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Archives for March, 2008
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The Black Swan, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
subtitle: The Impact of the Highly Improbable I heard the author on Radio 4 and was intrigued with his central premise that there are wholly unpredictable random events which throw a spaner in the works and about how we often infer things that we ought not to. So I bought the book. The author has a website where you can find out more about him if you are interested. Synopsis This book is all about Black Swans: the random events that underly our lives, from bestsellers to world disasters. Their impact is huge; they're nearly impossible to predict; yet after they happen we always try to rationalise them. A rallying cry to ignore the 'experts', the Black Swan shows us how to stop trying to predict everything and take advantage of uncertainty. ISBN 9780141034591 Related articles A Conversation with Nassim Taleb
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Peas & Onions
Alexander and I spent some time in the garden on Saturday, for the first time in weeks it hasn't been either raining or frosty. We pottered around a bit, mostly playing with his little house and some time in the potting shed. Saturday Planting In the potting shed we took the eight chilli seedlings and put them in separate pots. Two went into a pot outside (the weakest two, I don't expect them to survive but thought that they ought to have some chance. They are in a pot with some broad beans planted in it (although no sign of the broad beans yet, the frost and snow has probably delayed them coming up). Two of the others, including the biggest one, were put into pots and then into a propagator in the potting shed. The weather forecast is pretty…
Tank Tracks, Peter Beale
This is the story of 9 RTR in WW2 written by one of its officers and including material from many of the survivors and contemporary diaries, including the battalion war diary, the brigade history and at one point the radio logs. It is packed with a wealth of material, much of which is directly quoted from a primary source. If you want a feel for what life was like for a heavy tank battalion then this is the book to read. The stories told by the survivors and in the diaries don't pull any punches, and some of what is described is quite horrific, many of the casualties in the battalion are well documented and the nature of the injuries suffered by tank crews tend to be severe. The battalion re-formed in and was one of the first to be equipped with Churchills. It trained in the UK…
Taming the Panzers, Patrick Delaforce
Taming the Panzers: 3 RTR at War, 1914-45 This is a history of 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (a battalion sized unit for those not au fait with UK Armoured regiments). It starts with a chapter of their origins in the First World War and then their subsequent peacetime evolution. 3RTR fought in the 1940 France campaign at Calais, then in Greece in 1941 followed by the western desert. They returned to the UK in late 1943 and took part in the NW Europe campaign eventually meeting up with the Russians in the Baltic. The Author was an artillery officer (with 13 RHA) who supported 3RTR in the NW Europe campaign and this gives him a connection to those that he has written about, much of the text is based on letters and conversations with the surviving officers and men of 3 RTR. Synopsis During the desperate days of May…
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More Morning Frost
Last couple of morning's have been decidedly chilly with a coating of frost on the ground. Looked like it might have snowed very briefly overnight on Monday, but only evidence was a smattering on the top of the car.