Vashti Bunyan - Train Song
https://youtu.be/0AGD78mWcss

Vashti Bunyan - Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind FULL ALBUM (1964-1967)
https://youtu.be/212jczbgQhg

Vashti Bunyan – Just Another Diamond Day (Full Album) Mega Rare UK Philips Folk LP (1970)
https://youtu.be/2-erNldHdV8
> https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Folk_rock_music … ~

Vashti Bunyan - Train Songhttps://t.co/jyCFjUzXEY

Vashti Bunyan - Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind FULL ALBUM https://t.co/SLUw3yAyax

Vashti Bunyan – Just Another Diamond Day (Full Album) Mega Rare UK Philips Folk LPhttps://t.co/THTNEr7759
> https://t.co/eP9Cui5Cr6 ~
— WorldUnivandSch (@WorldUnivAndSch) December 19, 2018

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1075265431986790400

Hi Jonathan, (and Marianna and Ellen),

Nice to see you last night. Do you know Vashti Bunyan's music from the 1960s / '70s? I enjoy it a lot, mentioned it to Marianna, and am sending it to you and her for your listening enjoyment. Could you possibly please forward this to her, since I don't have her email address. Vashti's music is a kind of plain song, and also folk rock. Vashti also interestingly journeyed with a horse and cart from London to the Isle of Skye beginning in the summer of 1968, which I explore below as well.

Vashti Bunyan - Train Song

https://youtu.be/0AGD78mWcss

Vashti Bunyan - Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind FULL ALBUM

https://youtu.be/212jczbgQhg

Vashti Bunyan – Just Another Diamond Day (Full Album) Mega Rare UK Philips Folk LP

https://youtu.be/2-erNldHdV8

> https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Folk_rock_music ~

Tweet about the above:

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1075265431986790400

https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand/status/1075266036813819904

https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1075265993935446016

And here are some related Tweets - https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1075212792423178241 and https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1075213600934031361 - by liking these songs from Youtube.

"It had been the work of two long years which saw Bunyan and her then-partner, Robert, leave London in a horse-drawn wagon bound for the Isle of Skye, where Donovan was starting a Utopian community, repopulating the abandoned houses of crofters with artists and musicians."
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/sep/18/folk

"MW: What was your connection with Donovan, who founded the community?

VB: My partner Robert Lewis was at art school with another painting student who had grown up with Donovan and was still one of his closest friends (and who incidentally still lives the life on Skye that we were all dreaming of) and so we got to know Donovan through him."

http://www.artcornwall.org/interviews/vashti_bunyan.htm (the rest of this interview is illuminating)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vashti_Bunyan

So there may be an influence of the Hebrides in her work as well (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Another_Diamond_Day). I think it could be fun to journey by foot, bicycle or horse and wagon for a few years in the US as well. (I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in 1980 for 3.5 months and in 1982 for another 1.5 months, while studying at Reed, so such journeys are fascinating). Vashti's traveling in the late 1960s to Skye is also interesting re https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Ethnomusicology and https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Folklore_-_Ethnology. But I find Vashti's interest in community re the 1960s and '70s fascinating (and re Donovan), and which overlaps with my interests in the 1960s and '70s.

But Harbin Hot Springs has its own potential for exploring folk music, and out of the 1960s as well - and newly both actually and virtually.

Check out too - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Hippies - to which people can wiki-add.

Nice to talk with you last night, Marianna, and I hope your foot heals soon.

With best regards,

Scott

P.S.

Am very glad to write that my new book "Winding Road Rainbow" is now available as of yesterday -
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578435187 - and here -
https://amazon.com/author/scottmacleodworlduniversity - and I've just sent one to my mother! It says it should arrive in 4-5 business days, but it also estimates an arrival date of January 4th (for printing possibly). To be seen ...

But great - the World University and School Press has published its 3rd book! :)

Winding Road Rainbow:
Harbin, Wandering & the
Poetry of Loving Bliss
ISBN-10: 0578435187
ISBN-13: 978-0578435183

http://worlduniversityandschool.org/AcademicPress.html

https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2018/12/circumhorizontal-arc-winding-road.html

Seasons' Greetings, Happy Holidays, Merry Xmas, and Happy New Year :)

Warm regards, Scott
- http://scottmacleod.com/
- https://twitter.com/HarbinBook/status/1074783978102480901

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fa/de/90/fade9076a38419ebaeb8cb9ad69f0890.jpg

https://ayearinthecountry.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Vashti-Bunyan-From-Here-To-Before-Kieran-Evans-2008-film-2.jpg

VASHTI BUNYAN: FROM HERE TO BEFORE AND WHISPERING FAIRY STORIES UNTIL THEY ARE REAL: ETHER SIGNPOSTS #16/52A

https://ayearinthecountry.co.uk/vashti-bunyan-from-here-to-before-and-whispering-fairy-stories-until-they-are-real-ether-signposts-1652a/

https://annamcandrew.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/vashti-horse-and-cart-300x215.jpg

* *

Vashti Bunyan Just Another Diamond Day

https://youtu.be/Iejs-y3hMRg

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1075524039777476609

* * *

How do "The Scottish Enlightenment : The Scots' Invention of the Modern World" and "How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western
Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It" by Arthur Herman differ?

They're the same, just released in different countries. In the process of exploring this, I found some edifying encapsulations of its main theses.

Wikipedia:

How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It (or The Scottish Enlightenment: The Scots invention of the Modern World) is a non-fiction book written by American historian Arthur Herman. The book examines the origins of the Scottish Enlightenment and what impact it had on the modern world. Herman focuses principally on individuals, presenting their biographies in the context of their individual fields and also in terms of the theme of Scottish contributions to the world.

The book was published as a hardcover in November 2001 by Crown Publishing Group and as a trade paperback in September 2002. Critics found the thesis to be over-reaching but descriptive of the Scots' disproportionate impact on modernity.

- How_the_Scots_Invented_the_Modern_World

* *

Arthur Herman's

The Scottish Enlightenment : The Scots' Invention of the Modern World
-
https://www.amazon.com/Scottish-Enlightenment-Scots-Invention-Modern/dp/1841152765
-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scottish-Enlightenment-Scots-Invention-Modern/dp/1841152765

How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It

- https://www.amazon.com/How-Scots-Invented-Modern-World/dp/0609809997

This is a fantastic book. The Scottish Enlightenment is greatly overlooked by most historians and professors. This book gives a great look at the Scottish Enlightenment, and its influence on the rest of the world. If you are interested in the Enlightenment, this is a must read. Understanding that Europe looked to Scotland in the late 18th century for what was civilization, you can see that France and England were not the only ones going through an Enlightenment, and they were not the most advanced during that time. Voltaire once said "We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation." It should be noted that it is the exact same book as How the Scots Invented the Modern World, apparently the US title.

Although there are a few chapters in this book dedicated to explaining the ideas of the philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment, the bulk of the book is an examination of how those ideas spread and changed not just Scotland or the UK but, in Herman's view, the Western world. As with Herman's more recent book, The Cave and the Light, this is a hugely readable and enjoyable history - Herman writes in a way that makes his books very accessible to non-academic readers.

Starting in the century or so before the Enlightenment period, Herman explains the various factors that led to the Union of 1707. He shows the stranglehold that the Kirk had on Scottish society, but that out of this grew the idea of man as a free individual - that monarchs were not absolute and that tyrannies could and should be challenged. He gives the Kirk the credit for the idea that education should be for all, making Scotland one of the most literate societies in the world, with an appetite for books other than the Bible. And he explains very clearly the impact of the Darien scheme on both the financial state of Scotland and on its self-confidence as a nation. In Herman's view, the Union was a resoundingly positive development for Scotland, despite its unpopularity amongst ordinary people, since it opened up opportunities and access to the rest of the world via the rapidly developing British Empire, hence revolutionising Scotland both economically and culturally.

In the next couple of chapters, Herman deals in some depth with two of the earliest and most influential figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Hutcheson and Kames, showing how their ideas developed, where they contrasted and overlapped, and the influence that each had on those thinkers who followed them. He highlights Hutcheson as the altruist, the first liberal, who developed the idea of the 'pursuit of happiness' with man as a free individual choosing to work together for the common good. Kames is portrayed more as a hard-nosed realist (cynic?) believing that societies come together primarily to provide protection for their property from external threats. In these chapters, Herman also shows the beginnings of what we would now call the 'social sciences' - the scientific study of human society and social relationships.

The rest of the first section of the book is taken up with a wide-ranging history of eighteenth century Scotland. Herman discusses the reasons behind the Jacobite rebellions, showing that the divide was much more complex than the simplistic picture of Scotland v England, so beloved of nationalists and film-makers alike. He discusses the clan culture of the Highlands in some depth, stripping away much of the romanticism that has built up over it in the intervening years. He shows how Lowland Scotland, what we would now think of as the Central Belt, was much more in tune with its English partners, particularly as the two main cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh began to reap major economic benefits from access to the Empire. Throughout these chapters, he continues to show how Enlightenment thinking was developing via such huge figures as Hume and Smith, and influencing not just Scottish society, but attracting students from the UK and Europe to study at Scottish universities.

The second half of the book is largely devoted to showing how the Scottish Diaspora, forced and voluntary, meant that Scottish ideas were disseminated throughout the Empire, particularly to the white English-speaking Dominions. From educators to scientists and engineers, Herman's position is that Scots were responsible for the birth of what we would now think of as 'modernity'. Being an American, Herman lays particular emphasis on what he sees as the huge contribution Scots and Scottish ideas made to the founding and Constitution of the US, physically, politically and intellectually. He shows how, in his opinion, the inbuilt 'gridlock' of the American political system rose specifically out of Scottish Enlightenment ideas, to provide protection for individuals and communities from the power of an overweening government. He explains the huge influence that Scots had in creating and developing the early American system of education and universities such as Princeton. And, of course, he credits the great Scottish economists with the creation of the capitalist system he so clearly admires.

While I found this a most informative and enjoyable read (who doesn't enjoy having their national ego stroked?), I did feel that at points, particularly in the latter half of the book, Herman was stretching his argument a bit. I would be the last person to belittle the huge contribution of the Scottish Enlightenment philosophers; or of the Scottish engineers, scientists, writers, religious leaders and statesmen who spread the Enlightenment ideas throughout the colonies and dominions of the Empire. But sometimes Herman gives the distinct impression that the Scots are really the only people who have ever done anything - the rest of the world seems to have rather passively sat back and let the Scots get on with it. (And frankly I'm not sure if I want to be held responsible for America!) If a man of another nationality is credited with something, Herman trawls his background to give him a Scottish connection - he studied at a Scottish University or his grandfather came from just over the English border so was nearly Scottish...or his grandmother once ate haggis. (OK, I might have exaggerated that last one a little.)

But with that small reservation aside, I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants a clearer understanding of the history of this period, both as it affected Scotland and the wider world. And, in this year of the Scottish Independence referendum, a useful reminder of the reasons behind the Union and the early economic benefits of it, providing food for thought for either camp as to whether those reasons and benefits are still relevant today.

The errors concerning the Scottish Highlands are too many to enumerate. Anecdotes are related as though they were real history. A female visitor scolds a Highlander for not helping his wife plough the land; he responds he couldn't because he was a gentleman. In Gaelic the word for gentleman and nobleman is the same -- duine uasal. Nobility was dependant on blood, not a feudal title so gentlemen could be quite poor. The anecdote could have been explained to show the differences between Highlands and Lowlands in this period. The story about Big Archie MacPhail who killed a man over a misunderstanding caused by the language barrier is written in a biased manner. I assume it was meant to be humorous.

Drumossie Moor is not in Aberdeenshire; it's in Inverness-shire, to use the historical terms for the regions. The author used 'plaid' instead of 'tartan' to refer to the pattern of cheques. Should a book on Scotland follow Scottish usage? I think so.

'Sorning' is to impose 'oneself on another for bed and board' (Jamieson's Dictionary); Herman spelled it 'scorning' and gave the Lowland explanation. Lowlanders hated the old custom because it enabled chiefs to maintain an army at little cost; the Jacobite rebellions would not have been possible without it. The Gaelic term is 'buannachas', giving free quarters to soldiers instead of paying rent.

This is truly a 'popular' history in the sense that the author hasn't given footnotes and is, therefore, able to say what he likes. He has absorbed the prejudices of the 'Enlightened' men of the Lowlands. An essential book for understanding this author's interpretation of Scottish history is William Ferguson's 'The Identity of the Scottish Nation: An Historic Quest'.

(from the Amazon write-ups above)

--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com

* *

To some degree, it was the Kirk in Scotland in the 1600s, and Scots' education, that were seeds for how Scots invented the modern world, and re democracy.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/78907/how-the-scots-invented-the-modern-world-by-arthur-herman/9780609809990/

https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-609-60635-3

* * * *

Am listening to both Vashti Bunyan's music, and reading "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" with both Harbin Hot Springs' history in mind, as well as growing World University and School.

http://worlduniversityandschool.org
https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Nation_States

Harbin Hot Springs' history label -
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/Harbin%20Hot%20Springs%20history

Castlerigg stone circle, Cumbria: Do you know Vashti Bunyan's music from the 1960s / '70s? https://goo.gl/images/ys2CGX It's kind of Plainsong & folk rock, Arthur Herman's Book "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" @HarbinBook Harbin Hot Springs https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2018/12/castlerigg-stone-circle-cumbria-do-you.html … ~

Castlerigg stone circle, Cumbria: Do you know Vashti Bunyan's music from the 1960s / '70s? https://t.co/t2uiKJTwTC It's kind of Plainsong & folk rock, Arthur Herman's Book "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" @HarbinBook Harbin Hot Springs https://t.co/CNWmu933Gb ~
— WorldUnivandSch (@WorldUnivAndSch) December 19, 2018