Treasure Island 2

 

Jim Hawkins and the Curse of Treasure Island by Francis Bryan (Frank Delaney, Irish novelist) [2001, ISBN 1- 84255-213-9]

The great joy in this book is the use of language in the spirit of the original Treasure Island. It has a pursuit, capture and escape; violent action and parley; disguise and mystery.

A  modern criticism of this book is that there is no gender/cultural diversity, all characters are english or scottish men apart from Hawkin's mother and the mysterious woman. 

At the conclusion attentive readers will realise that not every mystery has been resolved. Maybe the author left open the option for a sequel. 

I urge the reader first re-read the original tale by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Tak...tak...tak

 

The playing pieces I made myself by slicing up a stick and a piece of rail. The board is a piece of cloth cut with pinking shears to stop it fraying. It is a homemade game of Tak.

The rules to Tak are simple as they are in all the best games. But the play is complex.

Tak was once an imaginary game in the fantasy book A Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss [2011, ISBN 987-0-7564-0407-9]. I have read the book many times, it is a great adventure - but I cannot recommend it. It is volume two of a trilogy and the third volume is yet to be published. 

The story is told in flashback, each volume is covers the tale as told over one day in a remote inn. It is a the tale of a talented child who witnesses his parents murder and then overcomes extraordinary hardship to become a talented musician and adventurer. So far a common but well told fantasy story. The twist seems to be that he is a broken man - he has failed to avenge his parents' death, he has lost his love, and he has unleashed horrors upon the world. Volume Three is expected to be one more day so how can anything be resolved in the protagonist's favour.

But Tak is fun.

Infinity and beyond

 A simple book that explains some important concepts about infinity. It makes it all easy to understand.

How to count to Infinity by Marcus Du Sautoy [ ISBN 976-1-78648-497-0 ].

I have added it to my prepper library to help re-build civilisation after the fall.

Cities in Disgrace

I recently re-read the Cities in Flight series of novels by James Blish.

The stories have not aged well they are particularly misogynistic and colonial.

Blish also worked for the Tobacco institute and died of lung cancer - poetic justice.

 

Banned Authors

Occasionally an author so disappoints me with their story that I ban myself from reading another of their books-

1) My Sister's Keeper by Jodie Picoult. 

The premise is set up brilliantly. A young girl refuses to undergo an operation that would save her sister's life. Then at the climax in the crux of the dilemma there is a car accident and and so the whole point of the story vanishes. I read the book flying from London to the USA. I was so deflated at the weak ending.

2) Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier.

In the US civil war a soldier deserts and slowly makes his way home, an often delayed and painful journey. I lived his trials as I read. Then just before he reaches home he is killed. So no point to the whole journey - perhaps true to life but not why I was reading the book. I read the book based a a recommendation in heard on the radio from Bob Carr.

3) A Song of Fire and Ice - an unfinished series by George R. R. Martin.

A great fantasy adventure and well told but my favourite characters kept being killed. I could not endure it - I stopped after Book 2 or 3. The first book was published in 1996. Book 5 of of 7 was published in 2011. The last 2 books are unpublished, possibly still unwritten. So in stopping early I avoided the disappointment and frustration of all those still waiting for the series to finish.

Sleepers Wake!

Sleepers Wake! by Barry Jones (ISBN 0-19-553756-4) investigates the post-industrial revolution - the revolution that is happening now. I read the first (1982) edition, now I have the 1995 edition.

The text includes Jones Eight Laws of employment and technology:

1. Employment levels are culturally determined.

2.Technological innovation tends to reduce aggregate employment relative to market size and to increase employment at lower wage rates in other areas.

3. Employment absorption tends to be in inverse relation to economic efficiency.

4. In production on a massive scale, employment tends to be in inverse proportion to demand.

5. The economic viability of a technologically advanced society may depend on having an increasing number of consumers, despite the number of large producers reducing.

6. Rising levels of employment depend on increased demands for a diversity of services: simplicity of personal needs contributes to low levels of employment, and complexity to high levels.

7. The amount of time spent by generalists in making technically based decisions is in inverse proportion to the complexity of the subject matter.

8. Most technological discoveries have an equal capacity for the enhancement and degradation of life, depending on how they are used.

Street Library

The Street Library

 

Back in June I installed a Street Library at the front of my house.

There is reasonable passing foot traffic with a lots of services nearby schools, buses, a craft brewery, a playground, and a dog park.

I had lots of good books that I wasn't going to read again. A library seemed a good way to send the books out to new readers. It has become self sustaining with others contributing their own books. When I returned from a 5 week holiday the library was full of books and very tidy.

Children's books are popular and are claimed quickly. In my opinion there are too many thick romance and action novels and if I did not cull them they would choke out other interesting books. When I cull the books, they are given to the Lifeline second-hand shop. If I find a religious or a fad diet book it goes into the rubbish - there is no need to spread lies.

Designing and building the library was a challenge. I arranged the shelves to accept the largest books in my own collection. It is designed to resist sun, rain and vermin. I had to reinforce the fence behind to make a proper mounting. The structure is marine ply with 5 coats of polyurethane varnish. The window is shatterproof, UV-proof polycarbonate. The latch is stainless steel.

To find out more refer to https://streetlibrary.org.au/

Brotherhood Books

brotherhoodbooks.org.au

A great place to find second hand books.

The Brotherhood of St. Laurence supports people experiencing disadvantage.

Will Power!

Will Power! by George Weinberg & Dianne Rowe (ISDN 0-7336-0397-1).

A guide for psychological development using characters from Shakespeare's plays-

Stage One: Defining Yourself

Stage Two: Understanding Others

Stage Three: Self-Reliance

Stage Four: Preserving Your "Self" in Relationships

Stave Five: Keeping the Demons Out of Your Life

Stage Six: Nurturing Your Soul

This book is part of my permanent library.

Consider the long now.

I like the idea of a clock that will run for 10,000 years.

One is being built in West Texas.

It is programmed to play a different tune each day for 10,000 years -if someone is there to wind up the mechanism and occasionally if no-one winds it up.

It would be worth making a pilgrimage to hear a tune that will never be repeated.

Okefenokee

A great cover.

At the age of 12, I read this book. I loved it and remember it still.

It was about a boy who explored a swamp near his home. As a child I explored the mangrove swamp near my home- sand and mud and tides and fish and birds and crabs and snakes. I even found a stash of stolen goods and cash once -but I will save that story.

Now my swamp has been filled in and multi-storey mansions built over it. The area is barely above sea level and will likely flood as the sea levels rise.

Paradigms Lost and Regained

I just finished Paradigms Regained by John L. Castro ( ISBN 0-316-64816-7).  A great science read for the Big Questions. His conclusions-

1) Life arose out of natural physical processes here on earth, probably via an RNA world.

2) Human behavior patterns are dictated primarily by genes.

3) Human language capacity stems from a unique, innate property of the brain.

4) Didital computers can ( in principle ) think.

5) We cannot communicate with extraterrestrial intelligent beings in our galaxy even if they exist.

6) There is an objective reality independent of an observer.

Decision diagrams

My suburb has a charity second hand bookshop.

Today I found -

The Decision Book by Krigerus & Tschäppeler (ISBN 978 1 84668 395 4).
Some of the models in it would have been useful to me long ago:
E.g. The Eisenhower Matrix - How to work more efficiency.
Some are useful to me now:
E.g. The Black Swan Model - Why your experiences don't make you any wiser.

As an engineer I love the diagrams.
As an Australian I object to the meaning attributed to the expression "black swan" - black swans are very common around here.

Finished with Colour

Today I finished a book I started before the corona virus lockdown-
Colour by Victoria Finlay.
I enjoyed it very much. As I read the last chapters Indigo and Violet I was struck by how the author was freely travelling the world, something not possible today.

It is a large book (in a slipcase even), but what should I do with the book next. i am unlikely to read it again. I KNOW!- I will build a street library and give it away.

People will do anything to survive.

Virus lock down is a great time to read those books that are waiting on your shelf.
I have finished Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard (ISBN 0-575-03483-1) based on his boyhood experience of being confined in a Japanese Internment camp.
I had seen the movie but after reading the book I understood the meaning of some of the scenes.

Mind Fields

I am ejoying reading Mind Fields ( ISBN 978 1 883398 66 8). A book suitable for a rainy day in a caravan.

It has intriguing art of Jacek Yerka with a short story from Harlan Ellison for each painting.

I tried to read them long ago but I was too easily distracted. Now I can go slow and savor each one.

Colour confidence

The current fashion is definitely for all interior walls to be white. Its what you see on architecture shows on TV and in apartments on real estate websites. White on white on white - no offence and no personality.

I prefer colour on the walls.

I found a book in the library Colour Now by Kevin McCloud (2009, ISBN 978-1-84949-219-5). It has lots of complex colour combinations. To translate the colours into an obtainable paint colour I took the book to Bunnings and asked for the full Dulux Colour book I then compared the colours to select the Dulux equivalent. The paint desk at Bunnings had some natural light which helped getting the colours right.

The combinations in the the book gave me confidence to be bold.

Light a candle

The Observer has an article about people becoming anxious about the climate emergency. I don't think being anxious helps the planet.

One of the factors of the emergency is biodiversity.

The local environment group plants native plants along a creek creating habitat for native animals. We also remove the worst weeds. The community enjoys the improvements. We feel good and the environment improves.

It is better to lit a candle than to curse the darkness.

The article refers to the Imperial Colleges Grantham Institute which has list of nine actions for ordinary folk:

Incidentally the book mentioned in a previous post gave similar answers with analysis: Time to eat the dog? - the real guide to sustainable living by Robert and Brenda Vale- ISBN 978 0 500 28790 3

Wash less

Having recently read in Time to eat the dog? that washing clothes reduces their life, I saw the same message on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) website. It also uses resources.
As I am in charge of laundry at our house I will be implementing a policy of selectively airing clothes instead of washing and giving several wearings before washing. Will my beloved notice the change in policy?

Eat the dog!

A book with the analysis on how to live sustainably, with some friendly calculations:
Time to eat the dog? - the real guide to sustainable living by Robert and Brenda Vale- ISBN 978 0 500 28790 3.

The summary for what is under my control:
1) FOOD - eat organic food and eliminate waste food. Eliminate packaging. Grow your own or buy local from open air markets.
2) ENERGY - Use less and eliminate waste. Make short showers. Use cold water in the laundry. For me this would be using the fan not the air conditioner.
3) TRAVEL - Cycle, walk, use public transport, use cars to capacity
4) STUFF - Maintain things, repair things, buy less, buy second-hand, share
5) HOUSING - build smaller, share more (bathrooms and bedrooms), renovate less, use the patio and verandah
6) HOLIDAYS - don't fly.