How Many Books are You Reading Now? A Lot.

Every few weeks I get a version of the question, "How many books are you reading now?"  On some online book groups, the question might be, "Do you read more than one book at a time?"  

Right now the count is ten physical books, pictured above, two books on Kindle and two on Audible.  

If reading multiple books at one time seems weird to you, think about how you interact with friends and family especially during the recent pandemic.  

My six kids live in three different states (not to mention six very different states of mind). I see and speak with them mostly on the phone and occasionally see the local kids in person.  

I have friends on four continents around the world that I am in touch with once in a while.  I have friends from the west coast of America to central Europe I am in touch with regularly. I talk to them, write to them, text them, and keep the relationship we share separate from every other relationship I have. 

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Some daily, some every few days or weekly, some less often. Again, no trouble keeping "The Jewish Story" podcast completely separate in my mind from "The Eastern Border" podcast or "The Bulwark" podcast.

A few years ago, I got a formal diagnosis that said I am ADHD, but this pile of books was really all I needed to say I have a mind that bounces from one thing to another.   

In fact, when I started college in my late 20s after the Army, I never had a problem with multiple classes and different books for every class.  

I am not just randomly reading books from my own shelf or from recommendations.  I am part of several book groups and read books with friends.  So there is more order to my reading than it my appear.

The List:  

--I listen to a podcast called "Honestly" by Bari Weiss and am reading her book "How to Fight Anti-Semitism."

--The weekly Virtual Reading Group of the Hannah Arendt Center is reading "The Life of the Mind by Arendt. We read and discuss about 30 pages per week.

--The Evolution Round Table at Franklin and Marshall College is reading "From Darwin to Derrida" this semester, a chapter or two per week.

--"Maphead" is a book about people who are obsessed with maps, including the author. I am clearly a maphead.

--I read Leonard Cohen's "Book of Mercy" a book of poetry while I am on the train. Sometimes I write after reading him. Even his prose is lyrical. 

--I am reading "To the End of the Land" with a friend who loves David Grossman's writing. I have never read him, but had heard a lot about him.

--With another friend, I am listening to all five books of the "Game of Thrones." I am currently at the beginning of book five. I am hoping the 70-year-old author of the series, George RR Martin, remains healthy long enough to finish the final novels--a total of seven.

--The other book on Audible is "The Greek Way" by Edith Hamilton. Published in 1930, this book summarizes Greek culture in a lovely review of art, history, politics, drama, comedy, philosophy and how they all fit together.

--"The Quick and the Dead" by Alison Joseph is one of the books I am reading on Kindle. I read her pandemic book "What Dark Days Seen" last week and am reading this one because it is the first book with the main character, Sister Agnes.

--The other book on Kindle is "Critique of Pure Reason" by Immanuel Kant. Along with it I am reading "Kant" by Karl Jaspers. These books are part of a weekly Karl Jaspers group related to the Hannah Arendt group. We read a chapter or two per week from either or both books.

--"Understanding Beliefs" is part of the delightful MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series as is "Irony and Sarcasm." I read occasionally from both. 

--Finally, I took "QED" off my shelf and started reading a few pages at a time because I want to know as much as I can about light and quantum electrodynamics.

Do I confuse the books? Do they collide in my head?  Sure. But I have friends and relatives who are very different people and keep them all separate, mostly.  The books I read have vastly different character and subjects so they are as distinct as friends.  

QED.....[quod erat demonstrandum] 

 

Colin Powell, an Arduous Road to Great Success

 

In 1958, when Colin Powell was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army, the former slave states still had Jim Crow laws in effect and the rest of the states had other discriminatory laws. Just a decade before in 1948, President Harry S. Truman desegregated the Army. Truman opened the path of leadership to Black soldiers, but that path was not easy.

In World War II and before, Black soldiers were in segregated units, nearly always with white officers.  My Dad was one of those officers during World War II, commander of a Black supply company at a supply base in Shenango Township, Pennsylvania.  His next assignment was Jewish commandant of a Prisoner of War Camp for soldiers of the German Afrika Korps.

While desegregation was law in the Army nearly two-thirds of the soldiers in the Army were (and are) from the South and the West.  Black officers had to lead soldiers who did not believe they should be officers.  

Four years ago I went to a promotion ceremony for Myles B. Caggins, III. He was a major when we served together in Iraq in 2009 and was being promoted to Colonel.  His father, retired Colonel Myles B. Caggins, Jr., was there to see his son wear eagles on his shoulders.  

Like Colin Powell, Caggins, Jr., served in the Army before and after passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Both Powell and Caggins served in the Vietnam War, leading soldiers in battle.  Leadership is always difficult, the road Powell and Caggins walked was grueling. 

I have already seen criticisms of Colin Powell.  

None of those critics have ever overcome the obstacles the Powell surmounted, and none have achieved what he achieved.  May Colin Powell be as blessed in the next life as he was brave in this life.

Field Guide to Flying Death: With Gunships, Slower is Better

 

AC130 Gunship in the air and on the ground 

Air support for troops in the Vietnam War began with the latest and fastest jets of the 1960s. Whether they we land-based or carrier based, these jets could swoop in with bombs, missiles and guns. But then they were gone.  High performance jets can't hang around. And they are not made to go slow. 

F4 Phantoms would lower their landing gear on close-support missions to get their weapons on target.  

The first solution to the problem was to go retro:  The Douglas A4 Skyraider.

Developed during World War II, the Skyraider first flew in March 1945. The war ended before it could be deployed in significant numbers.  By 1967 the design was far out date in the jet world, but the A4 could fly for more than six hours with its basic fuel load. 

The single-engine propellor-driven aircraft carried four 20mm cannons with 200 rounds of ammo for each gun and could carry 8,000 pounds of bombs, rockets and any other ordnance that could be hung on its wide wings.  In a ground support role, the Skyraider could attack a target and wait in the area to see and respond to the enemy's next move.  

In the same way, the C130 Hercules can stay over the target area carrying tons of ammo for miniguns and cannons up to and including a 105mm howitzer.  The newest model reported in Task and Purpose now has a laser capable of disabling trucks.  

This four-engine tortoise in a world of supersonic hares can loiter of hours over a battle supporting the troops on the ground long after jets have sped away.