Sunday, May 04, 2008

Playing Tag with a Nearby Book

Anita has tagged me. I have to find a nearby book. The book I have found is in the downstairs loo. It is one of Dad's favourites. He is a big fan of talking about the weather and so takes any opportunity to read about it so that he can pretend to have a vast knowledge. The book is, The Cloudspotter's Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney and it is an entire book about clouds. Dad has even joined the sad cloudspotter's society and this week was blah-blahing about Stratocumulus in a vastly knowledgeable sort of way. Turns out he is half way through Chapter 4 which is all about those particular clouds. Hmm. Anita has asked me to pick three sentences from page 123. I do not know why.

"Perhaps they'll see, 'a centaur, or a leopard, or a wolf, or a bull', like the Socrates character in Aristophanes play, Clouds. Perhaps they'll divine, 'giants' countenances...great mountains and rocks...after them some monster pulling and dragging other clouds', like Lucretius, the Roman poet, in his philosophical epic De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things). The Greeks and the Romans appear to have been keen enthusiasts of this pastime."
The picture shows some Greeks or Romans probably - "Do not bother me now - I am having a think" is most likely what they are saying to one another and actually this is exactly what Dad says when you knock on the loo door.

I have no idea what all that is about but just copying it out has made my brain ache. I quite like being in the weather and I am a big fan of Barometer World, where we went on holiday but I do not like books where I have to have a dictionary and an encyclopaedia in the same room.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

did you really go on holiday at barometer world? can there really be such a place? you must have set up that website just to scam us!

Suzan Abrams, email: suzanabrams@live.co.uk said...

Welcome back Wilf.
Have enjoyed this post and like the pictures especially.
So looking forward to your book.

Unknown said...

Wilf - clouds are fascinating. Just last week I was gazing up at them, wondering why there were so many faces staring down at me. Did those faces, belonging to the cloud people, want to tell me something?

Addy - LOVE the way you've handled the book tag! Brilliant!

Wilf said...

Yes, Candy -Barometer World is a real place and I can tell you it is full of barometers.

Wilf said...

Thanks, Suzan! You may have to wait a bit longer for the book though, as The Friday Project has gone out of business. Good to see you are still writing and travelling. A.

Wilf said...

Thanks, AV! A.

Anita Marion Loughrey said...

Hi,
I'm so glad you did the tag.
Very clever! I've nothing but, admiration for the way it seemlessly blends in.
Kewl!
All the best,
Anita