Category Archives: Books

“Parallels in Autocratic Leadership” with Wolfgang Mack, Author

Subtitled: “Where is America Heading?” The book is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.

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Bill Gates: 5 books I loved in 2018

Ed Note: Gates’ first selection. Educated, is the February book at Skyline for 2019. Hope you all get a chance to read this fascinating memoir. Bill Gates: “My list is pretty eclectic this year. From a how-to guide about meditation … Continue reading

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Skyline Book Club for 2019

We hope you are interested in book discussions. Please check out the books selected for 2019 in the header of this blog above marked “Book Club.” Come join the monthly gatherings in the Sky Club Lounge if interested.

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E Pluribus Unum – a warning about the rise of fascism

             A warning. Where is America heading? I met Dr. Wolfgang Mack briefly in the Skyline dining room last evening and was given a copy of his most recent book. He had the traumatic experience … Continue reading

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Lance Rhoades – film historian

Last evening we were treated to an incredible talk about Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein which she wrote at age 19 – and how Frankenstein has become part of our culture. Actually the monster has no name. Frankenstein was the doctor … Continue reading

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Food, culture and the Library of Congress – October 4th

Constance Carter, the Head of the Science Reference Section at the Library of Congress will be speaking here this Thursday October 4th. We hope she discusses the Library’s food collection. In the Julia Child’s video above, the Library’s collection shows … Continue reading

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Capitol Hill’s Hugo House gets an extreme makeover and an historic designation

From Crosscut: Washington state welcomed its first official Literary Landmark last week — a surprising statistic given Seattle’s reputation as a bookstore-loving, writer-nurturing, library-card-holding, even poetry-slam-attending city. The designation comes from national group United for Libraries, which over the last 30 years has … Continue reading

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4th Annual Book Give-away Sunday the 30th from 11 AM to 2:30 PM

From Betsy Hanson Our 4th Annual Book Give-away will be on Sunday, Sept. 30 from 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM in the Bistro. Residents, staff and guests are welcome to make selections at that time.  However, this is YOUR sale, … Continue reading

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Factfullness: Ten reasons we’re wrong about the world – and why things are better than you think

Ed note: Hans Rosling has written a fascinating book that Bill Gates called the most important book he’s ever read. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World–and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. Rosling explains how and why our thinking … Continue reading

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Choosing your reading

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Understanding American for the Non-American Black: American Tribalism

At the Skyline book club last night, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was discussed. How does a non-American black begin to understand our tribal system in the USA? (By the way, if you like to read and discuss the books, please … Continue reading

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What’s on your “must read” list

Ed Note: Donald Hall, a former poet laureate of the United States who found a universe of meaning in the apples, ox carts and ordinary folk of his beloved rural New England, died on June 24th of this year. I’ve not yet read … Continue reading

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Fascism a Warning – by Madeleine Albright

Ed note; We must remember Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin and Milosevic in order to understand democracy and how it can be eroded. This book was given to me – one that I didn’t know about. It’s one though that I think … Continue reading

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“What Cancer Can Do” by Michael Shirk

Michael Shirk died at age 60 from prostate cancer. The poetry he wrote during his battle with cancer was published by Make a Wish Foundation. His mother, Ardis, shared the book with me after the poem called “What Cancer Cannot Do” … Continue reading

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“Hit Refresh”

Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, is not only a peak at the future of technology, but also is a remarkably insightful road-map of how to invent our future. Hit refresh is something we do to renew a page … Continue reading

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Margaret Fuller and the seaside spiritual experience

Photo from the beach in Coronado, California Editor’s Note: I didn’t realize until recently what an interesting and progressive woman Margaret Fuller was. Very much a part of the Transcendentalist movement I found her thoughts very profound. Here is a … Continue reading

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Resident’s annual book give-away (and take-away) October 1st

Our 3rd Annual Book Give-away will be on October 1 From Betsy Hanson: This means you need to start right now to screen your book shelves for all your surplus books and DVDs.  We will start collecting them on Sept. … Continue reading

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Partisan differences in the consumption of science books

Clipped from Nature: Taking advantage of [Amazon and Barnes/Noble] ‘customers who bought this item also bought’ feature of online commerce, the researchers constructed a co-purchase network of political books and science books. And they found a clear division, which they … Continue reading

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Human Evolution Lectures 2016-2017 (Calvin)

After each stand-up lecture, I am producing a scripted youtube version. Here are the ones so far, in order. They are video files, so you can pause and back up easily, should you want to think about something for a … Continue reading

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The best Northwest nonfiction of 2016

Knute Berger from Crosscut compiled an interesting list of Northwest non-fiction from this year. Have you read “The Egg and I” or “The Plague and I” by Betty MacDonald? Well local author Paula Becker has written a long deserved biography about … Continue reading

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What books do Skyliners recommend?

To see a monthly schedule for the 2017 Skyline book club and/or to just see what folks also recommend as a favorite book – click on the “book club” page above, then just click on the list you’d like to … Continue reading

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Bill Gates’ summer books of 2016

Click here to read more.

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