Chrissy

Good luck with all of this Laura, a horrible situation to be in. Muggle Not. Big, big hugs whatever you decide. As Miss Popsicle says, "you'll be missed".

You have eloquently summed up my feelings about that last episode Raven. It was the little touches that made It so good. I especially appreciated the 'double bluff' of Clara approaching William Hartnell's Doctor, to warn that he is making a mistake, and her suggesting a better Tardis to take. Great stuff. Roll on the 50th Anniversary episode!

I do like the authors and the areas you are contemplating, and think that as they are what you are leaning toward it makes them more likely something you could expand on. What your tutors are looking for is 'evidence' that you have been contemplating your dissertation subjects, and they will be aware that there will be shifts in focus as you develop your themes. Good luck Ben.

There are lots of books out there that would cover specific aspects / schools of thought etc., but for general reading I would probably go with ones such as this one with 50 philosophical ideas or one of these ones that a search came up with. I remembered that there was a whole range of "......For Dummies" books and some of them are really quite impressive with what they cover on a subject, so I assumed they would have one for Philosophy too! I haven't read a huge amount in this area, so I am really only saying where I would go next if I wanted to go any further.

A few similar ('ish) books that I can think of include, 'The Shakespeare Secret' by JL Carrell and 'The Crystal Skull' by Manda Scott. I know in recent years there has been a whole bundle of Dan Brown style books, but I haven't taken much notice of them so wouldn't be able to recommend any. Two good sites to find similar styled books are fantastic fiction where at the bottom of the author page they recommend books and authors, and it shows what other people have looked at. The other site is Literature map, Pop his name in and what the results. Hope these help.

Sorry Roy, I meant to make the link for Amazon.com, not the UK site so here is the proper link!

A book I enjoyed that not only was a good introduction to philosophy, but a compelling story in itself was 'Sophie's World' by Jostein Gaarder. It describes itself as 'a novel about the history of philosophy', and was aimed at the teenage market when it came out. Although considered to be a young adult book, it was a huge seller at it's publication as it enabled many people (myself included) to access philosophy in a way they hadn't been able to do previously.

Oh Eleonora, my biggest and best hugs for you. I'm so sorry.

Timstar, glad to read that our F-I-L is doing ok. Great news risingdawn. I can now uncross my fingers! Athena, I hope you get the support you need, and am glad your is on your side. Cookie, that sounds awful for you. Do the doctors know what caused it to happen, or was it a condition waiting to reveal itself?

I would have bought it based on that cover alone! Looks like an interesting read.

I had a look on Amazon, and it had a copy of 'Alice In Wonderland' and Through 'The Looking Glass' together, and gives the page total as 228, so 123 may well be right. BTW, hello Mrs_Bookworm.

Luck

I think you are right with an 80's or 90's band. We thought maybe the UK band Tears For Fears, but we can't pin down the lyric......Mmmmmmmm...We will keep with it. It's just a matter of elimination!

Ouch, ouch, OUCH! Your poor elbow Jules. I hope it heals up very soon for you.

I did, having bought one especially! We did so many things in so few days it would have been hard to keep proper track. Additionally my evening diary writing captured not only events, but our reactions and feelings to them. Are you a travel diarist Miss Mabel?

Got back last night from our trip. Had a fantastic time, the weather was wonderful and all the people we encountered were friendly, fun and memorable. We saw snow caped mountains in Switzerland, took a four hour boat trip zig-zagging across Lake Garda in Italy, we visited Roman ruins in Sirmione, Juliet's Balcony in Verona, and the Cathedral where French Kings were once crowned (and where Joan of Arc kicked English butt!). We have eaten baguettes in France, chocolate in Switzerland and pasta and pizza in Italy. We are exhausted and overwhelmed by the wealth of the experience. Although it is always nice to get back to your own bed, we both feel a little down that our adventure has passed so quickly - and sadly we are both back to work tomorrow. We did spend the journey home saying often, "When we next come through here...", and "Next time.....", so it is also the start of many occasions of such travelling we hope. Right. Now to get some washing in the machine and reduce the mountain currently smothering my laundry basket.