Coverage of Election Now Lacks Suspense

Wikipedia and the Meaning of Truth

Why the online encyclopedia's epistemology should worry those who care about traditional notions of accuracy.

By Simson L. Garfinkel

British Architect to Redesign City Library

Grass Returns!!

Not coming to terms with the past

Grass has published the second volume of his autobiography; Die Box!  Unfortunately it is not going to be available in English until the end of next year which is reflective of a trend in American publishing not to publish or push translations, which has been a prominent theme in the Guardian recently, esp. in light of the recent Nobel Prize. I wonder if the insularity of the publishing community is because of their assumption of the public's reading habits. Unfortunately I also think they are right especially considering the reading public who is walking through the standard book-stores i.e. Border's/B&N who are not interested, for the most part, in any translated work. I'm dealing with students at the reference desk who are asking me "How do I read this book?" referring to Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.This question is definitively dealing with comprehension, understanding and perserverance.  Upon graduation are these individuals going to be interested in translated works, having barely moved into the English canon? This seems unlikely unless I as a librarian and others who are bridging this gap can helpfully and skillfully guide these students into new realms of reading and understanding.

Why poets take trains

I would gladly take a train to work. After taking a 24 hour train ride to Purdue, Indiana as a college freshman, a deep appreciation and enjoyment of train rides was bestowed upon me. The observatory car was completely made of glass and you could watch the landscape slide past and the sun beat down on the book pages. Also the fact that we would stand between the cars like surfers on training wheels until the conductors would kick us out since we were not supposed to be there anyway. For some reason, at the age of 14 I was interested in small places and, being 14, stayed awake most of the night. Once I realized I was tired enough to go to sleep everyone else was awake so I curled up underneath the footrests of two seats and slept for about 4 hours there.
Riding the train trumps driving because the train ride removes the responsibility of paying attention to the details of others' erratic steering and allows you to see, listen and contemplate. Attempting any or all three of these at the wheel, for myself at least, typically ends in a wild wheel jerk to get my car off the rumble strip which is alarming both to the other cars and my wife and not at all conducive to the state of contemplation being pursued.
My next "road trip" goal is to take the train from Rochester, NY to Chicago, IL. It's only about 11 hours and cheaper than driving.

Importing a passion for poetry