Richard > Recent Status Updates

Hurricane Helene constantly in the news now, with a steadily growing death toll, but even if a book is written, it won’t be as deeply researched as this.

And of course, this is a deeply personal story, about Moses. A hurricane isn’t responsible in any sense at all, but I hope there is a hell for Moses to suffer in for his sins.

OMG. This is depressing on an epic scale.

I can’t think of another book that catalogs so much injustice at such an intimate level.

Wars, famines, natural disasters — they might harm more people than Moses did, but we don’t have a Caro to write about them.

Hurricane Helene constantly in the news now, with a steadily growing death toll, but even if a book is written, it won’t be as deeply researched as this.

❝Those streets had seen despair.…❞
What an awesome tear-jerker of a paragraph.

OMG, so good but sooooo long.
I’m finally more than one-third done!

Whipsawed between admiration and horror at our subject. Like Julius Caesar or something. Riveting. Disturbing. Fascinating.

❝…his little room… with nothing but a peg and a desk and a bed that was small but comfortable.❞

Do you ever yearn for such simplicity? I do.

❝…a maze of twisty passages, all alike…❞
— https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...

In Rath Varia is the recycling arena called the Matter Circus. In Berkeley near Emeryville — yes, the author’s home territory — is the wonderful Urban Ore shop. Clearly the inspiration!

❝…a T-shirt that said Macondray Lane, which was the name of a band that rehearsed in his building.❞
— SF eternal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macondr...

❝It was beautiful, but I would have preferred a view of the stars, a moon without dragons.❞

❝Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom…❞

If you haven't yet 'liked' my review of Joseph Conrad's «Heart of Darkness», I'd love to get that thumbs up! I'm only 60 likes from conquering the highest-rated 1-star review with my 5-star review!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4900

In past months (years?) my appetite for reading has collapsed, due to depression and some changes in my life. I'm backing away from books I "should" read (internal "should" — having read and reviewed them will make me proud of myself) and focusing more on books that I know are just fun and compelling. Hopefully I'll get back into a better balance.

I’m getting frustrated. Our author is entertaining and appalling us with a litany of CIA misdeeds, but isn’t adequately explaining the why of things.

In Guatemala, what was so bad about Arbenz? As seen here, he wasn’t a communist or Soviet stooge: the CIA had to manufacture the communist threat.

Perhaps the Wikipedia page hit the crux: his land reform policies annoyed the United Fruit Company.

Pretty good book.

The wet lowlands here sound amazing. I’ve spent a lot of time in the wilderness, but my favored terrain is the high, dry Sierra Nevada mountains, quite often above the tree line. Life struggles against harsh conditions there, so life is far less effervescent. I’m envious: the cacophony of competing songbirds must be amazing. But I’ll stick with what I love.

❝One night, as Katkov and I sat in our winter jackets and hats, covered loosely by sleeping bags and illuminated by the gray light of the monitor, he told me about his urine fetish.❞

Yeah, the crazy Russians are often more interesting than the fish owls.

❝The captured bird was large, weighing in at 3.8 kilograms.❞
That’s 8.3 lbs for ’Muricans. Not quite a Thanksgiving turkey, but still huge for a bird.

Ack, "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut".

❝Who the bloody hell are you guys?❞
The dip into the dysfunctional impoverished Russians is often more interesting than what’s going on with the birds.

❝Wait . . . he lost a testicle to a fish owl?❞

Chapter 7, Reading to Learn, is also good, albeit not so much for mathematics.

The second REI store opened in Berkeley on March 15, 1975. (I was backpacking by then, but didn’t buy my own gear until the '80s.)
“Customers lined up for blocks. Sales the first three days were more than 20 percent of the projected 12-month total. First day sales were 50 percent above the theoretically possible maximum.”

By the mid-50s skiing was exploding up in REI’s Seattle area, and the same was happening in California. The style at first was to do it looking frugal, but soon fashion came in, including the soon-ubiquitous women’s stretch ski pants.

No. 1102’s Avalanche — what a strange section. Every person is referred to by their member number instead of name.

“Ice creepers” — ice cleats. Like micro-spikes, but just nubs of steel instead of teeth.

❝The acme of one-man cooking is to choose a site, get all materials and pack, sit down, light fire, cook, eat, wash dishes, put out your fire with dish water, pack up and then and only then rise from your seat. Until you can do this readily you are still just a customer, not a woodsman.❞

❝The January 12, 1942, Bulletin warned: “Air mattresses will soon be a thing of the past. Down sleeping bags are due for a big rise in price very soon as new stocks of down or not to be found at the present prices.”❞
Interesting. The early REI functioned much more as a buyer’s co-op, acting on the membership’s behalf — warning them of coming price rises! — instead of safe-guarding it’s own balance sheet.

Oddly, my copy isn't the same as the edition shown on Goodreads. That one is paperback, and has an ISBN. The copy I picked up is a green leatherette hardback in pristine condition despite being 40+ years old, and has no ISBN. Maybe a early or limited edition to some employees?