Orange Penguins

Popular Penguins, an imprint of the Penguin Group (Australia), has published 50 bestselling titles dressed in the distinctive 1935 orange and white livery.

Titles in the collection include Alain de Botton's The Consolations of Philosophy, Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality: Volume 1 and Richard P Feynman's Six Easy Pieces.



The Popular Penguins is a reprise of the Allen Lane's brainchild in 1935 when he published then contemporary titles and made readily available by selling them at the affordable cost of sixpence (which was the cost of a pack of cigarettes then).

The 2008 Orange Penguins are likewise priced at an attractive cost of AU$9.95. Grab a couple of titles for a bit of fun reading over the holidays. With 50 to choose from, you are bound to find one (or more) that would interest you. Enjoy!

"What you read today ...

In an earlier post, I mentioned that having the luxury of time to read books is one of life's pleasures. Much as I long for my own iLiad by iRex, the e-Book reader now available through Dymocks in Australia at a whopping retail price of AU$899, I am still of the view that much pleasure can be derived from the tactile experience of turning pages while nose deep reading a book.

Recently, in one of my regular lunchbreak visits to a couple of second-hand / antiquarian bookshops, I stumbled upon a 1953 hardcover copy of Marston Bates' Where Winter Never Comes. Joy! I finally got my own copy.

But why do we keep books? Gary Lines suggests that books are a silent summary of one's personality, intellect, interests and most likely a reflection of influences. Gary Lines contends that books are a person's cheaper curriculum vitae as they don't have to be new.













Anyhow, Where Winter Never Comes (1953) is one of the seminal books that supported the notion that the beginnings of civilization were achieved in the tropical regions. Bates opposed the extreme positions of the environmental determinists regarding the tropical climate as quite hopeless for civilization. Bates argues that most of the human evolution took place in the tropics.

Having made a somewhat thorough literature review on Environmental Determinism as part of my PhD research, I came across numerous works on the subject and have voraciously read books by late 19th century and early 20th century modern geographers. The university library was just an amazing repository of these interesting literature.

I am now on a quest to track down and secure copies of my own of the following:
Civilization and Climate (1915) by E. Huntington
Environment and Race: A Study of the Evolution, Migration, Settlement and Status of the Races of Man (1927) by G.T. Taylor
Climate and the Energy of Nations (1944) by S.F. Markham
Climate Makes the Man (1944) by C.A. Mills

Da Vinci's Journal

Perhaps the most expensive 'journal of ideas', Da Vinci's Codex Leicester is on display at the Chester Beatty Library. The 500-year old "ideas jotter" showing some of the great scientific and philosophy ideas which are still in use today, was bought by Microsoft founder Bill Gates for $31m (€23m) in 1994.



Read more: Shane Hickey. Image from Independent.ie.

The World of Books - from scrolls, to books with cover and spine and then eBooks

This funny video "Introducing the Book" reminded me of an enjoyable book I read about three years ago: Henry Petroski's Book on the Bookshelf (1999) which gives a captivating account of the evolution of the physical design of books from stone tablets, the papyrus and the format we are most familiar with, the spines. Written from the point of view of the design of bookshelves (bookcases, as they say Downunder) by an author who happens to be an engineer, this fascinating read made me appreciate books more (not to mention the shelves they are orderly arranged in). Reading a book is still one of life's great pleasures. Nothing beats that tactile experience of turning pages while nose deep reading a book.