From time to time, I like to pick a date and search for events that happened on that day in history. Today’s lucky date is December 10, and let me tell you, it doesn’t disappoint. This time I selected five events spanning three centuries. Here is a bit of helpful info (courtesy of Wikipedia):
- 1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is published
- 1787 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, who founded the American School for the Deaf, is born
- 1799 – France adopts the meter as its official unit of length
- 1817 – Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state
- 1901 – The first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm
December 10 is the idea that inspired this week’s reading list, so yes, there’s a theme here (and, oh, how I love themes). However, the titles feel random because multiple Deweys are represented. What do I mean by “Deweys"? I have a cat named Dewey, but I’m not referring to cat cloning. Every item in the library’s collection is assigned a call number (which is what you use to locate an item on the shelf), and those call numbers are based on the Dewey Decimal Classification system. I get a kick out of a blend of random topics, a bibliographically mixed cocktail, so to speak. And when I can match books from the library’s collection with the cocktail’s ingredients, I’m ready to party!
Cheers to encyclopedias, education of the deaf and hard of hearing, units of measurement, Mississippi, and the Nobel Prize (check out Marie Curie and Her Daughters because she was the first woman to win a Nobel and the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice). Whoo-hoo to random reads!
- All the Knowledge in the World: The Extraordinary History of the Encyclopedia by Simon Garfield.
- Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants by James Vincent.
- The Life and Times of T.H. Gallaudet by Edna Edith Sayers.
- Marie Curie and Her Daughters: The Private Lives of Science’s First Family by Shelley Emling.
- Mississippi Vegan: Recipes & Stories from a Southern Boy’s Heart by Timothy Pakron.
New at the Library
Fiction
- Falling Hard for the Royal Guard by Megan Clawson.
- In the Lobby of the Dream Hotel by Genevieve Plunkett.
- Lolth’s Warrior by R. A. Salvatore.
Nonfiction
- Hotel Kitsch: A Pretty Cool Tour of America’s Fantasy Getaways by Margaret Bienert.
- Mountains of Fire: The Menace, Meaning, and Magic of Volcanoes by Clive Oppenheimer.
- Still We Rise: A Love Letter to the Southern Biscuit with Over 70 Sweet and Savory Recipes by Erika Council.
Children
- Aaron Donald vs. Reggie White: Who Would Win? by David Stabler.
- The Big Cheese written by Jory John, illustrated by Pete Oswald.
- Hannah Sharpe, Cartoon Detective written by Janet Tashjian, illustrated by Jake Tashjian.
This is just a small sampling of the many new titles added each week to the Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries collection. Find more in our catalog, or call 360-906-5000 to reserve titles or find additional listings.
Jan Johnston, Collection Manager
Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries
You can email Jan at readingforfun@fvrl.org
