CUK Book Club: Currently reading...

[Gibbon]

Religion, Dynasty, and Patronage in Early Christian Rome, 300-900

Traces the central role played by aristocratic patronage in the transformation of the city of Rome at the end of antiquity. It moves away from privileging the administrative and institutional developments related to the rise of papal authority as the paramount theme in the city's post-classical history. Instead the focus shifts to the networks of reciprocity between patrons and their dependents. Using material culture and social theory to challenge traditional readings of the textual sources, the volume undermines the teleological picture of ecclesiastical sources such as the Liber Pontificalis, and presents the lay, clerical, and ascetic populations of the city of Rome at the end of antiquity as interacting in a fluid environment of alliance-building and status negotiation. By focusing on the city whose aristocracy is the best documented of any ancient population, the volume makes an important contribution to understanding the role played by elites across the end of antiquity.

Research for my play

[DoctorStrangelove]

"The search for the Manchurian Candidate" by John Marks.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Manc...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Tune in, turn on, and assassinate someone.

Relates the search for mind control techniques starting in the 1940s when cannabis appeared quite effective at loosening tongues.

Reefer madness has stolen all their souls.

[cojak]

I'm re-reading Northern Lights, since I'm watching the series.

Which stays reasonably true to the book.

[NotAllThere]

The Invisible Library a good read, not sure where im up to in the series of book though. Thanks for reminding me about it.

Currently reading book 6 - The Secret Chapter - published last week. And Paul Merton's Funny Ha Ha - : 80 of the Funniest Stories Ever Written.

[DoctorStrangelove]

"Hunting the Nazi Bomb: The Special Forces Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Deadliest Weapon" by Damien Lewis.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hunting-Naz...s%2C257&sr=8-8

Being the story of The Heroes of Telemark by another name.

Rather enjoyed this one, though it exposes the idiocies of attempting to tow two gliders to a frozen lake in Norway in an unsuccessful attempt to get the job done.

In the end it was accomplished by a group of Norwegians.

All the British soldiers were either killed in the crashing of the gliders or were murdered by the Nazis.

Curiously he manages to give the impression that the Hanford reactors were heavy water moderated when they were graphite moderated and water (river water) cooled.

[BR14]

Currently nothing since I can't be arsed to fill the forms in.

Fill the bloody forms in. It's better in your pocket than anyone else's.

state pension gets better the longer you leave it, though.

private might, depending on the underlying investments.

[Zigenare]

Currently nothing since I can't be arsed to fill the forms in.

Fill the bloody forms in. It's better in your pocket than anyone else's.

[DoctorStrangelove]

State only or + private pension?

Currently nothing since I can't be arsed to fill the forms in.

And two and a half years later: still haven't filled the forms in.

[woohoo]

The Invisible Library, by Genevieve Cogman. Victoriana/fantasy/magic/adventure. The hero is a woman who spies for the Library, but generally would rather read a good book.

The Invisible Library a good read, not sure where im up to in the series of book though. Thanks for reminding me about it.

[saptastic]

Bad Blood

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou.

Interesting story of Elizabeth Holmes - Wikipedia and how she had a net worth of $5bn based on a product that didnt work