A Disappearance in Drury Lane by Ashley Gardner
I was anxiously awaiting the release of this book. It’s the eighth in the Captain Gabriel Lacy seres, and it’s been a long time between visits with such good friends. I was so excited to be able to get this as an e-book for the Kindle my housemate and I share the day it was released for sale. And I dived right in. I made sure the Kindle was charged up before I downloaded it, and once it was on, I read straight through to the end.
Even with nearly two years between visits, I fell right back in with Captain Lacey and his friends. It was a fun visit, and while I raced through the book, it never felt rushed.
This episode was a mystery surrounding a missing actress. The ins and outs of backstage at the Drury Lane theater were interesting, and there were definitely some red herrings in the mix to keep me guessing as to “whodunit.” The new wrinkle of the Bow Street Runner out for Mr. Denis was a frustrating plot point, and I hope he is dealt with swiftly in the next episode. I do not like this new Runner; but maybe that’s the point of his character.
It’s hard for me to say much more without spoiling the mystery, so I will say that A Disappearance in Drury Lane was a most enjoyable and entertaining way to spend a Saturday. I really can’t wait for the next installment. I hope I do not have to wait another two years.
One Bear’s Opinion: Four Cups of Tea with warm scones and clotted cream
Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Friday, September 20, 2013
One Bear's Opinion -- Book Review
Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar … Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein
My housemate found this book browsing in an independent bookstore when we were living in New Orleans. She explained the book looked interesting, and anything that uses jokes to explain a subject can’t be all bad, right? And the book does look interesting. Our copy has an international safety orange with peek-a-boo windows isolating Plato and a platypus in a larger illustration of famous jokes in a bar. It is a nice book to look at.
And my housemate was right, it was not all bad. But it was more of a slog than I would have liked, and not quite as funny or as easy to understand as the blurb made it sound.
I know she picked this book, not only for the cover and title, but also to try and fill a void in her, and by extension, our, education. When my housemate was in college, she had to pick two introductory social science classes to take in order to fulfill the requirements for her Bachelor of Science degree. The choices were: Comparative Religions, Economics, Geography, Philosophy, Psychology, or Sociology. As a business major, Economics was a core major requirement and she could not use that toward the social science requirement, and the semester she wanted to get her social science requirement done Comparative Religions was not offered. That left her with Geography, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology as options. Psychology was offered at a time that conflicted with a class she had to take for her business major, so she had to choose two classes from Geography, Philosophy, and Sociology. Geography was an easy choice, and in the end, she opted to take Sociology because rumor was it was the easiest of the social science classes. Based on the studying she did for it, I’m not sure the rumor was true, but after reading this book, I am sure she made the right decision as far as her classes.
The book is subtitled “Understanding Philosophy though Jokes.” I’m sure that was the goal of the authors, but it fell a bit short as far as explaining the subject for me. It seemed as though the authors started out trying to explain a principle or thought in Philosophy and then use a joke or jokes as an example of the idea, but they didn’t really succeed as far as I could tell. It would have been better if, they introduced the idea, used the joke as an example and then re-visited the idea through the joke. Yes, it would mean that they might have to waste a good deal of time and effort to explain the joke, but in so doing they would have also better explained the point they were trying to make.
Overall, I came away not knowing much more about Philosophy than I knew when I started, but I know quite a few more jokes. Then again, the authors did explain that much of Philosophy is discussing ideas rather than ever coming to any conclusions about those ideas, so maybe I understand it better than I think.
Either way, this is not a book that I need to read again. And as much as I enjoyed the authors’ chatty style, I do not really have to seek out anything else they have done.
Ohh, and the title joke about Plato and a platypus … no, you’ll just have to read the book yourself to find out.
One Bear’s Opinion: Two cups of tea left to go room temperature while contemplating the sound of one hand clapping
Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver
My housemate found this book browsing in an independent bookstore when we were living in New Orleans. She explained the book looked interesting, and anything that uses jokes to explain a subject can’t be all bad, right? And the book does look interesting. Our copy has an international safety orange with peek-a-boo windows isolating Plato and a platypus in a larger illustration of famous jokes in a bar. It is a nice book to look at.
And my housemate was right, it was not all bad. But it was more of a slog than I would have liked, and not quite as funny or as easy to understand as the blurb made it sound.
I know she picked this book, not only for the cover and title, but also to try and fill a void in her, and by extension, our, education. When my housemate was in college, she had to pick two introductory social science classes to take in order to fulfill the requirements for her Bachelor of Science degree. The choices were: Comparative Religions, Economics, Geography, Philosophy, Psychology, or Sociology. As a business major, Economics was a core major requirement and she could not use that toward the social science requirement, and the semester she wanted to get her social science requirement done Comparative Religions was not offered. That left her with Geography, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology as options. Psychology was offered at a time that conflicted with a class she had to take for her business major, so she had to choose two classes from Geography, Philosophy, and Sociology. Geography was an easy choice, and in the end, she opted to take Sociology because rumor was it was the easiest of the social science classes. Based on the studying she did for it, I’m not sure the rumor was true, but after reading this book, I am sure she made the right decision as far as her classes.
The book is subtitled “Understanding Philosophy though Jokes.” I’m sure that was the goal of the authors, but it fell a bit short as far as explaining the subject for me. It seemed as though the authors started out trying to explain a principle or thought in Philosophy and then use a joke or jokes as an example of the idea, but they didn’t really succeed as far as I could tell. It would have been better if, they introduced the idea, used the joke as an example and then re-visited the idea through the joke. Yes, it would mean that they might have to waste a good deal of time and effort to explain the joke, but in so doing they would have also better explained the point they were trying to make.
Overall, I came away not knowing much more about Philosophy than I knew when I started, but I know quite a few more jokes. Then again, the authors did explain that much of Philosophy is discussing ideas rather than ever coming to any conclusions about those ideas, so maybe I understand it better than I think.
Either way, this is not a book that I need to read again. And as much as I enjoyed the authors’ chatty style, I do not really have to seek out anything else they have done.
Ohh, and the title joke about Plato and a platypus … no, you’ll just have to read the book yourself to find out.
One Bear’s Opinion: Two cups of tea left to go room temperature while contemplating the sound of one hand clapping
Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver
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