W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman, 1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates
***
The premise is that the history you were ineffectually taught at school must be the only history worth half-remembering, so they're not going to fill in what your teachers failed to. Good point, but I probably should have worked on remedying that ignorance rather than basking in it. Doubtless influential on the more refined historical pisstakes to come, and cathartic for history scholars, the hit rate of puns and comical errors and conflations isn't very high, but enough has accumulated by the end to make it worthwhile. The nonsensical exam questions are funnier than the main ramble.
Philip K. Dick, Now Wait for Last Year1966 / Audiobook / 214 pages / USA
***
One of the denser PKDs, its epic backdrop of intergalactic war and disorienting dalliances with simulacrams, simulations and sideways selves are let down by another miserable domestic dispute and the customary stream-of-consciousness plotting ending up more random than coherent this time.
2005 / Ebook / 100 pages / USA
**
I don't fetishise physical objects, so fancy wooden packaging doesn't excuse this horror vignette being a really insubstantial release. Where are the rest of the stories? If you were to read a monochrome print-out that obscured the five-colour chorus, you'd miss nothing and be spared fruitless efforts to find meaning there.
Julie E. Bounford and Trevor Bounford, The Curious History of Mazes: 4,000 Years of Fascinating Twists and Turns with Over 100 Intriguing Puzzles to Solve2018 / Ebook / 192 pages / UK
***
An edutaining wander through the history of mazes in mythology, pop culture and foliage, with frequent puzzle stops along the way. It's easy to follow, which isn't really in the spirit.
Heidi Murkoff with Sharon Mazel, What to Expect the First Year: 3rd Edition1989-2014 (updated 2014) / Ebook / 704 pages / USA
*****
This quick-reference owner's manual avoids doctrine and paranoia for the most part, packing in as much practical information as possible into 700 double-column pages without padding it with someone else's baby pics. A lot of the advice is irrelevantly American-centric (e.g. gun risks), but I don't expect everything to be tailored for me.
