Damn, I'm through giving the impression money is no object...

Rule #1 - no book over 30 quid (or let's say $50 US)

This any better then?

One more before I go home and ignore the interweb for the night (I do that, it's refreshingly quaint, I know)

patience, grasshopper

Sorry for the delay - I was already getting my (desperately needed) beauty sleep.

However, I dispute with you the value of patience.

You're good.

Of course, patience isn't always the most fun or important thing (witness this for a blast from the past!)

I could recommend a more trusting attitude (but you might have known I'd come up with trust sometime...)

I hate shameless self promotion, don't you?

Trust? Ahh but the bears were there first.


Though some people have focussed on the web aspects.


(no harm in self-promotion - though that's not at all what it looks like!)

Best not to get me started on what people do to persuade others (online or otherwise), but there's lots of stuff on trust online around, some of which may even apply! (but this breaks rule #1. Need I go into rule #2 etc? Shall I call you Bruce?).

Meanwhile, time to take a break and get a sense of perspective. I was disappointed to note that ARJWright doesn't read enough fiction (you should, it's both relaxing and breeds ideas inside the mind. I'd recommend starting with some Stealth Literature, one which is apropos is this one - I leave it to the reader to decipher why it's apropos and report back here for points...

And, where would one get a signed copy of your aforementioned tome?

Ahh, I never got into diskworld: a little too much like living inside an Escher painting for my taste. That and someone comparing me to Granny Weatherwax. I never did go much for deception, even in the form of illusion.

My prefered aim is integrity, whether in non-fiction or fiction. (though Susan Howatch has a fast-food tendency that when you have read one you feel you have read them all)

The Afformentioned Tome, which is really little more than a pamphlet, is out of print, but may be obtained from the author via her PM box.

Instead of deception, think suspension of disbelief. Actually, discworld stuff is remarkably well observed, and I say this as an academic as well as a reader of fiction(!)

I'll see your integrity theme (the non-fiction at least of which I will order today) though, and raise you some non-rabid Dawkins (in my opinion, for what it's worth, one of the best science books ever written).

Meanwhile, I still suspend my disbelief happily whilst dreaming of the days I can be on the water again in my own trusty kayak.

(Goodness knows I read enough about work, anyway!)