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Books 53-56
53. Joanna Russ, We Who Are About To...
The sad news of the writer's death spurred me to this book, which has been sitting unread on my shelf lo these last two years. It's beautiful, highly tragic, and rather thought-provoking.
non-fiction
54. Richard Holmes, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science. Harper Press, London, 2009.
This? This is fantastic history. It's a vibrant sketch of English 'natural philosophy' between about 1770 and 1830, focusing on Joseph Banks, William and Caroline Herschel, and Humphrey Davies. Holmes has a light touch and a sort of understated good humour about the period, and if he's occasionally none to firm about nailing down dates for certain throw-away lines and developments, I'm inclined to view it charitably.
The initial three-quarters of the book stand out. Joseph Banks' place on James Cook's first voyage, the ballooning craze, William Herschel, with his conviction there was life on the moon and in the sun, Caroline Herschel, a brilliant astronomer in her own right, young Humphrey Davies and the experiments with laughing gas. The later quarter, dealing with mature Humphrey Davies and the rise of people like John Herschel and Charles Babbage in English science, has a tendency to drag a little. But overall, damned interesting reading.
55. Gary A. Boyd, Dublin 1745-1922: Hospitals, Spectacle & Vice. Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2006.
A really interesting, if brief, discussion of how hospitals - primarily the Lying-In Hospital (now the Rotunda) and the Lock Hospital - related to the architecture and public development of the city. It's even remotely relevant to the interests of my thesis - in the Lying-In Hospital, patients were required to enter from the rear, the monumental front entry-way being reserved for Important Persons. Since I'm considering uses of space and entrances in antiquity, this might be something to remember.
56. Juvenal, The Satires. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1991. Translated by Niall Rudd.
Bitter, bitter old man. It seems human nature hasn't changed much from antiquity. He has some choice quotes, though. Like: "So much stronger is the thirst for glory than for goodness. (Who, in fact, embraces Goodness herself, if you take away the rewards?)"
I have been putting off reading Philostratus. (Boring old sod.) I really oughtn't leave him any longer, much as I'd like to.
I really need to settle down to proper work, and stop running around from book to book like a dilettante on speed.
The parent has decreed that the hall must be painted in the next month. I will lay you odds on who ends up doing the majority of the painting. But it'll be nice to have a colour other than white somewhere in the house, so I daresay I won't complain too loudly.
53. Joanna Russ, We Who Are About To...
The sad news of the writer's death spurred me to this book, which has been sitting unread on my shelf lo these last two years. It's beautiful, highly tragic, and rather thought-provoking.
non-fiction
54. Richard Holmes, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science. Harper Press, London, 2009.
This? This is fantastic history. It's a vibrant sketch of English 'natural philosophy' between about 1770 and 1830, focusing on Joseph Banks, William and Caroline Herschel, and Humphrey Davies. Holmes has a light touch and a sort of understated good humour about the period, and if he's occasionally none to firm about nailing down dates for certain throw-away lines and developments, I'm inclined to view it charitably.
The initial three-quarters of the book stand out. Joseph Banks' place on James Cook's first voyage, the ballooning craze, William Herschel, with his conviction there was life on the moon and in the sun, Caroline Herschel, a brilliant astronomer in her own right, young Humphrey Davies and the experiments with laughing gas. The later quarter, dealing with mature Humphrey Davies and the rise of people like John Herschel and Charles Babbage in English science, has a tendency to drag a little. But overall, damned interesting reading.
55. Gary A. Boyd, Dublin 1745-1922: Hospitals, Spectacle & Vice. Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2006.
A really interesting, if brief, discussion of how hospitals - primarily the Lying-In Hospital (now the Rotunda) and the Lock Hospital - related to the architecture and public development of the city. It's even remotely relevant to the interests of my thesis - in the Lying-In Hospital, patients were required to enter from the rear, the monumental front entry-way being reserved for Important Persons. Since I'm considering uses of space and entrances in antiquity, this might be something to remember.
56. Juvenal, The Satires. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1991. Translated by Niall Rudd.
Bitter, bitter old man. It seems human nature hasn't changed much from antiquity. He has some choice quotes, though. Like: "So much stronger is the thirst for glory than for goodness. (Who, in fact, embraces Goodness herself, if you take away the rewards?)"
I have been putting off reading Philostratus. (Boring old sod.) I really oughtn't leave him any longer, much as I'd like to.
I really need to settle down to proper work, and stop running around from book to book like a dilettante on speed.
The parent has decreed that the hall must be painted in the next month. I will lay you odds on who ends up doing the majority of the painting. But it'll be nice to have a colour other than white somewhere in the house, so I daresay I won't complain too loudly.
