And given to me for Christmas. My favorite Christmas gift:


Story behind the gift. I’m a big Archie Binns fan. One of my oldest (in actual age and in terms of how long I’ve owned it) Binns books is The Timber Beast. Because we’ve rearranged our house a few times in the past two years, my book collection has been moved, boxed and rearranged. The dust cover to Beast was one of the saddest casualties.

Last September I took the dust cover (which had begun to rip along the spine) off the book and set it aside. The tattered cover was because I’m an oaf, and because I forget some stuff, I didn’t realize that my wife picked it up and created a beautiful Christmas present for me. Better than the Wii.