The Scots Rock!

How the Scots Invented the Modern World:The True Story
of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It 
by Arthur Herman                My rating: 5 of 5 stars




I am amazed by the things we enjoy or take for granted in our everyday life that can be traced to the direct influence of the Scots. The thread running through this book: Scots did not necessarily originate the idea. However, because of their ability to read and write, work ethic and single-mindedness to prevail in their goals, they took the ideas and developed them into practical applications that have been passed to us in the 21st Century.


I really want to outline the whole book. I want to get a feel for the events that have led us to the World as we know it in 2011. However, I could not wait to recommend this book to you. It takes a while to read. It's well worth the time..time spent to digest it. It may take a second and even third reading to do so.


Some of the historical Scot figures involved are: Thomas Aidenhead, Frances Hutcheson, Lord Kames, George Buchanan, James I, Henry Home, John Millar, Robert and James Adams, Adam Smith, David Hume, Adam Ferguson, Colin MacLaurin, James McHenry, Francis Scott Key, John Paul Jones, Sir Walter Scott, James Watt, John McAdam, Robert Louis Stevenson, David Livingston, Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Ian Fleming/James Bond.


Concepts/Ideas/Products/Philosophies: school system: K-Adv.Degree, liberal arts colleges, literate society, civilized society, political system, human nature, Enclopaedia Britannica, libraries, capitalism, urban planning, civilian militia, Scotch whiskey, Princeton, West Point, Ft. McHenry, Star Spangled Banner, common sense, work ethic, e, historical novel, tartan/insignia/modern day image of the Scots, steam engine, doctors, dentists, delivery of babies, cure for scurvy, macadamized road, Morse code, telephone, Supreme Court, time zones, battleships, railroad/steam engine, cable cars, OSHA, Listerine, gas street lighting, self-help.


Some of the names are obscure to you as is the disbelief in the impact they have had on our modern culture. I challenge you to read and believe.
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Snowed In....

From my door
Winter Snow 2011

I love to be snowed in...  

Down the hill...Winter 2000

We live on a "big" hill and I don't have an "essential" job that requires me to be at work! 








I have no excuses...except, plain procrastination:)  I will tend to "house" things that have been put on the back burner because the weather was too nice to be indoors! ....like working on my Blogs...oops how did that get on the list?  


I am focusing on my New Year's resolutions today:

1. Another item to throw out
I added No. 9 yesterday...eliminated 3 plastic bins of Christmas Decorations...donated two to Goodwill and one to my branch library to decorate the tree next year.

 2. Working on my "20-year" Quilt...
I'll work on this one while we watch a movie this afternoon.  I checked out "Hairspray" from the library last week when I heard the "snow" forecast.


and 
3. Actively Blog on my two other Blogs:
Tips 'n Good Stuff and Eating In and Out and About.


The good news---Chuck is painting the ceiling of a bedroom while I am "playing"!  Hooray for me!

The King's Speech

We went a movie yesterday...
The King's Speech
...not really knowing what to expect.  We thought we might be bored.  We were wrong.  It is a wonderful movie.  

Colin Firth, as Albert/
King George VI

and Geoffrey Rush, as Lionel Logue his speech therapist, gave outstanding performances.  After all, they are on the short list for an Academy Award. 

 I recognized Claire Bloom as Queen Mary, "The King's" mother, did you?

George VI

The movie was not only entertaining, but it was nostalgic for us.  

Wallis Simpson and
the Duke of Windsor

Albert was crowned King George VI in 1936 after his brother, David/Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson. 

The film takes us to 1939, the year we were born, when Britain declared war against Germany.  George VI reigned as King until his death in 1952.  We were thirteen, too young to be interested in what was occurring in  Britain.  



Elizabeth, his oldest daughter, who was a child of ten in the film, succeeded to the throne upon her father's death.  Her coronation was the first to be televised in June, 1953.  




The rest is our living history.  It is now more clear after seeing The King's Speech.


Highly Recommended!!!