Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare is book one of the summer reading challenge.

I’m a fan of Bryson, and also of Shakespeare, so of course I am enjoying this book.

I hadn’t realized how little actual data there was about Shakespeare. Bryson begins with a recap of that, and points out that all the things people say about him are based on his writings.

How much can you tell about people from what they write? Especially if it’s plays? And/or if it’s for money?

I mean, you can tell a lot about me, and maybe all the others xangans I read (except possibly Ronism; his xanga tells us essentially that he’s a skilled writer with a bad case of pottymouth, and only those of us who know his former identity would know his personal info), from what I write here. But you can’t tell any personal details from the things I write for pay.

So why do people attempt to divine from Shakespeare’s plays what his love life was like or what he looked like? I guess just because we want to know.

That is all the time I have for idle thought.

I did take a little time yesterday for idle thought,and even for sleep, and then I got a plan for my website together , shot an email to the Computer Guy asking what format he wanted my stuff in, and went to bed around 11:00. This morning I found an email response, which means that he was working later than I, on a Sunday night.

I guess I’m in the right field.

This morning I have a client meeting, and tonight I have a further business meeting, and in between I have a new assignment, and must get the website stuff into the right form and sent off, and then there are all those other things — hookworm, you know, and my other blogs, and music theory, and learning the new software. So I am off now.