Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Crime, politics, and books

Some brilliant radio links today. The BBC World Service broadcast part one of Inter-continental Cops yesterday.

On the Today programme, the last two items were wonderful. In the first, research has shown that people who have a particular political position zone out anything anithetical to that position. So a Democrat would automatically shut out George Dubya, while a Republican would shut out John "flip-flop" Kerry.

The second item was about books acting as a badge and what they say about the person carrying them. I know someone who has carried Tolstoy's War and Peace, not just because it was a good read, but the kind of man it could attract. Apparently newspapers and magazines don't count, because they don't require the same commitment books do. Rules out a voracious magazine and newspaper reader like me.

Man spots ancient Greek classic poking out of handbag of woman.

Man: Oooo, The Iliad. I like a bit of ancient Greek myself

Woman: Really? Well this is nothing, you haven't seen my Aristophanes yet

Man: If you show me your Aristophanes, I'll show you my Sword of Damocles

Woman: Grrr!

Man: Grrr!

Man and Woman interlock arms and run off.

6 comments:

culturalmiscellany said...

babe u just cheered me up and i needed it, work is a nightmare today. i guess i'm not your typical candidate for the book thing as i assume people carry books for just that reason and try and second guess what they're really like. you see men on the tube all the time that have news of the world tucked inside FT. makes me crack up every time.

culturalmiscellany said...

btw - i'm more of a bridget jones reader than greek stories. i like to laugh even if the whole bus does stare at me when i do :)

uknaija said...

That last bit was so funny...had me laughing out loud at my desk

ExtrovertedPrude said...

lol. Goes to dig out intellectual books for tomorrows journey...but then i hate people talking to me when i'm reading on the tube. So i guess no Public Transport romance for me!

tori said...

lmao. I have been guilty of trying to impress guys i know who are readers with "ooh, have you read...." and judging them based off of what they like.....havent carried a book i cant be bothered to read, just because, ..........yet.

Quest said...

whatever bbc. i can hardly think of a time when I handled a book just to impress someone. if i'm carrying a book, it's because I am reading that book. And I generally tend to hesitate when someone asks what i'm reading.