Which book are you reading now? Volume XI

[Silv Something]

Last week I read a lot.

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson was good. It claims to be the history of a house but it's more like a fun history books that jumps around with the house serving as inspiration.

The Pun Also Rises by John Pollock -- a history & summary of puns and wordplay. Not bad.

Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything by Stephen Baker -- I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. It's the story of the Watson computer that played Jeopardy with the two reigning champions. The development of the system was quite interesting, and the conclusion was still suspenseful even though we all know the ending.

I'll Mature When I'm Dead by Dave Barry -- I love Dave Barry. This book had me laughing out loud. A lot.

Inferno by Dan Brown. Think of Dan Brown what you will. His books are entertaining and interesting for me, which is the main qualities I look for in a book.

 

[Smellincoffee]

American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic, Joseph Ellis. I like to do a series of American Revolutionary readings near the Fourth, and this is my second, the first being Rob Chernow's bio of Alexander Hamilton. I enjoy Ellis' style, and this is so far proving enjoyable. It's a bit like Founding Brothers, in which he's sharing little episodes that shaped the national destiny. I'm about to read a bit on the Indian treaties, which will be completely new ground for me.

 

[Azale]

American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic, Joseph Ellis. I like to do a series of American Revolutionary readings near the Fourth, and this is my second, the first being Rob Chernow's bio of Alexander Hamilton. I enjoy Ellis' style, and this is so far proving enjoyable. It's a bit like Founding Brothers, in which he's sharing little episodes that shaped the national destiny. I'm about to read a bit on the Indian treaties, which will be completely new ground for me.

I always see this at Half Price Books and I've almost bought it about 10 times now. I hesitate because I saw a prominent "paleoconservative" (and lite-holocaust denier) use it to buttress his weird wacked out beliefs.

I guess I should get over that

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Been reading this recently. Very interesting so far, but I'm rather concerned at the relative lack of attention given to other African ethnic groups such as the Luo and the Kalenjin. Even the South Asian immigrants get more attention.

Finished this. "Dirty" doesn't even begin to cover the atrocities and suffering on both sides of the war. Possibly the blackest mark of British decolonization (well, unless you count the Partition of India as Britain's fault) and a chapter of Kenya's history that is not quite closed yet.

Anyway, time for a fiction book. Vortex, by Larry Bond. Just waiting for the racists to declare war and the party can get started.

 

[Antilogic]

So it's been awhile and I'm sick of reading Zimmerman threads. So time for a .

Don't have much time to post now (so I'll post some more thoughts later), but I just finished Michael Howard's The Franco-Prussian War and switched over to reading The Real Making of the President: Kennedy, Nixon, and the 1960 Election by W. J. Rorabaugh.

I should have posted right after finishing Howard's book over in WH because I thought of a question regarding the peace treaty (which I thought could have generated some decent discussion), but for the life of me I can't remember what it is now.

Rorabaugh's book on the 1960 presidential election is excellent. It's more neutral than the account is named for, and really delves into the primaries where the Kennedy faction utterly steamrolled Humphrey and Symington (and prevented Johnson and Stevenson from being picked at the convention).

I've read Empire of Liberty by Gordon Wood and managed to handle the Federalist-bashing.

American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic, Joseph Ellis. I like to do a series of American Revolutionary readings near the Fourth, and this is my second, the first being Rob Chernow's bio of Alexander Hamilton. I enjoy Ellis' style, and this is so far proving enjoyable. It's a bit like Founding Brothers, in which he's sharing little episodes that shaped the national destiny. I'm about to read a bit on the Indian treaties, which will be completely new ground for me.

I remember this book being very enlightening on the Indian treaties, especially the tension between the federal government (which sought for a little more restraint but not as much as the colonial government) than the state governments (which were generally gung-ho about pushing the indigenous populations out).

 

[Masada]

Possibly the blackest mark of British decolonization (well, unless you count the Partition of India as Britain's fault) and a chapter of Kenya's history that is not quite closed yet.

I've always found it strange how the abuses that occurred during the Mau Mau Revolt are so well known, while similar abuses perpetrated during the Malayan Emergency which occurred at roughly the same time are not. I wonder if someone has written a paper on it.

 

[Arakhor]

I, for one, certainly count the partition of India as Britain's fault.

 

[Cutlass]

I'm reading Chernow's bio of Hamilton now. Haven't had the time to get too deeply into it. I have mixed feelings on it. On the one hand, it feels really strongly researched as to the facts. And well presented. But Chernow has this habit of tossing in little pieces of pure blind speculation. I sense that he's doing so to maybe lighten or humanize the subject some more. Bring it to life, so to speak. But to me it just kind of leaves me flat. It feels jarringly out of place in an otherwise good, well written, and detailed book.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Anyway, time for a fiction book. Vortex, by Larry Bond. Just waiting for the racists to declare war and the party can get started.

That was fun. 10/10, would invade South Africa again.

Current reading is China: A New History by John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman. The latter wrote the two newest chapters on China's recent history, and so far I agree with his assessment that Mr. Fairbank is a little too focused on explaining everything as due to China's uniqueness.

I've always found it strange how the abuses that occurred during the Mau Mau Revolt are so well known, while similar abuses perpetrated during the Malayan Emergency which occurred at roughly the same time are not. I wonder if someone has written a paper on it.

Now I may have to find a book on Malaysia next. I'm wondering which of the two has the edge in brutality or scale.

 

[Masada]

Now I may have to find a book on Malaysia next. I'm wondering which of the two has the edge in brutality or scale.

I'm not aware of any books for the general reader that touch on the human aspects of the Malayan Emergency. Although, I can recommend some papers and monographs on various subjects e.g. the Briggs Plan (which the Villagisation Plan was based on).

 

[Smellincoffee]

The Choice: A Parable of Free Trade and Protectionism, Russ Roberts, in which the ghost of a British economist takes a 1960s businessman backing a presidential candidate into two different futures: one where the US adopts free trade, and one where it closes its borders to imports. It's an economic policy tract, essentially, in novel form.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I'm not aware of any books for the general reader that touch on the human aspects of the Malayan Emergency. Although, I can recommend some papers and monographs on various subjects e.g. the Briggs Plan (which the Villagisation Plan was based on).

I wouldn't mind reading some of the more introductory materials you can suggest if general histories of Malaysia do not cover the subject well enough.

 

[Antilogic]

I'm reading Chernow's bio of Hamilton now. Haven't had the time to get too deeply into it. I have mixed feelings on it. On the one hand, it feels really strongly researched as to the facts. And well presented. But Chernow has this habit of tossing in little pieces of pure blind speculation. I sense that he's doing so to maybe lighten or humanize the subject some more. Bring it to life, so to speak. But to me it just kind of leaves me flat. It feels jarringly out of place in an otherwise good, well written, and detailed book.

Would you describe it as too conversational (if the conversation was with a person with historical ADHD)?

The Choice: A Parable of Free Trade and Protectionism, Russ Roberts, in which the ghost of a British economist takes a 1960s businessman backing a presidential candidate into two different futures: one where the US adopts free trade, and one where it closes its borders to imports. It's an economic policy tract, essentially, in novel form.

Does that form work? Is it tolerable for a true believer in one to read the opposite perspective and not be frustrated with how the author presents the argument?

 

[Cutlass]

Would you describe it as too conversational (if the conversation was with a person with historical ADHD)?

Not necessarily conversational, but just random raw speculation. Now maybe there's more substance in the record to back those speculations, but it's not really presented. And he does a lot of it. And I'm not even very deep into the book yet.

I marked 1 such passage. The author notes that that the neighborhood outside the grounds of King's College (Columbia) where Hamilton studied was known as an area with a lot of prostitution in those days, called the Holy Ground. He goes on to say:

In returning to the college before the curfew, did Hamilton sometimes linger in the Holy Ground to sample it's profane pleasures?

What does the author think something like this adds to trying to get an understanding of Hamilton? It's not just speculative, it's speculative without purpose or even vague evidence. And so comes across as insinuation.

To me this is a big flaw in what seems to be an otherwise good author and strong biographer. YMMV.

 

[Antilogic]

That sounds like a conspiracy theorist just asking the questions when there really isn't evidence to back the implicit assertion behind them. And then claiming plausible deniability.

 

[Cutlass]

That sounds like a conspiracy theorist just asking the questions when there really isn't evidence to back the implicit assertion behind them. And then claiming plausible deniability.

And the irony of that is that the guy is clearly an admirer of Hamilton and wants to show him in a good light. While he doesn't hesitate to show the "warts and all" version, it still comes across as "this is a great man" presentation.

Like I say, those bits of speculation come across, to me at any rate, are jarringly out of place.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Does that form work? Is it tolerable for a true believer in one to read the opposite perspective and not be frustrated with how the author presents the argument?

I suppose a person's reaction to this book would depend on how well-versed they were in arguments about free trade, and how strong their emotional ties were to the issue. I'm fairly noncommittal, though -- my own emotional biases are conflicted. The less government meddling, the better, but I'd prefer the United States be a nation that produces and sells wealth, rather than one that primarily consumes. Some of the arguments make more sense than others; for instance, his ghost takes the man through why tariffs and import quotas raise prices of both domestic and foreign products. The weakest argument for me was one (I know perfectly well I am biased here) that maintained that job losses from free trade are made up by job increases later when the nation becomes more wealthy as a whole. Saying that things even out on AVERAGE does precious little to help or mollify someone in particular. If my county is is in a drought, and another country is flooded, and several others are receiving just enough rain, those of us desperate for water or desperate from the floods aren't going to find relief in the fact that on average, the countries are getting an average amount of rainfall when considered together.

 

[madviking]

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max

it gets a solid 8 or 9 as a comedy book.

 

[Antilogic]

Finished Chris Hedges' Death of the Liberal Class, a polemic aimed at mostly the modern Democratic Party and how Hedges believes it has betrayed the underlying principles of left politics. It particularly focuses on media personalities and the collapse of the popular front-type government of the 1930s.

Working through To Crown the Waves, edited by O'Hara et al. on WW1 navies. It's a series of short but fascinating essays on stats, equipment, logistics, etc. of the major fleets leading up to WW1, and on the doctrines they employed. Probably too simple for some of the experts but an excellent introductory work.

 

[bhsup]

The Lusty Argonian Maid, Volumes 1 & 2.