I’d completely forgotten about this until M reminded me of it last week. For some reason I didn’t blog about it at the time. Better late than never. A couple of years ago (actually, 2006, when the kids looked much younger than they do now) Flat Stanley (this one from friends in the USA) came ... [More]
Category: books
Categories
Print’s not dead yet
If you’ve wondered how many people read the magazines you see in the newsagent, here’s the figures. The only magazine I subscribe to, Australian Personal Computer, is sitting at 34,111, down 8% in the last year. Perhaps IT-related mags are more likely to be dropping with competition from online, though what caught my eye was ... [More]
Categories
A buncha brief things
Some brief thoughts and half-arsed things that I can’t be bothered developing into fully-fledged blog posts: Luz Station in Sao Paulo. Looks externally very similar to Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station, well if you don’t look too closely. Coincidence, or is one modelled on the other? Probably the former. I haven’t seen anything that suggests Luz ... [More]
Categories
The last Tintin
We all did stupid things when we were young. I’m ashamed to admit that one of the sillier things I did in my teenage years was to dispose of my Tintin books. After a while I realised my mistake, and started collecting them again, book by book. (I decided I preferred the full-size versions, not ... [More]
I used to give either thumbs up or thumbs down. I’m switching to thumbs up, thumbs down, or neither. Microserfs — This is the kind of book I should just lap up, isn’t it? A geek novel? But I didn’t. It dragged. J-Pod — More enjoyable than Microserfs. Douglas Coupland’s self-referential bits were a bit ... [More]
Categories
Funniest book I’ve read in ages
Bill Bryson: Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid — I’ve finally read it now it’s out in paperback. I know I was never going to be disappointed, but it was a great book. Hilarious in parts, poignant in others. Mostly hilarious though. The description of the Dick and Jane books and the characters’ robotic ... [More]
Categories
Tramps like us
Tramps Like Us by Kristen Buckley — Kristen emailed and asked if I’d like to read and review this book, as its Australian launch is coming soon. I’m glad I said yes, it’s smegging hilarious. Kristen’s better known for being a screenwriter for movies that… well, frankly, I wouldn’t go out of my way to ... [More]
Dishwashers: On the subject of water (I think Andrew or somebody mentioned this a while ago) in last Sunday’s Age M magaziney thing, there was an article noting that dishwashers generally use less water than handwashing. Dishwashers are in the 13 to 20 litre per cycle range, whereas handwashing is up around 40 to 60. ... [More]
I’ve heard from two completely independent sources of Pastafarianism in the past week. Could it be that the age of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is upon us? RAmen. Anyway, here’s some quick reviews. Michael Palin’s diaries 1969-1979 — Very interesting, especially for a Python fan like me, giving the background story behind the group coming ... [More]
Categories
Summer reviews
A big bunch of thumbs ups for all these, from the past couple of months. The First Casualty by Ben Elton — a mystery set close to a century ago, a bit like Julian Barnes’ Arthur and George, and also very reminiscent of Black Adder 4, but with a much more serious look at the ... [More]
So I was waiting for a train, while reading the geek history “On The Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore” (which — in my humble geeky opinion — really is excellent). The station host lady looked at it, and (given its lovely hardback binding and olde booke looke when it’s out of its ... [More]
The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson — Technology has made it cheaper to produce and store and sell many things. So niché products that never would have been viable before are now big business. That’s the premise. If that’s all you want to know, you don’t really need to read this book. At a pinch, ... [More]