Reviews and links for March 2011
The Idle Parent: Why Laid-Back Parents Raise Happier and Healthier Kids by Tom Hodgkinson
3/5
It could have been a great one page idle book - leave the kids alone more. But I guess that wouldn't fly with the publisher so it's more of a manifesto for a more traditional childhood - four hour school day, build things from wood, raise and eat your own pigs. Possibly idyllic but far from idle. Also, Hodgkinson denounces computers yet the book wants you to visit its blog. Entertaining and occasionally inspirational nonetheless.
The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
2/5
Derivative, and requires batteries which is the last thing you need with a book. I think Carle phoned this one in. Actually, it's like when thriller writers get too famous and farm the hard work out. It reads like an "Eric Carle's" or "Eric Carle with Grant Blackwood" kind of book. Introduces a small range of insects but manages to use "whirred" twice. Has Mosquitoes out at night rather than being a dawn/dusk phenomenon. The only saving grace is the unexpected twist with the Luna Moth.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
4/5
It's a geeky, Hispanic coming of age / family history epic. To read it you need some Spanish, some knowledge of the Dominican Republic (rather distractingly sketched in via footnotes - I wish Díaz had included an appendix instead) and to have read a lot of SciFi.
Links
- EU envoy defends Bahrain police from BBC News - Home (How do we fire Robert Cooper? Seriously, how is a sniper and 'accident'?).
- Ecclestone stands by 'fake rain' from BBC News - Home (Next: RPGs).
- Obama's war tent from BBC News - Home (Surely he's just doing that to screw with Gaddafi?).
- Radiation Chart from xkcd (Radiation perspective...).
- Are cloth seats a public health hazard? Possibly. from Boing Boing (Of course. And which Muppet decided to carpet BART?).
- Chrysler Tells It How It Is from Failblog After Dark (It looks real - someone got fired for tweeting this).
- VIDEO: Murakami's book on silver screen from BBC News - Home (I hope they didn't screw it up...).
- Facebook adds suicide help system from BBC News - Home (Also needed, a 'net' underneath the wall.).
- What should you do if a cash machine overpays? from BBC News - Home (Really BBC, you needed to crowd source this one?).
- Herpetology from xkcd.com ('herpetology is a silly field').
- Internet Up For Nobel Peace Prize Again, Let’s Hope It Wins This Time from TechCrunch (I guess Al Gore would accept the prize?).
- Dear Oprah: Some thoughts on your credibility. from Boing Boing (In her defense, she has a lot more hours to fill these days...).
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