Showing 11 - 20 of 20
A treaty for peace
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 23/11/2017
» Following the two-decade-long Napoleonic Wars, Europe, not least France, licked its wounds and agreed "never again". Then they set about making a lasting peace. They felt able to do it. It was the Age of Reason and they were was intelligent as one could be in 1815.
Renaissance history
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 14/07/2017
» I am so conditioned when I pick up a new book about Italy that I expect it to be a historical novel about Ancient Rome. That period seems to fascinate historians and historical novelists. This reviewer finds it no more than somewhat interesting.
A larger-than-life Aussie lit up Thailand
B Magazine, Andrew Biggs, Published on 07/05/2017
» The annual Australian TV awards called The Logies were on last week. Having been away from Australia for nearly three decades I can't get too excited about them, primarily because most of the winners were born after I left. Watching excerpts of the shows up for awards does remind me that one cannot confine a discussion about bad TV to Thailand only.
The war went on
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 18/07/2016
» One of the annoying things about wars is that they don't all end when they are supposed to. After Yorktown, the American Revolution dragged on for two years. The Battle of New Orleans in 1815 was fought after the War of 1812 was officially over.
Way too much
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 11/01/2016
» Born and bred in the Big Apple, I was raised believing -- it was in my mother's milk -- that New York is the centre of the universe. It has Times Square and Central Park, Broadway and Wall Street, the United Nations and the Empire State Building, Coney Island and two rivers, Greenwich Village and Nathan's hot dogs.
Horrendous 'fun'
Life, Published on 07/12/2015
» Perhaps the most misused term in any language is "fun". Frequently employed, its meaning is difficult to define. Going to the circus is fun, yet not funny, which can be pinned down. Drinking is called fun, but is it? Riding the roller-coaster? Depends on how sick you get. Fishing? Watching or playing games?
A fond farewell
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 05/10/2015
» 'The most brilliant mystery writer of our time" (Patricia Cornwell's estimation) passed away this year. British author Ruth Rendell published her first best-seller in 1964 and penned a thriller yearly ever since. She was the narrator, her characters having their say.
A new crime series
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 01/06/2015
» Time was when James Patterson penned a crime novel annually. Then semi-annually. Then seasonally. At the rate this reviewer is now receiving them, they seem to be coming out weekly. No sooner do I critique one than the next crosses my desk. Alone and with his team of co-authors, he's clearly on a roll.
For horse lovers
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 16/03/2015
» Do you believe in coincidence? I do, because it has happened to me on occasion and there's no other likely explanation. Yet there are those who don't, and statistics have been made to show that there's a mathematical probability of such events occurring. But can't statistics prove just about anything?
Hitting the rich
Life, Published on 22/12/2014
» We like to think that the more we learn the better. Information is power. Yet this isn't altogether true. There are facts we'd rather not know, and that irritate us when we come across them, particularly when shoved under our noses. The main one being the chasm between the haves and the have-nots. It's their own fault. We work for a living. Why don't they?