Sunday Morning Book Thread - 08-21-2022 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

"It is not wide reading but useful reading that tends to excellence." -- Aristippus

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, tuck into that quiche, and crack open a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

Today's pic came to me courtesy of KT (who provides most of the content on the Saturday threads until the afternoon Hobby Thread). KT sent me several different pics of the Livaria Lello bookstore in Porto, Portugal. It looks like it's quite a happening place. Lots of local events and lines out the door to get in. Salman Rushdie was scheduled to visit in early September, but I suspect that event is probably going to be canceled. The storefront is a rather modest, yet beautifully decorated façade. The interior is quite deep and contains its famous red staircase.

EDUCATIONAL PRIMERS

Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing sent me the following email, based on a comment he made in a thread:

Perfessor,

The book I was talking about is called The Way of Democracy. The edition I have is from 1950, but it was originally published in 1940 as part of the "Democracy Series" from the MacMillan Company. The book doesn't list any of the other entries in the series, however.

It's broken down into 11 parts, with titles such as "Foundation of our liberties," "Rule by the majority," "Trial by jury" and so on. Each part is then broken down into stories explaining the subject heading - for example, "Foundation of our liberties" is divided into five smaller bits: "A New Day Dawns at Runnymeade," "John Hill Saves the Charter" (which is about 'protecting the rights of the people of Connecticut'), "What Happened in Philadelphia," "The Sun Rises on the United States" and "A More Glorious Fourth."

I don't know what grade this book was aimed at - at a guess, perhaps third or fourth. What depresses me about it is the almost willful innocence with which American democracy is presented. For instance, let me quote from the "Democracy at Work" section:

"Most important of all is the fact that the people in the United States have the right to vote. When the people know they are being cheated, they can vote the dishonest men and women out of office. The voters have the final word. The government cannot be bad for long, unless the people do not care. Americans can have the kind of government the majority wants. To have good government the people must do at least two things: They must take an interest in what their officers are doing, and they must vote."

Except for the last sentence, does anyone not on the NeverTrump payroll believe that hogwash?

It appears you can find a copy on Amazon for $14, but who knows? Anyway, hope this helped a bit.

https://tinyurl.com/2s4b48jr

The excerpt above paints a very rosy picture of government and the citizen's role within the state. If everything worked as intended, this might be enough. There was a time when kids were taught at a very basic age to have a healthy respect of government institutions, as well as their rights and responsibilities as citizens of the United States of America.

Educational primers as a genre have been around for a long, long time (centuries). According to this article, primers have been around since the 15th or 16th century. The intent seems to have been to develop children into good, moral, and responsible adults, according to the Judeo-Christian values prevalent in Europe at the time. Perhaps the most famous primers is The New England Primer, which was first published in the American Colonies.

I love this quote from The Eclectic First Reader: "[g]reat pains have been taken to select Lessons in which the language is simple, and the subjects interesting and natural to childhood; as we have learned from actual experience, that a child's progress is more rapid when the subjects are agreeable, and he can understand the terms in which they are conveyed." (p. 5.)

Although we usually associate primers with reading and vocabulary skills, they can be used for virtually any subject as a primer is just the foundational knowledge within a discipline. A chemistry book that introduces students to the periodic table is a primer, for instance, since understanding the periodic table is the bedrock upon which modern chemistry is built.

A lurker sent me some images from McGuffey's Eclectic Reader, one of the most famous primers around:

1. Front Cover
2. Copyright page
3. Back Cover

What would an AoSHQ Primer look like? What sort of content should be included? Should we write one? We could probably put together a kickass book of language skills, civics, science, and much, much more.

FEATURED MORON REVIEW

Since I don't have any Books by Morons this week, I thought I'd try something a little different. Moronette March Hare sent me the following review of a book mentioned by a Moron:

One of the books mentioned by the Morons is O Lost: A Story of the Buried Life. Arlyn and Matthew Bruccoli used the original manuscripts, both typewritten and handwritten, that Thomas Wolfe submitted to Maxwell Perkins at Charles Scribner's Sons. Mr. Perkins worked with Mr. Wolfe to refashion the manuscript into Look Homeward, Angel. Mr. Perkins' edits changed the focus of the novel from an epic of the Gant Family to the life of Eugene Gant, the youngest son and the stand-in for Thomas Wolfe himself.

O, Lost is more obviously autobiographical, e.g., the names of the Gant Family, except Eugene, are the same names as Mr. Wolfe's siblings and parents and is more epic in scope, covering more family history and more characters.

O, Lost is not a quick read. The story itself is just under 700 pages, but there are extensive notes (which I didn't read) and a preface explaining why the Brucollis decided to put O, Lost back together (which I did). The novel is meant to be savored for its lyrical descriptions, although I was ready to reach through the pages and slap some sense into the characters a time or two. Written in 1927-28 and published in 1929, the novel reflects the attitudes and prejudices of the South during that era. IOW, the language is often not "PC." I haven't read Look Homeward, Angel, so I can't comment on the differences or opine on which version is better. Perhaps other Morons can do that. Overall I enjoyed the look back to a specific time, region, and a dysfunctional family who loved and cared for each other, but didn't know how to express it. (Again--another theme in Pat Conroy's writing.)

If you would like to write a review of a Moron-written book or a Moron-recommended book, feel free to do so. I can't promise I'll post them all if I get a lot of them, but sometimes it's nice to have a review of one of these books that's a bit longer than the comments will normally allow.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

I started to re-read The Screwtape letters but had to put it back on the shelf. Like parts of Lewis' That Hideous Strength, the cynical evil it deals with is too close to our current situation. I read for many reasons but reinforcing the rage I feel about the cultural corruption and nihilism inundating us isn't one of them. I'll read them some other day.

Posted by: JTB at August 14, 2022 09:14 AM (7EjX1)

Comment: When it comes to understanding the nature of evil, C.S. Lewis was exceptionally perceptive. In work after work, he just nails tha banality of evil and how it can manifest here on earth. I read That Hideous Strength during the height of the pandemic (early 2021) and was freaked out by just how accurately it portrayed the mindset of the evil we are facing today, even though it was written many decades ago.

Finally taking a break from all things China. I picked up two different editions of Small Arms of the World (9th and 12th) because they are very different in focus.

The 9th is from 1969 and contains extensive discussions of WW II weapons (and even some before that). What I like is that this is no mere picturebook, it shows how to field strip many of the weapons and contains advice for collectors and warnings against certain ammunition/weapon combinations.

There was an amusing aside about a particular design having lots of variants and that with sufficient spare parts, one could bedevil collectors.

The 12th has removed most of that in favor of looking at emerging technologies. It is from 1983, so it is more focused on Cold War weapons and operating systems. They compliment one another nicely.

These are not cover-to-cover reads, but I like to hop around them and find entries that interest me.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 14, 2022 09:19 AM (llXky)

Comment: I tend to categorize these types of books as "reference" material. And yes, they can be very fun to read because you can bounce around from entry to entry, almost like a "choose your own adventure" book.

I am reading Don't Go to College: A Case for Revolution by Michael J. Robillard and Timothy J. Gordon.

We are so fooked. Neo-Marxists as far as the eye can see.

They make a great argument for High School grads to go immediately into trades and technical training. Marry young. Start a family (while the young lady's eggs are fresh). Grow up, be a mature and happy person.

Don't waste $200k getting a worthless degree and submit to the brainwashing.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at August 14, 2022 09:58 AM (JVCkA)

Comment: A couple of high school kids were part of the crew that put a new roof on my house this summer. They worked just as hard as the more seasoned members. I think they would both do better to learn the contracting trade than going to college these days unless they want to pursue an engineering degree (I work at a STEM institution).

There's a book published back in '60 or '61 if memory serves -- The Priceless Gift, by Cornelius Hirschberg. The guy wanted a good college education, but circumstances kept him from being able to do that. So he decided to get that education through independent reading. He wanted to cover it all, literature, math, history, the sciences... He didn't know that only Isaac Asimov could cover that much ground, and not knowing it couldn't be done, he went and did it. The Priceless Gift told how he did it, how he approached the subjects, & what books he used (a lot of 'em still available). If I ran the world, it would be required reading in high school, but it's long out of print.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 14, 2022 11:11 AM (a/4+U)

Comment: The ability to read truly is a priceless gift we can give our children and grandchildren. In grad school, I read some anecdotes about illiterate (or nearly so) adults who were able to finally learn to read. They wept with joy when they discovered whole new worlds opened up to them. It's criminal (and evil) that so many students in school are being denied this priceless gift by groomers who only see their students as prey for their sexual deviancies.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (357 Moron-recommended books so far!)

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

All of the books in the list below are part of my continuing effort to whittle down my TBR pile from my epic library book hauls earlier this year. Still got a long way to go!

• On the Steel Breeze by Alistair Reynolds -- Pretty decent "hard" science fiction (no FTL drives) about some horrible conspiracy involving AIs gone rogue...Conclusion was a bit "meh."
• The Dragon Men by Steven Harper -- Book 3 in The Clockwork Empire series. Victorian steampunk, where Western tech meets Chinese authoritarianism. Heavy focus on yin-yang, as one might expect in a book that involves Chinese culture.
• Devil Said Bang by Richard Kadrey -- The second volume of the Sandman Slim series. A mortal somehow overthrows Lucifer in Hell and now has his job.
• The Crossroads of Destiny by John P. Ritter -- This was written in 1901 and it's a great little homage to chivalric romances...

That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding my Sunday Morning Book Thread. This is a very special place. You are very special people (in all the best ways!). The kindness, generosity, and wisdom of the Moron Horde knows no bounds. Let's keep reading!

If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or writing projects that you'd like to see on the Sunday Morning Book Thread, you can send them to perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com. Your feedback is always appreciated! You can also take a virtual tour of OUR library at libib.com/u/perfessorsquirrel. Since I added sections for AoSHQ, I now consider it OUR library, rather than my own personal fiefdom...

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 08-14-22 (hat tip: vmom stabby stabby stabamillion) (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

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