The last boring books’ list was published in early March, it is time to tidy again and put used books back into the shelves.
HARRER, Heinrich : Geister und Dämonen. Magische Abenteuer in fernen Ländern. Frankfurt / M. Berlin, 2.Aufl. 1977
HARRER (Ger., Eng., bio) (1912-2006) was an Austrian mountaineer, best remembered for his connection with Tibet and the Dalai Lama (Ger., Eng.). He also was a travel writer with a special interest in aboriginal cultures, their rites and customs, religious ideas, as far as he could reach them. Then he wrote about his travels and what he saw and encountered. He never “looks down” on the people he writes about, and tries to avoid a European- or christian-centered point of view.
EASTLAKE, Keith : Die grössten Katastrophen auf See. Bindlach 1998
(zuerst : A Century of Sea Disasters)
Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the water … Chapter headings read “Collision”, “Fire”, “Explosion”, “Human Error”, “Weather & Technical Error”. Short texts describe what happened to a ship, black/white pictures for illustration. Still better than flying I’d say.
WAKSBERG, Arkadi : Die sowjetische Mafia. Organisiertes Verbrechen in der Sowjetunion. München 1992
WAKSBERG (Ger., Eng.) (most likely 1927-2011) was originally a jurist (promoted 1952) who worked as lawyer. He started to publish in the early sixties and became a journalist in the early 1970s. Since 1973 he worked for the Literaturnaja Gaseta (Ger., Eng.), specialised on criminal justice. If there was someone in the USSR (outside the KGB) who understood the criminal system, and how it was ingrained into the state’s dna, it was him. Within the boundaries he published about it – long before glasnost ! – making the LG one of the most important reads of the former USSR. WAKSBERG lived long enough to see the change – and how the old “elites” adapted. If you understand how the SU worked, you get an idea how the “new” state was organised. Heads were changed, frontiers were corrected (a bit), structures were modified, but not abandoned.
Interestingly the “clown” who was elected lately in Ukraine (report) said at the end of his victory speech something that was not reported in the Russian coverage – I can only give the gist of it : The successor-states of the former soviet republics should look at this election and learn what is possible : It is possible to get rid of “them” – may he live up to his promise. Perhaps it is the first weak crumbling of the “new” empire.
Schweinfurt im 19. Jahrhundert. Ausstellung des Stadtarchivs Schweinfurt.
8. Mai 1991 – 30. Juni 1991, Schweinfurt 1991 (Veröffentlichungen des Stadtarchivs Schweinfurt 6/1991)
Contains an interesting long article about the history of the neighbouring city Schweinfurt (Ger., Eng.). Jaja, de Schnüdel …
HOWE, Ellic : Uranias Kinder. Die seltsame Welt der Astrologen und das Dritte Reich. Herausgegeben und aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Franz ISFORT. Weinheim 1995 (zuerst : Urania’s Children : The Strange World of the Astrologers, London 1967. Expanded edition : Astrology and the Third Reich, Wellingborough 1984)
Ellic HOWE (Ger., Eng., interview) was involved in the double-cross-activities of Mr DELMER through the war. HOWE shines a light on the esoteric backside of the shiny new Germany after 1933, and gives the biography of Karl Ernst KRAFFT (Ger., Eng.) (1900-1945). What sets HOWE apart from more sensational oriented writers is the fact that he really worked in the trade, psychological warfare.
The fact that nazism has an occult “underbelly” should not come as a surprise. On second thought the “Third Reich” is based on an irrational & esoteric ideology, on Irrwitz. DELMER, HOWE and colleagues understood this, and tried to use it.
EISENHAUER, Gregor : Scharlatane. Zehn Fallstudien. Frankfurt / M. 1994
EISENHAUER (Ger.) (born 1960) is a free lance writer in Berlin. In this book he presents ten biographies of “charlatans” through the centuries, starting with Apollonios of Tyana (Ger., Eng.) (first century post Christum natum), ending with Paramahansa YOGANANDA (Ger., Eng.) (1893-1952). The selection may be discussible, I would not necessarily refer to PARACELSUS or Athanasius KIRCHER as “charlatans” (Ger., Eng.). Nevertheless an interesting read.
ENZENSBERGER, Ulrich : Parasiten. Ein Sachbuch. Frankfurt / M. 2001
(Die Andere Bibliothek, 198 ; Nr 2172 der Erstauflage)
A parasit (para-sitos, yeah them Greeks !) is “the one who eats with others”, originally a priest. ENZENSBERGER (Ger.), the old communard (Ger., Eng.), describes the development of word & thing called “parasit” through it’s historic development
KÖNIG, Angelika und Ingemar : Der römische Festkalender der Republik. Feste, Organisation und Priesterschaften. Stuttgart 1991
Let’s see – 11th of June, so we have Matr[on]alia, festivities in honour of Mater Matuta (Ger., Eng.), at the Forum Boarium (Ger., Eng.). Offerings are freshly baked cakes – MJ ?!
KÖNIG (Ger.) is a German ancient historian.
So far. I hope you find this list inspirational for further, own reading.Thank you for your patience.
