Becca > Recent Status Updates

The (lack of) formatting on this ebook is making it a complete chore to read. Bits that should be a text box are just inserted directly as text, mid-sentence. Content is still interesting.

“England, the island of apples and morning fog.”

Not a bad description, Dr Tesimond.

Blowing my mind.

Exactly what I wanted.

Well he’s dead at this point so we’re done with the biography part. I’m curious about where this is going. It’s still great.

“Joseph Campbell himself, father of the ‘Hero’s Journey’ framework, summarised it succinctly when presented with a ‘Heroine’s Journey’ to consider. He said ‘Women don’t need to make the journey. In the whole mythological journey, the woman is there. All she has to do is realise she’s the place people are trying to get to.’”

Wow.

I put it down for a long time. I don’t know why, it’s incredible.

“The psychological task of middle age is to remember that idealism helps protect against the rough wear of disappointment.”

Don't know why I put this down, but glad I picked it up again.

Imrahil? Who?

He really knew everyone. Napoleon didn’t like him. He inspired Simon Bolívar. I mean... it’s just crazy how much happened in late 18th/early 19th centuries.

Part 1 was very good.

Book 5, Return of the King. Finally.

Brilliant so far. You definitely need colour for some of the illustrations and they’re often too small for kindle.

This dragged at the beginning then sped up about 25% in. Suddenly I was hooked.

Powerful stuff so far. Each story/chapter has been just the right length.

I did not know Elizabeth Taylor made most of her fortune from her perfumes (that she personally supervised the creation of). I also didn’t know Avon was always funding domestic violence charities. Good stories so far about impressive businesswomen, and Sali’s own childhood & memories.

The secret... is miso.

Picked it up for a pound out of curiosity. It’s quite good. Very clear, no-nonsense, and a lot less gimmicky than I expected (I’ve not read Hyman before). I like that he talks about sustainability as well as nutrition, as usually the focus in books seems to be one or the other.

[paraphrased]: “how come these plants exist now if they didn’t exist in the past?” 🤔

Wait, so ARAs send death threats to Frans for not interfering in the deaths of wild herds at Oostvaardersplassen and won’t accept farming either? 🤦‍♀️

“The updated 2016 State of Nature report discovered that the UK has lost significantly more biodiversity over the long term than the world average. Ranked twenty-ninth lowest out of 218 countries, we are among the most nature-depleted countries in the world.” (Using The biodiversity intactness index.)

“David Quammen describes an ecosystem as being like a Persian carpet. Cut it into tiny squares, and you get not tiny carpets, but a lot of useless scraps of material fraying at the edges.”