Secrets of the London Library | Hacker News Reader

Secrets of the London Library

londonist.com

101 pointsbenbreen21 comments

> The Football Association was established at a fiery meeting in which the rules of football were laid down. Blackheath FC were overruled in their wish to allow "hacking" (kicking an opponent in the leg)

That developed into its own, less popular, sport.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin-kicking

> Shin-kicking, also known as hacking[1] or purring, is a combat sport that involves two contestants attempting to kick each other on the shin in order to force their opponent to the ground. It has been described as an English martial art.[1] It originated in England in the early 17th century, and was one of the most popular events at the Cotswold Olympic Games until the Games ended in the 1850s.[2]

Here's a short video from GLoucester shin kicking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN21wCbxjWk

Gloucestershire is also home to the annual Cheese Rolling. (No broken limbs this year.)

"It has been described as an English martial art by those whom partake in this absurd sport and no one else."

Fixed that for Wikipedia.

Watching that video I was surprised how familiar it looks. There are similarities to muay Thai (Thai boxing). There are of course big differences. In muay thai the low kicks are primarily aimed at the thigh rather than the shins and punches, knees and elbows are also allowed HOWEVER two people in a clinch hacking at each others legs brought back memories.

People might like the novel "Rose" by Martin Cruz Smith (he of Gorky Park fame) who wrote a book set in Wigan which features (naked) clog fighting aka shin kicking.

https://www.amazon.com/Rose-Martin-Cruz-Smith-ebook/dp/B006Q...

Great institution, though a bit expensive. I heard about it through a blog post by Stephen Fry, who is a big fan: http://www.stephenfry.com/2011/12/londonlibrary/

I did not join, but did go on one of their public tours, which was really interesting: http://www.londonlibrary.co.uk/about-us/public-tours-events

I would love to spend a few days there just taking it all in.

I visited Europe for the first time last year. My favorite part of the holiday was walking through the streets of the old village's in Germany and Switzerland marvelling at the history.

Here in New Zealand a 100 year old building seems ancient. So a 1,000 year old bridge was mind blowing.

We got invited to a mass in the church at the local castle in the village we stayed in, that was an unreal experience. Something I will never forget. I don't think Europeans realise how lucky they're to be so connected to there past.

This sounds a bit "Rick Steves" to me. Europe has a violent past, generally fueled by antagonisms with roots in the even deeper past. The 16th C bridge at Mostar, destroyed and rebuilt in the last couple of decades, is an example of built heritage as a hostage to violent forces in the present.

Tangible heritage of all kinds is at risk (of rising sea levels, of war) and it doesn't mean a lot to most people because they have no direct involvement with it. There's an increasing awareness that it is the intangible and living aspects that really must be preserved:

http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/

Australian here. I have had the same reaction when visiting Europe and trundling around little villages in Ireland.

Another Aussie here, I'm headed over for 8 weeks in September - November and this is by far and away the most exciting prospect for me. I'll be spending some time driving around the place just marvelling at the concept that buildings older than 150 years old exist.

They do daily and weekly tickets, for 15 and 50 pounds respectively. Must be booked in advance.

http://www.londonlibrary.co.uk/join/join-online

>I don't think Europeans realise how lucky they're to be so connected to there past.

It is a double edged sword. Its great they have that connection but that can lead people to glamorize the past and to focus on trying to hold onto the past while neglecting the future.

When I spend time in the UK I am always surprised how frequently history comes up in conversation, how positively it is spoken about and how gloomy everyone's descriptions of the present and future are. Apparently the past was great and the future is bleak (even years pre-Brexit). There is one notable exception, the Margaret Thatcher years get brought up at least once a week by family/friends/strangers on the bus and described very negatively

In Australia where I am from the past bright/future gloomy logic is reversed. The past rarely comes up and discussions about the present and future tends towards optimism.

Australian living in Germany here. I had similar thoughts when I started living in Germany in 2009. One of my thoughts was the church in my local German village is older than the Australian consititution by centuries. However, I realised that this is history as defined by European cultures. If is open this up to include Aboriginal culture, we can start to talk about similar time frames. I believe that Maori cultures would have similar time frames as well.

> Accompanying it is a Victorian version of Google — books are arranged by a proprietary subject classification system designed by the organising supremo Charles Hagberg Wright, librarian from 1893 to 1940.

I had up until this point thought everyone just used the Dewey Decimal system, but it turns out library classification algorithms are quite a bit more nuanced than expected.

> Some classification systems are more suitable for aiding subject access, rather than for shelf location. For example, Universal Decimal Classification, which uses a complicated notation of pluses and colons, is more difficult to use for the purpose of shelf arrangement but is more expressive compared to DDC in terms of showing relationships between subjects. Similarly faceted classification schemes are more difficult to use for shelf arrangement, unless the user has knowledge of the citation order.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_classification

The London Library may be wonderful, but it embodies one side of the old "two cultures": disdain for the technical (quantitative) side of science and technology.

From Wikipedia (sorry):

"Pure and natural sciences, technology, medicine and law are not within the library's purview, although it has some books in all of those fields; books on their histories are normally acquired."

> The books in the lending collection date from 1700 to the present day — there are over one million of them, housed on the shelves together — and all can be borrowed.

I wonder how they bill the cost of a lost book that irreplaceable.

Somehow, the "my dog chewed on it" excuse would not cut it. :-)

Seriously, do they have a profile for those who can borrow a book, and under what conditions can the book be lent?

And so the net sings of its dying begetters. Sic transit.

I have been a member for some years now and it's definitely my favourite place in London (and thus, the planet) but that's entirely because I'm somewhat institutionalized and feel quite at home here. Only a few weeks ago I discovered an entire stairwell and section I had no idea about. An absolute treasure and packed with treasure.

All your other comments from the last ~3yrs are marked as [dead] (and this one was, too) -- you might be hellbanned, just fyi. Declaring London above all else in the world is certainly controversial, but not downvote-into-oblivion contoversial ;)

Wry writing.

The field was trampled, but now I see the rye righting.

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