"Time Traveler"

By becksta on 11/8/09 12:03pm
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Time TravelerTime TravelerIs Time Travel (and yes, I mean with two capital “T’s”) really possible? I haven’t ever knowingly traveled back in time, but ever since I saw Marty McFly travel “Back to the Future” with Doc’s special machine, I’ve wondered if Time Travel could ever become a reality. I recently read “Time Traveler” by Dr. Ronald L. Mallett in order to understand one man’s quest to build an actual Time Machine.

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Revisiting Michael Pollan, "The Omnivore's Dilemma"

By erika on 11/6/09 1:28pm
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I recently re-read The Omnivore's Dilemma, almost two years after the first time I read it.  It's amazing how much has changed since that first reading, and how different the book seems now.

I was first struck by how non-strident the book is.  Pollan sets out to untangle some of the issues of the eponymous omnivore's dilemma.  And he does so.  He draws some unavoidable conclusions, but he completely fails to berate the reader for the choices they have made.  


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Mary Roach, "Stiff"

By erika on 11/3/09 6:01pm
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I have enjoyed all of Mary Roach's books, but none more than Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.  Although it was her first proper book, Roach had already been a professional non-fiction writer for many years, and her experience shows.  Stiff grew out of a column she used to write for Salon, which is where I first came across her writing.


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