The Queue
I'd never heard of the true-life tale of survival recounted in The Man who Refused to Die 'til I encountered the book at one of the History Club's periodic used book sales. I enjoyed the television series Man Vs. Wild & I certainly appreciate the time-tested doctrine of Man versus Nature; so, I really should delve into more of these types of stories, beginning with Sir Ernest Shackleton's South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage. Also, sooner or later, & probably sooner rather than later, I shall have to read at least part of One Thousand & One Nights, a.k.a. the Arabian Nights. I am especially interested in reading "Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves." Combining these interests in real-life feats of survival & tales of the Middle East, I've also been considering T. E. Lawrence, specifically the Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Jim Clark at the Wheel jumped the queue because I'm yet in the mood for non-fiction after The Man who Refused to Die. An alternate subtitle is given on the front cover: "The world's greatest motor racing champion tells his own supercharged success story."

Recently
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Gods of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Warlord of Mars
Barry Wynne, The Man who Refused to Die: Teehu Makimare's 2,000 Mile Drift in an Open Boat Across the South Seas

Currently
Jim Clark, Jim Clark at the Wheel: The World Motor Racing Champion's Own Story

Presently
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maid of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Chessmen of Mars
Richard Price, Clockers
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Master Mind of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Fighting Man of Mars
Sir Ernest Shackleton, South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Swords of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Synthetic Men of Mars

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, "Science Fiction/Double Feature" from Are a Drag (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: I considered Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" in celebration of the restoration of our electricity but "Science Fiction/Double Feature" was the first song that popped into my head this morning. For the life of me I don't understanding why the title of the song is "Science Fiction/Double Feature" & not "Science Fiction Double Feature." The slash is unnecessary & nonsensical.

Freitag, 6 Juli
Dropkick Murphys, "Gonna Be a Blackout Tonight" from Blackout (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Without power—& thus without refrigeration, without air conditioning, & without running water—on the hottest day of the year, when the temperature soared to 99˚. Only the anger of the Dropkick Murphys suffices as a response to such an outrage.

Donnerstag, 5 Juli
Stan Rogers, "Macdonnell On the Heights" courtesy The Watergirl (The Watergirl)

Commentary: Lieutenant Colonel John Macdonell (1785-1812) was aide-de-camp to the far-famed Major General Sir Isaac Brock (1769-1812), who conquered Fort Detroit in the early days of the War of 1812 & thwarted the American invasion of Upper Canada near Niagara Falls. Like Brock, Macdonell fell at the Battle of Queenston Heights, but he does not share Brock's fame in the Dominion of Canada. What's funny about "Macdonnell On the heights" is that the chorus laments, "But not one in ten thousand knows your name," while at the same time misspelling Colonel Macdonell's surname as "Macdonnell." Of course not one in ten thousand know Macdonnell's name, for who in blue blazes was Macdonnell? As to Macdonell, I shall henceforth remember him as a valiant & damnably successful enemy of the United States.

My thanks to The Watergirl for her indefatigable support of the R.B.D.S.O.T.D.