7 Things I LOVE about Books 

Marian, over @ Classics Considered, has ‘challenged’ me to list 7 (oddly specific!) things I love about books. After MUCH musing on the topic as well as sleeping on it here they are: 

1. As a lifelong fan of the English language – the only one I can read in – I do love discovering new words. Mostly I can get them from context and their similarity to other, known, words but sometimes I need to look them up and LEARN things! FUN. 

2. One of the pleasures of reading Classics is coming across ODD spellings of words and realise that the accepted spelling of things is a VERY recent phenomena. That alone is interesting to contemplate. 

3. Most of the time characters in books are there to move the story, the narrative, forward and that’s about it. Even when they excel at this function, they’re pretty much pawns being moved around the board by the author who, to mix my metaphors here, are clearly pulling their strings. But sometimes, rarely, you come across a REAL character who is clearly above the string-pulling business and is, mixing again, the captain of their own ship/story. It's as if the character is living the adventure and the ‘author’ is simply documenting it. I LOVE that so much it's difficult to put into words and I’ve probably only come across that sort of thing a handful of times.  

4. One thing I discovered recently – this year in fact – was how much I really enjoy animal characters in novels. I don’t mean in Fantasy or even SF where the animal is a character in the story just like the humans (and aliens) around them, but an animal as we would recognise them. In both Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov (where the penguin - Misha - was an important plot element) and The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley (where the octopus – Albert – was very much a side character) I loved the way that the creature was a REAL person despite not being human and being mute. Both characters had personality and a well-earned place in the story.  

5. As I’m always looking for things to learn and new avenues to explore, I always like it whenever a novel presents a person, place or event that was previously unknown to or unconsidered by, me so I’m prompted to dig in the archives looking for non-fiction books on the subject/topic. It's ONE reason why my TBR is HUGE.  

6. I’m one of THOSE people who will drop a quote at the drop of a hat. Which means that I look out for them and ‘collect’ them whenever possible. Sometimes they’re from movies but also from books – fiction & non-fiction. Then all I need to do is wait for the appropriate moment and DROP it.  

7. I suppose, like most people, I often think that my ideas and perspective on the world is unique to me. Afterall, I’m unique, right? So, when I read a passage in a book that I could well have written which EXACTLY matches my beliefs, my thoughts and my deepest philosophical ideas it knocks me – metaphorically at least – off my feet. There’s almost nothing better than to discover that an author who might be LONG dead, from another country, has had the very same thought as you and that it has come into your life. LOVE it. It almost makes you believe in Fate. 

Sci-Fi Books that Shaped Me 

This is kind of stolen (with modifications) from Stephen over @ Reading Freely. 

For the greater part of my reading life (over 50 years now) my ‘go to’ books have been Science Fiction. Indeed, when I started out (VERY late in my early teens) I read SF almost exclusively. Needless to say, the genre has had a significant impact on making me who I am today. 

As I’ve mentioned several times the spark that ignited my lifelong passion for books was Triplanetary by E E ‘Doc’ Smith (which I must re-read at some point). This was a classic tale of Space Opera published in 1934 and was full of alien races, exploding stars and huge space battles. It was exactly what a young teen needed to literally blow their imagination. The other (very) early influence, just prior to this, was 1984 by George Orwell leant to me by a sympathetic English teacher at school. This slice of classic dystopian fiction was a foundation to my distrust of the authoritarian impulse and a major building block of my political belief system. My subsequent reading of The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin kicked off my longtime interest in Anarchism and all things politically on the Left. 

In a much more general sense Science Fiction significantly shaped the way I thought and, no doubt, still think about the world. One of the ways it did that was to make me wonder about the real science behind the science fiction. Reading about aliens, spaceships, time machines and robots (amongst MANY other things) got me wondering about how these things actually worked. How do you actually navigate in space? Is there (or was there) life on Mars? How do lasers work? What happens when a craft approaches the Speed of Light? Can you go faster? The only way to even begin to answer those questions was to hunt out books in my local library and read up on them. 

Along with (later) reading History, the different societies portrayed in SF (both human and alien, alternate and future) showed me that things could or can be different than they are now. They taught me that this wasn’t IT. That things could change for the better, that life as we lived it wasn’t inevitable – nothing like it. There was an alternative, indeed MANY alternatives. Speaking of which... reading Alternative History (one of my favourite sub-genres) taught me just how contingent things are. That even small changes, from a humble individual could at the right time and in the right place change history profoundly. Yet again it taught me that there was no such thing as Fate, no Destiny, no Plan. That things could have been very different from what we often accept as inevitable. 

Although reading Science-Fiction didn’t make me an Atheist I can see how it helped to reinforce that idea. Quite a lot of SF resolves around puzzles to be solved. Sometimes they’re as mundane as ‘How do we get from A to B without dying?’ Other times its ‘What are the aliens going to do next or How can we understand what they’re trying to say to us?’ The story then revolves around gathering evidence, putting together theories and testing them until you come up with a working solution. This reinforced the idea in my youthful growing brain that all problems had potential solutions and that what I needed to do was to analyse the issue (ANY issue), do my research and come up with a working hypothesis that I could test against reality. I then applied this idea to EVERYTHING I came across. Over time I became curious about everything (my ‘butterfly mind’) as well as sceptical about everything too. Whenever I can across an assertion my immediate response was “Prove it.” 

Needless to say, with my growing brain marinating in a regular infusion of SF in all its variety, my reading influenced (or some would no doubt say warped) my view of myself and the world. I got used to people looking at me strangely for the questions I asked, the fact that I asked questions at all, the depth of my scepticism (I even impressed my Masters tutors on that point), the solutions I offered (more often rejected as unworkable or too expensive – or just ‘silly’), and a host of other things. Science Fiction has most definitely made me the person I am, and I have zero regrets on that point. I have no idea who I would be without it, but I’m pretty certain that I’d be a different and probably a very different person sitting here today. Am I a better person because of 50+ years of SF reading? That’s an interesting question and probably only answerable if we had access to alternate realities... which we probably don’t.... Probably...  

DNA Update – October 2025 

Earlier in the week I had an e-mail from Ancestry.Com with a MAJOR update on my DNA stuff. It actually solved a mystery (by eliminating it completely) and added – at least potentially – another in its place. Part of the reason for the update is improvements in their algorithm as well as having more data to analyse. Here’s what they said... 

The mystery that I was struggling with – in that it was quite THE headscratcher – was my apparent Scottish ancestry. Although I haven’t gone too far back into my father's Irish side, I have gone back deep into the 15th century on my mother’s side without a SINGLE Scottish relative. My latest DNA results explain that by not showing ANY Scottish DNA at all – none. Therefore, my head no longer needs so much attention. Now the results show, as I fully expected from the start, that the majority of my DNA originated in Ireland. Interesting it's from ALL over Ireland – from the East coast (where my dad was from), to the far South and to the Northwest. It seems that my DNA liked to ‘get about’ a bit! Now as I completely expected I have 75% Irish DNA.  

The rest (or at least MOST of the rest) is, yet again, completely expected. 13% is from North Wales and Northwest England – where I was born and where I’ve found most of my English side relatives lived in the last 100 years or so. Again, completely expected, is the fact that 8% of my DNA comes from the West Midlands which is where my maternal grandmother is from. A mere 2% is from Devon & Somerset which is interesting but certainly not particularly strange. The STRANGE bit is that last 2%. 

Well within the margin of error is the interesting hint of 2% of my DNA being SPANISH. The rational side of me thinks that it came from a visiting Spanish sailor who ‘got lucky’ in a port in the Southwest and then went home to his family on the Cantabrian Coast. Of course, the more romantic side of my nature wonders if the guy in question (assuming it WAS a guy) was shipwrecked on the Irish coast on the way back from the failed Spanish Armada attack on England in 1588 and an Irish girl took a shine to his dark and brooding looks.... I doubt if I’ll ever find a Spanish name in the records though – but stranger things have happened.  

Either way it's an interesting update. Maybe a little ‘boring’ and ‘obvious’ but a really nice hint of the exotic. I’m amused if nothing else. I do have some Ancestry related reading to come. I wonder what I’ll discover?   

An Education in Itself... 

MANY years ago, when I was still in harness as a wage-slave, one of the Senior people in our Organisation had a brainwave. It was decided that every grade of post should fit certain criteria so that like could be compared like to like for pay and other benefits. In other words, a cost cutting measure – but I digress. 

As part of the process, they got everyone to produce a (very) detailed review/explanation of everything they did in their position (obviously because their managers didn’t know that information). At that time my job covered quite a bit of ground, and I was often tasked with things that other people simply didn’t want to do. My BIG boss, who I had a lot of time and respect for, would give me fiddly or difficult tasks knowing that I both liked that sort of thing – anything out of the ordinary – and would accomplish them in the most efficient way possible (I also suspect that at least at times she didn’t think I had enough to do). 

One of those tasks was disposal of old IT that had been accumulated over the years and had either become obsolete or had broken and been replaced. The resulting junk had been stuffed in cabinets and forgotten about. We did, being a LARGE organisation, have procedures for such things but no one knew who to ask or what to do, so it was given to me to sort out. Of course, one of the first things I needed to do was find out the size of the problem (HUGE it turned out) by asking people what they had that needed disposing of. The e-mails I got back were, to be honest, a mess. It seemed that people didn’t actually know what IT meant, so I had a variety of other kit – from phones to fax machines to coffeemakers on the lists I received back. This meant, naturally, that I’d have to separate the information I wanted from the rest – to separate the ‘wheat from the chaff’. This process is called WINNOWING. So, to finally get to my point, I put on my job description that a part of what I did was.... winnowing. This caused a problem. 

When my immediate boss received my requested job details for upward transmission, they asked what winnowing meant, so I told her. She suggested that I remove the word ‘because no one would know what it meant’ and I refused stating that the word was *exactly* what I did. So, after a few huffs she sent it on. Not long after I received a visit from HER boss asking about the word ‘winnowing’. Again, I explained what it meant and again I was requested to remove it and again I refused, explaining (again) that it was *exactly* the process I used. After a few more huffs it was sent on and I forgot about it. Until... 

About 4-6 weeks later my BIG boss – the Section Head – asked me for a chat. She had just returned from a ‘conference’ of Section Heads (about 60 of them) from across the Organisation to discuss the new regularised job descriptions. This was run by the BIG BIG boss and a panel of the upper echelons of the Organisation, so it was a fairly big affair. She was sitting next to another Section Head (who I also knew) when the discussion up-front turned to ‘unusual’ or unexpected elements of people’s job descriptions. The word ‘winnowing’ came up as the most unheard of and reference was made to the fact that they had to ‘look it up’. At this point the BIG boss turned to her friend, the other Section Head, and quietly said “that was [real name redacted]”. When she told me this later, I was just SO amused as well as more than a little disappointed that so few people knew what it meant. I mean, don’t people read 19th century countryside novels anymore? But, as I’ve said on more than one occasion, just being physically near me for any length of time is an education in itself. 

In related (but not as funny) news, another of the BIG bosses (Section Heads) told me (something I was unaware of at the time) that the local Organisation – of about 350 people – had a hierarchy of educational attainment that went from Level 1 to Level 5 (with 5 being the highest). I was the only person who had reached Level 4... Twice. My actual position in the organisation, which had quite a few levels (30 at least I think) was TWO levels up from the bottom. I think they heard me laughing in the next building....   

Get to Know the SF Reader Tag (Tagged by Stephen over @ Reading Freely)

1- What is your sci-fi origin story? (How you came to read your first sci-fi novel) 

As I’ve said on multiple occasions now, when I was in my early teens sitting on the sofa presumably looking bored, a friend of my older brother’s had just arrived to see him. Seeing me he threw a book he was carrying into my lap and said “I think you’ll like this”. It was Triplanetary by E E ‘Doc’ Smith – a 1930’s space opera. I didn’t like it – I absolutely LOVED it and have never looked back. 

2- If you could be the hero in a sci-fi novel, who would be the author, and what’s one trope you’d insist be in the story? 

An Iain M Banks ‘Culture’ novel. A hard-assed sassy female assassin companion, so we could spend the book swapping quips and causing sparks with our unresolved sexual tension which we’d both play up to outrageously. 

3- What is a sci-fi you’ve read this year, that you want more people to read? 

The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin 

4- What is your favourite sci-fi subgenre? What subgenre have you not read much from? 

My favourite sub-genre is probably Cyberpunk or Military SF. I’ve hardly read any comic SF and what I have I didn’t really like.  

5- Who is one of your auto-buy sci-fi authors? 

Difficult to say. A lot of the older authors are already on my shelves. I’m far too out of touch to auto-buy any new ones. 

6- How do you typically find sci-fi recommendations? 

In the same place I find all of my recommendations – A combination of YouTube/TikTok, other Blogs, Amazon recommends, random places... 

7- What is one upcoming sci-fi release you’re looking forward to? 

No. FAR too out of touch with modern SF to even be aware of what's coming next/soon. 

8- What is one sci-fi misconception you’d like to lay to rest? 

Written SF is not the same as movie or TV SF – generally it's MUCH more diverse and generally MUCH better.  

9- If someone had never read a sci-fi book before and asked you to recommend the first 3 books that came to mind as places to start, what would your recommendations be? 

Short Stories, Similar things to what SF you like watching on TV/Movies, short(ish) novels.  

10- Who is the most recent sci-fi reading content creator you’ve come across that you’d like to shoutout? 

I’ve stumbled across Feral Historian who talks about all kinds of Sci-Fi. I don’t always agree with his political ‘take’ but he does make lots of interesting points about SF content. He’s well worth a visit. https://www.youtube.com/@feralhistorian/videos 

Dancing Pet People? 

I had an e-mail a few days ago from Ancestry.Com regarding a new ‘personality trait’ they’d just released. Intrigued I logged on to have a look and ‘discovered’ that they had previously published a few more. Intrigued further I read on.... 

Now I’m not that impressed about linking too much personality to genetic drivers. I’m a fan of Free Will and, personally, don’t like the idea that my behaviour or personhood is significantly determined by the luck of the genetic lottery. Of course, I don’t think that I’m a completely Free Agent because of my life history and growing up in a particular culture but I think humanity in general is ‘plastic’ enough to modify itself – both collectively and individually – when required or desired. So, what do my genes apparently show? 

The first thing is that I’m unlikely to have a pet. Whilst this is technically true and has been for some time now since my cat died, I did have her for 16 years. Added to that is the fact that I grew up in a house overflowing with pets, from a German shepherd that I only just remember to hamsters, fish, budgies & minor birds, rabbits (LOTS of rabbits), jerboas and so on. So, on balance I’d have to say it's probably dead wrong to say that I’m not a pet person – although the website does say that having a pet is at least 2% genetic and at most 98% environmental. That’s not a lot to go on really! 

Next up is dancing. I doubt if many people have seen me dance – at least not sober! One of my ‘special powers’ is to increase my bodily density whenever anyone tries to get me onto a dancefloor. That very quickly give up before they pull a muscle or dislocate something. Interestingly, Ancestry scientists found more than 1,730 DNA markers connected to enjoying dancing and that enjoying dancing is at least 7% genetic. It would seem that I have few of those genes in my DNA! 

As before Ancestry has me down as an Extrovert – which I’m most definitely not. Sometimes I appear to be one, but this very much depends on who I’m with and where I am. I actually think that the whole extrovert/introvert dynamic is complete bullshit, so I’m not particularly surprised that they got me so wrong. It doesn’t help that only around 1% of our genes are apparently link to this behaviour characteristic – despite that being 8,000 genes! 

The website has me down as a Night person which I most definitely am. I don’t usually start feeling tired until around 11.30pm and can fairly easily stay up past midnight and still function reasonably well. Try me at 6am and you’ll see a very different person! At that time in the morning I might appear to be awake, but my brain is still in the early stages of a slow reboot. It’s interesting to see that being a morning or night person is at least 17% genetic and I can certainly accept that it has a significant genetic component that you can’t really mess with too much! 

One other thing I think was spot on was the ‘hint’ that I’m a picky eater. I am in fact a VERY picky eater. If I’m presented with something unannounced and are expected to simply eat it, then you have another thing coming. Even before becoming a veggie, I would ask, politely at first, exactly what it was. If such facts were not forthcoming whatever it is definitely goes nowhere near my mouth or my stomach. Plus, once I find a food I like I’m likely to eat/drink it for the rest of my life (ditto with things I don’t like & don’t eat). However, I can and have simply drop a particular food item from my ingestible list sometimes for reasons even I can’t understand... 

Finally, the trait that got me laughing the most – risk taking. Now no one who knows me would ever describe me as a risk-taker, indeed I am notoriously risk averse – so much so that I’ve been called boring, a wimp and much besides for not joining in with some idiocy my risk-blind friends are doing. I look at something, quickly assess any risks and if I see that it's too high (and it doesn’t need to be all that high) I become a completely immovable object on the subject. However, according to my genes I’m more likely to take risks than 60% of the population. Really? I think not! But if taking risks is at least 9% genetic I’m guessing that it's been overlayed by the other 91% of environmental factors. 

Early Reading, Just the Facts! 

Despite reading LOTS of fiction, and especially Science-Fiction, during my early reading years I also read quite a lot of non-fiction too – more often than not inspired by my fiction reading. As I was devouring SF novel after SF novel, I couldn’t help but wonder at the real science behind the things that amazed me on the page. The answer: To the Library!  

Flight With Power: The First Ten Years by David Wragg (Non-Fiction)
The Double Planet by Issac Asimov (Non-Fiction)
The Collapsing Universe by Issac Asimov (Non-Fiction)
Rudolph Valentino by Alexander Walker (Non-Fiction)
It’s No Sin to be Rich by William Davis (Non-Fiction)
The Road to Tyburn by Christopher Hibbert (Non-Fiction)
The Cometeers by Jack Williamson
The Identity of Jack the Ripper by Donald McCormick (Non-Fiction)
On the Scent with Sherlock Holmes by Walter Shepherd (Non-Fiction)
The Deathworms of Kratos by Edmund Cooper

So... LOTS of non-fiction from a wide range of subjects (I think my ‘butterfly’ was on speed back then) from Technology to History to Crime to Biography of silent movie-star heartthrobs... Butterflies will flutter.... I supposed that my young brain was just sponging up anything and everything at that age and was always looking for more. I’ve never really been able or willing either to focus too much on one particular subject or dismiss an area as uninteresting or ‘off-limits’. Frankly, even I don’t know what will interest me next – which makes popping into a library or a bookshop quite an adventure! More to come... 

Early Reading, This Means War! 

Another insight into my early reading... My fiction was still definitely focused on Science-Fiction with Moorcock, Heinlein and Anderson being heavily read at that point. I was also still dipping my toes into SF short story collections to seek out new authors and new subgenres, to read where I’d never read before.  That was one of my ‘problems’ around then – I really didn’t know what I ‘should’ be reading, having no one in the immediate family to mimic or borrow books from. I was, in many ways, on my own out there. One of the ways I dealt with the dearth of information is to look to TV shows or movies I liked and read the book(s) it/they were based on – hence Serpico.     

The Shores of Death by Michael Moorcock
The Corridors of Time by Poul Anderson
Bombers 1939-1945 edited by Bernard Fitzsimons (Non-Fiction)
Science-Fiction: The Great Years edited by Carol & Frederik Pohl
World War II Warships by David & Hugh Lyon (Non-Fiction)
Air Power at Sea 1939-1945 by John Winton (Non-Fiction)
Double Star by Robert Heinlein
Serpico by Peter Maas
The High Frontier by Gerard K O’Neil (Non-Fiction)
Machines by Robert O’Brian (Non-Fiction)

Of course, the thing that really sticks out from this list – every 10th book remember – is the number of WW2 generic histories. Back then, being a teenager, I was less interested in the political intricacies of the conflict and much more in the technology and weaponry involved. This persisted for a while but eventually died down to a more reasonable background level. The various books I was reading on the subject (both the cheap generic stuff I was buying and the heavier – in both senses – library books) also helped me build the numerous models of tanks, warships and aircraft that increasingly cluttered up my bedroom.

 Early Reading, Investigating the World 

Time for some more early reading I think... As before this is a snapshot of about a year's reading with every 10th book picked out to highlight (or at least indicate) the sort of things I was spending time on.   

Candy Man by Vincent King
Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock
An Alien Heat by Michael Moorcock
The Best SF Stories of Brian Aldiss by Brian Aldiss
Volcanoes by William J Cromie (Non-Fiction)
Life in the Artic by Alexander B Klots (Non-Fiction)
War Machines: Sea edited by Tom Perlmutter (Non-Fiction)
Practical Occultism in Daily Life by Dion Fortune (Non-Fiction)
Boys and Sex by Wardell B Pomeroy (Non-Fiction)
The Eighth Galaxy Reader edited by Frederik Pohl

This was when I discovered Michael Moorcock and read a great many of his often strange works, which were a mixture of Fantasy and odd-ball SF from the ‘New Age’ of Science-Fiction mostly from the 1970’s. They were, as you might imagine, rather mind bending! Of course the big thing that jumps out from the list above in the VAST increase in non-fiction reading. Not only was I launching into anything scientific I could get my hands on but there’s also the hint of my life-long interest in all things military history – especially the technology of warfare.  

There are, as you’ve probably noticed, a few strange entries here too. The first is a book on the Occult! For a sceptic from a very early age, I have been LONG fascinated with Magic and magical thinking and have read a great deal about the subject since my teens. Not only is the practice of magic – and the belief surrounding the idea – of great interest to me, I’m also greatly interested in the changing attitude of society towards those practices and beliefs.  

The other ‘oddity’ is a book on sex! As a very curious teenager I was, naturally, interested in sex. As this was a subject never raised at home – being the 70’s and not a subject for family chats – I felt the need to find out about it in other ways. Sex education in school was, to say the least, minimal. I remember watching a film in school – on an actual film projector back then – of a cow giving birth and we had discussions about the development of chicken eggs. Of course, being state education, we also had warnings of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (the good old STDs) and apart from, I think, one lesson on the theory of human reproduction that was it. So, being me, I naturally sought out books on the subject which were, as far as I can remember, pretty lame! But at least my reading scope was expanding both beyond simply science fiction and beyond fiction itself. I’m kind of curious myself what I got into next... [lol]  

A Date with Destiny 

I finished a book recently (A Mind of its Own by Cordelia Fine) which outlined in great detail exactly how the brain deceives its ‘owner’ in a number of ways. One of those ways, so well-known to all teenagers and especially young men in their 20’s, is the belief that you’re essentially going to live forever – right up till the moment you don’t. How does the Rush song go: “You’re only immortal for a limited time”... So, as part of the discussion, the author referenced a website charmingly called ‘The Death Clock’ (www.deathclock.com) which I couldn’t help but check out. When I Googled the address, I was a bit surprised that a number of sites offered this ‘service’ so, naturally, I tried two of them including the Death Clock. Each site asked a variation of pretty standard questions: 

Age
Gender
Smoking & Drinking habits
If you were an Optimist or Pessimist (I answered Neutral on both)
One site asked for a BMI (Body Mass Index) reading which I worked out even if BMI is a VERY questionable proxy for general health. 

The results were interesting and broadly similar in longevity. One site proposed my estimate death day to be Tuesday 16th July 2041 and the other (the actual Death Clock site) suggested Thursday 17th December 2043. So, not TOO shabby. Of course, being a Gamer what I see isn’t an expected last day but rather a score to beat. I guess only time will tell. In other interesting news a few days after I had this information the Universe (or The Matrix?) decided to totally troll me by showing me an article which predicted the collapse of Western civilisation (whatever THAT means) in 2040. So, not only can I watch the world slowly collapse I can actually be around for the FALL. Thanks Universe!! [LOL] 

In an aside, about 5 years ago in work we had a new ‘intern’ (we pay ours the standard salary for the position rather than make them work for free) in his early 20’s. For some reason the BBC website I visited each lunchtime was offering a quick and dirty Life Expectancy widget, so I tried it out. The intern did too and was a bit annoyed that it suggested that my life expectancy was greater than his – despite me being in my late 50’s and him being young, fit and around 30 years my junior. I suggested that it was because he was still in his stupid 20’s when people his age were skateboarding off mountains and that I had also passed through my late 40’s/early 50’s when there’s a significant spike in male suicides. He still had to make it through those filters... So, the good news is that I’ve (hopefully) got another 20 years of reading ahead of me. That MIGHT just be enough to work through the unread books I’ve already got. Possibly... 

Early Reading, Some Small Expansion 

My earliest reading, as I’ve mentioned before, was almost exclusively within the Science Fiction genre. But what this reading did was prompt within me questions – lots and LOTS of questions. These questions covered everything from ‘Is Time Travel or Faster than Light travel even possible’ to ‘What’s the Moon like’ and ‘How do fish breath under water’. Science Fiction led me to want to know more about the world I lived in and the Universe it existed in. So, where did my reading start to take me: 

Out of this World 6 edited by Mabley Owen
Crosstime Agent by Andre Norton
The Seedling Stars by James Blish
Five to Twelve by Edmund Cooper
Animals without Backbones (Volume 1) by Ralph Buchsbawm (Non-Fiction)
Prisoner of Fire by Edmund Cooper
The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris (Non-Fiction)
A Far Sunset by Edmund Cooper
Out of the Mouth of the Dragon by Mark S Geston
New Writings in SF 12 edited by John Carnell

Fiction-wise we’re still very much in SF territory with some teasing into semi-Fantasy. Interesting, as I’m only picking out every 10th book, we get another THREE Edmund Cooper novels. He was very popular with me at that age! But finally, we’re starting to see a few non-fiction titles – essentially Science based and (as seen to the present) largely Biology based. As you can also tell, a pretty common occurrence around that time was books of short stories which I’ve always found to be a great way of discovering new authors that deserve a read in a longer format.  

Early reading, Laying Foundations 

I quite enjoying looking back at my earliest reading recently and thought I’d continue that – at least for a while. Don’t worry though... I’m definitely not going to list EVERY book that came my way through my teenage years and my 20’s. What I thought I’d do is ‘sample’ my reads by recording every 10th book in a batch of 10, so effectively a years' worth of reading – just to get the flavour. On top of that I’ll throw in some commentary or memories of particular books or moments. It might interest you (and me!) to see how my reading has changed over the years – or not – we'll see!! So, we have:  

Natural State and Other Stories by Damon Knight
The Galactic Riddle – Perry Rhodan 8 by Clark Dalton
The Expert Dreamers edited by Frederik Pohl
Reach for Tomorrow by Arthur C Clarke
Beyond this Horizon by Robert Heinlein
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke
The Ghosts of Gol – Perry Rhodan 10 by Kurt Mahr
Transit by Edmund Cooper
The Last Continent by Edmund Cooper
A Clash of Cymbals by James Blish

So, we're still exclusively Science-Fiction at this point. There’s an interesting mix of short story collections and books from the core cannon of SF authors (Heinlein, Clarke, Blish etc.) so I was pretty well informed/on the ball even back then. This was probably because they were SO very well-known and the fact that my Maths teacher around this time was lending me books from his collection. The two Perry Rhodan books were from a series – I think I read the first 15 or so – purchased in conjunction with two school friends. None of us could afford ALL of the books so we split the costs which meant we could buy (and enjoy) more of them. I believe that the series was a collaboration between a number of European authors and was essentially YA space-opera. Edmund Cooper was a British SF author (who died in 1982) and was very prolific penning over 20 SF novels. I think I bought and read almost all of them over a few years. They were not exactly great literature, but I remember them as being highly entertaining.       

Childhood Times, Childish Things... 

Stephen over at Reading Freely has recently been focusing on his reading during childhood. He then asked me about my own experiences. So, here we are.... 

I’ve surprised many people over the years when I tell them that I hardly read a thing (or nothing notable) in my formative years – at least not until my early teens. I mean I COULD read and was reading happily before I started school. In fact, when my reading age was tested some years later during a school visit by an OFSTED examiner it was years ahead of my physical age. Yet, I still hadn’t caught the reading bug. The first book that struck me as something special – probably around the age of 11-12 I think – was an odd one, a German children's classic Emil and the Detectives (1929) by Erich Kästner. How this particular book (translated naturally!) came into my possession I have no idea. As I don’t have a copy, I can only guess it either came from my school or my local library. I’d bet on my school. I really liked it and I can still remember some of the urban scenes 50 years later. But that spark, well received as it was, failed to ignite my reading flame. Next up was another classic 1984 (1949) by George Orwell. This was leant to me by my English teacher at the time. Why such a book was considered appropriate reading for a 13-year-old, I’m not sure but I’m glad she thought it was a good idea. That book completely entranced me and became one of the foundational texts of my political beliefs. But still, no passion for books. The final book which DID manage to get my motor running (and never quite stopping since) literally dropped into my lap. I was around 13-14, probably looking bored sitting on the couch, when my older brother's friend arrived to pick him up. He was carrying a paperback and tossed it at me saying something like “This is pretty good. You might like it”. It was Triplanetary (1934) by E E ‘Doc’ Smith, a classic space opera novel from the Golden Age of SF. That book, that incident, made me the reader I became. It was as if my mind expanded to the edges of the Universe. Nothing has been the same since.... 

The rest, as they say, is History. Fortunately, at least some of it was recorded as soon after I started my mammoth life-long reading spree I began recording (with pen and paper back then) my reads. Below (very slightly anachronistic as the first 5-10, I think, represented a mix of memory and a VERY small stack I’d already read) is a list of my first 20 books I read in the early 1970’s. My reading did become a little more diverse in the subsequent years, but that’s for another post I think! 

1984 by George Orwell
Space Prison by Tom Godwin
Triplanetary by E E ‘Doc’ Smith
First Lensman by E E ‘Doc’ Smith
Gray Lensman by E E ‘Doc’ Smith
Second Stage Lensman by E E ‘Doc’ Smith
Galactic Patrol by E E ‘Doc’ Smith
Children of the Lens by E E ‘Doc’ Smith
Masters of the Vortex by E E ‘Doc’ Smith
Spacehounds of I.P.C. by E E ‘Doc’ Smith
The Best of E E ‘Doc’ Smith by E E ‘Doc’ Smith
Dune by Frank Herbert
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
The Heaven Makers by Frank Herbert
Seeker from the Stars by James N Coleman
I, Robot by Issac Asimov
Inverted World by Christopher Priest
City by Clifford D Simak
The Best of Clifford D Simak by Clifford D Simak
Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein

So, you can see that I was effectively mainlining ‘Doc’ Smith and when I couldn’t get any more of him moved onto other authors. It's also interesting how I got into the heavy stuff and some very decent classic text so early. All of the above was read when I was around 13-14 years old. As you can imagine at this point my poor brain was expanding in ALL directions at the speed of light (or beyond!). 

Thinking About: Horoscopes 

As a young child I had a bit of a fascination with horoscopes in our daily newspaper. Not only was I intrigued at what being born Aries actually meant but I was more than a little proud of the Arien reputation (which, actually, I hardly match in any respect). So, I’d read my ‘stars’ each day and waited to see how they matched with reality – which, naturally, they hardly ever did. It was good training in scepticism and confirmation bias. Thinking about the subject three incidents came to mind. I’ve mentioned them before (I think) in passing but I thought I’d put them all together here (maybe with some more detail) for new readers. 

The first incident was at work where I was leafing through a free Horoscope Year book I’d plucked off the front of a magazine I’d bought. In those days I was working in the same office as my (now long ex) girlfriend and we were going through a particularly bad patch during a ‘break’ in our relationship. So, reading my book to take my mind off things I was informed by it that this particular day was a good day for Love & Romance. As I’d just had a bloody awful morning with her and was already angry this ‘prediction’ simply made me more so. I made a LOUD “Huh!” sound – so everyone in the office looked in my direction, ripped the book in half along its spine – much to the astonishment of the whole room who knew by then how much I loved books, and threw the offending article – with a resounding “clang” into the waste bin under my desk. If I say so myself, it was QUITE the scene... 

The second incident was sometime later. I’m not sure but I think a few years at least had passed. For some reason I was still interested in Horoscopes and had signed up for a Day School on the subject in a local Adult/Continuing Education Centre. It took place on a Saturday and was reasonably cheap so I thought ‘Why Not?’ The woman running the course was very good and was a professional Horologist, so it was interesting talking to her. Two things struck me – when she asked for a volunteer for her to do a quick and dirty full Horoscope while we toiled at some tasks she’d set us, I put my hand up immediately and was picked. I gave her my details (date & place of birth) and off she went. A few hours later she put up my chart and talked through it for the rest of the class. The most intriguing aspect was that she highlighted my anxiety about large bodies of water and suggested that I’d had a near-drowning experience when younger. I told her, no doubt much to the amazement of the others, that I had indeed nearly drowned as a child on a school trip to the local baths in my pre-teens. The other thing that struck me was when I asked how exactly the planetary influences were supposed to work. She said, with definite points for honesty, that no one knew and they if anyone told us that they did know that they were lying to us. 

The last incident was at work again, many years later. An off-site team we had regular phone & e-mail communication with was relocating to the main site where I worked and Senior Management had the bright idea for an ‘Away Day’ to help with the integration. So, off we went to waste a day in a hotel somewhere. As part of the initial ‘ice-breaker’ everyone had to line up in birthdate order without divulging details of when you were born. In those days our team of around 12 plus at least one member of an associated team consisted, coincidentally, of 6 people all born with 2 weeks of each other. When we lined up like that, we were told we were ‘doing it wrong’ so had to explain the coincidence. This apparently filtered its way up to one of the top managers who came around to pretend to care about us. He mentioned the coincidence and asked what attributes we had in common with half the group being Aries. “None”, I said “Because Astrology is bollocks”. He imitated a beached fish for a few seconds, smiled (or tried to) and left.  

100 Questions – to get to know someone. 

91. What is one thing you would most like to change about the world? 

That we stop killing each other. Or maybe that we stop treating people as disposable ‘things’ rather than human beings. 

92. What piece of advice would you give 10-year-old you? 

Don’t take things TOO seriously and stop chasing or agonising over people who have zero interest in you. 

93. Have you ever broken the law? 

Probably. I’ve certainly been in cars that broke the speed limit. I’ve probably been in places that I shouldn’t have been. I don’t think I’ve ever stolen anything – except by accident. I’ve (at least potentially) enabled tax evasion by paying in cash. So, nothing of real consequence. 

94. If you won the lottery, what would you spend the money on? 

A bigger house so that I can have a room (or two?) purely dedicated to books with proper fitted shelves and stuff. That’d be cool. Plus, I’d travel First Class and stay 5 Star wherever I went. 

95. What was your favourite book as a child? Why? 

I didn’t really read as a child, so I have no really childhood favourites. But my favourite genre in my mid to late teens was Science-Fiction. 

96. Do you snort when you laugh? 

Generally, no. 

97. Are you a good dancer? 

Generally, no. 

98. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? 

Invisibility would be pretty cool if you could turn it off and on like a switch. Don’t want to be seen by someone, click, exit, click and you’re back! Teleportation – over any distance – would also be pretty good. Just think of all those savings on time & fuel! 

99. Do you believe in the death penalty? 

No. Apart from it being barbaric there’s always the possibility that they got or convicted the wrong person. The number of murder cases being overturned years or decades later is just far too many for me to be happy with condemning someone to death. No coming back from that one! 

100. Are you happy, genuinely, consistently happy? 

[laughs] Of course NOT. I’m a fully functioning (on a good day) adult with a reasonable comprehension and appreciation of the world. To be genuinely, consistently happy you either need to be a not too aware child or someone with DEEP psychological issues or possibly someone on some serious or exotic drugs for ‘chemical assistance’. 

100 Questions – to get to know someone. 

81. If you could choose any person in the world to be president, who would you choose? Why? 

ONE person to be the President of the World? I think that’s much too big a job for ONE person. Maybe one from each Continent, plus one other? Something like that... Although I think a unified World Government is going to be a LONG time coming. 

82. Do you daydream often? 

Depends what you mean by ‘daydream’. Thinking out plans and possibilities? Sure. Kind of dreaming what I’d do if I won the Lottery? Not so much! 

83. Do you know how to change a tire? 

Theoretically, yes. At least I’ve seen people do it. I could probably do it if I really HAD to. 

84. Do you have a hidden talent? 

I have so few talents I don’t think it’s wise to HIDE any of them. Hence, ‘all’ of my talents tend to be on full display. 

85. Do you consider yourself artistic? 

Well, my drawing is OK but I can’t paint to save my life. I can hold a tune (apparently) but don’t play any instruments. I did enjoy when my boss gave me a task with the rider: be creative, so I’m probably better at that than being ‘artistic’ as such. 

86. What is something you can't live without? 

Food, Air, Water..... Books...... 

87. Can you name all 50 states? 

US States? Probably not. I might get 30 or so on a good day though. I also couldn’t name all of the counties in the UK. Over half – maybe.... 

88. Do you eat soup with a fork or a spoon? 

What? There are people who eat soup with a FORK? HOW!?! That must be THICK soup!! 

89. Do you remember your dreams? 

Only the really interesting ones. Most of them are too mundane to remember for long. I did enjoy a good few though – the WEIRD ones and the seemingly profound ones. I had an interesting one based in Hades and another where I was trapped on an alien planet which slowly ate all of my tech until I became part of its ecosystem. That was VERY interesting. My mind/brain can be very entertaining at times! 

90. Are you superstitious? 

No. I was that kid everyone knows who deliberately walks UNDER ladders. 13 is also one of my favourite numbers. 

100 Questions – to get to know someone. 

71. Who do you call when you need a little pick-me-up? 

Amazon! 

72. Do you cry during sad movies? 

Yes, sometimes. I remember that I was quite upset when ‘Bing-Bong’ “died” in Inside Out. It was VERY sad. I think that whole cinema was sniffing & rubbing their eyes. 

73. What is your guilty pleasure? 

I honestly don’t have one. If I enjoy something – even if other people don’t - I’m more than happy to admit to it. Even if you like what other people think of as trash (which actually might BE trash) there’s no reason to feel ‘guilty’ about it.  

74. You're camped out in front of the TV, what are you watching? 

That’s always been a very rare occurrence (especially these days when I don’t HAVE a TV) but it would’ve been either for a TV series – like when I was totally HOOKED on the reimaged ‘Battlestar Galactica – or for a movie I’d been waiting for or loved to death (like ‘Where Eagles Dare’).  

75. Do you have a nickname? 

Yes! Even people who’ve known me for years now call me CK or Cyber or even Cyberkitten (or sometimes just Kitten). I think it’s hilarious. 

76. What would you eat everyday if you could? 

Food? I think one of the things I eat (almost) every day is bread. I do love me some nice bread – not the plastic rubbish you can get. I remember one of my friends saying that I always had really nice bread in my house. That’s because I BUY really nice bread, I said. Sure, it’s much more expensive but it’s SO much nicer than the stuff that comes out of a factory. 

77. Do you collect anything? 

Erm, let me think..... Well, there’s books.... and then some more books..... I did think about collecting coins, or stamps or various trading cards, but nothing really ‘stuck’. I pick up the odd thing that attracted my attention but I’m not really one to clutter up my house with anything other than, you know, books.... 

78. If you could kiss someone right now, who would it be? 

I do like kissing, I must admit. Sadly no one comes to mind..... [lol] 

79. Are you a spender or a saver? 

Yes! Generally, I save in order to spend. Mostly I’ve managed to live within my means so, very slowly, I’ve accumulated some savings – which partially enabled me to retire @ 60. Now I’m in the process of, slowly, spending it. That’s always the fun part. 

80. Are you named after anyone? 

Yes – kind of. My mother was a BIG fan of a 60’s singer who had a song out when she was pregnant with me. The title was a girl's name and, because she was convinced that I was going to be a girl – from a dream she had [this actually wasn’t that strange as she had a habit of dreaming stuff that came true] - that she decided to name me that. Of course, when I ruined the whole thing by being a BOY she had to change the name although not by much...   

It’s all Fun and Games, until.... 

It was while on a school trip to the French Alps in 1974 that I discovered video games – care of a coin-operated ‘Pong’ console in the hotel's games room. Over the week or so we were there ‘learning’ to ski, I spent most of my holiday money in that room. Since then, I’ve been playing video/computer games on and off on various coin-ops – my 2nd Year @ Uni was spent living in the ‘seaside’ resort of Morecambe where I spent far too much time and far too much money in the arcades – and on borrowed and, later, bought PCs. Over the decades I’ve played a fair few games over a LOT of hours. Primarily I’m a reader but I’m also very much a gamer too. 

My games generally fall into 3 large categories – FPS (First Person Shooter), RTS (Real-Time Strategy) and RPG (Role Playing Games). Over the decades I’ve enjoyed all 3 types, from Doom (FPS) to Age of Empires (RTS) to World of Warcraft (RPG). In the last 15 years or so the pattern has been playing a few hours each night with gamer friends (who I met at work in our IT Department), plus a few extra hours during the day at weekends and holidays. I also had ‘Gamer Days’ - generally on Christmas Day and New Years when I knew no one (or far fewer people) would be around due to family commitments. On those days I’d generally play from about noon (or before) until late at night.  

Looking through my Steam Account logs it’s interesting (to me anyway!) how some games really took off for me – and the guys – where others fell flat. Fortunately, most of the games purchased have been fairly cheap (or on sale) so the outlay hasn’t been enormous. Plus, when you’re getting hundreds of hours of entertainment out of something, the odd £25-35 doesn't seem very much. Until recently I was playing Warthunder (FPS but with tanks) during the day and, most recently, Generation Zero (FPS) with my primary gaming friend in the evenings. I’ve now switched to playing Gen Zero exclusively. So, what are my stats I hear a lone voice asking.... In no particular order (actually alphabetical order!) they are: 

10 Miles to Safety 26.9 hours
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 21.2 hours

Arma 3 27 minutes
Besiege 6.1 hours
Borderlands (Game of the Year Edition) 108.2 hours
Borderlands 2 1,276.6 hours
Borderlands 3 574.9 hours
Borderlands the Pre-Sequel 228.8 hours
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 136.7 hours
Cities: Skylines 8.1 hours
Company of Heroes 2 1,205.5 hours
Don’t Starve Together 41 minutes
Dorf Romantik 13.6 hours
Guns, Gore and Cannoli 2 7.8 hours
Livelock 3.2 hours
No Man’s Sky 585 hours
Northgard 32.1 hours
Oxygen Not Included 499 hours
Plague Inc: Evolved 88 minutes
Stellaris 38.7 hours
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands 74.5 hours
Tropico 5 24.6 hours
Two Point Hospital 161.3 hours
Dawn of War 2 342.3 hours
DorW2: Chaos Rising 130.7 hours
DorW2: Retribution 655.5 hours

Most recently:

Warthunder 745.7 hours
Generation Zero 81.8 hours (with 52.6 hours in the last 2 weeks)

So, yes..... I’m a GAMER LOL. 

It Was Three Years Ago Today..... 

It’s HARD to believe that I’ve been retired now for THREE whole years. I officially left full-time employment one day after my 60th birthday on 8th April 2020 and eased into the retirement I’d been ‘planning’ for 6 months. Although, with the Pandemic starting to bite there wasn’t a lot of easing going on. But those three years have gone by in a WHOOSH. Funnily, I bumped into someone from work today. I didn’t work directly with her, but our paths crossed fairly regularly. She retired 8 months before I did so we compared notes. We both agreed on the whoosh aspect but also agreed that part of that was the whole unreality of Covid in the early part. We also agreed that our activities have expanded to take up the available time so being at a ‘loose end’ just doesn’t factor into things. I told her of my ex-boss who wondered (or maybe worried) that I’d be bored without a job to go to. As I told her (my ex-boss that is) at the time: I don’t come here for something to do. 

So, how are things turning out? Three things immediately spring to mind, firstly because I’m now getting the sleep my body needs I’m no longer tired ALL the bloody time, as I was when working. By nature, I’m a night owl (I am SO not a Morning Person!) so I tended to go to bed late – around 11.00-11.30 - and then drag myself out of bed around 7 hours later on work days. I slept later at weekends but there’s no real way to claw back the deficit so... constant tiredness. No longer! I’m generally going to bed even later – pre-midnight is rare – and I get up around 8 hours later. So far, so expected. Oh, and the sleep I DO have is better. Not only do I tend to get to sleep faster than before, I also rarely wake up in the night and when I do I go back to sleep sooner than before. 

A somewhat more surprising result of retirement is that I haven’t had a cold since I left. I’ve had a few sniffles and I wondered a few times if I had a cold so mild as to be almost invisible, but generally.... Nothing. Obviously, this will be because I’m not mixing with hundreds of people every day rather than retirement per se but it’s a nice plus to the process. I’d never been one to ‘man up’ when ill and drag myself into work to infect other people, but it seems I was pretty much alone in that. To be honest, I obviously worked with germ filled plague carriers.  

Something that has surprised me a great deal is my lack of headaches. In the last 3 years I’ve barely had one, and that was a pretty mild affair. I used to own multiple packets of pain killers and bought them in bulk. In the last 3 years I think I might have taken 3-4 pills. I used to take 2 every 4 hours for the best part of the day (or longer) to make a headache at least bearable. These days I now take individual tablets (in the rare occasion when I need them) and that’s enough. So. It wasn’t my (Diet) Coke addiction and caffeine withdrawal that was messing with my head. It was WORK – most probably stress related frowning to be honest.  

All in all, retirement has been a major boon for both my physical and mental health – despite putting on a few kilos in weight because of lack of exercise. I used to walk a LOT in my job so I’m compensating somewhat by going for walks most days when it’s not raining. Regret retirement? Not for a second.    

100 Questions – to get to know someone. 

61. What is one thing you love about yourself? 

Insatiable curiosity 

62. What is your biggest insecurity? 

Not being very practical. Not being able to cope very well with other people's emotions. Being made to look stupid in public.  

63. What is the title of your favourite book? 

Yeah, right..... As IF I could have ONE favourite book!! 

64. When was the last time you felt lost? 

Mildly, probably a few days ago....... 

65. Do you cry when you are angry? 

Not that I’m aware of. I tend not to get THAT angry as a rule. My anger is more like flowing lava. Slow and VERY destructive given time, although thankfully it generally doesn’t hang around very long. 

66. Are you excited about anything right now? 

Finally watching Series 4-6 of The Expanse on Amazon Prime. 

67. Nike or Adidas? 

Neither. Presently (when I go outside) wearing Skechers 

68. What is your comfort food? 

Food is my comfort food! 

69. Do you laugh at the number of this question? 

No, because I’m not a child. 

70. Where do go when you want to be alone? 

Home. It’s was always great to get back from work and just close the door and the world outside. I’m not sure what I’d do or what I’d be like if I couldn’t have my alone time. Although I hear that solitary confinement is pretty chilled....