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If you’re like the majority of the population in this post-literate age of TikTok videos and never-ending social media feeds, you don’t read books anymore. But you should. Join James for this simple and to-the-point edition of #SolutionsWatch on the value of physical books.
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SHOW NOTES
The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington by Jennet Conant
The Highlighter is Mightier Than the Sword! – #SolutionsWatch
Episode 384 – The Library of Alexandria is on Fire
Appeals court seems lost on how Internet Archive harms publishers
“Books” tag on corbettreport.com
A False Flag Reading List – Questions For Corbett #093
A Mass Media Reading List – Questions For Corbett #088
I hope your detox makes you feel refreshed and healthy Mr Corbett.
I like to write notes in the margins and for those who want to do such things may I recommend the method where the reader takes a pile of those lined note cards and writes out things they wish to recall later on the card? You can do just the idea, or full quotes (“…best kept in marks and dots so you know its a quote….” ) Also write the page number on the card so you can go back and find your spot quickly.
Writing it out really makes it stick in your brain.
You can just rubber band them in piles for each book and then flip thru to refresh yourself on the contents, or if you are writing you can move the cards around the desk to decide what order you will say stuff.
Some people create whole card index “Zettlekastern” of ideas and books and other stuff they wish to keep track of…..its super cheep since you can use any old shoe box or tea bag box you have laying around though I find old, free, cigar boxes look classier if you find the right sized ones.
This guy is an annoying hipster but he wrote a very good free guide on how to set one up. He also wrote a very over detailed book on Zettlekastern. Got to admit his looks way more impressive then mine. But just having a bundle of cards for each book without intergrating them would suit most people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLxjwVjQVrQ
You can get the big book here but the small guide is probably all most people will want
https://www.scottscheper.com/antinet
The book is worth buying IMO, and he periodically sends you a dollar bill with junk mail trying to get you to dign up for his other stuff so it may eventually pay for itself. LOL. Its also on Annas archive, but good luck trying to read it in electronic format
I see he has a free course on offer too.
Thanks for the reading lists and reading tips (thanks also to Duck). I usually use a ruled notebook or my computer to take notes if reading a physical book to capture takeaway points. As always, looking forward to your new projects, James.
James, after seeing that photo of William Stephenson, head of British Security Co-ordination (BSC), at the 50-second mark of your video, I puzzled over why he looks so familiar. I narrowed my pondering down to a current media figure with a British accent but couldn’t think of a name to match the face for the life of me.
Finally, just as you were wrapping up your ode to print books and Proust and telling us about the August hiatus you’re taking to work on future projects in the sweltering sunny climes, it hit me: Piers Morgan is almost the spitting image of Stephenson. Anyone agree?
Then, when reading the Wikipedia entry (not a physical book, sorry) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Security_Co-ordination, I came across this tidbit:
“It was through the BSC that the British acquired the powerful ‘Aspidistra’ transmitter that was used for propaganda by the Political Warfare Executive (PWE), BBC overseas broadcasts and by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the war against Germany.”
In a flash, I thought of George Orwell’s Keep the Aspidistra Flying. I wonder if the transmitter was named after the title of Orwell’s 1936 novel? I’m gonna guess yes.
Definitely Piers Morgan – I also recognised the face and you have hit the nail on the proverbial. 🤣
Yes. It’s almost like they have a limited number of licensed templates so they have to reused them occasionally.
Glad you see what I see, abi and mkey. 🙂
As for your comment on the “limited number of licensed templates” that are “reused occasionally,” mkey, it reminds me of this story: https://vaticancatholic.com/photo-child-killed-sandy-hook-shows-pakistani-school-shooting
There must be many such “mistakes” made with spitting-image photos.
Yes, some of that stuff gets reused so blatantly, one has to wonder about what’s going on. Since you mentioned the Sandy Hook event, I am reminded of a superbowl (2013) live show where the (ostensibly killed) Sandy Hook children sang the anthem. An analysis video of that event was scrubbed well, really really well. I used to be able to find it on vimeo, but no more.
Yup, I remember those Super Bowl videos were all over YouTube once upon a time.
Those were the days when The Corbett Report was “allowed” to keep adding new subscribers (though the numbers may have been suppressed toward the end). Yes, that was before the channel got cancelled (it was 20K shy of 450,000 followers, I think), when James made an intolerable reference to real “science.”
I managed to find one of those videos in my archive and reuploaded it here. If I get sued for a trillion that’s going to be a bummer, but still worth it.
https://odysee.com/@mkey:1/Sandy-Hook-Legit-100-percent:8
You created that video yourself, mkey? Nice work. It looks like they’re the same kids except for being a few years older than the original SH photos.
Do you remember when Wolfgang Halbig said the SH school should have had (but didn’t) a record of the parents of these children (no matter whose kids they were) giving permission for them to go to the Super Bowl on a school outing?
Now, after all this screen time, I think I’ll go read a physical book — the subject of this #SolutionsWatch episode!
CQ, that is not mine, I just had it archived and uploded to odysee. I have no idea where I got it from, otherwise proper credit would be given.
I’m just going to post my books here for you guys to add to your lists because… why not?
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22The+Last+Enchantress%22?Ntk=P_Series_Title&Ns=P_Series_Number&Ntx=mode+matchall
Since James references how your brain learns, here you go:
https://rumble.com/v510eqb-key-concepts-for-learning.html
I enjoy reading books every day. They are relaxing and illuminating. My tolerance for bad writing is about zero. If I start a book and I don’t like it, it goes into the trash. I finished reading “The Demon of Unrest” by Erik Larson a week ago or so. It’s a new book and a best seller. I give it one star. The book is about the leadup to the American Civil War and the attack on Ft. Sumter.
Larson does a good job of research, but he is so biased for the Union cause, that his writing becomes irritating. Larson mentions slavery on almost every page but never mentions that Abraham Lincoln had nothing against slavery and no plans to end it. Lincoln and his Yankee backers just wanted the tariff money from the South that supported the North and the government in D.C.
No one was killed in the bombing of Fr. Sumpter. When the Union garrison finally surrendered, it was to a local gentleman who had no authority from General Beauregard to accept a surrender.
Reading books is a great way to discover human nature and how people react to various situations. Stupidity and the herd instinct are very common.
Johan Hari in Stolen Focus, writes well about the impact of social media and the age of the smartphone and what’s its done to people. He makes the very good point about the myth of multi tasking, ie, I can do this zoom meeting but at the some time reply to an email, I’m a multitasker……
The human brain is not built that way and it has to recalibrate with every new task it has to undertake. https://stolenfocusbook.com/mobile/ I suspect its similar with tik tok, dead scrolling, etc, where the brain is working overtime to take all these different bits of information in and process them individually. Reading a book is seen as hard when its probably easier on the brain in the sense of how much capacity and work behind the scenes that it takes for the brain to recalibrate all the time.
Hope that makes sense.
“……Johan Hari in Stolen Focus, writes well about the impact of social media and the age of the smartphone and what’s its done to people…..”
Yes, he does.
That book is scary when you realize how many peoples brains have been destroyed by electronics
“Multitasking” is very addicting. It can recalibrate (read: completely mess up) your brain so it becomes difficult to do work that requires deep concentration, especially considering dopamine hits one gets from churning out shorter tasks and getting them done.
And now there is a heavy reliance on this technology. It still, and always will I think, freak me out how many of us are glued to our phones. People literally walking down the street dead scrolling on their phones. I’ve seen loads of people on push bikes doing the same. At train stations, it’s just a sea of zombies hunched over into their phones, creating many musculoskeletal issues in the future no doubt. Reinforced during covid, work from home, marvel at what this new technology does and do everything with an app. We are losing skills, like navigation and problem solving. It’s horrible.
Have you ever tried sitting out in the sunshine reading a screen? A good book is the answer – albeit they’re trying their damnedest to switch off the sun. (A bit more of a challenge than switching off tinternet perhaps.)
david
I will say that if you can get an old kindle or other E-PAPER reader they are actually as easy on the eye as paper (when you turn off the backlight you cant tell the difference).
Its not near as nice as a book but lots of the books I want to read are hard to get or cost more then I actually have to pay.
I have several people have given me old E-reader sover the years and they are NEVER online, I them in airplane mode and put books on with a cable because why would I want the internet to know what I’m reading? Lol. Its also good if you travel to be able to carry an actual shelf worth of books with no weight
Thanks Duck, you make a good points. I’ll see if I can get one of these devices. I like to read a little on the allotment.
I find a comparison with the decline of people reading books with the decline of people listening to albums. I think it’s a similar process. It’s not the done thing to go out and buy a physical recording of music, take an interest in the subject and have it there to refer to. A good album can take you to a different world of escape and imagination that is not achievable by simply listening to tunes you like the sound of.
In past couple of years I’ve also been learning yoga, but again, I’m learning the whole concept of it (sivinanda hatha), not because I believe in the ideology but because I want to understand it. In this way I can really get to feel what the original creators meant for it and what they felt about the human body. Most people think though that all you have to do is tune into Andriana on YouTube and go to a few classes in order to know what poses to do, but this completely misses out the concept of breathwork, relaxation, mindfulness and nutritional principles that go along with it. I wonder if there are any other comparisons?
Learning a language perhaps? The idea you can just download an app when that’s not how our brains learn and anyone who’s talked to a bilingual person will tell you, you have to be around the language to learn it.
Tednetter
You can get news programs and podcasts in your target language… I actually think those apps are pretty good when combined with other things TBH.
If anything IMO the issue is that we have fragmented our attention so even though we have more access to useful tools we cant use them.
Agreed.
These things arent integrated in a meaningful way, they are imposrd artificially as the main thing to do. Many feel they have no time to do things like read a book, learn something or that they don’t have the capacity for it because modern society provides everything we need. I’ll just Google something to find the answer and carry on. A lot of my frie ds work hard paced jobs and I totally understand the concept of I’ve had a busy day so I’m going to switch off by binge watching Netflix, have done it myself. What we don’t realise is that gradually we have cut ourselves of from our human needs for connection and life long learning, for our overall health and wellbeing. It’s easy to think you don’t use your brain when you are binge watching, somehow switching off, but you don’t. Your brain just consumes it in a different way. Possibly similar dopamine process we go through when eating junk food, it’s comforting but we don’t really appreciate the long term damage. Why would you if you can’t feel it, right?
There’s no balance. Lack of balance creates deficency and excess.
It’s an unnatural state of affairs to be in.
Agreed.
These things arent integrated in a meaningful way, they are imposrd artificially as the main thing to do. Many feel they have no time to do things like read a book, learn something or that they don’t have the capacity for it because modern society provides everything we need. I’ll just Google something to find the answer and carry on. A lot of my frie ds work hard paced jobs and I totally understand the concept of I’ve had a busy day so I’m going to switch off by binge watching Netflix, have done it myself. What we don’t realise is that gradually we have cut ourselves of from our human needs for connection and life long learning, for our overall health and wellbeing. It’s easy to think you don’t use your brain when you are binge watching, somehow switching off, but you don’t. Your brain just consumes it in a different way. Possibly similar dopamine process we go through when eating junk food, it’s comforting but we don’t really appreciate the long term damage. Why would you if you can’t feel it, right?
There’s no balance. Lack of balance creates deficency and excess.
It’s an unnatural state of affairs to be in.
And then of course, when the cognitive effects play out in a physical way in behaviours or characteristics, its often labeled as a mental illness or the invogue label ADHD. Clearing the way for this phenomenon to continue unabated and further pathologisaton of humans who have a detrimental or different response to it all.
I thoroughly recommend the late, great Mark Fishers works on music and culture. He was a visionary and really captured many important insights from our modern times. Beautiful. https://repeaterbooks.com/product/k-punk-the-collected-and-unpublished-writings-of-mark-fisher-2004-2016/
P.S there’s nothing wrong in learning yoga poses, I would encourage it, its very good exercise. But that is all it is, exercise and should really be called stretching instead. Perhaps it would make people a bit more discerning in their choices 😉
Anyway, have a wonderful break from podcastjng james and thanks for all your work and showing us a great example of applying critical thinking and encouraging learning. It’s so easy to get sucked into a lazy and unitellectual space these days, it’s nice to have measure and reality. Best wishes.
James, How much I enjoy your superb work and astute insights! Every day I am alive I rejoice to know I support your work, and have the benefit of fresh ideas, interesting facts and unique Truths only a superior mind as yours can provide.
Long Life and peaceful Health to you Always,
Dave
Great you bring this up, James.
The reason that there was such a push back, historically, against astrological practice was related to the interpretation of personal charts, those of individuals. It was well understood that an astrologer could be bought to say: that dude was born to be king. And had.
This is why even during the Inquisitions, doctors were still expected to know and apply certain astrological principles, and could still be killed if they had done a surgery which ended in death, without consulting in advance on the position of Mars.
One of course retains complete free will, and can plan a picnic whenever. However, most are inclined, maybe influenced we can say, to plan that for good weather seasons, not winter or rainy season.
There are three reasons an astrologer is cursed:
First, not knowing your stuff. Not having studied, digested, reflected and learned to truly understand . Most of all the full honesty and humility to understand our inherent limitation in knowing or understanding the enormity of this mystery.
Second, doing it for the wrong reasons. Such as personal gain. Or influence, or status in the community. For any reason but to serve dharma, the “true path”.
Third, leaving a client without hope.
Making “predictions” is an egotistical power trip.”Pre-dictions”, such as those md’s deliver as to the remaining time of a life, are curses. One that many will pay for, by the way. Unfortunately. Those who deliver them will also pay.
It’s a stupid denial of the endless complexity involved in life as lived.
It’s been taken over/overlayed in many ways, for power of course, numerology being one of them. But the core of it is as simple as the seasons. As simple as the Moon’s influence over the tides. As simple as the process of growth and development of all life.
That’s why it is the oldest, most continuous, and most planetary-wide science of humans. And it is very, very important to those who use it all the time, for power-over, that “the masses” are convinced it’s nuts and dangerous.
Nothing to see here. Neither “safe”, like air and all that, nor “effective”, like hydroxy-chloroquine. Which the ghost in the machine does not like at all. Bad stuff. Bad word.
Everyone knows about that “seven year” developmental cycle though. Seven, fourteen, twenty one, and twenty eight to thirty. Few want to know why.
That’s okay, they’ll only do more damage with it, and to it. Turn a tool into a weapon, one way or the other.
Those who use it as a weapon make sure we perceive it as a threat to possess for ourselves. We’ll probably shoot ourselves and our entire family with it. They want to protect us. Good thing.
I noticed that was your own music in Century of Enslavement. Nice. Stellar documentary there. All of them. The consistency of the high quality of what you do here astounds me.
I cannot get on with ebooks, digital books, audio books….. it’s strange – never have been able to and felt like a dunce anomaly for years because of it. The heart sinking feeling when offered a “free ebook” that I know I will
never read. Now I probably am a dunce anomaly, but quite glad if it – books are where it’s at. Tbh, I am learning every day how much screen based technology just stresses me out. The good and the bad. The myth of multi tasking. It is a myth. And as a busy woman and mother I am not supposed to say that. I am a far more serene person with far less screen. And books – I have had a love affair with them since early childhood and the whole tactile experience and the way your brain is engaged and the impact it has on you, even physiologically, to read one is so far removed from screen based reading as to be of a different universe.
People always comment how many books we have in our house, and how I provide my children with so many – it strikes people as unusual, even strange sometimes. How weird is that?? Books are magic. Reading is a superpower. It’s always top of my list for things I wish I had more time for, and will make more time for….. once the five children are more grown…. And I have even made a hand drawn poster for said children that hangs in the hallway of our house, colourful and decorated, which admonishes leniently: “Read books”!
abi
I agree that physical books are better and I also hate reading from a screen.
On the other hand there are lots of books I want to read that are not in print anymore or that I cant afford to buy….so I will say that a Kindle or other (I have a few kinds people have given me) E-paper Reader that never gets attached to the internet is a good compromise.
Thank you, Duck. That is a good tip. I am penniless and there are many many books I wish to own, and cannot. Having said that, I also love to hoard book finds – for a year, due to strange circumstances, we lived in a remote ish village where there was a very unique culture of putting a box outside your home with no longer needed, good quality items. I could wander the quiet, pretty streets with the children and come back with HG Wells, Orwell, Shakespeare, and various bits of once pulp fiction that now probably qualify as high falutin literature. It was wonderful.
I also have such a list of books to get to or read again that I am sure I will be busy forever…. If I am ever brave enough perhaps I will try a kindle thing if one comes my way – but I truly tend to break anything electrical or mechanical – I really do. Without even trying. I also am popular with cats – they just show up and follow me. So I wonder if I have a frequency issue 😜🤣.
All the best
I totally agree. I love books and absolutely hate reading online. I need to hold a book in my hands and even an iPad isn’t the same thing. We have thousands of books in our home with bookcases in every room except the bathrooms. When my daughter, who was homeschooled and is now in her 40s, was young she was babysitting for a neighbor. I’ll never forget her coming home declaring how shocked she was that these people had no books. She just assumed that everyone had as many as we did. Now she’s a book collector as well and passing that on to her children.
Mental Focus and Recollection
5:28
James Corbett says:
”…the physical act of highlighting is actually one way of helping to imprint that information in your noggin…
…The tactile sensation of it, the actual reading of pages, actually does, I think, promote not only attention, but also actual recollection.
I think it’s easier to remember facts that you have read and actually highlighted on the physical page.
But yes, of course, it’s also good for attention span as well….”
Ha…
…it is worth drawing attention to these methods for improving one’s own control of attention.
Much like physical exercise or any professional’s acumen, it takes practice to develop and control skills.
There is no doubt in my mind that a huge portion of society cannot control their own attention and interest.
Thus, the control of their attention and interest rests in the hands of others…
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society.
Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.
We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.” — Edward Bernays
https://archive.org/details/BernaysPropaganda/page/n3/mode/2up
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think that James Corbett’s upcoming August hiatus syncs very well with “focused attention”.
Projects demand focused attention as part of the recipe.
Many Corbett members have remarked, “I don’t know how Corbett can produce so much content. I can’t keep up.”
Corbett’s behind-the-scenes activities must be intense, almost dispersing.
Sweltering Heat
With Solar Cycle #25 near the apex, I think much of the northern hemisphere is experiencing the heat this summer.
~~WWW corbettreport.com/banning-chemtrails/#comment-166579
A few days ago, I was searching for the July temperatures in western Japan.
What struck me was the very, very high humidity levels. Stifling.
@HRS
“There is no doubt in my mind that a huge portion of society cannot control their own attention and interest.
Thus, the control of their attention and interest rests in the hands of others”
Well said my friend.
Twenty five years ago, I was buying countless tractor-trailer loads of new books for my retail/wholesale/online deep-discount “new books” business. This was when Amazon was known as an online book seller. In fact, many of my wholesale customers would re-sell the books on Amazon.
I would go to the book shows meeting the publishers and book brokers, and place my orders or establish relationships.
In this new era with its downward book trend, the quantity of books which are out of print has got to be astronomical, much less the number publishers and book stores who have bit-the-dust.
I had a lot of repeat retail customers. But there is a rub – “How many books can fit on that consumer’s bookshelf?”
I used to calculate it as “potential revenue per customer”, because there is a limit.
This is a dilemma with physical books – space to keep them.
I’ve had customers tell me about the stacks that they had in the garage. Personally, every time I downsized moving to another place, I had to finally get rid of books each time. Tons.
We are in a whole new era with physical books. Marketing and distribution is tough for the small guy. And publishers are much more cautious. Howard Garrett, the Organic Dirt Doctor was talking about this on the radio Hour 3, June 23, 2024.
https://corbettreport.com/winning-the-fluoride-fight/#comment-167174
Yes. The PowersThatShouldNotBe will destroy books which expose them.
Book:
“The Search For Lee Harvey Oswald” by Robert Groden
1:27:01 – QUEUED VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/live/eqXLMqaYM8E?si=VPxdvfAaVqTUZxpk&t=5221
Robert Groden says:
”Well, unfortunately that’s been out of print now for ages. It was selling pretty well. It was difficult to find because somebody within the “authority” didn’t want it out there.
And within a month it was pulled off the shelves.
You couldn’t find it. The book stores wouldn’t sell it.
And they never reprinted it even though it so totally sold out the first printing.
And then the publisher lost all of the materials to make it. So I can’t reprint it.”
1:28:19
Mark Groubert responds,
”I’ve seen that before in the RFK assassination. What’s his name…uh, two guys who wrote a book about the RFK assassination.
All of their books were taken from the publisher, put into a warehouse out in Long Island, and then later incinerated.”
Robert Groden:
”Well, that’s probably what happened with that one too. Because the production materials for that book and the one before it, ‘The Killing of a President’, I can’t reprint them because all the photos disappeared.
Then there’s another story that you may very well be aware of….” [Groden details how file cabinets of material were stolen.]
Above mentioned May 7, 2024 YouTube interview…
The JFK Assassination Zapruder Film with Robert Groden
Join Eric Hunley and Mark Groubert of “America’s Untold Stories” as they sit down with the legendary Robert Groden to delve into his unparalleled legacy with the Zapruder film and his esteemed status within the JFK Assassination research community.
In this captivating interview, Robert Groden shares his deep insights and experiences.
At the 30 minute mark of the interview, Mark Groubert showcases Robert Groden’s book:
JFK: Absolute Proof, The Killing of a President, Vol. III by Robert J. Groden (2013-05-03)
Large size, visual-style, coffee table hardcover book with nearly 1,000 Photographs – 346 pages
The shownotes of the video direct people to an email address on obtaining Groden’s material directly.
James Lee covers a lot of ground in the latest installment. He references the recent ICAN foia request success where a very large USAF document was released containing loads of information related to the chemtrail conspiracy theory.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-147105927
Another tidbit brought up during the live show: a 35 page article titled
Perception-vs-Reality: The True History of Weaponized Weather and Operation Popeye
in Southeast Asia
https://www.afhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Summer24-Special-Issue_All-Final-for-webstie.pdf
It’s bit of doozie published by the Air Force historical foundation.
Page 67 of pdf
Perception-vs-Reality: The True History of Weaponized Weather and Operation Popeye in Southeast Asia by David Reade
[Historic PHOTOS included. For example “The DOOM Club” at the OOM]
EXCERPTS
…One public domain historical story, that surrounds the Vietnam Conflict (1955 – 1975), is the military utilization of weather modification as a weapon of war, as conducted under classified U.S. military efforts known as Project & Operation Popeye (1966-72). Popeye comprised the use of various cloud seeding technologies (and techniques) to principally extend the rainy monsoon season in Southeast Asia (SEA), to “muddy-up” the Ho Chi Minh Trail system—that winds its way through areas of North Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam—to tactically support U.S. interdiction efforts to counter infiltration of North Vietnamese combatants and supplies flowing into areas of South Vietnam…
…
… Confirmation of and descriptions of the SACSA office is provided by one of its participants, USAF Col. L. Fletcher Prouty and recently by declassified CIA archival [CREST] documents. Prouty had worked in this CIA secret team office in the Pentagon even before it was reorganized and designated SACSA in 1961. (the SACSA office was established from a component section of a previous entity known as the Office of Special Operations – positioned under a support organization of the Secretary of Defense) Later in a book he wrote “The Secret Team: The CIA and Its Allies in Control of the United States and the World”, Prouty outlines the inner workings of the SACSA office, its basic location within the Pentagon (office / room #1E962) and that it was manned by U.S. Military personnel working for the CIA, as well as CIA personnel posing as U.S. Military officers…
…SEA Acidic Rain
One potential broader application, that continues to resist disclosure (verification), is the SEA Acidic Rain cloud seeding project. Believed to have been conceived in 1968, this cloud seeding technique comprises the seeding of warm stratus clouds with chemical compounds that not only caused seeded clouds to dump their precipitation, but also creates something akin to a caustic “Acidic Rain”….
It’s a small world, isn’t it?
The interesting thing about the DOOM club is that this same “acronym” shows up with United States Air Force Reserve Command: Deployment Operations and Operations Management – DOOM. Jim argues that they just had to jam another operations in there to make it a catchy “acronym”.
It’s simple.
You can gain a lot of valuable insights by watching Congressional hearings, reading journal submissions, etc. and doing it IN FULL. The knowledge is almost all there. You just have to have the patience to find it, rather than relying upon the peanuts that the mainstream media throw at you, monkey boy.
For example, just this month, we’ve seen the COVID Agenda hit several icebergs, like:
1) social distancing was “never grounded in scientific fact.” (ex-NIH Director Francis Collins)
2) the COVID vaccine causes dangerous inflammatory responses and “should never have been mandated.” (ex-CDC Director Robert Redfield)
3) There are no post-authorization studies to analyze the risks of the vaccines after the public starts receiving the product (Vaccinologist Dr. Stanley Plotkin in the New England Journal of Medicine.)
The COVID ship is sinking fast, but your average CNN-watching monkey will never know this. We just have to hope that, some day, they’ll be exposed to alternative media, like the content James here spends the time investigating in full.
Blessings, Dr. Noh
Speaking of reading books, I just finished reading this (physical) one:
https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/june-and-julys-book-club-review-of
—————————————–
Yes James I feel you about the TikTok attention span and I really appreciate you highlighting the difference between digital and physical book reading.
Great solutions watch episode.
Over the next two months I am gonna be completely re-reading, contemplating and reviewing one book ( https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/book-club-poll-results-for-augustseptember ) and starting to read another (which I will share a pic/link to in a separate comment below for anyone that is curious).
Just got this book (
https://archive.org/details/overstory ) based on a couple people’s recent recommendations (one of them is a Corbetteer that goes by “vadoum”).
Looking forward to diving in.
How many of you out there (aside from vadoum) have read The Overstory by Richard Powers? If so, what did you think?
Wishing you a happy August hiatus James! 🙂
May your literary explorations enrich the ecosystem of your mind and may the time you choose to spend in nature offer you a kind of wealth that no amount of fiat currency can buy.
I agree, it is crucial to own physical books. As well, the tactile notion of touching paper is unique. However, for an extended period, I have been on the move, unable to bring a lot of physical books. I ended up investing in an eReader, the Kobo Elipsa 2e from Rakuten. I really love it. As it has a stylus, it is easy to highlight, add comments and take hand-written notes. It is a brilliant tool for reading PDFs as well.
On the negative side it is a quite expensive eReader, the collection of books you can get from the Kobo store is more limited than with Amazon, and it is a tad big and heavy. As well, there are export and synchronisation limitations. However, the positives outweighs the negatives to me.
Now, when I read an important book on the Kobo, I plan to buy the physical version of the book afterwards, to store in my future library.
Enjoy the August “working holiday”, James.
Frode
I saw that E-reader and wanted one but I’m a poor person- question I have to ask is what format does it use for ebooks?
If it uses Epub you ought to be able to put books on via a GOOD QUALITY cable
If the Calibre program can put stuff on your reader you can grab books off Project Gutenburg or Anna Archive or the Internet archive for no money without worrying about the ‘store’
CALIBRE is a >>free << and open source 'library' program that has an easy to use feature to put books on many E-readers from your computer via USB cable AND CAN CONVERT THE FORMAT.
Kindles are kinda picky and want a GOOD CABLE or they wont connect to your PC even if they charge.
I have two old kindles that never touch the web. (A new kindle can not use the dictionary without the internet BTW) and a really old old Nook…. I try to grab multiple copies/formats of ebooks but Calibre will convert epub to mobi to many other formats and back again. There is a plug in to remove DRM restrictions to, so you can read on other non registered devices…. or there was a while back anyway
Hi Duck,
Yes, I wish the Rakuten Kobo eReader was cheaper. However, I am glad I made the investment, as it makes reading books a lot easier while I am roaming around. After I got it, I have done a lot more reading.
The Kobo supports a wide range of formats, including EPUBs (EPUB, EPUB2 and EPUB3). As well as PDF, image files, text files and comic book files (CMZ and CBR).
I also like that the Kobo is not made by Amazon. Having said that, I do not know much about Rakuten (other than it being Japanese).
I have downloaded several books from the Internet Archive and transferred them to my reader. Even though I have not tried, I guess this is easy to do this via a USB cable. There are several other ways to transfer files, though. I have a free Dropbox account that I have connected with the Kobo. I upload my files there, and download them on my Kobo (when I go online with it). You can also transfer files via Google Drive. As well, if you have a Pocket account, you can save articles in your web browser, and then read them on your Kobo, as the device also integrates with Pocket.
For every page you take a note, the reader seems to create an SVG image that overlay the text. So, if you take notes on a lot of pages, you can end up with several hundreds of megabytes of images that need to get synchronised with the Kobo cloud.
I have one book where I have taken loads of handwritten notes. This has led to the Kobo no longer manage to complete the synchronisation. I have contacted support and they might replace my device, as they think it is device related (something I doubt, but I hope I am wrong). If the synchronisation won’t work if you use the stylus a lot, the product is a lot less useful. So, I really hope I will get this fixed, one way or another.
If you do not need to stylus function, the other Kobo eReaders are cheaper and would be a better alternative.
Frode
“….it makes reading books a lot easier while I am roaming around. After I got it, I have done a lot more reading…..”
THAT is the main thing- whatever works for you is the best 🙂
“…For every page you take a note, the reader seems to create an SVG image that overlay the text. So, if you take notes on a lot of pages, you can end up with several hundreds of megabytes of images that need to get synchronised with the Kobo cloud….”
Can you grab the SVG files and then lay them on the book page (opened in an editor) and save the new file so that you have a new file of the book and your notes ON the book? Then you can just Read, but not write, book WITH notes on any reader…?
I do that with .pdf files on my laptop when I open them in Oklular- save a 2nd copy that has all my notes and underline on and seen by ANY reader program….. Okular is even available for windows.
https://okular.kde.org/
“…If you do not need to stylus function, the other Kobo eReaders are cheaper and would be a better alternative….”
Unless cheaper = free its too much right now, lol. I’d want the stylus though, anyway. If I had my druthers on hardware I’d build my laptop with one of those E-ink screens that was a touch screen too…. Fantasy laptop features, Lol….like Tiny Tim says “Since I cant have any of them I may as well want them all”
Sounds like a nice fantasy laptop (that Tiny Tim would also want)!
I checked my reader, and the notes are stored in a directory named `.kobo/markups`. For every page with handwritten notes, there are two files stored. One .jpg which is the screenshot of the book page (the text), and one .svg, which is the handwritten notes (the stylus drawing) on top of the book page. So, it should be fairly simple to make a little script, for example, by using ffpmeg (https://www.ffmpeg.org/), that merges these two images into a third image, and then creates a PDF from all those images. Or, as you write, use a tool like Okular.
Frode
“……So, it should be fairly simple to make a little script,…….that merges these two images into a third image, and then creates a PDF from all those images……”
If you do I bet other users would love it too- will you post a how to for them on their user forum?
Sure your not the only one who wishes for something like that
If I create a small tool like that, I will report back.
As well, if I remember, I will also add a note here if my syncing issue gets solved. Either by device replacement, or by some other means.
One thing to mention is that when you make handwritten notes or drawings in a PDF, the PDF with the annotations included is automatically uploaded to Dropbox or Google Drive. So, as long as you work with PDFs, there is no need to merge images and create PDFs yourself. The process I described above is when working with EPUB.
Thats good to know!
Maybe I will scrape the money up for one one day. I have lots of PDF files and really wish I had a bigger screen to read them on sometimes, esp some of the older scans that are basically like photos without editable text.
On PDF its kinda Funny how the worst PDF reader is probably by Adobe the company that made the format. lol
As mentioned above, I had some syncing issues with my eReader. After contacting Rakuten support, I was sent a new device. Unfortunately, that changed nothing. Anyhow, except for the one book where my handwritten notes causes the syncing to crash, the device works well. Overall, I am very pleased.
Recommended book:
NATO’s Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe
by Daniele Ganser
ISBN 9780714685007
Available in most bookstores.
Thomass777 is doing a series on Gladio over at the Pete Quinoes show right now- part 1 was up and there should be more whenever he pops up. I know its not as good as a book but its something for folks who cant sit still
This BOOK may be of interest to some Corbett Report members…
Released August 27, 2024
American Memory Hole: How the Court Historians Promote Disinformation
By Donald Jeffries (other researchers Chris Graves, Peter Secosh)
Into by Sam Tripoli
https://donaldjeffries.substack.com/p/bonus-material-from-american-memory
EXCERPT from Substack
…Peter Secosh discovered the U.S. crimes at Okinawa. Okinawa was a Japanese territory, and in April, 1945, only months before World War II ended, U.S. troops landed on the main island there, and in the battle that followed, 94,000 civilians were killed. The U.S. set up concentration camps afterwards, and some 3,000 Okinawans died there.
Survivors of these never publicized camps described the deadly conditions there. Most deaths occurred from starvation and malaria. The conditions were decidedly unsanitary, and little food was provided.
It is estimated that around 100,000 were interned in three separate camps. As one elderly survivor recalled, “We had to wait in a long line just to get one onigiri rice ball, distributed each day under the scorching sun. . . . Small kids always had diarrhea.”
So many deaths occurred that bodies were buried in a single mass grave. Because of the lack of reliable records, it is almost certain that even more people died than reported. The U.S. still waited three months to release prisoners from the camps, after Japan’s August, 1945 surrender. The camps in fact continued to exist until June, 1946…
…But the story doesn’t end there.
In 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco granted these islands to the United States.
The Okinawans’ land and homes were seized at gunpoint and their houses and farms were bulldozed or burned to the ground to make way for dozens of U.S. military bases.
250,000 Okinawans—almost half the population—would be displaced. Some fifty-thousand American troops were stationed on this island that the US military boasted was the “Keystone of the Pacific.” Okinawans were angered by the noisy combat training areas, and learning that American nuclear and chemical weapons were stored on Okinawa, while pollutants from the bases fouled nearby farmland.
It won’t surprise readers of my work to learn that thousands of robberies, assaults, rapes, and murders, were committed by U.S. troops there. Okinawa was given back to Japan in 1972, but the American bases remained.
In addition to interning Japanese-Americans, German-Americans, and Italian-Americans, our government also imprisoned indigenous Aleuts in Alaska. Shortly after Japan invaded the area, American naval personnel arrived with orders to round up and evacuate Aleuts to internment camps almost 2,000 miles away near Juneau….
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-many-books-will-you-read-before-you-die?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us
How many books will you read before you DIE……? Kinda depressing article that calculates average books read per year vs SS calculated life expectancy….but I am pretty sure MOST americans do not read 12 books a year, not if their under 30 anyway
—
Another book that might be of interest:
Brotherhood of darkness
by Monteith, Stanley
https://archive.org/details/brotherhoodofdar00mont
See this post about the author:
https://corbettreport.com/in-memoriam-stan-monteith/
—
I love books, even though there is just as much rubbish written in so many of them as there is rubbish sprouted on modern media, always we have to try to exercise discernment…we survived the bookly rubbish, we’ll survive the media rubbish.
If I had to chose one over the other I’d chose books, though it would be sad to loose the ‘ease’ of access to info from the internet.
i hope this means you are writing a book…
sboss,
Your observation can be carried a little further onto the conclusion of the book being
written. The publishing of the book and all the details of printing, artwork and endorsement and fondling and quotes of critiques that go on a cover. So take all the time you need James . You know at least two people now have some interest in your book.
Thanks sboss for saying what we all must be thinking. It’s hard to know what people are thinking until they publish in one form or another.
I once avoided audio books, until I moved 45 min away from my office. The first one I tried was the Psychology of Totalitarianism…it was so deep I had to listen twice and since I also love notes and keeping mini journals of the books I read, on the 2nd listen I would pause it and take notes. It did help with retention.
There is an audio book I recommend for those of us with long commutes:
Locus Ameonus by VN Alexander and is read by Ben Jorgensen, an Emmy-award-winning actor.
Here is a quick summary of what it is about spoiler alert, there is a lot of satire!
When a 9/11 widow remarries, her son Hamlet becomes depressed and soon realizes that something is rotten in the United States of America.
This witty rewrite of Shakespeare’s classic is a scathing satire of post-9/11 political corruption, from Big Ag and Big Pharma to Big War.
It is entertaining and good fiction is a way to convey an idea that sticks without the need to write notes.
VAlerie
I like audio books but I think your correct, retention is better for text because if you miss a bit thru intention its harder to scan back then with a book.
Free Public domain audio books (reader quality varies….but what do folks want for free?)
https://librivox.org/