The Burning House: What Would You Take?

The Burning House: What Would You Take?

(Foster Huntington)

The exercise appears to have been to ask photographers around the world to indicate what they would take from their burning house. Cameras are, surprise, the number 1 item that recurs across this heterogeneous collection. One of my sons admired the guy from Watsonville, who stood in front of his home, in his underwear, to show that all he needed was himself. Not as interesting as the list of last meals of condemned criminals.

The Playboy

The Playboy
(Chester Brown)
I really enjoyed CB's *Paying for It* so when I saw this at the library I snatched it up. Originally published in '92, this is a nostalgic glance at the awkward feeling of a sensitive adolescent who first brushed against Hefner's naked ladies as a young boy, and the cascade of guilt and horniness is well-captured.

The Most Powerful Idea in the World

The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention
(William Rosen, only heard 1st CD)
Very engaging story, although I didn't have time to dive in. The opening is well-told, and I got pretty excited about the Watt regulator as a vivid example of negative feedback. I hope I have time to return and devour this history of the Industrial Revolution.

The Selfish Gene

The Selfish Gene 30th Anniversary Ed
(Richard Dawkins, 16:22)
This book influenced me, as well as the zeitgeist, and re-reading it with Dawkins' additional tweaks, retorts and caveats was pure bliss.

Malloy, Malone & The Unnameable

Malloy, Malone & The Unnameable
(Samuel Beckett)
I just wanted to re-experience the perfection of Beckett's prose. I just dipped into these for refreshment, and while I didn't re-read any of these to the end, I can't go on, I must.

For the Love of Physics

For the Love of Physics
(Walter Lewin, 10:12)
Pure pleasure, to listen to Lewin describe the very concrete demonstrations he's given for decades to MIT physics students, and the depth of explanatory power he brings to bear on what might first seem to be trivial phenomena. The tour of the cosmos is quite satisfying, as Lewin's final chapters describe his own research career, seeking to understand X-ray stars. I now want to look up his youtube videos.