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The Jardin des Plantes and the Changing Landscapes of Botanical Gardens (05/10)
The Jardin
des Plantes in Paris was the epicenter of naturalist research in the early 1800s and is currently one of the world's foremost botanical gardens. Built in 1626,
it was planted in 1635 as a medicinal herb garden for the King of France. It
was opened to the public in 1640, greatly expanded under superintendent G.L.L
...
Baba Yaga (05/10)
In
A Long, Long Time Ago…And Essentially True, one of the
main characters, Beata, is constantly referred to by the nickname 'Baba Yaga.'
Baba Yaga is a popular figure in Slavic folk tales (
Slavic
language map). Also known as the 'Old Woman
of Autumn,' her origins can be traced back to the ancient Slavic goddesses of birth
...
A Short History of Barcelona (05/10)
Barcelona, Spain's second largest city after Madrid, is the capital of the
Autonomous Community of Catalonia in the North East of Spain (
map) and a major economic center for finance, business, media, arts and international trade. Its location on the Mediterranean coast brings it mild, humid winters and warm, dry summers. ...
A Beginner's Guide to Mountaineering (05/10)
Mountain climbing, or mountaineering, is the sport of attaining or attempting
to attain high points in mountainous regions, mainly for the pleasure of the
climb. Before the 18th century, climbing for sport was rare. Humans
did ascend high peaks, but generally only out of necessity or for religious
reasons (many ancient religions ...
A Short Lesson in Restaurant Terminology (05/10)
PERSONNEL
Chef: the cook in charge of a restaurant; from the French chef de cuisine, literally the head of the kitchen.
Executive Chef: sometimes called the head cook, he or she is the one responsible for running the food preparation in a kitchen, ordering food and supplies, making staff schedules, dealing with administrative tasks. ...
Elise and Otto Hampel (05/10)
Every Man Dies Alone is inspired by
Elise and
Otto Hampel, a blue collar couple. Elise and Otto eluded the police and the Gestapo from September 1940-42, 'leaving hundreds of postcards calling for civil disobedience and workplace sabotage all over Berlin.'
One of the frequent subjects of the Hampels' postcards was the Winter Relief ...
John The Revelator, The Person and The Shng (05/10)
The title of Peter Murphy's book is taken from a traditional song about John of Patmos, the name given to the author of the biblical Book of Revelation, who identifies himself as living on the Greek island of Patmos. Scholars date Revelation to between AD 54 and 96 with most believing it
to have been written around AD 95.
In the 2nd...
Vory Tattoos - the mark of a Soviet fraternity of criminals (05/10)
The vory developed a complex series of coded tattoos that are still employed by the vory today. The tattoos have a bluish color and are blurred-looking due to the poor quality implements used to create them. Ink inside the prisons is usually created by burning the heel of a shoe and mixing the soot with urine and shampoo. The tattoos ...
Charlie Chaplin & Sunnyside (05/10)
Not a whole lot is said about silent films these days. The Age of the Silver Screen seems to be as antiquated as the subject matter of many of its films: the original Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments, Intolerance, and Birth of a Nation to name a few. The reputed masters of the form could be counted on one hand, and actors and actresses ...
The Burundian Genocide (05/10)
The 1993 Burundian genocide (which preceded the 1994 genocide in Rwanda) traces back to the end of Belgian colonial rule in the 1950s and 1960s and the
first Berudian genocide of 1972. Burundian history fits, like interlocking puzzle pieces, with that of its northern neighbor, Rwanda (
map of Central Africa).
Like in Rwanda, Hutus make ...
Ivan Mishukov - The boy who lived with a pack of wild dogs (05/10)
I was fascinated to learn that Eva Hornung's novel
Dog Boy was inspired by the real-life story of Ivan Mishukov, a four-year-old boy who decided to run away from his mother and her alcoholic boyfriend in 1996 in Moscow, and ended up living with a pack of wild dogs for approximately two years before he was rescued. In the book
Savage Girls...
Alexis de Tocqueville, author of Democracy in America (04/10)
Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was born in Paris on July 29, 1805. His parents, both of aristocratic background, narrowly avoided the guillotine during the aftermath of the French Revolution, and were exiled to England. They were later able to return to France during the reign of Napoleon. His father supported the Bourbon...
Horology, the art of time (04/10)
Protagonist George Crosby's love for repairing clocks is a prominent theme in
Tinkers, which includes references to a fictional 1783 book called The
Reasonable Horologist.
Horology encompasses both the science of measuring time and the art of
making time pieces. Thus, horologists include watchmakers, clockmakers,
scholars, ...
The Cello - The Little, Big Viola (04/10)
As Mia's source of strength, the cello plays a central role in If I Stay. Playing her instrument is her true passion, her future and the reason for her bond to her first love, Adam.
The first cellos were made in 16th century Italy. Composers sought an instrument with a similar sound to other stringed instruments but a lower tone than the...
Waardenburg Syndrome (04/10)
Half Italian, half-Scottish forensic expert Enzo Macleod has distinctive good looks: long hair with a streak of white pulled back in a ponytail, and eyes of different colors. This is because Macleod has a genetic syndrome, called Waardenburg Syndrome, affecting hair color, eye pigmentation and sometimes hearing. It's so named for the ...
You Don't Have To Go It Alone - Female Adventurers (04/10)
Not all adventurers seek solitude. In December 2009, seven women from the Commonwealth countries of Cyprus, India, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, skied together over 800 kilometres across Antarctica to the South Pole 'to demonstrate the potential of greater intercultural understanding and exchange, while at ...
The Two Faces of France During WWII (04/10)
What happens when part of a country's population embraces the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity while the rest abandon those principles in favor of work, family, fatherland, and a heavy dose of anti-Semitism? Moreover, what if that ideological split divides not only the country's people, but its leadership as well? If that ...
Candy Bars, Fascinating Facts (04/10)
Chocolate as a drink was a favorite of Montezuma, Emperor of the Aztecs. Hernando Cortez brought the drink back to Spain in 1529. It remained a favorite of the Spanish royalty for many years before being consumed widely throughout Europe.
It was not until three centuries later in England that chocolate was first used as a non-liquid ...
Preventing Drowning (04/10)
In
Bird Lake Moon, the tragic drowning of Spencer's four-year-old
brother haunts his family during their return visit to Bird Lake. As we approach
the summer months, it is wise to ponder the following tragic statistics
presented by the
Orange County Fire Authority:
'Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-...
India (04/10)
According to the
U.S. Department of State, India's population is estimated at more than 1.2 billion and is growing at 1.6% a year. It has the world's 12th largest economy - and the third largest in Asia behind Japan and China - with total GDP in 2008 of around $1.2 trillion (which, to put it in context, is less than the USA's budget ...
The World's Largest Porch Swing and Nurturing Talent (03/10)
The memory of her family's visits to the
World's Largest Porch Swing in Hebron, Nebraska, sustains Mibs during the bumpy bus ride to Salina where her seriously injured father is hospitalized.
Wackiness like The World's Largest Porch Swing has a sweetness in
Savvy
and has nothing to do with kitschiness. Instead, Law is inviting us to ...
American Labor on the Docks (03/10)
The Miles Archer character in Gores's novel has earned his tough-guy reputation by helping quell labor unrest on the docks of Seattle, in part by outing 'Wobblies.' For the unfamiliar, this plot line may be a bit confusing, but it is historically accurate, and adds welcome color to the novel's setting.
The history of American labor is ...
Banned and Challenged Books in America (03/10)
Some of the most memorable and painful moments in
Snow Falling in Spring involve the solace of reading and the loss and destruction of books.
American readers might be surprised to know that in America books are frequently
challenged and even banned.
The American Library Association explains the difference between a challenge ...
Parapsychology vs. Skepticism (03/10)
While the Washburn Library is a purely fictional invention, it does have an analog in the real world: the
Rhine Research Center, once known as the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man, and home to the Institute for Parapsychology until 2002. Formerly affiliated with Duke University, the Rhine now operates independently a short ...
Bethlem Hospital (03/10)
The Bedlam Hospital that appears in Revelation is no figment of the author’s imagination. It is fashioned after what is perhaps the oldest hospital for the mentally ill in the Western world, Bethlem Hospital in London. Bethlem has also gone by the name Bedlam, the root of the modern English word bedlam, meaning 'uproarious confusion....
To Read or Not To Read in Series Order (03/10)
When I was a teenager, my mother gave me some advice which I almost
immediately ignored. We were both avid readers who preferred reading to talking
and most of our limited conversation was about what we were reading.
She had enjoyed English novelist Norah Lofts's trilogy about the history of a
house and the stories of the people ...
Women and Botany (03/10)
Before her husband forbade her from pursuing any hobbies or interests, Mary Eleanor Bowes devoted considerable time to studying botany and overseeing the gardens at her family estates. She even became the patron of Scottish naturalist William Paterson, funding his expedition to South Africa, from where he brought native plant specimens as...
King Arthur - history or myth? (03/10)
No one is sure if there was truly a person named Arthur who was a ruler of
the Britons. Evidence for his existence is scant at best.
The first complete account of the life of King Arthur appeared in Historia
Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), written in 1137 -
1138 CE by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Geoffrey surely ...
Eating Disorders (03/10)
Lia's anorexia and Cassie's bulimia represent two of the three most common eating disorders identified by the National Mental Health Information Center. Ninety percent of those who have eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25, but they can also manifest in teenage boys, and adult men and women of all ages. It's estimated ...
Ian Sansom on Libraries, Writing, and Flapjacks (03/10)
On
his website Ian Sansom speaks about the role libraries have played in his life:
'Libraries are places where you go to invent and reinvent yourself, or maybe just to use the toilet, if they have toilet facilities, and to find out how other people have reinvented themselves, and what they've written on the walls, and the desks, and in the...
Non-Traditional Cancer Therapies (03/10)
Cancer is the term used to describe any
malignant growth or tumor caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division.
A cancer is described as Stage 4 when it has spread from the original site to other
parts of the body. When we first meet Nicola, she has already undergone surgery
and chemotherapy. Below are some of the ...
England's Black Country (02/10)
England's Black Country is currently defined as the West Midlands region encompassing Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley and Sandwell, though the specific borders have been previously debated. The name reputedly derives from the thick Staffordshire coal seam and from the area's industrial past. Once home to steel mills, coal mines, glassworks...
The Angel Island Immigration Station (02/10)
In
Shanghai Girls, Pearl and May are incarcerated at the
Angel Island Immigration Station after fleeing war-torn China. Angel Island was the first stop for most Chinese entering the United States during this period; 175,000 were processed there during its thirty years of operation.
Chinese immigration to the United States began in the ...
Korean Picture Brides (02/10)
Korea became the object of Japan's colonial ambitions in the late nineteenth century, culminating in Japan's annexation of the region in 1910. Koreans, escaping the abuse and heavy taxation imposed by the Japanese, began immigrating to Hawaii. Approximately 6000 migrated to the islands between 1906 and 1910, 90% of whom were male. Most ...
A Brief Biography of Copernicus (02/10)
Nicolaus Copernicus was one of the first scientists to remove the Earth (and consequently, humanity) from the center of the universe, countering the theological teachings of his day. As such, his theories are referred to often in You Are Here. He is regarded as one of the central figures of the Scientific Revolution, and is sometimes ...
Acromegaly (02/10)
Truly Plaice, the protagonist of The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, is
referred to as a 'giant' even as a child. It is not until mid-way through the
book that a physician provides the name of the disease that afflicts her:
Acromegaly.
Acromegaly comes from the Latin acron, for extremity, and megas,
meaning large. It was ...
Pullman Porters (02/10)
Clarence King presented himself to Ada Copeland as Pullman porter James Todd with good reason; at the turn of the 20th twentieth century, only black men were hired as sleeping car porters. Introducing himself as a man of this profession would leave no doubt of his race, regardless of the color of his skin.
(02/10)
The Red Wolf Conspiracy takes place almost entirely aboard an immense
sailing ship (aka 'tall ship') with seven decks and five sails, similar, albeit perhaps on a grander scale, to those one might envision in use during the 18th
century. Although the book is set in a fantasy world, Redick references familiar
ship types and crew ...
Traditional Recipes for Preserving the Sweetness of Summer (02/10)
Jane Fielding's home and family are the center of My One Hundred
Adventures. Her mother's inventive, fresh cooking, the gathering of fresh
sea food, berries and greens, and the calm fellowship the Fieldings enjoy at
mealtimes sustain and fortify Jane as she greets each new adventure. Jane's
mother preserves the sweetness of summer...
The Hippocratic Oath (02/10)
The title, Cutting for Stone, refers to a line in the Hippocratic Oath,
and to the last name of the three main characters, all of them surgeons. As
Abraham Verghese quotes it, the line from the Oath reads 'I will not cut for
stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest. I will leave this
operation to be performed by ...
Cooking by Feel (01/10)
Although Lillian calls her cooking classes 'The School of Essential Ingredients' and has been asked what those are, she doesn't keep a list of them, nor are any of her recipes written down. While she does acknowledge that baking requires a more carefully balanced set of ingredients (she also believes that couples should make their own ...
China's The Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution (01/10)
China's Cultural Revolution, which Chairman Mao Zedong formally announced in
1966, was a reaction to his earlier attempt, known as 'The Great Leap Forward', to increase China's economic base by moving the country away from its agrarian economy to an industrialized one using the massive supplies of cheap humans rather than expensive ...
A Short History of Archeology (01/10)
The fictional John Somerville's interest in archeology was typical for his time. Most so-called archeologists of the period were, like him, self-taught because there were virtually no academic courses offered. Additionally, his desire to secure a rich benefactor to fund his excavations was standard operating procedure in the field; for ...
The Story of Stamps (01/10)
Great Britain's 'Penny Black' plays a significant role in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. It was the first stamp, first issued on May 6, 1840. It cost one penny, was printed in black, and bore the profile of Queen Victoria. For the next 60 years (until her death in 1901), Queen Victoria's portrait was the only subject allowed on ...
Listening to and Looking at Pakistan (01/10)
This book is Uzma Aslam Khan's third novel. One of her goals as a woman and a Pakistani is to undo formulaic assumptions about her homeland as well as to aid in the struggle for self- ownership, self-representation, and intellectual recognition of women. She writes passionately about this purpose in her essay, '
Women and Fiction Today.'
...
Missing Children (01/10)
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
posts the following U.S. Department of Justice statistics on
taken
children:
- 797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year
period of time (approximately 2,185/day), but the majority of these were quickly found.
- 203,900 children were the victims of ...
Dog Training Methods & The Seeing Eye (11/09)
Edgar Sawtelle would not have much to say—or sign—to the Dog Whisperer. Cesar Millan, the star of 'The Dog Whisperer' on the National Geographic Channel, is known for his 'pack-oriented' philosophy, which traces canine behavior back to their survival instinct for living in highly organized packs led by a single, strong leader. ...
Spy Agency Acronyms (11/09)
Like many spy thrillers, The Spanish Game is awash in an alphabet soup of acronyms. Below is a brief translation for the uninitiated.
MI5: 'Military Intelligence, Section 5.' Formed in 1909, MI5is a UK counter-intelligence and security agency which concentrates its efforts mainly on security issues within the UK (approximately equivalent...
