tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43057108917548832472024-03-13T13:34:10.061-07:00Book LearningMondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-50646108953543351172014-05-28T10:50:00.001-07:002014-05-28T10:50:42.666-07:00Book Learning #95 Yeah Yeah Yeah- The story of modern pop by Bob Stanley.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A couple of years ago I requested (and received) such a lengthy list of 'Christmas books' that I was never able to read them. They still sit upon my shelves waiting for the right time.<br />
Last year I changed my policy and requested one book.<br />
This book.<br />
It started slowly, with a distant observer's eye over the 1950s and early 1960s. It warmed up with the familiarity of the counter culture and the bands, music and wider references that the period threw up.<br />
I will be honest, the first few chapters were hard work, Like walking through a large party hoping to find someone you knew, who you could relax with. Instead you keep bumping into old family friends who you either cant stand or who bore you senseless. And then you bump into Buddy Holly but its only for a fleeting moment as Stanley devotes not much more than a couple of pages to his genius.<br />
By the time the 1970s roll up, it's comfortable and engaging territory. You recall the sounds and some of the faces, It's a devil of a book in the sense that you frequently reach for Youtube to check out videos and performances from 'Top of the Pops'.<br />
I enjoyed the way Stanley lets his views slip from time to time, sometimes validating an opinion or a rumour (The Stranglers- genuinely nasty people?, UB40- crap and lazy!) and also challenging lazily held prejudice (Michael Jackson- He really was the Prince of Pop!)<br />
As Stanley reflects on the 1980s and 1990s its clear he's in deep home territory, he knows his stuff, the people and in some respects, so do I. Its where history meets nostalgia, but in a good way.<br />
<br />
Well worth struggling through the first few pages.Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-37769579176877706962014-04-08T11:39:00.001-07:002014-04-08T11:39:41.144-07:00Book Learning #94 Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was stuck in a severe reading malaise, perhaps as a result of twelve very difficult months. Then I met you. In a bookshop in Croydon.<br />
Croydon of all places!<br />
I was there with Frau Random Doubt dealing with an immigration matter.<br />
My love of graphic novels and a fondness towards all things Persian/Iranian combined in this witty autobiography.<br />
<br />
Thank you, I feel more decent reading on its way.Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-78531078118498105462013-12-20T14:10:00.003-08:002013-12-20T14:10:34.575-08:00Book Learning #93 Autobiography by Morrissey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Oh the things one will do after a late night 'Newsnight' argument between two media worthies.<br />
Click, tap, click.<br />
The Morrissey Autobiography wends it's way to me.<br />
<br />
I loved The Smiths, about three years too late for their prime but I loved them anyway and love them still. Every word, note, the lot.<br />
I never quite got the post Smiths Morrissey. I liked 'Viva Hate' but that was it.<br />
<br />
This book, as the back cover blurb points out, is about Morrissey, not The Smiths.<br />
He spends some interesting prose on his upbringing and path to musical glory in the early/mid eighties.<br />
This is well written and engaging stuff.<br />
<br />
Then The Smiths split and he tells us about his solo efforts.<br />
Still well written but I'm working hard to stick with it.<br />
<br />
The court case between the members of The Smiths provides over 100 pages of bitchy, self indulgent, whinging. I wanted to throw the book away but somehow felt that I might possibly miss out somehow.<br />
<br />
I should have known better.<br />
<br />
In parts this reminded me of Bob Dylan's 'Chronicles' which was a testament to a lost era of musical history.<br />
In parts Oscar Wilde's 'De Profundis' which was a work of incredible originality and emotion.<br />
<br />
This was neither, it lost me.Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-55919881688384115912013-10-17T15:09:00.000-07:002013-10-17T15:09:07.833-07:00Book learning #92 A history of modern Britain by Andrew Marr<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was in London during the summer, at a friend's house.<br />
We had borrowed their home, some milk , towels and two Game of Thrones DVD box sets.<br />
I simply couldn't thwaite the idea of borrowing a book from the shelf.<br />
<br />
But during those few summer days in the capital, I did spend some time (on the loo, on the sofa) leafing through this account of British politics and society since 1945.<br />
<br />
Manageable, readable and illuminating. A lengthy, but engrossing read. A good look at some of the hard times, false starts and failures of Britain's slow and so far, faltering decline.Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-51194456090348295092013-08-21T13:17:00.001-07:002013-08-21T13:17:41.370-07:00Book learning #91 Down and out in Paris and London by George Orwell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Believe it or not, I am still working my way through the works of George Orwell.<br />
26 years since first reading Animal Farm.<br />
<br />
It's not even that he wrote a vast amount.<br />
<br />
I certainly enjoyed this but I have found that I much prefer his novels.<br />
This engaged me and certainly kept me going with real and sustained interest but somehow, something was just a little bit lacking.<br />
<br />
I am of course behaving like the child at Christmas who moans on Boxing day because they didn't get the complete set of all the other stuff they would have wanted, this book was great, just not the greatest.<br />
<br />Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-17382347380590133592013-08-21T12:54:00.000-07:002013-08-21T12:54:17.311-07:00Book learning #90 The Golden door, Letters to America by AA.Gill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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How nice to meet a kindred spirit, How queer to imagine that it should be AA.Gill.</div>
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I read this book a few months ago, before reading the LBJ book.<br />
I thoroughly enjoyed it but for some reason, well I know but I'm not telling, I neglected to write about it.<br />
It all seems like such a long time ago, I will say this.<br />
I book , a series of essays written by a man who clearly and admittedly loves America.<br />
Love in the greatest sense, the awareness of imperfection and the tolerance of failings, but also love as the celebration of ambition and delight.<br />
<br />
I know those feelings, I share them.<br />
<br />Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-33329916563322908812013-07-24T12:53:00.002-07:002013-08-21T12:45:09.739-07:00Book Learning #89 The years of Lyndon Johnson. The Passage of Power by Robert A. Caro<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
This was a book that I had waited over ten years for.<br />
I had read 90% of the previous volume over the past five.<br />
I had waited an additional year for the paperback version to appear.<br />
<br />
Worth every minute of every day.<br />
<br />
For the LBJ junkie, Caro is the absolute fix.<br />
Every sentence is crafted, the sources are varied and deep and, considering the passing of time, often very recent and able to take account of recent developments.<br />
<br />
I just loved the retelling of Johnson's fumbling of the 1960 nomination and the subsequent offer of the Vice Presidency. Caro then took us through the key events of the Kennedy administration and LBJ's role (or lack of) in them. The events in Dallas in 1963 read like a tragic crime thriller.<br />
What was particularly fascinating was the way Caro handled Johnson's handling of the transition. The Kennedy family, the House, Senate and the legislative programme inherited from his slain predecessor.<br />
<br />
Some of my favourite bits were the human glimpses into LBJ, I pissed myself when reading about the LBJ express and his attempts to control the loud music.<br />
<br />
I can't wait for the next chapter in this history.Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-15356943469620441842013-07-03T14:58:00.001-07:002013-07-03T14:58:40.714-07:00Book learning #88 Things the grandchildren should know by Mark Oliver Everett<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Eels are easily in my top five all time favourite bands. I am almost unable to fault any of the output of the past twenty years. Not only that, but I have found some crazy levels of personal and moral inspiration from the words uttered and written by Mr E. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Seeing the band recently was one of the highlights of my gig going life. The evening was absolutely perfect, driving through a cold unseasonally wintery March evening to see them following a profoundly shitty day at a job I could not stand. I had yet to hear the latest album so the gig was made the better by having to carefully listen to songs to see if I approved.</div>
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I approved.</div>
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Quite frankly, at my age, I should know better, very much better.</div>
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But, really, why concern myself with aging and all that is supposed to go with it?</div>
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I got this book for my birthday and read it swiftly. It covers the full run of human existence and offers some gorgeous nuggets of advice to any wannabe creative type. It is written in the style of the lyrics and accordingly, is a true joy to behold and enjoy.</div>
Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-24102385225518987152013-04-20T12:50:00.001-07:002013-04-20T12:50:13.101-07:00Book learning # 87 The Psychopath test by Jon Ronson.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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Oh dear.</div>
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I really like Jon Ronson.</div>
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He's brilliant on telly and I have thoroughly enjoyed some of his other books.</div>
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This one even had a comment on the back " laugh out loud hilarious" or somesuch. </div>
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That comment was from Will Self.</div>
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Rule of thumb?</div>
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Never trust a man who walks from airports.</div>
<br />Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-43308928300791856612013-03-06T13:52:00.000-08:002013-03-06T13:53:20.173-08:00Book Learning #86 Religion for Atheists. Alain de Botton<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Oh cruel world!<br />
Oh tortuous journey,<br />
Oh voyage of wrecked dreams.<br />
<br />
Where is the hope?<br />
Where do the answers lie?<br />
<br />
Such emotions , such questions are as old as the hills.<br />
As a group, humanity has tried to answer them in a variety of ways.<br />
<br />
Alain de Botton compares religion with secularism and draws some interesting conclusions.<br />
<br />
I still enjoy the air of mystery that religion brings, even if I know that it's just not true.<br />
He argues that you do not need to be a 'believer' to cherish the benefits of religion, especially as modern society has pretty much underperformed in meeting some of our basic human needs.<br />
<br />
Also, it was an absolutely beautiful book to hold and to read.<br />
<br />Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-14522558095969160822013-02-21T14:06:00.000-08:002013-02-24T12:37:44.932-08:00Book learning #85 Team of rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The first thing that went wrong was that I did not purchase this book when it first came out in paperback (remember I don't do hardback books). Had I invested back in 2007 I would have got the correct version, not the movie spin off edition.<br />
I enjoyed what I read and ironically have just put it down for a few weeks as it gets good (or better).<br />
Also, linked into the first point, I have had a number of people asking me to go and watch the movie with them. This will kill the book. Ask Harry Potter.<br />
Is it me or do nineteenth century political books move rather slowly? I'm sure any one of us living now would go insane quite quickly were we deposited back into the 1860s.<br />
I dearly hope I will gather this up again and complete it, I dearly hope to hold the Lincolnesque spirit close to my soul.<br />
The problem with a lengthy book is that eventually, no matter how you try, you will be tempted by other, less committed relationships.<br />
That's what happened in Waterstones this afternoon.Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-57453492541669373532012-12-18T05:18:00.001-08:002013-02-24T12:39:05.308-08:00Book Learning # 84 What Happened by Scott McClellan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I found this book in a box whilst sorting out other books around the house. It was one of those low priority, nagging jobs that had been waiting about six months to get done.</div>
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I picked it up and sifted through. By no means the best written of political accounts I have ever read but engaging enough. I was interested by his move from democrat to republican (a move many made during the 1980s) and his impressive career rise (Press secretary before 40).</div>
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I am sure that when this was first published it made an impact, I am sure that his viewpoint was pretty insightful and interesting.</div>
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Right now it reads as a dated account of history. The narrative is simple enough but doesn't really hold your attention too long.</div>
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It tells us a few straightforward things about GWBush that we had pretty much already known.</div>
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He is a straightforward type of guy. Not super bright but not dim. Deferred to those around him, especially Rumsfeld and Cheney.</div>
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File under 'I cant wait for the Christmas books'</div>
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<br />Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-21242158823219694292012-12-16T13:59:00.000-08:002013-02-24T12:41:18.219-08:00Book Learning # 83 Chavs by Owen Jones<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Data heavy yet thoroughly readable.<br />
Challenged prejudices and assumptions.<br />
Reinforced some misty, cloudy, put aside convictions.<br />
Reminded me of some experiences I would much rather have forgotten.<br />
Forced me to consider aspiration and that yes, it's really important.<br />
Took me outside my comfort zone.<br />
Even made me laugh a few times.Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-74032706781250708922012-11-13T13:12:00.000-08:002013-02-24T12:42:33.581-08:00Book learning #82 Coming up for Air by George Orwell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Umm, Lets see?<br />
Autumn?<br />
Turning leaves?<br />
Smoky hearths?<br />
Warm beer?<br />
Sweaters and corduroy?<br />
<br />
Must be time for some Orwell.<br />
<br />
I can happily claim Orwell as my favourite author yet I am also happy to admit that I have still<br />
not read all his works.<br />
There was much about this book that I just loved.<br />
I loved the nostalgia.<br />
I loved the moments when it simply reached out of the page and touched my consciousness.<br />
I loved the slightly acidic humour.<br />
I even loved the feel of the copy I was reading.<br />
<br />
He has yet to fail me.Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-65854449945644650402012-09-20T14:07:00.000-07:002013-02-24T12:43:41.557-08:00Book Learning. 'Let us continue'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had to blog about this, Just had to.<br />
<br />
I may not finish Robert Caro's superb account of LBJ's years in the Senate anytime soon. It may well be sometime into next year before you see my completed blog entry. I just wanted you to know how much I love this book.<br />
<br />
I love this book so much that I had to slice it into three, in order to gain three times the possible enjoyment from it. The simple fact is that the published version is a touch too hefty for late night reading, especially as I have a habit of dropping books onto my face as I doze off.<br />
<br />
I love this book because it has taken me almost ten years to not quite finish it. Normally that would be a problem, give it up. <i>Master of the Senate</i> is different, it's like the very best of friends. The best of friends you don't see for two or three years and then spend a brilliant weekend at the beach and it's just like you're back at college again. This book cares little if I read a dozen others between picking it up again, it's own brilliance will hold the day.<br />
<br />
In terms of content, I will go into much more depth of the pleasure, discomfort, disgust and hope that this book has brought to me when I finally, eventually review it.Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-23554116952785927602012-09-11T12:21:00.000-07:002013-02-24T12:44:21.153-08:00Book learning #81. Brief encounters by Gyles Brandreth.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U-TEqFMIAZc/UE-MTKJJwwI/AAAAAAAACxs/kV8_a4PsJ8A/s1600/51SVWGEDNML._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U-TEqFMIAZc/UE-MTKJJwwI/AAAAAAAACxs/kV8_a4PsJ8A/s320/51SVWGEDNML._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I'm almost, slightly embarrassed to add this to the strange and varied list of books in this blog.<br />
First of all, there's Brandreth himself. Mad jumpered nutter from telly in the 1980s, failed Tory MP from the 1990s and resident bon hommeur of the Sunday supplements, not even the Sunday supplements that I occasionally read.<br />
<br />
Then there is the sort of cobbled together clump of the Sunday supplement essays and interviews that this book consists of. I think I'll go back and publish all my semi decent blog entries from the last eight years, shove on the bookshelf in a regional airport and see how it does. Can't be any worse off? Surely?<br />
<br />
But finally, there is the fact that whilst I literally shat my way through this book (nothing says 'good loo read' like a hundred odd, shortish interviews and anecdotes with the great, the almost great and the completely unheard of), I did actually quite enjoy it. Brandreth, although a Tory, would probably be able to talk his way past me into a re education centre rather than the firing squad. He seems to be a pretty decent chap and he write reasonably well. The subjects were, by and large, interesting and open to his probing. There were also one or two moments of classic hilarity. The trip to Copenhagen in 1971 was an outstanding piece of comic writing.<br />
<br />
I do rather hope that I will read something weighty very soon to shove this book off my blog front page.<br />
File under 'guilty pleasure'Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-60183381339185563912012-09-09T11:29:00.000-07:002013-02-24T12:44:44.859-08:00Book Learning # 80 The History of England Volume 1. Foundation, by Peter Ackroyd.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Uh_-vAHGh9A/UEzeSmtdmyI/AAAAAAAACxI/qTW7PV_dt4M/s1600/1205693_foundations_jkt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Uh_-vAHGh9A/UEzeSmtdmyI/AAAAAAAACxI/qTW7PV_dt4M/s1600/1205693_foundations_jkt.jpg" /></a></div>
Hey there summer read.<br />
How you doing? How was your summer?<br />
Oh look, I'm sorry about the first part, the part where I casually picked you up , read you for a while but then dumped you for something more exciting.<br />
<br />
But who's laughing now?<br />
<br />
I got bored of the other book (very quickly as it happened) and came grovelling back to you.<br />
<br />
You had already told me about the infrastructure of ancient England and how cosmopolitan it was <i>before</i> the Romans landed. You had told me about the Norman conquest and made me marvel that it was the last time this island had been successfully invaded.<br />
<br />
After we got back together you made me rethink a lot of casually held ideas and prejudices about the middle ages. About religion and hygiene. I loved reading about the Black death (but I have always been into that crazy stuff). You took me right up to the death of Henry VII and the beginning of what my history teacher always called 'the early modern age'.<br />
in truth, I'm just glad you took me back. I really enjoyed you.Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-36794508979794755872012-07-18T13:01:00.001-07:002013-02-24T12:45:17.607-08:00Book learning #79 Humanity- A moral history of the Twentieth Century by Jonathan Glover.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
I purchased this book on the 24th of March 2001. In those days the Twentieth century really meant something. Indeed, if you were buying books in those days you had been born and raised in it. The relationship was real and intense and the only thoughts of the next century were of the timid, toe dipping 'what's it going to be like?' variety.<br />
<br />
This is a historical and philosophical tour which includes the following delights. My Lai, Stalin, World War One, Bomber Command, Atomic weapons, Pol Pot, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, The Cultural Revolution and of course, everyone's favourite, National Socialism.<br />
<br />
Laugh a minute.<br />
<br />
Well written and thought provoking, it looks at the ethics and philosophy behind the actions of those responsible for some of the greatest crimes against humanity in the period covered. There is plenty that is not covered (South American dictatorships, Middle Eastern terrorism, North Korea and that's just for starters). The book raises many issues, for me one of the main points is the willingness of the many to go along with the ideas of a few. Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-58773153270130800762012-06-07T13:41:00.002-07:002013-02-24T12:45:41.577-08:00Book learning # 78. The Third Man by Peter Mandelson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--hcgjvX7x7w/T8kXzDBElGI/AAAAAAAACoQ/zlprsqYFRxk/s1600/51xSQB-OM4L._SS500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--hcgjvX7x7w/T8kXzDBElGI/AAAAAAAACoQ/zlprsqYFRxk/s320/51xSQB-OM4L._SS500_.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Oh Mandy, well you came and you gave without taking..."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They say every political career ends in failure.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I say every political memoir descends into tedium.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Look, it wasn't all bad. The first chapter or two were great, looking at Mandelson's early career and the creation of New Labour. The relationships within the Blair/Brown/Mandelson trinity were rich and made engaging reading.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I just got bored with the bits in the middle. Cut to the 2010 election. The negotiations, the Tory-Lib Dem coalition. Throughout the book the insanity of Gordon Brown came through. I ended up feeling rather sorry for him.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would recommend Andrew Rawnsley's books over any of the 'inside accounts'.</span><br />
<br />
<br />Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-68555668516363436682012-05-02T12:21:00.000-07:002013-02-24T12:46:27.609-08:00Book learning #77. Science tales by Darryl Cunningham<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B1TlhfesN0c/T6GH8wpJFGI/AAAAAAAACnc/YgWSuegWN10/s1600/41O4-3k4e9L._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B1TlhfesN0c/T6GH8wpJFGI/AAAAAAAACnc/YgWSuegWN10/s1600/41O4-3k4e9L._SL500_AA300_.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I love the graphic form. Still do. All these years after Tintin, Asterix, Maus. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I have spent the last two days zipping through this thought provoking text with it's basic graphics as it illuminated a few key scams/lies/hoaxes from modern science.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The key thing I came away with? </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
If my kids or wife were deathly ill, would I trust homeopathy or scientific medicine?</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I've dabbled in homeopathy and it made sense at the time, well I went along with it at the time. I really enjoyed the sessions and the calm nature of the practitioner. It was indeed, more psychotherapy than anything medicinal.</div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-49557225526418453732012-04-05T14:08:00.003-07:002013-02-24T12:47:47.236-08:00Book learning #76 How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WZwnkhP-DjE/T34KC_NrSBI/AAAAAAAACmQ/4_V-TapVGz8/s1600/how-to-be-a-woman.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5728026822506661906" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WZwnkhP-DjE/T34KC_NrSBI/AAAAAAAACmQ/4_V-TapVGz8/s400/how-to-be-a-woman.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a>Alright fellas. I know. Hold it.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Frau Random Doubt got this book for Christmas, after she had read it, it spent some time on the bedroom floor and before you know it, I'm reading it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Excuses apart, this was a thought provoking, modern, intelligent and mostly witty (sometimes hilarious) account of feminism.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That's right. Feminism.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Like all big ideas/movements/struggles, feminism has it's differing perspectives and it's not my place to go into them here.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Moran puts the ideas into perspective and adds a sprinkle of light onto some dark areas.</div>
Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-63815827842035777832012-02-13T13:39:00.001-08:002013-02-24T12:48:18.256-08:00Book learning #75 Letters from America by Alistair Cooke<div>
<br /></div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KMDA39d-5bI/TzmDM450uKI/AAAAAAAAChc/hLTH5YRLvek/s1600/alistair-cookes-america.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708738260125399202" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KMDA39d-5bI/TzmDM450uKI/AAAAAAAAChc/hLTH5YRLvek/s400/alistair-cookes-america.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 290px;" /></a>Oh Dear Christ!<br />
<div>
This was one of several wonderful Christmas books (2011 was a profoundly good year for the Christmas books). </div>
<div>
A brief look through the photographs and I saw a style worth following. A brief look through the essays and I recalled a long lost friend.</div>
<div>
The earliest essays dated from 1946. They were poignant, funny and true. That pattern continued for the next 60 odd years. The essays cover a wide range of topics, almost every aspect of American life, society and government.</div>
<div>
These essays made February feel like a homesick month, a rich, textured form of homesickness, an aspirational feeling, a good feeling.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Thank you Mr Cooke.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">nb. The image is not that of the book in question. I have taken the rare step of choosing an image<i> I</i> like as opposed to an image the publishers like.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-76885626860810501062012-01-26T12:09:00.000-08:002013-02-24T12:48:37.045-08:00Book learning #74 Chronicles Vol 1 by Bob Dylan<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZgED7RllttQ/TyGzJwECfgI/AAAAAAAAChQ/jUMrl2P5Z4E/s1600/0743478649.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5702035583329795586" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZgED7RllttQ/TyGzJwECfgI/AAAAAAAAChQ/jUMrl2P5Z4E/s400/0743478649.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 261px;" /></a><br />
<br />
Oh I just loved this book.<br />
<br />
It felt like a novel written by a quirky poet, an adventure through a not quite specific time and a New York I can still recognize. I loved reading about the Village and reminiscing about the streets and the places he started out in. There was a 40 year gap between our experiences but, as any New Yorker will tell you "the city changes and it doesn't change".<br />
<br />
I found philosophy on almost every page, poetry, wisdom, a love of music and of life.<br />
<br />
This was a perfect start to 2012.Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-71094650511940385622012-01-11T13:01:00.000-08:002013-02-24T12:49:00.528-08:00Book learning #73 Revolution 1989. The fall of the Soviet Empire by Victor Sebestyen.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-133p2hZhVUg/Tw34qpp1ppI/AAAAAAAACgk/8W1PESowtvA/s1600/9780753827093_PI.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696482515313075858" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-133p2hZhVUg/Tw34qpp1ppI/AAAAAAAACgk/8W1PESowtvA/s400/9780753827093_PI.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 260px;" /></a><br />
<div>
If the man hassles you, threatens or intimidates you, tries to build a cheap and nasty supermarket on the meadow opposite your home, fear not. There is such a glorious thing as people power.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I loved 1989. The actual year at the actual time was a good year for Mondale. I saw the Stone Roses live at Norwich Arts Centre (I don't think I have even sweated so much, not even in a broken subway car in an New York heatwave). I left school (in those days you still 'left school' at 16 even if you went onto higher things) I kissed girls, I wore floppy shirts and ragged jeans, I drank beer, I listened to alot of loud jangly guitar, my skin was perfect, I had no belly, I got stoned, I sailed a helluva lot, I was pure blonde, no grey in sight, I started smoking, I danced, I sang. </div>
<div>
I was rock n' roll. I was 16. I was on it!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And I was aware, because that was the year I got an A grade in Modern History GCSE that Europe had been divided in half at the end of WW2. And I was aware, because my mum listened to Radio 4 non stop, that all things were not as they should be in Eastern Europe. And I was aware, because I had had nightmares in the early 1980s about nuclear war that the Russians were baddies. I was also aware of these things because I was a bright lad obsessed with history and politics. Just as I am now an older bloke obsessed with history and politics which is possibly why I enjoyed this book an awful lot.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Cold War now seems like an odd dream. It's hard to think that we were living on the front line of an armageddon that would have rendered things like 'front lines' irrelevant.</div>
<div>
It also seems incredible that The Soviet Union, and Mr Gorbachev in particular allowed the dissent to turn into revolution. This book brings those days back to life, reminds us of the hope that was ushered in during that amazing year. It was the year I began A'Levels, the year I studied 1848 'The year of Revolutions'. Such history suddenly seemed belittled by events in our own time.</div>
<div>
I still recall our history teacher, a man in his sixties who vividly remembered the war. His opinions about German and Russian behaviour were often controversial. I shall never forget his face on November 10th as we talked about the Berlin wall coming down. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
He could not fathom it. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Neither could we.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4305710891754883247.post-52984749897744646692011-11-18T12:05:00.000-08:002013-02-24T12:49:19.907-08:00Book learning #72 Crisis? What Crisis? Britain in the 1970s<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UScAebNixFg/Tsa6008RjTI/AAAAAAAACb8/fi2E_6rO6-U/s1600/cwc_cover.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676429797074505010" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UScAebNixFg/Tsa6008RjTI/AAAAAAAACb8/fi2E_6rO6-U/s400/cwc_cover.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 269px;" /></a>I was there. <br />
<div>
From that day in March 1973 I was a witness to all that Alwyn W. Turner wrote about.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I am here.</div>
<div>
I am living through another bitter, battered and torn decade.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I found this book whilst helping to clear out a friend's house. They let me have it. I had heard about it on 6music a while ago. It had tickled my fancy but I had placed it on the back burner.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I housed this on my shelves for a few months, it was on the list, I was planning to read it. I picked it up, I looked at the pictures, I skimmed the first few pages. I hated it.</div>
<div>
Then something changed, I got through the first few pages, Goddamit I was hooked.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you are looking for a book detailing the every moment of the decade, look elsewhere.</div>
<div>
This was not as witty as I had thought it might be. It was not a Maconie-esque memoir of a happily forgotten age. It was a supremely thoughtful account of one of the most difficult decades this country has been through, a decade that until 2007, we thought we had left behind forever.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I ended up loving this book. This was the British 'Nixonland'. In fact, if I were at a party and 'Crisis? What Crisis?' were to bump into 'Nixonland' I would be in one hell of an awkward situation (although not as awkward as it might have been if I had been reading the two at the same time).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I relished the time spent reading about the unions (and reflecting on our current predicament), the political turmoil and the cultural zeitgiest.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And on a bizarro note, I have always fantasised about running a pub called 'The Sunny Jim' or perhaps 'The Callaghan'. I would have a quiz night on a Tuesday called 'Quiz night? What Quiz night?' I do wonder how successful such an endeavour would be?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm sending this to a friend in New York. He enjoyed the 70's. He'll enjoy this book.</div>
Mondalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12626899685299810412noreply@blogger.com0