Tuesday, November 25, 2008

33: The Okapi: Mysterious Animal of Congo-Zaire, Susan Lyndaker Lindsey, Mary Neel Green, Cynthia L. Bennett

A little preachy, and with lots of depressing talk about conservation and politics.

Interesting tidbits:


  • Okapi calves don't defecate for a month or more after birth
  • Okapi use infrasonic sounds to communicate (as do elephants and rhino), in addition to more common giraffe sounds (coughs, moans, flute like sounds, etc.)

Friday, November 21, 2008

29, 30, 31, 32: Terry Pratchett

Catching up on things I read this month:


The Last Continent: Rincewind, and the faculty of Unseen University, in what passes for Down Under on the Discworld.
Carpe Jugulum: Witches and vampires in Lancre.
The Fifth Elephant: The Watch and werewolves in Überwald.
The Truth: Journalism (and a little bit of Pulp Fiction).


Riding the train and bus gives me a lot of time to read (even if I do spend three quarters of that time playing a Risk clone on my iPhone).

28: The Story of Musical Instruments: From Shepherd's Pipe to Symphony, H.W. Schwartz

Picked this up in October at Cal's Books in Redding. Finished some weeks ago.

Pop-history of musical instruments, 1938 style. Quite interesting.