READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

[Stanley]

Very big in the district. There was a statue of Cobden outside the theatre near the market in Stockport.
I finished Life and Fate yesterday. Wonderful book but a very hard read, the descriptions of the battle for Stalingrad are the light entertainment! His descriptions of the concentration camps, the Shoah and the harsh methods used by the Communist government are harrowing and I'm glad it's over.
I was going to plunge into Hess but decided that Dorothy Hartley on Water will be a more gentle and relaxing read.

[plaques]

The sequel book to Rudolf Hess is 'War of the Windsors', A Century of Unconstitutional Monarchy. Written by the same team based on the wealth of research they had done on Hess. I'm not one for general Royal Family tittle-tattle but this book is in a different league all together probably the best book of this genre I have read. Running from George V to the present time it definitely makes you think that Monarchies have reached their sell by date and there must be something better.

[chinatyke]

China. Read it twice just to make sure I didn't understand it. Sure enough I was right, I didn't understand it. Waiting for your review

Once is enough. I didn't like the way he sometimes introduces concepts and assumes we all know these ideas and that they are 100% proven and accepted. Brings back memories from Uni days of Schrödinger's cat experiment and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and thermodynamics and dreaded Physical Chemistry lectures! Then he introduces the possibility of an omnipotent creator before time began in our universe, which seems a bit of a fudge.
Worth reading if you are scientifically minded.

[Tizer]

I haven't even tried to read it. I'll stick to the simpler explanations of the universe!

[Stanley]

That sounds good P I have ordered a hardback for less than a fiver.... (Must stop buying books!!!)
Dorothy is nice, a complete change..... I am no longer freezing in Stalingrad!

[Stanley]

I had a closer look at Hess yesterday. I am not pre-judging but I am getting a bad feeling about it and the authors.....
On with Dorothy! Down to earth, informative and I love the drawings.

[plaques]

I had a closer look at Hess yesterday. I am not pre-judging but I am getting a bad feeling about it and the authors.....

If DNA testing had been around or even if they exhumed a few bodies this book may never have been written. There are dozens of books on Hess with each one changing as more records are released. I found the background to the story interesting and possibly still relevant even in today's political shenanigans.

[Stanley]

I'm not pre-judging P. I have an open mind. I shall give you my opinion when I read it and the Windsor book.

[Stanley]

Dorothy Hartley on Water is going down well. Such a relaxing read after Grossman!

[plaques]

The Lost History of 1914, How the Great War was not Inevitable. (Jack Beatty)
One of those 'what ifs' books, puts a different slant on why we went to war. Could we have avoided it? yes we could. Why didn't we? too many vested interests in either maintaining the status quo or increasing the hegemony of one country over another. all boils down to what happens in the world is dependent on a cabal of people who the masses have no control over. Worth the 50p I paid for the book.

[Tizer]

Or perhaps it's just Nature's way of preventing over-population?

[Stanley]

That's a tad cynical Tiz, if it was it didn't work!
I think you're right P. The consensus from my reading of the history is that the politicians simply didn't see the dangers in what they were doing to pursue their individual goals. You're right, it should never have happened. Once started, the military demonstrated how out of touch they were, tactics and equipment had barely changed for 100 years and this led to the bloodbath on the Western Front. The politicians even buggered up Versailles when they created the p[re-conditions for the next war despite eminent thinkers like Keynes pointing out the mistakes and consequences. (He was dead right by the way!)

[plaques]

Finally Finished. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. 2 volumes, Described as an evil genius to which I might add psychopath. He brilliantly used the conditions in Germany to promote his own agenda which we now know didn't turn out the way he planned. A difficult book to read with pages and pages of racist ranting. But within all this there was a plan of propaganda that set the ball rolling which could almost be used as a blueprint for what we are seeing today with Cumming's 'make Britain Great' and 'get Brexit done'. The following moves being a drip feed towards the complete take over of Parliament giving absolute power to the Chancellor Prime Minister.

[Stanley]

Very perceptive P and I tend to agree. Remember Paul Joseph Goebbels and the effectiveness of 'The Big Lie'?

[Stanley]

Finished Dorothy Hartley on 'Water' yesterday. A lovely informative read, I love her style, methods and most of all, Illustrations.
I shall start Hess today......

[plaques]

finished 'Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt' An interesting man, part boys own adventurer, Ranch owner, Cuba/ Spanish War, Lieutenant Colonel. African big game hunter. Politician and finally US President. Plenty of examples of American politics of the day, corruption, bribery, and big business influence. In fact not much different from today. Well worth the book price of 50p.

[Stanley]

He was a flamboyant character and liked to be in the public eye. Very impulsive, in many ways like Trump but not as egregious. Teddy always reminds me of Zane Grey (LINK) who was a contemporary. I stayed in the house he used to own on Catalina Island, off the coast at LA. Always associated the two of them with Hemingway as well. Just remembered THIS as well, the link between Teddy Roosevelt and the iconic teddy bear.
Hess reading easily up to now.....

[Stanley]

Hess is going down well, lots of information about Hess which I was not aware of. So far so good. I admit I have come to the book in a slightly suspicious state of mind but so far the authors are doing a good job even though some of the conclusions they are drawing are a bit tenuous. It's a good read so far.

[Stanley]

Hess..... much of what the authors are saying about the effects of WW2 propaganda on the interpretation of history is very convincing. I admit I am warming to their thesis. Open mind I hope.

[Tripps]

Stanley said a while ago on another thread

"I was taught early in life that it was an insult to a book to turn the corner of a page down!"

What do we make of this which I stumbled across today? Book Folding

Good grief. . .

[Stanley]

Bloody hell David. I admit to being speechless.
Hess still going down very well.....

[Tripps]

Reaches for bucket list -

Rendered Stanley speechless. . . . .Tick. . . .

[Tizer]

Perhaps we should ban that book-folding video. It at least should have one of those warnings that it `may contain disturbing images'.

[Tripps]

I just got a copy of the 1957 Handbook of the Youth Hostel Association. I've had a £1 's worth already.

I find that membership was, for my age group, was 2s/6d per year, and that the overnight charge (for juveniles) was 1s/3d. Breakfast was 2/6 and was "cereal or porridge, and a cooked dish, followed by bread marmalade and tea". The compulsory hire of a 'sheet sleeping bag' was 6d - though the supplement says updated to 1 shilling - 'concession for juveniles removed'.

So one night's bed and breakfast cost 4/9p which in decimal is 24 new pence. Bargain :smile

If you wanted to book ahead - it had to be done by mail with a Postal Order. I never did so, just turned up and hoped for the best. Always got in. Shrewsbury was usually the first stop - it was about 70 miles away. Goodness knows what would have happened if we'd been turned away. Fascinating to see that no hostel gave a telephone number.

I see no sign of the Earby hostel. The nearest listed one seems to be at Barley.

Here is the full rule book.

YHA(1).jpeg

[Wendyf]

I'm not sure when the Youth Hostel in Earby opened Tripps, I would need to look it up. Katherine Bruce Glasier died in 1950 and left her cottages to the community. It may have taken a while to decide what to do with them!