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

Iain Banks (1954–20130) looks rather long-lived

Oops!

Well, either global warming was postponed indefinitely, or it didn't prevent him from having an overripe old age. ;-0

My father-in-law, the music lecturer Joseph Groocock, invented a composer called Longoventi whose dates were something like 1685-1836. Modest by comparison.

I always wondered why his books were so prescient...

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New to Gnomon's Guide today:

Entry A87868110 - The Atomium, Brussels Belgium

"The structure is in the general category of 'bigger than it looks'."

A superb phrase

So if people could wear it, they would look slimmer?

New to Gnomon's Guide today:

Entry A87870865 How to Pronounce Tolkien's Elvish Languages

That's a really excellent selection of examples. No excuses for bad Elvish pronunciation now.

One sentence seems incomplete: 'alph' a swan

Thanks R. I've fixed that.

New to Gnomon's Guide:

Entry A87873736 Tolkien's Maps

I think this is too geeky to be included in the Edited Guide, but there are some details in it that are hard to find on the web, so I wanted to at least have them all together in one place.

I doubt that Tolkien fans would find it too geeky. Non-fans wouldn't read it anyway.

I agree with paulh. 'Geeky' and 'Not available elsewhere' are two of my cornerstones.

Tolkein's maps changed the fantasy genre forever – since then, many, many authors have gone for drawing a map first before writing a book. So I'd say go for it and put it in Peer Review. I'd read it

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New to Gnomon's Guide today:

Entry A706277 The Non-Culture Science Fiction of Iain M Banks

This has nothing to do with anything, but I thought you might find it humorous.

http://www.xkcd.com/1704/

Gnome Ann can express how funny that was!

Thanks!