Posted on 12/11/2012 12:40:02 PM PST by Genflag
“Plumbing??”
Sure...learning that is like getting a raise of several thousand dollars per year (same with electrical, AC, and auto repair). There’s a reason I live in a (big) house that I’m about to pay off, along with cars that I bought with cash. The reason being that I NEVER have to pay THE MAN to work on my house and only on very rare occasions do I pay THE MAN to work on my cars (and that’s typically tire changeouts and wheel alignments).
“That’s actually a decent idea, who knows when I’ll have to build a house and have to devise a plumbing system for sanitation when this country comes tumbling down from it’s own stupidity.”
So true - the BIGGEST, I believe, cause of early death in the history of recorded civilization is the lack of sanitary plumbing. It is REALLY good to fully understand the concepts, so that one can fully understand the threat to health, as these systems break down, which they will.
Nice try, but I still wouldn’t hire her. I’ll do my own repairs, but thank you anyway.
Nonfiction - Thomas Sowell. Don’t know if his books are on tape. : ( He’s one of my favorites for explaining liberal racism and it’s doctrines of lies.
The premise is that two great space-faring societies meet each other for the first time, but instead of peaceful first contact, it ends up being a massacre. Only, the survivors on both sides each witnessed the other side firing first . . .
I'll leave the rest for you to find out :)
Fiction but excellent reading are all of Bryce Courtney’s books on Audible.com. I think there are 16 and I’m currently in awe of his imagination. He was a white guy born in South Africa and immigrated to Australia. The adventures range from South Africa, Malasia, Australia, Java, Singapore and like that. I believe Power of One is his best known book. Plenty of historical info about WW2 from an Australian perspective, which is interesting to me.
It was just announced on Audible that he has recently passed so I’m sorry to say that 16 is all we will get.
classics can be found at Librivox.org.
Lots of lectures at Yale worth listening to. Other colleges have lectures, and some libraries and places like the Virginia historical society have talks you can download. You google a subject you are interested in, and put “podcast” or Mp3 next to it and voila, there you are.
And if you can afford it, try the Teaching company (can’t remember their new name) or borrow it at your local library.
Sometimes the local library has audiobooks to loan. Old people often ask for them because reading is hard on the eyes.
And check out iTunes of course. And some books are read on Youtube. PhilStuff of Doom is working his way through Lord of the Rings, and is the best audio version I have ever heard (even better than the BBC version, which I own)...
Make some time to read:
“The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William Shirer
“The Three Faces of Fascism” by Ernst Nolte
“Arms of Krupp” by William Manchester
There is lots more but I got the impression that I learned more about modern history and politics reading these AFTER college than I learned IN college.
The hard facts and social/political realities of the period are spelled out more clearly in these books than in any course I took in college. Also, THESE authors are stand-out writers with superior academic credentials who were not biased or manipulating the facts.
Try to stay away from authors who use their status to grind their OWN political ax and doing it at the expense of logic and facts.
Pay me now or Pay me later. :)
1962 - Thomas Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolution
One ook that had a MJOR impact not only on the sciences, but on our culture as well
And most people have never heard of it.
If you like Guns, Germs, and Steel - try Diamond’ next book - Collapse - Why civilizations fail
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