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Book Review: A Short History
of Nearly Everything
by Lang Reid
 How
do you make a great book even better? If it is Bill Bryson’s A Short History
of Nearly Everything, (ISBN 0-385-60961-2, Doubleday Books), you publish it
in hard cover!
I reviewed the paperback version two years ago, and make no apologies for
reviewing it a second time. I described it as the most readable ‘science’
textbook, and now in hard cover it will stand the test of time, so that you
and your children can read it.
Bryson divides the illustrated contents into six broad areas, the solar
system, measurement parameters, the new age, atomic concepts, life itself
and finally the evolution of mankind.
He mentions an engineer called Thomas Midgely Jnr who was the one to
introduce tetraethyl lead (TEL) into gasoline, in the early pre-NIOSH or
OSHA days, with catastrophic results to worker health. Bryson goes on to
write, “With an instinct for the regrettable, that was almost uncanny, he
(Midgely) invented chlorofluorocarbons, or CFC’s.” One of the prime reasons
the world is battling to patch up the hole in the ozone layer.
Bryson has a wonderfully irreverent way of looking at things (“nearly
everything”), even pontificating as to the spread of syphilis in a monastery
in Hull or telling the reader about the Geology professor who had to run a
curio shop to keep bread on the family table, while he continued, unfunded,
to work out a method to date rocks. Pick up the book and open anywhere and
you will be amused, entertained and edified. You will read about Clair
Patterson (a man) who proved that atmospheric lead dated back to Midgely and
his TEL, but whose work was ignored and suppressed by the powerful petroleum
lobby. Industrial intrigue at its best.
Bryson will introduce you to the neutrino, a tiny, almost devoid of mass,
particle, of which ten thousand trillion trillion pass through the earth
every second. They pass through you and me as if we do not exist, and indeed
if there were a body made up of neutrinos, it and us could co-exist without
being aware of each other’s presence.
Life as we know it, or as we presume it, is looked at, with more than a
passing reference to the (now superseded) Genome Project, which has spawned
the Proteome Project. This is the short history of the essentials of life
brought right to the minute, in all its complexity, yet described with
ultimate clarity. This is in many ways the beauty of this book. Bryson
explains the unfathomable in terms that the layman uses and understands.
If you have the smallest spark of interest in how we (homo sapiens) got
here, or how ‘here’ evolved into what it is today, then this book is for
you. Bryson makes even the driest subjects enthralling. He devoted three
years of his life to do this. It is worth a few days of yours to read it.
The review copy was made available by Bookazine and had an RRP of 1550 baht.
Expensive I know, but worth every baht for a lifetime of information. Buy it
for your children.
Mott’s CD review: Jonathan Kelly
The Charity Concert DVD
Written by Mott the Dog Edited by Meow the Cat
5 Stars *****
Without any shadow of a doubt this is the best concert DVD I have ever
seen. This from a person who loves music on DVD as you can watch the
bits you want and listen to the bits when your attention wanders. This
DVD though will not allow your attention to wander, in fact I have had
to turn it off so I can concentrate on writing this homage.
Jonathan Kelly had been a popular player on the British folk scene in
the late Sixties and early Seventies under his real name of John
Ledingham, under which banner he released several singles. But it was
under the name Jonathan Kelly that his first album was released; the
self titled ‘Jonathan Kelly’ (1970). This album was really no more than
collecting together previous singles, and putting them together on one
album. This did not really trouble the record buying public.
But the next album recorded for the RCA label, ‘Twice Around The Houses’
(1972), was a classic and rocketed Jonathan Kelly into the bright new
hope category. After several successful festival appearances, a sold out
nationwide tour, and a memorable appearance on Britain’s prestigious Old
Grey Whistle Test television programme, all seemed on course for
superstardom.
This album was followed up the next year with ‘Wait Till They Change The
Backdrop’ (1973). Another cracking album, although by this time Jonathan
Kelly was moving more away from his folk roots and going a little more
rock orientated. This was something that had to be dealt with as
Jonathan Kelly was really now too big a star, and playing in too big
halls to be just be the singer on stage backed only with his own
acoustic guitar, so backing musicians were needed to give the songs more
musical depth.
Unfortunately this led Jonathan Kelly down the dark side of the music
industry: greedy managers, bad business decisions, and into the
proximity of all the excesses of Rock ‘n’ Roll. To say that the Jonathan
Kelly train came off the rails would be putting it mildly. Jonathan
Kelly became a little erratic, unreliable, and a tad moody.
The band that was formed around him was one of outstanding prospects,
and named ‘Jonathan Kelly’s Outside’. The band included the excellent
Trevor Williams on bass guitar (ex-Audience); Snowy White, who was to go
onto play with Pink Floyd, Roger Waters in his solo career, Thin Lizzy,
and have his own successful solo career, on drums was the magnificent
David Sheen. The album that came out was a grave disappointment to all
including the band. How such a talented bunch of musicians could not
have made a better fist of it is a mystery. But when the first track on
the album is called ‘Misery’ it gives you a clue as to the content of
the songs.
The band quickly broke up, and under contract to RCA Jonathan Kelly
squeezed out one more album to fulfil contractual obligations: ‘Two Days
in Winter’ (1975). There are still flashes of the old genius on both the
latter two albums, but it shows the artist’s state of mind, and that
although the last album came out under the Jonathan Kelly moniker, the
artist performing and writing the songs is credited to Jonathan
Ledingham.
Fortunately Jonathan Kelly could see what the world of Rock ‘n’ Roll was
doing to his life and simply turned away from it - no great retirement
speeches or farewell tours, Jonathan Kelly simply pulled his new family
together and went and created a new life for himself in Wales.
It became one of the great unsolved mysteries of rock music: ‘What
happened to Jonathan Kelly’. Those first two RCA records and the various
concert appearances had left a strong impression in many music lovers’
minds. So much so in fact that Gerald Sables and the intrepid Rosy made
it their quest to go out and find the elusive musician. Not only did
they find him in the year 2000, but like in all good stories they became
friends with Jonathan Kelly, his wife and family. But still Jonathan
Kelly was very loathe to make any return to the music scene.
In 2001 BGO Records bought the rights to the Jonathan Kelly back
catalogue. They released ‘Twice Around The Houses’ and ‘Wait Till They
Change The Back Drop’ as a double album on a two for the price of one
double album. I cannot recommend these albums enough, as they are full
of joy and enthusiasm with some of the most catchy rhythms since Lennon
and McCartney got together. In 2004 BGO also made available ‘Waiting For
You’ and ‘Two Days In Winter’ - this is nice to complete your Jonathan
Kelly back catalogue. These are easily available through www.amazon.com
But now for the present and future. Gerald Stables’ mother had a
frightening clash with the dreaded cancer. Fortunately she fought it and
won, recovering full health. Gerald decided to give something back,
organizing a concert in a local Darlington folk club to raise money for
the ‘Fight The Cancer Fund’. Gerald asked his new friend Jonathan Kelly
if he would possibly sing a song or two, to Gerald’s amazement Jonathan
Kelly agreed to headline the show. As soon as it was announced that
Jonathan Kelly would be playing his first show in nearly thirty years
the club sold out in hours with people coming from all over Britain and
some even taking the journey over from Europe.
The audience experienced the concert of a lifetime. Even though Jonathan
Kelly had not played a public concert in thirty years, he was there
ready with guitar in hand on April 20th 2005, and was naturally a little
rusty, and obviously nervous. As Bob Chiswick, the announcer, walks on
stage and says two words, ‘Jonathan Kelly’ the crowd is on their feet,
making more noise at the beginning of a show than many star returns get
when they have finished. Needless to say the concert was great success,
and a sizeable donation of cash was given to charity.
A CD of the concert was released and was available through the website
run by Gerald Sable (ably assisted by Rosy), so that those people who
were not able to attend the concert were able to get a slice of the
excitement and joy that went with the concert. Now at last there is a
full length DVD of the event. All sign of any nerves drop away after one
bar of the opening song ‘We Are The People’; a wonderful choice to open
with as it is a great anthem to bring everybody together. ‘We Are The
People’ is one of eight songs from ‘Twice Around The Houses’ including a
storming version of ‘The Ballad Of Cursed Anna’.
There are two songs from ‘Wait Till They Change the Backdrop’, a couple
of old singles and B-Sides, with ‘Mrs. Gilbert’, an anti-war song that
is as relevant now as it was over thirty years ago when it was written.
It also has two new songs that are not on the CD release: ‘The Best Of
Times’ and Peels Of Thunder’, which go to prove that Jonathan Kelly has
lost none of his song writing talent or bite. Then a blast through
Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Sittin’ On Top Of The World’, which segues into the
rockin’ ‘Train Song’ that brings things to a glorious conclusion.
The crowd also plays their part by singing along to all the songs and
providing the rhythm section by clapping in time to each song, even the
new ones. Three of the crowd are pulled out of the audience to perform
the backing vocals to ‘Godas’.
During the intro to the DVD you also get the chance to hear a new
Jonathan Kelly song, ‘It’s What I Am’, and as the credits roll they are
played over another new song, ‘Eileen’, which you can download free from
the artist’s website.
Noticeably, there are no songs from Jonathan Kelly’s latter two albums
with RCA. But for my money the best parts are the in-between song banter
from the man. Jonathan Kelly has the audience in the palm of his hands
as he tells of road stories from days of yore, including little snippets
from Eric Clapton, and The Grease Band amongst others. I won’t ruin it
by telling any of them. Buy the DVD and find out for yourself.
For those interested in knowing more about this spectacular artist
please look up the Gerald Sable run website at www.jonathankelly.com
Songs
We Are The People
Julia
Madeleine
Rainy Town
The Best Of Times
Sligo Fair
Don’t Be Too Long
Mrs. Gilbert
I Used To Know You
Outside
Peels Of Thunder
Alright Till Then
Down On Me
Godas
Ballad Of Cursed Anna
Leave Them Go
Sittin’ On Top Of The World / The Train Song
To contact Mott the
Dog email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.mott-the-dog.com
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