Fascinating Insights from Iraq
My favourite book buying website - AbeBooks.com - has analysed the book purchasing habits of military and (western) civilian personnel in Iraq since 2004 and it's extremely entertaining.
AbeBooks.com says: "We have selected 50 titles from books purchased by AbeBooks' customers - including US soldiers but also UK military personnel and Western civilian contractors - living on military bases and secure civilian installations around Iraq ...
"Some readers in Iraq are inspired by the desert landscape while others are dipping into American history and politics. Some purchases are deeply personal such as a guide for an expectant father, and books about theology and spirituality - others are practical purchases such as an English-Turkish dictionary. Textbooks constituted the most popular genre ... many readers are studying in their spare time."
Here at stagenoise we were particularly taken by these choices: Writing Poetry by Barbara Drake, The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes by Ralph Bagnold and the English-Ukrainian Practical Dictionary.
In fiction, AbeBooks has dispatched to Iraq: The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, The Collector by John Fowles and The Unwanted by John Saul.
Also ordered: American Foreign Policy by Charles W Kegley Jr, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Let's Play Saxophone by Herb Couf and Orientalism in Aft by Christine Peltre.
Can't help thinking that these books are a cry from the heart or should have been redirected to the Pentagon: Crafting and Executing Strategy by Arthur A Thomspon, Fire Fighting Tactics by Lloyd Layman, Managing Front Office Operations by Michael Kasavana, Fundamentals of Logistics by Douglas M Lambert and Modern Human Relations at Work by Richard Hodgetts.
For the full story go to www.abebooks.com - but be warned: you probably won't escape without putting in an order. Abebooks is the central gathering point for more than 13,000 bookstores worldwide.
