You might want to try Blood Meridian for a more uplifting McCarthy work. I couldn't stand the road. Only if you read it with the understanding they were both dead and in purgatory, with the father going off to hell at the end. There is no way the earth would or could be so completely dead for what, like ten years? Porn is fine, but dystopia porn? Given his bent, the story was just self indulgent.
I've come to suspect that the disaster was a volcano because otherwise wouldn't they have been dead from radiation poisoning much sooner? There are some elements of the book inconsistent with nuclear event. In any case, I didn't like the book but I might pick up Blood Meridian at some point, thanks for the suggestion.
I had the good fortune of reading The Path Between to Seas before taking a cruise thru the Canal. With our group was David. He was scheduled to give two talks to our group, but that was rearranged so that he gave the talks to the entire boat, most of whose passengers had no idea he was on the boat. When we arrived at Colon, a guide boarded; David quickly recognized him from when he was working on the book. The guide introduced himself but soon announced that we had the real expert on the building of the Canal with us and turned the mike over to David McCullough. We proceeded through the Canal with David’s mellifluous voice surrounding us. I told him later that this was a once in a lifetime experience; it was, indeed. David was a kind person; in the book and on the boat he did not once disparage the French for failing to understand that the Panama was not another Suez Canal and he honored generously the 28,000 odd Caribbean’s (blacks) who gave their lives to the building of the Canal. The book is a masterpiece of the human difficulty in making decisions. He describes carefully the resistance doctors and researchers had to persuade higher ups that the mosquito was behind malaria and yellow fever. One of those doctors now has a hospital in Washington named after him: Walter Reed. I wish I could find time to reread The Path Between the Seas.
If I recall correctly, you recommended The Path Between the Seas several months ago when I posted my reading list which included David McCullough's book on the Johnstown Floods. I immediately ordered the book but it sat on my shelf until the summer.
I found the details on managing the malaria and yellow fever situation very interesting. One of the central characters in that effort was William Gorgas who also had a role in the Spanish Flu response in 1918, which I learned reading The Great Influenza back in 2020. It's interesting how the same characters sometimes show up in different books! https://rationalwalk.substack.com/p/the-great-influenza-of-1918
Your memory is fine, Ravi! Now I need to read Johnstown Floods. I have it, but I am like the Boston Brahman lady who said she didn’t buy hats, she had them: I don’t read books; I have them.
Another fine book of a different sort you and your readers might find enriching is How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman. It is a marvelous study of how doctors grope with repetitive decisions, something every investor would find enlightening.
My wife is head of heels into nutrition and loved „Genius Food“ written byMax Lugavere
I didn’t know about “Make something wonderful”. It’ll be next on my list. Thanks for sharing!
Tartar Steppe, thank you for reviewing that. It's new to me and I am going to try and find it.
You might want to try Blood Meridian for a more uplifting McCarthy work. I couldn't stand the road. Only if you read it with the understanding they were both dead and in purgatory, with the father going off to hell at the end. There is no way the earth would or could be so completely dead for what, like ten years? Porn is fine, but dystopia porn? Given his bent, the story was just self indulgent.
I've come to suspect that the disaster was a volcano because otherwise wouldn't they have been dead from radiation poisoning much sooner? There are some elements of the book inconsistent with nuclear event. In any case, I didn't like the book but I might pick up Blood Meridian at some point, thanks for the suggestion.
Love all things on Claude!
I had the good fortune of reading The Path Between to Seas before taking a cruise thru the Canal. With our group was David. He was scheduled to give two talks to our group, but that was rearranged so that he gave the talks to the entire boat, most of whose passengers had no idea he was on the boat. When we arrived at Colon, a guide boarded; David quickly recognized him from when he was working on the book. The guide introduced himself but soon announced that we had the real expert on the building of the Canal with us and turned the mike over to David McCullough. We proceeded through the Canal with David’s mellifluous voice surrounding us. I told him later that this was a once in a lifetime experience; it was, indeed. David was a kind person; in the book and on the boat he did not once disparage the French for failing to understand that the Panama was not another Suez Canal and he honored generously the 28,000 odd Caribbean’s (blacks) who gave their lives to the building of the Canal. The book is a masterpiece of the human difficulty in making decisions. He describes carefully the resistance doctors and researchers had to persuade higher ups that the mosquito was behind malaria and yellow fever. One of those doctors now has a hospital in Washington named after him: Walter Reed. I wish I could find time to reread The Path Between the Seas.
If I recall correctly, you recommended The Path Between the Seas several months ago when I posted my reading list which included David McCullough's book on the Johnstown Floods. I immediately ordered the book but it sat on my shelf until the summer.
I found the details on managing the malaria and yellow fever situation very interesting. One of the central characters in that effort was William Gorgas who also had a role in the Spanish Flu response in 1918, which I learned reading The Great Influenza back in 2020. It's interesting how the same characters sometimes show up in different books! https://rationalwalk.substack.com/p/the-great-influenza-of-1918
Your memory is fine, Ravi! Now I need to read Johnstown Floods. I have it, but I am like the Boston Brahman lady who said she didn’t buy hats, she had them: I don’t read books; I have them.
Another fine book of a different sort you and your readers might find enriching is How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman. It is a marvelous study of how doctors grope with repetitive decisions, something every investor would find enlightening.
Keep up your great writing!