In our technology-obsessed world, libraries provide tranquil sanctuaries for zoning out with physical books.
Regardless of the ultimate fate of the printed book, reports of the imminent death of the library as a physical entity seem to have been greatly exaggerated. – Alex Johnson, author of “Improbable Libraries”
“Libraries have a long history of overcoming geographic, economic and political challenges to bring the written word to an audience,” writes Alex Johnson, a journalist at the U.K. newspaper the Independent, in the introduction to his fascinating new book, “Improbable Libraries.” Johnson should know — both of his parents are librarians. He spent the last few years documenting what he calls “the new library revolution.”
Maxwell Perkins served as the head editor of Scribner for over 37 years. By his death in 1947 he had worked with some of the most vital and enduring writers in American literature—including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Thomas Wolfe. Regarded as one of the most creative and visionary editors of all time, Perkins’s letters to his authors are evidence of his deep care and talent. In this letter from 1940, Perkins reaches out to Hemingway following the completion of For Whom the Bell Tolls to share some encouragement.
English: Hemingway posing for a dust jacket photo by Lloyd Arnold for the first edition of “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, at the Sun Valley Lodge, Idaho, late 1939. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
By Michael Martin – Former Lost writer and producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach has written a highly informative essay looking back on the conception of the show and what it was like to be in the writers’ room for the first two seasons. He also has a lot to say about the question of whether the show’s creators were “making it up as they went along,” noting the answer is a complicated one, as is often the case for TV. With Lost, many notable elements fans would come to know as the series progressed were conceived very early on, even as the nature of doing an ongoing TV show also led to new elements being added all the time.
Once a week, after touring the Caribbean, the cruise ship Oasis of the Seas calls into its home port in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for what is called “turnaround day.”
Just as an airplane makes money only when it is flying, keeping a cruise ship out at sea is essential for its profitability. But instead of turning over a few hundred airline passengers, this ship offloads 6,000 people, takes on new supplies and welcomes 6,000 more travelers — all in under 12 hours.
English: Royal Caribbean International’s, “MS Oasis of the Seas”, captured as she makes her way into Port Everglades, Florida completing her 14-day delivery voyage from STX Europe, Turku, Finland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It turns out one of Napa Valley’s best places to learn about wine doesn’t even require a glass.
The Napa Valley Wine Library, which is housed at St. Helena’s public library, maintains one of the country’s most comprehensive collections of writing about wine. Since being organized in 1962, it has acquired 3,500 books, as well as periodicals, newsletters and oral histories from three decades starting in the 1960s — the golden era of Napa’s development.
Perhaps you want to find, say, Morton Shand’s “A Book of French Wines” from 1960 or Sunset’s “California Wine” pictorial from 1973 — a perfect snapshot of the era’s industry — or Lindley Bynum’s “California Wines: How to Enjoy Them” from 1955. (Perhaps the answer was less self-evident back then?) They are all readily available.
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