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Random Views: the first five years
If you can laugh, why cry over the things that don't work out in life?
‘You really want your child to talk? Remember that the moment they learn to talk is the moment they learn to talk back.’
‘The bankers may have redeeming characteristics, but if so, they keep them well hidden.’
‘The East gave us nothing, and we ought to show more gratitude.’
‘Emma Lina found herself a husband by looking at the wood piles outside the houses of all the bachelors. She reasoned that a man with a large wood pile would know how to look after a house and the woman inside it.’
‘So the US House of Representatives went to the brink of the fiscal cliff, peered over and wisely decided this was not the moment for a great step forward.’
Random views on random subjects. Always in pursuit of a smile. Dip into them and see if they work.
‘You really want your child to talk? Remember that the moment they learn to talk is the moment they learn to talk back.’
‘The bankers may have redeeming characteristics, but if so, they keep them well hidden.’
‘The East gave us nothing, and we ought to show more gratitude.’
‘Emma Lina found herself a husband by looking at the wood piles outside the houses of all the bachelors. She reasoned that a man with a large wood pile would know how to look after a house and the woman inside it.’
‘So the US House of Representatives went to the brink of the fiscal cliff, peered over and wisely decided this was not the moment for a great step forward.’
Random views on random subjects. Always in pursuit of a smile. Dip into them and see if they work.
435 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 29, 2013
1 person want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 15, 2014
David Beeson lives in Luton, England, and his book, entitled Random Views: the First Five Years, exhibits the famous wry sense of humor attributed to the English.
This book is a compilation of the best of Beeson’s blog posts, “A random walk through life,” he calls it. For our convenience, he’s broken the book down into topic areas, including among others, “Delights of Daily Life,” “Transports of Delight,” “Family and Friends,” “ConDem Nation,” “Lessons from and Sometimes About America,” “Remarkable Women,” and “Health of the Nations,” among others.
Beeson writes about the full range of human experience in short, digestible pieces—these are blog posts, after all. So what follows is a random sampling:
In a post entitled, “Hymn to the IT man,” he reminds us of our last visit from an electrician to get into his frustration with the IT department. “We all know,” he writes, “that the first thing an electrician does when he looks at your wiring is suck his teeth, shake his head and ask, ‘who set this lot up for you, then?’”
Beeson writes a number of posts about Misty the cat and Janka the dog. Funny how much amusement pets can bring to a family. Along with the pets, though, Beeson writes about the “magic of a second chance,” an opportunity to make up to his son for an earlier disappointment. His several items about parenthood, include one called the “essential survival guide.” In his listing of essential skills is driving. “I didn’t realize that the most important aspect of parenting is providing a free taxi service . . .” Then he takes a couple of pages to describe the logistics any soccer mom already knows, modified just a bit to accommodate English activities. “I have to confess to a shameful remote-control-for-kids fantasy,” he writes.
Beeson’s political views are sometimes tongue-in-cheek, often biting, with wonderful insights into the ways in which our political leaders fail us. He writes of Presidents and Prime Ministers with “flapping zippers,” and “proud” crooks. He writes of bankers and the economy, corporate greed, liberty and security, and sex in the churches, and then he recognizes often unrecognized women, unknown giants in their fields.
There’s much more, but I’ll not overdo it. I promise that Random Views is just as relevant for those of us who live on this side of the pond as for those on the other. So pick up your copy and check out his blog at davidbeesonrandomviews.blogspot.com.
This book is a compilation of the best of Beeson’s blog posts, “A random walk through life,” he calls it. For our convenience, he’s broken the book down into topic areas, including among others, “Delights of Daily Life,” “Transports of Delight,” “Family and Friends,” “ConDem Nation,” “Lessons from and Sometimes About America,” “Remarkable Women,” and “Health of the Nations,” among others.
Beeson writes about the full range of human experience in short, digestible pieces—these are blog posts, after all. So what follows is a random sampling:
In a post entitled, “Hymn to the IT man,” he reminds us of our last visit from an electrician to get into his frustration with the IT department. “We all know,” he writes, “that the first thing an electrician does when he looks at your wiring is suck his teeth, shake his head and ask, ‘who set this lot up for you, then?’”
Beeson writes a number of posts about Misty the cat and Janka the dog. Funny how much amusement pets can bring to a family. Along with the pets, though, Beeson writes about the “magic of a second chance,” an opportunity to make up to his son for an earlier disappointment. His several items about parenthood, include one called the “essential survival guide.” In his listing of essential skills is driving. “I didn’t realize that the most important aspect of parenting is providing a free taxi service . . .” Then he takes a couple of pages to describe the logistics any soccer mom already knows, modified just a bit to accommodate English activities. “I have to confess to a shameful remote-control-for-kids fantasy,” he writes.
Beeson’s political views are sometimes tongue-in-cheek, often biting, with wonderful insights into the ways in which our political leaders fail us. He writes of Presidents and Prime Ministers with “flapping zippers,” and “proud” crooks. He writes of bankers and the economy, corporate greed, liberty and security, and sex in the churches, and then he recognizes often unrecognized women, unknown giants in their fields.
There’s much more, but I’ll not overdo it. I promise that Random Views is just as relevant for those of us who live on this side of the pond as for those on the other. So pick up your copy and check out his blog at davidbeesonrandomviews.blogspot.com.
February 24, 2014
What a great, unusual book! At first I was a bit cautious, knowing I was going to be reading a book compiled of blog posts, but I was so wonderfully surprised. David Beeson is such a talented writer and his posts are both hilarious and insightful. As an American, I found myself fascinated with his feelings about what is happening over here across the pond and hearing it from his perpective.
He writes about thing all of us can relate to, from troubles with working with IT, his kids, his wife, restaurants, feelings on the government, royalty, you name it. The articles are short and sweet and his writing flows extremely well. What a lovely surprise.
He writes about thing all of us can relate to, from troubles with working with IT, his kids, his wife, restaurants, feelings on the government, royalty, you name it. The articles are short and sweet and his writing flows extremely well. What a lovely surprise.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews