What are you reading?

[Gillianren]

That the Danish Jews were almost all smuggled out of the country and to Sweden.

[JohnD]

I can't read Gillianren's mind, nor her book, but when I went to Denmark, forty years ago, and remember that this was only twenty five years after these events, I was shocked to learn of how they saved their Jews. Shocked, because it so contrasts with the actions of other occupied countries and because they never talked about it, when it should be a matter of national pride.

The Nazis overran Denmark - how could they not? The Danes aren't proud of that, but they are a tiny country. After consolidating their power, the Nazis planned to take away all the Danish Jews, to the fictitious land in the East. But Danes in government saw through this lie, determined to prevent it, and secretly arranged to warn all the Jews, collect them and transport them to safety in Sweden. In one night.
That extraordinary operation could not have been done without a Danish people who unanimously were antiracist. Any Danish Nazi would have blown the gaff, but no one did. I suppose that there must have been some, but the Danes knew themselves so well that the secret did not get out. By this effort, they saved nearly all their Jews.

I do not criticise other countries, most of whom had no convenient, neutral country on their doorstep. Israel has recognised members of the Danish Resistance as "Righteous among Nations", but IMHO, Denmark should have that honour.

If this was not Gillianren's known fact, I don't care. It deserves to tbe repeated
JOhn

PS Oops! Missed G's reply. Glad it was this fact, and gald to elaborate on it. J.

[HenrikOlsen]

It is a source of pride, but the Danish mentality then was not to brag about the things we're most proud of.

These days it's also a source of shame for some of us because it reminds us of a spirit the country has lost from decades of right wing ultra-nationalist politicians scoring cheap points through racist rhetoric (mainly anti-Muslim) which has turned things on its head so the new generations look at the resistance as synonymous with a general anti-foreign mindset and consider their current racism to be on par with the anti-Nazi sentiment of the occupation.

[Gillianren]

It is a source of pride, but the Danish mentality then was not to brag about the things we're most proud of.

I'd wager that's hard for most Americans to understand.

These days it's also a source of shame for some of us because it reminds us of a spirit the country has lost from decades of right wing ultra-nationalist politicians scoring cheap points through racist rhetoric (mainly anti-Muslim) which has turned things on its head so the new generations look at the resistance as synonymous with a general anti-foreign mindset and consider their current racism to be on par with the anti-Nazi sentiment of the occupation.

I can see how that would be problematic. When indeed I would think it's the opposite of that spirit, which was one of inclusiveness.

[jamesabrown]

Just started Protector by Larry Niven. It's been a while since I've read Golden Age Hard SF. We'll see if it holds up well.

[jamesabrown]

I'd wager that's hard for most Americans to understand.

I agree with G about America's propensity to brag about itself. And yet, I'm having difficulty groking the idea of a nation being proud of having accomplished something while simultaneously keeping said accomplishment mum. How do you inform the next generation of your accomplishment so that they can too participate in the national pride without being outspoken about it?

[HenrikOlsen]

They can just go do something to be proud of themselves.

Seriously though, it's taught in history.

[JohnD]

My father served in that war. He was intensely proud of what he and his country (UK) had done, but would never talk about it, except to people who had been through it too. While our family were on holiday in Austria, he met a German who had been in the same part of the war. They spent a whole afternoon chatting, quietly and comradely, and parted friends, but he would not say what they had talked about. Some countries may be like that.

I'm glad the new generation of Danes learn about their fathers' exploits.

JOhn

[Gillianren]

And mothers'. Unlike the military, the Resistance was a lot more equal opportunity.

I get the new Stephen King today, because our branch is not one of the ones closed due to weather, but in the meantime, I am reading The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth, by Matthew Algeo. The title kinda says it all, really.

[Noclevername]

Recently re-read the Foundation trilogy; I'm a bit disappointed to learn that the more recent editions have been George Lucas'ed by replacing the word "atomic" with "nuclear" to make it sound more "modern". It's not a modern book, it isn't meant to be. It's jarring to someone who read and enjoyed the original version as one of the first serious Science Fiction novel series I'd ever read. I hear tell it was Asimov himself who authorized the change; I'll give the Good Doctor the benefit of the doubt and assume he was talked into it by a pretty lady (his one true weakness).

[Paul Beardsley]

Recently re-read the Foundation trilogy; I'm a bit disappointed to learn that the more recent editions have been George Lucas'ed by replacing the word "atomic" with "nuclear" to make it sound more "modern". It's not a modern book, it isn't meant to be. It's jarring to someone who read and enjoyed the original version as one of the first serious Science Fiction novel series I'd ever read. I hear tell it was Asimov himself who authorized the change; I'll give the Good Doctor the benefit of the doubt and assume he was talked into it by a pretty lady (his one true weakness).

Good grief. A good deal of the appeal of reading old books - especially SF books - is to enjoy spotting dated attitudes, beliefs, and (as in this case) language. I can understand if a term has become offensive (such as the Agatha Christie novel with the n-word in the title, subsequently renamed as And Then There Were None) but in Foundation it's needless.

It's also absurd. In Foundation, atomics could do things that I don't think will ever be done with actual nuclear devices, such as casting a protective force shield around someone, and Asimov did not deal with the problems of nuclear waste in a way that would be called "modern". In the unretconned books, we've got the delightful arrangement of starships smashing through hyperspace to arrive at planets whose economy is based on an oil and coal. We've got a galaxy that takes psychohistory seriously - something conceivably possible in the 1940s but now considered very unlikely. We've got typewriters that can be operated via reliable speech recognition, but they don't save their documents. And so on.

There is just so much about the books that has thoroughly dated, yet this has not detracted from their value as thoughtful SF or works of entertainment. Modernising that one word is ludicrous.

[Gillianren]

I'm about 200 pages into 11/22/63 and enjoying it immensely.

[Gillianren]

Okay, finished the King. I think the ending is a bit of a cheat in some ways but makes perfect sense in others. And I feel rather as though I've been hit by something heavy. I will now read about President Cleveland, about whom there are no conspiracy theories other than exactly who the father of that child was. And no one cares enough to go through time to find that out.

[ColoRetiree]

Finishing off Brian Greene's "The Fabric of the Cosmos."

I'm 3/4 of the way through Brian Greene's "The Hidden Reality" and I hope you had more luck than I am having. I bought it after seeing the TV series based on Greene's "The Fabric of the Cosmos.", which I found very informative. But I just can not convince myself that all these different kinds of Universes actually "exist" simply because a math equation says so. The Simulated Multiverse is especially troublesome. The "Matrix" was an entertaining SciFi, but that's all it was. JMHO.

[TJMac]

Just finished the new Stephen King myself. Had an unexpected move in between getting the book, and finishing it. Moving on short notice is no fun.

I really liked the book, but mainly because I like King's style of writing. I could see where things were going most of the time, but that's ok, and it caught me totally off guard at other times. I appreciated the, "oh it's good to be back here, wait, there are things that are NOT as good 50 yrs ago."

I guess I am ignorant of Johnson's role in the civil rights movement, and I am thinking I should find a good biography on Lyndon Johnson. That's part of what caught me unexpected.

I still really like how King almost always sneaks a little bit of his other books into each novel. Very cool, IMO.

TJ

[Usher]

Reading Lord of the Rings again. Tolkien was the first author I read as a youth who could paint a scene in my brain as if I was in the story. The books never grow old for me.

[Gillianren]

I guess I am ignorant of Johnson's role in the civil rights movement, and I am thinking I should find a good biography on Lyndon Johnson. That's part of what caught me unexpected.

It was one of the things I'd been arguing about before I really got into the meat of the book. If JFK hadn't died, LBJ wouldn't have had the excuse of "we must pass this legislation in the name of our fallen leader!" to get the legislation hammered through. I don't know if I agree with some of the suggestions of what happened in King's alternate future, but it's certainly true that it wouldn't all be rosy. LBJ was able to inveigle, blackmail, and so forth in order to get Civil Rights legislation passed, and Kennedy simply didn't have the skills--or interest.

I still really like how King almost always sneaks a little bit of his other books into each novel. Very cool, IMO.

The premise is that all the books are connected by way of the Dark Tower.

[ColoRetiree]

... LBJ was able to inveigle, blackmail, and so forth in order to get Civil Rights legislation passed, and ...

You are exactly right concerning LBJ. Some years ago I read a three volume work on LBJ by Robert A. Caro. He calls LBJ "Master of the Senate" and describes a master politician who was able to manipulate other politicians like no one before him.

[Gillianren]

I've studied a bit about the Civil Rights movement, and I can say that, while I'm glad the legislation got passed, I don't entirely agree with some of the methods LBJ used to get it passed. On the other hand, I'm not sure it would have gotten through any other way, not at the time.

[TJMac]

Any recommendations on a LBJ biography? I will start at my local library chain, but from a glance at their website, I'm not sure they have much to offer.

TJ


edit: It helps when I spell the name correctly in searching.

[Gillianren]

I'm not sure I've ever read one, honestly. Most of what I've learned about him, I learned while studying something else.

[Usher]

Any recommendations on a LBJ biography? I will start at my local library chain, but from a glance at their website, I'm not sure they have much to offer.

TJ


edit: It helps when I spell the name correctly in searching.

Doris Kearns Goodwin writes terrific biographical history, and she penned Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream back in '91. Should be available 2nd hand if not in your library.

[ColoRetiree]

Any recommendations on a LBJ biography? ...

1. The Years of Lyndon Johnson - The Path To Power - Robert A. Caro - copyright 1982, 882 pages
2. The Years of Lyndon Johnson - Means Of Ascent - Robert A. Caro - copyright 1990, 522 pages
3. The Years of Lyndon Johnson - Master Of The Senate - Robert A. Caro - copyright 2002, 1,167 pages

Starts with family history and ends prior to his Presidency.

[mike alexander]

I see that a 50th anniversary edition of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is coming out. If you haven't read it, go out and get a copy.

[peteshimmon]

Some fifty years ago I had a line from the
family radio up to my bedroom where I listened
to late night stuff on headphones. The Book at
Bedtime was Cone of Silence by David Beaty
published in 1959.

A new Jet Liner had crashes on hot nights
when at maximum weight. The pilot did things
by the book. But he was killed. Inquiry said
Pilot Error. But encouraged by the dead pilots
daughter, the airline training pilot finds that
many of the other pilots do something by
instinct and not in the book.

Getting the Airline and aircraft designers
to clear the dead pilot will not happen. I
remember the reader all those years ago acting
the "brick wall" nature of people in organisations.

Still worth a read I would say.

[snowcelt]

I am reading Guy Gavriel Kay's UNDER HEAVEN. The last book of his. This is great fantasy, It reads like history. If you know anything about history there is much that seems to be familiar.

[Solfe]

I just finished The Metamorphosis. I can't say I liked it, it was for a class.

I have a silly question about The Foundation Series. A few times I stumbled across a word replaced with the word "censored". Was this part of the story and if so through who is then telling the story?

[Gillianren]

Another one where the subtitle says it all--Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror, by Jason Zinoman.

[Romanus]

Clive Barker's Coldheart Canyon.

[swampyankee]

Back the classics: Aerodynamics of Wings and Bodies, by Holt Ashley & Marten Landahl. A slender book, but well worth some very close reading.