Author: Mary Roach Title: Packing for Mars Publication Info: New York : W.W. Norton, c2010. ISBN: 9780393068474 Summary/Review: With plans for long-term space exploration afoot, Mary Roach explores the many challenges of putting human beings in space. This is less the physics of rocket propulsion and more the psychological and cultural problems of human space [...]
Archive for December, 2010
28 Dec
Book Review: The Places In Between by Rory Stewart
Author: Rory Stewart Title: The Places In Between Publication Info: Recorded Books (2006) ISBN: 1428116702 Summary/Review: A Scotsman sets out on a long walk across Afghanistan having already walked through several other Central Asian nations. Complicating an already difficult challenge is that Stewart takes his walk in the winter of 2002 when Afghanistan is being [...]
21 Dec
Book Review: In Transit: An Heroi-Cyclic Novel by Brigid Brophy
Author: Brigid Brophy Title: In Transit: An Heroi-Cyclic Novel Publication Info: New York, Putnam [1970, c1969] Summary/Review: This bizarre novel is a work of modern fiction set in an airport, and like the architecture of airports it is very modern but dated in the way that modern things from the 50′s, 60′s & 70′s seem [...]
21 Dec
Book Review: The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
Author: Dennis Lehane Title: The Given Day Publication Info: HarperAudio (2008) ISBN: 0061661511 Summary/Review: This sprawling historical novel is in many ways seemingly targeted towards the demographic of me. It is set in Boston circa 1918-1920 among the working class and immigrant communities with the labor movement central to the narrative. Events in the novel [...]
21 Dec
Book Review: Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood by Steven Mintz
Author: Steven Mintz Title: Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood Publication Info: Belknap Press (2004) ISBN: 0674015088 Summary/Review: This book is an interesting history of the United States from the perspective of children that takes on the myth of the idealized childhood – one enjoyed by precious few children, mostly prosperous and fairly recent. [...]
21 Dec
Book Review: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Author: Jonathan Franzen Title: The Corrections Publication Info: Simon & Schuster Audio (2001) ISBN: 0743510003 Summary/Review: I’ve avoided reading Franzen and if it weren’t for my book club, I wouldn’t have read this book but I was pleasantly surprised. Pleasant may not be the best word for this novel as it is an unpleasant story [...]
20 Dec
The 40th Anniversary Christmas Revels
Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I’m a big fan of Revels and their annual Christmas Revels performances at Sanders Theatre in Cambridge. I was excited and honored to attend the dress rehearsal performance of this year’s 40th anniversary production of the Christmas Revels on Thursday, December 16th. Had I better journalistic standards [...]
13 Dec
30 Day Football (Soccer) Challenge
I participated in a meme on Tumblr called the 30 Day Football (Soccer) Challenge. I took more than thirty days, but I completed the project. Here are the links to my responses. Day 1 – Which team/s do you support? Explain why. Day 2 – Who is your current favourite player (you can only choose [...]
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