Another book

Time for more book reviews me thinks, two this time. Although I should say I have a very wide taste in reading as I do in music, from Richard Dawkins, to Erich Fromm, to Frederic Forsyth, to Henry David Thoreau, to Antony Hopkins, the musician. But my all-time favourite school boy books are; now you may well laugh but it’s Treasure Island by Robert louis Stevenson and Animal Farm by George Orwell. Although I feel I should warn you Animal farm is very disturbing given its inspiration, (Stalin and Lenin) so I suppose it’s true in what they say, one’s first books can leave the deepest impression. Nonetheless, I particularly like the quotation from Animal farm (All Animals are equal but some are more equal than others.) You could of course take this completely out of context and apply it to human kind (I have,) which may have been also intended by the author but either way it’s very thought provoking is it not. But then again, I like very much to analyse every little detail present, often leading to wandering off on a tangent this post being a perfect example of such.


However, this first book is an autobiography, in fact there’re both autobiographies but perhaps I should say my preference is only those written from those over a certain age, preferably over fifty, anything under I see as just an infantile money grabbing excise; since their much too young to experience life’s rich tapestry. I also tend to choose books that take the reader’s attention transfixing one right from the very start, although sometimes the story may fail to keep one’s attention as one proceeds further into the book, as in this particular case.



Having said that the first book is entitled (And away) by Bob Mortimer, which I thought would be a good read but found it only average. His humour strongly hinted at is oddball with a subtle touch, but my kind of humour nonetheless. What you might refer to as school boy humour is also present along with his close to death experience fully illustrating, he’s complex character; e.g., his life saving open heart surgery which turned out to be a tad too graphic for my taste. Bob also refers to his personality as painfully shy - my kind of person, since painfully shy people are very often interesting, sentimental, and romantic, in the full sense of the word. For example, one of his favourite songs is (Meet Me on the Corner) by Lindisfarne. Although having said that I do know a certain person who also fits exactly the same description but enjoys throwing axes just to see how high you can jump, let’s just call him the mad axeman” since everyone else referred to him as such.



But having mentioned (Meet Me on the Corner) it’s possible to read a person’s personality from their taste in music, particularly the lyrics, so it’s no surprise I like this too; which just about sums the book up. I’ll also say the content does need to be analysed quite deeply in order to fully understand the man behind the mask. To this end I’ll award this first book five out of ten.



Nonetheless, referring back to painfully shy people, they do tend to be intelligent, impressive lab technicians beavering away in isolated offices since I got to know a fair few whilst I was working in the engineering department as a machine tool fitter. These were the very ones whom programmed some of the first multi-purpose high-tech machinery we were working on. In practise this involved drilling holes and removing pieces of mental where it needed to be removed, only most of the time they drilled holes way out of excepted tolerance, add to this they removed metal where it shouldn’t be removed. Given tolerance was plus a minus five thousand of an inch sometimes less the excepted tolerance level was critical, otherwise Mr chief inspector had more then something to say; to which you can most probably guess.



Previously to that we were using the old fashion method e.g., reading technical drawings, operating lathes and milling machines including hand tools, work now mostly carried out by robots. Nonetheless, these high-tech robots reduced my skilled profession to almost zero. Still, everything’s now made in the far east and again by robots, so like the old song (it doesn’t matter anymore) or indeed what we the consumer think.



Consequently, like the author, I do recognise “how to approach shyness” when it presents as opposed to the so called “normal people” Bob Mortimer sees as often very boring, which often turns out to be the very case in question. Although I should say those whom have a deep love of animals, the natural world, including art amongst its many forms are far from boring, I also include Bob Mortimer holding this point of view since his personality is laid out in the text for all to see. Especially if they light up the room whenever they walk in, so let’s just call this type endearing to behold, which brings me to…



Book two



(This much is true) by Miriam Margoles, now Miriam is exactly like Marmite in as much you like her or not, you might be surprised to know I like her very much, but at the same token abhor Marmite. Although, I should say it’s not a book for those whom have led a sheltered life, oh no, in fact, one need to be the owner of a very strong constitution. I’ll go even further in saying Miriam is very down to earth but again an understatement, but having read the book it’s plain to see the sentiment came from a warm-hearted soul who also loves all warm-hearted people. That aside I also found it most informative from her parental up bringing to her deep thoughts of life in general. Although she does tend to be outspoken at times, but personally I find this a joyous asset since at least you now know where you stand, as opposed to the type who discuss your character in very fine detail as soon as you left the room. In fact, on meeting the queen things didn’t go down too well either, as the queen was “extremally rude and pompous” to Miriam, but then again, she did have a very good mentor, as (Everybody Knows) to quote Leonard Cohen. Nonetheless, I’ll restrain from saying anymore as I don’t wish to reveal the full verbal exchange thereby spoiling your read, or indeed break copyright. However, I do realise this is just a short review but there’s no need to say anymore other than I award this one ten out of ten having found the book extremely well written.



Ps



Your master of ceremonies will be back when I’ve had time to reconvene, i.e., I’m reviewing the situation with something completely different e.g., yet more amusing / earth shattering revelations.