I didn't blog at all in July? Well, I assure you I was visiting libraries and reading. However the urge to go back and fill in the gaps is death for any kind of diarying, so most of what I read and borrowed in July will now stay between me and my reading notebook.
I belong to a book circle, which is a WEA book discussion scheme one. I've belonged to it for - at least 10 years? Probably 15? Or more. Ages anyway. The quest for origins: who first discovered and settled New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, by K.R. Howe is our current book, and I very much suspect I will be one of the few people in the group who will have finished it. I started it early because a friend had warned me it was a slow read. Luckily, for me it wasn't.
Howe, who is a History professor at Massey's Albany campus, was approached by Penguin to write the book after a couple of his responses to various breathless media reports about 'shocking new revelations about the discovery of New Zealand'. The book covers the history of (European) ideas about where Pacific Islanders came from, and most interestingly, why the assumptions behind these ideas, and often the prejudices that these ideas served. One of the main ideas behind several older theories was the idea that cultures didn't change unless under the influence of another culture - usually a superior one. Gosh, I wonder what sort of cultures they had in mind? Howe argues that this sort of thinking is often behind a lot of the more odd-ball ideas that come up today, whereby pre-Tasman visits to NZ are claimed for the Spanish, the Chinese, the Portuguese, the Celts, and for all I know, probably the Inuit!
It's quite an academic book, however I appreciate that. If I'm reading non-fiction I want the nerdy stuff like indexes, bibliographies, and footnotes. In fact, my main complaint about this book is there is a quirky little comment about people once believing people would melt if they crossed the equator. Reference needed, as Wikipedia would say.
The book I'm currently reading is from Massey Library, and is Cycle space: architecture and urban design in the age of the bicycle, by Steven Fleming. One of the things I appreciate about Palmie is its cycle friendliness. (Well sort of. We still get spluttery letters in the paper complaining about the audacity of cyclists actually using the roads.) We have wide flat roads, and about a year ago the council tarsealed the bridle track that runs along the Manawatu River, which means that for most of my bike commute home I'm cycling along gazing at the river and the meadow, counting how many dogs are out walking with their owners, and in no danger of being hit by a car. Thanks PNCC! Tho' again there were spluttery letters in the paper about bikes being allowed on walkers' rightful territory. Sigh...
Back to Fleming's book! There are vignettes of various cycling cities (Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Sydney, etc), but the bulk of the book is about what the subtitle says. Because he references a lot of buildings and objects and designers its the sort of book that I read wanting Google beside me. Besides the architecture and design side, he also reflects on the class aspects of cars and cycling, and the various romantic cliches of cycling. He's unashamedly pro-cycling and keeps asking why you'd walk when you can bike. Must be rubbing off on me. I had to walk across campus the other day and thought how much quicker (and more fun) it would be if I could just hop on a bike.
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