8 Days: To the Moon and Back

8 Days to the Moon and Back

BBC

"Eight days, three hours, 18 minutes, 35 seconds. That is the total duration of the most important and celebrated space mission ever flown - Apollo 11 - when humans first set foot on the moon. It was a journey that changed the way we think about our place in the universe. But we only saw a fraction of what happened - a handful of iconic stills and a few precious hours of movie footage. Now it is time to discover the full story."

Reference Architecture for the Telecommunications Industry

Reference Architecture for the Telecommunications Industry

Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things

Boston Bronze & Stone Speak to Us

Amazon.com

"Boston Bronze & Stone Speak To Us is a unique and beautiful book that combines art, history, and walking guides for the public sculpture found in eighteen Boston locales. Written by Joseph R. Gallo, Jr., who states that he is not an historian but a lover of the City of Boston, the book combines his original photographs and observations with well-referenced sources and maps for a complete experience of enjoying Boston sculpture. With hundreds of full-color photographs in all, each chapter offers a map of that area with stars and page numbers marking each work discussed. The chapters include the Boston Common, the State House inside and out, Beacon Hill and Louisburg Square, the Boston Public Gardens, the Esplanade and Hatch Shell, the Fenway, Chinatown and the Theater District, Copley Square, Park Square, the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, School Street and the Old City hall, King's Chapel, Downtown and the Financial District, Government Center, Quincy Marketplace and Faneuil Hall, the North End, and the Waterfront.

The book also includes and Index of Monuments and an Index of the Sculptors. Boston is home to some of the most extraordinary public art in North America. Sculptors of public art include Daniel Chester French, Katherine Lane Weems, August Saint-Gaudens and George Aarons. This lovingly produced book introduces readers to the artists, the subjects of their work, and the accessibility of exceptional art all within the city of Boston."

WGBH Boston Public Library Studio

Boston Public Radio

Join BPR hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan for the weekly taping of Boston Public Radio at the Boston Public Library WGBH studio from 11-2PM weekly, Tuesdays and Fridays.

Before The Dawn

(repost for a friend)

Talk of the Nation, Science Friday
'Before the Dawn' Author Nicholas Wade
April 26, 2006

Review - Monstersandcritics.com

Amazon.com - From Publishers Weekly

"Scientists are using DNA analysis to understand our prehistory: the evolution of humans; their relation to the Neanderthals, who populated Europe and the Near East; and Homo erectus, who roamed the steppes of Asia. Most importantly, geneticists can trace the movements of a little band of human ancestors, numbering perhaps no more than 150, who crossed the Red Sea from east Africa about 50,000 years ago. Within a few thousand years, their descendents, Homo sapiens, became masters of all they surveyed, the other humanoid species having become extinct.

My Family's Slave - The Atlantic - Alex Tizon

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In 'Lola's Story,' A Journalist Reveals A Family Secret

NPR's Morning Edition

May 16, 2017

American Gods

Based on the novel by English author Neil Gaiman, a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of mythology, all centering on the mysterious and taciturn Shadow. Several of the themes touched upon in the book were previously glimpsed in The Sandman comic book series.

The central premise of the novel is that gods and mythological creatures exist because people believe in them (a type of thoughtform). Immigrants to the United States brought with them spirits and gods. The power of these mythological beings has diminished as people's beliefs waned. New gods have arisen, reflecting America's obsessions with media, celebrity, technology, and drugs, among other things.

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Logan 2017

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The Race Underground

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First Look: The Race Underground from American Experience

Oct. 1, 2016, 7pm-9pm

WGBH Yawkey Theater, One Guest Street, Brighton, MA 02135

Free, but RSVP is required

The Race Underground, By Doug Most

The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America's First Subway

In his new four-hour series, BLACK AMERICA SINCE MLK: AND STILL I RISE, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. embarks on a deeply personal journey through the last fifty years of African American history. Joined by leading scholars, celebrities, and a dynamic cast of people who shaped these years, Gates travels from the victories of the civil rights movement up to today, asking profound questions about the state of black America—and our nation as a whole.

The Faith Instinct - Nicolas Wade

The Faith Instinct by Nicolas Wade

NPR book summary: "Draws on a broad range of scientific evidence to theorize an evolutionary basis for religion, considering how religion may have served as an essential component of early society survival and that the brain may be inherently inclined toward religious behavior."

W.E.B. Du Bois - The Souls of Black Folk

The Souls of Black Folk is a classic work of American literature by W. E. B. Du Bois.

Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction short story and subsequent novel written by Daniel Keyes. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy; Science Fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960.

The eponymous Algernon is a laboratory mouse who has undergone surgery to increase his intelligence by artificial means. The story is told by a series of progress reports written by Charlie Gordon, the first human test subject for the surgery, and it touches upon many different ethical and moral themes such as the treatment of the mentally disabled.

I read it when I was 8 years old and now find it analogous to our life experience; attaining everything what life has to offer and losing everything at the end.

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Charly - 1968 film starring Cliff Robertson, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. I watched it for the first time last month. At first I thought the film looked dated, but found I loved that the film is set in the Boston, Mass of my youth. 

TED Talks - Kathryn Shulz: On Being Wrong

Kathryn Schulz On Learning To Love 'Being Wrong'
NPR Talk of the Nation
July 15, 2011

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Kathern Shulz on Being Wrong
TED Talk
March 2011

Tokyo Metropolitan Library

The Metropolitan Central Library is located in the Minami-Azabu section of Minato. The library was founded in 1973 at the current location of the central branch. 

The library is free and open to the public, although not all collections are available to all people at all times. The library also has arrangements with over 300 smaller local public libraries allowing interlibrary lending privileges. Although not as deep as the collection of the National Diet Library, The Tokyo Metropolitan Library houses a large collection of books, periodicals, and audio-visual materials.

The Central Branch holds 240,000 volumes, including a large collection of rare materials, showcasing over 40,000 documents pertaining to the history of Tokyo (Edo), some of which date back over 400 years. Books are divided by subject - Reference, Social Science, Humanities, Natural Science. Of note is the opening of a "regional history research center".

The Hibiya Branch holds 130,000 volumes, including 4,000 foreign volumes. It also maintains holdings of over 1,000 different magazine periodicals and nearly 200 different newspapers.

Central Branch: 5-7-13 Minami-Azabu Minato, 106-8575. It is located in the Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park. Accessible by foot from Hiroo Station on the Subway Hibiya Line, Azabu-Juban Station on the Subway Namboku Line, and the Azabu-Juban Station on the Toei Subway Oedo Line.

Michael Pollan - Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

In Cooked, Michael Pollan explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements—fire, water, air, and earth— to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink.

Fire, Water, Air, Earth: Michael Pollan Gets Elemental In 'Cooked'
April 21, 2013
NPR Weekend Edition Sunday

Regenesis

Regenesis by George Church

Amazon.com


"Imagine a future in which human beings have become immune to all viruses, in which bacteria can custom-produce everyday items, like a drinking cup, or generate enough electricity to end oil dependency. Building a house would entail no more work than planting a seed in the ground. These scenarios may seem far-fetched, but pioneering geneticist George Church and science writer Ed Regis show that synthetic biology is bringing us ever closer to making such visions a reality.

In Regenesis, Church and Regis explorethe possibilities—and perils—of the emerging field of synthetic biology. Synthetic biology, in which living organisms are selectively altered by modifying substantial portions of their genomes, allows for the creation of entirely new species of organisms. Until now, nature has been the exclusive arbiter of life, death, and evolution; with synthetic biology, we now have the potential to write our own biological future. Indeed, as Church and Regis show, it even enables us to revisit crucial points in the evolution of life and, through synthetic biological techniques, choose different paths from those nature originally took."

Is Creating New Life — Maybe Even A Neanderthal — Possible?
January 23, 2013
NPR On Point with Tom Ashbrook

The Double V

The Double V: How Wars, Protest, and Harry Truman Desegregated America's Military
by Rawn James Jr.


NPR Fresh Air
'Double V': The Fight For Civil Rights In The U.S. Military
January 10, 2013

Amazon.com

"Executive Order 9981, issued by President Harry Truman on July 26, 1948, desegregated all branches of the United States military by decree. EO 9981 is often portrayed as a heroic and unexpected move by Truman. But in reality, Truman's history-making order was the culmination of more than 150 years of legal, political, and moral struggle. Beginning with the Revolutionary War, African Americans had used military service to do their patriotic duty and to advance the cause of civil rights. The fight for a desegregated military was truly a long war-decades of protest and labor highlighted by bravery on the fields of France, in the skies over Germany, and in the face of deep-seated racism on the military bases at home. Today, the military is one of the most truly diverse institutions in America. In The Double V, Rawn James, Jr.the son and grandson of African American veterans expertly narrates the remarkable history of how the struggle for equality in the military helped give rise to their fight for equality in civilian society. Taking the reader from Crispus Attucks to President Barack Obama, The Double V illuminates the African American military tradition as a metaphor for their unique and dynamic role in American history."

Inventing Wine

Inventing Wine: A New History of One of the World's Most Ancient Pleasures
By Paul Lukacs

NPR Fresh Air, December 4, 2012 

'Inventing Wine': The History Of A Very Vintage Beverage

"Wine is our original alcoholic beverage. It dates back 8,000 years and, as Paul Lukacs writes in his new book, Inventing Wine: A New History of One of the World's Most Ancient Pleasures, was originally valued more because it was believed to be of divine origin than for its taste. And that's a good thing, Lukacs tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross, because early wine was not particularly good."