Flight 009
smoothing ruffled feathers
Welcome to Flight 009 (September 2024)! A package full of learning materials is ready to download. Don’t forget Flight 008 is still available for a month.
I am also working on the first perk for paid subscribers, which will probably released next week. Paid subscribers help my substack grow and motivate me to create new material. Their support means a lot to me.
You can download the complete Flight 009 here (zip-file in Dropbox):
Flight 009
Study Guide 011: get enough sleep
Study Guide 012: retrieval
4 OWL assignments
Advanced Grammar 004: appositives
Idioms 004: countries
Phrasal Verb 004: LET
Word Formation 003: DETERMINE
Listening 011 - 5-minutes On “The Women Conned by a Romance Fraudster”
Listening 012 - 5-minutes On “Manifesting - the wellness trend that's everywhere”
Speaking - Cooperation 004: advances in technology
Speaking - Individual Long Turn 004: people working
Speaking - Pronunciation 004: /ɹ/ and leaving ‘r’ out
Speaking - Presentations 04: Using your voice effectively
Reading
After finishing The Socratic Method, The Practising Stoic seemed to be the logical follow up. Farnsworth is a great author, knowing how to turn complicated philosophies into simple, practical texts. You could create a whole curriculum around his books. Highly recommended if you want to make a start in philosophy. Farnsworth uses texts from Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and others to show what the Stoics believed and advocated, without getting bogged down in details.
Another great read last month was The Story of China: A Portrait of a Civilisation and its People by Michael Wood. This book is not a dry enumeration of events but tries to tell a story through the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. The Great Wall was mainly missing but the book definitely fulfilled the reason I read this book: getting to know more about the origins and history of China.
My nature read of this month is Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flynn. The book is about loss, hope, humanity, nature, history, all mixed in wonderful writing. Islands of Abandonment is about the silver lining in desolate places, the resilience and recovery of nature and the people living there. Flyn visits many different places in the world, with many different causes. By exploring the sites, she explores the history of those sites but also brings in similar places and circumstances. A gem of a book, or should I say an epicormic shoot in times of dying wood.
For fiction I read The Secret History by Donna Tart. The Secret History is slow pacing thriller about personal flaws, the hunt for meaning and acceptance, and college life all staged like a Greek tragedy. It could have been written in less pages, but Tartt gives herself room to flesh out characters, bring in many secrets, and create suspense. A good, solid read that haven’t had for quite some time.
For October I have ordered AI Snake Oil by Arvind Narayanan which will hopefully be the critical voice on AI I have been waiting for for quite a long time.
Video
I assume you have already subscribed to the Ben Reads Good YouTube channel. If not, make sure you do and here is his Montly Book News.
The Man Booker Shortlist was announced yesterday (Monday September 16th) and Ben will introduce the 6 shortlisted novels. There isn’t really a novel that stands out to me, but perhaps I will try Orbital because of its original approach.
Wainwright Prizes
As we are talking about prizes, the Wainwright Prize winners for nature writing were also announced. I try to read one nature book every month and Wainwright books are often a good pick (also with Islands of Abandonment mentioned above).
Conservation Writing
Blue Machine: How Oceans Shape Our World by Helen Czerski
The Blue Machine explores the ocean as a vast, interconnected system that shapes life, weather, and history on Earth. Through science and storytelling, she reveals humanity’s deep dependence on the ocean and its crucial role in our future.
Nature Writing
Late Light: The Secret Wonders of a Disappearing World by Michael Malay
Late Light intertwines Michael Malay’s personal journey with natural history, exploring themes of migration, belonging, and extinction. Through the lens of eels, moths, crickets, and mussels, Malay reflects on Britain’s evolving landscape and the deep connections between humans and animals.
Children’s Writing on Nature
Foxlight by Katya Balen
Foxlight is a heartwarming tale of twin sisters, Fen and Rey, who seek answers about their mysterious origins. Guided by a fox into the wildlands, they embark on a perilous journey to uncover their past and find family.
Novel of the Month
The Novel of the Month is a novel about dealing with the loss of your child and letting go.
Lincoln in the Bardo is a complex and evocative novel that delves into the grief of Abraham Lincoln after the death of his son, Willie. Set in the Bardo, a transitional state between life and death, the story weaves together multiple perspectives and explores themes of loss, redemption, and the human experience.
Author: George Saunders
Year of publication: 2017
Pages: 343
CEFR: C1
Plot Complexity: high
Language Complexity: high
Ideas Complexity: high
You can find more novel ideas at www.rookreading.com. Also, now with the updated Man Booker Short List!
Poem of the Month
Poetry does not necessarily have to be grand or deep or insightful. At its core, poetry is a search with words. A search for a representation of thoughts, of the senses, of life.
"The Eagle" by Alfred Lord Tennyson reads, in its simplicity, like an instagram reel. It draws attention, though very short, to the grandeur of this bird of prey. No reading between the lines, no deep philosophical thought, not even some relief, except that we live in a beautiful world.
The Eagle
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.