Sunday, 3 August 2008

Today was another day spoilt by heavy rain. I know rain is good for the garden but at present the garden looks very bedraggled and sorry for itself. Jackie and I made a start on some domestic projects.

I finished reading The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason, and Byron's Daughter. Benjamin Woolley writes very well and has a masterful grasp of his subject: Ada Byron’s life as a metaphor for Britain’s transition from the enlightenment and romance through to the crushing hopelessness of industrial Victorian Christianity. Or at least that’s what I think he meant.

Big Babies - or why can't we just grow up was another very interesting book. Michael Bywater's theme is that modern society consists of the Nanny State treating us all like imbecilic children which is naturally what we all become. He hits some big nails roundly on the head. But somewhere along the way he misfires – or perhaps introduces too much of himself - and ends up writing too much like "grumpy old man".