Out of the way

Number 19 was one of two books I bought at the airport. Yes, I weakened in my attempts to read the books I hvve before buying more. "Rome Inc", by Stephen Bing (if I recall correctly) is easily readable history. It traces the Roman Empire as if it were a company, talking about the CEOs, middle managers and marketing when it discusses the roles fo the senate, the people's tribunes, the emperors, and the dictators. Happy to state something as a fact and point out that the reader interetested in history can find any number of othr books that deal with the historical detail, it concentrates mostly on the republic, and the transition to Empire under two of the leading figures of European History - Julius Caesar and his adopted heir Octavian, who became the emperor Augustus.

Number 20, having been overtaken by various others, was Paulo Coelho's "Manual do Guerreiro da Luz". Essentially a collection of about 150 short guides to being a good and wise and brave person, it was something that I would read once. For me, the challenge of reading portuguese was a bonus since it isn't something I do often. I would need to read a few more books before claiming I could really read the language easily, but at least I understood what I was reading.

Number 21 was "Wal-Mart - The Bully of Bentonville". It is about the firm that has grown from a handful of shops to the biggest corporation in America, and in the process has made a major impact on the US economy. It paints a picture of a staunchly anti-unionist company hell-bent on making profits by driving down costs, although since it is the monster of the market place it points out that the effect this has on the rest of America is actually enormously destructive. In examining the history of the corporation, it ends up at a point where there may be some reconsideration of how it does business, in part as a reaction to the reconsideration by many of whether they should be doing business with Wal-Mart. It made me wonder where the entrepreneurs of the left are - the people who put a marketing and economic genius to work providing good conditions for workers, recognising that the cost of efficiency at some point starts to be paid in the life of the people providing it.

So I am not reading anything right now, except Don Quijote, which I started before this year so can't count, and which is slow going (it's the original text). The likely next starter is "La Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise", a contemporary account of the crusade carried out from 1308 against the Cathars that resulted in Provence being incorporated into France. It's an en face version, in what I guess is the old Provençal, and French, of a long poem begun by a troubadour and carried on by others. I suspect other books will squeeze in while I am reading it.