Delivers on the title. Interesting explanations of types of lakes, how they came to be and how they evolve. Great writing and lots of interesting information 4/5
A Veteran TV Writer and Showrunner writes about his career, the business and how to make it as a TV writer and possibly eventually a showrunner. Excellent 4/5
A Star Trek parody from the POV of five ensigns who realise something is very strange on their ship. Plot moves steadily and the humour and action mostly work. 3/5
An account of the discover and lives of Neanderthals, Denisovans and others hominids who shared the earth with Homo sapiens in the last 300,000 years. 4/5
This Blog is about a variety of topics that I’m interested in. My top posts are listed below. I also do regular posts on Audiobooks I’ve listened to and notes from conferences I attend.
Covers the death of the Queen through to the first year of the new King’s reign. Semi-authorised. Recommended for those with interest in the topic. 4/5
Covers the career of the makers (ZAZ) and the long path to writing, pitching, pre-production and making of the classic movie. As well as reactions to it. 4/5
Following a cold case Maigret gatecrashes the weekend gathering of a group of friends when one is unexpectedly murdered. Felt a little unrealistic at times. 3/5
Prompted by a comment from someone I present below the 10 thickest books in my personal library. I made no correction for hardcover vs softcover. Measured at center of book with mild compression
The Books in order. 10th thickest left, thickest on right
My top 10 books ended up being a bit of a mix
Three Fiction: 1 Science Fiction, 1 Fantasy, 1 annotated detective series
One giant book of Chess puzzles
Two books about lots of things. 500 Villages and 100 Museum Objects
Two biographic books about a National Leader during wartime
A book of social history
A book looking at big trends in all recorded history
The Countdown
10th – 58mm – The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes. Volume 2. 1878 pages. Softcover
The tallest, widest and book with the most pages. Has the original text in the centre with notes on the outside and lots of illustrations
9th – 60mm – Villages of Britain by Clive Aslet. 658 pages. Hardcover
1-2 pages on 500 English villages. Usually covers an interesting feature, event or person
8th – 61mm – Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. 916 pages. Softcover
A book on Abraham Lincoln’s Cabinet. Basis for the movie “Lincoln” and my book is a movie branded version
7th – 61mm – The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien. 1192 pages. Softcover
My much battered single volume edition I’ve had since I was a kid.
6th – 63mm – Chess 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Laszlo Polgar. 1104 pages. Softcover
Mostly pictures of chess positions (6 per page) and the solution. Almost no words
5th – 64mm – A History of the World in 100 Objects. 707 pages – Hardcover
Based on a Radio Series. Each object has a couple of very nice photos and then around 3 pages of text about it and where it came from. Very nice book.
A Science Fiction book about what happens when the Moon blows up.
3rd – 66mm – Why the West Rules – For now. 750 pages. Hardcover
A big idea history book with speculation about the future.
2nd – 69mm – Road to Victory. Winston S. Churchill 1941-1945 by Martin Gilbert. 1416 pages. Hardcover
Part of the huge 8 volume official biography of Churchill. Covering Pearl Harbor to VE Day.
1st – 72mm – Family Britain 1951-57 by David Kynaston. 776 pages. Hardcover
Part of an ongoing series of books about the social history of Britain from 1945 to 1979. Covers a lot of ordinary lives and major events are often seen via individual’s reactions rather than being covered directly.
Pretty good history of the books and TV/Movie adaptions including a little on the 1st Villeneuve movie. Fun with lots of quotes and seems well researched. 4/5
Uses simple language it works though the complexity of modern warfare, addressed to an imaginary political leader. Recent enough to include lessons from Russian’s invasion of Ukraine. Highly recommend 5/5
