Some of us do our best thinking in the shower, others do it while on the toilet. Renee Descartes, he pondered most deeply while ensconced in a baker's oven. The man simply needed to be convinced of the oven's existence before climbing in. Such are the quirks of the most monumental minds humanity has to offer. In the hilarious and enthralling new book, Edison's Ghosts: The Untold Weirdness of History's Greatest Geniuses, Dr. Katie Spalding explores the illogical, unnerving, and sometimes downright strange behaviors of luminaries like Thomas "Spirit Phone" Edison, Isaac "Sun Blind" Newton, and Nicola "I fell in love with a pigeon" Tesla. Little Brown and CompanyExcerpted from Edison's Ghosts: The Untold Weirdness of History's Greatest Geniuses by Dr. Katie Spalding. Published by Little, Brown and Company. Copyright © 2023 by Katie Spalding. All rights reserved.When René Descartes Got BakedRené Descartes, like Pythagoras before him and Einstein after, occupies that special place in our collective consciousness where his work has become … well, essentially a short-hand for genius-level intellect. Think about it – in any cartoon or sitcom where one character is (or, through logically-spurious means, suddenly becomes) a brainiac, there are three things they’re narratively bound to say: ‘the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides’ – that’s Pythagoras; ‘E = mc2’ – thank you, Einstein; and finally, ‘cogito ergo sum’. And that is... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2023-05-28 14:30:30 UTC ]
Richard Charkin cheerfully anticipates the 2024 Frankfurter Buchmesse: 'Of all the world's great book fairs, none can compare.' The post Richard Charkin on Looking Forward to Frankfurt appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-09-30 18:11:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Hannah Silva examines the (not so) shocking similarities between quantum physics and queer dating. | Lit Hub Memoir August brought some great book covers, and a lot of them were slippery. | Lit Hub Design “I had been writing my diaries on the notepad app of my phone, when it went the way of so […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-08-28 10:30:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this
There’s no question that turning the pages of a great book is a wonderful feeling—but is it more wonderful in a hardcover or a paperback? Aside from considering quality, durability, portability, size, price, or release date, many readers simply choose the cover with the more appealing design. At... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-06-26 11:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
On stage and screen, self-referential works such as A Strange Loop and American Fiction are on the rise, with playful postmodernism a potent weapon in the fight against inequalityOfficers storm a ballroom, releasing a flurry of bullets that pierce through a Black man as he collapses in a pool of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-05-06 08:00:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Can We Truly Be Free of Our Past? A Conversation with Wendy Chen, by Xixuan Collins Interviews [email protected] Mon, 04/29/2024 - 15:10 An epic family saga that spans over one hundred years and two countries, Wendy Chen’s powerful, lyrical debut,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-04-29 20:10:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Take a fun quiz about things that scare you and receive a great book recommendation to scare you even more! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-08-31 10:37:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Some of us do our best thinking in the shower, others do it while on the toilet. Renee Descartes, he pondered most deeply while ensconced in a baker's oven. The man simply needed to be convinced of the oven's existence before climbing in. Such are the quirks of the most monumental minds humanity... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-05-28 14:30:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Got strong opinions about what makes a great book cover? Judge a book by its cover here to get a new read perfectly suited to your tastes. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-05-11 10:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Welcome to our biannual Great Book Preview! We’ve assembled the best books of 2023A (that is, the first half of 2023), including new work from Nicole Chung, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Claire Dederer, Brian Dillon, Samantha Irby, Heidi Julavits, Catherine Lacy, Mario Vargas Llosa, Rebecca Makkai,... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2023-01-09 10:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Let's talk about great book titles. But in order to find out what makes a good book title, let's first explore the worst book titles. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-01-03 11:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Is there anything scarier than not knowing what great book you’re going to read next? Big love to the booksellers at Exile in Bookville (Chicago, IL), Raven Book Store (Lawrence, KS), Copper Dog Books (Beverly, MA), and The Haunted Bookshop (Iowa City, IA) for their generous recommendations.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-31 08:59:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Susanna Clarke’s ‘Piranesi’ is one great book that’s hard to categorize. What hard-to-classify novels do you enjoy? Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-05-07 12:00:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this
And just like that . . . 2021 is over. Like any year, it had its share of disappointments, triumphs, and scandals. There were some good books published and some good literary adaptations to watch. There were great book covers, great book reviews, and even (if we do say so ourselves) a few great... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-05 14:17:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Inside its dry and musty hull, the smell of old books contains great distances. You sense time travel, of course, but also the soaring aeronautics of ideas. Sometimes a great book sticks the landing, very often they don’t. And sometimes books fail to jump high enough. In smelling old books, you... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-10-27 08:50:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Book Reviews Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer in the TV adaptation of A Discovery of Witches (2018) / IMDB Deborah Harkness’s All Souls trilogy has taken a new life through the Sundance dramatic series, A Discovery of Witches. The novels... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-05-27 13:42:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this
How might a literary prize disrupt the literary prize culture? Perhaps by reversing the structure: announcing the winner first, then the shortlist, followed by the longlist – making it clear the most important aspect of a prize is its depth and breadth: building from one great book towards a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-03 20:44:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this
To celebrate the Book Review’s 125th anniversary, we’re dipping into the archives to revisit our most thrilling, memorable and thought-provoking coverage. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-25 16:00:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Whether you're looking for great book themed fabric for a new mask, for a pillow case, or a tote bag, you'll find the perfect pattern here. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-11-20 11:32:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
a great book about Texas should not only contain historical fact, it should give readers an impression of the Lone Star state—its scents, sights, and sensations—as well as what it feels like to be a human being of fragile flesh and blood in that immense, brutal, and beautiful land. The post Lone... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2020-11-13 11:00:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Interviews Yasmine Seale is a writer and literary translator living in Istanbul. Her essays, poetry, visual art, and translations from Arabic and French have appeared widely, including in Harper’s, Apollo, Poetry Review, and the Times Literary... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-08-31 13:39:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this