The Book of This and That


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(2.7 stars; 7 reviews)

From the pen of the Irish poet and essayist, Robert Lynd, comes a collection of humorous and satirical essays on topics as wide ranging as stupidity, Christmas, spring fashions, and the beauty of statistics. - Summary by Larry Wilson (5 hr 45 min)

Chapters

Suspicion 11:00 Read by Tom Penn
On Good Resolutions 11:08 Read by Tom Penn
The Sin of Dancing 10:09 Read by CoMo290
Thoughts at a Tango Tea 14:17 Read by drandall
The Humours of Murder 14:58 Read by Skip Corris
The Decline and Fall of Hell 9:05 Read by CoMo290
On Cheerful Readers 10:55 Read by Dietrich Weber
St G. B. S. and the Bishop 10:44 Read by DrPGould
Stupidity 14:37 Read by realisticspeakers
Waste 12:56 Read by realisticspeakers
On Christmas 12:04 Read by Larry Wilson
On Demagogues 12:03 Read by Skip Corris
On Coincidences 13:42 Read by Kathleen Moore
On Indignation 12:22 Read by Kathleen Moore
The Heart of Mr Galsworthy 13:11 Read by Kathleen Moore
Spring Fashions 13:31 Read by drandall
On Black Cats 9:52 Read by Devorah Allen
On Being Shocked 14:06 Read by AnnaLisa Bodtker
Confessions 11:27 Read by Skip Corris
The Terrors of Politics 11:33 Read by Greg Giordano
On Disasters 13:55 Read by Greg Giordano
The Rights of Murder 12:34 Read by Skip Corris
The Humour of Hoaxes 12:37 Read by Greg Giordano
Anatole France 11:50 Read by Skip Corris
The Sea 13:21 Read by Larry Wilson
The Futurists 14:05 Read by realisticspeakers
A Defence of Critics 11:12 Read by Tom Penn
On the Beauty of Statistics 12:18 Read by Tom Penn

Reviews

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(3.5 stars)

This curmudgeonly book is entertaining, but sometimes puzzling. The references to 100-year-old scandals, the shock still reverberating over the dangers of walzing, and the outdated (but possibly unconscious) attitude toward "class" have little to do with the 21st century. But there are a couple of essays that are spot on still: Waste and Statistics. If he thought waste was dreadful around the end of the 19th century... And we are, of course, inundated in Statistics, and every PhD candidate churns up more! All the narration is good, with no technical issues.