John Michell (1) (1933–2009)

This book is a sampler platter. It tries to cover just about every aspect of the trivium, plus some extras, but there isn't space to get into any one topic in any depth, since each gets only one or two pages at most. I liked the book overall, but my feelings about the individual chapters—each written by different authors—varied widely. Luckily for finishing the book, I tended to like each chapter better than the ones before it. "Euphonics" might appeal to many readers; I got tired of it by D and skimmed the rest. I started reading seriously with "Grammar" and "Poetic Meter & Form." The last three, "Logic," "Rhetoric," and "Ethics, were the most fascinating to me, but also the most frustrating because I wanted to know more. The three appendices didn't seem all that closely tied to the chapters, and I could have traded them for more information on the trivium itself. This is a readable, interesting introduction to the trivium, but don't expect to learn much about any one piece of it from this book alone.… (més)

John Michell is revered amongst Forteans for his writings on strangeness and esotericism. I'm also a sucker for anything on eccentrics as I plan to become increasingly eccentric as I age and I like to pick up tips from the experts. So "Eccentric Lives and Peculiar Notions" seemed to be right down my alley.

So it was a shame that the book just do much for me. Certainly, there were plenty of eccentrics to pick from but most I had already met in other publications and there was nothing that made me stop, go back and reread a sentence and think "My, that action was odd" (or words to that effect).

There are certainly reasons to read this though; anyone who believed that Jesus was born in Glastonbury is worth reading about, and while I'm unsure that I would ever vote for a candidate campaigning on issue that trepanning should be government funded, I'm happier knowing such candidates exist.

And if only my own obituary could match that of Mr Henry Lee Warner, "(his mind) was tinctured by peculiarities that separated him from a comparison with almost any other human being."… (més)