Saturday, March 03, 2007

Beware The Robot Brains

I had to go out and get the oil changed in the Dodge van. The local Dodge dealer had a great deal for the change. $17.95. Can't beat that. On the way to the dealer, I passed a new (to me) thrift store. I hit it up on the way back. They had lots of interesting stuff at very reasonable prices. And it was clean. It looked clean and smelled clean. I picked up a few books, a magazine and CD. All for 2 dollars and some change. Two of the books are Lord Peter Wimsey novels. Dorothy L. Sayers' wonderful British crime solver and man about town. Strong Poison and Have His Carcasse are the books. I've read quite a few of the other books (and turned my mom on to them) but haven't read these. The last one I read was Busman's Honeymoon. It took me a long time to get through that one. I was reading it while Caroline had her heart surgery at Vanderbilt. I don't know if when I tried to continue on reading, I was associating memories of the surgery and stay with it or what, but it took me over a year to finish it. I'd recommend Lord Peter (a collection of short stories) if you want to start reading DLS's wonderful series.

I also picked up a copy of The Robot Brains by Sydney J. Bounds. The upper left cover is very similar to the one that I picked up. I found this image on ebay.com. The cover to the right is one from the independent bookseller's network. I don't think that I'll actually read it. Probably pass it on to my brother, who introduced me to the joys of reading Science Fiction. I'm interested into the evolution of covers for different printings of books. What first caught my eye was the different covers for Louis L'Amour's The Tall Stranger. I had four different covers, from the late '50's/early '60's through the early '80's. They went from a Clint Eastwood look, to a bare chested hunk firing a rifle from a wagon that is speeding out of control. I guess twenty five years later they were trying to market to a different audience. I made a color photocopy of the four different covers. It hangs in my office. I should scan them in and post them. A little look at the way booksellers perceive their market.

I also picked up the CD, Such A Pleasure, by Myron Cohen, comedian. The audio is a bit scratchy. My guess is that the producer just transferred the LP to digital format. I'd never heard of Myron Cohen. On first listen there are some very funny bits. I need to listen to it again. He slips into a New York Jewish accent and I haven't read any Leo Rosten in many a year, so I've lost my ear for it.

The magazine is the May/June 2005 issue of The History Channel Magazine. Civil War Snipers, 5 Motorcycle Marvels, Khrushchev Comes to Iowa and other gripping articles.

Adding to My Good Life, a bit a time.

11 comments:

Steve said...

Your brother looks forward to the book, and to discussing it with you.

The only duplicate covers I have that I can remember (off the top of my head) is the Larry Niven/David Gerrold "The Flying Sorcerers", which I have in US and UK flavors. I'll try to bring them the next time I travel to enjoy Southern hospitality.

Angie said...

I'm hoping that the enjoyment of Southern hospitality will be occurring soon. .. of course, this comment is pointless unless Steve reads the comments.

Sigh.

Steve said...

Pah! Not read comments on comments already made? How could I do anything less? I remember reading something about conversations . . .

We plan on the regular Spring and Fall enjoyments, barring Deity-originated plan alterations. Which reminds me that there's something in the goodie bag for you, too. Completely unexpected, of course, which is the best kind.

Angie said...

You wouldn't be referring (in public, I might add) to my impending 39th birthday?!

Steve said...

Not at all, seriously. But thanks for the subtle reminder, youngster!

Angie said...

I just saw the words "goodie bag" and assumed it was because I'm going to turn 39 in a few months.

. . .yes, I know that Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.

Steve said...

It took a while, but I figured out when your 39th birthday is gonna be. Assuming a 2-digit counter, there's 50,492,160 minutes until you blow out the 39th birthday candles. To make it easy on you, that's 96 years in the future (unless we can just subtract four).

Pthththpth! (it's hard to make a raspberry at somebody in writing).

What'd ya think - I had a Robot Brain or two?

Angie said...

Oh wow, I wish I *had* a robot brain for that one. . . and I think "pthththtpth" works just fine.

Dan said...

Hey, Mark,
Does your family often carry on entire conversations in the comments of your blog? I'm gonna hafta check out more posts.

Mark Aubrey said...

Yes, Dan, they do. You can, too. Oh wait. You did. Please continue.

Angie said...

Hi Dan!!!!!!!