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NaNoWriMo

After seeing some posts about National Novel Writing Month (AKA NaNoWriMo) I decided that I may as well give it a go and see if I can just sit and write stuff for the month. I don't realistically expect to hit the target 50,000 words, but thought I'd see how it went. There are times when I can write prolifically, although those are few and far between these days, what with family life, work and all the other things. However if you don't try you can never So if you want to see how I'm getting along look hereĀ  UPDATE: It's taking shape, there are a dozen characters, a mad US President and the threat of nukes as well as space ships, genetically modified people and a moon The Moon as seen by an observer from Earth. Some people claim…
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More Studying

After a short break I'm back studying with the OU, for two reasons, one of which is that as a continuing student before the fee increases I need to do at least one course a year to keep that dispensation, and the other is that I've found out that I can't get credit for my previous studies (a from the University of Glasgow from 1989-1992) because they were too long ago. So my idea of upgrading my Ordinary degree to an Honours is going to take a lot longer (but will leave me with two degrees as the OU degree I'm working towards is a BA(Hons) in Business Studies). Anyway, having done 90/120 points at level 3 I'm now back to level 1 and have just started the 30 point MST121 Understanding Mathematics course. This is a little late as…
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Book Review – To Reason Why, by Denis Forman

This is more than just an infantry officer's memoir. Denis Forman was closely involved in the Battle School movement that transformed the British Army's infantry training during the second world war. He then went on to serve alongside Lionel Wigram (the primary proponent and intellectual leader of the Battle School movement) in Italy. The story is as much about Lionel Wigram as it is about Denis Forman himself. However one of the stand out pieces for me is the honest treatment of how men deal with battle. The psychological impact and how unreliable things become is often not mentioned in most memoirs, there is an unspoken need not to embarrass anyone, or bring up things better left to lie. This book manages to discuss it without shaming anyone. Also, the appendices have copies of the reports into the lessons from…
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Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross – book review

This is the 10th of the 40 books I got for my birthday. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and got through it faster than I expected. The review below contains spoilers (below the cut). This is a relatively hard SF book that explores ideas around a post-human robot civilisation with themes of slavery, corruption and what it is that makes tick. The plot that does this is like a corkscrew and at times it takes surprising directions. [DN: link to Charlie's blog post here. (more…)
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Black Watch by Tom Renouf – Book Review

This is a campaign history written by a veteran of 5th Bn Black Watch who later became the secretary of the Highland Division Association. Direct personal accounts, both from the author and other veterans, are used to tell the story of the 51st Highland Division in a very personal way. This book offers some new perspectives on the battles of the 51st, especially those in the final months of the war in which the author was personally involved. (more…)
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