To Hell and Back (Audie Murphy, 1949)

I've seen numerous positive references to this book. Including comparisons to "All Quiet on the Western Front" (discussed here), but set in WWII.

I didn't find it all that compelling. One indicator: I don't like to write notes in books; instead, I dog-ear pages with passages I find interesting. I didn't dog-ear any pages in this book.

Murphy did have an unbelievable career in the army, and worked his way through Italy, France and Germany. And the stories are very interesting (especially as I have quite a bit of interest in the Italian campaign due to interest in Cassino, etc.) But too much space was devoted to wise-cracking repartee between folks in his unit.

Also interesting that he started out in extreme poverty - share-cropping background - and was able to thrive in the army and in Hollywood.

The End of the Affair (Graham Greene, 1951)

This was quite different from Our Man in Havana and The Quiet American. Set mostly in WWII London; protagonist has an affair with wife of an acquaintance; various characters deal with the question of belief in God in a Catholic sort of way; this takes an unexpected turn in the latter part of the book. The private detective's son recovers; the rationalist's facial markings disappear.

I liked. Perhaps should try the movie version(s) (1955, 1999).

The Age of Wonder - How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science (Richard Holmes, 2008)

I liked this. Entertaining, informative, and a good fit with other things I've been reading recently about this period. The book primarily revolved around several discrete biographies - but the subjects overlapped, and were linked, somewhat, by association with Joseph Banks (in his role as President of the Royal Society - an organization promoting science in Britain).

The bios:

1. Joseph Banks - very interesting story of his travels around the world; especially in the South Pacific; specifically to Tahiti (first arriving there in 1769). JB was great at collecting data, sketches, etc. But his notebooks etc. about native life in Tahiti created quite the stir in England. JB was open-minded about the lifestyle there. And he was spending time before booze, Christianity and venereal disease permanently changed the Tahitian atmosphere. Sufficiently well-thought of to be elected as President of the Royal Society - a position he held for decades.

Contributed to development of viewpoints on man in "state of nature."

2. William Hershel - came over from Hanover due to hard times there; eventually brought over his smallpox-scarred sister (Caroline), who wanted to be a singer. Hershel was an excellent musician and had meaningful gigs in England. Avocation was astronomy - something like John Harrison, he somehow taught himself the techniques for grinding lenses for marvelous telescopes. Unlike Harrison, he was generally supported by the Astronomer Royal (Nevil Maskelyn). (Harrison situation discussed here.) Made his reputation by discovering Uranus - the first "new" planet since ancient times.

Caroline's story was most interesting - she did progress to where she was starting to have performance opportunities as a singer, but she ended up working hand in hand with William on astronomy matters. Eventually gained her own recognition.

All sorts of famous folks visited - Hayden supposedly was inspired in writing the "Creation."

Led to discussions about the infinite number of stars, the likelihood of life on other planets given the huge number, whether Christ could have redeemed all these worlds, etc. A discussion continuing to this day.

3. There was a mostly uninteresting chapter about balloonists.

4. Mungo Park - Scottish - toured Africa. I do love the stories of 19th century explorers there.

5. Humphrey Davy - sold the scientific community (and the public) on the importance of chemistry. Experimented with various gases and how they might be used - if he had stuck with this, might well have pioneered anesthesia - did test, on himself, all sorts of dangerous mixtures and amounts. Hung closely with various poets (Coleridge), especially after a society marriage. Invented the Davy Lamp (trying to make coal mining safer).

6. There were shorter passages on other scientists, including Hershel's son.