READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

[Stanley]

Two interesting facts surfaced in Barton on tin mining in Cornwall. First was a mention of a company called the West Appletreewick mining Co who sank a shaft near Charlestown in May 1893. I can't find an Appletreewick in Cornwall and as there was mining nearby at Grassington it looks as though adventurers from there may have decided to branch out into Cornwall but picked a very bad time and failed. No mention of the company in my Register of Defunct Companies. The other fact was that Australian black tin ore, and later, ingot tin, was brought back to UK as ballast in the wool clippers. This foreign ore was a big factor in making the Cornish industry uneconomic.

[Stanley]

Finished the history of Cornish Mining. I shall plunge into Barton's book on Cornish pumping engines now....

[Stanley]

But I'm reading my small books on tin history and engines first.... Nice to go back and revisit these matters!

[Stanley]

Finished Barton on Tin Mining. I was reminded what an uderated engineer Arthur Woolf was. Trevithick got all the glory because his son Francis wrote an inflated biography of his father and since then his reputation has been sky high, completely underserved if you look at what he actually did so I'm going to read Harris's excellent biography.

[Callunna]

Finally tracked down a copy of “Thunder In The Mountains” by WR Mitchell. It’s about the lives of the navvies who built the Ribblehead viaduct on the Settle/Carlisle railway.

Although published in 2009 it is now out of print and neither Barlick nor Carlisle libraries had it in stock. Apparently Earby library has one copy but by the time I found out, I’d ordered it from the Alibris website. An Amazon seller had claimed to have it but 2 weeks after placing my order they fessed up to not having it after all.

Started reading it late last night and it seems well written - as you’d expect from a prolific author who is a trained journalist and was editor of several magazines.

My interest in the subject stems from the fact that my g-g-grandfather was one of the navvies, having travelled up from Suffolk to find work. He met and married a local Settle lass and when the viaduct was finished they moved to Barlick to work in the cotton mills.

[Gloria]

Calluna, that sounds really interesting so I have ordered it from the library.

[Stanley]

Remembered I had Galloway's book on mining written in 1882 on the to-read pile so I've started on that. 130 years after he wrote it it is still the standard work on the techniques used by the early miners. I'll bet he'd have been pleased if he had known that.

[Callunna]

Calluna, that sounds really interesting so I have ordered it from the library.

Glo - if you have any difficulty getting it, you can borrow my copy. I’ve almost finished it.

An enjoyable read, although I would have liked him to go into much, much more detail to make the characters come alive ... or at least tell us where the info was gleaned from so I can go & find out for myself. I suspect a lot of the anecdotal items came from the Lancaster Guardian and the specific construction details from the various Settle-Carlisle railway history books.

[Gloria]

Thankyou Calluna, I'll be in touch if the library cannot get it.
Thanks again.
Gloria

[Whyperion]

regarding Ribblehead , the NRM Arcieves at York might have some information.

Quick internet search also brought up at http://www.outofoblivion.org.uk/record.asp?id=406

Cardwell, Peter et al (2004) 'An Archaeological Survey of Ribblehead Navvy Settlements' in White, R F & Wilson, P R (eds) (2004) Archaeology and Historic Landscapes of the Yorkshire Dales. Yorkshire Archaeological Society Occasional Paper No 2 pp195-202

Jackson, K C (1997) ‘The Railway Shanty Towns at Ribblehead, North Yorkshire’ Yorkshire History Quarterly. Vol 2:4 pp133-138

Mitchell, W R (1988) Shanty Life on the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Settle: Castleberg

Maybe the library can get these.

[Stanley]

Finished Galloway on mining, started on the biography of Arthur Woolf the great Cornish engineer.

[Callunna]

regarding Ribblehead , the NRM Arcieves at York might have some information.

Quick internet search also brought up at http://www.outofoblivion.org.uk/record.asp?id=406

Cardwell, Peter et al (2004) 'An Archaeological Survey of Ribblehead Navvy Settlements' in White, R F & Wilson, P R (eds) (2004) Archaeology and Historic Landscapes of the Yorkshire Dales. Yorkshire Archaeological Society Occasional Paper No 2 pp195-202

Jackson, K C (1997) ‘The Railway Shanty Towns at Ribblehead, North Yorkshire’ Yorkshire History Quarterly. Vol 2:4 pp133-138

Mitchell, W R (1988) Shanty Life on the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Settle: Castleberg

Maybe the library can get these.

My word - thank you so much! I’ll get cracking ordering them.

[Callunna]

This could go in either the iPad topic or here...

Apparently I have over 23,000 classic books available for free download, so last night I decided to up the intellectual quality of my bedtime reading by starting “Crime & Punishment” by Dostoevsky.

It’s one of those books that you either think you’ve already read or is on your list of books to read before you die. Usually you don’t manage to get round to actually reading them. I certainly would never have thought of getting it out of a conventional library.

I was expecting a heavy, tough tome in wordy, convoluted mid-19th century English. Not so. In fact it’s a real page turner or, as I’m using the iPad, page flipper.

Can’t wait to continue...

[Nolic]

Managed a couple of hours with Beevors Second World War yesterday. Typical of the man's thinking he comes to the war from the Japanese-Russian conflicts in Manchuria in 1938 and introduces a man who he seems to hero worship Georgy Zhukov the later saviour of Stalingrad and the most successful General of the war. If I get some work done now I can read more this afternoon. Nolic

[Stanley]

Comrade, you've just cost me £12.49! I'd forgotten that this was on my list. Funny thing is that a new hardback is cheaper than both second-hand and the soft cover.

[Nolic]

Value for money Comrade. 900+ pages of solid good stuff. Nolic

[Stanley]

Hadn't a good book going yesterday and looking forward to Beevor so I let my eye wander over the shelf next to my rocking chair. I'm sure you all have books that you bought intending to read but somehow they slipped the net. One of these caught my eye, 'The Living Fields' by Jack R Harlan who is a professor of genetics at the University of Illinois. Published by Cambridge in 1995 it's recognised as a good introduction to the history of agriculture which is why I got it. I've never got into it so down it came and I started. Can't think why it has escaped my attention for over 15 years! Fascinating, full of facts and quotations and there are some very good insights. One good story is of a group of rangers in Australia discussing a bush fire which had killed several people with an Aborigine Elder. He agreed that it was a pity people had died but said that it was because "The land had been allowed to become dirty". With that he struck a match and threw it into the dry grass they were stood in which immediately roared into flame. He then got in his pick-up and drove off leaving the Rangers running round organising their 'response'. As they were doing this the fire died out and they realised they had just been given a lesson in controlled burning by an expert. Prof. Harlan goes into this in depth and teaches us that the Aborigines regarded brush choked forest as unclean and malevolent and use controlled burning to clean them out. Just one example of how they had learned over thousands of years to manage what looked to European eyes as wilderness. They also understood the benefits of disturbing the ground with digging sticks and replanting the crown of the yams they dig up so that a new plant will grow. They also diverted water to flood productive ground to raise the yield. This book would be right up Tizer's street!

[Stanley]

I spent a productive hour with Arthur Naiman's 'Every Goy's guide to common Jewish Expressions'. Time well spent, a fascinating language and a lot of historical comment. Amazon tell me that Beevor is in the post. I can see 'The Living Fields' going back on the shelf, fascinating though it is.

[Stanley]

Beevor today? Tension mounts Comrade!

[Nolic]

I'm still on Chpt. 3. I do most of my reading at bedtime but this is not a book to take to bed.... its too bloody big!! Nolic

[Stanley]

Oh Good! I do like big heavy books.

[Stanley]

Beevor et arrive! 3lbs and 800 pages. I do like a solid book! Mint condition new book at half cover price, I'll never understand publishers.

[Stanley]

Beevor does not disappoint. Easy and interesting reading with plenty of new research and sidelines. I do like the way he keeps you on your toes!

[Stanley]

Beevor going down well still. Can't put it down! I have seen so many references to Vasily Grossman that I have been on Amazon and ordered all three of his books, Life and Fate, A Writer at War and Everything flows. They had an offer on of all three for £24 inc postage. (Must stop buying books!) Yes, I know, they tell me that Life and Fate is as difficult as War and Peace!

[Tripps]

"Starting “Crime & Punishment” by Dostoevsky. "

Me too- on your recommendation. I'd forgotten how to get books onto the Kindle, and it was a bit of a struggle, but managed to get it installed by midnight. Took it to bed and was still reading it at 2.00am. It's good isn't it.