Just the books ma'am...

    Having taken the long road through my last textual encounter, the scenic route one might call it, the speed with which I devoured my current endeavor, The Ghosts of Cannae by Robert L. O’Connell, is quite surprising; to myself if not to others.  A scant five days of reading – which would perhaps be better measured in hours for I spent perhaps no more than ten at it’s mercy. 

    The Ghost’s of Cannae is, without question or reservation, one of the best books on military history that I have had the pleasure to read.  This may be, in part, to having recently read B.H. Liddell-Hart’s work on Scipio Africanus which covered much of the same ground (both in the battles and the general philosophy.)  But, whereas BHLH was perhaps more the military scholar O’Connell’s writing was eminently more readable and accessible to the layman. 

    BHLH, in his book on Scipio, made it clear that the type of general that Scipio had become paved the way for Julius Caesar and the eventual downfall of the Roman republic.  O’Connell takes a similar view in his work but goes a step further and places the blame squarely on the shoulders of Hannibal illustrating how the Carthaginian general’s ability to outwit his opponents and avoid defeat necessitated the creation of a Roman general to equal him – a professional soldier.  Further, O’Connell illustrates how the senate’s refusal to care for the vanquished soldiers of Cannae (and other battles as well) led to the eventual reliance of soldiers on their commander rather than the state when it came time to put down the sword.  This made soldiers loyal not to Rome, but to their generals and paved the way for the destruction of the republic:

    (concerning the survivors of Cannae, the Cannenses) “No longer needed, the Canenses would now get what they deserved, at least in the eyes of the senate.  Taxes had been doubled so that all soldiers could be paid in cash immediately, except for those who’d fought at Cannae.  They got nothing.  But this was secondary compared to being shipped to Sicily.  Here they would stay until 204, removed from their families and their livelihood, effectively banished.  It was a terrible punishment, inflicted upon them because they were seen as having broken an oath never before required, which had made them, technically at least, deserters.  Rome had lost a great battle and needed a scapegoat.  Rather than blame the strategists and commanders who had planned it, the powers that be turned on the survivors.  The logic, the same as for decimation (“pour encourager les autres”), might have made sense at the time. But these ghosts of Cannae would live to haunt the republic.  For one day, legionaries would look to their generals and not Rome for a future, and that perspective would spell civil war and absolute rule.  This more than anything else was the battle’s legacy.”

    The battle at Zuma, in which Scipio defeated Hannibal, was quite the encounter and although BHLH described the battle in his work on Scipio O’Connell, in my opinion, handles the reality of the situation more completely.  As the battle began the Roman and Carthaginian lines drew up opposite each other.  On the wings of each army the cavalry (and Hannibal’s elephants) had there own engagement and were removed, for a time, from the battle leaving nothing but foot soldiers facing each other; the Carthaginians and these ghosts of Cannae:

    “If fate were a dramatist, there could not have been a better place for an intermission.  The issue had been reduced to a fight of soldiers, not generals.  The supreme rematch was at hand; after fourteen long years, the ghosts of Cannae would meet their vanquishers again in mortal combat.  When they were ready, the Romans marched directly at the Carthaginians and the fight began. As far as we know there were no military sleights of hand, no feints, no hidden reserves, no centers extended or withheld.  It was to be a straight-up clash between two supremely experienced hosts of murderously inclined experts with sharp instruments.  Polybius (15.14.6) reports, “As they were nearly equal in numbers as well as in spirit and bravery, and were equally well armed, the contest was for long doubtful, the men falling where they stood out of determination.”

    Scipio’s cavalry returned from chasing the Carthaginian cavalry and, in so doing, turned the tide in favor of Scipio and Rome.  Of course you’ll have to read the book to find out the outcome of the generals but I assure you, it is worth the read.

    I am, as I said previously, also reading the Koran.  Mainly a few pages here and there each day.  Definitely an interesting read as some of the stories are variations of Jewish and Christian tales from the Bible (the Christian Old Testament being the Jewish Tanakh), with which I am more intimately familiar. 

    For my next book I have chosen Finance: The Basics, by Erik Banks.  Obviously this is another non-fiction book and I am, a bit, feeling the need to switch back over to fiction.  That said, I’ve been rather enjoying the non-fiction works and am (perhaps sadistically)  looking forward to more of them.

    And that is all, until next we meet here…

It Is Finished...

    It is finished!  Well, “this week’s” book.  Which, in reality is the book I started three weeks ago?  So, the third and final installment of A History of the Arab Peoples.  In reality this book was more a story of the history of Islam and Islamic empires, the way in which these empires handled the Arab and non-Arab populations within them and how these empires dealt with their own natural ebb and flow as well as the ebb and flow of the non-Islamic world around them.

    As such, the book gave a good deal of insight into; early interactions between Muslims, Christians and Jews (quite civil in the early interactions but growing less so through history,) the kingdoms of the Andulsian period in what is now Spain and Portugal and the Ottoman Empire (which I knew little about but have come, through this work, to admire.)

    I did know, prior to my reading, that the Arab world (i.e. the Islamic world) was responsible for maintaining and further much of the early Greek thought and the after the Dark Ages in Europe much of the reflowering of thought in the West was due in no small part to the knowledge that had been preserved by Islamic scholars.  However, I was unaware of their contribution to medicine, specifically -

“It was as practitioners of the art of healing that Muslim doctors made their most important contributions.  They carried further the techniques of surgery.  They observed the course of diseases and described them; Ibn al-Khatib (1313-74) was perhaps the first to understand the way in which plague spread by contagion.  They studied the making of drugs from medicinal plants and their effects on human bodies, and the pharmacopoeia was extensive; it has been said that the pharmacy as an institution is an Islamic invention. They also understood the importance of those factors which could prevent that imbalance of the elements which, as they believed, led to illness: healthy diet, fresh air and exercise.”

    It simply amazes me that a culture which was, initially, so supportive of learning and maintaining and expanding knowledge could today be plagued by violent religious beliefs.  That said, we live in a country which would perhaps not benefit much from its citizenry being familiar with the less violent aspects of its enemies (be they military, political or economic.)  Bearing in mind, as well, that we would be judged just as harshly by outsiders who were familiar only with the fundamentalist Christians within our own borders.

    Of course this book has affected me in other ways as well.  I’ve been working on a fantasy novel for quite some time now, never quite sure where to go with it.  My brother, Garth, is an avid reader of SciFi and Fantasy and a dear friend of mine, Michael Bird (RIP,) was a writer of such things and encouraged me on more than one occasion to abandon (albeit briefly) my attachment to more literary endeavors and write something which I had always termed “fluff fiction.”  It took me several years to get around to it but I finally took him up on his request (though I did so after he would have been able to appreciate –or perhaps have second thoughts on – the effort.)  At any rate, I had been looking for a way to introduce one of the characters and had given thought to a long, drawn out, “kingly” introduction but was never quite sure how to go about it properly until seeing this, the title of an Ottoman ruler:

“His Majesty, the victorious and successful sultan, the ruler aided by God, whose undergarment is victory, the padishah whose glory is high as Heaven, king of kings who are like stars, crown of the royal head, the shadow of the Provider, culmination of kingship, quintessence of the book of fortune, equinoctial line of justice, perfection of the spring-tide of majesty, sea of benevolence and humanity, mine of the jewels of generosity, source of the memorials of valour, manifestation of the lights of felicity, setter-up of the standards of Islam, writer of justice on the pages of time, sultan of the two continents and of the two seas, ruler of the two easts and of the two wests, servant of the two holy sanctuaries, namesake of the apostle of men and of jinns, Sultan Muhammad Khan.”

    And, finally, a thought on modern Saudi Arabia by way of a quote concerning another Islamic society of the past:

“…the Ottoman Empire should acquire the strength of a modern state by changes in laws, methods of administration and military organization; the relationship of sultan and subject should be changed into that of modern government and citizen, and loyalty to a ruling family should be transmuted into the sense of membership of a nation, the Ottoman nation, which would include Muslims and non-Muslims, Turks and non-Turks.  All this could be done without disloyalty to Islam or the traditions of the empire, if only they were understood correctly.”

    Granted, Saudi Arabia has made many large strides in becoming less the fiefdom of the al-Sa’ud and more a modern country but it still has a ways to go.  However, I personally believe that when there comes a time in Saudi Arabia where there is no income from oil and people are no longer, effectively, wards of the state (i.e. the al-Sa’ud) and when taxes must be levied and such like things that most other countries have to deal with out of necessity for their day to day operation then, at that time, the “reforms” (if one can or should call them that) in Saudi Arabia will be complete.  It seems, of course, that they are marching that way on their own, however, and may reach “modern” standards long before the become necessary for survival. 

    My next book (which I have, thankfully, already begun) is a book written by Robert L. O’Connel entitled The Ghosts of Cannae concerning Rome’s greatest defeat at the hands of the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca.  So far a quite interesting and informative read, even to someone such as myself who has read and studied a great deal on Rome.

    I have also begun reading the Koran and am still (marginally) studying Arabic (which is to say I am working hard to not forget that which I already know and slowly adding words at random.)

    I am, as always, open to comments and questions and look forward to our next textual encounter.

Carrying on...

    I've discovered a new way to manage money with Mint.Com.  It's free and put out by the same company that produces Quicken.  So far I like the site and the features as it allows you to bring all your financial information into one place - which is never a bad thing, having everything you need at your fingertips as it were.

    I've also reconnected with an "old friend."  Fareed Zakaria.  I have watched his show GPS (Global Public Square) on CNN many times but recently found an article he wrote that I found to be quite interesting and well thought out.  It brought home to me in no small way the idea that the American economy has changed not just for the moment but for good.  Business needs have shifted in this country and businesses are accomplishing the same results or better with less people.  An economic recovery will look very different today than it did twenty years ago and many of the jobs that have been lost will not be coming back.  It kind of puts the last three years of difficult job hunting into perspective.  The options then, it seems, are retrain for the new situation or flounder.  

    The situation reminds me very much of Ancient Greece.  Once a major power in the world by the time Rome came on the scene Greece was little more than a provincial outpost.  Of course the Greeks didn't see it that way.  But by that time the best the Greeks could hope for was to train (educate) the Roman elite and, perhaps, serve them in some way.  Which seems to be the road America is on - educating the world in their universities or serving (within a corporation) in China, the Arab world, India or other emerging economies.  I'd give it twenty years or so before people really start to see or feel it but that's my prediction given the current state of affairs and world history.  

    Still working on A History of the Arab Peoples.  I'm really taking my sweet time with this book, I know...  Some of the book is quite dense and there is a lot of information in it that I am unfamiliar with.  It is, in essence, a history of cultures and kingdoms with which I am unfamiliar.  I've studied Greece and (even more so) Rome from  as far back as I can recall.  Instances where Western and Eastern cultures interact are more familiar to me.  However, instances in history where East meets East to create a new East, not so much.  I have been quite fascinated by the sections on the Ottoman Empire and am almost saddened by the Western contribution to the Empire's downfall.  

    And the book makes me think quite a bit.  I like to think of myself as having a rather large vocabulary - but throughout my encounter with this work Hourani has used at least half a dozen words that I am unfamiliar with which promptly went into my "look this word up and get to know it" file.  And that is just the words in English.  The Arabic words are much more commonly unknown to me.  But this is all in the hopes of learning so I tend not to mind so much.

    Well, enough writing...  back to reading.  

The History of High Expectations

    Occasionally we, as optimistic animals, make choices that, at the time, seem quite reasonable yet in retrospect seem rather foolish.  I make decisions like this more often than most, I think.  Take yesterday, for instance, when I was accompanied by two of my favorite ladies to downtown Portland to delve into the local food cart cuisine that is so well known and appreciated here.  I opted for Thai food - Hot.  It sounded good at the time.
    Another thing that sounded good at the time (albeit and earlier and unrelated time): writing a blog focusing mainly on the books I was reading.  A blog a week.  A book a week.  Say cowboy, why not put the two together?   And so a blog was born. 
    But here I find myself a day late on my blog schedule and a book behind.  Not entirely behind, mind you, but only 180 pages in to a 458 page book. 
    How did I find myself here you might ask.  Procrastination, mainly.  Watching television, probably.  Doctor's appointments, DMV and the ancillary requirements of registering a vehicle in the state of Oregon, spending time with the aforementioned ladies in my life and various other little day to day existence details that sometimes get in the way of our personal goals. 
    Not that I mind.  I just know how much you've been looking forward to this installment of excess thought.  Pop corn popped, frosty beverage at your side, waiting patiently for the new blog to hit the net so you can read and feel fulfilled and educated.  And I so hate to disappoint.
    To wit, a brief discussion of the first 180 pages of A History of the Arab Peoples, by Albert Hourani -

This books begins before the time of Muhammad and explains in detail life from the edge of the Arab world butting up against India to North Africa and in Andalus in Southern Spain.  He details the different kingdoms and the changing political and religious climate leading to the Sunni / Shi'a "split" in the early history of Islam.  There is great depth here and I haven't the time or inclination to summarize.  However, I will quote a few lines that struck me:
Concerning intellectual curiosity in the early Islamic world "such as expressed in the words of al-Kindi (c. 801-66), the thinker with whom the history of Islamic philosophy  virtually begins:
     We should not be ashamed to acknowledge truth from whatever source it comes to us, even if it is brought to us by former generations and foreign peoples.  For him who seeks the truth there is nothing of higher value than truth itself."
     Al-Kindi is, without question, a man after my own heart.  That he comes both from a previous generation and a foreign people (as relates to me) perhaps speaks to his own understanding that his words may one day find fertile ground in a mind beyond his own time and culture, that he wrote not merely for those of his time and in his place but for all men (and women) of all times and places.
    I will continue with this book to the end at which point I will divulge my next book.  But I'll give you a small hint, it will also be a nonfiction tome of some import to someone, somewhere.  It will not be THIS book, though I will add that to my list at some point...  (gotta click on the link if you want to know what book!)
    Despite the beauty of being able to choose my own reading and go at my own pace I am considering applying to another degree program...  just considering it though.  More details will follow if the decision is made to pursue what is now only in the exploration phase.
     That's all there is, there isn't any more...
    Until next time...

...and how had I come here? And where had I been?

    I have just purchased my first CD.  No, not the round silvery disks embedded with digital music - the type offered by banks that allow you to save a certain amount of money over a given period of time.  The Certificate of Deposit type.  Its yet another step in my growth process that began several months ago while reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover.  In that time I've managed to pay off my car loan several months early as well as start cutting down on about $4,000 in past due bills.  Once that is gone I've got $30,000 in student loans and then I'm done - no more credit.  Ever.

    So, the CD is just a small way for me to "spend" money on something other than momentary pleasure or paying off a credit debt incurred because I bought something I obviously couldn't really afford.  Next up is opening an online stock account of some sort.  E-Trade is the big name out there, obviously (you've probably seen their talking baby comercial,) but my dad suggested TD Ameritrade and so I felt a bit torn.  Do I go with the talking baby, which obviously represents the ease and simplicity of investing with E-Trade or With Sam Waterston, the reliable and secure father figure from Law and Order?  But then there's Ing Direct, the holder of my 403(b) retirement account.  Arkadi Kuhlman, CEO of Savings, rides a motorcycle.  I ride a motorcycle.  And I already have a retirement account there.  So, like I said, I bought a CD.  I'll pick an online brokerage account later.

    This week I read Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe.  Being worlds different from any retelling of the story I've ever seen through visual media it was quite an interesting and eye opening read.  It is mainly a book of one man's ability to find God whilst living alone for over twenty years.  Although I think anyone would find someone to talk to in that amount of time, even a volleyball.  But it is also about Crusoe's inability to be happy with the life he has been born to; what his father describes in the opening of the book as being somewhere in the middle of poor and rich.  Not to poor to want for things to sustain him and not too rich to care what others think of him.  This, alas, is insufficient for the young Crusoe who desires a life on the sea - a step below or above his station.  A step down to be a seaman, a step up to be an officer.  This fact doesn't stop him from following his dream.  Even when nature, or God, intervenes to correct his desire to leave home and travel the world.

    Crusoe is blown about by the wind and tossed upon the sea, he sallies forth.  He is captured by pirates and made (though hidden in the thick language and only hinted at) into a sex slave.  Being rescued he builds a quite successful life but apparently being buggered by pirates is not enough to keep Crusoe on land and he ventures, once again, onto the merciless sea - soon landing on his very own island where he is doomed (or privileged) to stay for the next 28 years.   

    As said, he finds God.  He also shows what a good, solid, white man can do with raw nature when given, by divine providence, the proper tools with which to eek out an existence.  He "finds" savages, or their left behind traces.  Eventually finding and saving "Friday" his own personal savage (whom he later admits makes a far better Christian than he.)

"This frequently gave me occasion to observe, and that with wonder, that however it had pleased God, in His providence, and in the government of the works of His hand, to take from so great a part of the world of His creatures, the best uses to which their faculties and the powers of their souls are adapted; yet that He has bestowed upon them the same powers, the same reason, the same affections, the same sentiments of kindness and obligation, the same passions and resentments of wrongs, the same sense of gratitude, sincerity, fidelity, and all the capacities of doing good and receiving good, that He has given to us; and that when He pleases to offer to them occasions of exerting these, they are as ready, nay more ready to apply them to the right uses for which they were bestowed, than we are: and this made me very melancholly (sic) sometimes, in reflecting as the several occasions presented, how mean a use we make of all these, even though we have these powers enlightened by the great lamp of instruction, the spirit of God, and by the knowledge of His word, added to our understanding; and why it has pleased God to hide the like saving knowledge from so many millions of souls, who, if I might judge by this poor savage, would make a much better use of it than we did."

    Quite enlightened for 1719, if I do say.  It seems more like Defoe than Crusoe but then it is, at times, difficult for the writer to separate himself from the narrator.  At any rate, the book is quite interesting up to the point at which Crusoe, along with Friday, leave the island and return (for Crusoe) to England.  At this point the story looses cohesion and moves beyond the tale of a man adrift in the world (at sea as a castaway and within Crusoe's heart as a Christian) and moves into farce.  Specifically, on a journey from Lisbon to France during which Crusoe (now quite wealthy) and Friday (along with a party of travelers) encounter wolves and a bear.  The scene with the bear is exceptionally odd and out of place but, at least, somewhat within the realm of possible (though not probable) fiction.  The wolves, however, are deployed in a manner not befitting any author worth his salt - a wolf pack numbering 300 wolves (the largest recorded wolf pack being the Druid pack and numbering, at its height, 30 animals.)  Overall I was impressed with this book but could have used more substance near the end as was found throughout.

    My next read will return me to the nonfiction realm with the book A History of the Arab Peoples, by Albert Hourani.  Apparently I either am now or in the process of becoming quite the arm chair Arabist.  Perhaps I am simply fascinated by the butting up of cultures against one another and nowhere is this more evident than in the history of the West and the Middle East.  From Alexander the Great right up through Barack Obama and the current war in which West meets East on the battlefield of sand and religion.

    Until next time...

Allahu Akbar

Finished reading Inside the Kingdom by Robert Lacey.  Having read Lacey's previous work on Saudi Arabia, The Kingdom much of this book was a review and synopses of that work.  However, this book does cover the period after 1985 into the present and, as such, contains information on Osama Bin Laden and Al Queda including how the man and the organization he built grew from a very religious young man into the most famous terrorist of this generation.  This book, as his previous book on the Kingdom, gives a wonderful introduction to the Saudi Arabia and the particular brand of Islam practiced there - including the problems that arise from the Saudi system and how that effects the Islamic world and the Western world when that religion is confronted by forces and ideas outside the religion.  Anyone interested in Mideast studies, Islam or as general information as to what the US and it's allies are doing over in that part of the world right now should probably read this book.
    Reading this book, in light of the book on Scipio which I completed just prior, I find that my understanding of the war in general and our position there has been quite illuminated.  I wonder what, exactly, our end goal is in the Islamic world.  I understand the need to deny extremists the ability to wage a war of terror so the military objective is clear.  However, I'm not sure what the political agenda is.  Ideally it is to create and promote a better peace after the fact - but what does that peace look like?  To my mind it would be a stable Middle East, this would include an answer to the Palestinian question (i.e. creating a stable and functioning Palestine - as a country all its own.) as well as an answer to the Jewish question (i.e. having a stable and secure Israel that is accepted or, at the very least, amicably tolerated by it's Arab neighbors.)  In order to accomplish this it seems clear that Saudi Arabia needs to be quite involved in the process.
   For my next book I will be focusing on Daniel Defoe's famous work Robinson Crusoe.  As it clearly falls into the category of "classic" and as it is a book I have not yet read though I am quite familiar with the Hollywood interpretations of the story I'm quite excited about this next read.
    On another note I made it back to the gym today after about three weeks absence.  Quite good considering I'm paying for it and it would be quite a waste if I didn't utilize the opportunity to remain in some semblance of physical health.
    As for my publishing this particular missive a day late, I worked on my truck last night replacing the fuel pump and then went and saw a movie at the Laurelhurst which is an experience all it's own.  For both I owe a debt of gratitude to the Big Tiki for both his assistance and his company.
    Until next we meet, challenge yourself and live life to it's fullest.

Three categories of explosives

I've had a fairly productive week.  Perhaps too productive.  How can one be too productive you might ask.  Well, allow me to illuminate...

I finished reading "Scipio Africanus: Greater than Napolean" by B.H. Liddell Hart on Wednesday last.  280 pages in all of about 48 hours.  Thursday I began reading "Inside the Kingdom" by Robert Lacey.  Now, although I was, admittedly, excited at the speed with which I had ripped through the first book and moved on to the next, thus making my prospects of actually completing the Herculean task of reading a book a week for a year somewhere within the realm of possibility, I found that the further I got away from Scipio the less effect it had on me.  Books, by and large, effect me rather deeply.  I am usually changed in some small measure by each book that I read.  And although I truly enjoyed Scipio and felt a good deal of reflection coming on through the reading I find that by moving on to the next book so quickly that I have not been effected as deeply as I could have been with a bit more time to reflect on the deeper messages within.  That said, I will take the opportunity to reflect here.

I am a student of History.  Which is not to say, by any means, that I am a History student.  In other words, I try to "remember my history" but I am not devoted to history at the exclusion of other disciplines.  Liddell Hart at one point makes the argument that to be a true student of history one must, in fact, be a student of military history.  It is a point I would wholly agree with for it is in the conquests and squabbles of states that problems are worked out among nations.  And what is history if not human history?
Scipio led Rome's war against Carthage and, as such, against the quite famous Carthaginian general, Hannibal.  (Side note: Hannibal is a conjoining of two words "hanni" meaning "favored" and "Baal", the god.  Thus "favored of Baal."  Now most people remember Hannibal, or more literally, have heard of Hannibal as it is doubtful anyone is old enough to remember him.  But Scipio?  An obscure and unknown Roman general, of him few have heard.  As Liddell Hart points out in this book that is an historical wrong.  To quote"

"In assessing the world's great figures, other than the definitely religious, we have tended to base our estimate mainly on concrete achievement and mental calibre, overlooking the moral values - the same lack of balance between the three spheres which has been remarked in the conduct of policy in peace and war.  Even this test of achievement has been based on quantity rather than quality.  That Caesar's (speaking of Gaius Jullius Caesar - first emperor of Rome) work is known universally, and Scipio little more than a name to the ordinary educated man, is a curious reflection on our historical standards, for the one inaugurated the world dominion of civilization, the other paved the way for its decay."

Liddell Hart's book not only gives blow by blow of each battle (as any good book analyzing military tactics and strategy would) he also delves deeper into the man himself and his uncanny ability to understand human nature and, through this, the true nature of war.  War as a means to a more perfect peace.  Upon conquering Carthage he left the Carthaginians with self respect - something the West failed to do with German at the Versailles treaty at the end of World War I.  And something we are again failing to do in the current war in the Middle East.  But I digress.

This week has been productive in other areas as well.  I have eaten much good food, discovering three new restaurants.  Well, two new restaurants and a tea room.  I also had the privilege of seeing a production of "Dead Man's Cell Phone" by Sarah Ruhl at Theatre Vertigo.  I had thought to review the play here (as the reviewer obviously has little experience of theatre or the art of reviewing) but I will refrain and say only that on the whole I enjoyed the production and would recommend that people see the show and support local theatre.  I had my personal issues with the show but the crowd, in general, seemed not to notice and, ultimately, that is what theatre is about.  I, however, reserve the option to review the show in the future should the mood strike me.

And that, for me, is all for this week - books, food and theatre.  What more does one need for a little explosion in the soul?  Perhaps someone to share those experiences with - and for that I have you.