#38 More Framing

I have had four more pieces framed. Two to go.

More Non-Fiction of the Science-y Kind

Last week I finished reading An Obsession with Butterflies by Sharman Apt Russell. I have to tell you there is some science you simply shouldn't read while you're eating lunch! I learned way more about frass over food than I wanted to.

One chapter was incredibly touching, a sparely written timeline about the lives of two men who are obsessed with the butterflies of coastal California. This chapter is worth the whole book. Unfortunately, this is also the chapter where she used "glamorous southern California" and "El Segundo" in the same paragraph. People, there is nothing glamorous about the second city. There used to be a really good cross stitch shop there. Used to be.

In the end, I'm not obsessed with butterflies. But you should see me watch the bumblebees on our glossy abelia. Where's the book on bumblebees?

Right now I am reading Body of Work: Meditiations on Mortality from teh Human Anatomy Lab, which a bunch of first year medical students have been assigned. So far, lots of cutting people open, but not so many disturbed lunches...

Non-fiction: 14.5

#15 Revolving Door at the Library

Longitude by Dava Sobel. I'm probably the last person on earth to read this book, but it was fascinating. The slim volume follows the intrigue--really!--involved with the race to solve measuring longitude at sea to win the huge prize offered by the British government. Easy to follow and a good read. A whole lot easier and more interesting than Galileo's Daughter, which I am forcing myself to read. It's like taking cough medicine. Without codiene. Except for the part where I keep falling asleep.

Non-fiction: 13.5

#15 Yet More Non-fiction

Language Visible by David Sacks tells the story of how our letters came to be. The story of many of them is similar. Start with the Phoenicians, move to the Greeks, an ill-understood stop with the Etruscans, (or is that the other way around?) then the Romans, then Anglo-Saxons with some input from the French. The books is interesting and accessible (reviewers call it "lively" and "engaging") but there is quite a bit of overlap because of the way he chose to tell it--one letter at a time. Because letters are related in development or sound or use there's even more overlap. I think I remember reading that this was based on a column he wrote in a newspaper, and if so, that would explain some of it. The other problem is there are a lot of "sidebars" in the book. They are interesting and I'm glad I read them but they totally interrupted the flow of this fascinating look at letters.

I will be forever grateful for the reminder of the yogh. Along with thorn, yogh (I can reproduce neither symbol) was a letter I learned while studying Middle English (an undergraduate graduation requirement) but for the longest time I could only remember thorn. It drove me nuts. Now I know.

Non-fiction: 12.5