Democratic
Didn't you just love the fine and stirring sight of an elderly man being roughly manhandled out of the Labour Party conference today for daring to attempt to raise an objection to Blair's policy on Iraq? Truly our leaders and their party worship at the twin temples of Democracy and Freedom of Speech...
Even better the police used the hastily rushed through anti-terror laws to keep the 82 year old Walter Wolfgang from re-entering the conference, despite the fact he is rather obviously not a terrorist (although we know the police have great difficulty in telling who is a real terrorist - perhaps he is lucky they didn't just shoot him) and has been a Labour Party member for several decades.
Labour have now apologised for the heavy handed removal but I'm moved to wonder if they would have made such an apology if it wasn't for the fact that cameras caught their flunkies bodily handling an octogenerian party member from the auditorium and shown it on national television. Pretty embarassing stuff, but hardly unexpected to see that Blair's party cannot even listen to criticism on the war (they earlier blocked on MP's attempts to have a debate on the war - Tony showing again that he really values the opinion of the British citizens). To rub salt in the wound they also threw out another party member who dared to object to the treatment of this elderly man.
Blair ignored huge amounts of MPs and millions of those who marched against the war and now his conference flunkies stymie debate on it and bodily manhandle elderly delegates out for trying to speak. What next, Tony? Next time maybe you'll just have the offending person arrested and held for weeks without trial? Maybe we can build a camp on one of the deserted islands of the West Coast of Scotland and hold a whole bunch of micscreants there who are a threat to security? Nah, surely not - no civilised nation would hold people without trial or lock them up without charge on an isolated island... Oh...
And as an interesting addendum to this travesty, Newsnight observed that it took five hours for Labour to apologise for Mr Wolfgang's rough treatment but they still haven't apologised to Steve Forrest, a local party chairman who had merely remonstrated with the overly steroidal-looking thugs for their ridiculous treatment of an old man. And watching the footage I'm also wondering - couldn't Mr Wolfgang sue the stewards for assault? They have no right to physically handle him in that way; hell staff in stores are told not to touch shoplifters if possible because it could be taken as assault. I'd love to see him take Labour to court for assault and for denying his rights to the freedom of speech and expression. Democracy in action. What a fine example to set to the youth of Britain - if someone is bothering you get some large apes to physically deal with them on your behalf. This from the government who is committed to stamping out 'yobbish' behaviour...
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Out of this world
The Space Race series on BBC2 is shaping up to be quite excellent, in my (not very) humble opinion. So far we've gone from Von Braun and his engineers trying to escape to American forces in the crumbling Third Reich to the early 1960s. 1961 to be exact. Tonight's documentary covered the wonderfully tense desperation between the USSR and NASA to put the first human into space. Despite being quite familiar with the history I found myself utterly gripped by this episode; how close NASA was, the dreadful explosion in the USSR. The series has the hallmark quality documentary level of detail you would expect from the Beeb mixed with re-creations.
Only 16 years before the most advanced rockets were the V2s being unleashed by the Nazis, raining destruction down on Britain - the dawn of the ballistic missile, which would cast a long and terrifying shadow across the succeeding decades. And yet 16 years later here was Yuri Gagarin climbing into a primitve rocket, knowing full well just how dangerous it was. That acceptance of danger was something astronauts and cosmonauts had in common; the willingness to push themselves into the unknown.
The Space Race was driven very much by Cold War considerations relating to those ballistic missiles and national prestige, but that doens't mean for one moment we shouldn't regard some of those achievements with reverence. Picture Gagarin in a violenty shaking tiny capsule, hurled into orbit; the rocket could explode, the capsule may not make it back - hell, they weren't even sure a human being could actually survive spaceflight even if the machinery worked perfectly. And yet there was no shortage of pilots willing to fly.
So there is Gagarin, being shaken around and experiencing enormous G-force and suddenly it goes quiet and he is floating in orbit around our little world. The first man in the history to look down on the clouds scurrying across the face of the globe from above; the first to travel round the entire world in less than a couple of hours. Short centuries before the first circumnavigations of the globe were celebrated and took months or even years. Now Gagarin flashed round the Earth in just over 100 minutes.
We tend to forget just how big an adventure space exploration is today - we make jokes about Shuttle flights being delayed and are only reminded how dangerous an endeavour it is when tragedy strikes. We complain about costs (which may be big but are a fraction of what we waste on weapons) and lose sight of the sheer wonder of it all. And yet back then it was far more dangerous and raw and yet they did it. But Gagarin was the first to see our world from space and it was wondrful.
Alexei Leonov (the first man to perform a spacewalk and honoured by Arthur C Clarke by having the ship in 2010 named for him) recalled those days and his friendship with Yuri in his portion of Two Sides of the Moon which details the early space programme from both sides (my review on the Alien Online is here - I treasure the copy I have signed by Alexei's co-author, Apollo astronuat David Scott (how blown away was I to talk to a man who had walked on the Moon?!?!)). Yuri Gagarin was one of my heroes when I was a boy and this series reminded me of the mixture of fascination and excitement space exploration sparked in me back then; no wonder I ended up selling SF! Perhaps Ken MacLeod's books are partly a substitute for space travel for me. I don't have a poster of him anymore, but Yuri is still one of my heroes; I think he always will be. He really did go where no man had gone before and he did it boldly.
The Space Race series on BBC2 is shaping up to be quite excellent, in my (not very) humble opinion. So far we've gone from Von Braun and his engineers trying to escape to American forces in the crumbling Third Reich to the early 1960s. 1961 to be exact. Tonight's documentary covered the wonderfully tense desperation between the USSR and NASA to put the first human into space. Despite being quite familiar with the history I found myself utterly gripped by this episode; how close NASA was, the dreadful explosion in the USSR. The series has the hallmark quality documentary level of detail you would expect from the Beeb mixed with re-creations.
Only 16 years before the most advanced rockets were the V2s being unleashed by the Nazis, raining destruction down on Britain - the dawn of the ballistic missile, which would cast a long and terrifying shadow across the succeeding decades. And yet 16 years later here was Yuri Gagarin climbing into a primitve rocket, knowing full well just how dangerous it was. That acceptance of danger was something astronauts and cosmonauts had in common; the willingness to push themselves into the unknown.
The Space Race was driven very much by Cold War considerations relating to those ballistic missiles and national prestige, but that doens't mean for one moment we shouldn't regard some of those achievements with reverence. Picture Gagarin in a violenty shaking tiny capsule, hurled into orbit; the rocket could explode, the capsule may not make it back - hell, they weren't even sure a human being could actually survive spaceflight even if the machinery worked perfectly. And yet there was no shortage of pilots willing to fly.
So there is Gagarin, being shaken around and experiencing enormous G-force and suddenly it goes quiet and he is floating in orbit around our little world. The first man in the history to look down on the clouds scurrying across the face of the globe from above; the first to travel round the entire world in less than a couple of hours. Short centuries before the first circumnavigations of the globe were celebrated and took months or even years. Now Gagarin flashed round the Earth in just over 100 minutes.
We tend to forget just how big an adventure space exploration is today - we make jokes about Shuttle flights being delayed and are only reminded how dangerous an endeavour it is when tragedy strikes. We complain about costs (which may be big but are a fraction of what we waste on weapons) and lose sight of the sheer wonder of it all. And yet back then it was far more dangerous and raw and yet they did it. But Gagarin was the first to see our world from space and it was wondrful.
Alexei Leonov (the first man to perform a spacewalk and honoured by Arthur C Clarke by having the ship in 2010 named for him) recalled those days and his friendship with Yuri in his portion of Two Sides of the Moon which details the early space programme from both sides (my review on the Alien Online is here - I treasure the copy I have signed by Alexei's co-author, Apollo astronuat David Scott (how blown away was I to talk to a man who had walked on the Moon?!?!)). Yuri Gagarin was one of my heroes when I was a boy and this series reminded me of the mixture of fascination and excitement space exploration sparked in me back then; no wonder I ended up selling SF! Perhaps Ken MacLeod's books are partly a substitute for space travel for me. I don't have a poster of him anymore, but Yuri is still one of my heroes; I think he always will be. He really did go where no man had gone before and he did it boldly.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Turning the pages
The British Library has not only been scanning in precious, rare books but also embarking on a project called Turning the Pages. Although I love tech and gadgets I've never liked reading E-books - I much prefer the act of leafing through a real book. This project is digitizing precious old books in the British Library's collection but has also been designed to be read as much like a real book as possible - you click and drag and flip over the pages in a quite satisfying manner. Not exactly the same as reading a real book but as close as most of us will get to touching such rarities.
Only a few researchers will ever get to touch these delicate literary treasures, but thanks to these digitzed versions being made available online anyone can now have a look, 'leafing' through the pages. It helps protect and store important but fragile works and yet allow us all access to them - brilliant idea. One of the ones now available is the original manuscript for one of my favourite books, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, written and illustrated in his own hand and there are a number of other works available, including one of the first atlases of Europe by the great Mercator. If you like books then do yourself a favour and go and enjoy a good read. It's not quite the Alexandria Library in cyberspace yet, but it is a start - and hopefully more fire-resistant than the original Alexandria (now that would have been a sight to see, wouldn't it?).
The British Library has not only been scanning in precious, rare books but also embarking on a project called Turning the Pages. Although I love tech and gadgets I've never liked reading E-books - I much prefer the act of leafing through a real book. This project is digitizing precious old books in the British Library's collection but has also been designed to be read as much like a real book as possible - you click and drag and flip over the pages in a quite satisfying manner. Not exactly the same as reading a real book but as close as most of us will get to touching such rarities.
Only a few researchers will ever get to touch these delicate literary treasures, but thanks to these digitzed versions being made available online anyone can now have a look, 'leafing' through the pages. It helps protect and store important but fragile works and yet allow us all access to them - brilliant idea. One of the ones now available is the original manuscript for one of my favourite books, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, written and illustrated in his own hand and there are a number of other works available, including one of the first atlases of Europe by the great Mercator. If you like books then do yourself a favour and go and enjoy a good read. It's not quite the Alexandria Library in cyberspace yet, but it is a start - and hopefully more fire-resistant than the original Alexandria (now that would have been a sight to see, wouldn't it?).
Friday, September 23, 2005
Meedja hoor
I was off being a wee meedjah hoor this week, recording a short interview for BBC Radio Five Live for a forthcoming programme on blogging. And no, it wasn't about the events of earlier this year; it was about the growth in blogging, both personal and for business, so I was talking about general blogging, my own blog and my work blog over at the FPI Blog Logs. Saira Kahn is the reporter in the Julian Worricker Show and it’s called the 5 Live Report; I'm told they are going to be doing regular spots on blogging in the show which is nice to see.
Saira has started a blog of her own - she's new to it and looking for comments and suggestions and to take part in the blogging community, so do drop by her blog and say hi. The show goes out the 2nd of October at 10.30am; BBC radio shows are normally availble for seven days afterwards on the BBC's site archives to download.
I was off being a wee meedjah hoor this week, recording a short interview for BBC Radio Five Live for a forthcoming programme on blogging. And no, it wasn't about the events of earlier this year; it was about the growth in blogging, both personal and for business, so I was talking about general blogging, my own blog and my work blog over at the FPI Blog Logs. Saira Kahn is the reporter in the Julian Worricker Show and it’s called the 5 Live Report; I'm told they are going to be doing regular spots on blogging in the show which is nice to see.
Saira has started a blog of her own - she's new to it and looking for comments and suggestions and to take part in the blogging community, so do drop by her blog and say hi. The show goes out the 2nd of October at 10.30am; BBC radio shows are normally availble for seven days afterwards on the BBC's site archives to download.
Model scandal
Anyone else find the whole 'moral' pose of the fashonistas over Kate Moss's use of Bolivian Marching Powder somewhat hypocritical? I especially loved H&M saying they'd stick by her one day then firing her the next. Perhaps they were worried people would think their name stood for Heroin & Mescalin? Hey, little model girls, don't dare eat food (unless you are going to regurgitate it); eating could ruin your emaciated clotheshorse body. In fact wouldn't the fashionistas have been more horrified if Kate had been caught outside Piemaker scarfing down a big-ass pastie? Shoot up in your eyeball backstage or go for a snort in the loo but don't swallow any solids, girls!
Anyone else find the whole 'moral' pose of the fashonistas over Kate Moss's use of Bolivian Marching Powder somewhat hypocritical? I especially loved H&M saying they'd stick by her one day then firing her the next. Perhaps they were worried people would think their name stood for Heroin & Mescalin? Hey, little model girls, don't dare eat food (unless you are going to regurgitate it); eating could ruin your emaciated clotheshorse body. In fact wouldn't the fashionistas have been more horrified if Kate had been caught outside Piemaker scarfing down a big-ass pastie? Shoot up in your eyeball backstage or go for a snort in the loo but don't swallow any solids, girls!
Sold
My mate Ken forwarded this to me:
President Bush Sells Louisiana Back to the FrenchPresident Bush and a giddy Jacques Chirac shake hands on the deal. BATON ROUGE, LA. – The White House announced today that President Bush has successfully sold the state of Louisiana back to the French at more than double its original selling price of $11,250,000. “This is a bold step forward for America,” said Bush. “And America will be stronger and better as a result. I stand here today in unity with French Prime Minister Jack Sharaq, who was so kind to accept my offer of Louisiana in exchange for 25 million dollars cash.”
The state, ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild. “Jack understands full well that this one’s a ‘fixer upper,’” said Bush. “He and the French people are quite prepared to pump out all that water, and make Louisiana a decent place to live again. And they’ve got a lot of work to do. But Jack’s assured me, if it’s not right, they’re going to fix it.”The move has been met with incredulity from the beleaguered residents of Louisiana.
However, President Bush’s decision has been widely lauded by Republicans. “This is an unexpected but brilliant move by the President,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. “Instead of spending billions and billions, and billions of dollars rebuilding the state of Louisiana, we’ve just made 25 million dollars in pure profit.”“This is indeed a smart move,” commented Fox News analyst Brit Hume. “Not only have we stopped the flooding in our own budget, we’ve made money on the deal. Plus, when the god-awful French are done fixing it up, we can easily invade and take it back again.”The money gained from 'T'he Louisiana Refund' is expected to be immediately pumped into the rebuilding of Iraq.
This article submitted by BSNews contributor Ben Spierenburg 9/06/05 Headline by Reid Carrick
Which kind of reminded me of something that hopped into my mind while singing in the shower this morning (well, the shower radio needs new batteries). To be sung to the tune of American Pie:
"Well, it's bye bye to being high and dry,
Tried to plug the levee with my Chevy but the tide was too high,
And good ole' George was on TV in a tie,
Said please help us, Mr President, but he didn't even try..."
And please don't write in telling me I'm a sick puppy. For starters we all know that already and secondly I'm not having a go at the poor souls in New Orleans, but sometimes events are so bad you just need to be able to make the odd joke about them.
My mate Ken forwarded this to me:
President Bush Sells Louisiana Back to the FrenchPresident Bush and a giddy Jacques Chirac shake hands on the deal. BATON ROUGE, LA. – The White House announced today that President Bush has successfully sold the state of Louisiana back to the French at more than double its original selling price of $11,250,000. “This is a bold step forward for America,” said Bush. “And America will be stronger and better as a result. I stand here today in unity with French Prime Minister Jack Sharaq, who was so kind to accept my offer of Louisiana in exchange for 25 million dollars cash.”
The state, ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild. “Jack understands full well that this one’s a ‘fixer upper,’” said Bush. “He and the French people are quite prepared to pump out all that water, and make Louisiana a decent place to live again. And they’ve got a lot of work to do. But Jack’s assured me, if it’s not right, they’re going to fix it.”The move has been met with incredulity from the beleaguered residents of Louisiana.
However, President Bush’s decision has been widely lauded by Republicans. “This is an unexpected but brilliant move by the President,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. “Instead of spending billions and billions, and billions of dollars rebuilding the state of Louisiana, we’ve just made 25 million dollars in pure profit.”“This is indeed a smart move,” commented Fox News analyst Brit Hume. “Not only have we stopped the flooding in our own budget, we’ve made money on the deal. Plus, when the god-awful French are done fixing it up, we can easily invade and take it back again.”The money gained from 'T'he Louisiana Refund' is expected to be immediately pumped into the rebuilding of Iraq.
This article submitted by BSNews contributor Ben Spierenburg 9/06/05 Headline by Reid Carrick
Which kind of reminded me of something that hopped into my mind while singing in the shower this morning (well, the shower radio needs new batteries). To be sung to the tune of American Pie:
"Well, it's bye bye to being high and dry,
Tried to plug the levee with my Chevy but the tide was too high,
And good ole' George was on TV in a tie,
Said please help us, Mr President, but he didn't even try..."
And please don't write in telling me I'm a sick puppy. For starters we all know that already and secondly I'm not having a go at the poor souls in New Orleans, but sometimes events are so bad you just need to be able to make the odd joke about them.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Takeover
I've remained pretty quiet on the story about my former employer's making a bid for rival bookstore chain Ottakar's recently. It is difficult for me to comment on because it could too easily be interpreted as sour grapes or the grinding of the axe (hey, I have no axe to grind, honest - my Viking mate Vegar is the axe man in our gang, I prefer a good sword myself).
Suffice to say I am not in favour of it - not because of my own experiences, but because I believe it can only be bad for readers, authors and publishers (and for many booksellers). Even if I still worked at They Who Shall Not Be Named - indeed even if it was more like the company I first joined years ago I would oppose it. No one bookchain should have such a stranglehold on the high street and on suppliers. It will harm large publishers as even higher discounts and fees for displays are demanded and will crush independent publishers who already struggle to get their books represented in the stores (a result of both business practises and the degrading of local buying - central purchasing and the erosion of expert local buyers in branches have meant it is harder and harder for local publisher to sell their books in local stores owned by chains (not just in my former employer's chain I must add in fairness, others too).
However, I am not going to go on about it except to point out a few spots where more has been said about it, such as this very emotive piece over on the Overgrown Path and some words from Ariel, which includes a link to the OFT where you can send your thoughts for consideration on the ancshluss; and it will be like annexing another country - I recall when they 'merged' with Dillons but promised they would run alongside the company, yet not long after the ones which did not get closed were all re-branded and Dillons vanished. I really don't want to see this happen to Ottakar's too.
Do we really want one uber-bookchain feeding us an ever-diminishing range of promoted titles at the expense of variety, diveristy and range depth? With independent bookstores finding it ever more difficult and new authors struggling to be picked because publishers must come up with books they can sell in big numbers to recoup the amount they give away in fees and discounts to chains our literary world is about to get smaller and that is a bad thing. The Telegraph also posted an interesting piece on the subject here, which I found via Cheryl's excllent weblog on Emerald City. I thought Alan Giles' comment that publisher weren't forced to do business with They WHo Shall Not Be Named was hilarious - who, especially given this attempt to take an enormous chunk of the British high street booksales, are they supposed to sell their books to? This attitude is exactly why this merger should not be allowed by the OFT - it will harm the booktrade, deny readers choice and put even more pressure on the remaining independent sellers and publishers.
I've remained pretty quiet on the story about my former employer's making a bid for rival bookstore chain Ottakar's recently. It is difficult for me to comment on because it could too easily be interpreted as sour grapes or the grinding of the axe (hey, I have no axe to grind, honest - my Viking mate Vegar is the axe man in our gang, I prefer a good sword myself).
Suffice to say I am not in favour of it - not because of my own experiences, but because I believe it can only be bad for readers, authors and publishers (and for many booksellers). Even if I still worked at They Who Shall Not Be Named - indeed even if it was more like the company I first joined years ago I would oppose it. No one bookchain should have such a stranglehold on the high street and on suppliers. It will harm large publishers as even higher discounts and fees for displays are demanded and will crush independent publishers who already struggle to get their books represented in the stores (a result of both business practises and the degrading of local buying - central purchasing and the erosion of expert local buyers in branches have meant it is harder and harder for local publisher to sell their books in local stores owned by chains (not just in my former employer's chain I must add in fairness, others too).
However, I am not going to go on about it except to point out a few spots where more has been said about it, such as this very emotive piece over on the Overgrown Path and some words from Ariel, which includes a link to the OFT where you can send your thoughts for consideration on the ancshluss; and it will be like annexing another country - I recall when they 'merged' with Dillons but promised they would run alongside the company, yet not long after the ones which did not get closed were all re-branded and Dillons vanished. I really don't want to see this happen to Ottakar's too.
Do we really want one uber-bookchain feeding us an ever-diminishing range of promoted titles at the expense of variety, diveristy and range depth? With independent bookstores finding it ever more difficult and new authors struggling to be picked because publishers must come up with books they can sell in big numbers to recoup the amount they give away in fees and discounts to chains our literary world is about to get smaller and that is a bad thing. The Telegraph also posted an interesting piece on the subject here, which I found via Cheryl's excllent weblog on Emerald City. I thought Alan Giles' comment that publisher weren't forced to do business with They WHo Shall Not Be Named was hilarious - who, especially given this attempt to take an enormous chunk of the British high street booksales, are they supposed to sell their books to? This attitude is exactly why this merger should not be allowed by the OFT - it will harm the booktrade, deny readers choice and put even more pressure on the remaining independent sellers and publishers.
Since part of the development at Lochrin Basin in Edinburgh, part of the redevelopment of the canal (which you can sail along via the Falkirk Wheel or cycle beside right to Glasgow again), is on this year's RIAS architecture award shortlist Mel and decided to have a walk along the towpath to it on the way into town. Unfortunately we weren't sure exactly which of the new buildings there is on the RIAS shortlist! And to be honest neither of us thought any of them to be particularly attractive buildings; they're not hideous but neither are they inspiring. Its a mix of cafes, bars, offices and new apartments. The large cobbled space around the end of the canal is a nice wide space but badly used - much of it is empty and there is little greenery. It is a bit like the recent developments in the financial district - walk up from the Clydesdale Bank's building towards the EICC you find another large, spacious plaza between these huge, new buildings.
A very welcome thing to see, but again it is a wasted space; there are seats around the edge but the huge, cobbled middle area is empty. If this were Paris or Rome (or even Glasgow for that matter) there would be seats in the middle, a fountain, some plants or sculpture where the office folk from those buildings could relax, but no, just a huge, empty space. And as it is, like most financial districts, empty on a weekend, it feels even worse - a big space right in the city centre, desolate and empty - such a waste and it shows the complete lack of the human factor in the planner's design. No warmth whatsoever. Why do planners and architects do this? And why do council planning departments not intervene?
Oh well, at least in the case of the canal side it is a lot of old brownbelt land being re-used, which is good and it is nice to see traffic on there again. There are jetties set up for narrowboats to dock at, with services all at the dockside and the towpath is fixed up so you can walk and cycle along quite enjoyably (top ride is out to nearby Ratho village where I heartily recommend the pub there which does great food).
Cargo, the cafe-bar on Lochrin basin is not a place I'd recommend though, unless you have money to burn - any place around Fountainbridge which charges more than £3 per drink is fleecing you in my opinion. It does have a huge outside area looking onto the canal, covered in those large, outdoor heaters; I've never beheld so many of these things in one space together before. Since they are used outdoors and outdoors generally has no roof, they are pretty stupid devices, venting most of their heat straight into the atmosphere. Waste of fuel and incredibly unfriendly to the environment - and having a forest of the damned things must make this a very environmentally damanging spot when they are all on! Hell, if you can't sit outside without these things burning then it is clearly too cold and you should go inside! What is the point of them?!?!
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Vellum
Indulging myself in waxing lyrical on books reminded me that I forgot to post a link here to the author interview with Hal Duncan over on the FPI Blog. Hal is the Glasgow-based author of the astonishing debut novel, Vellum, which I've been raving about for the last couple of months - its one of the most literate and inventive fantasies I've ever read and draws handsome comparison to some of the finest practicioners of the art such as Michael Moorcock and Neil Gaiman. If you have read Vellum, which came out in August, then I think you'll find Hal's answers in the interview to be illuminating; if you haven't read it yet then I hope it encourages you to pick it up.
Indulging myself in waxing lyrical on books reminded me that I forgot to post a link here to the author interview with Hal Duncan over on the FPI Blog. Hal is the Glasgow-based author of the astonishing debut novel, Vellum, which I've been raving about for the last couple of months - its one of the most literate and inventive fantasies I've ever read and draws handsome comparison to some of the finest practicioners of the art such as Michael Moorcock and Neil Gaiman. If you have read Vellum, which came out in August, then I think you'll find Hal's answers in the interview to be illuminating; if you haven't read it yet then I hope it encourages you to pick it up.
The travelling of books
Can it really only be a centuries since Gutenberg gave the world it’s most incredible and enduring invention, print? How swiftly books, that literary fire that the Prometheus of Print gave to us, came to be entrenched in our civilisation. For all our talk of the decline in public libraries and the quality of literature in our bookstores (or perhaps book department stores would be more appropriate for some) the book still holds a pre-eminent place in our cognitive landscape. We use them every day, be it for study, work, knowledge or simple pleasure (I count myself profoundly lucky my job means that all of these categories often apply to me). Even the least bibliophile among us often still respect the written word; it has authority, it has a form of permanence; we read the new but always we refer back to what came before, knowledge and ideas bound within pages as a sorcerer would bind a spirit, freed by the magical application of reading.
Moveable type freed ideas and opened mass channels of communication in a way humanity had never know. Increased literacy and availability of books coincided (no accident) with a flowering of new knowledge and greater understanding of the old. Most important was that books allowed information to travel; a reader in a Parisian Salon could debate the works of Hume in
Wandering around some of the second hand and charity shops in
Inside the cover there was a bookplate – it had been an award to a school child, long ago. “Gloucester Education Committee,
A few years ago I found a small stack of books hidden away in my parent’s home, which surprised me since I thought I knew all of the books there (most of them being mine after all!). Quite a few of them turned out, like Gulliver’s Travels, to be school prizes given to family members. Several dated from the early 1900s and bore the bookplate inscribed to James
Real or not, I’ve always felt a connection to him; I have his gorgeous, solid gold pocket watch still, which bears both of our initials. I only wear it on very special occasions as the mechanism is too delicate to bear daily winding now, but it always makes me feel like he’s with me when I do. Some of his old medals are still there too; he was a gifted first-aider and medals comemerated his work, especially driving ambulances during the war (he was on duty in Clydebank the night the Luftwaffe came for the great shipyards of
Another books bore an inscription from a young girl to an uncle I never even knew, signed and dated in the early 1900s in a sanatorium near
And that is one of the most remarkable things about good books, the way they endure and pass through time; its one of those wonderful extras that old books bear and new books may gather as they age, moving from reader to reader through the years. It makes me wonder who may be reading some of my favourite books from my shelves decades from now and what they will think of them. Will they enjoy them as I did? Will they wonder at who read them before they had them, what they were like, what they did? At the bookstore in the Book Festival recently I picked up some small pamphlets of Scottish poetry, including one by one of my favourite modern Scots poets, Tessa Ranford, who understood all of this and expressed it perfectly in “The Book Rediscovered in the Future”:
One day in the future
A child may come across a book
And say: “Imagine being able to hold
In your hand what you read,
To carry it with you and wear it out
With your life; to pass it on
Bearing your marks, your name,
Written in ink, your signature:
Your wavelength in letters.
Seasons
There’s a definite feeling of change in the air, the wheeling of the seasons. We’ve had an early taste of winter as cold winds blow up the
Most canopies are still green but each bough already bears yellowing leaves; in a few weeks more the green trees swaying in the breeze will wear crowns of vermillion which glow in the golden sunlight of autumn, a final hurrah before the winds blow the leaves loose and the trees take on their bear, skeletal winter form. Although the winter here to grants beauty – devoid of their rich, lush leaves the bare branches are the perfect canvas for nature to paint upon with glittering frost. There’s always something beautiful to look at in any season if you eyes know how to look.
So once more we move into the “seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness2 and true to the old poem the autumnal mists are already rising in
You can easily imagine Hogg’s Justified Sinner (surely a parent to both Jekyll and Hyde) with his internal torments atop that extinct volcano, just as you can imagine the muffled footsteps you hear in the wynds and ways could be those of Burke and Hare carrying another body for Knox through the misty streets of the Old Town. On such evenings in Edinburgh you could almost believe that the mists will momentarily part on a dark evening and you’ll catch sight of Deacon Brodie leading his double life or the gawkit gait of Stevenson in his velvet coat, his wan complexion reflecting the light above a favoured tavern, the moisture on the sandstone blocks shimmering like stars.
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