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Science Past - Science Future
Isaac Asimov 1975 (Doubleday 1975)



"This collection of miscellaneous magazine pieces has the unmistakable Asimovian ring—cheerful, impatient, incurably glib but unaccountably engaging. Whether explaining the development of transistors or loosing a stream of facile generalizations about American history, speculating on how women might be biologically redesigned to reduce MCP exploitation or dismantling the theories of Immanuel Velikovsky, he conveys an indefinable sense of joie de savoir." (from Kirkus)

These essays were published mostly in the early seventies in a rag-bag of magazines such as "TV World", "Bell Telephone Magazine" and "Penthouse".The "Science Past" articles are what Asimov does best: expound on the history of a scientific development. The one here on valves and transistors is a good example. The "Science Future" section is made up of dull, irritating or laughable attempts at prediction along the lines of why we're all doomed unless we impose population control by world government.
I might give the mystic meg articles a miss in future and stick to the good stuff.

Raising the Stones
Sheri S. Tepper 1990 (Grafton 1991)



"A moving, compulsive science fiction novel from one of the best writers in the field When the human settlers arrived on Hobbs Land, the native intelligent species, the Owlbrit, were already almost extinct. Before the last one died, a few years later, the humans had learned a little of their language, their ideas and their religion. It seemed the natural thing for the settlers to maintain the last Owlbrit temple, with the strange statue that was its God. When that God died - disintegrating overnight - it seemed equally natural to start preparing its replacement. Maire Manone came to Hobbs Land to escape the harsh patriarchal religion of Voorstod, but Voorstod hasn't forgotten her - or forgiven her. But the men who arrive on Hobbs Land to find and return Maire to her homeland haven't taken Hobbs Land's God into account ..." (from LoveReading)

Like everyone here I'm a big fan of eco-feminist science fiction and so it's no surprise that I liked this novel. The second of a loose three part series called The Arbai Trilogy, it's a slow burner to begin with but it builds to a quite exciting climax. I read the first one "Grass" thirty years ago and I've got the third one "Sideshow" on the shelf - I'll probably get round to it around 2050.
As it's a "feminist" work all the bad people are men but not all men are bad people - some are just a bit daft or misguided. Don't let that put you off though, the world building is excellent and Tepper is a good writer. The story is told from multiple viwpoints which requires a bit of concentration on the reader's part but it's worth the effort.

Rex Milligan's Busy Term
Anthony Buckeridge 1953 (Atlantic 1966)



"Sheldrake Grammar is a big day-school, and prominent among the members of Form Four is Milligan,
Rex Milligan is a peaceable, easy-going sort of chap, as he modestly puts it, but whenever trouble's brewing he's in it up to the ears. During this exciting term, which begins with the sudden loss of the school playing fields, Milligan and his friend, Jigger make some interesting discoveries about switched number-plates and other shady business at the garage of the character responsible for it all.
Not even a swamping in Staggers' new prototype land yacht can damp the enthusiasm of these two detectors of dirty dealings and in spite of old Birkie's tiresome delaying tactics and a nasty moment in a baker's van at the garage, Milligan and partner end the term on top." (from Stella & Rose's Books)

I don't think the Milligan books were as popular as Jennings and our village library never had any so I didn't experience the same nostalgic pleasure when reading this book. None of the boys are as funny as Darbishire and none of the teachers as entertaining as Old Wilkie but it was still a pleasant read and I might get the others at some point.
One of the Asimov essays that I read a few months back was about the move from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar in 1752 so I was chuffed to see this event used as a plot device here. The calendar jumped from the 2nd to the 14th of September and Rex is able to show that a legal document is a fake because it's dated 10th of September. What a smartarsed swotty muffin.

The Drunken Forest
Gerald Durrell 1956 (Penguin 1961)



"The Argentine pampas and the little-known Chaco territory of Paraguay provide the setting for The Drunken Forest. With Gerald Durrell for interpreter, an orange armadillo or a horned toad, or a crab-eating raccoon suddenly discovers the ability not merely to set you laughing but also to endear itself to you. Gerald Durrell's adventurous spirit and his spontaneous gift for narrative and anecdote stand out in his accounts of expeditions in Africa and South America in search of rare animals. He divines the characters of these creatures with the same clear, humorous and unsentimental eyes with which he regards those chance human acquaintances whose conversation in remote places he often reproduces in all its devastating and garbled originality. To have maintained, for over fifteen years, such unfailing standards of entertainment can only be described as a triumph." (from LoveReading)

Durrell's second animal collecting trip to South America. Relaxing escapist reading.

Hastings 1066: The Fall of Saxon England
Christopher Gravett 1992 (Osprey 1994)



"Very few battles of the medieval period can be regarded as decisive but Hastings was certainly one of them. Fought on 14 October 1066 between Duke William of Normandy and Harold Godwinson, king of England, the outcome of the battle irrevocably changed the course of English history. William's victory was largely due to the tactical superiority of his forces: not only did he possess infantry and cavalry, but also a significant number of his troops were archers or crossbowmen, to whose withering fire the largely spear and axe-armed English infantry could make little reply. The eventual death of King Harold, possibly as a result of being struck in the eye by an arrow and then cut down, prompted an English collapse and victory for the Normans. The successful outcome of the battle ensured William's accession to the English throne. Hastings was also decisive in another way: the horrendous casualties suffered by the English nobility both there and at the two earlier battles of Fulford and Stamford Bridge resulted in there being very few men influential enough to lead an English resistance once William had been crowned. Although significant rebellions did take place into the 1070s against William's rule, these were largely localised: lack of a national figure-head due to the combats of 1066 thus helped ensure, in the longer term, that William would survive long enough to successfully found a Norman dynasty of English kings. Christopher Gravett explains the events in and surrounding this great battle in this excellent Campaign title" (from Google Books)

Marc Morris' book on William I didn't devote much space to Hastings so this slim, well illustrated volume complements it nicely.

Lord of the Flies
William Golding 1954 (Perigree 1988)



"Lord of the Flies is set on a remote island and shows how a group of stranded schoolboys go from civilisation to savagery in a very short space of time.
Although their situation at first seems to have the makings of a fun adventure, their fight to survive in their environment and their struggle with each other for power reveals the wickedness which lives inside all of us. Before they are finally rescued there is savagery, destruction, terror and even death.
Lord of the Flies was published in 1954, less than 10 years after the end of the Second World War. William Golding had been in the Royal Navy during the conflict and had seen what cruelty mankind could inflict on itself. He also understood the nature of young boys as he was a schoolmaster both before and after his navy career." (from BBC)

This novel became an instant classic and a standard text in schools which is where I first read it. As I've been revisiting a lot of other stuff from my youth I thought it would be interesting to look at this one again. It's a good book and well written but the central message that nearly all of us are capable of savagery under certain conditions, which seemed shocking when it was first published (despite the 60 million killed in the recent war), doesn't seem revelatory today. The fact that Piggy was short sighted and therefore his glasses couldn't be used to start a fire is a minor quibble but still irritating.

According to Jennings
Anthony Buckeridge 1953 (Collins 1965)



"The boys at Linbury Court Preparatory School are eager to speed up the progress of space travel, and none more so than Jennings, whose first task is to find a suitable helmet. But is it really a good idea to take a dome-shaped glass-case, which previously housed a stuffed woodpecker, and place it over his head? Petrified paintpots! Jennings and Darbishire's luck is in when they hitch a ride with an international cricketer, and could it be that they've done something right for once when they attempt to apprehend a suspected burglar? Bat-witted clodpoll!" (from Blackwells)

Genuinely funny, I chuckled out loud several times, Darbishire's such a great character.
Six down seventeen to go.

The Best Loved Poems
John Betjeman 2003 (John Murray 2006)



"John Betjeman was without question the most popular poet of the twentieth century and his poems have been bought and read by millions. He opened eyes to what before him had seemed ordinary but is now unforgettable. There is no other poet remotely like him and this collection of favourites is a perfect reminder of his extraordinary originality and appeal. It is perfect too for those who still have in store the pleasure of discovery." (from ebay)

Another pound invested on the charity book stall.
I don't really "get" poetry but I keep having a go in the hope it might eventually "click". I appreciated a few of these but most left me cold as usual.
Betjeman was a lecherous old muffin with a thing about sporty women or "girls" wearing slacks, whatever they are. He was a founder of the Victorian Society so it's a pity he never lived to see Danica pleasuring the lamp post.

The Solar System and Back
Isaac Asimov 1970 (Doubleday 1970)



"This far-ranging collection of essays shows Isaac Asimov at his lucid, informative and entertaining best. He begins by examining our solar system: its remarkable symmetry and its puzzling irregularities. Then he comes back to earth to explain the laws that govern expansion and miniaturization in nature as well as in science fiction.; to discuss some of the intriguing vagaries of the metals, gold, mercury and gallium; to tell what the dinosaurs were and were not, in addition to speculating on the reasons behinf their extinction; to probe the causes and effects of chromosome aberrations; and even to reflect on the future role of women in our society. For all their diversity, however, each of these seventeen essays display the wit, perception, and firm command of facts that have made Isaac Asimov one of the most widely read authors in the field of popular science."

Seventeen more science essays originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from 1967 to 1969. Quite a few are about the planets and satellites of the solar system and as most of what we know about these bodies has been discovered in the last fifty years using probes, these articles are a bit more outdated than most. Asimov often added short updates when they were published in book form or for later editions but as he died in 1992 there is at least thirty years of new discoveries that could be added to the picture. It would be fantastic if they could all be republished with a commentary by an expert in the field describing what Asimov got right and wrong and explaining how the science has moved on.

Larn Yersel' Geordie
Scott Dobson 1969 (Butler Publishing 2001)




A light hearted guide to the language spoken on Tyneside and its hinterlands.
This book is essential reading if you are planning on calling Tori and wish to avoid the confusion and embarrassment suffered by this caller.

Tori: Weez caalin?
Caller: Pardon Me?
Tori: Divvent be shy bonny lad av lathad up me fadge reddy fer'ya
Caller: erm...I don't really know...er...I'm not sure (panics) I think this is a wrong number. Goodbye.
Tori: Is yorlass workin 'ersell? Nivver mynd hinny, gan canny now, aam backin thorsda neet.