What Non-Fiction Book have you just finished?

[IndianaJoe3]

New Complete Techniques, by Jacques Pepin. I've decided it's one of the three essential books that everyone who takes cooking seriously should own.

[bigbywolfe]

"Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend"

Very interesting read that starts with the the puppy found in France during WW1 and starred in so many silent films all the way through now.

[death tribble]

??? How could you possibly not know about Lepanto?!? Woof, of the ones you name, Pearl Harbor doesn't belong at all, as a battle, anyway. As arguably the greatest strategic blunder ever made, perhaps it does, but as a battle, not so much.

British history does not teach us about it. Consider that this takes place during Elizabeth's reign and is the Catholic church against Islam in the Med. It is 17 years before the Armada which we do get taught about.

[st barbara]

The reference to "100 Battles" has reminded me of a book that I got for Christmas "1001 Battles That Changed The Course Of History". It is done historically , starting with a battle between two city states of ancient Sumer (2450 bce) and going up to the battle of Marjah in Afghanistan in 2010. Very short write ups (a page, sometimes less), but with information on a number of obscure battles that I knew nothing about. Short write ups or not it is still nearly 1000 pages !

[st barbara]

Further to my post about "1001 Battles" I recently got "1001 Comics You Should Read Before You Die". Fascinating and reminds me of all the comics I have missed. It covers comics from 1837 ("The Adventures Of Mr Obediah Oldbuck") to 2011 ("Habibi") with a lot of comics from countries other than the U S A included. Short essays of about a page for each comic.  Definitely means I will have to go looking for "Sin City" and "Corto Maltese" now !

[SKJAM!]

"Blood Aces" by Doug J. Swanson, a biography of Benny Binion, a Texas gangster (and soon to be a pick for the Superdraft) who eventually wound up in Las Vegas and founded the World Series of Poker.

 

http://www.skjam.com/2014/04/01/book-review-blood-aces/

 

By the by, could those of you who have Facebook or Twitter or other social media look through to see if there's any reviews you'd like to "like" or "share"?

[st barbara]

 Well I got vol 1 of "Sin City" (I saw the movie last week on T V and enjoyed it) and "Corto Maltese : The Ballad Of The Salt Sea". I might have got more but I was distracted by a cache of  old "Doc Savage" paperbacks at the shop where I bought the "Corto Maltese". I picked up five , but when I got home I found two of them to be duplicates (I have the stories "The Gold Ogre" and "The Pirate's Ghost" in the later anthology volumes) . Still I would count it a worthwhile trip to a second hand bookshop. The shop assistant told me that they had more that weren't on display; i'll have to go back on Monday for another look !

[death tribble]

One Summer America 1927 by Bill Bryson. This deals with the flood of that year and Herbert Hoover dealing with it, the execution of two anarachists, the murder and conviction of the two people responsible which took up more column inches than anything else, a home run battle between Gehrig and Babe Ruth (the latter coming off weak form but who was to have the season of his life), the start of the sculpting of Mount Rushmore, the Jazz Singer hitting the screens as well as Wings, Showboat hitting broadway, the Tunney vs Dempsey boxing match, the publiation of a book by Warrne Harding's mistress and Charles Lindburgh flying the Atlantic. It also deals with Lindburgh's return home and the enormous strain it put upon him. Several other attempts to fly the Atlantic are also discussed and then what happened to all the participants principally Lindburgh.

A really fascinating read and it really illustrates Lindburgh's achievement as he was going on dead reckoning and then did something similar flying down to Mexico.

The book also hardly endears Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Wayne Wheeler to the reader and the very latter to anybody today.

[SKJAM!]

"Jet Set" by William Stadiem, a book about the time period from 1958-1968 when traveling between the US and Europe by jet airplane was really glamorous and exciting.  Read my review here: http://www.skjam.com/2014/05/30/book-review-jet-set/

 

Also, please check out my other entries for the month.

[bigbywolfe]

What Einstein Told His Cook by Robert Wolke.  A fun look at both the science involved in cooking and debunking (or confirming) many old wives tales.

[death tribble]

All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings. A single volume history of the 2nd World War. There are some interesting facts that I did not know beforehand like the sheer number of Japanese troops in China that were effectively unengaged. Also that even if Germany did not attack Russia, then Russia was going to attack Germany. And even had designs on Sweden. Also that even if Market Garden did not take place none of the American commanders engaged could have brought the war to a quicker end. Market Garden's plan had the better logistics but a plan that had only one road and neglected to clear a marsh area that would have been feasible.

[Cygnia]

Finally got around to reading "A Cook's Tour" by Anthony Bourdain.

[death tribble]

Catastrophe: Europe goes to War 1914 by Max Hastings. This looks at the fatal incident which sparked the war and what an incompetant affair was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. This lead to Austria going after Serbia, Russia coming to Serbia's aid, Germany going after France because France was Russia's ally and their plan had them defeating France before turning to fight Russia and England rather ingenuously going after Germany after the latter invaded Belgium. It covers the period before trench warfare and the first engagements of the British army and the lack of good leadership from Sir John French who was in overall command. Churchill comes in for some criticism for a military adventure into Antwerp that was not worth it. He makes the argument that fighting the war was absolutely necessary for England and that it should hav been done by the side of the French much earlier. The Navy's adventurism is also called into question for a stunt trying to draw German ships into an ambush in the Heligoland Bight. The book ends with the Christmas truce and drawing parallels between the returning army at the end of the 2nd World War with that of the 1st. In the former case there was change at at home but in the latter there was not giving rise to the question what were we fighting for ?

[Old Man]

I read that, only it was called "The Guns of August".  I think it won an award. 

 

Regardless of which book, the events of 100 years ago really force me to question my faith in humanity.  Absolutely no one came out of that looking good, and it doesn't help that they went right back for a second round twenty years later.

[Spence]

 

Regardless of which book, the events of 100 years ago really force me to question my faith in humanity.  Absolutely no one came out of that looking good, and it doesn't help that they went right back for a second round twenty years later.

 

Don't worry, we'll figure out a way to have round 3.

[bigbywolfe]

Don't worry, we'll figure out a way to have round 3.

Speaking of WW3:

 

[Cancer]

Full Rip 9.0 by Sandi Doughton. Story of the discovery of the seismicity of Cascadia, the Seattle Fault, and the evolution of public policy about earthquake hazards here in WA. Includes correlation of the magnitude 9 Cascadia earthquake with a lethal tsunami recorded in Japan on 29 January 1700 ... and suggestions that such events happen every few centuries (i.e., we're due). Not sure the book will have any appeal outside of WA and northwestern OR and maybe extreme southwestern BC, but since my house is 5 or 6 miles from the Seattle Fault I found it interesting.

[Old Man]

Wear a helmet.

[Spence]

Full Rip 9.0 by Sandi Doughton. Story of the discovery of the seismicity of Cascadia, the Seattle Fault, and the evolution of public policy about earthquake hazards here in WA. Includes correlation of the magnitude 9 Cascadia earthquake with a lethal tsunami recorded in Japan on 29 January 1700 ... and suggestions that such events happen every few centuries (i.e., we're due). Not sure the book will have any appeal outside of WA and northwestern OR and maybe extreme southwestern BC, but since my house is 5 or 6 miles from the Seattle Fault I found it interesting.

 

I'm safe.....  I live at least 40 miles away

[Cancer]

Wear a helmet.

Well, I both live and work on hilltops (at least 130 feet altitude) so the tsunami won't kill me directly, which is no small thing.

[Old Man]

Tsunamis higher than that have been recorded. Of course usually these are associated with landslides instead of earthquakes, but one could set off the other.

[Cancer]

Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster by David Lochbaum, Edwin Lyman, Susan Q. Stranahan, and the Union of Concerned Scientists

 

A chronology of the accident (both what is known of the physical events, and the human actions on-site) at Fukushima Daiichi, elsewhere in Japan, in the US, with attention made to what shots were called when, by whom, and why.

 

It is not a happy story, and there is no happy ending.

 

Because nuclear regulatory policy in Japan, and the US, is thoroughly captured by the nuclear power industry, we will have another Category 7 nuclear disaster in a decade or two. (No comments or references are made to Europe except in relation to the Chernobyl disaster.) When safety requirements are chosen by industry shills, and hard information is locked up by corporate droids looking to minimize bad press independent of lives, health, or economics other than company stock price, and safety tests and exercise scenarios are chosen to be things that existing on-hand equipment can handle ... even to the point of physically inconsistent assumptions being made at the outset of the test ... another one is inevitable. The problem is not the technology (there's challenges there too, of course) but in the gravy train mindset of the industry and the politicians it controls.

[Vondy]

The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology

 

Wright, Robert

An readable introduction to the field that eschews abstractions and focuses on discussing the evolutionary logic of emotion and morality in clear language. It also provides reasonable general explanations for the typical dynamics of sex, siblings, and society.

[death tribble]

My Word is My Bond. The autobiography of Roger Moore. Very entertaining. If you need cheering up, then read this.

[death tribble]

For Christmas my cousin got me 'A Time of Gifts' by Patrick Leigh Fermor. And I have just finished reading it.

This is the first part of his account of his gap year. He decided to walk from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. Along the way he would pick up money sent from home.

Thing is the gap year is 1934. And he is walking through Germany and Austria just as the Nazis are getting into power.

 

This is one of the best books I have ever read. The language is just wonderful. It captures a time and place and is suffused with a warm spirit. The author writing in 1977 from some of his diaries of the time jumps about between what happened then and thereafter. Particularly as Mr Fermor became noted for someting he did in World War 2. He kidnapped a German general in Crete and got him out of the island. This was made into a film called Ill Met by Moonlight with Dirk Bogarde portraying Fermor.