The Monday Mix (24/07/2023)
Hi friends,
I’m late in sending this out again and almost forgot, so I’m gonna cut to the chase and share this week’s links!
How The Korean War Almost Went Nuclear
With the ‘Barbienheimer’ talk intensifying this week as both films are released, I’ve been looking into the story of the Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer. This piece deals with the Korean War but is interesting because that war almost saw the atomic bomb being used again. What’s interesting is that it wasn’t and that the Soviets had the bomb at this point. In some ways, the use of the bomb at Hiroshima and Nagasaki contributed to a taboo about using these weapons that still exists today, nearly 80 years later. Would that have been the case if they weren’t used in Japan or if they been used again in Korea? We’ll never know, but they’re interesting questions to consider.
How Hitler Nearly Destroyed the Great American Novel
A fascinating piece about how the publication of Mein Kampf in America led to the downfall of the publisher, which inadvertently affected the work of a writer considered to have written the West Coast Great Gatsby. This is one of those stories you often never hear about but are fascinating to read. It’s a long read but well worth it.
Climate Change and Sea Level
The heatwave across Europe is unrelenting, although you wouldn’t know it here in the UK, where we typically have a miserable summer. Although the other month, we were stuck in our own heatwave for a good month. Climate change is such a danger because it affects so many different things. One that’s underappreciated now is that sea levels are likely to rise as a result of ice caps melting, leading to lots of coastal areas being submerged underwater. With heatwaves and wildfires raging it’s hard to forget this, but tackling this issue is vital unless we want to live in a world where extreme weather becomes normal.
Music
One of my favourite pieces of music that’s part of one of the best intros in recent cinema. If you’ve seen the film Drive, you’ll know what I mean.
Book I’m reading - The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer
A change of tack from the previous book, this is written by a well-known comedian in the UK. It’s a funny read so far and takes on the form of a comedic murder mystery. It’s a nice change of pace from non-fiction and one I recommend if you like surreal humour.
Quote I’m pondering: – “Grammar is a piano I play by ear.” - Joan Didion
That’s all for this week.
Until next time,
Tom