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  1. #2101
    Thailand Expat
    Shutree's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by docmartin View Post
    'Jim Thompson The Unsolved Mystery' by William Warren.

    An interesting story in itself but what's more interesting for me is the background information about his life.
    It illuminates the Thailand of the thirties, forties, fifties and sixties - the politics, the expatriates in Bangkok, the culture of the times etc etc.
    Which for someone learning about such things from a very limited base is fascinating.

    Attachment 55499

    First time I scanned this thread I thought that I had read this long ago. Then I realised that I had read Warren's much earlier book about Thompson. At that time some key characters were very much alive. I lived a stone's throw from Connie Mangskau's house, I could see her roof from my garden. She never invited me over for tea.
    Warren's book left a number of things unsaid. I talked to an older, long-term American resident back then and he had some thoughts - although not about the disappearance.
    I'd be interested to read this updated version. Now that all those characters have passed on, probably Warren has been a bit more forthright.

  2. #2102
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    happynz's Avatar
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    Picked up Cities of the Plains by Cormac McCarthy on sale at Jarir Bookstore for 17ريل. I have a four day weekend coming up with no place I have to be, so I'm looking forward to having a good read.

  3. #2103
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troy View Post
    A long time ago, when I was in the second year of secondary school, our maths teacher introduced us to a little bit of history and a man called Jakow Trachtenberg. After a brief history of his life, including time in a Nazi concentration camp, he went on to explain some of the Trachtenberg system of arithmetic, which he devised during his imprisonment.

    I still remember some of the arithmetic checks and was asked recently where I learnt them as they were not familiar with such trickery. I had a quick search, based on memories and lo and behold his book is now in pdf form, free on the internet.

    https://drtayeb.files.wordpress.com/...erg-system.pdf

    Fascinating stuff if anyone is interested. It changed many a schoolboy's attitude to maths when I was a kid.
    Yes, fascinating. Never heard of him before and wish I had.

  4. #2104
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Reading this book about how many older citizens live the "Nomadic" life. It's way of earning cash, reasons for choosing the lifestyle and the friends they have made.

    What book are you reading right now?-9780393249316-jpg
    Last edited by OhOh; 21-09-2020 at 09:03 PM.

  5. #2105
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    ^^ Glad someone took a look at the link. The preface goes some way to explain the depravity that led to such a withdrawal from the world to find solace in numbers.

    I learnt enough to do some things mechanically without quite remembering why. Nines complement, integer division, summing the digits within numbers...

    ...and it adds a certain magic to arithmetic where rote learning of tables fails. I should add that we were taught the latter first and then introduced to the former.

  6. #2106
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    ^

    It looks and interesting system. I wonder what our TD Maths teachers think of it or if they have come across it in their work.
    Last edited by OhOh; 23-09-2020 at 04:38 PM.

  7. #2107
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    The Bed of Procrustes

    By Nassim Taleb

  8. #2108
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    Reading this book about how many older citizens live the "Nomadic" life. It's way of earning cash, reasons for choosing the lifestyle and the friends they have made.

    What book are you reading right now?-9780393249316-jpg
    Book about Terry57

  9. #2109
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    Book about Terry57
    Terry always suggested his finances were in good health.

    Many in the book are not so fortunate and make the most of a bad deal. Their expected financial buffer failing to appear as anticipated.

  10. #2110
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    I knew I was going to have a lot of spare time in the evenings coming up, and instead of spending them messing about on my phone and laptop I'm trying to get back in the habit of reading books again. I'm planning on alternating between easy reading novels and some non-fiction to actually try and educate myself a bit.

    First up... The Faithful Executioner, about a 16th century Nuremburg executioner who chronicled his life's work. I've only just started it, but it's not exactly what you'd call a 'feel good book' to be honest.




  11. #2111
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    ^ Yes but sometimes the most savage books are the best. My favorite book is The Fall of Berlin by Antony Beevor.

  12. #2112
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    Not a bad read. The second book I read -

    What book are you reading right now?-d2ad15f9-569d-45cf-aa74-23f98bebf2c0-jpeg

    and the first ? -

    What book are you reading right now?-bbfa6eff-ce85-445d-a1bd-421b32733a53-jpeg

  13. #2113
    En route
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    Not reading now but the first book that excited my mind.




    Last edited by Cujo; 23-09-2020 at 08:47 PM.

  14. #2114
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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    ^ Yes but sometimes the most savage books are the best.
    You should read




    What am I saying, I bet you've read it already.

  15. #2115
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cujo View Post
    You should read




    What am I saying, I bet you've read it already.
    I have it in my PDF reader. Read about half of it. But no. I have no hot takes on Hitler. The guy is the biggest piece of shit who destroyed Germany for the rest of our lifetimes at least

    I have no hot takes other than how monetary expansion caused Hitler. And that's exactly what governments are doing today

  16. #2116
    Making people dance. :-)
    Edmond's Avatar
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    Homo Deus - Yuval Noah Harari.

  17. #2117
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    I haven't read a book in a long time. Whenever I try to pick one up, I feel daunted by the realization that it is going to be emotionally and mentally taxing. I also feel afraid to dedicate hours into reading instead of sleeping or playing a game. I barely have enough free time as is. the only thing I could do each day is play a round of cards in a mobile game.

  18. #2118
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    I'm reading Escape from Sobibor. After watching the Devil Next Door on Netflix about the mis identified Nazi.

    It's some awfully sick shit. Only central Europeans like box heads could be so savage. I know. I'm one of them.(central European) Just knowing the temperament of my gramps. I did some work for my gramps and he would sit there screaming like an asshole at us , watching our every move
    Last edited by Backspin; 15-10-2020 at 09:47 PM.

  19. #2119
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    ...3 Body Problem by Liu Cixin...Sci fi from a Chinese perspective...I'm half-way through the first novel in the 3-novel series: lots of elementary physics adds to the realism of the story...

  20. #2120
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Utagawa View Post
    I haven't read a book in a long time. Whenever I try to pick one up, I feel daunted by the realization that it is going to be emotionally and mentally taxing. I also feel afraid to dedicate hours into reading instead of sleeping or playing a game. I barely have enough free time as is. the only thing I could do each day is play a round of cards in a mobile game.

    bloody heck. That’s a very different perspective to mine, perhaps some lighter reading?

  21. #2121
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    The Reckoning
    John Grisham - as many times before - tells a fictive criminal story from the Deep South, inspired by a real crime - as he claims. As usually, he does not surprise us by masterful depiction of the circumstances in small rural places before and after WW2. But he does surprise us by a depiction of quite different topic: the first months of war theater in Philippines where the main character of the novel is serving in US cavalry unit.

    Obviously not generally well known history of WW2 where some 70,000 US and Filipino POW's were forcibly transferred by Japanese on the infamous Bataan Death March. Grisham describes the incredible abusive conditions on that 100 km march where every day hundreds of them were left in the ditches along the way. And at the end of the march the ones who survived were loaded onto trains and further onto ships to working camps and mines in Japan. And again, not many of those Japanese ships survived the war on the sea.

    The murderous circumstances and the fate of the soldiers, dead or alive, was not known in the USA till 1944. The description of the events is not fictive, Grisham refers to sources and books. And he does not hesitate to mention the blunders of general McArthur's command who - prior to army surrender - had tactically displaced himself and his family to Australia. For that he was later decorated by Medal of Honor.

  22. #2122
    I'm in Jail

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    ^ have you read about the Sandakan marches ? Sandakan Death Marches - Wikipedia

  23. #2123
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Klondyke View Post
    The Reckoning
    John Grisham - as many times before - tells a fictive criminal story from the Deep South, inspired by a real crime - as he claims. As usually, he does not surprise us by masterful depiction of the circumstances in small rural places before and after WW2. But he does surprise us by a depiction of quite different topic: the first months of war theater in Philippines where the main character of the novel is serving in US cavalry unit.

    Obviously not generally well known history of WW2 where some 70,000 US and Filipino POW's were forcibly transferred by Japanese on the infamous Bataan Death March. Grisham describes the incredible abusive conditions on that 100 km march where every day hundreds of them were left in the ditches along the way. And at the end of the march the ones who survived were loaded onto trains and further onto ships to working camps and mines in Japan. And again, not many of those Japanese ships survived the war on the sea.

    The murderous circumstances and the fate of the soldiers, dead or alive, was not known in the USA till 1944. The description of the events is not fictive, Grisham refers to sources and books. And he does not hesitate to mention the blunders of general McArthur's command who - prior to army surrender - had tactically displaced himself and his family to Australia. For that he was later decorated by Medal of Honor.
    I read it recently, brutal.

  24. #2124
    Excommunicated baldrick's Avatar
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    the gardens of mars - a travel and history book of madagascar - quite interesting and an easy read

    surprised at being alive - a book about flying helicopters from chinooks in vietnam to seakings in norway - was a good read

    operation morthor - allok into the circumstance surrounding the death of Dag Hammerskjold at ndola during the UNs intervention in DRC

    american spy - the auto biography of howard hunt who was involved and jailed for his involvement in watergate - but lots of interesting stories in his earlier years in the CIA

    killing fields of cambodia - a reasonable read detailing fleeing from pnom phen and trevails in the years after in the countryside

    in the service of the sultan - a autobiography by a young english officer seconded to the sultan of oman during the 60s

    a promised land - obamas first installment of his leadup and time as president - interesting how high he valued joe biden

    between two fires - stories about contemporary russia and the methods to cope - very worthwhile

  25. #2125
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheRealKW View Post
    I read it recently, brutal.
    the blunders of general McArthur's command who - prior to army surrender - had tactically displaced himself and his family to Australia. For that he was later decorated by Medal of Honor.
    Wondering whether the heroic general hadn't wanted to prove himself later on the miserable Korean people?

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