With the Old Breed

at Peleliu and Okinawa

by E.B. Sledge

Been so busy, with so many things going on in my life right now. I do not wish to be swept up and wake up one day and realize I'm 50, without doing anything that I had set out in life to do. Thus to maintain some sanity, here is a book review. I read this several months ago.

This book was written by E.B. Sledge who was a marine in WWII, in the Pacific campaign. I only found out about this book after watching the HBO series called The Pacific. It tells the WWII Pacific campaign through the experiences of mainly 2 individuals. This book is one 1 of the 2 individuals (Sledge), the other being Robert Leckie. This is a great book that looks at the campaign through the experiences of ground troops, rather than high level strategy. It tells war in more human terms, rather than intellectual terms. It tells of the bravery and endurance of these men, and also the horrors and hardship they have to face. People would be well-served to read books like this to understand that we should not go into war on a whim. It describes well what the military personnel go through, as well as how people are affected in the cross-hairs of war. It is definitely a classic, and very well-written with no biased language, but still maintains a strong emotional connection with the reader.

Hiatus

I have been really busy during the university semester with teaching commitments and also my own research work. That is why my blog has not been much tended to. Further updates here until the end of the year will be quite sparse as I endeavour to finish all my research work by year's end. Need to get this PhD. done and move on with my life. This is taking way too long.

On Love

by Alain de Botton

Geez, I have been so busy. Been so hectic. I actually finished reading this book a month or more ago and have not even had the time to blog about it. So many things on my plate. Things are just slowly starting to clear up right now.

Well anyways, here's a brief review. This book was recommended by LX01 and it's a wonderful book about love, from when one starts having a crush on someone, to different stages of a relationship and if things don't work well, then the breakup. This is from a male perspective though of what love is. I do not mean this to be a chauvinistic story, but it is from a masculine point of view.

This book is also infused quite a bit with elements of philosophy to rationalise the thought processes within love and how to make sense of it (or derive meaning from the lack of logic of love). It articulates very well a lot of points that I have always thought about love.

There are however some points that I do not agree with, but I believe because love is such a personal thing. And each couple would develop their own rationales and norms, it is really no place for me to comment whether something is 'right' or 'wrong' in love. It is simply that between 2 people in love, they feel that they are comfortable with those truths that make it true.

I would say 1 very minor negative is that given the subject matter  and the author's background, the language can at times feel melodramatic. But then again, love has the tendency to bring out the drama queen in all of us.

Overall, I think this is a wonderful read and an instant classic. Worth re-reads. Love.