On and off, I've tended to read quite a bit. So, I thought I'd put up some reviews of books as I read them. In time, I may go back and add reviews of some of the books I read in the past. Not massively exciting, but I suppose it may be of interest to someone, somewhere (perhaps).
The Night Climbers of Cambridge - 'Whipplesnaith'
I inherited this book from my grandfather (or, more factually, my father inherited it, and I'm borrowing it, but that sounds far less cool). This is one of those semi-legendary books that you hear about but never see - an illustrated guide to climbing various pieces of Cambridge's crumbling stonework. How irresponsible is that?
The book was written in the '30s, just before my grandfather's time, as far as I can tell. It's an amusing mixture of stories, advice, and plain climbing instruction. Some pieces have quickly fallen out of date as the architecture has changed, while other bits seem as good now as then. Similarly, it is interesting to compare and contrasts the attitudes and fashions of Cantabrigians over the decades. The piece de resistance of the book is, I think, the King's College Chapel climb. Insane.
Permalink. Posted 22:53, Sun, 25 Sep 2005.
There is also a complete index of the books.
Mail me at random.user@arbitrary.name.