5/31/2023 0 Comments Vimy by Pierre Berton![]() ![]() Almost thirty years later, the RCMP is still scandalizing us with their behaviour but we’re as happy as ever to take no action. “…why did we let the Mounties get away with all those crimes?” he asks, referring to a scandal of the day. ![]() For a book written in 1982 (the first letter is dated April 17, the day the Constitution Act was signed), it’s amazing how much of what he says still resonates. The book takes the form of letters written to Sam, an American friend with little knowledge of his northern neighbour. Now apparently out of print, it’s an eloquent and surprisingly undated analysis of those myths and experiences that shaped the national character. In most of his books, Berton examines what it means to be Canadian and where that sense of national pride originates but, to my knowledge, Why We Act Like Canadians is the only volume entirely devoted to this study. Indeed, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a home library in Canada that doesn’t have at least one of his history books, usually The Last Spike (personally, I’m partial to Vimy and Marching As to War). ![]() ![]() When I started this blog in January, the first book I reviewed was Canadians by Roy MacGregor, noting that “I have a particular weakness for navel-gazing books about Canada and the elusive Canadian identity.” While MacGregor wrote eloquently on the topic, there is no author who has done more to articulate the Canadian experience than Pierre Berton. ![]()
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5/31/2023 0 Comments Got fight by forrest griffin![]() Never been attacked by a sword? You need this book worse that we thought.Still not convinced? Don't worry. You will learn the essential tactics of hand-to-hand combat as well as how to defend yourself in the event of a sword attack. You will learn about the mental defects that made Forrest Griffin into the abomination he is today and how you can use your shortcomings to become equally horrible. This is a manifesto more strategic than Sun Tzu's The Art of War, more philosophical than Bruce Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do, more powerful than a well-lubricated locomotive.In these pages you will learn about true mental toughness-whether it's scraping it out in the Octagon or picking up chicks. If you're a hillbilly like Forrest and you get off on having your face rearranged, Got Fight? is for you. He's a fighter, and this book was written for his kin. Why? Because he is nothing special, just like you.Forrest is not a martial artist. But you can actually aspire to be as good as Forrest one day. ![]() Those other fighters are pretty much better than you in every way. ![]() Wondering why you should purchase this book when there are other titles on the shelves written by much higher-caliber fighters? Well, Forrest Griffin is not as good-looking as those guys. ![]() ![]() “The rise of stress, burnout and anxiety is one of the most urgent issues of our time. “Writing (and drawing) with their signature insight and humor, Liz and Mollie dispense the wisdom and compassion we all need for working through our most difficult emotions.” - Susan Cain, author of BITTERSWEET: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole Filled with vulnerability, humor, and hard-won insights, it offers concrete tools to help us move through difficult emotions." - Lori Gottlieb, New York Times Bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk To Someone and co-host of the "Dear Therapists" podcast " Big Feelings is a work of tremendous heart. ![]() Liz and Mollie do an outstanding job bringing your fuzziest feelings into sharp focus.” - Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife ![]() This book will restore your sense of control-and make you feel less alone in the world. ![]() “Over the past few years, our emotions have often gotten the better of us. ![]() ![]() ![]() It was Benneit’s turn to grunt as he dragged off his nightshirt and went to the basin. ‘You can sleep when you’re dead, Your Grace.’ What the devil is wrong with that woman?’Īngus’s scarred face twisted into a momentary and awful grin. ‘Nine? Nine? I’ve barely slept three hours. She shall have to accept me in all my glory. It was more a suggestion than a question and, instinctively, Benneit dragged his hand over his jaw, wincing at the rasp. ‘Over my dead, drawn, quartered and pickled body.’Īngus grunted. Benneit shoved his head into his pillow.īenneit tossed the covers aside and scraped himself off the bed. With his scarred face he looked like one of the gargoyles carved on to the embattlements at Lochmore Castle come to perch by Benneit’s bed to remind him of his duty. ![]() ![]() ‘Aye,’ Angus replied and positioned himself at the bottom of the bed. Benneit didn’t know what was worse-those words or the explosion of light that struck him as Angus hauled back the curtains. ![]() 5/31/2023 0 Comments Ideas a history peter watson![]() ![]() (Watson goes as far as labeling the scientific method ""the purest form of democracy there is."") Whereas the non-Western world once dominated intellectual spheres (The author notes that the Hindu mathematician Aryabhata calculated the value of pi and the solar year's length, determined that the earth revolved around the sun and discovered the cause of eclipses nearly a thousand years before Copernicus), Watson points to a grand-and specific-shift that changed that dynamic: ""The eleventh and twelfth centuries were a hinge period, when the great European acceleration began. The author asks the reader to approach his history ""as an alternative to more conventional history-as history with the kings and emperors and dynasties and generals left out,"" and assumes ""readers will know the bare bones of historical chronology."" Central to Watson's approach is his belief that the scientific experiment, as it took root in medieval Europe, forever changed history's intellectual landscape. Watson presents a vast amount of information, but his greatest strength lies in his ability to make an immensely varied body of material coherent and digestible. ![]() Watson's (The Modern Mind) hefty tome distills history's greatest ideas and inventions into an impressive discourse on history's driving forces, enlivened by anecdotes and made approachable by Watson's casual, nearly conspiratorial, tone. ![]() |