Books

So I’m reading The 9/11 Commussion Report which Richard Clark and several other serious politicos recommended that every American read also mentioning that is was priced at an affordable level ($10). I was skeptical about picking up some government commissions report just because when I think of a government report I think very dry. But I kept seeing it at all these books stores and so while wandering through the aisles one day I picked it up and stared reading the first few pages. I’m at page 93 at this point and fascinated. But more importantly it is excellently written about interesting subjects. It talks about the actual events on the planes. It then events on the ground. Then it asks who is al-Qaida and provides a comprehensive background on Arab militants, their aims, goals and tactics. There is a healthy discussion of why the US was targeted primarily by Bin Laden et al. Superbly written, non-political (this is a good thing) and fascinating...to me.

Which leads me to wonder who, of my friends and acquaintances, do I know who would read this book. The list of people who would read it based even on my recommendation is slim, after all I suspect it’s not a subject that interests most people. In fact I can think of only one person who I think might pick it up of their own accord simple for their own edification. Now all of this is not a judgment on people and their priorities. We all have dogs to walk, babies to bounce and lovers to seduce. Rather this is an indication of my odd interests in topics.

For example I really want to read Security Planning and Design : A Guide for Architects and Building Design which is a architecture textbook (at $61 used it ain’t happening. Did I mention I’m a cheapskate frugal?). Why you might ask? I once heard an architecture expert on NPR talking about building security (The three rules of building security? Distance, distance, distance). And here I am.

My next book is going to be A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

Todays quote is from: The Once and Future King, by T.H. White.

"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in our anatomies, you may lie awake at listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know our honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then, to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the MIND can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you. Look at what a lot of things there are to learn -- pure science, the only purity there is. You can learn astronomy in a lifetime, natural history in three, literature in six. And then, after you have exhausted a milliard lifetimes in biology and medicine and theocriticism and geography and history and economics -- why, then you can start to make a cartwheel out of the appropriate wood, or spend fifty years learning to begin to learn to beat your adversary at fencing. After that, you can start again on mathematics, until it is time to learn to plough."