And then a few days later I was poking around the bookshelves in Goodwill, and you'll never guess what I found? Yep, volumes I and II of Whatever This Book Is Called by Fernand Braudel. For a buck each. So I picked them up and spent the next few months waiting for the third volume to appear. It didn't, so I kinda sorta forgot about the whole thing again.
But as I came close to the end of my Complete Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Readings, I decided to make Fernand Braudel's work my next shot for my daily reading project. And I found volume III online for a pittance, so I was good to go.
And now...here I am.
Oh, and by the way...here's how Wikipedia lists this series:
So I guess the actual title of the whole thing is Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century. Which you have to admit isn't exactly catchy. But sometimes it just be like that.
A few things. First, I found an article online entitled "Paul Theroux Picks ‘The Structures of Everyday Life’ as a Book He Can’t Live Without" by...wait for it...Paul Theroux. And he's someone to be reckoned with, I'd say, so there's that. (The article is at The Daily Beast if you need to see it, btw. Specifically @ https://www.thedailybeast.com/paul-theroux-picks-the-structures-of-everyday-life-as-a-book-he-cant-live-without?fbclid=IwAR1iU85fmt1fd2By1iVbq43SPA0yBSjfJZLHTQx2vZ7nbuWLYePQBZ8gcEY.)
And I've already run across a few lines which I thought were deserving of mention, to wit:
and
That last one would make a demmed good epigraph for "my novel"...assuming that I still have one in me. (Used to be I had a couple of dozen or so, but now I'm just praying to live long enough for one.)
The premise of this book seems to be that true history is found in the minutiae of everyday life...and of course, being a novelist, I like that idea.
Anyway...
I'd intended to put a bigger dent in this book for Day 1, but it was a kind of shitty/ fucked up day, so after the Translator's Note (1 page) and after the Table of Contents (5 pages) and after the Maps and Graphs list (2 pages) and after the Illustrations list (6 pages) and after the Introduction (4 pages_ and after the Preface (4 pages), I only had the strength for the first two pages of actual text. Still, that put me up to page 32, so it looks pretty good. Tried to take a picture of the book with bookmark as I did with my last DDR, but big paperbacks don't really like to sit up on their hind legs. So I'll have to forgo that bit. Just as well, I suppose, as that was kind of a time consuming pain in the ass, believe it or not. Still...looked cool.
Anyway. The next two days are going to be shitty and fucked up, too, but I'm hoping to at least stick to a ten pages per day pace...and maybe more, since this time around there are a fair number of pictures. There are a total of 623 pages, so as of This Moment that would mean 59 days until the end of this first volume. Which is fine...but I can't help noting that in 30 days I will hit my 1,000th Daily Devotional Reading Day, so you know I'd love to finish Volume I on that day. Hmmm. That would mean hitting almost 20 pages per day. Probably not possible. Or at least not comfortably possible, and I don't want to let my OCD O/C ness squeeze the joy out of this project. Still...there are a lot of pictures.... Well, we'll see how it goes. I mean, you could say I read 32 pages today, after all, right?
Day 2 (DDR Day
Speaking of this Day 972....I was just thinking. I started my first DDR reading on November 2, 2017. So Day 365 would have been November 1, 2018. And Day 730 would have been October 31, 2019. Which would make today Day 756, not Day 972. Well. How on earth did I manage to get that far off my count? So let's just reboot this thing right here right now. But I just have to say...my per diem page count just went WAY up from what I thought it was before this rectification.
Day 2 (DDR Day 756): November 26, 2019
Well. I guess I don't have to be in a big rush to finish Volume I of Braudel now, do I? Pressure's off, man.
As predicted, this was a shitty day, so I stuck to the 10 page goal and stopped on page 43. Most of the material I read today had to do with estimating the world population. Which was kind of interesting, but in a boring way. And where I stopped we hadn't really gotten to The Answer yet. Braudel did make reference to disease as being "the White Man's Burden," which I thought was apt and kind of funny...in a very awful way.
Day 3 (DDR Day 757): November 27, 2019
Read to page 56 today. Still crunching the numbers on population, but there are some very interesting things in here. For instance, Braudel asserts that due to the small population of Europe in the 16th century, the development of The New World would have been impossible without African slave labor. There just weren't enough people to do the work. Also, he notes that the population of England at the time of Shake-speare would have been about 5 million. Amazing.
Day 4 (DDRD 758): 🦃November 28, 2019🦃
Neither holiday nor colonoscopy nor high winds shall keep me from my appointed rounds...so before the Thanksgiving Crowd hits, I put down my "ten" pages for the day. Actually a bit more, but I've been trying to get to an even number since I started this book--and finally did today, finishing up with page 70. And? Well, we're still on the population thing, but, as previously, some interesting stuff crops up. Such as?
Oh. Well. Facebook seems to be down. Oddly enough, not on my phone, but I don't have any way to get stuff off of my phone and onto this computer except...yep, lo-tech time. Here ya go.
So. I thought that one (⬆️) was good for a lot more than explaining why human beings tend to congregate on small strips of land. Just in the sense that day to day living can trap you into thinking in a certain way, etc.
And here's a two-fer:
The first isn't particularly noteworthy in terms of information, as anyone with any sense should know this, but I thought it was particularly well said. Hmm?
And the second one is just perfect for our times, isn't it? Not in the literal small village way, obviously, but, for instance, in terms of people allowing a political party line to control their thinking. (And I mean that for liberals as much as for conservatives...and "conservatives," too, for that matter." Kind of takes us right back to that first quote for the day, doesn't it? We inhabit a small strip of land and then we Go No Farther...and anyone who lives outside of our small strip of land is clearly The Enemy.
And lastly, just a perspective thing, nothing particularly profound:
Check this out:
And even this:
Think about that next time you feel like bitching about The Modern World and get wistful about The Past.
This one is a bit puzzling for a moment...
...but I'm sure that the reason that 20 days (480 hours...minus whatever you think appropriate for stop-overs, etc, but even if you take half of those hours away, you're still at twice today's walking time) becomes 120 hours has something to do with the improved roadways of today. I mean, check it out:
That ain't just pampas,
Also, whilst reading today I cam upon this calendar page which some (or the) previous owner used as a bookmark:
So I would think that means that I'm the first person who has read this book in 37 years. Unless, of course, the last person who read it...or the person before the last person, or the person before...well, you know what kind of eyes she got...just kept it going or whatever. But it seems more likely that I'm the first one to crack it since 1982. Which is kind of sad, but hey, shit happens in history. (Ba-dump.)
Day 5 (DDRD 759): November 29, 2019
Read to page 80 today, which took a turn into one of the dark sides of population mathematics: famine, disease, and death...especially with regards to the poor.
"In the 16th century, the beggar or vagrant would be fed and cared for before he was sent away. In the early 17th century, he had his head shaved. Later on, he was whipped; and the end of the century saw the last word in oppression - he was turned into a convict."
G. Roupnel
Day 6 (DDRD 760): November 30, 2019
Took my daughter to the Y on this rainy day so she could get her steps in. Normally I would have hit the machines myself, but I'm currently in no condition to do that, so I took Braudel with me and sat in a puffy chair and read instead. I had already done most of today's ten pages, though, so I ended up reading to page 100--yep, a big twenty page day, woo hoo. And it wasn't a strain at all. In fact, I enjoyed it enough to want to repeat it, but I am going to keep my ostensible goal at ten so as to avoid strain. I don't ever want this to become odious in any way.
And today...some most interesting and disturbing stuff. To wit:
This from page 85: "J. P. Sartre was right when he wrote, 'The plague only exaggerates the relationship between the classes: it strikes at the poor and spares the rich.' In Savoy, when an epidemic was over, rich people, before returning to their carefully disinfected houses, would instal a poor woman inside for a few weeks, as a sort of guinea pig, to test at risk of her life whether the danger had really departed." [sic] Is that some cold 💩 or what?
Also got a dose of information about disease ravaging the population, such as this from page 87: "Florence was dead: no business activities and no religious services - except for the odd mass which the officiant celebrated at the corner of the street and in which the people participated from behind closed windows." That, coupled with descriptions of boats loaded with bodies taken out to sea and burned and half rotted corpses in the street gnawed by dogs led me to think that I should write something about this...probably a poem. (So note to self there.)
I also found it noteworthy that Braudel inserted himself into the narrative here:
I like the sense that I'm being told about history by a real person. So more of that, please, Mr. Braudel. (I'm pretty sure that this is the first time he broke that wall.)
There was some other interesting stuff about invasions and migrations, but the only other thing that I found literally noteworthy was this:
"In 1719 John Bell traveled on a main road to Siberia and 'for six days saw neither houses nor inhabitants.'" (From John Bell's Travels From St. Petersburg to Diverse Parts of Asia, 1763...which I am now going to go look for, as I would like to read a bit of such a book.) Can you imagine traveling for six days without seeing a single house or a person? Unimaginable in the modern world...and not just because our speed is so much greater.
P.S. And Mr. Bell's book is available: on Amazon--but the print version is pricey, but the Kindle is only $8 per volume; from Google Books for free; and from a couple of other academic-type sites. Of course, this is the one I'd prefer to have / read:
...but I don't see that happening. Unless you haven't picked up my Christmas present yet.
Day 7 (DDRD 761): December 1, 2019
Just read 10 pages this morning, but (1) finished chapter 1 and began chapter 2 and (2) check this out for a Holy Shit Moment:
I am coming around to the conclusion that it is immoral to eat meat. I don't much like that conclusion...since I really like meat...but in terms of environmental impact, health issues, and now world hunger, it seems like there's not much room left to justify it.
Day 8 (DDRD 762): December 2, 2019
It's Joe's 25th birthday! How did that happen? And as if to reinforce that point, when I went to pick him up, a woman came out of the office and said that I had been her English teacher...27 years ago.
Meanwhile, back in Bruadel...
Alas, even a revered history book is not immune to proofreading errors:
And since I haven't said it in awhile, let me point out that (1) I am available for hire and (2) I work cheap.
And in the Happy And I'm Smiling Walk A Mile To Drink Your Water Department...
Mmm-hmmm.
Day 9 (DDRD 763): December 3, 2019
Come on, now, Harper and Row, you're better than this, aren't you?
And in nutritional information...(1) 4,000 calories per day??? WTF??? (2) what do you mean you only count the first 10% of calories from drinks? If that's true, I'm going to be drunk on a much more frequent basis. Seriously.
Day 10 (DDRD 764): December 4, 2019
I seem to have neglected to note what page I had read to in previous entries, so for the record, I read from 130 to 141 today.
And now, this:
That seems like an awful lot of bread...and Braudel has also noted that bread would have constituted at least 50% of a poor man's diet. Kind of makes me want to see what it would be like to just eat three pounds of a bread for a day's worth of meals. But I'll probably be able to resist that temptation.
Day 11 (DDRD 765): December 5, 2019
Read to page 150 today. Finished up Bread and moved on to Rice. The last sentence I read said something like, The Far East didn't embrace vegetarianism out of idealism. The yield on rice was so much greater than the yield that meat would have produced that it was ridiculous. Braudel also said that 80 to 90% of poor folks diet would have been rice. Pretty stunning to think about that, isn't it? Bread and rice, man.
Day 12 (DDRD 766): December 6, 2019
To page 160. Finished Rice and moved to Maize.
Day 13 (DDRD 767): December 7, 2019
More on Maize...some of which was quite interesting...
This also reminds me of Buckle, in that he showed how various things / events affected history.
And furthermore...
This is a line I liked:
I think that this bit--
--is a pretty good illustration of what I love most about Mr. Braudel. I'm not sure how to explain that if it's not immediately evident, so I'll just leave it there.
Day 14 (DDRD 768): December 8, 2019
I've heard of "synchrony"...as a matter of fact, I bank there...but I'd never heard the word "diachrony" prior to read it this morning. So for the record, it means change extending through time. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diachrony) And furthermore, according to Wikipedia, "Synchrony and diachrony are two different and complementary viewpoints in linguistic analysis. A synchronic approach (from Greek συν- "together" and χρόνος "time") considers a language at a moment in time without taking its history into account. Synchronic linguistics aims at describing a language at a specific point of time, usually the present. By contrast, a diachronic approach (from δια- "through" and χρόνος "time") considers the development and evolution of a language through history." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchrony_and_diachrony) That was kind of invigorating, wasn't it?
I finished the second chapter today, which takes me right up to the brink of page 183. And since there are 563 text pages in this first volume, that means that I am about 1/3 of the way through this book already. Woot woot.
Oh, and by the way, this:
Day 15 (DDRD 769): December 9, 2019
Read to page 191 today. Thought this bit was worth remembering:
"According to Gaston Bachelard 'the attainment of the superfluous causes greater spiritual excitement than the attainment of necessities. Man is a creature of desire and not a creature of need.'"
"Man is a creature of desire and not a creature of need." Sounds like a good title to me. And, counter-intuitive or not, it sure does ring true.
Day 16 (DDRD 770): December 10, 2019
Read to page 200. Learned a lot about meat. French people (especially Parisians) and English people apparently ate a hell of a lot of it back in the day. Chinese people are very little--because they didn't have the geography to raise animals for slaughter. Also interesting to see how meat eating plays out in socio-economic status: in Europe, the amount of meat you ate pretty much indicated where you stood in the socioeconomic hierarchy. Interesting that that doesn't seem to be true in the U.S. of A. today.
Day 17 (DDRD 771): December 11, 2019
"A German preacher condemned [the fork] as a diabolical luxury: God would not have given us fingers if he would have wished us to use such an instrument."
Which pretty much sums up the whole Church thing, doesn't it?
More on forks:
He also notes that the use of forks quote only became "general" in about 1750.
Which means...that more than likely, Shake-speare never ate with a fork. For some reason I find that rather startling.
Speaking of startling, check out this bit from Miss Manners:
That's a bit yowza, ennit?
Oh, yeah...read to page 210 today. Beginning to think that I'm going to need to lay in some more Braudel, too. Check this out, for instance:
Be still, my beating heart.
Hey...isn't Christmas coming up soon? (Nudge nudge, wink wink.)
P.S. Though I could do this...
. . . which would be $49.73 cheaper. (And about $200 less cool.)
Day 18 (DDRD 772): December 12, 2019
Some interesting information on dairy products (which were not eaten in Asian countries of the time, though apparently Paris was a very enthusiastic partaker of butter), fish, and pepper. Bernard tells us that "as dear as pepper" was a common saying of this time. He also intimates that spices in general were primarily used in order to make bland diets more palatable.
P.S. Found an online lecture on Braudel by Professor Alan Macfarlane (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sITo2ABottE), and early on he read a bit which I found particularly interesting, so I went and found the source and quoted a bit more for fuller context and punch. It goes like this: "...surprise and distance--those important aids to comprehension--are both equally necessary for an understanding of that which surrounds you--surrounds you so evidently that you can no longer see it clearly. Live in London for a year and you will not get to know much about England. But, through comparison, in the light of your surprise, you will suddenly come to understand some of the most profound and individual characteristics of France, which you did not previously understand because you knew them too well. The past likewise provides distance from the present."
from "History and the Social Sciences" in Economy and Society in Early Modern Europe: Essays from Annales edited by Peter Burke.
This reminds me of the joke about the old fish who swims past the younger fish and says, "How's the water, boys?" After the old fish has passed by, one young one turns to another and says, "What's water?"
Ba-bump.
Day 19 (DDRD 773): December 13, 2019
Pepper...salt...water. Some really interesting stuff about water. Such as? Glad you asked. Check this out:
"20,000 carriers earned a living (though a poor one) supplying Paris with water, taking some 30 'loads' (two buckets at a time) even to the top floors at 2 sous a load." (page 230)
And check out this illustration:
A well in the kitchen. Man, that's a new one on me.
Speaking of page 230...that's where I stopped today. Getting close to the halfway point of volume 1! Very exciting.
Day 20 (DDRD 774): December 14, 2019
Wine, beer, and cider. Some surprising stuff, too. Such as? I'm so glad that you asked. Take a look at this:
On page 238: "The peasants on the Polish estates consumed up to three litres of beer a day."
And keep in mind that 1 liter = 33.814 us fluid ounces! That is some serious shit, man. Even Bukowski would be impressed by that.
Also, I am still thinking (hard) about buying that beautiful Folio Society edition of The Mediterranean And The Mediterranean World In The Age Of Philip II Volume I - III...so I was checking the local libraries to see what they were holding, and the LFPL has
And since I already have 3., I took a look at 1 and 2. 2 was held at the Crescent Hill branch, which is relatively close, so I made that my first stop. And venisoon after I ended up stuck in the Honda Service department waiting room, so I started reading it. And? It looks pooty good, man. Also, check this out from the end flap:
So I guess I'm not the only one who is in love with Fernand Braudel. Hey, that should definitely be a T-shirt, don't you think?
Fuckin' A, Bubba.
Day 21 (DDRD 775): December 15, 2019
Read to the top of page 251 today. Getting very close to that halfway point--and should / will hit it Wednesday or Thursday.
As for today...
Here's my Favorite Brandy Story Ever:
(Admittedly there wasn't a whole lot of competition in this category, but hey...you win first place in lane 36 and you get a gold medal, man.)
From booze, Braudel moved on to Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate...and there was some surprising stuff there as well. Such as:
(from page 249)
"Chocolate reached England from France in about 1657."
And get this: (from page 251) "Tea arrived in England by way of Holland and the cafe proprietors of London who launched the fashion in about 1657."
One of the things that really struck me about this was the idea that Shakespeare probably never ate chocolate or drank tea. That seems very unfair, doesn't it? Think of the plays he could have written about them alone!
Day 22 (DDRD 776): December 16, 2019
Mostly about coffee, but an interesting reference to a 1770 novel entitled The Year 2440 by Louis-Sebastien Mercier (1740 to 1814). Also interesting, when I attempted to find out more about that novel, I learned that Mercier had written a sequel to it called The Iron Man. Sounds like a Jules Verne 100 years before Jules Verne (1828 to 1905). I'd like to look into this a bit more. A preliminary Googling revealed little, though. Hmmm.
Got to page
today, btw.
Day 23 (DDRD 777): December 17, 2019
Read to page 272, so pretty good chance that I will hit the halfway point tomorrow (🌝), but Tragedy Struck today: a page fell out of my book. Not that this is really all that unexpected given that this is a 37 year old book that I bought used from Goodwill for a buck, but still...this book is becoming near and dear to me, so it was still a Tragedy. It looks like the spine of the book has cracked just a smidge, which is what allowed this page to separate, so I opened to the crack and put a thin line of Elmer's Glue down it before placing the errant page back in place. It's now sitting on the dining room table to dry.
My attempts to perform similar surgery on A History of Philosophy Omnibus Three did not go well, but I've been much more careful this time around, so I'm hopeful.
Time will tell.
Meanwhile, I finished Chapter 3 with Tobacco, and have now started on Chapter 4, which starts off with house construction.
Works for me!
Day 24 (DDRD 778): December 18, 2019
Made it to that halfway point (page 282). And my page fix seems to be holding up. Woo fucking hoo.
Day 25 (DDRD 779): December 19, 2019
290.
Day 26 (DDRD 780): December 20, 2019
300. And whilst reading @ McDonald's (waiting for Joe to get off work) there was a rending sound, and the spine split again. No pages got free yet, but clearly the glue binding this thing together is at the end of its lifespan. Ah, well. It's not like I have anybody to give this beautiful tome to when I'm finished with it, anyway. Unless you're interested. Hollah at a Brother K if you are. It's free for the price of shipping to a good home in about 28 days or so.
Day 27 (DDRD 781): December 21, 2019
I was talking to a friend of mine today, and I mentioned this "history" book I've been reading and how much I loved it, and told her that one of the things I liked was how it went into specific details that I found very interesting. As an example, I said, "For instance, did you know that Shakespeare probably never ate with a fork, drank tea, or ate chocolate?" She looked at me and said, "So what?" Well, fuck. I thought it was pretty interesting.
Read to page
today in my boring, stupid "history" book.
Day 28 (DDRD 782): December 22, 2019
Moving on to clothing, by the way. And pretty much right off the bat here's a thing that struck me as a Same As It Ever Was moment: "But nothing has ever been effective against the passion to move up in the world or the desire to wear those clothes which, in the West, symbolize the least degree of social promotion." From silk cloth in the 15th century to Air Jordans in the 20th century, The Song Remains the Same. Funny, ennit? But not ha ha funny.
In other news, the book deterioration continues...
...and this time there's no way to repair it. The only solution would be to have it re-bound, and I have no idea how to do that, no idea where to have it done, and am pretty sure that it would cost a lot more than I am willing to pay to have it done. So...well. That's a little sad.
But on a happy note, I read this footnote...
...and of course thought, "Hey, if Fernand Braudel thinks it's a splendid book, I really would like to put my fingers into it. Alas, so far as I can tell La Filosofia dell'arredemonto (The Philosophy of Furniture) has never been translated into English. Which is a little mind blowing. I am definitely going to learn several languages and become a translator in my next life. I was happy to see, though, that the Louisville Free Public Library had a few Mario Praz tomes:
And I've already put my order in for 2. The U of L library has some other stuff, so if I ever get the energy to drive down there, I might could check out a few of them as well.
Meanwhile, in other news...
In the "Eyew" Department, there's this:
And over in the Is Your Eye Drawn To Something In Particular In This Drawing department:
And finally in the What The Actual Fuck Department:
Those, by the way, are zoccoli...which were designed to keep a woman's foot out of the water when she walked in Venice. Is that how all this high-heel foolishness actually started? Not according to Wikipedia...but what the fuck do they know.
Read to page 320 today. And it was quite a nice little canter.
Day 29 (DDRD 783): December 23, 2019
More songs about clothing and style, including this bit from page 324: "Perhaps if the door is to be opened to innovation, the source of all progress, there must be first some restlessness which may express itself in such trifles as dress, the shape of shoes and hairstyles?" Interesting, no?
And check out this (literal) shit from page 329: "The custom for men 'to wear under-drawers which are changed every day and which maintain cleanliness' instead of simple lined breeches was hardly established until the second half of the eighteenth century." So adding to the list of things my friend who probably find worthy of a "So what?'...Shakespeare probably didn't wear underpants. I am thinking that I should write a book...an illustrated one...called Things Shakespeare Never Did. Of course as an Oxfordian, that would have to include "write any poetry or poems."
To page 330 today.
Day 30 (DDRD 784): 🎅🎄🤶⼣December 24, 2019 🎅🎄🤶⼣
Another laudatory reference to Mario Praz's The Philosophy of Furniture:
I'd really like to read that book
To page 340 today, btw.
Day 31 (DDRD 785): 🎅🎄🤶December 25, 2019 🤶🎄🎅
To page 351 today. Merry Christmas.
Day 32 (DDRD 786): December 26, 2019
On to windmills. And a term which fascinates me:
Mola versatilis
Which apparently looks like this:
I'm thinking that this would be a fine title for my last / first novel.
Read to page 361.
Day 33 (DDRD 787): December 27, 2019
Today I happened upon another foreign phrase that tickled my fancy: los navíos al través. Contextually, it seems to refer to ships that were built, sailed to the New World, and then abandoned. I went Googling for more information, and found an article in Spanish entitled "Cortés da con los navíos al través." And since I can only read about forty words in Spanish, I hit the Translate this page link. And hilarity ensued. Witness:
Cortes hits ships through
Cortes hits the ships through. Cortes proposed to go to Mexico, and covered it up for the soldiers, so that they would not refuse the trip because of the inconveniences that Teudilli had with others, especially because they were on water, which they considered as very strong, as indeed it was. And for everyone to follow him even if they didn't want to, he agreed to break the ships; something hard and dangerous and of great loss, for whose cause he had a lot to think about, and not because the ships hurt, but because his companions didn't get in the way, because they would undoubtedly hinder him and even mutiny if they found out. Determined, then, to break them, he negotiated with some masters to secretly drill their ships, so that they would sink without being able to exhaust or cover them; and he begged other pilots to spread the word that the ships were not here to sail anymore, of waterfalls and gossip, and that they all reach him, being with many, to tell him so, as if they were aware of it, so that later I would not blame them. They did it as he ordered, and they told him in front of everyone that the ships could no longer navigate by making a lot of water and being very clothed; That is why he saw what he commanded. Everyone believed it, for having been there more than three months, long enough to be eaten of the joke. And after having talked a lot about it, he ordered Cortes to take advantage of them as much as possible, and let them sink or give through, feeling so much loss and lack. And so, they then came across the coast with the best five ships, first taking the shots, weapons, stalls, sails, ropes, anchors, and all other rigging they could take advantage of. From there they broke another four; but then it was done with some difficulty, because people understood the treatment and purpose of Cortes, and said they wanted to put them in the slaughterhouse. He placated them by saying that those who did not want to continue the war in such a rich land and in their company, could return to Cuba on the ship that was left for that; which he did to know how many and which were the cowards and opposites, and not trust or trust them. Many asked him shamelessly to return to Cuba; For half of them were sailors, and they preferred to sailor than war. Many others had the same desire, seeing the greatness of the earth and the crowd of the people; but they were ashamed to show cowardice in public. Cortes, when he knew this, ordered that ship to break, and thus they all were left without hope of leaving there at that time, extolling Cortes much for such a fact; certainly necessary feat for the time, and done with the judgment of a courageous captain, but very confident, and which was convenient for his purpose, although he lost a lot in the ships, and was left without the strength and service of the sea. There are few examples of these, and those are of great men, such as Omich Barbarroja, of the severed arm, who a few years before he broke seven galleys and whips for taking Bujía, as I write extensively in the sea battles of our time.
(https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=https://www.artehistoria.com/en/node/76040&prev=search)
Yowza. The bold highlights indicate my favorite bits, and the underlined part reminds me very much of how Trump speaks. Hmmm. There's a theory lying behind that, I think.
Also, some interesting information about wood:
"2 tons of wood are equal to a ton of coal."
Also..."coal did not overtake wood in the economy of the United States until 1887!" (Both bits from page 367."
Which made me think about how people were probably going nuts thinking that the end of wood was the end of the world. And now here we are...with lots of people thinking the end of coal and gas are the end of the world.
Will it go 'round in circles? Will if fly high like a bird up in the sky?
P.S. On Day 16 I mentioned a beautiful Folio Society boxed set of Braudel's The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. I thought about buying it several times...well, several times a day, to tell the truth...but the total cost of $60.59 kept me from pulling the trigger. But I kept going back and looking at it, kept searching for other deals. Found one that was about ten bucks better. Still pretty pricey for a retired high school teacher, though. And then yesterday I saw this:
And I knew that resistance was futile. But just as I was about to hit the buy button, I saw that there was a Make An Offer button. So I did. I offered $38. And a few minutes ago...
...creativesister1 accepted my offer and I hit the Pay Now button. So guess what I'll be reading after I finish Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century?
Mmm-hmm.
I may celebrate by reading an extra ten pages later today if I can squeeze it in. (The sooner to get to The Mediterranean, my dear.)
P.P.S. I squeezed it. And it was good. Metallurgy. Mostly iron. Which apparently was first smelted in China, and which led to the fall of Rome via Damasc(us) steel weapons. Also, this:
...once again proving that great minds think alike.
Read to page 381, and I'm hoping that this book can hold together for another 184 pages. It's not looking good at this point, though. Alas.
Day 34 (DDRD 788): December 28, 2019
Woke up in the middle of the night and thought, What the hell, I'll read some history. So long story short...it was another 20 page day --read to page 401. Some interesting stuff along the way. Such as? I'm glad you asked. Check this out from page 382: "At the dawn of history, in the age of Homer, a warrior's armour was worth 'three pairs of oxen, a sword seven, and the bit of a horse's bridle more than the animal itself'. The period covered by this book was still very much the age of wood." Pretty amazing, hey? And then we moved from metallurgy to printing press to paper, and how about this from page 397: "A 150-page manuscript on parchment required the skins of a dozen sheep 'which meant that the actual copying was the smallest expense of the operation'."
Day 35 (DDRD 789): December 29, 2019
Well, the combination of my anxiety with respect to the deteriorating condition of The Structures of Everyday Life and my anxiousness for the Now Coming My Way The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World has pushed me to another (third in a row) 20 page reading day. And let it be noted that this is not much of an effort, actually, as The Structures of Everyday Life is quite a fascinating book. In today's devotional reading there was a reference to "Fuggers," and I felt compelled to investigate. Found a short video on The You Tub which was quite interesting...and which purported that Jakob Fugger was the richest man who ever lived...with a worth of $400 billion. (It's at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbqnladOP8s if you feel the need.) Pretty interesting...especially given the fact that I am almost completely uninterested in billionaires. And that led to me watching a video in which Kevin O'Leary talked about why Trump was successful and why he would be re-elected (short version: deregulation led to an explosion in opportunities for businesses) which turned my stomach...but which also made me understand in a way that I'd previously not been able. So you see what Fernand Braudel can do for you? It's probably time to climb aboard the Google Railroad and find your copy of The Structures of Everyday Life. But be careful out there...prices vary wildly. Right now I found a good looking hardback copy available through Amazon for $6.59 and FREE Shipping...but I've also seen copies of it in paperback for $48.
ANYway...today's twenty pages were good. Lots of stuff about boats and exploration...and some dabs about Chinese exploration which were quite interesting enough to make me want to explore that waterway as well. But for now I'm sticking with Monsieur Braudel.
Read to page 421.
So...if I kept up this 20 pages a day pace, I'd be finished with Volume I in seven more days. I might even finish before the book splits in two (which is imminent).
Day 36 (DDRD 790): December 30, 2019
From shipping to money today...another twenty page day, btw. And you know, it has really been no strain at all to up the ante to twenty pages per day. Might even think about continuing it beyond the end of Volume I. Mmm-hmmm.
So...to page 440 today. And therein, some things of interest. Such as:
Two references to shipping: (1) "In 1828, Jean Dash Baptiste told his audience at the college de France that the inhabitants of the Atlantic towns in the United States 'warm themselves with coal from England which is over a thousand leagues away rather than with wood from their own forest, ten leagues away. Carriage over ten leagues overland is more expensive than transport over a thousand Leagues by sea." And (2) "Quote Napoleon moved no faster than Julius Caesar." And just for context, Julius Caesar 100 to 44 B.C., Napoleon 1769 to 1821. So there's that.
Also...
and this rather amazing most of a paragraph:
Just goes to show...human beings are not primarily disposed towards foresight. And on that topic, here's another most of a paragraph which actually made me feel a little hopeful about our prospectives of not making this planet uninhabitable for human beings in the next fifty years:
"Sooner or later, everything depended upon [the] necessary intervention [of technology]. As long as daily life proceeded without too much difficulty in its appointed pathway, within the framework of its inherited structures, as long as society was content with its material surroundings and felt at ease, there was no economic motive for change. Inventors' blueprints (for there always wear some) stayed in their drawers. It was only when things went wrong, when society came up against the ceiling of the possible that people turned of necessity to technology, and interest was aroused for the thousand potential inventions, out of which one would be recognized as the best, the one that would break through the obstacle and open the door to a different future. Where there are always hundreds of possible innovations lying dormant; sooner or later, it becomes a matter of urgency to call one of them to life."
(page 435)
That was quite a nice little canter, wasn't it?
ADDENDUM: And then...disaster. The spine portion of the cover had been slowly ripping along the line of the chunk of pages which had fallen out of the binding glue...and today it ripped almost all the way from top to bottom. So I got out the black duct tape and put my book back together. And then I put a line of Elmer's Glue in the trough created by the pages falling out and inserted that chunk of pages and put it aside (spine down) to set. Don't know if it will work. My previous attempts to re-glue pages (the third History of Philosophy omnibus) were significantly less than successful. But I felt compelled to give it a go. I'm not going to check it until tomorrow, so here's hoping. Pictures at eleven. (Ante Meridiem.)
11:00pm:
Day 37 (DDRD 791): 🆕𐅹👩December 31, 2019🆕𐅹👩
Read to page 463 today...which means I am an even 100 pages from finishing Volume I. Today's reading was mostly about money, which I have to admit I didn't find all that interesting...but we'll see what comes next.
Day 38 (DDRD 792): January 1, 2020
Happy New Year! I managed to stick with the 20 pages today, even though I've really been feeling shitty, and made it through the money part. Here's the only thing I found really interesting vis-a-vis money:
So there it is.
Then Fernand moved on to towns, size of, which I have found most extraordinarily interesting. Check out these population figures from way back when, for instance:
I mean...seriously. New York (name got truncated above) with a total population of 3,900? Middletown has twice that many people today...
...and it ain't exactly a major metropolitan center, y'know?
So...read to page 483, and you know what that means: 80 pages to go. Very exciting.
Day 39 (DDRD 793): January 2, 2020
Woke up at 2:30 am, FFS, and tried reading Earthworms Through the Ages to see if I could get myself sleepy, but that didn't work. So I started listening to The Hare With Amber Eyes, but that didn't work, and so I just tried to go back to sleep, but that didn't work, so at 4 a.m. I thought "What the hell," and started on my Bruadel DDR. Got most of the 20 done before I finally started feeling tired and got back to sleep. Sheesh. This getting older...it ain't for sleepers.
Read to page 504, by the way.
Day 40 (DDRD 794): January 3, 2020
Another day, another twenty pages (to page 524). Read at a reasonable hour today, too.
In other news, I was thinking about this DDRD count. I may be off. Let's see:
November 2, 2017 to November 1, 2018 = 365 Days
November 2, 2018 to November 1, 2019 = 365 Days
November 2, 2019 to January 3, 2020 = 63 days
and 365 + 365 + 63 = 793. So it looks like I got off count at some point. Henceforth it shall be corrected, but I'm not going back to re-edit.
Day 41 (DDRD 794*): January 4, 2020
This just in from the Those Were The Days Department:
You know, as opposed to These Days:
You'd think that the latter would make any decent human being ashamed, wouldn't you?
Also...in the Do Things Ever Fucking Change? Department:
And I am sorry to report (gasp) that I have found aNOTHer typo in this book. (At least I THINK I remember recording one previously. Or am I making that up? Once you past 60, it's all a fucking guessing game.)
Somebody really should pay me to do this shit, y'know? Just sayin'.
ANYway...read to page 544...so it looks like tomorrow is The End. I blush to admit how excited I am about that, but what the hell. You pays your money and you takes your choice, right, Iggy?
* corrected
Day 42 (DDRD 795): January 5, 2020
This is the end, beautiful friend.
So here's one more bit of wisdom:
"It was the inequalities, the injustices, the contradictions large or small, that made the world go around and endlessly transformed its upper structures, the only ones with the capacity to move. For capitalism alone had comparative freedom of movement."
page 562
And that's all, folks.
Tomorrow I start Volume II.
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