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July 26
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AC
gave
 
to:
Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker (Hardcover)
by Stacy A. Cordery
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in July, 2008
AC said:
"Cordery has written a sympathetic, well researched and written biography about Teddy Roosevelt's eldest child. It provides a wealth of unique historical information. Unfortunately, it was difficult to like the subject. Alice began life as an almos...more
Cordery has written a sympathetic, well researched and written biography about Teddy Roosevelt's eldest child. It provides a wealth of unique historical information. Unfortunately, it was difficult to like the subject. Alice began life as an almost abandoned child, became a spoiled brat, then an national and international celebrity who toyed with the media and public just as the more clever celebrity figures of our era do, and grew into a long-lived national political "institution." Alice sounds perfectly brilliant. She was an autodidact throughout her life, wonderfully read and informed, an astonishing conversationalist, the hostess of Washington D.C.'s most influential salon, and one of the best political minds her time; but she became increasingly reactionary. Her father must have spun in his grave when she openly maligned, mimicked, and campaigned against her cousins, FDR and Eleanor....less
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AC
gave
to:
The Invention of Everything Else (Hardcover)
by Samantha Hunt
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in July, 2008
AC said:
"This kindly reviewed work of fiction based on the life of Nikola Tesla disappointed. Ms. Hunt can turn a phrase, but wrapping in story lines which include time machines and talking pigeons? No, thank you. Tesla lived an astonishing life which is b...more
This kindly reviewed work of fiction based on the life of Nikola Tesla disappointed. Ms. Hunt can turn a phrase, but wrapping in story lines which include time machines and talking pigeons? No, thank you. Tesla lived an astonishing life which is better captured in biographies like Marc Siefer's Wizard: the Life & Times of Nikola Tesla. ...less
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AC
gave
to:
William Shakespeare: The World As Stage (Eminent Lives)
by Bill Bryson
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in July, 2008
AC said:
"Bryson has concocted a genial soufflé which is, to cop a phrase, much ado about [almost:] nothing. Nicely done. How clever of the people behind the Eminent Lives series to have selected Mr. Bryson, who has proved himself able to approach vast and ...more
Bryson has concocted a genial soufflé which is, to cop a phrase, much ado about [almost:] nothing. Nicely done. How clever of the people behind the Eminent Lives series to have selected Mr. Bryson, who has proved himself able to approach vast and hoary subjects, assimilate them, and write them up with elegance, authority, humor, and brio. Bryson seems to be firmly in the camp of those who believe a William Shakespeare wrote both the plays and poetry....less
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AC
is currently reading:
Niels Bohr's Times,: In Physics, Philosophy, and Polity (Paperback)
by Abraham Pais
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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AC said:
"Good so far.
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July 12
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AC
gave
to:
The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900 (Hardcover)
by David Edgerton
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in July, 2008
AC said:
"This is not a sequel to Robert Hughes' 'The Shock of the New," which was an elegant entertaining book/PBS show about 100 years of Western modern art. British historian/academic Edgerton makes and defends an interesting premise, that much what i...more
This is not a sequel to Robert Hughes' 'The Shock of the New," which was an elegant entertaining book/PBS show about 100 years of Western modern art. British historian/academic Edgerton makes and defends an interesting premise, that much what is touted as successful modern innovation in [mostly Western:] technology is over-hyped. He makes the case, in a dry, concise, sometimes clumsy, but refreshingly non-USA-centric fashion, that the most sucessful modern technologies aren't the glitzy "cutting edge" headliners like atomic bombs and biotechnology; they're the "everyman's" gadgets, like sewing machines, automobiles, and consumer electronics, which build on technology that's been around awhile. Edgerton writes on a very important subject with novel information and ideas. His book is well worth reading, and as a bonus, includes a priceless Jorge Luis Borges quote on the Falklands War - "The Falklands thing was two bald men fighting over a comb." ...less
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July 07
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AC
gave
to:
Romanticism and Its Discontents (Hardcover)
by Anita Brookner
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in June, 2008
AC said:
"The author, known primarily as a novelist, carefully examines some of what she consider's Romanticism's key figures in separate chapters. The book's scope is 18th & 19th century French culture. While Delacroix is widely considered a casebook ex...more
The author, known primarily as a novelist, carefully examines some of what she consider's Romanticism's key figures in separate chapters. The book's scope is 18th & 19th century French culture. While Delacroix is widely considered a casebook example for Romanticsm, others profiled are not. For example, most consider Ingres as neoclassical and Zola of the literary "naturalism" style. Enjoyed the book's illustrations; if only all had been in color. ...less
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AC
gave
to:
The Gastronomical Me (Paperback)
by M.F.K. Fisher
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in June, 2008
AC said:
"A fun surreal read where food reigns as a metaphor for everything important to MFK Fisher - love, happiness, family, comfort, etc. One feels slightly naughty reading these stories, because they are so like what one might find in a purloined diary.
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AC
gave
to:
The Metaphysical Club (Paperback)
by Louis Menand
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in June, 2008
AC said:
"Louis Menard's wonderful New Yorker articles made me seek out this book. Found it overloaded with quirky minutiae, and lacking a leveling, "wide frame" context.
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AC
gave
to:
Biophilia (Paperback)
by Edward O. Wilson
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in July, 2008
AC said:
"Lovely book with wonderful ideas and language, sometimes verging on poetry. The Time Machine chapter, starting with a conversation in the 1850s between Louis Agassiz and Benjamin Peirce, then zigzagging from micro to macro levels, was great fun and ...more
Lovely book with wonderful ideas and language, sometimes verging on poetry. The Time Machine chapter, starting with a conversation in the 1850s between Louis Agassiz and Benjamin Peirce, then zigzagging from micro to macro levels, was great fun and stunningly done. The book was published in 1983, so portions have aged accordingly....less
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June 22
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AC
gave
to:
Neanderthals, Bandits and Farmers: How Agriculture Really Began (Darwinism Today series)
by Colin Tudge
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in June, 2008
AC said:
"The intriguing title catches one's attention and the astoundingly pithy text are full of interesting ideas. Enjoyed this book very much. The only silly bit was a statement, belied by the millions of vegetarians zestfully inhabiting the planet, that...more
The intriguing title catches one's attention and the astoundingly pithy text are full of interesting ideas. Enjoyed this book very much. The only silly bit was a statement, belied by the millions of vegetarians zestfully inhabiting the planet, that humans can only survive on vegetables alone for "awhile." ...less
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