Book Title:  A Brief History of Candle Making
Author:  Paul R. Wonning
Genre: Non-Fiction
Published:  June 2014

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Hello and welcome to Berg's Book Club. Today's book is an unusual one. It is a non-fiction book on candle making. A Brief History of Candle Making by Paul R. Wonning.

Ok, this is a hard book to review because it's very short. I mean, it ends on the kindle location, 291. I don't know what that converts to page-wise but as the average seems to be a few thousand kindle locations for a 300 page book, it takes a few minutes to read. So roughly 10 pages?

I tell you why I read this book. I'm writing a screenplay set in the industrial revolution, the protagonist's dad, Kenneth, is a chandler and I wanted to make sure the imagery was correct on screen.

Was it helpful? A little.

I did manage to write a beautiful scene between the father and the son using this book and cross-referencing with others. Kenneth teaches Benjamin how to create candles. However, Benjamin is a bit of a cluts and manages to mess it up. So it was useful for that scene.

It was also useful in setting up the shop details. There's specific types of wax that would or would not be used during that time. The most commonly used one would be sperm whale wax, so it was useful for me to add that to the script too as sort of scene backgrounds and to let the director know what ideas I may have for mis-en-scene.

I also learned that the 1800s candles didn't have an odour because they discarded tallow. I wasn't expecting that! So that was good to know.

There was a paragraph or two on each candle, where it came from, when it was used and how it improved lightning, so it has helped me identify in my screenplay that the candles need to look like they're made from sperm whales.

But I was expecting a bit more. I want to know how they processed the wax, the details of how they handmade candles. Just so I could visualise making a candle and then transfer that vision to my screenplay.

Non-Fiction book

This book isn't like the others I reviewed. There's no story, no characters. Because, well, you know... its a non-fiction book. As said, it is very short and I wish there was more in it than the 10 pages. However, I picked it up for a specific purpose that did help and that also gave me a starting point.

Although it only takes a few minutes to read and there's not a lot of content, it is a good place to start and what I have learned that I found helpful has featured in my screenplay for my dissertation.

As each candle only has one or two paragraphs, it is easy to dip in and out of. The writing is also not dry because it doesn't get lost in unnecessary detail. It also doesn't sound like the author is listing a bunch of facts nonchalantly.

I have read non-fiction books on topics that would be interesting if the author sounded more enthusiastic but instead sounds like they are just listing what they know about the topic with no real interest or love for it. Just information they think is important and don't care about (thinking specifically about a book on pidgin language I read for an essay). Paul R. Wonning avoids this completely and maybe the size and small sections helps there.

It's a difficult balance to get right. I still wish there was more content, but maybe just because of my own interest. The information would probably be enough for some people.

Overall thoughts

I'm going to give three and a half stars to this book. It's not a bad book, because it does what it says on the tin. It gives a brief history of candle making. I think it's just perhaps a little too brief. I don't know. As I say, very difficult to get the balance right. And there are probably a ton of fiction books people wish were longer as well because they wanted more. So there could be some of my own biases in the rating in that regard.

The book does what it says it will. It tells you what you need to know about candle making, briefly and to the point.

There are some interesting facts as well. There's a machine that was invented to create mass production of candles in the late 19th century. Not useful for my story, but interesting nonetheless.

I think it did help me with my imagery in my script, at least in the first few scenes anyway. However, I would say that it's worth the £1.99 only if you want a book on the basics of candle making. Which I did. So every penny was worth it.

About the Film

As part of my dissertation, I am writing a script. It's about a young boy born into an upper-class family who loses everything when the candle business is ruined by the industrial revolution. His father is thrown into debt prison, leaving him to look after his newly born baby brother.

So here's something for you guys. What do you think of the draft premise for this film? Does it make you want to watch it?

Here's the premise:

At the peak of the industrial revolution a boy faces challenges as his home and baby brother are put at risk.

Please let me know in comments, you don't have to be a WordPress user to comment. Also, does anyone have any good books about the chandlery business that you'd recommend?

Before you go

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have, why not read some other book reviews. There are plenty on here: Save the Cat by Blake Snyder and The Colour of Magic by Terry Prattchet just to name a few. And please do follow me on here, Facebook or Bluesky.

And don't forget to comment!

~Shannon~