BBC 100 book meme - or is it?

There is currently a book meme going on at facebook, which refers to a list of 100 books that BBC apparently have made, and which they recons that most people will only have read six books from. The rules are simple

pparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.
Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.

I guess the simple fact that most people have read more than six books from the list is an attempt to make people feel superior to the BBC people who though that no-one would have read six. Of course, there is only one problem - no matter how hard I look, I can't find the list anywhere at the BBC website. What I could find, was BBC's The Big Read, which is a list of the 100 most popular books. That list little resembles the list used in the BBC 100 books meme - in fact, only 57 on the original list made it to the new list used in the meme.

Well, being into books and all, I'll make the meme with both lists. Let's first start with the original BBC list (I'm also going to add '-' after those that I dislike)

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien x-
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen x
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman x
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams x+
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling x
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee *
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne x
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell x
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis x
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë *
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller x
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë *
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier x
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger x-
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame x
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens x
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott x
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy *
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling x
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling x
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling x
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien x
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving x-
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck *
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll x
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett *
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens x
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson x
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen x
39. Dune, Frank Herbert x
40. Emma, Jane Austen x
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams x
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald x+
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell x+
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens x+
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck *
53. The Stand, Stephen King x
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer x
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden *
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens x
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett x
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles x
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman x+
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett x
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding x
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind *
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett x
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt x+
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins x
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens x
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake *
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley *
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist x
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac * (actually my next read)
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo *
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel x
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett x
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

And now for the new, meme list, which is a little more high-brow.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen x
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien x
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte *
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling x
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *
6 The Bible x
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte *
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell x
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman x
10 Great Epectations - Charles Dickens x
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott x
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller x
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare x
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier x
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien x
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger x-
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald x+
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens x
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams x+
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh *
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck *
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll x
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame x
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens x
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis x
34 Emma - Jane Austen x
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen x
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis x
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden *
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne x
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell x
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown x------
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving x-
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins x
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood x+
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding x
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert x
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens x
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huley *
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon *
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck *
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov x
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt x+
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold *
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Aleandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac *
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville *
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens x
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker x
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson x
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath x+
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt *
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens x+
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell x
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker *
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro *
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert *
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle x
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad x
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Eupery x
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks x
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams x
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Aleandre Dumas x
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare x
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo *

Again, the original BBC list is a list of the most popular books, so it would make little sense for BBC to claim that most people have only read six books on that list.

Update: Several people have commented that the list is from the Guardian, and based upon an online poll for World Book Day in 2007. The list can be found here. Again, it's a list of popular books, so there is no claim about people having only read six of those books - on the contrary, people are asked to list the top ten books they couldn't live without, which would mean that the respondents have read at least 10 books on the list.

Six Arbitrary Things About Me Meme

It appears to be the season of memes, and I've been tagged again, this time by Mike Haubrich

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random arbitrary things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Arbitrary factoid #1: I hold a dual Danish-Australian citizenship. This is an artifact of having parents from two different countries.

Arbitrary factoid #2: I grew up with two parents who smoked. This might explain why I have never felt attracted to smoking myself.

Arbitrary factoid #3: While this might surprise people who work with me, I consider myself rather shy. Not in the quiet way that some people are shy, but rather in the way that I don't feel comfortable in social situations where I don't know anyone. If I am at a party where I know few or no people, odds are that I'll leave early - unless of course, I get drunk, in which case I am less bothered by such things.

Arbitrary factoid #4: I hate calling people on the phone if I haven't called them before. For some reason I find the whole concept of perhaps calling the wrong person very embarrassing. Funny enough, I don't have any problems calling someone I have called before.

Arbitrary factoid #5: Factoid #4 leads quite naturally to the fact that I embarrass easily, and hate embarrassing situations, or even movies. You won't catch me watching American comedies, since these are usually based upon the funniness of embarrassing situations.

Arbitrary factoid #6: It appears that I am good at networking. Even among consultants, who are in general good at this, I am considered good at it. This is a useful skill in work-related situations, but my friends also benefits from this skill once in a while.

As is my habit, I won't tag anyone, but if any of my readers wants to do the meme, feel free.

End of Year Meme

Tyler DiPietro has tagged me with this meme from his new haunt

Basically I have to answer some questions about the upcoming year.

1. Will you be looking for a new job?

This is the sort of question that it would be unwise to answer truthfully, if I had planned to. Fortunately I can say truthfully that I don't plan to change job any time soon. In 2006 I shopped around a bit, but I am pretty satisfied with my current job.

2. Will you be looking for a new relationship?

Yes. Or, sort of. Meaning that I probably won't exactly be looking for one, but I will certainly be open for one.

3. New house?

Do I look that rich? Houses are waaaaay out of my price range. I bought a nice little apartment (one bedroom, two rooms in total) at the end of last month, and have moved into it. So I doubt I will be moving anywhere next year.

4. What will you do differently in 08?

Spend more time with friends. Exercise more, among other things by driving my bike more. Other than that, I can't really think of anything.

5. New Years resolution?

Loose weight, exercise more. Maybe (just maybe) drink less.

6. What will you not be doing in 08?

Study much. I am kind of burned out from both working full time and study at the same time, so I will finish my current school stuff, and then take a break.

7. Any trips planned?

Not really, but I do plan on going traveling.

8. Wedding plans?

See 2.

9. Major thing on your calendar?

Not anything that I can think of at the top of my head.

10. What can’t you wait for?

Getting rid of Bush and Cheney.

11. What would you like to see happen differently?

Globally, I'd like to see less violence, and more focus on Global Warming. In my own life, I'd like to prioritize friends higher - periodically I've been too busy to see enough of them.

12. What about yourself will you be changing?

My shape. And I'll try to be less arrogant.

13. What happened in 07 that you didn’t think would ever happen?

Hmmmm..... Except for some personal things that I won't share, to protect other peoples' privacy, I can't think of anything.

14. Will you be nicer to the people you care about?

I am generally a nice guy towards other people, but I am sure that there is room for improvement, so that is certainly something to aim for.

15. Will you dress differently this year than you did in 07?

Yes. Less jeans and t-shirts and more pants and shirts (though probably not ties too often). I used to have a job where I had to wear shirt and tie, and as a reaction totally stopped wearing that sort of things after I changed jobs. Now, I think it's time to wear them occasionally.

16. Will you start or quit drinking?

I might drink less. And things of higher quality. What I certainly will do, is to buy less alcohol for the home bar.

17. Will you better your relationship with your family?

Don't particularly plan on it. I get along with them pretty well, but most of them live on the opposite side of the world from me.

18. Will you do charity work?

No.
Charity work is not something that's widespread in Denmark, as we pay for a welfare system through our taxes.

19. Will you go to bars?

Yes, though probably less so than during 2007.

20. Will you be nice to people you don’t know?

Within reason, yes.

21. Do you expect 08 to be a good year for you?

As a matter of fact, I do.

22. How much did you change from this time last year till now?

It's always hard to tell about yourself, but I don't think I've changed so much in the last couple of years.

23. Do you plan on having a child?

No.

24. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now?

I think I will have more friends by the end of the year than I have now, but my current friends are generally people I've known for at least five years, so I don't expect to loose any of them.

25. Major lifestyle changes?

More healthy living.

26. Will you be moving?

See 3.

27. What will you make sure doesn’t happen in 08 that happened in 07?

I can't think of anything. I live a boring life.

28. What are your New Years Eve plans?

None so far. Might go out and drink with some friends, but it could end up with me staying at home.

29. Will you have someone to kiss at midnight?

Not as far as I know.

30. One wish for 08?

A Democratic President in the US.

At this point I should tag people, but I think I'll skip that part for now. If anyone wants to be tagged, consider themselves being so.

A question to all you (science) bloggers

We are getting close to the end of the year, and I have been wondering what my fellow bloggers, perhaps especially science oriented bloggers, think about something.

What has been the best science moment of 2007, and what has been the worst?

Here I am thinking very broadly. It can relate to science discoveries, news, policies, frauds, and even issues further from the field of science (such as the Republican Presidential candidates showing if they rejected the theory of evolution).

If you have a good answer, then leave a comment, or link to this post from where you've posted the answer.

It could be interesting to see what everyone thinks.