The Core Dump

Bill Bryson’s Made in America is a romp through both American history and the words added to the English language by American culture and society.

Bryson’s style is conversational and light, making the book feel like a series of great lectures by a fantastic college professor, or as if the guy sitting on the bar stool next to yours actually was funny and erudite.

Made in America is full of great little nuggets about words, expressions, and different eras in American history.

A great read.

What the Dormouse Said is the story of the very early days of the computer revolution, and of how the zeitgeist of California in the sixties affected the direction taken by early computing. While there’s been much written about the personal computer industry of the seventies and eighties, the late fifties and early sixties haven’t received all that much attention despite the groundbreaking work done during that era.

John Markoff has done a fantastic research job for What the Dormouse Said, and as usual writes with economy and grace. The problem with What the Dormouse Said is that Markoff covers too much ground—there are so many characters and so many threads in the book that it becomes overwhelming and difficult to follow.

That being said, it’s still very much worth reading if you’re interested in the history of computing.

Whenever you’re talking to a Swedish person and they start getting all uppity about how Sweden is all about peace and love and big hugs, you may want to point them to this article. (If you happen to be in front of a computer right at that moment, of course.)

Here’s the lede:

Sweden helped the Nazis stop Germans and Jews marrying and suppressed criticism of Hitler and reports of atrocities, says new research suggesting neutral Sweden accommodated the Nazis more than previously thought.

There’s an old bitter joke that goes:

The Nazis invaded Denmark in two weeks, Norway overnight, and Sweden by phone.

Sure, every country—every country—has appalling nastiness in its history, but the things that Sweden did a nudge, nudge, wink, wink over during the Nazi era and then has completely tried to sweep under the table and deny is galling.

The history I was taught in school growing up in Sweden most certainly did not include any mention whatsoever of collaboration with the Nazis … I wonder if the current curriculum does?

Note the frightening last paragraph of the article:

But a recent study by the Living History Forum shocked Jews in Sweden by suggesting that one in 20 Swedes still has strong anti-Semitic views and over a third were “ambivalent” towards Jews.

All I’m saying is, we can and should do a whole lot better.

Soundtrack: “Eple” by Röyksopp

In Casar’s Legion: The Epic Saga of Julius Caesar’s Elite Tenth Legion and the Armies of Rome, Stephen Dando-Collins has created a comprehensive history of the famed Legio X, known as the Roman Empire’s finest fighting unit.

The book covers the legion from the time it was raised by Julius Caesar in Spain until its end in Syria centuries later, interweaving the broad scope of the historical events in which the legion played a part and gritty details of military organization, tactics, and weaponry.

Dando-Collins is at his best when sticking to the known details of the daily life of the men and the battles and maneuvers in which Legia X took part, but stumbles a little bit narratively when covering the political shenanigans that tore the Roman Empire apart—unless the reader is already intimately familiar with the naked power grabs of succeeding emperors and emperors-to-be, things become a bit blurry.

Added to the sometimes slightly out-of-focus feel is that naturally when discussing events that transpired over two millennia ago, a lot of detail has been lost through the ages, and a fair amount of interpretation is needed.

Nevertheless, Dando-Collins writes in a breezy, easy-to-read style, and the human drama of Legio X is well-presented.

Recommended both for military history buffs and people interested in the Roman Empire.

Related Core Dump reviews:

Gates of Fire
Tides of War

Spent some time visiting family in a small town called Vänersborg during the visit to Sweden. While there, found a book of pictures from the city taken during the 50s.

Turns out there used to be a hot dog stand located on the street right in between the city’s hospital and graveyard—or, as the locals liked to say, between Suffering and Death.

Max Hastings’s Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945 is a sprawling and inclusive depiction of the last year of the Third Reich. The book looks at this time from the points of view of both the Allies and Germans, and separates itself from most World War II literature by spending much time on the fate of civilians touched by the conflict, covering the tragedies suffered by Dutch, Polish, Russian, Hungarian, and German civilians as the maelstrom of war pulled them down.

Hastings very effectively uses letters and interviews with soldiers and civilians to great emotional effect and to illustrate larger points about the war.

Apart from the moving testimony of civilians and front line soldiers, Armageddon looks at the larger military and political issues and the personality conflicts inside Allied command.

Unusually for a book about World War II, the history of the brutal battles of the Eastern Front is covered partially from a Russian point of view, illuminating the terrible circumstances, both military and political, under which the Red Army fought.

By not cowering from fanaticism, blunders, horrific mistakes, and incompetence, as well as courage, heroism, and endurance, Armageddon paints a vivid and sometimes breathtaking portrait of a dark and horrific year.

If you are at all interested in World War II, Armageddon belongs on your must-read list.

Steven Pressfield follows up the highly successful Gates of Fire (my review here) with Tides of War, a novel of the Peloponnesian War focusing on the larger-than-life Athenian leader Alcibiades and told mostly from the point of view of Polymides, an Athenian soldier and mercenary.

Like Gates of Fire, Tides of War features immense and well-written battle sequences and strong attention to detail. The historical accuracy regarding this bloody and horrific time period is also quite impressive.

Nevertheless, it is a bit of a slog to get through—it’s worth it to persevere, but some resolve is required. This is due to several things, one being the characters themselves: None of the main characters are likable. Interesting, sure, but not likable. Also, the Peloponnesian War was not a good time by anybody’s standards, and it gets a bit depressing to read about the relentless atrocities and misfortunes befalling pretty much everybody involved.

The biggest problem, though, is that the tale is told by several different characters, which makes things a bit choppy and disjointed without really adding anything to the story as all the voices sound the same, while the switches disrupt the flow of the story.

Tides of War is definitely worth reading if you’re interested in Classical Greece or enjoy large stories of human folly and heroism. Just be prepared to put some work into it.

Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by,
that here obedient to their laws we lie.

This is the inscription on a stone at Thermopylae in Greece where 300 Spartans and their allies fought a hopeless battle with an entire invading Persian army.

Stephen Pressfield’s Gates of Fire tells the fictional account of one member of the Spartan force, Xeones, who survives the dreadful wounds he has acquired during the battle and tells his story to the Persian Emperor Xerxes. The novel paints an almost painfully vivid picture of Greece around 480 B.C, and of Spartan society’s relentless focus on war and ensuring that its citizens were the best warriors in the world.

Pressfield does an astonishing job of creating believable characters the reader cares about and in keeping his account as historically accurate as possible.

Gates of Fire is, to use the cliché, impossible to put down. Highly, highly recommended.

Just finished watching Downfall, a German movie about the final 10 days of the Third Reich. It’s an extremely powerful movie, showing the monstrosity and evil of the Nazis, as well as the humanity.

Wikipedia, as usual, has a good article about the movie.

Highly recommended.

When it comes to laughing in the face of death, few can beat the ancient Greeks.

The following quote is from Herodotus, relaying the history of the battle of Thermopylae, one of the grimmest military defeats in history:

Although extraordinary valor was displayed by the entire corps of Spartans and Thespaians, yet bravest of all was declared the Spartan Dienekes. It is said that on the eve of battle, he was told by a native of Trachis that the Persian archers were so numerous that, when they fired their volleys, the mass of arrows blocked out the sun. Dienekes, however, undaunted by this prospect, remarked with a laugh, “Good. Then we’ll have our battle in the shade.”

Soundtrack: “Diesel Power” by Prodigy