World Book Day
Today is the 29th annual World Book Day! Created by UNESCO in 1995, the day is a celebration of a love of books and reading. I’m sure we have all experienced the positive impacts that literacy can have on not just us as individuals but whole communities.
So, to get into the spirit, we thought we’d ask some of the EDC team what they’re reading, who inspires them and who their favourites are.
What book are you reading now and why?
‘Robin Hobb; Farseer trilogy’ Tom
‘Lonely boy, an auto biography by Steve Jones, guitarist with the sex pistols’ John
‘I’m reading a couple of books at the moment, the Resilient Garden: Sustainable Gardening for a Changing Climate by Tom Massey because we want to develop our garden to reflect the philosophy of the house renovation. It’s an extremely motivational read which has had us completely rethink our plans. Another is the silo effect: The perils of Expertise and the promise of breaking down barriers by Gillian Tett. I had a really inspiration lecturer at the OU when I was studying for my MBA who shared an extensive reading list to keep us studying after graduation, this was on his list and definitely worthy of inclusion’ Donna
‘A novel about the Stamford crime world, as it is a town near where I live!!’ Lucy
Who’s your favourite writer and why do you love them?
Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel. They capture your imagination and take you to the respective worlds they create so powerfully’ Lucy
‘I love Heide Goody and Iain Grant, they have written a couple of book series together. The Clovenhoof series has me laughing out loud. The Sam Applewhite series is set in Skegness a place I’ve visited a couple of times, their descriptions of the area are so vivid that I get transported their whenever I’m reading’ Donna
‘Probably my first author Roald Dahl. He proved to me that you could lose yourself in a good story’ John
What’s the most inspirational book you’ve read and what did it inspire you to do?
‘Still searching’ John
‘A novel about Southern Africa – it inspired me to go and live in Namibia for 2 years’ Lucy
‘The list here is long, I took up half marathons after reading running for my life by Rachel Ann Cullen. The Undoing Project: A friendship that change the world by Michael Lewis. This is the story of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tverskey, they were such genius individuals. The book tells the story of their friendship through their work and explained how they discovered prospect theory’ Donna
What’s your top tip for an architecture book?
‘Factor of four by Gideon Amory Lovins. – made me think in a wider way, and need to use resources carefully’ Alan
‘As a non-Architect I’d suggest Happy by Design by Ben Channon, this an introductory level book which introduces different concepts and the science behind the concepts, with plenty of references if you want to delve further. It’s also an interesting insight to the breath of areas that the team have to consider when they are designing’
‘Yes is More, BIG.’ John
‘Hum…so many to choose from. Really inspirational for experts and non-experts alike is Small Houses by Philip Jodidio’ Lucy
