 AM (kXYt5)
---
A huge sticking point in China was the term for "God." They had a "lord of heaven" but that was well-defined and the fear was using the same term would create confusion.

There was also the ancestor worship, which the Jesuits argued was just veneration, but the Church said was idolatry (that is sacrifice and worship).

This debate coincided with the Jesuits getting suppressed and IIRC was one of the charges laid against them. Speaking of which, they need to be suppressed again.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 11:26 AM (llXky)

362 Wonder how long his excuses for war list was before he came up with de nazifying?

80s hair
De whorefying the women mostly

Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 15, 2022 11:26 AM (J8LnB)

363 My wife's cousin and his wife lived in a remote village in the jungles of Papua New Guinea for 20+ years developing a Bible translation for the local tribe.

Muldoon - my aunt worked in Papua New Guinea doing the same thing! I think it was Wycliffe Bible Translators. I think.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 11:27 AM (45fpk)

364 The official line is that the style is meant to reflect a blending of Byzantine and Islamic forms, though there are other interpretations.
___________

Looks like a very correct interpretation to me. Also probably why I don't like it.

Posted by: TrivialPursuer--FJB at May 15, 2022 11:27 AM (k4dH2)

365 The Goth Invasions were a catastrophe.

Wow, there's an insight.

Posted by: Zombie Emperor Valens at May 15, 2022 11:28 AM (ZsR3z)

366 The most common mistranslation , whether intentional or not, is the Thou Shall Not Kill commandment.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 11:28 AM (cnTzX)

367
God was around even before there was time!
Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar

Exactly.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:28 AM (CwtvX)

368 Would Acquanet work on installing new grips on golf clubs?

Posted by: Head puddi at May 15, 2022 11:29 AM (Qlrph)

369 366 The most common mistranslation , whether intentional or not, is the Thou Shall Not Kill commandment.
Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 11:28 AM (cnTzX)

---------

Also, it was a salamander!

Posted by: The Serpent at May 15, 2022 11:30 AM (XG2Fi)

370 God was around even before there was time!
Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar

Exactly.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron

And "Time" isn't a thing, or a force. It's just a system of measuring that an observer, let's call it a "human", creates to make sense of things.

But "Time" does get it's own letter in all the formulae and does figure in some pretty important calculations. But believing that it actually exists anywhere but our minds is a mistake.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:31 AM (dYZo0)

371 The problem translating the bible to Chinese was the Chinese lacked a wriiten language grammer for semi illiterate peasants - the high born wrote only for their caste. Pearl Buck's father spent much effort producing a peasant bible.

Posted by: 13times at May 15, 2022 11:31 AM (hLlnK)

372 Would Acquanet work on installing new grips on golf clubs?
Posted by: Head puddi

I suspect it would work just fine. I still use hairspray to put grips on handlebars. I use an air compressor to expand the grip so it slides on and then the hairspray sets them forever.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:32 AM (CwtvX)

373 Exactly.
Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:28 AM (CwtvX)
-------------

If you ever really want to make a lefty "but science" head explode, just ask them: "How did the laws of physics come into being?"

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 11:32 AM (5pTK/)

374 I have the opposite of writers' block. But i want to be an engineer.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 15, 2022 11:33 AM (J8LnB)

375 Would Acquanet work on installing new grips on golf clubs?

Posted by: Head puddi

You could have patched the USS Oklahoma and raised her using that stuff.

So, yes.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:33 AM (dYZo0)

376 Just read that recently too. The paperback version I had had an intro from the author about how he came up with the Reacher character. Interesting.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 11:16 AM

That's the edition I borrowed. I normally don't read the foreword until I finish the book, but I thought it might be a good introduction to the series.

Speaking of which, should I read in order of publication or chronologically?

Posted by: NaughtyPine at May 15, 2022 11:33 AM (/+bwe)

377 255 Naughty pine, also a big fan of the Reacher books having read them all.

I've also read them all and wait every year for the next "installment". He, Child, writes well. I consider the very first book, "Killing Floor", to be his best to date, followed by book 15, "Worth Dying For" as his next best. This latter book made me emotional as we see a lot of that shit today, in the open. Some are obviously not up to scratch, a result of contract issues (one book a year). It's hard to write about the same guy without ending up repeating a lot of plot lines.
However even if not great, all the books are interesting enough to keep me going to the end.

Posted by: Ciampino at May 15, 2022 11:33 AM (qfLjt)

378 I'll procrastinate tomorrow.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

******

I'll Procrastinate Tomorrow. - a limerick

A lazy no-good bum was Charles Hoff
Whose philosophy of living made me scoff
"In my humble estimation
As regards procrastination
Whatever else you do, don't put it off

Posted by: Muldoon at May 15, 2022 11:33 AM (kXYt5)

379 If you ever really want to make a lefty "but science" head explode, just ask them: "How did the laws of physics come into being?"

Posted by: blake

LOL.
Most lefties already know that they bring up politics or mis-science with me at their peril.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:34 AM (CwtvX)

380 I've not been reading much this last week. Mostly just the directions for my new woodchip burning grill.

That reminds me. I almost picked up a copy of Aaron Franklin's BBQ book at Half Price a couple of weeks ago. After browsing it a bit, I put it back because I know reading it would just give me yet another ambition that I would never reach.

Posted by: Oddbob at May 15, 2022 11:34 AM (nfrXX)

381 hah, muldoon!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 11:34 AM (5pTK/)

382 Time and Gravity and Speed

Mine blown

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 11:34 AM (cnTzX)

383 I use an air compressor to expand the grip so it slides on and then the hairspray sets them forever.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:32 AM (CwtvX)

Ooh! My next job after 2024's election!

Posted by: Kamala at May 15, 2022 11:34 AM (7bRMQ)

384 Small world, grammie and Muldoon are related

Posted by: Skip at May 15, 2022 11:34 AM (2JoB8)

385 It's a sign of my bad taste that I've always liked women with big hair.
*blushes*
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 15, 2022 10:43 AM (/U27+)
My wife's been growing her hair out and she complains that it's totally 80s big hair.
I agree, and fail to see the problem.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 15, 2022 10:45 AM (llXky)

As a general proposition, I think all (most?) guys like Big 80s Hair, at least on younger women.

Oddly, enough as I've gotten older my hair's "quality" has changed and I now have Big 20's Guy Hair! I'd look like Eraserhead or perhaps a Super Saiyan if I wasn't careful with the application of hair goo.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 15, 2022 11:36 AM (5NkmN)

386
Ooh! My next job after 2024's election!
Posted by: Kamala

Sorry. I don't think it'll work to tighten *things* up...

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:36 AM (CwtvX)

387
And "Time" isn't a thing, or a force. It's just a system of measuring that an observer, let's call it a "human", creates to make sense of things.

--------

My favorite description of time is that it's what keeps everything from happening all at once.

But I disagree with your point. Einstein's general relativity theory is based on the premise that spacetime is an actual thing.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at May 15, 2022 11:36 AM (XG2Fi)

388 LOL.
Most lefties already know that they bring up politics or mis-science with me at their peril.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:34 AM (CwtvX)
-----------

"Everything evolves!"

"Really?"

"Yes."

"So, at some point, 2+2=5?"

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 11:36 AM (5pTK/)

389 Oddly, enough as I've gotten older my hair's "quality" has changed and I now have Big 20's Guy Hair! I'd look like Eraserhead or perhaps a Super Saiyan if I wasn't careful with the application of hair goo.
Posted by: naturalfake

What a braggart.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:37 AM (CwtvX)

390 Mind = Mine

Heh but I think I just created a new eggcorn.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 15, 2022 11:37 AM (cnTzX)

391 The Germans were greatly misled by events in the 105 day Finnish winter war - placing too much emphasis on the early skirmishes and battles.

Posted by: 13times at May 15, 2022 11:37 AM (hLlnK)

392 But I disagree with your point. Einstein's general relativity theory is based on the premise that spacetime is an actual thing.

Posted by: Cicero

Einstein was wrong.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:38 AM (dYZo0)

393
Speaking of which, should I read in order of publication or chronologically?
----
Most stories stand on their own but there are a few that obviously follow from a previous book. Publication order is the better choice.
I do enjoy the ones that take us back to Army Major Reacher.

Posted by: Ciampino at May 15, 2022 11:38 AM (qfLjt)

394 You could have patched the USS Oklahoma and raised her using that stuff.
=====

I am really debating using Aquanet rather than a formal 'base' coat of paint on my kitchen walls. I know it works great for covering crayon doodles for smaller areas and I guess it should work just as well for some of the oil stains in the kitchen.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 15, 2022 11:38 AM (MIKMs)

395 Sorry. I don't think it'll work to tighten *things* up...

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:36 AM (CwtvX)

If I blow hard enough, I can expand them to supersize!

Posted by: Kamala at May 15, 2022 11:38 AM (7bRMQ)

396 You are all under pressure and time pops out of you like Jack N The Box with much better music.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 15, 2022 11:40 AM (J8LnB)

397 and I guess it should work just as well for some of the oil stains in the kitchen.
Posted by: mustbequantum

Killz is my goto choice.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:40 AM (CwtvX)

398 Aquanet:

"A floor wax, eternal sealant and a dessert topping!"

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:40 AM (dYZo0)

399 Einstein was wrong.
Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:38 AM (dYZo0)

---------

You're telling me?

Posted by: Neils Bohr at May 15, 2022 11:41 AM (XG2Fi)

400 Thanks for the thread, PS.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 15, 2022 11:41 AM (7bRMQ)

401 388 "So, at some point, 2+2=5?"

Is the 2 pregnant? If it is then 2+2=5 will be true at some stage unless abortion is permitted. That is why those wascawly Repugnans must be defeated.
For the sake of MATHEMATICS man!

Posted by: Ciampino at May 15, 2022 11:41 AM (qfLjt)

402 Oddly, enough as I've gotten older my hair's "quality" has changed and I now have Big 20's Guy Hair! I'd look like Eraserhead or perhaps a Super Saiyan if I wasn't careful with the application of hair goo.
Posted by: naturalfake

What a braggart.
Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:37 AM (CwtvX)
----------

Eh, I keep my hair cut short, as I prefer to comb and forget. Letting it grow out means all kinds of waves and whatnot. Too much trouble.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 11:42 AM (5pTK/)

403 I think it was Wycliffe Bible Translators. I think.
Posted by: grammie winger

*****

That's the group my cousin-in-laws were with. Reasonable to think they may have at least crossed paths at some point.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 15, 2022 11:42 AM (kXYt5)

404 Mentioned above was David Mamet's essay in the Village Voice called: "Why I Am No Longer A Brain Dead Liberal". I'm reading it now and it is excellent:

https://tinyurl.com/Mamet-No-Longer-Brain-Dead

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:43 AM (dYZo0)

405 That's the group my cousin-in-laws were with. Reasonable to think they may have at least crossed paths at some point.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 15, 2022 11:42 AM (kXYt5)

Very cool, Muldoon.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 11:43 AM (45fpk)

406 Hairspray on motorcycle grips is an old trick. There are observed trials motorcycle specialty grips with molded grooves which you wrap and tighten stainless steel wire in the grooves to secure the grip. Works super!

Posted by: 13times at May 15, 2022 11:44 AM (hLlnK)

407 Eh, I keep my hair cut short, as I prefer to comb and forget. Letting it grow out means all kinds of waves and whatnot. Too much trouble.
Posted by: blake

Luxury!

Posted by: Cromus Domus Maximus at May 15, 2022 11:44 AM (CwtvX)

408 No one has commented on The Neverending Story being written by a guy named Ende?

It's like I don't even know you guys anymore.

Posted by: IrishEi at May 15, 2022 11:45 AM (VhE0u)

409 Damit Kirk.

I'm a doctor, not a biologist.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 15, 2022 11:45 AM (J8LnB)

410 Mentioned above was David Mamet's essay in the Village Voice called: "Why I Am No Longer A Brain Dead Liberal". I'm reading it now and it is excellent:

https://tinyurl.com/Mamet-No-Longer-Brain-Dead
Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:43 AM

That essay is why his book "Recessional" is now on my bookshelf.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at May 15, 2022 11:45 AM (/+bwe)

411 There are observed trials motorcycle specialty grips with molded grooves which you wrap and tighten stainless steel wire in the grooves to secure the grip. Works super!
Posted by: 13times

Thanks, I'll look for that type...

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:46 AM (CwtvX)

412 Thanks for the thread, PS.

Posted by: OrangeEnt

Seconded. This one was great, as they always are.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:46 AM (dYZo0)

413 Encyclopedia Brown

I always felt kind of sorry for Bugs Meaney. I mean, his name was Bugs Meaney! He had about as much chance as Goofus in life, with that name.

Also, Encyclopedia always had to have his bacon saved by a girl! That didn't scan well with me as a tween.

Posted by: Guy Smiley at May 15, 2022 11:47 AM (HsAzN)

414 That essay is why his book "Recessional" is now on my bookshelf.

Posted by: NaughtyPine

He was on Joe Rogan's podcast a few weeks ago. It was a fantastic show. Spotify.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:50 AM (dYZo0)

415 Thanks for the thread, PS.

Posted by: OrangeEnt

Seconded. This one was great, as they always are.
Posted by: Sharkman

Add my thanks as well, PS!
I suspect it's unanimous!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:51 AM (CwtvX)

416 We have a suggestion for Kosovo. Move the books somewhere else. Albanians can't read anyway. Then dismantle that monstrosity and use all that metal mesh to fence things.

Posted by: Sighted people at May 15, 2022 11:51 AM (rzne3)

417 This week I read two books:

Levon's Time by Chuck Dixon
By Murder's Bright Light by Paul Doherty

Levon's Time is the sixth in a series of books about an ex special forces guy who is somewhat like Jack Reacher, but less of a Marty Stu and with a twist: he has a daughter he's trying to protect and keep out of his troubles, a girl who is very well written and real seeming but very capable herself in her own way. I recommend the entire series to those who like strong male characters, strong themes of justice, vengeance, and vigilantism, and a quick, fun read.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 11:51 AM (KZzsI)

418 The fundamental error of the Left is that human nature can be changed for the better and human beings can be perfected.

-
Old and busted: New Soviet Man

New and cool: New Social Justice QWERTY
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at May 15, 2022 10:18 AM (FVME7)

20th Century philosopher John Passmore published a book, "The Perfectibility of Man" in 1970. He went through religions and political philosophies, starting with the ancient Greeks, and points out the weaknesses of all, with the belief being that human nature can be perfected the basic flaw.

Posted by: Wethal at May 15, 2022 11:52 AM (ZzVCK)

419 I suspect it would work just fine. I still use hairspray to put grips on handlebars. I use an air compressor to expand the grip so it slides on and then the hairspray sets them forever.
Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 15, 2022 11:32 AM (CwtvX)

What do you do when the grips wear out and need replacing?

Posted by: Count de Monet at May 15, 2022 11:52 AM (4I/2K)

420 By Murder's Bright Light is the fifth book in a medieval detective/crime series, with a King's Coroner teamed up with a Friar named Athelstan who acts as his scribe, but also has a very keen, logical mind he puts to solving mysteries. The earlier books go a bit overboard on trying to establish the setting of a medieval London slum and show the character of the Coroner as a bit of a slovenly tippler, but they get less grotesque and fixated on body functions as the series goes along, and each book is a good read of an interesting mystery.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 11:54 AM (KZzsI)

421 I was born in 1962, so I guess I came in right at the end.

I just finished Volker Ullrich's two volume biography of Hitler and I enjoyed--if that is the right word--it. Well-written, detailed and never boring, I would recommend it.
A couple of points---the author does seem to be a bit enthralled with The Soviet Union heroic stand against Germany, but he never mentions that much of this was possible with Capitalist American resources--tanks, trucks, guns, etc, and helpful British intel.

Also, the familiar Hitler going ballistic in the bunker scene that has become a You Tube meme REALLY happened. He told everyone except a few generals "to leave the room."

Posted by: JoeF. at May 15, 2022 11:54 AM (mR6Gs)

422 NaughtyPine, here's a link to the Rogan-Mamet chat on Spotify:

https://tinyurl.com/Mamet-on-Rogan

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:54 AM (dYZo0)

423 Also, Encyclopedia always had to have his bacon saved by a girl! That didn't scan well with me as a tween.

I don't think the writer meant it as a grrl power thing, but just as a way of putting Brown in peril, then getting him out without violence, and giving the girl a chance to shine. But yeah, the pattern is a bit wearisome.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 11:55 AM (KZzsI)

424 One of the best articles about conversion I've ever read is by Rosario Butterfield.

"My Train Wreck Conversion"

https://tinyurl.com/bdde9tp8

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 11:55 AM (5pTK/)

425 A couple of points---the author does seem to be a bit enthralled with The Soviet Union heroic stand against Germany, but he never mentions that much of this was possible with Capitalist American resources--tanks, trucks, guns, etc, and helpful British intel.

Posted by: JoeF. at May 15, 2022 11:54 AM (mR6Gs)

Three generations of fellow travelers have done their work well.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 15, 2022 11:55 AM (XIJ/X)

426 149 ... A., H. Lloyd,

Is there a specific edition of the Bible that the podcast suggested?

Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 11:57 AM (7EjX1)

427 Continuing my survey of blood-thirsty 20th century dictators, I'm about to begin Stalin's War by Sean McMeekin. He argues that Stalin got EVERYTHING he wanted when Germany invaded the USSR.

Should be good.

Posted by: JoeF. at May 15, 2022 11:58 AM (mR6Gs)

428 Question. Any other good action books for men?

The aforementioned Levon Cade series. Also the Case Lee books by horde author Vince Milam look good. I have so far only read one but I enjoyed it; again a more believable sort of tough guy action hero than Reacher, but along the same lines.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 11:58 AM (KZzsI)

429 He was on Joe Rogan's podcast a few weeks ago. It was a fantastic show. Spotify.
Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:50 AM (dYZo0)

In spite of Joe. I generally like him, but that interview could have been much, much better. Mamet is a brilliant guy and Rogan biffed it, trying to use it to get in his shots against religion and conservative politics. Wasted opportunity, IMO.

Posted by: Total Cringe at May 15, 2022 11:59 AM (rzne3)

430 Continuing my survey of blood-thirsty 20th century dictators, I'm about to begin Stalin's War by Sean McMeekin. He argues that Stalin got EVERYTHING he wanted when Germany invaded the USSR.

Should be good.

Posted by: JoeF.

That's a great book.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:59 AM (dYZo0)

431 the author does seem to be a bit enthralled with The Soviet Union heroic stand against Germany

Really when you look at how the Soviets fought Germany, it was less heroic than a ghastly meat grinder of soviet subjects throw in casually by their overlords to save their fat, comfortable, and corrupt asses without regard to human life, dignity, reason, or tactics. Both the Soviets and Germans were monsters, and there was little heroism at all involved.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 12:00 PM (KZzsI)

432 Speaking of Russia, I just started, "The Shadow of the Winter Palace."

So far, a bunch of rebellious soldiers have gotten a whiff of the grape.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 12:01 PM (5pTK/)

433 In spite of Joe. I generally like him, but that interview could have been much, much better. Mamet is a brilliant guy and Rogan biffed it, trying to use it to get in his shots against religion and conservative politics. Wasted opportunity, IMO.

Posted by: Total Cringe

True. But for the most part, Rogan is a lot better interviewer than most because he actually let's his guest talk uninterrupted for the most part. That's exceedingly rare these days. And he's good at asking follow-up questions and then letting the guest talk again.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 12:01 PM (dYZo0)

434 WE HAZ NOOD

Posted by: Skip guy who says NOOD at May 15, 2022 12:01 PM (2JoB8)

435 When it comes to action books for men, I still think the Matt Helm series was the best. I wish Donald Hamilton had lived another fifty years and kept writing them.

Posted by: JTB at May 15, 2022 12:01 PM (7EjX1)

436 >> One of the best articles about conversion I've ever read is by Rosario Butterfield.

She has an amazing story.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 12:02 PM (45fpk)

437 Really when you look at how the Soviets fought Germany, it was less heroic than a ghastly meat grinder of soviet subjects throw in casually by their overlords to save their fat, comfortable, and corrupt asses without regard to human life, dignity, reason, or tactics. Both the Soviets and Germans were monsters, and there was little heroism at all involved.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 12:00 PM (KZzsI)
---------------

Yeah, when the second wave has to pick up weapons and ammo from those who went before, it's isn't heroic, it's slaughter.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 12:02 PM (5pTK/)

438 She has an amazing story.
Posted by: grammie winger at May 15, 2022 12:02 PM (45fpk)
----------

One thing came out, was how many people she had to leave behind; the impact of her conversion went far beyond just her becoming Christian.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 15, 2022 12:04 PM (5pTK/)

439 Really when you look at how the Soviets fought Germany, it was less heroic than a ghastly meat grinder of soviet subjects throw in casually by their overlords to save their fat, comfortable, and corrupt asses without regard to human life, dignity, reason, or tactics. Both the Soviets and Germans were monsters, and there was little heroism at all involved.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

There's a place in Grapevine TX I'm going to stop at when I drive across the country next month at which you can shoot an MG-42 belt-fed machine gun, AKA "Hitler's Buzzsaw." That gun and the 88 mm Flak were the reason Russia lost 20 million soldiers and only killed 5 million Germans.

Russia had 4 times the number of soldiers that Germany had and superior tanks, but somehow Germany fought them for 4 years. Not a fan of Hitler and the Germans, but that's a performance that doesn't get enough credit for being astounding.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 12:05 PM (dYZo0)

440 I use Aqua Net as the propellant in my potato cannon, cheap and works great!

Posted by: Phat at May 15, 2022 12:06 PM (Azq47)

441 Three Musketeers are working for the good King against a crooked cardinal. How nice that only half of their institutions are gone.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at May 15, 2022 12:14 PM (ybIRR)

442 Six books by scientists who use the scientific method to follow the evidence where it leads, rather than simply believing modern materialistic theory that only believes in matter.

This is key. Too much modern science presupposes certain things about reality that preclude the possibility of even considering certain conclusions and topics.

They start out with the assumption that there is no god and that all that exists is material and scientifically measurable -- despite knowing without possibility of question that is not true.

So when they look at data, when they reach a point at which the evidence and data inevitably leads to God, they find bizarre, byzantine, and hilarious ways to explain how that isn't true.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 12:14 PM (KZzsI)

443 Russia had 4 times the number of soldiers that Germany had and superior tanks, but somehow Germany fought them for 4 years. Not a fan of Hitler and the Germans, but that's a performance that doesn't get enough credit for being astounding.
Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 12:05 PM (dYZo0)
***

The German retreat was where they developed what we would call the Active Defense, the basis of our tactics facing the Russians in the cold war. Give up some ground, set up a kill zone, lure the enemy in, kill him. Rinse and repeat.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 15, 2022 12:15 PM (anj39)

444 Three Musketeers are working for the good King against a crooked cardinal.

I'm not sure that you can really define the king as good, he's just not as corrupt and sleazy as the Cardinal.

If you want an interesting historical read, check out The Black Count, about Alexandre Dumas' father, one of France's best generals and a black man. Its by Tom Reiss.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 12:18 PM (KZzsI)

445 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 12:14 PM (KZzsI)

I don't mind that scientists want to postulate a universe without God. It's a theory, right.

The problem is that nothing so far can or has explained what caused/initiated the Big Bang.
So, you inevitably come to a "magic moment" where something(expansion) happened because that just what that unknown stuff does.
Which is little more than saying, "..and then something magic happened." So, why not God?

At that point, it's their preference rather than science.

I suppose if we could somehow step outside of our universe and live and understand what we "saw", then maybe we'd have an answer for first causes.
But, so far...Nope. And God is a much better answer than nothing caused something magic.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 15, 2022 12:26 PM (5NkmN)

446 I don't mind that scientists want to postulate a universe without God. It's a theory, right.

My problem is that it harms their discipline. It makes them veer off to the side of the truth when they run into God, over and over, in their work.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 12:32 PM (KZzsI)

447 422 NaughtyPine, here's a link to the Rogan-Mamet chat on Spotify:

https://tinyurl.com/Mamet-on-Rogan
Posted by: Sharkman at May 15, 2022 11:54 AM

Thank you!

Posted by: NaughtyPine at May 15, 2022 12:35 PM (/+bwe)

448 I don't mind that scientists want to postulate a universe without God. It's a theory, right.

My problem is that it harms their discipline. It makes them veer off to the side of the truth when they run into God, over and over, in their work.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 12:32 PM (KZzsI)

I'm not sure what exactly you're talking about. Give me some examples.

There's very little if nothing that I'm aware of that can't have an explanation that doesn't involve the existence of God beyond first causes. While I have no problem with and believe in ID, there's no objective proof for it at all. So, what is this irrefutable proof of
God that gets ignored?

Posted by: naturalfake at May 15, 2022 12:55 PM (5NkmN)

449 So, what is this irrefutable proof of God that gets ignored?

Well first, lets try not to bias the discussion by changing terms. For the purposes of what I am saying, all that is required is greater and more compelling evidence, logic, and common sense, not "irrefutable proof."

If the data leans more toward a theistic creator than not, or if it requires incredibly convoluted, ridiculous, and illogical stretches to avoid the conclusion of a theistic creator, then that's bad science.

Case in point: where did everything come from? The current theory is that it was some grand explosion from a hyperdense original core. Now, there are three choices here:

1) The universe has always existed, fluctuating between collapse and explosion.
2) The universe somehow erupted into existence from nothing
3) Someone who does not require creation and is outside the universe created it.
(cont'd)

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 01:35 PM (KZzsI)

450 Now, 1 is not supported by current data; there's not enough mass in the universe to cause the current expansion to slow or collapse into a point again.

2 requires a suspension of disbelief and absurdity that violates the most basic scientific and common sense understanding of reality: something does not come from nothing. It takes a super complicated and ridiculous series of proposals that defy science to argue this.

3 is the most reasonable of the three options, given our current data and understanding of the universe. Scientists, when confronted with this, reject 3 without a second thought: it cannot be true, therefore it will not be discussed.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 15, 2022 01:36 PM (KZzsI)

451 CBD

RE: fellow travelers

Just read "The Trials of Harry S. Truman," by Jeffrey Frank (newly published). Highly recommend, btw. Fair & balanced, imo.

I was surprised to learn that SoS Dean Acheson and others refused even to entertain the proposition that Alger Hiss might be a prodigious security risk, despite FBI warnings.

The establishment of that era found the idea that one of their own could be a traitor to be unthinkable. Not a fit topic of conversation, except among the lunatic fringe.

(Of course Hiss was MORE than a mere "fellow traveler".)

Posted by: mnw at May 15, 2022 01:45 PM (NLIak)

452 Well first, lets try not to bias the discussion by changing terms. For the purposes of what I am saying, all that is required is greater and more compelling evidence, logic, and common sense, not "irrefutable proof."

If the data leans more toward a theistic creator than not, or if it requires incredibly convoluted, ridiculous, and illogical stretches to avoid the conclusion of a theistic creator, then that's bad science.

Well, I've already mentioned First Causes, which is an unknown. But, that is a matter of faith on both sides. I, for instance, believe that God is the best explanation. The Scientists believe God is not an explanation but there must be one. Again, that's their working theory.

Irrefutable Proof is not changing terms. If that's the best you have, we're still talking about opinions. And then, really, they're not being unscientific. They just don't find your argument compelling.

As you yourself said: "So when they look at data, when they reach a point at which the evidence and data inevitably leads to God" That means Irrefutable
Proof.

I thought you had more than first causes which is a true unknown. A faith matter.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 15, 2022 01:53 PM (5NkmN)

453 I'm reading "How to Read Nancy" about the Ernie Bushmiller comic strip. It's an excellent book about an iconic artist.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at May 15, 2022 01:58 PM (m0zqP)

454 My brother was part of the Kosovo Library restoration project. One of the things they left intact were the bullet holes from the Serbian snipers who tried to pick off refugees through the windows.
...
And, yeah, it is an ugly building, but it is a building encrusted with history and that makes it precious.

Posted by: Keith at May 15, 2022 02:08 PM (J4AFn)

455 Recommend Theodore Dalrymple's "Ramses: A Memoir". Discursive (as much of his writing is) but worth the time (as so much of his writing is).

Posted by: aelfheld at May 15, 2022 02:21 PM (Zy9Yy)

456 @453 --

Cool!

Aunt Fritzie Ritz was hot.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 15, 2022 02:33 PM (Om/di)

457 I love all the Matt Helm books, but at the time I disliked Hamilton's propensity in the later books to make villains of U.S. agencies, particularly the DEA, instead of the Soviets and the Chinese.

Now I think Hamilton was prescient.

I, too, wish Hamilton had written more books, but not just Helm. I would have loved to have read adventures of other agents of Mac's department.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 15, 2022 02:42 PM (Om/di)

458 "Speaking of time, the first thing I thought about in the movie Passengers is that it was supposed to take 120 years to get to the colony planet. *** Would Earth have discovered a mode of travel that would take only half the time during that period?"

A slower than light space ship arriving at its destination to find it had already been settled by FTL ships invented later was an occasional theme for SF way back when... Off the top of my head, Bob Heinlein did something like this in "Time for the Stars."

As for Kornbluth, Damon Knight's history, "The Futurans," has interesting stories. Apparently he was such a good and speedy writer that he'd ghostwrite stories for his buddies. Kornbluth would show up at a buddy's apartment seeking a drinking companion, but the buddy would defer because he had a story assignment due that he hadn't yet started. Kornbluth would get a few details about the assignment (length, topic, etc) and in a half hour or so type out a publishable story for his buddy. Apparently Kornbluth did more than merely collaborate on some of his "co-written" stories and books, and some of Kornbluth's stories were published under other's names.

Posted by: Pope John 20th at May 15, 2022 03:26 PM (xi3bI)

459 For those looking for Library/Collection quality books, check out this link to The Folio Society...

https://tinyurl.com/yyl8dpz8

Posted by: Thomas Bender at May 15, 2022 09:03 AM (fHm5h)

Beautiful books! Now Im coveting the limited edition of Dante's Comedia. $$$...$$$

Posted by: LASue, Thought Leader at May 15, 2022 03:51 PM (Ed8Zd)

460 @458 --

Hi, PJ20!

Just letting you know that your posts do not go unread.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 15, 2022 04:18 PM (Om/di)

461 Weak Geek, I also come back to read the willowed comments

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 04:45 PM (kf6Ak)

462 Weak Geek, I also come back to read the willowed comments
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 15, 2022 04:45 PM (kf6Ak)

heh

I'll come back and check it tomorrow too

Posted by: weirdflunky at May 15, 2022 05:07 PM (cknjq)

463 As far as "men's adventure" books, I can't believe that nobody's mentioned Robert B Parker's novels. They're better than the Reacher books, in my opinion.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at May 15, 2022 08:55 PM (wpoHi)

464 It's as if Christo had decided to wrap buildings in chain mail instead of linen or burlap or whatever he actually used.

Posted by: Philip Sells at May 16, 2022 03:32 PM (9w0YX)

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