Book 19 - Bertrand Russel "In Praise of Idleness"

Bertrand Russel "In Praise of Idleness" (Routledge)





A collection of essays written between around 1928 and 1932. Title essay is all about how a 4 hour working day for all is the path to a better society. Other ports of call include a praise of "useless" knowledge (exemplified by the etymology of "apricot"); bettering architecture for social purposes; fascism (cross) vs. communism (cross) vs. socialism (tick); the historical cause of cynicism in the educated English speaking youth and irrelevance/ill-definition of the "soul".

Although I agree with pretty much each and every argument in all the essays and love the polemic styling, I struggle with the cocksure armchair philosophizing. Posturing about how people "should" conduct their home life and how educators "should" deal with adolescents tend to come off as stinky academic arrogance. Although, having said that, this stuff was written 70+ years ago and all of it is relevant relevant relevant spot on spot on spot on for the beginning of the 21st century.


An interesting selection of articles and a short read as well.

book 20 - Henning Mankell "An Event In Autumn"

Henning Mankell "An Event In Autumn" (Vintage)






An aging Wallander is feeling his years, with some dissatisfaction over how much things have changed ("When he had first started to patrol the streets there was a big difference between what happened in a city like Malmö and small towns like Ystad. But nowadays there was hardly any difference at all."), yet chafing at the parts of his life that have gone too long without changing. When his partner offers him a chance at a house out of the city ("He wanted to get out into the countryside, he wanted to acquire a dog."), Wallender agrees to take a look at the property. While he's strolling in the garden, picturing his possible life (...[he] found himself already imagining a dog drinking water from a bowl by his side."), he stumbles, literally, on a gruesome mystery: the remains of a human hand, sticking up out of the ground. And although Wallander will never now be able to live in the house, he will also be unable to stop investigating until he knows who was buried there--and why.

One of the best parts of this book, apart from the story, is the Afterword in which Henning Mankell explains how the story was published and where it fits in the continuum of the Wallander stories. There is a longer section titled HOW IT STARTED, HOW IT FINISHED AND WHAT HAPPENED IN BETWEEN which is also worth reading. In it he talks about his relationship with Wallender, and how he feels about the depictions of Wallender in the three TV series that have been produced.


This slender novella offers a brief glimpse at a Kurt Wallander case, but works as a stand-alone for those not familiar with Mankell's fictional detective or for those just looking for a thumping good yarn.

Mr. Robot

It has been a pretty chilly cold day, but mostly stayed at home reading and adding sale items to an Ebay listing as today is the last day of free insertions. Just fifty eight items listed rather than the eighty plus i normally have.

Yesterday and  throughout the evening i watched the ten episodes of Mr. Robot. A strange dark story of a cybersecurity engineer and vigilante hacker who hacks people and suffers from social anxiety disorder and clinical depression. I was hooked.

Wallander

TV watching time again for awhile, on the laptop of course, as he has sport on downstairs. At nine the next episode of Agents Of SHIELD but for now i am watching the first season of Wallanderstarring Krister Henriksson in the title role - the original Swedish version that is. The episode is called Before The Frost, which i don't think i have seen before.In the episode a missing grandmother leads Kurt Wallander on the trail of a religious cult. Tracking a sadistic killer, he follows a string of incidents, including ritual murders and attacks on domestic animals, with the help of his daughter Linda, a new member of the police, in the town of Ystad.

Sunday Musical Selection - Reflective

As it is Sunday some quiet reflective music this time -

( Music here )