tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post2693718498028204100..comments2023-11-30T10:43:33.130-06:00Comments on Reading Freely: We Forgot Our New Years PieStephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097908023032528200noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post-6482478817693743482017-02-05T12:26:09.762-06:002017-02-05T12:26:09.762-06:00I like the BBC, but I certainly don't regard i...I like the BBC, but I certainly don't regard it as neutral -- ditto for the Economist, which I read devotedly. The Economist is all for the Clinton-Bush-Blair world of corporate trade and transnational organizations running everything. I'm strongly sympathetic toward little America sentimentalism myself -- and little England, and provincial France, and parochial Italy and kleiner Deutschland. It's people's folk songs and regional architecture that make me enraptured, not the reign of McWorld. But I also am suspicion of this corporate mega-order from rational grounds: people cannot handle that much centralized power, centralized power doesn't work well in many respects, democracy means nothing on a mass scale, etc. I think all these big corrupt things always do themselves in, though -- Rome, Persia, Bonaparte. Once they crash to the ground it's the little places, the poleis and communes, that grow and prosper again. So I'm hopeful, regardless of what comes. :) Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15097908023032528200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post-83938251302785797782017-02-05T03:36:49.874-06:002017-02-05T03:36:49.874-06:00I was planning on reading histories/political tome...I was planning on reading histories/political tomes about Britain's relationship with the Continent rather than pro-anti Brexit books themselves (though there are now quite a few out there). Some of that will be about the history of the EU but I don't think that anything written about Brexit itself will have enough perspective to be of much use right now. Maybe in 5-10 years when a lot of the dust has settled.<br /><br />My Brexit posts are inevitably one sided. I voted Remain and believe that Brexit was the stupidest thing this country has *ever* done. Plus the excerpts are all from the BBC. Essentially what I'm doing is showing what some people are saying about it and then looking back to see who was right. <br /><br />Oh, and I think you're right about Farage. He's what a call a 'Little Englander' who has some kind of fantasy England in his head and who thinks we can achieve that through the simple act of leaving the EU. All quite delusional....CyberKittenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06394155516712665665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post-18681427294962689462017-02-04T18:21:54.376-06:002017-02-04T18:21:54.376-06:00Strangely enough, I also received a China book tod...Strangely enough, I also received a China book today from Amazon. It will be a while yet before I read it, though -- it's called "This Brave New World: China, India, and the United States". <br /><br />Regarding Brexit, will you be reading any literature from their side? I ask because I used to have the impression that Farage was a racist or something until I heard him being interviewed. The points he made about treaties being sent to the people of France and this-or-that country, democratically rejected, and then imposed anyway via treaties, sounded like a legitimate grievance. I read your Brexit posts but don't comment on them because I don't live in Britain (or Europe, heheh) and so am not exposed to a lot of the facts. I listen to speeches and interviews from time to times. <br />Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15097908023032528200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post-68351040241712251712017-02-04T18:17:00.170-06:002017-02-04T18:17:00.170-06:00I'm happy to provide something to other reader...I'm happy to provide something to other readers, and grateful to count you among them, sir! Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15097908023032528200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post-27234735088986601932017-02-04T15:20:06.584-06:002017-02-04T15:20:06.584-06:003rd China book has just arrived (well, around lunc...3rd China book has just arrived (well, around lunch time today) from Amazon! Hurrah!CyberKittenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06394155516712665665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post-16673403625338935442017-02-04T15:13:26.432-06:002017-02-04T15:13:26.432-06:00I am so impressed with your eclectic range! Well d...I am so impressed with your eclectic range! Well done! But I admit also to being jealous: you are a book lover working in a library; it is a bit like being a kid turned loose in a candy shop! In any case, I always look forward to your postings. I never know what I might be reading about next. Bravo! RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-980951139270141970.post-25006571608325779852017-02-04T04:02:31.826-06:002017-02-04T04:02:31.826-06:00Inspired by the diversity of your reading [grin] I...Inspired by the diversity of your reading [grin] I have a China 'triple' coming up later this year (with a European angle of course). I'll see if I can do that for some other regions too - The Far East and Africa seems like good possibilities. I will definitely be *trying* to read more science/technology this year.<br /><br />...and with the Brexit process about to start maybe I should look at Britain's relationship with the Continent a bit more closely to see what went wrong?CyberKittenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06394155516712665665noreply@blogger.com