EnMasse

ephemeral · Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 9:38 pm Post subject:

Now, now Cartman, be nice! Now, say sorry.

No, seriously, I don't even talk to the baby in that voice. I was venting to someone about the challenges of balancing a career and 'family' (still hate that word!). I expressed how I feel compelled to do something to change my situation, and she suggested I read a book that helped her a lot. The book didn't help me, but I guess it was in the 'Parenting' section in the library, and that is where I spotted Families Like Mine. I thought it might make an interesting read and talk about issues that I never really gave much thought to in the past. And I was right.

The other book has nothing to do with children.... ??? You rascal. Razz

A friend loaned me that one. I am planning on writing to the editor to see if she will publish my travel experience involving 'The Great Broccoli Fight'. Maybe in 19 years. Rolling Eyes

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and on that note...

thwap · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 8:57 pm Post subject:

I'm reading The Arms of Krupp by William Manchester. According to the review I linked to, it's riddled with factual errors. I was already able to detect this snide pro-British, anti-German bias to it, but I can't help but be amused with his portraits of the various generations of Krupp leaders and of Kaiser Wilhelm.
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I thought she was going to marry that snooty rich guy!

Tehanu · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:13 am Post subject:

I've just finished re-reading Keri Hulme's The Bone People.

I hadn't for quite a while, because while I think it's probably one of the better books ever written, it's so very intense that I have to psych myself up for it.

Two things that were interesting ... one was that since I last read it I've read a number of our Anne Cameron's books, and I found The Bone People evocative of the stories that Anne has to tell (which is a compliment to both authors!) ... not in terms of style, so much, but rather strong women, who are rooted in the land, and who are dealing with tough situations. As well, how difficult it can be to navigate the issues of child abuse, fostering, and parenting. And any kind of non-traditional relationship. As well, Hulme includes a great deal of Maori culture and traditions.

Another thing that amused me was that when I first read it, I thought at some level, hey, those characters are a fair bit older than me. Then I'm toodling along and one character refers to themselves as 33. Eek!

Well, it did come out in 1985 or so.

Vundo Draxon · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:09 am Post subject:

Cartman · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:34 am Post subject:

thwap · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:23 pm Post subject:

I bought and have just started: Dark Days: The story of four Canadians tortured in the name of fighting terror.

I met three of those guys on the Caravan Against Torture we went on last spring.

It's a damned important book.
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I thought she was going to marry that snooty rich guy!

TS. · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:26 pm Post subject:

I've just started into A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright.
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"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson

Tehanu · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:28 pm Post subject:

It's a quick read. Wink

Raos · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:00 am Post subject:

Epidemiology: Study Design and Data Analysis by Mark Woodward and Essentials of Epidemiology in Public Health by Ann Aschengrau and George R. Seage III. They're both slightly less than riveting.

anne cameron · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:09 pm Post subject:

Just finished "The Mess They Made" by Gwyn Dyer...ouch! And read all three of Meg Tilly's books (ouch ouch ouch) so I'm taking a break with the latest Kathy Reich...

F. · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 2211

I had such a crush on Meg Tilly in the 1980s.

Tehanu · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject:

So did I.

anne cameron · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:10 pm Post subject:

Much too young for me, my dears.....

Hephaestion · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 5:14 am Post subject:

Jack Whyte: "Knights of the White and Black: Book One of the Templar Trilogy"
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"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin

Tehanu · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:34 pm Post subject:

Oooh, I quite liked that one. The sequel was fairly okay. Have you read his series on Arthurian Britain? (Not that one needs yet another series on King Arthur, but it's an interesting take on it.)

Hephaestion · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:44 pm Post subject:

Yes, I have; it's quite good. He's still working on that series.
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"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin

ronb · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:38 pm Post subject:

I just finished Watchmen. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I have to admit I was a bit underwhelmed somehow. It did stay with me though. But the best graphic novel ever? That's still Maus for me.

Now I'm reading a Spanish book that someone at work loaned me called Shadow of the Wind. It's a bit gothic so far, but it's set in the aftermath of the Spanish civil war, so my interest is piqued.

TS. · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:59 pm Post subject:

I've just finished with A Short History of Progress. It's a rather depressing read, but should be required reading for anyone in a position of authority. I found the notion of the "progress trap" very interesting. Wright also takes a number of shots at Guns, Germs and Steel as well, and the two would make for a stimulating side-by-side comparison, though to really get the full picture, you would have to compare A Short History of Progress to both Guns, Germs and Steel and its companion book (by the same author), Collapse.
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"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson

anne cameron · Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:27 pm Post subject:

"Now and Forever" by Ray Bradbury. It's two novellas in one book. I'm a big Bradbury fan but I don't rank this one very highly. I might not finish it.

Still, he can sure sling words effectively!!

abnormal · Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 5:10 pm Post subject:

"The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" by Nassim Nicolas Taleb

I've had people recommending it to me for quite a while and given that the world seems to be going through a Black Swan event seemed like a good time to start.

anne cameron · Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 5:48 am Post subject:

"Chinaman" by Stephen Leather. Well done, if formulaic. Nothing wrong with formula. Quest for justice becomes obsession for revenge...IRA... Viet Nam... trained killers... bit of a twist... only two scenes, both involving sexual encounters, seemed... a bit much, a bit too tacked on, broke the flow of the story, and were a tad out of character but hey, I guess that's what sells.

Leather is a solid writer, makes no apologies for his formula. I looked him up on Google, he is a bit coy about things like his age and much of his background. Maybe coy sells, too.

Worth borrowing from the library but don't spend your money on it.
I'll probably borrow another of his.

Works at least as well as Sominex.

thwap · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:54 pm Post subject:

I finished reading the book Dark Days: the Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror last night.

I must say that the RCMP and CSIS come out of it looking like knuckle-dragging imbeciles. Perhaps that's unfair. Perhaps there's awesome, mind-blowing stuff that these guys have that will show that they weren't complete idiots who told foreign governments that four (and there's more) Canadians were terrorist masterminds, based on nothing but racial profiling and a desire to make up for their past blunders.

But, if Maher Arar, Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El-Maati and Muayyed Nurredin had to pay through torture while they were innocent, then our "super-cops" ought to be able to live with insults from the internet for their seemingly massive incompetence.

I'd like to say more, but I'm swamped.
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I thought she was going to marry that snooty rich guy!

Hephaestion · Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:15 am Post subject:

Haven't read it, but it sounds interesting...

Falling off the Edge: Travels Through the Dark Heart of Globalization

thwap · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:38 pm Post subject:

I'm reading James Laxer's The Undeclared War: class conflict in the age of cyber capitalism, it's from 1998, but I got it 2nd-hand maybe five years ago and always meant to get to it. So I'm getting to it. link

Caissa · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:54 pm Post subject:

I'm savoting P.D. James latest book "The Private patient." It's a shame she is a Tory peer.

anne cameron · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 5:29 pm Post subject:

I'm reading "Billy Straight" by Jonathan Kellerman. Haven't finished it, yet, but I'm enjoying it so far. I'm about two-thirds through the book and I think I've figured it out but the writing is good, the dialogue believable and the twelve year old kid...well, Kellerman is a child psychologist and as I understand it he specializes in damaged child, abused child, "delinquent" child cases...this kid is mostly believable, he's got me rooting for him, anyway.

Just finished Eric Wilson's "The Unmasking of 'Ksan", it's supposed to be "young adult", I read it to see if it might interest some of the grandkids but I don't think it will. Might make a decent TV movie, though. Too many red herrings, the kids would toss the book aside, I think.

And I'm poring over and through the Municipal Charter and a provincial municipal government site.

God, do they have to write it in a way guaranteed to put a person to sleep?

TS. · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 5:36 pm Post subject:

anne cameron · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 6:07 pm Post subject:

Thank you very much. You may regret you offerred. We haven't even been sworn in , yet, and already I'm feeling "funny". I mean I knew I was cynical and I've never really trusted "government" and I detest euphemism and bureaucratese but...now I know why!!

Right now I'm building up to a total rant about "Official Community Plan"...
who do they think they're kidding? "oh you HAVE to have one"..."it's the law"... but the Liebrals passed a bill which takes any hope of self determination away from municipalities or regional districts so no OCP can have any teeth at all...but all these "planners" are swanning around getting HUGE money for making coloured maps... and it's all just a huge scam to impose zoning in areas where people don't want it , don't need it, and will ignore it anyway...

and by-laws!

We have one which outlaws outdoor clotheslines. Another won't allow you to keep a goat in your back yard. You can have chickens but not a rooster. No ducks. No more than two cats.

These dweebs think they can control CATS?

I knew we were dealing with the brain trust when we tried to get the bylaw against stray and roaming dogs enforced. Chummy's bright idea was that we'd raise the dog license fee and use the extra money to build a dog pound.

We're less than 400 residents. Figure 200 families. Each has at least one dog, some have more, I have four... and when I got licenses for my dogs the numbers were in the mid thirties...I checked...they didn't sell forty dog licenses...so they want to raise the fee...the ones who "obey" the law and get licenses would pick up the tab and the many more who ignore the whole thing would continue to ignore the whole thing...I pointed that out and Chummy just gaped...as for cats...well, can you spell "feral"? And "scads".

I alternate between gales of mad laughter and groans of despair. I think the mad laughter will win out, though. I refuse to despair!!!

Besides, I can always go back to Constitution and Charter and fall asleep for a while.

The Evil Twin · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 6:39 pm Post subject:

What am I currently reading? My fucking laptop manual that's what because the screen conked out this morning. It's gotta be the onboard POS Intel vidcard because all other parts are working (tested it by plugging the laptop into an external monitor). ooooh this is going to cost me! Sad

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"Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it." - Stevie J. Harpoon

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 7180

If I'm not mistaken, the same video card that drives the laptop monitor drives an external monitor as well, so if it works on another monitor, it's probably not the card, per se. Maybe a loose connection or something, but not the basic functionality of the card.

It's not a matter of having accidentally hit [Fn] --> [whatever key on your laptop changes the display], is it? Many laptops seem to have 3 display modes: laptop, external, or both, and if it's set to external, the laptop display will be inactive, but the external will work.
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ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø,

The Evil Twin · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:20 pm Post subject:

Good point there Magoo, about the vid card - it must be working or else the external monitor wouldn't work either. Will check it out again later. Right now I need to cool off and put the whole laptop outta my mind or else I'll be throwing it out the window.

The Evil Twin · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:28 pm Post subject:

Hephaestion · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:07 pm Post subject:

thwap · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 12:29 am Post subject:

Started Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. New-bud!
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I thought she was going to marry that snooty rich guy!

Hephaestion · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:59 am Post subject:

The Years of Rice and Salt

Great read.
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"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin

The Evil Twin · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 2:55 am Post subject:

"The Years of Rice and Salt" is one of my all time favourite "what if" alternate history novels. Cool

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"Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it." - Stevie J. Harpoon

Legless_Marine · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 575

Just finished "Ancient Wisdom, Modern world: Ethics for the new millenium" by the Dalai Lama:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancient-Wisdom-Modern-World-Millennium/dp/0...

I Didn't get much out of the first, half - For whatever reason, it didn't speak to me. The last few chapters I actually found inspiring, resulting in food for thought, and leading me to approach a few things differently in my personal life.

Just started "Investing in the great Uranium Bull Market" :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Investing-Great-Uranium-Bull-Market/dp/0977...

I bought it to help me refine my Uranium investing strategy, expecting yet another financial strategy book trying hard not to be dry.

Opening it up, I was excited - Graphs! Maps! Photos! Diagrams of process! It had all appearances of a well thought out and presented book, and I eagerly dove in.

Normally I skip forewords, cuz they're boring... But being enthusiastic about this book, I figured I'd read the foreword anyways, not wanting to miss anything.

Reading it, it seemed strangely familar: Global warming, doom and gloom, fossil fuel depletion will cause massive catastrophe, with the only potential savior being nuclear power generation. The themes and tone were reminiscent of Dr. James Lovelock's "Revenge of Gaia", which I read last summer. Reading on, I was surprised to see that the foreword actually WAS by lovelock. While I'm not surprised to see Lovelock boosting nuclear, I was utterly surprised to see him writing a foreword for an investing book. I thought that was pretty weird.

I'm 40 pages in now. It's mostly background, talking about the history of Uranium and Nuclear. Mostly non-technical discussions of the discovery of Uranium and associated chemical processes. Pretty well what I was expecting...

The book appears to have been released at roughly the same time as Revenge of Gaia. Weird.

I was planning on posting a short review of "Revenge of Gaia" here in the next few weeks. In it, I'll also discuss the strange relationship between these two books, and what I make of it.

Rufus Polson · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 4:41 am Post subject:

I really liked "The Years of Rice and Salt" too.

Vundo Draxon · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:16 pm Post subject:

On Bullshit and On Truth, both by Harry Frankfurt.
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If you can read this, you've already lost the game.

5 minutes to midnight · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:18 pm Post subject:

"The World is Flat" and "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Thomas Friedman
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To be a true radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing

- Raymond Williams

Legless_Marine · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 575

thwap · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 5:09 pm Post subject:

Okay, .... I'm almost through Shantaram. Huh. Apparently Brad Pitt is producing it as a movie starring Johnny Depp. He did that to the last bestseller i read. The Time Traveller's Wife. It's been an enjoyable read.

I've got stuck half-way through Natalie Angier's The Canon: The beautiful basics of science. Too many cutesy jokes, but she has gotten me to understand that the weight of the sun smashes the hyrdrogen atoms at its core, releasing enormous amounts of energy that feed life on earth.

I'm 2/3rds through India After Independence 1947-2000. It's cool. There could be no real socialist revolution in India. To keep the state viable (in the face of religious and ethnic partitioning, which would have left the people of the Sub-Continent divided and weak in the face of further Western imperialism, the social revolution took a back seat to secular nationalism. But the weaknesses of continued massive inequalities continue to haunt India to this day.

I'll add s'more later. gotta go.

Okay. Um, ... I'm also reading:

The Wrecking Crew by Thomas Frank. Yeah, it looks at the ideological roots of "conservative" malgovernment, but i gotta say it's nice that he doesn't extend any respect to the morons and yahoos of the US right-wing. But I wish he could've more thoroughly drawn the strings of stupidity on this bowel movement of politics.

I've just started Gary Sick's October Surprise. The critical review i just linked to has some supposedly damning critiques of the book that I found telling for their weaknesses. It should be inneresting ....

There's another one on Canadian Medicare that i'll keep you in suspense about until tomorrow!!! OH who-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!
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I thought she was going to marry that snooty rich guy!

thwap · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:38 am Post subject:

You've all been really patient. Razz

I'm also reading Medicare: Facts, Myths, Problems & Promise from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Some good speeches and juicy essays on the realities of medicare in Canada.
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I thought she was going to marry that snooty rich guy!

thwap · Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:05 am Post subject:

I'm almost finished Donald Rayfield's Anton Chekhov, a life.

It's good. I agree with the review. I might have mentioned starting this long ago, if I did, I would have said that the accounts of all his twisted family relationships and love affairs was like something out of a Chekhov story. And it is.
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I thought she was going to marry that snooty rich guy!

thwap · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:56 pm Post subject:

In the absence of any inspiration for today's post, I'll provide links for two books that I'm reading:

Paul J. Dosal's Comandante Che (2004) ... Che's image is everywhere. I read a really slim biography about him that I've got upstairs (think the author's last name was "Sinclair") and I reviewed the biopic "Motorcycle Diaries" here at the schoolyardAnyway, this book is pretty good. Details about the practical realities of the Cuban revolution and Che's ideas about guerrilla warfare and the Tri-Continental. I'd like to read his remarks to the OAS about Kennedy's " Alliance For Progress" sometime.

M. J. Akbar's Nehru: The Making of India (1990) ... I'm enjoying it because it's nicely written and it's going into detail about the philosophical and political differences that went into the formation of the Congress Party and the Muslim League which eventually led to the partition of India and Pakistan.
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I thought she was going to marry that snooty rich guy!

thwap · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:47 pm Post subject:

I recently read a book about Che Guevera's military record, and I decided that since I knew sweet dick all about the Cuban Revolution I'd find something quick to read just to get a general survey of what happened.

So lucky me, my local library had a fat little book with lots of pictures!

The Fidel Castro Handbook by George Galloway.

Totally not an objective account. On the other hand, I'd rather read a pro-Castro book that would at least mention some of the achievements of Castro's Cuba rather than some stale piece of shit from a death-squad loving USian "liberal" or "conservative" academic.

Anyhoo, it has lots of nice pictures.

I'm currently reading The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune 1870-71 by Alistair Horne.

Twas the only book in my local library. He's a military historian and those guys tend to be conservative and this is a good general history including clearly written descriptions of the battles and tactics. I believe there's a marked divergence of historical opinion on the Paris Commune though, with some praising it and others damning it. I don't know which is to be deserved. But Horne's account portrays the leftist leadership and their supporters as all complete idiots, cowards and hypocrites. But by page 179 I've found in his own writings enough grist for the mill to justify the way the French working class could be infuriated with their bourgeois leadership. (General Trochu for instance, appears to have had no other plan to break the siege, but appeared to have simply wanted to wait for the food to run out. He gave no indication of wanting to do anything else and for a people besieged that might not make a whole helluva lotta sense.)

His characterization of the Paris proletariat might be correct for all I know but I sense some slant there.
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I thought she was going to marry that snooty rich guy!

thwap · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:05 pm Post subject:

Some titles of the things that I'm reading that might be interesting to others:

Che Guevera, Their America & Ours: Che, Kennedy and the debate on free trade

Peter Urmetzer, From Free Trade to Forced Trade: Canada in the Global Economy

Geoffrey Kurtz, "A Socialist State of Grace: The Radical Reformism of Jean Jaures," New Political Science, Vol. 28, Number 3, September 2006.

... back to work!
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I thought she was going to marry that snooty rich guy!

ronb · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 7:02 pm Post subject:

I'm reading Gibbons, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire right now. It's surprisingly enjoyable - an outrage on every page!

TS. · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:56 pm Post subject:

ronb · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:21 pm Post subject:

It's probably best read as a commentary on George III's England.