Bibliophile links

Just some link-blogging this time.

Here is yet more library porn, and I have now discovered bookshelf porn (more here).

No discerning bibliophile can be without these awesome bed sheets.

I'm not sure if i agree with this list of authors and the people who read them.

Here is a useful web app to help you read at speed.

Here is a bibliophilic origin for a theological construct!

An interesting video diary of a disappointed book.

I feel rather embarrassed that I never knew about the story of Hay-on-Wye.

Here is the coolest ever library information desk.

The book as technology.

Finally here are not one, but two important pieces of advice. (I can honestly say I've adhered to the latter, I'm probably safe from the former.)

Well that's it for now, but I am looking forward to a bibliophilic pilgrimage I have planned for next month with The Oregon Trail to the world-famous Powell's. I have wanted to go there for at least a couple of years and will finally be proximal enough with a post-GSA trip.

Tropical Zoo

We couldn't find Cynthia...

...but here's Elvis

Yesterday I went with a friend to Brentford. It's pretty dull round there, but if you know where to look there is a cooler place hidden away inside: The Tropical Zoo.

Toitles

This isn't a normal zoo though. Firstly because it is populated to a large degree by animals seized by UK customs and donations, often of exotic pets that got too much for their owners. However, what really makes it cool is the interaction they offer.

They have a lot of African Greys

We saw two of their shows, the first being reptile-dominated with various lizards, a couple of snakes and finally a caiman crocodile being brought ought by the keepers. The second was a flying demonstration with an Asian Eagle Owl. However, unlike a normal show the audience is invited to touch and even hold some of the animals. It was pretty cool to feel the heft of a massive constrictor and stroke a crocodile although I wasn't brave enough to hold the tarantula.

A jealous cockatoo

All in all this was a pretty cool experience for a (cheap for london) £6.50 entry so I am duly recommending it to all you Nodnol residents. It is worth a trip before health and safety regs step in and such things become impossible. Also, due to development they are about to lose their present home and need the money to fund the cost of their new site.

We weren't brave enough to check what the label meant