Source: http://libritudine.blogspot.com/2015/11/
Timestamp: 2018-05-20 21:20:26+00:00

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LIBRITUDINE: novembre 2015
Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brain's Power to Adapt Can Change Your Life by David DiSalvo
Sugli scaffali americani presto arriverà Brain Changer, dello stesso autore di "The brain in your kitchen, che utilizzando le sostanze eccitanti piú comuni nel mondo occidentale, come caffeina e nicotina, un paio di anni fa aveva cominciato la sua carriera di divulgatore scientifico che con questo libro ha fatto un passo avanti. Se nel primo libro si limitava ad informare e spiegare, in Brain Changer David DiSalvo comincia a fornire utili informazioni alla portata di tutti, rispetto a metacognizione e teoria della mente (la teoria che utilizziamo in modo piú o meno consapevole per cercare di capire perché alcune persone fanno o faranno determinate azioni). Dopodiché ci vengono spiegati i vari feedback che possiamo avere da un adattamento pragmatico alle situazioni sulla base della capacitá innata del cervello di adattarsi e di come ci costruiamo narrative non statiche. Per finire ci vengono forniti esercizi derivati dalla psicoterapia cognitiva e una serie di consigli rispetto a libri e film che hanno come filo conduttore la metacognizione, cioé la capacitá che ha il cervello di ragionare su sé stesso.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND SMART POP BOOKS FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 8:34 AM Link a questo post
Etichette: Libri, Netgalley, Saggi
venerdì, novembre 27, 2015
Dragos Takes a Holiday - A Story of the Elder Races by Thea Harrison
Dragos Takes a Holiday by Thea Harrison
I really love Dagos and Pia, Liam also and the holidays idea and vacation time....
Mi piacciono davvero Dagos e Pia, anche Liam e l'idea delle vacanze....
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND THEA HARRISON FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 3:45 PM Link a questo post
Etichette: Netgalley
mercoledì, novembre 25, 2015
We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's by D. F. Swaab, Jane Hedley-Prole (Translation)
We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's by D. F. Swaab
Di parere completamente opposto é "We are our brains" il cui autore D.F.Swaab ritiene che noi siamo il nostro cervello, quindi dal momento stesso in cui i cromosomi materni e paterni si mischiano noi abbiamo un futuro predeterminato davanti a noi, a cui si mischia poi la crescita del encefalo all'interno dell'utero materno. Diciamo quindi che se la nostra mamma ritiene che smettere di bere e fumare, ma soprattutto di prendere farmaci mentre é in gravidanza é un'idea che non apprezza, siamo fottuti. Per avvalorare le sue tesi il professor Swaab si avvale anche lui delle neuroscienze, ma non tanto degli ultimi sviluppi apportati dal neuroimaging, quanto piuttosto alla branca che si mischia volentieri con la genetica e ricerca tutte quelle problematiche che possono essere geneticamente predeterminate o modificate durante la vita intrauterina.
Se é vero come é vero che anche Spinoza nel suo libro Ethica aveva da tempo dimostrato come il libero arbitrio fosse qualcosa in cui l'uomo spera, ma che non é assolutamente giustificato dal punto di vista filosofico, anche il nostro professore ci mette una pietra sopra e ci informa che se il nostro cocktail genetico fa schifo puoi smettere di sperare nel Nobel, tranne quello per la pace ovviamente, quello l'hanno dato pure a Obama....
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND RANDOM HOUSE PUBLISHING - RANDOM HOUSE FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 8:31 AM Link a questo post
martedì, novembre 24, 2015
Highland Heat (Highland Knights, #2) by Jennifer Haymore
Highland Heat by Jennifer Haymore
I preferred the first volume in this installment because, in a way, I already read half of this book in the previous one as the stories of the two sisters were so intertwined. Anyway the author is very good in creating interesting characters and plots interesting to follow.
Il primo volume di questa serie mi é piciuto molto di piú, anche perché la prima metá della storia era giá raccontata nel precedente libro in quanto la storia delle due sorelle é chiaramente intrecciatissima. Comunque l'autrice é brava a creare personaggi interessanti e trame sufficientemente complesse.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND RANDOM HOUSE PUBLISHING GROUP LOVESWEPT FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 8:48 AM Link a questo post
Etichette: Libri, Romance, Serie
lunedì, novembre 23, 2015
Concussion by Jeanne Marie Laskas
This book tells the story of Bennet Omalu, doctor of Nigerian origin who discovered the chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or the NFL player's version of the knock down syndrome for boxers. What happens is that after a lot of concussions more or less detectable, in the brain are being formed groupings of Tau protein which leads to a rapid deterioration comparable to the one of Alzheimer, with the difference that people who experience that are all relatively young.
Earlier this discovery is discredited by the NFL that will begin by saying that Omalu is not a "real doctor", who continues his research, while others will try instead to win the discovery of CTE, unleashing then a lot of class action from the families of the players with the disease to win, at least, damages in economic terms.
Bennett's story is told from the beginning with his childhood in a village in southern Nigeria, then movs from his depression and the difficulties of a black person to understand the racism of Americans when he is grown up in an almost exclusively black environment. The story of Bennett is currently being filmed by Ridley Scott and will be starring Will Smith.
In questo libro si racconta la storia di Bennett Omalu, medico di origine nigeriana che ha scoperto la sindrome dell'encefalite cronica traumatica, ovvero il corrispettivo della knock down syndrome per i pugili. Quello che capita é che a forza di concussioni piú o meno rilevabili, nel cervello vengono a formarsi raggruppamenti di proteina Tau che porta ad un rapido deterioramento paragonabile a quello dell'Alzahimer, con la differenza che le persone che la sperimentano sono tutte relativamente giovani.
All'inizio questa scoperta viene screditata dal NFL che comincerá con il dire che Omalu non é un "vero medico", che non porta avanti bene le sue ricerche, mentre altre persone cercheranno invece di aggiudicarsi la scoperta della CTE, scatenando poi class action da parte di famiglie di giocatori con la malattia per aggiudicarsi, quanto meno, un risarcimento in termini economici.
La storia di Bennett viene raccontata a cominciare dalla sua infanzia in un paesino nel sud della Nigeria, passando poi dalla sua depressione e dalla difficoltá di una persona nera a comprendere il razzismo degli americani quando é cresciuta in un ambiente quasi esclusivamente nero. La storia di Bennett é attualmente in fase di riprese da parte di Ridley Scott e verrá interpretato da Will Smith.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND Random House Publishing Group - Random House FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 5:15 PM Link a questo post
Etichette: Libri, Medicina, Netgalley, Sport
One Hot Scot: A Holiday Story (Scandalous Highlanders, #0.5) by Suzanne Enoch
One Hot Scot: A Holiday Story by Suzanne Enoch
Nice little novella that makes me wonder about the author´s others book, so I will probably read some more of her works.
Piccola storia che mi ha fatto apprezzare l'autrice, che non conoscevo, quindi leggeró probabilmente altro di lei.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND ST.MARTIN'S PRESS FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 8:29 AM Link a questo post
Etichette: Libri, Netgalley
sabato, novembre 21, 2015
Il bacio del pane by Carmine Abate
La storia non é male, una versione adolescenziale e meno angosciante dell'"Io non ho paura" di Ammaniti, ma in qualche modo gli adolescenti di Abate mi hanno un po' stufato, non mi dispiacerebbe tornare a leggere di persone adulte, si vede che sono invecchiata....
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 5:56 PM Link a questo post
Manifestoes of Surrealism by André Breton
Beloved imagination, what I most like in you is your unsparing quality.
There remains madness, "the madness that one locks up," as it has aptly been described. That madness or another…. We all know, in fact, that the insane owe their incarceration to a tiny number of legally reprehensible acts and that, were it not for these acts their freedom (or what we see as their freedom) would not be threatened. I am willing to admit that they are, to some degree, victims of their imagination, in that it induces them not to pay attention to certain rules – outside of which the species feels threatened – which we are all supposed to know and respect. But their profound indifference to the way in which we judge them, and even to the various punishments meted out to them, allows us to suppose that they derive a great deal of comfort and consolation from their imagination, that they enjoy their madness sufficiently to endure the thought that its validity does not extend beyond themselves. And, indeed, hallucinations, illusions, etc., are not a source of trifling pleasure. The best controlled sensuality partakes of it, and I know that there are many evenings when I would gladly that pretty hand which, during the last pages of Taine’s L’Intelligence, indulges in some curious misdeeds. I could spend my whole life prying loose the secrets of the insane. These people are honest to a fault, and their naiveté has no peer but my own. Christopher Columbus should have set out to discover America with a boatload of madmen. And note how this madness has taken shape, and endured.
It is not the fear of madness which will oblige us to leave the flag of imagination furled.
The case against the realistic attitude demands to be examined, following the case against the materialistic attitude. The latter, more poetic in fact than the former, admittedly implies on the part of man a kind of monstrous pride which, admittedly, is monstrous, but not a new and more complete decay. It should above all be viewed as a welcome reaction against certain ridiculous tendencies of spiritualism. Finally, it is not incompatible with a certain nobility of thought.
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 3:52 PM Link a questo post
Etichette: Arte, Corsera, Filosofia, Libri
martedì, novembre 17, 2015
I colori della nebbia by Mary & Frances Shepard
I colori della nebbia by Mary Shepard
Bel romanzo, anche perché la storia non si limita a quella d'amore ma ci mette anche un giallo con un'ottima ricostruzione storia. I personaggi mi sono piaciuti e anche la velocitá con la quale si arriva alla soluzione.
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 5:54 PM Link a questo post
The Captain's Christmas Bride by Annie Burrows
My favorite are the love stories that start with a mistake and keep on with a big misunderstanding before everything goes for the best. So this one I really liked and the writing was also good.
Mi piacciono tantissimo le storie d'amore che iniziano come un errore e proseguono con un clamoroso fraintendimento prima che le cose si sistemino, quindi questa era perfetta ed anche ben scritta.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND HARLEQUIN FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 8:34 PM Link a questo post
Etichette: Libri, Romance
" Let us then examine this point,
and say, "God is, or He is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide
nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A game is being played at
the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. What will you
wager? According to reason, you can do neither the one thing nor the other; according
to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.
Do not, then, reprove for error those who have made a choice; for you know
nothing about it. "No, but I blame them for having made, not this choice, but a choice;
for again both he who chooses heads and he who chooses tails are equally at fault,
they are both in the wrong. The true course is not to wager at all. "Yes; but you must wager. It is not optional. You are embarked. Which will you choose then? Let us see.
Since you must choose, let us see which interests you least. You have two things to
lose, the true and the good; and two things to stake, your reason and your will, your
knowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two things to shun, error and
misery. Your reason is no more shocked in choosing one rather than the other, since
you must of necessity choose. This is one point settled. But your happiness? Let us
weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances.
If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation
that He is. "That is very fine. Yes, I must wager; but I may perhaps wager too much."
Let us see. Since there is an equal risk of gain and of loss, if you had only to gain two
lives, instead of one, you might still wager. But if there were three lives to gain, you
would have to play (since you are under the necessity of playing), and you would be
imprudent, when you are forced to play, not to chance your life to gain three at a game
where there is an equal risk of loss and gain. But there is an eternity of life and
happiness. And this being so, if there were an infinity of chances, of which one only
would be for you, you would still be right in wagering one to win two, and you would act
stupidly, being obliged to play, by refusing to stake one life against three at a game in
which out of an infinity of chances there is one for you, if there were an infinity of an
infinitely happy life to gain. But there is here an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain,
a chance of gain against a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite.
It is all divided; where-ever the infinite is and there is not an infinity of chances of loss
against that of gain, there is no time to hesitate, you must give all. And thus, when one
is forced to play, he must renounce reason to preserve his life, rather than risk it for
infinite gain, as likely to happen as the loss of nothingness.
.....The end of this discourse.—Now, what harm will befall you in taking this side?
You will be faithful, humble, grateful, generous, a sincere friend, truthful. Certainly you
will not have those poisonous pleasures, glory and luxury; but will you not have others?
I will tell you that you will thereby gain in this life, and that, at each step you take on this
road, you will see so great certainty of gain, so much nothingness in what you risk, that
you will at last recognise that you have wagered for something certain and infinite, for
which you have given nothing.
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 3:48 PM Link a questo post
Etichette: Corsera, Filosofia, Libri
venerdì, novembre 13, 2015
It was pretty clear for me from the start that she staged everything up: the diary, the house, the baby and so on, I do not know why, probably I just didn't like her from the start. Then I was right and so it was just too boring and circonvoluted in the end, and not at all believably. I think this is just like the buzz aroud "50 shades of gray": people that normally read two books per year find it astonishing, I do not.
Per me era chiaro dall'inizio che lei avesse preparato tutto: il diario, la casa, il bambino e cosí via, non so perché, magari perché dall'inizio non mi stava simpatica. Poi a metá libro e´diventato evidente che avessi ragione e quindi la storia é diventata noiosa e troppo circonvoluta alla fine, oltre che assolutamente non realistica. Quindi tutto il rumore attorno a questo libro puó essere paragonato a quello intorno a "50 shades of gray": le persone che leggono una media di due libri l'anno lo trovano formidabile, io no.
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 3:46 PM Link a questo post
giovedì, novembre 12, 2015
Even better than the first one and this is a lot to say about a book that is not only a urban Fantasy and the story has so much more to tell, starting from Sean and the parents of Dina. A wonderful constructed world where we do not know for sure who is the good one, to be precise there is a point where we do not even know if there is somebody that could help Dina at all.... New characters and old ones mix perfectly in this new installment and now I have just to hope that the next one comes as soon as possible (hint, hint, hint)!
Anche meglio del primo, é questo dice tanto su un libro che non é soltanto il solito Urban fantsy e con una storia che ha ancora tanto da dire, cominciando con Sean e proseguendo con i genitori di Dina. Un mondo meraviglioso accuratamente costruito dove le carte cambiano continuamente e non si capisce chi é il "buono", anzi, per essere precisi, non é nemmeno chiaro se ad un certo punto ci sia qualcuno che possa aiutare Dina. Vecchi e nuovi personaggi si mischiano in questo nuovo volume ed a questo punto non resta che sperare che il prossimo arrivi il prima possibile.
THANKS TO ILONA ANDREWS FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 9:02 AM Link a questo post
Etichette: Libri, Libri Urban Fantasy, Serie
Dodici by Zerocalcare
Per quanto non incredibile come i primi, godibilissimo.
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 3:27 PM Link a questo post
Etichette: fumetti, Graphic Novel, Libri
Urban Wilderness: Begegnung Mit Urbaner Natur / Encounter Urban Nature by Roland Maurmair
Nice pictures and I appreciated that there were both German and English explanations. Interesting and makes you think more about animals and plants even if you live in a big city like I do.
Belle foto e soprattutto ho apprezzato il fatto che il libro fosse bilingue, anche perché il mio tedesco é sempre piuttosto scarso. Il libro é interessante e fa riflettere sugli animali e sulle piante anche se si vive in cittá, come nel mio caso.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND DE GRUYTER FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 12:08 PM Link a questo post
Etichette: Ambiente, Berlino, Ecologia, Fotografia, Libri
Miss Featherton's Christmas Prince (The Marriage Game, #8) by Ella Quinn
The biggest reason because I liked this book is because is the man that has to convince the girl that he is in love with her and not the usual pursuing of the rake by the shy maiden. Another reason is that there are two love stories instead of one, but this can also be the reason why in the end I found the book too long.
La ragione principale per cui mi é piaciuto questo libro sta nel fatto che per una volta almeno, é l'uomo che deve convincere la donna che l'ama piuttosto che il contrario come sempre accade. Un'altra ragione é che nel volume ci sono due storie d'amore al prezzo di una, ma magari é anche il motivo per cui alla fine questo libro mi é sembrato decisamente troppo lungo.....
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND KENSINGTON BOOK FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 11:48 AM Link a questo post
martedì, novembre 10, 2015
Sandman Overture Deluxe Edition by Neil Gaiman, J.H. Williams III (Illustrator)
Sandman Overture Deluxe Edition by Neil Gaiman
This is one hell of a comic, don't miss it even if you are not already familiar with Sandman.
Questo é un fumetto incredibile, sia per le storie che per le illustrazioni, da non perdere assolutamente specialmente se non avete mai letto Sandman.
THANKS TO EDELWEISS AND VERTIGO FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 9:57 AM Link a questo post
Etichette: Disegni, Filosofia, fumetti, Graphic Novel
lunedì, novembre 09, 2015
Storia di Irene by Erri De Luca
Strano libro di Erri questo, non tanto per la storia sconclusionata, quanto anche perché alcune delle sue frasi, di solito pesate al millimetro, non hanno poi un granché di senso o arrancano.
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 3:25 PM Link a questo post
Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Troy Little
Actually I loved this graphic novel much more than the book, that I didn't like at all even if it was the first example of the so called "Gonzo Journalism".
Questa graphic novel mi é piaciuta molto molto di piú del libro, che per essere precisi non mi é piaciuto per niente, pur essendo il primo esempio di quello che poi veniva chiamato il "Gonzo Journalism".
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND DIAMOND BOOK DISTRIBUTORS FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 10:31 AM Link a questo post
Etichette: Graphic Novel, Libri
Blood Tree Silver Edition by Scarlett Dawn - recensione di Amyra
I received this ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Blood Tree: silver edition is a box set who contains Kenna's story (Blood Tree: part one), Juliet's story (Blood Tree: part two) plus a bonus story, Susan's.
Kenna:
It's a nice story. Kenna discovered at thirteen that she's an Elv. But what kind? She can enter the light elves' realm but she has the dark elves' black hair. For her to be a light one, like her mother, she just need to not have sex before she's twenty, to not kill anyone, even accidentally, and to not enter through a dark wooden door. Easy peasy. Not.
The ending is a bit week, and this ruined a bit the novella, but as I have said before, endings are not this author's stronger suit.
My vote: 3 stars
The first part was nice but nothing more, so I wasn't expecting much.
It was so much better!
The more mature prospective of Juliet was entrancing. It never occurred to me to consider who was Kenna's dad. And so we learn more about the original dark elf. I loved him!
Even the ending, Mrs Dawn's Achille's heel, was nice and just the right thing. I was so sad about the novella's brevity!
I'm just hoping there will be more. More Juliet, more Kenna! Please!
My vote: 4 stars
It's true, it's a bonus story and nothing more, but I was expecting a minimum of quality, criminy.
After Juliet's story, my expectations were set high, but with this one they crushed to nothing.
Susan's story is... insipid. Hollow. Senseless.
Better to have stop reading at Juliet's, trust me.
My vote: 2 stars.
Box set vote: 3 stars
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 4:25 PM Link a questo post
Etichette: Amyra
Well-written story, but it doesn't leave much to the imagination because, I think, it is rather obvious, the usual "lovers damned from the fault in their stars", Ichi and Alma can never fully live their love, but their story unfolds for more than 60 years, through wars and social and racial barriers without losing a minimum of passion; maybe it's right Alma what thinks: that just because they never had the "everyday" their romance has survived so full of passion.
Storia ben scritta, che peró non lascia molto spazio all'immaginazione perché secondo me é piuttosto scontata, un po' come i soliti amanti dannati dalle stelle, Ichi e Alma non riescono mai a vivere pienamente il loro amore, ma la loro storia si dipana per piú di 60 anni e attraversa guerre e barriere razziali e sociali senza mai perdere un minimo di smalto; magari ha ragione Alma a pensare che proprio perché non ha mai vissuto la quotidianitá la loro storia d'amore é sopravvissuta cosí piena di passione
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND ATRIA BOOKS FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 11:38 AM Link a questo post
Etichette: Letteratura, Libri
sabato, novembre 07, 2015
6.54 My propositions are elucidatory in this way: he who understands me finally recognizes them as senseless, when he has climbed out through them, on them, over them. (He must so to speak throw away the ladder, after he has climbed up on it.) He must surmount these propositions; then he sees the world rightly.
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 3:23 PM Link a questo post
venerdì, novembre 06, 2015
Despite the end that I didn't like so much, the whole book was a nice return of the Coe I loved, whom I stopped to read for a while disappointed by the latest "performance". Fun, smooth and full of the English humor that I needed.
Nonostante la fine non mi sia piaciuto in granché, tutto il libro é stato un bel ritorno del Coe di un tempo, che avevo smesso anche di leggere da un po' delusa dalle ultime "prestazioni". Divertente, scorrevole e pieno di quello humor inglese che mi serviva.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND PENGUIN BOOKS (UK) FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 8:44 PM Link a questo post
giovedì, novembre 05, 2015
Rudyard Kipling: Selected Poems by Rudyard Kipling
NO DOUBT but ye are the People-your throne is above the King's.
Whoso speaks in your presence must say acceptable things:
Bowing the head in worship, bending the knee in fear-
Bringing the word well smoothen-such as a King should hear.
Fenced by your careful fathers, ringed by your leaden seas,
Long did ye wake in quiet and long lie down at ease;
Till Ye said of Strife, "What is it?" of the Sword, "It is far from our ken";
Till ye made a sport of your shrunken hosts and a toy of your armed men.
Ye stopped your ears to the warning-ye would neither look nor heed-
Ye set your leisure before their toil and your lusts above their need.
Because of your witless learning and your beasts of warren and chase,
Ye grudged your sons to their service and your fields for their camping-place.
Ye forced them glean in the highways the straw for the bricks they brought;
Ye forced them follow in byways the craft that ye never taught.
Ye hampered and hindered and crippled; ye thrust out of sight and away
Those that would serve you for honour and those that served you for pay.
Then were the judgments loosened; then was your shame revealed,
At the hands of a little people, few but apt in the field.
Yet ye were saved by a remnant (and your land's long-suffering star),
When your strong men cheered in their millions while your
striplings went to the war.
Sons of the sheltered city-unmade, unhandled, unmeet-
Ye pushed them raw to the battle as ye picked them raw from the street.
And what did ye look they should compass? Warcraft learned in a breath,
Knowledge unto occasion at the first far view of Death?
So? And ye train your horses and the dogs ye feed and prize?
How are the beasts more worthy than the souls, your sacrifice?
But ye said, "Their valour shall show them"; but ye said, "The end is close."
And ye sent them comfits and pictures to help them harry your foes:
And ye vaunted your fathomless power, and ye flaunted your iron pride,
Ere ye fawned on the Younger Nations for the men who could shoot and ride!
Then ye returned to your trinkets; then ye contented your souls
With the flannelled fools at the wicket or the muddied oafs at the goals.
Given to strong delusion, wholly believing a lie,
Ye saw that the land lay fenceless, and ye let the months go by
Waiting some easy wonder, hoping some saving sign-
Idle -openly idle-in the lee of the forespent Line.
Idle -except for your boasting-and what is your boasting worth
If ye grudge a year of service to the lordliest life on earth?
Ancient, effortless, ordered, cycle on cycle set,
Life so long untroubled, that ye who inherit forget
It was not made with the mountains, it is not one with the deep.
Men, not gods, devised it. Men, not gods, must keep.
Men, not children, servants, or kinsfolk called from afar,
But each man born in the Island broke to the matter of war.
Soberly and by custom taken and trained for the same,
Each man born in the Island entered at youth to the game-
As it were almost cricket, not to be mastered in haste,
But after trial and labour, by temperance, living chaste.
As it were almost cricket-as it were even your play,
Weighed and pondered and worshipped, and practised day and day.
So ye shall bide sure-guarded when the restless lightnings wake
In the womb of the blotting war-cloud, and the pallid nations quake.
So, at the haggard trumpets, instant your soul shall leap
Forthright, accoutred, accepting-alert from the wells of sleep.
So, at the threat ye shall summon-so at the need ye shall send
Men, not children or servants, tempered and taught to the end;
Cleansed of servile panic, slow to dread or despise,
Humble because of knowledge, mighty by sacrifice. . . .
But ye say, "It will mar our comfort." Ye say, "It will minish our trade."
Do ye wait for the spattered shrapnel ere ye learn how a gun is laid?
For the low, red glare to southward when the raided coast- towns burn?
(Light ye shall have on that lesson, but little time to learn.)
Will ye pitch some white pavilion, and lustily even the odds,
With nets and hoops and mallets, with rackets and bats and rods
Will the rabbit war with your foemen-the red deer horn them for hire?
Your kept cock-pheasant keep you?-he is master of many a shire,
Arid, aloof, incurious, unthinking, unthanking, gelt,
Will ye loose your schools to flout them till their brow-beat columns melt?
Will ye pray them or preach them, or print them, or ballot them back from your shore?
Will your workmen issue a mandate to bid them strike no more?
Will ye rise and dethrone your rulers? (Because ye were idle both?
Pride by Insolence chastened? Indolence purged by Sloth?)
No doubt but ye are the People; who shall make you afraid?
Also your gods are many; no doubt but your gods shall aid.
Idols of greasy altars built for the body's ease;
Proud little brazen Baals and talking fetishes;
Teraphs of sept and party and wise wood-pavement gods-
These shall come down to the battle and snatch you from under the rods?
From the gusty, flickering gun-roll with viewless salvoes rent,
And the pitted hail of the bullets that tell not whence they were sent.
When ye are ringed as with iron, when ye are scourged as with whips,
When the meat is yet in your belly, and the boast is yet on your lips;
When ye go forth at morning and the noon beholds you broke,
Ere ye lie down at even, your remnant, under the yoke?
No doubt but ye are the People-absolute, strong, and wise;
Whatever your heart has desired ye have not withheld from your eyes.
On your own heads, in your own hands, the sin and the caving lies!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 3:21 PM Link a questo post
Etichette: Corsera, Libri, Poesie
The Irresistible Rogue (Playful Brides, #4) by Valerie Bowman
The Irresistible Rogue by Valerie Bowman
Another good book for Valerie Bowman and her heroines of the series Playful Brides. This time we have Rafe and Daphne and their story that started last book (but I'm not so sure): She is already married to him but only in name and wants to marry a steady lord with whom building a family but her love is completely for Rafe whom only sees her as a sister, or so he says....
Un altro bel libro per Valerie Bowman e le sue eroine della serie Playful Brides. Questa è la volta di Rafe e Daphne e della loro storia che mi sembra, ma non sono sicura, fosse cominciata lo scorso libro: sono già sposati ma solo sulla carta e mentre lei cerca di ottenere l'annullamento per mettere sù famiglia con un nobile senza eroiche velleità, il suo cuore è tutto per Rafe, che invece la considera alla stregua di una sorella minore, o almeno così afferma.
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 9:04 AM Link a questo post
Not the best Lisa Kleypas but easy to read and, most of all, not your usual regency romance with the shy maiden and the irresistible rogue. Now I'm looking forward to the next in the series.
Non il migliore libro di Lisa Kleypas, ma divertente e facile da leggere come al solito, e inoltre stavolta la storia é diversa dalla solita timida debuttante alle prese con l'irresistibile seduttore da redimere. Ora peró non vedo l'ora di leggere il prossimo della serie.
THANKS TO ORBIT FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 8:44 AM Link a questo post
martedì, novembre 03, 2015
Pride & Popularity (The Jane Austen Diaries, #1) by Jenni James
Pride & Popularity by Jenni James
It was ok, the transposition of Pride and Prejudice in school, with popular guy vs. normal girl. Nice charachters but everything was already seen, chick-lit for the seaside.
Caruccio, la trasposizione di Orgoglio e Pregiudizio alle scuole superiore, con ragazzo popolare contrapposto a ragazza normale. Personaggi un po' scontati, libro da ombrellone.
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 3:19 PM Link a questo post
domenica, novembre 01, 2015
It Chooses You by Miranda July, Brigitte Sire (photographer)
It Chooses You by Miranda July
What happens when an artist tout court is not able to finish the script she was working on? She invents a wonderful book in which she interviews people who had their offers on a newspaper ad. The result is a book of photographs moving and true.
Che succede quando un'artista tout cour non riesce piú a finire il copione su cui stava lavorando? S'inventa un bellissimo libro in cui intervista le persone che hanno per caso messo in settimana, le loro offerte su un giornale di annunci. Ne esce un libro fotografico commovente e vero.
Sentenza emessa da Gonza Basta a 8:07 PM Link a questo post
Etichette: Biografie, Fotografia, Libri
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Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brain's Power t...
Dragos Takes a Holiday - A Story of the Elder Race...
We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, ...
Highland Heat (Highland Knights, #2) by Jennifer ...
One Hot Scot: A Holiday Story (Scandalous Highland...
Sweep in Peace (Innkeeper Chronicles #2) by Ilona...
Urban Wilderness: Begegnung Mit Urbaner Natur / En...
Miss Featherton's Christmas Prince (The Marriage G...
Sandman Overture Deluxe Edition by Neil Gaiman, J...
Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vega...
Blood Tree Silver Edition by Scarlett Dawn - recen...
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgens...
Rudyard Kipling: Selected Poems by Rudyard Kiplin...
The Irresistible Rogue (Playful Brides, #4) by Va...
Pride & Popularity (The Jane Austen Diaries, #1) ...
It Chooses You by Miranda July, Brigitte Sire (ph...

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