LED Clock Bookcase

I severely near-sighted so I would love to have one of these bookcases across from my bed.  That way I’d easily be able to tell the time in the morning.  Available from Anka Manufacturing Co.

Touch-Hear Project

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow!  This is so cool.  Apparently this is a project, called Touch-Hear, wherein you would place your finger on a word or phrase in a book, to either hear the the prounciation or discover its meaning.  No more putting down your book and searching for your dictionary.  I would love to have this technology.

Camel Bookmobile

Want to help children learn to read in another part of the world?  This camel bookmobile is in northeastern Kenya, near the border with Somalia.  The area served is an area decimated by drought and famine.  The tribal elders realized the only hope for the children of the area is for them to become educated. 

The camel bookmobile is in dire need of English language books.  If you decide to send one or more, please sign your name and where you live inside the cover of the book, along with a short note.

You can get more information about how to donate books here.

Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs

I so wanted to love this book, but it wasn’t meant to be.  I read several chapters, put the  book down and never thought about the characters again.  That is normally a bad sign for me.

I read Jacobs’ other book, The Friday Night Knitting Club, and loved it.  So after about a week, I picked up the book again and read until I was more than half way through the book.  The story and characters still didn’t speak to me, so I skipped to the last few chapters to see how it ended.

Even at the end I didn’t care what happened to the story, so I’ll be returning it to the library soon.  I’m always disappointed when a book doesn’t live up to my expectations, but if Jacobs publishes another book, I’ll certainly give it a try.

Bottle Bookshelves

Hmmm, what an interesting way to recycle wine bottles.  I suppose beer bottles would work as well, but would give a bit of a different look.

Book Statue

I’m not sure how the artist did this, but it looks like it was done from something like a set of encyclopedias, etc.  I’m sorry I don’t have more information about this piece of art, but it appears to be of Russian origin.  I’ll keep searching and if I discover something interesting, I’ll update this post.

Rubicon by Lawrence Alexander

This is a political thriller with an interesting premise.  What would happen if both presidential candidates were assassinated just weeks before the election?

Would the elections be suspended?  If so, for how long and who would decide when they would be held?

Prior to 9/11, I don’t think much thought was given to this scenario.  However once Rudy Guiliani suggested the New York mayoral elections be suspended so he could continue on as mayor, the country perked up and began to wonder what might happen in the event of another terrorist attack just prior to a presidential election.

If you read this book, you’ll likely come away with two possible answers to that scenario.

Jay Walker Personal Library

This is a picture of Jay Walker’s personal library located in his New England home and occupying 3,600 square feet on three levels!

Walker is an Internet entrepreneur and his home was custom built to accommodate is library.  That spherical object hanging from the ceiling?  It’s an original Sputnik satellite!

Wired has many more very interesting photos and info on what Walker collects.  It’s a fascinating story.

I guess I have some inspiration if I ever win the lottery!

Book Autopsies

 

These are works of art and are truly amazing!  There are many, many more at Centripetal Notion.

The More You Read

 

 

I love this poem, available as a banner, poster, t-shirt, mug or bookmark from Upstart.

The more you read,

the more you know.

 

The more you know,

the smarter you grow.

 

The smarter you grow,

the stronger your voice.

 

When speaking your mind,

or making your choice.