A Bookish Blog
The author does not shy away from writing about the hardships the couple has endured. From being on in close quarters for weeks at a time, corrupt officials, weather ruining plans (which seemed to be a running theme), and different ideas on what to do where.
Attempts, and succeeds, to navigate the enormous amount of information to tell a fascinating, easy to read story. More importantly, the authors managed to separate the truth from the mountains of disinformation being put out by state and non-state actors, in official as well as unofficial roles.
The essays in this book or intelligent, charming, and often cranky. I know Mr. O’Rourke sees himself as a Libertarian, and probably a classical conservative, so I was interested to hear what he has to say on the current administration.
In Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy by Derek W. Black, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, provides context for the ongoing debate about public education, vouchers, charter schools, and more.
This is a short biography on one of the most influential men in American pop-culture, and a true American success story. The book tries to tie Stan Lee’s stories and ideas to Jewish culture and Jewish religious book, some of the passages are a stretch, but all of them are interesting and show an understanding of the author of the characters he created.
Beyond Vom Kriege: The Character and Conduct of Modern War by R. D. Hooker Jr. is a non-fiction consisting of essays about the theory of war.
The author has online instructions on how to setup a virtual machine using Linux to run many of the tools in your own environment without relying on external websites for your research. The book also talks about ethics, policy, documentation, and methodology – issues which might not be as impressive as catching or following bad actors, but are very important in courts and, of course, to management
Most of these gems are well known, but I think the authors would have done well if they were more discreet, anyone can say a comeback, but there is an art in doing it like Churchill or Lincoln. Unfortunately many of today’s politicians that are quoted in this book are not anymore witty than the average middle school student, and some are less.
Hitler himself knew that many are out to kill him, he was obsessed with poising to the point where his food had to be specifically grown and was kept under constant watch by men he trusted from the moment it was picked (Hitler was a vegetarian), prepared, and plated. He even had food tasters, just in case.
Walt Disney’s attention to detail is amazing, but like many great men this part of his personality caused great concern and setbacks when it came to the park. He insisted on details being absolutely right even though no one but him and the workers will see it. Whether he was right or not depends on who you ask, personally I’m amazed at the details in the parks and could enjoy simply walking around appreciating them all without ever going on an actual ride.
