This dark but hilarious book provides an account of 75 gruesome but all-too-real mechanisms by which life can be extinguished. Each process is described in the second person, designed to put you in more clearly into the hot seat. Some are unique (polonium), others the result of bad luck (lightning) and still others are contenders for a Darwin Award (binge-drinking, volunteering to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, using a hair-dryer in the bath etc.).
I never quite worked out what the authors do when they're not penning macabre yet strangely compelling books, but the afterword was penned by a funeral director who has noticed that deaths in the under-25s appear to correlate well with having a tattoo. There are many other arresting anecdotes in this strangely compelling volume.
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Sunday, 17 April 2011
Review of Fifty Years in Wall Street
Henry Clews was a 19th C broker who wrote an account of the personalities he met during his 50 years in Wall Street. He writes in that peculiarly convoluted style that was obviously natural in those years but which makes the text difficult to "scan" in 2011. I enjoyed this book overall, but skipped some half-chapters and probably didn't absorb as much as a I might have.
What's amazing is just how blatantly corrupt the whole scene was at the time: stock manipulation was apparently rife, with concert parties, insider dealing and "bought" judges. Crises were frequent, with individuals, brokers and sometime banks "failing". Investigations were often held; but then as now, the fat cats were rarely brought to book. Greed was as strong a driving force in those days as it ever has been, and fraudsters often were the beneficiaries:
The book is heavily abridged, but could have benefited from some notes to explain the context of the economic and financial events. No doubt a contemporary reader would have been more familiar with the crashes and events that are discussed (1876, Black Friday, Erie, etc.). I, however, often failed to understand the significance of characters mentioned in passing who played significant roles in this or that role. We learn very little of the author himself.
Clews firm was Livermore, Clews & Co. Presumably the Livermore was Jesse, who was almost certainly the later author of a much more compelling narrative, "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator". Read that first.
What's amazing is just how blatantly corrupt the whole scene was at the time: stock manipulation was apparently rife, with concert parties, insider dealing and "bought" judges. Crises were frequent, with individuals, brokers and sometime banks "failing". Investigations were often held; but then as now, the fat cats were rarely brought to book. Greed was as strong a driving force in those days as it ever has been, and fraudsters often were the beneficiaries:
It is marvellous how the idea of large profits, when presented to the mind in a plausible light, has the effect of stifling suspicion.
The book is heavily abridged, but could have benefited from some notes to explain the context of the economic and financial events. No doubt a contemporary reader would have been more familiar with the crashes and events that are discussed (1876, Black Friday, Erie, etc.). I, however, often failed to understand the significance of characters mentioned in passing who played significant roles in this or that role. We learn very little of the author himself.
Clews firm was Livermore, Clews & Co. Presumably the Livermore was Jesse, who was almost certainly the later author of a much more compelling narrative, "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator". Read that first.
Sunday, 13 March 2011
An Odd (Series of) Co-incidence(s)
When I left home at age 18, it was to study at University College London. Nothing extra special about that, I was at UCL, that's all.
Three years later, degree certificate in hand, I secured a job at International Computers Limited, commonly know as ICL. Somewhat similar acronym, but there we go.
Five years later I decided to move on from this first job, and ended up at a management consultancy firm called Coopers & Lybrand, often abbreviated - by clients at least - to C&L. Now that is odd, those two letters keep travelling with me.
Three years on from then - and we're talking early 90's here - I got using this "internet" thing, which was a bit of a nerdy thing to do at the time. Posting to an early bulletin board, CIX, (which I'm glad to see is still in business) I "met" a guy who offered me a job. A couple of interviews later and I'm working for CACI Ltd. It wasn't a commonly-used abbreviation, but I can't help but notice that the two words making up the name begin with C and L.
That's four. But there's more! As part of the dot.com mania, my bit of CACI was sold off to a company called Cerillion Ltd. Once again, it wasn't commonly used, but notice those two first letters....
I didn't stay with Cerillion more than a year or two, moving instead to a London University. There are several worthy institutions in London, and I didn't end up back at my alma mater, as the Americans say, but instead at ... can you guess? Its acronym ends, of course, with C and L, and as it happens the first letter matches that of my first employer.
I remain working for Imperial College London.
Three years later, degree certificate in hand, I secured a job at International Computers Limited, commonly know as ICL. Somewhat similar acronym, but there we go.
Five years later I decided to move on from this first job, and ended up at a management consultancy firm called Coopers & Lybrand, often abbreviated - by clients at least - to C&L. Now that is odd, those two letters keep travelling with me.
Three years on from then - and we're talking early 90's here - I got using this "internet" thing, which was a bit of a nerdy thing to do at the time. Posting to an early bulletin board, CIX, (which I'm glad to see is still in business) I "met" a guy who offered me a job. A couple of interviews later and I'm working for CACI Ltd. It wasn't a commonly-used abbreviation, but I can't help but notice that the two words making up the name begin with C and L.
That's four. But there's more! As part of the dot.com mania, my bit of CACI was sold off to a company called Cerillion Ltd. Once again, it wasn't commonly used, but notice those two first letters....
I didn't stay with Cerillion more than a year or two, moving instead to a London University. There are several worthy institutions in London, and I didn't end up back at my alma mater, as the Americans say, but instead at ... can you guess? Its acronym ends, of course, with C and L, and as it happens the first letter matches that of my first employer.
I remain working for Imperial College London.
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
W.G. Grace Ate My Pedalo: A Curious Cricket Compendium
Take a contemporary cricketing personality, anecdote or issue; mix to absurdity with a generous measure of satire. Then reduce to stilted, formal Victorian English, and garnish with a pen-and-ink illustration.
Repeat 150 times and you'll have written a very unusual and most entertaining book!
4 / 5
Repeat 150 times and you'll have written a very unusual and most entertaining book!
4 / 5
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Success over the Board
For the first time ever, I was placed 1-3 in an Open weekend tournament. My old mate Martin Simons took the cup on tiebreak.
This was the Dorset Individual championship at Bournemouth, and although there was a relatively small field, the average grade was still about 175.
I've looked over each of my glorious victories and only this one now seems worth sharing!
This was the Dorset Individual championship at Bournemouth, and although there was a relatively small field, the average grade was still about 175.
I've looked over each of my glorious victories and only this one now seems worth sharing!
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Chairman of the Mandarins
I was presented with this rather nice framed cartoon last night at the Mandarins Cricket Club AGM-party. It's the Chairman's badge-of-office, apparently, although it's the first time I've seen it!
Of course, if you've played for the Mandarins much in the last 7 or 8 years you'll realise that it's a somewhat poignant item to the club because of the person who presented it.
It will look great on my window-sill.
Sunday, 3 January 2010
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