Book Freak #265 — Deep Cut Edition

The forgotten H.G. Wells novel that reads like next week

Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island (1928) is the late, nearly-forgotten H. G. Wells novel that he called his own Candide. A comfortable Englishman is betrayed, breaks down, and washes up among the cannibals of Rampole Island, where a giant prehistoric ground sloth still lumbers through the gorges and nothing is what it seems. It is the first Deep Cut I’ve turned into a full Book Freak Edition for the new reading club, and you can download the ebook below.

Most people have heard of H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds. Almost nobody has heard of Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island. I stumbled on it in the early 2000s, when I was on a reading jag about people getting stranded on deserted islands.

Published in 1928, Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island was the 38th of the 52 novels Wells wrote. His first was The Time Machine (1895); his last was You Can’t Be Too Careful, published in 1941, five years before his death.

It’s narrated in the first person by Arnold Blettsworthy, a wide-eyed optimist whose faith in a decent, orderly world collapses when he finds his best friend and his fiancee in bed together. To clear his head, Blettsworthy sets off on an ocean voyage around the world, and ends up cast away on “Rampole Island,” a place of savages that turns out to be a mirror held up to civilization itself.

The book is part castaway adventure, part social satire, and part something stranger and more inward. As Blettsworthy himself puts it, “the story I have to tell is at its core a mental case.” Wells is exploring a single disordered mind rather than a distant planet, an early experiment in what later science fiction would call “inner space.”

It didn’t sell well. Wells’s biographer David Smith calls it one of his “least read books.” But the reviews were warm. A 1928 notice in *TIME*, headlined “Sacred Lunatic,” called it “an eminently good yarn packed with humor, humanity.” Wells’s friend the historian Eileen Power thought it “absolutely first class.” Later judgments were kinder still: Everett Bleiler, surveying early science fiction, called it “a very interesting, well-accomplished book.”

Core Principles

We are raised on false assurances

Adrift on a sinking derelict, certain he is about to drown, Blettsworthy works out where his optimism came from. “To keep us quiet when we are children, and to make us nice and good and confident, we are given all sorts of assurances about life for which there are no justifications, and by the time we have found them out we are already too far off from human things to expose the deception.”

The savage island is a mirror

Rampole Island looks at first like pure adventure-story exotica: cannibals, war drums, a soothsayer, sheer cliffs. The longer Blettsworthy lives there, the more its cruelties start to rhyme with the civilization he came from. The islanders justify their savagery with elaborate ritual and high-sounding talk, exactly the way respectable people do. By the time you reach the end, you understand that the island was never as far from London or New York as it pretended to be.

The dreary megatheria

The giant sloths are huge, filthy, slow beasts that are protected by the people who half-worship and half-fear them. They represent dogmatic thinking and old hatreds that are kept alive because nobody can imagine the world without them.

You can be disillusioned and still choose to go on

Blettsworthy loses his comfortable optimism (and a good deal more). But he finds a smaller, tougher, clearer-eyed willingness to keep living and keep loving. Wells, who had every reason in 1928 to write a bitter book (his wife died a year earlier), wrote a humane one instead. .

Try It Now

1. Write down one “assurance about life” you were handed as a child (hard work always pays off, good people get their reward, the system is basically fair). Then write down one time reality contradicted it.
2. Find one of your own megatheria: a habit, a grudge, a tradition, an opinion you keep alive for no good reason. Ask what it would cost to let it finally go extinct.
3. Read forty pages of Mr. Blettsworthy this week and share your thought in the discussion thread below.

Quote

“The abnormal is only the normal disproportioned.”

Download the Book Freak Edition

This is the first featured pick of the Deep Cuts Reading Club, the new paid-subscriber benefit. Every month I take a forgotten public-domain book and make a a clean ebook in EPUB and PDF.

Your copy of Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island is linked below — grab the EPUB for your phone or e-reader, or the PDF to read anywhere…

Book Freak is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run Recomendo, the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, and Book Freak.

Cable Luggage Lock/Compact Speaker/Duffel Bag in a Pouch

Nomadico issue #213

Retractable Luggage Lock for Suitcases

There’s no shortage of articles and videos online about people having their whole suitcase or daypack stolen while in a public place or on a train, especially in Europe. I nap easy on a train even if my bag is at the end of the compartment thanks to this inexpensive retractable cable luggage lock. It can fit through zipper clasps on quality suitcases or through the handles to ensure that your bag is not going anywhere until you unlock it with your combination.

JBL Go Speaker Packs a Punch

I like this little water-resistant Bluetooth speaker so much that when I lost one, I bought the same model as a replacement. It fits in the palm of my hand and is easy to pack, but punches above its size in volume and bass, providing a good sonic range. The newest model is the JBL Go5, but I have the Go4 and it’s technically equal but just doesn’t light up (preferable to me) and it’s under $40.

Small Electric Toothbrush

Back in July of 2024 I highlighted the slim Philips One by Sonicare electric travel toothbrush that I’d bought. I made a mistake and got the battery powered one that has since been discontinued. It’s still going strong, but my wife has the rechargeable one that is still available and has also performed well for even longer. It doesn’t vibrate as hard as a big one like people have at home, but it’s lighter and much smaller for packing—not much bigger than a regular manual toothbrush.

Packable Duffel Bag

Ever need to come home with more items than you left with? You could buy additional luggage on the other end, but when I can anticipate this happening, like I did this trip from shopping and getting useful trade show swag, I bring along a duffel bag that packs down into a little pouch. I have tried a few different ones, all working well, but here are two examples from Eagle Creek and Bago. One of these can also be useful if you manage to jam everything into an underseat bag for a short trip on a budget airline and want a larger bag to expand into for moving around on the other end.

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

What’s in my NOW? — Todd Henion

issue #260

Todd Henion is a recently retired airline pilot now trying to fix the world one toaster at a time.

PHYSICAL

• Finite and Infinite Games – James Carse: This book has changed all the measures and time markers in my life. Understanding and identifying an infinite game radically adjusts my goals and roles. Simon Sinek has recently reworked and broadened this dichotomy into organizational psychology in his book The Infinite Game. Both categories of game are worth playing, but the rules and outcomes are dramatically different.
• JetStream Pens: There is no better smooth ballpoint pen. Pretty cheap and very reliable. Everyday ballpoint writer with stunningly gentle flow.
• 11-in-1 Klein Screwdriver: Among the highlights of my month are our local Repair Cafes. Neighbors bring in broken and damaged appliances, clothes, and all sorts of stuff. We volunteers try to repair them in collaboration with the owner. This simple multi-bit screwdriver that I carry most days, allows access to the insides of so many household items—despite different screw types—allowing me to work to understand how the machine works and how to put it right. The puzzle-solving, in partnership with the owner, is really joyful. A screwdriver can be a magic key.

DIGITAL

• Libby App: Having 10-20 good books in my pocket at all times to divert my scrolling brain into a story or concept is the fruition of childhood fantasy. And add that it is all free and very pleasant to use.
• Instapaper (Read it Later app for news and websites): “One should always have something sensational to read on the train” —Wilde

INVISIBLE

“I don’t mind what happens.” — J. Krishnamurti*

I discovered this quote many years ago and just recently (two or three years ago) started to interrogate what he might have meant and what it means to me. I find it represents both a “Yes, and…” acceptance of our very limited ability for control. And subtracts the unhealthy attachment to outcomes that we automatically generate.

“I don’t mind what happens. That is the essence of inner freedom. It is a timeless spiritual truth: release attachment to outcomes, deep inside yourself, you’ll feel good no matter what.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti

Sign up here to get What’s in my NOW? a week early in your inbox.

The Sartorialist / Asterix and the Missing Scroll

Issue No. 124

THE SARTORIALIST – NYC STYLISH STRANGERS HAPPILY CAUGHT BY A CANDID CAMERA

The Sartorialist
by Scott Schuman
Penguin Books
2009, 512 pages, 5.2 x 7.4 x 1.6 inches (softcover)

Buy on Amazon

Scott Schuman once worked in the fashion industry but found that the outfits that amateurs wore on the streets of New York City to be a lot more interesting than those from famous designers. He began photographing people on the street who caught his eye, and, with their permission, posted their images on his blog, The Sartorialist. His street photos had their own style, and soon fashion followers were happy to be caught by Schumans’s candid camera. Soon The Sartorialist blog became legendary in the fashion world. It was also the first of many photo blogs to feature street fashion – showcasing what people with a personal flair wore everyday. This brick of a book collects the best of The Sartorialist’s first 10 years of images. It works as a one-stop shop of hip clothing designs; it also works as a document of “what they wore” in 2010; and it also works as a cool gallery of contemporary fashion photography. It lacks the richness of the life stories in Humans of New York, but it gains something by focusing so obsessively on the design decisions of creative people. A second volume called The Sartorialist X, takes Schuman outside of New York to other cities of the world. – Kevin Kelly

THE LATEST ASTERIX BY THE NEW TEAM IS MORE INVENTIVE AND MUCH FUNNIER THAN ITS PREDECESSOR

Asterix and the Missing Scroll
by Jean-Yves Ferri (author) and Didier Conrad (illustrator)
Asterix
2015, 48 pages, 8.9 x 11.6 x 0.4 inches

Buy on Amazon

One has to sympathize with the writer-artist team of Ferri and Conrad, taking on the daunting task of creating new adventures for Asterix 56 years after the small-but-mighty Asterix the Gaul’s creation by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. The new team’s first Asterix adventure, “Asterix and the Picts” in 2013, was understandably a little stiff, both in terms of humor and art, as if the new guys didn’t want to risk disrupting so many years of tradition. This time around, however, they’ve loosened up considerably.

“Asterix and the Missing Scroll,” the 36th entry in the series, is more inventive in plot and much funnier both in script and visuals than its predecessor. The story is a riff on the WikiLeaks scandal, and a quite brilliant one at that. It turns out a journalist named – punningly, in the best Goscinny tradition – Confountheirpolitix, has secured a censored chapter from Julius Caesar’s autobiography that details the emperor’s repeated defeats at the hands of Asterix, his rotund pal Obelix, and their village of indomitable Frenchmen. The journalist wants to publish the story, so he turns to the only people Caesar can’t beat to help him with the job. Hi-jinks, of course, ensue.

Along with the light political commentary, there are the usually puns and running jokes – Obelix is flustered by his horoscope, which warns him to cut back on his favorite meal of roast boar, and complains about his fate throughout the book. There’s also a clever scene near the end that pays loving tribute to the strip’s original creators.

Conrad’s art is gorgeous. While he’s still emulating Uderzo, his line is a bit crisper and he pulls off several showstopping large panels, beautifully composed and full of rich detail. His visual storytelling is smooth and clear and he pulls off slapstick scenes without a hitch. Only the least-forgiving of Asterix purists would dislike this story, and those new to the series should be thoroughly entertained – even young children who don’t get all the subtext. It’ll be fun to see what the new team does next time around, when they’re even more comfortable filling Goscinny and Uderzo’s shoes. – John Firehammer

Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.

Projectiles

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 196

Best paper airplanes

The New World Champion Paper Airplane Book

How to make better paper airplanes. This is the third generation of books offering plans for the best, and these really are better. They were designed with the aid of aeronautical testing. The winning design flew a record 226 feet. Know what? The ultimate paper airplane still has not been invented. Distance isn’t everything. This book will help you invent it. — KK

Safe boomerang

Aerobie Orbiter

This lightweight boomerang won’t kill you if it happens to strike you or a passerby. It flies fast, wide, and sure. Easy to catch because of its closed shape. It does take practice to get a full no-move-from-start return, but anyone can get it to come mostly back. You’ll need a football-sized empty field for its 90-foot circle performance. Unlike a frisbee, it can be a lot of fun solo. — KK

Easy catch

FlingSock

Even the most sports-impaired among us can enjoy this well designed little toy: take a bean-bag, wrap it in grippy fabric, and add a tail: voila, the FlingSock. Better than other “flying tails”, in my opinion. It flies amazingly far (sometimes too far — be careful that it doesn’t end up on a roof). Even when it smacks me in the head, the light polyethylene pellet filled bag don’t hurt a bit. Doesn’t bounce either, so it won’t pop out of your hand or roll unexpectedly into the street. Easily sized to grab, with grippy rubberized fabric to keep it from slipping, and a fabric tail for second chance catches, as well as fabulous flinging…all in cheery, rainbow tie-dye colors. The mini size is perfect for slipping into school backpacks, flipping around in your yard, or to keep handy in the car for spontaneous flings — rolled up, it’s about the size of a small lemon. The regular size can and will go 30 yards and more — better save that one for the park! — Barbara Dace

A frisbee for clowns and kids

Beamo

A Beamo is somewhere between a flying hula hoop, a slow-motion nerf disc, and a gigantic frisbee. The doughnut design makes it easy to catch using any part of your body, and since it softly boings when it hits something, it’s super safe. Also, being large (30 inches) and slow and reversible, it’s slightly easier than a frisbee to maneuver. Perfectly sized for kids, and oodles of fun for adults, it WILL tire you out. I recently witnessed a conference of chair-bound nerds rise up and break out into sweat to play with a Beamo for hours on end. It’s hard to remain motionless when this Clown Frisbee is in the air. — KK

Simple water cannon

Stream Machine

The genius of these water cannons are their simplicity. A single moving part — a big fat piston with handle grip — squeezes a wide stream of water down and out their large diameter tubes. Filling them you reverse, sucking in water via the same orifice. When loaded (takes about 2 seconds) they gush water at least 30 feet. Impossible to clog, and nearly unbreakable, both kids and adults can operate them around pools, lakes, rafts, canoes and boats. These are the regulation-issued weapons at our place. — KK

Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

Works in Progress / 100 greatest bird names / Cat water fountain

Recomendo - issue #520

If you find any value in our little hand-written, hand-crafted, mostly free newsletter, the best thing you can do for us in return is to refer Recomendo to your friends. Because our casual suggestion might not be sufficient, we have added a tangible incentive: subscriber referral rewards. When you share Recomendo with friends who sign up using your unique link (at the bottom of every email), we will reward them with our free newsletter and reward you with some special thank‑yous.

• At 4 referrals, you’ll receive an exclusive post, Things That Should Be Better Known — a curated PDF guide to our own most dependable, most used, favorite products that should be better known.
• At 7 referrals, you’ll get an invitation to join one of our live quarterly AMA office‑hours calls, where you can ask us anything.
• At 10 referrals, we’ll send you a personalized doodle from us as a small, distinctive unique hand‑made thank you.

Your personal referral link lives at the bottom of each Recomendo newsletter email. Forward the issue to anyone you think would enjoy useful recommendations every week, and suggest they sign up. If they do, we will keep track and thank you with a flourish of small favors.

Underrated new ideas

Before I edited Wired magazine, I edited the Whole Earth Review (formerly CoEvolution Quarterly). It was a magazine for conceptual news. We published new ideas. Since its demise, blogs and Substack in general have taken up that role. But starting a few years ago, a new magazine has appeared that is the closest replacement to Whole Earth. Called Works in Progress, published by the payments company Stripe, its mission is to disseminate “new and underrated ideas to improve the world.” Broadly the articles cover technology, science, building stuff, policy, and cultural innovations, but always with a slant on making progress, moving forward, a sense of optimism about what is possible. They publish new ideas. A couple of examples from recent issues: vaccinating wild animals, creating a rat-free city, using micro-bubbles to deliver drugs. Works in Progress is the only magazine I get delivered on paper; I enjoy reading its designed pages, and getting the extra bits you don’t get online. All the main articles are online for free, and also available as a Substack subscription. Their treasure trove of back issues has more new ideas per minute than anywhere else I know. — KK

100 greatest bird names of all time

Bless the bird lovers who take the time to make lists like this. Robert Francis ranked the 100 greatest bird names of all time, and my affinity for the bird kingdom keeps deepening the more I meet. They’re all so cute, and I wish I could hold them rather than scroll through them. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but based on names and cuteness combined, #96 Handsome Fruiteater beats out the rest. — CD

Stainless steel cat water fountain

My next-door neighbor has one of water fountains for pets says his cats love it. Cats seem to be naturally drawn to the sound and look of running water, and they’ll often drink from a fountain when they’d ignore a regular bowl. This one is made of stainless steel, so there are no seams or plastic crevices for bacteria to hide in, and it’s dishwasher-safe for easy cleaning. It holds 74oz, enough to keep multiple cats watered for days, and a window on the side lets you check the level without lifting the lid. The 5V pump runs quietly, and it comes with three activated-carbon filters. — MF

Webpage folk art

This is fun, and worth a few minutes glance: Creativity in the form of archived web pages from the dawn of the internet. When the web was first sprung upon the world in the 1990s, anybody could make a website themselves, but no pages had yet been made so there was no agreement on what a website should look like, then suddenly a million people created millions of websites without designers, but stuffed with colors, fonts, icons, animations, pictures, infinite scrolls, no limits. The exuberance is boundless. Someone selected the best from this wild big bang and merged it into one page. It’s our era’s folk art. — KK

Museum quality display stands

I am a crystal collector, although for legitimacy purposes I’d rather call them mineral specimens, and they deserve to be on display, not in a drawer or crowded on a shelf. Art Display Essentials is a great source for museum quality stands, with pricing comparable to other online storefronts. Highly recommend if you’re an amateur collector who wants to level up their setup. — CD

Electronics for kids

Electronics for Kids, a new book by Øyvind Nydal Dahl’s, starts with the basics — making a battery from a lemon, turning a bolt into an electromagnet — then moves into soldering real circuits, and finally into digital electronics, introducing logic gates and memory circuits before culminating in an LED reaction game that tests how fast you can catch a blinking light. The illustrations are clear throughout. Despite the title, I’d recommend it for adults as well as kids. — MF

Sign up here to get Recomendo a week early in your inbox.

What’s in my NOW? — Todd Henion