Reading - MAR > DEC 2020

Kept up with tracking, but not publishing out into the ether, what I've read this year. Last time was in February, apparently. Wild ride in 2020, many distractions. Not to mention moving back overseas and related complications. Regardless, something like a book a week, give or take. On average. Plus comics. And OCD surfing of the internets. Lot of fiction this year, apparently. Coping mechanism for the stresses of the 'real' world? Possibly. Reread a bunch of Crichton this summer. Reminded me of my dad, who I got the 'reading habit' from - and who got it from his mom - and who used to read all the Crichton, Clancy and Griffin he could get his hands on. A handful of biographies, some financial literacy, some positive psych. We'll see if in 2021 I can post up more often, maybe monthly. Onwards.

Gladiator by Philip Wylie

Anno Dracula by Kim Newman

Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman

Anno Dracula: Dracula Cha Cha Cha by Kim Newman

Helltown by Dennis O'Neil

Richard Dragon: Dragon's Fists by Jim Dennis (Dennis O'Neil and James R. Berry) 

Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

The Stranger by Harlan Corben

Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard by Kim Newman

Peace Talks (Dresden Files Book 16) by Jim Butcher

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks  

Rising Sun by Michael Crichton

The Greatest Miracle in the World by Og Mandino

Travels by Michael Crichton

Congo by Michael Crichton

Timeline by Michael Crichton

A Newcomer's Guide to the Afterlife: On the Other Side Known Commonly as The Little Book by Daniel Quinn and Tom Whalen

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

The Mystery of the Iron Samson: The Life and Training of Strongman Alexander Zass by Yuri Shapshnikoff (Author), A. Drapkin (Author), Logan Christopher (Editor), Professor "Stone" Paul (Translator)

A Feast Unknown (Secrets of the Nine #1 - Wold Newton Parallel Universe) Book 1 of 3: Secrets of the Nine by Philip Jose Farmer 

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

Resurrected Destiny (The Last Witness Book 1) by Gerald Welch

Ballistic Kiss: A Sandman Slim Novel by Richard Kadrey

Playing with FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early): How Far Would You Go for Financial Freedom by Scott Riecken

The Holy by Daniel Quinn

Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined by Drew Carey 

Battle Ground: The Dresden Files 17 by Jim Butcher 

8 Mins: An Anthology of the Last Eight Minutes of Earth by Victor Dandridge 

After Dachau by Daniel Quinn

The Sentinel: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child & Andrew Child 

Levon's Home by Chuck Dixon

Art in the Blood (A Sherlock Holmes Adventure, Book 1) by Bonnie MacBird 

Unquiet Spirits: Whisky, Ghosts, Murder (A Sherlock Holmes Adventure, Book 2) by Bonnie MacBird

Uncaged: My Life as a Champion MMA Fighter by Frank Shamrock 

Shamrock: The World's Most Dangerous Man by Jonathan Snowden 

The Devil’s Due (A Sherlock Holmes Adventure, Book 3) by Bonnie MacBird

The Size of Your Dreams: A Novel that Transforms Lives by Dave Mason and Chana Mason

The Cash Machine: A Tale of Passion, Persistence, and Financial Independence by Dave Mason and Chana Mason

The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 by Lionel Shriver 

The Motion of the Body Through Space by Lionel Shriver

--

The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 1 & 2 by Kousuke Oono

Savage Wolverine Vol. 1: Kill Island by Frank Cho

Second Coming: Volume One by Mark Russell, Richard Pace, Leonard Kirk, Andy Troy

Skybourne by Frank Cho, Marcio Menyz

Black Hammer Volume 4: Age of Doom Part Two by Jeff Lemire, Dean Ormston, Dave Stewart

Green Arrow: War of the Clans by Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino

Secret Volume by Jonathan Hickman, Ryan Bodenheim, Michael Garland 

Punisher: Soviet by Garth Ennis, Jacen Burrows, Paolo Rivera

Wonder Twins Vol. 1: Activate! by Mark Russell , Stephen Byrne 

Captain America: White by Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale 

Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1 (of 6): Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley & Nathan Fairbairn 

The Complete Jon Sable Freelance Volume 1 by Mike Grell

Absolute Planetary V1 by Warren Ellis & John Cassaday

Green Lantern: Legacy by Minh Le & Andie Tong

Doomsday Clock: The Complete Collection Paperback by Geoff Johns & Gary Frank 

Jacked by Eric Kripke & John Higgins 

Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale by Zack Whedon, Joss Whedon, Chris Samnee 

Batman: Three Jokers by Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok 

"Have you a plan?"

"It's about the questions, not the answers."

"Hey Kids!! Comics!"

One Universe Remains when "Convergence" Concludes in DC Comics' May 2015 Solicitations - Comic Book Resources:

 

 

"Convergence" Merges the Multiverse in DC Comics' April Solicitations - Comic Book Resources:

Today's Internets - First the olinguito, then Bigfoot.

You watch.

BBC News - Olinguito: 'Overlooked' mammal carnivore is major discovery: 

"Scientists in the US have discovered a new animal living in the cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador. It has been named olinguito and is the first new species of carnivore to be identified in the Western hemisphere in 35 years. It has taken more than a decade to identify the mammal, a discovery that scientists say is incredibly rare in the 21st Century. The credit goes to a team from the Smithsonian Institution."

Well, that ends that "controversy" then.  

  

Of course.  The flaw in any system is people.  That's why any intelligent system needs to be designed to err on the side of limited instead of expansive power - LOVEINT: NSA spooks illegally stalking their romantic interests - Boing Boing: 

"LOVEINT is the NSA practice of stalking people you are romantically interested in, using the enormous, illegal spy apparatus that captures huge amounts of Americans' (and foreigners') Internet traffic. It is so widespread that it has its own slangy spook-name. The NSA says it fires the people it catches doing it (though apparently it doesn't prosecute them for their crimes), but given that the NSA missed Snowden's ambitious leak-gathering activity, it seems likely that they've also missed some creepy stalkers in their midst. Unless, of course, you believe that being a creepy stalker is incompatible with wanting to be a lawless spy."

APE IN A CAPE:

 "“You’d think the US government had bigger priorities than treating honors students like criminals, yet here we are” "

TeachThemHowToThink • : 
“Children don’t need to be sent every Sunday to Gravity School, because they experience gravity directly in their everyday lives. Beliefs that are true rarely need reinforcement, which is why after we use marbles to figure out the times table, we accept it and do not need to keep retesting it or reinforcing it. Beliefs that are false have a way of wearing out, drying up and blowing away, which is why we constantly need to reinforce them, usually through social chanting, singing or other kinds of mind deadening repetition.”

Know your history.  Of the Zen Objectivist Conspiracy Theorist Ambiguous Anti-Hero.  No wonder he's my favorite character.  The Dennis O'Neil series of the late 80s was fundamental in my own intellectual and psychological development.  Obvious, with hindsight.  [Though I don't get at all what they're doing with him in the New 52.]

Of course - Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran - By Shane Harris and Matthew M. Aid | Foreign Policy:

 "The U.S. government may be considering military action in response to chemical strikes near Damascus. But a generation ago, America's military and intelligence communities knew about and did nothing to stop a series of nerve gas attacks far more devastating than anything Syria has seen, Foreign Policy has learned.

In 1988, during the waning days of Iraq's war with Iran, the United States learned through satellite imagery that Iran was about to gain a major strategic advantage by exploiting a hole in Iraqi defenses. U.S. intelligence officials conveyed the location of the Iranian troops to Iraq, fully aware that Hussein's military would attack with chemical weapons, including sarin, a lethal nerve agent.

U.S. officials have long denied acquiescing to Iraqi chemical attacks, insisting that Hussein's government never announced he was going to use the weapons. But retired Air Force Col. Rick Francona, who was a military attaché in Baghdad during the 1988 strikes, paints a different picture. "The Iraqis never told us that they intended to use nerve gas. They didn't have to. We already knew," he told Foreign Policy. According to recently declassified CIA documents and interviews with former intelligence officials like Francona, the U.S. had firm evidence of Iraqi chemical attacks beginning in 1983."

Today's Internets.