November 28, 2009
From the most recent issue of Locus magazine, November 2009, talking about his most recent novel Makers:
The people in Makers experience a world in which technology giveth and taketh away. They live through the fallacy of the record and movie industries: the idea that technology will go just far…
November 27, 2009
Actually, not jackass, but asshole, but this is a family blog, at least as far as post titles are concerned.
In any case, Scott Berkun's Asshole driven development post on practices in the software industry from a couple of years ago is so true that it almost passes from being funny to being sad.…
November 24, 2009
Obviously, Strategy+Business is not going to be core science books, but I've always included social media, technology and innovation books in my very broad definition of science books. There are a couple of categories that have some very fine books on recommendation.
Technology
Stealing MySpace:…
November 23, 2009
Unfortunately, LJ's Best Books 2009: 31 Titles, Plus Best Genres & How-To doesn't have a dedicated science section but there are a few good recommendations nevertheless.
NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul…
November 20, 2009
I like to cook. I have a few standard, signature dishes where I more or less freestyle every time I make them -- beef stew, chili, quesadillas, pasta sauce.
I also like to try new things. For example, I'll probably be making Tyler Hamilton's lamb shank Irish stew this weekend. So yeah, the…
November 18, 2009
Or, Twitter & blogs as ways of knowing, Part 2.
A month or so ago, I poked a little gentle fun at social media extremists, basically exploring the idea that engaging online is the be-all and end-all of the library profession versus the idea that much of what we do online is peripheral to the…
November 16, 2009
Sort of related to my ongoing series of Best Science Books 2009 lists, here's a nice list of the top 5 social media books I found on Mashable, via Tara Hunt. They're all 2009 books, after all.
The list is from Steve Cunningham who interestingly frames the five books in terms of the lessons we…
November 13, 2009
Ok, I know this one stretches any reasonable definition of the word "fun."
But in my defense, I think a few good cringes is a great way to celebrate Friday the 13th.
Over on Slashfood, one of my favourite foodie blogs, there's a couple of recent posts on 10 Dirty Little Restaurant Secrets and 10…
November 12, 2009
As usual, some interesting stuff from the December 2009 issue of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine (v3i2).
Capturing young womens' imagination: Welcome to the Wii generation of Nerd Girls by various
Revolutions and Remembrances: Engineering as a bond for diverse groups by Marimuthu, R.
Women to…
November 11, 2009
I don't usually talk about local York stuff here, but I'd like to make an exception for the event we had last week (Tuesday, November 3rd) here at my library, The Steacie Science & Engineering Library.
The event is called YorkWrites and it's sponsored jointly by the Libraries and the Bookstore…
November 9, 2009
As graphic novels go, Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth is every bit as good as Maus or Watchmen, if not quite as game-changing. The only other things out there that I can think of that are similar are Chester Brown's Louis Riel or Ho Che Anderson's King: A Comics Biography of Martin Luther King…
November 6, 2009
Amazon has come out with their Editor's Picks for 2009. There are three categories that have books that are relevant to us here.
Science
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes
Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search…
November 6, 2009
Bookgasm has a very fun guest post by Ben H. Winters, author of the recently published Jane Austen pastiche/adaptation/expansion Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.
Since writing SENSE AND SENSIBILITY AND SEA MONSTERS, I've gotten a ton of feedback about how nice it is that I've made Jane…
November 4, 2009
Every year for the past 3 or 4 years I've been linking to and posting about all the "year's best books" lists that appear in various media outlets and highlighting the science books that are mentioned. From the beginning it's been a pretty popular service so I'm happy to continue it.
For my…
November 2, 2009
Just so you all know, the last couple of comments I've received are stuck in limbo. I can see them on the admin side but they're not showing.
Unfortunately, my work computer just died and I can't seem to access my email, even via the web interface.
Hopefully, all will return to normal soon.
October 30, 2009
Actually, it's not really about misconceptions that we learn only in school, it's more about urban legend/zeitgeist stuff that eveyone knows.
Anyways, The 10 Biggest Misconceptions We Learn In School is from Manolith, a site I've never heard of before. It's rude and crude and definitely not for…
October 27, 2009
The September Communications of the ACM has a provocative article by Peter J. Denning and Paul S. Rosenbloom, Computing: the fourth great domain of science (OA version). It's well written and persuasive, certainly worth reading the whole thing.
Science has a long-standing tradition of grouping…
October 25, 2009
Registration for Science Online 2010 is open. The conference web site is here and program info is here.
Time is running out. There are currently about 175 registered and the organizers are going to cap it at 250.
I've attended the conference for the past two years and it's a blast. I really…
October 23, 2009
TVOntario has produced a very fine documentary based on the life of geometer Donald Coxeter, who lived in Toronto and worked at the University of Toronto for many years. It's called The Man Who Saved Geometry and is based on the book by Siobhan Roberts, King of Infinite Space: Donald Coxeter, the…
October 23, 2009
Ah, but maybe he would if they were Cthulhu plushies!
Check this out from Sci Fi Wire: 14 great Cthulhu toys that make devouring souls fun!
H.P. Lovecraft's elder god Cthulhu is supposed to be terrifying, hideous and awe-inspiring--but whoever knew he could be this darn cute? Check out 14 toys that…
October 20, 2009
A few weeks ago Bill Gasarch published his Journal Manifesto 2.0 on the Computational Complexity blog.
Basically, his idea was to start a scholarly publishing revolution from the inside:
Keep in mind: I am NOT talking to the NSF or to Journal publishes or to Conference organizers. I am NOT going to…
October 19, 2009
As I mentioned in my previous post, I did a little Q&A about the new outsourcing arrangement that CISTI has negotiated with Infotrieve.
Q1. What's the effect on jobs at CISTI from this move?
As you may know, NRC-CISTI is transforming itself to be well positioned to serve the needs of Canadian…
October 19, 2009
Such is the subject line of an email I got from the NRC-CISTI people last week. NRC-CISTI is Canada's National Research Council -- Canada Institute of Scientific and Technical Informamtion. In other words, Canada's national science library. Many of you probably know them for their document…
October 16, 2009
And I'm not talking about students the morning after a pub night!
It seems that the University of Florida has actually added zombie invasions to their campus emergency plans.
You should watch, for example, for "increasing numbers of gruesome unexplained deaths and disappearances, especially at…
October 15, 2009
As has been buzzing around the scitech library mailing lists lately (thanks, Joe!), the great news is that the STELLA! Science, Technology & Engineering Library Leaders in Action unconference is coming up in Denver in January 2010.
What is the STELLA Unconference?
This meeting is for any…
October 13, 2009
A silly title to reflect some overhyped posturing found, guess where, on the Internet.
First up, Joe Murphy on librarians and their proper relationship to Twitter: "it's reprehensible for information professionals not to be on Twitter."
A loaded and diva-dramatic statement like that is a sure sign…
October 13, 2009
I rarely mention here when Walt Crawford publishes a new issue of his very fine ejournal Cites & Insights, mostly because I sort of assume you all read it already.
Of course, that's probably not true so I'll remedy the situation partially with this post.
The most recent issue is completely (…
October 9, 2009
Yes, The Onion again. It's only been two weeks since the last one. I just couldn't help myself.
There's just something about global warming humour that appeals to my sense of the absurd.
ZACKENBERG RESEARCH STATION, GREENLAND--Claiming it to be one of the most dramatic and visible signs of…
October 8, 2009
On October 1, 2009 librarians and archivists at York University Libraries voted unanimously to adopt the following policy:York University Open Access Policy for Librarians and Archivists
Librarians and archivists at York University recognize the importance of open access to content creators and…
October 8, 2009
The IEEE Computer Society's magazine IT Professional has a special issue on Ontologies, OWL, and the Semantic Web (v11i5). There's lots of very cool-looking stuff, mostly pretty basic.
Guest Editor's Introduction: Ontologies, OWL, and the Semantic Web by Jepsen, Thomas C.
Semantic Web Technologies…
