Jun 11, 2023 Needed something classic so blew the dust off a 1971 Dell Edition of Christie’s Dead Man’s Mirror including Murder in the Mews and Triangle at Rhodes. Great fun, Poirot is dry and clever, two locked rooms and a love triangle with a twist.
Jun 4, 2023 Read the ebook edition off Hoopla of Roadside Picnic, it is dated 2012 and contains the introduction by Le Guin. She points out that this book is a great example of non-heroic science fiction, no supermen, no geniuses, just a bunch of common people slogging through their reality. And slog they do, … [Read more…]
May 8, 2023 For the second time, I’ve finished “Against the Day” by Thomas Pynchon, (2006). This lengthy romp follows the lives of the two generations of the Traverse family, circa 1860 -> 1920 and their involvement in anarchist causes across the globe. There is a huge cast of characters touched by the family and … [Read more…]
Mar 19, 2023 Speaking of dry, a few years ago I reread 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Verne and recall skipping large chunks of page due to fin de siècle taxonomy, must have been fascinating at the time, but for us 20th C. sophisticates, not so much. More recently, Around the World in 80 … [Read more…]
Feb 1, 2023 Let us not forget “The Lathe of Heaven.”
Jan 10, 2023 One thing mentioned in all the tidying up advice columns around the new year, you are unlikely to reread book from your bookshelf. To disprove that, I’m reviewing my Pynchon collection. Including some interesting book markers and some dust, so far they are holding up well. I reread the last half of … [Read more…]
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/10/lawson-obit-civil-rights-martin-luther-king-00162585 Civil rights leader James Lawson Jr. dies at 95 The pastor was a close adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and an advocate of nonviolent protest. By Associated Press 06/10/2024 05:44 PM EDT The Rev. James Lawson Jr., seen here in California in 2019, taught Gandhian principles to young civil rights activists … [Read more…]
In praise of failure : four lessons in humility by Costic? Br?d??an, 2023. I just finished this quirky little book (273 p) and am left with more than a few things to think about – birth, death, humility, human frailty, hubris, genocide, madness, disease, senility, poverty and wealth to name a few. He uses the … [Read more…]
On September 11, 2001, my wife and I were living in Switzerland, having moved there in November of 1999. At the end of August of 2001, my sister Theresa and nephew Thomas joined us, they arrived from Seattle, we met them in Zurich and brought them home to Neuchâtel. We celebrated my 50th birthday, it … [Read more…]
Daniel C. Dennett, Widely Read and Fiercely Debated Philosopher, 82, Dies Espousing his ideas in best sellers, he insisted that religion was an illusion, free will was a fantasy and evolution could only be explained by natural selection. From the New York Time obituary: “All varieties of perception — indeed all varieties of thought or … [Read more…]