Class In Britain, by David Cannadine

An extensive & somewhat academic anaysis of class structures in Britain from the 18th Century up to the end of the 20th Century. There are apparently three different models: them & us; hierachical; & tripartite (upper, middle, lower). The author explores the evolution of each model & the wider consequences that had upon the society of each century.

It doesn't sound like the most entertaining read does it? & you'd be right! However the argument of how each class is assumed to have its own political party when in fact it doesn't was quite interesting & a novel one to me.

Finally I found it worth perservering with until the end because the author presented an interesting contemporary analysis of Britain's class structure in comparison to the United States. Included within this section were some noteable suggestions on how Britain can become more classless (as various politicians have promised to make Britain) for example by scrapping the ludicrous honours system.

I don't recommended it for a light read on Britain's class foibles though.
3/5

The Hot Topic, by David King & Gabrielle Walker

A punchy & informative book which presents the facts of & dissects the arguments on man-made climate change. One of the authors, David King was the UK government's Chief Scientific Advisor for 7 years so knows a thing or two about the topic & that familiarity & depth of knowledge is obvious, even if just from the amount of evidence provided within the references.

What made me appreciate the book even more though was the acknowledgment that man-made climate change is here to stay for the foreseeable future & that sensible measures must be taken to limit its damage & to reduce CO2 emissions to prevent the effects from getting far worse. Furthermore these measures can be carried out using current technologies which needn't cause the bankruptcy of any country that implements them.

I found this argument a refreshing message from the usual doom-mongers & the refusenik stance of various Western countries mostly responsible for the problem which neatly exposes the reasons for a lack of progress in tackling this problem for the lie that it is.

Negatives in the book were that some of the chapters were necessarily statistic heavy, which doesn't (usually, for most people) make for the best read.
4/5

Rubicon, by Tom Holland

An erudite, entertaining & very readable book on the rise & fall of the Roman Republic, why it happened & who made it happen. For once the usual cover blurb in its praise & its awards were not for nothing. The book successfully captures the details of the major players' characters, as well as the shocking brutality of the times, in a concise & contemporary manner, in contrast to often dry translations of original sources. Although always an interesting subject it's no mean feat to tell the complicated story in such a readable way, a way that has seen this book win so much praise, including mine - I've only knocked off one star because I wanted it to carry on.
4/5

Wild America, by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher

I'm not normally into travel books but I fancied taking a look at this one of an epic trek down, across & up North America made by two reknowned naturalists in 1953. The two managed to maintain their enthusiasm for the journey & the subject matter throughout even as they were affected by exhaustion in keeping to their 30,000 mile schedule. They describe in detail (sometimes slightly too much detail about the geology & the plants which slowed things down a bit for me) the wildlife & people that they found along the way, which made for an interesting & enlightening read. I finished intrigued as to whether anyone has replicated their journey, & if the places they visited back then, & the wildlife they saw, has been preserved. I know I'd love to be lucky enough to visit one or two of the destinations they describe to find out.
4/5

Feed The Goat, by Shaun Goater

I suspected Shaun 'The Goat' Goater's "magnificent octopus" wouldn't be in danger of winning any literary awards but I was disappointed with the banality in which his exciting career was written up. It read as if it had been typed up from a dictophone, full of the sort of football cliches normally reserved for post-match interviews.
Most disappointingly on a couple of occasions a few genuinely interesting events seemed to be unfolding only for the narrative to then skip to another game without anything being revealed at all, for example on the back cover the text says that Goater was signed by Man U as a political move following a disastrous pre-season tour but there is no mention of this in the book.
The occasional revelation was enough to keep me going though, like the fact that Goater didn't think much of Keegan's man-management (or lack of it), mainly because he kept dropping him, but again this is not explored in detail; Goater never wonders why or mentions what might have been mitigating circumstances, i.e., his advancing age for a footballer.
For me though, the book was a trip down memory lane because for much of Goater's story I was able to say 'I was there', as I followed City through the outrageous ups & downs (even by their erratic standards) that coincided with Goater's time at the club.
I'm still a fan of The Goat, I even met him once & have his autograph in my passport, he's a thoroughly decent & honest man who worked hard to get where he was, I just wish he had put some of that hard work into his book especially when he played a big part in some momentous events for City, it was such a shame that a bit more care & literary craft was not applied to the re-telling.
2/5

Post Office, by Charles Bukowski

Such is the author's literary standing & cult status I almost felt obliged to enjoy this book & rate it highly, but I needn't have worried because after reading this novel I now find myself in complete agreement with the fulsome praise I've seen elsewhere. For me Bukowski's lauded originality is in describing the dull, repetitive, unskilled labour of a mail worker's life yet managing to fill it with hilarious irreverence as well as with the profound pathos of life.
5/5

Speed Painting by Nico Di Mattia

A couple of YouTube clips of some speeded-up Photoshop painting. There are quite a few but I preferred the comic-book characters Spider-man & Optimus Prime. This guy is incredibly talented regardless of the medium he uses.