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The New Coffee Room

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  3. What are you reading now?

What are you reading now?

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  • K Offline
    K Offline
    kluurs
    wrote on 3 Feb 2024, 22:32 last edited by kluurs 2 Mar 2024, 22:37
    #762

    Just started reading this one. For a brief time, I had two complete sets of the OED - 1st and 2nd editions - but I'm down to one.
    c364b54c-414b-4be9-b666-eaf36371ae60-image.png
    Both the Professor and madman are intriguing. The "Professor" quit school at 14 - was largely self-taught; however, he did have some skills which he enumerated in a letter applying for a position with the British Museum Library. Sadly, his qualifications were deemed inadequate.

    Interestingly, his linguistic skills seem quite impressive, especially when we consider how assiduously most students in this country avoid second languages.

    *I have to state that Philology, both Comparative and Special, has been my favorite pursuit during the whole of my life, and that I possess a general acquaintance with the languages and literature of the Aryan and Syro-Arabic classes—not indeed to say that I'm familiar with all or nearly all of these, but that I possess that general lexical & structural knowledge which makes the intimate knowledge only a matter of a little application. With several I have a more intimate acquaintance as with the Romance tongues, Italian, French, Catalan, Spanish, Latin & in a less degree Portuguese, Vaudois, Provencal, & various dialects. In the Teutonic branch, I am tolerably familiar with Dutch (having at my place of business correspondence to read in Dutch, German, French & occasionally other languages), Flemish, German and Danish. In Anglo-Saxon and Moeso-Gothic my studies have been much closer, I having prepared some works for publication upon these languages. I know a little of the Celtic, and am at present engaged with the Sclavonic, having obtained a useful knowledge of Russian. In the Persian, Achaenenian Cuneiform, & Sanscrit branches, I know for the purposes of Comparative Philology. have sufficient knowledge of Hebrew & Syriac to read at sight the Old Testament and Peshito; to a less degree I know Aramaic Arabic, Coptic and Phenecian to the point where it was left by Gesenius.*italicised text

    T 1 Reply Last reply 4 Feb 2024, 02:43
    • K kluurs
      3 Feb 2024, 22:32

      Just started reading this one. For a brief time, I had two complete sets of the OED - 1st and 2nd editions - but I'm down to one.
      c364b54c-414b-4be9-b666-eaf36371ae60-image.png
      Both the Professor and madman are intriguing. The "Professor" quit school at 14 - was largely self-taught; however, he did have some skills which he enumerated in a letter applying for a position with the British Museum Library. Sadly, his qualifications were deemed inadequate.

      Interestingly, his linguistic skills seem quite impressive, especially when we consider how assiduously most students in this country avoid second languages.

      *I have to state that Philology, both Comparative and Special, has been my favorite pursuit during the whole of my life, and that I possess a general acquaintance with the languages and literature of the Aryan and Syro-Arabic classes—not indeed to say that I'm familiar with all or nearly all of these, but that I possess that general lexical & structural knowledge which makes the intimate knowledge only a matter of a little application. With several I have a more intimate acquaintance as with the Romance tongues, Italian, French, Catalan, Spanish, Latin & in a less degree Portuguese, Vaudois, Provencal, & various dialects. In the Teutonic branch, I am tolerably familiar with Dutch (having at my place of business correspondence to read in Dutch, German, French & occasionally other languages), Flemish, German and Danish. In Anglo-Saxon and Moeso-Gothic my studies have been much closer, I having prepared some works for publication upon these languages. I know a little of the Celtic, and am at present engaged with the Sclavonic, having obtained a useful knowledge of Russian. In the Persian, Achaenenian Cuneiform, & Sanscrit branches, I know for the purposes of Comparative Philology. have sufficient knowledge of Hebrew & Syriac to read at sight the Old Testament and Peshito; to a less degree I know Aramaic Arabic, Coptic and Phenecian to the point where it was left by Gesenius.*italicised text

      T Offline
      T Offline
      taiwan_girl
      wrote on 4 Feb 2024, 02:43 last edited by
      #763

      @kluurs I read that one. Quite interesting how they went through getting the word entries for the dictionary.

      1 Reply Last reply
      • A Offline
        A Offline
        Aqua Letifer
        wrote on 4 Feb 2024, 04:59 last edited by
        #764

        @kluurs great book. (I think @George-K told me to read it?)

        Sadly, I don't think OED is the same as it used to be. For my money, I much prefer the AHD, the only dictionary I am aware of that (1) is American and (2) provides both prescriptive and descriptive definitions.

        Please love yourself.

        1 Reply Last reply
        • B Offline
          B Offline
          bachophile
          wrote on 8 Feb 2024, 06:59 last edited by
          #765

          a758d6db-651d-4d36-ba80-911685e2c95e-image.jpeg

          1 Reply Last reply
          • topic:timeago-later,8 days
          • G Offline
            G Offline
            George K
            wrote on 16 Feb 2024, 00:41 last edited by
            #766

            Finished books 2 & 3 of the "Prefect Dreyfus" series by Reynolds. Enjoyed them - a lot.

            Got me thinking...the third book has lots of references to events from book 1 ("The Prefect/Aurora Rising"), so I started a re-read of that yesterday.

            Such a great tale.

            "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

            The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

            A 1 Reply Last reply 16 Feb 2024, 04:56
            • G George K
              16 Feb 2024, 00:41

              Finished books 2 & 3 of the "Prefect Dreyfus" series by Reynolds. Enjoyed them - a lot.

              Got me thinking...the third book has lots of references to events from book 1 ("The Prefect/Aurora Rising"), so I started a re-read of that yesterday.

              Such a great tale.

              A Offline
              A Offline
              Aqua Letifer
              wrote on 16 Feb 2024, 04:56 last edited by
              #767

              @George-K said in What are you reading now?:

              Finished books 2 & 3 of the "Prefect Dreyfus" series by Reynolds. Enjoyed them - a lot.

              Got me thinking...the third book has lots of references to events from book 1 ("The Prefect/Aurora Rising"), so I started a re-read of that yesterday.

              Such a great tale.

              On deck for me. Just gotta finish one of the other three I have going on right now.

              Please love yourself.

              1 Reply Last reply
              • G Offline
                G Offline
                George K
                wrote on 20 Feb 2024, 00:54 last edited by
                #768

                Finished the re-read of "The Prefect" this afternoon. I'd forgotten what a great tale it is.

                Yeah, some parts could have been shorter (a LOT shorter), but I thoroughly enjoyed it as a re-do.

                "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                1 Reply Last reply
                • topic:timeago-later,15 days
                • G Offline
                  G Offline
                  George K
                  wrote on 5 Mar 2024, 15:58 last edited by
                  #769

                  I started reading the second book in Ann Leslie's "Ancillary" series, "Ancillary Sword," but I've just found it tedious. I suppose I'll finish it, but in the meantime, I thought this might be a nice diversion.

                  I've only read this once, back in 1982 (?). Some say it's better-written than Dune, so we'll see.

                  Halfway through, and really enjoying it.

                  Screenshot 2024-03-05 at 9.56.37 AM.png

                  "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                  The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • T Offline
                    T Offline
                    taiwan_girl
                    wrote on 7 Mar 2024, 16:46 last edited by
                    #770

                    alt text

                    Very good book about a very very terrible organization. I had heard of the KKK before, but did not really know the background or its history. It is a non-fiction book

                    A historical thriller by the Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning author that tells the riveting story of the Klan's rise to power in the 1920s, the cunning con man who drove that rise, and the woman who stopped them.

                    The Roaring Twenties--the Jazz Age--has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • H Offline
                      H Offline
                      Horace
                      wrote on 7 Mar 2024, 17:05 last edited by
                      #771

                      Not much has changed since then, unfortunately. The KKK is as terrifying as ever, and courageous women are still standing in their way.

                      Education is extremely important.

                      T 1 Reply Last reply 7 Mar 2024, 17:15
                      • H Horace
                        7 Mar 2024, 17:05

                        Not much has changed since then, unfortunately. The KKK is as terrifying as ever, and courageous women are still standing in their way.

                        T Offline
                        T Offline
                        taiwan_girl
                        wrote on 7 Mar 2024, 17:15 last edited by
                        #772

                        @Horace said in What are you reading now?:

                        Not much has changed since then, unfortunately. The KKK is as terrifying as ever, and courageous women are still standing in their way.

                        I think fortunately that they are not very popular now.

                        H 1 Reply Last reply 7 Mar 2024, 17:30
                        • T taiwan_girl
                          7 Mar 2024, 17:15

                          @Horace said in What are you reading now?:

                          Not much has changed since then, unfortunately. The KKK is as terrifying as ever, and courageous women are still standing in their way.

                          I think fortunately that they are not very popular now.

                          H Offline
                          H Offline
                          Horace
                          wrote on 7 Mar 2024, 17:30 last edited by
                          #773

                          @taiwan_girl said in What are you reading now?:

                          @Horace said in What are you reading now?:

                          Not much has changed since then, unfortunately. The KKK is as terrifying as ever, and courageous women are still standing in their way.

                          I think fortunately that they are not very popular now.

                          KKK members will vote for Trump. And Trump, according to polling, is likely to be our next president.

                          Education is extremely important.

                          R 1 Reply Last reply 7 Mar 2024, 18:12
                          • H Horace
                            7 Mar 2024, 17:30

                            @taiwan_girl said in What are you reading now?:

                            @Horace said in What are you reading now?:

                            Not much has changed since then, unfortunately. The KKK is as terrifying as ever, and courageous women are still standing in their way.

                            I think fortunately that they are not very popular now.

                            KKK members will vote for Trump. And Trump, according to polling, is likely to be our next president.

                            R Offline
                            R Offline
                            Renauda
                            wrote on 7 Mar 2024, 18:12 last edited by
                            #774

                            @Horace

                            KKK members will vote for Trump. And Trump, according to polling, is likely to be our next president.

                            Of course they will. Only a fool would expect them to vote for either Biden or RFK Jr.. Both are Catholic or, at least, nominally so.

                            Elbows up!

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            • B bachophile
                              4 Jan 2024, 11:46

                              452481cd-b75e-4918-84bd-ac3026b39a1d-image.png

                              on the shelf in the office next door to mine.

                              Bathroom reading I guess

                              M Away
                              M Away
                              Mik
                              wrote on 7 Mar 2024, 19:04 last edited by
                              #775

                              Winter Counts.

                              "Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that’s hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop.

                              They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realizes that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost.

                              Winter Counts is a tour-de-force of crime fiction, a bracingly honest look at a long-ignored part of American life, and a twisting, turning story that’s as deeply rendered as it is thrilling."

                              alt text

                              “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              • topic:timeago-later,9 days
                              • G Offline
                                G Offline
                                George K
                                wrote on 16 Mar 2024, 22:41 last edited by
                                #776

                                GIyuo-oXsAAYNqo.jpeg

                                I think the movie version is available to adult users in Texas.

                                "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                • topic:timeago-later,25 days
                                • T Offline
                                  T Offline
                                  taiwan_girl
                                  wrote on 11 Apr 2024, 02:41 last edited by taiwan_girl 4 Nov 2024, 02:43
                                  #777

                                  alt text

                                  Really good book. It gives (I think) a good view of the world drug issue and shows that it is not a simple good guys vs. bad guys. The UWSA (United Wa State Army) is a pseudo-country within Myanmar. It functions as its own country (government, interstructure, taxation, military, etc.). The Myanmar army is not powerful enough to take them over, so they let them exist up in the northeast mountains. Not very well known in the US, but the border of Wa State goes up against Thailand - right up by Mae Hong Son area that I went to a couple of years ago.

                                  They got their start growing poppies for heroin, as that was the only crop that grew well in the mountain soil. US wanted them to stop doing it, but provided no real alternative. Stop poppy growing, nothing else grows, no money for the people.......

                                  Recommended to read.

                                  In this gripping history, NPR correspondent Winn (Hello, Shadowlands) follows the Wa people—a tribe situated along the Burma-China border and best known for head-hunting—over the last half-century as they established the United Wa State Army, an independent government in control of a 30,000-man fighting force and a colossal drug cartel that produced heroin and later switched to manufacturing methamphetamine. The book centers on several Wa figures, including Saw Lu, a Baptist who fought to unite and modernize his people (he led a successful campaign in the 1960s to get them to stop head-hunting) and to wean them off drug trafficking, all while serving as an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; and his nemesis Wei Xuegang, the secretive criminal genius who turned the UWSA into the dominant cartel in Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle region. Stirring the pot is the feud between the DEA, which backed Saw Lu, and the CIA, which nurtured the drug trade and sabotaged Saw Lu’s efforts. Part gangster saga, part espionage thriller, and part liberation epic, Winn’s narrative alternates between rollicking adventure and harrowing violence conveyed in vivid, muscular prose. It’s a riveting portrait of how deeply the drug trade is embedded in Southeast Asia’s modernizing economies—and in America’s foreign policy.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  • topic:timeago-later,10 days
                                  • G Offline
                                    G Offline
                                    George K
                                    wrote on 20 Apr 2024, 16:47 last edited by
                                    #778

                                    I've been a fan of MacIntyre's books since I read "Operation Mincemeat."

                                    Screenshot 2024-04-20 at 11.43.33 AM.png

                                    "Britain’s Special Air Service—or SAS—was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young aristocrat whose aimlessness belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a World War II battlefield map and saw a protracted struggle, Stirling saw an opportunity: given a small number of elite men, he could parachute behind Nazi lines and sabotage their airplanes and supplies. Defying his superiors’ conventional wisdom, Stirling assembled a revolutionary fighting force that would upend not just the balance of the war, but the nature of combat itself.

                                    Bringing his keen eye for detail to a riveting wartime narrative, Ben Macintyre uses his unprecedented access to the SAS archives to shine a light on a legendary unit long shrouded in secrecy."

                                    I enjoyed the TV series - so far, the series is pretty close to (1st quarter of) the book

                                    Link to video

                                    "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                    The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                                    G 1 Reply Last reply 21 Apr 2024, 16:47
                                    • G George K
                                      20 Apr 2024, 16:47

                                      I've been a fan of MacIntyre's books since I read "Operation Mincemeat."

                                      Screenshot 2024-04-20 at 11.43.33 AM.png

                                      "Britain’s Special Air Service—or SAS—was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young aristocrat whose aimlessness belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a World War II battlefield map and saw a protracted struggle, Stirling saw an opportunity: given a small number of elite men, he could parachute behind Nazi lines and sabotage their airplanes and supplies. Defying his superiors’ conventional wisdom, Stirling assembled a revolutionary fighting force that would upend not just the balance of the war, but the nature of combat itself.

                                      Bringing his keen eye for detail to a riveting wartime narrative, Ben Macintyre uses his unprecedented access to the SAS archives to shine a light on a legendary unit long shrouded in secrecy."

                                      I enjoyed the TV series - so far, the series is pretty close to (1st quarter of) the book

                                      Link to video

                                      G Offline
                                      G Offline
                                      George K
                                      wrote on 21 Apr 2024, 16:47 last edited by
                                      #779

                                      @George-K said in What are you reading now?:

                                      I've been a fan of MacIntyre's books since I read "Operation Mincemeat."

                                      Screenshot 2024-04-20 at 11.43.33 AM.png

                                      As I watched the TV series, I thought, "Nah, this shit can't be true."

                                      Halfway through the book, it turns out that most of it WAS true.

                                      What a great tale - love MacItyre's books.

                                      "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                      The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      • kluursK Offline
                                        kluursK Offline
                                        kluurs
                                        wrote on 23 Apr 2024, 23:36 last edited by
                                        #780

                                        I'm still reading 4-5 books a month - but not posting unless i think it's something to talk about. I just got around to Douglas Murray's "The War on the West" - and it's a good read. It's a shame that people just hear his name and cover their eyes and ears. He provides thoughtful criticism of what I sometimes refer to as "flashcard responses" to issues. He goes after the 1619 Project and what might seem like self-flagellation of Western thought. One of my favorite courses in my progressive high school was titled "The Development of Western Thought" - which introduced students to a Great Books type of survey of philosophy and literature from the Greeks to modern times. I benefited greatly from that course - as it set up a lifelong interest in substantive works.

                                        Thoughtful discourses presupposes that one has some education and exposure to a range of views. While one can say that Murray is writing a narrative to prove a point - and thus, isn't completely balanced in his exposition, it enables a reader to have more nuanced responses when discussing some of the issues we currently face.

                                        Sadly, his name is one of those flashcards - Douglas Murray = CANCEL

                                        image.png

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        • G Offline
                                          G Offline
                                          George K
                                          wrote on 23 Apr 2024, 23:42 last edited by
                                          #781

                                          Oooh. I'll have to check that out!

                                          Thanks, @kluurs!

                                          Finished "Rogue Heroes" this morning.

                                          Typical MacIntyre stuff - thoroughly researched and written in a narrative manner that's easy to follow.

                                          My only criticism is that part two of the book, the SAS in Europe is much more "compartmentalized" than the first half. While the first half sets up the history of the unit and does a great job of introducing you to the main players, the second half has each chapter tell one story/mission, with little relationship to the preceding ones. New members are introduced, most of which don't know or interact with each other. Each chapter stands alone.

                                          Perhaps the most interesting/disturbing chapter of Part 2 was the discovery and liberation of Bergen-Belsen. No matter how many times you see videos, read narratives, it's always a blow to the gut to revisit the horrors.

                                          If you're a fan of WWII stories, take a look at this one. It's very well done.

                                          "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                          The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

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