WristScan

Young No was an inveterate reader.  A fair guess of the total would be in the low thousands of books, mainly historical and political topics with a smattering of fiction in between.  

Then I hit my thirties.  

😕

And stopped.  In the second half of my life, I might've read a few scores tops.  Saturated with curiosity, I suppose.  So while I can't claim to be constantly adding to my base of knowledge, there are a few I've read in the distant past worthy of suggestion to anyone interested in the current state of our world.   

The first would be Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom. 

Let it suffice to state it's unlikely no book illustrates the saying, "The more things change, the more they remain the same" as eloquently and elegantly as Seven Pillars.  To say Lawrence was a brilliant writer with a compelling story to tell would be to engage in understatement.

The other would be Carroll Quigley's Tragedy and Hope.  A controversial book by an equally controversial writer.  His perspective on modern history is informative, and then some.  

I've read both twice; that's the highest compliment I can pay.

As for writers, the one whose style and manner that appealed most would be Edward Crankshaw, who wrote about conflicts of the Twentieth Century.  Not an academic historian, but a journalist involved in the cogs of the British government and military when the world was at war, hot and cold.  His style was so appealing that I believe he's the only writer I've given a second read based solely on his sensibility.  I read The New Cold War: Moscow vs Pekin in my teens and then found a copy of his biography of Otto Bismarck in a book store which went home with me in my twenties.  I think both are still in storage.  

Who are your favorites?

On my wrist later today: Great White.

(Old pic, will take a fresh snap later.)

Art

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