Sunday Morning Book Thread - 5-4-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

May the Fourth be with you!

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(jaunty beret costs extra)

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

PIC NOTE

Astute observers may note a passing resemblance to the Library of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. However, it's actually the Jedi Temple Archives as shown in the movie Star Wars: Episode II - The Clone Wars. In the Star Wars universe, there's no real reason to have such a building as all reading materials are digital and theoretically accessible from any terminal connected to the galactic network. In fact, most of the galaxy doesn't even know about books. In The New Jedi Order, a side quest takes the main characters to the Chiss Ascendancy in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy where they encounter physical books for the first time. The Chiss rightly point out the stability and long-term durability of printed books over digital records, even though it takes much more effort to search through physical books than it does to cross-reference information in a digital library.

MEGA MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Retired Buckeye Cop sent me an extensive list of books regarding the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the Shroud of Turin:

1. A Doctor at Calvary: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ as Described by a Surgeon by Pierre Barbet. Published in 1953, this is the English translation of Dr. Barbet's book that had been published in 1950 in French. This book examines the extant ancient descriptions of crucifixions, as well as experiments the author performed on the hands and feet of cadavers. The draw-backs of this book are the rather stilted language and muddy photographs. However, I think Dr. Barbet is correct in his conclusions on the locations of the nails in His hands and feet, and that Jesus carried the patibulum (i.e., horizontal beam) to the permanently-installed stipes (i.e., vertical beam) that formed the tau-shaped cross. Also, there is a rather gruesome description of a similar method of execution used by the Germans in their death camps -- while death occurs due to asphyxia, it is accompanied by extremely painful cramping of the muscles, not just suffocation. Rating = 4.0/5
2. The Cross and the Shroud: A Medical Examiner Investigates the Crucifixion by Frederick Zugibe. Published in 1982, this book has lots of nice illustrations and detailed explanations of some of the physical effects of sweating blood, scourging, Crown of Thorns, and crucifixion. Lots of clear illustrations that help in expanding the text. Dr. Zugibe used live subjects to recreate aspects of crucifixion -- interestingly, none of the test subjects lasted more than about 15 minutes before wanting to stop the experiment. I generally think the author is on firm ground here, although I suspect that he's incorrect on the location of the nails in the feet (i.e., he favors the heel, rather than the top of the foot -- Dr. Barbet experimented with both methods and found the top of the foot much easier to penetrate with a nail). Rating = 4.5/5
3. Unlocking the Secrets of the Shroud by Gilbert Lavoie. Published in 1998, the author is also a doctor. This books has lots of details and photographs. Dr. Lavoie demonstrates that the blood stains had to be transferred to the fabric of the Shroud of Turin before the image of the man is transferred to the fabric. The author performed experiments that show that the blood stains that appear to the distant from the man's image could have easily touched the body while draped over the corpse. When the fabric is then spread-out, thats when the blood stains seem to move away. Also, the image is formed by oxidation, only 1 to 3 fibers deep: not paint, stain, etc. The details of the man in the Shroud become really pronounced when viewed as a photographic negative. The visible image is actually reversed. Rating = 5.0/5
4. The Shroud of Turin: The Illustrated Evidence by Ian Wilson and Barrie Schwortz. While not as scholarly as the preceding three books, there are lots of high-quality color photographs in this book. Published in 2000, this book does discuss the now-infamous carbon dating of the Shroud. The methodology used to obtain the sample was flawed (one fabric sample was obtained, rather than multiple samples from different locations), and further testing of other fabrics impregnated with biological material was found to give "younger" dates than were correct. Rating = 4.0/5

The Shroud of Turin is a fascinating artifact. If it's simply a Medieval forgery, the method used to create it has not been found. No one has been able to successfully duplicate the image. The image is essentially a photograph that is best viewed as a negative, and 3-dimensional processing of the image can be performed. Having viewed a life-sized negative myself, the details of the scourge marks are astounding: the injuries are consistent with those expected by the dumbbell-shaped weights at the end of the Roman flagrum, and the scourge marks have a logical directionality. The man's face seems like a photograph, and his right cheek is swollen and his nose appears to have been broken -- consistent with a blow to the face.

Personally, I side with Pope Pius XI when he stated that, in his opinion, after years of study and meditation, the Shroud of Turin is an "object that remains mysterious, but which has certainly not been made by human hands." At worst, if it's not the shroud of Christ, it's artist had to have been divinely inspired, and it's an icon that has been venerated for centuries.

Yours in Christ,
Retired Buckeye Cop

BOOKS BY MORONS

Howdy Perfessor, this is longtime lurker / sporadic poster Jack Turk (TarzanTurk) and I'm tossing my new book into the ring for a semi-honorable mention in the esteemed Sunday Book Club.

I'm releasing it this coming Thurs - 4/30 - to commemorate Trump's 100th day in office - it's called:

"MAGA Marketing Secrets: 47 Trump-Tested Hacks For Building A Big, Beautiful Business"

It's packed with marketing strategies inspired by how Trump dominated attention and built an unstoppable brand on his comeback journey to the White House.

It's already on Amazon, awaiting formal launch day, AND for the next 5 days until Tuesday, April 29th I'm passing along a secret link to a carefully chosen few so they can get the Kindle ebook version for FREE.

Here's the link to the free Kindle version:

MAGA Marketing Secrets: 47 Trump-Tested Hacks For Building A Big, Beautiful Business

A friend of mine who's big in helping conservative candidates with their campaigns has already seen it and has posted a quick review

I'm doing whatever I can to get this in the hands of anyone who's got a microphone - or potential access to inside the White House itself - so as many people as possible hear about this.

If you have any introductions you don't mind making or thoughts on how I can get the word out or even smuggle me into Mar-A-Lago, that would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks and still wearing pants...

Jack Turk

Comment: I read the review written by the Nevada campaign consultant. Based on his description, this book does break down just WHY President Trump was successful despite all the "experts" claiming his campaign was doomed. Love him or hate him, President Donald Trump is a very authentic human being and most people who interact with him tend to like that in a politician. It's a refreshing breath of fresh air compared to the phoniness we see in candidates like Mitt Romney or Tim Walz.

If Long Live Death wasn't promoted during my tenure as custodian of this thread (I can't remember), then it's probably not among those books. However, I can certainly accommodate special requests. Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 27, 2025 09:27 AM (n/UDa) --- It was published in the Oregon Muse era, a few months before his death. As I said, I'm not requesting the full catalog, but I think that one is pretty significant given where we are as a society.

Walls of Men is there, and that tracks on your time.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 27, 2025 09:32 AM (ZOv7s)

Amazon Link:

Long Live Death: The Keys to Victor in the Spanish Civil War

Comment: I told A.H. Lloyd in the comments last week that I'd honor special requests (on a case-by-case basis). Long Live Death and the Spanish Civil War is mentioned frequently in the comments (usually by A.H. Lloyd, but the comments are often on point as there are parallels between that conflict and today's situation). I've added this book to the Books by Morons page in our digital library. Enjoy!

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

I clicked "Random" on gutenberg.org and up came a book called, After Waterloo: Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819 by Major W.E. Frye (British), not published until 1908 after it was discovered in a cupboard.

Major Frye's reminiscences are extremely interesting because he visited the Waterloo Battlefield the next day (he was too old to have fought in the battle), then he traveled around Europe, meeting various people who either regretted the fall of Napoleon or were happy about it. The major admired Napoleon and his civil projects throughout his travels, such as the Simplon Pass. He spoke French, Italian and German so no one could get anything past him.

He loved theater and described the performances he saw, including famous people such as the actor Talma and the singer Grassini (one of Napoleon's ex-mistresses).

The Major has a gentle sardonic tone that is quite amusing. He fell in and traveled with people he met in coaches, so we also meet the people. It's like time travel.

Posted by: Karen at April 27, 2025 02:24 PM (Xx9uC)

Comment: The Major sounds like an interesting man. Obviously he loves interacting with people and hearing their stories, even if they may have been on opposite sides of the battlefield just a short time before he met them. I did not know Project Gutenberg had a "random" feature. It's neat in that you do get a very wide array of different works offered for you to read, sometimes in different languages like Finnish or Chinese.

Last week I was reading The Crown in Crisis by Alexander Larman about the abdication of Edward VIII.

Americans, if they think about it at all, imagine it was just some dust-up about the King and his cutie. But there were major implications in Edward insisting he wanted to marry Wallis Simpson. Had he pushed, or waited, Baldwin's government might have fallen and a "King's Party" take over. This at a time of foreign peril.

Wallis may have been a gold-digging shrew, but she had better sense than Edward, who was so love-besotten that he was willing to create chaos by abdicating if he couldn't get her as queen or even morganatically.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at April 27, 2025 09:23 AM (QnmlO)

Comment: Monarchies are weird. England's monarchy is pretty weird by itself, as the reigning monarch has tons of power--but only as long as it's not really exercised expect in extreme circumstances. Otherwise, the monarch is mostly a figurehead. I remember conversations in the final years of QEII's reign speculating whether King Charles would be crowned or if he would be skipped over in favor of Prince William, Charles' first-born son. I guess we know the answer to that now. Monarchs seem to provide a sense of stability to a country, especially if they reign for a long time and are well-regarded both domestically and internationally, as Queen Elizabeth II was for many decades. We'll see how long King Charles reigns, as he's reportedly had major health issues (he's not a young man). We'll also see if England survives as a nominally Christian nation or succumbs to the Caliphate infesting every level of power.

MORE MORON RECOMMENDATIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE: AoSHQ - Book Thread Recommendations

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

After reviewing some of OregonMuse's old Book Threads, I thought I'd try something a bit different. Instead of just listing WHAT I'm reading, I'll include commentary as well. Unless otherwise specified, you can interpret this as an implied recommendation, though as always your mileage may vary.

Commonwealth Saga Book 1 - Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton

This massive doorstopper (1144 pages) tells the epic story of an alien invasion of the human-controlled Commonwealth planets by a bizarre extra-terrestrial entity known only as "Prime." Humans discover a pair of stars that suddenly disappear behind a forcefield 30 AUs in diameter that prevents anything from entering or leaving the star system, much like a Dyson sphere. Humans, being both arrogant and curious, set out to explore this anomaly, only to unwittingly cause the forcefield around one of the stars to collapse, releasing the hostile aliens trapped inside. Whoops! Whoopsie!

One of the more interesting aspects of this story is that there are at least *four* distinct genres at play here, all working together through the complex storylines. One storyline is treated as a police procedural, with Inspector Myo tracking down a criminal terrorist network responsible for mass slaughter across the Commonwealth. The criminals she is tracking are part of a spy/conspiracy story, believing that there is a hostile hidden alien in the middle of the Commonwealth, guiding humanity to unleashing the Prime for its own reasons. Meanwhile, the main political dynastic government has to deal with the alien invasion story, defending the phase-two worlds that are under attack. Finally, the man who invented the wormhole technology that made the Commonwealth possible is exploring the pathways of the Silfen, another alien race that is not hostile towards humanity, but exploits their own brand of physics that defies human understanding. I'm not sure how Ozzie's story ties into the main storylines yet...

Commonwealth Saga Book 2 - Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton

We pick up almost immediately where the previous book left off. The human Commonwealth has repulsed the Prime invasion for now, but at great cost. Twenty-three worlds have been lost to the Prime, with 40 million sentient beings confirmed killed in the Commonwealth (mostly humans). Now the defenders are trying to buy time to bolster their defenses while the Prime invaders consolidate their own conquest on the Lost23. Although the Prime has more resources than the humans, in terms of ships and armaments, the humans have their own tricks. It's an interesting contrast between the singular intelligence of the Prime that guides its civilization against the much more individualistic humans, who fight with each other as much as they fight against the Prime. Politics ALWAYS plays a part among the rich and powerful who rule the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, Hamilton still has multiple genres woven throughout his story, but they are merging in some ways. Inspector Myo is now convinced the Starflyer infiltrators are real and is working WITH the terrorists she was trying to catch in the first book. The Sentient Intelligence is taking a more active role in events, rather than watching from the shadows. The Barsoomians, an ancient sect of advanced humans, are also intervening as the Prime threaten their goals as well. Can humans defeat the Prime and will the Commonwealth survive intact? (MINOR SPOILER - YES, because The Void Trilogy is set 1,500 years in the future, and the Commonwealth is alive and well to face a different threat from the center of the galaxy.)

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 4-27-2025 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.

Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. Remember to lock up the liquor cabinet before a certain Ewok returns from his vacation paradise on Endor...

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