Happy Times, Leeds, 1962, by Paul Berriff.

"They might turn out to be naturalists, but it doesn't matter if they don't. They'll find their own way into it all, and they'll figure out, soon enough, what they want to *do* about it all. Maybe just watch. Maybe just think. Maybe just care. That's fine too."

I *completely* loved this book by I'm on Bluesky. I laughed, I remembered things I don’t know I’d forgotten, I probably cried a bit. I felt seen. The best nature writing that isn’t ‘nature writing’. Thank you! I’m off to go and pick up a toad.

Morning.

Just RTing the ol' praise, here.

derek joins the club

🔴NEW & EXCLUSIVE🔴 For 10 months, I've been investigating allegations of transactional sex in the British armed forces. Now the MoD finally confirmed: no soldiers have faced sanctions under its Zero Tolerance policy of "sexual exploitation & abuse" opendemocracy.net/en/british-arm…

Although some owls snuck out into the wild wide world early yesterday, preorders are still being taken - either here Sam Read Bookseller in #Grasmere - samreadbooks.co.uk/product/pre-or…

This is fantastic.

Don't know which will chase me off Bluesky first, the tweets telling y'all how we do things here on Bluesky or the tweets telling me how quickly they'll block me for moral infractions. Excited to find out!

Having raised a question about it here on Twitter/X, @alomshaha was kind enough to send me a hardback of WHY DON'T THINGS FALL UP? and I have to say that it was a very satisfying, easy read answering some of science's big questions. I thoroughly recommend it for inquisitive minds

Morning (late edition).

In death Hungarian females are treated just as fairly as they were in life: -né = Mrs. The Hungarian for "wifey / the missus" is 'nej'. [Sample of gravestones (sírkövek) e.g. Dr. Mózes László buried with Mrs. Dr. Mózes László. The women have all disappeared if they ever lived.]

This phenomenal book design is uncredited, but it’s the always brilliant Edward Gorey. He also consulted on the series, it’s a really great selection of stories.

Merry Christmas, Twitter.