You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
Challenges: Monthly
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November 2014 - Fact, not Fiction - Reporting Thread
Wow! I'm the first to finish! I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which I didn't even have on my TBR before the challenge started, but I had heard about it, and for some reason it sounded like a book that would fit this challenge (challenging myself to read about something new and learn something useful). I loved it and gave it 5 stars!Fun facts (sorry, can't choose!):
- Several thousands of human cells fit on the head of a pin and weigh next to nothing. Yet Henrietta Lacks's cells have been multiplied so many times that all together they would weigh 50 million metric tons. And you can put them end to end around the world at least 3 times, covering more than 350 million feet or 106.000 km.
- 60.000 scientific articles have been published about HeLa cells since the early 1950s, and still 300 new ones are added each month.
- As soon as you depart with bodily cells, for example at the doctor's office or during surgery, they are no longer yours and can be used for research without your consent. There are indescribable amounts of cells of millions and millions of American's in databases in the US.
3pts - Fun Fact shared!
Topic
5pts – A topic you haven't read about before.
4pts – Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths.
2pts – Biography, Autobiography, Memoir.
Cover (on the version you read)
4 pts – Cover is mostly orange.
Pages
2 pts - 300 - 399 pages
Bonus Points (count once):
5pts – Mentions a horse race (for the Melbourne Cup). (There's a scene in the book describing how when Henrietta was a child, they organized horse races along the dirt road that ran the length of the Lacks tobacco plantation. The boys raced while the girls cheered them on)
Total: 25 points
Wasn't it a great read, Peggy? The last fact you shared is a little unnerving.
I was shocked too, I had no idea! I thought I misunderstood the first time I read that sentence in the book.
Congratulations for being first, Peggy. Great point count too!
I didn't know that third fact. Very interesting. Slightly worrying too, but I guess you want lots of samples of many different varieties (and backgrounds other than those who actively donate for research) and technically you won't need them back, nor does it affect your body. I wonder what the stance on this is in other countries?
And grats of being the first finished!
@RusalkaMost countries don't have precise regulations about it
I read So Terrible a Storm: A Tale of Fury on Lake Superior by Curt Brown for this challenge. This was a fantastic book about the great storm of November 26-28,1905 that took many lives and ships who sailed on Lake Superior during that fateful event. I gave this one 5 stars!3pts - Fun Fact Shared!
- 7 ships sank during this storm.
- The S.S. Mataafa was only 500 feet from shore, but because the rescue crew couldn't get to the ship in time, 9 crew members died of exposure.
- The storm flags were raised, but several captains put their ships out anyway, relying on their instinct rather than this new weather science.
5pts – A topic you haven't read about before
3pts – Human Culture, Language, History
3pts – The Title is in blue
2pts - 300 - 399 pages
TOTAL POINTS = 16
I read Triangle: The Fire That Changed America for this challenge. 3 fact- "By one estimate, one hundred or more Americans died on the job every day in the booming industrial years around 1911." Location 147 in the Kindle edition
"Just four months before the fire at tthe Triangle, an almost identical fire in a Newark garment factory trapped and killed twenty five young women, and experts predicted it was only a matter of time before a worse calamity struck in Manhattan. Yet workplace safety was scarcely regulated, and workers' compensation was considered newfangled or even socialist." location 149-51
5pts – A topic you haven't read about before
3pts – Human Culture, Language, History
340 pages-2 points
total-13 points
I read The Family: Three Journeys into the Heart of the Twentieth Century, 11-8-14Scoring
3pts - The Maidenform Bra company designed and manufactured Pigeon holders for soldiers to wear during WW II.
3pts – Human Culture, Language, History.
3 pts - 400 - 499 pages (400 pages)
Total--9 pts
Wooohooo. Look at me getting so much more learned from your facts!
I'm now ready to start my non-fiction read of Brodeur: Beyond the Crease as I just finished the buddy read for Ready Player One :-) I'm looking forward to learning some unknown facts about my all-time favorite NHL goalie, Martin Brodeur :-)
Pigeon holders? Do they wear them like a bra?
around their middle, i think. They used carrier pigeons to send messages (I didn't know that) so this allowed officers to hold them for up to six hours!
Haha I was wondering what pigeon holders were. So, to hold actual pigeons! I was thinking in an entirely different direction!
Amanda wrote: "Haha I was wondering what pigeon holders were. So, to hold actual pigeons! I was thinking in an entirely different direction!"You and me both Amanda. I was thinking an equivalent of budgie smugglers or something.
I was thinking of Austin Power's fembots shooting pigeons. 
ROFL! Mix that with Madonna's cone bra and you've got a real weapon.
HAHAHA, Love it! Now that is a weapon!!
I finished my book for the challenge: This I Know: Notes on Unraveling the Heart. It was lackluster, an account of a woman's journey through grief and redefining herself as an individual. Fun fact? Hmmm... "Children are so alive, so in the right now, like little Zen masters in Spiderman pajamas." Yeah, so no points for facts.
Topic
2 pts - memoir
Cover
Is a mix of yellow and red so it looks orange, but I don't think it counts as orange.
0 pts
Pages
1 pts - 234 pages
0 Bonus points
TOTAL - 3 points! Possible gluestick contender?
'snot orange. Sorry. I am having fun imagining Buddhist monks in spiderman pyjamas though. And will have a lot of trouble not pissing myself laughing the next time i see one.So 3 is the number to beat people! Or 25 if you want to play the game the "real" way!
Woohoooo, here comes the gluestick. Fellow 
Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard
No facts. Philosophy. Religion.
Topic
3pts – Human Culture
Cover
0
Pages
0pts- 160pp
Bonus Points
0
TOTAL: 3
Janice, you got to share your gluestick with Anna already. :p
I'll gladly share. I might cry if someone comes up with 2 or 1 points.
While unlikely, you never know Janice. That Glue stick was ripped from my delicate hands a couple of times before I got my own ;)
Finished My Life in France. 3 points - fun facts - soak tuna in vinegar and water to reduce overly fishy taste, Julia Child made so much mayonnaise experimenting tweaking the re pie that she resorted to flushing mayo down the toilet!
2 points - memoir
1 point - Related to hobby (cooking)
3 points - title in blue
2 points - author's name larger than book title
2 points - 300-399 pages
Total - 13 points
I read Where is Daniel? for this challenge. The sadly true story of Daniel Morcombe, who was abducted and murdered, and his parents never ending battle to find their son and seek justice for him. Daniel's story, and the foundation his amazing parents set up to help educate all Australian children, is well known throughout our nation. I can't help but wonder if people in other parts of the world have ever heard of them?3 pts fun fact I learnt
I never realised the Amber alert that is broadcast when a child goes missing, is modelled on a successful North American system responding to the abduction of a child called Amber. For some reason I thought it related to the colour.
2pts biography/autobiography
5 pts 610 pages
5pts Melbourne Cup is mentioned, Denise Morcombe's mum backed a couple of winners!
Not sure about the referendum, does "Day for Daniel" count?
Total 15 pts
Kerri, I just read the story on wikipedia, but I never heard of him before (in the Netherlands)
I have finished my non-fiction read for this challenge. I read Brodeur: Beyond the Crease. Scoring as follows:
3 pts-fun fact: Brodeur negotiated most of his own contracts without the use of a manager.
5pts-a topic you haven't read before
2pts-Biography, Autobiography, Memoir
1pt-cover has a mask (goalie mask)
1pt- My version was 276 pages
Total pts: 12
I really enjoyed learning about my favorite goalie in the NHL, Martin Brodeur. He has played his whole career for the New Jersey Devils which not many can say they have played their whole career for one team. This book takes us through his childhood when he played as a forward and became a goalie because his coach asked him what he wanted to play, forward or goalie, and since he didn't see his dad or brothers he said to his coach "goalie." The book only goes up to through the 2006 season but I feel like I know him more now as a player than I ever realized. I loved learning that he drank 3 sprites every game that he played in. I would call that a superstition ;-) I rated this book 5 stars and am glad it turned out to be a great read for me. Currently, Marty is an unrestricted free agent. He wasn't ready (at the age of 42) to hang up his skates and he didn't want to be the backup yet...hope the Devils will sign him so he can retire a Devil. I would hate to see him play his last year for a different team.
Kerri wrote: "I read Where is Daniel? for this challenge. The sadly true story of Daniel Morcombe, who was abducted and murdered, and his parents never ending battle to find their son and seek ju..."Such a sad case, but so wonderful how they support other families going through the same things.
Referendum, no I'm afraid. I meant more of things that change the constitution. I better double check above and make sure that's consistent with other reporters.
I finished The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks this morning. Interesting Fact (3 points): The science of the brain/mind was developed during World War II by A.R. Luria and many other scientists. They called this "new" science Neuropsychology. This new science focused only on functions associated with the left hemisphere of the brain, ignoring the "much less distinct" syndromes of the right hemisphere.
5pts – A topic you haven't read about before.
4pts – Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths.
3 pts – The Title is in blue. (Most of the title is in blue, let me know if this counts)
1 pt - 200 - 299 pages
Total Points (If blue title is approved): 16
KimeyDiann wrote: "I finished The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks this morning. Interesting Fact (3 points): The science of the brain/mind was developed duri..."
Oooo I see your point. Yeah take the points.
Eiffel's Tower: And the World's Fair Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artists Quarreled, and Thomas Edison Became a CountFun Facts: 3 pts.
*Alternately mocked, despised, and admired, Eiffel's tower was the chosen centerpiece of the most ambitious World's Fair to date, the Exposition Universelle of 1889.
* When the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889, the French intended to tear it down in twenty years. They had no idea that the tower would become the beloved icon of Pairs.
*Gustave Eiffel, a self-made millionaire, was France's moist successful railway bridge builder and an engineer of global ambition with offices in colonial outposts such as Peru, Saigon, and Shanghai.
*In March of 1888, Gustave Eiffel was fifty-six and the celebrated engineer of the world's highest railway bridge in Garabit, France. The graceful four-hundred-foot-high iron arches seemed effortlessly to uphold the railway lines crossing the gigantic valley.
*In America, Gustave Eiffel was best known as the engineer who made possible the construction of the colossal and beloved Statue of Liberty, for he had solved the problem of the interior skeleton and then built it for the sculptor Frederic-Aufuste Bartholdi.
*At one-thousand-feet the Eiffel Tower rose nearly twice as high as the world's tallest building, the recently completed 555 foot tall Washington Monument in America.
*It took almost forty years to build the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., but the Eiffel Tower was completed in 22 months.
*Gustave Eiffel installed a plaque on the tower with the names of 199 of his workmen to honor their hard and faithful labor.
*Three men died in the construction of the Eiffel Tower.
*Excluded from the official French painting pavilion and lacking funds to build his own pavilion like Manet and Courbet, Paul Gauguin and some of his friends exhibited their work at Cafe Riche, a restaurant in the Palais des Beaux-Arts, which was a part of the World's Fair.
*The Eiffel Tower was painted bronze red that lightened in the higher reaches almost to a yellow.
*The unquestioned technological sensation of the World's Fair, to Thomas Edison's delight, was his newly perfected talking phonograph.
Next to the astonishment of the tower, there were no greater technological marvels at the Exposition than those to be found in the Edison Company's one acre exhibit in the vast iron and glass Galerie des Machines. William Hammer, Edison's right hand man, directing forty-five assistants, had more than succeeded in showcasing all the Edison inventions, celebrating the still novel miracle of electricity.
*Buffalo Bill Cody"s Wild West Show was an authentic living spectacle whose success at least rivaled that of the ubiquitous Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower attracted about twelve thousand visitors each day; Edison's recording machines drew tens of thousands daily, and the Wild West Show brought in thirty thousand paying spectators to two sold-out shows every day, jamming the grandstands to hawk and cheer on the cowboys and Indians.
When Chief Sitting Bull joined the Wild West Show, he adopted Annie Oakley, naming her "Little Sure Shot."
*In Gustave Eiffel's own elegantly appointed aerie at the top of the tower, furnished with comfortable black velvet fringed divans and handsome works of art, he lived with the weather as no man ever had.
*In little laboratories at the top of the Eiffel Tower, scientists came to study the weather, electricity, air currents, etc. high in the heavens.
*After the Eiffel Tower, the Exposition subject that most attracted French artists was the Javanese dancing girls. Camille Pissarro described them as "very picturesquely costumed…yet bizarre in their gilt head-dresses decorated with black feathers."
*The King of Italy was so dazzled by Thomas Edison's gift of a phonograph that he conferred the title of count upon the American inventor. When Edison, who had been partially deaf since his teens, grasped the cavalier's message from the king, he gave a hearty laugh.
Edison was elevated to the highest possible rank for a foreigner in its Legion of Honor: commander.
*In the Italian section of the fair's fine arts department, Edison, who was fond of sculpture, found a two-foot-tall white marble sculpture of a nude winged sprite holding aloft a working lightbulb that he simply had to posses. He paid $1,700 for The Genius of Electricity, sculpted by A. Bordiga. It would sit atop his desk in his West Orange laboratory study for years, a happy souvenir.
*In the 1850s, Rosa Bonheur, artist-in-residence at the Buffalo Bill camp and friend to Bill Cody, had become one of the few women in France possessing an official cross dressing permit (renewed every six months) that allowed her to wear pants, as long as she did not do so at shows, balls, and certain other public meeting places.
Topic:
5 pts. a topic you haven't read about before
4 pts. science, technology, engineering, maths
3 pts. human culture, language, history
Pages:
2pts. 368 pages
Bonus Points:
Horse Races: 5 pts.
Page 105
"For American tourists there were other attractions in Paris--the Louvre: the city's ancient monuments and churches; cafes; jar-dins; the horse races; and above all, shopping…"
Referendum: 5 pts.
page 7
"…intended to celebrate passage of the First Reform Act…"
page 22
" Finally, on November 22, the committee reconvened. While certain of its members delivered the same tirades and anti-Eiffel invective, in the end, the politicians voted 21-11 to underwrite the tower."
Total Points: 27
Connie, Who approved the cross-dressing permit that Bonheur had to have renewed every six months? Did it say?
I did not know Eiffel actually lived at the top. how cool is that!
Great points. I think you are two up on Peggy!
There were some interesting facts in your book, Connie! I had no idea they thought they would tear it down after 20 years. Can you imagine Paris without it?
Cherie, Eiffel did not live at the top of the tower. He had an apartment there where he studied the weather and entertained guests ( with his wife and children when they chose to join him). It was considered quite an honor to be invited to tea/ coffee or lunch in his private apartment. He loved studying the weather, and the top of the tower gave him a perfect place to do his scientific experiments. Some days he took naps there with the wind whistling around his head. Edison gave him a phonograph that he placed there. Actually, Edison and his wife joined Eiffel in the apartment for coffee. Edison loved the tower, and the French loved Edison.The French government approved the permit. That is all it says in the book.
Knowing that her visitors would find it shocking to find a woman in pants, she always kept a skirt nearby for quick changes. She was the first Frenchwoman to be made a chevalier in the Legion of Honor in 1865, her red ribbon presented personally by Empress Eugenie.
In 1887 Cornelius Vanderbilt bought her painting The Horse Fair for $55,500 and donated it to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Janice, I could hardly believe that so many of the French were so against the tower at first. There were lawsuits against the construction of the tower by private citizens who thought it was going to be an eyesore and were fearful it would fall on their homes, so Eiffel finally insured the tower with his own money, guaranteeing that the construction would be sound and no one's property would be damaged, or he would pay. That was the only way the lawsuits were finally settled, and he was able to start working on the tower.
He did not choose to dignify with an answer the assertion that the massive iron tower would become a huge magnet and draw the nails from the nearby Parisian buildings.
I learned so much while reading this book that I could go on and on, but I don't want to completely spoil the book for someone who might be considering reading the book. I purposely don't tell you what happens to these people at the end of their lives.
Wow that sounds like a pretty informative book Connie! I went to Prague last year and they have a tower up on Petrin Hill there which was built to resemble the Eiffel Tower (built 2 years after the Eiffel Tower from what I remember). It's so much shorter but with it sat on top of the hill the top ends up being of a higher altitude than the Eiffel Tower. Like Janice said, I can't imagine Paris (or France generally) without the Eiffel Tower. I'm glad it stayed! I am yet to visit it.Crazy that women had to apply for a cross-dressing permit just to wear trousers!
I cannot believe only 3 people died. That's astoundingly few.
Connie, that sounds like an extremely interesting book! Adding it to my TBR now! :)
Connie, It does sound like an interesting book, and I have added it both to my TBR and my Amazon wishlist.
Connie, Thanks for answering my question about Rosa Bonheur. I cannot wait to get a copy of the book and read it!
I was impressed with the fact that only 3 men died too. He must have had very good safty standards for his time. I love that people thought the tower could become a magnet and I would have loved to be invited up there. The closest thing like the E. Tower that we have here is the Space Needle in Seattle, but I have never gone up in all of the times we have visited the Science Center near where it is located.
Leonardo and the Last Supper3pts - Fun Fact shared!
da Vinci was not interested in making a living as an artist. He wanted to design and build war machines, but could get no one to take him up on his offers. He abandoned almost every painting for which he was commissioned. He was kept "on staff" as a "set designer"/"entertainment producer"...as such he put on plays with complicated mechanical props that dazzled "royal" audiences with robotic type trickery.
Because of the delicacy of "The Last Supper" due to incorrect Fresco technique AND because of failed/botched restoration attempts, only 20 percent of the original masterpiece remains as da Vinci's handiwork. The remaining 80 percent has been inserted by restorers.
╰☆╮ da Vinci was left-handed, wrote from right to left and naturally wrote in mirror writing. (Exactly backwards and readable by holding a mirror to his text.)
3pts - Fun Fact shared!
Topic
5pts – A topic you haven't read about before.
2pts – Biography, Autobiography, Memoir.
Pages
2 pts - 300 - 399 pages
12 points total
p.s. I was going to read The Language of the Goddess and changed my mind after thumbing through it. I think I'd rather just re-read Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth. The Goddess and I are just not all that (view spoiler) close!☻
Almeta wrote: Because of the delicacy of "The Last Supper" due to incorrect Fresco technique AND because of failed/botched restoration attempts, only 20 percent of the original masterpiece remains as da Vinci's handiwork. The remaining 80 percent has been inserted by restorers..."What? I am speachless. That is not a fun fact, that is a tragedy!
Cherie wrote: "What? I am speachless. That is not a fun fact, that is a tragedy! ..."A real tragedy!
I wasn't necessarily impressed by this book, because of its veering into history. I only wanted to read about da Vinci and The Last Supper.
What was given to me as a testimony to his talent, completely captured me AND has convinced me of his enormous genius and dedication to representing subjects with natural accuracy rather "than stylized art".
I need to find another biography that sticks to the this title's subject.
Almeta's Review of Leonardo and the Last Supper
You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (other topics)My Life in France (other topics)
The Woman in White (other topics)
In Cold Blood (other topics)
Sex with the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jared Diamond (other topics)Chris Bohjalian (other topics)
Søren Kierkegaard (other topics)
Henry Petroski (other topics)
Suetonius (other topics)
More...
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm a little disturbed at the world at the moment. Seems like there are a lot of ignorant people all over the place, doing silly things as they are scared, mainly as they don't understand.
So I have decided, we are not going to be like those silly people. We are going to understand things. What things? I hear you ask. Well... you know. THINGS!
What I would like you to do this month is to pick up a non-fiction book. It can be about anything, but anything *you* would like to know more about. Under-water basket weaving, to building spaceships, to a biography of a hermit monk from 1200.
Just no fiction (and may be check that the author hasn't sold it as non-fiction and then made up “facts” to sell more books. Looking at you Mr Ebola-guy). And, I want you to tell us an interesting fact you learnt from your book. We can share the intelligence and beat ignorance together!
General Rules:
1. The book may be in any format - paperback, ebook, audiobook.
2. The book may NOT be combined with the Year Long Chunkster Challenge.
3. The book must be read between November 1 to November 30, 2014 (based on your own time zone).
4. The book must be over 150pp long.
5. The challenge is for one book. You may read more books if you chose, but only the highest scoring book will apply.
Scoring
3pts - Fun Fact shared!
Topic
5pts – A topic you haven't read about before.
4pts – Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths.
3pts – Human Culture, Language, History.
2pts – Biography, Autobiography, Memoir.
1pt – Related to a hobby you do. Explain/share.
Cover (on the version you read)
5 pts – Has a bonfire on it.
4 pts – Cover is mostly orange.
3 pts – The Title is in blue.
2 pts – Author's name is bigger than the title.
1 pt – Has a mask on the cover.
Pages
5 pts - 600 - 1000 pages
4 pts - 500 - 599 pages
3 pts - 400 - 499 pages
2 pts - 300 - 399 pages
1 pt - 200 - 299 pages
Bonus Points (count once):
5pts – Mentions a horse race (for the Melbourne Cup).
5pts – Mentions a referendum (in honour of St Andrew's Day, official national day of Scotland).
5pts – Mentions a Scorpion.
5pts – Mentions a Centaur.