tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40304862011-04-21T14:35:26.096-07:00You are what you readI'm intending this to be a reading blog, rather than a writing blog. Most of my ideas for writing fiction come from reading nonfiction. So, I thought it would be fun to record the process. These are not intended to be reviews, but rather are my notes on details that caught my interest.
For more info on my stories and me:
<a href="http://plaguedocs.livejournal.com/">my livejournal, "The Plague Documents"</a>Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-14990387356649166062007-08-11T13:36:00.000-07:002007-08-11T13:40:23.500-07:00"The Knife Man: The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery." By Wendy Moore.Poem on the frontispiece:I have made candles of infants fatThe Sextons have been my slavesI have bottled babes unborn, and driedHearts and livers from rifled graves.From "The Surgeon's Warning."Robert Southey, Poems, 1799John Hunter was the younger brother of famous anatomist/surgeon Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-14043746899915976522007-08-11T13:19:00.000-07:002007-08-11T13:34:34.020-07:00"Living Dangerously; The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong," by Mark Cotta Vaz.If someone had made up Merian Cooper as a fictional character, he would be completely unbelievable and pulpy. Just from the jacket notes:-- Bomber pilot in WWI-- Helped found the Kosciuszko Squadron in battle-torn Poland (after the war)-- Was captured and held prisoner by the Russians-- Escaped withMarlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-25459483014653435612007-08-11T13:14:00.000-07:002007-08-11T13:17:24.437-07:00"Imaginary Weapons; A Journey Through the Pentagon's Scientific Underworld," by Sharon Weinberger.An amazing story of the Pentagon's pet fringe-science projects. The book focuses on the elusive hafnium isomer bomb, but also touches on efforts to develop an antimatter weapon and the use of psychics to influence enemy troops. Altogether, these projects start to make rumors about the "Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1138857656343023492006-02-01T21:19:00.000-08:002006-02-01T21:32:04.126-08:00Notes from "Drake's Fortune; The Fabulous True Story of the World's Greatest Confidence Artist" by Richard RaynerOscar Hartzell was born in 1876 on the Illinois prairie. Bankrupt after failing at both farming and ranching, Hartzell was taken in by a scam that promised investors a share in the long-lost fortune of Sir Francis Drake. Once he figured out the fraud, and how it worked, he conned theMarlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1130547823578649802005-10-28T18:01:00.000-07:002005-10-28T18:04:28.773-07:00“Strange Angel; The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons” by George Pendle.John Parsons, rocketry pioneer, died in an explosion at his Pasadena home in 1952. He was 37 years old. Parsons had been affiliated with Caltech, was one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and was deeply involved in a leadership role with the cult society, “Ordo Templi Orientis” (Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1125626209091017442005-09-01T18:55:00.000-07:002005-09-01T18:56:49.096-07:00"Starvation Heights" by Gregg OlsenIn September 1910 wealthy English sisters Claire and Dora Williamson first learned of "Dr." Linda Burfield Hazard and her fasting cure. They were staying at the Empress hotel in Victoria, Vancouver Island. The hotel was 2 years old. The sisters saw "Dr." Hazard's advertisement in a Seattle newspaper. Claire wrote away for her book: Fasting for the Cure of Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1125375677531531222005-08-29T21:11:00.000-07:002005-08-29T21:22:00.936-07:00"River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West." by Rebecca Solnit.In 1872 Edward Muybridge took the first photographs of a horse in motion. The horse, named Occident, belonged to Leland Stanford, and was one of the fastest trotting horses in the country. The photographs were commissioned to reveal whether a trotting horse ever has all four feet off the ground at the sameMarlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1118625178528923312005-06-12T18:09:00.000-07:002005-06-12T18:15:16.466-07:00"Greek Fire, Poison Arrows and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World." by Adrienne Mayor.As the title says, the book discusses the use of poisoned weapons, incendiary devices, poison gas, and contagion as weapons of war in the ancient world: Greece, Rome, the Middle East, China, India, Africa, and Central and South America.Poison for arrows could be derived from Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1116706582046690412005-05-21T13:10:00.000-07:002005-05-21T13:19:24.016-07:00"Inside The Victorian Home: A Portrait of Victorian Life in Victorian England," by Judith Flanders.The book focuses on Victorian life in middle class homes, and is structured by describing activities on a room-by-room basis. The work of servants is covered as well--not the teams of servants required to maintain a stately home, but the labors of a "maid of all work" in homes which could afford noMarlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1113775324528274862005-04-17T14:59:00.000-07:002005-04-17T15:02:04.533-07:00"The Italian Boy; A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London" by Sarah Wise. Metropolitan Books, 2004.In the late autumn of 1831, Nova Scotia Gardens (a neighborhood of workers cottages in London's East End) became famous as the home of three body snatchers, or "resurrection men," who were charged with murdering a young boy in order to sell his body for dissection. This was three yearsMarlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1107925262732980502005-02-08T20:56:00.000-08:002005-02-08T21:15:56.276-08:00"Portrait of a Lady" by Stephanie Pain. New Scientist. 5 February 2005
In 1770, an English trader named George Cartwright set up a series of trading posts in Labrador. Cartwright believe in building good relations with the native population. When he returned to England for a visit in 1772, he brought a party of five "Esquimaux" with him. These were Attuiock, and Inuit priest; Attuiock's youngestMarlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1105313937891241092005-01-09T15:26:00.000-08:002005-01-09T15:38:57.890-08:00"A Nose For Science: Buck, '75, Wins Nobel for Decoding Genetics of Smell." University of Washington (Seattle), Alumni Magazine, Columns. December 2004.
Linda Buck (U of W class of 1975) shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Richard Axel of Columbia University.
She discovered a family of 1,000 different genes that give rise to an equivalent number of olfactory receptors. Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1102996966081187552004-12-13T19:56:00.000-08:002004-12-13T20:02:46.080-08:00"Mirror, Mirror; A History of the Human Love Affair With Reflection," by Mark Pendergrast.
This book touches upon the entire history of mirrors from the earliest known polished stone mirror (6200 B.C.E., in what is now Turkey), to the enormous mirrors used for modern telescopes. The mystique of mirrors is also a theme of the book--from mirrors as a means of self-reflection...or narcissism, to Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1081223809997995982004-04-05T20:56:00.000-07:002004-04-05T21:00:28.733-07:00"Anatomy Lessons, a Vanishing Rite for Young Doctors" by Abigail Zuger, New York Times, Mach 23, 2004.
Human dissection was forbidden in the Middle Ages. In 17th century, medical school dissections were open to the public and became something of a spectator sport. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, doctors and medical schools were periodically accused of dishonoring the dead, and the Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1073970690703605092004-01-12T21:11:00.000-08:002004-01-12T21:19:20.983-08:00"The Bittersweet Science" by Austin Bunn. New York Times Magazine, March 16, 2003.
Had this one lying around for a while, but ran across it recently while tidying. The story still fascinates.
While diabetes, in the sense of its symptoms (sugar in the urine, excessive thirst, weight loss, and eventual death) had been recognized since classical Greek times, doctors were helpless in the face Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1072461258719699202003-12-26T07:53:00.000-08:002003-12-26T09:55:45.543-08:00Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body by Armand Marie Leroi
Armand Leroi is a developmental and evolutionary biologist, who writes about the biological implications of various birth defects and human variants, as well as tracing the historical records and mythology surrounding certain identifiable syndromes. Much of it was review of basic information on developmental biology and Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1070252759879980502003-11-30T20:25:00.000-08:002003-11-30T20:28:59.076-08:00Caught part of a show on the Discovery Channel this afternoon that piqued my curiosity about the sleep paralysis phenomenon. The series is "Into the Unknown," and the episode was, "Unraveling the Mystery of Alien Abduction."
One of the things mentioned was that the brain releases paralyzing hormones during R.E.M. sleep, which prevent the sleeper from engaging in potentially injurious, Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1065418456517570542003-10-05T22:34:00.000-07:002003-10-05T22:38:48.513-07:00"Questioning the Delphic Oracle" by John r. Hale et al. Scientific American (www.sciam.com) July 15, 2003
The temple of Apollo at Delphi, and the oracle housed there, was the most important religious site of the ancient Greek world. The oracle functioned through a specific person, the Pythia, who was chosen, trained, and prepared to speak for Apollo. The seat of the oracle was located in a Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1064635933845291172003-09-26T21:12:00.000-07:002003-09-26T21:12:13.826-07:00Been shamefully neglecting this site, but I have been reading and listening to audio books. Books read over the last couple of months include Seabiscuit, and several of the volumes in Colleen McCullough's First Man in Rome series about the life of Julius Caesar. I'm currently making notes from a couple of books about the life of Sir Walter Ralegh. Since the library copies I've been using have Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1059874704000734482003-08-02T18:38:00.000-07:002003-08-02T18:48:58.640-07:00"Humble Clay Tablets Are Greatest Loss to Science," Bob Holmes and James Randerson, New Scientist, 10 May 2003, page 8.
The looting of the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad has been compared to the legendary destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria Egypt centuries ago. Archaeologists are less upset by the loss of sculptures that have already have been carefully studied and documented, Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-1058667679801200872003-07-19T19:21:00.000-07:002003-07-19T19:21:19.766-07:00"England's El Dorado" by Fred Pearce, New Scientist. May 3rd, 2003
Inspired by the New-World-riches acquired by the Spanish king Phillip II, England's Queen Elizabeth I wanted treasure of her own. Martin Frobisher, a swashbuckling captain and friend of Francis Drake's, put himself forward as the man to lead an expedition to discover and claim the Northwest Passage. His first expedition, Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-952227772003-06-02T21:34:00.000-07:002003-06-02T21:34:02.456-07:00"The Demon in the Freezer" by Richard Preston.
I started with the audio version from www.audible.com, but I wanted to go back and review details (which is easier with a print version) so I checked the dead-tree version out of the library.
I'd known about this book for some time, and thought several times about reading it. But I always decided it would be too scary and depressing, and I Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-949268262003-05-26T22:09:00.000-07:002003-05-26T22:10:33.000-07:00"The Nose: A Profile of Sex, Beauty, and Survival" by Gabrielle Glaser
Gabrielle Glaser is a journalist, and the book is a journalistic smattering of tidbits about "anthropology and art, science and literature, sickness and health, sex and fertility, appearance and popular culture, mythology and memory." But to me, the most resonant parts of the book are the author's explorations of her own Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-948777722003-05-25T18:32:00.000-07:002003-05-25T18:32:09.456-07:00"What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained" by Robert L. Wolke.
I'd heard about this book some time ago, and thought it might be an interesting read, but I already had stacks of "research" for stories to do, and never quite got to it. Well, finally, I did. As with "Anatomy of a Dish," I still have the idea in mind that I might need to develop some science lessons for the school myMarlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-934316742003-04-28T17:16:00.000-07:002003-04-28T17:18:20.000-07:00"Hearing Colors, Tasting Shapes" by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran & Edward M. Hubbard. www.sciam.com 4/25/2003
For people with synesthesia, the five senses (touch, hearing, taste, vision, and smell) get mixed up instead of remaining separate. These otherwise normal people might see printed black numbers in color, or smell flowers when listening to music. The first scientific description was Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-930938342003-04-22T22:08:00.000-07:002003-04-29T18:28:28.000-07:00"Silence is fatal", "Powerless to stop the spread", "Can we contain SARS", "Where did this deadly pneumonia come from?" and "Amorous worms reveal the effect of Chernobyl fallout on wildlife." In: New Scientist. 12 April 2003.
Not surprisingly, SARS is the big topic in science news magazines at the moment. SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) is currently believed to be caused by a Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-920649332003-04-05T17:15:00.000-08:002003-04-05T17:15:40.763-08:00"A Summer Plague: Polio and its Survivors" by Tony Gould
This book contains both a history of the polio epidemic and a series of biographical experiences of polio survivors. Biographical information includes the author (who contracted the disease in 1959, at age 20), FDR, rock musician Ian Drury, as well as others affected to greater or lesser degree. The overall focus is more on the social Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-918222652003-04-01T21:10:00.000-08:002003-04-01T21:10:47.043-08:00"Demon-Haunted Brain" by Michael Shermer. Scientific American online, February 10, 2003
"If the brain mediates all experience, then paranormal phenonmena are nothing more than neuronal events....The fate of the paranormal and the supernatural is to be subsumed into the normal and the natural....In reality, all experience is mediated by the brain."
Well, yeah, of course, but what's interestingMarlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-913213982003-03-24T19:26:00.000-08:002003-03-24T19:26:41.263-08:00"In the Shadow of Polio; A Personal and Social History" by Kathyrn Black. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. 1996.
I found this book while searching for references on polio, which I'm hoping will help me in revising a story I've been working on for some time. Though my story is set in a relatively distant future, my protagonist has been crippled by a disease then extinct outside the laboratory. Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-911577932003-03-21T18:03:00.000-08:002003-03-21T18:04:16.000-08:00"Vampire bat saliva compound could help treat strokes." Scientific American.com. January 10, 2003.
"Nifty spittle: compound in bat saliva may aid stroke patients." By Nathan Seppa. Science News Week of Jan 18, 2003; Vol. 163, No. 3.
Liberatore, GT et al (2003) "Vampire bat salivary plasminogen activator (desmoteplase); a unique fibrinolytic enzyme that does not promote neurodegeneration." Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-896792452003-02-24T17:13:00.000-08:002003-02-24T17:13:27.420-08:00"A Scattering of Jades" by Alexander C. Irvine
I saw a review of this book--I'm pretty sure it was the NY Times Book Section--and knew immediately I had to read it: Aaron Burr, P.T. Barnum, Aztecs, Mammoth Caves... How could I resist? While this book is categorized as "historical fantasy," the Aztec pantheon of bloodthirsty gods is just such ripe fodder for horror... I also love the ants Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-892717272003-02-17T16:29:00.000-08:002003-02-17T16:29:54.300-08:00"The Pursuit of Oblivion; A Global History of Narcotics" by Richard Davenport-Hines.
I spotted this on the new books shelf in the library, and picked it up in hopes of learning more about the history, uses, and effects of laudanum--for a current WIP. In fact it's a pretty interesting book, well referenced from a historical standpoint, that focuses on opiates, but also covers a variety of Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-888282952003-02-09T19:09:00.000-08:002003-02-09T19:13:16.000-08:00"Scent-sational Science: To trace the course of evolution, Kim Steiner follows his nose" Science Now, Newsletter of the California Academy of Sciences.
I noticed blurb about this article on a display at the Academy, and immediately (right at a computer in the museum library) went to the website to look it up.
My interest: I have a WIP featuring an alien species that communicates by scent.Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-882987852003-01-30T17:07:00.000-08:002003-01-30T17:13:28.000-08:00"Born to the Purple: the Story of Porphyria" & "New Light on Medicine" Scientific American (www.sciam.com) December 16, 2002.
A medical explanation for vampires and werewolves? Food for thought about photosensitive in plants and animals, and the relationship between these two Kingdoms.
The porphyrias are a family of metabolic disorders, all of which involve abnormalities of the body's Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-877565392003-01-20T17:17:00.000-08:002003-02-07T14:08:02.000-08:00"Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads; The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums" by Stephen T. Asma
The first time I heard about this book--something on NPR, I'm sure, but I can't recall which program or whether it was a review or an interview with the author--I knew I had to read it. I've an avid aficionado of natural history museums, and have spent many a happy hour studying exhibitsMarlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-873100912003-01-12T09:15:00.000-08:002003-01-12T09:15:35.483-08:00"The Alchemist's Door" by Lisa Goldstein
The only other book of Lisa Goldstein's I've read is "Dark Cities Underground," which I absolutely loved. When I ran across a blurb for "The Alchemist's Door" (I can't recall where, it might have been on Lisa's website), I knew I had to read it as soon as possible. Her central character is Dr. John Dee, an historical "renaissance man" who was a Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-871952062003-01-09T18:02:00.000-08:002003-01-09T18:08:25.000-08:00"John Adams" by David McCullough
I listen to audio books while I play taxi driver for my kids, and I've been working on this best-selling, definitive biography of John Adams since last August, and just finished it today! Nearly 14 hours of listening time... The man lived a long, productive, and fascinating life, was a material contributor to so many of the seminal events in the founding of Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-869919902003-01-05T21:00:00.000-08:002003-01-05T21:04:01.000-08:00"The Anatomy of a Dish" by Diane Forley with Catherine Young.
I read about this book in the New York Times book review magazine, and decided I needed to have a look. Unfortunately I have to take it back to the library tomorrow, as someone else has a hold on it, and I haven't really had as much time with it as I would have liked. Apart from some rather yummy-looking recipes (such as puttanesca Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-869027312003-01-03T18:23:00.000-08:002003-01-03T18:29:05.000-08:00"A Fear of Vampires Can Mask a Fear of Something Much Worse" by Ralph Blumenthal; The Sunday New York Times, December 29, 2002.
I hadn't noticed this article in skimming the paper, but luckily my husband pointed it out to me. Apparently the country of Malawi is currently "in the grip of a vampire panic." Rumors have spread that the government is colluding with vampires, and a frightened Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-863420972002-12-20T17:12:00.000-08:002002-12-20T17:12:07.373-08:00"Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser
I probably won't base any stories on this book. I probably won't change my eating habits profoundly. There've been times when I've been really pleased to see a McDonalds: familiar, kid friendly, fast, relatively inexpensive, and usually with reasonably clean restrooms. But (thank goodness) my kids have long since outgrown clamoring to go there. But this Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4030486.post-861302152002-12-16T13:45:00.000-08:002002-12-16T13:45:53.720-08:00Starting off... The first book I wanted to comment on is "In the Devil's Snare; The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692," by Mary Beth Norton. I picked up an interest in reading it the same way I do for most of the books I read these days: a combination of interviews/commentary on NPR, and the New York Times book review. When I spotted it on the shelf at the local library, I snapped it up. The Marlissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14847892408749131710noreply@blogger.com