Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Banks grows on you
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 17/08/2018
» It's a relief to read a crime thriller that doesn't bill itself as a psychological mystery. Frankly I'm not an armchair psychologist, much less psychiatrist. I much prefer simple -- what you see is what you get -- people to complex -- you don't know the real me.
A Chinese empire?
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 17/11/2017
» As a youngster in the Big Apple during the Great Depression, I recall men with billboard signs with "The world is coming to an end -- REPENT". The people they passed on the streets shrugged them off. l didn't fully understand what it meant, but I knew that threats aren't to be taken lightly.
A Druid victory
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 13/10/2017
» I didn't realise how many contemporary historians there are until I began reviewing their books. However, their interests don't vary greatly. Ancient Rome and the Tudor periods are predominant. Followed by World War II and the Templar knights. Then Ancient Egypt and the Napoleonic Wars.
Loving non-humans
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 25/04/2016
» The close relationship between humans and lower forms of animals was noted millennia before Charles Darwin found a primordial connection. The relationship broadened in Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.
The Cold War: Phase 2
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 18/04/2016
» The implosion of the Soviet empire was greeted with a sigh of relief in democracies by all but the cloak-and-dagger novelists. Who would replace the Soviet Union as the common enemy? To be sure, terrorists are sinister, but they lack the cohesiveness that was a mark of the KGB.
Iran’s nuclear bomb threat
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 07/04/2014
» Ever since 1945, when the US used up its arsenal of two nuclear bombs to end the Pacific War, the rest of the world has been trying to get their own. The Soviet Union came next by stealing the secret, followed by other lands, claiming its necessity solely for self-defence. Iran means for theirs to wipe Israel off the map.
Taiping women
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 27/01/2014
» Yank author, Thai resident, Dean Barrett is fluent in several Chinese dialects as well as knowledgable in China's history and mythology. He is perhaps best known for his pictorial books about beautiful Thai women. It may be said that he has beauty on the brain. Every woman in his novels is "beautiful". He never tires of using the term, once a page minimum.
Winners and losers
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 12/08/2013
» Among our basic instincts are survival, sex and competition _ the urge to win. To be the fastest, the strongest, the smartest, the best. In sports, in school, in business, in politics, in war. There is no second best. If you are not best, you're a loser. There is pride in being best _ honours, rewards.
A tasty morsel
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 28/05/2012
» Tales about wolves give off mixed signals. Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were reared by wolves. Wolf packs chase and devour people. Werewolves _ half-wolf, half-man _ can only be put down with a silver bullet. Jack London had good things to say of wolves. Their howl on movies signifies evil.
The Dragon Lady?
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 07/05/2012
» First ladies _ wives of presidents and prime ministers _ have generally been innocuous. On display during election time, they then faded into the background. Few made a name for themselves afterwards, most notably Hillary Rodham Clinton, appointed secretary of state when her husband was no longer in the White House.