The question of print books versus e-books is a matter of life and death, if Bill Crozier’s theory is correct. In 2006, Mr. Crozier proposed that schoolchildren be equipped with thick books, to use as shields if and when their school is attacked by terrorists. Mr. Crozier proposed this theory during his campaign to become Superintendent of Education for […]
Tag: Books
Worm-generated wormholes record history in space and time
Wormholes — what are they good for? This study suggests one possible answer: “Wormholes record species history in space and time,” S. Blair Hedges, Biology Letters, vol. 9, no. 1. February 2013. The author, at Penn State University, reports: “I show that printed wormholes in rare books and artwork are trace fossils of wood-boring species […]
Improbable on “Science Friday” today: Tom Swift
I’m going to be on NPR’s Science Friday program again today, discussing the Tom Swift novels. (Special thanks to Jess Zimmerman for sending a copy of Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone!) BONUS: A repository of info about the Tom Swift books BONUS: Tom Swift and the blessings of invention BONUS: Wikipedia is a good gateway for info about the […]
Medical pop-up book vids, with silent organs!
These are pop-up medical books, or rather videos of some of those books being flipped-through. Whitney Trettien, Rachel Ingold, and Meg Brown of Duke University created the videos. The videos, being silent*, feature silent organs. (Thanks to Laughing Squid and @JenLucPiquant for bringing them to our attention.) *Well, not entirely silent. You can hear some unexciting […]
Parker surges with the authorship lead: 1,050,000 and rising
Professor Philip M. Parker [pictured here] has now authored more than 1,050,000 books, according to a report by Caitlan Carroll for the “Marketplace” radio program. This new total should erase most doubts as to whether he is the most prolific author ever. When we reported about Professor Parker in 2008, he was up to only about 85,000 […]
George Macleod and book dilution
George Macleod (MRCVS, DVSM, Vet.FFHom, according to reports) wrote several books. A web site [from which we reproduce the apparently diluted photo you see here] that sells those books says: George Macleod, a graduate of Glasgow University, is one of the world’s foremost authorities on homoeopathic treatment of animals. He is one of the few veterinary […]
Tom Swift and the blessings of invention
The Tom Swift books introduced young folks to inventions and scientific research. The original series was written in the early 1900s. Later series, featuring the offspring of the original characters, introduced different generations to much later technologies and discoveries. The books were written in a sort of industrial fashion, by the pseudonymous Victor Appleton. (One […]
The bookish flight of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Today’s short movie about Books and What’s In Them is The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore: [vimeo]35404908[/vimeo] Some people seem to have noticed its appeal. (Thanks to investigator Kevin Petrus for bringing this to our attention.) BONUS: Suppose, now just suppose, that you had enough time to read all those books you’re wanting to read. […]
How to write a book semi-automatically
To semi-automatically compose a non-fiction book, or several hundred thousand of them, one can observe the methods of Professor Philip M. Parker (of INSEAD), of whom we have written (semi-automatically) many times. To semi-automatically compose a work of fiction, one can learn much by reading Michelle Legro’s essay in Brain Pickings. It begins: Plotto: The Master Book […]
Automata authors, the next generation
Professor Philip M. Parker of INSEAD was the pioneer, writing a computer program that wrote thousands and thousands of books (see one of our many appreciations of him). Now, less than donkeys’ years later, there is a next generation. Pagan Kennedy, writing (presumably by herself) in the New York Times, profiles Lambert M. Surhone and […]