Lincoln's Dreams by Connie Willis
A fearfully ignorant history scholar struggles to help a troubled woman interpret her dreams.
https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/dear-old-dixie
Lincoln also sent a lot of soldiers off to die, but he was respondingto Southern aggression and was of course an abolitionist.
“He loved the Union,” he said. “He would have done anything he couldto save it, even if it meant trumping up some dream about a boat and a
My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is noteither to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without
On Thursday, December 21, 2023 at 10:44:45?PM UTC-7, Quadibloc wrote:
There may be more at work than merely a desire for a fatter paycheck by targeting
the book at a larger audience.
Another (still nauseating, but in this case, it is the external circumstances involved,
not the _author's_ behavior, that has this characteristic) possibility occurred to me.
Is this book, by any chance, a YA novel?
If so, the author might simply be endeavouring to satisfy her publisher by writing something
that can safely be purchased by school librarians in all 50 states. It is entirely possible that
reasons could exist making this not at all blameworthy on her part, however bad it looks.
I mean, it's still a good thing for children to have a continuing supply of new interesting books
to read, as this might actually encourage them to practice reading more.
With that, I tend to jump to the conclusion that the author is a rabid Trump supporter, and this
is a novel I most definitely do not wish to begin reading (until those two paragraphs, it sounded
quite interesting)... but that conclusion may still be quite unreasonable.
Perhaps the author merely wished to widen the potential audience for her book by ruthlessly
pruning away any content some readers, such as Ron de Santis (in his capacity as Governor of
Florida, before he even began his Presidential run) might find offensive.
And indeed, I see that's the conclusion you reached, sort of: "I think more likely the culprit is the
authors desire for a false equivalence between Lee and Lincoln as equally tragic heroes of the
American Civil War."
However, when you write "I cannot say if this is a dishonest novel or merely fearfully ignorant",
I am again mystified, since it's hard for me to imagine how any American could achieve such
a level of ignorance. Although Ron de Santis certainly was doing his best to inflict precisely
such ignorance on a generation of Floridians... but then, I can see the dishonesty being
innocent... which I suppose is due to a cause that can be called ignorance, although I tend
to see it as a habitual blindness to certain facts rather than an absence of factual knowledge
of their existence.
On Thu, 21 Dec 2023 21:53:29 -0800 (PST), Quadibloc
<jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
On Thursday, December 21, 2023 at 10:44:45?PM UTC-7, Quadibloc wrote:by targeting
There may be more at work than merely a desire for a fatter paycheck
by writing somethingthe book at a larger audience.
Another (still nauseating, but in this case, it is the external >circumstances involved,
not the _author's_ behavior, that has this characteristic) possibility >occurred to me.
Is this book, by any chance, a YA novel?
If so, the author might simply be endeavouring to satisfy her publisher
that can safely be purchased by school librarians in all 50 states. Itis entirely possible that
reasons could exist making this not at all blameworthy on her part,however bad it looks.
supply of new interesting books
I mean, it's still a good thing for children to have a continuing
to read, as this might actually encourage them to practice reading more.
Pandering to racists (and sexists, and homophobes, and so on) is, in
itself, a form a racism.
Having a book banned in Florida (or anywhere else) should be worn by
the author as a Badge of Honor.
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 1:34:04 PM UTC-5, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
In article <0dgboit2p8h7kbmk3...@4ax.com>,
Paul S Person <pspe...@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
On Thu, 21 Dec 2023 21:53:29 -0800 (PST), QuadiblocThere are no books banned in Florida. You can freely buy them if
<jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
On Thursday, December 21, 2023 at 10:44:45?PM UTC-7, Quadibloc wrote:by targeting
There may be more at work than merely a desire for a fatter paycheck
circumstances involved,the book at a larger audience.
Another (still nauseating, but in this case, it is the external
not the _author's_ behavior, that has this characteristic) possibilityoccurred to me.
Is this book, by any chance, a YA novel?by writing something
If so, the author might simply be endeavouring to satisfy her publisher
that can safely be purchased by school librarians in all 50 states. Itis entirely possible that
reasons could exist making this not at all blameworthy on her part,however bad it looks.
supply of new interesting books
I mean, it's still a good thing for children to have a continuing
to read, as this might actually encourage them to practice reading more. >> >Pandering to racists (and sexists, and homophobes, and so on) is, in
itself, a form a racism.
Having a book banned in Florida (or anywhere else) should be worn by
the author as a Badge of Honor.
you like. There are some books which a public policy decision not
to spend public money on buying for school libraries has been made.
School (and any) libraries must always choose some books and not
others to stock their shelves. This is not "banning books". I
believe we could all probably agree that _The Naughty Nurse's
Housecalls_ would not be appropriate for a school library, but
that's a judgement call as are they all.
OK, justify excluding Milton's "Paradise Lost", or Proust's "Swann's Way" >from school shelves.
They're both on the list.
Here's the whole thing, 673 books: >https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/more-than-350-books-banned-in-florida-schools-since-last-july-16817328
There are no books banned in Florida. You can freely buy them if you
like. There are some books which a public policy decision not to spend public money on buying for school libraries has been made.
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 1:47:10 PM UTC-5, pete...@gmail.com
wrote:
OK, justify excluding Milton's "Paradise Lost", or Proust's "Swann's
Way"
from school shelves.
I'd be tempted to give any high school student who could read one of
those and pass a test on it a scholarship.
I got the Milton and Proust from this article: >https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/see-10-pieces-of-classic-liter= >ature-banned-from-schools-in-a-florida-county/ar-AA1lR5y0
pete...@gmail.com <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
I got the Milton and Proust from this article: >>https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/see-10-pieces-of-classic-liter= >>ature-banned-from-schools-in-a-florida-county/ar-AA1lR5y0
Banning books encourages readers. I tried to read Ulysses in 7th grade >because I heard it had been banned, but I could make no sense out of it.
I tried very hard, because I was sure it was dirty.
I tried again in my thirties and I still could not made any sense out of
it. Had it not been banned, I would never have even made the attempt.
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 7:32:12?PM UTC-7, Quadibloc wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2023 11:55:11 -0800, William Hyde wrote:
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 1:47:10?PM UTC-5, pete...@gmail.com
wrote:
OK, justify excluding Milton's "Paradise Lost", or Proust's "Swann's
Way"
from school shelves.
I'd be tempted to give any high school student who could read one of
those and pass a test on it a scholarship.
In _that_ case, putting them in school libraries is _obviously_ a
waste of taxpayer's money, since they're too advanced for the
students! Thus, you've come up with the justification that was
being sought!
I've just checked Wikipedia. In Swann's Way, there is a reference
to an unspeakable crime against nature, in which one Mademoselle
Vinteuil was involved, so _obviously_ this is the sort of book that
can't be provided to a minor without that minor's parent's written
consent!
I mean, just like _Heather Has Two Mommies_!--
So, from the _traditional_ viewpoint of what is suitable for school
libraries - which long preceded the additional innovations we've seen
in Florida - this book would have been considered unacceptable.
John Savard
On Fri, 22 Dec 2023 18:33:58 +0000, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
There are no books banned in Florida. You can freely buy them if you
like. There are some books which a public policy decision not to spend
public money on buying for school libraries has been made.
That is true.
However, the public policy decision being made by
the government of Florida - which doesn't _just_ involve spending
public money on buying books, as prison sentences for school
librarians are possible if the books involved are placed on
school library shelves with money provided by private donations -
is of such a nature as to be highly objectionable.
To object to students reading that it was _wrong_ to enslave
people is something that can only be truthfully described as evil.
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 02:29:57 -0000 (UTC), Quadibloc <quadibloc@servername.invalid> wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2023 18:33:58 +0000, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
There are no books banned in Florida. You can freely buy them if you
like. There are some books which a public policy decision not to spend
public money on buying for school libraries has been made.
That is true.
It is a transparent attempt to defend systematic prejudice of all
types, kinds, shapes, and sizes.
He knows very well what we are talking about.
However, the public policy decision being made by
the government of Florida - which doesn't _just_ involve spending
public money on buying books, as prison sentences for school
librarians are possible if the books involved are placed on
school library shelves with money provided by private donations -
is of such a nature as to be highly objectionable.
That is to say, "Republican".
To object to students reading that it was _wrong_ to enslave
people is something that can only be truthfully described as evil.
That is to say, "Republican".
Here's hoping the Republican Party finds its way out of it's current situation. But do they have what it takes to purge the party of Trump, deSantis, semi-fascist MAGA types, and Tea Party members? Or is it
doomed to destruction?
It's going to be a very exciting 2024!
On 12/23/2023 9:06 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 02:29:57 -0000 (UTC), Quadibloc
<quadibloc@servername.invalid> wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2023 18:33:58 +0000, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
There are no books banned in Florida. You can freely buy them if you
like. There are some books which a public policy decision not to spend >>>> public money on buying for school libraries has been made.
That is true.
It is a transparent attempt to defend systematic prejudice of all
types, kinds, shapes, and sizes.
He knows very well what we are talking about.
However, the public policy decision being made by
the government of Florida - which doesn't _just_ involve spending
public money on buying books, as prison sentences for school
librarians are possible if the books involved are placed on
school library shelves with money provided by private donations -
is of such a nature as to be highly objectionable.
That is to say, "Republican".
To object to students reading that it was _wrong_ to enslave
people is something that can only be truthfully described as evil.
That is to say, "Republican".
Here's hoping the Republican Party finds its way out of it's current
situation. But do they have what it takes to purge the party of Trump,
deSantis, semi-fascist MAGA types, and Tea Party members? Or is it
doomed to destruction?
It's going to be a very exciting 2024!
Personally I'm tired of "very exciting" election years....
Looking at this list more closely, I see that one of the libraries removed = >a children's book called "What on Earth is a Pangolin?"
A brief search confirmed that this is indeed a book about Pangolins, part o= >f a series of "What on Earth ..." titles. (Sadly, the equivalent
series in my childhood did not have the "How and Why Wonder Book of Pangoli= >ns", so I remained ignorant of them - as ignorant as
a child in part of Florida).
Did the person who removed it simply assume that "Pangolin" was a new word=
on the LGBTQ spectrum? Or did it sound faintly
communist, as in Pan-Golin? Perhaps it was fear of the great god Pan.
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> writes:
On 12/23/2023 9:06 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 02:29:57 -0000 (UTC), Quadibloc
<quadibloc@servername.invalid> wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2023 18:33:58 +0000, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
There are no books banned in Florida. You can freely buy them if you >>>>> like. There are some books which a public policy decision not to spend >>>>> public money on buying for school libraries has been made.
That is true.
It is a transparent attempt to defend systematic prejudice of all
types, kinds, shapes, and sizes.
He knows very well what we are talking about.
However, the public policy decision being made by
the government of Florida - which doesn't _just_ involve spending
public money on buying books, as prison sentences for school
librarians are possible if the books involved are placed on
school library shelves with money provided by private donations -
is of such a nature as to be highly objectionable.
That is to say, "Republican".
To object to students reading that it was _wrong_ to enslave
people is something that can only be truthfully described as evil.
That is to say, "Republican".
Here's hoping the Republican Party finds its way out of it's current
situation. But do they have what it takes to purge the party of Trump,
deSantis, semi-fascist MAGA types, and Tea Party members? Or is it
doomed to destruction?
It's going to be a very exciting 2024!
Personally I'm tired of "very exciting" election years....
It's not really a year, any more. It is more like three years
of electioneering, one year of peace.
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 9:32:12?PM UTC-5, Quadibloc wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2023 11:55:11 -0800, William Hyde wrote:
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 1:47:10?PM UTC-5, pete...@gmail.comIn _that_ case, putting them in school libraries is _obviously_ a
wrote:
OK, justify excluding Milton's "Paradise Lost", or Proust's "Swann's
Way"
from school shelves.
I'd be tempted to give any high school student who could read one of
those and pass a test on it a scholarship.
waste of taxpayer's money, since they're too advanced for the
students! Thus, you've come up with the justification that was
being sought!
Actually, I learned a lot from books which were too advanced for me. Even when
you miss 99% of the content of a great book, you learn a lot. Often more than >from a mediocre one.
For example, I learned far more from Fischer's "My 60 memorable games", despite being
far too weak a player to understand most of it, than from Reinfeld's "Chess in a
Nutshell", 99% of which I did understand.
On 12/23/2023 9:06 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
It's going to be a very exciting 2024!
Personally I'm tired of "very exciting" election years....
On 12/23/2023 10:23 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> writes:
On 12/23/2023 9:06 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 02:29:57 -0000 (UTC), Quadibloc
<quadibloc@servername.invalid> wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2023 18:33:58 +0000, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
There are no books banned in Florida. You can freely buy them if you >>>>>> like. There are some books which a public policy decision not to spend >>>>>> public money on buying for school libraries has been made.
That is true.
It is a transparent attempt to defend systematic prejudice of all
types, kinds, shapes, and sizes.
He knows very well what we are talking about.
However, the public policy decision being made by
the government of Florida - which doesn't _just_ involve spending
public money on buying books, as prison sentences for school
librarians are possible if the books involved are placed on
school library shelves with money provided by private donations -
is of such a nature as to be highly objectionable.
That is to say, "Republican".
To object to students reading that it was _wrong_ to enslave
people is something that can only be truthfully described as evil.
That is to say, "Republican".
Here's hoping the Republican Party finds its way out of it's current
situation. But do they have what it takes to purge the party of Trump, >>>> deSantis, semi-fascist MAGA types, and Tea Party members? Or is it
doomed to destruction?
It's going to be a very exciting 2024!
Personally I'm tired of "very exciting" election years....
It's not really a year, any more. It is more like three years
of electioneering, one year of peace.
What year in 2020 to 2024 is the "year of peace"?
Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> wrote:
Another [unintended consequence] was that the phrase "banned in Boston"=20 >>became associated, in the popular mind, with something lurid, sexy, and=20 >>naughty. Commercial distributors were often pleased when their works=20 >>were banned in Boston=E2=80=94it gave them more appeal elsewhere.
Banned in Boston everyone!
Banned in Boston just for having a little fun.
We had a jolly shore leave there for just three days or four
But Boston doesn't want us anymore.
Another [unintended consequence] was that the phrase "banned in Boston"=20 >became associated, in the popular mind, with something lurid, sexy, and=20 >naughty. Commercial distributors were often pleased when their works=20
were banned in Boston=E2=80=94it gave them more appeal elsewhere.
Personally I'm tired of "very exciting" election years....
William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:
Looking at this list more closely, I see that one of the libraries removed = >>a children's book called "What on Earth is a Pangolin?"
A brief search confirmed that this is indeed a book about Pangolins, part o= >>f a series of "What on Earth ..." titles. (Sadly, the equivalent
series in my childhood did not have the "How and Why Wonder Book of Pangoli= >>ns", so I remained ignorant of them - as ignorant as
a child in part of Florida).
Did the person who removed it simply assume that "Pangolin" was a new word= >> on the LGBTQ spectrum? Or did it sound faintly
communist, as in Pan-Golin? Perhaps it was fear of the great god Pan.
No, it likely mentioned evolution, in the context of how pangolins got to
be the way they are. In many parts of the South, evolution is still >considered heretical and subversive.
--scott
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 09:51:52 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
Personally I'm tired of "very exciting" election years....
Richard Nixon won 49 states in 1972. Even a swing of 2 or 3 % would
probably have given him 45 - is THAT the kind of result you favor?
In article <ttqhoilto4qrqhujoidb9gjffiocpi1lsc@4ax.com>,
The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 09:51:52 -0800, Dimensional Traveler >><dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
Personally I'm tired of "very exciting" election years....
Richard Nixon won 49 states in 1972. Even a swing of 2 or 3 % would >>probably have given him 45 - is THAT the kind of result you favor?
Reagon won everything in 1984 except for Minnesota and Washington DC .
On Sunday, December 24, 2023 at 11:15:35?AM UTC-5, Paul S Person wrote:
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 11:09:08 -0800 (PST), William Hyde
<wthyd...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 9:32:12?PM UTC-5, Quadibloc wrote:I found the classic books on Combinations and The End Game and so
On Fri, 22 Dec 2023 11:55:11 -0800, William Hyde wrote:
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 1:47:10?PM UTC-5, pete...@gmail.comIn _that_ case, putting them in school libraries is _obviously_ a
wrote:
OK, justify excluding Milton's "Paradise Lost", or Proust's "Swann's >> >> >> Way"
from school shelves.
I'd be tempted to give any high school student who could read one of >> >> > those and pass a test on it a scholarship.
waste of taxpayer's money, since they're too advanced for the
students! Thus, you've come up with the justification that was
being sought!
Actually, I learned a lot from books which were too advanced for me. Even when
you miss 99% of the content of a great book, you learn a lot. Often more than
from a mediocre one.
For example, I learned far more from Fischer's "My 60 memorable games", despite being
far too weak a player to understand most of it, than from Reinfeld's "Chess in a
Nutshell", 99% of which I did understand.
forth to be both understandable /and/ instructive.
I'm not sure which you are referring to here.
I should add that Reinfeld did indeed write good books - his collections of >the games of Nimzowitsch, Tarrasch, and Keres' games in particular.
He also wrote books on coins, some said to be quite good. But he was a >high-volume producer, with some works being done in days.
Then again, for several years I bought (at hideous [at the time]
expense) a book containing "lines", that is, long lists of moves
which, taken together, gave some clues as to which decisions, in a
given situation, might lead to victory. I studied it, but how much it
helped is an open question.
That sounds like an openings book, and many of these are a waste of
time. In our day "Chess Openings, Theory and Practice", by Horowitz,
was the most useful of these, giving ideas and themes as well as
variations. Fine's "The ideas behind the chess openings" was also
good, though I found it a bit dogmatic.
Or perhaps you were buying chess informants? But those contain
complete games, so probably not.
For advanced players books such as you describe can be useful.
There is, or was, a biweekly publication giving the latest play in
the Sicilian defense alone. But such would be useless to me.
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 09:51:52 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
Personally I'm tired of "very exciting" election years....
Richard Nixon won 49 states in 1972. Even a swing of 2 or 3 % would
probably have given him 45 - is THAT the kind of result you favor?
doctor@doctor.nl2k.ab.ca (The Doctor) writes:
In article <ttqhoilto4qrqhujoidb9gjffiocpi1lsc@4ax.com>,
The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 09:51:52 -0800, Dimensional Traveler >>><dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
Personally I'm tired of "very exciting" election years....
Richard Nixon won 49 states in 1972. Even a swing of 2 or 3 % would >>>probably have given him 45 - is THAT the kind of result you favor?
Reagon won everything in 1984 except for Minnesota and Washington DC .
And Raygun's approval rating was less than Mr Biden's during the third
year of his term.....
doctor@doctor.nl2k.ab.ca (The Doctor) writes:
In article <ttqhoilto4qrqhujoidb9gjffiocpi1lsc@4ax.com>,
The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 09:51:52 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
Personally I'm tired of "very exciting" election years....
Richard Nixon won 49 states in 1972. Even a swing of 2 or 3 % would
probably have given him 45 - is THAT the kind of result you favor?
Reagon won everything in 1984 except for Minnesota and Washington DC .
And Raygun's approval rating was less than Mr Biden's during the third
year of his term.....
On 12/25/2023 10:44 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
doctor@doctor.nl2k.ab.ca (The Doctor) writes:
In article <ttqhoilto4qrqhujoidb9gjffiocpi1lsc@4ax.com>,
The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 09:51:52 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
Personally I'm tired of "very exciting" election years....
Richard Nixon won 49 states in 1972. Even a swing of 2 or 3 % would
probably have given him 45 - is THAT the kind of result you favor?
Reagon won everything in 1984 except for Minnesota and Washington DC .
And Raygun's approval rating was less than Mr Biden's during the third
year of his term.....
The US unemployment rate was over 10% between mid-1982 and mid-1983. It
came close to 11% in November 1982 -- see >https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE .
Perhaps not entirely coincidentally, Reagan's approval rating dropped
from around 45% in mid-1982 to 35-37% in January 1983. As unemployment
began to drop, his approval rating returned to the low-mid 40s in
mid-1983. It was 53-54% in November-December 1983 and remained in the
50s in 1984 -- see >https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/ronald-reagan-public-approval >.
In article <rrhiN.6170$SyNd.61@fx33.iad>,
Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote:
doctor@doctor.nl2k.ab.ca (The Doctor) writes:
In article <ttqhoilto4qrqhujoidb9gjffiocpi1lsc@4ax.com>,
The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 09:51:52 -0800, Dimensional Traveler >>>><dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
Personally I'm tired of "very exciting" election years....
Richard Nixon won 49 states in 1972. Even a swing of 2 or 3 % would >>>>probably have given him 45 - is THAT the kind of result you favor?
Reagon won everything in 1984 except for Minnesota and Washington DC .
And Raygun's approval rating was less than Mr Biden's during the third
year of his term.....
3rd?
On Monday, December 25, 2023 at 12:07:47?PM UTC-5, Paul S Person wrote:
On Sun, 24 Dec 2023 12:54:29 -0800 (PST), William Hyde
<wthyd...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sunday, December 24, 2023 at 11:15:35?AM UTC-5, Paul S Person wrote:That's odd.
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 11:09:08 -0800 (PST), William Hyde
<wthyd...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 9:32:12?PM UTC-5, Quadibloc wrote:I found the classic books on Combinations and The End Game and so
On Fri, 22 Dec 2023 11:55:11 -0800, William Hyde wrote:
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 1:47:10?PM UTC-5, pete...@gmail.com >> >> >> > wrote:In _that_ case, putting them in school libraries is _obviously_ a
OK, justify excluding Milton's "Paradise Lost", or Proust's "Swann's
Way"
from school shelves.
I'd be tempted to give any high school student who could read one of
those and pass a test on it a scholarship.
waste of taxpayer's money, since they're too advanced for the
students! Thus, you've come up with the justification that was
being sought!
Actually, I learned a lot from books which were too advanced for me. Even when
you miss 99% of the content of a great book, you learn a lot. Often more than
from a mediocre one.
For example, I learned far more from Fischer's "My 60 memorable games", despite being
far too weak a player to understand most of it, than from Reinfeld's "Chess in a
Nutshell", 99% of which I did understand.
forth to be both understandable /and/ instructive.
I'm not sure which you are referring to here.
Well, there are many such books. Fine's Basic Chess Endings, for example.
They were all several decades old, written by Grand
Masters, covering specific topics (Combinations, End Games, and
Tricks, Traps, and Swindles).
The latter, I think, refers to one of the first chess books I read. "Chess >traps, pitfalls, and swindles" by Horowitz and Reinfeld. A hugely entertaining
book, it corrupted my style forever more.
"The Art of Chess Combination" is a book by Eugene Znosko-Borovsky. It
was quite popular at the time and is still available.
I apparently got rid of them all at one point, and now have no record
of their titles or authors.
But Bing may!
<https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Fundamentals-Jose-Capablanca/dp/0999319450/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=2EQ8DWWYH31WB&keywords=chess+openings&qid=1703523010&s=books&sprefix=chess%2Cstripbooks%2C157&sr=1-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1>
might be the sort of thing I had in mind, if a compendium of more
focused works on openings, mid-games, and end-games.
The title of
<https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Traps-Pitfalls-Swindles-Fireside/dp/0671210416/ref=sr_1_4?crid=8JJC443URNKS&keywords=chess+traps&qid=1703523285&s=books&sprefix=chess+traps%2Cstripbooks%2C136&sr=1-4>
sounds /very/ familiar, although I doubt the one I purchased was part
of the "Fireside Chess Library".
And this
<https://www.bing.com/search?q=ia+horowitz+chess+books+free+download&form=ANNTH1&refig=1a6d2de479cc44b5afc102b33d432e00&pc=IERDSP&sp=3&lq=0&qs=SC&pq=i+a+horo&sk=UT1SC1&sc=10-8&cvid=1a6d2de479cc44b5afc102b33d432e00>
appears to have several possibles.
Capablanca was dead by the time I was born, but that doesn't his books
weren't available. Horowitz was alive at the (or most of the time) I
was into Chess.
"Chess Fundamentals" is such a classic that it was reissued a century after publication, and, if we still have books and
chess, will be in print in 2123. I preferred Lasker's manual of chess (once you get over the antique openings) owing
to my corrupt style (see above). It is also in print.
I should add that Reinfeld did indeed write good books - his collections ofI don't remember the title but these were hardcover and large.
the games of Nimzowitsch, Tarrasch, and Keres' games in particular.
He also wrote books on coins, some said to be quite good. But he was a
high-volume producer, with some works being done in days.
Then again, for several years I bought (at hideous [at the time]
expense) a book containing "lines", that is, long lists of moves
which, taken together, gave some clues as to which decisions, in a
given situation, might lead to victory. I studied it, but how much it
helped is an open question.
That sounds like an openings book, and many of these are a waste of
time. In our day "Chess Openings, Theory and Practice", by Horowitz,
was the most useful of these, giving ideas and themes as well as
variations. Fine's "The ideas behind the chess openings" was also
good, though I found it a bit dogmatic.
Or perhaps you were buying chess informants? But those contain
complete games, so probably not.
For advanced players books such as you describe can be useful.
There is, or was, a biweekly publication giving the latest play in
the Sicilian defense alone. But such would be useless to me.
And, yes, they may have been based on games played, with footnotes
giving alternative paths to those taken.
I seem to recall their being in some sense official publications of a
chess organization, but it was, after all, 50 years or so ago, and
memories ... fade.
I am now 99% certain that these were chess informants. I have numbers six and seventeen
and they are now up to 157, the Perry Rhodan of chess. Almost.
I only ever bought two as I wasn't dedicated enough to go through even one
of them when there were hundreds of more accessible books available.
On Wednesday, December 27, 2023 at 11:43:49?PM UTC, William Hyde wrote:complex enough that it is very unlikely that anybody can show that a particular line is correct without analysing each of the alternatives in detail; human expertise in Chess depends on a judgement of the value of different positions in a way which
On Wednesday, December 27, 2023 at 11:52:24?AM UTC-5, Paul S Person wrote: >> > On Mon, 25 Dec 2023 10:38:52 -0800 (PST), William HydeI spent some time attempting to study Chess as if it was mathematics or computer science, but I could never find a textbook which was both clear and rigorous. Eventually I found (in Computer Science) statements that generalised versions of Chess are
<wthyd...@gmail.com> wrote:It turns out that the yeasayers were right. Nobody cares that computers can outplay the strongest
On Monday, December 25, 2023 at 12:07:47?PM UTC-5, Paul S Person wrote: >> > >> On Sun, 24 Dec 2023 12:54:29 -0800 (PST), William HydeI read it to learn how to /avoid/ them, not so much how to use them.
<wthyd...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sunday, December 24, 2023 at 11:15:35?AM UTC-5, Paul S Person wrote:That's odd.
On Sat, 23 Dec 2023 11:09:08 -0800 (PST), William Hyde
<wthyd...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 9:32:12?PM UTC-5, Quadibloc wrote: >> > >> >> >> On Fri, 22 Dec 2023 11:55:11 -0800, William Hyde wrote:I found the classic books on Combinations and The End Game and so >> > >> >> forth to be both understandable /and/ instructive.
On Friday, December 22, 2023 at 1:47:10?PM UTC-5, pete...@gmail.comIn _that_ case, putting them in school libraries is _obviously_ a
wrote:
OK, justify excluding Milton's "Paradise Lost", or Proust's "Swann's
Way"
from school shelves.
I'd be tempted to give any high school student who could read one of
those and pass a test on it a scholarship.
waste of taxpayer's money, since they're too advanced for the
students! Thus, you've come up with the justification that was >> > >> >> >> being sought!
Actually, I learned a lot from books which were too advanced for me. Even when
you miss 99% of the content of a great book, you learn a lot. Often more than
from a mediocre one.
For example, I learned far more from Fischer's "My 60 memorable games", despite being
far too weak a player to understand most of it, than from Reinfeld's "Chess in a
Nutshell", 99% of which I did understand.
I'm not sure which you are referring to here.
Well, there are many such books. Fine's Basic Chess Endings, for example.
They were all several decades old, written by Grand
Masters, covering specific topics (Combinations, End Games, and
Tricks, Traps, and Swindles).
The latter, I think, refers to one of the first chess books I read. "Chess
traps, pitfalls, and swindles" by Horowitz and Reinfeld. A hugely entertaining
book, it corrupted my style forever more.
"The Art of Chess Combination" is a book by Eugene Znosko-Borovsky. It >> > >was quite popular at the time and is still available.Chess, as a game, will still be around. As an organized competition,
I apparently got rid of them all at one point, and now have no record >> > >> of their titles or authors.
But Bing may!
<https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Fundamentals-Jose-Capablanca/dp/0999319450/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=2EQ8DWWYH31WB&keywords=chess+openings&qid=1703523010&s=books&sprefix=chess%2Cstripbooks%2C157&sr=1-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1>
might be the sort of thing I had in mind, if a compendium of more
focused works on openings, mid-games, and end-games.
The title of
<https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Traps-Pitfalls-Swindles-Fireside/dp/0671210416/ref=sr_1_4?crid=8JJC443URNKS&keywords=chess+traps&qid=1703523285&s=books&sprefix=chess+traps%2Cstripbooks%2C136&sr=1-4>
sounds /very/ familiar, although I doubt the one I purchased was part >> > >> of the "Fireside Chess Library".
And this
<https://www.bing.com/search?q=ia+horowitz+chess+books+free+download&form=ANNTH1&refig=1a6d2de479cc44b5afc102b33d432e00&pc=IERDSP&sp=3&lq=0&qs=SC&pq=i+a+horo&sk=UT1SC1&sc=10-8&cvid=1a6d2de479cc44b5afc102b33d432e00>
appears to have several possibles.
Capablanca was dead by the time I was born, but that doesn't his books >> > >> weren't available. Horowitz was alive at the (or most of the time) I >> > >> was into Chess.
"Chess Fundamentals" is such a classic that it was reissued a century after publication, and, if we still have books and
chess, will be in print in 2123. I preferred Lasker's manual of chess (once you get over the antique openings) owing
to my corrupt style (see above). It is also in print.
it may be, but all the Grandmasters will be computer programs. If they
aren't already.
humans any more than they care that cars can outrace the fastest runners. Organized chess is
bigger now than it ever has been.
You probably learned quite a bit.I bought something like 4, IIRC. I did go through them; I found themI should add that Reinfeld did indeed write good books - his collections ofI don't remember the title but these were hardcover and large.
the games of Nimzowitsch, Tarrasch, and Keres' games in particular. >> > >> >
He also wrote books on coins, some said to be quite good. But he was a
high-volume producer, with some works being done in days.
Then again, for several years I bought (at hideous [at the time]
expense) a book containing "lines", that is, long lists of moves
which, taken together, gave some clues as to which decisions, in a >> > >> >> given situation, might lead to victory. I studied it, but how much it
helped is an open question.
That sounds like an openings book, and many of these are a waste of >> > >> >time. In our day "Chess Openings, Theory and Practice", by Horowitz, >> > >> >was the most useful of these, giving ideas and themes as well as
variations. Fine's "The ideas behind the chess openings" was also
good, though I found it a bit dogmatic.
Or perhaps you were buying chess informants? But those contain
complete games, so probably not.
For advanced players books such as you describe can be useful.
There is, or was, a biweekly publication giving the latest play in
the Sicilian defense alone. But such would be useless to me.
And, yes, they may have been based on games played, with footnotes
giving alternative paths to those taken.
I seem to recall their being in some sense official publications of a >> > >> chess organization, but it was, after all, 50 years or so ago, and
memories ... fade.
I am now 99% certain that these were chess informants. I have numbers six and seventeen
and they are now up to 157, the Perry Rhodan of chess. Almost.
I only ever bought two as I wasn't dedicated enough to go through even one
of them when there were hundreds of more accessible books available.
very interesting to study.
But, as I said, whether all that study was any more than entertaining
I cannot say.
I have always found that if I enjoy reading on a technical subject, I will >> learn, even if that is not my main impulse. I never read chess books
to get better, but they made my play better anyway.
Well, hardly ever.
William Hyde
<https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Fundamentals-Jose-Capablanca/dp/0999319450/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=2EQ8DWWYH31WB&keywords=chess+openings&qid=1703523010&s=books&sprefix=chess%2Cstripbooks%2C157&sr=1-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1>
might be the sort of thing I had in mind, if a compendium of more
focused works on openings, mid-games, and end-games.
The title of ><https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Traps-Pitfalls-Swindles-Fireside/dp/0671210416/ref=sr_1_4?crid=8JJC443URNKS&keywords=chess+traps&qid=1703523285&s=books&sprefix=chess+traps%2Cstripbooks%2C136&sr=1-4>
sounds /very/ familiar, although I doubt the one I purchased was part
of the "Fireside Chess Library".
And this ><https://www.bing.com/search?q=ia+horowitz+chess+books+free+download&form=ANNTH1&refig=1a6d2de479cc44b5afc102b33d432e00&pc=IERDSP&sp=3&lq=0&qs=SC&pq=i+a+horo&sk=UT1SC1&sc=10-8&cvid=1a6d2de479cc44b5afc102b33d432e00>
appears to have several possibles.
Capablanca was dead by the time I was born, but that doesn't his books >weren't available. Horowitz was alive at the (or most of the time) I
was into Chess.
Never did like Reinfeld much though not everything he wrote (just mostI should add that Reinfeld did indeed write good books - his collections of >>the games of Nimzowitsch, Tarrasch, and Keres' games in particular.
And they should be able to handle end-games. Even I was able to look
at an end-game and often see if I should be able to win or not and, if
so, how to do it. Get rid of most of the pieces and things simplify a
lot.
On Saturday, December 30, 2023 at 9:53:19 PM UTC-7, Quadibloc wrote:slavery-history-00133281
On Thursday, December 21, 2023 at 10:15:14 PM UTC-7, Quadibloc wrote:
In it, you write:
(begin quote)
Jeff appears perplexed by the causes of the American Civil War. How
was it that two peerless stalwarts like Lincoln and Lee found
themselves on opposite sides? How is it the American Civil War
happened at all? Jeff struggles to understand this inexplicable,
seemingly causeless event.
Jeff’s perplexity can be traced back to some words Willis left out.
Nowhere in the novel will one find the words “slave,” “slavery,”
“black” (save as a color of blisters, objects and animals), African >> > (save in reference to violets), “Negro,” or “abolition”2. It’s no
wonder that the American Civil War is a such a puzzle to Jeff.
The author having omitted the central cause of the American Civil
War, slavery, of course the conflict appears to be bafflingly
spontaneous.
(end quote)
Here is an excellent article
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/28/nikki-haley-civil-war-
explaining the issues involved in all of this.
On Thursday, December 28, 2023 at 3:34:20 AM UTC-5, Andrew McDowell wrote:complex enough that it is very unlikely that anybody can show that a particular line is correct without analysing each of the alternatives in detail; human expertise in Chess depends on a judgement of the value of different positions in a way which
On Wednesday, December 27, 2023 at 11:43:49 PM UTC, William Hyde wrote: ...
I spent some time attempting to study Chess as if it was mathematics or computer science, but I could never find a textbook which was both clear and rigorous. Eventually I found (in Computer Science) statements that generalised versions of Chess are
Absent positions which are all good or all bad, said judgement requires the balancing of factors which will not
all point the same way. Deep Blue, IIRC, had in it's programming an "ideal" curve in some higher dimensional
space comprised of the various positional factors strong human players considered important. Given a
choice between various tactically sound lines, it would choose the position closest to that line in n-space.
A number of militaries have promoted the study of chess for officers. But not because the battle on the chessboard
translates to actual war - chess pieces have no morale, for example and do not object to being sacrificed. I think
it's main value is in reminding you that the opponent has plans too, and you may not have anticipated them. Even
when their forces are visible to you.
I learned go with a number of other physics grad students. I improved far more rapidly than they did, and I attribute
this to thought patterns learned playing chess. Our fumbling play attracted the attention of a strong (compared to me) Korean player
- we played alternately go and western chess. He became quite good quite rapidly, which again seems to be connected with his
skill at go. Over the months we played I went from taking nine stone odds to five, while he went from rook
odds to knight (chess, of course, does not have so finely drawn an odds system). By the end I think he was
better than half the players in the chess club.
Something transfers from skill in any intellectual pursuit to others, and the correlation between skill at
chess, music, and mathematics has been noted. But never, I believe, explained.
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