This book was so much fun – I know you don’t get that from the title, in fact, it sounds *incredibly* dry, but I assure you, it’s a fun read! All sorts of cynical comments and random tangents make it a really easy read, all while being really interesting! There were jokes at the expense of Tottenham fans and the population of East Anglia, as well as random bits of trivia and at times, just following his train of thought wherever it went!
The book is split into 5 sections:
The first three look at how things have changed over the last 200 years that regular censuses have been taken (Who we are, what we do, where we are)
The fourth is a focus on the 1921 census, which was just after the Spanish Flu, and given this was written in 2020 in the depths of the pandemic, a lot of comparisons are drawn.
And then finally an imaginative look ahead to what the 2121 census might look like, both in results, and how it’s achieved.
I really wanted to give this 5 stars, but there were just a few mistakes that meant I couldn’t do that: Categories mislabeled on a graph key, black and white diagrams with shades of grey too similar to decipher, and tables which didn’t show units, making them confusing to interpret. as well as one instance of talking about a value decreasing and then showing it increasing….. other than that, brilliant!
I’d be really interested in reading a re-issue of this now that we’re out of COVID (for the most part), with a bonus chapter or two looking at how it affected things as a lot was made of what effect it might have, but at the time of writing, it was too soon to tell.
As it is, it was bookended with this quote from Lord Kelvin: “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it”
My annual Beth O’Leary read, this time it’s based around two staff members at a hotel who get on so badly that they intentionally never put them on the same shift. You already know what’s going to happen, classic enemies to lovers.
I enjoyed the non-romantic parts of the storyline, the hotel in trouble, trying to find owners of 5 rings in lost property, coping when friends move away, but the romance side of it felt quite drawn out, even though I read the book in 4 days! It got steamier than I remember some of her other books getting too, but managed to avoid anything too graphic. I think my issue comes down to the fact that there was just a bit too much yearning…. that said, I still gave it 4 stars on goodreads, because I liked the rest of it!
I feel like I’m coming off quite negative, but the side characters were a lot of fun, and I grew to like the main characters as the book went on, other than when they were fawning over each other (they alternate narrating each chapter between them).
It’s an incredibly easy read, as evidenced by my reading speed, and if you liked her other stuff, you’d like this too.
A couple of funny lines to finish: “I’ve always been partial to an exclamation mark, Full stops just seem so… grown-up. When I stop wanting pick-and-mix for dinner, that’s when I’ll start using full stops. That’s real adulthood.” “When I first moved to the New Forest, I was astonished to find myself caught in a traffic jam caused by a gaggle of unfazed ponies, but I’m used to them now. They roam wild around here – it’s no stranger than seeing a pigeon.”
Like many books of this genre (is “missionary testimony” a genre? If not it should be), this managed to inspire and discourage me all in one (but don’t worry, I gave it 5 stars on goodreads!).
Jackie Pullinger was a missionary in Hong Kong (and from what I can tell having googled, still is – in her 80s!), she moved there in 1966, and this book shares her experience of sharing Jesus, particularly with drug addicts and gang members in the old Walled City.
Her stories are amazing, and her methods so direct, with so many folk she would immediate explain who Jesus is, what He did for them, how they could know Him, and she would invite them to accept Him then and there, often this was quickly followed by them praying in tongues.
And this is what I mean by inspiring and discouraging simultaneously – inspiring is obvious, but discouraging because, my goodness, I’ve never seen anything of the like, nor know anyone who has! I fully believe it did and can happen, but her faith is something special! God has the power to do amazing things, but we just don’t have the faith to ask
A couple of my favourite bits:
“[Jesus] was the one perfect man who ever lived; He only did good, healed people and raised them from the dead, but His enemies put Him on a Cross and killed Him. He died for my sake but He did not wait till I was good before He died for me. He never said He would die for me only if I changed. While I ignored Him He laid down His life for me and even as He was dying He still said He forgave me.”
“Jesus doesn’t expect us to follow Him in our own strength, so if you are prepared to tell Him that you are sorry and ask forgiveness then He will forgive you. You can start again and He will give you the power to help you follow Him. The power is His Holy Spirit.”
There was a weird thing happening in the last couple of weeks where a handful of brands posted significant changes and then retracted them , as if they just got April fools wrong – eg Lipton said they were stopping their peach ice-tea and then took it back! I also really enjoyed Ikea’s clock change Klokkentroll at the weekend which felt like it could have been one on the right day.
We can exclusively reveal our brand-new #EastEnders opening titles! The new titles feature some of Walford’s much-loved characters, as well as a revival of the widely adored 1993-1994 theme tune. For more details, head to our Facebook and Instagram pages. pic.twitter.com/aEd15UGJVw
After review, we’re aligning the circuit with British roads, replacing all corners with roundabouts.
This better reflects UK driving habits and challenges drivers with the true test of the highway code: knowing when to give way. pic.twitter.com/N366qkb7nB
As a devoted fan of the Hunger Games, I grabbed this as soon as I had a chance, and devoured it in a week! (I know some people read multiple books in a week, but for me this is pretty much the fastest I go).
This prequel tells us the story of Haymitch, who was one of the mentors from the original trilogy. The book is set 24 years earlier, at the 50th Hunger Games, and twice as many children as normal are sent into the arena to mark the occasion – from District 12, one of the boys is 16 year old Haymitch.
I did wonder how much tension the book would have when we know from the original books that Haymitch a) survives, and b) wins, but there is so much going on, and it becomes about so much more than that, that there’s plenty to keep you engaged and guessing.
It’s so weird after you’ve been introduced to a character, to picture them a different age, when their personality was really quite different. But what it’s really doing is giving so much depth and background to the guy we later meet in his 40s. I want to go back to the first books now and reread them with this context!
If you liked the other books, this is definitely worth a read!
A couple of years ago we did The Prayer Course in our homegroups at church, and it was excellent. Soon afterwards, I picked up the book that tied in with it, and FINALLY I’ve got around to reading it!
It’s a really helpful book, looking at different types of prayer at a really accessible level, and with plenty of anecdotes and examples to help apply what’s being said. But bookending all that, he says that it’s most important to just: “Keep it simple, keep it real, keep it up”. I was glad he did that, because I sometimes think we overcomplicate prayer with splitting it up into all these different types and “how to” do each of them – we learn as a kid is that prayer is just talking with God, building a relationship with Him, so I was pleased he brought it back to this.
Prayer is definitely something I’m not great at, but this book didn’t make me feel bad about that, and was written in a way that didn’t feel too clever, fancy or intimidating – it was encouraging! It also comes with a load of recommended further reading and links to an online toolshed of resources, which I’m looking forward to delving into somewhen.
He shared the story of King George VI calling the country to a day of prayer before Dunkirk, which I had no idea about, and gave a great analogy using the boys who were rescued from the cave in Thailand, how there was a long wait for them between being found and being rescued, and how we can liken that to the now and not yet of our Salvation through Jesus.
Definitely a book I’ll be back to dip in and out of.
ineke.co.uk 