Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig and the slithy toves, Did gyre and gamble in the wade, All marmsy were the borogroves, etc etc... Or summat like that...guy was on 'o' a lot of the time... Nice find, Primate.

*remembering fondly* the hunting of the snark, and lewis' appropriation of zeno's "tortoise & achilles" filled many a childhood hour of mine. this post reminded me to write a review of one of my most recent book purchases, Hofstadter's book "Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid". published some twenty years ago, and lately released in a new anniversary edition, the author takes caroll's characters and places them among bach and escher in a continuous circle of genius, and uses those idiosyncratic characters to explain theories on propositional calculus, the mathematical theories behind melody and classical music, and also some hairy scary stuff about artificial intelligence and humans as self-referential machines. cheers son!

..or, as they used to call it in those days, laudanum - him and Queen Vic both...although not necessarily together, you understand...

Richard - cracking book - I must have re-read this about thirty times, always finding something new and marvellous. I think that Crab Canon is one of my favourite pieces of writing anywhere, a exemplary piece of both style, form and content. Caroll fans might want to try Martin Gardeners Annotated Alice, another fine book and anyone who loves G K Chesterton that much has got to be an outstanding fellow.

Tortoise: I guess there's nothing better for you than walking. Achilles: And it's a perfect day for a walk. I think i'll be walking home soon. Tortoise: That echoes my thoughts. Achilles: So nice to run into you. Tortoise: Why, same to you. Achilles: Good day, Mr. T. still writing an essay. 3000 words an hour isnt bad is it??