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deadeyedick Offline
#1001 Posted: Wed, Jun 12 2024, 6:30 AM EST
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 18,020
Countdown by Alan Weisman

We are currently over 7 billion humans and headed to well over 10 billion. He argues that the sustainable carrying capacity of the earth was passed long ago with all the consequences such as mass immigration and depletion of resources coming.
Gene363 Offline
#1002 Posted: Mon, Jun 24 2024, 11:08 AM EST
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 32,071
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

By: Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan

A very interesting and thought provoking book, people interested in current events, politics and of course science NEED to read this book.

Quote:
How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions.

Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs. And yet, disturbingly, in today's so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning with stories of alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms.
8trackdisco Offline
#1003 Posted: Wed, Jul 3 2024, 1:42 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
Our Man in Havana
-Graham Greene

Our Man in Havana (1958) is a novel set in Cuba by the British author Graham Greene. Greene uses the novel to mock intelligence services, especially the British MI6, and their willingness to believe reports from their local informants. The book predates the Cuban Missile Crisis, but certain aspects of the plot, notably the role of missile installations, appear to anticipate the events of 1962.

The novel was adapted into a film of the same name in 1959, directed by Carol Reed and starring Alec Guinness. In 1963, it was adapted into an opera by Malcolm Williamson to a libretto by Sidney Gilliat, who had worked on the film. In 2007, it was adapted into a play by Clive Francis, which has toured the UK several times and been performed in various parts of the world.

Espionage meets Satire.
delta1 Offline
#1004 Posted: Wed, Jul 3 2024, 6:09 PM EST
Joined: 11-23-2011
Posts: 29,594
Column of Fire, Ken Follett... third of the 5 books in his Kingsbridge series...
ghostshadow Offline
#1005 Posted: Fri, Jul 5 2024, 11:16 PM EST
Joined: 06-05-2013
Posts: 8
I am constantly juggling multiple books at once. Here are a few that I am currently reading right now.

The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart (host of the Morbid podcast)

Authority by :Jeff VanderMeer - (reading through the southern reach trilogy)

Roadside Picnic by: Arkady Strugatsky - (if you've ever heard of S.T.A.L.K.E.R or the film by Andrei Tarkovsky, this is the book it's all based on) Even the Metro series is inspired by it. The backstory and total rabbit hole regarding the predictions of certain events and the film controversies are pretty crazy too.

Nueromancer by : William Gibson

Best Served Cold : Joe Abercrombie - I read the First Law series a couple of years ago and have slowly been working my way through the others set in the same world.
8trackdisco Offline
#1006 Posted: Sun, Jul 14 2024, 8:01 AM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
The Expats by Chris Pavone

Can we ever escape our secrets? In the cobblestoned streets of Luxembourg, Kate Moore's days are filled with playdates and coffee mornings, her weekends spent in Paris and skiing in the Alps. But Kate is also guarding a tremendous, life-defining secret--one that's become so unbearable that it begins to unravel her newly established expat life. She suspects that another American couple are not who they claim to be; her husband is acting suspiciously; and as she travels around Europe, she finds herself looking over her shoulder, increasingly terrified that her own past is catching up with her. As Kate begins to dig, to uncover the secrets of the people around her, she finds herself buried in layers of deceit so thick they threaten her family, her marriage, and her life. Stylish and sophisticated, fiercely intelligent, and expertly crafted, The Expats proves Chris Pavone to be a writer of tremendous talent.


Gennerally, I don't read many books with a female protagonist. However, am happy I am.
8trackdisco Offline
#1007 Posted: Tue, Jul 23 2024, 12:55 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
Northern Ireland: A Very Short Introduction.

-Marc Mulholland

Audiobook
delta1 Offline
#1008 Posted: Tue, Jul 23 2024, 4:11 PM EST
Joined: 11-23-2011
Posts: 29,594
Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros...entertaining fantasy about heroic young adults training to go to battle in a world of dragons, magic and superpowers
Palama Offline
#1009 Posted: Thu, Aug 1 2024, 1:30 PM EST
Joined: 02-05-2013
Posts: 25,092
Me, the Mob, and the Music - Tommy James with Martin Fitzpatrick

“Everyone knows the hits: “Hanky Panky,” “Mony Mony,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” “Crimson and Clover,” “Crystal Blue Persuasion.” All of these songs, which epitomize great pop music of the late 1960s, are now widely used in television and film and have been covered by a diverse group of artists from Billy Idol to Tiffany to R.E.M. Just as compelling as the music itself is the life Tommy James lived while making it.

James tells the incredible story, revealing his complex and sometimes terrifying relationship with Roulette Records and Morris Levy, the legendary Godfather of the music business. Me, the Mob, and the Music is a fascinating portrait of this swaggering, wildly creative era of rock ’n’ roll, when the hits kept coming and payola and the strong-arm tactics of the Mob were the norm, and what it was like, for better or worse, to be in the middle of it.”

Always knew the music business is / was / could have some shady characters and dealings but Morris Levy, the owner of Roulette Records was something else! The book is a relatively easy read. About 225 pages, got it on Sunday and I’ll never be accused of being a rabid reader but almost 2/3 done.
8trackdisco Offline
#1010 Posted: Thu, Aug 1 2024, 2:32 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
Deep Undercover- Jack Barsky

Millions watched the CBS "60 Minutes" special on Barsky in 2015. Now, in this fascinating memoir, the Soviet KGB agent tells his story of gut-wrenching choices, appalling betrayals, his turbulent inner world, and the secret life he lived for years without getting caught.
Gene363 Offline
#1011 Posted: Thu, Aug 1 2024, 3:37 PM EST
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 32,071
Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson

By S. C. Gwynne

Quote:
From the author of the prizewinning New York Times bestseller Empire of the Summer Moon comes a thrilling account of how Civil War general Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson became a great and tragic American hero.

Stonewall Jackson has long been a figure of legend and romance. As much as any person in the Confederate pantheon, even Robert E. Lee, he embodies the romantic Southern notion of the virtuous lost cause. Jackson is also considered, without argument, one of our country’s greatest military figures. His brilliance at the art of war tied Abraham Lincoln and the Union high command in knots and threatened the ultimate success of the Union armies. Jackson’s strategic innovations shattered the conventional wisdom of how war was waged; he was so far ahead of his time that his techniques would be studied generations into the future.

In April 1862 Jackson was merely another Confederate general in an army fighting what seemed to be a losing cause. By June he had engineered perhaps the greatest military campaign in American history and was one of the most famous men in the Western world. He had, moreover, given the Confederate cause what it had recently lacked—hope—and struck fear into the hearts of the Union.

Rebel Yell is written with the swiftly vivid narrative that is Gwynne’s hallmark and is rich with battle lore, biographical detail, and intense conflict between historical figures. Gwynne delves deep into Jackson’s private life, including the loss of his young beloved first wife and his regimented personal habits. It traces Jackson’s brilliant twenty-four-month career in the Civil War, the period that encompasses his rise from obscurity to fame and legend; his stunning effect on the course of the war itself; and his tragic death, which caused both North and South to grieve the loss of a remarkable American hero.
8trackdisco Offline
#1012 Posted: Thu, Aug 1 2024, 10:12 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
Gene363 wrote:
Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson

By S. C. Gwynne



One of my favorite Civil War generals. A shame the way he went down.

“He last lost his left arm, and I have lost my right.”
- R. E. Lee
Gene363 Offline
#1013 Posted: Fri, Aug 2 2024, 9:50 AM EST
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 32,071
8trackdisco wrote:
One of my favorite Civil War generals. A shame the way he went down.

“He last lost his left arm, and I have lost my right.”
- R. E. Lee


I usually avoid books about the Civil war, but this was a good one. Jackson was an interesting personality, admired by both sides.
RobertHively Offline
#1014 Posted: Fri, Aug 2 2024, 7:35 PM EST
Joined: 01-14-2015
Posts: 2,578
^

I've visited his grave in Lexington, Virginia. The cemetery is close to, and maybe owned by, Virginia Military Institute.

He was born in Clarksburg, Virginia (Now West Virginia). It's in the north central part of the state...he grew up on a farm nearby. West Virginia University bought the place and now you can visit/tour "Jackson's Mill". I'd like to see it one day.
Gene363 Offline
#1015 Posted: Fri, Aug 2 2024, 9:06 PM EST
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 32,071
RobertHively wrote:
^

I've visited his grave in Lexington, Virginia. The cemetery is close to, and maybe owned by, Virginia Military Institute.

He was born in Clarksburg, Virginia (Now West Virginia). It's in the north central part of the state...he grew up on a farm nearby. West Virginia University bought the place and now you can visit/tour "Jackson's Mill". I'd like to see it one day.


That is interesting! He taught at VMI before the Civil war.
Gene363 Offline
#1016 Posted: Sun, Aug 11 2024, 2:26 PM EST
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 32,071
On the Bottom: The Raising of the Submarine S-51

By Edward Ellsberg

An epic struggle to get the sea to give up submarine S-51 and her deceased crew.

Quote:
In a collision with a steamship, City of Rome, on the night of September 25, 1925, the U.S. Navy Submarine S-51 sank in 132 feet of water, taking 33 sailors to the ocean floor. This is the story of the men charged with doing the impossible—raising the thousand ton sub from the bottom of the sea. Added to this modern classic of true adventure are a foreword and afterword giving specifics of the accident and the aftermath, additional photographs, a publisher’s preface, and appendices.
jeebling Offline
#1017 Posted: Sun, Aug 11 2024, 2:56 PM EST
Joined: 08-04-2015
Posts: 3,909
I’m listening to The Federalist Papers again. Libra/Vox has a YouTube channel and I listen to a lot of stuff there.
Palama Offline
#1018 Posted: Wed, Aug 14 2024, 6:49 PM EST
Joined: 02-05-2013
Posts: 25,092
Playmakers - How the NFL Really Works (And Doesn’t) - Mike Florio

A fairly light read. Some old news, some interesting stuff but nothing earthshaking and revealing.
8trackdisco Offline
#1019 Posted: Tue, Aug 27 2024, 8:24 AM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
Finished Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

The irony of a former atheist writing such an all encompassing explanation of the religion is beyond excellent.
delta1 Offline
#1020 Posted: Tue, Aug 27 2024, 7:11 PM EST
Joined: 11-23-2011
Posts: 29,594
The Girl in the Eagle's Talons, Karin Smirnoff, 7th story in the Millennium Series.


I thoroughly enjoyed the first 6 novels of the series... the first 3 by Stieg Larsson (RIP) and the following 3 by David Lagercrantz. It's a shame that the 7th doesn't measure up...it doesn't have the same pace, feel, style and dialogue of the previous books.
Huzza3045 Offline
#1021 Posted: Tue, Aug 27 2024, 8:08 PM EST
Joined: 11-07-2022
Posts: 979
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
8trackdisco Offline
#1022 Posted: Tue, Sep 17 2024, 9:02 AM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More- Roald Dahl

Currently listening to The Screwtape Letters- C. S. Lewis.

Speaking of C. S. Lewis. Someone sent to me a hardcover version of Mere Christianity.

Very kind.

If one of you fine fellows sent that to me, please make yourself known.
8trackdisco Offline
#1023 Posted: Thu, Sep 26 2024, 4:00 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
The Sun & the Moon & the Rolling Stones- Rich Cohen.

Safari- Parnell Hall
frankj1 Offline
#1024 Posted: Thu, Sep 26 2024, 4:11 PM EST
Joined: 02-08-2007
Posts: 44,868
coop is back and he's looking for you...at least that's what I heard
delta1 Offline
#1025 Posted: Thu, Sep 26 2024, 5:27 PM EST
Joined: 11-23-2011
Posts: 29,594
uh oh...dum dum dum...
Palama Offline
#1026 Posted: Thu, Sep 26 2024, 6:10 PM EST
Joined: 02-05-2013
Posts: 25,092
Voices of Hawaii, Vol. 1 - Jane Marshall Goodsill

“For Jane Marshall Goodsill, Voices of Hawai'i began as a labor of love. A kama'aina accomplished in the art of oral history, she began interviewing Island residents who had known her late father, a partner in a venerable Honolulu law firm. But avocation soon became vocation. As Goodsill's joy in recording these life stories grew, so too did her pool of subjects: business executives, war veterans and POWs, retired plantation managers, Island entertainers, conservationists, taro farmers, educators, broadcasters, retailers, ranchers, activists, judges, journalists and so many others. Taken together, their oral histories told a fascinating, behind-the-scenes tale of Hawai'i's journey from the World War II era into the 21st century. The best of these candid interviews-compelling tales of deals made and glass ceilings shattered, of ancient ways revived and legacy lands preserved-are collected here under the themes of Island life: history, race, land use, art and music, philanthropy, development, and the spirit of aloha.”

A fairly easy read as she edited the interviews down to stick to the topic at hand. There were a couple of interviewees that I know but didn’t know that their parent(s) or a relative were movers ‘n shakers. Purdy sure I’ll be reading the 2nd volume afterwards.
8trackdisco Offline
#1027 Posted: Thu, Oct 10 2024, 5:07 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
The Fall of Berlin- Antony Beevor

Berlin: The Downfall 1945 (also known as The Fall of Berlin 1945 in the US) is a narrative history by Antony Beevor of the Battle of Berlin during World War II. It was published by Viking Press in 2002, then later by Penguin Books in 2003. The book achieved both critical and commercial success. It has been a number-one best seller in seven countries apart from Britain, and in the top five in another nine countries. Together this book and Beevor's Stalingrad, first published in 1998, have sold nearly three million copies.[1]
8trackdisco Offline
#1028 Posted: Sat, Oct 19 2024, 6:48 AM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
Stasiland: Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall- Anna Funder.

East Germany may have been--until now--the most perfected surveillance state of all time. In Stasiland Anna Funder tells extraordinary stories of ordinary people who heroically resisted the communist dictatorship, and of those who worked for its vicious secret police, the Stasi. She meets Miriam, who as a sixteen-year-old was accused of trying to start World War III. She visits the regime's cartographer, a man obsessed to this day with the Berlin Wall, then gets drunk with the legendary "Mik Jegger" of the east, once declared by the authorities "no longer to exist." And she finds spies and Stasi men, in hiding but defiant, still loyal to the regime as they lick their wounds and regroup, hoping for the next revolution.Stasiland is a brilliant, timeless portrait of a Kafkaesque world, as gripping as any thriller. In a world of total surveillance, its celebration of human conscience and courage is as potent as ever.
DrMaddVibe Offline
#1029 Posted: Sat, Oct 19 2024, 10:52 AM EST
Joined: 10-21-2000
Posts: 57,138
Finished Lawrence Sanders - Stolen Blessings

Just started Anne Rice - Prince Lestat
8trackdisco Offline
#1030 Posted: Sat, Oct 26 2024, 1:01 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
For Love of Country- Tulsi Gabbard.

Good book. Better person.
MACS Offline
#1031 Posted: Sat, Oct 26 2024, 1:41 PM EST
Joined: 02-26-2004
Posts: 80,800
R.A. Salvatore
Sunoverbeach Offline
#1032 Posted: Sat, Oct 26 2024, 2:10 PM EST
Joined: 08-11-2017
Posts: 15,459
Bill D. Cat for prez!!!

https://imgur.com/gallery/vote-bill-d-cat-with-opus-vp-edyRT

And more to the thread point, rereading Bloom County Library Vol 1
8trackdisco Offline
#1033 Posted: Sun, Oct 27 2024, 12:57 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
Summary of Liz Cheney's Oath & Honor.

Only 20 pages in duration. Efficient in its telling of the in front and behind the scenes of the 2020 ellection her r and aftermath. An explaination of her role and the actions of others gave me a chill.

Unsure if I'll listen to the whole book. The 18 weeks wait doesn't give me warm and fuzzies.

Glad I read thhis overview and the previous book by Tulsi Gabbard.

TG left the Democratic party for a miriad of reasons in her book.
A small group of people in the 2020 Republican Party left her.

A Lefty that went Right, and a Conservative Republican who stood her ground.

Two patriots.

Probably done with political books for the moment.
8trackdisco Offline
#1034 Posted: Tue, Nov 12 2024, 1:38 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
That's Not Funny, That's Sick. The National Lampoon.

Written by Ellin Stein.
delta1 Offline
#1035 Posted: Tue, Nov 12 2024, 6:42 PM EST
Joined: 11-23-2011
Posts: 29,594
needed some escapism from reality, chose The Whole Truth, by David Baldacci...

he's a fave fiction writer who weaves thrillers into the real world of international relations...this story describes efforts of an American billionaire weapons manufacturer who wants to re-start the Cold War to drum up business...apparently the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan in the mid-2000's wasn't producing enough business, so he planned and executed a world-wide anti-Russian propaganda campaign...

author illustrates the power of disinformation and the appetite among peoples of the world to swallow misinformation
8trackdisco Offline
#1036 Posted: Sun, Nov 24 2024, 9:23 AM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
Diary of a Dead Man On Leave- David Downing.


From bestselling author David Downing, master of historical espionage, comes a heart-wrenching depiction of Germany in the days leading up to World War II and the difficult choices of one man of conviction. In April 1938, a man calling himself Josef Hofmann arrives at a boarding house in Hamm, Germany, and lets a room from the widow who owns it. Fifty years later, Walter Gersdorff, the widow's son, who was eleven years old in the spring of 1938, discovers the carefully hidden diary the boarder had kept during his stay, even though he never should have written any of its contents down. What Walter finds is a chronicle of one the most tumultuous years in German history, narrated by a secret agent on a deadly mission.
8trackdisco Offline
#1037 Posted: Thu, Dec 12 2024, 6:29 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
The Football Factory- John King

The Football Factory is a book about modern-day pariahs, people reduced to the level of statistics by years of hypocritical, self-serving party politics. It is about the insulted, marginalised, unseen. Graphic and disturbing, at times very funny, The Football Factory is a rush of literary adrenalin.

When Footballers Were Skint- Jon Henderson

Story of English footballers from around WW1 through the 1960's.


delta1 Offline
#1038 Posted: Thu, Dec 12 2024, 8:14 PM EST
Joined: 11-23-2011
Posts: 29,594
Irena's War, James D. Shipman, Irena was a social worker in Warsaw Poland when WW2 began. She was a social worker who fed the poor. When the Germans invaded and took control of the city, they drove out the rulling Poles and rounded up all the Jews. The Germans wanted to starve the Jews to death, but Irena had other ideas. She went underground to evade the German authorities to feed and liberate the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto.
8trackdisco Offline
#1039 Posted: Sat, Dec 21 2024, 5:33 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
Detective- Parnelll Hall

In the heat of a mysterious murder investigation, Stanley Hastings has his long-awaited chance to prove himself as a real detective, but what price will he have to pay?
deadeyedick Offline
#1040 Posted: Mon, Dec 23 2024, 5:30 PM EST
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 18,020
UNIT X

How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley are transforming the future of war.

~ Raj Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff

Gene, you prolly will enjoy this book.
8trackdisco Offline
#1041 Posted: Tue, Dec 31 2024, 9:07 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
deadeyedick wrote:
UNIT X

How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley are transforming the future of war.

~ Raj Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff

Gene, you prolly will enjoy this book.


Does it give you a sense on how far behind the Chinese we are in technology and hacking?
8trackdisco Offline
#1042 Posted: Tue, Dec 31 2024, 9:13 PM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
The Cornwalls Are Gone- James Patterson.
Was renamed The Cornwalls Vanish to boost readership in the US.
deadeyedick Offline
#1043 Posted: Wed, Jan 1 2025, 8:41 AM EST
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 18,020
8trackdisco wrote:
Does it give you a sense on how far behind the Chinese we are in technology and hacking?


Madeleine Albright quote: The US is fu_ cked!
8trackdisco Offline
#1044 Posted: Thu, Jan 9 2025, 9:55 AM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
In news that isn't news, Steven Wright is a Genius, he's got a book out called Harold.

From the outside, Harold is an average seven-year-old third grader growing up in the 1960s. Bored by school. Crushing on a girl. Likes movies and baseball--especially the hometown Boston Red Sox. Enjoys spending time with his grandfather. But inside Harold's mind, things are a lot more complex and unusual. His thoughts come to him as birds flying through a small rectangle in the middle of his brain. He visits an outdoor cafe on the moon and is invited aboard a spaceship by famed astronomer Carl Sagan. He envisions his own funeral procession and wonders if the driver of the hearse has even been born yet.
Harold documents the meandering, surreal, often hilarious, and always thought-provoking stream-of-consciousness ruminations of the title character during a single day in class. Saturated with the witticisms and profundities for which Wright's groundbreaking stand-up has long been venerated, this novel will change the way you perceive your daily existence. To quote one of its many memorable lines: "Everything doesn't have to make sense. Just look at the world and your life."

Audiobook format.

It is like mainlining Stephen Wright into your veins.

How he not only let's his mind go, but how much line he gives himself in a great gift he is sharing.

My defective brain goes through two, maybe three windows before I slam the brakes on. He floats, slides, weaves through about ten creative windows.

Getting a hard copy would be better. Too many great, abstract ideas shared per minute. Having "Harold" playing does the same thing for Good Driving as four margaritas.
delta1 Offline
#1045 Posted: Thu, Jan 9 2025, 2:04 PM EST
Joined: 11-23-2011
Posts: 29,594
Noble House, James Clavell, the third of his Asian saga...kinda boring 150 pages in...competitive European and American capitalists fighting for control of Hong Kong in the mid-60's...1,200 pages remaining


not as engaging a read as King Rat and Shogun, the first two books of the series...
Gene363 Offline
#1046 Posted: Thu, Jan 9 2025, 2:55 PM EST
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 32,071
Across Atlantic Ice: The Origin of America's Clovis Culture

By:
Dennis J. Stanford
Bruce A. Bradley

Foreword by Michael B. Collins

A fascinating book so far, pithy reading, but a subject I have wanted to learn more about since learning there is evidence of humans in South Carolina more than 20,000 BP

Quote:
Who were the first humans to inhabit North America? According to the now familiar story, mammal hunters entered the continent some 12,000 years ago via a land bridge that spanned the Bering Sea. Distinctive stone tools belonging to the Clovis culture established the presence of these early New World people. But are the Clovis tools Asian in origin? Drawing from original archaeological analysis, paleoclimatic research, and genetic studies, noted archaeologists Dennis J. Stanford and Bruce A. Bradley challenge the old narrative and, in the process, counter traditional―and often subjective―approaches to archaeological testing for historical relatedness. The authors apply rigorous scholarship to a hypothesis that places the technological antecedents of Clovis in Europe and posits that the first Americans crossed the Atlantic by boat and arrived earlier than previously thought. Supplying archaeological and oceanographic evidence to support this assertion, the book dismantles the old paradigm while persuasively linking Clovis technology with the culture of the Solutrean people who occupied France and Spain more than 20,000 years ago.
Palama Offline
#1047 Posted: Mon, Jan 20 2025, 11:54 PM EST
Joined: 02-05-2013
Posts: 25,092
Voices of History: Speeches That Changed the World - Simon Sebag Montefiore

From the back over:

“ A celebration of the great speeches of world history and cultural life.

In this exuberant collection, acclaimed historian Simon Sebag Montefiore takes us on a journey from ancient times to the twenty-first century. Some speeches are heroic and inspiring; some diabolical and atrocious. Some are exquisite and poignant; others cruel and chilling. The speakers themselves vary from empresses and conquerors to rock stars, novelists and sportsmen, dreamers and killers, from Churchill and Elizabeth I to Stalin and Genghis Khan, and from Michelle Obama and Cleopatra to Ronald Reagan, Nehru, and Muhammad Ali.

All human drama is here: from the carnage of battlefields to the theatre of courtrooms, from table talk to audiences of millions, from desperate last stands to orations of triumph, from noble calls for liberation to genocidal rants, from foolish delusions and strange confessions to defiant resistance and heartbreaking farewells. Voices of History spans centuries, continents, and cultures. In the accessible and gripping style of a master storyteller, Montefiore shows why these seventy speeches are essential reading and how they enlighten our past, enrich our present, and inspire--as well as hold warnings for--our future.”
drglnc Online
#1048 Posted: Tue, Jan 21 2025, 2:37 PM EST
Joined: 04-01-2019
Posts: 1,010
Just finished killers of the flower moon and now onto Kings (Richard Bachman) the long walk.
8trackdisco Offline
#1049 Posted: Fri, Jan 24 2025, 10:50 AM EST
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 60,819
Gene,
Reading a book you might like. Mixes WW II with baseball.

The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II
by Anne R. Keene

Book Overview
In 1943, while the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals were winning pennants and meeting in that year's World Series, one of the nation's strongest baseball teams practiced on a skinned-out college field in the heart of North Carolina. Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, and Johnny Sain were among a cadre of fighter-pilot cadets who wore the Cloudbuster Nine baseball jersey at an elite Navy training school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In this spirited Field of Dreams-like father-daughter account, author Anne R. Keene opens with a story about her father, Jim Raugh, who suited up as the team batboy and mascot. He got to know his baseball heroes personally, watching players hit the road on cramped, tin-can buses, dazzling factory workers, kids, and service members at dozens of games, including a war-bond exhibition against Babe Ruth's team at Yankee Stadium.
puffymcpufferson Online
#1050 Posted: Fri, Jan 24 2025, 10:56 AM EST
Joined: 01-14-2025
Posts: 176
Not so much reading as trying to play out the lustful parts of Aldous Huxley's, A Brave New World.
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