Kung-Fu Kitty

I first encountered Patrick Moore about a year ago when Chris showed me a cartoon from a very cool site called weebls stuff, Patrick Moore Plays the Xylophone. I thought it was funny, cute, and all that entertaining stuff, but I really didn't give it any more thought. This summer, however, I was perusing the shelves of our local used bookstore, Black Cat Books, when I came across a copy of Can You Speak Venusian? by, you guessed it, Patrick Moore, and written in 1972.

I thought that this was the coolest thing in the world, as I'd had no previous concept of who this Patrick Moore character might be, exept for a funny old fat man who played the xylophone and had something to do with astronomy. I proceeded to buy and carry this book around, displaying it to whomever might be interested, but without much success. I guess I was showing it to all the wrong people.

Anyway, just recently, I finally finished reading the book, and it was entertaining indeed. He talks about the "independent thinker", or what I would normally refer to as someone who doesn't know heads or tails about science. At any rate, every subject, from a flat earth to Atlantis, from astrology to the end of the world was discussed. He has a delightfully conversational style of writing, and manages to respect the independent thinkers' ideas while still maintaining his own integrity. It was a quick and fun read, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

After further research, I discovered that Patrick Moore is actually quite a character, being an avid astronomer who did lots of work with Moon charts, an interesting television personality, with a show called The Sky At Night where he interviews various astronomer types, as well as a skilled cricket player, and, yes, a talented xylophone player. You can find his short biography here.

To sum up, here are some interesting quotes that might make you laugh, and because I can, I'll scan the cover of the book for your infinite enjoyment.

At my age I do what Mark Twain did. I get my daily paper, look at the obituaries page and if I'm not there I carry on as usual.

I'm only a four-dimensional creature. Haven't got a clue how to visualise infinity. Even Einstein hadn't. I know because I asked him.