December 29, 2009
During my winter blogging break, I thought I'd repost of few of my "greatest hits" from my old blog, just so you all wouldn't miss me so much. This one is from September 24, 2007. It's my initial thoughts about the blog I've been using to post my IL session notes.
It's worth noting that the blog…
December 25, 2009
Now here's a question: What do you leave by the fireplace on Christmas Eve for a great old one to snack on? Probably your neighbours' kids.
Anyways, Tor.com has posted an amusingly creepy Christmas story by Charles Stross, Overtime.
It's certainly not every treacly Christmas story that has a…
December 24, 2009
Not surprisingly, a very fine list from the AIP's Physicsworld website:
The Physics of Rugby by Trevor Davis
First Principles: The Crazy Business of Doing Serious Science by Howard Burton
Oliver Heaviside: Maverick Mastermind of Electricity by Basil Mahon
Atomic: The First War of Physics and the…
December 23, 2009
A nice list from a bunch of categories from the Washington Post, although some of items in the the science section seem strangely unscientific:
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty…
December 22, 2009
One of the five non-fiction books chosen by Salon was a science book.
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes
December 21, 2009
Every year The Allman Brothers Band hold court at New York's Beacon Theatre for an extended run and 2009 was a very special year for them as it was the 20th anniversary of the event.
And being a jam band, they celebrated with a wide array of guests each night. Perhaps most notable were two nights…
December 19, 2009
A nice list of technology/business books:
Googled: The End of the World as we Know it by Ken Auletta
Inside Larry & Sergey's Brain by Richard L. Brandt
The Twitter Book by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein
The Accidental Billionares: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and…
December 18, 2009
What better way to celebrate the yuletide season that with some gifts that honour and celebrate everyone's favourite Great Old One, Cthulhu!
Ellen Datlow has a couple of cool posts on Tor.com with some Lovecraftian gift ideas here and here.
Take a look:
Despite the fact that he's been dead for over…
December 18, 2009
I've cobbled together this list from three lists from The Independent: Nature & Environment, Biography and History.
The Running Sky: A bird-watching life by Tim Dee
Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo by Michael McCarthy
Edible Seashore: river cottage handbook no. 5 by John Wright
Logicomix: an epic…
December 17, 2009
Thinking about the future is very hard.
You'd think I'd know just how hard it is, having engaged in it on numerous occasions during my blogging career and even writing a book about it. But the more I think about the future -- of the climate, of society, of the economy, of information, of…
December 17, 2009
From Time's Top 10 Non-Fiction books:
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis, Christos H. Papadimitriou, Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di DonnaAs usual, if you've seen any…
December 16, 2009
A nice list from The Barnes & Noble Review:
Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives by Joseph Kanon Michael Specter
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
Ivory's Ghosts: The White Gold of…
December 15, 2009
A selection of articles from two recent IEEE publications which have special issues devoted to humanitarian service in engineering. Note that most of these articles will be behind the IEEE paywall.
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, v52i4.
The Role of Information and Communication in…
December 15, 2009
Not surprisingly, being a science magazine Seed has a very fine list of books for science enthusiasts:
Boyle: Between God and Science by Michael Hunter
A Brilliant Darkness: The Extraordinary Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Ettore Majorana, the Troubled Genius of the Nuclear Age by João…
December 14, 2009
A short list from the Christian Science Monitor:
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and the Terror of Science by Richard Holmes
Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and…
December 14, 2009
...five different ways!
In a bit of a twist on some of the "Five songs I love" posts I've done, I thought I'd take one of my favourite songs and see if I could find a bunch of different versions of it.
Some songs seem to naturally lend themselves to re-interpretation by different artists, and…
December 12, 2009
The latest issue of IT Professional (v11i6) has some interesting articles on strategic planning for IT organizations.
Information Technology Strategic Planning by Hong, Edward K
IT Innovations: Evaluate, Strategize, and Invest by Sahoo, Manas
Professional and Interpersonal Skills for ICT…
December 11, 2009
...on Tor.com!
Check it out:
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn...
In deference to the Great Old Ones, Tor.com has devoted this December to everyone's favorite cosmic tentacled thing-that-cannot-be-described from Vhoorl. All month long we'll be posting articles, stories, and comics…
December 10, 2009
Yet another solid list from the Globe and Mail, assembled from a few different categories. This list focuses on gift/coffee table-style books; I've left out a few of the many science and nature books that seem a bit more peripheral to my main mission.
Aviation in Canada: The Formative Years by…
December 9, 2009
A good selection from The Economist.
The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective by Robert C. Allen
Why We Disagree About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity by Mike Hulme
Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species by…
December 8, 2009
A few nice items from the Canadian book industry magazine, Quill & Quire:
Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization by Jeff Rubin
Grass, Sky, Song: Promise and Peril in the World of Grassland Birds by Trevor Herriot
Slow Death by Robber Duck: How the…
December 7, 2009
A nice selection from the Financial Times, spread across a few categories.
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H Papadimitriou
Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century by PW Singer
Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal by…
December 7, 2009
Thanks to SciBling Ed Brayton for bringing to my attention Fergie's blistering duet with Mick Jagger on The Stones' Gimme Shelter. U2 is the back up band. The Youtube is here. Mick Jagger also sings. Fergie, for those that don't know, is the singer for the Black Eyed Peas
Jagger and Fergie are…
December 4, 2009
Announced today:
Dear Readers,
It is our great pleasure to bring you news of an exciting new partnership, starting today, between ScienceBlogs and National Geographic.
ScienceBlogs and National Geographic have at their cores the same ultimate mission: to cultivate widespread interest in science and…
December 4, 2009
Please forgive the ScienceBlogs nepotism this time around, but by far the most amusing thing I've seen on the Internet the last few weeks is SciBling Chad Orzel's video of the Bohr-Einstein Debates. With puppets, of course.
Anyways, let's let Chad explain:
Back during the DonorsChoose fundraiser,…
December 2, 2009
Boing Boing has some very cool scitech suggestions in their annual gift guide for non-fiction books.
If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay: How to Know if Your Child's Injury or Illness Is Really an Emergency by Lara Zibners
The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks…
December 1, 2009
A pretty good list from the Times, who've been a bit spotty with their lists the last few years.
The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Reborn by Louisa Gilder
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes
Cold: Adventures in…
November 30, 2009
Welcome to the latest feature here at Confessions of a Science Librarian -- Music Mondays! My plan is to have a vaguely music-related post here most Mondays, somewhat in the vein of my Friday Fun posts, but probably not quite as regular. I'll probably mix in short CD reviews, odd bits I've found…
November 30, 2009
...present of public and academic libraries?
What got me thinking along these lines most recently was the recent Clay Shirky blog post,Local Bookstores, Social Hubs, and Mutualization. It's a pretty good post that puts a particular kind of physical retail into the context of current online retail…
November 29, 2009
One of the most interesting lists every year is The Globe and Mail's Globe 100, and this year is no exception. There's relevant stuff all over the spectrum, from biography to history to graphic novels to popular science to the environment.
In the print version, the categories are pretty basic:…
