The classic vampire novel that has inspired spin off films and piqued interest in the macabre tales of the un-dead.

The tale is told through journal entries and letters written by key characters -bar Count Dracula himself. The story centres around the journey undertaken by the young solicitor Jonathan Harker, who travels to Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania to facilitate the completion of a real-estate transaction. A naive Harker almost loses his life, and unwittingly assists the Count in his sinister plan, which you will discover for yourself when you read the book…

Stoker is a great story teller and beautifully sets the tone for the novel, as you sense the disquiet creeping into the lives of Jonathan and his associates.

The complete text is available for free download here:

Bibliomania.com

This book left me feeling optimistic about the future, and the potential of humankind to begin to make changes for the better. It should be in use in schools, to inspire the industrial designers of the next generation.

Many of the ideas put forward in this book are based on observation of nature, specifically in comparison with how industrialisation grew and has spread globally. Interesting to note is the abundance of the natural world, plants produce huge quantities of petals, leaves and seeds in order to reproduce, but the petals, leaves and other organic materials are not wasted, but are part of the life cycle, breaking down to become compost. Human design is so short-sighted when it comes to considering the ‘afterlife’ of products, beyond recycling or the landfill.

The beauty of diversity is also covered, that the one-size-fits-all approach human designs sometimes have is not reflected in organic development. Traditional or indigenous buildings being an excellent example of this, having developed in response to varying weather conditions and needs of the occupants.

But enough from me, track it down and read it for yourself!

This was available at my local library, for more information visit this site:

www.mcdonough.com

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. Penguin Books, London.

I picked up a copy of this book and began to read at Nostromo Books in Grey Lynn(now Lord Jim’s Books on Surrey Crescent). It had that familiar theme ‘humankind has been almost completely obliterated, except for a random group of individuals struggling to survive’. The writer of the zombie flick 28 Days Later has most certainly pinched the beginning for the film from Wyndham’s classic, not to mention borrowing snippets from the rest of the plot in The Day of the Triffids and Wyndhams’ The Kraken Wakes.

This is an exciting read that I was unable to put down over the course of a weekend, and is probably more timely than I initially imagined. Isolated groups of humans survive a mysterious global disaster, as London’s city structure and amenities begin to crumble, it becomes apparent not only must they rebuild and form stable communities of strangers, they are also under threat from killer plants – a strange engineered creation by human scientists trying to find a new source for quality oil.

People of the Land – A Pacific Philosophy by John Patterson. Dunmore Press, Palmerston North.

An excellent read, presenting an alternative view to traditional Western ‘ownership’ attitudes to land. Environmental kinship, Mana and the respect for life and the planet being paramount to a harmonious existence as humans. Stopping the cycle of using and depleting resources buy focusing on adding value and beauty, for example using materials such as wood from a majestic tree to create a functional but beautiful chair, or on a larger scale a house or building. A major contrast to the exploitive consumer culture we exist in, encouraging the reader to stop and think before acting.

Highlighting the idea of humans being caretakers rather than dominators of the earth, and without the ‘airy fairy’ attitude that is sometimes associated with environmental philosophies and ideals, this is a book for anyone who is concerned about the environment.

As someone considering the prospect of ‘owning’ my own home and land in the future, I feel it is even more important to treat the earth with high regard. Being determined to enhance and protect rather than simply take from the earth.

Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich. Aurum Press, London.

Rather than dealing with the statistics and technical details regarding the series of explosions that lead to one of the worst nuclear catastrophes of last century, this book presents the human side of nuclear fall out.

Thousands of civilians, largely uneducated in the dangers and risks associated with radioactivity, became the subject of scientific analysis. People were evacuated from their homes, which in many cases were buried or destroyed and transplanted into other cities. Many older people returned, unwanted for fear of contamination. Women’s accounts of losing sons or husbands as these were the first to enter the reactor to put out the fires and ‘clean up’. Generations of women who are afraid to conceive a child because of terrifying defects and increase in cancers.

An attempt to understand the human toll, an excellent but quite depressing read, presenting information that is so easily set aside in the race to procure more ‘efficient’ and ‘effective’ nuclear weapons. An arrogant and dangerous exercise.