User Profile

Howard Batey

howardbatey@bookwyrm.social

Joined 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Enjoying fiction again after reading for 2 degrees in History. Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Crime, Classics, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Thrillers, Horror, Satire, Humour, Biography, etc., etc., etc....

About me - short version: A Cwmbranista in political exile in Llandaff. Happy Public Servant. Loves Heidi (Wife), reading, History, Rugby, Elvis, & Tea. Posting here in personal capacity.

About me - longer version: I'm in my mid-50s, originally from Cwmbran but lived in the Swansea/Neath area for 20 years (in that time I also spent 6 months living/working in India) before relocating to Cardiff 6 years ago.

I work for the British Council & am a big believer in education in general & lifelong learning in particular.

Love reading, photography, travel, food & drink, arts/theatre, & listening to BBC Radio 6.

I also have a ridiculous moustache.

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John Grindrod: Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain (2013, Old Street Publishing) 5 stars

Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain by John Grindrod

4 stars

An enoyable non-fiction read on a subject - the postwar rebuilding of homes in Britain - that does not immediately suggest that it would be so engaging. As I read I was struck by how many of the places of my life - Cwmbran, Hemel Hempstead, Plymouth, Milton Keynes, etc. - featured in the book, but if you are interested in mid-century modern design, brutalism, etc. then there's something here for you even if you don't know these places.

I'd score it 4 out of 5, it misses out on a higher score for the (frankly lazy) mistake of stating Cwmbran's location as being "between Cardiff and Newport", a 30 second look on Google maps would've shown this as nonsense.

John Grindrod: Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain (2013, Old Street Publishing) 5 stars

An enoyable non-fiction read on a subject - the postwar rebuilding of homes in Britain - that does not immediately suggest that it would be so engaging. As I read I was struck by how many of the places of my life - Cwmbran, Hemel Hempstead, Plymouth, Milton Keynes, etc. - featured in the book, but if you are interested in mid-century modern design, brutalism, etc. then there's something here for you even if you don't know these places.

I'd score it 4 out of 5, it misses out on a higher score for the (frankly lazy) mistake of stating Cwmbran's location as being "between Cardiff and Newport", a 30 second look on Google maps would've shown this as nonsense.