John Higgs (1) (1971–)

This is a pretty accessible take on a pretty complex topic. The history of the 20th century is fascinating, and this book brings some very disparate elements together to illustrate some themes that end up being quite pervasive. Perhaps the one word that can be found through all chapters (each of which explores a Big Idea) is Individualism. The rise of the individual is what characterizes most of the developments of the 20th century, what has created the world we live in today (for better or for worse). Parts of this book are dreadfully pessimistic (though sadly realistic) but for the most part it is a celebration of the achievements of humankind. I only hope that in positioning ourselves so, we have not also doomed ourselves for inevitable catastrophe.… (mehr)

This is a delicious book. I gobbled up all of the fascinating parallels made between the Beatles and the James Bond franchise. From the fact that “Love Me Do” and Dr. No were released the same day (05 October 1962), a book was born. I was constantly surprised by new(-to-me) information. For example: Richard Vernon was in both Goldfinger and A Hard Day’s Night, which were released the same year. In Goldfinger he’s a Bank of England exec, part of the respected Establishment. In A Hard Day’s Night he’s just “Man on Train”, someone the Beatles poke fun at. “I fought the war for your sort!” “I bet you’re sorry you won.” And it was through this book that I learned that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had a degree in physics! The Rishikesh chapter puts forward a new angle on why John became disillusioned with the retreat and Maharishi: apparently “Magic Alex” Mardas was also there and the Maharishi didn’t buy his more fanciful scientific theories, and John, who was quite taken with Magic Alex, didn’t like hearing him being criticized. Also, as John himself stated later, John probably expected too much of the Maharishi, that John would have a lifetime’s worth of abandonment and emotional issues healed. There’s a chapter about Christopher Lee, and one about Desmond Llewelyn. The book covers up to 2022, so it does cover No Time to Die and what Paul and Ringo are up to in the very present day (I read this in April 2023). Some of the connections are a bit more tenuous than others—the chapter about Desmond Llewelyn, for example, links Bond and the Beatles by the thread of car crashes, but I suppose it works. The whole story is told with lots of credited quotes, (invisible) endnotes, and a sizeable bibliography. I highly recommend this if you like the Beatles and Bond, but if you’re not a fan of spoilers, I suggest you watch No Time to Die before you read this.… (mehr)