Chris Orwa
If you mix cocaine with gunpowder and smoke it, that's the high this book gives you. I laughed out loud so many times—the author was definitely on some wild shit. Five stars just for the dialogue alone. The storyline improved, with deeper character backstories and some great new additions to the cast.
It's truly remarkable how this work of fiction resonates so deeply with reality. I stumbled upon this book amidst the COVID lockdown, prompted by numerous recommendations, and I can say they were absolutely on point. Albert Camus masterfully depicts the human response to a plague in the city of Oran, drawing striking parallels to our own encounter with COVID-19. The city's imposition of lockdown renders its inhabitants unwitting captives within their own walls. Mobility becomes restricted, scarcity grips the food supply, hospitals overflow, and alcohol consumption skyrockets.
A book on the how the merchant and royal interests married in the sea gave birth to a new world. Push to take over international commerce brings European countries to loggerheads and war is inevitable. It is easy to loose track how many wars are fought since alliances are broken at and allies become enemies, and to a surprising end allies and enemies rotate between the French, Spanish, English and Dutch in all the multiple wars.
The Spanish with their fleet (Armada) are the first maritime superpowers and are soon dethrones by the Dutch regents who want her rich colonies in the Americas. They thus build bigger warships, reform their society to suit merchant needs and say goodbye to Catholicism. Thence the English grow weary and jealous of Dutch commerce - resolution is having privateers plunder Dutch warships and war breaks out.
The war leads both countries to debt and France emerges as the dominant maritime and commercial powerhouse. British and Dutch become jealous alliance is formed and war breakout.
This cycle of growth in trade in one country and war with other countries goes on through 200 years but it was not all for nothing. The much enjoyed Bill of Rights in most constitutions came from this era when William III invaded England to claim the throne and supported by disloyal parliament
wrist who only pledged their allegiance if a law would be passed to limit the powers of the Crown. This law enacted on 13 February 1689 known as ‘An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subjects and Setting the Succession of the Crown' became the Bill of Rights.
The concept of individuality also emerges from this era in England when many wars and allies breaking their trust led to people shifting true love/allegience to individuals as Jonathan Swift put it. “I have ever hated all nations, professions and communities, all my love is towards individuals”. Perhaps the best anecdote in the book is when on 22 May 1670, King Loius XIV of France offers Charles II King of England £100,000 to convert to Catholicism in order to guarantee him support against the Dutch.
Another gripping and absurd tale by Albert Camus. This is the story of Meursault, a man condemned not just for murder but for his indifference. After killing a man in a beachside altercation, he finds himself on trial—less for the act itself and more for his failure to grieve at his mother's funeral. His unemotional nature, his casual romance the day after her death, and his friendship with a pimp all serve as evidence against him, turning a case of manslaughter into a philosophical indictment of his character.
An exception account on the powers of observations. In this fictitious plot, Sherlock Holmes emerges as the Primus Inter Pares among Victorian sleuths to solve the most uncanny of crimes. Sir Author Conan Doyle's style of writing that withhold all facts of a case until the end of a story makes for god suspense. Among the eleven short stories in the book, two of them make it to my list of must reads - ‘The Stockbroker's Clerk' and ‘The Naval Treaty'. In both stories, the reader discovers an alternative plot of a case of the very last page of the stories.
The general book makes for a quick read. Had to pick a dictionary to understand some of the 20th-century English words that appeared quite often such as hansom for a two-wheeled cab, ‘by jove' meaning in God's name et cetera.
When an exposé is written it ought to be complete with all facts of the events. The book is slant towards exposing the character of Julian Assange - much is not spoken about the leaks, their preparation, and impact. In the end, Julian Assange is portrayed as neurotic activist who founded WikiLeaks and his character led to the demise of the whistleblowing platform. It doesn't go by saying WikiLeaks is described as a highly disorganised institution.