Digital Sextant

So I bought a book from the 1890s a couple years ago, and I finally got around to scanning it this year.  I’ve posted it as a big set on Flickr, with lots of good woodcuts that are public domain, so enjoy them. Santa Claus Annual is a lovely collection of short stories and poems [… Read More]

I submitted this brief missive to the EW inbox a couple days ago: Dear EW, I’ve watched with sadness over the last dozen years as the book section shriveled to four or sometimes two pages.  I love your book recommendations in The $ave and elsewhere, but it’s just not enough! I’m calling you out: give [… Read More]

As you all know, I’m an avid user of Bookmooch, a book swapping website where you can find people who want your old books and find people giving away books for you. A while back, they profiled an essay about how to make the most of your BookMooch account. One piece of advice said “free [… Read More]

Once a month or so, I wander through the audio book section of the library and pull a few books to bring home, rip for later reading, and return. Because of a couple LONG books (Martin Chuzzlewit took me three months to get through, I read one other book, then I dove into Anathem), I’ve [… Read More]

Critical Thinking for a New Age; by Theodore Schick, Jr and Lewis Vaughn How to Think About Weird Things was recommended as a primer on diagnosing Woo by Orac over at Scienceblogs. As someone who finds himself more and more irritated by irrational thinking (despite my own gaping biases that lead to it), I was [… Read More]

I’m having a strange experience over at BookMooch. As a way to keep myself from spending too much mailing books, I have a self-imposed limit of $10-12 / month. This means I can mail three or four books domestically, or a smaller amount if I’m sending one overseas. My queue of books to send is [… Read More]

I just got a free copy (thanks, Tarcher Penguin!) of THE DUMBEST GENERATION by Mark Bauerlein.  Here’s the description on the back: They are The Dumbest Generation. They enjoy all the advantages of a prosperous, high-tech society. Digital technology has fabulously empowered them, loosened the hold of elders. Yet adolescents use these tools to wrap [… Read More]

My office is a strange little room, with slanty walls and a window that’s too low on the wall. I’ve wanted bookshelves in here since I moved in, but hadn’t been able to pursue that goal. Well, for my birthday this year, my in-laws bought me the stuff and Phil helped me build some shelves [… Read More]

So here’s the poor clerk at Borders, toiling away behind the counter, when I come up and start frowning at the computer. Clerk: Can I help you find something? Me: No, I don’t think so. I know I want a book but I can’t remember enough about it to give you something to go on. [… Read More]

Evolution, Intelligent Design, and a School Board in Dover, P.A. by Gordy Slack Another interesting book about the IDiocy in Dover. Slack doesn’t obfuscate his leanings (he’s a materialist with no belief in the supernatural at all), but also softens his perspective by explaining that his father is a born-again Christian Creationist whom Slack seeks [… Read More]

Collected Radio Interviews by Studs Turkel A delightful collection with lots of bits of wisdom and heart.  I enjoyed it immensely.  Nearly every interview had pieces I would have liked to share, so I just grabbed things from the first three interviews. 1. Pete Seeger on folk songs, which sounds to me like a discussion [… Read More]

For anyone else who uses bookmooch, I’ve got an interesting situation I’d like you to weigh in on. If you don’t use it, here’s how it works: You list a bunch of books you have that you’d be willing to give away. People who want the books you have request them from you. You mail [… Read More]

So this guy stops outside my office (door ajar, but not wide open) and knocks lightly on the door. “Come in,” I say, encouraging him to push the door open, which he does. “Um, hi. I’m Roger.” He has a nervous quality, and I’m reminded of the Monty Python stereotype of a man trying to [… Read More]