Books

[SKT]

@steelworker Finished “Coffin Moon” by Rosson and ended up really loving it. Would make an excellent movie. Adding Folk Songs to my list

[Giles]

I urge you to read this. I can't start to explain how brilliant this book is. It made me laugh, cry and wonder in equal measure. It is not just an account of Shackleton's failed attempt at crossing Antartica and the unbelievable rescue of his men, but in many ways, a lesson for life. I have learned so much (and bored the arse out of P, as I insist on reading parts out to her all the time). Read it, and I think you'll thank me.

[Chap]

@Giles ordered. Will spend Xmas on a small remote Island in the North Sea. Sounds like a perfect book to read there...

[Giles]

I chatted to a couple of German friends here (the dive masters and the reason we came to this resort). They found it difficult to read, and gave up, they said that the English was too difficult for them. I told them to try harder

[Chap]

@Giles said in Books:

I chatted to a couple of German friends here (the dive masters and the reason we came to this resort). They found it difficult to read, and gave up, they said that the English was too difficult for them. I told them to try harder

Shit... and there is no translation available. Will have to aks Maxi to translate...

[Giles]

I think you will manage, but he does talk some heavy shit in places. He also makes some brilliant observations (apologies to my American friends):

[endo]

I don't know this one (on finding the ship) , but there are lots of good books on Shakleton and the Endurance trip. For those who haven't read any I would recommend Shakleton's own description. Here in a German version with a foreword by Reinhold Messner:

[ARNC]

Not Shackleton, but you’ve reminded me that I really ought to get hold of a copy of this. I’ve thought about it many times and never followed through. Cherry-Garrard is buried in the same churchyard as my parents.

[endo]

That's a good tip, @ARNC . Don't know it yet.

[Giles]

One of the interesting discussions in Finding Endurance is the authors analysis of the difference in character/motivation between Scott and Shackleton. That Scott played a finite game, and Shackleton an infinite game.... Not that I knew what either were 2 days ago......

[endo]

Scott played a finite game, and Shackleton an infinite game

Haven't heard of the terms before, but the outcomes of both expeditions explain the meaning.

[SKT]

@Giles Humility…one of the bedrocks of American history and culture.

[endo]

reading this, and listening to this

[mclaincausey]

@SKT said in Books:

@Giles Humility…one of the bedrocks of American history and culture.

Leaning more into humiliation these days

[SKT]

@mclaincausey truth

[mclaincausey]

Thanks to @Giles I have started the audiobook of Finding Endurance and while I am early, find it well-written and I am also enjoying narrator Saul Reichlin's lovely English accent. I also found a free audiobook edition on Audible of Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing from 1959 that I added to my list but have not started.

[Giles]

Thanks @Bridger

[Bridger]

Have you started/finished it @Giles?

Thoughts?

[Giles]

One of my measures for how much I am enjoying/appreciating/learning from a book, is how much I feel the need to read sections out-loud to whomever is in my orbit. I read the first 3 sentences of the preface out to P, I suspect they will not be the last......

[mclaincausey]

Speaking of violence.... You want violence, try reading this one I finished last night: Hannibal: Rome's Greatest Enemy by Philip Freeman. The era's casual genocide, infanticide, or butchery of as many as 60,000 soldiers in single battles are mind-boggling. The strategic brilliance of Hannibal is so impressive. It is interesting to speculate, as the author does, about how different the world would be had he taken to Rome after destroying their army in the Battle of Cannae and laid siege. It could well have been the end of the Rome in 216 BC. It's truly hard to even get my head around that. Constantinople fell in 1453 AD. Imagine almost 1700 years of Roman influence suddenly gone. We wouldn't be speaking the same languages or anything.