I learned early on when I began to blog that a serious blogger never apologizes for any long delays or silences. If there are technical difficulties with the site that prevent a post here and there, or problems that jack up the comment stream or other user interface, okay, apologize.
But if you post randomly (or not at all) for, say, a month and a half or two months or two and a half months, don't apologize. Why should you have to justify your blog or your posting schedule (or lack thereof) to someone else?
The best thing to do is just keep on writing.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
19 August 2010
10 March 2010
Do It
The Rogue Warrior series of novels is one of my guilty pleasures. The plotlines are paper-thin and ridiculously repetative, and in the grand scheme of literature, they have little or no redeeming value. The characters are static and cliche, as is the dialogue, and the books are riddled with enough salty language to raise your sodium levels to unsafe heights. All in all, it is exactly the kind of book one would expect from a boisterous, over-the-top ex Navy SEAL like CDR Richard "Dick" Marcinko.
Let me put it this way: if James Bond didn't have his dashing British pedigree to fall back on, then he would be a character in these books.
Let me put it this way: if James Bond didn't have his dashing British pedigree to fall back on, then he would be a character in these books.
05 August 2008
Books Books Books!!
I was commenting on a friend's blog a while back, and it seemed as though everyone else commenting was reading multiple books at one time, something which I have never really been able to do with that much success. I even tried it for a time afterwards, and re-discovered what I already knew: I get hooked on one book, and forsake all others until the final page.
So I have book marks in three different...four different books now. I'm only reading one of them. I just can't seem to pick up any of the others.
I am about halfway through Karen Armstrong's A History of God. It's a brutal, academic read. It's not that Armstrong is a poor writer, quite the contrary actually, it's just that there is no easy way to compress three major monotheistic religions, as well as various Eastern mystical ideas, and track all of these distinctly different yet similar thought processes and ideas through four thousand years of history in only 400 pages. For an academically honest and thorough treatment of the subject, the narrative would have to run several volumes at least of that length. The writing is concise and brilliant, but I have yet to read more than two pages at a time without stopping to take notes.
I am also currently pounding through Ernest Gann's Fate is the Hunter. It is amazing, and the idea behind it is very interesting too. One would think that an adventurous aviator such as Gann would believe not in Fate, but in Man as the Master of His Own Fate. But alas, those who subscribe to that belief are shown to be dishonest buffoons. One cannot fly for very long before coming to the same conclusion as Gann, that the question of Fate is not a question of either or, it is a with-and. Pilots are skilled, calculating men of discipline who are very much capable of managing every circumstance they encounter, yet as part of their chosen profession, they willingly give over control of their very lives to forces much larger than they could ever imagine. This book should be required reading for anyone remotely interested in aviation, and I have been kicking myself regularly for not discovering it sooner.
When I finish with Gann, I will pick up where I left off in Eldredge's Wild at Heart, which still has a bookmark in it, to remind me to stop and take notes next time I read it. I blasted through it too quickly the first time around.
The fourth book I have a bookmark in is one that I haven't really spent much time with yet. I have glanced through it briefly, but not focused on it much. It is a copy of Ernie Pyle's Brave Men. Ernie Pyle was one of the most honest, entertaining, thoughtful, and colorful war correspondents to come out of WWII. A great portion of his time was actually spent with the troops, eating their rations, sleeping in their foxholes, sometimes not much farther than a mortar shell away from the front lines. As a matter of fact, Pyle was killed in combat on Ie Shima, a Japanese-held island during it's invasion by the U.S. in April of 1945. Brave Men is the third book of four in the collection of his wartime correspondence. It is a collection of his dispatches detailing the Allied effort in the Mediterranean and up through Italy. Interestingly, the copy I received was given to my by my Dad, who found it in the dollar bin at a local used book store. It turns out it is part of the eighth printing of the first edition, and was printed in 1945, and is nearly in mint condition. Not bad for a dollar!
Another recent addition to my library is Paths of Destruction, a local book published by the Grand Rapids Historical Society. It is a collection of eyewitness accounts and historical examinations of the tornadoes that ripped through West Michigan in April of 1953. The book has special meaning for me and my family, because my dad, my aunt, and my uncle lived through it, along with my grandparents. As a matter of fact, the tornado came through within spitting distance from where they lived at the time. It also came through very close to the house that I grew up in, and the tornado's path came about half a mile or so from where I now live. It is definitely a part of our family story, and we were very excited and interested in this project.
Anyway, that's my bookshelf at present. I have a few books in my "on-deck circle", so I hope to get to them on our camping trip next week. I'm really excited to read them.
wingnut
So I have book marks in three different...four different books now. I'm only reading one of them. I just can't seem to pick up any of the others.
I am about halfway through Karen Armstrong's A History of God. It's a brutal, academic read. It's not that Armstrong is a poor writer, quite the contrary actually, it's just that there is no easy way to compress three major monotheistic religions, as well as various Eastern mystical ideas, and track all of these distinctly different yet similar thought processes and ideas through four thousand years of history in only 400 pages. For an academically honest and thorough treatment of the subject, the narrative would have to run several volumes at least of that length. The writing is concise and brilliant, but I have yet to read more than two pages at a time without stopping to take notes.
I am also currently pounding through Ernest Gann's Fate is the Hunter. It is amazing, and the idea behind it is very interesting too. One would think that an adventurous aviator such as Gann would believe not in Fate, but in Man as the Master of His Own Fate. But alas, those who subscribe to that belief are shown to be dishonest buffoons. One cannot fly for very long before coming to the same conclusion as Gann, that the question of Fate is not a question of either or, it is a with-and. Pilots are skilled, calculating men of discipline who are very much capable of managing every circumstance they encounter, yet as part of their chosen profession, they willingly give over control of their very lives to forces much larger than they could ever imagine. This book should be required reading for anyone remotely interested in aviation, and I have been kicking myself regularly for not discovering it sooner.
When I finish with Gann, I will pick up where I left off in Eldredge's Wild at Heart, which still has a bookmark in it, to remind me to stop and take notes next time I read it. I blasted through it too quickly the first time around.
The fourth book I have a bookmark in is one that I haven't really spent much time with yet. I have glanced through it briefly, but not focused on it much. It is a copy of Ernie Pyle's Brave Men. Ernie Pyle was one of the most honest, entertaining, thoughtful, and colorful war correspondents to come out of WWII. A great portion of his time was actually spent with the troops, eating their rations, sleeping in their foxholes, sometimes not much farther than a mortar shell away from the front lines. As a matter of fact, Pyle was killed in combat on Ie Shima, a Japanese-held island during it's invasion by the U.S. in April of 1945. Brave Men is the third book of four in the collection of his wartime correspondence. It is a collection of his dispatches detailing the Allied effort in the Mediterranean and up through Italy. Interestingly, the copy I received was given to my by my Dad, who found it in the dollar bin at a local used book store. It turns out it is part of the eighth printing of the first edition, and was printed in 1945, and is nearly in mint condition. Not bad for a dollar!
Another recent addition to my library is Paths of Destruction, a local book published by the Grand Rapids Historical Society. It is a collection of eyewitness accounts and historical examinations of the tornadoes that ripped through West Michigan in April of 1953. The book has special meaning for me and my family, because my dad, my aunt, and my uncle lived through it, along with my grandparents. As a matter of fact, the tornado came through within spitting distance from where they lived at the time. It also came through very close to the house that I grew up in, and the tornado's path came about half a mile or so from where I now live. It is definitely a part of our family story, and we were very excited and interested in this project.
Anyway, that's my bookshelf at present. I have a few books in my "on-deck circle", so I hope to get to them on our camping trip next week. I'm really excited to read them.
wingnut
15 May 2008
What are we waiting for??
"Where would we be today if Abraham had carefully weighed the pros and cons of God's invitation and decided that he'd rather hang on to his medical benefits, three weeks paid vacation and retirement plan in Ur? What would have happened if Moses had listened to his mother's advice to "never play with matches" and lived a careful, cautious life steering clear of all burning bushes? You wouldn't have the gospel if Paul had concluded that the life of a Pharisee, while not everyting a man dreams for, was at least predictable and certainly more stable than following a voice he heard on the Damascus road. After all, people hear voices all the time and who really knows whether it's God or just one's imagination. Where would be be if Jesus was not fierce and wild and romantic to the core? Come to think of it, we wouldn't be at all if God hadn't taken that enormous risk of us in the first place."
-John Eldredge, Wild at Heart pg. 202-03
So awesome, I had to share it.
wingnut
-John Eldredge, Wild at Heart pg. 202-03
So awesome, I had to share it.
wingnut
16 April 2008
So I just last week finished John Keegan's The Face of Battle. It was a fascinating read, examining what combat was like in three key eras, that of medieval warfare, as shown in the Battle of Agincourt, as well as gunpowder warfare, demonstrated with the Battle of Waterloo, and modern mechanized warfare, examined through the Battle of the Somme from World War One.
One of the things that I found interesting is the fact that warfare, even spanning a time frame of 500 years, has not changed much. Modern technology has obviously added complexities and variations, but the simple fact remains that humans behave basically the same way, with the same motivations, desires, and actions in combat as we had even in medieval times.
Another idea Keegan suggests is actually an optimistic, even hopeful outlook on future combat, and by implication, future war. Given the technological advancement of war fighting, Keegan suggests that simply the pace of future combat, it's nature and duration, may neutralize armies before they even meet on the battlefield. This book was first published in 1976, so we now have over thirty years worth of case studies to examine this suggestion. I find it interesting that there are historical trends which lend support to this idea. Gone are the days of massive infantry formations charging in a large frontal assault, or vast armadas of tanks and other mechanized war vehicles crushing all opposition in their path. Advances in technology are widely responsible for our return to smaller groups of well-trained soldiers accomplishing limited objectives with limited casualties.
A very interesting book, with wonderful insights for anyone who is interested in studying military history. As a matter of fact, this book would probably be good for anyone even remotely interested in foreign relations.
For my next book, I have chosen Karen Armstrong's A History of God.
I am super psyched about it too.
"Yet my study of the history of religion has revealed that human beings are spiritual animals. Homo sapiens is also Homo religiosus. Men and women started to worship gods as soon as they became recognizably human; they created religions at the same time as they created works of art. This was not simply because they wanted to propitiate powerful forces; these early faiths expressed the wonder and the mystery that seem always to have been an essential component of the human experience of this beautiful yet terrifying world. Like art, religion has been an attempt to find meaning and value in life, despite the suffering that flesh is heir to. Like any other human activity, religion can be abused, but it seems to have been something that we have always done. It was not tacked on to a primordially secular nature by manipulative kings and priests but was natural to humanity. Indeed, our current secularism is an entirely new experiment, unprecedented in human history."
And that's just from the introduction! What do the rest of the 399 pages have in store?
wingnut
One of the things that I found interesting is the fact that warfare, even spanning a time frame of 500 years, has not changed much. Modern technology has obviously added complexities and variations, but the simple fact remains that humans behave basically the same way, with the same motivations, desires, and actions in combat as we had even in medieval times.
Another idea Keegan suggests is actually an optimistic, even hopeful outlook on future combat, and by implication, future war. Given the technological advancement of war fighting, Keegan suggests that simply the pace of future combat, it's nature and duration, may neutralize armies before they even meet on the battlefield. This book was first published in 1976, so we now have over thirty years worth of case studies to examine this suggestion. I find it interesting that there are historical trends which lend support to this idea. Gone are the days of massive infantry formations charging in a large frontal assault, or vast armadas of tanks and other mechanized war vehicles crushing all opposition in their path. Advances in technology are widely responsible for our return to smaller groups of well-trained soldiers accomplishing limited objectives with limited casualties.
A very interesting book, with wonderful insights for anyone who is interested in studying military history. As a matter of fact, this book would probably be good for anyone even remotely interested in foreign relations.
For my next book, I have chosen Karen Armstrong's A History of God.
I am super psyched about it too.
"Yet my study of the history of religion has revealed that human beings are spiritual animals. Homo sapiens is also Homo religiosus. Men and women started to worship gods as soon as they became recognizably human; they created religions at the same time as they created works of art. This was not simply because they wanted to propitiate powerful forces; these early faiths expressed the wonder and the mystery that seem always to have been an essential component of the human experience of this beautiful yet terrifying world. Like art, religion has been an attempt to find meaning and value in life, despite the suffering that flesh is heir to. Like any other human activity, religion can be abused, but it seems to have been something that we have always done. It was not tacked on to a primordially secular nature by manipulative kings and priests but was natural to humanity. Indeed, our current secularism is an entirely new experiment, unprecedented in human history."
And that's just from the introduction! What do the rest of the 399 pages have in store?
wingnut
03 April 2008
Something to munch on???
Let me briefly describe some of the tension I live in. I have a room downstairs that is packed with books. I would call it a library, but it's our spare bedroom. I would call it a spare bedroom, but it has our computer in it. I would call it a computer room, but...well, you get the picture.
Anyway, on the shelves in this room sit my collection of books. I consider myself a student of history, therefore, most books I own have some sort of historical theme. Among them are all my books on wars and conflicts. My collection is not near as big as I would like, but it is growing. I feel it is important to understand the context of each conflict and war in order to fully understand what it meant to fight in that war, and what the implications of action in that war were. We are inextricably linked to these conflicts, and they have indelibly shaped and molded our history. An example would be that we will never understand fully why the Great Depression happened, unless we understand how the Allied victory in World War I was followed by poor economic policies that drove the whole of Europe into depression, combined with the Wall Street practice of speculation. Further, we will never understand the rise of Adolf Hitler unless we understand the social and economic climate in Europe following the Great War.
So that, in a paragraph, is why I read war books.
Many of my other books are religious in nature, Christian living, Biblical study, Biblical history and archaeology, spirituality. I am constantly striving to be "covered with the dust from my Rabbi's feet." I want to follow and understand Christ as He was in His culture, so that I may therefore live out His best way in my culture. I am trying my best to take on His yoke, and then to live that out so that others may see it through me.
That is why I read religious books.
Am I the only one who sees the tension in this? The obviously non-violent teachings of my Rabbi, and the violent, bloodthirsty quest for power that is our history?
I could go on forever, I think, but for now, I would like to direct you to Tony Woodlief. He posted concerning bullies, and how to deal with them. He sees the tension as well. The last sentence, especially caught my eye. Any thoughts?
wingnut
Anyway, on the shelves in this room sit my collection of books. I consider myself a student of history, therefore, most books I own have some sort of historical theme. Among them are all my books on wars and conflicts. My collection is not near as big as I would like, but it is growing. I feel it is important to understand the context of each conflict and war in order to fully understand what it meant to fight in that war, and what the implications of action in that war were. We are inextricably linked to these conflicts, and they have indelibly shaped and molded our history. An example would be that we will never understand fully why the Great Depression happened, unless we understand how the Allied victory in World War I was followed by poor economic policies that drove the whole of Europe into depression, combined with the Wall Street practice of speculation. Further, we will never understand the rise of Adolf Hitler unless we understand the social and economic climate in Europe following the Great War.
So that, in a paragraph, is why I read war books.
Many of my other books are religious in nature, Christian living, Biblical study, Biblical history and archaeology, spirituality. I am constantly striving to be "covered with the dust from my Rabbi's feet." I want to follow and understand Christ as He was in His culture, so that I may therefore live out His best way in my culture. I am trying my best to take on His yoke, and then to live that out so that others may see it through me.
That is why I read religious books.
Am I the only one who sees the tension in this? The obviously non-violent teachings of my Rabbi, and the violent, bloodthirsty quest for power that is our history?
I could go on forever, I think, but for now, I would like to direct you to Tony Woodlief. He posted concerning bullies, and how to deal with them. He sees the tension as well. The last sentence, especially caught my eye. Any thoughts?
wingnut
09 October 2007
The Hunt for....The Hunt.
Today I went to Barnes and Noble, as I sometimes do, and was browsing their used book section.
Usually, I'm a bit picky about the condition of my books. I want to be the one to mark them up, or dog ear the pages, or mash the corners. I want to be the first one to crack them open, to smell that strange new book smell, the first one to use the dust jacket as the bookmark. I want to be the one to bend the spine, highlight interesting passages, and write my own notes in the margins.
Recently, however, I have taken to reading my books with a small notebook with me. I can then write all my little notes in the notebook, therefore preserving the integrity of my library for future generations. My future generations. I will not get rid of my books. Most of them. Actually, my wife is good about making me get rid of stuff I don't use, and probably won't ever use. So yeah, I guess I do get rid of some of my books.
Anyway, I don't write in the margins as much as I used to.
I also have neither the time or the finances to pay publisher's list price for each and every book I want. I have a list, four legal pages long, with titles of books that I might like to read someday. I have some of them, but it seems that for every one on my list I find, I discover two, three, four more books that I wouldn't mind reading. It really is a vicious cycle.
So, I have been spending more and more time in the used book section. That, and Bargain Books, right down the road from B&N.
I have, for the past while, been attempting to collect hardcover versions of Tom Clancy's fiction. Tom has written twelve novels within the same storyline, following the adventures of Jack Ryan, CIA, and his friends and family. Though I must say that his later works stretch the series beyond what could be considered realism, they are still compelling to read, and full of action. And guns. And lots and lots of special operations personnel.
His first novel, The Hunt for Red October, was published by the Naval Academy Press. It remains the only fiction that they have published, and it also remains the biggest seller they have ever had. Not surprising if you consider that not many people would enjoy reading the full technical specifications of, say, AEGIS-class destroyers, or perhaps the operations manual for the sonar technicians aboard Los Angeles class submarines. Not that we could anyway, since I would have to guess that the majority of works published by the Academy Press are probably classified to some extent or other.
My collection of hardcovers is growing, but I still have some that I need to find. I was talking to my wife the other day, and mentioned that I probably would have to resort to ebay, or some other online shop to find the more rare examples. The ones that I had been finding are obviously the more common ones, the newer ones that are still in some dusty corner of the back room, or the ones that everyone has anyway.
I told my wife about the Hunt, telling her that that was one of them I would probably have to find online somewhere.
She was online at work, and she found some places that had Hunt, in fairly decent shape. I also found it, on ebay and on amazon. For ten to fifteen dollars, plus shipping. Not bad, I'll keep it in mind when I feel like getting it.
So today. I had some time to kill before work, so I wandered over to B&N. They had, where their Clancy stuff usually is, six first edition hard cover Tom Clancy books.
And guess what the first one was?
Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen, The Hunt for Red October. Fairly decent shape. Some damage and discoloration of the dust jacket, but nothing wrong with the book itself. It actually looks nearly unread. Perhaps once or twice. All in all, it does not at all look like a twenty-three year old book.
And the price, for this 8 out of 10, nearly antique piece of literary history?
Five freakin' dollars.
Five hundred measley copper pennies.
40% of the complete collection of state quarters.
Less than a half hour of work.
Awesome!
wingnut
Usually, I'm a bit picky about the condition of my books. I want to be the one to mark them up, or dog ear the pages, or mash the corners. I want to be the first one to crack them open, to smell that strange new book smell, the first one to use the dust jacket as the bookmark. I want to be the one to bend the spine, highlight interesting passages, and write my own notes in the margins.
Recently, however, I have taken to reading my books with a small notebook with me. I can then write all my little notes in the notebook, therefore preserving the integrity of my library for future generations. My future generations. I will not get rid of my books. Most of them. Actually, my wife is good about making me get rid of stuff I don't use, and probably won't ever use. So yeah, I guess I do get rid of some of my books.
Anyway, I don't write in the margins as much as I used to.
I also have neither the time or the finances to pay publisher's list price for each and every book I want. I have a list, four legal pages long, with titles of books that I might like to read someday. I have some of them, but it seems that for every one on my list I find, I discover two, three, four more books that I wouldn't mind reading. It really is a vicious cycle.
So, I have been spending more and more time in the used book section. That, and Bargain Books, right down the road from B&N.
I have, for the past while, been attempting to collect hardcover versions of Tom Clancy's fiction. Tom has written twelve novels within the same storyline, following the adventures of Jack Ryan, CIA, and his friends and family. Though I must say that his later works stretch the series beyond what could be considered realism, they are still compelling to read, and full of action. And guns. And lots and lots of special operations personnel.
His first novel, The Hunt for Red October, was published by the Naval Academy Press. It remains the only fiction that they have published, and it also remains the biggest seller they have ever had. Not surprising if you consider that not many people would enjoy reading the full technical specifications of, say, AEGIS-class destroyers, or perhaps the operations manual for the sonar technicians aboard Los Angeles class submarines. Not that we could anyway, since I would have to guess that the majority of works published by the Academy Press are probably classified to some extent or other.
My collection of hardcovers is growing, but I still have some that I need to find. I was talking to my wife the other day, and mentioned that I probably would have to resort to ebay, or some other online shop to find the more rare examples. The ones that I had been finding are obviously the more common ones, the newer ones that are still in some dusty corner of the back room, or the ones that everyone has anyway.
I told my wife about the Hunt, telling her that that was one of them I would probably have to find online somewhere.
She was online at work, and she found some places that had Hunt, in fairly decent shape. I also found it, on ebay and on amazon. For ten to fifteen dollars, plus shipping. Not bad, I'll keep it in mind when I feel like getting it.
So today. I had some time to kill before work, so I wandered over to B&N. They had, where their Clancy stuff usually is, six first edition hard cover Tom Clancy books.
And guess what the first one was?
Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen, The Hunt for Red October. Fairly decent shape. Some damage and discoloration of the dust jacket, but nothing wrong with the book itself. It actually looks nearly unread. Perhaps once or twice. All in all, it does not at all look like a twenty-three year old book.
And the price, for this 8 out of 10, nearly antique piece of literary history?
Five freakin' dollars.
Five hundred measley copper pennies.
40% of the complete collection of state quarters.
Less than a half hour of work.
Awesome!
wingnut
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