Last Book That You Read- Non- Fiction

The Cathars by Sean Martin -
A nice introduction into the history of one of Christiany's darker times and the one crusade against christians themselves. The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade (1209–1229) was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc.

The Catholic Church had always dealt sternly with strands of Christianity that it considered heretical, but before the 12th century these tended to centre around individual preachers or small localised sects. By the 12th century, more organized groups such as the Waldensians and Cathars were beginning to appear in the towns and cities of newly urbanized areas. In Western mediterranean France, one of the most urbanized areas of Europe at the time, the Cathars grew to represent a popular mass movement and the belief was spreading to other areas.

The Cathari were thought to be dualistic, believing not in one all-encompassing god, but in two, equal and comparable in status, but their theology and cosmological perception and teaching remains unknown, as no known source has survived that can elucidate this. Through secondary sources we learn that they held that the physical world was evil and created by Rex Mundi (Latin, "King of the World"), who encompassed all that was corporeal, chaotic and powerful; the second god, the one whom they worshipped, was entirely disincarnate: a being or principle of pure spirit and completely unsullied by the taint of matter. He was the god of love, order and peace. The Catholic Church, alarmed by the spread of Cathar teachings, perceived the movement as a well-organised opponent on a scale that had not been seen since the days of Arianism and Marcionism.

I came upon the reference of the Cathars in a Historical novel but there was little known about them but by accident found this 2009 published book on the subject in a secondhand bin. The book has gotten decent reviews but it is mostly a global look at the history of the Cathars in cnflict with the Catholic church. It has prompted me to get another history book for a more detailed look at the people. They do not sound evil but more a thread agaisnt the powerbasis of the Roman Catholic church. It is not so much a battle of religion but a powerstruggle from what seems one party and a struggle for survival of another.

I find myself more and more fascinated by religious law (as originaly borrowed from teh Roman Law) and the history of the CHurch in Europe, it tells a lot about the society in those days. Fascinating stuff.

I'm reading TORIES: Fighting For The King In America's First Civil War, which takes a less-often looked analysis of the people in the colonies that didn't want revolution, didn't want war, didn't want independence, and found themselves increasingly caught up in a homeland that they know longer recognized. The move for independence from King George caused an exodus of somewhere close to 80,000 tories to leave the colonies and move to Canada and England, taken thousands of letters and documents with them, but before they left the violence and the fights and hard feelings and the attacks against one another that led to murder were all part of America's first true civil war....a war way before The War Between The States. I'd never thought of that way before.

Thomas Allen's book is riveting. His research is meticulous. You will feel transported back to a time when these events were unfolding.

:5*:

TORIES: Fighting For The King In America's First CIvil War

The Greatest Show on Earth

A very intelligent account of the proof of evolution. Insightful and humorous. I admire Dawkins' struggle for intellectual integrity and independence. I highly recommend it, though it will go over the heads of ideologists. Still, it is very important.

A Night to Remember, Walter Lord

if the film is the version to watch than this is the book to read. In a simple matter of fact way it takes us from collision to aftermath in a documentary fashion through the various people bottom to top involved. Alwyas conjures up the what if's or 'what I would do'...get Smith to slow down or Murdoch to hit the berg straight on (some chap on the radio the other day suggested a head on collision with have crumpled 20-30feet of the bow and not affect the compartments)...etc

Be interesting to seek out Lord's The Night Lives On written post-discovery of the wreck.-

Simon Callow's Orson Welles- Hello Americans. Detaling Welles' career post Kane to Macbeth. This was a 'sequel' book to one detailing all that had gone before and there's not to be another, more's the pity. It'd be interesting to see Callow describe everything that followed even if it was not up to the glory of Welles shown here.

American Notes & Pictures of Italy by Charles Dickens

it was the former that I was mostly interested in for a while and it didn't quite let me down. The descriptions of a pre-Civil War USA (Dickens' 1842 trip) is quite something to someone who yet has to visit America and indeed, Boston in particular. Striking was the visit to the White House and meeting the President at a time when it seems anyone with a beef could walk in to see the man. His disdain at slavery is obvious and apparent of course.

Part of me seems more struck that my copy, procured in Portsmouth a year ago, is almost 120 years old being from 1893. The adverts in the back are something else in a way, the old styling of cataloguing.

John Elliott's IMPERIAL SPAIN, 1469-1716. Obviously a very fine work of history by one of the great historians of the twentieth century. Perhaps too sympathetic to certain historical actors - I couldn't help but chuckle when I discovered that Elliott waited until after Ferdinand's death before he let us know that many of his advisors were 'notoriously corrupt' - but a very fine study of a broad period of early modern history which touches ground on a lot of bases in only about 400 pages (and, for a work which professes to focus on domestic affairs, it goes into good depth about the nature of overseas colonisation).

Keith Richards' Life (2010). Autobio. Entertaining as hell. A first hand account of the epic story of the Rolling Stones - a narrative Richards was fortunate to have survived. Man was he a wreck in the 1970's. Rolling Stones shows started only when Keith woke-up. Mick had to organize the entire entourage and timetables around what they called Keith-time. There was just no way around it. Keith to his credit, does admit to being somewhat embarassed, all these years later, although he does maintain he performed full-max on stage, but for the odd glitch where he'd briefly black-out, even on stage, but quickly recover. He was in another drug-fueled world for the whole decade it seems.

Funny Bond-related anecdote(sort of ). Keith describes being stalked by Brit Ekland in the late 70's. He wanted nothing to do with her, yet she was chasing him all over NYC. Things were so desperate one night, that he ducked into Studio 54, the infamous NYC disco, that he normally wouldn't be caught dead in (more Mick's kind of place), simply to avoid Brit. He rightly figured it was the last place she would look for him. :)

THE TERROR (2007)

Ran across this one by accident in a used book store and have gotten half-way through. So far so good. Very compelling. It's based on a real-life set of characters and unsolved mystery back in 1848: whatever happened to the The Terror and The Erebus's journey to find a Northwest Passage? Both boats and their crew apparently have never been seen or heard from since; they simply vanished off the face of the earth. This book would be classified as "historical fiction", but it's also horror and a bit of science fiction as well.





http://www.amazon.com/The-Terror-Novel-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316017442

The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror constantly clawing to get in.When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Inuit woman who cannot speak and who may be the key to survival, or the harbinger of their deaths. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear that there is no escape. The Terror swells with the heart-stopping suspense and heroic adventure that have won Dan Simmons praise as "a writer who not only makes big promises but keeps them" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). With a haunting and constantly surprising story based on actual historical events, The Terror is a novel that will chill you to your core.

Currently reading among other things:

Myrna Loy, Being & Becoming - James Kotsilibas-Davis & Myrna Loy

A very interesting book if you prefer the old Hollywood over the new one.

The Shadow. The history and mystery of the Radioprogram, 1930-1954 - Marin Grams. Jr.

A very comprehensive insight in the radio Shadow, who by the way is excellent entertainment imho

Just bought this book today:

http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374275637

j7wild wrote:

Just bought this book today:

[url=http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374275637

http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374275637 [/quote[/url]]


"Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of 2011

A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title

One of The Economist’s 2011 Books of the Year
One of The Wall Steet Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011
Winner of the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest

Daniel Kahneman, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his seminal work in psychology that challenged the rational model of judgment and decision making, is one of our most important thinkers. His ideas have had a profound and widely regarded impact on many fields—including economics, medicine, and politics—but until now, he has never brought together his many years of research and thinking in one book.
In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. The impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the challenges of properly framing risks at work and at home, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning the next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions.
Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Thinking, Fast and Slow will transform the way you think about thinking."
===
Ambler will be impressed! :shock:

I do read a great numbers of books every year.

Contrary to what Jack Wade said, I don't read books with pictures in them.

I am probably the only person on planet earth who lives Playboy and Maxim and Penthouse and Stuff, etc etc from cover to cover.

Every text, every article, every word;

when the rest of population just goes straight to the pictures and centerfolds.

I am also an active member of Friends of the Library here.

j7wild wrote:

I do read a great numbers of books every year.

Contrary to what Jack Wade said, I don't read books with pictures in them.

I am probably the only person on planet earth who lives Playboy and Maxim and Penthouse and Stuff, etc etc from cover to cover.

Every text, every article, every word;

when the rest of population just goes straight to the pictures and centerfolds.

I am also an active member of Friends of the Library here.

You are gentleman and scholar! I defer.

But with such publications, I still go straight to the pictures and centrefolds.

One Hundred Days Admiral Sandy Woodward

account of the Falklands War by the battle group commander. Fascinating in its insight into the gathering of the forces and the execution of the war. If there ever was an event that the phrase 'a close run thing' was for, this was it. In theory Britain should've lost it considering how many of the ships had failed mechanisms and missiles or indeed the loss of Glasgow (though not sunk, disabled), Sheffield, Atlantic Conveyor, Ardent, Antelope and Coventry. The depictions of the battles though not told sensationally charge the imagination with all manner of Argentine aircraft screaming in over Falkland Sound. The best example is the battle that sees Glasgow disabled. Men going onto her roof with small arms to shoot at jets (many finding their target even so), Broadsword and Brilliant doing their best to shoot the jets but can't as Glasgow's in the way...
Recently Woodward said we'd be as lucky to defend this side of the English Channel let alone the Falklands now. He might well be right.
As it is if Galiteri had waited six months in 1982 there would have been no carriers, few frigates and much else to sail 8000 miles.

What I remember from the Falklands War is that it made the Harrier Jump Jet famous, and then we saw the jet on display in TLD, spiriting Georgi away.

I remember following the war in the papers and TV, and being fascinated by the jet, which was getting lots of coverage.

tiffanywint wrote:

What I remember from the Falklands War is that it made the Harrier Jump Jet famous, and then we saw the jet on display in TLD, spiriting Georgi away.

I remember following the war in the papers and TV, and being fascinated by the jet, which was getting lots of coverage.

from what I heard in the past the Harriers had largely never been flown until the war. They were largely helped by having American Sidewinders but they acquitted themselves well. If the war hadn't ended when it did though the navy would've been without a credible air force in days. The Harriers just about won the war.

Certainly put the wind up the Argentine pilots. Directed in to battle as they were by the frigates they were perfect.

According to Woodward when a new batch was being offloaded from Atlantic Conveyor the first pilot accidentally hit full throttle and sped towards the ships side, he then hits the vertical jets lurches up and away to which the senior navy officer on the ship says, "I suppose that's a rather novel way of doing things."

I was born after the war but from what I hear certain events shook hard such as HMS Sheffield's loss.

That sounds like a good read. It would be interesting to re-visit the war, from the perspecitive of the battle group commander.

Definitely worth a look from his perspective for sure, seems Belgrano's loss in terms of men was as much on his mind as that of Sheffield or Sir Galahad.

Still, my first knowledge of Woodward was as 'technical advisor' on Patrick Robinson's early novels.

Merckx: Half Man, Half Bike (William Fotheringham)

the best, greatest cyclist that ever will be. The man was (in his prime) extroadinary in how he went about his racing. Armstrong was great (as much as I am a fan) but he never bothered with the other big tours. Merckx won 5 Tour de Frances, 5 Giro d'Italia's (three in the same year as the other), one Vuelta and so much more.
Alas like many of the great Tour winners his end was far from glorious.

Vive l'Cannibal

Kennedy & Nixon, Chris Matthews
George VI, Dennis Judd

the latter updated for the 60th anniversary of the King's death. Quite the portrait of an admirable man.

x

Yeah, I do, I'm on my third or fourth copy. I honestly prefer Ellison's nonfiction to his fantasy work, though a few of his unproduced scripts are sensational, like FLINTLOCK for the never-made OUR MAN FLINT series, which is practically like Derek Flint Meets The Prisoner.

It is one totally trashed paperback, as is The Glass Teat, which is missing a couple pages at the back. I'd love to pop for the limited edition HC, but I think it is something like a thousand bucks.

x

Who I Am-Pete Townshend.
Worth every penny, despite being a bit too brief in places. Should have been longer and not cut in half.