I have started Night Train To Lisbon by Pascal Mercier, which is my next book club selection and a firm favourite of a couple of members. Here is the blurb:
Night Train to Lisbon follows Raimund Gregorius, a 57-year-old Classics scholar, on a journey that takes him across Europe. Abandoning his job and his life and travelling with a dusty old book as his talisman, he heads for Lisbon in search of clues to the life of the book's Portuguese author, Amadeu de Prado. As he gets swept up in his quest, he finds that the journey is also one of self-discovery, as he re-encounters all the decisions he has made - and not made - in his life, and faces the roads not travelled.
26 Jul 2016
19 Jul 2016
First Lady: The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill - by Sonia Purnell
To be honest, before picking this book up, I might well have failed the quiz question “Who was Winston Churchill’s wife?” However, I am now better educated. The author has a very no nonsense writing style, which kept me turning the pages. The numerous references gave me reason to be confident in her research and integrity as a historian.
As much as anything, I found the book to be a great lesson on 20th Century history. There is much about the last 100 years of so that I did not understand, but some gaps have now been filled. For example, since the Germans were dead scared of the Russians [communists], we were clearly allies with them in WW2. So, how come the Cold War happened? I now have some understanding of the politics.
Obviously, the book told me much about Winston and the rest of the family that I did not previously appreciate. By the end of the book, although I learned lots about Clementine’s life and appreciate how important she was and how unrecognized she has been, I am not really sure that I understand her as a person. She very much subjugated her own character by devoting herself to Winston; maybe the real Clementine was just not very visible.
As much as anything, I found the book to be a great lesson on 20th Century history. There is much about the last 100 years of so that I did not understand, but some gaps have now been filled. For example, since the Germans were dead scared of the Russians [communists], we were clearly allies with them in WW2. So, how come the Cold War happened? I now have some understanding of the politics.
Obviously, the book told me much about Winston and the rest of the family that I did not previously appreciate. By the end of the book, although I learned lots about Clementine’s life and appreciate how important she was and how unrecognized she has been, I am not really sure that I understand her as a person. She very much subjugated her own character by devoting herself to Winston; maybe the real Clementine was just not very visible.
3 Jul 2016
What I'm reading ...
I have started First Lady: The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill by Sonia Purnell, which is my next book club book. I had been recommended it, so I proposed it to my club. Here’s the blurb:
Without Churchill’s inspiring leadership Britain could not have survived its darkest hour and repelled the Nazi menace. Without his wife Clementine, however, he might never have become Prime Minister. By his own admission, the Second World War would have been ‘impossible without her’.
Clementine was Winston’s emotional rock and his most trusted confidante; not only was she involved in some of the most crucial decisions of war, but she exerted an influence over her husband and the Government that would appear scandalous to modern eyes. Yet her ability to charm Britain’s allies and her humanitarian efforts on the Home Front earned her deep respect, both behind closed doors in Whitehall and among the population at large.
That Clementine should become Britain’s ‘First Lady’ was by no means pre-ordained. Born into impecunious aristocracy, her childhood was far from gilded. Her mother was a serial adulteress and gambler, who spent many years uprooting her children to escape the clutches of their erstwhile father, and by the time Clementine entered polite society she had become the target of cruel snobbery and rumours about her parentage.
In Winston, however, she discovered a partner as emotionally insecure as herself, and in his career she found her mission. Her dedication to his cause may have had tragic consequences for their children, but theirs was a marriage that changed the course of history.
Now, acclaimed biographer Sonia Purnell explores the peculiar dynamics of this fascinating union. From the personal and political upheavals of the Great War, through the Churchills’ ‘wilderness years’ in the 1930s, to Clementine’s desperate efforts to preserve her husband’s health during the struggle against Hitler, Sonia presents the inspiring but often ignored story of one of the most important women in modern history.
Without Churchill’s inspiring leadership Britain could not have survived its darkest hour and repelled the Nazi menace. Without his wife Clementine, however, he might never have become Prime Minister. By his own admission, the Second World War would have been ‘impossible without her’.
Clementine was Winston’s emotional rock and his most trusted confidante; not only was she involved in some of the most crucial decisions of war, but she exerted an influence over her husband and the Government that would appear scandalous to modern eyes. Yet her ability to charm Britain’s allies and her humanitarian efforts on the Home Front earned her deep respect, both behind closed doors in Whitehall and among the population at large.
That Clementine should become Britain’s ‘First Lady’ was by no means pre-ordained. Born into impecunious aristocracy, her childhood was far from gilded. Her mother was a serial adulteress and gambler, who spent many years uprooting her children to escape the clutches of their erstwhile father, and by the time Clementine entered polite society she had become the target of cruel snobbery and rumours about her parentage.
In Winston, however, she discovered a partner as emotionally insecure as herself, and in his career she found her mission. Her dedication to his cause may have had tragic consequences for their children, but theirs was a marriage that changed the course of history.
Now, acclaimed biographer Sonia Purnell explores the peculiar dynamics of this fascinating union. From the personal and political upheavals of the Great War, through the Churchills’ ‘wilderness years’ in the 1930s, to Clementine’s desperate efforts to preserve her husband’s health during the struggle against Hitler, Sonia presents the inspiring but often ignored story of one of the most important women in modern history.
Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies - by Nick Bostrom
I was a little disappointed with this book. It covers the subject in a lot of detail and is written in a very academic style. So I found it quite hard work to finish. I did, however, and learned quite a lot about the subject of artificial intelligence and the topics around it. I found all the thought that had gone into the philosophy, rather than the practical implementation interesting. How would it be if we created a machine smarted that we are? Would it be safe or even desirable? Ultimately though, I wish the author would write a [say] 100 page executive summary of the subject, which would make it much more accessible to non-specialists, like myself, who might not wish to devote the time to a bigger book and do not need to fine detail.
In considering the possible future of the world, the author reflected upon history. I thought that the following words were particularly apposite in the light of recent events: “ … that international relations around the globe might come to resemble those between the countries of the European Union, which, having fought one another ferociously for centuries, now coexist in peace and relative harmony."
In considering the possible future of the world, the author reflected upon history. I thought that the following words were particularly apposite in the light of recent events: “ … that international relations around the globe might come to resemble those between the countries of the European Union, which, having fought one another ferociously for centuries, now coexist in peace and relative harmony."
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