The Pedestrian and the City
Book
The Pedestrian and the City provides an overview and insight into the development, politics and...
Liberal Democracies and the Torture of Their Citizens
Book
This book analyses and compares how the USA's liberal allies responded to the use of torture against...
Awix (3310 KP) rated Ultraviolet in TV
Jan 3, 2021
One of the many post-X Files genre shows to appear in the UK in the late 90s, but much better than most of them, largely because it resists the temptation to go overboard with the flashy fantasy elements: vampires rarely appear in the early episodes and this more closely resembles a police procedural show. But definitely a horror series, and an effective one for the most part, written and played with great skill. Starts off as an episodic show before the serial elements gradually take over - the standalone episodes are best - and comes up with some clever new spins on vampire lore. One wishes they could have made more than just the six episodes (plus a US pilot with a mostly different cast and rather different approach), but as it this this definitely counts as small but perfectly formed.
Rural Tranquility to National Crisis: A Farm Vet's Story
Book
Born in rural Worcestershire in 1950, from an early age David Harwood learned about keeping animals...
Ross (3282 KP) rated The Constant Rabbit in Books
Aug 20, 2020
In The Constant Rabbit, Fforde has taken the topic of racism and put it in a different setting. Due to an unexplained event, a number of animals were anthropomorphised, including a few rabbits, foxes, bears and elephants. True to their nature, that small population of rabbits has exploded and they now represent a large proportion of the population. Britain being what it is, there is a lot of ill-feeling toward these rabbits and this has made it's way into politics and societal changes. The government themselves are the UK Anti Rabbit Party, and there are a great number of restrictions on the rabbits' freedom of movement.
The book serves as a great analogy for historic racism and xenophobia that still remains in the UK and the western world as a whole.
The story itself only reveals itself gradually, it takes a long time to be set up and generally just unfolds. There is no real underlying plot from the off, it is the unfolding of a scenario.
To that end, I felt this book was a little more about the idea, and the effort put in to fleshing that out, and the story itself has suffered slightly. There are long sections of exposition throughout the book, and at times it does get a little boring.
Far from Fforde at his best, it is still a great funny book and a wonderful thought experiment and demonstration of the ludicrousness of xenophobia.
Digital Transformation: B.U.I.L.D Your Organization's Future
Book
As with any large infrastructure project, the costs and risks involved in a major innovation...
Online Arbitration
Book
Innovative initiatives for online arbitration are needed to aid in resolving cross-border commercial...
Lives of the Law: Selected Essays and Speeches: 2000-2010
Book
Tom Bingham (1933-2010) was the 'greatest judge of our time' (The Guardian), a towering figure in...
The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew
Book
Sophie Mayhew looks like she has the perfect life. Wife of rising political star John F Mayhew, a...
Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Mother Fault in Books
Dec 19, 2021
Set in a future where climate change is not just something that is likely to happen but is all too real and where everyone is micro-chipped and controlled by the Government, this is the story about Mim trying to find out about her missing husband but feeling she has no other option than to go on the run with her children.
Sounds good doesn't it, well for me it just fell short on excitement. There was a lot of description, too much waffle and whilst the characters were well developed, I couldn't seem to get on with them. The ending was also a disappointment; it seemed to take a while to get there and then it was over with many questions still to be answered - maybe I missed something somewhere?
So whilst this wasn't for me, there are plenty of positive reviews out there so don't take my word for it as I always say, if we all liked the same things, the world would be a very boring place indeed.
My thanks go to HarperCollins UK / HarperFiction and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.