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I'm just about to start reading this book on the 1918 Pandemic:

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World by Laura Spinney

I found these figures from the Introduction of the book; "Pale Rider" quite amazing, as usual:

"The Spanish flu infected one in three people on earth, or 500 million human beings. Between the first case recorded on 4 March 1918, and the last sometime in March 1920, it killed 50-100 million people, or between 2.5 and 5 per cent of the global population - a range that reflects the uncertainty that still surrounds it. In terms of single events causing major loss of life, it surpassed the First World War (17 million dead), the Second World War (60 million dead) and possibly both put together. It was the greatest tidal wave of death since the Black Death, perhaps in the whole of human history."

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "I'm just about to start reading this book on the 1918 Pandemic:

[book:Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and H..."

Hope you find it interesting Rick, not exactly one you can "enjoy" but it's nice to know things could be worse!

Very true about how bad things were back then and how we may actually be in a better position than those during the 1918 pandemic. I hope it stays that way as well :)

From the book; "Pale Rider":

"Once the black had set in, death came within days or hours. The distress of the bereaved was compounded by the look of the cadaver: not just the blackened face and hands, but the horribly distended chest. 'The body decomposed very quickly and the chest literally raised itself up, so that we had to push down my poor brother twice,' wrote one survivor. 'The coffin led had to be shut at once.' Inside the chest, at autopsy, pathologists found red, swollen lungs that were congested with haemorrhaged blood, and whose surfaces were covered in a watery pink lather. The flu's victims died by drowning, submerged in their own fluids."

From the book; "Pale Rider" - does this sound familiar:

"On 12 October, the day that the flu spread through the elegant guests at the Club dos Diarios, the satirical magazine Careta (Grimace) expressed a fear that the authorities would exaggerate the danger posed by this mere limpa-velhos - killer of old people - to justify imposing a 'scientific dictatorship' and violating people's civil rights."

"The competing interests of the collective are the reason that historian Alfred Crosby, who told the story of the flu in America, argued that democracy was unhelpful in a pandemic. The demands of national security, a thriving economy and public health are rarely aligned, and elected representatives defending the first two undermine the third, simply by doing their job. In France, for example, powerful bodies including the Ministry of the Interior and the Academy of Medicine ordered the closure of theatres, cinemas, churches and markets, but this rarely happened, because prefects in the French departments didn’t enforce the measures ‘for fear of annoying the public�."

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World by Laura Spinney

"Pale Rider" - things are getting pretty bad in Rio:

"By then, so many corpses lay unburied in the city that people began to fear they posed a sanitary risk. 'On my street,' recalled one carioca, 'you could see an ocean of corpses from the window. People would prop the feet of the dead up on the window ledges so that public assistance agencies would come to take them away. But the service was slow; and there came a time when the air grew filthy; the bodies began to swell and rot. many began throwing corpses out on the streets'."

And;

"The bell at the gate of the Caju cemetery would not stop tolling, driving those who lived nearby almost mad. Gravediggers couldn't dig fast enough; a thousand bodies awaited burial. To save time, they dug shallower graves. 'Sometimes the ditch was so shallow that a foot would suddenly bloom on the earth', recalled the writer Nelson Rodrigues. Amateur gravediggers were hired at advantageous prices. 'Then came the prisoners,' wrote Nava: 'Mayhem.' Convicts were enlisted to clear the backlog. Talk of horrors spread: of fingers and earlobes severed for jewels; of the lifting of the skirts of young girls; of necrophilia; of people buried alive. In hospitals, it was said, at the same hour every night, 'midnight tea' was severed to those who were beyond help, to speed them on their way to the 'holy house' - as coffin sellers euphemistically referred to the cemeteries."

"Pale Rider" - events up in Alaska with the rescue ship Unalga:

"In the morning they went ashore and found the village deserted. A bad smell was coming from one of the barabaras, and they ventured in to investigate. Coffin described what happened next: 'On going down into the low narrow door into the first of two connecting rooms was unexpectedly confronted by three big malamutes - promptly retired closing the door - broke windows on the roof and shot the dogs - two skulls and many large bones all picked clean scattered over the floor and evidence that the dogs had been fighting over the remains.' It was a ghoulish echo of another American's observation during the Great Sickness of 1900, that, 'Prowling dogs are at dead bodies while from the foothills came the long drawn-out eerie calls telling that wolves were near'."

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World by Laura Spinney

I'm always grateful when a book shows me that kids have always been terminal smartarses, regardless of breeding:

"When a peer who had taken his little daughter to watch the royal funeral asked her to say her prayers before bedtime, she replied, �It won't be any use. God will be too busy unpacking King Edward. ��

The Darksome Bounds of a Failing World

Jonny wrote: "I'm always grateful when a book shows me that kids have always been terminal smartarses, regardless of breeding:

"When a peer who had taken his little daughter to watch the royal funeral asked her..."

Quite funny :)

I have started reading this new and fairly extensive account of Machiavelli and his times:

Machiavelli: His Life and Times by Alexander Lee

"Machiavelli: His Life and Times" - Some advice he read during his early schooling:

"Consisting of between twelve and fifteen words, each couplet taught a moral lesson. Many of these emphasized the virtues of patience, humility and temperance. But others conveyed more practical messages that would doubtless have struck a chord with the young Niccolò. 'Since Nature created you as a naked child,' read one, 'Remember to bear the burden of poverty patiently.' 'Scorn riches if you wish to be happy in mind,' read another, 'For those who seek them, always beg as misers'."

Machiavelli: His Life and Times by Alexander Lee

From the book; "Machiavelli", politics in Machiavelli's time could be quite bitter and very dangerous:

"Freed from Cesare's malign influence, Florence could turn its attention to Pistoia again. Despite the commissioner's best efforts, the city's factional divisions remained as bitter as ever. The Cancellieri were still doggedly clinging on to the organs of communal government, and bands of exiled Panciatichi continued to roam the countryside, spoiling for a fight. On 4 July, hostilities broke out again. A pitched battle took place, in which as many as 200 men, mostly foreign mercenaries, were killed. The following day, there was another skirmish. Although fewer lives were lost, the exchange was no less gruesome. According to Landucci, the heads of a dozen men were stuck on lances and paraded around Pistoia. They were then taken down and used a footballs."

Machiavelli: His Life and Times by Alexander Lee

It's taken several months, but I just now finished reading "Six Frigates: The Epic Founding of the History of the U.S. Navy" by Ian W. Toll. Excellent book!!

/book/show/3...

Glad to hear you enjoyed the book Gia, I have a copy that I am yet to read, maybe one day soon :)

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Glad to hear you enjoyed the book Gia, I have a copy that I am yet to read, maybe one day soon :)"

Good! Will be fun to see what you think of it when that time comes:) Now I have to figure out what history book I'm reading next!

What to read next, can be a problem deciding sometimes eh! :)

Yes, especially when there are so many good history books to choose from, lol!

I'm making a start on the medical history

The Medical Detective

Hopefully I'll find it as good as the similar

The Ghost Map: A Street, an Epidemic and the Hidden Power of Urban Networks

Two good books there Jonny, I gave a copy of the first book to my wife and a copy of the second book to my daughter.

I started this book yesterday on one of my favourite painters:

Caravaggio and the Creation of Modernity by Troy Thomas

Its not a large book but it has over 60 colour plates of his paintings. It has given me a yearning to go back to Rome and do a Caravaggio tour :)

I'm going to start this book this morning whilst enjoying my first coffee of the day:

The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to Build the World's Greatest Library by Edward Wilson-Lee

@'Aussie Rick' Oh my gosh, that book looks great! I'm really into books about sea adventures now since I finished Six Frigates last week. And I love books and libraries, of course, too. I'll have to look for this one; I've been a little bit lost as to what history book I'm reading next. Thanks for sharing:)

Gia wrote: "@'Aussie Rick' Oh my gosh, that book looks great! I'm really into books about sea adventures now since I finished Six Frigates last week. And I love books and libraries, of course, too. I'll have t..."

Hi Gia, my pleasure, I hope you have found the perfect book to read next.

From the book; "The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books":

"Shortly before Columbus arrived at court an armada of 130 ships, bearing an estimated twenty-five to thirty-five thousand passengers, had departed from the Basque country to take the princess Juana to Flanders, where she would marry Duke Philip of Burgundy, and to bring back on the return trip Maximilian's eldest daughter Margaret. For the princess's retinue of three thousand, they stocked two hundred cows, a thousand chickens, two thousand eggs, four thousand barrels of wine, and nearly a quarter of a million salted fish."

Sounds like a hefty wedding bill for the father of the bride!

"The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books" - I liked the story of Bruto, Infante Juan's loyal dog:

Currently reading The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II -- The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy , after just having finished - A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century. Fascinating to know the role the Vatican played in taking on Communism.

Some interesting books there Arthur!

From the book; "The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books", I've heard this story before somewhere else but its too good not to quote again:

"Many courtesans like Aldonza leveraged themselves into positions of immense power, perhaps most famously the woman known as Imperia, a favourite of the likes of Agostino Chigi and the cardinals: her apartments were so luxurious that the Spanish ambassador, when paying a visit, felt obliged to spit in the face of his servant as it was the only thing present that wasn't worth a fortune."

From the book; "The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books" - Here are a few quotes from the book that may interest some fellow bibliophiles in regards to our book buying habit and how its not as bad as some others:

"From Wurzburg Hernando had passed through Cologne, buying two hundred more books in three days, and Mainz, where he bought a further thousand in a month."

And;

"He was bringing back with him to Spain, however, the foundations of a new Columbian legacy: forty-two hundred books that he had purchased in northern Europe - the Low Countries, Germany, and England - and which, when added to the 1,674 he had acquired in Venice and the books he already either had, inherited, or bought in Spain and Rome, would give the thirty-three-year-old Hernando one of the greatest private libraries in all of Europe."

Finally:

"The sight of Sanuto's famous library being sold off to pay debts can only have provoked sympathy in Hernando for that particular horror, familiar to the impoverished bibliophile, combining both the sharpness of parting from books and the sadness that things so prized by the collector should fetch such a meager price. The bibliomaniac Walter Benjamin recounts that even the thought of having to sell his books drove him to buy more to soothe the pain he felt ... "

The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to Build the World's Greatest Library by Edward Wilson-Lee

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "From the book; "The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books" - Here are a few quotes from the book that may interest some fellow bibliophiles in regards to our book buying habit and how its not as bad as so..."

Thanks for sharing those quotes. Didnt know Columbus had an illegitimate son or that he had amassed such a vast library.

As for my own updates, am now reading Company Commander: The Classic Infantry Memoir of World War II as well as Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, 1921-1933

"Red Famine" is a great book and tells a terrible story, one that should be read by more people.

Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, 1921-1933 by Anne Applebaum

I'm going to start reading this book today. Usually I stay away from books concerning politicians or politics but this was a birthday present from my daughter so I'm making an exception.

A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America by Philip Rucker

I'm going to start this book today, its one a subject I love reading about; Zeppelin's.

Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World by Alexander Rose

I started; "Empires of the Sky" this morning over coffee, pretty interesting so far. I liked this bit of information from the Prologue about how safe the Zeppelin's were as of October 1936:

"It is beyond safe. Since 1912, Eckener's civilian airships have flown 48,778 passengers 1,193,501 miles, over 20,877 hours of flight time, with neither a fatality nor even a serious injury. Considering that in this same year of 1936 alone, 36,126 Americans will die in car crashes and 305 airplane passengers in 1,739 accidents, the Zeppelin's record is second to none."

Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World by Alexander Rose

I'd love to know what the 1938 brochure had to say...

Jonny wrote: "I'd love to know what the 1938 brochure had to say..."

That's a very good point Jonny :)

The author of "Empires of the Sky", mentioned the destruction of the Zeppelin airship LZ-4 in 1908 which led to "Dementia Zeppelina":

"For the sake of dignity, the count refused to endorse Zeppelin perfume, Zeppelin cookies, and Zeppelin beer - not that it stopped entrepreneurs from producing them - but customers could purchase count-approved Zeppelin cigarettes, cheese, dolls, lamps, chocolate, gingerbread, suspenders, tape measures, boot polish, spoons, cigars, detergent, hats, ties, pocket watches, scarves, and firecrackers with his face on the box (rather tasteless, given the nature of LZ-4's demise) to complement the medallions, stamps, and postcards sold to raise additional funds. There was even an amusement park that built a Zeppelin carousel with airship-shaped rides, and the septuagenarian count became an unlikely fashion icon when upscale stores began selling his customary yacht caps and rubber-soled (to prevent sparks) cloth shoes."

LZ-4:

"Empires of the Sky" - Some interesting facts & figures:

"Yet if there was something Zeppelin had that the Wrights didn't in the summer of 1909, it was money to burn. The Wrights may have made a small fortune in 1908 thanks to their successes in America and France, but they were now competing against dozens of rivals as the airplane business exploded. Within three years, in the United States alone, there would be 146 airplane companies and 114 different engines on the market."

And:

"In 1908, whereas France spent (in contemporary dollars) $235,000 of public money on aviation, with Austria-Hungary coming in second at $27,000, followed by Britain with $25,000 (the United States probably expended about the same), Germany devoted no less than $660,000, the over-whelming majority of which was directed to airship development."

Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World by Alexander Rose

Interesting figures Rick, and I loved the post about the Zeppelin endorsements!

I'm about to make a start on my final trilogy of the year, Richard J. Evans's works on the Third Reich, starting with The Coming of the Third Reich: How the Nazis Destroyed Democracy and Seized Power in Germany

I've read the third and final book in the trilogy and loved it so hopefully the first two books are just as good. Keep us posted on how you go.

"Empires of the Sky" - July 1914 - Old count Zeppelin sounds a bit crazy!

"Vindicated in his belief that Zeppelins were meant for combat not peace, the elderly count proclaimed to the Prussian State Assembly that because 'the most devastating war is ultimately the most merciful.' Germany must launch airship-bombing attacks against her enemies as soon as possible. General von Einem recalled that shortly after the outbreak of war, he happened to bump into Zeppelin, who exclaimed, 'All England must burn!' as 'his eyes sparkled'. Zeppelin's fiery vigor - he called for the Reich's immediate annexation of Belgium and France - would later become some embarrassing that even the Chancellery had to request that he refrain from making any more public statements regarding the war."

Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World by Alexander Rose

'Aussie Rick' wrote: ""Empires of the Sky" - July 1914 - Old count Zeppelin sounds a bit crazy!

"Vindicated in his belief that Zeppelins were meant for combat not peace, the elderly count proclaimed to the Prussian Sta..."

Sounds a bit too eager for his own good Rick... But they did at least have a go at the first bit.

"Empires of the Sky" - The dangers of the early air-mail system in America:

The toll in human life rose as well. being an Air Mail pilot was the most dangerous job on earth. Not for nothing was it known as the "Suicide Club"' whose members were all young men with an insatiable appetite for risk. Looking, said one observer, like "Eskimos in their ungainly flying-suits, with helmets and goggles on their heads and great fur-lined moccasins over their shoes," they carried sidearms "strapped to their thighs in approved 'bad man' fashion" to ward off not only mail thieves but bears in the event they had to crash-land.

Crashing was a virtual certainty: Everyone expected at least a few accidents (one pilot, Wesley Smith, pranged no fewer than fifteen airplanes), and if they were lucky they would happen in a nice, flat area; trying to land in mountainous or forested terrain was usually a death sentence, perhaps at the paws of said bears. Dean Smith, however, survived a particularly tricky situation: As he telegrammed his boss to explain, "Dead stick - flying low - only place available, on cow. Killed cow - wrecked plane - scared me."

Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World by Alexander Rose

'Aussie Rick' wrote: ""Empires of the Sky" - The dangers of the early air-mail system in America:

The toll in human life rose as well. being an Air Mail pilot was the most dangerous job on earth. Not for nothing was it..."

That's pine for the annals of aviation history Rick! Loved that telegram.

It was a good telegram :)

"Empires of the Sky" - Sounds like a pretty amazing bloke:

"One of his board members was the extraordinary adventurer Merian Cooper. In his time he chased Pancho Villa in Mexico, served as a bomber pilot in France in the Great War, flown for the volunteer Kosciuzko's Squadron in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-21, been shot down and interned in a Soviet POW camp, escaped from that POW camp, and been pursued by pirates off the Abyssinian coast. In the late 1920s, he had joined Trippe's merry band at Pan America, but board duties too up little of his time: He otherwise devoted himself to - why not? - the movie business, where he pitched an idea about a giant ape ravaging New York that had come to him in a dream."

Merian Cooper:

"Empires of the Sky" - Some interesting statistics after the Hindenburg accident:

"The effect of the Hindenburg's destruction on the American public's view of airships was much less dire than people tend to assume. Air disasters were, after all, a frequent phenomenon at the time. In the sixteen months between January 1, 1936, and May 1, 1937 - a few days before the end of the Hindenburg - American domestic airlines killed an average of six people per month, and there had been no fewer than ten major crashes in the same period.

In one particularly dreadful two-week period (December 15-30, 1936), five airliners had gone down, killing forty-one people, soon followed by another spate between January 25 and March 25, adding twenty-nine to the pyre. (This was just the scheduled airlines; private planes were veritable death traps, with 541 dead in 1936-37.)

When an airplane crashed, it was usually the case that everyone died horribly. In that light, that 'only' a third of the Hindenburg's passengers and crew had perished in a cataclysmic blaze seemed a testament to the airshipmen's familiar argument that airships were actually safer than airplanes in an emergency. "

Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World by Alexander Rose

Currently reading Adam Zamoyski's Napoleon: the man behind the myth.

Boudewijn wrote: "Currently reading Adam Zamoyski's Napoleon: the man behind the myth."

Let me know how you go as I have a copy that I am yet to read. I have enjoyed this author's previous Napoleonic titles so I have high hopes for this book.

Napoleon: The Man behind the Myth by Adam Zamoyski