By the book - *tagged*

I've just been tagged by the wonderful seabee to do some kind of a book review without actually having to do any work, as I understand.

The nearest book to me was either at my bedside, or on the bookshelf, both of which are equidistant to my current location (thank goodness I don't, as yet, own a cookbook). So I decided to do the tag-thing for 2 books, not one...and here goes (am I the last to respond to seabee's tag? Was stuck in traffic, alas!)

Here goes, in no particular order:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages):
'The Civlisation of Rome' - Donald R. Dudley

2. Open the book to page 123:
Yup

3. Find the fifth sentence.
Almost, but not quite; the native tradition of realistic portraiture survived, and the funeral monuments of the late Republic show us the Roman face in uncompromising, sometimes alarming, realism.

4. Post the next three sentences.
In this respect Greek artists working in Rome had to come to terms with Roman taste. Otherwise, the vogue was for all things Greek, as it has been at times in England for all things Italian. Greek sculpture, acquired by loot or purchase, adorned the public squares and temples and the great villas.

***

Next book:
'Everything Bad Is Good For You' - Steven Johnson

2. Open the book to page 123:
Done

3. Find the fifth sentence.
That probing is a powerful form of intellectual activity - you're learning the rules of a complex system without a guide, after all.

4. Post the next three sentences.
And it's all the more powerful for being fun. Then there is the matter of social connection. Net skeptics voiced a decade ago revolved around a withdrawal from public space: yes, the Internet might connect us to a new world of information, but it would come at a terrible social cost, by confining us in front of barren computer monitors, away from the vitality of genuine communities.

5. Tag five people.

Paraglider

Aaron

UAEian

ammaro.com

tobasco