Butterflies

The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science ~ by Joyce Sidman, 2018, children's nonfiction, 160 pages

This biography won the Robert F. Sibert Medal.  The Newbery Honor–winning author introduces readers to one of the first female entomologists and a woman who flouted convention in the pursuit of knowledge and her passion for insects.

One of the first naturalists to observe live insects directly, Maria Sibylla Merian was also one of the first to document the metamorphosis of the butterfly.  Richly illustrated throughout with full-color original paintings by Merian herself, The Girl Who Drew Butterflies will enthrall young scientists.

Bugs, of all kinds, were considered to be “born of mud” and to be "beasts of the devil."  Why would anyone, let alone a girl, want to study and observe them?  The Girl Who Drew Butterflies answers this question.

Two students for TWOsday

Click HERE to read about how two students discovered proof of the 2000-year-old Pythagorean theorem.  I enjoyed my math classes, so reading this fascinated me.  I remember learning about that theorem in school, just as these two did.

In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem is a fundamental relation in Euclidean geometry between the three sides of a right triangle, which states that the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares on the other two sides.  (I got most of this wording from Wikipedia.)

Here's another way to say it:  The formula for Pythagoras' theorem is a² + b² = c².  In this equation, "C" represents the longest side of a right triangle, called the hypotenuse.  "A" and "B" represent the other two sides of the triangle.

Wow, look at all the twos:  a² and b² and c².  And don't forget the two students.

Coca-Cola coincidence

Back in 1899, Chattanooga became the site of the world's first Coca-Cola Bottling Company.  The Coca-Cola taste had been invented by a pharmacist in Atlanta in 1886 and was originally only sold as a fountain drink.  Then, two businessmen from Chattanooga convinced the owner of Coca-Cola to expand into bottling the beverage.  I chose this illustration because I remember buying Coca-Cola for a nickel, and the bottle was green like that.

My neighbor Larry noticed me sitting alone at a table in our Circle@Crown Café the other day, so he brought his food over to join me.  Our conversation got around to my hometown being Chattanooga, and he asked me something like "wasn't your town connected to Coca-Cola somehow?"  Anyway, it was only a small bit of our conversation, easily forgettable.

That afternoon, I happened to be sitting in the lobby when Larry came back from shopping and started rummaging around in his bags.  He pulled out something small and came over to hand it to me.  It was a Coca-Cola coaster like at the upper right of that second illustration.  I had a puzzled look on my face, so he said, "I was at Goodwill and saw this.  What a coincidence that we were just talking about Coca-Cola!"  He had bought it to show me.  I smiled and reached out to hand it back to him, but he said, "No, it's for you!  You keep it."

So here I am in St. Louis, with my iced tea beside me on a Coca-Cola coaster representing Chattanooga.  (Are you confused yet?)

The coincidences continue (added late in the day):

Larry and I were both sitting around a table with other friends having a Café Conversations meeting, so one of us mentioned the Coca-Cola coincidence.  Someone in the group happened to look up at the large windows to the outside and shouted, "There goes a Coca-Cola truck!"  We were all astounished, to say the least.

Reading is my FAVORITE pastime

In the Words of Nelson Mandela ~ edited by Jennifer Crwys-Williams, 2004, collection of quotes, 136 pages, 8/10

My favorite quote in the book includes that very word:  "My favorite pastime:  reading."  It's found on page 36.  This is a short report because it's a very short book, but the most important thing I can tell you is that it's written for people who already admire him for who he is.  It doesn't really explain who he is and why he's famous, so a bunch of quotes would mean nothing to you unless you know those things.

Of Mice and Men ~ by John Steinbeck, 1937, novella, 118 pages

They are an unlikely pair:  George is "small and quick and dark of face," while Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child.  Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation.

Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence.  For George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own.  When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp.  But even George cannot guard Lennie from the provocations of a flirtatious woman, nor predict the consequences of Lennie's unswerving obedience to the things George taught him.

This is also a small book.  I found it among books in one of my boxes and decided to re-read it, since it's been decades now.  Did you also have to read it in school?

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

November is Science Fiction Month 2024

November is SciFiMonth 2024 (more information HERE), and my library book (below) came in time for me to read it for this event.

Beginning

Perhaps he'll die this time.  He finds this doesn't worry him.  Maybe because he's so cold he has a drunkard's grip on his mind.  When thoughts come, they're translucent, free-swimming medusae.  As the Arctic wind bites at his hands and feet, his thoughts slop against his skull.  They'll be the last thing to freeze over.

The Ministry of Time ~ by Kaliane Bradley, 2024, science fiction / time travel, 352 pages

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on.  A recently established govern-ment ministry is gathering "expats" from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible — for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a "bridge":  living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as "1847" or Commander Graham Gore.  As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as washing machines, Spotify, and the collapse of the British Empire.  But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper.  By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with conse-quences she never could have imagined.  Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how — and whether she believes — what she does next can change the future.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Thinking and blogging again ~ yeah, again!

My laptop was not working right, so my computer guy came yesterday and fixed it.  Whew!  But when I saw Tuesday's post, I thought, "Wait a minute!  How did that get posted?"  Then I realized I had set it long ago to post automatically on that special day.  Relief!  Okay, Bonnie, take a deep breath and start blogging again.

 

It's National Cat Day ~ I hope your cat is feline fine!

National Cat Day is celebrated in the United States

on October 29th.  It was created by Colleen Paige

to bring awareness to the number of cats that

need to be rescued each year.