I am fascinated by history. This hasn’t always been so but has been a growing interest that began when I first went overseas in 1997. I studied abroad in Toledo, Spain a medieval city founded by the Romans. Instead of simply reading about historical events in a history book, I was physically in the same…… Continue reading Something Strange Across the River – Nagai Kafū
Category: Books
My notes on books I’ve read.
History of Tokyo 1867 – 1989 From EDO to SHOWA: The Emergence of the World’s Greatest City
Tokyo is part of my past, my present and my future. I lived in Mejiro from 2002 – 2004 and attended Waseda university just a few stations south near the fun to say Takadanobaba. My family returns to Japan for the summers and I spend a few days on my own in Tokyo drinking beer,…… Continue reading History of Tokyo 1867 – 1989 From EDO to SHOWA: The Emergence of the World’s Greatest City
Time Life Books – The Trailblazers
I fly quite a bit between San Francisco and Columbus, Ohio. Everytime I do I’m fascinated by the vastness of the country and amazed at how quickly non-Native people spread and populated the land. I think about how the Pilgrims arrived in 1620 and how everything to the west of the Atlantic shore was terra…… Continue reading Time Life Books – The Trailblazers
Time Life Books – The Great Chiefs
I’ve just finished another book in the Time Life series on the Old West. I found them at an estate sale and bought three of them as I remembered them from the ’80s. I wish I would have bought the entire set because these books are fantastic. I am fascinated when I think of the…… Continue reading Time Life Books – The Great Chiefs
The Pocket Stoic
I learned of stoicism after being introduced to Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations which I read and posted quotes about back in 2017. I am still fascinated by this wonderful philosophy and am amazed that the ancients seem so much more enlightened 2000 years ago than we are today. The masses today are taught how to think…… Continue reading The Pocket Stoic
The Spanish West – Time Life Books
The more I travel and learn the more I realize people of every nation do not know their own history. It is not necessarily their own fault but that of the elementary and secondary schools which teach a ‘happy’ and patriotic version while diminishing or completely ignoring anything which could paint the country in a…… Continue reading The Spanish West – Time Life Books
Siddhartha
I discovered this book in a list with the title of “Forty books all men should read by their 40s” or something like that. I thought it would be about Guatama Buddha along with some modern insights into his teachings but quickly discovered it was a novel by a melancholy German-Swiss divorcee! I also learned…… Continue reading Siddhartha
The Silmarillion – The Children of Hurin
I first attempted to read The Silmarillion when I was in high school and just after I had read The Lord of the Rings. I wasn’t ready for The Silmarillion at that time. I had expected it to be much like LOTR and it was not. The book was nothing like The Hobbit or LOTR…… Continue reading The Silmarillion – The Children of Hurin