The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History by Colin McEveedy

I agree; not the most inspiring book title in the world. However this one is on my list of recommendations with good reason.

Well told, and well laid out, this book follows a format of a one-page map opposite a one-page explanation of what was going on at the time. The maps show shifting borders and empires and nations rise and fall, and new migrations give rise to new nationalities.

This is no dry list of kings and battles. The social and political systems get their airing, and the maps also show trade routes and resources, population centres, and the boundaries of religion.

In describing the book I feel like I am doing it a disservice. If you’ve ever wondered where things came from, why certain things are so, or why some countries have a mixed religion and others just one, many of the answers lie in this book. So much useful and engaging information packed into one compact package.

Mental Models

Another interesting talk at Ted, and this is a short one, for time-poor individuals. However, you’ll still be thinking about it long after it finishes!

Jonathan Driori asks his audience four ’simple’ questions. For the record, I got two right.

Jonathan then talks about the persistence of mental models, how we form those models in our chilhood, and keep using them way into adulthood. He criticies certain aspects of education and praises others, especially activites ofcused on hands-on exploration.

Mental models are critical, many of our reactions to things we see, hear, or read, are based on the foundations of our mental models. If these are warped or flawed, how much more difficult it is to arrive at a shared understanding.

Urban Shift

Societies have been experiencing it for decades. People moving from the country to the city, where life is better.

Fantasy is going through its own urban shift. Increasingly, the fantasy worth reading is being set in the clustered innards of cities instead of the wide open spaces of the countryside. This all hit me today, reading The Lies of Locke Lamora (more on that when I finish it).

I find it difficult to internally classify Steampunk books like Perdido Street Station or Veniss Underground as fantasy, that’s my issue. Steampunk is fantasy that grew up and got a job.

It was inevitable, with the benefit of hindsight that this shift would happen, and it’s has opened up great creative vistas for writers to explore, much to the relief of readers like me who were getting heartily sick of reading yet another attempt at writing Lord of the Rings. One aspect of urban societies is a romanticisation of country life but hey, Romance novels are over in another section. Urban fantasy is where it’s happening.

Only One…

As a mental exercise, I’ve been thinking about what book I would choose, if I could only have one to read. If I were stranded on that eponymous desert island with one book, what would I like that book to be?

Books such as Quicksilver or A Game of Thrones are out, not matter how good I don’t want the first book in a series if I can’t read the next.

The shortlist I came up with was:

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. This book is good, and best of all benefits from a good slow read. There’s a lot of information here and while it is well written and readily digestible, a nice slow read gives you time to digest what you’re being fed.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. This one is a modern classic. If I had to read one book over and over, I could do a lot worse than this one.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. A short book, but a filling one. This work of 20th century philosophy rewards a patient reader.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. Another 20th century novel I would recommend to anyone. Though now I think on it, maybe it’s a little too full of despair for the situaiton. It does end on a positive note though, a chance of freedom.

Once I’d considered this list though, I realised that what I really wanted was reams of blank paper and a mountian of pencils. With all that time on my hands, I’d rather use it to create then consume.

Style of the Times

The book has been around for centuries in its currently recognisable form. Whether cranked out of the printer by a print-on-demand publisher five minutes ago, or carefully illustrated by monks 900 years ago, the book is recognisable to all who are familiar with it.

Technology has crept in to change many aspects of books and writing, but the act of reading words printed on paper has not changed. We may have books on tape and e-books, but the book is still the common form of story transmission device.

I think the book as physical media is here to stay. Its form size and decoration will change according to the demands of the time, but as a physical objects books will remain. Only nanotechnology threatens the book. Readers of Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age may be thinking of the Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer here, but I am thinking of something more mundane.

An object the shape and weight of a book, with pages you turn, but those pages can display one of many thousands of books stored within the device. Wirelessly connected, you can update the stories contained within as often as you wish. That kind of device doesn’t yet exist. Current rudimentary e-book readers don’t fulfil their task very well. Who likes reading with a light shone in their eyes?

I’m imagining a device that is more like the books we buy today, with pages you turn, but one that can be set to display whatever text you wish. Pages that don’t need battery-chugging backlights, because the material itself mimics paper so well.

If nanotechnology can give us not a replacement for books, but a new type of book, one with the form and physicality of books we enjoy today, but with added functionality of a networked book, then long may technology march on.

Until then, hands off my dead tree publishing.

Collecting Stories

Giving those top 5 lists a break, here’s another TED video for you all.

Jonathan Harris collects stories. Stories that run across all media, and only non-fiction stories. Objects are an integral part of the story collection. It’s a fascinating process, check it out.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_harris_collects_stories.html

Forced to Read?

I’ve been thinking a lot about Ken Robinson’s speech concerning education and how it kills creativity.

This led me back to the subject of books in schools. How is it that schools do such a terrible job of instilling a love of reading? Again it’s because they follow the same tired old mass industrial model. A room of 20 or 30 odd individuals, all being made to read the same book at the same time, at the same pace. Insanity? No, education. Apparently.

Given this, its surprising that anyone comes out of the school system wanting to read at all.

Schools should be instilling a love of reading, the same way they should be supporting other creative outlets, by encouraging students to discover what they want in their own way, at their own pace.

Don’t shake your head either, thinking something along the lines of ‘if they weren’t forced to read they wouldn’t read’. And why is that, exactly? Because they see no reading being done in their own homes? Quite possibly. But why is that? Because their own parents went through the same system, and came out with no wish to read. See? That is proof that the system isn’t working, not a reason to perpetuate the system.

Forcing kids to read a specific book, or forcing anyone to read a specific book, is bad, and a waste of time. Instead, students should be encouraged to discover books, and be challenged to take their reading further. That one might work. I think it’s worth a try.

Top Ten TED Talks

Over on the TED site, you’ll find a page featuring their top 10 talks given to far. It’s a varied group, but the general theme is that some people do awesome things. I’ve said already, if it weren’t true it wouldn’t be interesting. That applies here too. Enjoy.

My personal favourite is Hans Rosling’s statistics, the first TED tak I ever watched. Ken Robinson’s ‘How Schools Kill Creativity’ is one every writer and fan of stories should read. So should every parent with a child at scholl, and anyone still at school.

True Stories

Non-fiction. It’s the only place in which it’s ok to be awesome and do good things. Success and altruism are great in real life, dull as dishwater in fiction.

I’m glad of the fiction/ non-fiction divide. Each has things the other cannot do.

This story at the Guardian struck me today. Several times. About the face. These people are mega awesome. Opening their house to troubled teens, over a twenty-year period, and turning their lives around (mostly). They did it because it was the right thing to do.

Fantastic story, just as well its real and not fictional though, otherwise it would be boring.

The Case of the Mummy’s Gold by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik

The grand titles are back for the 5th Penny Arcade collected edition, and long may they remain.

Highlights of this year include Twisp and Catsby (my favourites), the excellent Wandering Age excerpt (“before this moment, did I ever see the world?”) and the expereince of queueing to buy Halo 2 (“quick! find a teacher!”).

When excellence is the general standard, it leaves a reviewer with very little to say. Yes, this collection contains some excellent webcomics. I’ve listed my favourites above. There’s little more to say. See? Excellent.