Holly Tucker's Blog, page 101
January 11, 2011
Being With Animals in Prehistory
By Barbara J. King Prey and predator: during our long evolution on the African savannah, we humans have played both roles. For millennia, big cats and sharp-eyed raptors made off with us as their lunch; then, wielding newly-invented tools, we turned the tables (at least to a degree) via scavenging, and later, hunting. Our ancient [...]
January 10, 2011
Lobotomies and Stomach Surgery
By Randi Hutter Epstein Recently, I came across a few newspaper articles about the stomach-constricting band to cure obesity. At the same time, I was immersed in a book about lobotomies to cure insanity. Sure, one is news and the other is history, but I couldn't help but see the parallels. Not about being obese [...]
January 4, 2011
Montaigne and Tasso
By Sarah Bakewell In 1580, two great writers met in Ferrara, in Italy. It should have been a wonderful moment: Italy's greatest contemporary poet, Torquato Tasso, author of the epic La Gerusalemma liberata, or Jerusalem Delivered, came face to face with France's first and greatest literary essayist, Michel de Montaigne. What a conversation they could [...]
January 3, 2011
Mailbox Monday – 1/3/11
Mailbox Monday is on a blog tour! The popular meme started over at The Printed Page blog is being hosted by Rose City Reader for the month of January! Here's what we've received recently: Shop Indie Bookstores Janice's Thoughts: This is one of the best historical novels I have come across lately. Pullinger weaves this [...]
January 2, 2011
The Scientist Pope
By Nancy Marie Brown Sylvester II, pope from 999 to 1003, was a wizard. He had sold his soul to the devil. So, at any rate, said the official Lives of the Popes written in the late 1200s by Martin the Pole, a Dominican friar, and referenced for hundreds of years. Friar Martin wasn't making [...]
Using Amazon as a Research Tool
By Melissa Luttmann One of my favorite tools for researching the historical fiction market is Amazon.com. Yes, I realize that many authors find some of their business practices questionable…but of all the sites selling books on the Internet, Amazon has by far the largest selection. If you know how to handle its search functions, you [...]
January 1, 2011
The First Baseball Speed Gun
By Joseph Wallace How fast does a baseball travel after being thrown by a major-league pitcher? A remarkable article in the December, 1912, issue of Baseball Magazine showed that the first accurate measurements were made decades before the invention of the modern-day radar gun. Titled "One Hundred and Twenty-two Feet a Second!", the piece sought [...]
Happy Holidays!
The Wonders & Marvels doorstep is often covered with books from publishers–hoping we'll do a review. But lately, we've gotten a bunch of 2011 CALENDARS. And history ones too! We're doing a giveway on Twitter (via @history_geek) this New Year's Day. At 11:45 EST, 12:00 EST, 12:15 EST.
December 24, 2010
Titanic Thompson: The Man Who Bet on Everything
By Kevin Cook I'm a sportswriter who spent 20 years telling readers of Sports Illustrated, Golf Magazine and other magazines about Tiger, Phil and the rest of today's top golfers. But the guy who really intrigued me never played on the PGA Tour. Titanic Thompson, who may have been the best golfer of his generation, [...]
December 23, 2010
Timing Was Everything
By Vicki León Living in Athens years ago, I'd grab a souvlaki for lunch and head for a favorite spot. On the steps of the Parthenon (an option now impossible). Or near an 8-sided marble tower below the Acropolis. Being a newcomer, I thought "my" tower dated to medieval times. Its cap of rooftiles didn't [...]
