Amongst the Christmas presents from Mrs IS is a book “Written in History: Letters that Changed the World”. It is about the importance of letters as records of thoughts and ideas. It is a fascinating book. It’s only Boxing Day and I have read a third of it already.
The first letter is from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn in 1528. Henry’s intention to marry Anne led to England’s break with the Catholic Church of course; the letter shows his love for her and the rest is history.
I wonder though whether the title of the book is misleading. The letters didn’t change the world; they recorded the thinking which did change the world.
The book suggests that the letter is more permanent than the email, text message or a random blog on the internet. This is a good thing probably. After all, someone took the trouble to preseve the letters (Anne Boleyn had an appointment with the axeman in 1536; how did this letter survive), collate them and publish them. As for the internet, anybody can publish at the push of a button…
Meanwhile, back in Wengen, the sun shone again, as you can see.
The jury is out as to whether it was busy or not. I thought it was quiet for a public holiday. The consensus in the pub was that it was busy.
As for the day’s statistics, Skiline has only managed to catch up with, approximately, mid-day yesterday, so I will hold those over again.
Idle thoughts from a mountain 