The Smallest Books
Mar 15, 2010 Uncategorized
Some of you may not be aware that a race to produce the smallest book possible has been going on for centuries. The Miniature Book Society has a huge display of the tiny things, and notable pre-21st Century American miniatures started in 1750 – 60 with a 1 11/16″ x 1 7/16″ edition of Verbum Sempiternum and culminated in 1932 with an edition of The Rose Garden of Omar Khayyam only 3/16 x 7/32.
New technology has allowed obsessives to go even further, though – in 2002 the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed the world’s smallest book had dimensions of only 0.9 x 0.9 mm, owned by Mark Palcovic of the University of Cincinnati . In 2007, the worlds first nanoscale book was published by Robert Chaplin. Measuring less than 0.07 x 0.1 mm, it can’t even be read with the naked eye.
Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees
Jan 26, 2010 Uncategorized
This is quite unlike most of the books I’ve reviewed here before. It has no clear narrative, it contains science but doesn’t focus on it and it’s hard to even describe what it’s about.
The book is a written tribute to and celebration of trees, and what we get from them – wood that is put to both utilitarian and artistic uses, walnut harvests in distant mountain ranges, firewood, hedges. Written as a journey that is sometimes continuous and sometimes resumes after an apparent gap of many years (or millions of miles), the naturalist author rambles all over the world and in doing so shares his knowledge about the natural world, art and social history. Reading this book is like a strange, somehow very moving, experience. Recommended.
Saucy Jack: The Elusive Ripper
Jan 18, 2010 History, Specialist Subjects, Uncategorized
No serial killer has left a legacy like that of Jack the Ripper. Conspiracy theories abound as to who carried out a series of murders in 1888 Whitechapel, but why? Brutal crimes abounded in East London, and society didn’t care deeply about the fate of working girls, who often met violent ends.
Saucy Jack examines how these specific murders became famous, what his tells us about 1888 attitudes and social life, and how one murderer became a horror movie archetype for centuries to come. It describes the victims and facts surrounding the attacks, as well as discussing the evolution of the Ripper archetype, its presence in the media, from early newspaper accounts to modern video games and rock music, takes a close look at the “ripperologists” who spend their spare time agonising over the case, and has a skeptical look at the various conspiracy theories floating around, and why they attract people.
