Australian Politics Forum - What are you currently reading?

Soren Gold Member Offline Posts: 25654 Gender:	Re: What are you currently reading? Reply #135 - Mar 23^rd, 2014 at 7:39pm Ian Rankin's Standing in another man's grave, a Rebus story.
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Emma Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 9853 OZ Gender:	Re: What are you currently reading? Reply #136 - Mar 23^rd, 2014 at 9:56pm Jonathan Gash - the year of the woman
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Re: What are you currently reading?
Reply #137 - Mar 23^rd, 2014 at 10:00pm

Peter Freedman wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2014 at 7:34pm:

Pilcher tells the sad and shocking story of the people of Diego Garcia, an island south of Ceylon.

The Yanks wanted the place as a naval base. So the ever compliant Poms rounded up the islanders, killed all their dogs, and dumped them in Mauritius.

Then lied about it for decades.

Many of the islanders died, pining for their homeland.

Get the Yanks and the Brits together and what do you get?

Bastards. No conscience. Uncaring, deceiving liars.

Sounds eerily similar to what the jews did after ww2.

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In the fullness of time...

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bogarde73 Gold Member Offline Anti-Global & Contra Mundum Posts: 18443 Gender:	Re: What are you currently reading? Reply #138 - Mar 28^th, 2014 at 10:55am 100 Mistakes that changed History: Bill Fawcett The Princesse de Cleves: Nancy Mitford
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Winston Smith Gold Member Offline Ministry of Truth Posts: 1549 Oceania Gender:	Re: What are you currently reading? Reply #139 - Mar 28^th, 2014 at 11:19am Your mind.
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Postmodern Trendoid III

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Re: What are you currently reading?
Reply #140 - Mar 28^th, 2014 at 12:45pm

Peter Freedman wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2014 at 7:34pm:

Pilcher tells the sad and shocking story of the people of Diego Garcia, an island south of Ceylon.

The Yanks wanted the place as a naval base. So the ever compliant Poms rounded up the islanders, killed all their dogs, and dumped them in Mauritius.

Then lied about it for decades.

Many of the islanders died, pining for their homeland.

Get the Yanks and the Brits together and what do you get?

Bastards. No conscience. Uncaring, deceiving liars.

Every culture/civilisation would have a story of aggression like this. It seems, though, it's only an issue if the US or Europeans do it.

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UnSubRocky Gold Member Offline Crocodile Hunter: Origins Posts: 25031 Rockhampton Gender:	Re: What are you currently reading? Reply #141 - Mar 28^th, 2014 at 3:06pm "War and Peace" Leo Tolstoy. But I want to finish another book before I continue with this one.
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Emma

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Re: What are you currently reading?
Reply #142 - Mar 30^th, 2014 at 2:40am

Jeez War and Peace.?

Don't you see enough angst in the news??

people saying they read all these tomes... the War the Russian Revolution.. etc etc..

Perhaps historical carnage is more easily assimilated than reality today..
perhaps a way of reassurance of self..
sort of like.. hey its not that bad now.. looked what happened back then..??

OK .. so .. we read about the human condition , essentially.. seeking insights in other paradigms perhaps..?? thereby achieving some broader understanding.?

( I hesitated to use the word 'paradigm'.. but it seems appropriate in this instance)

But that wouldn't apply to those who only read certain narrow themes... rather .. they seek reinforcement of their own paradigms, a sort of 'comfort' story..to keep 'm happy.

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live every day

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bogarde73

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Re: What are you currently reading?
Reply #143 - Mar 30^th, 2014 at 11:10am

War & Peace is a marvellous saga, which tells you a lot about Tsarist Russia. I couldn't deal with the mysticism bit at the end though, I passed on that.

I don't think it matters what you read. You read for knowledge, pleasure, relaxation, all sorts of reasons.
But you get all those things from surprising sources.
I think it's important to read things that are outside your own value system as well.

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Know the enemies of a civil society by their public behaviour, by their fraudulent claim to be liberal-progressive, by their propensity to lie and, above all, by their attachment to authoritarianism.

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greggerypeccary Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 140152 Gender:	Re: What are you currently reading? Reply #144 - Mar 30^th, 2014 at 11:31am
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Peter Freedman Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 5275 Wellington Gender:	Re: What are you currently reading? Reply #145 - Apr 4^th, 2014 at 5:41am Fascism, Past, Present and Future, by Walter Laqueur. Have only just started it, but it may give me a better understanding of some of the posters on the form.
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Peter Freedman

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Re: What are you currently reading?
Reply #146 - Apr 12^th, 2014 at 8:47am

Have just come back from a Rotary book sale.

I bought:

Biographies of John Major, Robert Mitchum and Bill Skelton (a legendary Kiwi jockey).

Plus The Collaborators" by Gerald Seymour.

Bob Jones letters

The Mission Song, by John Le Carre.

Don Watson's Recollections of a Bleeding Heart.

Hart's War by John Katzenbach

Love, Poverty and War, by Christopher Hitchens.

Believing, an optimist looks at a pessimist's world, by Alan Atkinson

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.

All for $26. Not bad eh?

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God grant me the patience to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and, above all, the wisdom to tell the difference.

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Lord Herbert Gold Member Offline Posts: 34441 Gender:	Re: What are you currently reading? Reply #147 - Apr 12^th, 2014 at 8:53am Peter Freedman wrote on Apr 4^th, 2014 at 5:41am: Fascism, Past, Present and Future, by Walter Laqueur. Have only just started it, but it may give me a better understanding of some of the posters on the form. Don't be afraid to ask me to fill in the parts you don't understand.
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Peter Freedman

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Re: What are you currently reading?
Reply #148 - Apr 12^th, 2014 at 1:12pm

Lord Herbert wrote on Apr 12^th, 2014 at 8:53am:

Peter Freedman wrote on Apr 4^th, 2014 at 5:41am:

Fascism, Past, Present and Future, by Walter Laqueur.

Have only just started it, but it may give me a better understanding of some of the posters on the form.

Wink

Don't be afraid to ask me to fill in the parts you don't understand. Tongue

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e150/ruffdiamond/January%202013/nazismiley_zps...

Finished that book several days ago.

It gave me a better understanding of how the "minds" of some people here work.

No names, no pack drill. They know who they are.

Am now reading The Two of Me by John Dybvig.

Then a biography of actor John Thaw. Also read a biog of David Jason. Both great actors, though very different.

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God grant me the patience to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and, above all, the wisdom to tell the difference.

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Peter Freedman Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 5275 Wellington Gender:	Re: What are you currently reading? Reply #149 - Apr 28^th, 2014 at 8:46am Gandhi, Naked Ambition, by Jad Adams. A very interesting and complex man.
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