Links to some of my personal thoughts and writings.
This first biography of General Dwight David Eisenhower was completed in 1944, after the successful invasion of Italy but before the invasion of Europe on 6/6/1944. One can tell right away that it was written in a simpler time….the langauage used and the pure patriotism are most interesting and feel good to read after all […]
Book Review – Eisenhower, Man and Soldier, Ann Woodward Miller Read More »
This is perhaps the fourth book I’ve read about Schliemann and this one is distinct in that it was written very shortly after the man’s death and as a result has a different, more topical view of the man and his discoveries. Schliemann was an extraordinary fellow who made a fortune in the business world […]
Book Review – Schliemann’s Discoveries of the Ancient World: Carl Schuchhardt Read More »
I came across this book, actually a reference to a book, while researching the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. At the moment I am not certain where I bumped into the name but in one of those books, there was a reference to the Easter Massacres in Kishineff. (I found the reference – it […]
One might not be aware of the fact, and there is really no good reason why anyone should know this I suppose, but I have a personal connection with our black birds. It stems from reading a number of books related to the culture of the American Indians. In that culture, a person has what […]
Book Review – Crows and Ravens, Marzluff & Angell Read More »
From the Dust Jacket…says it well… The Tibetan catastrophe–the systematic destruction of a people, a religion, a priceless civilization–has continued for more that thirty-five years. In this book Tsipan Shuguba, the last surviving high official from the 14th Dalai Lama’s government, has revealed information about the Chinese takeover and occupation that was deliberately concealed from […]
Book Review – In The Presence Of My Enemies, Tsipon Shuguba Read More »
Actually, this is not a book – it’s one of my favorite Video games. A couple of my buddies & I were discussing some current events as they relate to censorship and one of them pointed us to a page in the WikiPedia that contained the sayings of some of the characters we have come […]
This is a multi-volumn set of books, 3 in all and is one of the more difficult books I have read and tried to review. One of the main thrusts of the books is that the human race has gained and lost an enormous amount of knowledge about our history and heritage. Much of this […]
This is a reprint of a book originally published in 1914. That original publication data needs to be kept in mind as language, customs and what is ‘politically correct’ have evolved. I found the book rather interesting for the most part but a little redundant at times. This is due to the fact that many […]
Book Review – The Myths of the North American Indians, Lewis Spence Read More »
This is a book that I have wanted a copy of for years. I forget where I found it – most likely in a used book store somewhere. It is rather rare and was a tad expensive. It is in excellent condition. I have encountered a fair number of references to the text inside the […]
Book Review – The Pyramid Of Unas, Alexandre Piankoff Read More »
and other anomalous elements in the Hebrew Creation Myth The premise of this book is that the book of Genesis was written as a sort of synthesis of myths and stories that were current about 400-600 BC. The idea is that the other stories were reprocessed and reordered into a story that was of, at […]
n Ælfred’s Days, A Story of the Saga the Dane, Paul Creswick I picked up this book while on vacation in British Columbia and read it thru while there. It caught my attention immediately because it is inscribed with the name Winifred Bullock (my mother’s maiden name!) It’s actually one of the few fiction books […]
Background: I have made an earnest effort to learn what I can about nuclear weapons. That means how they work, what they do, how we came to build them and how and why they were used. I trace the interest to the fact that I have a personal connection to the Cuban Missile Crisis. I […]
I spent so much time trying to locate this text that I decided to make an exception and include the entire thing. I encountered this book while reading Rituals of War and it was a real pain to run down. It seems to be available only in: From Distant Days: Myths, Tales, and Poetry of […]
Book Review – Erra And Ishtum, Kabti-ilani-Marduk Read More »
Not sure where I obtained this or why. This started out as a very disappointing book due to the fact that the author seems to have gone out of his way to use such arcane and specialist language that it was frustrating to try to understand. I added so many words to the dictionary in […]
Found this while on vacation in British Columbia I read only the first of the 2 books contained in this volumn as the second, by Layamon, is written/translated into a very old form of English and is not particularly easy to read. Having read so many of these stories and having found the first one […]
Book Review – Arthurian Chronicles, Wace & Layamon Read More »
Before Writing, From Counting to Cuniform, Schmandt-Besserat I ran into a reference to this work, and the other companions as yet unread while looking into some additional details related to Marshak’s work. It took a real effort to locate a copy of the books and they proved to be quite expensive. This copy came from […]
Book Review – Before Before Writing, From Counting to Cuniform, Schmandt-Besserat Read More »
A Search for Spiritual Meaning…An Appreciation of Joseph Campbell Not at all sure where or when I picked this up but I recall that it sat on the shelf for quite a while before I finally read it. An interesting book, written by a man who knew Campbell reasonably well and worked with him. Generally […]
Book Review – The Myth of the Great Secret, Toby Johnson Read More »
A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life From the back cover: Compassion is the guiding principle of the bodhisattvas, those who vow to attain enlightenment in order to liberate all sentient beings from the suffering and confusion of imperfect existence. To this end, they must renounce all self-centered goals and consider only the well-being […]
Book Review – A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night, The Dalai Lama Read More »
This was a book recommended to me by my book dealer friend in Santa Fe. From the Publisher The memories of heroes are preserved the world over in place names, patriotic holidays, printed images on money and stamps, folk songs, roadside shrines, and on web sites. Understanding the origin and meaning of these forms of […]
Book Review – Death, Dismemberment and Memory, Lyman Johnson Read More »
A retrospective of President Bush divided into 8 sections from 8 different persons, including: Laura Bush, Dick Chaney and others. I saw it advertised in a flier that I received in the mail just about the time that President Bush left office. I ordered it immediately and it finally arrived 6 months later. While I […]
Book Review – W – The Legacy of President George Bush, The Washington Times Read More »
Kinda funny story about this book….. We went to an antique sale held outside near Leesburg, which cost us 24.00 just to get in. We bought nothing….But, at one of the vendor’s tables, I saw a copy of this book and asked for a price as there was none in the book. The vendor asked […]
Book Review – Works of Art – The Unites States Capitol, Government Printing Office Read More »
The Bells of Nagasaki, Takashi Nagai I found this book in an antique store while on vacation in British Columbia, 2009. This is, to the best of my knowledge, the only account of the atomic bomb attacks that was personally written by one of the survivors. The only other like volumn was written by an […]
I picked up this book while on vacation in British Columbia and read it in its entirety during the vacation. An enormous number of books have been written about King Arthur and his knights. This book, long out-of-print, is the original and definitive “source book” of the actual textual evidence related to the legend. I’ve […]
Eisenhower and Latin America, Stephen Rabe The Foreign Policy of AntiCommunism Another addition to the library as it relates to my favorite President Forget where I found this. Read most of it on Metro but finished it while in the Air going to see pat and Theresa’s wedding. That was a GREAT time. From the […]
The Arts and Crafts of Travancore, Kramrisch, Poduval and Cousins Printed by the Royal India and Pakastan Society. Found this in an antique shop somewhere and just had to buy it. Travancore is a “province”, if that is the right term (and I doubt it is) for an area of India at the southern tip, […]
Book Review – The Arts and Crafts of Travancore, Kramrisch, Poduval and Cousins Read More »
Gilgamesh, A New English Version Simply put, this is my favorite story. Period. I own every copy of every translation that I have ever been able to locate and buy. It is difficult to explain why this is such a favorite….sorta like trying to explain why burnt-orange is my favorite color. The story touches on […]
I found this while traveling in New Mexico during our October, 2009 trip. It is the first book I have seen that treats of this subject so I jumped on it. This is an excellent reference for the subject but it has a clear tendency to address the high-end of this business, both in terms […]
Book Review – Scanning Negatives and Slides, Sascha Steinhoff Read More »
This is a companion to the other Collier’s book and was bought at the same time and from the same dealer as the first. This one is not in such great shape. I do not think we had this one at home when I was a child but I just had to buy it since […]
Book Review – Collier’s New Photographic History Of The World’s War Read More »
Photographs by the Official Photographers Accompanying Each Army This is one of two such books that I bought at the DC Big Flea on 11/7/2009. This was a “buy on first sight” kinda thing….the reason being that my step-father had this book in our house when I was a child. I opened the book and […]
Book Review – Collier’s Photographic History Of The European War Read More »
What follows are some short reviews and comments related to the books that I have recently read. Chronologically, the most recent will be at the top and the oldest at the bottom. The content is generally derived from the notecard that I kept while reading. I’m not sure when I started the habit of keeping […]