ABSTRACT
Julian Barnes wrote A History of the World in 10½ Chapters (Barnes 1989). In the first chapter, he tells the story of Noah and the Ark from the view of a woodworm. Woodworms were stowaways on the Ark, it wasn’t considered a very helpful idea to have woodworms on a wooden boat when the integrity of the wooden vessel was the only thing between a secure future for mankind and perishing in a catastrophic flood that would destroy all living things on earth. The woodworm flippantly tells us about the culture of the Ark through its eyes. I quite like the idea of stowing away, hanging around, and ‘eating up’ my fill of my surroundings while I observe. If I am to introduce you to this book, however, my role here cannot be so hidden; I can’t really lurk in the shadows and observe, quietly soaking up the richness of the words encapsulated here, I need to play a more active role. I will therefore choose a role of curator instead of woodworm. As editors, we have curated. We have made decisions as to what subjects, chapters, and people to include in this book, and we have made decisions about what to leave out. We have decided on an order, a ‘display design’ of our collection, if you will, a collection to capture your interest, something a little different perhaps, and within this collection, we have chosen what we might like to draw your attention to.
