Herman > Recent Status Updates

I highlight the passages that are interesting to me. So far, I have highlighted at least one passage per chapter. And there are a lot of chapters.

Tesla has proven his inventor/engineering chops, and by now is quite the social butterfly in New York City. His success with the AC motor has provided this acclaim. Now he is concentrating on wireless lighting. Very cool.

This guy was just a plain smart and driven person. He started his focus on the AC motor at a very young age. He knew his stuff early on.

This read gets more interesting with every chapter. This city was the Alpha + city of its time.
It had libraries, scholarship, lighthouses, people of all stripes, nations, and wealth. And even mild weather. What was not to like about this place?
But, alas, even paradise gets hit with tsunamis. At this point, Christianity has established itself in the city. And about to make its mark.

It's amazing to me how advanced human civilization was "2000 FREAKING YEARS" ago. The scholars at the Alexandria Library and research center had already figured out the earth was not flat, calculated the diameter and circumference of the planet, invented geometry and trigonometry, and developed some medical techniques. AND, along the way, also collected about all the books (scrolls) of the known world. Impressive

Alexandria has a fascinating history. As this book accounts for. Alexander the Great never set foot in his namesake city. He came, he saw, and he decided to build a city at the location that connects three continents. After his death, Ptolemy took up the cause to get this city built. At this point, the city has been established, and the library is well underway to being the place to be.

VL has now retired from GB coaching and is serving as GM. He is not happy, and soon enough accepts a job as the Wash Redskins coach. He has a real problem dealing with all the changes happening in the 60s society, politics, and events. Plus he is experiencing some health issues. The Packers are now without many players of champion years.

At this point, the Packers just won the Ice Bowl of the 1967 season. What is remarkable is how many people involved in the game had given up before the game was completed. Mostly on account of the cold weather. And, Bart Starr made a last-second decision to QB sneak in the end zone. By now, Lombardi has cemented his legacy as an NFL great coach. And he is receiving accolades to prove this.

At this point, at the start of the 1965 season, VL is starting to show signs of pressure to maintain the mental state of his team to win. The previous 2 seasons, they came in 2nd place. Winning is the only thing.

I love this read—a bio of Vince Lombardi, a bad-ass dude in his time. I remember him from the 1967 Green Bay Packer football season. And by reading the Jerry Kramer book, Instant Replay.
Mostly, I like learning of his early life. His family background, growing up in Brooklyn. His being part of the "seven blocks of granite" at Fordham University. Now he is in Green Bay and has won his first game of 1959.

What a fascinating read. I've learned quite a bit about the cultural history of gold, silver, platinum, and iron already. And I've only just started. Who knew that humankind knew blood contained iron a long time ago? And they only surmised this because Mars was red. And that anemia is caused by iron deficiency. Platinum is rarer than gold; thus, platinum records.
And now I am learning the history of plutonium.

Montag has an encounter with Clarisse. She tells him goodbye. Montag and his associates burn yet another household with books.
Montag is beginning to question the history of his job. And asking questions about books...the biggest sin.
He has an extended conversation with his wife, Mildred. Mildred claims that Clarisse was killed but that she forgot to inform Montag.
Gus M is starting to change his thoughts.

I think I will like this book. It's a book about the Periodic Table and the author is taking a novel approach. It is not a scientific approach, rather it is a narrative of the history of a families of chemicals and how they impact our lives. A good interesting start.

Enter Guy Montag, the main character of this book. A fireman whose job is to burn books. He meets Clarisse, who reminds him that firemen used to put out fires, not start them.
Guy enters his house and finds that his wife has tried to commit suicide. The paramedics apparently do this rescue all the time and pump out her stomach and save her. And they go on to the next victim.
Guy is already confused.

The last part of the book focuses on F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda. Also, EH shares his memories of living in the alpine country of Europe. Good living with plenty of skiing.

The account moves on to his relations with Ezra Pound (douchebag poet), Gertrude Stein (author, critic), Ernest Walsh (author, poet, editor) who died very young, James Joyce (Irish author), Evan Shipman (novelist, poet, newspaperman), a very good friend of EH, and, finally, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
FSF was quite the talker and social butterfly. But, he sure could drink.
Which, BTW, was quite the thing to do...drinking.

This is similar to verifying what I know about EH's life from some of the biographies I have read about him, from the Midnight in Paris movie, from his books.
The big difference, this narrative is in his own words. It's like reading a diary. I like this easy read so far.