Category Archives: Books
Random Thoughts (2)
I am still getting up every day before 6 am. But because of that, I need a pizza or a steak at 10 am at the latest and by noon I am already smoking cigars. Dear Donald Trump, “she’s not … Continue reading
Kon-Tiki
Preparing my trip to Easter Island, memories of Kon-Tiki leaped into my mind, one of the first travel/adventure books I read. Thor Heyerdahl and his crew did not sail to Easter Island in 1947, but further north, yet the underlying question if the islands … Continue reading
My favorite quotes from “Journey by Moonlight”
One year ago, I introduced a wonderful novel to you: Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb. Because I know that most of you disregard my advice and haven’t read the book, here are some of my favorite quotes: Following a … Continue reading
Book Review: “Golden Holocaust” by Robert Proctor
This will be a short book review because Robert Proctor’s book about the dangers of tobacco, smoking and cigarettes can be dismissed outright after reading the title and the introduction. Although I occasionally smoke cigars, I know it’s neither healthy … Continue reading
War and Peace
In his autobiography My Early Life, which concluded the time before World War I and was published before World War II, Winston Churchill takes this lesson from the Boer Wars: Let us learn our lessons. Never, never, never believe any war will be … Continue reading
Money in Politics
In his autobiography My Early Life: A Roving Commission, Winston Churchill recounts his first attempt to run for a seat in the House of Commons, the democratic half of the British Parliament. Early in November [1898] I paid a visit … Continue reading
Paulo Coelho
“Peru has Mario Vargas Llosa. Colombia has Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Mexico has Carlos Fuentes. I am so tired of Brazil: only samba, beach and sex. We have nothing intellectual!” the girl at the check-out counter at Belem Library complained. “It’s … Continue reading
Why is my luggage so heavy?
In my room in Arequipa immediately after moving from Bolivia to Peru. And this stack doesn’t even include the book packages which had already come for me before my arrival.
Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler
After Donald Trumps’s speech at the Republican National Convention, I made this joke, inspired both by the plagiarism in the current Mrs Trumps’ speech and by the speech itself: As with all my other Donald Trump jokes however, it turned out … Continue reading
The young Winston Churchill on War
In his autobiography My Early Life, the young Winston Churchill writes about his feelings towards war and conflict. He seems to regard it all as one great adventure. About his time at the Military College in Sandhurst: Here the study was of … Continue reading
The Happy Hermit 