On locked-up books and counterculture

A library
A collection of books
A room of books
Under lock and key
How it was in Martin's day
In the monastery
A book of books
A bibliography
A bible
I should learn Greek (and Latin)
What was the meaning of that text?
'Forgive' the fig tree
Leave it alone
And counterculture

How's this for a crazy counterculture idea? We swap countries (and governments) with refugees; they get freedom; we get to travel overseas! No doubt we'll be trying to swim back as quickly as we can (or lining up for a ride in a leaky boat).

Serious things are coming our way, according to CSIRO's Our Future World. An analysis of global trends, shocks and scenarios. See here for Henry's comment. Apparently, 'on current trends, China will need to build three cities the size of Sydney every year until 2030'. That's a gigantic population!

Henry also refers to a blog by Jonson whose favourite books include Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles MacKay. (It's been here in the dining room bookshelf for years, another 'to- read'.) Took me back to previous week's research 'Nazis and success', but that didn't make the book, which was written a century beforehand. Now that was a mass delusion! However there were counterculturalists then, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. More research: 'How do people resist being deluded? What price do they pay?'

I'm turning into an internet junkie, I'm told. But I keep being fascinated; for example by this.

My impromptu talk on 'aliens' could have taken a whole different twist!