A short review of Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt by John Grindrod which I mentioned in a previous post. It is due to be out in hardback on June 1st. Although I got hold of an advanced proof copy, I did buy his previous book and would have bought this […]
Entries Tagged as 'Books'
Outskirts
April 13th, 2017 · Comments Off on Outskirts · Life, Politics
Tags: Books·Nostalgia·Reviews·Town Planning
Green Belt
April 13th, 2017 · Comments Off on Green Belt · Politics
I have just finished reading a book about the green belt, which was more fun than it sounds. One passage in particular really stopped me in my tracks while I was reading: ‘One of the things that impressed me most about my dad’s take on it, because he was surprisingly left wing as well, was […]
Tags: Books·Town Planning
Robert Nye
August 8th, 2016 · Comments Off on Robert Nye · Life
Today I came across an obituary of the writer Robert Nye, who died last month. I wasn’t aware that he had died and if I am honest I hadn’t realised he was still alive because, although he is described as a ‘poet and author’, I only knew of him through his novels, and the last […]
Tags: Books·Obituaries
The Ice Beneath Her
June 27th, 2016 · Comments Off on The Ice Beneath Her · Life
I have just finished reading my first Scandinavian thriller. It is called The Ice Beneath Her by Camilla Grebe, due to be published on September 8th. This is what I thought about it…
An Android Awakes
November 3rd, 2015 · Comments Off on An Android Awakes · Life
An Andoid Awakes by Mike French and Karl Brown This is a soon-to-be-published book (Nov 13th) which I had an advance reader copy of from the publishers. Reading this book, the word that kept coming to mind was ‘kaleidoscope’, by which I mean those tube-like things we had as kids in the 60s where the […]
I, Robert
September 30th, 2015 · Comments Off on I, Robert · Life
It is very rare that I buy actual paper books these days. Basically I just do not have the space for any more books. Instead I download e-books which is not the same experience but is much more convenient. The few ‘proper’ books I get are mostly proof copies from publishers or presents. If I […]
A coping strategy
July 4th, 2015 · Comments Off on A coping strategy · Life
I am currently ploughing my way through a book about ‘systems thinking’ (Freedom from Command & Control by John Seddon). It is not exactly a page-turner, but there is no option to wait for the film to come out. It suddenly got to be more fun when I decided to add some bits of my […]
Tags: Books
Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore
June 14th, 2015 · Comments Off on Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore · Life
We arrive at books by many different routes. It may be that a cover catches our eye in the shop, or a review in a magazine sounds good, or somebody recommends it. I came to this book by a bit of a backwards route. I very much enjoyed a book called The Reader on the […]
Programming flavours
June 3rd, 2015 · Comments Off on Programming flavours · Technology
This evening I came across a great passage in the book I am reading. The passage is about programming languages, the book isn’t. Not really anyway. But, of course, the point of a programming language is that you don’t just read it; you write it, too. You make it do things for you. And this, […]
Not lost in translation
May 19th, 2015 · Comments Off on Not lost in translation · Life
As I have mentioned before, one of my favourite things is to get hold of pre-publication proofs of new books, especially if they are well-written and a pleasure to read. Last week I read just such a book – The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent. Apart from anything I think the writer deserves […]
