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Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?
- Thread starter Huntn
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Andreas Eschbach - Lord of All Things (2011)
Herr aller Dinge (2011) - winner of the 2012 Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for best German science fiction novel - Lord of All Things is also a story about love against all odds. They are just children when they meet for the first time: Charlotte, daughter of the French ambassador, and Hiroshi, a laundress’s son. One day, Hiroshi declares that he has an idea that will change the world. An unprecedented idea of how to sweep away all differences between rich and poor. When Hiroshi runs into Charlotte several years later, he is trying to build a brighter future through robotics. Determined to win Charlotte’s love, he resurrects his childhood dream, convinced that he can eradicate world poverty by pushing the limits of technology beyond imagination. But as Hiroshi circles ever closer to realizing his vision, he discovers that his utopian dream may contain the seeds of a nightmare—one that could obliterate life as we know it. Crisscrossing the globe from Tokyo to the hallowed halls of MIT to desolate Arctic islands and Buenos Aires and beyond—far beyond—Lord of All Things explores not only the dizzying potential of technology but also its formidable dangers.
Herr aller Dinge (2011) - winner of the 2012 Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for best German science fiction novel - Lord of All Things is also a story about love against all odds. They are just children when they meet for the first time: Charlotte, daughter of the French ambassador, and Hiroshi, a laundress’s son. One day, Hiroshi declares that he has an idea that will change the world. An unprecedented idea of how to sweep away all differences between rich and poor. When Hiroshi runs into Charlotte several years later, he is trying to build a brighter future through robotics. Determined to win Charlotte’s love, he resurrects his childhood dream, convinced that he can eradicate world poverty by pushing the limits of technology beyond imagination. But as Hiroshi circles ever closer to realizing his vision, he discovers that his utopian dream may contain the seeds of a nightmare—one that could obliterate life as we know it. Crisscrossing the globe from Tokyo to the hallowed halls of MIT to desolate Arctic islands and Buenos Aires and beyond—far beyond—Lord of All Things explores not only the dizzying potential of technology but also its formidable dangers.
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Ordered the most recent book by Steve Coll: "Directorate S: The CIA and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan".
For now, neither of the above, perhaps later this week.
Instead, I shall make a start on the latest book by Louis de Bernières: So Much Life Left Over.
Instead, I shall make a start on the latest book by Louis de Bernières: So Much Life Left Over.
I just realized that your signature might be a paraphrasis of Jean Luc, Is it so?
No, actually, not so, perhaps surprisingly.
It is more a reference to the fact that I travel quite a bit.
I imagined that. It's just that one of the few catchphrases of captain Jean Luc Picard was "Tea. Earl Gray. Hot", and I though you were a fellow trekkie
Well, the coffee comment (or in-joke) - granted - is somewhat derived from the inestimable J-L Picard, (although he preferred his Tea, Earl Grey Hot).
When replying initially, I thought you meant my reference to "the far horizon", not my coffee signature.
- The Last Lion (Vol. 1) by William Manchester. An amazing book on Winston Churchill, it covers the 1874–1932 years. I particularly loved the description of the Victorian society and all its nuances, especially on sexual tastes. Should be read by everyone.
- Why Can’t I Meditate by Nigel Wellings. I began meditating a few months ago, twice a day, 20 mins for session. It’s definitely a practice I love, yet it’s full of hurdles especially for someone ADD prone like myself. Despite the awful title, this book provides some good insights on how to improve your meditation technique. This book is primarly aimed at Mindfulness technique.
- The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. A nice collection of thoughts on (modern) stoicism. Not a masterpiece, but this is definitely a book with some contents that is useful to “hear” once in a while as a reminder of our potential.
- Nixon’s Ten Commandments of Statecraft by James Hemes. The author, a personal friend of the former President, found a note written by Nixon with his collection of his 10 “commandments” of statecraft. What is interesting in this short, easy book is that after Nixon’s actions are analyzed, some other historical figure (Churchill, Pericles etc.) is. The 10 Commandments are:
- Strength In Stillness by Bob Roth. The Author is at the head of the David Lynch Foundation which provides free Transcendental Meditation courses to at-risk kids and adults alike. This books focuses on the Transcendental Meditation method, and I found it very interesting. (I won’t deny that it’s also a bit of a plug for the TM movement).
- Hero of the Empire by Candice Milard. A book on Churchill’s legendary escape during the Boer War, which ultimately led to his popularity.
- Why Can’t I Meditate by Nigel Wellings. I began meditating a few months ago, twice a day, 20 mins for session. It’s definitely a practice I love, yet it’s full of hurdles especially for someone ADD prone like myself. Despite the awful title, this book provides some good insights on how to improve your meditation technique. This book is primarly aimed at Mindfulness technique.
- The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. A nice collection of thoughts on (modern) stoicism. Not a masterpiece, but this is definitely a book with some contents that is useful to “hear” once in a while as a reminder of our potential.
- Nixon’s Ten Commandments of Statecraft by James Hemes. The author, a personal friend of the former President, found a note written by Nixon with his collection of his 10 “commandments” of statecraft. What is interesting in this short, easy book is that after Nixon’s actions are analyzed, some other historical figure (Churchill, Pericles etc.) is. The 10 Commandments are:
- Always Be Prepared to Negotiate, but Never Negotiate without Being Prepared
- Never be Belligerent, but Always Be Firm
- Always Remember That Covenants Should be Openly Agreed To but Privately Negotiated
- Never Seek Publicity That Would Destroy the Ability to Get Results
- Never Give Up Unitlaterally What Could Be Used as a Bargaining Chip, Make Your Adversary Give Something for Everything They Get
- Never Let Your Adversary Understimate What You Would Do in Response to a Challenge. Never Tell Him What You Would Not Do.
- Always Leave Your Adversary a Face-Saving Line of Retreat
- Always Carefully Distinguish Between Friends Who Provide Some Human Rights and Enemies Who Deny All Human Rights
- Always Do at Least as Much for Our Friends as Our Adversaries Do for Our Enemies
- Never Lose Faith.
- Hero of the Empire by Candice Milard. A book on Churchill’s legendary escape during the Boer War, which ultimately led to his popularity.
Very timely. And very apt.
Actually, I purchased a copy only two days ago and shall read it over the coming days.
I'm reading that too -- was enjoying it.. but took a break for beach reads... going back to the Coll in September.
Meanwhile I did hit pause on the beach reads long enough to have a look at a book about the beginnings of the heyday of steelmaking in the USA, a propos of steel figuring so often of late in tariff discussions in the news.
The book is Meet You in Hell, bio centered in the eventually fraught relationship between Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, who had long been partners but whose relationship deteriorated, with Carnegie finally driving Frick out of the business and Frick not only writing a tell-all book about his view of assorted company matters, including Carnegie's role in a notorious strike, but also pressing a string of lawsuits against his former partner.
The title of the book comes from Frick's response to an elderly Carnegie sending a message down the block to Frick's residence, asking for a meeting before the two of them would soon enough have to face their Maker
But Frick said to the go-between "Yes, you can tell Carnegie I'll see him: tell him I'll see him in hell, where we both are going."
Nothing new under the sun sometimes. Great accomplishments come at great costs and those two guys were exemplary on the upside and downside as well.
I've a few books by Nicholas Ostler to greet.
The first is a re-read of a book I originally read over a decade ago: "Empires of the Word - A Language History of the World", which I remember was excellent.
The other two, which arrived this week, are "Passwords to Paradise - How Languages Have Re-Invented World Religions" (the title alone sold that book to me) and "The Last Lingua Franca - English Until The Return of Babel".
The first is a re-read of a book I originally read over a decade ago: "Empires of the Word - A Language History of the World", which I remember was excellent.
The other two, which arrived this week, are "Passwords to Paradise - How Languages Have Re-Invented World Religions" (the title alone sold that book to me) and "The Last Lingua Franca - English Until The Return of Babel".
Grinding It Out by Ray Kroc. If you watched The Founder, hidden gem with an incredible performance by Michael Keaton, you know good parts of the story despite the fact that the movie makes Kroc too much of a villain. This is Kroc’s version of the story - somewhat more credible than the movie - and the story of a man that never gave in to failure. At 50+, and after many failures, he finally found the vision and the product that ultimately would lead to his success. As he mentions, he was “an overnight success, thirty years in the making.” Definitely an interesting book that was a pleasure to read. Obviously, like many books like this one, it is sometimes self-serving, but this does not detract from the enjoyement of the book overall.
If you don’t want to read the book, I strongly suggest that you watch the movie.
If you don’t want to read the book, I strongly suggest that you watch the movie.
The Bible, NKJV
Today's reading...Ecclesiastes 1-6
Today's reading...Ecclesiastes 1-6
Good choice, although too often cherry-picked for assorted purposes. That despite overall the sometime beauty and occasional wisdom of those verses.
On a completely different note, I'm tracking down a copy of the bilingual Irish poet Eithne Strong's long poem "Flesh: The Greatest Sin". The work has sometimes been described as a feminist parallel to Patrick Kavanaugh's poem "The Great Hunger" in terms of the historical struggles of the Irish to self-identify within the deep embrace of the Roman Catholic church.
I'm putting this part of my post into a spoiler because it's impossible not to have it appear to be about religion or politics, since it's about both. Anyway when I popped into this thread, this in fact was what I was reading about. So here I am in a spoiler LOL instead of over in PRSI, what can I say, quit reading now if you like!
I ran into excerpts of Strong's work in an academic paper published in 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies (a publication of the National University of Malaysia), and decided I wanted to get the poem. The paper is titled "The Body and Female Identity in Eithne Strong’s Flesh: The Greatest Sin". A pdf of the paper is available at http://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/article/view/19285/7201
Here is the abstract of the paper:
I'm putting this part of my post into a spoiler because it's impossible not to have it appear to be about religion or politics, since it's about both. Anyway when I popped into this thread, this in fact was what I was reading about. So here I am in a spoiler LOL instead of over in PRSI, what can I say, quit reading now if you like!
I ran into excerpts of Strong's work in an academic paper published in 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies (a publication of the National University of Malaysia), and decided I wanted to get the poem. The paper is titled "The Body and Female Identity in Eithne Strong’s Flesh: The Greatest Sin". A pdf of the paper is available at http://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/article/view/19285/7201
Here is the abstract of the paper:
Bodily discourse, constantly appropriated as a symbol of Irish famine and hunger in the wake of British maladministration of the land and its people since the Great Famine, is prevalent in Irish culture. However, this bodily discourse is dominated by nationalistic and patriarchal narratives. An increasing number of women in contemporary Ireland look at themselves anew through their own bodies. Through the reading of Eithne Strong’s poetry collection, Flesh: The Greatest Sin (1980), this paper discusses how the conflation of body and sin is entangled in the Irish context, how the female writer manages to untangle the fine line fabricated between the two categories and reaffirm her female identity simultaneously, and finally the significance of such an attempt in the history of Irish literature.
Meanwhile I am trying to finish a borrowed library book before it self-destructs on my laptop... It's one of Anne Hillerman's books, Song of the Lion. She has been continuing the Leaphorn & Chee mystery series which was based in the southwest and about the Navajo Tribal Police. The series was begun many years ago by her late father, Tony Hillerman.
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