Doctor Who: 365 Days of Memorable Moments and Impossible Things (Richards)

Doctor Who: 365 Days of Memorable Moments and Impossible Things by Justin Richards (2016)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

A lot of Doctor Who trivia, much of it repetitive, organized into little bites by date, to fit the theme of a calendar. Smartly, it's not a calendar, as that would kill the book by the end of the year.

The book iteself says that it isn't something that should be read straight through. After trying that, I have to agree. The selection of dates of things is a little haphazard, and some things are just listed on days for no particular reason at all.

While it isn't a narrative, the book doesn't work as a reference, either. Nothing is crossed-referenced (I guess because of the calendar-ish nature), so when some episodes are topics are mentioned again, a lot of backstory has to be repeated.

Each entry ends with a list of things for that date, usually the year that an episode was first broadcast, when a particular actor or historical figure was born or died, when a character's birthday might've been if it was ever referenced. Some shows set in the past or future took place on specific dates, and those get referenced as well.

There were a bunch of references to the old shows that I didn't know, and some to shows that I either remember from long ago or have seen in recent years.

An interesting book, and also a library loan, which I had to take out twice because I needed to put it down a few times and read something else.

Speak Thai (Flood)

Speak Thai: The Easiest Way to Learn Thai and Speak Immediately , Daniel Flood (2019)

NO IMAGE ADDED

There are lots of free ebooks out there, so many that I've stopped downloading things just because they were free. But every now and then, a title pops up that intrigues me. If a newsgroup online (okay, it was really a "subreddit"), the author posted a link, stating that the book was free for a short time.

His approach makes sense: you don't need an extensive book that covers everything. ou won't see a zebra in Thailand, so you don't need to say it. On the other hand, there are too many references to "ask a native speaker" because they will be glad to help. I'm not going to find a native speaker (outside of a restauurant), and I'd have to keep asking them to slow down so I can hear how the language is spoken.

Speaking is the problem. There are a few references to how some letters or letter combinations are promounced. There needed to be much more than that. When it gets to the the useful phrase chapter, there are no suggested pronunciations next to any of them. I'd likely try to say them as if they were English words.

So, it's nice that it's short and free, but it needed to be a little longer (or less chatty). And it seems like the "easiest way to learn Thai" is to go there, immerse yourself, and listen to natives. However, that isn't very easy, and it definitely wouldn't be immediate.

So You Think You're Irish (Kelleher)

So You Think You're Irish, Margaret Kelleher, 1988

This book, published originally in 1988, and reprinted in 2014, was an impulse buy at a discount store. (Note the blurred price tag in the photo.) I'm not aware of any updates to the book for the new edition. Oddly, I never checked when it was published until I was typing this entry. This might explain why my knowledge of history was so rusty, considering that there isn't anything from the past 30 years or so, which would be most of my adult life when I might've been paying attention to such things.

I'll come right out and say this book was a bit of a disappointment, but it was an impulse buy. I shouldn't flipped through the pages a little bit before making the purchase.

The book consists of some 500 multiple-choice questions about Ireland, divided into categories: Irish History, Irish-American History, Beliefs and Legends, Entertainment, Words, Food, etc. The questions were a little too picky, and sometimes several focused on the same event (in some case, inadvertently giving away answers). I'll admit that I don't know the names and contributions of every famous Irish man and woman in each of two countries (and a few around the world).

What I found missing was any sense of cohesion tying the entire book together. Maybe an introduction into each chapter. Perhaps a little more information woven into the answer keys that followed. Something to make reading about random events, people and facts a little bit more interesting.

I'd almost put the book aside before I'd gotten to the chapters on Words and Food. I did pretty well in those, having heard quite a few of those terms over the years, from my family, old movies and even music. As a bonus, the Answer Key to the Food chapter actually included some recipes. I'll likely photograph the bunch of them and try one or two of them out sometime. (Likely not the soda bread -- my wife already makes a good soda bread. No reason to try something new.)

So it was interesting in bits, but overall, not what I was looking for. Sadly, I think I have something else in the closet that's similar. I won't mind if it refers to things I might have heard of or can reason out. But this was just guess, guess, move on, etc.

Final notes: I had a Post-It for a bookmark (two, actually: one for the answers). I scribbled down a few notes to look up, which so far, I haven't. So in case I lose the note, here are the entries:

• Lough Derg ("Lou Derg")
• Hy Brasil
• Femoril
• "keener"
• Giants Atrium (cooling lava)

The parenthetical "Lou Derg" was (I think) me thinking that that would be a good name from a character in a story, having a little inside joke in his name.
Giants Atrium is a place formed by cooling lava, and I wanted to research it because it has the natural feel of a fantasy story location. (Maybe for Lou Derg?)

Final verdict: don't waste your time, even if it's only an hour.

The Pirates Who's Who (Gosse)

The Pirates Who's Who, Philip Gosse, 1924

The Pirates Who's Who was written by Philip Gosse in 1924, but through the magic of the Internet, it lives on as a Project Gutenberg ebook. Also, the fact that it's so old adds to its authenticity that it was likely more researched than anything that might be published for the first time as an ebook today. This doesn't read like a lengthy version of some click-bait article.

That said, what it does read like is an encyclopedia because that's what it is. Now, there isn't anything wrong with that, except that the document format of the particular version I have could be greatly improved if it had cross-referencing hyperlinks. This is one of those times that paper beats electronic -- flipping back and forth with fingers holding your place.

Okay, so why choose this book? Subject matter, obviously. Did I realize that it would be an encyclopedia when I downloaded it? No. Was that a problem? No.

Gosse included an introduction to the book which was interesting in itself and while some entires are extremely brief, others contain stories, adventures, rises, falls and final judgments of many colorful characters. That's the heart of the book.

That said, it obviously wasn't meant to be read cover to cover, and I made it 28% of the way before moving on. Important to note: 1) I will get back to it, 2) I stopped because I had some writing to do. There was a flash fiction contest on the topic of pirates. I had thought, but I wanted some authentic background, other than looking up the differed between a buccaneer and a Corsair. I found some inspiration with stealing anyone's tales.

Unfortunately, the first draft was worse than usual, and I didn't have proper time for a second. I thought I might be able to sneak it in by, say, nine the next morning (because pirates break rules!) but the contest was already judged by that point! I guess there weren't any last minute entries.

Added note: I will get around to finishing that story. Hopefully before I finish this book.

Unfinished. I will return to it, which means either editing this entry or giving it a second one.