On a trip to Mammoth Lakes last week, I realized that I’d forgotten to pack the book I planned to read. But then I was watching friends stop to charge their car on the drive up the 395, wrestling in the dirt with their great big bear of a dog, and the charging station was in a lucky place: behind the
“It's difficult to build, but remarkably easy to destroy.”
You’re right to focus on the makers, but sometimes the noisy garbage does REAL damage. The Obama purging of the general/flag officer corps of our military (as well as senior field grade officers) due to insufficient enthusiasm for DEI cannot be replaced except by time – 1-2 decades worth.
I ran into a Norman Schwarzkopf quote the encapsulates the damage Obama did:
“I admire men of character and I judge character not by how men deal with their superiors, but mostly how they deal with their subordinates. And that, to me, is where you find out what the character of a man is.”
I was on the crew for a balloon later in the parade and had no idea about the protestors - I only saw a few groups of people with Palestine flags along the route near the Fox News building - until I got to the deflation area near Herald Square and talked with someone on the Ronald McDonald balloon. Apparently, there was a second protest on the route that I only found out about when searching online that night. They were effectively non-events to the overall parade if you weren't there while they were happening, and I'm glad neither NBC nor CBS live coverage gave them any attention.
I'm currently reading "Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!" by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. Very funny, particularly if you are a fan of the movie. It's a great break from the insanity of the world right now.
“This Perfect Day” by Ira Levin is his most underrated book, and perhaps the most accurate imagining of the future ever written. It was published in 1971 after Levin apparently time travelled to the mid 21st century. AI governance (modeled by Chinese engineers), the sexualization of children, banning of hate speech (“hate” is a profanity), centralized digital currency (all transactions are subject to “government” approval) gender ambiguity, the internet, the iPad, and mandatory universal drug treatments are just a few of his uncanny visions. It read like science fiction when first published, but today reads like.... well, just read it. It is astonishing, and deserving of awe for its prescience. If I hadn’t read it when it made the book club over fifty years ago I would find it difficult to believe it wasn’t published this year.
The standout book for me in the last five years is Gary Saul Morson's "Anna Karenina" In Our Time, a close reading of Tolstoy's novel. I have read AK a half dozen times for the simple pleasure of just reading something truly beautiful, and yet GSM's intimacy with the great book is shocking: deep, moral, fascinating on every page. The Russians are indispensable for this moment in time. But academia and "literary fiction" have just about killed the pleasure of reading a story—and along the way have also managed to obscure the great utility of narrative in navigating the actual world.
I couldn’t quite get into this book, and just put it in a box for donation this afternoon. At your recommendation, I will give it another try. I love Gary Saul Morson’s work in the short form.
For me personally the novel has always been about the character of Levin. And Tolstoy’s female heroine is really Dolly, the mother, not Anna Karenina. AK, if you notice, is always held at some distance, even when the narrative is centered in her thoughts. I think GSM would say that there is some tendency to read the novel as a tragic romance thwarted by societies strictures. He would also probably say that he disagrees with that interpretation. If you find that is how you approach the book (which is often how the movies interpret it) I can see how you might not take to GSM’s view.
We read The Oxbow Incident in grade school (≈60 yrs ago) and it shaped my lifetime view of legal rights, due process and an unbiased jury. Never thought it’d be an allegory for Mass Formation Psychosis by our government & willing civilian dupes, and the generational consequences.
I would advise anything by Evelyn Waugh. He hilariously chronicled the decline of British society and the fraudulent, self-important elites atop it better than anyone. America is at that point now.
Chris, When I was in public school, The Ox Bow Incident was required reading (as were many other worthwhile books like To Kill A Mockingbird). Sad that you are just discovering it now. It was good then and is still good. Education has gone downhill so far over the past years.
the sub text is how a small Russian town gets infected by all the European "isms" (socialism, marxism, atheism, liberalism) and ends up burning down half the city and driving most residents mad. the plot deals with the land owning aristocracy and their children coming home who represent the new ideologies and cause general chaos...very relevant to now.
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ve been stuck on a fair amount of non-fiction, but I’ve sought out the good ol’ apocalyptic fiction when switching it up - Brave New World, and just finished CS Lewis’ Space Trilogy - if you’re looking for some eerily relevant comparisons to many of the situations we’re in right now, That Hideous Strength is that book (as well as the other two, but can be read independently of them). I might finish The Road if I can manage reading it during the day, as I can’t say I recommend it for pre-bedtime. Or maybe I’m just a weenie and had to stop.
“Brave New World” is apt—especially when paired with Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” If there’s one book pairing I would recommend for the modern reader, it’s those books in tandem.
Speaking of Solzhenitsyn’s work, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, In the First Circle, The Cancer Ward, and the Red Wheel volumes are all great reads. I particularly like In the First Circle for the plot contrasting those apparently in it and those seemingly out.
i loved cancer ward, denisovitch was also good; the ones i listed are, like the oxbow incident (which i didn't read, but watched), ones i wish my friends and neighbors had read before the "pandemic" hit. as (or if) the shame sets in, i hope they get around to them and follow up with bastiat and nock.
New piece at The Blaze today, by the way:
https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/we-have-a-mental-health-crisis-dressed-up-as-politics
“It's difficult to build, but remarkably easy to destroy.”
You’re right to focus on the makers, but sometimes the noisy garbage does REAL damage. The Obama purging of the general/flag officer corps of our military (as well as senior field grade officers) due to insufficient enthusiasm for DEI cannot be replaced except by time – 1-2 decades worth.
I ran into a Norman Schwarzkopf quote the encapsulates the damage Obama did:
“I admire men of character and I judge character not by how men deal with their superiors, but mostly how they deal with their subordinates. And that, to me, is where you find out what the character of a man is.”
That is a great article! I especially like how you avoided the use of the term "vermin." I would not have been able to do so.
There was some light editorial softening, but I was glad that "human garbage" survived.
Succint! You hit the nail on the head. Reminded me of that crazy Obama quote "you didn't build that.
Great article!
I was on the crew for a balloon later in the parade and had no idea about the protestors - I only saw a few groups of people with Palestine flags along the route near the Fox News building - until I got to the deflation area near Herald Square and talked with someone on the Ronald McDonald balloon. Apparently, there was a second protest on the route that I only found out about when searching online that night. They were effectively non-events to the overall parade if you weren't there while they were happening, and I'm glad neither NBC nor CBS live coverage gave them any attention.
I'm currently reading "Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!" by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. Very funny, particularly if you are a fan of the movie. It's a great break from the insanity of the world right now.
A window into another universe. Imagine anyone making that movie now.
or Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein
That's partly why the book is so much fun.
I just started Moby Dick and it’s surprisingly hilarious.
Nothing else will ever be half as good as Moby Dick. Obligatory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMPW4R727QQ
The old Nantucket sleigh ride!
birthed my love of cetaceans. I don't think I've been so happy for a righteous ending ever since.
It has literature's most memorable opening line and most haunting closing scene. Excellent movie too.
It says that video is restricted
Weird!
It opened for me. What a great scene.
Maybe you're using an ad blocker.
One thing I didn't know until recently is how the salt miner Samuel Kier saved the whales in 1850 as one of the first recyclers, and got rich in the process. http://frank-hood.com/2022/09/24/to-warm-or-not-to-warm/
Nicely done.
Make sure you read all of the cetology stuff. People often skip that.
“This Perfect Day” by Ira Levin is his most underrated book, and perhaps the most accurate imagining of the future ever written. It was published in 1971 after Levin apparently time travelled to the mid 21st century. AI governance (modeled by Chinese engineers), the sexualization of children, banning of hate speech (“hate” is a profanity), centralized digital currency (all transactions are subject to “government” approval) gender ambiguity, the internet, the iPad, and mandatory universal drug treatments are just a few of his uncanny visions. It read like science fiction when first published, but today reads like.... well, just read it. It is astonishing, and deserving of awe for its prescience. If I hadn’t read it when it made the book club over fifty years ago I would find it difficult to believe it wasn’t published this year.
wow!
Yep. Remember that one!
The standout book for me in the last five years is Gary Saul Morson's "Anna Karenina" In Our Time, a close reading of Tolstoy's novel. I have read AK a half dozen times for the simple pleasure of just reading something truly beautiful, and yet GSM's intimacy with the great book is shocking: deep, moral, fascinating on every page. The Russians are indispensable for this moment in time. But academia and "literary fiction" have just about killed the pleasure of reading a story—and along the way have also managed to obscure the great utility of narrative in navigating the actual world.
I couldn’t quite get into this book, and just put it in a box for donation this afternoon. At your recommendation, I will give it another try. I love Gary Saul Morson’s work in the short form.
For me personally the novel has always been about the character of Levin. And Tolstoy’s female heroine is really Dolly, the mother, not Anna Karenina. AK, if you notice, is always held at some distance, even when the narrative is centered in her thoughts. I think GSM would say that there is some tendency to read the novel as a tragic romance thwarted by societies strictures. He would also probably say that he disagrees with that interpretation. If you find that is how you approach the book (which is often how the movies interpret it) I can see how you might not take to GSM’s view.
We read The Oxbow Incident in grade school (≈60 yrs ago) and it shaped my lifetime view of legal rights, due process and an unbiased jury. Never thought it’d be an allegory for Mass Formation Psychosis by our government & willing civilian dupes, and the generational consequences.
I read it, same, probably 58 years ago. Can’t remember it. Now I’m going to have to buy it.
I would advise anything by Evelyn Waugh. He hilariously chronicled the decline of British society and the fraudulent, self-important elites atop it better than anyone. America is at that point now.
Evelyn Waugh got me through the first half of the year, book after book.
Time well spent.
Wolf's new book about "Facing the Beast". No fiction in it, just hardcore truths.
Danny Huckabee
The top 2% of books I have ever read: https://www.tomwhitenoise.com/bookshelf
Thanks I pulled down many of these on Audible just now
Enjoy, Eddy! You might appreciate my blog as well if these books are up your alley: https://www.whitenoise.email/
Chris, When I was in public school, The Ox Bow Incident was required reading (as were many other worthwhile books like To Kill A Mockingbird). Sad that you are just discovering it now. It was good then and is still good. Education has gone downhill so far over the past years.
Worthwhile books that promote thinking are Verboten! The public schools now use the GI Jane model:
Command Master Chief John Urgayle: “When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you.”
The Devil's Chessboard, David Talbot, it's about the intelligence community's rise to power. It's more than a little creepy.
The Ox Bow Incident movie would have won the Oscar too (but for Casablanca).
Haven't seen it! Will watch.
Agree, an excellent early 1940’s movie. Dark, stark minimalist screenplay and cinematography.
I think we had to read it in school. Probably would be banned today.
Great book for school! Moral debate in a consequential setting. Right and wrong.
they don't want to discuss that
Dostoevsky's "The Possessed/Devils"
the sub text is how a small Russian town gets infected by all the European "isms" (socialism, marxism, atheism, liberalism) and ends up burning down half the city and driving most residents mad. the plot deals with the land owning aristocracy and their children coming home who represent the new ideologies and cause general chaos...very relevant to now.
Also Dostoevsky’s The Idiot.
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ve been stuck on a fair amount of non-fiction, but I’ve sought out the good ol’ apocalyptic fiction when switching it up - Brave New World, and just finished CS Lewis’ Space Trilogy - if you’re looking for some eerily relevant comparisons to many of the situations we’re in right now, That Hideous Strength is that book (as well as the other two, but can be read independently of them). I might finish The Road if I can manage reading it during the day, as I can’t say I recommend it for pre-bedtime. Or maybe I’m just a weenie and had to stop.
“Brave New World” is apt—especially when paired with Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” If there’s one book pairing I would recommend for the modern reader, it’s those books in tandem.
a canticle for leibowitz - miller
the gulag archipelago - solzhenitsyn
33 myths of the system - allen
Speaking of Solzhenitsyn’s work, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, In the First Circle, The Cancer Ward, and the Red Wheel volumes are all great reads. I particularly like In the First Circle for the plot contrasting those apparently in it and those seemingly out.
i loved cancer ward, denisovitch was also good; the ones i listed are, like the oxbow incident (which i didn't read, but watched), ones i wish my friends and neighbors had read before the "pandemic" hit. as (or if) the shame sets in, i hope they get around to them and follow up with bastiat and nock.