Toby Atkin-Wright

The clear-out continues this week. Our give-away list follows. Please let me know if you’d like anything before I take them to a charity shop at the weekend.

(Items that with a line through have already been taken.)

Hardback books

“The More than Complete Hitchhiker’s Guide” by Douglas Adams (Wings Books, 1989)
“Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” by Douglas Adams (Heinemann, 1987)
“The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul” by Douglas Adams (Simon and Schuster, 1988)
“Mostly Harmless” by Douglas Adams (Heinemann, 1992)
“The Salmon of Doubt” by Douglas Adams (Macmillan, 2002)
“A Song of Stone” by Iain Banks (Abacus, 1997)
“The Business” by Iain Banks (Little Brown, 1999)
“Look to Windward” by Iain M Banks (Orbit, 2000)
“The Great California Game (A Lovejoy Novel)” by Jonathan Gash (Century, 1991)
“Paid and Loving Eyes (A Lovejoy Novel)” by Jonathan Gash (Random House, 1993)
“The Devil in Amber” by Mark Gatiss (Simon and Schuster, 2006)
“Sepulchre” by James Herbert (Hodder and Stoughton, 1987)
“Creed” by James Herbert (Hodder and Stoughton, 1990)
“Nice Work” by David Lodge (Viking, 1988)
“Unsweet Charity” by Keith Waterhouse (Hodder and Stoughton, 1992)
“Mr Pye” by Mervyn Peake (Methuen, 1985)
“The Foxglove Saga” by Auberon Waugh (Chapman and Hall, 1960)
“The Crack in Space” by Philip K Dick (Severn House, 1989)
“Minority Report” (short story collection) by Philip K Dick (Gollancz, 2002)
“Paycheck” (short story collection) by Philip K Dick (Gollancz, 2003)
“Wrinklies’ Wit & Wisdom: Humorous quotes about getting on a bit” by Rosemarie Jarski (Prion, 2005)
“Why Pandas Do Handstands: and other curious truths about animals” by Augustus Brown (Bantam Press, 2006)
“Word-spells” chosen by Judith Nicholls (Faber and Faber, 1988)
“Once Upon a More Enlightened Time: More politically correct bedtime stories” by James Finn Garner (Simon and Schuster, 1995)
“Stories for 5 year olds” (Ladybird, 2008)
“Favourite Tales: The Enormous Turnip” (Ladybird, 1994)
“Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees” by A A Milne (Methuen)
“Piglet Meets a Heffalump” by A A Milne (Methuen)
“Eyewitness Guides: Arms & Armour” (Dorling Kindersley, 1988)
“Eyewitness Guides: Battle” (Dorling Kindersley, 1995)
“Eyewitness Guides: Castle” (Dorling Kindersley, 1994)
“There’s No Place Like Space! All about our solar system” (The Cat in the Hat Learning Library) by Tish Rabe (Random House, 1999)
“Tell the Time with Croc and Bot” (Potter Books, 2007)
“Muddle Pirates: A magnetic play book” by Stephen Gulbis (Campbell Books, 2008)


Paperback books

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll (Puffin Classics, 2008)
“McCarthy’s Bar” by Pete McCarthy (Lir, 2000)
“The Damned United” by David Peace (Faber and Faber, 2006)
“The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Dating and Sex” (Quirk, 2001)
“The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Parenting” (Quirk, 2003)
“101 Places Not to Visit” by Adam Russ (Robson Books, 2008)
“Confessions of an English Opium Eater” by Thomas de Quincey (Penguin Classics, 1986)
“Fantastic Mr Fox” by Roald Dahl (Puffin, 2010)
“Beast Quest: Amulet of Avantia: Book 19: Nixa the Death Bringer” by Adam Blade (Scholastic, 2011)
“Beast Quest: Amulet of Avantia: Book 20: Equinus the Spirit Horse” by Adam Blade (Scholastic, 2011)
“Why Don’t Penguins’ Feet Freeze? and 114 other questions” (New Scientist) edited by Mick O’Hare (Profile Books, 2006)
“The Lost Continent: Travels in small-town America” by Bill Bryson (Black Swan, 1999)
“Made in America” by Bill Bryson (Black Swan, 1994)
“Notes from a Small Island” by Bill Bryson (Black Swan, 1996)
“Cider with Roadies” by Stuart Maconie (Ebury Press, 2005)
“How to Live with a Neurotic Dog” by Stephen Baker (New English Library, 1968)
“Alone on a Wide Wide Sea” by Michael Morpurgo (Harper Collins, 2007)
“Pirate Brother” by Pete Johnson (Puffin, 2004)
“The Cardturner” by Louis Sachar (Bloomsbury, 2010)
“Where I Belong” by Gillian Cross (Oxford, 2010)
“The Death Defying Pepper Roux” by Geraldine McCaughrean (Oxford, 2009)


Mr Men and Little Miss books

Little Miss Naughty
Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Giggles
Little Miss Helpful
Little Miss Twins
Little Miss Tidy
Little Miss Fickle
Little Miss Curious
Little Miss Birthday
Little Miss Christmas
Little Miss Lucky and the Naughty Pixies
Little Miss Splendid and the Princess
Mr Sneeze
Mr Snow
Mr Busy
Mr Birthday
Mr Bump and the Knight
Mr Jelly and the Pirates
Mr Tickle and the Dragon
Mr Happy and the Wizard
Mr Messy messing about in the snow
Mr Silly get the giggles
Mr Men: The Night Before Christmas


Ordnance Survey maps

Landranger 63: Firth of Clyde: Greenock & Rothesay (revised 2002)
Landranger 176: West London area (revised 1990)
Landranger 177: East London area (revised 1991)
Landranger 196: Solent & The Isle of Wight (revised 1990)
Explorer 20: South Devon: Brixham to Newton Ferrers (revised 2005)
Explorer 362: Cowal West & Isle of Bute: Rothesay (revised 2001)
Touring map: Lake District & Cumbria (revised 2001)


Blurays

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [2x BD + DVD]


DVDs

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Churchill: The Hollywood Years
School of Rock
Dirty Deeds
High Society
Rear Window (Christopher Reeve, 1998)
Pet Shop Boys: Montage: The Nightlife Tour


CDs

“Wagner: Love Duets” Domingo & Voigt, cond. Pappano (EMI Classics 2000)
“Folksongs” Alfred Deller & Mark Deller (Harmonia Mundi 1972, 2003)
“The Joyce Grenfell Collection” (HMV 2000)
“Holst: The Planets / The Perfect Fool” Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Mackerras (1989, 1991)
“The Essential British Light Music Collection” BBC Concert Orchestra, cond. Handley (BMG 1997)
“The British Music Collection: Traditional Folk Songs from Scotland” Moira Anderson (Decca, compilation 2002)
“Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado” The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Royston Nash (London 1973, 1989)
“Baby Needs Music” (Delos 2002)
“Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3, etc.” Peter Hurford (organ), Orchestra symphonique de Montréal, cond. Dutoit (Decca 1979, 1983, 1988)
“Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” Ashkenazy, London Symphony Orchestra, cond. Previn (Decca 1972, 1999)

Now that Beth is 9½, I figured that it is time for her to learn some simple programming. I started programming when I was a similar age, in Commodore Basic on a VIC-20. With a wealth of languages and learning resources available, I thought back to my childhood enthusiasm for computers, and what I currently find exciting, and decided that Ruby would be a good bet. I use it extensively at work, and generally find it a mood-lightening language to work with.

I figured that it would be useful for her to start off with the groundwork of programming — thinking in terms of input and output, variables, and algorithms. A command-line interface was appealing; I don’t see the value in teaching programming through graphical tools.

Beth spent today working through the first few chapters of the book I bought her, Learn to Program, a child-friendly introduction to programming Ruby that concentrates on teaching programming, rather than just teaching Ruby. She responded with enthusiasm, and is looking forward to more in the morning.

I’m rather disappointed that her school don’t appear to teach any real computing; they are taught to use office apps and web sites, but as far as I can tell, don’t get near to programming. This is a missed opportunity.