Zip It!

This image was selected as a picture of the week on the Czech Wikipedia for th week, 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today is the 100th anniversary of the patenting of the zipper.  Yes, the modern zipper has been around for a century, although it wasn’t called a “zipper” until 1925 when B. F. Goodrich registered the name as a trademark for the fastener on its galoshes. 

What would the world be like without zippers?  How many zippers do you use in a day?  Think about it : pants, jackets, purses, backpacks, boots, suitcases … there are a lot of zippers out there!

Read more about some of the inventions that we couldn’t do without in these books:

What a great idea! : inventions that changed the world by Steve Tomecek (609 Tom) — Steve Tomecek discusses 45 inventions that really shook up society. These big ideas inspired many other inventions and illuminate the changes that technology has made throughout time. From the hand ax and mathematics to IC chips and the laser, each technological touchstone in human history is described and placed in historical context. Each profile includes the who (if we know it), how the idea developed and how it works, the immediate impact of the idea, and the technological ‘children’ of the idea.

The greatest inventions of the past 2,000 years edited by John Brockman (609 Gre) — Presents answers from approximately one hundred of the world’s foremost scientific and creative thinkers to the question of what they believe is the greatest invention of the past two thousand years and why.

House of invention : the secret life of everyday products by David Lindsay (609 Lin) — The histories of twenty-one everyday items, such as disposable razors, Vaseline, intercoms, Muzak and threaded screws, are presented in this story of inventors.

Related articles

• Zipper anniversary: 10 bits of triva that will impress the pants off you (cbc.ca)

It’s All Relative

Albert Einstein during a lecture in Vienna in 1921 (age 42). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On this day in 1955, the world lost one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century (or maybe of any century) : Albert Einstein died in Princeton, NJ on April 18, 1955.  He won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921 and developed the theory of relativity, which changed our perception of space and time forever.  His equation e=mc² is one of the most famous and widely recognized in the world; it states that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.

Learn more about Einstein and his effect on our understanding of physics in these books:

Albert Einstein by Struan Reid (921 Einstein) — Traces the life and work of the famous physicist, from his childhood in Germany and education in Switzerland through the development of his theories of relativity to his campaign for peace after World War II.

Einstein : a beginner’s guide by Jim Breithaupt (530 Bre) — An introduction to the life and work of scientist Albert Einstein that presents his work in historical context, explains the theory of relativity, and describes the predictions from Einstein’s theories on the future of the universe.

E = mc² : a biography of the world’s most famous equation by David Bodanis (530.11 Bod) — Chronicles the “life” of Einstein’s theory of relativity, discussing the scientific knowledge that led to it and describing its influence on the world, including the scientific discoveries it made possible.

What Einstein didn’t know : scientific answers to everyday questions by Robert Wolke (500 Wol) — Provides easily-understood scientific answers and explanations to everyday questions about how and why things work around the house, in the kitchen, in the garage, in the marketplace, and in the outdoors.

Einstein’s miraculous year : five papers that changed the face of physics edited by John Stachel (530.1 Ein) — Contains translations of the five papers by Albert Einstein that reshaped scientific thought and resulted in the theories of relativity and quantum theory.

Rock On!

English: Mick Jagger (right) and Ronnie Wood (left) of the Rolling Stones in concert in Chicago (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Rolling Stones released their first album on this day in 1964 … that was 49 years ago!  The band is still going strong, which only goes to prove that “rock & roll is here to stay.”

Enjoy some books celebrating the cultural phenomenon that is rock ‘n’ roll:

Rock ‘n’ roll wisdom : what psychologically astute lyrics teach about life and love by Barry Farber (782.42166 Far) — Explores how rock and roll lyrics from the 1950s to the present have reflected psychological themes and conclusions such as love, identity, money, sex, religion, aging, and social justice.

The best in rock fiction edited by June Sawyers (FIC Best) — Contains a collection of twenty-one short stories and novel excerpts related to rock music, including selections by Ricky Moody, Don DeLillo, Nick Hornby, Tom Perrotta, T.C. Boyle, and others.

TV-a-go-go : rock on TV from American Bandstand to American Idol by Jake Austen (791.43 Aus) — Traces the history of rock music on American television, profiling shows such as “Saturday Night Live”, “The Ed Sullivan Show”, “American Bandstand”, and “American Idol” and individual television performances from various artists such as Elvis Presley and the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Strum and drang : great moments in rock ‘n’ roll by Joel Orff (GN 781.66 Orf) — A collection of true stories about music presented in graphic novel format.

Sweet nothings : an anthology of rock and roll in American poetry edited by Jim Elledge (811 Swe) — A collection of poems, either about, or influenced by rock and roll music, written by baby-boomers, with a section of contributors notes and comments on how the music inspired them.

The band name book by Noel Hudson (782.421 Hud) — Contains trivia and information on musicians and bands from more than thirty countries, and describes where they are from, the meaning behind the name, a brief history, and other related topics; and includes more than four hundred CD cover illustrations.

Body piercing saved my life : inside the phenomenon of Christian rock by Andrew Beaujon (781.66 Bea) — Examines the growing popularity of Christian rock music and the Christian pop culture in American society, and profiles some of the popular groups such as P.O.D., Switchfoot, Creed, and Evanescence.

Heavy metal Islam : rock, resistance, and the struggle for the soul of Islam by Mark LeVine (306.4 Lev) — Discusses the youth culture in the Middle East and Northern Africa, focusing on influences of Western popular music, which includes heavy metal, punk, hip-hop, and reggae; and describes the growing popularity despite government attempts to censor and control.

Great (F.) Scott!

The cover of the first edition of The Great Gatsby (1925) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The great Gatsby  by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published on this day in 1925.  One month from today (May 10), the highly anticipated Baz Luhrmann film adaptation of the novel opens in theatres.  Set in the Roaring Twenties, The great Gatsby is one of the classic American novels.

If you’ve already read Gatsby but still want to read your way into the Twenties, try one of these novels:

The scrapbook of Frankie Pratt : a novel in pictures by Caroline Preston (FIC Preston) — In her scrapbook full of typed notes and a variety of vintage ads, photos, postcards, fabric swatches, and much more, Frankie Pratt describes her life from her graduation in high school in 1920 through her education at Vassar College, her travels around the world, and her efforts to find love and to achieve her dream of becoming a novelist.

Vixen by Jillian Larkin (FIC Larkin) — Seventeen-year-old socialite Gloria secretly longs to be a flapper, but now that she is engaged to Sebastian, she must leave her partying days behind, until her future is threatened by an alluring jazz musician who encourages Gloria to risk everything.

The diviners by Libba Bray (FIC Bray) — Seventeen-year-old Evie O’Neill is thrilled when she is exiled from small-town Ohio to New York City in 1926, even when a rash of occult-based murders thrusts Evie and her uncle, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, into the thick of the investigation.

Witness by Karen Hesse (FIC Hesse) — A series of poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying to infiltrate the town.

Black duck by Janet Taylor Lisle (FIC Lisle) — Years afterwards, Ruben Hart tells the story of how, in 1929 Newport, Rhode Island, his family and his best friend’s family were caught up in the violent competition among groups trying to control the local rum-smuggling trade.

Choosing up sides by John H. Ritter (FIC Ritter) — In 1921 thirteen-year-old Luke finds himself torn between accepting his left-handedness or conforming to the belief of his preacher-father that such a condition is evil and must be overcome.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (FIC Winspear) — She started as a maid in an aristocratic London household, studied her way into prestigious Girton College at Cambridge, then became a front-line nurse in World War I. There she found — and lost — an important part of herself.  Now she has set up on her own as a private investigator, one who has learned that coincidences are meaningful; and Fate brings her a case that will force her to confront the ghost that has haunted her for over ten years.

An ocean apart, a world away by Lensey Namioka (FIC Namioka) — Yanyan, having always wanted to be a doctor, makes a difficult decision to leave the exciting Liang Baoshu behind in China and moves to New York to attend medical school.

 

For the Birds

John James Audubon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today is Draw a Bird Day. Many people have drawn birds over the years but one of the greatest bird artists is America’s own John James Audubon.  Born in Haiti and raised in France, Audubon nevertheless identified himself as an American through and through.  His greatest project was The birds of America, a book of lifesize paintings of every bird species currently known in America.  He nearly went broke getting it published but in the end, what he produced was a masterpiece.

You can see a copy at the Huntington Library in San Marino, which has a double elephant folio on display.

Learn more about Audubon in these books:

John James Audubon : the making of an American by Richard Rhodes (921 Audubon) — The first major biography of John James Audubon in forty years, and the first to illuminate fully the private and family life of the master illustrator of the natural world.

John James Audubon : American birds by Colin Brown (598 Bro) — Text and illustrations show the artistic qualities of James Audubon in his paintings of North American fowl.

The birds of America by John James Audubon (598.2 A91) — Includes all of Audubon’s 500 original plates depicting birds in their natural environments and representing a scientific and artistic feat.

Related articles

• In praise of … John James Audubon | Editorial (guardian.co.uk)
• VIDEO: Audubon: An American woodsman (bbc.co.uk)
• NYC museum displaying Audubon’s bird watercolors (newsday.com)

Walk It Off

An animated gif of a walk sequence. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s Walk Around Things Day.  No one is really clear about what that means or who created this wacky holiday, so we can celebrate it any way we want.  I choose to celebrate by highlighting ten “walking” books in our collection.  And here they are:

Walking backward by Catherine Austen (FIC Austen) — After twelve-year-old Josh’s mother dies in a car crash he is prescribed to start writing in a journal, but he reaches a better understanding about loss when he chooses death as his research topic for school and begins to research and experiments with the mourning practices of various religions.

The deserter’s tale : the story of an ordinary soldier who walked away from the war in Iraq by Joshua Key (956.7044 Key) — Tells the true story about Joshua Key, an American soldier who refused to return to Iraq and fled with his family to Canada because of the things he saw and did in Iraq.

Like trees, walking by Ravi Howard (FIC Howard) — Paul and Roy Deacon, the teenage sons of the owners of Deacon Memorial Funeral Home in Mobile, Alabama, are accustomed to death and its attending rituals, but none of their experiences have prepared them to deal with the murder of their friend Michael Donald, found hanging from a tree–an obvious victim of lynching in 1981.

Walking on glass by Alma Fullerton (FIC Fullerton) — A teenage boy recounts, in a free verse journal, his attempts to come to terms with the realities of his mother’s near-death coma.

Daniel’s walk by Michael Spooner (FIC Spooner) — With little more than a bedroll, a change of clothes, and a Bible, fourteen-year-old Daniel LeBlanc begins walking the Oregon Trail in search of his father who, according to a mysterious visitor, is in big trouble and needs his son’s help.

A walk to remember by Nicholas Sparks (FIC Sparks) — When a twist of fate makes Jamie Sullivan his date at the homecoming dance, Landon Carter never dreamed they would fall in love, but as he comes to realize his true feelings for Jamie, he learns of a terrible secret that will take his love away from him forever.

Wanderlust : a history of walking by Rebecca Solnit (796.51 Sol) — Discusses walking as a political, social, and aesthetic act, exploring its history and how famous walkers such as Wordsworth, Socrates, and Jane Austen’s characters used it, and explains the necessity of walking instead of always driving and hurrying.

Walk two moons by Sharon Creech (FIC Creech) — After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year- old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother’s route. Along the way, Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also left.

Death walk by Walt Morey (FIC Morey) — A teenage boy stranded in the Alaskan wilderness survives with the aid of a mysterious old man.

Walking with the great apes : Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Birute Galdikas by Sy Montgomery (920 Mon) — The stories of three women who dedicated their lives to the study of primate ethology.

Related articles

• Finding the kindness of strangers in walks across America (seattletimes.com)

A “Rip”ping Good Storyteller

 

Life size bronze of Rip Van Winkle sculpted by Richard Masloski, copyright 2000. Located between the Town Hall and the Main Street School. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We all know who Rip Van Winkle is, and Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman who haunts Sleepy Hollow.  Did you know that today is the 220th birthday of Washington Irving, the creator of those iconic characters and one of America’s greatest authors? Or that in addition to writing short stories, humorous essays, history, travel and biographies, he was also the U.S. ambassador to Spain from 1842-46?

Learn more about Mr. Irving and explore his works with these books:

Washington Irving : storyteller for a new nation by David Collins (921 Irving) — A biography of one of America’s earliest great literary figures who also served as a diplomat in Spain.

History, tales, and sketches by Washington Irving (818 Irv) — Contents: Letters of Johnathan Oldstyle, Gent.–Salmagundi–A History of New York–The sketch book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

A tour on the prairies by Washington Irving (917.66 I72)

The legend of Sleepy Hollow and other tales by Washington Irving (FIC Irving) — Contains excerpts from: The sketch book, Tales of a traveler, The Alhambra, A tour on the prairies, Sketches in Paris in 1825, Wolfert’s roost and other papers, Knickerbocker’s history of New York, book IV, and Crayon miscellany.

Related articles

• Nine Interesting Facts about Washington Irving (interestingliterature.wordpress.com)

I’m Sorry, Dave. I’m Afraid I Can’t Do That.

An Orion III, Pan Am’s first Space Clipper, featured in the science-fiction movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The movie 2001: A Space Odyssey premiered 45 years ago today, on April 2, 1968.  It wasn’t a big hit right away but achieved cult status and is now considered one of the most important films in movie history.  Based on a short story by classic science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, the screenplay was written by Clarke and director Stanley Kubrick.  One of the most famous quotes from the film (see the post title above) is spoken by the ship’s computer HAL.

Celebrate with some classic science fiction novels … and a few newer ones:

From the earth to the moon and, A trip around it by Jules Verne (FIC Verne) — From the Earth to the Moon (French: De la Terre a la Lune) is a humorous science fantasy story written in 1865 by Jules Verne and is one of the earliest entries in that genre. It tells the story of three well-to-do members of a post-American Civil War gun club who build an enormous sky-facing columbiad and launch themselves in a projectile/spaceship from it to a Moon landing. (summary from Amazon.com)

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov (FIC Asimov) — In I, Robot, Asimov chronicles the development of the robot through a series of interlinked stories: from its primitive origins in the present to its ultimate perfection in the not-so-distant future–a future in which humanity itself may be rendered obsolete. (summary from Amazon.com)

A princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (FIC Burroughs) — Suddenly projected to Mars, John Carter found himself a captive of the savage green men of Thark. Dejah Thoris, lovely Princess of Helium, is also a captive. A thousand miles lay between them and rescue.

Out of the silent planet by C. S. Lewis (FIC Lewis) –  A philologist is kidnapped and taken via spaceship from England to Malacandra where he escapes and goes on the run.

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (FIC Clarke) — As a team of scientists make their way aboard a dead space capsule headed toward Earth, it suddenly comes alive with a biological life.

The Martian chronicles by Ray Bradbury (FIC Bradbury) — A collection of stories describing repeated attempts by humans to colonize Mars.

The sparrow by Maria Doria Russell (FIC Russell) — Linguist Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit priest who leads a twenty-first century scientific mission to an extraterrestrial culture, is involved in a tragic misunderstanding with the alien civilization that leaves him physically and spiritually maimed.

Ender’s game by Orson Scott Card (FIC Card) — To prevent the Earth from alien attack, Ender Wiggin receives military training and is the best among trainees, but does he have enough time to save Earth?

The fresco by Sheri S. Tepper (FIC Teppper) — Shy, unassuming Benita Alvarez-Shipton, a thirty-six-year-old bookstore manager from New Mexico, becomes the go-between for some good-willed aliens from outer space and U.S. leaders in Washington, D.C., and also becomes the target of evil aliens set on abusing Earth.

Life on Mars : tales from the new frontier ed. by Jonathan Strahan (FIC Life) — A collection of thirteen stories that explore the possibility of life on Mars.

Related articles

• Tech Time Warp of the Week: Arthur C. Clarke Predicts the Internet, 1974 (wired.com)

The Sunshine State

 

Engraving of Juan Ponce de Leon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Exactly 500 years ago, Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida while exploring the New World.  He was looking for the Fountain of Youth, but instead he found one of our most interesting states.  Florida belonged to Spain until 1763, when it came under the control of the British. The Spanish took Florida back in the wake of the American Revolution, but then ceded it to the new United States in 1821.  Florida became a state in 1845.

Between the Everglades, Disney World, Miami Beach and the Florida Keys, just about everyone can find a reason to visit Florida. 

Take a virtual trip to the Sunshine State with one of these novels:

Cloaked by Alex Flinn (FIC Flinn) — Seventeen-year-old Johnny is approached at his family’s struggling shoe repair shop in a Miami, Florida, hotel by Alorian Princess Victoriana, who asks him to find her brother who was turned into a frog.

Candor by Pam Bachorz (FIC Bachorz) — For a fee, “model teen” Oscar Banks has been secretly–and selectively–sabotaging the subliminal messages that program the behavior of the residents of Candor, Florida, until his attraction to a rebellious new girl threatens to expose his subterfuge.

Scat by Carl Hiaasen (FIC Hiaasen) — Nick and Marta are both suspicious when their biology teacher, the feared Mrs. Bunny Starch, disappears, and try to uncover the truth despite the police and headmaster’s insistence that nothing is wrong.

Paper towns by John Green (FIC Green) — One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin “Q” Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q’s neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears.

The postcard by Tony Abbott (FIC Abbott) — While in St. Petersburg, Florida, to help clean out his recently-deceased grandmother’s house, thirteen-year-old Jason finds an old postcard which leads him on an adventure that blends figures from an old, unfinished detective story with his family’s past.

What I saw and how I lied by Judy Blundell (FIC Blundell) — In 1947, with her jovial stepfather Joe back from the war and family life returning to normal, teenage Evie, smitten by the handsome young ex-GI who seems to have a secret hold on Joe, finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies whose devastating outcome change her life and that of her family forever.

Copper sun by Sharon M. Draper (FIC Draper) — Two fifteen-year-old girls–one a slave and the other an indentured servant–escape their Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves.

Nothing to lose by Alex Flinn (FIC Flinn) — A year after running away with a traveling carnival to escape his unbearable home life, sixteen-year-old Michael returns to Miami, Florida, to find that his mother is going on trial for the murder of his abusive stepfather.

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (FIC DiCamillo) — Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.

The Aguero sisters by Cristina Garcia (FIC Garcia) — Two Cuban sisters–one a master electrician in Havana, the other a successful cosmetics saleswoman in Miami–are reunited after a thirty-year separation and learn the truth behind their mother’s tragic death at the hands of their father years earlier.

Tangerine by Edward Bloor (FIC Bloor) — Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

How to be bad by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski & Lauren Myracle (FIC Lockhart) –Told in alternating voices, Jesse, Vicks, and Mel, hoping to leave all their worries and woes behind, escape their small town by taking a road trip to Miami.

Free fall by Joyce Sweeney (FIC Sweeney) — While trapped in a cave in a Florida forest, two brothers reveal to each other and their friends the truth about their previously hidden feelings.

The yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (FIC Rawlings) — A young boy living in the Florida backwoods is forced to decide the fate of a fawn he has lovingly raised as a pet.

The talking Earth by Jean Craighead George (FIC George) — Billie Wind ventures out alone into the Florida Everglades to test the legends of her Indian ancestors and learns the importance of listening to the Earth’s vital messages.

Related articles

• Setting Sail: the 500th Anniversary of Juan Ponce de León’s Discovery of Florida (blogs.smithsonianmag.com)
• Retracing Ponce de Leon’s path — on a water scooter (cnn.com)

Discovering the Double Helix

Animation of the structure of a section of DNA. The bases lie horizontally between the two spiraling strands. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sixty years ago today, the structure of DNA was discovered by Francis Crick and James Watson.  Building on the knowledge of scientists who had come before them, Crick and Watson realized that DNA forms a double helix. 

As we all learned in biology class, DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, which is the name given to this extremely important molecule that encodes our genes.  Made up of four nucleotides (guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine), DNA is built out of nucleotide pairs connected to deoxyribose (a sugar) to create a large molecule, with the nucleotides as the rungs of a “ladder” with deoxyribose sides.  The twist is … the whole molecule!  Instead of being a straight ladder, the DNA molecule twists into a double helix so that it takes up less space.  This is what Watson and Crick discovered.

To learn more about DNA and its discovery, try these books:

The double helix : a personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA by James Watson (572.8 Wat) — An account of the events which led to the solution of the structure of DNA.

Rosalind Franklin and the structure of life by Jan Polcovar (921 Franklin) — Chronicles the life of Rosalind Franklin, discussing her childhood in Europe, love of science, research at King’s College, London, role in the discovery of the structure of DNA, and other related topics.

Oswald Avery and the story of DNA by Vesta-Nadine Severs (921 Avery) — A biography of the Canadian-born bacteriologist whose research on pneumonia and other bacteria led to a new understanding of DNA which, in turn, led to DNA fingerprinting in criminal investigation, paternity testing, and genetic engineering for medical purposes.

Francis Crick and James Watson and the building blocks of life by Edward Edelson (920 Ede) — Describes the collaboration of Watson and Crick in the effort to discover DNA.

DNA : the secret of life by Jame Watson (576.5 Wat) — Chronicles the history of genetic research, examines the light DNA has shone on human origins and genetic relationships, and discusses the impact DNA has had on business, medicine, and ethical debates.

Related articles

• Francis Crick’s Nobel Prize To Be Sold Off (npr.org)
• The Day Scientists Discovered the ‘Secret of Life’ (pbs.org)