No one can say that Ben Carson grew up in privileged circumstances, but from a young age he seems to have had an uncanny knack for making the right choices. I’m not sure the Ben Carson story can be a model for all young people, but it does reinforce my belief that parents rather than …
September 2014 archive
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/17/gifted-hands-the-ben-carson-story-by-ben-carson/
Sep 17 2014
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carre
This was a fascinating story of a cat and mouse game in which it is never quite clear who is the cat and who is the mouse. It blows to bits the James Bond mythology of what spying is about: it is a dirty, dirty business, and the people who engage in it are hardly …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/17/the-spy-who-came-in-from-the-cold-by-john-le-carre/
Sep 14 2014
Lock In by John Scalzi
“Lock In,” while still well within the realm of Science Fiction, struck me as being a little bit off the beaten path for John Scalzi. In addition to the SF elements there was also some direct discussion of physical disability and how society deals with it, and a refreshing dollop of police procedural to make …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/14/lock-in-by-john-scalzi/
Sep 12 2014
The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glenn Cook
“The Chronicles of the Black Company ” is a dark epic fantasy by Glenn Cook. It depicts the travels of the Black Company a band of ruthless mercenaries as they switch from side to side. It is told in the voice of the Company’s surgeon and chronicler who’s fantasies about the ruling lady take him …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/12/the-chronicles-of-the-black-company-by-glenn-cook/
Sep 12 2014
Face in the Crowd
Just over a year ago now, I made my first trip to the United States of America. As I was heading to the East Coast, I had the ‘joy’ of an eight hour layover at LAX. As I wandered around the airport, looking at the shops, grabbing some food I noticed there was a lot …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/12/face-in-the-crowd/
Sep 11 2014
Rome and Italy by Livy
Mostly this is a record of Rome’s interminable wars with the Samnites. War is hardly a trivial event, but Rome fought so many wars during this period that reading about one battle after another becomes wearying. The most interesting and unusual thing that happened during this period was that a Vestal Virgin violated her vow …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/11/rome-and-italy-by-livy/
Sep 11 2014
White Paper Review – Pew Research Center: Younger Americans and Public Libraries
The Pew Research Center has released an interesting white paper named Younger Americans and Public Libraries: How those under 30 engage with libraries and think about libraries’ role in their lives and communities, concerning Millennials and their reading habits. Contrary to what some might expect, the results are not all doom and gloom. The researchers …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/11/white-paper-review-pew-research-center-younger-americans-and-public-libraries/
Sep 02 2014
The Spanish Civil War by Stanley Payne
All civil wars and revolutions are confused in their narrative accounts, but the Spanish Civil War is even more confusing than the French Revolution. Who, exactly, was rebelling against whom? The Leftists were supposedly the “revolutionaries,” but they actually supported the Republic. Franco’s Nationalists were the “counterrevolutionaries,” but they were dedicated to overthrowing the Republic. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/02/the-spanish-civil-war-by-stanley-payne/
Sep 02 2014
The Mission Song by John Le Carre
In this book Le Carre succeeds in doing what he failed to do in Tinker Tailor: creating characters that the reader actually cares about, as a well as a plot involving a covert operation whose outcome is not merely a an academic move in a geopolitical chess game. I identify in some ways with the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/02/the-mission-song-by-john-le-carre/
- 1
- 2
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire