Book 21 - Simon Armitage "Gawain And The Green Knight"

Simon Armitage "Gawain And The Green Knight" (Faber & Faber)




This account of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," translated and retold by Jessie L. Weston, maintains the traditional feel, adventure, and chivalry of Arthurian legends we have come to know and love. Celebrating the coming of the new year, Arthur and his knights are at a banquet when confronted by a mysterious and gigantic stranger who challenges them to a contest.

The honourable and honest Sir Gawain, King Arthur's nephew, takes the challenge which sets him on a path of confrontation with his own mortality and presents to us a traditional account of medieval honour, valor, chivalry, morality, and forgiveness. Like many Arthurian legends, the story exhorts these values as of primary importance. Though each character does reflect weakness and struggle, it is in service of the moral of the story. Even here, though Gawain's weakness of hiding details of his interactions with the Lord of the Castle's wife is evident, he ends up being celebrated for his willingness to confess his misdeeds. Growing up a fan of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," this book struck a familiar chord within me and revealed many of the influences represented in that film. An intriguing look at maintaining values in the face of certain death, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is an excellent example of Arthurian legend and of the world of knights and ladies in medieval literature.

Book 22 - David Norman "Dinosaurs: A Very Short Introduction"

David Norman "Dinosaurs: A Very Short Introduction" (Oxford Univ. Press)




Not a bad book, but a completely misleading title. It is not so much about what we know about dinosaurs, but about how we know what we know about dinosaurs. So if you are interested in paleontology, the history of out ideas about dinosaurs and the modern methods of studying them, this is the book for you. If you just want to know about dinosaurs, you should get something else.