I am rereading George Orwell’s 1984. The first time I read it was in the 1960s. Reading it again I wonder if he shouldn’t have titled it 2014. The book is closer to reality now than it ever was. No, we don’t have a dictator named Big Brother looming over us. But the ubiquitous electronic… Continue reading 1984 in 2014
Category: Books
The Music of James Bond
One of the perks of blogging is that it gives one a license to write about topics that one really is not an expert on (a trait that my readers have doubtless discovered on their own). And speaking of licenses to do things… there is the double zero license to kill, granted by the British… Continue reading The Music of James Bond
The MOC Program’s Story (With Apologies to Lewis Carroll)
… They had not gone far before they saw the MOC Program in the distance, sitting sad and lonely on a little ledge of rock, and as they came nearer, Alice could hear him sighing as if his heart would break. She pitied him deeply. What is his sorrow? she asked the Gryphon, and the… Continue reading The MOC Program’s Story (With Apologies to Lewis Carroll)
Summer Fall Winter Reading
In the unlikely event anyone is interesting in what I have been reading lately, here goes. I promise no significant spoilers. My summer reading list has taken me 3 seasons to complete, but this is par for the course. Reading is pleasurable but time-consuming. I do most of my reading while on vacation. Clearly I… Continue reading Summer Fall Winter Reading
John Carter (of Mars)
I saw the movie John Carter last night. Having read many of the reviews that label the movie a flop and failure, I was happily surprised to find it is a very good movie. The reviewers all harp on the large price tag ($250 M) of the movie and the relatively low return of… Continue reading John Carter (of Mars)
The Bronze Age
I don’t think I would be going too far out on a limb to claim that I am the the only electrophysiologist in the world who has read all of the Doc Savage novels. This is actually quite a feat, as there are 182 original novels by “Kenneth Robeson” (mostly written by Lester Dent between… Continue reading The Bronze Age
The End of Books
Borders is gone. Barnes and Noble stock has fallen 80% over the last 5 years. Amazon now sells more eBooks than print books. Public libraries close on Sundays and have turned into internet cafes where the books are ignored and noise levels are too high to concentrate. There is no doubt that print books are… Continue reading The End of Books
In the Garden of Beasts
Having recently read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, it was impossible to pass up this new release during a visit to my local Barnes and Noble. In the Garden of Beasts refers to the Tiergarten, the large central park of Berlin, but of course also refers to the human beasts who were… Continue reading In the Garden of Beasts
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich — Review
This is one of those books that, especially now that I have read it, I feel everyone should read — all 1,000+ pages of it. Up until recently, I never got around to it. Growing up in the 50s and 60s, there was a lot more interest in the Second World War then than there… Continue reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich — Review
HPL And I
I have a new friend on Facebook who I think is an HP Lovecraft fan, so I’ll take this occasion to post my thoughts on the old gentleman from Providence. I first became curious about Lovecraft while in High School, when I read a favorable description of his work in the New York Times Review… Continue reading HPL And I