Alphabet vs. the goddess - leonard shlain. Well it's only taken me three years to finish this book... Shlain proposes that alphabetic, left brain/logic dominate societies have constantly subjugated more feminine, visual religious practices - causing years of oppression and war. There are some interesting examples in here, especially talking about how Jesus preached using a lot of water based, more feminine doctrines which then got turned around once written down. In the end he holds out hope for our future as television and especially computers open up our right brains again. The book is basically flawed in that a lot of it is written 'in my opinion' with minimal backing evidence. He also rushes through the last century as if nothing happened of interest! Like most schlock science you can put any 'theory' over the facts if you ignore certain things. So an interesting read, but not highly recommended.

Kingdom of fear - hunter s thompson. A lovely Christmas present from Oliver - thanks! This is a more biographical account than usual of Hunter's life and times as gonzo journalist, attempted sheriff and sampler of extreme lifestyles. Great reading in his usual style that really makes you wonder where all his 'novels' blur from fact to fiction and back again. It's also good commute reading due to nice short chapters that you can easily dip into.