Reading Minds: The CoastGab Book Club

[WOTR]

Junius and Albert's  adventures in the confederacy by Peter Carlson.

Another well researched book.  A little slow for the majority of it as the two reporters are captured near the beginning of the book and spend most of the book in prison.  Nothing much new- war is hell, and the civil war was particularly brutal.

I appreciated that this author decided to write a historically accurate book, but skip the actual footnotes (instead deciding to simply write general notes at the end of the book.)

I do not read much on the civil war.  So, for me there were quite a lot of interesting bits of information and ideas with prisoner exchanges and the descriptions given of the war in the mountains with bushwhackers, gorillas, killings and soldiers.  The politics and brutality of that area makes me think I may search out a book on that subject.


I would recommend the book only if you wish to look at that period of history through a very narrow lens.  It does not talk much of the war, of the politics, of the larger events that shaped that period of time.  It does, however, do an excellent job of telling a story of two men who lived the war in prison and their escape.  I appreciate that the author took the time to tell us what happened to most of the people featured in the book after the war.

Perhaps what I enjoyed most was that the author allowed the reporters to speak for themselves and often copied word for word what they said a century and a half ago.  I had bookmarked one passage as I had found it interesting that the underground railway spirited slaves to freedom but during the civil war the slaves provided the same service for escaped prisoners... "God bless the Negroes... they were ever our firm, brave, unflinching friends. We never made an appeal to them they did not answer.  They never hesitate to do us a service even at the risk of life... They were ignorant, oppressed, enslaved but they always cherished a simple and beautiful faith in the cause of the union and its ultimate triumph and never abandoned or turned aside a man who sought food or shelter on his way to Freedom..."

That is about it.  I doubt that I will read it again- but it did provide ample fodder to mull over and consider about a time and event that most of us know very little about.

[Rix Gins]

Junius and Albert's  adventures in the confederacy by Peter Carlson.

Another well researched book.  A little slow for the majority of it as the two reporters are captured near the beginning of the book and spend most of the book in prison.  Nothing much new- war is hell, and the civil war was particularly brutal.

I appreciated that this author decided to write a historically accurate book, but skip the actual footnotes (instead deciding to simply write general notes at the end of the book.)

I do not read much on the civil war.  So, for me there was quite a lot of interesting bits of information and ideas with prisoner exchanges and the descriptions given of the war in the mountains with bushwhackers, gorillas, killings and soldiers.  The politics and brutality of that area makes me think I may search out a book on that subject.


I would recommend the book only if you wish to look at that period of history through a very narrow lens.  It does not talk much of the war, of the politics, of the larger events that shaped that period of time.  It does, however, do an excellent job of telling a story of two men who lived the war in prison and their escape.  I appreciate that the author took the time to tell us what happened to most of the people featured in the book after the war.

Perhaps what I enjoyed most was that the author allowed the reporters to speak for themselves and often copied word for word what they said a century and a half ago.  I had bookmarked one passage as I had found it interesting that the underground railway spirited slaves to freedom but during the civil war the slaves provided the same service for escaped prisoners... "God bless the Negroes... they were ever our firm, brave, unflinching friends. We never made an appeal to them they did not answer.  They never hesitate to do us a service even at the risk of life... They were ignorant, oppressed, enslaved but they always cherished a simple and beautiful faith in the cause of the union and its ultimate triumph and never abandoned or turned aside a man who sought food or shelter on his way to Freedom..."

That is about it.  I doubt that I will read it again- but it did provide ample fodder to mull over and consider about a time and event that most of us know very little about.

Nice review there, W.  Civil War books can be very interesting.  I read one some years back called Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails.  It was all about how Abe utilized that new (for the times) invention called the telegraph.  It was fascinating to read how the President would try to get telegrams to his generals.  It was kind of a headache for him in a lot of ways because some of his more lazy generals  (not Grant, of course) would receive his instructions and then purposely not answer him for like a week or so.  Really, what Lincoln was truly interested in was the progress of his army and he all but begged to get word from his generals, or anyone for that matter, to find out how things were going.

I think the neatest thing about the book was where President Lincoln had an actual telegraph shack built on the White House grounds.  Imagine being the telegraph operator and the first thing in the morning, Honest Abe comes walking in to catch up on the latest news.  According to the book it would be too early for the telegrams to arrive, so a fire would be started, and coffee made, and the two of you would chew the fat until the telegrams started to come in.  Now how cool would that be? 

Like I said, it has been awhile since I read the book.  It's up in the attic somewhere but I think I'll bring it down and give it another read one of these days.     

[WOTR]

Nice review there, W.  Civil War books can be very interesting.  I read one some years back called Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails.  It was all about how Abe utilized that new (for the times) invention called the telegraph.  It was fascinating to read how the President would try to get telegrams to his generals.  It was kind of a headache for him in a lot of ways because some of his more lazy generals  (not Grant, of course) would receive his instructions and then purposely not answer him for like a week or so.  Really, what Lincoln was truly interested in was the progress of his army and he all but begged to get word from his generals, or anyone for that matter, to find out how things were going.

I think the neatest thing about the book was where President Lincoln had an actual telegraph shack built on the White House grounds.  Imagine being the telegraph operator and the first thing in the morning, Honest Abe comes walking in to catch up on the latest news.  According to the book it would be too early for the telegrams to arrive, so a fire would be started, and coffee made, and the two of you would chew the fat until the telegrams started to come in.  Now how cool would that be?   

The accessibility of Lincoln is one of the things that struck me as well while reading the book.  Several times I was amazed that he agreed to a meeting with somebody pleading their case or who had an idea.  I get that things have changed- but it sure seems like the rich and powerful still have the access that the common folk used to.  To be that telegraph operator and discuss the issues of the day with Abe would be a hell of a thing.

[Rix Gins]

I would like you to step back in time for a few minutes and visualize yourself living in the town of Hinckley, Minnesota on September 1st, 1894.  Hinckley is set squat in the middle of forestland, in fact it's primary industry was timber and there was a big lumber mill off to one side of the town. 

You wake up in your wooden house and have breakfast, most likely before the sun rises.  If you are the dad, you climb into your work clothes and head for the mill.  Mom clears the table and gets busy with other household chores.  The kids can play because school won't start until tomorrow. 

You step outside around two o'clock in the afternoon and notice that the air is filled with smoke but this is no big deal because it has been like that for weeks...some distant fires have been allowed to burn, a good way to get rid of slush piles of evergreen branches that had been stripped from harvested trees.  There is a stiff wind blowing but it does nothing to alleviate the heat on this summer day.  But then you notice something behind you, a deep ominous sound like a landside or a continuous peal of thunder.  You look and see nothing on the southern horizon except for a black wall of smoke with streaks of flame that seem to reach to the sky.  And it is heading your way.

So what do you do?  You have some options at this point.  You can quickly get one of those heavy leather trunks that people had back then, and fill it up with clothes and valuables.  You drag it out across the yard, hoping to take it up to the train depot but the heat is almost unbearable.  You can let loose of the trunk and start to run.  Good.  You made the right decision.  People that held onto their trunks for too long were burnt to a crisp because the heat in front of the approaching fire was up to 1,600 degrees.  There is a large millpond by the mill, so you can run there.  There are two trains about to leave.  They are on different tracks and people are boarding both of them out of desperation and tickets aren't required.  Speaking of desperation, if you know for a fact that you can't outrun the fire you can go hunker down in a root cellar or if you've really got your wits about you, you can grab a ladder and climb down a well.

Daniel James Brown wrote a book called Under A Flaming Sky and it covers all elements of this historic firestorm.  It is a fascinating book and he gives you so much more than just the fire itself.  For instance he goes into great detail as to how the fire got started and to how all the townsfolk reacted to the emergency.  He also brings up more modern fires to compare it with. He writes about tons of stuff that deal with the fire.  This is a very good book and I read it every summer.  A great tale of hit and miss survival.

If you went to the millpond you are dead.  It would have been ok except for the fact that the big mill itself burst into flame and filled the pond with burning boards and super heated air.

Both trains took off just before the fire roared through the town.  One of them could only back up slowly and it caught fire as it tried to escape the flames.  Some people panicked and jumped off of it, only to die.  It backed up to a lake and nearly everybody jumped into it.  Most of the people lived but due to the thick smoke, some got lost trying to find the lake and they perished.  The other train made it out safely.

The cellars were deathtraps by and large, though some people did manage to dig into the soil enough to breath air and survive.  The wells were also hit and miss.  One family went down their well and did escape the heat of the fire but they suffocated because the fire had sucked up all of the air.  A number of people did survive though, by climbing into their wells.  One man survived the fire by jumping into a barrel filled with water.

[TigerLily]

Wow. This thread was relegated all the way back to page 7. Obviously, the current Bellgab crowd is as semi-literate as our Dear Leader.  Sad!

I just finished "Sekret Machines Book 1: Chasing Shadows by Tom Delonge and A.J. Hartley.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the book. A fun action-packed science fiction book just on its own merits. Well-written, fast-paced and characters you can care about. Then throw in all the backstory, history and conspiracy theories that most of us Gabsters are well-versed in and you have a great novel that delves into all the best UFO mythology. Many of the characters are thinly veiled versions of real people. See how many you can identify. I'm looking forward to the next installment
TigerLily Recommended

[Dr. MD MD]

Wow. This thread was relegated all the way back to page 7. Obviously, the current Bellgab crowd is as semi-literate as our Dear Leader.  Sad!

I just finished "Sekret Machines Book 1: Chasing Shadows by Tom Delonge and A.J. Hartley.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the book. A fun action-packed science fiction book just on its own merits. Well-written, fast-paced and characters you can care about. Then throw in all the backstory, history and conspiracy theories that most of us Gabsters are well-versed in and you have a great novel that delves into all the best UFO mythology. Many of the characters are thinly veiled versions of real people. See how many you can identify. I'm looking forward to the next installment
TigerLily Recommended

He's literally one of the biggest scammers out there, TL. You really seem to go for these types. Here: watch, learn. You'll learn more in less than 10 minutes than you did in that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO-hAm4g47o

[TigerLily]

He's literally one of the biggest scammers out there, TL. You really seem to go for these types. Here: watch, learn. You'll learn more in less than 10 minutes than you did in that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO-hAm4g47o

It cost me the discounted download price. I reviewed the book, which I found a very enjoyable read, not the "Academy". Should we discuss scam artists, padawan of Alex Jones?

[Dr. MD MD]

It cost me the discounted download price. I reviewed the book, which I found a very enjoyable read, not the "Academy". Should we discuss scam artists, padawan of Alex Jones?

Before we do that maybe we should examine how your trusted sources are nothing but party line propaganda first. Then we'll be in a better place to look at Alex by comparison. 

[TigerLily]

Before we do that maybe we should examine how your trusted sources are nothing but party line propaganda first. Then we'll be in a better place to look at Alex by comparison. 

I assume you are referring to my trusted sources for real news? AP, Reuters, New York Times, Washington Post, the LA Times. For starters. Then the occasional USA Today, Business Insider, The Hill, The Atlantic, Time Magazine and various fact checking groups. That's some of them. Now please edify me on Fake News

[Dr. MD MD]

I assume you are referring to my trusted sources for real news? AP, Reuters, New York Times, Washington Post, the LA Times. For starters. Then the occasional USA Today, Business Insider, The Hill, The Atlantic, Time Magazine and various fact checking groups. That's some of them. Now please edify me on Fake News

Yes, exactly.

[TigerLily]

Yes, exactly.

Great argument! Well thought out and succinct. I am especially impressed with the cogent logic, nuances and counterpoints of your argument. You're right and I'm wrong. I'm totally convinced.

That you're an imbecile

[Dr. MD MD]

Great argument! Well thought out and succinct. I am especially impressed with the cogent logic, nuances and counterpoints of your argument. You're right and I'm wrong. I'm totally convinced.

That you're an imbecile

The truth hurts until you learn to stop sticking your hand in the fire. 

[Yorkshire pud]

Great argument! Well thought out and succinct. I am especially impressed with the cogent logic, nuances and counterpoints of your argument. You're right and I'm wrong. I'm totally convinced.

That you're an imbecile

Oh that's not fair. It isn't his fault. Alex Jones and the hippy who can't afford shirts have his back, and they tell him what he already believes, and that's good enough for him lady..

[Dr. MD MD]

Oh that's not fair. It isn't his fault. Alex Jones and the hippy who can't afford shirts have his back, and they tell him what he already believes, and that's good enough for him lady..

Yeah, I'm the one who only sees what I believe.  :

Pot meet kettle!

[Yorkshire pud]

Yeah, I'm the one who only sees what I believe.  :

Pot meet kettle!

I have you at a disadvantage though. Alex Jones admits what he says is only a performance and not real. He admitted it in court. Its just a vehicle to sell his over priced none supplements.

[Dr. MD MD]

I have you at a disadvantage though. Alex Jones admits what he says is only a performance and not real. He admitted it in court. Its just a vehicle to sell his over priced none supplements.

You're the one at a permanent disadvantage, fucker! First off, you hail from an island of inbreds and pedophiles. It's not you're fault, pud but it's left your brain at a disadvantage and now it's prone to believing almost anything, like the MSM isn't controlled by the world intelligence (using that word loosely here) community. I feel for you. bro and want to help. 

[Yorkshire pud]

You're the one at a permanent disadvantage, fucker! First off, you hail from an island of inbreds and pedophiles. It's not you're fault, pud but it's left your brain at a disadvantage and now it's prone to believing almost anything, like the MSM isn't controlled by the world intelligence (using that word loosely here) community. I feel for you. bro and want to help. 

You're not getting enough sleep Barbie. You spend far too long on here, all hours of the night and day...You need rest.

[Dr. MD MD]

You're not getting enough sleep Barbie. You spend far too long on here, all hours of the night and day...You need rest.

Uh huh...you know all about my personal life. 

[Yorkshire pud]

Uh huh...you know all about my personal life. 

Silly. Of course. I'm MI6 and in the secret cabal that looks into everything we want to know. Of course we know.

[Swishypants]

Silly. Of course. I'm MI6 and in the secret cabal that looks into everything we want to know. Of course we know.

Super Cool, because I'm MI-6 too! 

https://youtu.be/hXyqS9LAqds

[Dr. MD MD]

Silly. Of course. I'm MI6 and in the secret cabal that looks into everything we want to know. Of course we know.

Tell the queen to stop tapping baby's blood like she's milking cows. Ta! 

[Yorkshire pud]

Tell the queen to stop tapping baby's blood like she's milking cows. Ta! 

The old bird is in her 90s, she has staff to do that...silly boy.

[Swishypants]

The old bird is in her 90s, she has staff to do that...silly boy.

https://youtu.be/_0GnBFkXR4Q

The problem with Brits, is that they only have an accent, not real money to pay!

[Jojo]

I have you at a disadvantage though. Alex Jones admits what he says is only a performance and not real. He admitted it in court. Its just a vehicle to sell his over priced none supplements.

I doubt that.  His actions speak louder than words, and in so doing he has been arrested something like 30 or 40   Sleeping without a pillow and no coffee is not "a performance".  Plus inmates lose their sexual right, too.  No coffee, no pillow, no fun .

[TigerLily]

"Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. Soon to be a Spielberg movie

This book comes from the hot new (ok, not so new) "destitute, loner kid living in dire circumstances in a dystopian world", genre. Our hero is searching for the literal keys to a vast fortune hidden by a Steve Jobs type before his demise. The great, fun kick is the quest mainly takes place in a virtual universe designed by our "Steve Jobs" who was a serious devotee of all things '80s pop culture.

I was only about a third of the way through the book when I was struck down by the Dreaded Deadly Influenza. But I'm coming out of the Ebola eyes stage so hopefully can go back to reading again in a couple of days with the dark filter.  So even though I haven't finished the book yet, I can still say, "TigerLily recommended". And Spielberg, too in case that carries more weight

[Jackstar]

And Spielberg, too in case that carries more weight

[TigerLily]

Yes. A victim of the Poltergeist curse. Or maybe something deeper. Human Dark Forces.

"O'Rourke also had a recurring role on Happy Days from 1982 to 1983, and she made several television guest appearances. She died at the age of 12 of cardiac arrest and septic shock caused by a misdiagnosed intestinal stenosis in early February 1988.
Heather O'Rourke - Wikipedia"

But we know the other one grew up to be Drew Barrymore. She survived the Barrymore curse

[Jackstar]

maybe

Wikipedia

Just stop right there.

[zeebo]

"Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. Soon to be a Spielberg movie...

I think I've mentioned this book here before, I thought it was a kick.  I almost never read books twice, but this one I did, just to catch all the pop culture details.  As much as I loved it, I was surprised it's been such a hit, thinking it would only click with a niche audience of nerdy gamer types raised in the 80's, such as myself. 

I saw the trailers for the movie, and sadly I am not optimistic - it looks quite removed from the spirit and content of the book.  I watched with that wtf feeling book lovers often get at such moments.  I suspect much has been changed both to give it wider appeal and also due to legal issues with rights for all the referenced movies/shows/games/music etc. 

[Jackstar]

it looks quite removed from the spirit and content of the book

That's our Speilberg!!!