'The Dark Side' by Anthony O'neill
The dark side of the Moon has been populated by those who need/are forced to escape Earth. The 'Brass Code' is a ruling set of principles which includes:
Never bang your head against a wall, bang someone else's.
Smile. Smile. Smile. Kill. Smile.
Entertaining read as a new detective to the dark side tries to make sense of the situation as the body count starts to rise.
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"Reskilling America' by Katherine Newman and Hella Winston
Does everyone need to go to a 4 year college to have a financially successful life? Newman and Winston say no.
The book combines the history of blue collar labor (manufacturing, trades), the rise of the "college for everyone' movement, and the resultant lost of a middle class who once made a good living working with their hands as plumbers, carpenters, welders, etc.
The authors put forth that vocational education in the US must change from a poor second choice to college and become a valid and secure career choice in itself.
In the current US presidential campaign, there is much talk about jobs, but little about retraining US workers into blue collar careers that can provide for a family. Despite Donald Trump's promises, coal mining jobs in West Virginia are not coming back. But perhaps the next generation can make a living with solar panals or fiber optics.
"Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, later Dame Agatha Christie, Lady Mallowan, and better known under her pen name Agatha Christie, was born in Torquay, Devon, England on this day in 1890..."
Her 'An Autobiography' (1977) is very interesting if you like her detective stories with Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. David Suchet has received The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for his interpretation of the Belgian detective.
Originally posted by HandyAndyDid you fight in that war Randolf? I fought alongside the Red Barron in WWI and was a U-boat commander in WWII
Just starting "The Conquering Tide," second book in Ian Toll's Pacific war trilogy (1941-45). The first, "Pacific Crucible," is excellent.
FAMILY MATTERS by Rohinton Mistry was first published 14 years ago on this day in 2002.
“What folly made young people, even those in middle age, think they were immortal? How much better, their lives, if they could remember the end. Carrying your death with you every day would make it hard to waste time on unkindness and anger and bitterness, on anything petty. That was the secret: remembering your dying time, in order to keep the stupid and the ugly out of your living time.” - from FAMILY MATTERS
Wise words, I think.
Originally posted by TorunnIt wasn't 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' that I brought home from the library - it was 'A Short History of Private Life' (2010) which I expect to be just as enlightening and entertaining.
I just learnt that Bill Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' is available at the library. I really look forward to reading it. "... Science has never been more involving or entertaining."
Originally posted by PonderableIt took me quite Long.
I am in the middle of the thirf New Corbuzon novel by China Mieville: The Iron Council.
One has to give to him certainly a rich creation of interesting lifefroms as well as the ability to spin a good yarn of convoluted plotlines.
An intricate book with a lot of interesting ideas. But I found it uncommonly hard to read.
I began "Die Erfindung der Rote Armee Fraktion durch einen manisch depressiven Teenager im Sommer 1969".
This one won some prizes in Germany, but is also quite difficult to read.
