The poor start to the new year continues . . .

In normal circumstances I would have managed at least a few hours work yesterday, but nothing got done. The events of the last couple of days seem to have affected me really badly and I can't get motivated. Instead of "proper" work, I read some sections of the books for PhD students on how to come with set backs - maybe this will help me clear my mind a little and get going again. So Charlotte Methuen's excellent article Maestlin's Teaching of Copernicus: The Evidence of His University Textbook and Disputations, remains half read on my desk. A sad sight

But I did read an interesting article in the current issue of Prospect magazine discussing the renewed interest in the history of ancient Greece and Rome. This mentioned a book that I have just pre-ordered on Amazon - James Barrow's The History of Histories. This will be the last book I get for the forseeable future. I have been carefully working through a list of books I would like to buy with the aim of buying what I wanted by Dec 31st. Then 2009 will have very few books bought in theory.

The other day I was showing Linda a new book that had arrived called Panorama of the Renaissance. This is a beautifully illustrated book and I was very pleased with it. In the past Linda would have also been interested in it - now the only comment is "do you really need more books?" How things change over time.