Book Excerpts
Comments
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In escalation of the Final Solution, reserve battalions were commissioned into action. This 'action' meant participation in the ethnic cleansing of Jews in various geographical locations. The men were largely unaware of the task that awaited for them and were stunned upon hearing what was demanded of them.
Reserve Police Battalion 101 received orders for a "special action" in Poland. The nature of this "special action" was not specified in the written orders, but the men were led to believe that they would be performing guard duty.
...
Major Trapp assembled the men in a half-circle and addressed them. After explaining the battalion's murderous assignment, he made his extraordinary offer: any of the older men who did not feel up to the task that lay before them could step out. Trapp paused, and after some moments one man from Third Company, Otto-Julius Schimke stepped forward.
A brave, brave man who's courage I could only hope to exhibit under the same duress.
Ordinary Men, Christopher Browning"My brain's a good brain!"0 -
It's a war with a general named Mosquito, a war where soldiers get high on dope and paint their fingernails bright red before heading off to battle. It's a war where combatants don women's wigs, pantyhose, even Donald Duck Halloween masks before committing some of the world's most unspeakable atrocities against their enemies.
Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold, Tim Hetherington
Chadwick posted a link to a video clip on Liberia earlier in the year. I became interested in Liberia and have read what I could find relevant to the country and its recent civil wars. The typical root factors contributed to much pain and suffering: greed, corruption, and healthy dose of sheer madness."My brain's a good brain!"0 -
All four of us just kept banging away, cutting 'em down, watching them fall, slamming a new magazine into the breech, somehow holding them at bay. But this was impossible. We had to give up this high ground, and I had to get close enough to Mikey to agree on a strategy, hopefully to save our lives.
I started to move, but Mikey, like the brilliant officer he was, had appreciated the situation and already called it. "Fall back!"
Fall back! More like fall off- the freakin' mountain, that is; a nearly sheer drop, right behind us, God knows how far down. But an order's an order. I grabbed my gear and took a sideways step, trying to zigzag down the gradient. But gravity made the decision for me, and I fell headlong down the mountain, completing a full forward flip and somehow landing on my back, still going fast, heels flailing for a foothold.
Lone Survivor, Marcus Luttrell
Sheer madness.
This was an awesome book! Highly, highly recommended.
I remember one Superbowl a few years back, they were honouring the troops and one of the announcers said 'Marcus Luttrell is in the house and if there ever was a military hero... he's one.'
Many of the seals were angry that Luttrell wrote the book and agreed to a movie deal. The seal operations and tactics are supposed to stay in house. Many traditionalists hated the fact that Luttrell was offering insight into the seal world.
The movie is coming out on January 10 and I'm waiting for it as much as I am the Vancouver Bootleg. So are two of my buddies who read the book as well."My brain's a good brain!"0 -
On Saturday, October 14, two days after his Columbus Day address, Dodd was in the middle of a dinner party he was hosting for military and naval attaches when he received startling news. Hitler had just announced his decision to withdraw Germany from the League of Nations and from a major disarmament conference that had been under way in Geneva, off and on, since February 1932...
Dodd listened intently as Hitler portrayed Germany as a well-meaning, peace-seeking nation whose modest desire for equality of armaments was being opposed by other nations...
It was a stunning development...
Though Dodd continued to nurture the hop that the German government would grow more civil, he rocognized that Hitler's decision signalled an ominous shift away from moderation. The time had come, he knew, to meet with Hitler face-to-face. Dodd went to bed that night deeply troubled.
Shortly before noon on Tuesday, October 17, 1993, Roosevelt's "standing liberal" set out in a top hat and tails for his first meeting with Adolph Hitler.
In The Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson
(just got to this point in the book and it made me sit up as I was reading... decided to share it)"My brain's a good brain!"0 -
I've seen several interviews with Mr. Luttrell. Calling him one badass brave man seems like a pathetic understatement on my part.Thirty Bills Unpaid said:All four of us just kept banging away, cutting 'em down, watching them fall, slamming a new magazine into the breech, somehow holding them at bay. But this was impossible. We had to give up this high ground, and I had to get close enough to Mikey to agree on a strategy, hopefully to save our lives.
I started to move, but Mikey, like the brilliant officer he was, had appreciated the situation and already called it. "Fall back!"
Fall back! More like fall off- the freakin' mountain, that is; a nearly sheer drop, right behind us, God knows how far down. But an order's an order. I grabbed my gear and took a sideways step, trying to zigzag down the gradient. But gravity made the decision for me, and I fell headlong down the mountain, completing a full forward flip and somehow landing on my back, still going fast, heels flailing for a foothold.
Lone Survivor, Marcus Luttrell
Sheer madness.
This was an awesome book! Highly, highly recommended.
I remember one Superbowl a few years back, they were honouring the troops and one of the announcers said 'Marcus Luttrell is in the house and if there ever was a military hero... he's one.'
Many of the seals were angry that Luttrell wrote the book and agreed to a movie deal. The seal operations and tactics are supposed to stay in house. Many traditionalists hated the fact that Luttrell was offering insight into the seal world.
The movie is coming out on January 10 and I'm waiting for it as much as I am the Vancouver Bootleg. So are two of my buddies who read the book as well.
Have read passages from the book but not yet in full...want to see the film as well.
(also love that he named his son Axe!)0 -
hedonist said:
I've seen several interviews with Mr. Luttrell. Calling him one badass brave man seems like a pathetic understatement on my part.Thirty Bills Unpaid said:All four of us just kept banging away, cutting 'em down, watching them fall, slamming a new magazine into the breech, somehow holding them at bay. But this was impossible. We had to give up this high ground, and I had to get close enough to Mikey to agree on a strategy, hopefully to save our lives.
I started to move, but Mikey, like the brilliant officer he was, had appreciated the situation and already called it. "Fall back!"
Fall back! More like fall off- the freakin' mountain, that is; a nearly sheer drop, right behind us, God knows how far down. But an order's an order. I grabbed my gear and took a sideways step, trying to zigzag down the gradient. But gravity made the decision for me, and I fell headlong down the mountain, completing a full forward flip and somehow landing on my back, still going fast, heels flailing for a foothold.
Lone Survivor, Marcus Luttrell
Sheer madness.
This was an awesome book! Highly, highly recommended.
I remember one Superbowl a few years back, they were honouring the troops and one of the announcers said 'Marcus Luttrell is in the house and if there ever was a military hero... he's one.'
Many of the seals were angry that Luttrell wrote the book and agreed to a movie deal. The seal operations and tactics are supposed to stay in house. Many traditionalists hated the fact that Luttrell was offering insight into the seal world.
The movie is coming out on January 10 and I'm waiting for it as much as I am the Vancouver Bootleg. So are two of my buddies who read the book as well.
Have read passages from the book but not yet in full...want to see the film as well.
(also love that he named his son Axe!)
The following link details some idiots that shot his dog for kicks. They had no idea who they were messing with and what was to ensue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRHTJyuXzhQ "My brain's a good brain!"0 -
I believe I saw that actual piece back when it initially aired. Sad (well, fucked up) enough that this happened to any dog, but that this sweetheart - as she was named for his fallen brothers - meant so much to him.
What a life this man has lived.0 -
I recently purchased his last book- Service. I have a few to read before I can get into it, but am looking forward to it!"My brain's a good brain!"0
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Thirty Bills Unpaid said:
On Saturday, October 14, two days after his Columbus Day address, Dodd was in the middle of a dinner party he was hosting for military and naval attaches when he received startling news. Hitler had just announced his decision to withdraw Germany from the League of Nations and from a major disarmament conference that had been under way in Geneva, off and on, since February 1932...
Dodd listened intently as Hitler portrayed Germany as a well-meaning, peace-seeking nation whose modest desire for equality of armaments was being opposed by other nations...
It was a stunning development...
Though Dodd continued to nurture the hop that the German government would grow more civil, he rocognized that Hitler's decision signalled an ominous shift away from moderation. The time had come, he knew, to meet with Hitler face-to-face. Dodd went to bed that night deeply troubled.
Shortly before noon on Tuesday, October 17, 1993, Roosevelt's "standing liberal" set out in a top hat and tails for his first meeting with Adolph Hitler.
In The Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson
(just got to this point in the book and it made me sit up as I was reading... decided to share it)
Not sure how I missed this thread!
Loved Devil in the White City, how is this? On my to read list, eventually.
Are we getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
Seems my preconceptions are what should have been burned...
I AM MINE0 -
I haven't finished it yet to make a sound judgement, but to this moment... I'm liking it. It's well-written and a little slow to develop, but maybe that works to its advantage. I'm into the 'meat and potatoes' of the book as I type.riotgrl said:Thirty Bills Unpaid said:On Saturday, October 14, two days after his Columbus Day address, Dodd was in the middle of a dinner party he was hosting for military and naval attaches when he received startling news. Hitler had just announced his decision to withdraw Germany from the League of Nations and from a major disarmament conference that had been under way in Geneva, off and on, since February 1932...
Dodd listened intently as Hitler portrayed Germany as a well-meaning, peace-seeking nation whose modest desire for equality of armaments was being opposed by other nations...
It was a stunning development...
Though Dodd continued to nurture the hop that the German government would grow more civil, he rocognized that Hitler's decision signalled an ominous shift away from moderation. The time had come, he knew, to meet with Hitler face-to-face. Dodd went to bed that night deeply troubled.
Shortly before noon on Tuesday, October 17, 1993, Roosevelt's "standing liberal" set out in a top hat and tails for his first meeting with Adolph Hitler.
In The Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson
(just got to this point in the book and it made me sit up as I was reading... decided to share it)
Not sure how I missed this thread!
Loved Devil in the White City, how is this? On my to read list, eventually.
Devil was a good book, eh?"My brain's a good brain!"0 -
From Theft By Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 by David Sedaris:
August 2, 1981
Raleigh
Ronnie is incensed over the
royal wedding. "Did you know
that silkworms spun the fabric
for her dress?"
"Silkworms spin everyone's
silk," I told her. "That's where
silk comes from."
Somewhere she heard that
four hundred bears were killed
and turned into hats.We went to
the movies, and all I thought the
entire time was Where on earth
does she get her information
from?0 -
Lunatics, Lovers and Poets: Twelve Stories after Cervantes and Shakespeare
"Don Quixote and the Ambiguity of Reading" by Ben Okri
'I have read books backwards and inside out. I
began reading Ovid in the middle and then to the
end and then from the beginning. I once read every
other sentence of a book I knew well and then went
back and read the sentences I missed out. We are
all children in the art of reading. We assume there
is only one way to read a book. But a book read in
a new way becomes a different book.'
I felt he was reading me as he spoke.
'And you have the nerve to tell me I am reading
slowly. Part of the trouble with our world, my snooty
young friend, is that the art of reading is almost dead.
Reading is the secret of life. We read the world poorly,
because we read poorly. Everything is reading. You are
trying to read me now.'Post edited by OffSheGoes35 on0 -
C'mon brianlux , you know you want to post some excerpts!
Post edited by OffSheGoes35 on0 -
I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'OffSheGoes35 said:C'mon brianlux , you know you want to post some excerpts!
"It's a sad and beautiful world"-Roberto Benigni0 -
OK, here we go...
"Since I was eight or so, I had been internalizing the written words of persons who had seen and felt things new to me instead of, 'aye-eem, aye-eem, aye-eem.' The world dropped away when I did it. When I read an absorbing book, my pulse and respiration rate slowed down perceptibly, just as though I were doing TM.
I was already a veteran meditator. When I awoke from my Western-style meditation I was often a wiser human being. And I tell this story because so many people nowadays regard printed pages as nothing more than obsolescent technology, first developed by the Chinese two thousand years ago. Books came into being, surely, as practical schemes for transmitting or storing information, no more romantic in Gutenberg's time than a computer in ours. So it happens though- a wholly unforeseen accident- that the feel and appearance of a book when combined with a literate person in a straight chair can create a spiritual condition of priceless depth and meaning."
-Kurt Vonnegut, Fates Worse Than Death, p.188
"It's a sad and beautiful world"-Roberto Benigni0 -
Anyone heard about Comey’s book? Got an excerpt? Maybe something from Art of the Deal instead?
Kurt Vonnegut is the balls.09/15/1998 & 09/16/1998, Mansfield, MA; 08/29/00 08/30/00, Mansfield, MA; 07/02/03, 07/03/03, Mansfield, MA; 09/28/04, 09/29/04, Boston, MA; 09/22/05, Halifax, NS; 05/24/06, 05/25/06, Boston, MA; 07/22/06, 07/23/06, Gorge, WA; 06/27/2008, Hartford; 06/28/08, 06/30/08, Mansfield; 08/18/2009, O2, London, UK; 10/30/09, 10/31/09, Philadelphia, PA; 05/15/10, Hartford, CT; 05/17/10, Boston, MA; 05/20/10, 05/21/10, NY, NY; 06/22/10, Dublin, IRE; 06/23/10, Northern Ireland; 09/03/11, 09/04/11, Alpine Valley, WI; 09/11/11, 09/12/11, Toronto, Ont; 09/14/11, Ottawa, Ont; 09/15/11, Hamilton, Ont; 07/02/2012, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/04/2012 & 07/05/2012, Berlin, Germany; 07/07/2012, Stockholm, Sweden; 09/30/2012, Missoula, MT; 07/16/2013, London, Ont; 07/19/2013, Chicago, IL; 10/15/2013 & 10/16/2013, Worcester, MA; 10/21/2013 & 10/22/2013, Philadelphia, PA; 10/25/2013, Hartford, CT; 11/29/2013, Portland, OR; 11/30/2013, Spokane, WA; 12/04/2013, Vancouver, BC; 12/06/2013, Seattle, WA; 10/03/2014, St. Louis. MO; 10/22/2014, Denver, CO; 10/26/2015, New York, NY; 04/23/2016, New Orleans, LA; 04/28/2016 & 04/29/2016, Philadelphia, PA; 05/01/2016 & 05/02/2016, New York, NY; 05/08/2016, Ottawa, Ont.; 05/10/2016 & 05/12/2016, Toronto, Ont.; 08/05/2016 & 08/07/2016, Boston, MA; 08/20/2016 & 08/22/2016, Chicago, IL; 07/01/2018, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/03/2018, Krakow, Poland; 07/05/2018, Berlin, Germany; 09/02/2018 & 09/04/2018, Boston, MA; 09/08/2022, Toronto, Ont; 09/11/2022, New York, NY; 09/14/2022, Camden, NJ; 09/02/2023, St. Paul, MN; 05/04/2024 & 05/06/2024, Vancouver, BC; 05/10/2024, Portland, OR;
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©0 -
I knew you would choose a good one, brianlux.
At first, the tired body takes over completely.
As on shipboard, one descends into a deck-chair
apathy. One is forced against one's mind, against
all tidy resolutions, back into the primeval rhythms
of the seashore. Rollers on the beach, wind in the
pines, the slow flapping of herons across sand dunes,
drown out the hectic rhythms of city and suburb, time
tables and schedules. One falls under their spell,
relaxes, stretches out prone. One becomes, in fact,
like the element on which one lies, flattened by the
sea; bare, open, empty as the beach, erased by today's
tides of all yesterday's scribblings.
And then, some morning in the second week, the
mind wakes, comes to life again. Not in a city sense---no---
but beach-wise. It begins to drift, to play, to turn over in
gentle careless rolls like those lazy waves on the beach.
One never knows what chance treasures these easy
unconscious rollers may toss up, on the smooth white
sand of the conscious mind; what perfectly rounded stone,
what rare shell from the ocean floor. Perhaps a channelled
whelk, a moon shell or even an argonaut.
But it must not be sought for or---heaven forbid!---
dug for. No, no dredging of the sea bottom here. That
would defeat one's purpose. The sea does not reward
those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient.
To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed,
but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea
teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open,
choiceless as a beach---waiting for a gift from the sea.
-Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea0 -
^^^Nice one, OSG!
"It's a sad and beautiful world"-Roberto Benigni0
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