Another month gone by means another list of books read.
The Thief of Time -- Terry Pratchett
The first time I reread this. A typical late Discworld novel.

Flat Earth News -- Nick Davies
Nick Davies is an acclaimed journalist who here exposes the news media for the shallow spreaders of lies they are. Something of a Manufacturing Consent for ( Read more... )

So our oldest cat, the one we took in as a stray four years ago and who has to be 12-14 years old at this point, just did a big poo on the carpet in front of the sofa on which I was sat reading... I looked up to see what he was scratching about and there were these turds lying there and him trying to dig a hole in the floor to bury them ( Read more... )

Arthur C. Clarke is dead at ninety, the last of the Big Three science fiction writers and one of the writers, along with Asimov of course, that led me to science fiction.

Bummer.

But Andy Hamilton would be a good match to play Miles Vorkosigan, would he not?

Twelve books read this month, six fiction, six non-fiction.

The Red Pavillion - Robert van Gulik ( Read more... )

Visiting friends we had neglected for far too long, the occasion being a birthday, which also gave us the opportunity to catch up on missed wedding, housewarming and welcoming new baby parties. All on a bit short notice, so we ended up flying in Saturday morning at 7 AM and flying out on Sunday afternoon at 4 PM, through Heathrow, which is Not ( Read more... )

All I can say is, somebody has been reading his Pohl & Kornbluth...

Nine books read this month, of which five were rereads, all science fiction:

The End of Eternity, - Isaac Asimov.
The first Asimov novel I've read since at least 2001, an old favourite of mine, one of the first sf novels to introduce me to the idea of altering history.

The Big Time - Fritz Leiber ( Read more... )

Bright Young Thing on the BBC Horizon documentary on gravity just asked a particularly stupid question that always vexes me: "Why is the universe built in a way that life can exist at all"First, the universe isn't built, it just exists ( Read more... )

Stories like this, of a Devon woman who became ill when on holiday in the US, had to go to hospital and her two daughters who were on holiday with her where sent to an orphanage and strip searched:

The family flew out to New York on 27 December. When Ms Bray began coughing later that day, she initially put it down to her asthma and the air ( Read more... )