Happy Halloween! If you have a SPOOKY evening planned... Have FUN.

Just Finished Reading: Hard Travel to Sacred Places by Rudolph Wurlitzer (FP: 1994) [161pp] 

The trip was, partially at least, planned. His wife had been contracted to photograph various sacred sites across Asia, and the author had some meetings planned with film makers to rough out some movie scripts. But a big part of the reason for the trip was to help ‘come to terms’ with the recent death of his wife’s son who, at age 21, had died in a car crash. 

The couple travelled to Thailand, Burma and Cambodia by plane, train and a variety of automobiles (and boats). During the several weeks of the journey they suffered through intense heat, power cuts, the threat of gunfire, illness, lack of running water or phone service, and of course waves of crushing grief. Needless to say, this was not a vacation full of rainbows and unicorns. But it did have its compensations – the scenery was often amazing, and the sacred sites themselves seemed otherworldly (which, in a way, they were). Plus, the people they met, both arranged and otherwise, added an extra dimension as local experts and Buddhist monks discussed the history of temple complexes and the varying philosophies behind their builders.  

I picked up this slim volume decades ago in (I think) a local Book Barn simply because it caught my eye in passing. I was probably routing around in the Religion/Eastern Philosophy section I was interested in at that time and thought it would be worth a read. It was. Rather sombre at times, as you might imagine, it is often beautifully written (he was the scriptwriter for Little Buddha directed by Bernardo Bertolucci in 1993) and filled with imagery which will stay with you for quite a while. The author has been doing his level best to practice (and investigate) various shades of Buddhism over the decades so has some interesting insights into life (and, naturally given the circumstances, death) which are thought provoking. A sometimes strange read, but an interesting one. Reasonable.    

I'm guessing its either fake or they got sued.... HARD! 

Just Finished Reading: Red Moon Rising – Sputnik and the Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age by Matthew Brzezinski (FP: 2007) [278pp] 

I have long thought that the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik (which just means satellite in Russian) was a carefully planned event to both embarrass the United States and prove that the Soviet Union was light-years ahead in an emerging technology. There is some truth to that but, as I learnt in this fascinating book, there was much, much more going on here. 

After the war in Europe came to an end in 1945 both the Soviets and the West (both the Brits and the Americans) grabbed as many German scientists & technicians as possible to speed up their own missile programmes. Oddly both sides of the Iron Curtain failed to invest either the time or the money to make this a quick reality. The US was more interested in the closing the non-existent ‘bomber gap’ and the Soviets just didn’t have the resources to maintain their enormous military, race ahead with nuclear weapon development AND build a functioning rocket force. With knowledge of the ever-expanding US bomber force in the shape of the SAC (Strategic Air Command) the Russians knew that it would be impossible to out-build them for decades. Their embryonic rockets however where barely functional and would crash or blow up just as often as they would fly a few hundred miles down range (the American’s were having similar issues some of which were VERY public). It was Khruschev who decided, much to the annoyance and protests of his generals, that the ONLY way that the Soviets could possibly compete was better and, more importantly, bigger rockets. The pressure was on to build a rocket big enough and reliable enough to launch the (comparatively) huge nuclear weapons at intercontinental distances.  

After much work and MANY failures, the Russians finally managed to launch two consecutive missiles that landed roughly where they were aimed. But there was a problem – the heatshield responsible for protecting the warhead on re-entry repeatedly failed to work. The missile was essentially useless. But what if, the Chief Engineer mused, the ‘warhead’ didn’t need to come back down? This is the idea he sold to Khruschev – show the Americans what they COULD do without actually having the ability to DO it. On October 4th 1957 they did exactly that and the Space Age blazed a trail across the night sky. 

This was, to be honest, a fascinating and gripping read of the early Cold War. I did have SOME idea of the story going in but had no idea that the circumstances on both sides of the Iron Curtain were so complicated and so messy – almost random in nature. The political situations in both the Soviet and American establishments came as something of a shock to me as I had imagined that both sides had at least SOME stability and plan for forging ahead (with their technology or economy). The in-fighting – often quite vicious – on BOTH sides was quite the revelation. But I think the thing that really stuck out for me was the historical context. What I wasn’t aware of – or at least hadn’t made the connection – was the fact that during this time we had the Suez Crisis where France, Britain and Israel tried to take control of the Suez Canal from Egypt MUCH to the annoyance of the US, we had the Hungarian Uprising and the subsequent violent suppression by Soviet tanks (it was only reading this book where I realised that the political upheavals of the time inside the Soviet Union where related to Khruschev’s “Secret Speech” where he denounced Stalin much to the shock of just about everyone else), and in the US we had the fallout of Brown Vs The Board of Education and the military enforcing desegregation – much to the political capital of the Soviets. It was a BUSY time! 

I’m not going to go through everything here, but needless to say I found it both very interesting indeed and highly educational. Split roughly 50-50 between the Soviets and the US this really embedded the very early Space Race in its historical and political context. It also opened several new lines of enquiry that I’ll be following up – eventually! Definitely recommended for anyone interested in the Cold War, space technology, the 1950’s or just looking for a damned good read. Another highlight of the year.  

"We have become a culture of amateur curators, where everyone is able to build meaning by buying and organizing someone else's trash."

Darren Wershler-Henry, The Iron Whim, 2005.

I had a STRONG feeling like that which lasted WEEKS. I was more than half convinced that I hadn't been attending a course *somewhere* so would either fail the exam or (more likely) not even show up for it. I was SO relieved that I never received a letter saying that I'd failed through poor attendance!

Happy Birthday: Jon Anderson (born John Roy Anderson, 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician who co-founded the progressive rock band Yes with bassist Chris Squire in 1968 and rose to prominence as their lead vocalist. The band pioneered progressive rock in the 1970s, particularly with their critically-acclaimed albums The Yes Album, Fragile (both 1971) and Close to the Edge (1972) which display Anderson's role in crafting the group's sound as one of the main songwriters and lyricists. Known for his countertenor vocal style, Anderson was a member of Yes across three tenures until 2004.

Born and raised in Accrington in northern England, Anderson gave up manual labour in the early 1960s in favour of singing in The Warriors with his brother. He moved to London and after several unsuccessful singles as a solo artist, co-formed Yes with Squire. Anderson left the band in 1980 due to growing internal friction and continued his solo career, which he had started in 1976 with his debut album, Olias of Sunhillow. He went on to collaborate with other musicians, including Greek keyboardist and composer Vangelis as Jon and Vangelis, Roine Stolt as Anderson/Stolt, Jean-Luc Ponty as the Anderson Ponty Band, and The Band Geeks as Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks, with whom he has toured repeatedly and released two albums in recent years. He has appeared on albums by King Crimson, Toto, Lawrence Gowan, Tangerine Dream, Iron Butterfly, Milton Nascimento, Battles, Mike Oldfield and Kitaro. Anderson was a member of the offshoot Yes groups Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe and Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman.

In 2009, Anderson acquired American citizenship. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Yes.

[LOVED his voice and have several of his CDs.... I was a BIG Prog-Rock fan growing up. It was, quite possibly, my first music love - until I completely fell in love with 80's music in many of its forms.]

Just Finished Reading: The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue (FP: 2020) [291pp] 

Dublin, 1918. Nurse Julia Power has other things on her mind than turning 30 soon. With growing staff shortages due to the Flu, she has been put in charge of the small maternity ward (6 beds in a crowded room) for mothers suffering through fever on top of everything else. Despite not being full nurse Power is on her own until young volunteer Bridie Sweeny is assigned to her. Completed untrained and barely educated, Bridie is more than nurse Power could have possibly hoped for. A quick learner with a natural bedside manner she is a veritable godsend. But trained and experienced as she is nurse Power cannot make decisions about medication – what little they have after almost 5 years of war – or much else besides. What she needs is a doctor, preferably one trained in maternity. The rumour circulating is that a new doctor is about to arrive to fill one of the posts vacated by a sick surgeon. The rumours say that this doctor is not only a woman but one with a political past who the authorities would very much like to speak to. The rumours say that she aided the rebels during the Easter Rising and was only not executed because of her sex. Not that nurse Power cares about any of that. The only thing on her mind is the health of the mothers under her charge and the delivery of new life into a very troubled world. 

I picked this up primarily because it was a fictional account of the Spanish Flu. The location of Dublin, especially not too long after the 1916 Easter Rising, no doubt added to my interest – although I wasn’t aware just how much this event impacted on the story when I chose to bring this home. The feel of a city at wartime – despite being FAR from any front or fighting – is palpable as is the obvious rubble still not cleared from 1916. I can only guess that the evidence of a failed rebellion was left in place, at least in part, as a reminder to any future rebels what happens when you go up against the British Empire in a time of war.  

The majority of the novel takes place over a period of 3-4 days and in the ‘ward’ of 6 beds. It honestly had a feel of a stage play with characters coming in and leaving off-stage to complete tasks only to return when the story demanded their presence. Most of the focus was on Julia Power as she narrated the story and interacted with the two other main players – Bridie and the doctor Kathleen Lynn (who was a real historical person – more later!). The secondary characters were the mothers awaiting their births who passed through the maternity ward throughout the book. While not exactly cyphers they’re not as deeply rendered as the main characters but are still individuals with enough depth to feel sympathy and understanding for. Although Julia Power is front and centre in the plot and is a great character in her own right, my favourite was Bridie Sweeny, and I honestly fell in love with her. Orphaned from an early age and largely uneducated she had survived her brutal upbringing with her native intelligence and ‘soul’ fully intact.  

Now the warnings: Being the time, the place and the particular circumstances of the story you need to be aware that people are going to die and that there will be a not inconsiderable amount of pain and blood displayed from time to time. Although no doubt toned down quite a bit this is not a book for the squeamish! But if you can read about (and imagine!) or have experienced birth and its dangers without feeling faint or sick you should be OK. Finally, if you’re like me and form emotional bonds to characters in a book you’re going to need a few tissues handy at the end. I’m still getting over it... One of the best reads of the year. Definitely recommended with the above warnings! 

Just Finished Reading: Brolliology – A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature by Marion Rankine (2017) [157pp] 

I have LONG maintained that anyone born in this country should, as part of their birth heritage, have a lifetime access to two things – a pair of Wellington boots (wellies) and an Umbrella (brolly). Personally, I gave up on brollies some years ago having finally lost yet another one by either leaving it on a bus or tube train or having a gust of wind blow it out of my hand or inside out completely destroying its delicate structure. 

Despite the fact that they seem to be archetypically British, the brolly is nothing of the sort. I was indeed surprised to learn that their first outing on our streets resulted in both anger and hoots of derision when first sported by Jonas Hanway in 18th century London. I knew that they had been around for a LONG time but I had no idea that they’d been around for much longer that I suspected or that their geographical reach was SO wide. Umbrellas, used mostly as parasols rather than rain-shields, have been in existence since civilisation itself from Egypt and the greater Middle East to South-East Asia, China, Japan and elsewhere. They were, by and large, marks of status and you could clearly identify the owners rank from the style, manufacture and even colour of the brolly. Indeed, some classes were effectively banned from using them.  

A particularly interesting aspect of this honestly delightful book was the authors focus on the iconography of the umbrella in literature – both Western and Oriental. Not only was the umbrella a potent symbol in some works but has been a central plot point in others. The act of losing, finding or searching for a lost umbrella crops up in a surprising number of novels (some of which I’ll definitely be hunting down). Sheltering under the protective arms of an umbrella can be the beginning of a romance or infidelity, not owning an umbrella can point to poverty or an absentmindedness that is irritating or endearing. Honestly, I never knew that such a ‘simple’ (actually quite complicated) tool had such cultural and symbolic significance. 

The author obviously has a deep love for this rather mundane object, and her passion certainly shines through in this quirky and delightful work. With illustrations and some of the authors photographs of lost and found umbrellas scattered throughout, I found myself amused, fascinated and intrigued by the subject. A total pleasure and definitely recommended as an unusual and, in many ways, comforting read. 

DNA Update – October 2025 

Earlier in the week I had an e-mail from Ancestry.Com with a MAJOR update on my DNA stuff. It actually solved a mystery (by eliminating it completely) and added – at least potentially – another in its place. Part of the reason for the update is improvements in their algorithm as well as having more data to analyse. Here’s what they said... 

The mystery that I was struggling with – in that it was quite THE headscratcher – was my apparent Scottish ancestry. Although I haven’t gone too far back into my father's Irish side, I have gone back deep into the 15th century on my mother’s side without a SINGLE Scottish relative. My latest DNA results explain that by not showing ANY Scottish DNA at all – none. Therefore, my head no longer needs so much attention. Now the results show, as I fully expected from the start, that the majority of my DNA originated in Ireland. Interesting it's from ALL over Ireland – from the East coast (where my dad was from), to the far South and to the Northwest. It seems that my DNA liked to ‘get about’ a bit! Now as I completely expected I have 75% Irish DNA.  

The rest (or at least MOST of the rest) is, yet again, completely expected. 13% is from North Wales and Northwest England – where I was born and where I’ve found most of my English side relatives lived in the last 100 years or so. Again, completely expected, is the fact that 8% of my DNA comes from the West Midlands which is where my maternal grandmother is from. A mere 2% is from Devon & Somerset which is interesting but certainly not particularly strange. The STRANGE bit is that last 2%. 

Well within the margin of error is the interesting hint of 2% of my DNA being SPANISH. The rational side of me thinks that it came from a visiting Spanish sailor who ‘got lucky’ in a port in the Southwest and then went home to his family on the Cantabrian Coast. Of course, the more romantic side of my nature wonders if the guy in question (assuming it WAS a guy) was shipwrecked on the Irish coast on the way back from the failed Spanish Armada attack on England in 1588 and an Irish girl took a shine to his dark and brooding looks.... I doubt if I’ll ever find a Spanish name in the records though – but stranger things have happened.  

Either way it's an interesting update. Maybe a little ‘boring’ and ‘obvious’ but a really nice hint of the exotic. I’m amused if nothing else. I do have some Ancestry related reading to come. I wonder what I’ll discover?   

Happy Birthday: Pamela Dawber (born October 18, 1951) is an American actress known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell on Mork & Mindy (1978–1982) and Samantha Russell on My Sister Sam (1986–1988).

Dawber moved to New York City and was initially a fashion model with Wilhelmina Models before switching to acting. She appeared in several television commercials during the 1970s (Fotomat, Noxzema, Neet, Underalls, etc.). Dawber screen-tested for the title role in Tabitha, a 1977 to 1978 situation comedy spun off from Bewitched, but the role instead went to Lisa Hartman. However, ABC executives were impressed enough with her to enroll her in the company's "talent development" program, which paid its participants until they could find appropriate roles. Garry Marshall recruited her from this program.

Dawber's professional breakthrough came when Marshall chose her, despite her having relatively little acting experience and not having auditioned for the part, as one of the two title characters of the ABC sitcom Mork & Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982. She portrayed Mindy McConnell, the comedic foil and eventual love interest for the extraterrestrial Mork from the planet Ork, played by a then-unknown Robin Williams. The show was very popular in its debut season, when it averaged at number three in the Nielsen ratings for the year. The only major difficulty for her on set was that she often found it impossible to maintain the proper composure in character in the face of her co-star's comedic talent. Also, pressure came from the ABC network to sexualize her character as the series progressed, which Dawber successfully resisted, with Williams's support.

[Mindy was on of my early 'crushes' and Mork & Mindy a definite comedy highlight of the time.]

Just back from my Flu vaccine appointment. Quick & efficient as ALWAYS. Thanks NHS! Its my first post-65 freebie, not that the previous cost was ever very much - I think it was £10 when I started getting them and is £20 these days. That's quite the bargain when you think about the alternative. Anyone who has had flu before (myself included) knows that a £20 layout is worth every single penny. If you haven't been shot yet I definitely recommend it....

Just Finished Reading: How the Right Lost Its Mind by Charles J Sykes (FP: 2017) [232pp] 

My regular readers may remember me mentioning the idea of ‘knowledge streams’ in respect of my reading plans. These ‘streams’ are long term projects to read up, and read more deeply, about a few topics that particularly interest me. One of them I’ve labelled USA:WTF and is my attempt (hopefully achievable) to understand – or at least increase my appreciation of – the craziness that is the United States of America. As a recent side-quest to this stream (or would that make it a tributary?) I’ve added ‘Reading Trough Trump 2.0’ for this year and (presumably) the next 3 in an attempt to understand why Trump was elected President in the first place and why (oh, why) he was Re-elected knowing what he was like and the likely consequences of him getting his small hands on the levers of power again. This book was part of the side-quest (I’ll be posting a full list each January). 

The first thing I have to say that I was, overall, disappointed with the book and this was probably, in large part, because of me. The book attempted to answer the ‘How’ question whereas I was looking to answer the ‘Why’ question. So, rather a disconnect. The other did touch on the why question but only really tangentially. This was more the history of the drift (and then the gallop) to the Right of the Republican party by people/groups that were previously sidelined/ignored/ridiculed on the fringes of the Party finally gaining the centre.  

It was a tale of growing disappointment with the established traditional conservative Republican party which seemed to (and actually did!) ignore a considerable percentage of their voters and assume that they’d vote RED regardless of outcome (to be fair the Democrats were doing exactly the same to their core voters). For a long time, these increasingly frustrated voters had little recourse and little idea that their grievances were WIDELY shared. Then came Talk Radio and people across the country learnt that they were most definitely NOT alone. It wasn’t long before the disparate, displaced and scattered individuals and groups found a voice, and it wasn’t long after this that politicians and political movements took that energy and ran with it. Before long the drift to the Right (or actually further Right) became a flow and then a flood. Before anyone really knew (or maybe just recognised) we had MAGA and we had an opportunist like Trump. 

Most of this I already knew (though maybe not the initially significant impact of Talk Radio) from other reading but it did provide a structured narrative to hang things on. One of the things that I felt both added and detracted (or even distracted) from the narrative was the author himself – a more traditional Republican from the more Liberal end of the spectrum. You could feel his disappointment that “his” Party had been subverted by those who didn’t (and maybe never) hold what he regarded as conservative values. It was obvious that he definitely had ‘skin in the game’ and that writing this book may have been a sort of therapy to enable him to understand what, in his mind at least, went wrong with the Republicans. Despite my overall disappointment I did find this worth the read. I will, however, be looking for some more cogent analysis of what exactly happened in US politics in the post-Raegan era. Reasonable and much more to come on this fractured side-quest.   

It Was 20 Years Ago Today..... 

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been Blogging now for TWENTY years! Back then I was essentially badgered by my friends to ‘join them’ in the Blogosphere and, naturally, produce my own content. My early Blog was, I freely admit, not very good. I didn’t really know what I was doing (I’m STILL learning bits) and I had no real idea what I wanted to say. It took a few years for things to settle down into today’s ‘style’ and, no doubt, things will continue to slowly evolve – probably in ways I can’t see right now. 

I guess that the only dominant ‘theme’ to this Blog is that it reasonably closely reflects who I am and what’s going on in my tangled mind. In some ways it's a pretty good representation of me and my personality – which is why it is and will continue to be an evolving, living ‘document’. I remember a quote in one of Ann Rice’s vampire books (I can’t remember exactly which one) where Lestat was musing on immortality. He said something along the line of “if you live a very long time, you become more of who you really are”. I think that’s a good way to look at Seeking a Little Truth (SaLT) – over the last 20 years it has become more of who I am – kind of like how a comfy chair looks after a person has been sitting in it that long: slightly baggy, slightly the worse for wear, but comfy. 

Not that I want (or think of) my Blog as a place of comfort. I’ve long thought that my ‘mission’ was to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. This is not a ‘safe space’ and I imagine that at least some of my readers – even my regular readers (and you lurkers out there) have been disturbed, annoyed, surprised (not in a good way) and maybe even shocked at some of the things I’ve posted here. I am and always have been an opinionated person. In fact, I’m notorious for it. I LIKE having opinions and I like using them to good effect. I’m not *quite* as blatant as I used to be in my youth, but I DO still have my moments! 

You’ve probably noticed that SaLT has become a bit more political of late. My ‘Serious Sunday’ posts in particular have been leading me to comment more on the issues of the day. Living through whatever the hell this is we’re going through right now kind of does that. These posts will definitely be continuing so you might want to brace yourself. I can imagine that some future posts – the way things seem to be 'progressing’ both here & abroad – might be rather harsh, forthright... We’ll see. 

Speaking of future posts... I have been musing for a while now on what I could do – apart from this post – to ‘celebrate’ my 20th year. Nothing amazing has sprung to mind. Going forward you’ll be seeing much of the same – which, no doubt, will please many of you. I’ll be dropping in the odd, and sometimes VERY odd, surprise post as things ping my radar but that’s going to be pretty random (remember I have a butterfly mind). 

Book review-wise, I’ll finally be starting a set of 20th century history books (1914-1983) soon and reviews for those should begin appearing before the end of the year. I’m ‘planning’ to start a larger set of books with a common theme – or at least a common thread – probably next Spring which should be fun. One other thing I’ll be doing more of is clumping books together to address my perennial “what shall I read next” conundrum. This will involve ‘deep-dives’ of at least 3 books on a certain subject, period, event or person in quick succession. I’ve certainly enjoyed this in the past. Another thing will be ‘coupling’ where I’ll be reading a pair of books with some kind of connection. Lastly, another idea popped into my head recently – sandwiching. Here I’ll be reading 3 books – either a fiction sandwiched between 2 non-fiction or the other way around which have a common connection. I already have several stacked to go. 

As of today, I have no plans to go anywhere or to stop Blogging any time soon. I enjoy it too much and it’s become a significant part of my life. I have no idea if I’ll still be here (in all senses of the word) in another 20 years, but we’ll see how it goes year by year. Here’s to an interesting future and thanks to all of you out there who have made the last 20 years so interesting and so fun. LONG may it continue. 

Just Finished Reading: Aphorisms on Love and Hate by Fredrich Nietzsche (FP: 1878) [55pp] 

Reading the way I do, it’s hard to avoid Nietzsche. I’ve certainly come across him numerous times in my Philosophy reading and have read several books about his ideas. I only studied him more intently during my Masters degree course some years ago where we focused on his 1887 work ‘On the Genealogy of Morality’. It was funny when, as we were about to start the seminar that the Head of Studies popped in and said that she was always wary of teaching Nietzsche to undergraduates because of its explosive nature. I understand her trepidation. I described reading his work as like breathing pure oxygen. 

Reading Nietzsche is, however, far from easy. He’s not a philosopher you can skim read or casually dip into. He’s the kind of thinker that requires a paragraph or more to unpack a single sentence. It’s almost as if he has compressed, zipped, his ideas inside the words he uses and some effort – and sometimes a great deal of effort – is required to unfold them into ideas your brain can process. I guess it's like the difference between eating simple carbohydrates which the body can easily convert to useful energy compared to complex proteins that take time and effort to absorb but provide vital elements that the body needs. Fortunately, the course tutor was excellent – and probably one of the smartest people I’ve ever known – so he managed to get his point across without completely frying our brains. This certainly helped with reading this slim volume. 

Containing extracts from Human, All Too Human (published in 1878), this covered a fairly wide area – not just Love and Hate – to do with ideas like Good and Evil, Suffering, Pity, Morality, Revenge, Justice and much else besides. Being typically Nietzschean the booklet positively drips with often razor sharp one liner’s. Here’s a few examples: 

Most men are much too concerned with themselves to be malicious. 

There will be but few people who, when at a loss for topics of conversation, will not reveal the most secret affairs of their friends. 

It is much more agreeable to offend and later ask forgiveness than to be offended and grant forgiveness.  

The best friend will probably get the best wife, because a good marriage is based on a talent for friendship. 

This was a fun little read and a reminder (as if I needed one) to get back into reading Philosophy again. I have (I think) most of Nietzsche’s works on my (mostly) Philosophy bookshelf so there’s no excuse. Expect one or two next year. Part of the Penguin Little Black Classics series. 

Translated from the German by Marion Faber and Stephen Lehmann.