false185647true5822346read6true4122403currently-reading3true4122402to-read
<![CDATA[Mark added 'Song of Susannah']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71629356
to: Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6)byStephen King
This one got confusing and I found it somewhat inaccesable at times.
However, it did build to a frantic finish. King is the master of his craft and this installment in his epic tale of the Dark Tower had some twists and turns that I didn't expect.
This book does a nice one-volume job of summarizing Afghanistan's military history from Alexander the Great's adventures in the area all the way up to the current round of conflicts there.
The chapter on Ghengis Khan's exploits in the area is excellent, as is the chapter on the Durrani Empire, the first homegrown empire. The chapters on the British expeditions / invasions (both the first and second) were absolutely chilling, as was the summary of the Soviet invasion given our current circumstances there. The account of the massacre of the British Kabul Garrison as it attempted to retreat in January 1842 was brutal and tragic.
Bottom line = outside powers have nearly always found it easy to invade and conquer whatever king, ruler, or central authority they found there but... after the mountain tribes people mobilize then it's the beginning of the end for foreign invaders. Same story, over and over, since Alexander's time. Those mountain tribal peoples don't really do centralized authority in any form, especially if it's foreign imposed.
Finally, the chapter labeled "Pashtunistan" was worth the entire book! This chapter lays out the cultural and geographic reality on the ground there and it doesn't have much in common with current national boundaries. This chapter lays out why Afghanistan and Pakistan are so connected, and why there really won't be a taliban solution in Afghanistan without one in Pakistan as well. In light of the history told in this book, I hope our national goals in Afghanistan are very simple and modest. To attempt to bring the mountain tribes under the control of any central government may in fact be a bridge too far. If the Taliban successfully morph into a Pashtun nationalist type movement then it's game over in our struggle against them. Perhaps the best we can hope for is the Taliban / Pashtun movement morphing into something that can provide its people with some kind of stability without some of the nastiness of the early Taliban movement and without a free ride to Al Queda.
]]>
<![CDATA[Mark added 'The Omnivore's Dilemma']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71630022
The Omnivore's Dilemma (Hardcover)
byMichael Pollan bookshelves: currently-reading
]]>
<![CDATA[Mark added 'Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71629459
to: Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America (Hardcover)byThomas L. Friedman
I'm a big Tom Friedman fan and he didn't dissapoint with this book.
He tells a great story and instead of total doom and gloom about climate change, economic stagnation, and loss of American leadership in economic power he offers a clear path forward.
I totally agree with his premise that we must come together in the great quest of our time to bring to pass the next great business, and technological revolution - the development of a clean energy infrastructure that is cheaper than the total cost of our current dirty energy system. We also must act boldly and now to slow down species destruction brought on by pollution, habitat destruction, deforestation and desertification.
Friedman offers a clarion call that we must heed. Despite our petty politicized arguments about how much human activity can be blamed for the current changing climate we all should be able to agree on the need for innovation toward a more efficient, clean (less poluting), and sustainable energy infrastructure for our future. Why are we not moving full speed ahead on the next great business and technological revolution? Why are we seemingly conceeding leadership to other nations on this? Simply to protect the status quo? Shame on us all if we aren't working toward a cleaner, brighter, more reliable and sustainable future.
]]>
<![CDATA[Mark
is on page 125 of Afghanistan: A Milit...
]]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71629268
Mark
is on page 125 of 351 of
Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban
]]>
<![CDATA[Mark added 'Crossing to Safety']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71629192
Crossing to Safety (Paperback)
byWallace Stegner bookshelves: currently-reading
]]>
<![CDATA[Mark added 'Angle of Repose']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/61120429
to: Angle of Repose (Paperback)byWallace Stegner
There's nothing I can intelligently add to all that's been written about this amazing novel and Wallace Stegner's craftmanship. I'll say only that once again (I read "Big Rock Candy Mountain" a few years ago) Wallace Stegner's characters have reached me on a deeply personal emotional level. There are experiences and emotions expressed articulately here between husband and wife that were almost painfully familiar.
His characters are so developed, so real, so accessable to my own emotional experience that I relished every page. Wallace Stegner is a master! I can't name a literary novelist that has touched me more familiarly or more deeply than Stegner. The subject matter here: marriage, the settling of the west, pride, honor, what history can teach us about ourselves, is timeless and just as current now as when Stegner won the pulitzer prize for this novel back in the early '70's.
When you are ready for pure reading pleasure, an emotionally penetrating portrait of a marriage over the years that I'm sure will ring true with what you know of the subject, read Angle of Repose.
]]>
<![CDATA[Mark added 'The Hunger Games']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71628018
to: The Hunger Games (Hunger Games, #1)bySuzanne Collins
I heard the author interviewed on the radio so I picked up the book. Wow! What a story. Very simple first person POV narrative, nothing complicated, but... the emotional impact of the subject matter within the storyline was fabulous. This book is targeted at the young adult audience and I'm sure the young adults love it - but I loved it too because of it's unflinching examination of issues like PTSD, depression, and the ethics of survival, without ever naming these things of course. Quite a page turner too - Suzanne Collins has the young adult keep your attention and keep you interested strategy down pat. I liked it because besides being an edge of the seat, turn the page, simple story line for teens, it was smart. Very smart in the implicit questions it asks of the young reader. I'm excited to discuss this story and it's background issues with my kids.
]]>
<![CDATA[Mark added 'Dune']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/65941697
to: Dune (Dune 1)byFrank Herbert
One of the best stories I've every read. I know, you all read this years ago.
This story seems so timely right now. I've been thinking a lot about the mountain people in Afghanistan we are fighting / trying to help. I've been thinking a lot about our oil based economy. I've been thinking a lot about environmental sustainablility, destruction, etc... and about what civic habits we might adopt that could help us address our environmental issues.
This story is classic science fiction written many years ago but, in light of all these things I've been thinking of, it might have been written just last year. It is a brilliant story of feudal politics, warrior culture, environmental sustainability, with a strong spiritual / mystical component. This is an imaginative tale of another universe, a boy becoming a man during a time of incredible turmoil for his people, and a machiavellian plot involving a mystical sect of servant, ninja like women, aristocratic families, and rugged dessert warriors. Everything I want in a good story! I guess I'll have to go find the other books in the series and read them now.
]]>