Proteus

Image via Wikipedia

I had a lovely blog post completely written...and then internet service went down before it was saved, sigh.

I've always stopped to look at the books with artwork by Ernst Haeckel in Dover Publications' catalog. I bought the book Art Forms in Nature and then eventually the copy with the CD. Dover has recently started publishing books of vector art and other clip art with great sources. A price check led me to purchase a book on microscopic botanicals an Amazon and while there I discovered a more complete book of paintings and a movie. A DVD I was sure would never be in the county holdings, but it was and it's an amazing film.

Twenty-two years ago, long before computer graphic software could have cut down on production time, David Lebrun began an investigation into Haeckel's art and life. The film cuts across so many disciplines: art, science, taxonomy, religion, evolution, creationism and literature that there's something for every naturalist, artist or scientist to appreciate. I give the film way above five stars!

Next to explore: some of Haeckel's own writings, the museum created in his house in Germany, Gustave Dore's etchings and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Vietnam, I know so little

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One of my relatives gave me a title for my Mifflin Community Library combined "Book and a Movie" requirement and our Veterans Day program. Larry Stimeling suggested, as a vet himself, that We Were Soldiers would be a vet-approved selection. I'm still in the request queue, but in the meantime I checked out a copy of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. I'm finding it extremely hard to put down. Disturbing, comic, gory, but it's so much more than the few paragraphs in my high school textbook. I'm hopelessly uneducated about something that I vaguely recall seeing on TV. If you want to learn more, http://nam-vet.net/.

http://w1n5t0n.com/

http://w1n5t0n.com/

• What is it? "An annotated version of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother"
• What's Little Brother? A novel by Cory Doctorow
• Why's Lynn posting this way? Because this book requires a well-written review, a few minutes won't do it justice
• Why should I read this book? Because Americans are allowing their civil liberties to be taken away in the name of patriotism against terrorism
• How can I read this book? Download it free and save a copy, check it out from your library and increase their circulation numbers, buy copies of the book to give to friends, donate money through Cory's website to send a free copy to a library in America

Update on Date Rape

I've recently read two Young Adult books that inadvertently brought me to facts unknown. Roofies, GBH or any of the street names for date rape drugs can be impossible to avoid at parties unless every foodstuff is tested (questions I haven't found answers for: do kits work on food? does heating break down the drug?) You may know not to abandon your drink, but have you thought about your plate? Know your hostess/host. Keep test kits with you. Learn more about how to avoid this awful scenario at this website http://www.roofie.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 interestingly enough, this is a United Kingdom site and I haven't found a US equivalent in a fast Google search. The books in question: Fade by Lisa McMann and The Christopher Killer by Alane Furguson.

The Angel of Already Seen

Cover of The Angel of Death (Forensic Mystery)

SPOILER ALERT: I'm reading The Angel of Death by Alane Ferguson. The author describes the state of a dead dog found alongside a road. Paraphrase "Looks like his eyes have exploded." The real murder is announced and as our protagonist reaches the scene things like flowers have shriveled to dust, the corpse has an unusual smell, and, my god, this body has been cooked says the medical examiner! Since I happen to have read Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child's 2005 book Brimstone, I just happen to know what caused the murder in both books. Angel of Death was published in 2006. Granted one may have been in the works before the other, but when the entire book revolves around the same means of unusual murder, shouldn't publishers hold the release date? Are there any other microwave murders out there I've not come across?!