READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

[Stanley]

I finished Hobsbawm and went back to a book that I once started but never got on with. Umberto Eco's 'The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana'. Like many of Eco's later books it is an incredibly demanding read and hard work. I'm happy to report that I might have grown up a bit! I am doing well with it and enjoying the ride but I have to admit he's an acquired taste, not for the faint-hearted!

[Stanley]

Loving Eco! I am really into it this time....

[Stanley]

Having said that, he has deteriorated as far as I am concerned. Too much academic insight into semiotics and not enough plot.
I have ordered a new book..... See computer thread.

[Stanley]

'Move Fast and Break Things' will be delivered today....... I shall report.

[Stanley]

The intro is good.......

[Stanley]

I'm well into the book now. Very revealing and well worth the effort. I'd class it with Naomi Klein's 'Shock Doctrine' and therefore a 'must read'!

[Stanley]

Still enjoying it, frightening stuff!

[Stanley]

I've finished Taplin's book and heartily recommend it to you. I knew that things were getting serious with the large monopolies like Amazon and Google but it's far more dangerous than I thought. It links in with the dangers of Libertarianism and the Chicago School of Economics and explains many of the things I see happening but didn't understand why. You need to know these things......

[Stanley]

Naomi Klein's book, 'This changes everything' arrived yesterday A brand new hardback, beautifully produced. I look forward to it.

[Stanley]

I've started on Naomi. Chilling reading when you consider it was published in 2014......

[BillHowcroft]

As recommended by Stanley, I spent £3.28 on a hardback copy of John Howlett's autobiography The Guv'nor. Just got to the end of WWI and his start in piston ring manufacturing. Looking good so far.

[Stanley]

Wonderful Bill! Not many people read that. I think you'll enjoy it. I have made no progress at all with Naomi, not her fault, just too much to do!

[BillHowcroft]

I put the following into Google and then clicked on 'images'
patent John Howlett Wellworthy

Throws up insights on a lot of the machinery he mentions.

[Stanley]

He was a funny old bugger and I can see why his board fell out with him. Used lots of Wellworthy ring sets in the old days, they were good.

[Stanley]

I see Stephanie has brought out another book. If Wendy reads this, please can I have a copy on the usual terms?

[Wendyf]

I see Stephanie has brought out another book. If Wendy reads this, please can I have a copy on the usual terms?

Yes of course Stanley. The book is due to be launched at an event next Saturday so I will bring you a copy after that. I was going to post about it today, you have beaten me to It!

[Wendyf]

This is the new book, packed full of photos and information as usual! It will be on sale from 1st October, £10.00 plus £2.50 p&p

[Stanley]

Thanks Wendy......

[Stanley]

I had an hour with Naomi Klein yesterday, 'This Changes Everything'. It paints a dire picture and remember that this was written over five years ago and since then the picture has worsened in so many ways. It's all too depressing and I'm afraid I am going to have to set her on one side. I don't want to be depressed!

[plaques]

Just picked up her latest book yesterday. 'No Is Not Enough' . Very easy reading, some very revealing facts about Trump and his brand imaging. Only 70 pages into it but you get the feeling that exactly the same scenario is being played out in the UK. Alternative facts and confusion reigns then step in and take over.

[Stanley]

That's my problem P. She is exactly right as she was in Shock Doctrine. I have difficulty managing my misgivings about the world as it is, reading her reinforces these doubts to the point where I tend to become depressed! So I shall bury my head in the sand for a while.....

[Stanley]

I often marvel at the workings of the super computer in my head I call my brain.
Yesterday a book title popped into my head, 'Man and His Maladies'. This is a book that I once owned but lent to a lady academic in Bradford and never got it back. It was valuable to me because it gave a very clear sight of 19th century medical attitudes to illnesses and particularly the relationship between women and sex. The good doctor was convinced that if a woman evinced pleasure in the sex act she was undoubtedly faking as this was physically impossible. There was much more in this vein and for years I have tried to find the title again and then, bingo!, out of the blue the correct title came from nowhere. I wasn't even thinking about it at the time. I went on Bookfinder, found an original first edition hardback cover copy straight away for £11 and funnily enough, the next on the list was a modern soft cover at three times the price. Needless to say I ordered it and will no doubt delight you at some time in the future with this view of 19th century medicine.... I have to warn you that as well as women and sex, the good doctor was big on bowel movements and masturbation! I think that might be what attracted me to him in the first place.
However, I am still intrigued as to why this suddenly popped into my head yesterday. Am I peculiar or simply normal.

[Stanley]

'Man and His Maladies' is en route... Brace yourselves!
I had an hour with Stephanie Caeter's new book on Earby holidays, 'Wish You Were Here'. It's her best yet and is packed with information and pics, especially old picture post cards. They are a wonderful resource. I can't remember when I learned so many new things in an hour! I shall enjoy the rest of it..... Highly recommended.

[Stanley]

I had an hour with 'Man and his Maladies' yesterday and I'm happy to report that my memory served me well. Here's what Dr Bridger had to say about women and sex in 1889. It will upset almost everyone but this is the value of these old books, this was the widely accepted view on this subject then and I have to say I am sad because I don't think it has entirely gone away. Brace yourselves and read on! (Page 438)

"In woman, affairs as regards this system [The Reproductive System] stand on quite a different footing [compared with men who had no faults as long as they practised 'chastity in mind and body'!]
In the healthy woman sexual passion counts for nothing or for very little. Certainly it, alone, does not, as is so often the case in man, constitute a ruling factor in the course of the life history.In many healthy women it is , indeed, entirely absent. The craving for sympathy, love, adulation, and above all the strong instinct of maternity, replace it. When, in women, powerful sexual passion really exists - and is not skilfully simulated - it constitutes always a reason for suspicion of some mental failure behind it, and at certain periods of female life, notably during and just after parturition, and at the change of life, erotic fancies and imaginings are almost always synonymous with commencing insanity".

So when you are reading about women in Victorian society always bear in mind that this was the accepted public view in many quarters. It explains quite a lot......
[By the way, in 451 pages this is all he has to say on the subject.]

[BillHowcroft]

Wonder if he ever married?