Moby-Dick. It’s actually quite compelling. Melville was very much a humanist, especially, I imagine, for that time. (It was published in 1851.)
What book(s) are you currently reading?
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The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman, about the first month of WWI and gets credit for possibly preventing WW3 with the Cuban Missile crisis.
You should go on to Tuchman’s Stilwell and the American Experience in China. That is a great book, won the Pulitzer.
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintrye review – the astonishing story of a cold war superspy - Non fiction.
The double life of a KGB insider recruited by MI6 features microfilm, Soviet secrets and a daring escape.
Oleg Gordievsky was the most significant British agent of the cold war. For 11 years, he spied for MI6. That he managed to deceive his KGB colleagues during this time was remarkable. Even more astounding was that in summer 1985 – after Gordievsky was hastily recalled from London to Moscow by his suspicious bosses – British intelligence officers helped him to escape. It was the only time that the spooks managed to exfiltrate a penetration agent from the USSR,
The double life of a KGB insider recruited by MI6 features microfilm, Soviet secrets and a daring escape.
Oleg Gordievsky was the most significant British agent of the cold war. For 11 years, he spied for MI6. That he managed to deceive his KGB colleagues during this time was remarkable. Even more astounding was that in summer 1985 – after Gordievsky was hastily recalled from London to Moscow by his suspicious bosses – British intelligence officers helped him to escape. It was the only time that the spooks managed to exfiltrate a penetration agent from the USSR,
The Lucifer Principle.
From what I gather early-on, it's about how people can do "evil" things in the right circumstances (like mob mentality).
From what I gather early-on, it's about how people can do "evil" things in the right circumstances (like mob mentality).
Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine.
(finishing volume 2, three to go)
(finishing volume 2, three to go)
Since the thread has come back to life...
Cleaning out a closet and found a box of books with baseball titles. So far I’ve read:
My Turn At Bat - Ted Williams tells his story
Streak - about Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game
hitting streak
The Teammates - the friendship of Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky & Domenic DiMaggio
Currently reading: Hitter - bio of Ted Williams.
He was a complex personality.
Still have 3 more on deck.
Cleaning out a closet and found a box of books with baseball titles. So far I’ve read:
My Turn At Bat - Ted Williams tells his story
Streak - about Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game
hitting streak
The Teammates - the friendship of Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky & Domenic DiMaggio
Currently reading: Hitter - bio of Ted Williams.
He was a complex personality.
Still have 3 more on deck.
I didnt' know If It Bleeds had been released. Thanks for the update.
I just finished Douglas and Childs Crooked River. it was ok honestly I think their Pendergast character is played out. The other was the new Walter Mosley, Trouble is What I do. Mosley's "detectives" are always a fun read. We need more Easy Rawlins and Socrates Fortlow novels.
Picked out one of my favorite "horror" novels from my stack to re-read. Summer of Night by Dan Simmons. Would make a good Netflix series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Night
Also another favorite that I'm re-reading Boy's Life by Robert McCammon its excellent.
Would make an awesome Netflix, Showtime or HBO series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy's_Life_(novel)
If you want good anecdotes of a baseball lifer (but don't mind a need for an editor so much), consider Safe by a Mile.
I am running short on reading material and came across "They Also Ran", by Irving Stone, while doing a sweep of our bookcases. It's a very interesting read about presidential nominees who lost the election. It delves into the character, political beliefs, and issues of their times. I had read this book years ago, but still am finding it fascinating.
Recently came across my original tattered copy of Fellowship of the Ring, purchased from a school book fair in 6th grade. So i am reading through it again on a nostalgia trip, not only because it has bee a while since i read the series but I also get to see my old highlights and underlined passages that I enjoyed as a kid. Multiple layers of satisfaction here, really enjoying it.
All I can recall is that Williams called for the induction of the stars of the Negro Leagues, he believed they belonged in the Hall.
Williams was a complex man, an indifferent father, multiple marriages, profane, but very intelligent, courageous, and incredibly charitable, the ultimate flawed hero.
WIllie Mays had only the day before hit his 521th home run and Ted called him out, told him how happy he was for him.
good choice. I haven't read it in 20 years, but each time I rearrange my bookcases, and consider parting with it, I just can't do so. Perhaps I should give it another read.
One problem with My Turn at Bat is that he doesn’t exactly come clean on how difficult he could be. Halberstam’s books, especially The Teammates, make this pretty clear. He was the kind of guy who never forgot a slight. Tough guy, one of the greatest hitters ever, and, as far as I can tell, a man without prejudice.
I agree entirely. I have only one issue with Halberstram’s book but this is not a political thread and I stay away from the test board.
My last several reads were AKB recommendations:
Fierce Patriot (Sherman bio)
The First World War (Keegan)
The Best & The Brightest
I also read I Heard You Paint Houses before seeing the movie.
Currently reading Grant (Chernow)...900+ pages so it's gonna take me a while.
Thanks again to the AKB for the recommendations! You guys (and girls?) are better than any book club.
Fierce Patriot (Sherman bio)
The First World War (Keegan)
The Best & The Brightest
I also read I Heard You Paint Houses before seeing the movie.
Currently reading Grant (Chernow)...900+ pages so it's gonna take me a while.
Thanks again to the AKB for the recommendations! You guys (and girls?) are better than any book club.
Often times a problem with those who are “the best and brightest” is their inability to acknowledge what they do not know. They too often act upon their knowledge and with little consideration of the knowledge possessed by others.
I’ve got four going at the moment:
· Tower of Skulls – it’s about the onset of the war in the pacific. Totally new stuff to me. Notably the Japanese focus on mainland Asia
· The Firm – NOT BY GRISHAM…..The history/story of McKinsey and Company
· Pan Am at War – I’m sure there are plenty of old timers here like me who have flown Pan Am. I haven’t reached the part about the war yet since the book covers the airlines entire history. One interesting tidbit. Pan AM was founded by Gen Hap Arnold……while he was in uniform, although he never worked for or earned a dime from the airline.
· How to Hide an Empire – The history/story of the socio-economic empire of the USA
· Tower of Skulls – it’s about the onset of the war in the pacific. Totally new stuff to me. Notably the Japanese focus on mainland Asia
· The Firm – NOT BY GRISHAM…..The history/story of McKinsey and Company
· Pan Am at War – I’m sure there are plenty of old timers here like me who have flown Pan Am. I haven’t reached the part about the war yet since the book covers the airlines entire history. One interesting tidbit. Pan AM was founded by Gen Hap Arnold……while he was in uniform, although he never worked for or earned a dime from the airline.
· How to Hide an Empire – The history/story of the socio-economic empire of the USA
I absolutely loved this book. Read it last year. You should consider following it up with Billion Dollar Spy.
I re-read it a couple of months ago. It is still a must read. I'll probably boot up "The Reckoning" in the coming months
Yeah, most of the political, military, and economic calamities of the last 75 years have been brought to you by the best and the brightest.
Ok so of the three...The Best and the Brightest, The Other Woman (Silva), The Spy and the Traitor ...which one first ...I’m excited.
Post_ShockTherapy_MackDaddy
Well-Known Member
Well, with all the down time, been reading a lot and I got another book review. Pretty much says that baby boomers screwed millennials and Mack Daddy is right and everyone else on the Tom McAndrew message board is wrong. Nothing like bringing world civilizations to the brink of revolution when these countries have nuclear weapons, satellites with lasers, biological warfare. Only baby boomers would be so dumb.
Here's a brief synopsis:
Following a remarkable epoch of greater dispersion of wealth and opportunity, we are inexorably returning towards a more feudal era marked by greater concentration of wealth and property, reduced upward mobility, demographic stagnation, and increased dogmatism. If the last seventy years saw a massive expansion of the middle class, not only in America but in much of the developed world, today that class is declining and a new, more hierarchical society is emerging.
The new class structure resembles that of Medieval times. At the apex of the new order are two classes―a reborn clerical elite, the clerisy, which dominates the upper part of the professional ranks, universities, media and culture, and a new aristocracy led by tech oligarchs with unprecedented wealth and growing control of information. These two classes correspond to the old French First and Second Estates.
Below these two classes lies what was once called the Third Estate. This includes the yeomanry, which is made up largely of small businesspeople, minor property owners, skilled workers and private-sector oriented professionals. Ascendant for much of modern history, this class is in decline while those below them, the new Serfs, grow in numbers―a vast, expanding property-less population.
The trends are mounting, but we can still reverse them―if people understand what is actually occurring and have the capability to oppose them.
Amazon product ASIN 1641770945
Here's a brief synopsis:
Following a remarkable epoch of greater dispersion of wealth and opportunity, we are inexorably returning towards a more feudal era marked by greater concentration of wealth and property, reduced upward mobility, demographic stagnation, and increased dogmatism. If the last seventy years saw a massive expansion of the middle class, not only in America but in much of the developed world, today that class is declining and a new, more hierarchical society is emerging.
The new class structure resembles that of Medieval times. At the apex of the new order are two classes―a reborn clerical elite, the clerisy, which dominates the upper part of the professional ranks, universities, media and culture, and a new aristocracy led by tech oligarchs with unprecedented wealth and growing control of information. These two classes correspond to the old French First and Second Estates.
Below these two classes lies what was once called the Third Estate. This includes the yeomanry, which is made up largely of small businesspeople, minor property owners, skilled workers and private-sector oriented professionals. Ascendant for much of modern history, this class is in decline while those below them, the new Serfs, grow in numbers―a vast, expanding property-less population.
The trends are mounting, but we can still reverse them―if people understand what is actually occurring and have the capability to oppose them.
Amazon product ASIN 1641770945
I’m reading A Good Man in Africa:
Description
A Good Man in Africa is the first novel by William Boyd, published in 1981. It won both the Whitbread Book Award for a first novel and the Somerset Maugham Award that year. It’s about the British diplomats who staff the commission in a mythical African country and their interactions with each other and the local powers that be. The book was made into a film starring Sean Connery and John Lithgow but I’ve not watched it.
film summary:
Morgan Leafy (Colin Friels) is a British diplomat living in Kinjanja, an African nation recently freed from British rule. Arthur Fanshawe (John Lithgow), a new diplomat eager to leave Africa, learns that Kinjanja sits on top of a huge oil reserve. Unfortunately, Morgan is too preoccupied with alcohol and women to know what to do with the oil. To make matters worse, a woman is struck by lightning on the British compound, creating a tense political situation with the local government
Description
A Good Man in Africa is the first novel by William Boyd, published in 1981. It won both the Whitbread Book Award for a first novel and the Somerset Maugham Award that year. It’s about the British diplomats who staff the commission in a mythical African country and their interactions with each other and the local powers that be. The book was made into a film starring Sean Connery and John Lithgow but I’ve not watched it.
film summary:
Morgan Leafy (Colin Friels) is a British diplomat living in Kinjanja, an African nation recently freed from British rule. Arthur Fanshawe (John Lithgow), a new diplomat eager to leave Africa, learns that Kinjanja sits on top of a huge oil reserve. Unfortunately, Morgan is too preoccupied with alcohol and women to know what to do with the oil. To make matters worse, a woman is struck by lightning on the British compound, creating a tense political situation with the local government
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Robinson Crusoe.....been sitting on my shelf for 30 years, along with other "Classics Club" subscription books that delivered nice looking, rarely read by me, "must read books". Very enjoyable, actually.
James J. Hill, Empire Builder of the Northwest by Michael P. Malone. Hill was a railroad magnate.
