Passion For Speed

Twenty-four classic cars that shaped a century of motor sport
Nick Mason & Mark Hales
2010

A multi-millionaire plays with his toys

I thought that Passion For Speed would just be a glossy coffee table book with pretty pictures of Nick Mason's many fabulous cars. And it is - but it's more too. In fact, it's a lot more than that: essentially a detailed track test of each car, arranged in chronological order from a 1901 Panhard B1 to a 2003 Ferrari Enzo.

It could have been rather dull or even just an excuse to get Pink Floyd and/or car enthusiasts to part with their money. However, it's clear Nick Mason is a huge car nut and wants to actually tell us about the cars in detail, and thankfully the book is really interesting. Nick provides an short piece on each car, describing why he bought it and what he's done with it. Mark Hales provides a much longer insight into what each car is like to drive; how it grips, how it steers, its quirks and foibles. Since the cars are discussed in chronological order, you get a real sense of how the technology developed - from the initial, primitive designs (the Panhard, a Bugatti Type 35), through the pinnacle of pre-aerodynamic, pre-big rubber (the classic Ferrari 250 GTO) and up to recent hyper cars like the McLaren F1 GTR.

In between there's a real range, including an astonishing BRM from 1953 which has a power to weight ratio (and resultant acceleration) unmatched until twenty years later, and only then in Formula 1 cars; the iconic Maserati 250F (the "perfect" front-engined F1 machine); a bunch of racing and road Ferraris, and even a early 80s Tyrrell F1 car. My personal favourite is the legendary Porsche 962, a thoroughbred bruiser of a racing car and utterly invincible for decades.

Nick Mason seems to buys cars like the rest of buy clothes - in fact, I'm pretty sure he has more cars than I have socks. It's an admirable collection (the cars, not the socks) which serves to emphasise how incredibly successful Pink Floyd were - although he still manages to get a (good-natured) gripe in about how drummers are lower down the pecking order than singers and guitarists - he had to wait until after Eric Clapton and Jay Kay for his Ferrari Enzo, the poor lamb. But for allowing his cars to be actually run and raced, he deserves full marks.

I Don't Mean To Be Rude, But ...

Simon Cowell
2004

Part memoir, part extended self-justification, part manual ... all ego

For every successful singer, there are hundreds who didn't make it. This applies in all fields, of course. It's tempting to look at the winners and conclude that whatever characteristics they possess are the reason for their success; tempting, but largely wrong. Just because Simon Cowell, who just happens to be very blunt ("rude", "honest", "tactless" - all euphemisms for the same thing), has done well, doesn't mean this is necessarily the reason for his success.

Since, like most successful people, he is unwilling to give enough credit to luck, Cowell has decided that it is this feature that has contributed most to his success. But, to gather from the amount of time he spends justifying his behaviour, he's still not really comfortable with it. When he's not doing this, he's patting himself on the back for having such wonderful insight into the public's taste.

What's interesting to note is what isn't present in the book: much evidence of a love of music. There are occasional glimpses (he's a big fan of disco), but when he does discuss what he considers to be good music, it's mostly in the context of how successful it was or what it achieved for the singer's career.

Biggest unintentional comedy moment: given a list of ten then-current celebrity relationships, Cowell (having just controversially declared that some celeb affairs are only done for the publicity - gasp!) decides whether they are merely PR fodder or "true love". Those in "true love", according to the oracle, include Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, and Madonna and Guy Ritchie. Only one of the couples, the Beckhams, are still together. Beyonce and Jaz-Z are described as "dubious". Still, one out of ten is probably a reasonable hit rate in the pop world.

I picked this up for free and despite having only seen the briefest of glimpses of Pop Idol or other schlock, I found it interesting, as a pop fan, to read about the behind-the-scenes machinations. The book itself is well-written and well-tailored to its likely audience. As such, I doubt that it was actually written by Cowell himself, but no-one else is listed. Still, a quick and interesting read.

Reading - March 2014

God Explained In A Taxi Ride by Paul Arden (2007)

Where the greatest minds of history have failed, a former advertising executive unsurprisingly also fails.

The Week (22 February 2014 / Issue 959)

The Week (1 March 2014 / Issue 960)

Guitarist (April 2014 / Issue 379)

Crosstown Traffic by Charles Shaar Murray (1989)

I'm not a big fan of biographies, but although this has some of Jimi Hendrix's life history, it's primarily a cultural analysis of his influences and influence on rock music. Inspired and interesting enough to forgive the occasional lapses into NME style inky-speak (which, to be fair, Shaar Murray did help create). Full of wonderful little insights and easily fulfilling the basic requirement of any book about music: it made me want to go and listen to Hendrix's albums again.

Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre (2009)

Darker and with a higher body count (particularly of the good guys) that usual. Big target: organised religion and what it will do to protect its own hegemony. Compelling as ever, some nicely drawn characters, as ever, but a little less satisfying that some of his other books.

Running For Peak Performance by Frank Shorter (2005)

Concise but informative book about running. Contains some useful information about training that isn't running (weight training and so on), but generally no new info over other books I have read.

The Week (8 March 2014 / Issue 961)

The Week (15 March 2014 / Issue 962)

The Week (22 March 2014 / Issue 963)

The Making Of Pride And Prejudice by Sue Birtwhistle & Susie Conklin (1995)

This isn't just an enjoyable behind-the-scenes look at the classic 1995 BBC costume drama, but an insightful, er, insight into just what it takes to make such things. The first thing that strikes me is just how many people are involved - something that should be obvious to anyone who spends more than ten seconds considering the matter, but nevertheless easy to forget. The second is the sheer scale of effort involved in making it. Some poor soul has to note every single action and prop for continuity purposes. Now that's a job for someone with an eye for detail.

Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella (2005)

Sophie Kinsella's more famous "Shopaholic" series fails to strike a chord with me but this is a very funny romcom. It's firmly in the Bridget Jones vein of hapless woman caught in misunderstandings and mishaps partly of her own making, but all working out for the best in the end, and I could easily see it being made into a film. I enjoyed it very much.

The Week (29 March 2014 / Issue 964)

Make Room For Daddy by Andrea Edwards (1990)

The title Make Room For Daddy is one of the worst I know of, but that aside, this is one of my favourite romance novels, a sweet, gentle story set in Chicago about a baker and the man who moves in next door.

God Explained In A Taxi Ride

Paul Arden
2007

Where the greatest minds of history have failed, a former advertising executive unsurprisingly also fails.

Uh huh.

I don't want to sound judgemental, but this is a book only someone in marketing or advertising could have written.

First of all, there's the conceit and arrogance. History's greatest philosophers have spent years thinking about God and millions of words attempting to understand and explain the idea. But Paul Arden can do it in about one hundred pages? That seems unlikely. I'll accept that the title is both tongue-in-cheek and an eye catcher, but I still think he secretly means it.

Secondly, there's the simplistic, childish approach and layout. In advertising, there's value in presenting your ideas in short, punchy pages, because you're presenting simple ideas: buy this, think that. In philosophy, you're not trying to sell anything, and any attempt to reduce complex ideas to the level of an advert is bound to miss the point.

I find it difficult to understand why this book was published, other than the obvious and reductive reason that people might pay money for it. It's a collection of vague, random thoughts on God and religion, with no obvious organisation or direction. Here's a page that suggests building a mosque at ground zero; there's one with St. Anselm's proof of God's existence (with the footnote that the proof might require "another taxi ride to think about!", when in fact it could be countered by a child, or in a two panel comic). Each brief thought is given its own two page spread. The only insightful comment is marketing related, which speculates that Scientologists are perhaps more committed because they have invested more.

Finally, Arden gets to his point. Something caused our universe to come into existence, call it "creation" or "evolution" or "chance"; these are just names, as is "God". So why not call it "God"? But giving something a name doesn't explain anything - whereas actually, those other names do at least embody an attempt at explanation (and real explanations are complex).

This is a simple book for simple minds. It's tempting to say that it's by a simple mind. Paul Arden appears to have been a successful advertising executive, but judging by this and what I have seen of his other books, his skill is in stating the obvious in simple, attractive ways. There's no depth here - and, ultimately, no explanation.

Reading - May 2013

Chocolate Shoes And Wedding Blues by Trisha Ashley (2012)

Clunky but enjoyable romcom. Junk food for the mind.

The Week (27 April 2013 / Issue 917)

Q: The 100 Best Record Covers Of All Time edited by Andrew Harrison (2001)

This is more of a special edition of a magazine than a book. It features some ... unusual choices (for example, Elvis's Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite might be the epitome of kitsch but it's still a thrown-together mess). The book is 12" square though, so the reproductions of the covers are full size. Which is nice.

The Week (4 May 2013 / Issue 918)

Under The Duvet by Marian Keyes (2002)

I picked this up hoping it would be an insight into how she approaches writing (in the vein of Stephen King's superb On Writing), which the blurb implied. There's about a page of this; the rest is throwaway newspaper magazine articles. Dispensable and disposable.

Guitarist (June 2013 / Issue 368)

Walking On Water: The West Pier Story by Fred Gray (1998)

Brief, interesting but ultimately somewhat sad story of Brighton's West Pier, once a thriving resort highlight but now a skeletal relic. We were lucky enough to be able to go on it, supervised and in hard hats, at around the time this book was published and it was in a terrible state - but at least the buildings were mostly intact and there was a very real hope that it could be restored. (Here are some photos from a tour around the same time.) Now this seems unlikely, given that all that remains are the iron pilings, as you can see in a number of superb studies by Chris Wright.

The Chosen by Chaim Potok (1966)

One of the most moving books I know, although I'd be interested to find out if a non-Jew felt the same. I was taken to see the film by my Grandma when I was about 12 or 13, and although I've never seen it since (it's not easy to get hold of), the book is a firm favourite.

One Fine Day In The Middle Of The Night by Christopher Brookmyre (1999)

Classic Brookmyre romp through school reunions.

The Week (11 May 2013 / Issue 919)

The Week (18 May 2013 / Issue 920)

100 Best Album Covers by Storm Thorgerson & Aubrey Powell (2001)

Another interesting collection of covers, spoiled by the inclusion of not a little art school pretension (nobody can seriously pretend that Bob Dylan's Self Portrait artwork is anything other than incompetent) and by a layout that reduces the printed size of the very item under discussion and sometimes completely ruins it by printing it across the binding.

Thelwell Goes West by Norman Thelwell (1975)

Gentle horsey humour for a spare ten minutes.

The Manual (How To Have A Number One The Easy Way) by The Timelords (1988)

Badly dated in places, timeless in others, very funny overall. Essential reading for anyone with a passing interest in pop music.

The Week (25 May 2013 / Issue 921)

Guitarist (July 2013 / Issue 369)

Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo (1998)

Common sense masquerading as mystical claptrap. No doubt it stimulates and inspires some people to consider the connectedness of all things and to ponder the sound of one hand clapping and all that bollocks, but not me. What this boils down to is: keep practising, be patient, keep learning. And now you don't have to read it.

American Gods (author's preferred text) by Neil Gaiman (2011)

This is a very long book and I only made it half way through. It was reasonably enjoyable but I got distracted after about a week and didn't really feel compelled to come back to find out what happened. I felt like the story was supposed to be about something important but I couldn't decipher what. And I have a suspicion of "author's preferred text" versions of anything anyway; authors are rarely their own best editors (e.g. Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix) and a novel that is 12,000 words longer than the original edited version isn't a good sign.

Books 2012

December

It Shouldn't Happen To A Vet by James Herriot (1972)

I've never read these books, although I seem to recall my grandparents had most of them. Why I should have skipped them I don't know. For some reason, this tatty copy in the book exchange at work appealed. Enjoyable, snack-sized vignettes of country life.

Summer Of Love: The Making Of Sgt. Pepper by George Martin (1994)

Despite buying this book several years ago, this is the first time I have read it. A fascinating record of what happened, and no-one can doubt its veracity. Apart from the bits he can't remember, as he himself points out in the introduction! Very interesting.

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon (2003)

An excellent and understandably famous book. Although I'm not quite sure why it qualifies as a children's book. I won't be showing this to any of my kids until they're in their early teens.

The People's Music by Ian MacDonald (2003)

MacDonald's Revolution In The Head is definitive, but this collection of magazine articles is indulgent. Clearly a highly intelligent, widely-read, erudite and articulate man, MacDonald nevertheless consistently mistakes his own prejudices for objective truths and is a canonical example of a rock snob. There is much of interest here but too often MacDonald merely comes across as an overly verbose grumpy old man. The title piece is several thousand words long but could be summed up in five: "I don't like modern music."

Microserfs by Douglas Coupland (1995)

I first read this ages ago but now I actually work in software product development it makes more sense. (Not that where I work is like Microsoft or a start-up, really.) Very accurate about some details.

Thunder, Flush And Thomas Crapper: An Encycloopedia by Adam Hart-Davis (1997)

Amusing, mildly diverting and occasionally enlightening selection of snippets about toilets. Ideal for reading on the toilet. Although the fact that my copy is second-hand makes me wonder about how hygienic it is.

The Top Gear Story by Martin Roach (2011)

Ludicrously uncritical attempt to cash in on (new) Top Gear's success. Contains fleeting insights into the history, development and rationale behind the series but wastes too much space on simple recounting of old programmes. I'm not sure why I bothered or persevered, to be honest.

Reelin' In The Years by Mark Radcliffe (2011)

A characteristically witty and engaging book. The pop anorak in me likes the concept very much: a song for every year of your life, with added trivia. The reader in me finds the result a little fragmented.

Books 2011

December
Five Minute Bread by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François
Bread by by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno (2007)
All Fun And Games Until Someone Loses An Eye by Christopher Brookmyre (2005)
It's A P.C. World by Edward Stourton (2008)
A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (2003)
Danny, The Champion Of The World by Roald Dahl (1974)
Make Room For Daddy by Andrea Edwards (1990)

November
The Big Four (audio book) by Agatha Christie (1927)
Past Mortem (audio book) by Ben Elton (2004)
Bread (River Cottage Handbook No. 3) by Daniel Stevens (2008)
The New Family Bread Book by Ursula Ferrigno (2007)
The Bread Book by Sarah Lewis (2003)

October
31 Dream Street (audio book) by Lisa Jewell (2007)
Frankie Says Relapse! by Siobhan Curham (2004)
The Scene Stealers by Siobhan Curham (2004)
The Day Of The Jackal by Frederick Forsyth (1971)
Watching The English by Kate Fox (2004)

September
Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis (1989)
Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield (2010)

June
The Body In The Library by Agatha Christie (1942)

May
One Hit Wonderland by Tony Hawks ()
The Casebook Of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (1927)
His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle (1917)
Yes We Have No by Nik Cohn (1999)
The Return Of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (1902)
The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (1894)
The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (1892)
The Haçienda by Peter Hook (2009)

April
On Royalty by Jeremy Paxman (2009)
Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie
The To-Do List by Mike Gayle (2007)
Killing Bono by Neil McCormick (2010) (previously published as I Was Bono's Doppelgänger, 2004)
How Not To Grow Up by Richard Herring (2010)
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire by J.K. Rowling (2000)
The Surgeon's Proposal by Lillian Darcy (2003)
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (1999)

March
One Red Paperclip: How An Ordinary Man Achieved His Dreams With The Help Of A Simple Office Supply by Kyle MacDonald ()
The Outback Doctor by Lucy Clarke ()
Runaway Cowboy by Judy Christenberry ()
From The First Kiss by Jessica Bird (2006)
E Squared by Matt Beaumont (2009)
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (1998)
The Borrowed Ring by Gina Wilkins (2005)
Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling (1997)
Murder On The Links by Agatha Christie (1928)
The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You by Harry Harrison (1978)
The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World by Harry Harrison (1972)

February
The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge by Harry Harrison (1970)
Letters From London 1990 - 1995 by Julian Barnes (1995)
The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison (1961)
Acting Up by Melissa Nathan (2008)
Before She Met Me by Julian Barnes (1982)
The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis (1952)
Foundation And Empire by Isaac Asimov (1952)
Foundation by Isaac Asimov (1951)

January
Panic Nation by Stanley Feldman & Vincent Marks ()
Rock On: How I Tried To Stop Caring About Music And Learned To Love Corporate Rock by Dan Kennedy (2008)
Past Mortem by Ben Elton (2004)
The Road To Gandolfo by Robert Ludlum (writing as Michael Shepherd) (1975)
Don't You Know Who I Am? by Piers Morgan (2007)
How I Escaped My  Certain Fate: The Life And Deaths Of A Stand-Up Comedian by Stewart Lee (2010)
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (2000)
Attack Of The Unsinkable Rubber Ducks by Christopher Brookmyre (2007)

In Celebration Of Dead Trees

I saw a post at the Big Green Bookshop (via my friend Paul), which I thought was a nice idea.  Take a photo of one of your bookshelves and write a short paragraph about the book, what it means to you and how it came to be there.

I have lots of books but most of them are now in the loft because we don't have the space to have them all out on bookshelves.  Every few months I take a box out of the loft and swap the books I have out on a shelf for some that I haven't looked at for a few years.  Although I'd rather have all my books out, this system works quite well because it's a bit like having new stuff and I like re-reading books anyway.

Here's what my shelf contains at the moment.  (In fact, it holds another row of books behind those in the photograph, but I'll only mention the ones you can see.)

1. Making The World Work Better by Kevin Maney, Steve Hamm & Jeffrey O'Brien (2011)
I'm a little annoyed to have this hagiography of IBM be my first book on this shelf.  It was the only one here that I didn't select myself; all IBMers got one as part of the company's centennial celebration, whether or not they wanted it.  It's also the only book here I haven't read.  I tried, but it's not very interesting.  Could I return it and just have the money please?

2. The Dilbert Future by Scott Adams (1997)
I bought this from a charity shop a few weeks ago, although I'd read it before.  It's mostly light and amusing, but right at the end, Scott Adams takes a break from his usual sarcasm and offers a genuine suggestion for bettering yourself, called "Affirmations".  From what I can tell, it's a kind of new-age, NLP type thinking.  I generally hold such beliefs in contempt, but I do have to admit to trying affirmations once, a long time ago, and they kind of worked.  I couldn't remember what Adams had said about them, so I got the book to remind myself.

3. River Cottage Handbook No. 3: Bread by Daniel Stevens (2008)
I started making bread a few years ago when I bought a breadmaker, and although it was OK, the results never really impressed me much.  So about six months ago, for some reason, I decided to make it completely by hand.  And as far as I'm concerned, if you want to do something properly then you need a book about it.  I borrowed several from the library and most of them were just compendiums of one page recipes, with a little fluff at the beginning about how to knead the dough.  This is different: it goes into deep detail about each step of making the bread.  I love this kind of detail.  I've enjoyed making the bread too and now I make about two loaves a week.  I'll be buying a copy of this if no-one gets it for me for Christmas (hint hint).

4. The Oxford Concise English Dictionary (1982)
In my third year of secondary school (what is now year 8, I think), we were told we had to have a dictionary.  This is what I got.  The custom binding is by me, age 13.  It's now being used by my eldest son, occasionally, which is why it's out.

5. The Penguin Dictionary Of Quotations edited by J.M. Cohen (1975)
On the other hand, I'm not quite sure why this is out on the shelf, since I never use it.  Actually, I think it originally belonged to my parents.  It's fascinating to dip into it though.  And I've always been intruiged by the way it's indexed and catalogued.  That must have taken a lot of work.  And now you can do it so easily on a computer.  This is a bit of a relic, really.

6. The Princess Diaries: Take Two by Meg Cabot (2001)
7. The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (2000)
I bought these from the library for 10p each because K (who was 6 at the time) was enjoying the films.  I quickly realised that they weren't suitable for her just yet.  On the other hand, my wife enjoyed them very much and worked her way through the whole series.  Just to be sure.  Anyway, they're being saved for when K is a bit older.

8. New Toddler Taming by Dr. Christopher Green (2001)
Babies don't come with manuals, but of course that makes the aftermarket particularly, uh, fertile.  I think we started with Babygruppenführer Gina Ford, on the advice of my sister, but we didn't really get on with it (and don't get me started about how rubbish it is if you have more than one kid).  So we looked around and found Christopher Green.  He's done three books: this one, Babies and Beyond Toddlerdom.  They're all filled with eminently sensible, down-to-earth advice rather than unachievable timetables and we still use them (except the one about babies, obviously).

9. You Never Give Me Your Money by Peter Doggett (2010)
I bought this book on the recommendation of David Hepworth (via The Word magazine, to which I subscribe).  It's a history of The Beatles, after The Beatles, specifically focussing (I think) on their business affairs.  I've just started reading it, so I can't offer much opinion on it.

10. Clive James On Television by Clive James (1991)
This reminds me of a girl I knew when I was 18.  She was several years older than me; she may have had designs on my person but I was utterly clueless with girls at that age.  She lent me Visions Before Midnight, the first of the three books collected in this omnibus edition.  They contain the TV review columns he wrote for The Observer during the seventies.  I can just about remember some of the later programmes he discusses.  This doesn't stop the reviews being learned, relevant and very, very entertaining.  What he's got to say about the Olympic coverage and (in particular) commentary of 1972 is still true today.  Highly recommended.  (Ruth, I still have your book, btw ...)

11. ABBA: The Name Of The Game by Andrew Oldham, Tony Calder & Colin Irwin
I've loved ABBA since I was six.  My Dad was doing some work at EMI and brought me the first Greatest Hits collection and Arrival.  So this book, which starts with the premise that Benny and Bjorn were two of the finest songwriters - ever! - is obviously right up my street.  It's a very entertaining read too, but for all the humour and obsession with Agnetha's bottom, it has serious points to make about their achievements and history.  Of course, if you're one of those people still in denial about ABBA's place in music history, this may pass you by.  We'll see who's proved right in thirty years time, mark my words.

12. The Kingdom By The Sea by Paul Theroux (1983)
During 1999 and 2000, I spent about 11 months working in Edinburgh.  This was long enough to make friends in the city, but I still ended up alone a lot.  I spent much of that time in bookshops, of which there were many.  I quickly ran out of titles I definitely wanted to read and started taking chances on books that sounded vaguely familiar.  This was one of them.  It's a classic travel book, but I have never managed to finish it.  I can admire its qualities while still finding it a bit of grind.  I'm not sure why.

13. Watching The English by Kate Fox (2004)
This is one of my favourite books.  Unfortunately, repeated reads, while very enjoyable, have resulted in me completely forgetting how I discovered it.  It's like listening to your favourite song again and again; eventually, any memories it had for you are drowned in micro-memories of the other times you listened to it and eventually it reduces any meaning it once had to almost zero.  Nevertheless, I would highly recommend this entertaining study of English manners and habits - in fact, I have recommended it, many times.

14. 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die edited by Robert Dimery (2008)
Bought as part of my grand project to listen to more music.

15. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (1865 & 1871)
This book accompanied C & me on our holiday to Florida way back in 2000.  I remember reading it while sitting by the pool at the Holiday Inn on Key Largo.  The juxtaposition of location and story was a little jarring and lent a certain sense of surrealism to the holiday.  It's out on shelf now because the kids are enjoying the Disney film, and K likes the ballet that was on telly a while back.  She doesn't seem to like the book though.

16. Friends Like These by Danny Wallace (2008)
I like Danny Wallace - or, at least, I like the persona in his books, where he has a kind of wide-eyed naivety and innocence.  It may be close to his real personality, of course, or not - who can tell?  But the books are jolly good fun.  He's another author I discovered while I was working in Edinburgh.

17. Good Wood: Joints by Albert Jackson & David Day (1995)
18. Good Wood: Basic Woodworking by Albert Jackson & David Day (2001)
One of my long term ambitions is to make an electric guitar.  As I said before, my instinctive approach is to buy a book about it.  In this case, I already have books about making guitars, but I need basic woodworking skills before I can do that.  So even though I'm several years away from being able to start my project, I'm starting to collect the books.  I might even do a course.  These books were excellent value secondhand.

19. Complete Prints 1962 - 2010 by Bridget Riley (2010)
I first saw Bridget Riley's wonderful patterns at an exhibition at The Barbican in the early nineties and I was immediately smitten.  Since then I've wanted to have some in the house, but I'm hampered by two things: firstly, finding large prints of her work is quite hard; and secondly, C won't have it, because she's not that keen and thinks it wouldn't really work on our walls.  So it's lovely of her to have bought this for my birthday.  The book contains copies of her prints, so it's not the big famous pictures, but it's very interesting nonetheless.

20. Words and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (2008)
This is another birthday present from C - and, unfortunately, another book that has been somewhat superseded by the internet.  It's much more convenient to refer to than a computer though, but it is rather heavy!


The people who wrote that original post are absolutely correct.  You couldn't write a post like this about your Kindle.

Books 2010

December
Down Under by Bill Bryson (2000)
20th Century Cars by Hilton Holloway & Martin Buckley (2003)
Around The World In 80 Dates by Jennifer Cox (2006)
The Ghost by Robert Harris (2007)

November
Mr. Darcy's Diary by Maya Slater (2007)
Night Of The Living Dad by Sam Delaney (2009)
Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre (2009)
Adventures On The High Teas by Stuart Maconie (2009)

Books 2009

December
Orpheus Rising by Bateman (2008)

November
Just Another Day by Adam Hart-Davis (2006)
The Melting Man by Victor Canning (1968)
Boiling A Frog by Christopher Brookmyre (2000)
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett (1990)

What Is Normal, Anyway?

I went to the library the other evening.  As I went in, a woman was standing at the counter venting to the long-suffering staff about something.  Because I walked in half way through, I don't know what her complaint was (I have a feeling she was annoyed at getting fined for returning books late), but I was in time to hear this pearl of wisdom:

"a normal person doesn't read more than one book a week"