The Reading Room

Billy childish is one I want to read , had a few of his painting s but lost in an amicable relationship change. She always hated them

The book is well worth reading. Ted Kessler has done a superb job in putting together a very insightful peek into the world of Billy Childish.
Would love to own an original painting. Bet that hurt a bit to lose them.

Starting this tomorrow as part of my first online book club read.

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Thought this would be interesting.

It is - in part. However, far to much of it is making a loud whooshing sounds as it goes waaay over my head.

I’m sure it would be well within @Mrs_Maureen_OPinion’s understanding but large parts of it might as well be written in Mandarin for all the sense it makes to me.

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That series of guides are aimed at under- and post-graduate geologists, plus very enthusiastic and knowledgable amateurs, you pretty much need to learn a new language (ā€˜Earth sciences’) for it to make much sense, and even then it’s very dry reading unless you’ve got the stuff in front of you. Which at least you do have…

Shame The Geologists’ Association have never done a field guide for the area, theirs are more accessible.

If it’s any consolation, you now know more about the geology of the area than I do :+1:

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Lol, I doubt it!

I’m aware of the Funzie Conglomerate (yeah, yeah, saw them at the Roundhouse in '73) but being aware doesn’t mean I actually understand it.

I’m keen to learn though, so looking for less dry/intellectual/unfathomable (delete as appropriate) reading matter, to ease me into a world that I’ve never visited before.

The best way to learn about geology is exactly the same as with ornithology: in the field, with someone who knows what they’re talking about - usually I’d suggest a night class or OU, but yeah… Fetlar… Trying to learn it out of books… Just ugh!

Unlike a great deal in science, a lot of it is intuitive - it’s just the jargon that’s offputting, not helped by each new generation coining new jargon because they couldn’t be arsed to learn the last lot; we all love jargon because it makes us feel cleverer than we are…

Anyway, what you see is often what you get, start by assuming all exposures of rocks (cliffs, cuttings, quarries etc) are basically a slice through a layer-cake, so whatever you see is usually in some sense side-on through a series of planes formed gradually over time, one atop another, oldest at the bottom, newest at the top.

So, (e.g.), if you see a load of pebbles in a cliff, well where would you see pebbles now? Either on a beach, in a river, or on a scree slope - so look at the pebbles: are they well-rounded and smooth? Irregularly rounded? Angular? Well-rounded is almost always a beach thing (constantant waves), so you know your pebbly cliff was once a beach; Irregularly rounded? More typical of rivers - constant flow, but limited agitation - and the biggest bits, the pebbles are usually deposited on the outside of a bend - so you know your pebbly cliff was once a bend in a river; angular pebbles (or grains, granules, cobbles, boulders, size doesn’t matter, for once) are fresh out of a mass of older rocks, e.g. a scree-slope - so again, your pebbly cliff, your conglomerate (or brecchia this time - jargon) formed in a broadly montaine environment, perhaps deposited by flash floods or landslides…

And so-on, the basics make a lot of sense once you get past the jargon.

Anyway, got to be worth giving this lot a shout:

Sure they can advise and get you involved in field trips - you’ll pick it all up in no time :ok_hand:

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Crime novel about audiophiles and record collecting. The author wrote for Stereophile. From 1993 so no internet or mobile phone nonsense.


Just finished this. 3/6! Must be a slow reader. Hammett is a good antidote to over literariness.

On Book 4 of The Expanse series now.

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Have you watched the series? If so, how do they compare?

No. I haven’t watched the series, although I probably will.

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It’s worth a watch, Took till second season to kick off then tailed away a bit towards the end but middle seasons were brilliant. I really should get around to reading the books.