very cool book

[snip]

Movie makers seem to have a way of screwing things up.

In the BOOK, "The Godfather", the part where Michael kills the police captain and Sollozzo had my heart pounding.

The movie scene just didn't quite muster up.

...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | |

| 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

OK, John, you know we're not going to read the book, especially after your fine synopsis (did you write that?), so tell us ... who won?

--
 Thanks,
    - Win

Nope, pasted from a bookseller's site; that's why it was in quotes.

Doesn't matter; they're all dead now.

John

OK,

Since John's being a weenie, I'll do it: " t was decided that the coming combat would be located next to the walls of St. Martin-des-Champs. It was held in the presence of the king and the princes according to custom, and a huge crowd of common people assembled. Both men entered the lists ready for the uncertain trial of combat. And when the marshal gave the signal for the attack, they drove their horses forward, let their lances of war drop, and proceeding at a gentle pace, they dashed against each other courageously and with spirit. In this first rush the other man pierced Lord Jean's thigh with his lance; and this blow would have done him much good if he had held the lance in that wound. But when he immediately drew it out, it was covered in blood, and the sight, rather than stunning the wounded man, made him bolder. Meanwhile, great horror paralyzed the spectators for a long time, and no one spoke or breathed, held as they were between hope and fear, until Jean gathered his strength, and advancing, shouted "This day will decide our quarrel." With his left hand he seized the top of his opponent's helmet, and drew Jacques toward him and then pulling back a little, threw Jacques to the ground where he lay weighed down by his armor. Jean then drew his sword and killed his enemy, though with great difficulty, because he was fully armored.

Although the victor many times asked the defeated man while he was lying there to confess to the truth, the vanquished completely denied the event; but after all he was condemned, according to the custom of the duel, to be hanged from a gibbet. Thus the mother of errors, the stepmother of good counsel, rash cruelty occasioned this unjust duel. Afterwards everyone found out who had committed the foul rape, when someone else confessed while being condemned to death. The aforesaid lady took note of this, and thinking over the fault in her mind, after the death of her husband became a recluse and took an oath of perpetual continence. "

Bob Stephens

Damn, you ruined the best part of the book for anybody who reads it.

In the book, the battle is described in much more detail, and the author discounts the (more than one) rumor that someone else was the actual rapist.

John

...perpetual "continence" ?:-)

Wow!

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

"The Last Duel" isn't published by Artech Press, who have been sending me unsolicited flyers for years - but by Broadway, who have never pestered me.

So I've got no initial prejudice against this particular book - and in fact, it sounds quite interesting, though not interesting enough to actually buy from Amazon.

For someone who is claimed to hate books, I do have a surprisingly large number of them around the house - several thousand at last count. Quite a few of these do belong to my wife, but I think I still buy more than she does.

I have though about making a collection of Paul Burridge's errors of fact and doctrine, but we really haven't got the shelf space - they certainly aren't rare enough to count as collector's items, and in fact have more in common with the worn-through right plimsol you now find on the beach of the remotest Pacific island.

--------------------- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

I hope for your sake Bill Sloman doesn't see this post of yours, John. He *hates* books. Prepare for a tongue-lashing.

--

"What is now proved was once only imagin\'d" - William Blake

Like I siad, it sounds like an interesting book,

Which you were trying to sell, under the thoroughly misleading subject line "An absolute "must have" book for all engineers" - as if all engineers were involved in electronic warfare systems!

Not half as strange as yours, where you equate an interesting, if off-topic post from one of the more respectable regular posters with an inaccurate bit of spam from one of the less valuable contributors.

----------------- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

Have a look at

They aren't exactly vanity publishers, but they exist to exploit a niche market. Their authors are typically academics, or engineers working in very specialised areas, who are strongly motivated to write and publish books to boost their prestige and perceived value withn their professional niche, so they are prepared to sell their work to anyone who will publish it for a lot less than the real cost of doing the work.

The core buyers for Artech House books would be university libraries - practicising engineers who fiid themselves pitchforked into new areas would seem to be a smaller group.

The customers aren't in a position to be all that discriminating, so most of the books are cobbled together out of published papers, and are correspondingly inaccessible. In most cases, if you feel the need to read an Artech House book, you'd be better off digging into the literature to find the original papers. That way you get to see the latest work, as well as getting a broader picture of the field.

As publishing houses go, it fills a much needed gap.

Clearly, NZ isn't remote enough for right-hand plimsols.

------------- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

Yes, she nevr pissed the bed again.

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

They never do. Oddly enough our brains can muster up a *way* better scene than any movie. Well, those of us who read, of course.... :-)

Cheers.

Ken

So you've no objection to John posting a synopsis of a 14th Century story set in France here, but you take great exception to my pointer to a reference book on electronics. The former is germane, the later isn't. What a strange world you inhabit. :-|

--

"What is now proved was once only imagin\'d" - William Blake

Why do you have a bug up your ass about Artech? While I only have one of their books: "CAD of Microstrip Antennas for Wireless Apps" I do find it quite useful.

Funny you should mention that, My dog found a LH one on the beach a few weeks back (East Coast, South Island, New Zealand) I guess I'll have to send him further afield to find the missing RH one.