Voltaire Quote

“One always speaks badly when one has nothing to say”

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A Quote and a Thought on Wrting

A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules. --Anthony Trollope.

Trollope apparently rose each morning at four a.m. and wrote for three hours. This allowed him to churn out his prodigious catalog of literary works and work for a living. Graham Greene is said to have used a similar method. Two hours a day equalled 500 words of prose a day for Greene, or 180 thousand pages a year. That comes out two a little more than two good length novels and a novella each year.

Book Review--The Beatles by Bob Spitz

This was a Christmas gift nearly two years ago that I picked up and put down several times. I finally finished it and I was glad i saw it though to the end. At 856 pages, it was at some times, especially in the pre-Beatlemania slow going. The Beatles do not hit the big time until page 383 almost half-way through the book. It is here that the book really takes off. The book s fairly convincing in delivering on its unstated thesis that Beatlemania was extraordinarily had, physically and emotionally on the Beatles. Spitz is also a good sketch artists of the various personalities that float in and out of the story. For the Beatles later songs, he also provides interesting tid bits about their origins and how they were created. The earlier part of The Beatles is slower going for three reasons. First, Spitz tends to put his subjects on the couch , which is tedious to begin with. But it also gives rise to the notion that individual events in peoples childhoods are highly significant as to how they will act on particular occasions in their adulthood. This causes Spitz to bang on far too long about all sorts of boring trivia about the Beatles adolescent years. Second, although his insights into the composition of the Beatles songs from Rubber Soul on were interesting, the Beatles earlier songs just don't bear the weight of Spitz's exposition. Put differently, it is more fun to listen to "Please, Please Me," than to read or think about it. Third, life in obscurity tends to be more boring than stardom. if nothing else, the Beatles could afford to be weirder once they had money.

All and all this is a must read for Beatles fans. Just don't let the first 300 pages or so bog you down.

Book Review--The World Crisis

At 800 plus pages, Winston Churchill's 1931 overview on the First World War probably only appeals to Churchill and WWI junkies. Like many WWI overviews, the World Crisis is highly anglo-centric. The Somme, Dardenelles, and Jutland get through treatment, but developments in eastern Europe do not get much attention. And, as a political participant in Britain's prosecution in the first two years of the war, Churchill has some scores to settle and positions to protect. But the prose sparkles and Churchill clearly possesses the rare gift to see issues in broad and strategic terms. Alas, that strategic vision was not unerring.