DB’s blog

Glad I read it

nobody@vox.com(DB) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:44:58 +0000

Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships

Eric Berne

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I'm guessing what it's really about

nobody@vox.com(DB) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:36:47 +0000

An Outcast of the Islands (Twentieth Century Classics)

Joseph Conrad

Clearly it's about betrayal and isolation in alien surroundings. But Conrad is too literary for my taste, so there has to be a sub-text. I suspect it's something to do with Conrad not being English. I wonder if he also betrayed a benefactor at some time.

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Bleak - but an important read.

nobody@vox.com(DB) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:09:29 +0000

Germinal

Emile Zola

I must see the Depadieu film of it.

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Eddie Izzard last night at the O2

nobody@vox.com(DB) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:01:41 +0000

We took the daughters (& eldest daughter's boyfriend, who didn't know about EI). Great fun had by all. However my wife & I had previously seen him in the 90's at the Stadium, when he wasn't well known at all outside the UK, and I thought the earlier show was even better. Daughters managed to soak us for lots of soovies - T-shirts, mugs etc.

Very impressed with how well the LUAS extension worked to get the crowds away after the show!

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Another funny German book

nobody@vox.com(DB) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:57:55 +0000

Ich Und Kaminski: Roman

Daniel Kehlmann

That's two in a year! It's probably all a dream!

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Good fun and some important concepts

nobody@vox.com(DB) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:51:53 +0000

Saturn's Children

Charles Stross

The problem with virtually all space operas is that you have to suspend disbelief, because it seems highly unlikely that human interstellar travel will ever happen. So it was good to read an SF book that recognises this and suggests a way around it.

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An important read, even if you don't find the PAC concept particularly useful

nobody@vox.com(DB) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:29:27 +0000

I'm OK, You're OK

Thomas A. Harris

because, of course, lots of psychologists do find it useful, & you need to know what they are talking about. I found the chapter on reiligion particularly interesting - I had come to similar conclusions from a completely different starting point - which has interesting implications itself.

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Recommended by a colleague from Munich

nobody@vox.com(DB) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:27:43 +0000

Der Knochenmann.

Wolf Haas

Grisly black comedy.

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Must admit - I'd never heard of it until I found it on the bookshelf

nobody@vox.com(DB) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:22:18 +0000

The History of Henry Esmond (English Library)

John Sutherland

My wife had put it there. As regular visitors here will be aware, I've got a campaign going to tick off a lot more 19th century English classics, but before I go shopping on Amazon, I'm going through some of my wife's old books (she's been this way before.) I didn't know anything about the series of historical novels that begin with this one, but I'll read more of them now. This one is pretty good, although not a patch on Vanity Fair - but few books are!

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Silly title, stupid cover, pretty good book (mostly).

nobody@vox.com(DB) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:16:46 +0000

The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: Flood, Fire, and Famine in the History of Civilization

Richard Firestone

I reviewed this on amazon.co.uk

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