What are we reading?

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

I have been itching to read Churchill's books on WWI & WWII for months. I keep going to amazon, almost hit 1 click buy then decide to wait. Part of me want to look for insight in to what went wrong, how could it be avoided, part of me thinks they will suck many hrs better spent elsewhere. Can someone convince me not to buy them? Can someone convince me they are important enough not to be missed?

[Airborne Rifles]

He won a Nobel prize for literature. I'd get them.

[Gusington]

I feel kind of the same way about The Last Lion, Part I...except I bought it but haven't developed the fortitude to crack it open yet. Clearly I would buy the bios too :)

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

"I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines. But what we have to consider here to-day while time remains, is the permanent prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom and democracy as rapidly as possible in all countries. Our difficulties and dangers will not be removed by closing our eyes to them. They will not be removed by mere waiting to see what happens; nor will they be removed by a policy of appeasement. What is needed is a settlement, and the longer this is delayed, the more difficult it will be and the greater our dangers will become.

From what I have seen of our Russian friends and Allies during the war, I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness. For that reason the old doctrine of a balance of power is unsound. We cannot afford, if we can help it, to work on narrow margins, offering temptations to a trial of strength. If the Western Democracies stand together in strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter, their influence for furthering those principles will be immense and no one is likely to molest them. If however they become divided or falter in their duty and if these all-important years are allowed to slip away then indeed catastrophe may overwhelm us all."

http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-of-winston-churchill/120-the-sinews-of-peace

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Picked up volume 1 of each set.
Thanks for the recommendations gents.

[Gusington]

Excellent. Have you read The Last Lion books? Either way it's Churchill, you can't go wrong.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

I have not read them. It might be too much.

I have always tried to be practical in my study. Focus on what I feel I need to know to move forward in an area, ignore the rest. There is far too much information out there to do otherwise. I still have Clausewitz, Porsche, Gibbon, Thucydides, Herotodus, Livy, Mahan, to finish, just in history. I also have stuff in architecture, engineering, economics,...

Time is precious.

[MetalDog]

It is.  But knowledge is, too.  And who better to gain knowledge than those who are wont to do good with it.

[JasonPratt]

Dang, that quote from Churchill has looped back around again, hasn't it?  :o

[BanzaiCat]

Makes you wonder if there's any Churchill types out there today. Obviously nobody in power anywhere.

[Gusington]

Plenty of Hitlers to go around.

[BanzaiCat]

Which is why they seem to be succeeding. There's no strong Western leader anymore to counter this insanity.

One of us should run for President. Gus, I'll vote for you, even if you need to stand on a chair behind the podium. ;)

[Gusington]

Thank you Sir. But I would never want the job of POTUS. I enjoy what crumbs of dignity I have left.

[BanzaiCat]

My interpretation is the founding fathers wanted anyone to be able to run for office, as long as they met the requirements. That means you, myself, or any of us that meet those requirements could do it. Not the same back-scratching cockroaches every year.

To think our own Constitution says that people have the right to change a government when it abuses their rights. Yet talking about that invites Homeland Security scrutiny, not to mention being considered treasonous. Something's rotten and all that. 

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

I think it depends on the methods. If you feel you have come up with a better system you present the idea to your peers (citizens). If they like it, the idea goes viral on the net. There is discussion, maybe even legislation.

The problem is with the people that don't like something, have no clue what to do, so they just trash everything around them to display their unhappyness.