Category Archives: Books

books: enjoyed, reviewed, otherwise

“A masterful congress of word and image, science and art”: I think Darwin would approve

Posted on October 30, 2011 by cicada

Artist, naturalist and calligrapher Kelly Houle is seeking support through Kickstarter for her “Illuminated Origin of Species” project: Houle promises “a masterful congress of word and image, science and art, in celebration of the grandeur in this view of life.”  … Continue reading →

Posted in Artists & Art, Books, Ephemera, History of Science, Littademia, Medical Illustration and History, Random Acts of Altruism, Retrotechnology | Comments Off

3-D Textual Spirographs!

Posted on January 17, 2008 by cicada

. . . or something like that. Courtesy of JK Keller, these Volumetric Redundancies represent the number of times a word appears in a given text. Red cubes represent non-unique words, with size depending on number of occurrences; blue cubes … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Frivolity, Words | 3 Comments

Poem of the Week: Mosaic of a Hare

Posted on December 5, 2007 by cicada

Hare Floor Mosiac 4th century Corinium School, Cirencester, Gloucestershire Corinium Museum Dan Chiasson’s book of poetry, Natural History (2005) is inspired by Pliny (the Elder, who wrote the original Naturalis historia) and Horace. Taking Pliny as a starting point may … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Poetry | 4 Comments

Sometimes it’s just one of those days

Posted on November 11, 2007 by cicada

She looked with angry woe at the straining and snarling horde below “The Wooing of Becfola,” Irish Fairy Tales Written by James Stephens, 1920 Illustrated by Arthur Rackham

Posted in Artists & Art, Books | 2 Comments

Rackham’s Zankiwank, and more

Posted on November 10, 2007 by cicada

The Zankiwank and the Bletherwitch Written by S.J.A. Fitz-Gerald, 1896 Illustrated by Arthur Rackham Maude and Willie felt themselves dropping, dropping, dropping, until the Zankiwank bounced up and caught them both in his arms, saying as he rushed forward:- “Quick, … Continue reading →

Posted in Artists & Art, Books | 1 Comment

Christmas gifts! for the creative, picky, or perverse

Posted on November 10, 2007 by cicada

I’ve been running across an unusually large number of things I covet lately, and it occurred to me that if you are reading my blog, you (or your friends/family) might have similar tastes. So I thought I’d post a list … Continue reading →

Posted in Artists & Art, Books, Conspicuous consumption, Frivolity | 2 Comments

Personal histories

Posted on October 4, 2007 by cicada

I just finished Eric Kandel’s new book, In Search of Memory. For those of you who don’t recognize his name, Kandel won the Nobel Prize in physiology/medicine for his work on the cellular basis of learning and memory. He is … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Books, Department of the Drama, Science | 4 Comments

Fever dreams

Posted on October 1, 2007 by cicada

The Sower Robert Parkeharrison Have you ever encountered an artist whose work seems so familiar, you feel as if he or she has ensnared your memories? I had that feeling when I first saw Robert Parkeharrison’s

Posted in Artists & Art, Books, Photography | 3 Comments

Poem of the Week: De Vermis

Posted on September 22, 2007 by cicada

Fantasy author Robert Jordan died this week, without completing his 12-book Wheel of Time saga. His death is the sort of event I most feared as a lonely teenager, when I lived in books: that an author would die before … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Poetry | 3 Comments

Darwin for Kids

Posted on September 16, 2007 by cicada

Author and illustrator Peter Sis has written a beautiful book called The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin which follows Darwin’s voyage on the Beagle and re-creates the naturalist’s travel-stained maps and notebooks. The book was released in 2003, and got … Continue reading →

Posted in Artists & Art, Biology, Books | 2 Comments