(no subject)

Died on this day in 1445 aged 41 Joan Beaufort (my toy,wikipedia). Grand-daughter of John of Gaunt (son of Edward III). Joan married the King of Scotland, who was assassinated whilst their son was still a child; Joan was not permitted to be the child king's regent (being English and a woman) but remained in charge of his person. Joan and her second husband attempted to overthrow the governor of Stirling castle (I'm not quite sure why) after which Joan was arrested.

Born on this day in 1750 to Ernest , Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Princess Sophie of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, Franz Wettin , Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (my toy,wikipedia). Grandfather of Queen Victoria. Franz fought against Napoleon's armies when he was young, later he became the Duke and amassed a huge collection of books.

Reading Wednesday

Finished:

Two books this week! (because I was nearly finished one last week)

Station Eleven:
Post-apocalyptic. Basically just people being people, having small adventures, putting life back together; with flashbacks to pre-apocalyptic lives of the same people. I liked it.

The Martian (Weir, Andy). A guy gets stuck on Mars. I thought at the start that the whole book would be just this guy stuck on Mars (and that that would be very dull) but there are other bits too, so it's not just this one guy (some of the other characters are women, with names, and exciting careers in NASA, but this really is a book about this one guy stuck on Mars). I think it strikes the right balance (or at least *a* right balance) between boring tedium and EXTREME PERIL, and I found it very hard to put down.

Reading:Epic Measures (Jeremy N Smith) this is a biography of a guy who decided that What We Need (tm) is a big database of what kills and hurts who when where why how etc. As yet there is not much of an answer to the questions... interesting but not as gripping as stories with SPACE and PERIL.

Next: Oh, I don't know. Just started this one anyway.