1000 Words or Less

      Evolutionists tell us that the most successful members of the animal kingdom are those who can live and work together cooperatively.   Animals which can work as a team in hunting their prey bring home more food for their young.   Huge swarms of fish might attract predators but their very size and the sheer number of individuals in their group means there is a better chance that an individual fish will live to swim another day.   Even something as simple as being able to huddle together for warmth in cold weather might mean the difference between life and death.   Historians tell us that it is our innate abilty to live cooperatively which has made the human race so successful in populating the world.   We are able to work together to solve problems, create innovation, plan huge development projects and, of course wage wars. There is no doubt, we are very good at working together with colleagues to get things done. ...

  “He had blue eyes, you know,” Brian said, and looked at me to see my reaction. “Who?” I asked. “Him,” said Brian, pointing to the drawing of Mathew Brady on the wall in front of us.   We had come into the museum to avoid the rain and had found ourselves near the Bushranger exhibit.   The drawing was sepia in colour so you’d be hard-pressed to know if the eyes were blue or otherwise. “Aren’t you going to ask me how I know?” smirked Brian. Playing the game, I answered, “How do you know?” “Because I met him last night and they’re definitely blue.” “It says here that he was hanged on May 4, 1826.   How on earth can you say that you met him?” I asked, wondering whether I was making a mistake in prolonging this conversation.” Brian lowered his voice.   “Because my father has invented a time machine and, last night, we transported ourselves back 100 years and met Mathew Brady at the Rosevears Hotel.” I think my mouth fell open. ...

  I've been trying to get involved in audiobooks but, sadly, my brief love affair with them has come to an end.   It wasn’t a sudden thing; it was more like a gentle and mutual realisation that we were not compatible.   I don’t know what I expected from this relationship but, whatever it was, it was not what I got.   Like many relationships, it began with optimism: this is good, this will fulfil me, why didn’t I know about this sooner?   But the ending is slower, a petering-out until there is nothing left but the sweet memories of what might have been.   If I am honest, my lasting memory is of frustration: the frustration of listening to the beginning of innumerable books until I found a reader who satisfied me, then the slow awakening to the fact that listening to a book is not at all like reading it. Perhaps I felt like a voyeur, intruding on someone else’s pleasure.   Reading is an intensely personal experience and I didn’t...