Since I’m a bit bored given the inclement weather and given that I am supposed to still be ‘taking it easy’ after my recent knee surgery, I thought I’d write a blurb here to let the few people who read this know that I am still alive and to provide some comments/recommendations on some books that I have read during the last few weeks prior to and after my surgery.
First the surgery/recovery. This was my third knee surgery. The first two were planned. The first was a full knee replacement due to wear and tear and arthritis. The second was arthroscopic to repair some tendons and clean out some areas of my other knee. This last was due to a rare traumatic injury in which I actually broke the spacer between the two titanium parts of my original artificial knee. The orthopedic doctor expedited my surgery because my knee was somewhat unstable and they didn’t like the idea of parts floating around inside my knee. They even scheduled it for an hour and a half longer than a normal knee replacement surgery because they weren’t sure what they were going to find once they got in there.
All of that said and as ugly as that sounds, even though the surgery was just 11 days ago, it is by far the easiest recovery I’ve had. I was in the hospital for one night. I used a walker for one day after I got home. I used a cane for a couple of days after that and that poor cane is now feeling lonely and abandoned. I actually got on my stationary bike trainer today and pedaled (slowly) for about five minutes. And tomorrow, they remove the line of staples running about 10 or 11 inches down my leg. (My leg looks a bit like ‘Franken knee’ with all of the staples in it!). And the pain has been minimal. I’ve taken nothing stronger than Tylenol. My leg still swells up and I have to wear compression socks for the next month or so. Ice packs are my new best friends. My physical therapist thinks I’m some kind of freak because this isn’t supposed to be this easy. Oh, well, I’ll take it.
I have had lot of time to read over the last few weeks since the original injury so I thought I’d just pass along my list and comments in case anyone is looking for some really interesting (some would say controversial) books to read.
First up is, “A Hundred Little Pieces on the End of World”1 by John Rember. It’s a relatively short book which is a collection of essays tackling the very subject it says, ‘the end of the world’, due to climate change and other adverse forces at work, but it is superbly written with great wit, droll humor and exquisite writing.
Next up, “The 1619 Project” edited by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Nikole Hannah-Jones. This book grew out of a series of articles originally published in the New York Times Magazine regarding the history of race in America. (The year 1619 was the year that the first slaves were brought to America). It became very controversial along the lines of Critical Race Theory. Conservatives got all riled up and started passing laws against teaching things like this in curriculums. So, since I like to form my own opinions as opposed to listening to some talking head on TV, I decided to read the book. (In the same manner that I read the Mueller Report from cover to cover). I would recommend this book to anyone. It blew me away. I learned a lot. I found it fascinating, and it just blows my mind why there are those who believe this information should not be taught in schools. It didn’t make me feel bad or guilty after I read it, it just made me feel a lot more prepared to discuss and understand topics like race in America.
The people who are so against reading and teaching material like this remind of a football coach who only wants his players to watch the game films from the games they won. Everyone would agree that is nonsense and that they players are going to learn the most by watching the films from the games they lost. We haven’t done a great job with race in this country. We can’t solve the problem and get better if we just sweep it under the rug. The controversy over this is ridiculous!
I then read, “Gunfight” by Ryan Busse. Busse was an executive at Kimber Firearms for many years. (He actually lives here in Montana). It’s basically how the NRA became so radicalized and became such a potent political force in this country. It was truly a scary book. Busse is no longer in the industry and is now on the other side of the fence trying to help enact reasonable gun control laws. (He agrees that no ordinary citizen needs an AR-15 assault rifle!)
Lastly, I read “The Changing World Order; Why Nations Succeed and Fail” by Ray Dalio. Dalio is one of the founders of Bridgewater Associates, one of the largest hedge funds in the world. This book takes a very macro perspective in looking at the rise and fall of countries over several hundred years and tries to use various metrics to model these events. He argues and presents data to show that all countries go through cycles of rising and falling. For example, there was a time that the Dutch were a very powerful nation and the Dutch guilder was the reserve currency used broadly around the world. They were replaced by the UK and the pound became the world’s reserve currency. The UK was replaced by the USA and now the US dollar is the world’s reserve currency. He argues and shows that the US is now on the downslope of one of these cycles and the Chinese are on the upslope. If nothing changes, the Chinese renminbi will replace the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency at some point in the future. There was a lot to think about in this book. It was a bit of a slog but I thought it was worth the effort.
So, if you’re looking for a little ‘light’ reading, here’s the list. I did manage to watch some TV and some good movies along the way as well. It hasn’t all been heavy reading. In any case, I’m ambulatory once again and on the mend. I’ve already started replanning my trip to Portugal and it looks like my motorcycle trip to SoCal in July and my bicycle ride in the San Juan Islands in September will be good to go (assuming I can keep from hurting myself again!!)
- A Hundred Little Pieces on the End of the World, John Rember, 2020, University of New Mexico Press
- The 1610 Project, A New Origin Story, edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones, 2021, New York Times Company
- Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America, Ryan Busse, 2021, Public Affairs
- Principles for Dealing with The Changing World Order; Why Nations Succeed and Fail, Ray Dalio, 2021, Avid Reader Press
Glad you are getting better ! Yes, the Chinese have 5x as many people and resources and education – their economy is on track to be larger than ours shortly – something like in the next 4 to 8 years, and most likely there is a chance their currency could replace ours or compete with ours. Some folks will content Amway money such as Bitcoin will replace all that – but you just got my take on all that. The success of those are dependent on them increasing in value. Kids are the investors in those in quick rich schemes.