Book Reviews - First Post in Almost Four Years

Hi There. I haven't posted anything on my blog for nearly four years. There were some issues with Blogger with my account becoming difficult to access and that turned me off somewhat. Facebook became a little bit too consuming but, as it turns out, not all-consuming. I have managed to read a few books since travelling to Melbourne in 2017, for the Australian Open, at which time I purchased most of the books that I'm about to post about. Reviews will be brief as I don't want to be here forever.

War! What Is It Good For? Conflict and the Progress of Civilzation from Primates to Robots by Ian Morris

Enthralling book. Many a late night spent on this. It details the rise and fall of many empires, plenty of wars, insight into countries' economies, progression of technology, and why China will be the dominant superpower around 2040. It's been sitting on my nightstand for a couple of years since I've finished so the words have only just become more relevant with the passing of time.

Dear Leader by Jang Jin-sung

The fantastic story of the early life of a North Korean who rose to the height of trust within the propaganda unit, his escape to China, and eventual freedom in South Korea. Thrilling story of narrow escapes and massive amounts of dumb luck which was a little dissatisfying due to lack of details to ensure the safety of others to come after him. Left me wanting more and feeling like something was missing and that it wasn't truly believable. 

Einstein's Greatest Mistake - The Life of a Flawed Genius by David Bodanis

Quite a decent book about Albert Einstein with some excellent explanations of his theories. Certainly learned much from this read. It's not too heavy to understand and Einstein led an interesting life. His mistake was - well, you'll have to read to find out, but it was something that weighed heavily on him and was cause for much regret.

Stephen Hawking - A Life in Science by Michael White and John Gribbin

Stephen Hawking was an amazing person. Such a driven human being so not necessarily the nicest. An incredible brain that perhaps reached the heights that it did due in part due to his motor neuron disease not enabling him to do much outside of academia. He had a busy life though and achieved so much. Fascinating book.

Colder by Ranulph Fiennes

Sir Ranulph Fiennes led one of the most amazing lives of an explorer in the polar regions. The hardships that this man experienced leave you feeling incredulous. An epic tale of bitter cold, almost starvation, and a spirit that wouldn't accept defeat. You are drawn into the man's personal experience. Well worth paying six bucks for.

Zero Footprint by Simon Chase and Ralph Pezzullo

Simon Chase and his varied teams of mercenaries saw duty in all manner of dangerous places. The book wasn't as engaging as some movies that you see on the subject which was a bit of a drawback. Understandably and regrettably, operation issues can't be covered in such detail as to reveal too much to the enemy. Not as satisfying as I had hoped but a decent read all the same.

The barefoot investor by Scott Pape

I've read Scott Pape's articles in the Sunday paper for years. Until I stopped buying the paper. He's very down to earth and eminently readable. I actually bought this book for my son but read it before him. If you're looking for a more than reasonable guide to investing then you can't go wrong with this book and his advice. And you don't need to be rich to invest. I follow most of what he says too. The writing style only encourages the reader so I'd definitely recommend this book.

Farewell to Cricket by Don Bradman

Autobiography by a humble but immensely talented cricketer, perhaps the best batsman ever to play the game (not that he laid claim to that). Heaps of stats, insights to famous matches and personal milestones, this was an easy read (for a cricket tragic, it has to be said). Bradman certainly wasn't one to blow his own trumpet and downplays most of his achievements. The book covers his early life and whole cricket career. A recommended read.

Reminiscences by Douglas MacArthur

Another autobiography and the best I've read to date. Self praise is no recommendation so General Douglas MacArthur constantly shares the praise from others. A career man of battle, there are some tremendous stories of his experiences, especially in Japan and Korea. From his own account he was a man of intellect, foresight, and planning ability. Surprising that he didn't become president but being a lifetime military man he didn't have the interest in doing so. Judging by the way he brought Japan out of their post-war depths he may well have done a brilliant job. Reading this I was left in no doubt as to why he was a revered five-star general. Information about his wife and son was almost non-existent which was a pity.

I picked this book up in an op shop whilst waiting to meet an old school friend in Mount Barker, South Australia. It's a first edition, published in 1964, and cost me the grand sum of $3.50. What a bargain. Serendipity, some would call it.

European Trip 2015 - Day Fifteen

Still woke up early. Had to find a pharmacy that catered for Koreans. Some of the French staff even spoke Korean! The missus bought quite a lot of stuff but not quite enough for duty free status. Luckily it wasn't far from our apartment although she had the wrong metro station to get off at so it took quite a bit of finding.

After breakfast we walked down to the Seine and on to the Bastille monument before wandering around the Marais area. Lots of little shops, delicious gelato and outlet shopping at amazingly low prices.

Fuel is not cheap in Paris

The Bastille monument

Classical central Paris building

 Had lunch at L'Escargot. Fabulous snail, pork filet mignon, tuna and creme brulee. Set us back EUR38, including an expresso, but so enjoyable.

Down the hatch

L'Escargot - wonderful cuisine

Fill 'er up

Moving day

Academie Nationale De Musique

 Located Galeries Lafayette after some trouble. Quite a few Japanese stores/people in the area. Chinese doing most of the buying in this precinct - lots of shop assistants were Chinese too. Needed a Coke as I was tired and 500mL cost EUR3.90. Not everything was cheap.

Eiffel Tower from atop Galeries Lafayette

 Headed towards the Obelisk, had to backtrack due to heading in the wrong direction, and bought a macaron and choc croissant on the way. So good. Caught the metro home. Heaps of walking today, and woman shopping, so very tired.

The Obelisk and Arc de Triomphe

The Seine

European Trip 2015 - Day Fourteen

Big sleep in this morning. Around 10 am before we got going. Headed to Montmartre to visit shops and the Sacre Coeur. The basilica was beautiful inside, but modern, so not a classic beauty. No photos allowed inside but that didn't stop too many people so I thought I'd take one myself. Heaps of souvenir shops and the crepes were pretty crap too. Settled on one souvenir shop with good prices and made our purchase. Going down the hill we found Pain Pain which won milleau of 2012 in Paris - must be an award for best baker. Bought a prize-winning baguette, a chocolate eclair and a croissant aux amondes. Lovely food. Then we found some cheaper souvenir shops - dammit. Lots of shops are run by Indians so English was no problem.

Steps leading up to Sacre Coeur at Montmartre

Overlooking Montmartre

Sacré-Cœur

Inside

Love this gargoyle

Difficult time of day to take a shot of the basilica

Streets of Montmartre

Took the metro to Saint Denis to visit the Basilica of Saint Denis. As it was under reconstructino there was a discounted entry to the royal burial chamber and crypt. The tombs of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were spectacular.

Ventured to some street markets. Fruit and veg were so much cheaper than our local greengrocer. We felt safer in a crowd of Negros and Arabs than at the tourist attractions where we'd always been very mindful of our belongings. It was obvious that we were tourists as every time we passed a fake La Coste shirt seller they approached me. So busy too. Long trip back by metro to Cluny La Sorbonne and the five minute walk home. Miky cooked gnocci and some meat we'd purchased. Such delicious food. After dinner she went out for a coffee.

Dirty streets around St Denis

The dirty streets are cleaned up quite quickly

Inside the basilica at Saint Denis

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette

The missus and Marie Antoinette

The crypt

At 9 pm I journeyed to the Champ de Mars to view the Bastille Day fireworks at the Eiffel Tower. Arrived at 9;35 with no hassles but no grass left to sit on that had a full view of the tower. Settled for the top half view in a standing spot as thought that the wait would only be for 15 minutes. Beautiful symphony orchestra playing classical composers' music to the masses.

Crowd building for Bastille Day fireworks at Champ de Mars

Lights on

The tricolour

Fireworks started at 11 pm - when it was actually quite dark. I must say that the French do an extremely nice fireworks display. No cringeworthy songs playing during the show. After 37 minutes of fireworks it was time to brave the crowds using the metro to go home. The streets outside were mad with pedestrians mixing with impatient motorbike riders and car drivers. If ever there was an evacuation of Paris required they'd never manage it.

Fireworks on the Eiffel Tower

More fireworks

Yet more fireworks

Stood outside the train station for nearly 50 minutes before being able to get inside. The crowd was crushing at times and people were yelling out to stop pushing and that infants were being crushed. Bit stupid that the metro wasn't free.

Missed the first train as it was full. Got the next one OK. When we reached a full station there was a groan from the passengers but a cheer at a practically empty station.

Reached my train station at 12:54 am only to find that the last train had run. Thank goodness I had a street map with me or I'd never have made it home the two stations that I needed to walked (went in opposite direction to home initially). Arrived home at 1:30 am. Great experience.

The crowd waiting to use the metro. Forty minutes wait from here just to enter the station.

Packed in like sardines

European Trip 2015 - Day Thirteen

Up early again as we had to head over to Paris St Lazare station to catch an 8:20 am train, 15 euros each way/person, to Vernon. From there we transferred to a shuttle bus, which was eight euros each return, to take us to Giverny so that we could visit Claude Monet's house, garden and water lily pond. Three buses filled with tourists in all so it was going to be a popular spot.

Attempted to purchase a coffee at a cafe. They told us, a little bit rudely, to go down the back to the chalet for the coffee. Then the gardener, who had ignored us before, served us and someone else. Not a great start to the day and unlikely that we would be returning to their establishment. Would've made all the difference if they'd called the gardener to look after us instead of basically shooing us away.

Not sure who picked up whom from the street

 Wandered around to Claude Monet's house to find quite a queue. Looked at the nearby shops before lining up. Thankfully it was an overcast day as I had to wait 20-25 minutes in line. Purchased a combo ticket for the Impressionists Museum in town as well. Turns out that there was no monetary saving to be had by doing this though, just time. Miky didn't want me to purchase the other ticket.

Claude Monet's house gets quite a few visitors

 The queue for the house was long so we joined the queue for the water garden. They redirected this queue so we went back to the house. Large place with a surprising number of Japanese paintings and pictures. He obviously lived reasonably comfortably for an artist.

Huge garden. And the garden where the water lilies are, which you have to go through a subway to reach, is massive. Most likely took more photos of the garden than Monet himself painted.

Flowers in bloom

Monet's studio

A few of his artworks on display

Boats on the pond

The famous water lilies and green bridge

Picturesque

Beauty wherever you look

The water lily pond is huge

Delicate flowers in bloom

Water lilies

Poser on one of the bridges

Tourist couple in the garden

 By lunch time we'd seen enough. Bought a sandwich only as soupe de jour was not available. Walked to the museum which had heaps of Degas exhibited. Some recognisable and brilliant pieces - great artist. Miky thoroughly enjoyed her visit to the museum.

There was some confusion at the bus stop as the driver of the first bus, which was full, would only talk in French and didn't want to leave until it was the scheduled time. Caught the second bus and made it back to the train station with plenty of time for our train. At Gare St Lazare we did a lot of grocery shopping and some more clothes shopping. Back home for a rest.

Rue Claude Monet intersection in Giverny

 Left around 7:30 pm so that we could catch a 9 pm river cruise from the Eiffel Tower. Lovely cruise and scenery except for some loudmouth Aussies behind us. As we finished the cruise they started to light up the tower which we viewed for some 20 minutes before heading home.

The Australian embassy is well situated

Eiffel Tower in sepia

Alexandre III Bridge

Buildings alongside the Seine

The Eiffel Tower lit up at night