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Reading Rescue, March 2006: Stimulating Your Mind
By Anne Allen and Mary Anne Fulmer
We are often told that good things come in small
packages. This month, the Reading Rescuers (no boring books here) have
searched the shelves for small books that will pique your interest and
stimulate your mind.
 March
is an appropriate month to read How the Irish Saved Civilization
(941.501 CAH) written by Thomas Cahill. Cahill begins with an overview
of the Roman Empire, refreshes our memories of Augustine and Ptolemy,
and then discusses Celtic legends and history. Meanwhile, waiting in the
wings is our hero, Patricius. Son of a Roman tax collector, Patricius is
captured as boy in an Irish raid and sold into slavery. The
transformation of this slave-shepherd into St. Patrick, and that of
unholy Ireland with its oral tradition into a land of Irish Catholics
dedicated to copying and preserving manuscripts, is the heart of this
short history.
The Planets (523.2 SOB) by Dava Sobel could as easily
be titled The Solar System. Beginning with the Sun and ending with
Pluto, Ms. Sobel devotes a chapter to each of the major bodies of our
solar system (Neptune and Uranus share one), including Earth's moon.
Included are tales of great amateur astronomers and stargazing cranks,
information from recent missions to space, and myths that colored man's
view of the night sky. Ms. Sobel, a respected science writer, loves her
subject and presents it in a way that is not only entertaining, but
enlightens us to why the ongoing space program is so important: there's
still a lot to be learned!
In 1800, a British civil servant named William Lambton
had a vision -- to map India through triangulation, by establishing a
set of locations, precisely measured in terms of latitude, longitude,
and altitude. This project was called the Great Arc of the Meridian and
besides accurately surveying India, it would help to determine the shape
of the Earth. The Great Arc (526.1 KEA) by John Keay is the story of
Lambton, his successor George Everest (a mountain was named after him),
and the forty-plus years spent in India on this massive project.
Fighting weather, disease, local rulers, and wild animals; punching
holes in temples (fortunately, the Taj Mahal was spared that indignity),
moving villages and shaving hilltops to ensure clear sightlines; this is
the story of an undertaking you can hardly believe anyone would begin,
much less complete.
Geology is a young science. In the eighteenth century
there was no thought of earth science -- it was well known in the
Western world that the Earth was created in 4004 BC, and that the
fishes, plants, and animals soon followed, with man last. Fossils were
an example of the power of the Creator, not a historical record of
plants and animals. Simon Winchester's The Map that Changed the World
(92 Smith) is the story of William Smith, son of a blacksmith, who
collected fossils, noticed strata in coal mines, and spent 30 years
doing the first geological survey of England. If you have previously
read one of Winchester's books you know he is a wonderful storyteller
and Smith's life is a worthy subject. From Smith's successes as a
surveyor to a stint in debtor's prison to his redemption as the first
recipient of the Wollaston Medal presented by the Geological Society of
London, this book enthralls the reader.
Mapping seems to be a common thread of our choices this
month (mapping the spread of Irish Catholicism, the heavens, the Indian
subcontinent, and the geology of England), so it seems right to close
with The Island of Lost Maps (025.8 HAR) by Miles Harvey. In the
1990's Gilbert Bland, a failed businessman, journeyed across the U.S.
and Canada stealing old maps from libraries. Bland by name and by
nature, he was caught when an observant reader at the George Peabody
Library in Baltimore thought she saw him slash a page from a book. A
notebook he abandoned in his haste to leave contained lists of maps and
the libraries that possessed them, libraries that hadn't yet realized
they were gone. Harvey traces the path of Bland and also takes us on
side trips to learn about ancient maps, modern mapmaking techniques,
plagiarism, and the work of the FBI in returning scores of unidentified
maps. It's also fun to read a book where librarians are the good guys.
The library's website (www.pennlib.org)
will be online in the next few months. Check it out for the library
calendar, lists of new books, and library news. The Friends of the
Library have scheduled their next used book sale for April 20 to 26,
during regular library hours. (The library will be closed on Saturday,
April 22 for the opening of baseball season.) Please contact the library
if you would like to help (724-744-4414). And, as always, e-mail your
suggestions and comments to
mfulmer@pennlib.org.
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