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33 comments:
Give 5 - just 5! - landmark non-fiction books from your childhood. Here's mine (I could give many others):
1.) The How & Why Wonder Book of Dinosaurs
An absolute classic of the genre. Have the illustrations ever been matched?
https://chasmosaurs.blogspot.com/2013/04/vintage-dinosaur-art-how-and-why-wonder.html
2.) Usborne Guide to the Supernatural World
3 books in 1 - a force multiplier!
https://www.google.com/search?q=usborne+supernatural+world&rlz=1C1TEUA_enGB467GB467&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=lH5i__0mPgQ0oM%252CYUJro1SiCEVXBM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kS3pflJQ0G0julRztAbNa9yv7VDpw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjtjbbu4NvyAhWPEMAKHSuBCJUQ9QF6BAgKEAE&biw=1242&bih=568#imgrc=lH5i__0mPgQ0oM
3.) The World Atlas of Mysteries - Francis Hitching
Once you've seen the spontaneous human combustion photo, with nothing left but the foot
& ankle, you'll never forget it! The photo of the ghost in the car backseat's also a
classic.
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/world-atlas/author/francis-hitching/
4.) The Encyclopedia of the World's Combat Aircraft - Bill Gunston
Chock-full of fantastic illustrations - not photos! The art is what counts.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10150524-the-encyclopedia-of-the-world-s-combat-aircraft
5.) English Dictionary - R.F.Patterson
This cheapo dictionary was a faithful friend during childhood. Entering high school, a
big, supposedly better, Oxford Dictionary was bought. I rarely used it!
Phillip
Thanks for the topic, Phillip.
There are some... ...unique... ...depictions of dinosaurs in that book. Sadly, I never had it, though I did have a book of dinosaurs but I can't remember what it was called or who wrote it. I remember it had a section devoted to sea serpents.
Let's see if I can think of some other contenders.
The Making of Star Trek. What more could you want than the inside goss on the making of one of your favourite shows?
The Horrific World of Monsters (published in the US as The Monsters Who's Who). A book dedicated to all your favourite and not-so-favourite monsters, whether real, imaginary, ancient or modern.
Chariots of the Gods. The veracity of its claims may be in doubt but it was a mind-expanding read.
The Doctor Who Monster Book. A fairly slim tome dedicated to the inhuman denizens of that show. In an era when there were no video recorders, a chance to revisit some of the show's greatest (and not so greatest) menaces was a marvellous thing for me.
Steve - the cover's dinosaur (diplodocus?), has its beady eye fixed squarely on the reader! I got the book, aged 4 or 5.
As regards 'Chariots of the Gods', my dad had it, but because he'd read it - whilst I was a mere little kid - I assumed it must be too 'difficult' for me! Had I transgressed this boundary, perhaps my father would have seemed less omniscient to me, as a little lad! Thus, I couldn't permit myself to read it!
I've got 'The Star Trek Navigator' - but that's a much later book. Likewise, 'The Dr.Who Book of Lists'. Did you ever have those mid-70s Dr.Who Weetabix(or Shredded Wheat?) cards/figures, of all the monsters?
Phillip
1) Usborne's 'Mysteries Of The Unknown' which was divided into three sections on ghosts, monsters and UFOs. All three sections were available separately as softcover books and I'd already bought the UFO one before I got the collected edition for Christmas 1978. It was in the pages of 'Mysteries Of The Unknown' that I first heard of Beowulf (and the Hopkinsville Goblin, Phillip!)
2) 'Dinosaurs Of The Earth' - a rather self-explanatory title. It was a book about dinosaurs!
3) All through the '70s my father bought 'Reader's Digest' every month and we were able to order books exclusively from RD which weren't available in the shops. One such book was 'The Last Two Million Years' which was a history of Mankind - this was a huge book divided into different sections, one for each era or civilisation - Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, the Medieval period, the Modern World etc. I remember there was a picture of the Beatles' Rubber Soul album accompanied by some text explaining how many young people had turned away from "unthinking materialism" in the '60s (and most of them turned right back to it in the '70s and '80s).
4) 'Strange Stories, Amazing Facts' - another book from Reader's Digest, this one covering everything from the Loch Ness Monster to Rasputin- if it was unusual in any way it was in this fantastic book!
5) 'The Usborne Book Of The Future' which I bought in October 1979. This book attempted a serious look at the next 200 years which was fascinating at the time but its' predictions seem woefully dated now. There was absolutely nothing about the rise of the internet or even anything remotely similar to it - but the 2020 Olympics would be on the moon because there'd be a lunar base by 2020!! Even so, I have very fond memories of this book :)
It seems many of us include a dinosaur book on out lists! I must, as well. Phillip- I too had "How and Why Wonder Book About Dinosaurs ", it had a prominent place on my shelf with other books in that series. My Mom would let me grab one almost each trip to the grocery; she probably felt they were better than the comics I craved too.
Ok, my list:
"All About Dinosaurs ". From my school library, it told about Roy Chapman Andrews and the Gobi Desert Dinosaurs. The librarian got tired of me repeatedly checking that book out.
"Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals " by Herbert Zim. Absolutely loved poring over the illustrations, and it launched a lifetime fascination with Geology.
Like Colin, we got the "Reader's Digest". One great book I recieved was "History of America ", a Digest publication that came out in the Bicentennial year of 1976. Read it cover to cover.
There was some fascinating mysteries book much like those described by you folks above. No idea what the title was, but it was loaded with stories about haunts, ghosts, and unexplainable events.
"Life on Earth" by David Attenborough. Read it in college (is that too late in life to qualify for our topic today?). Was stunned by the beauty and majesty in that book.
Charlie Here!
Our family had the ubiquitous dinosaur / natural history book which me and the siblings looked at solely for the dinosaurs in our grade school years.
Eventually, my recollection of factual books were:
- The History of World War II by Random House. Still have it. Written for kids.
- The British weekly magazine called "History of the 2nd World War" published starting about January 1974. I think there was a total of about 120 issues and I have the complete set courtesy of my uncle who was sunk on the Murmansk Run in 1942.
- The Cornelius Ryan Trilogy: "The Longest Day, A Bridge to Far, and The Final Battle" which was a xmas gift. Man - that was a ton of reading.
- Jim Steranko History of Comics Volume 1
- Jim Steranko History of Comics Volume 2
War and comic books... that sums up Charlie!
In no particular order:
1. The Philosophy of Auditing by Mautz and Sharaf. A cautionary tale concerning the catastrophic consequences of inadequate bookkeeping.
2. Programming the 6502 by Rodney Zacs. Not only detailing when to use the x register, rather than y, but explaining why.
3. A Pictorial History of Horror Movies by Denis Gifford. A small child's glimpse into a bigger world.
4. The Academie du Vin Concise Guide to French Country Wines by Stephen Spurrier. Before the judgement of Paris, the definitive guide.
5. Revolution in The Head by Ian MacDonald. Essential guide to music recorded before you were born.
DW
Phillip, sadly, I didn't have those cards. I wasn't even aware of their existence. The only cards I ever had were the ones that used to come with boxes of tea, and none of them featured Doctor Who.
Colin and Redartz, my dad was in Reader's Digest too. I remember we got books about Roman Britain, ancient mysteries and stone circles, from them.
Unknown Charlie, I think I've mentioned before that I had the chance to buy the Jim Steranko book from my school shop but never got round to doing it. What a fool I was.
DW, Revolution in the Head is great, even if MacDonald didn't like some of my favourite Beatles songs. I think I remember him hating While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Helter Skelter.
Phil, unlike Steve I do remember those Dr. Who Weetabix cards. And it was definitely Weetabix, not Shredded Wheat, because we never had Shredded Wheat in our house - my father once remarked that eating Shredded Wheat must be like eating straw (I've never tasted Shredded Wheat so I wouldn't know).
By the way, I don't know if you currently read 'Fortean Times' but the next issue (on sale next week, September 9th) looks back at the TV series 'Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World'. What a fantastic series that was!
I had a pile of nine How And Why Wonder Books, including the one about dinosaurs. Full list: dinosaurs, air and water, North American Indians, planets & interplanetary travel, wild animals, prehistoric mammals, extinct animals, the human body, the microscope & what we see. First four were gifts, the other five ones that I spotted in shops and bought myself. I read them all a lot except for the one with the native Americans, which I'd only ever flick through.
And there were some other books a bit like that with much much much much less detail that I used to sometimes get as a treat from WH Smith. They were A5 sized, landscape format and would have an empty scene in the centrefold that you could fill in with all the transfers that came with the book. I definitely had one about cavemen. Maybe one about that Saturn V rocket that took the Apollo missions to the moon? Probably lots of others too.
I also had Dinosaurs Of The Earth by John Raymond.
A paper back book on secret codes that seemed to have lots of little stories around the secret codes. I remember one about someone trying to decipher a code and giving up after the first two letters came out LL. Turned out to be a message about llamas.
After that, I'm struggling to remember any of my non-fiction books. But my dad did have a 20 volume A-Z encyclopaedia of all the animals in the world. I was always fascinated by the little maps of where each animal lived. And (weird one this) I would spend hours looking through the AA Book Of The Road, a U.K. road atlas with folded over edges on the pages so you could follow roads when travelling in an East/West direction. As well as poring over the maps, there was all sorts of other stuff in there about wild fauna and flora, tourist attractions, road signs, …
Redartz - As a kid, natural history was a massive interest of mine too (I had a couple of animal encyclopedias, and memorized every fact), until I started reading fiction in a big way, then fiction/literature seemed to displace/supplant natural history.
That being said, did you ever read David Attenborough's 'Zoo Quest' books? When I first went up to high school, the school library had 'Zoo Quest for a Dragon'. I read that, then a couple of others. As regards our youth, We sometimes tend to misremember distinct transitions when, in fact, things overlapped, quite a bit.
Dangermash - the horizontal books with transfers may have been 'Dennis Knight Activity Books'. I had a couple - the undersea one, & pond life.
Charles - The Anne Robinson book show highly recommended a particular WW2 book - I may look it up for you later - but it was a book for older people.
Colin - I was a big 'Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World' man, myself - so may treat myself, next week; thanks for the tip!
My Auntie Rose & Uncle Bruce collected those Weetabix cards/figures for my bro & myself - a 'free' gift? - not expensive, but provided hours of enjoyment!
DW - Wines - your adult days, surely? That programming book sounds interesting, but I'm afraid my knowledge stopped at a bit of BASIC.
Phillip
Yes. Those were the books, Phillip, although mine were called Instant Picture Books, with no mention of Dennis Knight. They look like the same books with different publishers.
These days, though, the equivalent kids' non fiction books are those DK books where you have stickers and, rather than creating an imaginary scene in the centrefold, the stickers all have their own designated space to occupy in the book, which takes away part of the fun.
Still, at least I have a good idea now about wha5 DK could stand for.
Dangermash - If only it were Dennis Knight! Dorling Kindersley I'm afraid!
Phillip
Phillip
Yes once again I've failed to read the question properly. I actually chose various books specific to different periods of life and so did a proper job in being wrong...
For reference:
1. Pictorial History of Horror Movies by Denis Gifford was a childhood treasure that I first encountered as owned by a friend's older brother and pestered the folks until they bought me my own copy.
2. Programming the 6502 by Rodney Zacs was a mid teen acquired text that taught me how to hack 'Manic Miner' to initially get infinite lives, and then remove the sprite collision detection, due too my inability to complete level 16. The eagled eyed will realise I was playing on a Commodore 64 (which had a modified 6502 processor) whereas the ZX Spectrum original was programmed on a Z80. My hack probably would have worked on either platform (change each decrement command to a no operation until you no longer lost a life upon each death).
3. The Philosophy of Auditing by Mautz and Sharaf was a university required text book that had, then, been out of print for around 20 years. I believe there were three copies in the University library and probably four country wide. I'm sure the lecturer laughed himself silly for weeks. Cock.
4. Revolution in The Head by Ian MacDonald provided a link to England, via the medium of Beatles' music, at a time I'd been in Australia long enough to have serious home sickness (6 years from memory).
The Academie du Vin Concise Guide to French Country Wines is actually not the book I was thinking of (it was another Spurrier volume) that provided some factual rigour around the time I became a serious wine fan. Money and sense not necessarily proportional in this endeavour.
Clink clink
DW
DW - Matthew Smith games are a topic unto themselves.
Unknown/Charlie/Joe, etc - The WW2 book (highly recommended by Robert Harris) was:
'The Rise & Fall of The Third Reich' by William L Shirer.
Being an aficionado, you may already know it.
Phillip
DW - are you in USA? If so can you recommend a readily available, out of this world, French Sancerre for ole Charlie? Preferably under $20?
Cheers, Charlie
Phillip! Thanks for deck. I have indeed read Shirer’s book! Classic. Not sure how it holds up now ? So much research has come out…
As I think I mentioned on Redartz’ blog a few weeks ago, we had a complete set of the World Book encyclopedia, which we basically treated like Wikipedia. Something would spark my interest (Pirates, the Space Program, the Old West, whatever) and I’d look it up in the World Book, and at the end of most of the articles, there would be a ‘See Also’ notation, which led to other articles of interest, and before you knew it, hours had gone by. Kinda like Wikipedia :)
Also, there was a 12 book series of inexpensive, slim hardcovers on the American Presidents that came out in ‘68 (a tumultuous election year) which I devoured.
Other than those two series, I didn’t have much in the way of non-fiction books when I was a kid. And here’s an even more embarrassing admission : I’ve NEVER owned a book on Dinosaurs, and have only had a mild interest in the subject as long as I can remember. Sure, I enjoy seeing their big-ass skeletons in museums, and they make great monsters for sci-fi movies and Edgar Rice Burroughs novels, but I was never interested enough to delve deeper. I couldn’t tell you the difference between a diplodocus and an apatosaurus (PLEASE don’t enlighten me, no offense, but I really don’t care). Also, I think T-Rex looked cooler the way they used to think he looked, with that big boxy head. Don’t judge me!
On the cusp of my teenage years, I got the Gifford PICTORIAL HISTORY OF HORROR MOVIES for my 12th birthday. I read that book over and over, and spent many happy hours staring at those awesome photos. That same year I got Gifford’s KARLOFF: THE MAN, THE MONSTER, THE MOVIES, which was half biography, half filmography.
As an adult, I do have a fair number of non-fiction books, lots of film books and biographies, some True Crime, Wolfe’s THE RIGHT STUFF, Brian Aldiss’ TRILLION YEAR SPREE, THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY, etc.
b.t.
Charlie
No I'm in Australia and have no idea about US retail. Sorry.
Philllip
Yes an interesting individual by all accounts.
b.t.
Its been mentioned on here before that BBC 2 used to run horror double bills on Saturday nights. Often a 1930s Universal followed by the 1960s Hammer remake (lose dates). That Gifford book was great source to learn the background to these monster movies and the groups of actors.
DW
Yeah, I had that Denis Gifford book on horror films. And - quite a bit later - his International Book Of Comics.
Seeing as this is a comic blog, I'm going to rave about the fantastic "Masters Of Comic Book Art" book by PR Garriock (who ever he was) that I got for my 13th birthday.
It had articles about 10 artists with examples of their work; you could question the selection - what, no Jack Kirby? - but I wasn't bothered as it introduced me to Richard Corben, Moebius, Druillet, Robert Crumb, and Will Eisner.
Eye opening stuff that was a lot more interesting than the latest issue of X-Men.
Although to this day I'm still not convinced about the importance of Harvey Kurtzman.
-sean
DW:
From his comments in the PICTORIAL HISTORY, Gifford seemed to REALLY dislike the Hammer films. It was classic Old Dude Attitude: ‘When I was a kid, Horror Movies were genuinely mysterious and atmospheric, they didn’t need to have young ladies running around stark naked and gallons of blood in FULL DISGUSTING COLOR to get a reaction out of you!’ My thought at the time was, ‘Naked ladies and a little gore sounds okay to ME, Grandpa’ :)
This is the first I’ve heard of those BBC Double Features. What a great idea! Seriously, I would have loved that. Also, I can just imagine ol’ Dennis watching the Bela Lugosi DRACULA followed by the Christopher Lee remake, with his arms folded, going ‘See? What did I tell ya?’
Of course, I often find myself doing the Old Dude Rant myself, when it comes to modern music, movies, comics etc (ESPECIALLY comics) so I really shouldn’t talk….
Also, yes, that book was a terrific resource to a young Horror Movie fan. This was at least a year before I ever saw an issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS or anything like that, so it was a wonderful deep dive into lots of things I’d never even heard of before.
sean:
I never had that Garrick book (though I the title does sound familiar). But — Harvey Kurtzman not important? Really?
b.t.
b.t.
I remember Gifford presenting at one of the early UKCACs (UK comic convention) in the mid 80s as he 'famously' had an extensive collection of old British comics. He did come across pretty much as you imagine him. Relatively informative but somewhat dismissive of anything recent (by his definition). He definitely had that old school formality.
DW
Actually I just checked wiki and the broadcasts were not as organised as I remember. They did tend to show a Universal and then a Hammer, but not both Dracula or Frankenstein (for example). Having said that, it would have been a good idea.
DW
Dismissive of anything recent, DW? Well, you won't catch me doing anything like that, commenting in a blog about comics of the 70s and 80s (;.
Seriously though, I think its natural to be really into the comics, music or whatever that you discovered in your youth... All the same, its good to keep an open mind - especially if like Gifford you're setting yourself up as an authority with a book - and if you can't, at least fake it.
I mean, even if you think everything after you turned 30 is rubbish, being a boring old fart is not a good look.
b.t., I could argue Kurtzman's best work was done with the likes of Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Will Elder etc - ie as a writer and editor - so he didn't really belong in a book about artists.
But he just doesn't float my boat.
Perhaps personal taste shouldn't come into a consideration of "importance" - and I accept my understanding of American popular culture of that period (and how he fits into it) may be at fault - but there you go.
To be honest with you, I think EC generally are a bit over-rated. There, I said it.
Ok, I'll get my coat...
-sean
Sean
He was probably around 60 at the time and addressing a crowd mostly teens to thirties. I think silver age US comics were probably pretty well regarded by the room, rather than, admittedly, very old British comics clearly aimed at very young children. On the bright side he was followed by Marvel Wolfman talking about the Teen Titans.
With music it's not so much I don't like modern stuff its just that its too loud.
I'll also get my coat...
DW
Marv Wolfman
:-(
The things kids listen to these days DW...
Whatever happened to proper music, like Throbbing Gristle and French prog-jazz?
-sean
Curious — not having read Gifford’s writings about comics myself, was he as ‘Old Dude’ about them as he was about horror movies (the ones from his youth were awesome, the current ones rubbish)?
sean:
I totally agree that it’s easily understandable to prefer the pop culture things we imprinted on in our younger days. I actually find it a fun but strange ‘Out Of Body’ experience to occasionally try to be completely objective about comics. Take someone like Chris Samnee or Stuart Immomen. They’re both excellent draftsmen and storytellers, I’ve almost always enjoyed their work when I’ve bought one of their comics. But as often as not, I’d rather re-read an old Don Heck AVENGERS or George Tuska IRON MAN. I know that, objectively, they’re not comparable in terms of craft, not even close — the newer artists are working at a much higher level. But I guess I have an emotional attachment to the old stuff. Same with music, and movies, etc.
As for Kurtzman (and EC) — yeah, I agree that they’re a bit over-rated, in general. I think the Comics Code coming along when it did helped their reputation in the long run, in a way. The EC horror comics were becoming very repetitive and ‘by the numbers’ toward the end, the audience probable would have gotten tired of them within another year or two. And they certainly weren’t perfect, even at their peak — too often wildly over-written, for one thing, with way too many long-winded captions, unnecessarily explaining what the art is already conveying. But boy, when they were good, they were REALLY damn good.
Kurtzman’s war comics were pretty consistently solid and entertaining, i think. I actually LOVE his own idiosyncratic drawing style, and even prefer the stories he drew himself to the jobs where Woody and Davis and the others pencilled and inked over his layouts. But yeah, he’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
On the early MAD comics, Kurtzman’s writing and storytelling with Wood and Elder and Davis pencilling and inking was a magical combo. Again, they seemed to be running out of gas a bit toward the end but at their peak, they were amazing.
His career never quite recovered after he broke away from Gaines, and in a lot of ways, he was his own worst enemy. He had a love/hate thing going on with the very nature of comics as an art-form. He loved the IDEA of comics, but resented that they were cheaply produced and seemed to be treated as disposable by the general public. He wanted respectability, wanted his stuff to be taken seriously. Those few issues of TRUMP that he did with Hefner are visually stunning, with Kurtzman and his crew reveling in the high-end production values — but bottom-line, they’re just not very funny. HUMBUG and HELP! had their moments, but still weren’t as consistently funny as MAD was at its peak, and worse, not even as funny and entertaining as MAD was during Al Feldstein’s tenure as Editor. And neither mag lasted long. The Little Annie Fanny strip in PLAYBOY was gorgeous to look at and reasonably entertaining, but seemed to be beneath him in a lot of ways.
His overall ‘Importance’ in Comics History has a lot to do with his influence on creators like Crumb, Spiegelman, Terry Gilliam, etc, as well as for creating MAD Magazine, which was a top-selling, highly influential magazine for decades.
b.t.
Sean - Surely as a tot, you'd more than 1 landmark non-fiction book? Feel free to "blather from the backyard of nostalgia".
Phillip
b.t. - those BBC horror/sci-fi double-bills were broadcast during the summer months from around 1974-82. They were a highlight of summer TV.
Yeah, I recall more Phillip, but the only other one really interesting enough to go on about here is The Visual Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction edited by some geezer called Brian Ash, a pretty good overview of the genre as it was just before Star Wars.
From Mary Shelley and William Morris to JG Ballard, and covering all sorts of stuff in between - Charles Fort, the Shaver mystery, dianetics etc - it had pretty amazing picture research, with 300+ pages full of artwork from book covers as varied as the first French edition of The Battle of Dorking ("Les Prussians En Angleterre") and Harlan Ellison's "Dangerous Visions" anthology, and magazines as different as Amazing Stories, Boys Realm, New Worlds and Metal Hurlant.
Other than comics, what else was there in '76 to really fire a kid's imagination?
(I suppose Bowie's "Low" was released that year, but I didn't hear it til a bit later...)
-sean
I'll look it up, Sean :)
I've also learned about 'Dinosaurs of the Earth', by Raymond, from this one. Thanks Redartz & Dangermash.
Every day - or rather Speak Your Brain - is a school day!
1976 - The long hot summer, & white dog muck!
Phillip
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