Winged Warfare

I flew for many years on P-3 Orion patrol planes for the US Navy. I had this dream of being like Lieutenant (Left-ten-ant) Colonel William A. Bishop. OK, I will humor you with who he is since it is currently the Olympic Games going on, and he is a Canadian hero.

Lt. Col. Bishop was an aerial ace (72 confirmed kills) during WW I. I am reading his autobiography right now. I knew who he was, but it is fascinating to read him in his own words.  At this point, I can say that the read is worth it, but I need to find a current publisher. It is a real cool story for anyone who is a history buff.

There is a book review to follow.

Winged Warfare

Ground Up by Michael Idov

So that people don't think I am sleeping on the job. I read and finished Ground Up yesterday. Wow! Compared to Hermann Hesse this is for idiots who read the New York Times Bestsellers lists. OK, I know that was harsh. However, I have found fashion does not "Trump" substance in ALL cases. I know that was a bit harsher.

That has nothing to do with the book! I LOVED IT!!!

Steppenwolf wanted me to kill myself. This is a tragic novel, but has HOPE that gives me belief that all business people should read it. It is a sad, but true commentary on American life. It challenges you to ask things like why is cheese orange?, or corn should always be yellow! If you don't get those kind of remarks, the book is too sophisticated for you.

I am an American Coffee Snob. This really strikes home for me in this novel. It is not because I believe that I am better than anyone else, but that I LOVE COFFEE. This novel strikes my heart, and yet I have no further to look to see a place I used to love falling into the same trap. I don't go there sadly in preference to SBUX because they lost focus, and SBUX can produce a "consistent" shot good or bad.

I KNOW what does this have to do with the novel? Everything! The author struck home on a common key with how I appreciate coffee. I have a friend who runs a tea shop called O-Cha here in Greenville, SC. She may kill me for my next remark. She does not make a great cup of espresso. In her defense, she is a TEA shop, and makes great tea. Coffee is not her specialty. The book covers a couple who is all about the coffee to their own detriment. As usual, I don't want to give the book away, but suffice to say it IS A DEFINITE READ.

A special shout out to TJ Emsley who turned me on to the book. I must return it to him, but I have sold my wife on it next. Sorry TJ, a couple more weeks before you get it back.

I would give it a 5/5  stars; that if you read my technical blog is impossible to get.

Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse

I read the novel Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse last night and today. I was truly inspired by its wonderful use of the English language. This is of course via proxy since it was originally written in German in 1927, and translated later (1929) to English.

I will be amazed if I don't have some dark nightmare over this book. It is truly a complex book full of despair and sorrow. I had read Siddhartha many years ago and found its complexity in thought brilliant. If you read a novel, and it does not cause you to think about the world, and see it through a new lens; it has failed.

The suggestive bawdiness of the novel highlights the roaring 20s and all of its excesses. It offers the reader a lens into period in which the author wrote the novel. The openly lascivious period is a precursor to the free-love movements of the 1960s.

The 1920s are not what the novel is about. The "Steppenwolf", literally wolf of the steppes, is a deeply conflicted and tormented soul. His life has become an empty shell of a life left unfulfilled. It is in his darkest hour he meets Hermine, who may be a figment of a tortured and opiate filled mind, who commands him to live. She commands him as a dominatrix to do her wishes. This command of the submissive steppenwolf is purely mental domination.

I will leave the rest to the potential reader to undertake. I don't wish to spoil the novel.

The novel, though leaving me contemplative, is not my favorite of Hermann Hesse. I liked Siddhartha much better. Perhaps Siddhartha is more in line with my favor for classical and oriental literature.

I would recommend it if only to widen ones view of the world.

First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells

I read the novel First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells this weekend. It is really neat to read a novel of such fantastic proportions. The novel was written well before our first trip to the moon, and contains a lot of scientific conjecture from the 1890s and early 1900s.

It is a fantastic tale of scientific discovery "Cavorite", a substance that is the antithesis of Gravity, and adventure; a trip to the moon. It details a fantastic land on the moon which we know does not exist. However, the science fiction portion of the adventure could easily be replaced with some other remote outpost in our solar system.

If you have not read it, it is a quick and exciting read. I don't want to give away details of the novel suffice to say it was a fun novel.