Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battutah (shortened here as IB) was of Berber descent and was born in Tangiers, Morocco in 1304. In 1325 he set out on the haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. His trip would last an incredible 29 years and would cover most of his culture's known world. It would be three times the distance claimed by Marco Polo. Little is known of his final years. He did not keep a travel diary and the account of his journey was dictated from memory to a friend. He died some time in 1368 or 1369 in Morocco.

Writing Set - Ottoman 19th century

Unlike the modern Western tourist, IB often visited important tombs and holy places. In the Muslim world, this tradition continues :

Tomb of Mahmud II (plaque)

Tomb of Mahmud II (Istanbul)

Having studied Classical Arabic at Oxford (the language of the Qur'an) Tim Makintosh-Smith left home and settled in the Yemeni capital of San'a. Living openly as a Christian, he never set foot in a mosque. 

Serendipititiously chancing upon IB's memoir, Makintosh-Smith decided to follow IB's trail across northern Africa, over the Arabian peninsula, down the African coast, up through Istanbul and across Asia to India and China. Unlike Sir Richard Burton, he made no attempt to pass himself off as a Muslim and thus gave Mecca a pass.

Although Constantinople remained Christian and did not fall to the Turks until 1453, Muslims lived in the city and IB was able to visit. Makintosh-Smith paid a visit to the monastic Church of Christ of the Chora (now a museum), built a decade before IB's arrival. Although there is no firm proof of IB's presence, surely knew of it:

Mosaic in the Church of Christ of the Chora.
Note that although the tesserae appear to be of gold,
they are actually of glass-coated gold leaf.

The only church IB is known to have entered is Justinian's Hagia Sophia, its splendour much reduced during the sack of the city in 1204 under Enrico Dandolo's crusaders, but still magnificent. Converted into a mosque under Muslim rule (1453) and turned into a museum by Ataturk, Mackintosh-Smith marvels at the juxtaposition of Islam and Christianity. Where else would one expect to see an image of Mary and the infant Jesus accompanied by giant roundels dedicated to Allah and Mohammad, His prophet?

Hagia Sophia - A Byzantine
Mary and Jesus

Hagia Sophia - Two of the many
Arabic roundels

TIMELINE (some dates approximate and/or disputed)

356 BC   Alexander the Great is born in Pella, heart of an expanding Macedonian kingdom.

323 BC   Alexander, aged 33, dies in Babylon following a banquet.

476   Fall of the Western Roman Empire.

537   The Hagia Sophia basilica is built by Justinian I, emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire.

610   Beginning of the Qur'an through the revelations received by Muhammad, then aged 40.

632   Death of Muhammad (founder of Islam).

c 697   Establishment of the Venetian Republic.

711 - 718   The Moors conquer Christian Spain.

c 910   Development of paper money in China.

c 1000   Leif Ericsson visits three (location disputed) sites in North America, one of which he names Vinland.

1204   Sack of Constantinople by crusaders under the command of Venetian doge  Enrico Dandolo.

1206   Temujin unites the Mongol tribes and takes the name Genghis Khan.

1215   King John of England fixes his seal to the Great Charter, or Magna Carta, in a meadow called Runnymede.

1260   Election of Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, as Great Khan of the Mongols.

1271   Marco Polo and his two uncles depart for China.

1298   Marco Polo, now in a Genoan prison, is convinced by a fellow prisoner to narrate his adventures.

c 1300   Flying buttresses begin to appear on the exterior of Gothic cathedrals.

c 1300   Bankers in northern Italy develop double-entry bookkeeping.

1304   IB is born in Tangiers to parents of Berber descent.

1306   Robert de Bruce is crowned king of the Scots at Scone.

1307   Edward II becomes king of England on the death of his father, Edward I.

c 1307   Dante, exiled from Florence, begins work on The Divine Comedy,  completing it 14 years later, just before his death.

1309   The papacy moves temporarily to Avignon for an unexpected seventy-year stay.

c 1320   Florence, now an international financial centre, sees the Bardi and Peruzzi families becoming bankers to the rulers of Europe.

1325   IB sets out on his haj to Mecca.

1326   IB arrives in Egyptian Alexandria (part of the Bahri Mamluk empire).

1327   French-born Isabella forces her husband Edward II to renounce the English throne in favour of their 15-year-old son, Edward III.

1331   IB visits Mogadishu (Somalia's modern capital), then at its zenith, under the rule of Somali Sultan, Abu Bakr ibn Sayx 'Umar.

1332 or 1334   IB arives in Constantinople, meeting emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos and visiting the Hagia Sophia.

1334   IB begins an 8-year stint in India.

c 1336   Establishment of a Hindu empire in southern India with its capital at Vijayanagara ("City of Victory").

1337   Philip VI of France confiscates Guienne setting off the Hundred Years' War.

1345   IB arrives in Quanzhou in the Fujian province of China, then under Mongol rule.

c 1345   The Aztecs settle in a lake on an uninhabited island, naming it Tenochtitlan (now covered by Mexico City).

1346   The plague (aka the Black Death) makes its first appearance in China.

1346   The English, using Welsh longbows and infantry, defeats the more numerous but heavily encumbered (by crossbows and heavy cavalry) French forces at Crécy.

c 1349   Boccaccio begins his Decameron, describing the Black Death, now making its way through Europe, in vivid detail.

1354   IB settles in Fez to dictate his memoir A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling to a scholar whom he had met in Granada, Ibn Juzayy.

1356   The battle of Poitiers ends with the capture of the French king, Jean II.

1368   Chu Yüan-chang ushers in the Ming ("brilliant") dynasty by driving the Mongols from Beijing.

1368 or 1369   Death of IB in Morocco.

1377   Following the death of his grandfather, Edward III, 10-year-old Richard II accedes to the English throne.

c 1387   Chaucer begins the Canterbury Tales, completing only 24 of the planned 100 by the time of his death.

1405   Chinese admiral Zheng He begins the first of seven expeditions west.

1415   Henry V succeeds at Agincourt against a much larger but more heavily armed French force.


1453   Constantinople falls to falls to a 21-year-old Ottoman Turk conqueror, Mehmed II, bringing an end to the Eastern Roman Empire.

1469   Machiavelli, author of The Prince, is born in the Florentine Republic.

1492   The fall of the last Islamic state in Grenada to Fredinand and Isabella (parents of Henry VIII's first wife) ends the Reconquista, the 781-year reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, freeing up funds for Christopher Columbus to set sail.

1497   John Cabot reaches Newfoundland on his search for a trade route to China.

1501   Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci sets sail for the New World from Lisbon.

1600   The East India Company is established by Elizabeth I's charter to a "Company of Merchants trading into the East Indies".

1797   Napoleon deposes the last of Venice's doges, putting an end to the  Serenissima Repubblica, owner of forts and trade-routes throughout the Mediterranean.


SUGGESTED READING, LISTENING AND VIEWING

1) Author Tim Mackintosh-Smith website

(a) Travels with a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah

This volume covers IB's departure from his home in Tangiers and ends with his arrival in Christian Constantinople. Hardcover published 2001.

(b) The Hall of a Thousand Columns: Hindustan to Malabar with Ibn Battutah

This volume covers IB's Indian adventures and was published in March 2005 (paperback 2006).

c) Landfalls: On the Edge of Islam with Ibn Battutah


This volume covers the Travels from Zanzibar to the Alhambra, via China and Timbuktu. The hardcover was published in August 2010.

2) French translation of IB's diary:

Traduction de l’arabe de C. Defremery et B.R. Sanguinetti (1858)

Un document produit en version numérique par Jean-Marc Simonet, bénévole, professeur retraité de l’enseignement de l’Université de Paris XI-Orsay


a) Volume 1 (De l’Afrique du Nord à La Mecque)

b) Volume 2 (De La Mecque aux steppes russes)

c) Volume 3 (Inde, Extrême-Orient, Espagne & Soudan)


3) The Travels of Ibn Battuta: Translated with Revisions and notes from the Arabic text edited by C Defremery and B R Sanguinetti by H A R Gibb and published by the  Hakluyt Society in 5 volumes, the last being an index.

"Founded in 1846, the Hakluyt Society seeks to advance knowledge and education by the publication of scholarly editions of primary records of voyages, travels and other geographical material."


4) BBC Radio show In Our Time episodes covering discussions about the Muslim world around the time of IB. Each episode's web page also includes a short bibliography:


a) Ibn Khaldun. The life and ideas of the 14th-century Arab philosopher.

b) The Abbasid Caliphs. A dynasty that ruled a Muslim empire extending from Tunisia through Egypt, Syria, Arabia, and Persia to Uzbekistan and the frontiers of India from the mid-eighth to the tenth century.

c) Al-Kindi. An Arab philosopher born in the early ninth century. He was heavily influenced by Classical philosophy, supervizing the translation of works by Greeks such as Aristotle into Arabic. He himself wrote more than 250 works on subjects ranging from optics to mathematics, music and astrology.


5) One Man's Odyssey — Heather Jones, 2011. A TIME magazine interactive map comparing the journey of Ibn Battutah with the Chinese admiral Zheng He (his seven voyages west including the Middle East and Africa between 1405 and 1433) and Venetian Marco Polo 24-year trip to China (began 1271).


6) Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World by Nicholas Ostler (2006). A discussion as to how and why languages rise and fall. Includes the story of how Arabic spread and provides the information as to the perils and pitfall's  Mackintosh-Smith faced in communicating with the locals in his quest to follow in IB's footsteps.

7) The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay (2005). A fantasy novel set in a fictional medieval Moorish Spain. A good introduction to the best of the lives of Christians, Jews, and Muslims  under Islamic rule. For those who enjoy historical fiction with a twist.

8) The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain by Maria Rosa Menocal (2003). A popular well researched history of Spain under Muslim rule explaining how it came to be and why it fell apart.

9) Alexander the Great by Paul Cartledge (2003). The maps make it interesting for a quick comparison of the extent of Alexander's empire to IB's world.

10) Liberty in the Age of Terror: A Defence of Civil Liberties and Enlightenment Values by A C Grayling (2000). A discussion by a popular philosopher regarding Islam (militant and mainstream) and the West as well as for comparing the post-Enlightenment in the West to IB's Muslim world.

11) Journey to Mecca - Story of a traveller Ibn Batutta. Interesting video found on YouTube.


12) Wikipedia articles:

(a) Ibn Battuta. A detailed account of IB's travels, including those places unvisited by Makintosh-Smith with links to articles on many of these. Includes maps and itineraries.

Caravan of pilgrims in Ramleh

b) History of Islam. Note that Ibn Battuta lived during the so-called Decentralization period (900s to the early 1500s).

The Fragmenting Caliphate in late Abassid Era (750-1258)

c)  Muhammad (the Islamic prophet). The life and legacy of the founder of Islam.

Prophet Muhammed's name with Salat phrase written in Thuluth, an Arabic Calligraphy

d)  Islamic Golden Age. From the mid-8th century Abbasid historical period to the Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258.

Silver dirham of the Umayyad Caliphate, minted at Balkh al-Baida in 729-30

e) Reconquista. The Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors.

Maps representing the advance of the Christian Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula from 790 to 1300

f) Al-Andalus. The medieval Muslim ("Moorish") state at its peak consisting of what are now most of today's Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and section of southern France.

Image of a Jewish cantor reading the Passover story in al-Andalus, from a 14th century Spanish Haggadah.

Boston Zombies

We're undergoing an onslought of the undead these days -- zombies, vampires, werewolves, and their ilk. According to author Daniel W Drezner, it's just one more crime to shovel onto those responsible for 7/7 and 9/11. 

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I was in the Boston area the other day and picked up Theories of International Politics and Zombies on display at the Harvard Coop. It's a tongue-in-cheek, but serious, mash-up textbook published by Princeton University Press. This small tome's also an excellent way to brush up on your political theory while ruminating over  zombie culture.

Theories tackles the authorities' reactions to infection across the political spectrum -- from Western democracies to police states. Its author predicts American neocons to lobby for an attack on their old standby, Iraq as well as setbacks caused by civil rights groups demanding protection for their formerly human compatriots.

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The book also provides a humorous  review of  the popular zombie literature and movies. Not unsurprisingly, not all zombies were created equal. In early appearances, the undead, such as those in Night of the Living Dead (1968, B&W; 1990, colour), were portrayed as dumb as doorknobs and deathly slow. But by the time they hit London in 28 Days Later (2002), they're faster, and much angrier. And, at least some of the American afflicted in Zombieland (2009) have acquired the ability to open doors -- potentially a big improvement over the old smash-and-grab standby.

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Infection rates have always been close to a standard 100%, although incubation times vary from a few seconds (eg, 28 Days Later [2002]) to several hours (eg, Night of the Living Dead [1968, B&W; 1990, colour]). Human responses to the ghouls are expected to vary, based on factors such as motivation and nationality. For example, the zombification of a former loved one my be hidden or denied. And Americans are generally more vociferous upon discovery of an infestation that the British, who tend not to want to cause a bother. However, whatever their nationality, when push comes to bite, ordinary humans, such as Shawn in Shawn of the Dead (2004) and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, generally manage to take charge and organize a resistance against the zombie menace.

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One theme that remains unchanged throughout the zombie literature is organizational incompetence. Especially in government organizations. Most are incapable of thinking outside the box, or even acknowledging that they face an situation requiring a non-standard response. For example, in World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, when a general is stricken and a soldier takes the initiative of killing this new zombie, he is killed before he can carry out the task. 

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Perhaps the worst behaviour is saved for those to whom government tasks are outsourced. In Resident Evil, while the army quickly loses contol of a new outbreak, despite draconian control measures, the infection is spread, even though the Umbrella Corporation has a cure available.

Why not check Theories of International Politics and Zombies out? It may spur you into reading Max Brooks' World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, whose film version is expected to be released next year. Or you may want to take in a few movies, some of Romero's Dead franchise, or one of the two 28s. 

Books mentioned:

• Theories of International Politics and Zombies
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Tripped Advisor

For years, people have been relying on Trip Advisor's unbiased travel reviews to plan their business trips and holidays. Recently, the culmination of a number of experiences has made me question Trip Advisor's fitness as a travel advisor.

rottentomatoes

According to Wikipedia, Microsoft (aka the Evil Empire) set up Expedia, Inc in 1996, selling it three years later to Ticketmaster, who spun it off in 2005. Trip Advisor (TA) was founded in 2000, and became connected with Expedia, Inc (EX) in 2004. Yet as subsidiaries of EX, TripAdvisor Media Group would appear to have certain vested interests in the travel industry. After all, how many other companies have caved in to advertiser displeasure?

If you've watched The Corporation (2003)¹, you know what I'm getting at. It's not a good idea to bite the hand that feeds you. Consider the fact that web sites such as TA and Ancestry encourage you to work for no remuneration. Then they use your work for gain. Something to keep in mind when next partaking of their "free" services.

* * *

Any ideals I had regarding EX died after a stay at Chicago's Club Quarters. Still rated three stars on EX, my room had a shower and one skylight, but no tub or windows. I stayed just over a week and was awakened almost nightly by a cacophony of clanging. Not once, but throughout the night. The bed was comfortable, but who cares when you don't sleep? We were there during a huge conference, so the room was far from cheap. The last night we were finally offered a discount, which disappeared by morning.

Cute, but not me.

Courtesy Sandos (from Wikipedia)

At home, I telephoned EX to find out what constituted 3-star accommodation in a big US city. It took a great deal of probing, but the answer was enlightening. The owner says so. Incredibly, EX had no verification procedure. Apparently, EX prefers to rely upon travellers like us to keep its hotels honest. I spent a long time on the telephone and spoke to several people. My reward? A $50 credit. I didn't use it.

Other people are welcome to act as guinea pigs. It's been years since I booked any travel on EX. It's great for comparison shopping, though. If you can't find the same place cheaper elsewhere, try harder².

* * *

But Trip Advisor has good and bad reviews, right? And there are procedures to weed out bogus and malicious posts. So what's the problem?

I've been travelling without my parents for more than 40 years. Over a number of years, I've tried to post two reviews about accommodations that have taken the cake for exceptionally bad service. The first was a place right on the beach, newly renovated. It had great reviews before the construction and had reopened with some enticing offers. What they failed to mention was that the poolside bar/restaurant had a calliopean live band. The stage had more speakers facing outward than into the bar/restaurant. Seven floors up, I tried everything to drown out the noise. Days later, they offered a new room close to a noisy construction site. 

Former construction site
(T Thurston, from Wikipedia)

Finally, we were moved to a room on the other side of the hotel. The balcony doors were enough to close out the sound. All of this took days. I only found one decent employee in the whole place, a bell boy. When I asked if there were anywhere, in the entire hotel, where I could sit down and read in peace, he suggested I try the lobby of the hotel next door. He reiterated that there was nothing at the place I was staying. 


With hotel speakers also braying towards the Pacific, there would be no peace at the beach, either. And if only the noise had been the sole problem. I've never been so happy to leave a so-called vacation spot in my life!

Thinking Trip Advisor (TA) would be a good place to warn people, I posted a review on the site. I spent hours editing out most of my anger. The result? Rage.

* * *

Bad trip: Sole subject of my beach
photos. Now doubling as TA avatar!

Now I'm back from being ripped off in Florida and my negative review on TA has been pulled. "Pending" it says. I had laboured to keep it factual, but I know some anger remained. First, I received a automated message asking me to confirm that I was referring to the right location. Reasonable, I thought, given that the other reviews were favourable. But then they tended not to be about my room, the one with the biggest problem. 

I know this for a fact, because I spent hours in the second "condo" and spoke to inmates of the other two. When my review didn't reappear after a couple of days, I sent an inquiry. The 48-hour promised response deadline passed, so I sent two more. Only the hiss of silence.

Perhaps my mistake was having posted a question on TA's Siesta Key forum: Was the quiet place I expected really a party town? Big mistake. Now, I'm accused of tarring the whole island with the same brush (when?). I've been told I should have researched the location (it came highly recommended from a trusted source and TA loves it). I'm apparently so stupid, I booked a room over a bar (yeah, it would have been, had I done so). Others have stated they've been there so my description must be untrue (funny, I thought I was alone in the Siesta Pit). 

On the basis of two other less than stellar reviews, I've been summed up as incapable of being happy anywhere. Well, that should have been easy to fix. I posted some very good ones, excellent too³. Does that count as rehabilitation?

* * *

Apart from the vitriol, it's the disconnection between what I have written and the accusations pitched at me. Talk about off topic. do commenters actually read what I have to say before launching into the attack, or are they simply reading-comprehension challenged?

Not to be confused
 with Boethius
(amazon.com)

Of course, these splenitive characters have their own agendas and what they write has more to say about them than it does about me. If Humptydumptism is their thing, fine. I've even worked with people who insisted that every discussion end in consensus. 

Unfortunately, I've seen the result of mental and physical abuse and I know that not speaking up is often interpreted as acquiescence⁴. One thing I've learnt is that when you stand up for yourself, the more the other person is in the wrong, the harder they argue that everything is your fault⁵.

Philosopher Alain de Botton suggests in his The Consolations of Philosaphy, that Socrates has an answer to unwarranted criticism. The people refuting my statements haven't put on my shoes, let alone walked in them. What do they know of my experiences? The more a person knows about a subject, the more valid their criticism. Hence, worthless. Completely ignorable.

Does Trip Advisor speak with a forked tongue? Caveat emptor indeed. Ta ta, TA.

* * *

Notes

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¹ Should you enjoy demonizing the corporate world, you may love Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work. Written by experts on psychopathic behaviour, you'll learn how to protect yourself and discover why these reptiles are so successful in gaining employment. Note that you don't obtain the skills necessary to identify these monsters. However, you may be convinced that they view normal humans as prey, and be assured they are rarely long-term employees.

I found this tome absolutely fascinating. But I'm a people-watcher. I've also worked with some pretty miserable characters, none of whom had the requisite cocktail of evil traits. Lucky me.

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If you're into bad behaviour, you may find Lawyers Gone Bad a lively read. Written by legal insider, Philip Slayton, is a veritable feast. The non-fiction version of the ever-popular lawyer joke. 

Payback. These are the people who characterized members of my profession as "Sons of Satan" and "International Buccaneers".

A long time ago, when I was following post-graduate studies at McGill University, one of my instructors told us of a US study comparing various occupations with public perceptions of trustworthiness. As expected, car salespeople were scraping the bottom of the barrel among the pond scum. I forget whether lawyers ranked just above or just below. The real kicker was that the lawyers were said to be happy with this. 

Here's the equation:

Low rating = Fear = Respect + Success 

Apparently, we understood, legal clients, adversaries and juries could be counted upon to act according to a lawyer's best interests. No wonder Dick the Butcher suggested killing all of them.

² It's always a good idea to check the accommodation's own web site. Even mentioning where you've found a lower rate elsewhere may get you a reduction. The bonus is that you generally pay at the end of your stay, while EX's same or higher rate will likely be a "special deal" requiring payment up front.

I wouldn't bother with Travelocity's gnomes either. Orbitz always disappoints too. And be careful of Priceline's European subsidiaries, I had the price on a London hotel increased after I booked. After many communications by email and telephone the booking agent's approach was tough, you've been upgraded to a more expensive room.

I'm not living in the US, so I have not been able to sample Priceline or Hotwire. To me, their advertising screams caveat emptor.

³ One of those five reviews. Hopefully all removed at my request. Let someone else write free review to earn money for Expedia and its ilk:

"Bibliophile Heaven

5 Stars

I discovered this gem a few years ago and now I don't feel my visit to NYC is complete without stopping by.

See it for the art, the architecture, the books and manuscripts, the films, and the shop. My only complaints are that the place is too small (I'm greedy) and that it doesn't have ridiculously long hours (selfish, I know).

Some temporary exhibitions I've really enjoyed have been Demons and Devotion: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves and A Woman's Wit: Jane Austen's Life and Legacy. The colours and attention to detail of the illuminations were incredible. It was marvellous to see the film and hear comments from people who had been given access to Jane Austen's letters and then to be able to view the letters. I only wish there had been fewer visitors, so I could have spent more time reading them!

Visited January 2011"

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⁴ The Oscar-winning, In a Better World (2010), is a wonderful exploration of methods of responding to bullying, from the school yard to the theatre of war. The various characters take different stands, learning the consequences of their actions and the difference between theory and practice. 

No concrete answers, but plenty to think about. In English and subtitled Danish. Recommended.

⁵ Here's a sample.

My attempt at a neutral defence after being told the "truth" about the location. Please note that the hyperlink addresses have been replaced with hyperlinked descriptions:

"Proof:

See map with Siesta property (2) on Avenida Navarra, smack in the heart of the village and one block from the beach: map

See map with Oyster Bar described as restaurant. As the Siesta property's manager [Eileen Town] said, no bars [close by]: map

See videos of quiet Siesta property, taken in and beside room:

(1) Outside noise from inside the Pit

(2) Immediately outside the Pit's door walking towards the side and the  in the direction of Avenida Navarra

(3) Walking past the Pit's door with additional noise provided by Oyster Bar speakers"

Response from a Florida "expert". Note that each of the several nasty posts by this UK "writer" was blessed with errors galore:

"Save your proof for your complant [sic] to the Better Business Bureau. I already looked it up via Google maps and there are planty [sic] of places between Pearl and the Beach [I had described the Pit as being a block from the beach, which it is].

As I said, I think you have a claim on the Noise and the Wifi [sic] Front. Arguing here isn't going to help you get your money back, so put all your energies into that.

The rest of us Know [sic] the SK  [sic] has the best beach int he [sic] USA, and plenty of nice quiet places to stay outside of the village area. So sorry you didn't book one, you would have had a great time [maybe].

At least you didn't book yourself into "quiet' [sic] Miami Beach which recently had the Urban festival and the crowds and bab [sic] beahviour was rampant and made the national news. I imagine then you would have heard a real noisy party town [no comment on the grammar, sorry]."

Nobody's perfect, but give me a break. What can I say, I sent her a private message stating that spelling and factual errors detract from one's response. Then I blocked communications. Didt wont Mor ab-yuss.

* * *

Books mentioned

• The Consolations of Philosaphy
• Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work
• Lawyers Gone Bad