Typing and a great book series

Ok, here are two quick items which have typing (and a man named Mr. Smith) in common.

Item #1: How fast can you type? Find out at this Web site which has you type in excerpts from the Gettysburg Address (I think) and calculates how many characters and words per minute you are typing. Accuracy counts -- a little indicator will turn red if you haven't typed in exactly what it's asked you to type.

Tip: stop typing as soon as you finish typing the text; if you type anything else, you'll dismiss the little pop-up window that tells you how many words or characters per minute you've typed!

I've been a pretty speedy though not terribly accurate typist ever since my high school typing class with Mr. Smith (no, really, my typing instructor's name was actually Mr. Smith). So depending on how many mistakes I made, I "scored" anywhere between 85 and 126 words per minute.

Item #2: Thanks to Rob & Jen for turning us onto a delightful series of novels by a Scottish writer named Alexander McCall Smith. Rob, as it turns out, is visiting Botswana in the fall as part of his medical training. And Mr. Smith has written a charming six-volume series of novels set in Botswana.

The books are about a woman who sets up her own detective agency, the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. The novels are less about private detection per se, but more about how people change as their country transforms from a purely rural country to a more urban country, from a traditional culture bound by "the old Botswana morality" to a less civil, more hurried modern culture.

The main characters are captivating, the writing is beautiful, and the stories will touch your heart. I heartily recommend the entire series. The books will have you pining for a simpler time and place. It will make you feel like you understand something about Botswana even if you -- like me -- have never set foot there.