In the world of ridiculous purchases, I have made a ridiculous purchase: Otto-Iivari Meurman's Asemakaava-Oppi, a 1982 reprint of a 1942 town planning text by a prominent Finnish planner. I wanted it for a book I'm writing, and in fact I wanted it badly, so I paid a lot, and irritatingly the copy I got though the binding is OK etc, has been extensively highlighted by a previous owner - with highlighter pens, with underlining, sometimes both. But I guess I will live. It has already divulged a couple of really interesting skerricks of information. Google translate has been my friend. Also, there are a couple of clippings about Meurman late in life, pasted into the front of the book, which are interesting but google translate - which as I mentioned is usually my friend - is having a lot of trouble working out one of them. Go figure.
