New books

Another profitable trip to the charity shop this morning. There were boxes outside with signs on saying "Four books for a Pound" and it's always worth a quick gleg anyway :)

Quiz Facts: Earth and Space ---- With Jakey asking questions ten to the dozen (last night it was why he and daddy couldn't have a baby in their tummies) I thought this one might be useful as a quick reference as it is laid out in a concise question and answer format: "What is the atmosphere made of?" and "Why does a comet have a tail?" Things you think you know until someone asks you then you can't string the knowledge together. Well, hopefully this will help with the quick fire questions.

A Dickens Anthology ---- A small pocket book with snippets of Dickens' books arranged into categories like "The Philosophic Mind".

Secrets of Mind Power by Harry Lorayne ---- Love books on mind power and mental agility. Ha! And it's finally made me understand syllogisms, which have confused the hell out of me since that daft vicar in Three Men and a Little Lady. Heehee. I get them now. As I read through, deciding if it was worth picking up, I read a section called "What about the really big problems?" and how thinking of a man with no feet when you have no shoes may work in some instances or temporarily but in the long run do not help your situation and may make it worse with guilt and such like. Then he starts on people that wish they had more money and how some people are being paid well for their skills and some aren't. The reasons why some aren't are "laziness, fear of changing to a new job or new location, and a lack of confidence." He goes on to say, "One of the saddest types of business failure is the person who has stayed in the same place for years - afraid to make a change. This type firmly believes that he just didn't have the right opportunities. Well friend, opportunity is a state of mind - plus action!"
I can see what he means. Some people are perfectly happy and content to remain in the one company their whole lives (there used to be a mutual benefit for that set-up that seems to be lost now in many places) but then for some they always talk of breaking free but wait for someone or something to come smash the chains. I was like that in Co-op. I tried to get new jobs, tortured myself when I failed interview after interview and wondered why on Earth I couldn't improve myself. Part of it was a lack of self-belief when talking about myself or being asked to "sell" myself and part of it was fear of change, of being the new girl again, settling in to new people, new orders, new job skills. In the application I wrote how I embrace these challenges and love to learn new skills, and in theory I do, but in reality I like to be comfortable and feel safe in my surroundings and don't do well with upheaval. Highly-sensitive people, who are overwhelmed easily and already over-stimulated without everything being all different, find new situations hard to acclimatise to. But this is not a reason to strive. So, anyway. This book seems to be business/personal success and motivation orientated. Which will complement my more spiritual mind power books :)

And lastly, Schott's Original Miscellany by Ben Schott which I've had my eye on for ages. I love random knowledge books filled with things like different types of murders (did you know if you kill your sister you have commited sororicide? Not surprising, actually, that one), art styles (Gothic to Cubism) and also "Some Notable Belgians" hehe. So yes, I love these kind of books. Ooo! Just learned that Nietzsche was a lefty! Charming - if a Victorian husband dies the wife must mourn for two to three years; if a wife dies it's three months! So rude. Seems a bit backward too; surely the woman can't hang about mourning and being unable to remarry for that amount of time, she'll be destitute. A man can mourn for as long as he likes without losing his livelihood. I suppose it would depend on class.