Nosemonkey > Recent Status Updates

This is decent, but can't help feeling it'd work better as a film... A little too random and superficial in book form, but could be compelling as a documentary, with the images themselves dominating, the words mostly background.

"The rainbow at which so many of us have looked in delighted wonder is a polychrome vision of God's weaponized penis" - well, quite.

So the 1751 chapter is mostly lots of David Hume, largely framed around his close friendship with Adam Smith. Despite this, remarkably little on the relationship between the Scottish Enlightenment and the rest of the Enlightenment. Perhaps that's the next chapter? Quite a lot happened between 1751 and 1801, so will be interesting to find out.

Forgot I hadn't finished this... Fun

This is rather fun. Have read similar before (notably Karen Armstrong's A History if God, some 20+ years ago), but this is still telling me things I didn't know. And very readable so far.

Hooking 1751 off Adam Smith, eh? Makes some sense. (And yes, of course Hume gets a look-in too.)

Has been on the to read list for a while. Probably since it came out. Reminded by his latest just being released in English. So far it's superb - rare for me to say that of WWII books. Utterly unlike what I was expecting.

Now up to 1751, so moving beyond my period - has been speedy and pretty easy to keep up so far, but that's because most of it has been familiar. The chapters start getting longer from here on out - will my pandemic-softened brain be able to keep up?

Engagingly written. So far little I wasn't aware of big picture, but lots of fascinating (often disgusting) details. He's definitely done his reading.

My first Murdoch, and another random charity shop purchase. Still not sure what to make of it, but *very* typical late 20th century English literary fiction in style. and tone so far. Do I like it? TBC.

Frequently incomprehensible and requires vast amounts of prior knowledge, but solid endnotes explain it all pretty well.

This is quite fun

I definitely lack the reading and cultural context to fully appreciate this, but it's still excellent.

Forgot I'd not finished this...

This is much better than I remember. Genuinely excellent. And has Thomas More bang on.

Picked up The Mirror and the Light in a charity shop for a quid, so decided to start again from the beginning. Good stuff so far - better than I remember.

It's quite fun, this. Nothing especially new to me so far, but then the opening bit's my period.

Good stuff, this. I do like books with short chapters/sections - much easier to get into...

Must finally get into the habit of finishing a book before I start a new on, though. Have a big pile staring at me, disgruntled.

Complicated exaltations of simple concepts for 40-odd pages is a bit much for a Saturday afternoon.

Skipped around, then started from the front. At once amusing and confusing in the depth of knowledge on display of obscure artists, architects, towns, villages, and vocabulary. Good stuff.

Have been meaning to read this for a while - a special offer of £11 for the trilogy on Kindle seemed a bargain. One of those you can pace through quite happily. Decent.

Returning to this one and its strange combination of all-pervading impending doom and flippant humour. Just the thing for a gloomy, rainy Saturday... But time to switch to something a little lighter.

This is rather fun. Not as straight a telling as I was expecting - which shows how little I know of Graves.