Review of non-fiction book: The Fish Rots From the Head: Developing Effective Board Directors

Hot away from finding eight errors in a crime novel, I found three errors in a non-fiction book. And, the first of them is a doozy!

"First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it." Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Books change from edition to edition; new material is added, corrections are made. The errors have possibly been corrected in later releases. I read “The Fish Rots From the Head: Developing Effective Board Directors”, paperback, Third edition, 2010, Profile Books Limited, 332 pages.

The first error is a doozy due to the absent “not”:

Error 1, page 30, opposite meaning of that intended

The author seeks board to adhere to a set of principles including:

"Principle 2: make sure that they are complicit in human rights abuses"

Error 2, page 38, a table that addresses four types of board is referred identifying a fifth type

A table identifies: “The unitary board”, “The passive board”, “The professional board” and “The country club board” and then a reference to the table within the text that follows refers to an un-identified “representative board”.

Error 3, page 49, a group of animals; monkeys, are personified

Where anyone here implies the discussion pertains to humans rather than beasts:

"Similarly, when the second and later the third monkey was replaced the others tried to stop the new one reaching the bananas. However, none of them now knew why they should restrain anyone reaching for the bananas."



With these errors I offered one star on Goodreads.

Shalom,

Ozhamada

Note: this page links from www.goodreads.com


[324 words] #book #reading #read

New cafe in Lane Cove North, Mindarie Park

Lane Covians are tribal when it comes to coffee. It is hard to move them from their fave coffee haunt yet sometimes they are attracted to another cafe by news of the quality of the coffee.

Having been alerted by In The Cove of a new cafe (see: this Facebook link) we were off to check out the goods. The cafe is at Mindarie Park in Lane Cove North - a park that I attended the opening of (see: this link).

Best still the opening day included a special of two-for-one offering.

Pick me up Cafe is currently operating from a temporary structure. There are plans for a permanent presence in the mid-term.  BYO cups are encouraged.

Opening day was met with light rain. Given the bushfires and dry gardens there is no-one that can complain of the rain. A covered shelter near the electric BBQ area provided shelter for us to enjoy our coffees.

Pick- me up Cafe has its own Facebook page (see this Facebook link). They are also listed on Google Maps (see this Google Maps link). Opening hours are likely to change as they gain in popularity so follow through to one of those links to be assured of a coffee on arrival at the park.

Shalom,
Ozhamada

#Coffee #CoffeeReview #CoffeeLover #CoffeeTime #CoffeeBreak #lanecove #inthecove

Bee hive formed by a wild swarm

One great pleasure this past Christmas was the discovery of, and quick removal of, a bee hive. The hive formed on a tree in our frontyard. 

The hive formed of a wild swarm of bees. It was first noticed by a household member at a time when the hive was aged to three weeks. The hive was settled onto a single tree branch two metres from the ground. The tree is a New South Wales Christmas bush. The bush was in flower at the time. We were wise to the presence of a local bee swarm in that we had earlier identified an extensive number of bees drinking water from the backyard pond.

Three distinct combs attached to a single tree branch.

We reported the bee hive using an easy-to-complete online form on a website called SwarmPatrol. The form matches those who report bee swarms to beekeepers. We were matched to a local beekeeper - another Lane Covian. Indeed, we were delighted for two local beekeepers to contact us (including the founder of the SwarmPatrol website who lives in Lane Cove).  

The beekeeper attended within 24 hours. He wore protective clothing. He came with a wooden box that would contain the bees. On taking care to tie the branch that it would not fall when cut, the branch was severed from the trree with the hive fully intact. The hive neatly fitted to the box with all but a few bees contained for transport. 

The beekeeper's services were free - as a bonus we received a jam jar size sample of his honey.

We learnt that SwarmPatrol brings a huge benefit to the environment. Homeowners on identifying a swarm are possibly going to respond by calling in an exterminator. An exterminator would use a posion to kill the bees. However, a beekeeper has an interest in colonising the bess. So, SwarmPatrol is a win for the homeowner and a win for beekeepers.

Since removal of the hive I have been to the beekeepers home within Lane Cove. While at his home I purchased a 3L tub of honey. I was welcomed into the backyard to sight the active hives and to observe the bees taken from my home.


Shalom,
Ozhamada

#Bees #beegarden #garden #winwin  #lanecove #inthecove #australianflora

Review of a novel: The Last 10 Seconds

To cap off a busy year of reading I reached for a page-turner. A fast crime novel suited summer-reading. I read the first edition of the novel, a paperback, and note that at least three editions, and an electronic edition, followed.

Source of image: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/108/1083543/the-last-10-seconds/9780552158817.html

The novel was a huge disappointment. It suffered from too many crimes against the English language. I counted eight errors after first letting some errors slip through. I hope the author addressed these errors in later editions. 

The eight error is my favourite.

Error 1, page 230, too much detail

"I was back up in an instant, racing across the empty room in the direction of a newish-looking double-glazed window with a handle-opening system, praying it wasn't locked, because there was no sign of a key"

To which I sacarstically respond: but what colour was the window frame? How high was the window sill? What shape was the handle? And, how does a rushing character notice so much and also have time to pray?

Error 2, page 231, inappropriate use of "us"

"We took a step back together in a tight, vicous dance, which was when there was a loud crack beneath our feet and, without warning, the floor gave way, sending us flailing through the air."

"Kent and I" should be used here instead of "us" in that Kent and the protaganist are not in any relationship that would make the reader consider them a "us".

Error 3, page 231, sentence is incomplete as to subject

"More important was the fact that Kent was no longer holding the gun.

[New paragraph] I clambered to my feet and looked round desperately for it in the darkness" 

Where "it" is a gun and by necessity of starting a new paragraph, the first sentence of that paragraph needs to be complete as to subject.

Error 4, page 231, incorrect word choice

"More important was the fact that Kent was no longer holding the gun.
[New paragraph] I clambered to my feet and looked round desperately for it in the darkness" 

Where "around" should have been used instead of "round".

Error 5, page 284, poor editing

"Gore might have been trying to paint himself as as much of an innocent as he could...."

Where the second "as" should have been eliminated in the editing process.

Error 6, page 325, poor editing

"...being treated as one of the Night Creeper's."

Where the apostrophe is unnecessary as the word falls at the end of the sentence.

Error 7, page 340, poor continuity

"Not even the neighbours would hear [the report of a gunshot from a gun with a silencer and with the shot to be fired through a pillow] through the paper-thin walls."

Where the struggle, and screaming beforehand, was apparently unhearable through the paper-thin walls.

Error 8, page 341, too much put onto a whisper

"'I'm not going to ask again,' he whispered, a renewed determination in his voice"

Where a whisper is doing much work to convey "a renewed determination".



With these errors I offered one star on Goodreads.

Shalom,
Ozhamada

Note: this page links from www.goodreads.com


[634 words] #book #reading #read #crime
edited following feedback.

'LGBT community' lie

Before buying the notion that LGBT people are a community make sure you read this by an author who identifies as G:

"But it is worth bearing these internal frictions and contradictions in mind when people talk about the LGBT community, or try to co-opt it for any political purpose. It barely exists even within each letter of its constituent parts. And each has little in common with the others. Before decriminalization of homosexuality in the 1960s things were arguably slightly different. But the L’s don’t need the G’s today, and the G’s don’t much care for the L’s and almost everybody can be united in suspicion of the B’s. And there is tremendous dispute over whether the T’s are the same thing as everybody else or an insult to them. Still nobody is any the wiser about where any or all of this comes from. And yet it remains the means by which people are willing to identify vast swathes of the population, and build one of the defining justifications and bases for the liberal society."

The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity, Douglas Murray, 2019

Elsewhere in the book Murray identifies how T's seek society to hold two competing 'truths': "You can not understand me" & "You must understand me".

Shalom,

Ozhamada

Note: I borrowed the book from City of Sydney Library.

Note: Pastor Doug Wilson also believes that there is no such thing as a LGBT community: 

Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (novel)

Great story, good plot development, credible characters, yet……around the three-quarter mark the book took on too many characteristics of a mass-market, airport bookshop novel. Indeed, at that mark the book started to have a made-for-movie feel about it. Then there was the trashy sex - with the main male character loose in bed; trading up and down the age range. 

** spoiler alert ** Summary of book: disgraced Swedish journalist is employed by ageing industrialist to solve a family mystery. The mystery is solved and a family secret uncovered. Some people die, some get a pleasant surprise, lots have sex, and Australia features.

Unbelievable element: that anyone would want to leave Australia for a cold place like Sweden after becoming engrossed in the Australian countryside.

Lowpoint: rape incident, poorly quoted Bible verses.

Highlight: Australia, Australian flower

Plot hole: despite the disgraced Swedish journalist attendance at the local newspaper office (to look through the archives) a staffer at that newspaper office later wokes to the presence of the disgraced Swedish journalist in the town.



Shalom,
Ozhamada

Review of a novel 'Bloke' by Bruce Pascoe

“At last Bob ambled into the yard to take a piss

 at the base of the lemon tree.

As you do.

Scratched his napper, rearranged his balls.

I could see the thought of a cup of tea cross his mind.”

The above quote neatly summarises everything I enjoyed of the language of the novel 'Bloke'. The language makes images jump from the page. The reader is in the yard. The reader can see Bob scratch his head. Oddly, the reader can also see the thought of a cup of tea cross Bob’s mind.

This was the first of Bruce Pascoe’s fictional works that I had read. I first read Pascoe’s non-fiction work Dark Emu. Pascoe writes fiction in a manner like Tim Winton; both engaging the reader in the colour and spectacular of the Australian environment.

I particularly enjoyed the use of metyonmy; so swim-fins where referred to as slippers.

Shalom,

Ozhamada

[242 words] #darkemu #blackseeds #brucepascoe #indigenous #aboriginal #Australians #heritage #culture #custodians