“JUST BECAUSE I’M A LIBRARIAN DOESN’T MEAN I HAVE TO DRESS AS ONE”—BELLE DA COSTA GREENE
THE LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS, JUNE 26, 2025, BLURBS Francesca Wade’s “The Best-Paid Woman in NYC.” Wade is reviewing two books, Belle Da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy and Becoming … Continue reading
SAID CORRECTLY
THERE ARE SOME WORDS THAT I MISPRONOUNCE; others that I say correctly but misspell. Conveniently enough, Merriam-Webster discusses both sorts. Our Mongrel Language. “English is famously difficult to spell,” M-W … Continue reading
FATE AND AN F1 HERO
LET’S RETURN TO THE PIRELLI ALBUM OF MOTOR RACING HEROES, assembled by John Surtees, himself a Drivers’ World Champion. Pirelli Album of Motor Racing Heroes, by John Surtees, Motorbooks International, … Continue reading
FRANK MUIR ON EDUCATION AND LITERATURE PART 2
YESTERDAY WE STARTED SELECTING CHOICE QUOTES from Frank Muir’s An Irreverent and Thoroughly Incomplete Social History of Almost Everything. We continue today in Part 2 with the likes of George … Continue reading
FRANK MUIR ON EDUCATION AND LITERATURE PART 1
FRANK MUIR, HE OF MUIR AND NORDEN “My Word!/My Music!,” also put together a wonderful collection of things he enjoyed reading. An Irreverent and Thoroughly Incomplete Social History of Almost … Continue reading
ON ANGULAR SAND
SAUDI ARABIA HAS A WEALTH OF OIL, BUT its sand may be less valuable than Greenland’s. I come by this tidbit from an odd source: a lengthly response in the … Continue reading
WHICH WAY IS NORTH? AND WHY ANYWAY? PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, WE BEGAN SHARING James Vincent’s London Review of Books assessment of Jerry Brotton’s Four Points of the Compass: The Unexpected History of Direction. Here in Part … Continue reading
WHICH WAY IS NORTH? AND WHY ANYWAY? PART 1
JAMES VINCENT REVIEWS JERRY BROTTON’S FOUR POINTS OF THE COMPASS in the London Review of Books, April 15, 2025. Early on, he struck a responsive chord with me: “Every compass … Continue reading
WANNA AIM FOR AN F1 CAREER?
AS EARLY AS THE ALAIN PROST/AYRTON SENNA GENERATION, you’d wanna drive a go-kart as a kid. (Senna’s dad built his first one). Michael Schumacher is a later example of early … Continue reading
LEST WE FORGET
BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 2025, OFFERS AN INTERVIEW with historian Laurence Rees; his topic, “the history of the Nazi regime yields warnings—but that frighteningly few people are interested in learning … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 