Warning: War, death, violence
I just finished reading Mark Bowden’s Huế, 1968. Since it’s history, I won’t warn you of any spoilers.
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Warning: War, death, violence
I just finished reading Mark Bowden’s Huế, 1968. Since it’s history, I won’t warn you of any spoilers.
Ursula Le Guin has a blog. Did you know that? I didn’t. [le guin]
About 20 years ago I decided to collect 1st editions and hardbound versions of the books that have been memorable or important to me. That was how I learned a cool bibliophilic thing: most of us like things from our own time, and they’re not rare or antique books yet.
I’m not a fannish type, but I wrote a fan-letter once – to George MacDonald Fraser, Author, the isle of Man, UK. And I got back a charmingly gracious reply, too. I have read nearly everything Mark Twain wrote, and a measurable percentage of Voltaire but Fraser is the only one of my favorite authors I can claim to have completely read.
Stanislaw Lem wrote some very witty and unusual science fiction. If you haven’t read Tales Of Pirx The Pilot [amazon] or Memoirs Found In A Bathtub [amazon] you might enjoy them if you like quirky and thoughtful fiction.
Tales of Pirx The Pilot has one of the most memorable scenes in science fiction: Pirx, an astronaut in a space mishap, has to spend a prolonged period in his space suit – and discovers that there is a fly in his helmet.
Edward Bernays was the foremost proponent of “public relations” (which encompasses marketing, political propaganda, and other means of manipulating society) – an interesting character, who seemed almost as if he wanted to set himself up as a target for conspiracy theories.
This book is one of the first that I added to my list of recommended reading, for very good reasons. [list]
Content Warning: Torture, War Crimes, Medical Malpractice
A month ago I stumbled over the fact that Dr James Mitchell had written a book. So I bought a copy.
Timothy Garton Ash writes us a book about reviewing the Stasi – the East German secret police – file on himself. [amazon]
I always love it when the weird get going, and turn something that ought to be everyday into something special and funny and strange.