Kidnapped

For years, I thought this was the sequel to Treasure Island. It is not. It is an unusual tale of a a young man betrayed into captivity and his adventures in escaping. I never saw so many Scottish words in my life. My favorite was “drammach” which is when you make oatmeal with cold water - definitely a meal of desperation. I bought this copy at the bookshop next door to the Skunk and Goat Tavern. They had a big collection of Chiltern editions of classics - I’d never bought one before. They are very pleasing to hold and read, and the illustrations are great. The paper is very shiny, though, so sometimes glare is a problem. The story is a bit unconventional, and is sometimes a bit dull in a way that actually makes it seem real, because who would make up something that mundane? I definitely learned a lot about the realities of Scottish history. 

Lessons from the Art of Juggling

This book has been around for about 30 years, and I knew about it, but I always assumed it was more about management philosophy and less about juggling. But it is meaningfully about juggling. Probably 2/3 of the book is actually about juggling and 1/3 is about how lessons from juggling apply in your personal and professional life. There are definitely some excellent tips for first time juggler, such as learning to throw in a certain rhythm before you bother learning to catch, and a novel idea I’ve never heard before which is learning to catch one ball and letting another ball fall, intentionally and only when you are confident with that learning to catch a second or third ball. I want to experiment with using that technique when teaching new jugglers, to see if it works some parts of this book flirt with pseudoscience, such as the Alexander technique, but even if some of the claims for these techniques are overstated, they still make a good point: Being relaxed, and not fearful, will make all of your practice, more effective and more productive.

In all, it was a fast read, and it contains some thoughtful advice. It certainly is very respectful to the art of juggling.