Libertarianism can certainly blur a few political boundaries… who ever imagined Trump siding with ‘dark web’ evangelists? And how are people like Ulbricht defined on the left-right spectrum?
Recently repurchased LF from a charity after reading 20y ago
All I remember is Keith down the pub, looking forward to (re)reading
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Yes, Keith Talent is a classic character!
I know there are a few readers of nature books on here. I’m currently obsessing over trees and I’m walking around with my head looking up at the branches of any tree I walk past. I’ve bought various books on the subject recently to add to the collection, and thought I’d share a couple of good uns on here.
It’s much more than an identification guide. I really enjoyed the chapter on the chemistry of plants and the history of Britain’s forests - it’s easy to forget that there weren’t any trees in Britain for a very long time due to the ice age - and that they only returned less than 12000 years ago.
I love monograph-type books where the author draws on science, literature and history to weave fascinating tales and nuggets of info about whatever the subject is.
In this book, the author, who is a neurobiologist and philosopher by trade, tells a different story in every chapter. Fascinating stuff on…
the wood that the Stradivari violins were made out of (and why those 16th and 17th century violins can’t be replicated)…
climate change and the temperature of cities…
the impact that dating wood and trees had on archaeology, and the invention of carbon-dating…
It’s a pearler of a book. Right up my street.
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And mine. Thanks and added to my ‘to buy next’ list.
You might enjoy this book
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In one of them (London Fields or Money) one of the characters lives in Keith Grove, W12, a tiny street in Shepherd’s Bush where I used to live.
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grew up around there. technically we were more chiswick, but we did often go to SB as my mum liked the market off goldhawk road (where we got the dog for a fiver!) so we were often on the 237. Later on, it could get a bit ‘heated’ with rival schools… Strangely I later heard the singer Don McLean was living around there too for a while in the early 70s and was in my parents’ extended circle but that was as rock n roll as they got.
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Motherhood and American Pie
Nice recommendations cheers. Not strictly trees but there’s trees in it, innit. Read lots on the Amazon, this is probably the best overview. Fascinates me.
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Great read that, took an instant huge dislike to reddit user rescuedogsdad.
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What a mess, that’s really sad.
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“Widely respected…” Bit of an understatement
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Urgh. And this is why we write our wills, folks.
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Isn’t it. Crazy how this schism replicated now in London. Douglas Sherman is playing the next ‘other’ Loft next weekend….
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The whole “Horstman II, Stefanishin, Weiss and Murphy then discovered that Sherman, Vargas, Green, Shimizu and Moon had set up a rival company” thing reads like a kind of disco Succession
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So the Lucky Cloud parties are by the bad guys?
No idea. They all seem decent sorts. But this is definitely taking the ‘love will save the day’ out of the vibe…
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Reminds me of the line in ‘The Boys Of Summer’, about seeing a Dead Head sticker on a Cadillac
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