Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, 1978 — 1996 looks like a great site. It’s part of the Library of Congress website. (via Librarians’ Guide to the Internet)
Andre Norton has died
Andre Norton has died today. (via Waterboro Library Blog)
Noah’s Ark at New England Flower Show
I went back to the New England Flower Show this year. It seemed slightly better than previous shows, but that may have just been the winter fatigue clouding my judgment. One of the parts I liked best was this set of sculptures.
Here’s one side of Noah’s Ark and a detail:
Another was called Adam and Eve:
And my favorite, Apocalypse:
Stop Landmines
Thanks to The Revealer for this link: StopLandmines.org.
The video ad (which The Revealer said was rejected for US television) is strong medicine.
The Green Book by Jill Paton Walsh
The Green Book by Jill Paton Walsh was reviewed by Farah Mendelsohn over at the Inter-Galactic Playground, and I was intrigued. It’s a children’s book, an easy hour or two of reading, and it raises some interesting questions about what is valuable. It certainly suffers from its age.
Time Traveler’s Wife
Audrey Niffenegger. What a wonderful book, filled with longing. I want to go back and diagram all the little pieces to see if they really fit together the way they assert that they do, to find out if there are things we won’t know unless we put those pieces back together in a different order. What a wonderful accomplishment to write these lives in such a mixed-up order.
Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
Steve Krug. Fantastic book. Straightforward, entertaining, useful. Two thumbs up.
Old Man’s War
John Scalzi. A very fast hard sci-fi read. Humans are colonizing the galaxy, in competition with hundreds of other species. The seemingly universally violent contact between species is carried out by soldiers who are largely retirees who have been given new bodies. Not bad in terms of characterization and interesting relationships, but a big thumbs down on the simplistic treatment of what to expect from aliens and the reliance on preemptive violence.
Natural History
Justina Robson. An engaging read, with some surprising character sympathies.
What will happen as mechanical, electronic, and genetic enhancements to the human body and mind become more common? What kind of class and power struggles will arise? Natural History asks these questions on an earth of the future where “unenhanced” humans who have created the “forged,” sterile, genetically manipulated, and physically and mentally enhanced servants. Slavery and justice are commented upon in a couple of political speeches, but I was disturbed by the idea that humanity, after all we’ve been through, would intentionally create a permanent, semi-human underclass.
