June 29, 2007
Titular
Wherein I'm going to talk some more about the whole book disposal thing, providing you with pictures and titles I've jotted down for your amusement. Yes, dear readers, I did this all for you.
Pictures first.
As a counterpoint to the Royal Society cover, we also have:
Somebody was...irate...
Our entire collection, and yes Sarah this is for you, of Phillip Pullman books was gutted by the Flood. I think we maybe still have The Amber Spyglass, and that's it.
I also destroyed our entire collection of Robin Hood books. We now have ONE, which I know because I reshelved it today.
The following is in Chinese. There are in fact about ten of these books, which I guess are probably very important works. I don't know. I can't even read the card pockets, which is all the record they have.
But they look cool.
Now for the titles.
Treating Non-Offending Parents In Child Sexual Abuse Cases - Which just sounds odd, somehow. Perhaps vaguely as if the nonoffending parents are also tarred with the same brush as the offending ones. But it intrigues me.
Coca Exotica: The illustrated history of cocaine - Which, if it hadn't been so water damaged, I'd want to read, because it sounds interesting.
When France Was King of Cartography: The Patronage and Production of Maps in Early Modern France - Which is esoteric as all hell, but sounds kind of interesting, actually. And must be, considering the size.
Research on the "Cost of Non-Europe": The Benefits of Completing the Internal Market For Telecommunication Equipment And Services In the Community - Which is a European Economic Community document, which should go a long ways to explaining the title. I still want to know what the "Cost of Non-Europe" part means, though.
Journeys In Microspace - Which I don't even know what it's about, but sounds really cool.
Nine Tomorrows - Which is an Asimov short story collection chiefly notable for having a picture of a chimpanzee in a space suit on the cover, which is hilarious, but alas unfindable on the internets.
Palynological Correlation of Major Pennsylvanian (Middle and Upper Carboniforous) Chronostratigraphic Boundries in the Illinois and Other Coal Basins and also The Nature and Timing or Orogenic Activity in the Caledonian Rocks of the British Isles - Which demonstrate the pure excitement inherent in working in geology. There's something rather appropriate about all our geology books getting washed away by the Flood.
Fay - Which is essentially a high-priced coffee table book which you buy because it's some guy taking pictures of his dog. Granted that the dog is sometimes dressed in silly costumes and appears to be a very good sport, but people, it's a $50 book filled with dog pictures. I NEED that kind of job.
Related to that, I was pondering art books, as I often do, considering we lost so many of them, and I noticed that quite a few of them are essentially excuses for some random artist to paint a whole bunch of naked women. Which, being male, I can applaud - yes, they look like pervs, but it's hard to go wrong with naked women here. That having been said, it does seem rather pretentious to, say, paint an entire book's worth of paintings of your naked wife and sell it people for $50. Which has a lot of interesting facets to it if you think hard enough. I assure you that I have the time to do just that.
Etchers and Etching - Which is chiefly notable for an inscription by one Marguerite D. Peterson, 1936. Which is actually relatively recent, considering our collection.
Evolution of the Archean Supracrustal Sequences - Which means what to us normal people, precisely?
Numerical Experiments in Stratigraphy: Recent Advances In Stratigraphic and Sedimentologic Computer Simulations - Which features both overly large geologic terms AND overly pretentious academia titling! A sure hit!
There is apparently an author going by the name of Crescent Dragonwagon. Children's books, mind you, not geology. Though the possibilities could be interesting.
Rattlesnakes and Scientists - Which, regardless of actual content, conjures up images of that epic struggle to the death between white coated lab scientist and cobra. Or perhaps Raiders of the Lost Ark. Nevertheless, I quite like it as a kid's science book title.
New York 1880 and New York 1900 - Which are books Sarah might like, being as they discuss, albeit in a now water-damaged state, architecture and the city of New York in the 19th to early 20th centuries, and which looked quite interesting, albeit in a very large and unwieldy fashion.
The Labour Cost of the World War To Great Britain, 1914-1922: A Statistical Analysis - Which wins the Archaic Titling Award for being published in...1940, during the SECOND World War.
More About Geothermal Steam: Or the Hottest Energy Prospect Ever - Which should make you laugh.
Japanese Spoons and Ladles: The Beauty of Everyday Objects - Which was published in 1979, which ought to explain an awful lot, really. Those wacky 70s folk and their wacky 70sisms.
Posted by Dwip at June 29, 2007 8:47 PM