Category Archives: Books Nonfiction

My Friend Can Stick Around

27 January 2025 By in Music Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

“The Weight” by Robbie Robertson is one of The Band’s best-known songs. It was released on their 1968 breakout album, Music from the Big Pink. It is ranked among the greatest rock songs of all time by Rolling Stone and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The song’s narrative is a commentary on the impossibility of doing good, emphasizing that morality and virtue require effort. Jake Grogan quotes Robertson philosophically explaining his song as the weight placed on one’s shoulders when fulfilling a favor: “The Weight was this very simple thing. Someone says, ‘Listen, would you do me this favor? When you get there, will you say hello to somebody, or will you give somebody this, or will you pick up one of these for me? … I’ve only come here to say ‘hello’ for somebody, and I’ve got myself in this incredible predicament.”

Trivia: The opening line of the song, “I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin’ about half past dead,” refers to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where Martin Guitars manufactures their instruments.

Source: Origins of a Song by Jake Grogan, 2018. Graphic: The Weight video by Robbie Robertson and Ringo Star, 2018 Universal Music Publishing.

Brunelleschi’s Dome

26 January 2025 By in Architecture, Art Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Filippo Brunelleschi, a goldsmith, engineer, and relatively inexperienced architect, completed the largest masonry dome in the world in 1436—a record that has never been broken. The world now knows it as Brunelleschi’s Dome, which sits atop the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower in Florence, Italy.

When completed, the dome was 52 meters (171 feet) high, with an exterior diameter of 45.5 meters (149 feet) and an interior diameter at its base of 41 meters (135 feet). The base of the dome sat above the crossing of the Cathedral, which was 55 meters (180 feet) above the ground. Atop the dome was a lantern measuring 21 meters (69 feet) in height, bringing the entire Cathedral structure to a remarkable 128 meters (420 feet). While it was not the tallest structure in the world at the time—Lincoln Cathedral in England, at 160 meters (525 feet), held that distinction—it was certainly an impressive architectural feat.

Trivia: Brunelleschi developed an ingenious mechanical lift to raise materials up to the dome. The modern world knows what that device looked like and how it worked because a young Leonardo da Vinci sketched the hoist when he was apprenticed to the Florentine painter Verrocchio beginning in 1466. Due to that sketch, Leonardo was sometimes mistakenly given credit for inventing the hoist.

Source: Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King, 2000. Graphic: Brunelleschi’s Dome by National Geographic, 2013-2019.

1556 Shaanxi Earthquake

23 January 2025 By in History Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

23 January 1556, a massive earthquake with a magnitude estimated between 7 and 8 struck Shaanxi, China, resulting in the tragic loss of upwards of 830,000 lives. The quake hit late in the evening, when most people were at home, leading to widespread destruction as homes were buried by landslides and collapsed structures.

This devastating extensional earthquake occurred in the Wei River Valley, part of the Weihe-Shanxi Rift system. Faults in the region indicate that vertical movement of up to 25 feet might have occurred during the tremor or multiple quakes.

The Wei River Valley is also renowned for its extensive loess deposits—glacially created windblown silt and fine sand—that have shaped the landscape into a series of terraces and rolling hills. In the 16th century, local inhabitants carved out caves, known as yaodongs, in these loess deposits for shelters. Tragically, during the earthquake, these caves and above-ground shelters collapsed, burying most of the inhabitants alive.

Source: Shaanxi Earthquake by Smith, 2021, Nature World News. Graphic: Loess Landscape Near Shanxi, China by Till Niermann, public domain.

No One Shall Sleep

20 January 2025 By in History, Music, Music, Poetry Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

“Nessun Dorma,” (No One Shall Sleep) an aria by Giacomo Puccini from the final act of his opera Turandot, is performed by an enigmatic tenor prince who seeks the hand of Princess Turandot. The Princess decrees that any suitor must solve three riddles to win her consent for marriage. The unknown prince answers all the riddles correctly, but the Princess still defers. He then proposes a counteroffer: if she can guess his name, she can have him executed, but if she cannot, she must marry him. In response, the Princess commands that none of her subjects shall sleep until they uncover his name.

Puccini’s opera, left incomplete at his death in 1924, offers a unique interpretation of Carlo Gozzi’s 18th-century play of the same name, which, in turn, drew inspiration from a 12th-century Persian fairy tale by Nizami as part of his poem collection titled Haft Peykar. In the fairy tale, a princess sets impossible riddles for her suitors.

Puccini retains three riddles from Nizami’s tale but alters the third one:

  1. What is born each night and dies each dawn? (hope)
  2. What flickers red and warm like a flame, but is not a flame? (blood)
  3. What is like ice but burns? (Princess Turandot)

(Nizami’s original 3rd riddle: What echoes with countless voices, yet has no voice of its own? (a letter))

Source: Grove Book of Operas edited by Stanley Sadie, 2006. Wikipedia. Graphic: Nessun Dorma by Pavarotti, 2023 copyright Warner Classics.

The End

16 January 2025 By in History Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

On 16 January 27 BC, the Roman Senate voted to confer the title of Augustus upon Octavian, Julius Caesar’s adopted son, realistically marking the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire. This decision aimed to restore stability and order after years of civil war and internal conflict, legitimizing Octavian’s authority while maintaining a veneer of republican governance. Augustus took effective control of the military, religion, bureaucracy, and administrative operations of the empire.

After the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, Octavian, in 43 BC, formed the Second Triumvirate with Mark Antony and Lepidus. Following their eventual conflict and his decisive victory at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Octavian became the uncontested ruler of Rome.

The Roman Empire was the final iteration of the Roman government, which began as a monarchy with Romulus as king in 753 BC, transitioned into a republic in 509 BC, and lasted through the era of civil wars and dictatorships until Octavian’s elevation as Augustus in 27 BC. The Roman Empire as a whole lasted until 476 AD when the Western Empire fell, while the Eastern Empire continued until 1453 AD.

Trivia: 16 January 27 BC, is the actual Julian calendar date, retained and quoted in texts for historical accuracy. According to the Gregorian calendar, however, the date marking the end of the Roman Republic would be 26,27 January 27 BC.

Source: Roman Republic…by M. Vermeulen, The Collector, 2020.  Graphic: Evolution of the Roman Empire, by ESKEHL-Wikipedia, 2022.

Choose

11 January 2025 By in History, Philosophy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Movies such as Pakula’s 1982 “Sophie’s Choice” and Eastwood’s 2024 “Juror #2” depict gut-wrenching moral dilemmas, where every decision is flawed and ethically unbearable.

Moral dilemmas arise when all available options are objectionable, involving transgressions against moral principles. Their resolution often revolves around the “Principle of the Lesser of Two Evils,” where one chooses the least harmful option.

In 1944, President Roosevelt’s health was rapidly deteriorating, and many in the Democratic Party believed he wouldn’t finish his term if re-elected. Despite this, Roosevelt ran for a fourth term but was pressured to find a different running mate with better economic and leadership skills. Vice President Henry Wallace was replaced by Harry Truman, a senator from Missouri, on the ticket.

Roosevelt won his fourth term but passed away less than three months into it, making Truman the 33rd President on 12 April 1945. Within four months, Truman faced the dilemma of dropping atomic bombs on Japan to possibly end World War II or continuing a more conventional war.

Although there were no initial estimates of fatalities before the bombings, aftermath estimates suggested that up to a quarter of a million lives were lost at Nagasaki and Hiroshima. In contrast, continuing the war conventionally was estimated to result in 6 to 11 million additional fatalities.

Truman chose the lesser of two evils: sacrificing a quarter of a million souls to save millions.

Source: Lesser Evil Principle by Dougherty, 2020, Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics. Graphic: Grok Generated.

Four Women of the Renaissance

5 January 2025 By in Art, Biography, History, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Leonardo da Vinci, who died on May 2, 1519 at the age of 67, began around 40 paintings in his lifetime, of which fewer than 20 survive. Of those that survive, only about 15 are believed to be complete.

The artist painted only four known portraits of women:

  • Ginevra de’ Benci at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
  • La Belle Ferronnière at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
  • Mona Lisa also at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
  • Cecilia Gallerani (known as “Lady with an Ermine“) at the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland.

Cecilia Gallerani was the mistress of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, and was painted while da Vinci worked in the Duke’s court in Milan, Italy. The Polish government paid 100 million Euros for the painting in 2016.

Trivia: Many believe that Leonardo da Vinci continuously reworked the Mona Lisa throughout his life; it was still in his possession when he died. The fact that the Mona Lisa does not have eyebrows suggests, to me, that the painting was still unfinished. The absence of eyebrows in the Mona Lisa has led to other theories as well:

  • Others argue that da Vinci might have intentionally left them out for artistic reasons.
  • There’s also the theory that the eyebrows might have faded over time due to the varnish or other conservation issues.

Source: Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson, 2017. Graphic: Lady with and Ermine by da Vinci, public domain.

The First Capitalist

29 December 2024 By in Economics, History Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Adam Smith, who published his landmark economic treatise The Wealth of Nations in 1776, created an immense tome that spans around 950 pages of incredibly original theory, but it also disparagingly known for its complex language, lengthy, detailed detours, and economic examples that can seem quaint or enigmatic by today’s standards. The book is worth reading but find an abridged version such as The Wealth of Nations: Abridged, CreateSpace, 2011, 150 pages.

His theories for the efficient running of a country’s economy have become the foundation of classical economics, eventually forming the basis for the capitalist economic system. In his book, he introduced concepts such as the invisible hand, free markets, and laissez-faire economics—principles that are widely accepted in the Chicago and Austrian schools of economic thought today.

The Wealth of Nations is divided into 5 books:

  • Economic Efficiency: Discusses the division of labor and how it increases productivity and efficiency in the economy.
  • Accumulation of Capital: Focuses on the importance of savings and investment in driving economic growth.
  • Economic Growth: Examines the factors that contribute to the prosperity of nations, including labor, land, and capital.
  • Economic Theory: Lays out the principles of supply and demand, price mechanisms, and market dynamics.
  • The Role of Government: Argues for limited government intervention, emphasizing the protection of property rights, national defense, and the provision of public goods.

Trivia: Smith never used the word capitalist or any of its derivatives. The first English use of the word “capitalism” is believed to have appeared in the novel The Newcomes by William Makepeace Thackeray. The story follows a banking family and their increasing wealth and admittance into the English aristocracy.

Source: The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. The Newcomes by Thackeray.

Sarcasm Slightly Cold

26 December 2024 By in Biography, History Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Stacy Schiff, biographer of Cleopatra VII and history of Egypt and Rome during her reign as Egypt’s queen is an entertaining writer with a sardonic sense of humor.

Wit of Schiff I: Cleopatra and Mark Anthony, after a three-year separation, reunited in 37 BC in Antioch. They rekindle their relationship, Cleopatra becomes pregnant, and they part again in early 36 BC, he for a military campaign in Parthia and she to go south to meet with Herod in Jerusalem.

“In the course of the visit she met Herod’s fractious extended family…Herod had the misfortune to share an address with several implacable enemies, first among them his contemptuous, highborn mother-in-law, Alexandra…his insinuating mother; a grievance-loving, overly loyal sister; and Mariamme, the cool, exceptionally beautiful wife…who to his frustration, somehow could never get past the fact that Herod had murdered half her family.”

Wit of Schiff II: Mark Anthony after conquering Armenia, which included parts of modern Turkey and Azerbaijan, in 34 BC, “returned to Alexandria in triumph, taking with him not only the collected treasure of Armenia, but its King, his wife, their children, and the provincial governors. Out of deference to their rank, he bound the royal family in chains of gold.”

Trivia: No good, confirmed likenesses of either Cleopatra or Herod exist. Recently a bust from the Egyptian Taposiris Magna temple near Alexandria has been recovered which the archaeologist, Kathleen Martinez claims is a likeness of Cleopatra. Other experts disagree.

Source: Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Shiff, 2010. Marble Bust Found, Gadgets 360, 2024.

The Last Queen

15 December 2024 By in Biography, History Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Cleopatra VII, descendant of Alexander the Great’s general Ptolemy Soter, inheriting the Egyptian Empire upon Alexander’s death, was the last pharaoh or queen of Egypt. Upon her death in 30 B.C., less than two weeks after the death of her lover, Mark Antony, she took her own life, likely with a fast-acting poison rather than the bite of an asp. This cleared the way for Augustus, the founder of the Roman Empire, to incorporate Egypt into the Roman realm.

In Cleopatra: A Life, Stacy Schiff weaves an engrossing tale of the queen’s ruthless ambition to restore the Egyptian Empire to its former glory. Though Cleopatra’s life lasted less than 40 years, she brought Rome into her world, achieving greatness that ultimately led to her downfall.

Cleopatra wanted greatness and found the means to attain it. Schiff states in her book that “Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. …Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and after his murder — three more with his protégé…The two [Cleopatra and Anthony] would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends.”

Source: Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Shiff, 2010.