Category: Review (Page 124 of 133)

The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase by Mark Forsyth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Have you always wanted to write like Shakespeare? Or is reaching literary immortality your thing? If you have nothing of any note to say, but still want to have maximum effect in your prose then you need to learn the finer arts of rhetoric. In this expose of the one liner, Mark Forsythe details the way to write that will give you much more style than you thought possible. Its origins are Greek, who formulated the concepts; these were built on by the Romans, before the baton was handed to the English when they finally got around to their Renaissance. Beginning with the always alluring alliteration, he moves through merism, hyperbaton and diacope before asking some rhetorical questions and considers periodic sentences. It would not be complete without the fourteenth rule, nor elements of paradox or hyperbole…

I have read and loved the The Etymologicon and The Horologicon before so was really looking forward to this, and mostly it didn’t disappoint. I liked the way he expanded the 39 elements of rhetoric, moving neatly onto the next from the previous chapter. And it is very readable too, he has a knack of explaining things with the barest hint of wit and using examples that bring a smile to your face. Well worth reading, even if you haven’t got a degree in English!

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Arctic Dreams by Barry López
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Arctic has captivated people for centuries, it has held the promise of wealth, is a place of unspoilt beauty whilst being one of the toughest places to survive in. It has drawn explorers and writers, adventurers and artists who use the landscape for inspiration. But it is an incredibly harsh environment; it takes no prisoners.

The celestial light on an arctic cusp

This hostile landscape is a place that Lopez has returned to time and time again to discover the people and animals that navigate and migrate across this land of ice. The ecosystem there is finely balanced and part of his story tells us how these closely interlocked systems are so susceptible to external influences, in particular with regards to climate. As well as writing about his journeys, we learn about the discoveries that were made by sailors and explorers over the past four hundred years, many of whom lost their lives as sailed into the freezing oceans. He describes his scientific observations, packing in details about the millions of birds and animals in the region.

Jet-black guillemots streaking over the white ice

I loved the landscape parts of the book, his eye for details on the landscape and the people are really good, and the writing comes across so well you could be there watching the aurora borealis with him. His writing is clear and concise, without being too showy. Whilst I understand it is important to set the context of how we came to know this place, there was a little too much history for a travel and nature book really, and I would have preferred much more on the landscape. It was worth reading, but I have read better though.

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The Particle Zoo: The Search for the Fundamental Nature of Reality by Gavin Hesketh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

Most people know that you can take an object and break it down to its pure elements, and from that you can use an electron microscope to look at the very atoms that make up that element. In the early part of the twentieth century, we discovered that the atom consisted of protons, neutrons and electrons. For a while physicists thought that that was it, with regards to the makeup of all the elements. But, slowly and surely these three particles were split again and again to answer the fundamental question: what are these particles made from?

In this book Hesketh, explains the processes behind breaking down these particles into smaller and smaller pieces and sets about describing the wonders and mysteries that the scientists have discovered. We learn about the string theory, if there is dark matter and the finer nuances of quantum physics. In this strange new world we unearth the weird and wonderful time-travelling electrons, gravitons and glueballs and glimpse the fleeting trace of the neutrino. All of these sub particles are collectively called the particle zoo, the most elusive of which is the Higgs Bosun.

Hesketh is eminently qualified to write this, as he is an experimental particle physicist at the world’s largest and most expensive experiment, the Large Hadron Collider; better known as CERN. At this place particles are accelerated up to a speed not short of the speed of light before being slammed into each other. The result is a high energy collision and physicists spend hour pouring over the results determining just what particles are produced. A lot of what has been discovered fits the standard model that was developed in the 1970s, but for every question answered, there are more that are posed.

Overall Hesketh has written a comprehensive guide to the latest developments of the strange sub-atomic world. It is a very weird world indeed, but thankfully he does bring some clarity on the mystery that is particle physics. At times it is it baffling, and often stranger than fiction; as he says at one point ‘you couldn’t make it up’! But it is a good book for a reader interested in recent progress made at CERN and a general history of particle physics. 3.5 stars

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Wood: Andy Goldsworthy by Andy Goldsworthy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wood is a remarkable substance, we can use it to heat us, to carry us through water and air and time spent in coppices can breathe life into our souls. But the artist Andy Goldsworthy sees wood in different ways and this wonderful book is his interpretation of the way a tree lives and transforms. Using the natural materials he finds close to an oak tree in each season he creates breath-taking art that is ethereal and fleeting. These transient pieces are captured perfectly by his camera before they return to nature.

A small confession, Goldsworthy is one of my favourite artists who creates such beautiful natural artworks. His use of different materials in each of the pieces bring different energies and dynamics to the photo, as you know some will not even see another sunrise. There is precious little text in here, the main purpose of the book is the photos. But if you like the natural world, Goldsworthy’s creations from rocks, branches, leaves, ice and snow will touch your very heart. Excellent, just excellent.

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Italian Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo by Tim Parks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There is a joke that goes:

HEAVEN is where: The police are British, the chefs Italian, the mechanics are German, the lovers are French, and it’s all organised by the Swiss
HELL is where: The police are German, the chefs are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss and it’s all organised by the Italians!!

In Italy the trains are right in line with those stereotypes too. It is a country of fine foods, beautiful countryside, strong coffee and exasperating bureaucracy

Park is very familiar with this as he commutes frequently from Verona to Milan. The journey is a delightful as it is stressful, letting the train take the strain after struggling through the minefield of purchasing a ticket. It is full of detail too, you feel you are sharing the same view as he writes about the vineyards and orchards and the bleak industrial landscapes outside the towns and you stand alongside him admiring the soaring heights of the central stations. He is a careful observer of his fellow passengers too, noting as people rush to grab their morning coffee before snatching a seat and talking loudly to strangers unlike The UK where everyone cocoons themselves in their own little world.

His travels take him down through Italy and onto the island of Sicily. This has suffered decades of almost no investment in its railways, and the locals cannot believe that he wants to use them. He has some fairly strong opinions on the current state of the rail system, including the money spent of the fast links between towns and cities at the expense of sorting out the other problems including the most complicated ticket system going. But somehow it still functions.

As an outsider who has lived there for a number of years he is ideally placed to make these observations of his adopted country and it was a real pleasure to read too. He manages to convey just the right amount of detail coupled with a razor sharp wit, without it becoming too much.

Just like an espresso really.

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Off the Map: Lost Spaces, Invisible Cities, Forgotten Islands, Feral Places and What They Tell Us About the World by Alastair Bonnett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Apart from some obscure bits of the Amazon rainforest and Indonesian jungles we think that there can be no undiscovered parts of the world; can there? Surely, we must have discovered everything on Google Earth by now. Off The Map sets about putting that record straight. In this book, Bonnett helps us discover secret places, unexpected islands, slivers of a metropolis and hidden villages. Russia seems to have more than its fair share of secret and abandoned cities. There is Zheleznogorsk, a military town that never existed on any map and still retains some of its secrecy today. Probably the most infamous is Pripyat, abandoned days after the nuclear explosion at Chenobyl, it is slowly being reclaimed by nature; the amount of radiation means that the area will not be safe for humans to reoccupy for at least 900 years. Give or take…

Bonnett tells us about disputed borders that mean that the people still living there are unattached to any nation, a man in New York who bought the tiny strips of land alongside tower blocks for a few dollars each. There is Sealand, a fortress built in World War Two and now a self-declared principality in the North Sea. Other islands exist in out oceans too, some that are on maps that have never been there, others made from rubbish that has collected together and occasionally floating rocks; or pumice as it is better known, the residue from underwater volcanoes. There is also a huge vessel called the World, collectively owned by the residents, it ploughs the seas keeping all the riff-raff away. He mentions the abandoned villages of England from the second world war, including one just down the road from me; Arne.

It is a fascinating book, full of weird and wonderful trivia about places that you really wouldn’t want to visit on your holidays. It is also an exploration of what makes a landscape and the things we draw from it. Worth reading for anyone who is fascinated by those places that just don’t fit the map. 3.5 stars

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Tracking Marco Polo by Tim Severin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Marco Polo and his journey across the Silk Road to the Far East had always fascinated Tim Severin. When he was presented with an opportunity to follow in the explorers footsteps travelling from Venice across the Middle East to Afghanistan, he jumped at the chance. There was only one minor flaw in the plan, Tim and his companions would be travelling by motorbike and sidecar, but none of them had ever ridden a motorbike.

So begins the tale of their journey as they battle across deserts, through mountain passes overcoming floods, sandstorms and crashes. They even passed through the ominous sounding he Valley of the Assassins. Not only was riding the motorbike a struggle, the languages were a bit tricky for all three too. Severin even managed to squeeze in a camel ride seeking the famed apples of paradise in the Deh Bakri Pass.

This book is an enjoyable look at a world very different to ours today. But they were foolhardy. I cannot believe that none of them could ride a motorbike at the beginning. They had a little training, but still didn’t really gain a huge amount of competence throughout the journey. They did draw a lot from their trip, being on motorbikes they came to understand the people and culture of the countries that they visited much more than they would have done in a car or truck. Not a bad read; 2.5 stars

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The Silver Eye: Unlocking the Pyramid Texts by Susan Brind Morrow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

When the Royal Saqqara Pyramids were opened in in the late 1800s it was discovered that the walls of the burial chambers were covered in hieroglyphics that were 4000 years old. The deciphering of the Rosetta Stone enabled historians and Egyptologists to read the text on the walls, but no one could understand the collection of myths, incantations and ritualistic texts. To us in our modern age, they reveal a culture and religion with a worldview and understanding of the natural world that is completely alien.

In this book, Brind Morrow argues that they are actually a coherent and intelligent work of art and literature. She suggests that what we are reading is poetic and not mythology, and taking a more literal view of it might answer some of the questions it raises. The entire middle section of the book is her full translation of the text from the walls of the entrance chamber, antechamber and sarcophagus and at nearly 100 pages of the book it is pretty comprehensive. In the final section she picks up on details from the texts, and expands her theory of what it all means.

There were parts of this I really liked, the translation is quite magnificent for example; you get a sense of just how the ritual elements would be performed and spoken. But it is not a light and easy read as she goes into lots of detailed explanations of meaning and significance of particular hieroglyphics. There are a number of photos and diagrams scattered throughout the book, which does bring a sense of the scale of the place. At times I did get a little out of my depth, but then I haven’t read huge amounts about the Egyptian period to fill in the context. This would be an ideal book for anyone with a fascination in the Egyptian period.

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Every Thing We Touch: A 24-Hour Inventory of Our Lives by Paula Zuccotti
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

To navigate modern life we use a myriad of things every single day; phones, spoons, tools, clothes and pencils are just some of the objects that we touch and use every single day. In this book Zuccotti has got people to log everything that they touched, then got them to bring them to a studio to have those things photographed. Each photo was taken on a large white floors and shows that person’s life that day. Some of the items are deeply personal, some have huge sentimental value and others are transitory.

Just a glance at the objects on the page and you can almost always tell if the individual is male or female, young or old, but it sometimes becomes harder as she has people from different cultures bring in the snapshots from their lives. The range of people makes it fascinating too, there are cleaners, cowboys, artists, dancers and even a nun. Each person has a little bio of why they used some of these things and gets to choose a favourite object. It is quite amazing just how many things you touch and use throughout each day just to get up, get to work or school and get back home. There are a number of things that are similar across all the people who participated, technology for example, but Zuccotti has managed to select a diverse range. There is not a huge amount to read though, unless you like reading vast lists, but if you can lay your hands on a copy it is worth spending some time flicking through.

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Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot by Mark Vanhoenacker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have flown domestic, short haul and long haul flights in everything from cattle class to Upper Class and as a form of transport it is a little bit dull. Flying is seen as mundane now and love it or hate it, you cannot deny that modern air travel is the thing that has opened up the world up. It is one of the safest forms of transport ever invented too, making travelling to destinations far and wide, safe, easy and painless.

In this eloquent book, Vanhoenacker tells us just what it is like to be a commercial pilot in this modern age. The plane that he is trained to fly is the classic 380 ton Boeing 747. He tells about crossing oceans and continents, night flying and the delights of spending time in different destinations on each day of the week. He loved flying from an early age, but it was only after he graduated and ended up travelling the world as a management consultant that he started to re-consider his career choice, wondering if he could be a pilot. He took the plunge, retrained and realised his dream of becoming a pilot.

I really enjoyed this book, he writes in a calm measured way, as you’d expect and hope for, from a pilot. What comes across most is that he has never lost the sense of wonder in flying. You hear of him as a small boy being completely entranced by it and he still is now, from the magical scenes of the Northern Lights to the history behind the names of beacons that they track across the world. He takes pleasure in the names of winds and clouds, night flying with only the stars for company and reassurance in the skills of the engineers that enable him to fly. I like the way that he focuses the chapters on a particular aspect of flying; Water, Place, Air, Night and Machine; all different perspectives of the same journey.

The writing is a breath of fresh air; it is adept and detailed without feeling complicated. When he is flying across the oceans you see the curve of the earth as he does and sense the ice on the wings as they descend into world famous cities. A beautifully written book, even one for those who don’t like flying. 4.5 stars

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