Friday, May 26, 2006
More Evidence
School is now three weeks behind me. I'm getting settled into my job. One of the joys of this job is my commute. I ride the train for about an hour or so each day. (And no, I wasn't using "joy" sarcastically.) What's nice about that time on the train is that I get to be productive. I can do work (not likely), sleep or even read. Lately, I've taken to reading. I love to read, but I don't do enough of it. Yesterday I went to the library and picked out a nice page-turner for the next few weeks. What did I get? Why, The First World War: A Complete History, of course. Just more evidence that I'm a dork.
I don't know when this sort of dorkiness came on. I used to hate history. In fact, when I was a freshman in high school, I was so happy that I could take a blow-off class like Our Changing World (I don't even remember what the course was about) instead of World History. (Ironically, if I had taken World History instead, I probably wouldn't be reading this book right now.)
Anyway, for the last couple of years, I've become fascinated by history. I find it so interesting to know why things happen. I knew a lot about World War II. Basically, German got greedy, Hitler went nuts, all kinds of bad things happened. Well, now as I'm reading about WWI, I'm starting to understand more of what influenced WWII.
And the influences of WWI are interesting too. First you've got the Austrian-Hungarian empire, which was ruled by the Hapsburgs. What an interesting family! First, they rule an empire. Then they go on to have the most famous feud in America with the McCoys! I wonder if that started because the McCoys hated Austro-Hungarians. I bet it did. Maybe that'll be the next book I read.
I don't know when this sort of dorkiness came on. I used to hate history. In fact, when I was a freshman in high school, I was so happy that I could take a blow-off class like Our Changing World (I don't even remember what the course was about) instead of World History. (Ironically, if I had taken World History instead, I probably wouldn't be reading this book right now.)
Anyway, for the last couple of years, I've become fascinated by history. I find it so interesting to know why things happen. I knew a lot about World War II. Basically, German got greedy, Hitler went nuts, all kinds of bad things happened. Well, now as I'm reading about WWI, I'm starting to understand more of what influenced WWII.
And the influences of WWI are interesting too. First you've got the Austrian-Hungarian empire, which was ruled by the Hapsburgs. What an interesting family! First, they rule an empire. Then they go on to have the most famous feud in America with the McCoys! I wonder if that started because the McCoys hated Austro-Hungarians. I bet it did. Maybe that'll be the next book I read.
