Books
Category archives for Books
Harry Martinson Talk
Posted by Martin R on May 6, 2012 The Swedish Skeptics have received the 2012 Harry Martinson Memorial Prize from his birth municipality Olofström and the Harry Martinson Society. Martinson, a Nobel laureate, was a poet and prose writer who is particularly well known for his book-length science fiction epic poem Aniara. As chairman of the Swedish Skeptics I was invited down to…
Choosing and Accessing My Reading Matter
Posted by Martin R on April 21, 2012 I listened to BBC Click about the future of publishing and had the idea to look at a couple of parameters in my reading habits: where I get the idea to read each book-length text, how I get hold of them and what form they take. Here’s about the past year, April 2011 through March…
Mike Carey Writes Well
Posted by Martin R on April 5, 2012 Aard super-regular Birger Johansson very kindly sent me a bunch of supernatural detective novels by Mike Carey, the Felix Castor series. I’m on the second one now (from 2006) and enjoying it a lot. The stories are a bit too long and meandering for my taste, but I love Carey’s dry wit and fine grasp…
My Recent Mead-halls Book Available On Open Access
Posted by Martin R on February 23, 2012 The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities is over 250 years old and consists almost entirely of professors of the humanities and social sciences. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that it’s a sleepy organisation. For one thing, the Academy is a signatory of the 2003 Berlin Declaration on Open Access…
17th Century Pastoral Novel
Posted by Martin R on February 8, 2012 As a schoolboy I read the first original play performed publically written in Swedish, Urban Hiärne‘s Rosimunda (1665). Me and my friend Tor loved the absurd spelling, the odd changes that had occurred in the sense of many words and some of the comical one-liners. Recently I learned that about the same time Hiärne also…
Best Reads of 2011
Posted by Martin R on December 30, 2011 Here are my best reads in English during 2011. I only read 38 books this year (blame the Internet), which is why the really good ones are fewer than usual. Bonk. The curious coupling of sex and science. Mary Roach 2008. A charming look at the history of sex research. The Culture of Fear. Why…
My To-Read Pile
Posted by Martin R on December 27, 2011 I’m spending this week in a semi-vegetative state: sleeping late, taking walks at noon with my wife & kids, eating chocolate, drinking tea, and reading. Here’s my late-2011 selection of reading matter. Svavelvinter. Erik Granström 2004. Swedish fantasy. Proggiga barnböcker – därför blev vi som vi blev. Kalle Lind 2010. About the pinko hippie children’s…
Jane Austen LARP
Posted by Martin R on October 19, 2011 Though I played a lot of tabletop role playing games in the 80s and 90s, I’ve never been much of a live action role-player (LARPer). Just seems to be way too much preparation for such short events. So the only real LARP I ever took part in was in May of 1992 (it was called…
Gothenburg Book Fair
Posted by Martin R on September 24, 2011 I visited the Gothenburg Book Fair for the first time because of my new book. The Academy of Letters needed people to put on the Researcher’s Square stage, and conveniently one of their staff had just published a book with them – me. When the local organiser saw me she did a double take because…
Order My Mead-Halls Book On-line
Posted by Martin R on September 10, 2011 Those who want hard copy or are unwilling to wait six months for the free PDF can now order my Mead-halls book on-line for SEK 180 / U$D 27 / €20 / £17 plus postage.
