Category Archives: Books
Breakfast Table
Every day the internet gets congested because millions of people upload photos of their breakfast: freshly pressed orange juice or coffee in which the chocolate powder forms a satanic sign. A healthy muesli or a swordfish filet. Eggs and bacon. … Continue reading
“The Life of Pie”
In my house, The Life of Pie is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”, as Thomas Hobbes would have put it. Well, this was definitely better than the film which had no pie in it at all.
Giving Presents
I don’t receive many presents. But then I give presents even less. Maybe it’s better that way. Receiving or giving presents can be a sad occasion. I remember the times when I was browsing book stores for hours, pondering what … Continue reading
Cigars are good for your Health
“You can’t smoke in here! This is a hospital” the nurse snapped at me, although I hadn’t even lit the cigar. “And?” I asked. “You don’t seem to have read ‘The Magic Mountain‘?” The gruff reply “We have a strict anti-smoking … Continue reading
Sports Day
Today, I shall attempt to run the half marathon from Danilovgrad to Podgorica. That is in Montenegro. Yes, both of these cities are (a half marathon is not that long). I am reminded of a passage in Ismail Kadare‘s book The Fall of … Continue reading
“1493” by Charles C. Mann
Zur deutschsprachigen Rezension. 1493 refers to the year after Christopher Columbus “discovered” America and as the second part of the title suggests, the book describes how Europe’s discovery of the Americas revolutionized trade, ecology and life on earth. That sounds … Continue reading
When to Smoke (and when not to)
Around 1774, the former Chinese provincial governor Lu Yao provided a set of smoking rules in his book Yan Pu (Smoking Manual). In great detail he addressed the question of when to smoke (and when not to): Do smoke: after … Continue reading
I am on the cover of a book.
Well, not me personally, but one of my photos. No, not a photo of myself, a photo I took. Maybe you remember this photo from my report on Europos Parkas, an outdoor museum hidden deep in a forest in Lithuania? … Continue reading
Not only in James Bond
Some people still believe that James Bond books and films are fiction. How naive. I have just read Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre, the true story of a British operation during World War II, in which a dead body was … Continue reading
Video: Robinson Crusoe
Sometimes, when I am stranded on a new island and I walk along the beach for hours to see if there is anyone else who is still alive or if I can find some food, I feel like Robinson Crusoe. … Continue reading
The Happy Hermit 