18 posts tagged “books”

When I get bored, I go over to Bookreads and answer some questions from their "Never Ending Book Quiz".  One question I came upon made me smile; it was as if it had been written especially for me. 

The quiz follows below:

Which of the following famous libertines was a real person?

1. Romeo
2. Don Juan
3. Casanova
4. Lothario

A box of cyber condoms for all correct guessers.

Recently, I overheard two women at work talking about the books they'd read.  One mentioned to the other about a novel she'd read where the main plot was about one woman's adulterous affair.  She asked the other woman if she wanted to borrow the book.  The other woman declined, stating she didn't want to read about such things because she thought adultery was immoral.

I rolled my eyes at this, thinking this woman must be very limited if she restricted herself from reading books about topics she didn't agree with, even if it was fiction.  What was this woman afraid of, I wondered.  Did she think if she read a story about adultery, that she would suddenly want to have an affair?

People read about things all the time that they'd never do in real life.   Mysteries and crime novels are quite popular with a lot of people, but it doesn't mean that such people approve of murder or will suddenly go on a killing spree because they like reading a good mystery.

It really boggles my mind at how depressingly narrow-minded so many people can be.

102 Minutes : The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers Jim Dwyer, Kevin Flynn Date: 12 January, 2005   —   $17.16   —   Book product page Rating:

Review of 102 Minutes : The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers

I read this book on the recommendation of Crazy Dave, after reading the review on his site.

Though the writing style was awkward and forced at certain points, it was a good account overall of what went on inside the towers during the 102 minutes from the time the first plane hit until the second tower collapsed.

As I read, I was struck at the parallels between this and the Titanic disaster. As with the Titanic, the towers were not built as sturdily as they could have been, nor did they have sufficient safety precautions , though both exceeded the insufficient regulations in place at the time of their constructions.

The book focused on the experiences of several individuals, showing how seemingly minor decisions at the time made the difference between life and death. Though in no way impugning the heroism of those involved, the book also illustrates how a lack of clear communications between the various rescue groups hampered evacuation efforts.

I predict that this book will become a classic in the literature about this disaster, just as Walter Lord's 1955 book, A Night to Remember, is a classic among books about the sinking of the Titanic.

Highly recommended.

When Bob Walker and Frances Mooney moved into their current home with their five cats in the late 1980s, they decided to modify their home to make it a more cat-friendly environment.

They started with a floor-to-ceiling scratching column covered in 395 feet of pink-dyed sisal and connected to a wall-to-wall beam just below ceiling height.

“Initially, the cats would run full speed down the hall chasing each other, go up and over the top of the two couches and climb up the column and race along the beam and hit a dead end where it connected to the wall," says Walker.

To solve this problem, they extended the beams through the walls, running them from room to room to create 140 feet of cat pathways. They added more roaming space with ramps and staircases.

These walkways lead to ceiling-high hiding-holes and lookout stations, because as Walker explained, “everyone knows cats like to look down on us.”

Walker and Mooney have written a book that goes into more detail about their pet friendly home modifications, which is entitled The Cat's House.

According to author Daphne Rose Kingma in her book, The Future of Love, there are five main myths about intimate relationships.

The first is that traditional, legal heterosexual marriage is the ultimate relationship form that all successful relationships must eventually become.  Those who believe in this group people into four categories:

• Those who are married

• Those who are waiting to be married

• Those who have been widowed or divorced and are waiting to be married again

• Those who were never lucky enough to marry in the first place.

The second is that all successful relationships must be daily -- seven days a week.

Never mind that dailiness can makes us too familiar with one another and lead partners to take one another for granted.  "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" is more than just a cliche.

The third myth is that all successful relationships must be domestic, that one must live full time with their partner.

We've all heard people say, "I love Soandso, but I could never live with him(her)", and they break up the relationship because of this, which is based on the domestic myth.  Dispense with the myth, and continue to enjoy such relationships on their own terms.

The fourth myth is all successful relationships must be exclusive -- sexually and otherwise.

In addition to the customary expectation of sexual exclusivity, most people unrealistically expect their partners to meet every other need they have.  This is unrealistic, because our partners are "mere mortals who love you, but are not gods who can make your every dream come true."   This myth is probably one of the largest causes of relationship disappointment, as no one could possibly live up to these expectations.

The fifth myth is that all successful relationships must be forever -- until death do us part.

This expectation came about when the life expectancy was nowhere near what it is now and when marriage was more a practical relationship of survival, rather than a love match.  People then promising "until death do us part" had, if they were lucky, 20 years of "forever", and did not face the prospect of many years living in an "empty nest".  

But people live longer now, life is about more than just mere survival, and people evolve, change,and grow during their longer lifespans.  A partner who was right for us at 20 might not be the same one who is right at 40, 60, etc.   To end a relationship that longer fits doesn't mean it was a failure; it was right in its proper time, and it's simply time to move on.
___________

For more details about what I've written above, read Kingma's book.   Those who read it will never look at intimate relationships in quite the same way again.  The only fault with this book, in my opinion, was an excessive amount of superfluous psychobabble, but I simply skipped that to get to the book's core message.

Thoughts?

Planet Simpson: How A Cartoon Masterpiece Defined a Generation Chris Turner Date: 12 October, 2004   —   $16.38   —   Book product page Rating:

Review of Planet Simpson: How A Cartoon Masterpiece Defined a Generation

I've been a devotee of the Simpsons for many years now, and when I saw this book at the library, I checked it out, thinking it would have some interesting tidbits about the show.

However, I never finished the book, as the writing style was boring and ponderous.  The author took himself and his subject matter much too seriously.  The book was a pathetic attempt  to prove how urbane and sophisticated the author thought he was.  It was as if he'd swallowed several encyclopedias about popular culture and philosophy, to name a few, and he frequently went off-topic waaaaay out into the tangents of left field.

There were a few interesting points, but they were buried so deep in verbose paragraphs with tortured sentence constructions and awkward neologisms, that I couldn't be bothered to hunt for more interesting parts that might have been there.

Don't bother with this one.  It reads as if it were a collaboration between the Comic Book Guy and Sideshow Bob.

Ann Coulter is playing the victim card yet again.

She was scheduled to appear on the Today show the other day to promote her latest screed of bile, which, considering her latest "poor me" performance, is ironically titled, Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America. 

However, the show postponed her appearance in order to devote more coverage to the current Israel-Hamas conflict, including Matt Lauer's interview with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Coulter's reaction was immediate and predictable.  She claimed that she'd been "banned" from NBC for life".  She also told Fox News’ Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes that NBC had booked her only as a "charade" to keep her from going on other shows.

Wah, wah, wah.

Coulter's so-called "ban" turned out to be of only one day's duration, as she was interviewed by Matt Lauer on Wednesday's show. 

Coulter's behavior was quite predictable.  She is a publicity whore of the highest order and though I'm certain she fully understood the reasons why her appearanced on the Today show was postponed, she chose to exploit this opportunity for even more media exposure.   By playing the victim, she was assured of being cussed and discussed on the air, over the web, and in print.   She'd reasoned it had been far too long since she'd stirred up crap and jumped on this opening like stink on shit.

With Coulter, it's always Same Shit, Different Day

Thoughts?

As anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time knows, I'm a hard-core bibliophile.  I've been able to read since age four and I grew up in a home filled with books, receiving books as gifts from my parents at every gift-giving occasion.  As an adult, I'm continually in the process of adding new books to my collection, so that after 40+ years of acquiring  books, I've currently got quite a sizable collection.  

Right now, I've got more books than I have places to put them.  I have seven bookcases filled to overflowing and more books are stacked in various places around my tiny home, including the back of the toilet tank.  I'm in serious need of more shelving units, but lack of funds and an increasing lack of places to put new shelves hinders my plans at the present time.

If I had money and a big house, my home library would look something like the two following pictures:

I'm a bibliophile. I've loved to read pretty much since I've been able to pick up a book. Able to read for myself since age four, I've always had a book in progress ever since. As a kid, I brought a book to the dinner table and it didn't matter what it was. I can remember going through our family's set of encyclopedias, volume by volume, at around age ten.

As an adult, I read about 75 percent non-fiction and 25 percent fiction. What I'm interesting in reading goes in spells -- I'll read lots of one type of book for months, then I'll get a taste for something else and the first type will go on the backburner until my interest is piqued for that type of book again. In non-fiction, just one or two books about a particular topic isn't enough -- I have to read everything I can get my hands on about it. For example, I own over 25 biographies of Harry Truman. The way I see it, every author takes a slightly different slant on the topic and includes some information another author missed.

I know there are many people who don't like to read; that they consider reading to be a chore or even work. This baffles me, as reading is as easy as breathing to me and it has provided hours of enjoyment over the years. It's stimulated my imagination and allowed me to "travel" to different times and places I could never go to in real life. I also credit my avid reading with my ability to write -- after so many books, writing simply rubbed off on me by osmosis.

I even know people who actively scorn reading. I once worked with a young man who bragged he'd not read a book since leaving school. I looked at him and said I'd never brag about being a dumbass in public like that.

So, I was not surprised when I recently read that one in four Americans had read no books at all last year. And even among those who had read something last year, the typical person claimed to have read four books — half read more and half read fewer. Excluding those who hadn't read at all, the usual number read was only seven. A measly amount, compared to the dozens of books I read each year.

It makes me wonder what these people do to exercise their minds -- if they do at all. If they don't, it explains a lot of things wrong with this country.

At a time when everyone is jumping on the bandwagon about physical fitness, few are alarmed about the erosion of mental fitness in our society. Though many harp on the dangers of being physically unfit, I'm guessing a nation of physically fit intellectual lightweights isn't going to do the country a whole lot of good, either.

Pick up a book and read something today.