WLBOTT Re-Reading List (part I of XVII)

[big thanks to UC#3 and all the Elders for today’s BLOTT. This series will span several days.]

Gentle Folks – I will have a later post on why my haikus and limericks are more wordplay and math rather than poetry and thus I am not a Laureate but let’s move on.

A survey for the Elders – which books have you ‘reread’ the most? I’m not asking for favorite books or most compelling, but which books have continued to read again?

My list:

The Hobbit (despite never making it though Lord of The Rings) by JRR Tolkien

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

West Point Plebe by Red Reeder

A Mathematician’s Apology by G. H. Hardy.

Psychiatric help may be required to figure this list out.
[ed. note: sorry, not part of the WLBOTT employee assistance program.]
UC#3

Elder KM

I love this topic..but I’ll warn that my tastes may be a bit basic for y’all. I love The Subtle Art of Not Giving A #!@%. That’s one I read over and over until I (hopefully) master this art.

My favorite fiction to return to is Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, though it’s controversial now due to the war. And I am a huge Harry Potter nerd.

Cookbook-wise, most of the time I am cooking from Melissa Clark‘s books (mainly Dinner and Cook This Now) and lately I’ve been really into Budmo (modern Ukrainian food).
KM / UC#???

Just the idea that there is a summary of The Subtle Art of Not Giving A #!@% for people who are too busy to read the unabridged version, says something about America. I’m not sure what it says, but it says something.

The Master and Margarita

The Master and Margarita (Russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940. A censored version, with several chapters cut by editors, was published in Moscow magazine in 1966–1967, after the writer’s death on March 10, 1940, by his widow Elena Bulgakova (Russian: Елена Булгакова).

The manuscript was not published as a book until 1967, in Paris. A samizdat version circulated that included parts cut out by official censors, and these were incorporated in a 1969 version published in Frankfurt. The novel has since been published in several languages and editions.

The story concerns a visit by the devil and his entourage to the officially atheistic Soviet Union. The devil, manifested as one Professor Woland, challenges the Soviet citizens’ beliefs towards religion and condemns their behavior throughout the book. The Master and Margarita combines supernatural elements with satirical dark comedy and Christian philosophy, defying categorization within a single genre. It exhibits autobiographical elements, but is also dominated by many aspects of fiction. Many critics consider it to be one of the best novels of the 20th century, as well as the foremost of Soviet satires.
Wikipedia

Wait…. there’s a movie? (turn on cc for English subtitles)

And an animated Ted Talk?

Available for streaming? Not Yet (Nyet).

WLBOTT Poet Laureate UC#3

A Mathematician’s Apology by G. H. Hardy

A Mathematician’s Apology is a 1940 essay by British mathematician G. H. Hardy, which offers a defence of the pursuit of mathematics. Central to Hardy’s “apology” – in the sense of a formal justification or defence (as in Plato’s Apology of Socrates) – is an argument that mathematics has value independent of possible applications. Hardy located this value in the beauty of mathematics, and gave some examples of and criteria for mathematical beauty. The book also includes a brief autobiography, and gives the layman an insight into the mind of a working mathematician.
Wikipedia

[ed. note: UC#3 gifted this book to UC#4 many years ago. It is a wonderful book, actually about friendship, love, humility, wonder, curiosity. Also a great read for nerds – early in the book, the author goes to visit his friend in the hospital, who is dying. They end up talking about the registration number of the taxi the author took – and what interesting properties the number has. It reminds me of the lyrics from “What a Wonderful World”: I see friends shaking hands / Saying, “How do you do?” / They’re really saying / is I love you]

Wait…. there’s a Movie?

The Man Who Knew Infinity is a 2015 British biographical drama film about the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, based on the 1991 book of the same name by Robert Kanigel.

The film stars Dev Patel as Srinivasa Ramanujan, a real-life mathematician who, after growing up poor in Madras, India, earns admittance to Cambridge University during World War I, where he becomes a pioneer in mathematical theories with the guidance of his professor, G. H. Hardy, portrayed by Jeremy Irons.

Filming began in August 2014 at Trinity College, Cambridge after eight years in development. The film had its world premiere as a gala presentation at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, and was selected as the opening gala of the 2015 Zurich Film Festival. It also played other film festivals including Singapore International Film Festival and Dubai International Film Festival.
Wikipedia

UC#4

Today I will focus on the books that I read over and over to the kids. These are actually quite wonderful.

I would find myself saying throughout the day:
Where is Brown?
     There is Brown.
Mr. Brown
     Is Out of Town
UC#4

Luckily, things turned out okay for Mr. Brown:

Let’s see if we can break the Internet AI with “Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz”:

UC#4’s Cookbook Pick

And, as promised, a recipe from my favorite cookbook. This cookbook is from the iconic Austin restaurant, Threadgill‘s. In addition to great southern cooking, Threadgill‘s often hosted local musicians, including Janis Joplin.

Threadgill’s is so dear to us in Central Texas that WLBOTT honors its closing with a corporate holiday: