Tag Archives: Humour

In My Hands Today…

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How to Survive History: How to Outrun a Tyrannosaurus, Escape Pompeii, Get Off the Titanic, and Survive the Rest of History’s Deadliest Catastrophes – Cody Cassidy

A detailed guide to surviving history’s most challenging threats, from outrunning dinosaurs to making it off the Titanic alive

History is the most dangerous place on Earth. From dinosaurs the size of locomotives to meteors big enough to sterilize the planet, from famines to pandemics, from tornadoes to the Chicxulub asteroid, the odds of human survival are slim but not zero—at least, not if you know where to go and what to do.

In each chapter of How to Survive History, Cody Cassidy explores how to survive one of history’s greatest threats: getting eaten by dinosaurs, being destroyed by the asteroid that wiped them out, succumbing to the lava flows of Pompeii, being devoured by the Donner Party, drowning during the sinking of the Titanic, falling prey to the Black Death, and more. Using hindsight and modern science to estimate everything from how fast you’d need to run to outpace a T. rex to the advantages of different body types in surviving the Donner Party tragedy, Cassidy gives you a detailed battle plan for survival while helping you learn about the era.

In My Hands Today…

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The Gran Tour: Travels with my Elders – Ben Aitken

When Ben Aitken- a millennial Bill Bryson- learnt that his gran had enjoyed a four-night holiday including four three-course dinners, four cooked breakfasts, four games of bingo, a pair of excursions, sixteen pints of lager and luxury return coach travel, all for a hundred pounds, he thought, that’s the life, and signed himself up.

Six times over. Good value aside, what Ben was really after was the company of his elders – those with more chapters under their belt, with the wisdom granted by experience, the candour gifted by time, and the hard-earned ability to live each day like it’s nearly their last.

A series of coach holidays ensued – from Scarborough to St Ives, Killarney to Lake Como – during which Ben attempts to shake off his thirty-something blues by getting old as soon as possible.

In My Hands Today,,,

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Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out – Shannon Reed

We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human.

Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher, lifelong reader, and New Yorker contributor, gets it. With one simple goal in mind, she makes the case that we should read for pleasure above all else. In this whip-smart, laugh-out-loud-funny collection, Reed shares surprising stories from her life as a reader and the poignant ways in which books have impacted her students. From the varied novels she cherishes ( Gone Girl , Their Eyes Were Watching God ) to the ones she didn’t ( Tess of the d’Urbervilles ), Reed takes us on a rollicking tour through the comforting world of literature, celebrating the books we love, the readers who love them, and the surprising ways in which literature can transform us for the better.

In My Hands Today…

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The Secret History of Christmas – Bill Bryson

Christmas is the single biggest annual event on the planet, a time for merry-making, overindulgence, peace, goodwill, and the occasional family row. It’s as comfortable and familiar as a pair of old shoes, yet still glittery and exciting. But what do you really know about it? It’s stuffed full of traditions and rituals that most of us have been observing all our lives without having the slightest idea of where they come from.

Why is it called Boxing Day, for example? Why do we sing about Good King Wenceslas, who wasn’t a king and possibly not even good? What’s the story behind Christmas crackers? Who would have guessed that one of our most popular Christmas carols began as a kind of semi-pornographic Welsh folksong? And how did St. Nicholas, a bishop from the dawn of Christianity, turn into the plump and jolly figure of Santa Claus with a flying sleigh and a home at the North Pole?

Christmas, and how it got that way, is full of surprises. Join Bill Bryson to reach into this Christmas stocking and pull them out, along with the inevitable tangerine.

In My Hands Today…

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Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Impostor Syndrome – Aparna Nancherla

Aparna Nancherla is a superstar comedian on the rise—a darling of Netflix and Comedy Central’s comedy special lineups, a headliner at comedy shows and music festivals, a frequenter of late-night television and the subject of numerous profiles. She’s also a successful actor who has written a barrage of thoughtful essays published by the likes of the New York Times. If you ask her, though, she’s a total fraud. She’d hate to admit it, but no one does impostor syndrome quite like Aparna Nancherla.

Unreliable Narrator is a collection of essays that uses Aparna’s signature humor to illuminate an interior life—one constantly bossed around by her depression (whom she calls Brenda), laced with anxiety like a horror movie full of jump scares, and plagued by an unrepenting love-hate relationship with her career as a painfully shy standup comedian. But luckily, crippling self-doubt comes with the gift of keen self-examination. These essays deliver hilarious and incredibly insightful meditations on body image, productivity culture, the ultra-meme-ability of mental health language, and who, exactly, gets to make art “about nothing.” Despite her own arguments to the contrary, Unreliable Narrator is undeniable proof that Aparna is a force—as a comedian and author alike—to be reckoned with.