Hello,

hope all's well in your part of the universe. I'm sad that pledging has stalled again. Sorry for being so forward, but please can I urge / beg / plead with you to persuade at least an other person to pledge - you must know someone who would be interested. I honestly can not do this by myself, which has pretty much been the case until now. Please. 

Right, that's the crawling out of the way, let's lift da vibe in da howse. As per my previous Shed post (Catalogue Catalysis), I was constructing a bibliography of all the reading I've been doing for this book over the last dozen or so years. There's a lot! So, to make the task of typing out all the book and paper and video details, I turned to technology to assist. The dictation utility on the iPhone has improved beyond recognition and manages to capture most words, as long as they, or the grammar is not too out of the ordinary. Of course, as the page from Reverend Robert Forby's 1830 classic, The Vocabulary Of East Anglia (above) doth attest, it doesn't require modern technology or unusual words for a cock-up. It's just more likely. Especially as authors tend to draw on the extraordinary for inspiration, so that book spine stands out amongst the herd, and also because an intriguing or slightly obscure-sounding title often evokes something big; a further-reaching concept than a banal title might. So, hopefully you'll agree, combining naïve software and authorial orotundity, we have a recipe for fun.

Below are a dozen book titles and their author names, one pairing per line, as translated via dictation. I think my favourite is number 8, but there are some corkers in there. They get more difficult as you progress down the list, but they're not as tough as they look. Just see how you get on. Shall we say the first to post a set of correct answers in the comments below gets choice of my spare books (see what's on offer at the end of this post). Just copy and paste the questions from below into the comments box and add your answers. No deadline, just the first to get them all. Good luck! 

To get you started, here are a couple of examples:

101 flossy problems    Martin:               ------------>       101 Philosophy Problems    Martin Cohen

The evolution of god    Rob is right       ------------>       The Evolution of God    Robert Wright

Quiz questions
[Hint: they're all about Darwin, evolution, science and/or religion] 

1.    Victorian sensation    James a so-called        ------------>       

2.    Your inner fish    knew she win        ------------>       

3.    Joseph Conrad and Charles Darwin    Redmond oh hang them        ------------>       

4.    Annies box    Randall keen        ------------>       

5.    Against all gods    PC grilling        ------------>       

6.    What makes biology unique    answer me are        ------------>       

7.    Personal narrative of a journey to the Queen knock to your regions of the new continent    humbled        ------------>       

8.    Wife ascending    Nick Lane        ------------>       

9.    The age of Carly    William Durham pool        ------------>       

10.   Bug about Peter as it is    his divine grace AC back to bed into Swanley come to panda        ------------>       

11.   The scientific outlook    good friend Russell        ------------>       

12.   The bugger that Peter        ------------>       

Choice of Prize

Darwin A Graphic Biography    Simon Gurr & Eugene Byrne    (condition : NEW)

Darwin in Scotland            JF Derry                    (NEW)

Rocks of Ages                Stephen J Gould            (AS NEW)

The Origins of Virtue             Matt Ridley                (GOOD)

Darwin                    Adrian Desmond & James Moore    (ACCEPTABLE)

The Problems of Philosophy    Bertrand Russell            (GOOD)

The Natural History of Selborne    Gilbert White            (ACCEPTABLE)

Endless Forms Most Beautiful    Sean B. Carroll                (VERY GOOD)

The God Instinct            Jesse Bering                (GOOD)

Darwin’s Island                Steve Jones                (VERY GOOD)

Darwin’s Ghost                Rebecca Stott                (VERY GOOD)

Remember to pester someone to pledge please. Thanks.

Julian
Edinburgh