Wednesday, January 25, 2012

This Week at the Library (25 January)

Pending Reviews: How the Mind Works, Steven Pinker;  If Walls Could Talk, Lucy Worsley
Currently Reading: Death from the Skies!, Phil Plait; The Fabric of the Cosmos, Brian Greene
Potentials: Sharpe's Regiment, Bernard Cornwell


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One Victorian cartoon shows a desperate father trying to commit suicide by sticking his head in the gas oven. His concerned family beg him to put off the deed until the cheaper evening gas rate starts.

p. 203, If Walls Could Talk

The first regular television broadcasts were made in 1932, a year in which seventy-six half-hour programmes went out. But no one was sure how many living rooms they reached. In 1933, viewers were asked: 'The BBC is most anxious to know the number of people who are actually seeing this television programme. Will those who are looking in send a postcard marked "Z" to Broadcasting House immediately?'

p. 229, If Walls Could Talk

Today's builders and town planners are also interested in the notion that people don't just inhabit houses, they live in 'places'. Tudor towns were perfect examples of what planners seek: densely populated, walkable communities in which rich and poor live in close proximity. In their markets local, seasonal food was available, just as it is in the phenomenon of the farmer's markets today.

p. 324, If Walls Could Talk

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