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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
roger noehren has commented on (8) products
Life
by
Keith Richards
roger noehren
, November 17, 2010
I am I suppose in the demographic that is most likely to embrace this terrific memoir by the legendary Keith Richards (or Richard as he was confusingly known for a number of years). There was only one television at my school and that was in the rather small library into which we all crammed to watch Top of the Pops on Thursday evenings between supper and prep. The Stones were a favorite and were frequently on the show. It wasn't until "Their Satanic Majesties Request" was released when I was 16 that I really took note and the follow up "Beggar's Banquet" is still my favorite Stones album (and sadly coincided with the untimely death of Brian Jones - which Richards shockingly dismisses with a slur...) but I wasn't disappointed by the subsequent albums especially "Exile on Main street". After that I was pretty indifferent until I saw Martin Scorsese's excellent concert film "Shine a Light" a few years ago. Since I never really cared for their hits I was put off by Mick Jagger's self parodying prancing about, but was captivated by Keith Richards who was clearly really enjoying himself. I particularly liked the songs - especially "You got the Silver" - that he sang with Mick off the stage. After reading several favorable reviews, I picked up a copy and started reading at the point where I pretty much tuned them out -1977, when Richards was busted in Toronto with 22 grams of heroin. I was drawn in immediately by the natural way he lays out the ins and outs of life with and without the Stones and his love/love not so much relationship with Jagger over the years. He gets slammed more than a couple of the other band members (Charlie Watts and just about all the sidemen get lauded repeatedly). After he quit heroin, Richards began to reestablish his influence on the band (which Jagger had usurped to the point where they were billed as "Mick Jagger & the Rolling Stones" and their record contract included a secret side deal for Jagger to release four solo albums, which caused a major rift in the band). Fascinating stuff. Richards recounts (with considerable help from co-writer James Fox) the trials and tribulations of the ensuing years. We meet a huge cast of characters - many of them American musicians who Richards holds in high regard and played with when the Stones were inactive and many of the behind the scenes people (his guitar valet, cooks, gardeners, managers, engineers, costume and make up people...who pretty much all receive kind words). He portrays himself as a mellow guy unless you piss him off (over a trifle in some instances), in which case run for cover! While there are numerous extended quotes from members of the cast, it is Richards who relates the most outrageous behavior on his part. We're treated to many anecdotes about his jet setting life and a peek into his life at "home" in Connecticut with "the wife" & kids plus a menagerie of animals and a nature preserve next door. We're given a cautionary tale about keeping ones heaviest books on a high up shelf in ones library (this is the country gentleman/book worm speaking) and recipes for Bangers & Mash and Shepherds Pie, his two favorites. One of the more interesting revelations is the rules written and unwritten, such as Richards only being permitted to sing lead vocal on a maximum of two songs per album, with a similar restriction in concert. Of course Richards doesn't mention the almost total lock he and Jagger had on song writing credit - not acknowledging the significant contributions of Bryan Jones and Mick Taylor especially. The biggest surprise is that reading his descriptions of his contributions to the later albums makes me want to give them a listen, since they may have some gems which I'm missing out on. Also his pick up band the X Pensive Winos sounds great and has somehow been off my radar. I'm a couple of pages from the end (listening to the remastered version of "Beggars Banquet"). As soon as I'm done, I'll start at the beginning...
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Cognitive Infiltration An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9 11 Conspiracy Theory
by
David Ray Griffin
roger noehren
, October 27, 2010
I was mistaken about Powell's having 47 copies of this book in a remote warehouse - it's not theirs, but they were willing to order a copy for me to peruse prior to purchase. I appreciate this service, because I already own half a dozen volumes by David Ray Griffin on this subject and was only really interested in this one because of what the title suggests. A significant portion of the book deals with the subject of "conspiracy theories" and the common tendency to dismiss anything labeled as such without carefully reviewing the facts as they become known. Griffin Is the leading authority or scholar valiantly attempting to prevent the government and its mouthpieces from obfuscating. As far as I could tell from perusing this book (I don't claim to have read it), it doesn't present new information, but systematically and honestly dismantles each and every attempt to promote the official version of 9/11/2001 and to discredit alternative scenarios. I have yet to meet anyone who has read any of David Ray Griffin's books who doubts that 9/!! was an inside job. In other words, the nay sayers refuse to read the relevant books. If you believe the official version of events and are "at least 30% open minded", you should read one of Griffin's books - not necessarily this one (if you do choose this one, you'll want to read the others): "Contradictions", "The 9/11 Commission - omissions & distortions" are both excellent. If you choose "The New Pearl Harbor", you should also pick up the "revised" companion volume... He's also written a book that focuses on the mysterious collapse of WTC #7 on the evening of 9/11, which most certainly was a controlled demolition (as well) and one on whether Osama Bin Laden is dead (most likely) or not. None of his books are speculative (except momentarily, when he says as much). They are derived from published and substantiated sources and draw rational and reasoned conclusions.
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Detroit Disassembled
by
Andrew Moore
roger noehren
, October 27, 2010
I was sitting in the Photography section looking at (the gorgeous) "Beauty in Decay", when I noticed someone across from me looking at this book. When she was done I checked it out and was absolutely fascinated by these tableaus frozen in time (although extremely deteriorated). I've never been to Detroit, but I saw "Roger & Me" (no relation) and like the MC5 and Patti Smith. Images of ivy covered mansions and abandoned factories, but never anything this up close and personal. Andrew Moore apparently got access to factories with abandoned equipment and a school with desks, chairs, books and personal effects left as if everyone departed in a hurry, old theatres, including one which has been turned into a parking garage...and has exquisitely captured the detritus in his photograph. There are also images of nature making significant inroads - houses w/o siding (one looks like a Hundertwasser painting) & partially or completely covered in ivy, a Daliesque wall clock and a shattered grand piano on the floor of a still stunningly beautiful dance hall (?) - talk about aging gracefully!. In the book "Beauty and Decay", it was obvious that many of the images were staged &/or manipulated (albeit to good effect), but these give the impression that they represent what Moore found when he entered (plus well placed lights).. This book brought back memories of my childhood, exploring bombed out houses in my neighborhood in Berlin and later as an adult, living in Wheeler on the Oregon coast (in 1980). I found an abandoned mansion full of personal stuff. It was our favorite place to visit, but I was too poor to buy film (and have it processed). I met a photographer at the Open Studios earlier this month who had several beautiful pictures of a nude model in an abandoned building. I asked where it was and she replied that it was in N Portland, but had been torn down. Interestingly, she added that the only people she ever saw there were photographers. Recording our experiences has become such a large part of our culture that as photographers (which is just about everybody these days) we seek out photogenic locales as our subjects or as backdrops for our shenanigans (rather than recording what we would be doing even if the cameras weren't present). On the other hand photographs are so often all that is left after the wrecking ball... She told me about the book "Beauty in Decay", which is on my birthday/Christmas wish list & led me to this stupendous volume, which is also on my list. Another fabulous book in this vein is: "Portraits from Above - Hong Kong's Informal Rooftop Communities" by Rufina Wu & Stefan Canham (in architecture), which is really authentic and unadorned.
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Debunking 9 11 Myths Why Conspiracy Theories Cant Stand Up to the Facts
by
David Dunbar
roger noehren
, October 08, 2010
This book is part of the cover up of the US government's complicity in the events of 9/11/2001. It has been thoroughly discredited by David Ray Griffin in his book " Debunking 9/11 Debunking". It is the official version that can't stand up to the facts and /or analysis by scientists, pilots and the testimony of people involved who have dared to speak the truth on the record. I encourage readers of this book to also read David Ray Griffin's excellent, carefully researched books on the subject before forming an opinion.
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New Pearl Harbor Revisited 9 11 the Cover Up & the Expose
by
David Ray Griffin
roger noehren
, October 07, 2010
A front page article in last week's Oregonian (about the significant number of people around the world who share the view expressed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the UN that rogue elements in the United States government were behind the 9/11 attacks) prompted me to take the four excellently researched and reasoned books by David Ray Griffin off my shelf and review them. I was staying in a cabin in eastern Oregon on 9/11 w/o a TV, but I listened to NPR all day and was incredulous when I heard about WTC #7 collapsing into it's footprint that evening as if by controlled demolition. Upon returning to Portland and reading the newspaper reports with photos of the perpetrators and stories about Mohamed Atta leaving his briefcase full of incriminating evidence at Logan airport and his passport being found on the streets of NYC, my skepticism increased. The original "New Pearl Harbor" did an excellent job of summarizing the evidence that contradicted the official version of what occurred on that day. Since then there has been the 9/11 Commission and it's report, which Griffin exposed as a whitewash in his "Omissions and Distortions" book and the Popular Mechanics article and book (supporting the official story and "debunking" the so called "conspiracy theories") which Griffin exposed as fraudulent in his "Debunking 9/11 Debunking" book. There has also been a concerted effort by both the mainstream and the alternative media to discredit those who question the official version, as Griffin outlines in the introduction to "The New Pearl Harbor Revisited". Griffin is a stickler for facts which can be substantiated, hence he felt the need to correct and update his original seminal work, which this book effectively does. Much of the material has been covered in the various books that Griffin has written and edited in the intervening years, but short of reading those excellent volumes, this book will bring readers of the original NPH up to date. For someone (with at least a 30% open mind) who has not read any of Griffin's books, I would suggest starting with "Debunking 9/11 Debunking" as a more concise and readable primer or "9/11 and the American Empire (intellectuals speak out)", which Griffin edited along with Peter Dale Scott. One could also read "NPH Revisited" with a copy of the original version on hand for cross referencing. I heard on KBOO this morning that David Ray Griffin has published a new book titled "Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointee's Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory", which I see that Powell's has 47 copies of stashed away in remote warehouses. So clearly the administration is concerned that the alternative scenarios about what transpired on that day that changed everything are gaining traction. President Obama's claim to be shocked that anyone would suggest that the U.S. government was in some way complicit in the attacks is clearly posturing. NB an otherwise positive review on this site repeatedly referred to Mr Griffin as Griffith - don't be confused by this...
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Debunking 9 11 Debunking An Answer to Popular Mechanics & Other Defenders of the Official Conspiracy Theory
by
David Ray Griffin
roger noehren
, October 07, 2010
Nine years after 9/11, the current administration is working hard to quash support for alternative theories about what transpired on that auspicious day. President Obama himself publicly denounced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for making the outrageous claim that "most people in the world believe the United States government was behind the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001", as if he were unfamiliar with this line of reasoning. He has in fact gone so far as to appoint someone to squelch such thinking. The Oregonian ran a front page story on Monday (Oct 4th) about how Ahmadinejad is hardly alone in suspecting US government complicity in the attacks. While the article is itself clearly an attempt to discredit proponents of alternative theories about 9/11, by stating that "Those who say the attacks might have been an "inside job" usually share antipathy toward the U.S. government, and often a maverick sensibility. Besides Ahmadinejad, high-profile doubters include Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Former Minnesota Govenor and pro wrestler Jesse Ventura has questioned the official account...".Well, we all know that those guys are all crackpots, so by inference anything that they believe must be false - right? The article goes on to site various conspiracy theory debunkers and suggests that some of the theories are "tinged with anti-Semitism because of the close U.S.- Israeli alliance." Ultimately the main argument to refute evidence that "controlled demolitions destroyed the twin towers and the Pentagon was hit by a missile" and that WTC #7 also collapsed in the manner of a controlled demolition (an event completely ignored by the 9/11 commission) and that flight 93 was probably shot down by an air force jet. is that "All this would require hundreds if not thousands of people to be in on the plot." The article cites a US State Department website as saying: "Conspiracy theories exist in the realm of myth, where imaginations run wild, fears trump facts, and evidence is ignored." In all his books, David Ray Griffin very carefully studies the official record and compares it to the published facts and eye witness accounts of what transpired. He doesn't speculate about what might have happened, but points out how what did occur differs from what is purported to have happened.It is the official version of events Griffin contends that dwells in the realm of myth and is therefore the real "conspiracy theory." I have not yet seen David Ray Griffin's latest book "Cognitive Infiltration: an Obama appointee's plan to undermine the 9/11 conspiracy theory", as all Powell's 47 copies are stored in remote warehouses, but assume that it is as insightful as all of his previous books on the subject, which I have been reviewing in order to select one to loan to a dubious friend. I have concluded that this book is an excellent primer, because it directly addresses the nay-sayers and exposes their false science and reasoning.
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Cognitive Infiltration An Obama Appointees Plan to Undermine the 9 11 Conspiracy Theory
by
David Ray Griffin
roger noehren
, October 07, 2010
Having read several excellent books by David Ray Griffin, which systematically dismantle the official version of the events of 9/11 2001, I am interested in this book, but since all 47 copies in Powell's possession are stored in remote warehouses, it is unavailable for perusing in the store. I will therefore go to Laughing Horse Books to look at a copy prior to purchase. I heard it discussed on KBOO this morning. It seems that the Obama administration is making a concerted effort to debunk the very strong evidence that 9/11 was an inside job by infiltrating the 9/11 Truth movement and arranging to have articles published in major periodicals that support the official story and attempt to discredit those who question it. Just last week President Obama claimed to be disgusted and outraged when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran declared to the UN that most people in the world believe the United States was behind the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He was shocked, shocked that anyone would make such a hateful claim - as if he were hearing it for the first time. Former National Security advisor (at the time of 9/11) and subsequently Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once said that no one could imagine that terrorists would hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings, even though she herself had delivered a memo to "President" W suggesting that such an attack was imminent. The Oregonian ran a front page story on Monday (Oct 4th) about how Ahmadinejad is hardly alone in suspecting US government complicity in the attacks. While the article is itself clearly an attempt to discredit proponents of alternative theories about 9/11, by stating that "Those who say the attacks might have been an "inside job" usually share antipathy toward the U.S. government, and often a maverick sensibility. Besides Ahmadinejad, high-profile doubters include Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Former Minnesota Govenor and pro wrestler Jesse Ventura has questioned the official account...".Well, we all know that those guys are all crackpots, so by inference anything that they believe must be false - right? The article goes on to site various conspiracy theory debunkers and suggests that some of the theories are "tinged with anti-Semitism because of the close U.S.- Israeli alliance." Ultimately the main argument to refute evidence that "controlled demolitions destroyed the twin towers and the Pentagon was hit by a missile" and that WTC #7 also collapsed in the manner of a controlled demolition (an event completely ignored by the 9/11 commission) and that flight 93 was probably shot down by an air force jet. is that "All this would require hundreds if not thousands of people to be in on the plot." The article cites a US State Department website as saying: "Conspiracy theories exist in the realm of myth, where imaginations run wild, fears trump facts, and evidence is ignored." In all his books, David Ray Griffin very carefully studies the official record and compares it to the published facts and eye witness accounts of what transpired. He doesn't speculate about what might have happened, but points out how what did occur differs from what is purported to have happened.It is the official version of events Griffin contends that dwells in the realm of myth and is therefore the real "conspiracy theory."
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Bike Snob Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling
by
BikeSnobNYC
roger noehren
, June 10, 2010
Eben Weiss has written an entertaining and informative book which is a worthy addition to bicycling literature. While lampooning hipsters, fixies & "bike culture" he advocates cycling everywhere, everyday in all but the worst weather and gives practical and insightful tips on how to get out there and do it. The first thing that I noticed about the book was that the illustration of the road bike on the cover is reversed, so the drive train is on the left. This is the only bicycling book that I am aware of that has committed this faux pas since Tom Cuthbertson's classic "Better Bikes" (1980). This is not uncommon in catalogs such as J Crew & fashion ads, but on the cover of a book called "Bike Snob"...but we're always told not to judge a book by its cover - or the reviews on the back: The editor at large of Bicycling (the magazine with all the car ads that focuses on the sport of cycling and virtually ignores the use of bicycles for transportation) recommends gifting the book to "all new cyclers". Good idea, because in the text of the book, Eben Weiss is consistent in using the term "cyclist" and referring to bicycles as "vehicles" (that belong on the road, unless there is a better alternative). The reversed image technique is also used by the illustrator on the endpapers (which features a roadster with a fully enclosed chain guard on the left side among other obviously flipped images of classic bikes) and elsewhere in the book. I would recommend giving this book to anyone you know who has a bike that they rarely if ever ride. Judging by the dearth of cyclists on Portland's streets over the (admittedly wetter than usual) past month, I dare say that there are a lot of people who call them self cyclists who should at least read the section on "Weather Pain" (and how to deal with it). It's also a good read for anyone who rides regularly and is as thrilled as I am at the growing popularity and acceptance of cycling by the main stream and enjoys a caustic social commentary.
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