farmdoc's blog post number 177

I’m an old block. I used to think Vivienne's and my children would be chips off the old block. How could they not be? But now I’m less sure. In three Land of Meg blog posts [1,2,3], darling Meg tells of three books she started but didn’t finish. Good for the chip. Not so the old block. Whenever I start something, even when I don’t enjoy or learn from it, I doggedly continue until the bitter end. Films, plays, operas, books. You name them; I finish them. For example the book The Hot Topic: How to tackle global warming and still keep the lights on. In the September Monthly, Robert Manne raved about it. I respect Manne’s opinion, so I borrowed it from the library. Though written by Sir David King (until late 2007 the UK’s chief scientific advisor) and Gabrielle Walker (an author, journalist and broadcaster), though up-to-date being first published in 2008, and though logically and clearly structured, it fell far short of my expectations. Perhaps it was written for a climate change/global warming novice – which I am almost but not quite. I first felt an inkling of disappointment when I was a quarter way through it. But I read it right through. I’m not pleased with myself for doing that. This old block has much to learn from his second chip.