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Mike Collins
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Mike Collins
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PostTue Dec 22, 2015 11:41 am 
Myths are powerful and our nation gathers strength from its own collection. George Washington tossing a silver dollar across a river and his chopping down a cherry tree in his youth are both explored in Where the Cherry Tree Grew-The Story of Ferry Farm, George Washington's Boyhood Home by Philip Levy. The farm came very close to becoming a Walmart in the mid-90s and has thankfully been preserved. The book discusses the sad experiences the farm brought to Washington's life and how he triumphed over them.

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Slugman
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PostWed Dec 30, 2015 2:15 pm 
In Search of Ancient Oregon: a Geologic and Natural History, by Ellen Morris Bishop. I do not recall ever owning a book where the writing and the photos were both so interesting and well-done. Beautiful photos, on thick, coated paper. I especially love the pictures of places I have been to, like the Wallowa mountains, or the area around Bend and the spectacular lakes on the Cascade Lakes Highway.

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moonspots
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PostWed Dec 30, 2015 2:24 pm 
"The Next World War" - computers are the weapons and the frontline is everywhere. So far it's an interesting account of historical difficulties of accepting the change in soldier on a battlefield to that as a soldier using IT as "information warfare".

"Out, OUT you demons of Stupidity"! - St Dogbert, patron Saint of Technology
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Mike Collins
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PostThu Dec 31, 2015 7:32 pm 
FDR helped our country emerge from the difficult years of the Great Depression. There are many people who believe FDR became president in spite of his disability from polio. In The Man He Became-How FDR Defied Polio to Win the Presidency James Tobin proposes that he became president because of polio. Not from receiving sympathy votes however, but by how polio changed his sense of self, his perspective, and his better understanding of the difficulties experienced by others less fortunate. Tobin is a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and his proven mastery with words makes this enriching book a delight to read.

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Malachai Constant
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PostThu Dec 31, 2015 11:26 pm 
Rereading Desert Solitare and "Rabbit" books.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Mike Collins
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PostFri Jan 01, 2016 4:40 pm 
Edmund Hillary and Peter Hillary coauthored Two Generations with each contributing one half of the book. Their relationship was at times strained as it Peter struggled with his own identity apart from being known as "the son of Edmund Hillary". Mountaineering exploits are discussed and occupy a large portion of both writers contributions. But the heartfelt tones are felt when both writers express the resonating effect of Louise (wife/mother) and Belinda (daughter/sister) deaths together in an airplane crash in Nepal.

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Mike Collins
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PostSat Jan 02, 2016 9:41 am 
Edmund Hillary asked a fellow Kiwi to climb Makalu in 1960. Their summit bid came within several hundred feet of success and that exploit is relived in No Place for Men, by Peter Mulgrew. The book takes the reader back to the era when hundreds of coolies [his word] carried supplies for a climbing party and letters were delivered by runners between villages. Peter Mulgrew developed a pulmonary embolism which lead to an infarct before losing both feet to frostbite and one can sense the anguish and pain that he felt through his recollection of the events with their unsuccessful climb.

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Mike Collins
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PostSat Jan 02, 2016 5:10 pm 
Puppy sitting has given me the opportunity to finish reading a few books recently obtained. Reinhold Messner led a successful K 2 Expedition in 1979. All of the members kept diaries and along with their photos K 2-Mountain of Mountains was edited by Messner. The book describes the hardship of their shared experiences but goes further than most climbing books. It offers a wealth of photos and documents the people of the Karakorum themselves and their contribution to the climbing party on the approach.

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touron
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PostSat Jan 02, 2016 8:19 pm 
The Nez Perce Indians provides a very interesting history of the inland northwest during the 19th century, from Lewis and Clark, to the fur traders, to the missionares, the covered wagons, from the perspective of the history of the Nez Perce. The book is long, but it is all interesting, and you have all winter to read it. hmmm.gif

Touron is a nougat of Arabic origin made with almonds and honey or sugar, without which it would just not be Christmas in Spain.
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Snowbrushy
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PostSat Jan 02, 2016 8:35 pm 
Than you Touron. A must-read for me. Everyone.

Oh Pilot of the storm who leaves no trace Like thoughts inside a dream Heed the path that led me to that place Yellow desert stream.
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Backpacker Joe
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PostSun Jan 03, 2016 9:38 am 
Walking in the rain book 4.

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
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wolffie
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PostTue Jan 26, 2016 3:13 pm 
[poster on another thread] After reading The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (Daniel Yergin) -- a history of the oil industry -- I think the best thing to do with the Bakken is leave the oil in the ground for the next war. You can't win a war without oil. The oil supply was a central strategic objective in all of the major wars of the last century. Visualize running out of tank fuel because you burned it all up in your Cadillac -- ask Rommel about that. It's a fascinating book, followed by The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, ands several other titles, which I haven't read. Anybody who can make a thriller about such a dry subject has got to be worth reading. Did you know that Standard Oil, John D.'s megalomonster, originally had nothing to do with transportation or heating fuels? It was all about kerosene for lighting: only the rich could afford wax candles, even smokey tallow candles were expensive, as were whales. My German immigrant forebears around 1870 in Wisconsin pooled their money and splurged on one big purchase to get them through the long winter: one can (quart?) of kerosene. I can picture them all huddled around that one lamp, sewing and reading. Without that, once the sun went down, your day was over. John D. made at least one worthwhile contribution: standardizing the distillation process, so the kerosene stopped occasionally blowing up in families' faces. If you read it, you'll recognize the antecedents of many of our current predicaments. It was almost (not quite) amusing to watch the Bakken follow precisely the boom-and-bust cycle Yergin describes elsewhere, like in Texas & California (at least one instance wherein one leg of a drilling derrick was inside the footprint of another). When they started exploring for oil in the Arabian peninsula, Kind Saud wanted them to drill for water instead.

Some people have better things to do with their lives than walking the dog. Some don't.
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostThu Jan 28, 2016 5:34 pm 
I've seen many references to HP Lovecraft over the years. My curiosity led me to check out "At the Mountains of Madness." I didn't care much for it. Obviously it was written in a completely different era. He's considered a 20th century master of horror, but I found it to be more tedious than fear inducing. Oh well. It did lead to me to a couple google searches that provided some entertainment. I'd never heard of the painter Nicholas Roerich before, he has some wonderful images. Also there is a book Lovecraft references frequently--the Necronomicon--that apparently he made up. However there are people that believe it really is an ancient text that Lovecraft merely borrowed the idea for. Kinda out there... I'm still a bit curious to gain a better understanding of the references I see frequently for Cthulu, but maybe not enough to read more Lovecraft.

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Malachai Constant
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PostThu Jan 28, 2016 5:45 pm 
His writing is very much like overblown EAP in that 19th century over florid style only written to be disgusting rather than romantic. He was also very racist.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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NacMacFeegle
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PostThu Jan 28, 2016 6:38 pm 
I'm a big HP Lovecraft fan, and have read almost all of his stories. Mountains of Madness is definitely the longest and most epic, but his shorter works are no less enjoyable. Though I guess its technically horror I think it is really more science fiction in nature, especially in "The Whisperer in Darkness" and "The Color out of Space". I consider his work to be comparable to that of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.
Malachai Constant wrote:
He was also very racist.
So what? I don't believe that works of visual and written art should be judged based on the beliefs, actions, or personalities of their creators. I can still enjoy a movie starring Tom Cruise, or a a novel by Orson Scott Card even though I may not like or agree with them in real life. Also, much of what we consider racist today wasn't thought of as racist a century ago, and racism was far more socially acceptable then than it is today. Don't be so quick to judge people from ages past through the lens of the modern day.

Read my hiking related stories and more at http://illuminationsfromtheattic.blogspot.com/
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