Saturday 29 October 2011

An Original Grumpy Old Man

Sadly, I don't get much time to read.
But I'm forcing myself to put time aside to do so.
I started with Christopher Hitchens "Arguably."
Love it but I'm finding it a bit of a chore.
Apart from the fact that the paperback is, like, 6 inches thick, his writing seems so...
So...
Trans atlantic intellectual.
By that I mean that group of writers who seem to be competing to see how many words like inchoate and frisson they can pack into a sentence and how many obscure references to Marcel Prousts work they can make.
But I did learn a lot.
Like, you know the marines song?
"From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli..."
No why would a marine force founded in the 1800's mention Tripoli?
Because they fought there in 1801 and again in 1815.
The first American war in the middle east.
Called the "Barbary Wars."

So I put it down and picked up Noam Chomskys "How the World Works."
What a hoot! Love this guy. I really do.
The book can be summed up like this:
"Bloody banks! Bloody corporations! Bloody governments! Bloody politicians! I told you! You didn't listen! Bastards."
Now don't get me wrong.
After half a bottle of wine I tend to rant too.
In most cases about the same things that Chomsky does actually.
Curious that when you get past 40 or so, the "Rant Gene" kicks in.

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