As Simon Winchester's brother, who now lives anonymously in Fairfield, Connecticut, knows only too well, I am a fan of anything written by Simon Winchester. It is not just the breadth of the subjects he tackles but also the depth of it.
Listening to my nocturnal companion, Philip Adams and his Late Night Live, I've just discovered another fascinating book of his, "Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World" - if interested, click here for Philip's podcast, and here for a preview of the book.
I neither believe in the Christkindl nor do I use the Kindle; I need the tactile experience of holding the book in my hands but I do use the internet, and www.archive.org in particular, to whet my appetite for a particular book. Unfortunately, Simon's latest book, "Land", hasn't found its way onto www.archive.org yet, but through looking for it I found another one of his masterpieces, "The Man who loved China".
Which puts another two books onto my "to buy" and "to read" list. At this rate I could run out of shelf space and may need to fall back onto the smallest and indeed last room in the house not yet invaded by books.
