Cambodia Expats Online: Forum | News | Information | Blog

Or what are you reading?

Atm I'm reading:

Thai stick by Peter Maguire

From Publishers Weekly
Historian Maguire (Law and War) and former drug smuggler Ritter delve into the world of the international marijuana trade of the 1960s and 1970s, tracing its quasi-utopian roots to its suppression during the War on Drugs. Utilizing hundreds of interviews, the authors reveal how early entrepreneurs bringing high-quality marijuana into the United States sincerely believed that these drugs could provide epiphanies otherwise inaccessible; making fortunes by supplying illicit drugs was, for them, a case of doing well while doing good. Such sums of money attracted genuine predators, from ruthless drug lords to brutal pirates. In addition, the hapless transcendental entrepreneurs found themselves faced with an American government marching grimly towards an enforced prohibition on all illegal drugs, hard and soft. The authors are sympathetic to the loftier goals of the soft drug pioneers while acknowledging the realities of uninhibited capitalism; grand ambitions often led to a dank prison cell or an unmarked grave.

Very interesting if you're into history. I really like it so far. (I'm halfway into it).

This book should be right up your alley phuketrichard!

read it awhile ago an knew/know some of the players

The stories I could tell about Thailand, Cambodia , Mexico, USA and Europe in the 70-80's

Richard write a book. That history is valuable. That's how I worked my way through Uni.
Or a least audio it.

Currently reading the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft in chronological order. About 2/3 of the way through.

OrangeDragon wrote:Currently reading the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft in chronological order. About 2/3 of the way through.

Did you grow up with the "Alone in the dark" PC games?

Twilight of Abundance, by David Archibald, more rubbish from those conspiracy-theorist, tree-hugging commies that think the environment matters!

The hardest thing to sell people on is the obvious. That is because the self-evident is so familiar that many instinctively have contempt for it. Like a prophet in his own country, the obvious is often too mundane to overawe.
David Archibald’s book, Twilight of Abundance, is a collection of ideas that it seems we might have thought up ourselves. Archibald points out that we have been living in an unprecedented time of food and energy abundance in a period of peace unprecedented since the fall of the Roman Empire. And he supplies the evidence to back his point up. Then he argues that our civilization can’t count on winning the lottery every week.
And yet that is what we have effectively done and intend to continue to do, in thrall to agendas that command our full attention, though we have forgotten what they are supposed to achieve. Issues such as “global warming” or “gay marriage”—which may have some worth in themselves—are treated as existential problems, even as far more pressing issues are shunted to the side.
Archibald’s major contribution is to put the obvious front and center again. Once having awakened our interest in the undeniably real existential threats, he argues that policymakers ought to take prudent steps to transition into new technologies and arrangements necessary to ensure global security and sufficient food and energy for the world’s population—instead of living in the dream that these goods are givens, or falling into an ideological obsession with returning to some sylvan eco-paradise that never existed.
For his troubles David Archibald will probably be dismissed as an extremist—a “climate change denier” or some such—although it is hard to see what he is extreme about. Perhaps the strangeness is really just his departure from the talking points that are endlessly prescribed by the media, a kind of disorienting looping around to the place where we began.
That is precisely the value of his book. And while you may not subscribe to his arguments in their entirety, there is no doubt that David Archibald is asking the right questions. What will we use for energy in fifteen years’ time? What will the world eat, given its burgeoning population? Can we really count on the Pax Americana continuing indefinitely into the future? Important questions all.
And if the answer to any of these is “I don’t know” or “Nobody on TV is talking about this,” then perhaps politicians should begin to focus on them. Better at least than continuing with their current obsession with trivial but politically correct pursuits.
The one obvious defect in Archibald’s book is the title: Twilight of Abundance. This book is not about unavoidable impending tragedy. Archibald argues that we are not doomed to a new dark age. On the contrary, an even more prosperous and fulfilling future awaits us, but only if we keep our eyes open and use our common sense.

Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene.

Explaining string theory, wave particle duality, entanglement, inflation theory, relativity and more, Greene offers mere mortals a peak into the often weird nature of nature by using lots of diagrams and simple speak to convey current ideas on reality (2004). Chapters dealing with quantum mechanics, the double slit experiment, entanglement etc reveals aspects of reality that is completely non-intuitive and challenges the reader to accept things that are just plain spooky.

Looking forward to reading Lawrence Kraus and his new book Something From Nothing.

I still need to finish reading A Brief History of Time.

It's taking me longer to read it than it took to write it.

lovecraft is great!!!

Currently reading ( i switch)

"Travelers tales guide to India"

"Phnom Phen Noir " ( available in PP bookstores)

"A prayer for Owen Meany"

Nice library.

The world's largest library is the British Library with 170 million items and 1.75 million visitors a year.

You're welcome.