by Rupe | Sep 21, 2003 | Not So Recent Reads
Author: Dore Gold
Date: 21-Sep-03
From New York City to Bali, Indonesia, ideologically motivated terrorist groups have chillingly demonstrated their global reach. And terrorism is now far more lethal than before.
But what is causing it? Only as new reports have emerged about Saudi Arabia’s links to terror has the United States begun to look closely at the Saudi kingdom, America’s purported ally. Now, in Hatred’s Kingdom, Middle East expert Dore Gold provides the startling evidence of how Saudi Arabia not only is linked to terror, but in fact has spawned the current wave of global terrorism.
Using previously unpublished documents, Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, exposes how the deeply ingrained hatred that has provoked the new terrorism has its roots in Saudi Arabia’s dominant religious creed, a radical Islamic offshoot known as Wahhabism.
My Thoughts: Really good read. Pretty similar to sleeping with the devil and Crisis in Islam. This focus on the House of Saud is pretty illuminating to say the least.
by Rupe | Sep 13, 2003 | Not So Recent Reads
Author: Steve Chandler
Date: 13-Sep-03
“It’s who you know.” “I don’t have time.” “I’m too old.” “That’s just the way I am.” These crippling statements deny our power to change our lives. In this program, the celebrated author of 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself teaches you how to stop telling yourself these lies that prevent you from being your best. When you free yourself from these lies, you will break your pattern of self-deception, and begin on the road to a new, more profitable, more fulfilling life.
My Thoughts: Jury is still out on this. Will probably have to read it a couple more times to really get it. Will resubmit thoughts then.
by Rupe | Aug 17, 2003 | Not So Recent Reads
Author: Anthony Gottlieb
Date: 17-Aug-2003
In this landmark new study of Western thought, Anthony Gottlieb looks afresh at the writings of the great thinkers, questions much of conventional wisdom, and explains his findings with unbridled brilliance and clarity. From the pre-Socratic philosophers through the celebrated days of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, up to Renaissance visionaries like Erasmus and Bacon, philosophy emerges here as a phenomenon unconfined by any one discipline. Indeed, as Gottlieb explains, its most revolutionary breakthroughs in the natural and social sciences have repeatedly been co-opted by other branches of knowledge, leading to the illusion that philosophers never make any progress.
From the physics of angels to Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, Gottlieb builds through example and anecdote a vivid portrait of the human drive for understanding. After finishing The Dream of Reason, listeners will be graced with a fresh appreciation of the philosophical quest, its entertaining and bizarre byways, and its influence on every aspect of life.
by Rupe | Aug 17, 2003 | Not So Recent Reads
Author: Peter Mansfield
Date: 17-Aug-2003
In this masterly work of synthesis, Peter Mansfield, drawing on his experience as a journalist and a historian, explores two centuries of history in the Middle East. He forms a picture of the historical, political, and social history of the meeting point of Occident and Orient, from Bonaparte’s marauding invasion of Egypt to the start of the Gulf War. For more than four thousand years, the Middle East has provided a setting for titanic struggles between great civilizations and religions. In this century it became the focus of rivalry between the European powers as the last major Islamic empire of the Ottoman Turks crumbled and collapsed. The discovery of the world’s greatest oil reserves gave the region global economic importance as well as a unique strategic value. The foundation of a national state by immigrant Zionist Jews created one of the most insoluble political problems of our era, which is compounded by the reassertion of Islamic consciousness among the great majority of the region’s inhabitants. In two penetrating final chapters, Peter Mansfield discusses Saddam Hussein and the prospects for the future.
My Thoughts: A little dated, but pretty good read. Very interesting and definitely a book that must be read by any one who wants to understand the forces that have shaped the current Middle East and still are.
by Rupe | Jul 17, 2003 | Not So Recent Reads
Author: Bill Bryson
Date: 17-Jul-03
Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science. Although he doesn’t know anything about the subject (at first), he is eager to learn, and takes information that he gets from the world’s leading experts and explains it to us in a way that makes it exciting and relevant. Even the most pointy-headed, obscure scientist succumbs to the affable Bryson’s good nature, and reveals how he or she figures things out. Showing us how scientists get from observations to ideas and theories is Bryson’s aim, and he succeeds brilliantly. It is an adventure of the mind, as exciting as any of Bryson’s terrestrial journeys.
My Thoughts: One of the best books I have read. Very interesting read. It really reminded me a lot about a series that used to come on TV called – “Connections”. In Connections, the narrator ties a number of desperates pieces of historical facts together in a great story.
