Three Biblio-Mat groaners from the random vending machine in the Monkey’s Paw antiquarian bookstore. You never know what you’ll get for your toonie, but whatever comes out will be unusual and often good for a laugh.
The one on Persepolis (ancient capitol of the Persian Empire) whisked me back to my art history days. It’s probably full of misinformation of the kind I was taught… completely out of date, and illustrated with fuzzy grey photos of marvellous carvings. Still, I spent a half hour pondering Persepolis. How else would that have happened?
Danica got the hardcover book on deciphering long lost languages. Ever wonder how they figured out what cuneiform tablets say? Cyrus H. Gordon tells all. It’s actually quite interesting but my absolute favourite part is the dedication:
To my wife JOAN who understands the long frustrations and sudden joys of cryptoanalysis
Wouldn’t you love to hear JOAN’s side of the story?
The middle book, I must admit, was a complete waste of money. It’s an obscure treatise on the mathematics of “boundary finding” (whatever that is). Somehow it managed to come out for 7 editions. Heaven knows why. It is the work of the wartime British Admiralty. Bureaucracies have a momentum all their own.
I learned 2 things today.
1. Yellowknife was named after Dene that don’t exist now,
but they used to carry yellow copper knives.
2. The Sphinx may have had wings…
some lions with human heads had wings,
from Babylonian Gate of Xerxes, at Persepolis
That was the name of one of your books today, too eh?