Bred Any Good Rooks Lately?

not_nadine

Okay I didn't read the stonehedge one yet. I'll see what they have to say.

Kurben

GNTLGNT said:

.....maybe not a grave Kurb, but there were remains found there if I recall correctly....

Quite correct. The place where Stonehenge now stands were used for approximately 50 cremation burials (might even be the first cremation burials at least in europe, they are very early) whose remains were buried there and found in some potholes.. That was ca 3100 BC-2700 or 2600 BC. Then that all stopped and they built what we today call Stonehenge and no further burials took place. The Standing stones with the slabs on top of them which is what we most often mean with Stonehenge was built ca 2500 BC. There are also some graves relatively close to from different times but since it is the Salisbury plain thats not really strange since people lived and worked there. Stonehenge has gone through many restaurations since then but they took place after the main construction was up and are relatively minor even if you still can see some of them today. All i meant was that since the Stoneslabs were erected in 2500 BC no burial were done at the site of Stonehenge. DNA suggests that the first phase included some construction (postholes and similar things have been found plus two, maybe three stones belong to that phase plus the burials. That was the first farmer invasion of britain. But ca 500 years later different DNA belonging to what is known in Europe as the Bell Beaker culture crossed from france. It is believed they took over and it was they who built Stonehenge. We know it was Bell Beakers from their distinctive pottery found close by. Archaeologists believe it was these people who brought the Indo-european language to britain. The so called first farmers have left very little trace in our current DNA, even less than the Neanderthal whose genes is still in our DNA( ca 1,5-2,0 %) so it is probable that the two groups did not mix very much.

Hedda Gabler

GNTLGNT said:

.....maybe not a grave Kurb, but there were remains found there if I recall correctly....

Probably the poor numbnutz that dragged it in place. 

not_nadine

I looked in my book including index. They only mention of it is on the cover.

GNTLGNT

Kurben said:

GNTLGNT said:

.....maybe not a grave Kurb, but there were remains found there if I recall correctly....

Quite correct. The place where Stonehenge now stands were used for approximately 50 cremation burials (might even be the first cremation burials at least in europe, they are very early) whose remains were buried there and found in some potholes.. That was ca 3100 BC-2700 or 2600 BC. Then that all stopped and they built what we today call Stonehenge and no further burials took place. The Standing stones with the slabs on top of them which is what we most often mean with Stonehenge was built ca 2500 BC. There are also some graves relatively close to from different times but since it is the Salisbury plain thats not really strange since people lived and worked there. Stonehenge has gone through many restaurations since then but they took place after the main construction was up and are relatively minor even if you still can see some of them today. All i meant was that since the Stoneslabs were erected in 2500 BC no burial were done at the site of Stonehenge. DNA suggests that the first phase included some construction (postholes and similar things have been found plus two, maybe three stones belong to that phase plus the burials. That was the first farmer invasion of britain. But ca 500 years later different DNA belonging to what is known in Europe as the Bell Beaker culture crossed from france. It is believed they took over and it was they who built Stonehenge. We know it was Bell Beakers from their distinctive pottery found close by. Archaeologists believe it was these people who brought the Indo-european language to britain. The so called first farmers have left very little trace in our current DNA, even less than the Neanderthal whose genes is still in our DNA( ca 1,5-2,0 %) so it is probable that the two groups did not mix very much.

....thanks for the concise history!....I've watched a few shows, but was unsure of the burial timelines....

not_nadine

I listen to audio books before I go to sleep.
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. It is excellent and I must buy the book. Yes I have seen the movie.

I found the chirp app. Many audiobooks for very reasonable price. I really didn't like audio books at first  and the thought of it -I guess it depends on the narrator.

not_nadine

I am also rereading  The Dead zone. Good Lord the similarities to you know who are eerie. 

Kurben

reading Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky . On recommendation from my brother. Started really well. Am 6 chapters in and its a great read so far. Always nice to find a new great SF author. Doesn't happen too often. 

GNTLGNT

...just completed Never Flinch.....enjoyed the hell out of it, but I can see why he had fits & starts moments getting this one tied up in a bow......enjoyed some tasty Easter eggs as well....

Hedda Gabler

I am having a serious problem reading.  Focus gone, want to sleep. 

FlakeNoir

Hedda Gabler said:

I am having a serious problem reading.  Focus gone, want to sleep. 

I have reader's block. I hope it's not terminal. 🥺

Kurben

Reading Nemesis by Max Hastings. A history of the last years of the pacific war against Japan 1944-45. That means that the big defeats like Pearl Harbor and Singapore and others as well as the big victories like Midway and Guadalcanal were in the past. It is extremely informative but perhaps not as well written and well told as other books by Hastings. Still very well researched and has parts were the narrative jumps to life and you get really involved but it also has parts where the narrative is strained. If you are reading history books for enjoyment perhaps not but as a source of information and as part of a reference library, absolutely. And even if the book is focused on the last years of the war, which is ok, i think it would have been a good idea to have a chapter or two about what has gone before, like Pearl and Midway and Guadalcanal. Just the main stops so you get a better context, you can skip alot like the Doolittle raid and other things. 

not_nadine

I just ordered Ernest Hemingway - To Have and to Have Not. 

I'll be house sitting in Key West for a while and I haven't visited his home yet and see his generational six-toed cats. 

Kurben

am deep in Henry VIII: The Heart & The Crown. Its a historical novel told in I perspective from Henry,s standpoint. Its written by Alison Weir who is a good historian specialized in Tudor times so she knows what shes talking about when it comes to what happened. Here she uses the novel format to bring henrys thoughts to life, what he thought of his friends enemies and family including his 6 wifes and, at least, 12 mistresses. its an interesting take on Henry. I have read a biography from her on the same man but this is not a history, this is his story told by himself and he himself see just a great guy that everyone ought to love. And from the beginning what he wants most is an heir. Which he does not get for a long time. which certainly effects his thoughts more and more as time passes.

Hedda Gabler

Sounds good Kurben. 

GNTLGNT

....honestly, with all the skirt he was chasing-how in the hell did he manage to be so rotund?.....

Kurben

GNTLGNT said:

....honestly, with all the skirt he was chasing-how in the hell did he manage to be so rotund?.....

Actually that is a bit of a misconception. Up till about 1535 (He became king in 1509) he was very active, hunting riding, playing physival games and jousting and also if not lean very welltrained with a good figure. But then he had a jousting accident and had to limit his activities (a leg that never seemed to heal with sores and pus with irregular intervals and pained him up to his death 12 years later). So to compensate he ate more which was another of the things he enjoyed but made him åut on weight quickly and he ignored his doctors advice about eating less because he had to have some fun. He really tried to keep up appearance and invaded France )unsuccessfully) in i think 1544 oe 45. By then he was enormous. And it is the armour from that period that makes everyone think he always was this big. Soon afterwards he was bedridden and almost died a couple of times which made him lose a lot of weight. he died of unknown causes in 1547.

Kurben

finished Henry. Started Anne of Cleves: Queen of Secrets. She is one of Henry-s most unknown queen. And the only since Katherine of Aragon to be a princess from the continent. She is interesting because it is the shortest marriage. She was picked from a painting but when she arrived she was not as beautiful as portrayed so he almost immediately demanded annulment, and after about a year of negotiatians agreed to a divorce, not annulment. Just imagine leaving her familu and country and arriving to be queen to a king that has by now got a certain reputation in europe and the first thing, almost at least, you hear is that you are not beautiful enough. This is a historical novel and told just from Annes perspective. From her youth to her death in 1557. After the divorce she managed to get a good settlement and an estate to live on from the king and the title the kings beloved sister. She lived out her life in england, chosing not to move back to her native germany. It will be interesting to hear the story told from her ciev, in ordinary history she just appears and then disappears. She was the start of the fall of Thomas Cromwell, the kings prime adviser. He had advocated the match and the failure of led to his head being chopped off at Tower hill. Written by Alison Weir who is a very competent historian on Tudor times and sometimes likes to get inside the head of interesting characters in a way you cant do in history so she writes a historical novel instead.

GNTLGNT

Kurben said:

GNTLGNT said:

....honestly, with all the skirt he was chasing-how in the hell did he manage to be so rotund?.....

Actually that is a bit of a misconception. Up till about 1535 (He became king in 1509) he was very active, hunting riding, playing physival games and jousting and also if not lean very welltrained with a good figure. But then he had a jousting accident and had to limit his activities (a leg that never seemed to heal with sores and pus with irregular intervals and pained him up to his death 12 years later). So to compensate he ate more which was another of the things he enjoyed but made him åut on weight quickly and he ignored his doctors advice about eating less because he had to have some fun. He really tried to keep up appearance and invaded France )unsuccessfully) in i think 1544 oe 45. By then he was enormous. And it is the armour from that period that makes everyone think he always was this big. Soon afterwards he was bedridden and almost died a couple of times which made him lose a lot of weight. he died of unknown causes in 1547.

....thank you Kurb.....much appreciated.....

Hedda Gabler

Kurben said:

finished Henry. Started Anne of Cleves: Queen of Secrets. She is one of Henry-s most unknown queen. And the only since Katherine of Aragon to be a princess from the continent. She is interesting because it is the shortest marriage. She was picked from a painting but when she arrived she was not as beautiful as portrayed so he almost immediately demanded annulment, and after about a year of negotiatians agreed to a divorce, not annulment. Just imagine leaving her familu and country and arriving to be queen to a king that has by now got a certain reputation in europe and the first thing, almost at least, you hear is that you are not beautiful enough. This is a historical novel and told just from Annes perspective. From her youth to her death in 1557. After the divorce she managed to get a good settlement and an estate to live on from the king and the title the kings beloved sister. She lived out her life in england, chosing not to move back to her native germany. It will be interesting to hear the story told from her ciev, in ordinary history she just appears and then disappears. She was the start of the fall of Thomas Cromwell, the kings prime adviser. He had advocated the match and the failure of led to his head being chopped off at Tower hill. Written by Alison Weir who is a very competent historian on Tudor times and sometimes likes to get inside the head of interesting characters in a way you cant do in history so she writes a historical novel instead.

And while Katherine Parr was considered by some as his most educated intelligent influential ambitious wife, almost losing her head because she was exerting way too many smarts and Henry wasn’t liking being overshadowed, it was really Anne of Cleves — truly the smartest when it comes to dealing with Henry.  She got out with her head, she was taken care of, she didn’t have to have sex with him and she enjoyed all the fun and comfort of royal life. You go girl. 

Kurben

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben said:

finished Henry. Started Anne of Cleves: Queen of Secrets. She is one of Henry-s most unknown queen. And the only since Katherine of Aragon to be a princess from the continent. She is interesting because it is the shortest marriage. She was picked from a painting but when she arrived she was not as beautiful as portrayed so he almost immediately demanded annulment, and after about a year of negotiatians agreed to a divorce, not annulment. Just imagine leaving her familu and country and arriving to be queen to a king that has by now got a certain reputation in europe and the first thing, almost at least, you hear is that you are not beautiful enough. This is a historical novel and told just from Annes perspective. From her youth to her death in 1557. After the divorce she managed to get a good settlement and an estate to live on from the king and the title the kings beloved sister. She lived out her life in england, chosing not to move back to her native germany. It will be interesting to hear the story told from her ciev, in ordinary history she just appears and then disappears. She was the start of the fall of Thomas Cromwell, the kings prime adviser. He had advocated the match and the failure of led to his head being chopped off at Tower hill. Written by Alison Weir who is a very competent historian on Tudor times and sometimes likes to get inside the head of interesting characters in a way you cant do in history so she writes a historical novel instead.

And while Katherine Parr was considered by some as his most educated intelligent influential ambitious wife, almost losing her head because she was exerting way too many smarts and Henry wasn’t liking being overshadowed, it was really Anne of Cleves — truly the smartest when it comes to dealing with Henry.  She got out with her head, she was taken care of, she didn’t have to have sex with him and she enjoyed all the fun and comfort of royal life. You go girl. 

Exactly! She got a good deal out it of in return for agreeing to a divorce which she was very happy to do. The next wife, Kathryne Howard, was probably the dumbest. But she was beautiful so henry was doing everything to get rid of Anne quickly. Katheryne should have understood that to be unfaithful to the king equals beheading. It was written in the english law that for a queen to be unfaithful was treason. And most agree that she actually was unfaithful. Anne Boleyn was never, all historians agree on that now, unfaithful. She was ambitious and tried to use her influence over the king but never crossed a line. That was just slander drummed by her enemies. Anne of Cleves was probably the least educated of his wifes. Her parents did not believe in education for girls which most of the english noble families did. Annes decision not to move back to germany i think stemmed from a fear that her brother, the duke of Cleves, would marry her off again. In England she had a generous settlement, a nice estate and her own litttle court. A case of where streetsmartness wins over education.

Kurben

Read Out of the Deeps (aka The Kraken Wakes) by the excellent SF author John Wyndham. So satisfying to read an intelligent SF novel that contains as much in 200 pages and mostly more than many of todays 700-800 pages novels to. Written in 1951. He has said when asked about the success his novels had (The Day of the Triffids, The Midvich Cuckoos, The Trouble with Lichen, Chocky and Web comes to mind) in an interview he said "I just assumed that readers wanted welltold, intelligent stories set in a SF frame on the earth (not space or other planets) facing thiings that might happen. That readers want entertainment, not a lesson in advanced physics". Boy he had a point. When i think of authors like Kim Stanley Robinson or Stephen Baxter i sometimes want to yell climb down from your piedestal and tell the story and shorten the lecture. Yes, the science needs to be correct but above all the story should be well told. They often let the science hijack the story which, to me, is a big fail.  Therefore i really appreciate Wyndham. Another thing i really like with him is that he was one of the first, at least male authors, that almost always had a strong female character in one of the lead roles. When you read Heinlein, Vance, Clarke and so on the female characters is most often sexual hangers on (wifes, mistresses, girlfriends) to the hero. Asivov did sometimes have female leads in his novellas about the Foundation and Robot short stories but it was not a regular thing. 

Kurben

Reading The Outward Urge. Also by Wyndham. Got inspired.