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Luke H

Luke H

A literary journey that began with Enid Blyton, and moved through other fantasy and into science fiction. Read nothing but Doctor Who books when I was 14. A short lived Stephen King phase. Once walked into my wardrobe and hit the back hoping to find a strange world where it was always winter, never Christmas. Not very adventurous - will only... more »
  • Melbourne, Vi, Australia
  • member since January 21 2009

Luke H’s last login was yesterday. show recent activity »

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Public Notes

  • warrick

    warrick says

    What did you think of Frankenstein Luke? I just put it on the Year 12 Lit course here for next year.

    posted 10 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Elise W

    Elise W says

    Hmm- I usually don't particularly enjoy male authors- I find them hard to connect with, but Nabokov seems a little feminine- even his protagonist is slightly feminine in a way. I miss being in literature and picking apart novels- I need to join a book club or something. I still highlight things as though I'm studying it. Maybe I should take an english elective- lol a bit worried uni english might be a bit over my head though- being a 'B' student in yr 12

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Elise W

    Elise W says

    Hey Mr Hering, what did you think of Lolita? I got onto by listening to 'don't stand so close to me' by the police. Wanted to know what book it was refering to. Odd book- very brave of the writer to write about it. Not sure I should be reading it as I walk into a primary teaching lecture. I'm only just starting part 2 so dont spoil the ending- I have no idea where the story is going (to me its used the possible situations so anything else that happens is going to surprise me)

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Christine E

    Christine E says

    Hi Luke! I met you in Australia as well. I stayed with Lizz and Tim for about a year. Maybe I made fun of your hanky....but that sounds more like my friend Jen. I'm gonna check out your books now....

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Tim L

    Tim L says

    I'll be reading the Count of Monte Cristo soon. See my review of The Slap - didnt appeal to me as much as you.

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Tim L

    Tim L says

    Hez - you should be friends with Lizz's sister Chris. She is new to Shelfari and has no friends (on the internet or in real life) except me. You can locate her through my page.

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Tim L

    Tim L says

    I haven't seen those ones - I reckon they would be good for those learning Latin etc. I could take a latin course for free at work and have had good intentions but no follow through. I looked on ebay and I've seen my set for sale for anywhere from $800 at the low end to $4700 at the high end. Making me feel even better about my $325 purchase! By the way, Luke, how do you make it so you can see both the questions and answers on Shelfari? On my page all i can see is your questions, but on your page I see both.

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Tim L

    Tim L says

    No Iliad at the moment - the Od was supposed to be a more 'mature' work. Thats if Homer was in fact a single person - which I doubt. The Aeneid is on the list We were just on holiday and I found a 50 volume collection called the 'Harvard Classics' in a second hand bookstore published in 1910. It contains a fair chunk of the 'best' writing when it comes to the liberal arts, compiled by the president of Harvard at the time. Has Homer, Virgil, bunch of philosophers, poets, Darwin etc. I nearly choked as I handed over $325, but I decided that at around $6 a book for a beautiful hardback collection it wasnt so bad. So, basically over the next few years I'll work my way through that in addition to other more frivolous fiction.

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Tim L

    Tim L says

    Its my first time with Homer. Expected it to be a boring endurance event but found the Od to be a bit of a page turner. Odysseus is a swordsman - 10 years to get home from Troy, 8 of which were spent sleeping with Goddesses. Hard to feel too sorry for him, really.

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Tim L

    Tim L says

    By the way, Hezza. How come you're my only Shelfari friend? I cant get any of my illiterate Canadian friends to sign on!

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Tim L

    Tim L says

    Hez - only you would describe a 4th century Catholic saint as a 'swordsman'. Not that I disagree with you - all that talk of reckless fornication in the early chapters. I like how although he considers the Manichees to be heretics, he is actually quite generous in what he says about their spiritual leader Faustus. He doesn't slag him off - says he is a decent man, just misguided. I'd say that's pretty reasonable for a time when the knee-jerk reaction might have been to persecute. OK, OK, I've said to much. If I don't stop now you'll begin to think Augustine is some kind of saint or something.

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Tim L

    Tim L says

    Sounds a bit 'stream of consciousness', Hez. I have a hard time with Joyce for that reason. Im reading St Augustine's 'Confessions'. Pretty interesting stuff.

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Tim L

    Tim L says

    I think on matters of science Dawkins has some good points. For example, his stuff on health care and the quackery around that (such as those idiots that say immunizations give kids Autism) is good. But that's because where health care is concerned science is mostly an appropriate avenue for investigation. But what makes him dumb is that he dismisses centuries of scholarly thought in an instant, and doesn't realize that he knows what he knows because of those people. Thomas Aquinas gave a reasonably good scientific argument for the existence of God (his ontological argument), and if Dawkins wants he could, all these centuries later, try and use science to disprove it. But I note he doesn't. I've never seen him debate a decent theologian (who would tear him to shreds) - instead he picks on crackpots and nutcases. Also, I love the irony that Oxford, his current employer, was in medieval times THE place to go in Europe if you wanted a good theological education (which back then was regarded as the most relevant type of education to get). Burn the witch, I say!

    posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Tim L

    Tim L says

    I am very anti Dawkins, Hez. Not on the basis that he is anti-religious, but rather on the basis that he is a dumbass. And so many reasons why. First, for an Oxford professor he has a staggering lack of knowledge about the validity of other types of research that do not fit into his narrow view of the 'scientific method' (that is only about 300 years old anyway and is beginning to unravel at the seams from within thanks to quantum physics). Also, on questions of God, science will never be able to answer one way or the other as to his existence. That is because if God does exist he is everywhere, so how is it possible to step outside and view him 'objectively' as is required by the scientific method? The book on my shelf by DZ Phillips does a great job of explaining that. In brief, Dawkins is too dismissive of other research methodologies, most of which have been around much longer that modern science. In dismissing them, he puts the blinkers on, something which even he would agree is not good for any scientist. He doesnt get that different questions require different research methods to investigate them - one size fits all doesnt work and any good researcher knows that - including scientists which he says he is. Also, he's a pompous twit.

    posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Tim L

    Tim L says

    Hezza - Get into Gibbons' 'Decline and Fall'. Its a bit stodgy at times but is the standard by which all other Roman History books are judged. I love how he slags off the Byzantine empire as if they were basically a bunch of second rate wannabes when nothing could be further than the truth. Personally, though, I prefer the guys who were alive during the western empire - Tacitus, Seutonius, and Livy are all great for repeating gossip as fact, making up stuff, and basically injecting their petty political and personal agendas into their assessment of the times. Eg. - Caligula making a horse a senator and making everyone treat it with due respect during senate meetings. I think the real story was that Caligula saw a horse once.

    posted 10 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Tim L

    Tim L says

    They're by different authors, Hez. One is 20th C and the other about 1st C (I think). The old one by Suetonius is the more gossipy, inaccurate and therefore entertaining of the two.

    posted 10 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Elise W

    Elise W says

    lol I'm dangerous in a book shop with a sale on- some girls buy clothes and shoes- I buy books and dvds!! Yes I know- I'm an odd one! Then again I always have been! hehe

    posted 10 months ago. ( send a note )
  • warrick

    warrick says

    Hi Luke; not Head of English, Head of Curriculum, though I keep one teaching class. We did the 'Encountering Conflict' context which I think is one of the least interesting, but most popular. The best text there is probably 'The Crucible'. Also enjoyed teaching '1984' again.

    posted 10 months ago. ( send a note )
  • warrick

    warrick says

    Hi Luke; not Head of English, Head of Curriculum, though I keep one teaching class. We did the 'Encountering Conflict' context which I think is one of the least interesting, but most popular. The best text there is probably 'The Crucible'. Also enjoyed teaching '1984' again.

    posted 10 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Christine Kloas

    Christine Kloas says

    are you holding a plate of herring. you should have gone for the roll mop variety - far more pretty. i hope it didn't look pretentious but i really am reading les mis - for the fourth time! i love it and find it really easy going at the beach. i ssaw on facebook you had been at frankston beach - let me know next time i'm there all the time. happy reading - i'm looking forward to some inspiring ideas from you.

    posted 10 months ago. ( send a note )