100 books to read in a lifetime

Don't people love lists! The Bookseller reports yet another one.

Amazon.co.uk has announced a list of 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime, which includes children’s books, non-fiction and classics, and will “build a roadmap of a literary life”.

The list has been selected by Amazon.co.uk and the Kindle editorial team.

Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is the oldest book on the list, while the most recently published is The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (Vintage).

Sixty-five of the titles on the list are written by UK authors.

Ezequiel Szafir, v.p., Kindle Content, EU, said: “With 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime, we set out to build a roadmap of a literary life that takes readers from their childhood favourites through to modern classics, and all the best books in between.

“Over many months, the team passionately debated and defended the books we wanted on this list, now we can’t wait to hear what customers have to say about our selection.”

Alison Forrestal, director of books at Amazon.co.uk Ltd, said: “This list reveals the books that our editors have read and loved but reading is such a personal experience, we hope it sparks discussion and debate amongst readers about what their 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime are.”

Amazon is also asking readers to cast its own votes for 100 books to read in a lifetime onGoodreads.

Earlier this year Amazon in the US released a similar list.

Unexpected tidbits from famous scientists

When DNA genius Kary Mullis was presented his Nobel Prize by the King of Sweden, he offered to give his son in marriage to the princess, in return for a third of the kingdom.

A freed slave, John Edmonson, taught Charles Darwin how to stuff birds.

A floor sweeper at the Metropolitan Museum of New York by the name of Roy Andrews became a famous paleontologist, having learned his skills from what he observed as he worked.

When someone asked nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi how mankind could communicate with aliens, he replied, "We already have. They are called Romanians."

Told that his brightest student was quitting to write poetry, French mathematician Professor Hibbert merely mused, "Ah well, he didn't have the creativity required to be a mathematician."

One of Albert Einstein's many lady friends used to send a limousine to chauffeur him to their trysts.

From Bob Brockie's column in the Dominion Post, eagerly awaited every Monday.

Earthquake at sea

Eleanor Reid's diary continues with a description of a very strange occurrence ...

We had the finest weather down the bay; the Nonsuch left us about latitude 16, and the Santa Cruz about latitude 10 north, leaving our squadron of four ships to take care of themselves, the Minerva being appointed commodore. 

We crossed the equator on the 28^th December, without meeting any of those distressing calms so prevalent between the Brazil and Gunea coasts. 

Nothing occurred worth noticing until the 6^th of January 1801, when about 11 P.M. the greatest panic seized all on board. We were alarmed by a grinding of the ship’s bottom, as if she had struck on a coralbank, attended with a rumbling noise, and most violent tremulous motion of the vessel. 

The captain instantly ordered the lead to be thrown out, but no bottom could be found with a hundred fathoms of line; the pump was then tried, to see if the ship were leaky in consequence of the shock, but she was found as tight as ever. There was a fine light breeze at the time, an the night not so dark but that the other three ships could be seen at no great distance; we ere in about nine degrees south latitude, and 92 east longitude, and upwards of five hundred miles from any known land. 

We were left to conjecture concerning this singular occurrence, but most of those on board concluded it must have been occasioned by an earthquake. Capt. R— gave the best description of the sensation by which he was awakened: he compared the agitation of the ship to that which would be experienced if a number of anchors were dropped from different parts of her at the same instant, and the noise to that which the cables would make in running out. 

When we compared notes with the other ships, we found they had been alarmed in the same manner; indeed one of them had guns ready to make signals of danger. There can be no doubt that it was caused by some convulsion at the bottom near where the ship passed.

Our Dompost NZ's best newspaper

The Dominion Post was crowned Newspaper of the Year at the Canon Media Awards in Auckland last night.

Editor Bernadette Courtney was delighted that the paper had won the supreme award.

"It confirms our commitment to quality journalism, telling stories that resonate with readers."

Courtney said it was a win for the whole team.

"To win is a superb achievement and credit needs to go to everyone involved. We have always been proud of our journalism and I am immensely proud of the team that works so hard to produce a paper that we know our readers love," she said.

"Our individual winners show the depth of talent right across our team - our readers are well served by the country's best editorial team."

Andrea Vance was named Reporter of the Year and was also awarded the prestigious Wolfson Fellowship. Vance, who also won the award for political reporting, revealed the leaked contents of a top-secret review's finding that the Government Communications Security Bureau illegally spied on 85 New Zealanders.

The Dominion Post also received the award for Best Digital Community Interaction for the Wellington Report, a week-long series in the newspaper and its website assessing Wellington's future after Prime Minister John Key claimed the city was "dying".

Marty Sharpe took the prize for science and environment reporting, while Sam Boyer was named Junior Reporter of the Year.

Photographer Craig Simcox won the award for best news picture.

The Stuff.co.nz website was named best news site.

NZPost ends sponsorship of NZ Book Awards

I have fond memories of the evening the totally unexpected happened, and the judges pronounced Tupaia as the winner of the general non-fiction category of the NZ Post Book Awards.

As we all know, all over the "developed" bits of the world the internet is killing traditional mail deliveries. Every mailed statement arrives these days with an invitation to opt for "electronic" statements -- saving trees and paper and so forth, or so they say, the real reason being that it saves the company postage fees.  And so a service that brightened or depressed the day for millions is rapidly disappearing.

And so, as the National Business Review reports, NZ Post can no longer afford to sponsor the New Zealand book awards. It's a huge pity, but understandable.

For a wryly amusing comment on this, see Stephen Stratford's blog Quote Unquote -- though you might only find it funny if you are a Kiwi writer or historian.

Online book review magazine

Dianna Dilworth, per Galleycat, at MediaBistro.com, reports that there is a new vehicle for reviews of literary books, courtesy of no less than the Los Angeles Review of Books

The Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB) has plans to publish a series of online magazines under a new division which is called, “LARB Channels.”

The division will produce a number of new nonprofit digital literary magazines aimed at fostering culture around books and the arts. The first five are called: Boom: A Journal of California, The Marginalia Review of Books, The Levantine Review, Avidly and The Philosophers Plant. There will be more in the series.

“The Channels division gives us the opportunity to extend our support to other independent magazines who, like us, want to build a community around vanguard writing in literary criticism, politics, science, the arts, and culture” explained Tom Lutz, the Editor in Chief of the Los Angeles Review of Books, in a statement. “We intend for these publications to form a new, cutting edge literary collective in tandem with our flagship magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books.

But will they review Indies, no matter how good?  That is the crux -- because the biggest hurdle in Indie publishing is getting that book reviewed by professionals.  

Taniwha in Wellington

Taniwha are fabulous monsters of Maori legend.   Every village and locality has one. Even today, roads are diverted, because they would be crossing a known taniwha site.  A lot of them look like dragons, and a few are known to be eccentric.

Such as the taniwha in Wellington Harbour -- a taniwha that collects propellers

And how do we know it?  Witness today's press release:

The mystery of what is happening to Cook Strait ferry propellers has deepened with a broken propeller discovered on our replacement ferry.

KiwiRail still doesn't know why a propeller fell off the Aratere ferry on November 5.

And the plot deepens with the discovery that one of the blades has fallen off one of the propellers of the replacement ferry, Stena Alegra. 

The state-owned company says the crew of the Stena Alegra noticed a mechanical issue when the ferry was at sea on Thursday.

"When the ferry returned to port in Wellington divers discovered part of one of the ships four propeller blades on one propeller was missing," the company said.

Two of Stena Alegra's sailings on Friday have been cancelled as a safety precaution but the company says passengers and crew were not at risk on Thursday as the ferry has two propellers.

But that propeller-collecting taniwha is still lurking out there in the Heads...

Another tiger story from Mrs. Reid

On the 11^th December we left Saugor Roads, without losing any of our men by tigers, although boats from the ship had landed on the island almost every day. 

The next morning we discharged our pilot, just three months from the day we received one on board on our entrance to the port. 

A few days after we sailed we became somewhat settled, and soon formed ourselves at ease with each other; conversation, without stiffness or reserve, was kept up at table among our agreeable party, nor did it fail during the whole voyage. Capt. R[oss] was a well-informed agreeable man, and had seen much service in India, particularly under Lord Cornwallis, whom he served as military secretary; he was now returning to join his family in England. 

Dr. L[aird] was a particular friend of Capt R[oss], and a most worthy man, much esteemed by many he had left behind; he also had seen much service with the army under General Sir Eyre Coote, whom he attended until his death. His memory was sadly impaired, particularly respecting any recent event; but of any thing concerning the army, or occurrences of former times, he could give the most minute account. 

This loss of memory was attributed to the consequences of a tiger hunt, the history of which I shall give you. Mr. R[oss], himself, and a party of gentlemen, had agreed to spend a little time with a friend at a place called Couti, not far from Kedgeree, where they enjoyed the manly sport of bear hunting, and were generally successful. 

One morning they went out as usual, and left an elderly gentleman and a young man as his companion; these two had strolled from the bungalow on foot, enjoying the cool morning air. Nothing interrupted their pleasure until they passed an opening in the jungle, when their ears were assailed with a most hideous growl; upon turning to the spot whence the sound issued, they were horror-struck at seeing a large royal tiger worrying at the throat of a poor cow he had just seized.

They instantly started back towards the house, thinking every moment they should be attacked by the tiger. The young man very soon out-ran the elder, who called lustily for him to stand and look athe tiger in the face, assuring him it would not then attack them; at length the young man slacked his pace, and let the elder come up with him, who seizing his coat, cried, “now we are equal, you young dog, run for your life.” 

They reached the house in safety, which without doubt they owed to the prey which had already occupied the animal’s attention. Measures were now concerted for his destruction; accordingly next day a large party sallied forth, well mounted upon elephants who were trained for such an encounter. They were very soon at the place where the tiger lay concealed: they partly surrounded him but nothing could induce him to leave the cover. They fired many shots in all directions, and were in hopes they had killed him. 

The elephant upon which Dr. L[aird] was mounted being more bold than the rest, advanced to the jungle, when, just as he entered, the tiger sprang upon his neck; the doctor instantly fired his piece, and the furious animal quitted his hold, but the elephant was so frightened that he turned and set off at a rate which made it impossible for Dr. L[aird] to dismount until he came to a river, where in consequence of his apprehension that the elephant would ford, he dropped off behind, and hurt himself considerably with the fall; this however was not the worst, he now had to find his way back to the house, which was upwards of five miles distant, in a scorching sun: he was immediately seized with a jungle fever, from the effects of which his memory never recovered. 

The tiger was killed, but the party lost several gentlemen by fever before they returned to Calcutta, in consequence of which, neither Dr. L[aird] or Mr. B— ever attended another hunting party while they remained in India.

No wonder!  It seems that tiger hunts were even more dangerous than described in the Boys' Own books.  But bear hunting? In India? Surely it's a typo for boar hunting?  The only bear outside of the Himalayas is the insect-eating sloth bear, a most unaggressive customer. Or maybe Mrs. R. was such a rapt listener that the tellers couldn't resist embroidering the tale? Even if the speaker had a job to remember what he had had for breakfast...

Departure from Calcutta

Eleanor Reid takes a trip down the Hooghly to Saugor Roads, where the ship is waiting to be convoyed, and gets acquainted with their passengers.  

I now became uneasy about the ship, as my husband had been absent with her four days, and it was reported a ship had run aground on a sand near Fultah; in the interval, however, I was gratified by receiving letters from my beloved parents in England, conveying good news of them and all branches of the family.

The next day my husband returned to Calcutta, saying the ship had reached Saugor, and only waited to be dispatched; in consequence of which all was bustle and preparation for our embarkation.

As Messrs. Hudson, Bacon, and Co. had done all the repairs the ship required, they provided a comfortable vessel to take us down to Saugor. Two of Mrs. H[udson]’s sons were going home under our care, and their father intended accompanying them down the river. 

On the 6^th of December 1800, we left Calcutta; we had omitted seeing the Black Hole so often described by travellers; we often, however, passed the monument erected in memory of the wretched sufferers at the west side of the writer’s buildings, which forms one side of Tank Square. In the centre of the square is a fine piece of water, which supplies the inhabitants at all seasons of the year.

As the afternoon was very fine, we had an opportunity of again beholding the villas as we passed down Garden Reach, but they did not interest us at first. This is the case with almost every thing we are accustomed to have, either in view, or in possession.

The next day we reached Futtah, where we landed, and had an excellent dinner at the tavern, the only house of entertainment between Calcutta and Saugor. In the evening we again embarked in the accommodation boat, and next day reached the Friendship at Saugor, without accident.

On the 9^th, Mr. Charles Law came on board to dispatch the ship; he solicited this appointment in consequence of his sister in law going home with us to England. This business being finished, we were joined by all the passengers in the evening, viz., Miss E. L, Capt. R[oss], Capt. D—, Dr. L[aird], Mr. C— D—, and the children, three boys and five girls, with their native servants, ayahs, &c.

The Hon. Company’s ship Nonsuch was appointed to convoy the fleet to a certain distance; the ships ready to sail with us were the Minerva, Capt. Saltkeld; the Varana, Capt. Faner, and the Highland Chief, Capt. Greenaway; also the Santa Cruz, Capt. John Collie, who was to keep company until we were off the Island of Ceylon.

A world without GPS

As we all know, GPS depends on information beamed down from satellites.  Because of the wonder of GPS -- or so the radio has just informed me -- planes are capable of flying into Queenstown, Middle Earth, in the middle of the night, with satellite-beamed information  safely zigzagging them around the peaks that abound in the Southern Alps.

There are all sorts of stories about cars that blindly followed navsat (satnav) instructions and finished up falling into lakes, but it's no joking matter.  What would happen if a solar flare, a stray comet, or a series of collisions with space junk destroyed those crucial satellites?

It certainly wouldn't be possible to look up your route to wherever on google.

Or get a sneaky image of a street scene, somewhere.

Planes would fly the wrong way and maybe even fall out of the sky. What is the chance that MH370 was a victim of GPS failure?

We wouldn't know that hurricanes and tornadoes are on the way.  Or be able to plan for rain, or drought.

Illegal poachers and thieves who are currently caught because of GPS technology would scoot away free.

GPS-controlled tractors and harvesters wouldn't work any more, so food production would plummet.

Undiscovered ore-deposits and archaeological sites would remain undiscovered.

Your mobile phone would not work.  Nor would eftpos machines.

And flying into Queenstown at night would be a game of Russian roulette.

Read more about it in a book by Lewis Dartnell, with the intriguing title, The Knowledge: How to Rebuild our World from Scratch

From the collapse of satellite-based technology, I assume...