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[Klang]

Great!

 

[Moogmodule]

Been reading musician autobiographies. Currently Jorma Kaukonen. Next up, John Fogerty.

 

For years I’ve had the Lennon Letters book edited by Hunter Davies, a big hardback with pictures and transcriptions of hundreds of letters John wrote from age 11 to his death. It has context for each letter added by Hunter Davies. Ive never really explored it much. But for the first time Ive started systematically working my way through it. Lots of interesting material including drawings by John i don’t recall seeing before.

[Normandie]

For years I’ve had the Lennon Letters book edited by Hunter Davies, a big hardback with pictures and transcriptions of hundreds of letters John wrote from age 11 to his death. It has context for each letter added by Hunter Davies. Ive never really explored it much. But for the first time Ive started systematically working my way through it. Lots of interesting material including drawings by John i don’t recall seeing before.

That sounds fascinating; I'll have to track that one down. A few years ago I read a similar volume that documented every letter sent from the Titanic, before the voyage (e.g., by the crew) to missives sent to family from the Carpathia. I'd expected a dry read, but it was completely absorbing.

[Normandie]

Appropriately enough, I'm reading a novel entitled Shiver. 

[Moogmodule]

Appropriately enough, I'm reading a novel entitled Shiver. 

Wouldn’t something like Tropic of Capricorn be more ... warming?

[Normandie]

Wouldn’t something like Tropic of Capricorn be more ... warming?

Indeed it would. A quick scan of my bookshelves revealed nothing like that, unfortunately. I did, however, notice an old favorite called The Ice Limit. 

[Normandie]

I stumbled across my uncut version of Les Misérables just now. I loved the book when I found it but was dismayed when I found out the version I'd read was the abridged edition and was quick to purchase the 1,500-page full version. It has, however, simply been gathering dust. 

[Normandie]

Any fellow word nerds here?    I just read in a Titanic book by a trusted author that the phrase "dead reckoning" is actually derived from the word "deductive." Here's the passage from the book:

Actually the term is something of a misnomer, for the "dead" comes from a verbal shorthand for "deductive"—the ship's position would be "deduced" by starting with the last sun sighting taken that day (around 7:30 pm), then using the ship's speed to determine how far she had traveled along her given course since that time. (Dan Butler, The Other Side of the Night: The Carpathia, the Californian, and the Night the Titanic Was Lost)

It's going to be an all-nighter with this one, I can tell. There are only a few Titanic-related topics that are still hotly debated. One is salvage; another is whether, and which, officer committed suicide that night; and the other is why Capt. Lord of the Californian chose to ignore the Titanic's rockets and clear distress.

Just wanted to share.     

[Hello Goodbye]

^

I knew that, Kathy.  I'm also an instrument-rated private pilot.  Early in my training I had to learn "dead reckoning" to fly to my destination plotting my course using visual checkpoints and flying a heading accounting for winds aloft direction and speed.  If I planned the flight correctly, I would reach each checkpoint at the precisely calculated time.  The same thing is done at sea and, in fact, this type of nautical navigation is called "piloting."

I learned that "dead reckoning" was derived from the term "deduced reckoning."

In instrument flight, Air Traffic Control vectors my flight to assigned altitudes and airways to get to my destination.  Dead reckoning is not used in instrument flight.

[Normandie]

I knew that, Kathy.  I'm also an instrument-rated private pilot. . . .

Interesting, Barry!

[Normandie]

(Dan Butler, The Other Side of the Night: The Carpathia, the Californian, and the Night the Titanic Was Lost)[/color]

This guy's website is so great (in my opinion, of course) that I had to share it: http://danielallenbutler.org

Just ordered his Lusitania book.

[Hello Goodbye]

This guy's website is so great (in my opinion, of course) that I had to share it: http://danielallenbutler.org

Just ordered his Lusitania book.

His website is great, Kathy.  I expected as much from a fellow Deplorable. 

The only nautical disaster novel I ever read was A Night To Remember by Walter Lord.  I was only 12 at the time but I recognized a very special style the author used in recounting the event.

[Normandie]

His website is great, Kathy.  I expected as much from a fellow Deplorable. 

So did I.    I corresponded briefly with Dan Butler about 20 years ago. He and I were on the same Titanic mailing list. (I'm still on it; not sure if he is.) He's quite nice, and a truly excellent writer and historian.

The only nautical disaster novel I ever read was A Night To Remember by Walter Lord.

Well, if one reads only a single nautical disaster novel ever, that's the best choice for sure. 

I was only 12 at the time but I recognized a very special style the author used in recounting the event.

I'll bite.    To what style are you referring? His Hemingway-esque prose? His solid reliance on first-person accounts?

[Hello Goodbye]

So did I.    I corresponded briefly with Dan Butler about 20 years ago. He and I were on the same Titanic mailing list. (I'm still on it; not sure if he is.) He's quite nice, and a truly excellent writer and historian.

Well, if one reads only a single nautical disaster novel ever, that's the best choice for sure. 

I'll bite.    To what style are you referring? His Hemingway-esque prose? His solid reliance on first-person accounts?

Yes, I liked the way Walter Lord used first-person accounts and recounted the events in overlapping chronological order.  The style was new to me when I first read the novel in 1963.

[Normandie]

. . .recounted the events in overlapping chronological order. 

I agree; that was a masterful stroke, really pulls you in to the events taking place.

[nimrod]

The death of John LeCarre has prompted me to read his spy novels again.

Brilliant books.

[Normandie]

Someone out there shares my life philosophy. 

[Hello Goodbye]

Someone out there shares my life philosophy. 

Or continue buying books until your stacks are so high they make a good place to perch and read...





 

[Moogmodule]

Someone out there shares my life philosophy. 

That’s a disadvantage of a kindle. No matter how many books I buy all I have is a thin bit of plastic.

[Normandie]

Or continue buying books until your stacks are so high they make a good place to perch and read...

Nah. That leaves one much too vulnerable. 

That’s a disadvantage of a kindle. No matter how many books I buy all I have is a thin bit of plastic.

Oh, well, the best "impenetrable fortresses" are invisible anyway.