Grateful Dead

by Louise Erdrich

Clancy's latest about cyber warfare. Scary stuff. Not up to his best, maybe his co-writer was the problem. Although I don't agree with his point of view he could be said to be a realist. I can't believe I've read every single thing by him. I guess I have more time on my hands than I should.

So I am thinking of re-reading the dune chronicles for the fourth time. am i crazy does anyone else have a book that won't leave them alone?

Is also one those for me, Noonie. Good reading!

By Leo Tolstoy. This is going to be a hard book for me to get into and I'll probably read something alternatively, breaking my long streak of entertainment type fiction.

"A Walk in the Woods" by: Bill Bryson... no real plot but interesting and funny nonetheless.

By renowned historian Howard Zinn. Zinn taught at Spelman College during the tumultuous 60s and was fired for advising activist students. Later, in 2005, he was invited to give the commencement address. He is widely reviled by the Ayn Rand conservative types but does not shy away from his sentiment that he speaks for those whom history, written by the conquerors, rulers and leading elite, have chosen to ignore or gloss over very briefly. I know this book will give me a lot of "energy" (make me mad as hell) but the alternative of ignoring these little known incidents of actual history would be worse. Some examples: Columbus slaughtered the Arawak Indians of the Bahama Islands starting in 1492, but is presented as a wonderful ground-breaking explorer to children in school innocently memorizing nursery rhymes; Cortes' slaughter of the Aztecs who saw him as the returning God Quetzalcoatl; Pisarro's pitiless annihilation of the ancestors of the Inca -- all of these European white men in the pursuit of gold, the acquisition of which would rarely preserve their representative country for more than a generation. Warning, be prepared for the education you probably never got but are now glad you are finally learning. Unless, of course, you are part of the ruling class who need excuses for the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of millions for your own inherited wealth. Eminently worth reading in either case.

1902 EDITION OFTHE SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO. CATALOGUE NO. 111 Fulton, Desplaines, Jefferson & Wayman Sts CHICAGO, ILL., U.S.A. Bounty Books, a division of Crown Publishers, Inc., New York Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-99921 Sears, Roebuck and Company One of the Largest Commercial Buildings in the World Covering an entire block in 1902. Over 700 pages of quality items in epic proportions for most every need. Book cover states: We have No Agents or Solicitors---Persons Claiming to be Our Representatives are Swindlers I am basked in a country of yester-year. I can journey through ~history~ and see me there, dressed to the nines with my hat a bounty of flowers for all to see and then I look around and a poem comes to me...ah yes the men dapper and traveled with a sword at there side....hmmmmm long ago, yesterday, some seek a time, a time, a time, a time...ago. Yeah, this book is indescribable to me but every page give you a little paragraph about each item and every item well-made and sure to over perform the investment in the item. Clothes tailored too. Impossible for me to tell it. It is the size of a full size big city phonebook and it cost $0.50 cents! Makes a disgrace of the Sunday Newspaper Ads, for sure. If I could only order from it, ahhh quality surely meant something and pride had not purchased yet, oh the sales, gambles and deals since then many to never be returned as there isn't a customer service desk for such things. Only 111 years ago.

Less than 100 pages to go! I'm already several chapters into "The Hound of the Baskervilles" but have no idea what to start reading once I'm finished. My first inclination is to finish Michael Chabon's 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay', which I put down several years ago, 'The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian', or George R. R. Martin's 'Storm of Swords'. Decisions, decisions!

The Home Page of dead.net HAPPY BIRTHDAY JERRY One of the Best, Ever! Happy Birthday Jerry G. With Love, Sherry B. XO

It's interesting you mention the abundant use of Fairyland in young adult fiction, because I'd outlined an idea for a YA novel set in the exact same "location." Life has, of course, not provided ample time to flesh out such an idea, but I know I have those notes lying around somewhere. And speaking of magical creatures getting thrown at you left and right, have you read any of Piers Anthony's Xanth series? If you haven't, I certainly do recommend you give it a try. It was a minor obsession of mine in my teen years, but it became increasingly difficult to find book stores that carried the books. This was all pre-internet, of course, and I fully intend to re-obsess over these books at some point in the near-ish future.

marye, think X-Men meets the Chronicles of Narnia. You'll understand what I mean once you start reading the series.

I FINALLY finished reading "The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 1" to my daughter at bedtime, so we've moved on to another book that I started but have yet to complete: "The Amazing Adventure of Kavalier and Clay." If you're not familiar with the novel, it's the fictionalized biography of Josef Kavalier and Sam Clayman, the creators of the '40s-era comic book superhero, The Escapist. It's actually a really good read, in spite of Chabon's tendency to use unnecessarily big words (this coming from someone with a pretty extensive vocabulary). And I really like how Chabon uses that olde-tyme superhero lingo in his writing; it gives the story an added air of danger and excitement, blending the reality of the story with the fantasy of the comic books.

By Howard Zinn. Boy! How the history we learned in school differs from the actual history of our country. A ruling elite in this country took over from a ruling elite in England. Those pictures of Andrew Jackson and Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln and US Grant on our money should be considered mug shots, not pictures of honor. When I think of the whitewash of Lincoln in the latest movie it makes me wonder about how much else we have been misled by. It is estimated that there were 30,000 political prisoners in this country during the administration of Lincoln. Yes, many of them were those who opposed his freeing of the slaves but many of them were also opposed to fighting in the civil war for the North and were taken in during the draft riots of that era. If you were rich enough you could buy your way out of military service for $300. Previous to the civil war the incessant assault on the native Americans is just heartbreaking. Time after time treaties were broken and Indians were driven ever further West, always being promised that they would have their land that no white man would be able to take from them. Time after time this proved to be just one pack of lies after another. The Trail Of Tears trod from Tennessee to Oaklahoma with many Cherokees dying along the way is described with the vultures circling and the wolf packs prowling to pick off the weak and the dead. It is a horribly grizzly description. The insatiable appetite of the Anglos (White people)to connect this country from East to West was just one atrocity followed by another. The war against Mexico for Texas and New Mexico was just one horrific description of modernized conflict after another. Though many of the soldiers in that war were induced to fight with offers of money and land many of it was taken from them upon their return to their homes by profiteers offering pennies on the dollar. I'm only up to Teddy Roosevelt and the Spanish-American War at the turn of that century and finishing up the labor unrest that ran through the 1800s at the dawn of the industrial revolution. Time after time labor unrest ran amok and was not able to be brought under control by the local militias who often sided with their own people. Time after time Federal troops were brought in to crush local labor unrest. Countless times. How is it we were never told that the sweat of the worker's brow in this country was often enough not a brute strength, but one that time and again wanted and agitated for decent wages and working conditions while the owners of the mills remained carelessly insulated in their rich splendor, comfortably separated from the suffering they had their management and foremen inflict mercilessly, even upon children? As Zinn says in his foreword: (paraphrased) Those who won the battles wrote the history that you and I have come to accept as the truth.

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM by SEYMOUR SIMON MORROW JUNIOR BOOKS New York ISBN 0-688-09992-0 ISBN 0-688-09993-9 (Library) William Morrow and Co., Inc. 1350 Avenue of the Americas New York, N.Y. 10019 All Rights Reserved This book is great for all ages. It's filled with facts and awesome pictures, including NASA pictures too. The 64 pages in this hard cover book bring a great deal of info to those still in school but for anyone who loves to fathom the Universe.

Famous author of fiction of the American hawk-like military machine perpetually engaged in wiping out the bad guys (Islamic terrorists, these days), is dead at 66. No word yet on the cause of death. He would refer to the Muslim Brotherhood as the Mo-Bros. His sense of patriotic morality was that life's a bitch and the bitches have to die that oppose America. He is probably most famous for coming up with the idea for a 9/11 style of attack in around 1996 and writing part of one of his books about it. Six years or so later somebody brought the plan to fruition... I just finished reading everything he wrote this year and felt, while a good read at times, my time would have been more productively spent reading other things. He was a good writer though and could pull you in.

reading this right now, very hard read, lots of words, but basically it says "bend over", the only ones to get anything out of this is the insurance companies and the irs, oh yeah, and all the employers that will drop all of their full time workers and hire part time so they won't have to pay for their insurance. This is way scarier than any Stephen King novel I've ever read. One option is to pay a fine if you don't have insurance, but if you don't make enough annually you won't have to pay a fine if you don't have insurance, the gov will pay it for you and supply you with health care. Am I reading this right? So, you will get rewarded if you stop being a productive member of society. Doesn't look too good for the average Joe who is healthy, looks like you will be paying for everybody else who is sick, or about to die, or who just figured out that if they don't work, make little to no income, none of this will pertain to them. This can't be right, better reread those last 100 or so pages.

Puzzle Island Devised, written and illustrated by~ Paul Adshead This book is a Parent's Choice approved children's book. Looking for a gift that will bring hours of enjoyment while providing a mental work out; this book is a gem! Adshead's art work is awesome and the journey you'll take through his book is excellent. Had to sher this one, it's a good one. ISBN 0-85953-402-2 (hard cover, I recommend it) ISBN 0-85953-403-0 (soft cover) Library of Congress Number 91-33416 Published by Child's Play (International) Limited

by Brian Doyle. This is a beautifully written short essay in The Sun magazine about the two, true "first responders" at Sandy Hook Elementary almost one year ago to the day. Before the first call to the police had even happened and with all of the fear and adrenaline that one could imagine, these two incredibly brave women tried to stop Adam Lanza as he entered the school and they paid with their lives. It only takes a few minutes to read and I hope that you do. http://thesunmagazine.org/issues/452/dawn_and_mary

by Jeremy Scahill. "The World is a Battlefield" This is the true story of drone warfare around the world. It is a big heavy book. Depressing to those who did not know the United States has been carrying out war crimes for years. Now a movie at the Sundance Film Festival. I found out about this book on FSTV, free speech TV. It is on satellite but not cable, because it is not corporate. It is on the net. freespeechtv.org. Check out "Democracy Now". It is non-corporate, non-profit TV.

Just started "News" by Alain de Botton. The sensationalization of news, the media, biased networks and newspapers left and right, it's hard to even subject my nervous system to it. Botton looks at the news from the perspective of history as well as relating current events and individual foibles to plots and characters from literature. I like that it's illustrated with photos related to the subject without the feeling of a boring textbook. Botton's books always push a regular guy like me to think outside my box. On the lighter side I'm alternating with the latest in the series of coffee house mysteries, "Billionaire Blend" by Cleo Coyle. Love the series.... and each book includes great coffee and dessert recipes.

Love reading a good Lee Child book, Jack Reacher is always getting into something. Also reading the bio on Gaston Glock, the Austrian who designed the world famous Glock pistols. I'm always into something, and do some writing as well.

Inferno by Dan Brown. It was a mystery novel.

Galadrielle Allman's well-researched and touching look into her dad's life. I really liked it and recommend it highly to all fans of the ABB and especially Duane. The peach don't fall far from the tree.

...A book written by the former road manager for the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead, Sam Cutler. It was briefly mentioned by David Lemieux in the Seaside Chat announcement for DaP 10. As is my wont with this particular book, I'm finding myself skipping around and reading a chapter or a group of chapters here and there. The chapters are short, the typeface and spacing rather large, making it an easy and quick read. I would recommend this book as a companion to DaP 6 and DaP 10. It provides clues as to the mental space which the band and crew may have been in subsequent to the Altamont debacle. The first hand accounts of the exploits on the road are quite interesting as well. The right wingers would be very confused by the picture on the back cover...

Nift. I'm glad you mentioned it. I've known about this for awhile but like many things on the to-do list back-burnerd' it out of site. Great Book Cover (Hardcover)

Hi. a long time coming & I'm sure obsolete reply, but a book I would recommend is James A. Mitcheners' The Drifters. It's release date is 1971..and it's subject matter is, in a nut-shell young American Beatniks traveling around Spain & Northern Africa. In my opinion I think it's safe to say it's Beat-inspired. And a reflection of the times: U.S. Civil unrest, Politics, drug use. A departure somewhat for Mitchener, but enjoyable. Or perhaps the better expression is relatable? I'm a very big fan of his prose.

I have the softcover...the cover on that is 'nift' as well...:-) Glad you got to it...

Probably the one book I never read about JG. Sitting in the sunshine tunes drifting out from the stereo, reading Dark Star an oral biography of Jerry Garcia. A beautiful way to spend a Saturday morning!

If you have not yet read it I think that you should. I wanted to hug the man who has given me countless hours of comfort and joy through his music. After reading this I was left almost without words but not without tears. The book the man and the music did and does indeed move me brightly

The history of the Grateful Dead/20th anniversary edition by Scott W. Allen

Currently reading "Living With The Dead" by Rock Skully. About 3/4 through it. Mostly random antidotes arranges more or less chronologically. Funny stories. Don't know if they are all together true or not, but they make for good reading. -Dave

I had a good time reading that Living With the Dead...makes me wish I were there!

Just finished Aces Back to Back the history of the Grateful Dead. It was disappointing. Seems like it was slapped together quickly. Glossed over... well, just about everything. I think anyone with a Google search could do what the author did. I do like the illustrations very groovy. But as far as an interesting read it was just a let down. I don't shoot down much that has to do with the Dead, but I was really looking forward to delving into another book about the GD and this was a bummer. But that is just one hippies opinion. Eagerly waiting for the next book to arrive

The inside history of the Grateful Dead/ Dennis McNally. I have just started it and am really digging it! Hard to put down!! It's a rainy Sunday and I am happy to have the whole day to read!!! :)

Home Before Daylight by Steve Parish, my second go round on that. I would recommend it for Deadheads wishing to learn more about the day to day goings on within the band. If you can handle reading about drugs and debauchery, it helps the reader pin down just where the band's space was in any given year. There are also some anecdotes in there only an inside member of the family would know. Still waiting for Weir's book... I usually read one book at a time (I'm not a great reader, but I'm trying). I'm thinking of moving on to one of several books, including but not limited to a second go round of Searching for the Sound by Phil Lesh, Signposts by Jann Wenner, something on the life and works of J.S. Bach or The Divine Comedy: Volume 1: Inferno by Dante Alighieri

An American Life, Blair Jackson I just got it today!!

Just finished reading, "More Than Human" by Theodore Sturgeon. A very good read. Excerpt from the book, "Searching For The Sound" by Phil Lesh: "The unique organicity of our music reflects the fact that each of us consciously personalized his playing: to fit with what others were playing and to fit with who each man was as an individual, allowing us to meld our consciousnesses together in the unity of a group mind. For us, the philosophical basis of this concept was articulated by the science-fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon in his novel More Than Human, wherein the protagonists each have a single paranormal talent – telepathy, psychokinesis, teleportation – and are joined by a quadruple paraplegic who acts as a central processing unit. The process by which they become one is called bleshing, from a combination of mesh and blend."

The Maze Runner, The Goldfinch, and I'm currently reading The Mountain Echoes...in the bathroom, something by Bill Bryson is read while poopin'...what are you reading? Love live the Div!

Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music by Glenn Kurtz. It was a fun, interesting, dare I say inspiring read. A memoir of sorts. I should have read it long before now as I was gifted it by a student some 4 years ago. Kind of puts me in my place, a place I am most comfortable existing as a practicing musician. It proved to be page turner nonetheless and I'd most vociferously recommend it to all folks interested in the art of practice. Thanks, Tom (and Mr. Kurtz). I'm kind of embarrassed to say what I'm reading now (no it's not the Joy of Sex or the Kama Sutra) but it's certainly not Dante's Inferno...

So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead by David Browne. It's a nice follow-up to Billy K.'s book, which I finished reading last week. I'm halfway through Browne's book already after picking it up only late last week. I'm generally a slow reader, so it's notable the rate at which I'm devouring these tomes. David's book follows a chronological path similar to Billy's book, and it dips into some of the same events his does as well. Perhaps not so curiously it often departs in ways, some minor and some no-so-minor from other retellings of the same stories. This is a well sourced and interesting read although there are some obvious editing errors which always makes me scratch my head. Cannot someone proofread these things?