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#bookonmyshelf

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geraldew<p><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/BookOnMyShelf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BookOnMyShelf</span></a><br>This is Sweden Calling<br>by<br>Des Mangan<br>(c) 2004</p><p>It was Des Mangan commentating the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest onsite for SBS that converted our household into watching the competition.</p><p>This book followed and is a delightful combination of facts and the Mangan wit - he was already known for comedy rescripting of old movies and presenting quirky films on SBS.</p><p>See article at <a href="https://www.aussievision.net/post/des-mangan-australia-s-first-commentator-at-eurovision" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">aussievision.net/post/des-mang</span><span class="invisible">an-australia-s-first-commentator-at-eurovision</span></a></p><p>From 2009 the Australian onsite presence at ESC has been continuous.<br><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/Bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bookstodon</span></a></p>
geraldew<p><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/BookOnMyShelf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BookOnMyShelf</span></a><br>Computer Related Risks<br>Peter G. Neumann<br>(c) 1995</p><p>Something of an eye opener this book, to say the least.</p><p>As I was by that point working in IT for a large organisation, gaining insights into how computers could be abused by those saw a chance to do so was an important shift in my thinking.</p><p>While I don't directly reference it any more, the things I learned in this book have played into many a "but what if.." point in work meetings across the decades.<br><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/Bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bookstodon</span></a></p>
geraldew<p><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/BookOnMyShelf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BookOnMyShelf</span></a><br>One-act Plays for Secondary Schools - Book 3<br>Compiled by<br>Colin Thiele &amp; Greg Branson<br>(c) 1964 (p) 1969</p><p>For a generation of Australian school children, this book series will be familiar.</p><p>I don't remember which of these plays we "did" (i.e. read out or acted) but for me the standout was "The Fall of the City" by Archibald MacLeish, which I merely read by myself.</p><p>I thought I also had Book 1 but must have disposed of them both as this copy is a 1990s re-purchase.<br><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/Bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bookstodon</span></a></p>
geraldew<p><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/BookOnMyShelf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BookOnMyShelf</span></a><br>The Incredibly Strange Film Book - An alternate history of cinema<br>by<br>Jonathon Ross<br>(c) 1993 (p) 1993</p><p>My memory is that I saw the TV series of this (on SBS Australia) and then bought the book.</p><p>I had a period in the 1990s where, having a VCR and a "video library" at the end of my street, I trawled all they had of the vampire movie genre.</p><p>I thereby understood the fascination Jonathon Ross had for these various backwater niches of film making.<br><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/Bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bookstodon</span></a></p>
geraldew<p><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/BookOnMyShelf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BookOnMyShelf</span></a><br>Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions<br>by<br>Martin Gardner<br>(c) 1959 (p) 1982</p><p>Martin Gardner's columns in Scientific American were a touchstone for my interest in mathematics, very much in parallel with what I learned in school. </p><p>Intersections with the magazine were sporadic so in adulthood I bought the books of collected columns whenever I saw them.</p><p>I think this was the first I got - but I only ever got five of the fifteen that he put out (alas one is now missing).<br><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/Bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bookstodon</span></a></p>
geraldew<p><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/BookOnMyShelf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BookOnMyShelf</span></a><br>Coleridge - Selected Poems<br>by<br>Samuel Taylor Coleridge<br>(c) 1965 (p) 1965</p><p>I wouldn't say I'm a big fan of poetry and probably haven't bought any since my twenties.</p><p>However I did take a liking to Coleridge, and his experiments with meter. I bought this book - second hand - in order to have and to read ".. Ancient Mariner" - already knowing "Kubla Khan" from a high school book.</p><p>But it was "Christabel" that I discovered herein and became my favourite poem of his.<br><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/Bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bookstodon</span></a></p>
geraldew<p><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/BookOnMyShelf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BookOnMyShelf</span></a><br>Chaos<br>by<br>James Gleick<br>(c) 1987 (p) 1988</p><p>While I'd love to claim I already knew this stuff, like many people, that was really via the cover article of Scientific American in August 1985.</p><p>But it was this book a few years later that gave me a thorough grounding in it all. </p><p>Like many books of that (pre-Internet access) time, I read and re-read it a lot. </p><p>Much of the content has informed my understanding of both physics and (importantly) data ever since.<br><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/Bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bookstodon</span></a></p>
geraldew<p><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/BookOnMyShelf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BookOnMyShelf</span></a><br>A Tolkein Bestiary<br>David Day<br>(c) 1979 (p) 1989</p><p>While I'm not changing my hashtag, this is really "should be on my shelf" - because I haven't seen it since the move from Perth to Melbourne (whole other story).</p><p>Anyway, this was the book that really helped me make sense of Tolkein's created world. And is why I was then able to read both The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.</p><p>A friend had this and I liked it so much I bought myself a copy too.<br><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/Bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bookstodon</span></a></p>
geraldew<p><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/BookOnMyShelf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BookOnMyShelf</span></a><br>The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language<br>by<br>David Crystal<br>A 1994 reprint of a 1987 edition.</p><p>This is a book that I used to read various sections of - as if it was a magazine left lying around to pass the time.</p><p>Despite being monolingual, languages generally fascinate me. I suspect it was programming that led me to feel that way, as I had no such interest during my school years.</p><p>And opera, which always seems to sound better when sung in "other" languages.<br><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/Bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bookstodon</span></a></p>
geraldew<p><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/BookOnMyShelf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BookOnMyShelf</span></a><br>Secrets of Origami<br>by<br>Robert Harbin</p><p>I'm not entirely sure if this was my first origami book. My copy dates itself at 1971 but is listed as 1972 at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Harbin" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H</span><span class="invisible">arbin</span></a> <br>I've been folding paper frogs as shown on its cover ever since.</p><p>See this page for some examples of the designs in it.<br><a href="https://www.giladorigami.com/origami-database-book/105/Secrets-of-Origami-by-Robert-Harbin" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">giladorigami.com/origami-datab</span><span class="invisible">ase-book/105/Secrets-of-Origami-by-Robert-Harbin</span></a></p><p>Besides the frog I probably made the peacock most often.</p><p>In short, Origami has never left me as a mindful escape - where others might doodle, I will fold.<br><a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/Bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bookstodon</span></a></p>
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