Exactly a hundred years ago, the Antarctic winter came to an end and Captain Robert Falcon Scott‘s ill-fated party was able to begin the journey to the South Pole. Diana Preston’s A First Rate Tragedy is one of many accounts of the early explorations undertaken by Scott, Shackleton, Amundsen, Cherry-Garrard and others and I find it compulsive reading.

She begins with Scott’s first Antarctic journey of 1902-3 then follows Scott right to that dreadful discovery of his body, between those of Wilson and Bowers in the autumn of 1912. There is a careful analysis of all that contributed to the disaster but also great awareness that it is all too easy, in hindsight, for us to criticise Scott’s decisions: his choosing horses over dogs, his last minute change from a four to a five-man polar party, his failure to understand the effects of the cold on the supply depots, his lack of understanding of the origins of scurvy – the list is endless.

These issues are all carefully examined, yet every time I come back to this book, or to Scott’s own journal, to Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s The Worst Journey in the World or to the realistic comparison of Scott and Amundsen’s journeys, Scott and Amundsen, I am overwhelmed by the immensity of what Scott and his men undertook and by how nearly they succeeded.

Most of all, I think it is the action of Titus Oates that moves readers – those final words, ‘I am just going outside and may be some time.’ echoed through the twentieth century.

In The Natural History of Unicorns, Chris Lavers traces the unicorn right back to classical writers. Ctesias, in the fifth century BC gives accounts of a unicorn found in India. There are several references in Old Testament texts and the unicorn came to be adopted as a Christian symbol in the complex Christian mythology.

He existed as a symbol in the Middle Ages in the world of courtly love and unicorn parts, particularly the horn, were more valuable than gold as late as the Renaissance. Sadly the twentieth century has decided that the unicorn was a myth.

However, Lavers, with great scholarship, examines all the evidence and presents all the candidates for the role of unicorn. His research moves into language and the confusion that probably resulted from the translations produced, for example, by the Septuagint. He looks at the narwhal, the oryx, the okapi, the yak and of course, the rhinoceros, all of which contributed their share of evidence.

This is a fascinating book to read and I am sure that you will be convinced, as I am, of the existence of the unicorn. I loved David Bellamy’s comment and echo his sentiment, ‘… If unicorns do exist I hope they never catch one.’

Sea Room is ‘the story of one man, three islands and half a million puffins’. Those words appear on the cover of Adam Nicolson‘s account of his twenty or more years of possession of the little group of Hebridean islands, the Shiants, in the Minch. However, there is far more than that in the enchanting work.

Nicolson received the islands from his father and, at the end of his book, is planning to hand them on to his son. The work celebrates the islands that have been his joy for twenty years since he was a Cambridge student.

We learn of the sheep, the birds that summer in the islands, the history and archaeological digs that Nicolson arranges, uncovering centuries of habitation. In a vividly-written narrative wit a wealth of anecdotes, we discover, with Nicolson a series of objects, a golden torque, a medieval brooch, shards of pottery from centuries of habitation and an unusual funeral stone that has probably served as a pillow for a hermit.

The book is so beautifully and evocatively written that we feel as if we have visited these remote islands, though I am not sure we would have stayed long with no power, no running water and a population of thousands of rattus rattus – large black plague rats – that live on the puffins but infest the single stone dwelling place.

Nevertheless it is great to visit the islands through the words of their owner.

If, like me, you find words far more interesting than numbers and find your mind wandering when friends begin to talk of calculus or Fermat’s theorem, this book is an eye-opener.

With more than a thousand images and in easily digestible chapters and almost eleven hundred pages, Jan Gullberg takes us from the beginnings of numbers right up to the most modern theories. He works from the premise that mathematics, like music, is worth doing for its own sake. He works on the basis that the student of mathematics needs to do more than remember. He needs to understand.

Dipping into this work at random produces moments of light humour like the little anecdote from Charlotte’s Web where a lamb tells the pig that he means ‘Less than nothing to me’. The pig patiently explains that ‘Nothing is absolutely the limit of nothingness.’

There are very serious moments too, when we are nursed through differential equations.

If, like me, you have a great mathematical void to fill, or even if you are an expert needing to check on your facts, this is an invaluable text.

Most of us have probably ‘read’ Winnie the Pooh. Or so we might think: this book shows just how little effort we really put into this task, probably assuming that it was just a simple children’s bedtime story and that the ‘words on the page’ were therefore  just a ‘story’ with a ‘meaning’, chosen by the ‘author’, A.A.Milne. How mistaken we were.

This book presents interpretations of this children’s classic that might be offered by some of the many bitterly clashing schools of post-modern literary criticism: radical feminism, Lacanian post-colonialist, post-culturalist Marxism, new historicism and others. This is done by means of a supposed collection of contributions to a meeting of the Modern Language Association (a real American association of language scholars) which discussed Milne’s work.

Not only does this provide us with an introduction to the almost impenetrable vocabulary and syntactical structures used by academics involved in such critical projects, (for example “The rememoration of the ‘present’ as space is the possibility of the utopian imperative of no-(particular)-place …”) it also provides great amusement to the ‘ordinary reader’. We might sometimes agree with Eeyore, quoted here as remarking: ‘This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated, if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it’. 

However, we will always be able to (mis)interpet anything in many other ways after reading this book.

Next stop, perhaps, ‘Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity’, another famous spoof (or was it?)

Postmodern Pooh

All who have some interest in the history of Scotland should try to take a look into this unusual book. Born in France in 1842, the author spent most of his life at Inverewe, living the life of a highland laird. This area seems fairly in accessible even today, but then people thought little or nothing of sailing for days (no engine!) or just walking to the west coast from Inverness. Gaelic was the everyday language, not English. The lives of the ordinary inhabitants, winning a subsistence living from poor soils and the sea seems very hard by modern standards, but was compensated in some part by the values of a society in which few if any in need were abandoned.

Osgood Mackenzie was of course a member of the ‘elite’, but he too lived in a house lit by candles (although the first in the region to have a slate roof), with no local roads, no doctor (his mother played that role locally) and definitely no shops. Amongst a wealth of historical detail and descriptions of local life, he describes a sailing boat journey to the even remoter island of St. Kilda to carry supplies to the tenants and collect the tiny annual rents, which would not be undertaken lightly by a modern yachtsman with far better equipment!

One of his great passions was to fish the local lochs and rivers and shoot local game: it seems surprising that anything survived his efforts, considering the amount of powder and shot he seems to have expended. He left an enduring legacy, however, when he went on in his old age to establish the extraordinary sub-tropical gardens still maintained by the National Trust for Scotland at Poolewe. Go and visit them if you can, using the need to buy this book as an excuse!

A Hundred Years In The Highlands
Osgood Mackenzie
Birlinn Ltd, 2007, ISBN 978-1874744290
(the illustration is the cover of an older edition, reprinted in 1956 by Butler and Tanner of Frome)

Juliet Nicolson, in The Great Silence 1918 – 1929, Living in the Shadow of the Great War, brings to life a brief period of history that we have all heard about but probably never visited in such fine detail. My own father was a child in that post war period and spoke of the war wounded who were everywhere, the violent anti-German feeling, the cars and the penury.

Juliet Nicolson quotes hundreds of similar voices, some famous, some insignificant but all affected by the Great War. We meet the serving class who had experienced comradeship on the battlefields with their employers and were unwilling to return to the grim drudgery of the prewar period.

We hear of families reduced to extreme circumstances by the loss of menfolk, the desperately slow demobilisation, serious war injuries and the lack of employment.

We hear how grief was suppressed, finding no voice that could express the depth of suffering in all the social classes, even those who had continued, throughout the war to enjoy their aristocratic way of life.

One moving chapter recounts the way the unknown soldier was chosen and the creation of the Cenotaph. As one small boy bent to lay a posy among the mass of flowers already there he cried for all to hear, ‘Oh Mummy, what a lovely garden Daddy has got.’

Finally, when, in 1920 Winifred Holtby is one of the first women to be awarded her Oxford degree, we approach a kind of acceptance of a changed world, a world where there is one female member of parliament and where some women have the vote.

This is social history that reads almost like a novel. I warmly recommend it.

All of us probably remember the fateful date of June 30, 1997, when Chris Patten received the folded Union flag that had been lowered as British Rule came to an end in Hong Kong. His East and West was published a year later. Revisiting it over ten years later confirms for the reader much of what that gifted politician said.

Chris Patten’s role as the last Governor of Hong Kong was different in that, for his five years there, he was preparing for the hand over to China and fighting for a liberal democracy in which he firmly believes. He spends time exploring the extraordinary economic miracle that is Hong Kong.

Detailed accounts of his meetings with Chinese authorities and conversations with the Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng reveal for us the difficulties of preserving western values and liberal attitudes in a society that works in a different way.

We follow him through the struggle to replace the old Kai Tak airport, despite Chinese obstruction at every move, and through a losing battle to create a true democracy, since Chinese hegemony was a foregone conclusion.

The reader is still tempted to conclude that the correct move for the British government would have been to have given a full British passport to all Hong Kong’s inhabitants before the relinquishing of government.

If you have ever visited Germany and been surprised at the curious mixture of past and present that is around you almost everywhere, then this book will interest you. Germania, A Personal History of Germans Ancient and Modern was published by Picador in 2010.

If you intend to visit Germany, this book will provide an interesting account of at least one thing to eat, look at or visit in the area to which you are going.

The author has distilled his many years of visiting into what might be looked on as a sort of  ’travelling companion’, revealing Germany to be a place of extraordinary diversity and eccentricity. His book is sure to surprise you and make you laugh, as well. And if you have never thought of visiting Germany, perhaps thinking of it as a rather dull and over-organised place, this book might well change your mind.

You will be introduced to some of the finer points of German cuisine (‘there’s always a pig or a potato around the next corner, but there is a lot to be done with these two life forms’), as well as some of the country’s culture and history, which is anything but dull!

We were asked at GenevaLunch a year ago whether we could give more information about the Blind Crossword Program. I had the immense privilege of meeting the driving force behind the program, Eric Wesbrook, in London last week and actually got my fingers on the keys of the computer and was able to key in my solutions and hear how the program told me my next clue and what letters were already entered in my grid. This really is wonderful news for the blind and partially sighted who long to pursue their passion. All the information you need is below, with links to click on.

From Eric Westbrook, the Blind Crossword Program

A conversation last year in The Whitefriars Ale House, Coventry, UK, with John Tutchings, e-learning technical specialist at Coventry University, led by a very interesting, tortuous and tantalising route to find the brilliant Ian Humphreys in Albany, Western Australia! The outcome is the World’s first electronic blind crossword.

This was subject of an item on Radio 4 In Touch programme:

The BG Crossword Puzzle program provides the blind or partially sighted solver with the same kind of information as the sighted puzzler gleans from the grid as the puzzle unfolds. Once a crossword is loaded, the solver uses keyboard enries to select and control the flow of information. The program speaks to the solver reading out selected crossword clues using the SAPI voice on the solver’s computer. The solver types in their solutions. The ‘voice’ lets the solver know where they are in the puzzle and can give cues as to what to do next.

Virtually every key on the keyboard including the function keys as well as combinations with shift, alt and control, has some function in operating the program. Thus the Help file is quite extensive and the finer points of the program take some time to assimilate. However, there is a quick start and a set of tutorials (‘what I wrote’) which help to get the solver solving very quickly. Both Help and Tutorials have hyperlinks so that these documents can be navigated quickly.

There is also a basic beginners guide to cryptic crosswords so that a blind person who has never done a crossword before could start doing so.

The program offers two screens – one for the Across clues and solutions, and another screen for the ‘Downs’. The solver can scroll through the clues using arrow keys and switch between the two screens. There is a grid there. which a partially sighted solver might appreciate, but it is not necessary to see it. Once a solution has been entered, it is possible to hear just the clues which are assisted by this solution. New letters have appeared in the grid and the program can select the yet-to-be-solved clues which have partial solutions containing these new letters.

Ambiguities can arise when listening to the words of a clue. Homophones, an indistinct word from the synthetic speech voice, or partial deafness in the solver can cause confusion. The program will repeat the clue tirelessly as many times as required. It will also spell out problem words. It has the additional facility to spell words in the international phonetic alphabet (Charlie, Whisky, Tango). This is usually crystal clear. Mine is a whisky by the way!

A nervous beginner might be reassured to hit the ‘V’ key (to validate) after entering a solution. On doing so, the program might say “your answer is correct”. John Godber, Head of Products and Publications at RNIB, did his first crossword all on his own for the first time in 15 years. Fantastic!! Unfortunately most prize puzzles do not supply the answers until after the competition!

The program comes with several crosswords already loaded. But the real power of the program is to be able to scour the internet for new puzzles and download them to the program. The Help file gives details of how to do this.

I would like a blind solver to be able to tackle the same puzzles that sighted solvers are tearing their hair out over, on the same day.

When someone loses their eyesight they can be in a very lonely place. Imagine not being able to do crosswords any more! To be denied being able to pick up the newspaper and be tortured fot half an hour or so is unthinkable? There is an opportunity here for blind crossworders to re-enter the crosword community. The serious newspapers and the not so serious could offer their puzzles in a form that can be downloaded to the blind crossword program. Most UK crossword compilers use Anthony Lewis’ Crossword Compiler program to compile their crosswords. This program has export file formats that  allow download to the blind program. Phil Wills who leads the team of programmers at GU has developed the functionality to do just this with Guardian and Observer puzzles. We are waiting for clearance for this to go ahead. There are issues of security and copyright to be resolved as well as advertising revenues sensitive to on-line hours. Phil McNeill at The Telegraph is also looking into this.

As a registered blind solver and setter, RNIB member and volunteer I wish to encourage the development of a download facility on sites offering  crosswords in file formats that the blind crossword program can use.

For the same reasons I would be very happy to demonstrate the program to anyone interested to see it if that is at all practicable. If it isn’t I will get someone else to do it: contact Eric Westbrook.

Ian Humphreys is a retired computer programmer and has produced a number of  blind games including solitaire, cribbage, and Scrabble. His Spoonbill Software including the BG Crossword Puzzle program and other blind games are Freeware. They are free to download and free to use in whatever way the user wishes. Ian would be grateful if users mentioned ‘Spoonbill Software’. Ian employs international teams of program checkers and testers. He and the teams put in a massive number of hours to produce the polished and professional programs. Ian’s open letter below gives a link to a ‘dropbox’ where the program can be obtained:

The passage below is from Ian Humphreys and contains links which people can follow to obtain the program and to register with Ian. The advantage of registration is that Ian can monitor the use of the prigram as well as supply updates which will inevitably follow as improvements are made to it.

Hi,
This is Ian Humphreys from Spoonbill Software. You can download the setup file for Blind-gamers Crossword Puzzle 1.0 by using the following link:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8448640/BG%20Crossword%20Puzzle/BGXSetup10.zip

The Help is supplied as a separate HTML file in the Help subfolder. It can also be displayed by hitting the F 1 function key once you are running the game.

There is also a set of tutorials especially written by Eric Westbrook which provides a good grounding on how to use the program and also gives the novice an introduction to cryptic crosswords. These tutorials can be accessed by hitting Shift F 1 once you are running the game.

This is the fifteenth program in the Blind Gamers series which includes other word games such as BG Boggle, and BG Word Target, card games such as BG Hearts, BG Uno, and BG Free Cell Solitaire, logic games such as BG 15 Puzzle and BG LAP, and many more.

Visit the Spoonbill Software website to browse the complete collection at www.spoonbillsoftware.com.au/blindgamers.htm

This program requires Microsoft’s Speech Application Programming Interface Text To Speech (SAPI TTS ) before it will run. If you have a screen reader installed, you probably have SAPI already. If not, you can download the setup file for SAPI TTS from the Spoonbill Software website at:http://spoonbillsoftware.com.au/links.htm. I’m afraid that this only works for Windows 98, 2000, ME, and XP.

IMPORTANT: This game will work using Microsoft’s SAPI voices Sam, Mike and Mary under Windows 98, 2000, ME and XP, and Anna under Windows Vista and Windows 7. It will also work with many non-Microsoft SAPI voices. But some non-Microsoft SAPI voices cause the program to crash. If this should happen to you, try switching to another voice, and as a last resort switch to Sam, Mike Mary or Anna before contacting Spoonbill Software about your problem.

BG Crossword Puzzle is an accessible Crossword Puzzle solver.  It is suitable for both blind and visually impaired players, and like all Spoonbill games in the Blind gamers series, it is self-voicing.

Before you play for the first time, I urge you to read the separate help file, to become familiar with the various keyboard keys you will need to use. Or better still, follow through the tutorials by Eric Westbrook.

Just unzip the setup file and run to install the game.