Start the week #43

Greetings!

Apologies for the lateness of this newsletter — although, in fairness to myself, I didn’t specify which week this is supposed to be the start of. I’ve been trying to get a technical issue sorted out, and it’s taking up quite some time.

This newsletter is a bit longer than usual because I’m hoping to have a break next week, if the four books I have to review (see below) will allow me to. I’m hoping to bash out craft another post or two and schedule it/them, so all may not be lost.

But enough of this persiflage! On with the newsletter.

Terry

Other people’s reading matter

In London there is a running joke that you wait ages for a bus, and then three come along at once. For me, it’s the same with reviews. I’ve been asked to review four books by the end of next week. Fortunately, I’ve already read most of two of them. Another one is about getting to grips with teaching in your first year. I was thinking of sitting on the tube with this one, every so often saying "Yes!” and “OMG!”

What other people are reading fascinates me. MAD magazine had a feature once in which it had book covers that you could wrap around other books in order to seem well-read to other people. For example, one of the covers blared out CATCH 22. But when you looked closely enough you could read the miniscule writing that was also on the cover, thereby revealing the cover to read If my dad catches me reading this I’ll CATCH 22 clips round the ear.

On one of my many journeys on the London Underground, aka the tube, the girl next to me was reading Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. After what seemed like an interminable wait at Moorgate station there was an announcement to the effect that we were going to be held there for another 10 minutes. The girl sighed quite loudly.

“You should be alright, since you’re reading that book!”, I said to her. We both laughed.

Simplified version of the London Tube Map showing Moorgate Station (detail), by Terry Freedman

Three book reviews

Speaking of book reviews, the following ones were written by yours truly for Teach Secondary magazine in the UK. Although they were written with teachers in the UK in mind (especially England, as the curriculum requirements are different in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland), the books can be read by a general audience. I hope you enjoy them.

Incidentally, in case you missed it, my review of The Notebook appeared last week. I’ve been asked to review it for Teach Secondary magazine, and I’ll publish that version here in due course.

A Little History of Music

(Robert Philip, YUP)

The problem with most, if not all subjects is that topics tend to be divorced from their history and influences. One stipulation of the Music Programme of Study is that students ‘develop a deepening understanding of the music that they perform and to which they listen, and its history’. Covering a huge array of types of music and associated aspects across cultures and time periods, this book provides both depth and breadth.

For instance, the historical development of the keyboard, musical notation and different types of music may be found here. Crucially, however, there is discussion of the cultural influences at work to explain how such changes came about.

A broad sweep like this will inevitably overlook some aspects, and the lightness of tone might not appeal to academics – but as a reference source and exposition of the connections between genres, it could hardly be bettered.

How Words Get Good: The Story of Making a Book

(Rebecca Lee, Profile)

Students whose attempts at fiction contain gaping plot holes or grammatical errors can take solace from the fact that such issues bedevil even the most famous authors – though they, unlike your Y9¹s, have copy editors to check such things. This title charts what we might call the journey of a book, from the earliest shape of a story, through to cover design and blurb writing, and it’s fascinating to read – not least because of numerous interesting details drawn from publishing history. Did you know, for example, that words ending in ‘ize’ aren’t necessarily evidence of creeping Americanisation, if only because such words have been around since the 15th century? Lee clearly loves her subject, and here furnishes English teachers with a treasure trove of literary examples and anecdotes with which to enthuse their charges.

The Liars of Nature and the nature of liars: Cheating and deception in the living world

(Lixing Sun, Princeton)

This book examines a range of cases in nature where organisms have used subterfuge to obtain what they need. It would be a good source of up-to-date information for biology students from KS3² to A Level³, and even touches on some human examples, such as fake news. The key question at the heart of this book is perhaps this – if honesty is the best policy, why is dishonesty so rife in nature? It must have a survival value. The author has managed the seemingly impossible by making quite complex theories and rules both enjoyable to read about and relatively easy to understand. Having said that, it’s possibly more a book for teachers to draw from than for students, given how it deals with what amounts to a narrow thread of the curriculum at such length.

The crossword show

This sounds like fun, if you’re a cruciverbalist. The Crossword Show is a live event in which comedians solve a crossword live on stage. According to the blurb:

Zach Sherwin ("Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," "Epic Rap Battles of History") hosts a panel of guest comedians as they solve an actual crossword puzzle live onstage, with everything displayed on a giant screen for the audience to follow along. Each time the solvers decipher a clue, Zach takes the show down a rabbit hole of comedy, music, wordplay, and/or trivia, all inspired by the answer words. You don't need any crossword expertise to be dazzled by this unique and joyful experience!

I hope it’s recorded.

Calendar catastrophe

Well, I suppose in the scheme of things the word “catastrophe” is hyperbolic, but it was annoying. Last week we were booked up with two events on the same day, one in the morning, the other in the afternoon. We decided to be sensible and so, reluctantly, decided not to go to the morning one, which I was rather looking forward to. And then we discovered that the afternoon one was a week later. It made me realise that as well as putting stuff in calendars you also need to look at your calendar to see what you’ve put in.

This morning, my calendar entry didn’t alert me, as it’s supposed to, so I forgot all about a webinar I’d registered for. Elaine realised, by looking in the calendar, and reminded me. By that time the talk was finished and it was time for Q & A. That wouldn’t have been such a disaster had the webinar been recorded. It hadn’t.

Moral: check your calendar!

Other articles

In case you missed it, I wrote about meeting Rebecca. Rebecca is going to write about me in her next letter, which will appear on Wednesday.

As a teaser, or summary, here is a true-to-life illustration of Elaine’s and my reaction on first seeing Rebecca and Jim:

Meeting Rebecca and Jim for the first time

My latest ‘experiment in style’ is in the form of a reading primer for children. Read it here.

I also published How to create tick boxes ☑️ (💵), a letter to Rebecca, and a Start the Week that was published at the start of the week. That also contained details of our hysteric historic meeting.

Rebecca published a good article about going round in circles, which is what I’ve been doing with technical support until recently (not Substack tech support I should add: they have been excellent the last couple of times I needed their help).

Thomas J Bevan

published a nice collection of articles on the theme of propaganda (disclosure: one of mine is there as well).

My arch-nemesis here is

Nathan Slake

, who took me up on a suggestion to write a story in response to a prompt (it was his idea, I think, to regard one of my better sentences as a good prompt). Anyway, he delivered the goods and has now passed the baton to me. I have to come up with a suitable response in no more than 500 words. I wonder if “OMG” repeated 499 times would be acceptable. Anyway, when I do manage to polish off those reviews I mentioned, I will let you know.

On Friday I hope to publish a detailed article about writing book reviews. That will be a paid post but you can treat yourself to a seven-day free trial.

I also came across this article by

Shaun Usher

: There is no escape which is pretty heartbreaking.

I also came across

Byte Your Expression

by

Alessandro Mortellaro

. I’ve only skimmed it so far, but it features guest writers and has a range of interesting-looking topics. I’m looking forward to reading the one about ghost writing and the one about female-led stories. (Disclosure: Alessandro asked me if I’d like to collaborate/cross-promote in some way; I agreed, but if I’d thought his newsletter was not a good fit I wouldn’t have mentioned it. I’m including it because it looks interesting, and because it’s eclectic — just like mine!)

Well, I think this is long enough now, so I’ll sign off.

Thanks for reading.

Terry

1. Year 9s = 13-14 year-olds.

2. Key Stage 3, the curriculum for Years 7, 8 and 9 in secondary school, ie roughly 11 to 14 year-olds.

3. A Level = Advanced Level, the grades for which are important for university entrance.