Adrian Garside

photo credit: zadeus

Following my release from the all consuming and soul destroying mental prison that is ‘dealing with Abbey’ I grabbed a book. I’ve not had time to buy a new book for ages, so I am re reading a book that I last read 7 or 8 years ago and at that time it was fascinating,  influential and enjoyable – I have recommended it many times to people, but I know of no one who has taken up the recommendation! Anyway I seem to be enjoying it even more this time around.

Shantaram is a story, but based on the true experiences and events in the life of the author.

He escaped from Prison, in Australia, made his way to Bombay and lived there, becoming integrated in Bombay life and culture.

Indian culture is different to English, so way different that many people struggle to understand and accept certain aspects of it – this book goes tells the story of the authors assimilation into Bombay life and the culture shocks he had along the way – he wrote his notes for the book as he went so his story is vivid and detailed. For instance I have just read about a conversation he had with one of the characters he met,  where they discussed what bribes were OK, and it’s all to do with honesty. The reasoning went that every country has the ‘dishonest bribe’,  but only India has the ‘honest bribe” -  where everyone accepts bribes and offers  bribes and everyone knows the going rate of a bribe, so there is very little underhandedness about the system.

Interestingly, in the book, they call bribes ‘baksheesh’  – I first came across this word in Egypt and there it means “gratuity or tip” – it has a slightly different emphasis that is less perjorative than ‘bribe’.  So, in India, or at least, in the author’s experience, the police pay baksheesh to get assigned to the best police station…the best police station being the one that gets the most baksheesh…

There are plenty of other aspects to Bombay that he has mental tussles with – so far and I’m only 100 pages in, but they include the slums, the back street slave shop and the quite  extreme consequences of a car crash – not the crash itself mind, the consequences.

I love this book, and recommend it!

I keep snatching a few minutes to read The Invisible Gorilla – it is excellent and mind blowing – I want to tell you all about it!

But I won’t.

OK, 1st you need to watch this short video. It’s integral to the book.

I’m reading an awesome book at the moment – The Invisible Gorilla.

The comments on the back cover do this book more justice than I can do:

“It isn’t often you come across a book that is rigorous but also witty, one that is sound science but also relevent to evryday life – but here is it. Clever, illuminating, by turns shocking and delightful, this book, if you take it to heart will change alot of your bad habits and could even save your life”

“This book will delight all who seek depth and insight into the wonder and complexities of cognition”

“We all have incredible confidence in the accuracy of our senses and the tales they tell us about the world we live in. Through clever experiments and captivating stories The Invisible Gorilla shows us our confidence is misplaced”

I’m hoping that by backdating this post, you’ll have watched the video above first – did it seem unusual? If so, you are in a minority. If you missed the unusual bit, that is not a failing, just like if you saw it, it is not a triumph.

However, if you saw it, you will not understand how any of us could miss it – yet 70% of us miss it. How can that be? You need to read the book – just becuase you saw the unusual part of the video, doesn’t mean you have no interest here.

If you missed it, and now you know it was there, you will shake your head in mystification.

And that is where this book heads – lots of real life stuff – how car drivers don’t see motorbikes ‘He just came out of no where’, how they get away with so many continuity errors in films and why witnesses to stabbings providing completely different versions of the events.

This book explains how your mind works and keeps it light and amusing at the same time.

Zak has just lent me this, it’s by Alexander McCall Smith and is one of the ‘The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency’ series…I didn’t know it was a series until now.

I’ve never read any of these books before, I think either the cover, or the title doesn’t appeal to me enough, or maybe the reviews I heard didn’t prompt a trip to a bookshop. I should know not to judge books in this fashion – there have been plenty of surprises over the years. -  ‘Boiling a Frog’ sat on my bookshelf for 10 years before I got into the author by a different route and he became my favourite author. And,  Driving Over Lemons was recommended by a  friend for years before  it was the only thing to read in a hospital waiting room…

Anyway, I’m enjoying this, it has a strange written style and a slow but relaxed pace – not slow and boring, where you wish it it’s just get to the point, but relaxed – it’s only a small book, so you know there’s no need to rush and there is alot of human detail and observation to cover the relaxed pace.

I don’t know yet whether it will make me read the others in the series…we’ll see.

Skulduggery Pleasant is detective style character, with his assistant Valkyrie Cain and there is magic involved.

This books are a brilliant and funny read – they say they are aimed at 9 years +, but they fall into the category of  ‘childrens books that adults like’ and so I am just as excited to see a new one released as Finn is.

Just reading book 4 and enjoying it…

The book was excellent and very fast paced for a huge book…but I am puzzled how someone (and I don’t know who this someone is) could have considered it suitable for a 11 year old…

This was recommended to me by my 11 year old son. Then it was recommended by Helen Maurice.

Finn (my son) has read a few Ken Folletts and they have prompted some interesting questions about life (such as ‘Dad, What is cunnilingus?) and he had spoken about the detail Mr Follett brings to a story, he really brings battle scene’s alive apparently. Helen had spoken about this book in a way that likened it to a different book that I’ve read and loved – Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd.

So, I have started it – I’ve read about the 1st 100 pages (this is a pretty big book) – I’m gripped.

Stella Rimmington used to be the head of MI5 and her novels reflect this – all the ones I have read so far have been ‘spy’ type ones.

Really well written and entertaining all the way through. This one follows the character – Liz Carlyle, who features in a few of her books so may not be ideal as a 1st Stella Rimmington, but, as it’s been a couple of years, I had forgotten the history and the book was fine.

I enjoyed it.

photo credit: dougward

The plot is a bit thin on the ground…

…I’ll get mycoat