Plumbing

Well, I am now the proud owner of a new dual flush AAA rated toilet cistern. It has the particularly important advantage over my old cistern of stopping the flow of water into the bowl after flushing has completed. Yay!

Judging a book by it's cover

A blog on the age website had this link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A23664PX3VILKS/103-8552712-7852618?ie=UTF8&display=public&page=1

This is a page of book reviews on Amazon by a man who has not read any of the books. The reviews are very funny, and all start with the phrase "I have not actually read this book but..."
Here is a sample:
"I have not actually read this book but I think (the author) has hit on a very interesting idea. Most people nowadays write non-fiction books with bits of fiction secretly interspersed throughout, sort of like Where's Waldo for adults. But (the author) has brilliantly turned this idea on its head and written a fiction book with bits of non-fiction secretly inserted into the text. I wonder if Oprah knows about this unique innovation."

I liked this a lot :)

Book Reviews

I am not really sure what to put in this blog, but a friend suggested book reviews. I like this idea, so I will give it a try :)

I recently read the latest Nightside novel by Simon Green. "Sharper than a Serpants Tooth". I really like this series. The books are short in terms of number of pages, but have a very high information density. They are a good mix of black humor and action. In this novel, a number of long running plot threads are resolved, in my view satisfactorally. The series reminds me a little of Jasper Ffords novels, where the universe is patently rididculous, but the characters and action are taken seriously. The Nightside universe is a lot darker and nastier however.

"Sharper than a Serpants Tooth" is really the continuation of the story from the previous novel, "Paths not Taken", so it is probably not a good place to start. In fact, the obvious place to start the series is Book 1, "Something from the Nightside" :).