Words And Stone
I have thought of and discussed this phenomena before. I have a topic that I want to discuss, but I am not sure it I have blogged about it before; and if I did, I don't remember what I said (although, admittedly those two factors are quite interrelated).
I think I am going to coin a term, and it goes a little something like this. I always think of things throughout the day that I want to blog, then I usually write them down, or I promptly forget about them. I admit that I forget a bit more stuff then I write down (Some of my more megalomaniac thoughts swirling up there have been that I have had and forgotten more good thoughts then some pathetic people have in their entire lowly lives! But then I shiver and try and shrug off that particular mental illness). But later on I do an activity or think of something that triggers the same train of thought and I think to myself: "Hey, that would be cool to blog." Then I feel a bit of familiarity with the thought and I wonder if I have blogged it before. So I think I will name this:
Phantom Blogging.
Not bad, huh?
Anyway, I wanted to talk about this book that I bought at Barnes & Noble a few months back. It is a really great book about the history of English Castles. It's subtitle is "A Photographic History" but I was somewhat disappointed at the total number of pictures, I understand costs of something like that could make it prohibitive to really put in a ton of pictures. But at most there was three pictures for one castle, and for the majority of castles there were only two pictures. I can't believe, it but there were even some instances where there was a single picture for a massive and majestic building that has been standing for 1000 years. I was impressed at the amount of history, names of battles, and royalty connected to each site, but that sort of moves the book subtly (or maybe not so subtly) away from the whole "Photographic History" concept.
I guess this paragraph might get a bit technical, but I also had a problem with the book including six or seven abbeys. Dictionary link, again, provided for Kyle's welfare. Not that they are indeed built out of stone, and in some cases are just as old as some of castles on the adjacent pages, but, well, maybe I am being too picky. This is were it might get a bit too technical, and yes, much too picky. Castles were large fortified buildings or groups of buildings meant to act as a stronghold or fortress. Originally they were made of wood, but as technology advanced (and the wealth of the country grew to be able to afford to pay the number of workers necessary) they proficiently progressed to stone. Massive stone walls, in some cases fifteen feet thick. But in order to be allowed to construct a castle, or fortified manor house, you had to be given permission to "crenelate" from the King. That is basically the only leg I have to stand on for this point, because a crenelated wall is basically the notched kind of wall that you see along the top walls of most castles. Like in this picture. The adjective of the word (crenelated) means having battlements. And that is were I sit and say "Ha!" Abbeys generally don't have battlements, and aren't considered fortified structures for the purpose of holding a certain territory or providing a defensive location for a bigwig. I know it is quite the tangent for this ramble, but the quality for each castle's history and the pictures that were provided just left me wanting more. And I bet they could do a separate book that was just as interesting on just abbeys.
But it was definitely a great buy with 160 gorgeous pages (thick paper too, not some crappy weight paper) for $9.95. And I must say that all of the pictures (although I wish there were more) are beautiful.
I think I am going to coin a term, and it goes a little something like this. I always think of things throughout the day that I want to blog, then I usually write them down, or I promptly forget about them. I admit that I forget a bit more stuff then I write down (Some of my more megalomaniac thoughts swirling up there have been that I have had and forgotten more good thoughts then some pathetic people have in their entire lowly lives! But then I shiver and try and shrug off that particular mental illness). But later on I do an activity or think of something that triggers the same train of thought and I think to myself: "Hey, that would be cool to blog." Then I feel a bit of familiarity with the thought and I wonder if I have blogged it before. So I think I will name this:
Phantom Blogging.
Not bad, huh?
Anyway, I wanted to talk about this book that I bought at Barnes & Noble a few months back. It is a really great book about the history of English Castles. It's subtitle is "A Photographic History" but I was somewhat disappointed at the total number of pictures, I understand costs of something like that could make it prohibitive to really put in a ton of pictures. But at most there was three pictures for one castle, and for the majority of castles there were only two pictures. I can't believe, it but there were even some instances where there was a single picture for a massive and majestic building that has been standing for 1000 years. I was impressed at the amount of history, names of battles, and royalty connected to each site, but that sort of moves the book subtly (or maybe not so subtly) away from the whole "Photographic History" concept.
I guess this paragraph might get a bit technical, but I also had a problem with the book including six or seven abbeys. Dictionary link, again, provided for Kyle's welfare. Not that they are indeed built out of stone, and in some cases are just as old as some of castles on the adjacent pages, but, well, maybe I am being too picky. This is were it might get a bit too technical, and yes, much too picky. Castles were large fortified buildings or groups of buildings meant to act as a stronghold or fortress. Originally they were made of wood, but as technology advanced (and the wealth of the country grew to be able to afford to pay the number of workers necessary) they proficiently progressed to stone. Massive stone walls, in some cases fifteen feet thick. But in order to be allowed to construct a castle, or fortified manor house, you had to be given permission to "crenelate" from the King. That is basically the only leg I have to stand on for this point, because a crenelated wall is basically the notched kind of wall that you see along the top walls of most castles. Like in this picture. The adjective of the word (crenelated) means having battlements. And that is were I sit and say "Ha!" Abbeys generally don't have battlements, and aren't considered fortified structures for the purpose of holding a certain territory or providing a defensive location for a bigwig. I know it is quite the tangent for this ramble, but the quality for each castle's history and the pictures that were provided just left me wanting more. And I bet they could do a separate book that was just as interesting on just abbeys.
But it was definitely a great buy with 160 gorgeous pages (thick paper too, not some crappy weight paper) for $9.95. And I must say that all of the pictures (although I wish there were more) are beautiful.
posted by Tim @ 8:18 PM
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