Menu
Cutty
  • Chryslers
  • Lutherie
  • YLSNED
  • About
Cutty

Books I read in 2025

Posted on January 20, 2026January 22, 2026 by Iain Carlin

Not as prolific in 2025 as last year, but still managed at least one a month:

  • All Systems Red – Martha Wells
  • Brain Rules for Ageing Well – John Medina
  • Guide to Guitar Making for the Small Shop – George S Leach
  • Artificial Condition – Martha Wells
  • Rogue Protocol – Martha Wells
  • Exit Strategy – Martha Wells
  • Network Effect – Martha Wells
  • Fugitive Telemetry – Martha Wells
  • System Collapse – Martha Wells
  • Authentic Happiness – Marting Seligman
  • The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
  • Going for Broke – The Chrysler Story
  • Anger Management Workbook for Men
  • Unstuck – Dr Emily Musgrove
  • Scotland A Concise History – P Hume Brown
  • Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor E Frankle
  • Juice – Tim Winton
…
+

2024 was the best year for our solar system

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Iain Carlin

We made 6.712MWh this year. Previous best was 6.658 in 2019. Must have been sunnier than I thought!

…
+

Books I read in 2024

Posted on January 1, 2025January 1, 2025 by Iain Carlin

I really kranked on with the book reading in 2024. I had planned to read at least one book a month and I almost managed two. I rediscovered my local library and have been borrowing quite a few books rather than buying them.

Here is the annual list of books I read in 2024:

  • Old Man’s War – John Scalzi
  • The Last Emprox – John Scalzi
  • Sarum – Edward Rutherford
  • The Ferryman – Justin Cronin
  • The Happiness Advantage – Shawn Achor
  • The Ghost Brigades – John Scalzi
  • The Last Colony – John Scalzi
  • The Coming Wave – Mustafa Suleyman
  • Dirt Music – Tim Winton
  • The Turning – Tim Winton
  • In Ascension – Martin McInnes
  • Eyrie – Tim Winton
  • The Riders – Tim Winton
  • That Eye, The Sky – Tim Winton
  • Shallows – Tim Winton
  • The Finest of the Three – Gavin Farmer
  • Sapiens – Yuval Harari
  • Another Now – Yanis Varoufakis
  • Just Don’t be a Dickhead – Kasey Chambers
  • Retirement Made Simple – Noel Whittaker
  • Ultra-Processed People – Chris van Tulleken
  • Warlock – Wilbur Smith
  • A Periodic Tale – Dr Karl Kruszelnicki
…
+

Books I read in 2023

Posted on January 1, 2024January 1, 2024 by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

2023 was a big year for me for reading. I haven’t done that much for over a decade, so, I thought I would list off all the books that I read in 2023 (or at least the ones that I can remember):

  • I got right into John Scalzi after hearing him speak on the New Scientist podcast about Starter Villan:
    • Starter Villan
    • The Kaiju Preservation Society
    • The Collapsing Empire
    • The Consuming Fire
    • The Last Emperox
  • The Ulysses Contract – Michael Kemp
  • Outlive (The Science and Art of Longevity) – Dr Peter Attia
  • The Miracle Morning – Hal Elrond
  • Mindset – Carol Dweck
  • Aboriginal Myths, Legends and Fables – A.
…
+

Happy New Year 2024

Posted on January 1, 2024August 21, 2024 by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

What boring old farts we have become when we are in bed asleep at 9:30pm on New Year’s Eve. Woke up briefly at 12:05am to the sound of fireworks then drifted back off to sleep. Welcome 2024, looking forward to seeing what this year brings. Happy New Year everyone.…

+

Lawson – A life in words and music

Posted on September 5, 2022 by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

Friday 2nd September 2022, Adelaide Festival Theatre. Adelaide Symphony Orchestra + John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew with Richard Roxburgh as Narrator.

Overall I enjoyed it. I’m a big John Schumann fan and I’ve seen this show (without the ASO) three times now. I reckon the Lawson album is some of his best work. That said, the second half of the show was much better than the first. I thought the band overwhelmed the orchestra in the first bit – I was really struggling to pick out the orchestral instruments apart from the percussion section.

Not sure whether they were given a heads up, but pretty sure they turned the band down post interval.…

+

Instrument Making Course

Posted on February 3, 2021March 22, 2021 by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

I learned most about guitar making by doing the Instrument Making course at Tonsley TAFE. Unfortunately, TAFE have for some strange reason decided to discontinue that course (I thought it was very popular…go figure?!)

Anyway, Michael Snowden, who taught that course, has now set up his own business offering instruction on instrument making. Check out his website here: Adelaide Artisan Instrument Making. Guitar Making for everyone – Wood & Strings – Adelaide Artisan Instrument Making…

+

Jigging, plating and sanding

Posted on December 19, 2020 by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

So despite my lack of motivation, I did make some progress this week.

I thought I had finished making jigs, having completed acoustic number 4 entirely in my home workshop…apparently not.

Number 4 had a dovetail joint for the neck, for which I bought a template from Stew Mac and build my own device for using it. Nothing wrong with the jig or template, but I swear I’m not doing another dovetail joint, they are just too difficult!

So for this build, I’m doing straight mortise and tenon joint with bolt on neck.

But, I needed the template to cut the mortise and tenon.…

+

A building block….

Posted on December 19, 2020December 19, 2020 by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

I’ve been a bit unmotivated with the guitar making of late. Essentially because I have reached a bit of a blocker in the build process. You see, my daughter created a logo for me that I am putting on the heads of my guitars.

Nice logo, but my implementation leaves a lot to be desired!

The one I put on my last build (Acoustic #4) was a bit dodgy. Basically I printed it on my inkjet printer onto sticky backed paper then carefully cut it out and stuck it onto the head plate. That was fine until the lacquer and sanding process leached some of the colour out of it as you can see.…

+

Fridays are lutherie days!

Posted on December 19, 2020 by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

Earlier this year I negotiated with my employer to work 4 days a week, allowing me one day, Fridays, to spend in the workshop making guitars. So far it’s working out OK. A lot of those Fridays haven’t fully been spent on lutherie, or I’ve had medical appointments or lunch catch-ups with friends. I could probably have been more diligent about reserving Fridays just for lutherie.

Never the less, I have managed to punch out two bodies and start on two necks in that time, acoustic dreadnoughts number 5 and 6. I’m using timber I picked up from David Linton of Australian Guitar Timbers back in September 2019 when I was on holidays on the Sunshine Coast.…

+
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Next

Recent Posts

  • Books I read in 2025
  • 2024 was the best year for our solar system
  • Books I read in 2024
  • Books I read in 2023
  • Happy New Year 2024

Categories

  • Chryslers (1)
  • Cutty's Blog (13)
  • Lutherie (38)
  • You Learn Something New Every Day (44)
©2026 Cutty | Powered by Superb Themes