h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've read "The Lord of the Rings" many times - the first time I attempted it, I was only 10 and found it hard going. I gave up half way through the first volume (at the Council of Elrond to be exact).

I tried it again when I was 11, finished it and loved it. I've read it many, many times since then. But up to now, I'd never read the appendices. The edition I owned originally didn't have them, and then when I bought a better copy, they were just too geeky. I mean, who wants to know that in 2720 of the Second Age, Hyarmendacil the Second defeated the Wainriders? (I'm sure he didn't, that was just from memory.)

I've always considered it the proof that I'm not a geek that I have read the book so often but have not read the appendices. I can enjoy a good story without needing to go through all the lists and know all the trivia. But recently, I decided I would read them just out of interest; I've proved I don't need to by surviving for 38 years without doing it, and so I can safely do it without giving in and admitting that I'm a geek.

I'm working my way through them and have nearly finished... just Writing and Language to go. You can expect all my postings to be in Elvish from now on.

**You can expect all my postings to be in Elvish from now on.**

Next time you visit us Gnomon you'll be able to get treatment for that on our National Elf Service.














Okay I'll get me coat

I've recently read the book The Children of Hurin... it was so sad

Turin always reminded me of the Irish warriors in the old tales, such as Fionn or Cúchulainn.

Give in. Admit it. You are the geekiest geek that ever goke.

You'll want to get the layout right, obviously. Try this:
http://www.lorem-ipsum.info/_quenya

You've a great sense of humour, Gnomon , as witnessed by the line about posting in Elvish; but the funniest part - missed, I'm sure, by some - was where you offered that the fact that you 'have not read the appendices' was proof of your un-geekiness!




[Seriously though, I started on them when I was about 18, and just couldn't make a go of them. When I realized that I'd have to learn a whole language, invented by the author, I just couldn't see making the investment. I much preferred Isaac Asimov's 'Foundation' series.]

I far prefer Foundation, which is about as geeky as they come. I haven't got beyond the original trilogy, so I think that qualifies me as a non-geek in the same way

I've neither read Foundation nor the appendices, which probably proves my uneducated-ness.

I had better read Lord of the Rings in BIG PRINT.


i remember reading Isaac Asimov but cannot remember anything about it. !

Ageing is not for the faint-hearted I now say.

Christiane.
AR80

It occurs to me that reading Isaac Asimov could prove to be a lifetime achievement. He was a prolific writer.

He did write some great science fiction, and some wonderful mysteries (The Black Widowers series for example), and some stories that were both (The Bell Singing Bell, etc.); but he also wrote books on math, physics, geometry, the Bible, and other subjects.

I'm not sure if there is another author with more stories/books to their credit than Dr. A (his pseudonym on his book of limericks).

Dear Ford's towel, How incredibly kind of you to note this small achievement. I really enjoyed him, but sadly now cannot read anything unless it is magnified .......

I have just seen that h2g2 have got 3,500 researdhers on line. the greatest number I have ever seen.

How proud you must all be. and would not DNA also be thrilled to bits.

With many good wishes

Christiane
Also ran80

Tuesday 1st september, 2009 16 55 BST

I never want to read my obituary

My obituary should be mighty short, something along the line of:

Now Dead

Of course if you were someone important, or a celebrity, the press would have a pre-prepared obit - so you might have a chance to read it!

There was a lovely clip of Clement Freud on 'Just a Minute' which was replayed after his death. The topic was epitaphs and he suggested 'Best before, then the date of death'

Isaac Asimov has published in more Dewey Decimal numbers than any other author. Or so I read somewhere.

I read the Appendices, and found them fascinating. And the Silmarillion. Rereading LotR with the background of the Silmarillion is a very different experience.

TRiG.

Quenya or Sindarin, Gnomon?

TRiG.

True enough, Trig.

My wife said that she had to force herself through Silmarillion (source of the name of my favorite Scottish Rock group, Marillion).

Still, she's happy that she did it because of all the background info on the Tolkien universe.

She still prefers the movies to the books, but she appreciated each for their better characteristics.

With our usual sense of timeliness, Gnomon's 'Notes From Around the Sundial' piece about Tolkein is repeated in The Post this week

Where?