Amazon recommended this to me. Knowing we'd be home for a while, I placed a big order with this among others.
This was definitely....interesting. And weird.
This is a collection of short (1-4 pages) entries on animals. Not all of them are as unusual as the platypus. Each entry discusses the animal's interesting features, how it relates to humans on the genome scale, what Darwin thought of (or might think of) said critter, and other information like size/habitat/behavior.
Some of this is incredibly informative and I learned a lot...of useless trivia in case I ever go on Jeopardy. There were also little zingers one might miss if just flipping through (the entry on manatees had some snark about the sea cow's weight and the whale's size was labeled "big as a whale").
On the whole, a conversation starter/coffee table book for sure, some good bell ringers if used in a biology classroom, and lots to study if going on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, but not exactly future standard textbook or classic science literature.
Mr. Dickson would like it.
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Friday, March 20, 2020
Richard Potter by John Hodgson
Hey everyone. I hope you are all healthy and well. This is a very weird time. Please reach out if you need someone to listen.
I watched an actor portray Richard Potter in Sturbridge Village two Christmases ago. I've always been fascinated by slight of hand. I'm too clumsy and shaky to do it myself though. Potter was our pre-dinner entertainment. I loved it.
Fast forward a bit and this biography appeared as a suggestion from our book vendor Follett. Of course I bought it. I took it out to read Friday during what was supposed to be a two week shutdown. If we only knew then...I digress.
Richard Potter was born circa 1783 in Hopkinton, MA. His mother Dinah was a black household slave to a wealthy tax collector. His paternity is still questionable, either his mother's master Charles Frankland, a family relative Henry Cromwell, or a local pastor George Stimson/Simpson/Stimpson. He often told people Frankland, frequently misheard as Franklin, which Potter played up as a relation to Benjamin Franklin.
Potter claimed to be West Indian, often dressing in fancy robes and adornments, to hide his ethnicity, especially when touring in the South. He was famous all up and down the East Coast and in England and served as a Mason in all African Lodge.
So why had I never heard of him until that Christmas in Sturbridge? How did I not know about this local celebrity? Why is he excluded from history? A better question might be what are doing now to make sure he is?
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
I watched an actor portray Richard Potter in Sturbridge Village two Christmases ago. I've always been fascinated by slight of hand. I'm too clumsy and shaky to do it myself though. Potter was our pre-dinner entertainment. I loved it.
Fast forward a bit and this biography appeared as a suggestion from our book vendor Follett. Of course I bought it. I took it out to read Friday during what was supposed to be a two week shutdown. If we only knew then...I digress.
Richard Potter was born circa 1783 in Hopkinton, MA. His mother Dinah was a black household slave to a wealthy tax collector. His paternity is still questionable, either his mother's master Charles Frankland, a family relative Henry Cromwell, or a local pastor George Stimson/Simpson/Stimpson. He often told people Frankland, frequently misheard as Franklin, which Potter played up as a relation to Benjamin Franklin.
Potter claimed to be West Indian, often dressing in fancy robes and adornments, to hide his ethnicity, especially when touring in the South. He was famous all up and down the East Coast and in England and served as a Mason in all African Lodge.
So why had I never heard of him until that Christmas in Sturbridge? How did I not know about this local celebrity? Why is he excluded from history? A better question might be what are doing now to make sure he is?
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Monday, March 9, 2020
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Let's go back in time.
I read The Handmaid's Tale in 2000, as a sophomore at SCSU in a Women's Literature course. I absolutely loved it, so much so I used it when I student taught Honors level seniors in 2002. I also used clips from the 1990 movie version. Yes, The Handmaid's Tale is THAT OLD. The award-winning series is not the first version. However, the new series did introduce a younger generation to the story, which, unfortunately, is just as timely, if not more so, today.
So, I have to be honest and say I've never watched the TV show. I loved the book and movie; why ruin it? But it seems everyone loves it! Perhaps because of the success of the show, Atwood published a sequel, The Testaments. Same reason I didn't want to read it! I didn't want to spoil things.
Mrs. Robles kept asking for this book, but it was always checked out when she did. Because it was evident we really needed a second copy due to popularity, I ordered one off Amazon and let her check it out first. She really liked it and said I should read it. So I did.
And I really should've before!
Fifteen years after the events of the first novel, three women's testimonies are woven together to present life in the regime and Canada. One story is from a girl who was taken from her biological mother and given to a powerful Commander and Wife. She is coming of age to marry. The next is from a girl who was smuggled to safety in Canada and has been raised to hate the regime and all it stands for. Third is an Aunt, the older women who have some semblance of power in training girls and Handmaid's.
I don't want to spoil too much. I will say it was pretty obvious to me early on who was really who though. You must read the first novel to understand this one, not just watch to show or movie.
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
I read The Handmaid's Tale in 2000, as a sophomore at SCSU in a Women's Literature course. I absolutely loved it, so much so I used it when I student taught Honors level seniors in 2002. I also used clips from the 1990 movie version. Yes, The Handmaid's Tale is THAT OLD. The award-winning series is not the first version. However, the new series did introduce a younger generation to the story, which, unfortunately, is just as timely, if not more so, today.
So, I have to be honest and say I've never watched the TV show. I loved the book and movie; why ruin it? But it seems everyone loves it! Perhaps because of the success of the show, Atwood published a sequel, The Testaments. Same reason I didn't want to read it! I didn't want to spoil things.
Mrs. Robles kept asking for this book, but it was always checked out when she did. Because it was evident we really needed a second copy due to popularity, I ordered one off Amazon and let her check it out first. She really liked it and said I should read it. So I did.
And I really should've before!
Fifteen years after the events of the first novel, three women's testimonies are woven together to present life in the regime and Canada. One story is from a girl who was taken from her biological mother and given to a powerful Commander and Wife. She is coming of age to marry. The next is from a girl who was smuggled to safety in Canada and has been raised to hate the regime and all it stands for. Third is an Aunt, the older women who have some semblance of power in training girls and Handmaid's.
I don't want to spoil too much. I will say it was pretty obvious to me early on who was really who though. You must read the first novel to understand this one, not just watch to show or movie.
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Hoax by Tattersall and Nevraumont
Fake News isn't anything new. Sure social media has made the proliferation of doctored images, exaggerated tales, and non-existent statistics easy to share, but we, everyday humans, have been being duped by hoaxes a whole lot longer than since the invention of Facebook and Twitter.
Cons, scams, fakes, cures, and the like have existed for as long as humans it seems. The first recorded report of the Loch Ness Monster was in 563. The Shroud of Turin dates to 1390. Bigfoot footprints were cast in 1811. The Fox sisters claimed to be psychic mystics in 1848.
Some of the modern hoaxes our authors mention: Milli Vanilli's lip sync scandal (which happened right here in CT at Lake Compounce, when the area that's now the Haunted Graveyard was a concert venue), Flat Earth Theory (really????), faking the Moon landing, Walt Disney's frozen head, and of course vaccines and autism.
This would be a great references for courses on digital media and social media.
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Cons, scams, fakes, cures, and the like have existed for as long as humans it seems. The first recorded report of the Loch Ness Monster was in 563. The Shroud of Turin dates to 1390. Bigfoot footprints were cast in 1811. The Fox sisters claimed to be psychic mystics in 1848.
Some of the modern hoaxes our authors mention: Milli Vanilli's lip sync scandal (which happened right here in CT at Lake Compounce, when the area that's now the Haunted Graveyard was a concert venue), Flat Earth Theory (really????), faking the Moon landing, Walt Disney's frozen head, and of course vaccines and autism.
This would be a great references for courses on digital media and social media.
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Romanov by Nadine Brandes
Every once and while you hear a claim made by an elderly woman that she is the long lost Anastasia Romanov. It was even a joke of Betty White's character Elka on "Hot In Cleveland". I had a childhood friend who claimed to be Anastasia's granddaughter (she wasn't--I knew both sets of her grandparents, and they were 100% Italian.).
So who exactly was Anastasia Romanov?
Read here from Wikipedia:
So who exactly was Anastasia Romanov?
Read here from Wikipedia:
"Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Russian: Анастаси́я Никола́евна Рома́нова, tr. Anastasíya Nikoláyevna Románova; June 18 [O.S. June 5] 1901 – July 17, 1918) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna.
Anastasia was the younger sister of Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Maria, and was the elder sister of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. She was murdered with her family by a group of Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918.
Persistent rumors of her possible escape circulated after her death, fueled by the fact that the location of her burial was unknown during the decades of Communist rule. The abandoned mine serving as a mass grave near Yekaterinburg which held the acidified remains of the Tsar, his wife, and three of their daughters was revealed in 1991. These remains were put to rest at Peter and Paul Fortress in 1998. The bodies of Alexei Nikolaevich and the remaining daughter—either Anastasia or her older sister Maria—were discovered in 2007. Her possible survival has been conclusively disproved. Scientific analysis including DNA testing confirmed that the remains are those of the imperial family, showing that all four grand duchesses were killed in 1918.[1][2]
Several women falsely claimed to have been Anastasia; the best known impostor is Anna Anderson. Anderson's body was cremated upon her death in 1984, but DNA testing in 1994 on available pieces of Anderson's tissue and hair showed no relation to the Romanov family."
So despite proof of Anastasia's murder, stories that she survived and fled to Siberia or America persist.
This was a very easy read I finished in a day. It's a romanticized tale that had a few eye roll moments for me. Not really my cup of tea.
A better question though is I have absolutely no idea how I got this book or how it made it's way to my to-read shelf. It's not pre-cataloged, so it didn't come from Follett. It's not a Scholastic edition, so it didn't come from the annual warehouse sale. It's not in my Amazon order history.
Maybe Anastasia wanted me to read this version of her story?
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson
Lizzie Borden took an ax
Gave her mother 40 whacks
And when she was done
Lizzie gave her father 41...
While the old jump rope rhyme isn't totally accurate, it solidifies the picture of a young woman who brutally murdered her parents in every child's playground memory.
The Lizzie Borden murders are a fascinating story, an unsolved mystery in a quaint New England town at the end of the 1800s. The Borden house still stands, operating as a haunted bed and breakfast. The same goes for the home she'd die in later. Halloween in Fall River brings paranormal investigators, amateur sleuths, and macabre tourists. And me. (Let's not neglect to mention the phenomenal Portugese bakeries all over the city!!!!)
Mr. Lupoli, the Carrigan Band Director, recently went on a "Babymoon" as he and his wife await the arrival of their son. His Facebook album basically planned my itinerary to Fall River/Newport/Providence.
In preparing to visit, I wanted to brush up on my Lizzie history.
I'll be honest, I have not seen the most recent movie on the murders, because Kristen Stewart? Then again, I was shocked at Stewart's amazing portrayal of Joan Jett (see my post about Neon Angel).
So when this appeared as a suggestion for our Library collection, I jumped on it. Again, box-unpacker perk hehehe.
There are a lot of theories about who really killed Andrew and Abby Borden (Abby was Lizzie and her sister Emma's STEPmother). Certainly could've been Lizzie. Her maternal uncle visiting? A recently fired employee of Andrew's? The housemaid Bridget? A would-be thief?
As a final note, and something I learned in reading this book---Lizzie's lawyer locked up her file as it confidential under attorney-client privilege. The law firm still exists. And Attorney Robinson's file cabinet is still there. Locked and under the watchful eye of the firm's current partners more than 125 years later.
Coming up in early Spring, the Connecticut Association of School Librarians annual Share2Learn UnConference. One of the sessions is Readers' Advocacy. We have to bring 5 books to share, and this is one I'll be bringing!
Among the others reviewed here:
A Craftsman's Legacy
The Toll
The Grace Year
Nightingale
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Gave her mother 40 whacks
And when she was done
Lizzie gave her father 41...
While the old jump rope rhyme isn't totally accurate, it solidifies the picture of a young woman who brutally murdered her parents in every child's playground memory.
The Lizzie Borden murders are a fascinating story, an unsolved mystery in a quaint New England town at the end of the 1800s. The Borden house still stands, operating as a haunted bed and breakfast. The same goes for the home she'd die in later. Halloween in Fall River brings paranormal investigators, amateur sleuths, and macabre tourists. And me. (Let's not neglect to mention the phenomenal Portugese bakeries all over the city!!!!)
Mr. Lupoli, the Carrigan Band Director, recently went on a "Babymoon" as he and his wife await the arrival of their son. His Facebook album basically planned my itinerary to Fall River/Newport/Providence.
In preparing to visit, I wanted to brush up on my Lizzie history.
I'll be honest, I have not seen the most recent movie on the murders, because Kristen Stewart? Then again, I was shocked at Stewart's amazing portrayal of Joan Jett (see my post about Neon Angel).
So when this appeared as a suggestion for our Library collection, I jumped on it. Again, box-unpacker perk hehehe.
There are a lot of theories about who really killed Andrew and Abby Borden (Abby was Lizzie and her sister Emma's STEPmother). Certainly could've been Lizzie. Her maternal uncle visiting? A recently fired employee of Andrew's? The housemaid Bridget? A would-be thief?
As a final note, and something I learned in reading this book---Lizzie's lawyer locked up her file as it confidential under attorney-client privilege. The law firm still exists. And Attorney Robinson's file cabinet is still there. Locked and under the watchful eye of the firm's current partners more than 125 years later.
Coming up in early Spring, the Connecticut Association of School Librarians annual Share2Learn UnConference. One of the sessions is Readers' Advocacy. We have to bring 5 books to share, and this is one I'll be bringing!
Among the others reviewed here:
A Craftsman's Legacy
The Toll
The Grace Year
Nightingale
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Monday, January 13, 2020
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
This book was recommended to me by our book vendor, Follett, as a "top selller" in nonfiction. One of my goals is to update our nonfiction holdings (still hovering in 2002/3 for our average age). Now, the Dewey Decimal System is kinda weird (OK, let's be honest here, it's outdated, misogynistic, racist, and just plain dumb in some respects); things Library related are in the very first set of Dewey--027. So that's where this was placed. True, it does have a lot of Library stuff in it. For example, as topics are discussed, their Dewey numbers are included. Also how Libraries work and how this has changed as the American concept of "Library" has developed, how materials are processed and moved, the various jobs of the staff in a system holding millions of volumes (we hold about 9,000 for comparison), the relevance of Libraries today. But also History, specifically American/California History tied to literacy, suffrage, urban planning, war, poverty, philanthropy, and politics. And a lot about fire--how fire burns, how it spreads, and its suppression. There is also a fair amount of personal autobiography and reflection. It would be interesting to poll a bunch of Librarians and ask where they'd put it. I think there'd be a wide spread based on age, location, and level of the Library and Librarian! If I was going to teach a class or guest speak in a Librarian preparation program, I'd definitely be requiring at least an excerpt from this book and holding an exercise in cataloging. Maybe something you might see some day? #wink
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.
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