What Are You Currently Reading? 2015

[Steve the Planner]

Razor's Edge.

To Backwards Observer's selection, I am on my third lifetime read of this book.

Curious provenance that I think is accurate. Christopher Isherwood was in Berlin (He was the Caberet inspiration of the Englishman). Maughan and he were (Gay) friends. Isherwood, after many adventures, moved to Santa Monica, CA, to work as a screen writer with all the other Euro ExPats: Huxley, Hesse, and later, Maughan.

After all of his adventures, Isherwood settled down in Santa Monica and found religion---Buddhism, etc., later providing the English Translation of the Bagavadgita. Isherwood was Larry (Razor's Edge) and Siddartha (Hesse) and appeared in many other guises (Cabaret) by that group of writers--- including his own (Mr. Norris Changes Trains, I ama Camera, Etc...)..

From the above, my exploration of the backstory for Razor's Edge took me far afield from what I expected, but confirmed that (like Maughan's Larry) Isherwood did become the Boatman, popping up in many places with a wry smile (Cheshire Cat?).

[Backwards Observer]

Hi Steve!

Back in the day on the other side of the Pacific from Santa Monica, one of the reasons for callow scribes to sit on the verandah at the Raffles Hotel (buying one ice lemon tea for the whole afternoon, looking thoughtful, learning to smoke ciggies cough, not writing anything) was the Somerset Maugham/assorted notable authors angle.

Maugham was but one of many writers who immortalised the historic hotel. Among those who sojourned there included Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward, Han Suyin, James Michener and so many more. Many of them lend their immortal words and even their names to the hotel. A few had suites named after them.

Somerset Maugham first visited Raffles Hotel in 1921, and was inspired to write the short stories contained in The Casuarina Tree. Shutzman wanted to use Maugham's name in promoting the hotel and wrote to the author to ask his permission, and invited him to stay at Raffles. Maugham answered, declining the invitation but granting the hotel both the use of his name and his quote that Raffles Hotel "stands for all the fables of the exotic East" in advertisements.

Raffles Hotel, The Grand Old Lady of Singapore, has Its Own Museum. - thaiairways.com

Regarding 'The Razor's Edge'; the consensus seems to be that it was kinda goofy, but I actually preferred the film! I'm shallow.



Also Bill M. (Murray, that is.)

[Backwards Observer]

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson


The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

[Firn]

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed, written twenty years ago.

Amazing book with many nuggets in quite a few areas like managing, technology, production, military procurement and more. It is always important to be critical of works like personal memoirs but some of those nuggets surfaced already in different sources like the (German) military experience and Berkshire.

[Backwards Observer]

The Ascent Of Man by Jacob Bronowski


Anthropological Intelligence: The Deployment and Neglect of American Anthropology in the Second World War by David H. Price

[Backwards Observer]

Social Sciences As Sorcery by Stanislav Andreski


War and Cinema: The Logistics of Perception by Paul Virilio

[davidbfpo]

'The Dark Net' by Jamie Bartlett, published in 2014 and as a paperback in 2015 in the UK:http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Net-Insid...jamie+bartlett

A clearly written, simple guide to the Dark Net; in layman's terms a world of activity way beyond Google and a surprising social commentary on human activity - drug dealers, pornography, hackers and more.