Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
Quammen's The Boilerplate Rhino
Here's another title from recent weeks' reading: The Boilerplate Rhino, by David Quammen (New York : Simon & Schuster, 2000). It's one of his collections of essays, all of which were published originally in his monthly column for Outdoor magazine between 1988 and 1996. Like most collections it has uneven spots, but I enjoyed reading […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book
Shermer's Science Friction
Here's another title that I finished a couple of weeks ago: Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown., by Michael Shermer (New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2005). This, too, is a miscellaneous collection of essays, assembled under the general theme of skepticism and its central role in science. Some of the essays […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book
Lightman's A Sense of the Mysterious
Another of the books I've completed in recent weeks — but only get around to mentioning now — is A Sense of the Mysterious, by Alan Lightman. Lightman is known as a physicist turned novelist, and he has taught both subjects at MIT. As a physicist and writer of fiction I feel a certain kinship. […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book
Finlay's Jewels
I have been reading plenty lately, just not writing so much about the books. Now I'm trying to catch up a bit, which may be a hopeless task. One of the several fascinating titles from recent weeks was Victoria Finlay's Jewels : A Secret History (New York : Ballentine Books, 2006). It's an interesting read. […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book
Off to a Good Start
I was, just a few moments ago, reading something that referred to the first sentence in a book, and instantly I realized I had forgotten to share my favorite. It's certainly not quite so familiar, say, as It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be […]
Thugs vs. Pansies
I've just finished an odd book called Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper, by Nicholson Baker (New York : Random House, 2001). It's an unexpected polemic against the destruction of books by libraries which in itself sounds odd. Baker traces the rise of the idea of "brittle books" and the response to it. […]
In: All, Books, The Art of Conversation
On Reading Vaccine
A little while back I finished reading Vaccine, by Arthur Allen (New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 2007). I admit a prior interest in reading some history about vaccination, but I didn't expect to enjoy it nearly so much. Until I discover a better example, this book strikes me as the book to read on the […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book, The Art of Conversation
On Reading A History of Reading
A few nights ago I finished reading a unique and interesting book: A History of Reading (New York : Viking, 1996), by Alberto Manguel. It's what it claims to be and is a lovely, literary and poetic tour through ideas associated with "the history of reading". (I have more to say about it in my […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book
Introducing Euclid
One of the things I was doing last week instead of writing here was writing elsewhere and taking care of some details for Science Besieged, the nascent online project of Ars Hermeneutica. There are a couple of things I might point out. First, Science Besieged has a new mascot: meet Euclid, the crow. I was […]
More Bright Earth
I think I mentioned before that I had recently been reading Philip Ball's Bright Earth : Art and the Invention of Color (New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002). Regardless, I've been finishing up my processing of the book, checking my notes, and writing my book note — in this case a rather lengthy […]
Greyhound Tai Chi
The novel that I'm reading right now is Exiles in America, by Christopher Bram. It appears (from halfway through) to be a story about 2 couples composed of 3 men and 1 women, and how they all react when the two men who were not originally a couple have an affair with each other. Both […]
In: All, Books, Such Language!, Writing
Lots O' Books
It strikes me that I haven't quoted from many books in the past few months, which may give the impression that I haven't been reading much. Au contraire, however; I have been reading quite a bit, and there've been quite a few satisfying books among the lot. My excuse is that I've been catching up […]
Beard of the Week XXIII: A Natural Selection
This week's beard is worn by none other than Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882), the infamous, the reviled, the namesake of the dreaded Darwinism, author of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Quite without my really meaning for it to happen, the past month or more has […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Books
Reading is Life
I've been catching up on some reading. Thanks to Annie ("Getting tired of fighting the good fight") at Maud Newton's I saw these fascinating paragraphs (from the LA Times) about the "life of Delta librarian Ronnie Wise": People just don’t realize the stress of a Mississippi librarian’s life, he says. People don’t understand what it […]
My Passion for Cookbooks
There are many things I like, but rather few for which it might be said I have a passion bordering on obsession. One of those is cookbooks, about which I've been meaning to write for some time, although I don't think I've accomplished it yet. If I have already, you'll forgive the meanderings and forgetfulness […]
Rumpole & Terrorism
Here's a little story* that could always turn into an inconveniently larger story and gives one a bit of hope. The headline, "Rumpole author claims UK is selling out to fascism" seems a fair summary. John Mortimer, who created all those wonderful Rumpole stories, plans a new book to be called Rumpole and the Reign […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book
A Mind of its Own
I recently finished reading A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis, by David Friedman.* I enjoyed it and I can recommend it, too. Before you get the wrong idea, this is no nudge-nudge-wink-wink volumne, nor is it weighted down with academic weightiness; instead, it's a relaxed examination of the history of […]
In: All, Books, The Art of Conversation
Walnut Ketchup & Friends
I quite enjoyed reading Cooking with Jane Austen (by Kirstin Olsen, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, 2005). Talking about food that had been mentioned by Ms. Austen in her writing, the book is about Regency period eating habits, food, and cooking. There were some recipes I wanted to make a note of, and I didn't really […]
Farewell, Muriel Spark
I just this evening learned* that Muriel Spark has died at the age of 88. Dame Spark was an author — an uncommonly good author — of novels, most famous for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Although I haven't read a novel of hers in some 13 years#, her writing and my sense of […]
Bush: Being There
Suddenly I'm put in mind of Chauncy Gardener*, the main character in Jerzy Kosinksi's Being There: Bush is a man who has never been anywhere and never done anything, and yet he has been flattered and cajoled into being president of the United States through his connections, all of whom thought they could use him […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book