Summer, a time to read books in the sun!

Still the sun shines, still the leaves are green, reflecting the sunlight, still the sky is blue.  Naturally the wind comes from the east, over the North Sea and dampens it down a bit, still if in a windbreak it is marvellous!  I know that may not be the best picture to reflect the light, however the near naked man spoilt the picture I would have taken earlier and nothing new made itself known.  Not even a cat asleep in the sun could be found, which shows how hot things were.  

Nothing else happened except the discovery that the USA is watching us through Google, Facebook, Yahoo, etc not that we ought to be surprised at this of course.  We all knew that for the sake of 'US security' none of us were safe!  The British government have shown their mettle here and said absolutely nothing, because they participate in this, no wonder Google don't pay any tax!

I've just finished a re-read of A.J.P. Taylor's History of the Great War.   I consider this an excellent, somewhat irreverent, approach to the war and well worth a read, a good starting place for anyone with no knowledge of the conflict.  Obviously it has to condense four years into a small book but Taylor was very adept at making words fit into space.  He made many TV programmes in the late 50's/60's in which he just stood there talking to the camera on his subject for 28 minutes and always finished dead on time.  A superb talker he made the subject real, he also knew his subject and was not unhappy, some would say 'keen,' to indicate places where he disagreed with everyone else.  This book contains a few examples that would upset some when it first appeared on the bookshelves, although not noticeable today.  Plenty of pictures, with sometimes irreverent comments, opinions in passing on the various leaders, none of whom come up to the mark, but a good commentary on the four years and their aftermath.
A bit dated now, he died in 1990, but well worth a read. 

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