Category Archives: books

amusements, books, current affairs, memes, pleasures, quotes

Quotes of the Week

Well let’s start this week’s selection where we left off last week, with something from John Aubrey …

Even the cats were different, and Aubrey could recall when ‘the common English Catt was white with some blewish piednesse sc gallipot-blew, the race or breed of them are now almost lost’ … Aubrey says that Archbishop Laud had been ‘a great lover of Catts. He was presented with some Cypruss-catts, our Tabby-catts, which were sold at first for 5li a piece. This was about 1637 or 1638’. Tabbies are still called ‘cyprus cats’ in Norfolk.
[Anthony Powell, John Aubrey and His Friends]

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge”.
[Isaac Asimov in Newsweek, 21 January 1980]

I discovered books and music while everyone else got into drugs. Books and music were my drugs. What I read and listened to then shaped and changed my life forever.
[Katy Wheatley on her weblog]

I find being middle aged rather liberating. I wear what I like. I eat what I like. I listen to and watch what I like. I do not  feel ashamed of anything that makes me happy and makes my life feel richer, better and more joyous.
[Katy Wheatley on her weblog]

Katy, dearest, how many more times do I have to tell you that you aren’t middle aged? You can’t be middle aged — you’re younger than I am! Anyway I’m not having it, if only because if you’re middle aged then I’m senile and I ain’t ready for that yet.

To be a high achiever, always work on something important, using it as an easy way to avoid doing something that’s even more important.
[John Perry, University of Stanford, Winner of the 2011 Ig Nobel for Literature]

And finally, confirmation from an unknown source of what we all suspected …

Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible.

books, memes, quotes

Quotes of the Week

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Well there’s just one good quote this week …

I have a very proper present for your Lordship. I know your love of antiquities makes you a little superstitious. I have an elderstick, that was cut in the minute that the sun entered Taurus. Such a planetary cutting of it gives virtue to stop bleeding to which you know you are subject. If you desire to know more of the time and manner of cutting it, you must consult Aubrey’s Miscellanies. You may meet with it without doubt amongst your father’s collection of mad books.
[Dr William Stratford writing to Edward Harley (son of the Earl of Oxford), 28 June 1711, quoted in Anthony Powell, John Aubrey and His Friends]

amusements, books, memes

Listography : Celebrity Beer

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I’ve not taken part in Kate’s weekly Listography for the last couple of weeks largely because I’ve struggled to be motivated by the themes. Well that’s life. But I thought that I should try to make an effort again this week. And as often that’s proven to be harder than I expected as Kate is asking us to nominate five celebrities we would like to go for a beer with.

Surely that can’t be difficult? Well yes, because first one has to decide what “celebrity” means. The mind goes to TV persons, footballers, WAGS, pop singers and actors. Well if that’s what it means count me out because almost to a woman (are only of them actually men?) they bore me rigid — if I’ve even noticed them to start with. And then there is the question as to whether they have to be alive, or if dead celebrities count?

Therefore I decided that “celebrity” was whatever I wanted it to mean and I could include anyone I liked as long as they had a public persona and were alive. So here are five, who at the final reckoning may or may not be the top five. Who knows?

Alice Roberts. I’ve mentioned Alice any number of times before here because she’s just all-round brilliant: qualified medic, teaches anatomy, anthropologist, archaeologist, author, broadcaster and an excellent artist. I also think she’s hot! One of the people I would love to sit in the pub with and just talk the evening away.

Professor Mick Aston. The original lead archaeologist with the stripy jumpers on Channel 4’s Time Team. He’s another who I would love to just be able to chat with over beer, partly because I imagine a fascinating conversation but also because of his interest in the development of English churches and monasticism.

Dalai Lama. Another old friend of these lists — and not just because I am more attracted to Buddhism (albeit Zen) than any other philosophy. How can one not want to talk with one of the world’s most important spiritual leaders. But not just that, he seems to have a slightly wicked sense of humour!

Tony Benn. Yes, the British Labour Party politician, former Cabinet Minister and campaigner, now well into his eighties. I’d want to have a drink with him not for his politics (I disagree with much, but not all, of what he believes in) but because he is such a respected parliamentarian and constitutional historian with great insight into the workings of both history and state.

And now it is awful to say it but I get a bit stumped for my fifth nomination. There are so many people one could choose: Astronomer Patrick Moore, chefs Brian Turner and Rick Stein, BBC Weather Presenter Laura Tobin (a cheeky little pixie if ever I saw one!), authors Terry Pratchett and AN Wilson, historian Simon Schama, comedian Rory Bremner … But I think for my final choice I’ll pick …

Dick Strawbridge. Yes, him of the giant moustache. He’s another broadcaster, engineer, ecologist, ex-army Colonel and an absolute all-round nutter! I first noticed him presenting the BBC series “Crafty Tricks of War” in which he built — and usually blew up — all manner of nefarious military devices.

Well now, that’s a strange set of bedfellows if ever there was one. But in tell you what, I bet they’d all get on well together over some beer, after all in their own ways they’re all completely out to lunch on a variety of ancient bicycles!

beliefs, books, quotes, thoughts

Quotes of the Week

Oooo … have we got a thought-provoking bunch this week!

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
[William James]

Life is short, smile while you still have teeth!
[Thoughts of Angel]

A shepherd in William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale wishes “there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting.”
[David Dobbs at National Geographic]

[Natural] Selection is hell on dysfunctional traits. If adolescence is essentially a collection of them – angst, idiocy, and haste; impulsiveness, selfishness, and reckless bumbling – then how did those traits survive selection?
[David Dobbs at National Geographic]

If there was a God, why on earth would he want us to ‘believe’ and/or ‘have faith’? Given that he (she or it) is omnipotent, and can therefore by definition do anything that he wants, why doesn’t he just make us have faith/belief hard-wired into our brains? Also, can anybody think of reasons why he would care if we have faith or if we just merrily go on ignoring him? I’m genuinely puzzled by this.
[Keith J at cix:enquire_within/54discussion]

For what are we if we are not words made flesh, or flesh expressing our meaning in words? We are memories, thoughts, feelings, ideas, pain, anguish, love, amusement, boredom, hopes and dreams. We are all these things in a sheath of skin, making our way into the unknown, and if we cannot capture it, think about it, reflect on it and own it, what do we have?
[Katyboo]

I visualize the ego as a little guy in a gray flannel suit and tight necktie. His job is to get you safely through your waking day, to make sure that you pay your electric bill and don’t offend the boss. He keeps up a constant chatter, telling you to do this or that, and insisting that you pay attention to what’s happening in the world around you. He takes occasional coffee breaks, like when you’ve driven down a familiar road, and realize when you arrive home that you have no memory of the trip. The ego has taken time out, figuring you can get home on automatic pilot. He’s grateful when you finally retire for the night. He’s got you in a safe place – your bedroom – where nothing is likely to happen to you. He pops up again in the morning, when you “wake down” from your wider experiences in the sleep state. He’s the character who makes you look at the clock (“time” only exists in its usual sense when the ego is on the job) and nags you into getting out of bed and on your way to work. Jealous of the time you spend in your right brain, he likes to insist he’s been around all the time. He hates to admit that his job isn’t all there is to your experience, so he makes sure you forget your dreams. He’s especially good at pretending he’s never off the job. “I wasn’t asleep, or not paying attention. I was just resting my eyes. I heard everything you said,” he insists indignantly when you catch him at one of his coffee breaks, such as when you are wool-gathering, sleeping, or under hypnosis.
[Helen Wambach, Reliving Past Lives]

books, food+drink, memes, photography

Listography – Things I did this Summer

I’ve been somewhat lacking in the last few weeks in keeping up with Kate’s Listography. The spirit has been willing but there just haven’t been enough hours in the day. Why? Well see my previous post, and consider that I’ve been working a minimum of 6 hours a day, 7 days a week, for at least 6 weeks on Society/conference business.

But better late than never here’s my response to Kate’s Listography from last week. These are some of the things I did this summer …

Organised and ran an international literary conference. I think I hardly need say more.

Completed and released my photo book – a month earlier than planned. I don’t expect it to make me tons of money. I did it because I wanted to; it was fun; it was for me.

Wrote an academic paper and submitted it for publication. Not because I had to for work or anything, but just for the sheer hell of it!

Drank afternoon tea with an Earl. Yes, a real Earl. No names, no telling. Just a pleasant cup of tea and a chat, tête-a-tete, while he signed some books.

Ate too much fish and chips – several times. Well who wouldn’t?

Glamorous? No. Mostly damned hard work!

books

Well that was some weekend!

I’m exhausted! I’m still trying to recover from last weekend. And here we are with the next weekend upon us!

We spent four days last weekend running what is turning into a major literary conference: the Biennial Anthony Powell Conference, organised by the Anthony Powell Society of which I am Hon. Secretary. So that means I’m the one who does all the work and carries the can.

This is the sixth conference we have run, and the fifth for which I have been the lead organiser (the exception was 2009 in Washington, DC where I still did a lot of the work). All of them have been different and each has been stunning in its own way.

But for me this one surpassed all the others. 100 delegates. 15 papers of different types plus three keynotes over two days of plenary sessions at the Naval & Military Club in London’s St James’s Square. A reception with charity auction which raised almost £1000 – which was at least twice what I had expected (the money goes to pay for a plaque in London to commemorate Powell). A coach tour of London followed by Sunday lunch. Then on Monday a few of us spent the day in Eton, still looking at Powell connections. All with a fantastic, friendly set of people.

Four long and tiring days. But wonderfully exhilarating days despite the odd gripes (well you can’t please everyone all the time). This is some of what the delegates said:

This is my fifth conference this summer and has been far and away the best
Superb organization and time-keeping
Congratulations on a really splendid conference
Brilliant venue
Themes very well thought out, complementing each other
The setting was perfect
Excellent venue and organisation coupled with lots of friendly and interesting people
Great work all round; congratulations
Reminded me how much I enjoy Powell’s writings

Did we make a profit? Don’t know yet as I haven’t got all the bills in, but we’ll not be far off at least breaking even (which is all we aim to do).

And I didn’t have time to take a single photo! But here I am (in blue shirt), in the sumptuous surroundings of the Naval & Military Club, playing at being auctioneer (photo by Graham & Dorothy Davie).

Now I wonder if I can get enough lie-ins before doing it all again in 2013?

books, personal, photography

Available Now: Zen Mischief Photographs

[Fanfare of trumpets!]

It’s here! The first spin-off from this blog, my new photo book, is available at last. Yes, it’s been a well kept secret and been in gestation for quite some months, but eventually it’s here.

Here’s (some of) what I say in the Introduction:

I am fairly sure I took my first photographs with my father’s Kodak Box Brownie although I don’t know how old I was. But I do have a series of old 620 roll film images of my parents and I on holiday at a nudist club when I would have been around 9 or 10; and as the series contains one of my parents but not me, it seems reasonable to assume I took it. And I know had my first cheap camera by the time I was about 12.

I’ve been taking photographs on and off ever since. And that’s now 50 years … But this book is not really designed as a celebration of my 50 years taking photographs. It is intended only as a collection of images I like from the last few years …

I do not pretend that these are world-beating images. Nor would I claim to be an especially good photographer. I’ve had no formal photographic training, but learnt the basics at my father’s knee and by going to camera club with him as a teenager. It was more difficult then: we didn’t have cameras which did everything for us; exposures had to be calculated; every shot cost us real money to develop and print; and you had to wait days or even weeks to see your successes and failures. Like the rest of modern life photography is now cheap and instant.

My approach to photography has always been to take what I see; what interests, intrigues or amuses me. It is about trying to see things and make them into a picture …

Available now on Blurb. Not yet on Amazon, but it should be eventually.

Keith C Marshall
Zen Mischief Photographs: Images from a Space-Time Warp
McTigger Books, 2011
ISBN 978-0-9570017-0-1
RRP £37.50

books, topographical

Listography – Last Week

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In this week’s Listography Kate is asking us what we did last week. So …

1. Spent Sunday morning driving round London testing a coach tour I’m conducting in under two weeks time. Can I get a coach in there? What is there interesting to say about this boring street?

2. Had coffee with a TV Producer and lunch with a publisher the same day. No not as exciting as it sounds, deals to pay me loads of dosh were not being done, nor did it relate too …

3. Sent off the (I hope) final proofs of my book. It should be out in October. Watch this space.

4. (Finished) reading four books.
Steve Burgess; Famous Past Lives. Very interesting, even if one isn’t totally convinced. Can’t put it down!
Christopher Ryan & Cacilda Jethá; Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships . Although interesting and makes a lot of sense it could have been much more tightly written. In the words of Ambrose Bierce “the covers of this book are too far apart”.
Tony Thorne; Jolly Wicked, Actually: 100 Words That Make Us English. Curate’s egg-ish; by turns interesting and dull; mostly dull.
Anthony Powell; Caledonia: A Fragment. Spoof pastiche poem, written in 1930s (and privately printed) which takes the piss out of the Scots unmercifully. Now publicly published as an entity in its own right. Introduction by the Earl of Gowrie.

5. Went to see my hypnotherapist. Yes, we’re making progress but it’s slow. Come on subconscious … LET GO!

And in between all that lot I was working full time getting everything ready for the conference I’m organising in 10 days time. Busy. Busy. Busy.

amusements, beliefs, books, quotes, science, thoughts

Quotes of the Week

The usual eclectic and kleptological collection this week …

Blunt common sense is valued above Gauloise-wreathed nuances of gossip about concepts.
[AC Grayling, The Form of Things]

Religion is false but the masses should be encouraged to believe it; it keeps them in order.
[Plato quoted in AC Grayling, The Form of Things]

Harvester of maidenheads
[Description of the second Earl of Rochester, circa 1660, quoted in AC Grayling, The Form of Things]

The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others.
[Bertrand Russell]

… and those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
[Friedrich Nietzsche]

I like prime numbers … I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your lifetime thinking about them.
[Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time]

The greatest university of all is a collection of books.
[Thomas Carlyle]

Long range planning does not deal with future decisions, but with the future of present decisions.
[Peter F Drucker]

Life begins at 40 — but so do fallen arches, rheumatism, faulty eyesight, and the tendency to tell a story to the same person, three or four times.
[Helen Rowland]

If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
[Anon]