TravellinPenguin

Tuesday Trivia on a Saturday

Posted on January 21, 2017January 21, 2017 by TravellinPenguin

snip20170121_3 Okay, I like to shake things up once in awhile. Before Christmas I came across this book in my local independent indie book shop, Fuller’s. I saw it on the shelf and made a beeline straight to it. A young woman was holding a copy in her hand and said to me, “Somebody had better get this for me for Christmas!” There were three copies in the shop.

1001 Ideas That Changed The Way We Think. I do enjoy these 1001 compendiums and have the ones that relate to both books and children’s books. They are great fun to dip into and read a few pages here and there. I find them both motivating and fascinating.

This one is no different. I asked for this book for Christmas but of course the people I asked did not rush down to the shop and get one of the three copies. I got a wonderful book voucher for Christmas but alas, the book itself had disappeared. Enter book depository and about three weeks after Christmas my book arrived. (Mr. P should have bought it before because now I still have the book voucher and the book. He could have saved a bit by getting this and foregoing the voucher.)

How does one read such a book? You can’t read it page after page because the information will go in one brain cell and be filed away by another to that forgotten data base in the back of our head. It may or may not ever be seen again.

I decided to go to random.org. I put in 1 to about 950, the number of pages and came up with: number 866. I could feel a little wave of anticipation as I thumbed through the pages of this heavy tome looking for the magic number. There are actually two selections on this page.

1. Rap Music: United States– I learned that the word “rap” as a verb or noun meaning to talk, actually dates from the sixteenth century, but its application to a form of music began among African Americans in the 1960’s. It goes on to explain the various styles of rap music, its structure and uses. There is also a large black and white photo of ‘Grandmaster Flash’ who is considered to be the grandfather of rap music in the USA. He was a Dee Jay in the 1980’s. So close the file folder on that bit of trivia and put it into my data base storage unit of brain cells.

2. The second item of trivia relates to Social Networking Service. It states the earliest way people connected to others (beyond snail mail and telephones) were email and chat programs. They appeared in the 1970’s. I remember when we immigrated into Australia in 1988 how hard it was to keep in touch with family overseas. I was excited because I bought a new word processor that made writing letters so easy. When email appeared I thought all of my Christmases had come at once. Instant communication at once. Then Facebook with instant photos of what was happening with family and friends. I do love social media for that reason alone. The paragraph says that USENET was our first instant messaging system and it developed as a system between Duke University and the University of North Carolina and went from there.

Okay that was fun. Tomorrow morning when I have my coffee I will have random.org choose another page number for me. Just think, in about 950 more days I will have an encyclopaedic mind of trivia for casually entertaining at dinner party conversations. (Not that I attend many dinner parties, I take comfort in knowing I will be ready.)

Other topics to name just a few from randomly exploring pages are:

*Symbols *Reformed Epistimology *Astrology *Robin Hood *Islamic State

*Sewer Systems *Mathematical Function *Many Worlds Theory (Universes)

*Skepticism *Expressionism in Music *Six Thinking Hats *Beatrice Potter

snip20161225_16 If I come across some interesting information about books or authors I will put them up on Tuesday Trivia.

Next time you are attending a dinner party make sure you are not sitting too close. Unless you are a trivia person like I am.

Uncategorized

American travel book-all population and weather?

Posted on January 17, 2017 by TravellinPenguin

snip20170117_2 Travel writing is one of my favourite genres of books to read. Especially if the authors have walked across a country, ridden a bicycle, motorcycle, donkey or horse. I love the different ways people see the world.

I came across Old Man on a Bicycle: A Ride Across America on a Kindle special deal so decided to give it a try. It was a pretty easy read and the style of it made me laugh. The book is in a combined paragraph to journal format. Don was 71 yrs of age when he decided to ride his bicycle from New Hampshire to San Francisco, California. The journey itself is amazing. Unfortunately he gets tied up not so much in the trip itself but stating what Australian people always tell me about Americans. “They love the weather and they love to know the population of various cities. While attending a conference once in Brisbane, Qld, we had a keynote speaker from a university in Maine, USA. My Aussie friend sitting beside me said, “You wait, her power point presentation will have initial photos of the state of Maine, where it is on the map, what the population is of her state and city and what the weather is like. They always do this.” I, of course said, “No they won’t.” Her reply was, “Yes she will.”

The speaker is introduced, the lights go down and the large screen in front of us lights up with a huge picture of Maine. She introduced us to her university (photo 2) and then told us the population and showed two more photos. Maine in summer and Maine in winter. Well of course my friend and I were paralysed with silent laughter. She whispered, “I rest my case.” Over the years I have watched for this and I have to admit that is what American speakers do when visiting here. I find it highly entertaining.

So I was not surprised when 71 year old Don stated on almost every page of his journal, the population of all the towns he went through and gave me detailed weather updates.

I did enjoy this book but was glad it wasn’t any longer than it was. He described the roads in detail, the winds and what their measurement was. He would start riding about 5:00 am and finish about noon to 2:00 pm. I admired his stamina. I admired his determination. I also admired him when he was wiped out by an inattentive driver in Utah (She was reaching for her coffee on the floorboard when she veered to the right and wiped him out on a freeway) and returned to the same spot a year later to finish his journey to California.

What I found tedious was the health information. Whenever he mentioned something to do with his training he might say he didn’t smoke, he ate well, all the things you would expect a 71 yr old man to mention while training for a cross country ride.

snip20170117_4 However, if smoking was mentioned he would then go into a long page or two lecture about the physiological things that happen to a body when one smokes. That would include statistics (another American favourite). Then he did the same thing to nutrition, African politics (more on that later) as well as aging complaints and illnesses.

There were several topics he mentioned while continuing with the story that the lecture began. I found it tedious and skipped over those bits. The one paragraph or two I did agree with him on was the aging factor and how society views and talks about the elderly. I have always maintained the elderly are their own worst enemy as they continually pass cartoons and jokes around about incontinent, brain dead, droopy breasted, technologically phobic oldies. They complain with one hand how the elderly are treated but then go on to absolutely denigrate the whole range of elderly in the same conversation.

When I produced the regional Senior’s Association newsletter I put a stop to the aged cartoons and jokes. I received several and I said I would not be continuing this practice. I do feel strongly about it so don’t feel too left out if I never post one here.

I wondered why this book was written like a military manual. Then as the ride progressed he began telling us about himself. First thing is he was an ambassador to Somalia in Africa in the early 1980’s. Then he talked about being a congressman for the state of New Hampshire. That is when everything fell into place about my thinking. A retired politician. No wonder the writing was so vague.

When I read travel writing I like to hear about the people, the quirky places, the conversations in the various places they visit. The only conversations this guy reported on were those of people in diners telling him how “awesome” he was for undertaking this trip. Many Americans don’t seem to realise there are people doing these things all over the world and we barely hear a thing about it unless it involves the moon.

So get over yourself and read a couple of Anne Mustoe’s incredible bicycle journeys (the British woman who truly was awesome).

Would I recommend this book? I think it would be good to read by a person contemplating this journey because of the detailed weather reports, wind speeds and how one must adjust their mileage to better find accommodation in a country that has vast spaces and none available. Though had he begun in San Francisco and gone eastward to New Hampshire he wouldn’t have spent half the book talking about the head winds. They almost always come from the west. screen-shot-2013-05-22-at-16-40-48

To the armchair traveller there is more exciting travel writing. I do admire his undertaking and his perseverance. There were a lot of bits I did truly enjoy reading but over all I would say it was pretty average writing. And being an American-Australian I did enjoy hearing about the population, weather and statistics.

Tuesday Trivia

Is there such a thing as the Great American Novel?

Posted on January 10, 2017 by TravellinPenguin

TUESDAY TRIVIA: snip20161225_16

That is today’s query. I subscribe to Lit Hub, a free online magazine and there are many articles that pop up I find of interest. I was getting it daily but I just don’t have time to read the featured eight to ten articles a day so now I get it on weekends only. If you have not heard of it you can view it here.

The author, Emily Temple writes,

“On this date in 1868, novelist John William DeForest coined the now inescapable term “the great American novel” in the title of an essay in The Nation. Now, don’t forget that in 1868, just a few years after the end of the Civil War, “America” was still an uncertain concept for many—though actually, in 2017 we might assert the same thing, which should give you a hint as to why the term “great American novel” is so problematic.

At the time of his writing, DeForest claimed that the Great American Novel, which he defined as “the picture of the ordinary emotions and manners of American existence,” had not yet been achieved, though he thought he could spot it on the horizon—he noted that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was “the nearest approach to the desired phenomenon.” (He also pooh-poohed both Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, …”)

The article then goes on to a list. I know how much people who read books like lists but I thought a couple of choices on the list didn’t belong there but I won’t mention details as I know everyone has their own opinions. You could argue this list forever and never reach agreement.

What I did enjoy in the article is the illustrated map (here). You can link to the map for more detail through the article but here is the picture of it:

snip20170110_1 As I am such a visual learner I love it. It would be fun to take the trip around the country and read all of the books. For you ‘challenge people’ you might like to do this. After all you have a full year ahead of you.

The question is: Next time you read an American novel ask yourself, Is this “a Great American novel?” or is it “THE Great American Novel. ”

I see the article has been featured on the John Steinbeck centre Facebook page with a conversation about his books being on the list. It comes down to:

Is there such a thing as The Great American Novel over all others? Or is it an impossibility. It was a fun read.

(All highlighted text above goes to a link.)