What are you reading?

[Lirchenfeld]

[Horizondave]

David Jason Bio 'My Life'

[Thai Spice]

Not a book, but a very interesting and educational magazine.

https://thediplomat.com

 

[Shaksey]

On ‎5‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 7:51 AM, forcebwithu said:

@code_slayer_bkk refresher in COBOL next?    Hated working with that language.

My version was COBOL for IBM VSE, it was OK I thought, I disliked the IBM JCL more. Moving from dumb terminals on SNA to 3270 emulation via IP on PC's made it all a lot easier though.

[nampla69]

Just finished 'Hungover' by Shaughnessy Bishop-Small. Canadian guy.

Basically he gets completely drunk for five years travels the world and has amazing experiences in search of the perfect Hangover cure, its history, etymology etc

I loved it ................... my favourite quote paraphrased by the amazing painter Frieda Kahlo:

"I tried to drown my sorrows 

but the bastards learnt to swim"

Great read chaps airport cheap buy ....... 

 

 

[Ivan the terrible]

12 hours ago, nampla69 said:

Just finished 'Hungover' by Shaughnessy Bishop-Small. Canadian guy.

Basically he gets completely drunk for five years travels the world and has amazing experiences in search of the perfect Hangover cure, its history, etymology etc

I loved it ................... my favourite quote paraphrased by the amazing painter Frieda Kahlo:

"I tried to drown my sorrows 

but the bastards learnt to swim"

Great read chaps airport cheap buy ....... 

 

 

great quote

[galenkia]

Final book in the Natchez Burning trilogy.

[Shaksey]

This is a lovely book, written by Edward Enfield (father Of Harry Enfield) about how he grew up in London and the English countryside in the 30's, was evacuated to Canada during the war and returned to Albion where he went to Westminster School, then up to Oxford to read Classics, after which he did his national service as an officer in the BAOR in charge of a tank squadron; which wasn't ideal as he couldn't read a map to save his life and in a rare error of army administration, neither could his sergeant. 

There are fantastic anecdotes, both humorous and moving, details of life around that time (his parents were on the fringes of the Bloomsbury set), insight into an era that is long lost now. 

After his national service ended he rather randomly got a job working for the biggest British privately owned, family run company that to this day you've probably never heard of. They sent him to Hong Kong where he romanced the secretary of a wealthy Chinese smuggler who became very very rich and famous when he 'went straight' (his son has been in the news a lot in HK lately), sailed on his yacht, joined the jockey club and may or may not have been the last amateur rider to race at Happy Valley. The details of colonial life in HK are fantastic. His company then sent him to Japan where again he writes with great thought and intellect about his time there, consider as well this was the mid 1950's, emotions were still very fresh and raw. He makes a fantastic observation about the Japanese in general and a senior colleague who visits tells him something very simple about the Japanese that profoundly duly comes to pass. 

And then..…he is posted to BANGKOK.The company he works for buys a small airline and he is sent to manage the local Bangkok office of it. His observations and stories about Bangkok and the Thai people are brilliant. He narrowly avoids a major diplomatic incident. His secretary is a Princess and he mixes with high society, royalty, spies and senior police/army officers. A lot of the problems and frustrations he encounters in Thailand are exactly the same as we do today, but one thing that was better in the 1950's was, and I quote -

"There was none of the grinding poverty that existed in much of the East, including Hong Kong, AND I DO NOT RECALL EVER SEEING A BEGGER IN BANGKOK" 😮

Oh, and the company he worked for, well, they still own that little airline he was sent to run in Bangkok, and although they had to remove the Union Flag from the tails of their aircraft after '97, their company name/logo can still be seen on the rear of all their planes as I've highlighted in pic below 😉

[coxyhog]

On 6/8/2019 at 3:24 AM, Shaksey said:

This is a lovely book, written by Edward Enfield (father Of Harry Enfield) about how he grew up in London and the English countryside in the 30's, was evacuated to Canada during the war and returned to Albion where he went to Westminster School, then up to Oxford to read Classics, after which he did his national service as an officer in the BAOR in charge of a tank squadron; which wasn't ideal as he couldn't read a map to save his life and in a rare error of army administration, neither could his sergeant. 

There are fantastic anecdotes, both humorous and moving, details of life around that time (his parents were on the fringes of the Bloomsbury set), insight into an era that is long lost now. 

After his national service ended he rather randomly got a job working for the biggest British privately owned, family run company that to this day you've probably never heard of. They sent him to Hong Kong where he romanced the secretary of a wealthy Chinese smuggler who became very very rich and famous when he 'went straight' (his son has been in the news a lot in HK lately), sailed on his yacht, joined the jockey club and may or may not have been the last amateur rider to race at Happy Valley. The details of colonial life in HK are fantastic. His company then sent him to Japan where again he writes with great thought and intellect about his time there, consider as well this was the mid 1950's, emotions were still very fresh and raw. He makes a fantastic observation about the Japanese in general and a senior colleague who visits tells him something very simple about the Japanese that profoundly duly comes to pass. 

And then..…he is posted to BANGKOK.The company he works for buys a small airline and he is sent to manage the local Bangkok office of it. His observations and stories about Bangkok and the Thai people are brilliant. He narrowly avoids a major diplomatic incident. His secretary is a Princess and he mixes with high society, royalty, spies and senior police/army officers. A lot of the problems and frustrations he encounters in Thailand are exactly the same as we do today, but one thing that was better in the 1950's was, and I quote -

"There was none of the grinding poverty that existed in much of the East, including Hong Kong, AND I DO NOT RECALL EVER SEEING A BEGGER IN BANGKOK" 😮

Oh, and the company he worked for, well, they still own that little airline he was sent to run in Bangkok, and although they had to remove the Union Flag from the tails of their aircraft after '97, their company name/logo can still be seen on the rear of all their planes as I've highlighted in pic below 😉

I used to hang out with Matthew Swire in the early 1980's in Pattaya,last time I saw him he was living in Jomtien.Nice bloke.

[coxyhog]

I got Kenney Jones autobiography Let the Good Times Roll from our library at around 3pm today,on page 140 already.Great read.

[Shaksey]

22 hours ago, coxyhog said:

I used to hang out with Matthew Swire in the early 1980's in Pattaya,last time I saw him he was living in Jomtien.Nice bloke.

Enfield said John Swire only asked him two questions at his interview to join the company:

You didn't get a First did you? (He didn't, he narrowly missed it and got a Second, which was the right answer as John Swire didn't trust people who got Firsts!);

What would you like to drink? (Beer was obviously an acceptable answer as he was offered the job on the spot).

Enfield said all the Swire family and senior company men were good guys 👍

 

[coxyhog]

4 minutes ago, Shaksey said:

Enfield said John Swire only asked him two questions at his interview to join the company:

You didn't get a First did you? (He didn't, he narrowly missed it and got a Second, which was the right answer as John Swire didn't trust people who got Firsts!);

What would you like to drink? (Beer was obviously an acceptable answer as he was offered the job on the spot).

Enfield said all the Swire family and senior company men were good guys 👍

 

Got the book on order from our library.

[galenkia]

This.

[Shaksey]

John Nicol - Spitfire - A Very British Love Story

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spitfire-Very-British-Love-Story/dp/1471159205

Sunday Times non-fiction best seller 2018

WH Smith non-fiction book of the year 2018

Nothing more I can add to what people infinitely more qualified than myself have already said about this.

A brilliant book, superbly researched and written.

If you're wondering where you've heard the authors name before, he was the Nav/WSO in the Tornado GR1 that got hit by an Iraqi Strela-3 MANPAD when he and his pilot were flying a very low level daylight bombing raid at just 50 feet altitude in the first Gulf War, after which they were captured, tortured and paraded on TV. So he knows his stuff.

 

 

Edited June 20, 2019 by Shaksey

[Al McReady]

[galenkia]

This.

[Thai Spice]

The Sarawak report.

For those patient enough to go though a lengthy read of political and financial scandal this is a must read.

Written by an investigation reporter, who lived in Malaysia when young, starting with investigation concerning deforestation in Borneo's Malaysian provinces, and then tumbles on what turns out to be the 1MDB financial scandal. I have lived enough to know about corrupt regimes, but this really is way beyond what I imagined.  We are speaking Billions of $ here, people disappearing, executed, jailed,.....

Another point highlighted is the obvious "passive, close eyes" approach by major banks and law offices. We are speaking about major UK, Swiss, Luxembourg, Singapore, US, French establishments.

 

F.Y.I. : The writer is the sister in law of ex PM Gordon Brown, and this is probably why she lived to tell the story IMO. She is a bit too high profile to be eliminated by the Malay services.

 

Note : I read this book on Kindle, a premiere for me.

TBH, I sure prefer a real book, but when considering price + shipping to Indo from Amazon, there is a clear difference. 

 

Edited June 27, 2019 by Thai Spice

[Blue Streak]

5 hours ago, Thai Spice said:

The Sarawak report.

For those patient enough to go though a lengthy read of political and financial scandal this is a must read.

Written by an investigation reporter, who lived in Malaysia when young, starting with investigation concerning deforestation in Borneo's Malaysian provinces, and then tumbles on what turns out to be the 1MDB financial scandal. I have lived enough to know about corrupt regimes, but this really is way beyond what I imagined.  We are speaking Billions of $ here, people disappearing, executed, jailed,.....

Another point highlighted is the obvious "passive, close eyes" approach by major banks and law offices. We are speaking about major UK, Swiss, Luxembourg, Singapore, US, French establishments.

 

F.Y.I. : The writer is the sister in law of ex PM Gordon Brown, and this is probably why she lived to tell the story IMO. She is a bit too high profile to be eliminated by the Malay services.

 

Note : I read this book on Kindle, a premiere for me.

TBH, I sure prefer a real book, but when considering price + shipping to Indo from Amazon, there is a clear difference. 

 

Clare Rewcastle Brown: The Sarawak Report | Event Highlights

[Yesitisdakid]

[Al McReady]

Just picked this up from the library.

 

[Britboy]

On 6/20/2019 at 11:43 PM, Shaksey said:

John Nicol - Spitfire - A Very British Love Story

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spitfire-Very-British-Love-Story/dp/1471159205

Sunday Times non-fiction best seller 2018

WH Smith non-fiction book of the year 2018

Nothing more I can add to what people infinitely more qualified than myself have already said about this.

A brilliant book, superbly researched and written.

If you're wondering where you've heard the authors name before, he was the Nav/WSO in the Tornado GR1 that got hit by an Iraqi Strela-3 MANPAD when he and his pilot were flying a very low level daylight bombing raid at just 50 feet altitude in the first Gulf War, after which they were captured, tortured and paraded on TV. So he knows his stuff.

 

 

I can imagine this is a fantastic book and one I'll definitely buy.

Shame they couldn't spell "Britain" in the ad though . . . pretty poor form that.

 

[nampla69]

1 hour ago, Al McReady said:

Just picked this up from the library.

 

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was a great little film as well Al. Heartbreaking ending but fictional. 

Read the above book in one sitting it's OK. 

[Shaksey]

5 hours ago, Britboy said:

I can imagine this is a fantastic book and one I'll definitely buy.

Shame they couldn't spell "Britain" in the ad though . . . pretty poor form that.

 

Oh yeah! FFS, I hadn't noticed that, good spot. So many media news outlets and publishers have done away with all of or early all of their Sub/Copy-Editor's now that this sort of mistake is becoming all too common sadly 🙄

[Britboy]

33 minutes ago, Shaksey said:

Oh yeah! FFS, I hadn't noticed that, good spot. So many media news outlets and publishers have done away with all of or early all of their Sub/Copy-Editor's now that this sort of mistake is becoming all too common sadly 🙄

I was an apprentice printer back in the day and proof reading was one of the major parts of passing the apprenticeships, so spelling mistakes just hit me straight away. It really annoys some of my staff sometimes as they know how pedantic I am, they'll read their proposals a hundred times, submit it and I'll spot a typo. Tee hee.

[KhunDon]

First read this when I was 11 and couldn’t stop laughing as I read it. Revisited it last week and it’s still as funny. Typical Milligan. 🤣