Author Topic: Non-Fiction (Read 439657 times)

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2800 on:** August 16, 2015, 10:07:48 AM »

TO NONFICTION BOOK TALK

What are you reading? Autobiographies, biographies, history, politics?

Tell us about the book; the good and the bad of it.

Let's talk books!

Discussion Leader: HaroldArnold

Oh, that's a good movie! One of only a few war movies that i liked and will watch again.

Jean

maryz · « **Reply #2801 on:** August 16, 2015, 10:49:54 AM »

Marjifay, when you watch the movie, pay close attention to the actors. Many went on to become famous as they got older (and they are extremely young in this movie). And parts of various nationalities were played by actors of the same nationality. It's excellent!

marjifay · « **Reply #2802 on:** August 16, 2015, 01:54:37 PM »

Thanks for the info, MaryZ, on the movie The Longest Day. That's one thing I like about watching the ME channel programs like the old Gunsmoke and Bonanza programs; you see a lot of well known actors playing bit parts when they were very young and not yet well known.

Marj

dvconlee · « **Reply #2803 on:** August 16, 2015, 04:58:46 PM »

Good read and good movie. "A Bridge Too Far" is another favorite of mine; book and movie.

JoanK · « **Reply #2804 on:** August 17, 2015, 03:58:55 PM »

Hi, DVCONLEE. I like your signature!

Read an interesting book, "Secrets from the Eating Lab" by a scientist who studies people's eating habits. As a science nerd, I was fascinated by the way they designed their experiments. If you tell people you're studying their eating, they become self conscious and change what they do, so you have to pretend you're studying something else, and sneak the food into it. Sometimes it goes hilariously wrong.

Most interesting: Much of what we believe about weight and health only applies o grossly overweight people. And the physiological reasons why diets don't work. In particular: the reason we always gain back the weight we lose has nothing to do with willpower. it's our physiology rebelling against what we have been doing.

She has alternate suggestions.

dvconlee · « **Reply #2805 on:** August 17, 2015, 05:06:43 PM »

Hi Joank,

I have read much about nutrition and it seems, to me, that the science would dictate that if you use more than you take in weight goes down. How you go about accomplishing that determines how healthy you are.

I have just signed up for my first class; how quickly do they go through the Unit 1 book?

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2806 on:** August 17, 2015, 06:07:56 PM »

Hi dvconlee - welcome - I wonder how much our emotional life has to do with not only choice but our ability to process food - and then the other - food today has so many changes to its structure - not just the additions to preserve longer on the shelf prepared foods but the food as it grows in the ground and develops on the hoof and how does all that change in the foodline affect our ability to process food.

I know I stopped eating all processed food except for bread, crackers and condiments like mayo and ketsup - amazing in less then 3 months with doing nothing else - just cooking all my own food I lost 20 pounds.

I attempt to buy local grass fed beef and chickens from the farmers market and whole foods but now I understand even cheese, unless imported is made with added preservatives and the milk comes from cows that are fed with penicillin.

I guess I am more alarmed over the change to our food that benefits lack of spoilage during long distant shipping and shelf life and protect the rancher and farmer with more production with less loss to insects and animal disease without, an honest study of how humans are processing this that I think contributes to our overweight nation. Other nations that do not allow this altering of food do not seem to struggle with an overweight population - yes, there are those who are overweight but not in the shear numbers that are typical of the average American.

JoanK · « **Reply #2807 on:** August 20, 2015, 06:07:03 PM »

DVCONLEE: I took the Latin class 10 years ago, so don't remember - they're probably not even using the same book. Ginny will tell you if you ask -- it may depend on the class though.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2808 on:** August 29, 2015, 10:32:23 PM »

Wheee we are open - Jane did it... our pre-discussion For Love of Lakes is open and ready AND the link is in the heading for the intro to the book along with the link to the book that is about 3/4ths of the book that is available to us from Amazon - here is the link to the discussion ... http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=4803.0

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #2809 on:** September 01, 2015, 06:41:06 PM »

And I shall put in a word to wise for DEAD WAKE: the Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson which we will begin discussing October 1st. Copies of the book are very popular and libraries have many holds on them. As Larson states "I discovered that buried in the muddled details of the affair was something simple and satisfying: a very good story." You'll make the same discovery when you join us October 1. . Don't delay, request today!

JoanK · « **Reply #2810 on:** September 23, 2015, 07:40:25 PM »

Reading a great autobiography: "West with the Night" by beryl Markham. She was a woman aviator who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic from West to East. Haven't gotten to that yet. So far she's talking about her life as an African bush pilot, and her childhood in Africa. I'm still with her, flying alone at night in 1935 in this tiny plane bringing oxygen to a dying man in the middle of nowhere.

It's a gripping book. From the first, I felt it is too good: I suspect the "facts" have been arranged to make good stories. I see some grounds for my suspicions, as it's thought it was ghost written by one of her husbands, a professional writer. Why not? movie stars do it as a matter of course.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Markham

Apparently there's being a movie made, but it centers on her affairs. Who cares! I'd have affairs too, if I lived that life. I want to know about the flying!!! (You can see I've become a Beryl Markham fan).

Frybabe · « **Reply #2811 on:** September 23, 2015, 08:37:19 PM »

Now reading The Flash Boys by Michael Lewis. It's about computerized high-frequency trading and how a small group of Wall Street guys discovered that the US stock market was rigged to the advantage of insiders to the detriment of ordinary investors.

Joan, West with the Night has been in and out of my sights for quite some time. I want to read it, but keep forgetting to look for a copy. I'm going to go see if the Philadelphia Free Library has an ebook of it now.

JoanK · « **Reply #2812 on:** September 24, 2015, 06:35:02 PM »

FRY: it's free on kindle unlimited.

Hope I didn't offend anyone when I said I'd have an affair if I lived her life. It's not even true: I'm a one man woman and I married him.

But I can just see Hollywood making a soppy love story about this woman's life, when that's not her story at all. She found things that she loved to do and lived them: hunting with the Masai as a child, training racehorses (and winning races) at 18. She was 17 when she saw her first airplane and fell in love with it.

Jonathan · « **Reply #2813 on:** September 27, 2015, 05:47:59 PM »

What a lucky day at the college book sale yesterday. It's a fall ritual around here. Naturally I'm looking for books recommended here on SeniorLearn. And this time around, naturally, I was looking for West with the Night. I've read so many raves about it, along with yours, Joan, that I felt I had to read it. Hunting, horseracing, flying, having affairs, and envied by Ernest Hemingway for her great writing style! And there it was. It does read well.

And then I found a gloriously illustrated, annotated Three Men In A Boat, proposed for discussion here a while ago. It lost out to Alice In Wonderland I believe. Wonderful English humour.

And what a nice surprise to find Lantern On The Levee, the recollections of a southern planter's son. I recently read a biography of the author's nephew, Walker Percy, who found it helpful in sorting out his life. Has anyone read it?

To make it a dandy quartet there was Erik Larson's Dead Wake. So now I gotta make a reservation on the Lusitania. With lots of good reading.

JoanK · « **Reply #2814 on:** September 27, 2015, 09:02:17 PM »

JONATHAN: what a haul! Haven't read "Lanterns on the Levee", but the other three are winners!

JoanK · « **Reply #2815 on:** September 27, 2015, 09:18:28 PM »

SHIP AHOY!

The Lusitania is sailing again on Thursday! Come and board early, even if you haven't gotten your book yet. Meet the irascible captain who couldn't save her (should he have?), the men and women who took their life problems (and priceless manuscripts) aboard, the happiest submarine captain and crew (was he too ruthless? too kind?), the love struck President, and the British naval officer who lured the submarine to its position, and didn't tell the Lusitania (was it on purpose?)

And share your experiences with ships (sunken and floating), submarines, naval warfare, and the decade before the roaring twenties.

http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=4811.0

PatH · « **Reply #2816 on:** September 28, 2015, 11:19:05 AM »

Oh good, Jonathan, I'm glad you'll be with us in Dead Wake.

emfoxwell · « **Reply #2817 on:** September 29, 2015, 05:49:58 PM »

A few remarks on _West with the Night_:
--The aviatrix portrayed by Susannah Harker in the miniseries "Heat of the Sun" is based on Beryl Markham.
--The character of Felicity in the film "Out of Africa" is also based on Markham.

I hope it is permissible to mention here my new collection _In Their Own Words: American Women in World War I_, which seeks to highlight the neglected contributions of US women to the war via their first-person accounts. Roles covered range from doctor, nurse, and relief worker to dietitian, motor driver, fingerprint expert, librarian, pilot, reporter, singer, stenographer, and switchboard operator.

More info:
http://elizabethfoxwell.com/WWI_Anthology.html

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2818 on:** September 29, 2015, 08:22:51 PM »

That looks really interesting Elizabeth. I wish I had had it to use when I was teaching USHist 102.

Jean

emfoxwell · « **Reply #2819 on:** September 30, 2015, 06:31:22 AM »

I'm hoping the collection will be useful to instructors, particularly with the centenary of the U.S. entry into the war coming up in April 2017.

JoanK · « **Reply #2820 on:** September 30, 2015, 04:44:38 PM »

The Lusitania sets sail tomorrow. I'm getting excited!

Steph · « **Reply #2821 on:** October 09, 2015, 09:06:58 AM »

Just finished.. "The Search for Anne Perry" by Joanne Drayton. Anne is a well known author, and the book is really strange. Anne is really a woman who as a teen killed the mother of the second teen. The two were caught and went to prison in New Zealand. They had their names changed and disappeared.. She was outed by a movie some time ago. The book is supposed to be a biography.Instead it has the plots of every single book she wrote and a few that were weird beyond anything. She be came a devout mormon and of course the author downplays what she did as a teen ( they only served five years for Murder, 1st degree at that because they were mid teeDisappointment.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2822 on:** October 09, 2015, 12:54:20 PM »

I am reading a really interesting book, Profiles of Female Genius, written by Gene Landrum. He talks about "thirteen creative women who changed the world." Lillian Vernon, Ophra Winfrey, Golda Meir, Jane Fonda, Estee Lauder, Madonna, Ayn Rand, Gloria Steinam, Margaret Thatcher, Mary Kay Ash, Liz Claiborne, Maria Callas, Linda Wachner (first woman owner of a Fortune 500 company, Warnaco [Warner and Olga lingerie, Fruit of the Loom, Valintino, Hathaway shirts, etc]).

He choose women who created their own success and had not inherited their position; had staying power of at least 10 yrs of influence; their success or achievement had international influence; their achievement must have occurred in the last 40 yrs, (the book was published in 1994). I would like to see who he would choose in 2015!

They were mostly first born or their FATHER's FAVORITE; father often self-employed and a mentor; had FEMALE mentors; READ books early in childhood, created imagination; goal-oriented workaholics; wanted to win; self-sufficient; charismatic, persuaive personality; intuitive "gut" decision-makers; high energy.

I find all of that very interesting. What a good model for a curriculum for teaching teenage girls, and boys.

Jean

JoanK · « **Reply #2823 on:** October 09, 2015, 03:50:04 PM »

STEPH: disappointing. You know, but others may not that Anne Perry became a bestselling mystery story writer. (I just finished her latest book) who continues to write 2-4 books a year, even though she is 79.

She was not identified as the convicted killer she was until well into her career. (She was only 17 when convicted. After she served her sentence, she changed her name and moved from Australia to Scotland). I had already read a number of her books and I reread some to see if knowing the author was a murderess changed my opinion of them. It didn't.

emfoxwell · « **Reply #2824 on:** October 10, 2015, 08:34:32 AM »

I am a friend of Anne Perry and will confine myself to two points about the case: (1) in their NZ trial the girls had few of the protections that exist in the US legal system (for example, they were not permitted to testify in their own defense); and (2) Anne was on medication at the time that has since been proven to alter judgment.

Consistent themes in her work are the power of redemption and the championing of the marginalized and vulnerable.

Steph · « **Reply #2825 on:** October 10, 2015, 09:16:15 AM »

I am sure she is a nice devoted woman, but the book was silly. You certainly do not need explanations for every single book and how it proves that she is sorry. I am sure she is. I am not sure the book is really on track for a variety of reasons..She was in New Zealand.. and athat was the law there.. not the U.S. She is and never has been a US citizen, so was tried by the laws of her country. It does not say in the book that she was on medications at the time of the murder. Possibly she was , but it does not say it. She is very successful and I am glad she is doing well. I note that the two girls have never met since they left prison.. and were separated at that time. I was disappointed in the gaps in coverage. She did go first to the U.S., and then England and finally Scotland.. No idea why.

JoanK · « **Reply #2826 on:** October 10, 2015, 09:27:24 PM »

EMFOXWELL: I am certainly willing to give anyone who has made a mistake and served their punishment (especially one so young) a chance to redeem themselves. She served the punishment that was asked of her: it's not her fault if some feel it was too light. And indeed, her books are full of the horror of violence and what it does to everyone involved.

I do hope that she is finding redemption and peace in what has proved to be a long and fruitful life. And I wish the same for the other girl (woman) involved.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2827 on:** October 21, 2015, 06:21:22 AM »

Just published.
Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter – by Kate Clifford Larson

Sad story. http://www.people.com/article/rosemary-kennedy-siblings-didnt-see-her-after-lobotomy

I'm going to see if my library has ordered it.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #2828 on:** October 21, 2015, 11:19:56 AM »

Can't wait for my library to get "Rosemary". Sounds like a wonderfully interesting book.

PatH · « **Reply #2829 on:** October 24, 2015, 02:39:48 PM »

I'll look for it too. It interests me to see how people coped with handicapped children in less tolerant times. Did you know that Charles de Gaulle had a daughter with Down's Syndrome? He was very loving with her, and is buried beside her, at his request.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #2830 on:** November 07, 2015, 05:18:28 PM »

I remember reading about Rosemary and the lobotomy. As I remember it was Joe, the father, who arranged it without telling his wife and daughters; he thought she was an embarrassment to the family. The daughters visited her in the home in which she was placed years after - was it in Wisconsin? Anyway, when you read it, let us know more about it. I wonder if she is still living; wasn't she the oldest Kennedy chld? I could look it all on the tube couldn't I?

I just finished reading David Brinkley's memoir; it was an older book in our library, a large print one that I am favoring these days. Recalling all those years, radio (yes, I remember it) and early television and the news programs, the Kennedy, Johnson years. He thought Clinton a terribly boring man. A good book.

I have a story to tell about the first TV I ever watched. I had planned a party for friends at my boyfriends home as he had a big house and a mother who was a good cook. She promised to bake a ham and such after the party. So I planned a few funny games and thought perhaps listening to records, dancing maybe, and just being together; well, lo and behold, unbeknown to me she had just purchased a TV and that was the evening. None of us had ever seen it except in store windows and we sat and watched it all evening.

It was not what I planned and I disliked it immensely it!

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #2831 on:** November 07, 2015, 05:24:11 PM »

In some ways, the Internet is like early TV, different, of course, but in ways similar. I just watched Dean Martin's roasts on Youtube, looking up Peter Falk. I was trying to remember the movie in which he zig- zags across the field yelling "Serpentine." I remember it as about the only movie in which I laughed out loud.

Do you know, I don 't know how to play DVD's on my TV and neither does my daughter. I don't need them with all the cable networks and I don't watch TV that much, but I would like to watch Peter Falk again. It involves two remotes and pushing the right buttons and I know I will foul it up and have to call Time Warner to get my TV back.

ginny · « **Reply #2832 on:** November 07, 2015, 09:08:55 PM »

The InLaws! I loved that movie, too. You need a DVD player to watch DVD's.

When I rent a movie from Netflix who has them all, I like to use my portable DVD player. It's got a big screen, 10 or 12 inches, and it looks HUGE to me in my lap and I enjoy watching stuff on it, there's nothing to connect to the TV, you just watch whatever you put in it. I can't recall the make of it but it's the biggest one I've seen, as big as a laptop.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #2833 on:** November 08, 2015, 12:25:20 PM »

GINNY - I have a DVD player sitting in the cabinet below the cable box, it's just a matter of learning how to operate the two remotes.

A portable DVD player sounds just the thing no TV involved. I can ask Santa Claus to bring me one - what is the brand name of the one you have? I suppose you can buy one at Best Buy.

JoanK · « **Reply #2834 on:** November 08, 2015, 03:14:27 PM »

I remember when I was a child, my friend's family got the first TV on the block. Now, instead of running around playing, we would sit in front of the TV for hours, waiting for a show (there were only a few shows a day).

A special was coming on in the evening, and the family invited all their friends to watch it. Opposite the TV was a window that looked out onto a neighbor's window, and they left the curtains open. The neighbor invited all their friends to watch through the window.

ginny · « **Reply #2835 on:** November 08, 2015, 08:57:09 PM »

Ella, I love mine, it's the best one I've ever had and it's the 4th, we're hard on them for some reason.

It's a Sylvania SDVD1332 13.3-Inch Swivel Screen Portable DVD Player with USB/SD Card Reader (I looked it up).

Best Buy and Amazon both have it. Best Buy tends to have only the tiny ones with the 7 inch screens in the stores, so I ordered mine from Amazon but I note Best Buy does say free shipping on it, on the website but Amazon does that anyway, with Prime. Best Buy is a higher price. I really like it. You can take your movie with you anywhere in the house.

The screen swivels backwards if you want it to do that, I don't. There's a remote (?) control I've never used and earphones, also unused, but I sure like seeing the screen that big in my lap. All I do is put the DVD in and enjoy: it plays anywhere.

It truly has a huge screen. I've enjoyed this one. A lot. The controls are easy to work too.

Joan K, we also had the first TV on the street in PA and everybody in the neighborhood would come in too. Such a small screen and everybody gathered around. I remember those old TV's. I remember shows like I Remember Mama and Kukla Fran and Olli, and Howdy Doody. Gosh how innocent we seem now. Of course I WAS a child.

There was also a program called Winky Dink and You. You were to get these magic kits (sort of like saran wrap) and the magic markers and put up the paper and draw on the screen/ paper pasted to the TV to solve the mystery. We probably irradiated ourselves half way into oblivion but it sure was fun.

There was a program called Life With Riley with William Bendix. My father hated it, just hated it and would not allow it to be on. I can't recall why. hahaha

Talking about old media, I have SIRIUS in the car and I love their old radio programs channel. The other day I was listening to The Whistler whatever that was and the moderator at the end was listing the actors one of whom was Ira Grossel . Then he said stay tuned for Ira Grossel..and Eve Arden....you may know Ira Grossel as Jeff Chandler! It's just fascinating.

I love those old radio shows. These are sponsored by something called Radio Spirits. who have a website with all the old radio shows for sale.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2836 on:** November 09, 2015, 07:14:15 AM »

I remember every one of those you mentioned, Ginny, except for Mama. Winky Dink was a lot of fun.

We also watched Pinky Lee and Molly Bee, Ed Sullivan (of course), Arthur Murray's Dance Party, and Walter Cronkite's You Are There series. And then there was My Little Margie, Roy Rogers, and so on. Radio shows, my favorite was The Shadow. I also listened to Fibber Magee and Molly, The Whistler, Ellery Queen, The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, and a radio playhouse or theater program, the name of which I cannot remember. We could go on and on with a list, couldn't we. I don't think I listened to radio regularly back then.

JoanK · « **Reply #2837 on:** November 09, 2015, 03:50:34 PM »

"The Shadow" came on just at that creepy time of early evening, when there are shadows!

Saturday, a friend (age 73) asked me "Did you watch "The Mickey Mouse Club" when you were a kid?" I said "I predate TV." These youngsters!

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2838 on:** November 09, 2015, 04:45:32 PM »

Jonathan · « **Reply #2839 on:** November 10, 2015, 02:06:46 PM »

"that creepy time of early evening" with The Shadow...I remember it so well, Joan. The words still echo in my head: "The Shadow knows what evil lurks in the the dark corners of our souls." I still feel the thrilling shudder.

Not as exciting, but just as memorable was making the Saturday rounds with the 'breadman' and his horse and wagon. And being treated to some of his tastier confections. Just for running a loaf or two to someone's door. And telling the customer of the other fine things on the wagon. It never ceased to amaze me that the horse knew at which doors to stop.

At 85 I decided to go no further. I've turned around and am throwing each year OFF like an outworn garment. I had heard that a second childhood awaits us down the road. I choose to recapture the first. It was just too much fun. To help things along, I've started reading ghost stories, and do I have a couple to reccomend. Lord Halifax's Ghost Book, and Eileen Sonin's More Canadian Ghosts. Both awfully convincing. Fiction turns into nonfiction. Best read at night. What a fright. Leave the light...ON!!!

News:

Author Topic: Non-Fiction (Read 439657 times)