Shortest History of Germany by James Hawes

On By Rick McIn books, governmentLeave a comment

FROM JULIUS CAESAR TO ANGELA MERKEL–A RETELLING FOR OUR TIMES

… fast-moving encapsulation of German history …

… Hawes sees the birth of Germany as we know it with the partition of Charlemagne’s kingdom into West Frankish (France) and East Frankish (Germany) …

Kirkus

I read this wanting to know more about the history of Germany. It’s not nearly so well known to me as Great Britain and/or France.

The author argues that historically and culturally, eastern Germany is quite different from the rest.

It’s been true for hundreds of years. And was true in 1933 when the east of Germany voted more for Hitler.

Eastern Germans are more likely to be anti-American, anti-NATO and anti-Western.

Some are pro-Putin.

Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is one of your typical right wing hate groups: anti LGBTQ, anti-Muslim, anti-Gay marriage, anti-everything.

Here’s where the AfD party was most popular in the 2017 federal election.

The author almost argues that it would have been better if Germany had not unified.

Despite trillions in subsidy provided by the west, many in the east would rather go back to the Soviet Union.

If there is ever a referendum on separation, I hope it happens.

Deutsches Museum, Munich

On By Rick McIn science, travelLeave a comment

As teenagers, we were blown away when first visiting the Deutsches, the world’s largest museum of science and technology.

Burkhard Mücke photo

I’m talking about the main museum founded 1903. There are two more branches , one in Bonn, and one in Nuremberg.

There is a huge line-up for entry so I bought my ticket online. No lineup for me.

It’s great for kids as there are so many hands-on exhibits.

50+ science subject areas.

Click PLAY or see the entire museum in 4 minutes on YouTube. Some impressive drone work.

IF the world ends, we could rebuild modern science from scratch IF we had everything in the Deutsches Museum. 😀

In 1976 we Canadian tourists were intrigued with the Foucault Pendulum. And it’s still there.

A demonstration of the Earth’s rotation. 

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Bridge making is an art and science well covered in the Deutsches Museum.

I saw the very desk used by the Curies.

Marie and Pierre Curie

Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie, born in Poland, was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Her husband, Pierre Curie, was a co-winner of her first Nobel Prize, making them the first-ever married couple to win the Nobel Prize.

The Curies announced the existence of an element they named “polonium“, and of a second element, which they named “radium“, from the Latin word for “ray”. In the course of their research, they also coined the word “radioactivity“.

Marie died in 1934, aged 66, at the Sancellemoz sanatorium in Passy (Haute-Savoie), France, of aplastic anemia, likely from exposure to radiation in the course of her scientific research.

Pierre Curie died after being struck in the street by a horse-drawn vehicle.

There’s a good section on the Enigma machine, employed extensively by Nazi Germany during World War II.

The Brits famously broke the Enigma machine code at Bletchley Park. Gordon Welchman, who became head of Hut 6 working on that project, admitted they wouldn’t have been successful without consulting cipher-breakers Poles who had cracked Enigma in 1932.

It would take hundreds of hours to look at all 28,000 exhibited objects in the Deutsches Museum.

I downloaded the app and took a “highlights tour” with audio. Recommended for the first time visitor to the museum.

The Lightning Rod by Brad Meltzer

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

Second in the series after The Escape Artist.

This one’s better.

Jim “Zig” Zigarowski, a mortician who spent most of his career at Dover Air Force Base. 

Nola Brown is a badass. And a U.S. Army’s artist-in-residence–a painter.

Zig is called in to personally work his magic on the body of Mint, a former member of the military whose colleagues insist on an open-casket funeral.

Zig comes through …

… an even bigger surprise when Nola Brown, the infamous mystery woman who saved his life in THE ESCAPE ARTIST, shows up at the funeral.

What could possibly be their connection? …

bookreporter review

Well researched. This crazy plot is based on real technology.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Deadloch – season 1

On By Rick McIn humour, TVLeave a comment

Excellent TV comedy set in Tasmania.

A lot of profanity and crude references. Nudity in the first few minutes.

Smart, hilarious dialogue. Lots of Aussie slang.

All 4 key police officers are played by queer actors … BUT lesbians will probably be shocked anyway. As well as entertained.

Actually, this show could offend pretty much anyone. 😀

On the upside, all the murder victims are heterosexual, white men. It’s about time.

The surviving men march to reclaim the night. That’s good comedy.

It’s a small town. The remaining straight men finally charter a bus to flee to safety.

Deadlock is a comedy/parody that skewers police procedurals, forensic scientists, small town life, arts festivals, food culture, straight life, alternative life…the list goes on.

And with all that there is a pretty reasonable murder mystery. …

IMDb

I didn’t guess the killer.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The town choir was a highlight for me.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. In real life, they are the Melbourne Glee Club.

Click PLAY or watch an interview with showrunners Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan on YouTube.

If somehow a season 2 gets the green light, it will likely be set in Darwin.

Visiting Tegernsee, Bavaria

On By Rick McIn cycling, food, travelLeave a comment

Lake Tegernsee is surrounded by an alpine landscape of Upper Bavaria, and has an economy mainly based on tourism.

Carsten Steger – photo

It’s about an hour by train from Munich. Even closer to Austria.

I cycled the 18.8-km loop around the lake. Plus side trips.

Then — on Claudia’s recommendation — had soup and a beer at famed Restaurant Bräustüberl.

I tried the leberspatzlesuppe (liver dumpling soup). Not visually appealing, but tasted great.

I drink only 1 beer / year. But where better than Bavaria on a hot afternoon?

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

A TV quiz show host became one of our most successful murder mystery authors when he published The Thursday Murder Club novel in 2020.

The most borrowed library book one year in England.

The sequel — The Man Who Died Twice — was a big hit, as well.

The Bullet That Missed is #3. Also charming and funny.

As this installment opens, the four septuagenarian members of the club—former MI6 agent Elizabeth Best, retired nurse Joyce Meadowcroft, psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif, and longtime union organizer Ron Ritchie—are investigating another murder from their cold-case files.

It seems that Bethany Waites, a local TV journalist, was about to crack a huge tax avoidance scheme when her car went over a cliff 10 years ago …

The mysteries are complex, the characters vivid, and the whole thing is laced with warm humor and—remarkably, considering the body count—good feeling.

Kirkus

Reviews are great. But I personally found this the weakest of the 3 books.

The silly plot dragged.

Quite a few new characters. Too many?

The more Ibrahim Arif, the better. He’s my favourite.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Hop-On / Hop-Off Munich 

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

Reconnaissance is often a good idea.

For bigger cities, I find buying a Hop-On / Hop-Off bus ticket is a good way to grok the big picture for tourists.  

Usually 24-hours is enough for me. I do the afternoon day 1. Morning day 2.

Typically I’ll ride the entire loop first, deciding on priorities for later.

In Munich I want to visit and/or revisit:

And more. There’s an interesting Italian market called Eataly, for example.

When I went looking for a good bus video, I found my cycling guru Ryan Van Duzer from 2012.

He was vlogging for Viator Travel at the time.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Phantom by Jo Nesbø

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

I really shouldn’t read Nesbø.

Too dark. Too much gore.

I should quit as I quit Karen Slaughter. And for the same reasons.

Phantom is the ninth novel featuring crime detective Inspector Harry Hole. …

Inspector Harry Hole is returned from his self-imposed exile in Hong Kong when he is told that Oleg, the son of his on-off girlfriend Rakel Fauke, has been arrested for murder …

Since Hole has become a father figure to Oleg, he comes to Norway to determine the truth …

Hole discovers that the drug scene in Oslo no longer revolves around heroin, but around a highly-addictive morphine-based drug called violin. …

Hole becomes convinced that the police have the wrong suspect and that Oleg has been arrested to take the heat off the real violin dealers. …

 

Book trailer videos are typically the very worst on YouTube. This one is far better than usual.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

London Grammar, CamelPhat – Higher

On By Rick McIn musicLeave a comment

One of the most interesting videos I’ve seen of late.

HOW MANY cuts are in this edit?

Editors are Waxxwork: Timothy Casten and Vikesh Govind.

I would think AI software will be used soon to make this kind of complicated edit.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Mist by Ragnar Jonasson

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

Definitely a slow start.

But there’s something weirdly compelling to the suspense.

In THE MIST, readers follow series protagonist Hulda Hermansdottir as she returns to work following a personal leave necessitated by an undefined tragedy.

Hulda will soon face a disturbing – and puzzling – case: a mysterious death at a remote farmhouse in the Icelandic countryside, where two bodies have been found.

Weaving together Hulda’s personal life with an extended flashback at the farm in the lead-up to our victims’ deaths, THE MIST is a complex and heartbreaking mystery, a feather in the cap of an already-exceptional crime fiction series.

If you’re in the market for elegant suspense that relies more on atmosphere and character development than blood and gore, Ragnar Jonasson’s superb Hidden Iceland trilogy might just be your perfect match. …

Crime by the Book

The Hidden Iceland series is told backwards chronologically. In Book One, THE DARKNESS, readers meet police officer Hulda Hermansdottir at the end of her career with the Icelandic police. In Book Two, THE ISLAND, readers rewind in time, and meet Hulda in the middle of her career. Finally, in Book Three, THE MIST, readers meet Hulda early on in her career, when she is just finding her footing and establishing herself in the police force. …