I love doubling up on reading material: reading at both ends of the pole simultaneously. I especially like reading odd text books for relaxation because I like my brain to do its cycling when reading fiction. I have collected a few odd bod text books one on neural aging, another on virology and had to work really hard recently not to purchase some extremely antiquated guide to going under the bonnet of a car I don’t possess and no one has possessed since about 1969. I have a tiny hand sized book of forestry terms and other oddities.

Today while waiting on something I grabbed a trade journal on aesthetic dentistry and a well know publication for a religious faith that I will not be typing the name of here because I’ll surely be flooded with invitations from them. The dentistry mag was compelling visually — before and after and phoah…. technical surgical pictures. I’d no idea how much things have progressed! Plus the terms like bruxism, malocclusion, are lovely and ornate.

The other religious mag was less enjoyable but more surreal. The text was straight out of Batman. One section was dedicated to persuading young people to say no to premarital sex. It had three lines left empty for the person to fill up. One of the main proposals was that if 2 out of 3 high school kids graduate and are “sexually active” that means one third are not and so everyone is Not doing it. The piece was illustrated by three young folk who had captions explaining it was difficult to say no (in comparison to the article that insisted it was impossible not to say no) and therefore you should say no firmly, walk away and be aware that others will appreciate your qualities.  The quality of the writing was so poor I actively felt for the publication.