The Bookshelf
Future Visions of a Dublin Village
The latest Bespoke Book is out just in time for Christmas. During the long strange days of 2020, many people from Ranelagh in Dublin contributed to a new book about the future.
“Angle 2: Ranelagh in 2060” is a literary anthology with pictures. In it schoolchildren, poets, a doctor, an economist and award-winning authors let their imaginations run wild.
Dr Peter Boylan looks forward to huge advances in medicine, which are already in the works. How about having an app on your phone that can check your blood pressure – or perform an electrocardiogram? Already, he says, we have robots that can prescribe eye treatments better than doctors can.
Some contributors, such as Eamonn Ryan, our Minister for the Environment, talk about climate change and the need to tackle it head on. Others, such as schoolboy Sam Trehy Dinsmore, are looking forward to crazy new inventions like macaroni and cheese pills.
Photographer Brigid Tiernan did portraits of local personalities, such as broadcaster Rachel English, and asked them to share their visions of the future.
“Angle 2” attracted well-known authors including Anne Haverty and Rosita Sweetman, and poets John O’Donnell and Catherine Ann Cullen.
Personally, I love this scene of robots playing cricket in a green and pleasant 2060, by ten-year-old Síbha Bhoja. What an optimistic note to close out the book, and the year.
“Angle 2” is available in bookshops in Ranelagh and Donnybrook, and all profits go to the Peter McVerry Trust.
