Sources
My research uses the following sources:
- Walkers book in both of its versions.
- Books in my collection.
- Books read at the Cambridge University Library.
- On-line sources such as Wikipedia, Graces Guide and Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB).
Over recent years I’ve done lots of reading.
- I have a ReadingList.
- Here are links to each years research 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013.
Method
The process starts with a copy of the Walker text from a web site. It was converted to MS Word and cleaned up because the scanning and OCR of the original left a lot of text errors. I collect the other material (Wikipedia, Graces ODNB etc.) and search for any books at the University Library. It is then a matter of finding the key thing (or things) that the subject is know for and makes them special or interesting. So for example:
- were they the first to do something
- or was it the largest, widest, strongest of its kind.
- did they Solve a problem that their predecessors had failed to solve.
Having sorted out the key points, its time to start writing and finding or creating illustrations and producing the Genograms, Maps and Timelines.
Enquiring Minds and Ingenious Mechanics 