A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard

A Short History of the World According to Sheep

by Sally Coulthard

published 2020

History is generally seen from the point of view of humanity. I think it was Churchill who once said “History shall prove me right, because I shall write that history.” Since then more people have come along and written history, but not from his view point and come to different conclusions. Of course sheep are not known, by us, to be great writers so we can not be sure what they think. According to Douglas Adams the world is an experiment observed by mice, he might have been wrong and it could be being observed by sheep, they have spread across the world to most of the places that man inhabits.

This book covers the effect that man has had on sheep and the effect the sheep have had on man. For example, when the black death wiped out about one third of the world’s population agriculture changed because there were insufficient people to tend the fields, but a field of sheep only required one or two shepherds to mind them. Sheep flourished, especially in the UK, where the climate suited them and they produced high quality wool which was good for weaving. At first the wool was exported to Europe, where it was woven into cloth. This encouraged the development of the weaving industry in the UK and brought prosperity to the depleted population.

The book is full of many examples in which sheep shaped the development of England and it’s relationship with the rest of the world. I am sure they also did the same for other countries. What does the future hold for sheep, there are some that want to remove them from the Lake District, they claim sheep brought about deforestation, yet they have been there for over 6,000 years and it is hard to imagine the hills without Herdwicks, I think they know the land better than most people.

It is an interesting book and shows that sheep are much more than just woolly blobs that graze the hills and produce the cutest of creatures, lambs.

 

The Great Hippopotamus Hotel by Alexander McCall Smith

  

The Great Hippopotamus Hotel by Alexander McCall Smith

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

published 2024

This is a detective book, but not like so many other detective books, there is no body count, there are no car chases or fights. Things go at a more sedate pace, there is a great deal of thought going into finding the solutions to the problems, thought and diplomacy and a lot of tea and cake.

Mma Ramotswe doesn’t rush anywhere, nor does she jump to conclusions, Mma Makutsi can tend to do that, but she isn’t the one in charge. Mma Ramotswe, listens to everyone, she never rushes them, and then asses the facts before she comes to a conclusion. Then it is a case of working out how to solve things, once she has worked out what has happened, where they go from there. It is detection, but it is gentle and polite, a summer afternoon, sat on a veranda with tea and cake.

The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson

The Invention of Air

by Steven Johnson

Published 2009

This book is more than just a history of Joseph Priestly, amateur scientist, minister and radical thinker, than a description of the discovery of oxygen. It places him in the age of enlightenment, where science was not the preserve of professionals, but it was the preserve of people who had the time to observe the surrounding world. It places him at a time when Coffee Houses were a hot bed of discussions on all subjects and a network for passing on information on scientific experimentation.

The book also asks the question of why all this was going on then. Why were the questions being asked and answers found. It takes us back in history to when plants developed lignin, which could stiffen them, help them to grow larger, but which could not be digested by anything around then. Hence, when the plants died, they fell to the ground and lay there, this became the foundation of the coal seams, gas and oil deposits a source of energy which was later to power the industrial revolution which helped to provide the finance for Joseph Priestley’s experiments.

It is an interesting book, though not the easiest of reads. It draws connections between politics, science and religion. It shows that even someone as dedicated to discovery as Joseph Priestley, could not ignore the world around him, the French Revolution and the American War of Independence affected the people with whom he would discuss his latest experiments.

 

The Last Gifts of the Universe by Riley August

  

The Last Gifts of the Universe

By Riley August

This is a debut sci-fi novel.

A group of space archaeologists are looking through the remains of dead civilizations in the hope of finding some clues as to why they died out. The problem being that big business is also trying to get to the relics from these civilisations in order to make a profit out of them. Add to that, there is something out there that is busy killing off civilizations, non of them seem to have found a way to stop whatever it is, anyone who comes up against it dies. So the race would appear to be, to find the answer to the question, how do we stop it before it gets to us and we become another dead civilization.

It is an interesting idea, and the archaeologists cat is not just there to de-stress, but I was rather hoping that they would come up with some answers, or at least some idea as to who or what they were fighting. Still, it is a good yarn and keeps you interested to the end. I wish Riley August all the best for their next novel.