Daily Thoughts 3/7/2011 (The Information)

Frontispiece of a book by the Austrian mathematician Anton Felkel showing the author reading a book by the mathematician Lambert. Leaning to the table is a set of calculating rulers (used in the "stencil method"). The books in the shelf to the left are general literature, shown disordered; to the rigth are books on mathematics, orderly arranged.

Daily Thoughts 3/7/2011

On the way to work, I read some more of Information.  It is quite entertaining.  The author describes how it is possible to have memorized literature without writing.  The Odyssey by Homer is an example of this.  I also like James Gleick's descriptions of Babylonian mathematics.

This morning, I did some weeding, checked the displays, checked on the status of an art book donation from Distribution to Underserved Communities Libraries Program http://www.ducprogram.org/  We should be getting some books in a short while from them.

I also am working on a flyer for networking organizations and career fairs in Westchester.

On the train home, I read some more of The Information.  James Gleick is wriitng about the first attempts at alphabetization and the first dictionaries.  I am especially fond of the Oxford English Dictionary even though we don't use it that much.

Web Bits

A conversation between Ian Fleming and Raymond Chandler on the BBC.  http://www.ducprogram.org/