Books! How do you read and what do you read?

I did limited readying most of my life until I started college. My freshman year I had an American History professor, Dr. Snodgrass, who taught history using no texts. 100% lecture! At the time, he was doing research on the American Civil War. He spent several Summers in Washington D. C. researching history and/ the people who participated in the American Civil War. Going to his class was like setting an hour and listening to the best storyteller I have ever heard. Everyone in that class was 'spellbound' during his lectures. It was impossible to take good notes, as you could not listen and write notes. Recording his lectures was not allowed, but he told us that those who listened, would not forget. I got an A in that class, and I still remember most of the detail of his stories about Generals and their transgressions both in battle and in the field. And that was over 50 years ago!

Ever since that time, I have become an avid reader of history. Primarily Civil War and World War II. I will mention a few of my favorite books...

Newt Gingrich is one of my favorite writers of history. His books, Gettysburg and Valley Forge are two I enjoyed the most.

For WW II -
I have to mention Thunder Below by Admiral Eugene Fluckey is an exciting story based on the actual exploits of an American Submarine in the Pacific.

Citizen Soldiers: The US Army From The Normandy Beaches To The Bulge To The Surrender Of Germany by Steven Ambrose

I have long believed that by looking back we can get a view of life that helps us go forward.
 

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I still prefer paperbacks. They're easier to manage in my hands while reading.
I'll either buy them, or hit the library for books.

In fact, I have one on hold that I'm waiting for from the library.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, my library is being remodeled right now...so the wait for this book is a little bit longer.
I had to use another library and so did everyone else!
 
Recently finished The Maid by Nita Prose (pretty good but not as good as I was expecting; oh well); The Violence by Delilah Dawson (very good but boy, there are some violent parts); Diablo Mesa by Preston & Child, very good; Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh, excellent!; and am now reading The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex.
 
for history buffs...


"Island at the Center of the World" - book by Russell Shorto

history of early NYC, Dutch NYC. In the 1970's, about 70,000 pages of documents were found in Albany, from early NYC. They were in a much older version of Dutch and weren't translated until about 15 years ago or so. And the researcher wrote this book about early NYC based on those documents.

Russel Shorto gives a lecture on Dutch-American relations and history at the Lewisboro Library, October 25th 2015.

 
Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself—While the Rest of Us Die.
By Garrett M. Graff.

An interesting summary of how our government made plans from the end of the second World War to present time.
He presents a timeline of former Presidents and how they thought and reacted during the nuclear build-up.

We came so close, so many times, to total destruction of our planet.
Many facts I knew while in the USAF and the many years I spent in the Strategic Air Command, but he ties it all together.
It hit me hard, now that I'm older, to see what could have happened.

"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." - J. Robert Oppenheimer
(Quoting the Bhagavad-Gita after witnessing the first nuclear explosion.)
 
Feelslikefar said:
Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself—While the Rest of Us Die.
By Garrett M. Graff.

An interesting summary of how our government made plans from the end of the second World War to present time.
He presents a timeline of former Presidents and how they thought and reacted during the nuclear build-up.

We came so close, so many times, to total destruction of our planet.
Many facts I knew while in the USAF and the many years I spent in the Strategic Air Command, but he ties it all together.
It hit me hard, now that I'm older, to see what could have happened.

"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." - J. Robert Oppenheimer
(Quoting the Bhagavad-Gita after witnessing the first nuclear explosion.)
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Oppenheimer quoted Krishna's phrase correctly, but the meaning is completely different. All it really means is that God is life and God is death also. And that life is short and we are not supposed to waste our time, but use our life to be good people. It is not related to world destruction at all. "Destroyer of worlds" is better translated as "destroyer of realms." And by realms, meaning the vast long history of human beings who have died. That "realm" is "endless," and death is the end of all people...so don't waste your time with limited things.

The two Hindu Yogis that I know of, who commented about nuclear war, directly said that God is infinitely powerful and no matter what the intentions of mankind, God will not allow the world to be destroyed. One student protested saying that all that has to happen is that one person, press one button. The Yogi answered..."you don't understand. God completely controls every single emotion and every single thought that people have. And if he chooses, he will simply not allow the person at that button, to even have the thought to push it, no matter what command some human in the military commands him to engage." (paraphrasing)...

My understanding is that this has already happened 2 or 3 times in history. Once, during the Cuban Missile crisis, when a Soviet commander received a false command to launch. And despite orders, refused to do so. And again, I think in the 80s, when some high flying cranes (who fly OVER the Himalayas) triggered an alert. And again, the Soviet officer, even though he was supposed to launch, refused to do so.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Saved_the_World#:~:text=The Man Who Saved the World is a 2013 feature,from leading to nuclear holocaust.

"On 26 September 1983, the computers in the Serpukhov-15 bunker outside Moscow, which housed the command centre of the Soviet early warning satellite system, twice reported that U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles were heading toward the Soviet Union. Stanislav Petrov, who was duty officer that night, suspected that the system was malfunctioning and managed to convince his superiors of the same thing. He argued that if the U.S. was going to attack pre-emptively it would do so with more than just five missiles, and that it was best to wait for ground radar confirmation before launching a counter-attack."
 
I knew of some situations, that now are now declassified, where there were many times that we or 'they' could have
launched a First Strike.
The buildup of the arms race was something that most people knew nothing about during this period.

Why this book's timeline was such an eye opener for me.

I quoted Oppenheimer only to show that, as a part of a larger plan, you can sometimes have some personal misgivings.
It's a personal thing with me, something that I have to deal with.
 
Feelslikefar said:
I knew of some situations, that now are now declassified, where there were many times that we or 'they' could have
launched a First Strike.
The buildup of the arms race was something that most people knew nothing about during this period.

Why this book's timeline was such an eye opener for me.

I quoted Oppenheimer only to show that, as a part of a larger plan, you can sometimes have some personal misgivings.
It's a personal thing with me, something that I have to deal with.
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My Dad and step-father both served in WWII. And I have a good friend who was a combat Marine in Vietnam.

Have enormous respect for the vet.

Thank you for your service.
 
I'm also reading a book about WWII.

Watching Darkness Fall: FDR, His Ambassadors, and the Rise of Adolf Hitler
David McKean's Watching Darkness Fall recounts the rise of the Third Reich in Germany and the road to war from the perspective of four American diplomats in Europe who witnessed it firsthand: Joseph Kennedy, William Dodd, Breckinridge Long, and William Bullitt, who all served in key Western European capitals―London, Berlin, Rome, Paris, and Moscow―in the years prior to World War II. In many ways they were America’s first line of defense and they often communicated with the president directly, as Roosevelt's eyes and ears on the ground. Unfortunately, most of them underestimated the power and resolve of Adolf Hitler and Germany’s Third Reich.
 
SeniorBen said:
I'm also reading a book about WWII.

Watching Darkness Fall: FDR, His Ambassadors, and the Rise of Adolf Hitler
David McKean's Watching Darkness Fall recounts the rise of the Third Reich in Germany and the road to war from the perspective of four American diplomats in Europe who witnessed it firsthand: Joseph Kennedy, William Dodd, Breckinridge Long, and William Bullitt, who all served in key Western European capitals―London, Berlin, Rome, Paris, and Moscow―in the years prior to World War II. In many ways they were America’s first line of defense and they often communicated with the president directly, as Roosevelt's eyes and ears on the ground. Unfortunately, most of them underestimated the power and resolve of Adolf Hitler and Germany’s Third Reich.
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SeniorBen...sounds like a good read. I will check it out, thanks for sharing!
 
I enjoy reading and if a title of a book catches my eye, I will immediately go to the back cover and read the synopsis of the book. If that catches my attention I will give it a shot no matter what genre the book is. I have read anything from the classics, to romance, to horror.

I do like to either have the book on a tablet or the actual book. No books being read to me because that would do me no go as I am deaf. :)
 
Silent Rose said:
I enjoy reading and if a title of a book catches my eye, I will immediately go to the back cover and read the synopsis of the book. If that catches my attention I will give it a shot no matter what genre the book is. I have read anything from the classics, to romance, to horror.

I do like to either have the book on a tablet or the actual book. No books being read to me because that would do me no go as I am deaf. :)
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I have not had much contact with the hearing impaired community, but I had been a radio reader for the blind. There was a radio station around here for the blind. And we used to read the daily newspapers and weekly magazines over the air. This was before the internet.
 
JonSR77 said:
I have not had much contact with the hearing impaired community, but I had been a radio reader for the blind. There was a radio station around here for the blind. And we used to read the daily newspapers and weekly magazines over the air. This was before the internet.
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That is such a wonderful thing to provide for others.
 
JonSR77 said:
thank you. I enjoyed doing it. We had a history teacher in high school, Mrs. Deusinger. She was about 163 years old. She was involved with the visually impaired community. She would give her students extra credit if we did some reading for the blind. Almost all of us did it. She was a wonderful teacher and a wonderful person. Sure, I guess we wanted the extra credit, but I think most of us would have done it anyway.

So, I liked it so much, that after high school, I started reading with E.I.E.S. of NJ. I enjoyed it very much. Also, a couple of people on the staff were just very very very funny. That has no connection to the work, but that certainly made the experience even more enjoyable.
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Having a teacher that inspires students is so important. They are the ones that we never forget. I went to a school for the deaf and then Gallaudet University which is primarily a university for deaf students. I had so many influences in my schooling because outside of school I didn't associate much with others especially before I started attending Gallaudet.
 
JonSR77 said:
I have heard of Gallaudet. Highly regarded. I have also heard of a theater company of hearing impaired performers. I forget if that was associated with that university.
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At least on the east coast Gallaudet is the premiere university for the deaf and hearing impaired. The theater arts program at Gallaudet is a very strong and popular program as is the dance company.
 
Tinnitus unfortunately there really is not a cure for that. There are several reasons one could have Tinnitus from something as simple as a blockage from ear wax to repeat exposure to extreme loud noise. There are also treatments that say can cure it that are very costly and the bottom line cure for it is not covered by insurance so the cost is out of pocket, but it does not work. Like I said there is no cure for it.

As for Vertigo, it sounds like you might need Epley Maneuver performed on you by a Certified Physical Therapist or Doctor to rid of what is like tiny crystal like pieces that loosen in your ear canal and start to float around. This can start what is called paroxysmal positional vertigo which is what is the spinning feeling you get. If this is not treated it can just keep happening over and over again. The treatment is pretty simple as it is a positional body flip that the therapist/doctor does with you that rids the canal of these crystal like pieces. This is what it sounds like you may have. Now I am definitely not a Doctor so don't take this as a given.
 

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