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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “There are places in the world where rules are less important than kindness: and other thoughts on physics, philosophy and the world” by Carlo Rovelli, Simon Carnell, Erica Segre
Kate’s 2¢: “There are places in the world where rules are less important than kindness: and other thoughts on physics, philosophy and the world” by Carlo Rovelli, Simon Carnell, Erica Segre
“There are places in the world where rules are less important than kindness: and other thoughts on physics, philosophy and the world”
by Carlo Rovelli, Simon Carnell, Erica Segre
I think the publisher said it all. There is a lot to ponder in the essays.
From the web:
Carlo Rovelli was born on 3 May, 1956 in Verona, Italy.
Simon Carnell’s most popular book is Seven Brief Lessons on Physics.
House Rabbit Society
Erica Segre, Fellow of Trinity since 1998, and Affiliated Lecturer at Newnham, passed away on 21 April after a long illness. As a Lecturer in Spanish and Latin American culture, Erica led generations of students in Trinity, and across Cambridge, in their discovery of the wonders of art and literature.
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
There are places in the world where rules are less important than kindness: and other thoughts on physics, philosophy and the world DB108234
Rovelli, Carlo; Carnell, Simon; Segre, Erica Reading time: 6 hours, 37 minutes.
Landon Woodson
Science and Technology
Philosophy
Literature
“A delightful intellectual feast from the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time One of the world’s most prominent physicists and fearless free spirit, Carlo Rovelli is also a masterful storyteller. His bestselling books have introduced millions of readers to the wonders of modern physics and his singular perspective on the cosmos. This new collection of essays reveals a curious intellect always on the move. Rovelli invites us on an accessible and enlightening voyage through science, literature, philosophy, and politics. Written with his usual clarity and wit, this journey ranges widely across time and space: from Newton’s alchemy to Einstein’s mistakes, from Nabokov’s lepidopterology to Dante’s cosmology, from mind-altering psychedelic substances to the meaning of atheism, from the future of physics to the power of uncertainty. Charming, pithy, and elegant, this book is the perfect gateway to the universe of one of the most influential minds of our age.” — Provided by publisher. Translated from the original 2018 Italian edition. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “Milo’s eyes: how a blind equestrian and her “seeing eye horse” rescued each other” by Lissa Bachner
Kate’s 2¢: “Milo’s eyes: how a blind equestrian and her “seeing eye horse” rescued each other” by Lissa Bachner
“Milo’s eyes: how a blind equestrian and her “seeing eye horse” rescued each other” by Lissa Bachner
saying…
Well, to begin with, she is not blind, as in totally blind. She is legally blind, which means she can see enough to spot landmarks while she’s riding and the horse isn’t a trained guide horse. He loves jumping, so when he is facing a jump, he aims his ears forward, and runs for it. Lissa and Milo go over and over the courses to memorize the patterns for that class.
This in no way diminishes the accomplishments of this team. I’m sure that it is beauty in motion to see them glide over the jumps during a competition.
As a totally blind person, I did get a bit emotional listening to Lissa’s trials and travails with the various doctors. I applaud her perseverance in setting out goals and working toward them…with success.
Johanna Parker did a good job of narrating the NLS version of this story. I enjoyed listening and cheering for Lissa and Milo, and even Max.
From the WEB:
A Very Special WEF Hunter Roundup: Legally Blind Lissa Bachner Prevails in Week 10
MARCH 20, 2018
Lissa Bachner and Meridian Prevail in Triple Crown Blankets Adult Amateur Hunter Middle Section A In Spite of Unique Personal Challenge
Lissa Bachner and her entry, Meridian, overcame the odds and captured the championship title in week ten’s Triple Crown Blankets Adult Amateur Hunter Middle Section A division. Despite being legally blind, Bachman piloted her mount to a first, first, first, and second over fences in addition to a third in the under saddle.
The 44-year-old rider of Wellington, FL, has a condition called uveitis that caused her to lose her left eye when she was 25, and her vision entirely after surgeries on her right eye in 2001. In total, Bachner has had over 100 surgical procedures, but the Wellington rider hasn’t let any of this stop her. After six months of complete blindness following her initial procedures, a new medication available only in Italy allowed Bachner to gain back limited vision, and to finally be able to return to the hunter ring.
from NLS/BARD/LOC:
Milo’s eyes: how a blind equestrian and her “seeing eye horse” rescued each other DB110604
Bachner, Lissa Reading time: 10 hours, 38 minutes.
Johanna Parker
Biography of Persons with Disabilities
Sports and Recreation
Biography
Animals and Wildlife
“The extraordinary bond between Lissa Bachner, a young blind woman and Milo, a neglected, frightened horse, helped them overcome staggering odds to become one of America’s most inspiring, successful riding teams in the world of show jumping. Lissa Bachner was born with a passion for horses and won her first blue ribbon at age five. Other awards would follow as a young rider, and for years Lissa trained with jumpers, tackling more difficult leaps, and working to perfect her ?ride. ?When blindness struck in her teens, it appeared her ?passion for riding would come to an end. How could she ?jump hurdles when she could barely? navigate through her own home? But success, trust, and love came to Lissa when her trainer convinced her to buy a “diamond in the rough” from Germany. On New Year’s Eve, Milo arrived at the barn, frightened and neglected. Taking one look at his shaking, filthy body, Lissa promised Milo that he would only know kindness. In return, Milo took special care of her in the ring. Through countless eye surgeries and the many months of training and work, Lissa and Milo formed a magic bond that made them inseparable. And winners. With effortless humor and penetrating compassion, Lissa weaves a story of unfaltering faith in Milo, and the unconditional love they shared.” — Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “Everything under: a novel” by Daisy Johnson
Kate’s 2¢: “Everything under: a novel” by Daisy Johnson
“Everything under: a novel” by Daisy Johnson
Jill Fox did a good job of reading this really weird story. Death of a parent and sex with a parent are the only events related to the myth of Oedipus, as far as I could see. What is more puzzling is how several characters have total gender confusion as well as name changes. Add jumping back and forth in time, and this is one weird tale. I didn’t even like the ending, either.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daisy Johnson (born 1990) is a British novelist and short story writer.[1] Her debut novel, Everything Under, was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize,[2] and beside Eleanor Catton is the youngest nominee in the prize’s history. For her short stories, she has won three awards since 2014.
Biography[edit]
Johnson was born in Paignton, Devon, in 1990, and grew up around Saffron Walden, Essex.[1][3] She earned her bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing from Lancaster University before earning a master’s degree in Creative Writing at Somerville College, Oxford, where she also worked at Blackwell’s bookshop.[4][5] While at Oxford, she won the 2014 AM Heath Prize for fiction while working on her first short story collection, and had short stories published in The Warwick Review and the Boston Review.[6][7][8] Shortly after, she won the 2016 Harper’s Bazaar short story prize for “What The House Remembers”.[9]
In 2015, she won a two-book deal with publisher Jonathan Cape for a collection of short stories and a novel.[10] The short story collection titled Fen was published in 2017. Set in the fens of England, it draws upon the memories of the area where Johnson grew up. It comprises a set of linked short stories, focusing on the experiences of women and girls in a small town. Johnson describes the collection as liminal and mythic.[11] The collection won the 2017 Edge Hill Short Story Prize.[12]
Johnson followed Fen with her debut novel, Everything Under, in 2018. The novel focuses on the relationship between Gretel, a lexicographer, and her mother and is set against a backdrop of the British countryside. Gretel grows up on a canal boat with her mother and they invent a language to use between them. Gretel’s mother abandons her when Gretel is sixteen, and the novel starts sixteen years later with a phone call. Johnson worked on the novel for around four years,[3] starting it at the same time as her short story collection to challenge herself to write something longer. She went through at least five drafts of the book (which she has said had seeds in her studies of the Greek myth of king Oedipus),[13] made several changes to characters and setting,[14] and for a period, it was titled Eggtooth.[15]
Everything Under was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize. Johnson is the youngest author to be shortlisted for the prize.[16]
Johnson currently lives in Oxford.[17] Her favourite writers include Stephen King, Evie Wyld, Helen Oyeyemi and John Burnside. Her favourite poets include Robin Robertson and Sharon Olds.[18] Had she been unsuccessful as a writer, Johnson suggests that she would have been a shepherd.[1]
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Everything under: a novel DB93481
Johnson, Daisy. Reading time: 7 hours, 42 minutes.
Read by Jill Fox.
Psychological Fiction
In this reimagining of the myth of Oedipus, Gretel gets a voicemail from the mother who abandoned her sixteen years ago. She remembers her childhood on the canals of Oxford, England, and the runaway boy they sheltered one winter, Marcus. Some violence, some strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2018.
Downloaded: November 2, 2023
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Kate’s 2¢: “Dark Corners” by Ruth Rundell
“Dark Corners” by Ruth Rundell
saying…
Laura Giannarelli did a good job of reading this story and I enjoyed listening to her voice.
It was interesting how the apparently unrelated characters became connected to bring about the conclusion.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE (née Grasemann; 17 February 1930 – 2 May 2015) was an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries.[1]
Rendell is best known for creating Chief Inspector Wexford.[2] A second string of works was a series of unrelated crime novels that explored the psychological background of criminals and their victims. This theme was developed further in a third series of novels, published under the pseudonym Barbara Vine.
Life[edit]
Rendell was born as Ruth Barbara Grasemann in 1930, in South Woodford, Essex (now Greater London).[3] Her parents were teachers. Her mother, Ebba Kruse, was born in Sweden to Danish parents and brought up in Denmark; her father, Arthur Grasemann, was English. As a result of spending Christmas and other holidays in Scandinavia, Rendell learned Swedish and Danish.[4] Rendell was educated at the County High School for Girls in Loughton, Essex,[3] the town to which the family moved during her childhood.
After high school, she became a feature writer for her local Essex paper, the Chigwell Times. However, she was forced to resign after filing a story about a local sports club dinner she had not attended and failing to report that the after-dinner speaker had died midway through the speech.[5]
Rendell met her husband Don Rendell when she was working as a newswriter.[3] They married when she was 20, and in 1953 had a son, Simon,[6] now a psychiatric social worker who lives in the U.S. state of Colorado. The couple divorced in 1975 but remarried two years later.[7] Don Rendell died in 1999 from prostate cancer.[6]
She made the county of Suffolk her home for many years, using the settings in several of her novels. She lived in the villages of Polstead and later Groton, both east of Sudbury. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1996 Birthday Honours[8] and a life peer as Baroness Rendell of Babergh, of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk, on 24 October 1997.[9] She sat in the House of Lords for the Labour Party. In 1998 Rendell was named on a list of the party’s biggest private financial donors.[10] She introduced into the Lords the bill that would later become the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 (the intent was to prevent the practice).
In August 2014, Rendell was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September’s referendum on that issue.[11]
Rendell was a vegetarian who was described as living mostly on fruit.[12] She described herself as “slightly agoraphobic” and slept in a specially made four-poster bed because “I like to feel enclosed.”[12]
from NLS/BARD/LOC:
Dark corners: a novel DB86756
Rendell, Ruth. Reading time: 7 hours, 57 minutes.
Read by Laura Giannarelli.
Suspense Fiction
Psychological Fiction
When twenty-three-year-old novelist Carl Martin inherits his father’s house, he takes on an odd renter, Dermot McKinnon. Carl’s father has left an assortment of alternative remedies, and Carl’s overweight actress friend Stacey asks him to sell her some diet pills. The pills kill Stacey, and Dermot quickly exploits the situation. 2015.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “The Dark Flood Rises” by Margaret Drabble,
Kate’s 2¢: “The Dark Flood Rises” by Margaret Drabble,
“The Dark Flood Rises” by Margaret Drabble,
saying…
Although Laura Giannarelli did a good job of reading this story, nothing in this story resonated with me the way I thought it might. I guess I’m not old enough to ‘get it’.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd, DBE, FRSL (born 5 June 1939)[1] is an English biographer, novelist and short story writer.
Drabble’s books include The Millstone (1965), which won the following year’s John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and Jerusalem the Golden, which won the 1967 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. She was honoured by the University of Cambridge in 2006, having earlier received awards from numerous redbrick (e.g. Sheffield, Hull, Manchester,) and plateglass universities (such as Bradford, Keele, East Anglia and York). She received the American Academy of Arts and Letters E. M. Forster Award in 1973.
Drabble also wrote biographies of Arnold Bennett and Angus Wilson and edited two editions of The Oxford Companion to English Literature and a book on Thomas Hardy.
Early life[edit]
Drabble was born in Sheffield, the second daughter of the County Court judge and novelist John Frederick Drabble and the teacher Kathleen Marie (née Bloor). Her elder sister was the novelist and critic A. S. Byatt;[1] the youngest sister is art historian Helen Langdon, and their brother is the barrister Richard Drabble, KC. Drabble’s father participated in the placement of Jewish refugees in Sheffield during the 1930s.[2] Her mother was a Shavian and her father a Quaker.[2]
After attending The Mount School, a Quaker boarding school at York where her mother was employed, Drabble received a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge.[1] She studied English Literature whilst attending Cambridge.[3] She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1960, and, before leaving to pursue a career in literary studies and writing, served as an understudy for Vanessa Redgrave and Diana Rigg.[1][4]
Personal life[edit]
Drabble was married to the actor Clive Swift between 1960 and 1975. They had three children, the gardener and TV personality Joe Swift; the academic Adam Swift; and Rebecca Swift (d. 2017), who ran The Literary Consultancy.[5][6][7] In 1982, Drabble married the writer and biographer Sir Michael Holroyd;[8] they live in London and Somerset.[1]
Drabble’s relationship with her sister A. S. Byatt was sometimes strained because of autobiographical elements in both their writing. While their relationship was not especially close and they did not read each other’s books, Drabble described the situation as “normal sibling rivalry”[9] and Byatt said it had been “terribly overstated by gossip columnists” and that the sisters “always have liked each other on the bottom line.”[10]
When sought out for interview by The Paris Review’s Barbara Milton in 1978, Drabble was described as “smaller than one might expect from looking at her photographs. Her face is finer, prettier and younger, surprisingly young for someone who has produced so many books in the past sixteen years. Her eyes are very clear and attentive and they soften when she is amused, as she often is, by the questions themselves and her own train of thought”.[3] In the same interview she admitted there were three writers for whom she felt an “immense admiration”: Angus Wilson, Saul Bellow and Doris Lessing.[3]
Views on the 2003 invasion of Iraq[edit]
In the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Drabble wrote of the anticipated wave of anti-Americanism, saying: “My anti-Americanism has become almost uncontrollable. It has possessed me, like a disease. It rises up in my throat like acid reflux, that fashionable American sickness. I now loathe the United States and what it has done to Iraq and the rest of the helpless world”, despite “remembering the many Americans that I know and respect”. She wrote of her distress at images of the war, her objections to Jack Straw about the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and “American imperialism, American infantilism, and American triumphalism about victories it didn’t even win”. She recalled George Orwell’s words in Nineteen Eighty-Four about “the intoxication of power” and “the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — for ever”. She closed by saying, “I hate feeling this hatred. I have to keep reminding myself that if Bush hadn’t been (so narrowly) elected, we wouldn’t be here, and none of this would have happened. There is another America. Long live the other America, and may this one pass away soon”.[11]
Writing[edit]
Drabble’s early novels were published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1963–87), while the publishers of her later works were Penguin, Viking and Canongate, and a recurring theme is the correlation between contemporary England’s society and its people. Most of her protagonists are women[12][13][14] and the realistic descriptions of her figures often derive from Drabble’s personal experiences; thus, her first novels describe the life of young women during the 1960s and 1970s, for whom the conflict between motherhood and intellectual challenges is being brought into focus, while The Witch of Exmoor, published in 1996, shows the withdrawn existence of an elderly writer. As Hilary Mantel wrote in 1989: “Drabble’s heroines have aged with her, becoming solid and sour, more prone to drink and swear; yet with each successive book their earnest, moral nature blossoms”.[15] Her characters’ tragic faults reflect their political and economic situation. Drabble wrote novels, she claimed in 2011, “to keep myself company”.[16]
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
The dark flood rises DB87316
Drabble, Margaret. Reading time: 13 hours, 58 minutes.
Read by Laura Giannarelli. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Psychological Fiction
Fran, an expert in housing for the elderly–who is advancing in age herself–travels across England for conferences and caring for her family. Her son Christopher mourns the death of his girlfriend while maintaining a professional relationship with Bennett, who confronts his own advanced age in the Canary Islands. 2016.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn” by Betty Smith
Kate’s 2¢: “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn” by Betty Smith
“A Tree Grows In Brooklyn” by Betty Smith
saying…
Maria Tucci did a good job of narrating this tory for us. Her slight variations of dialects added to our listening enjoyment and character recognition. .
I enjoyed this snapshot of life for this plucky child growing up under dire circumstances. The image of a tree struggling to grow in cement is an apt metaphor for the child’s existence.
A few take-aways:
–The one tree in Francie’s yard…was called the Tree of Hevan. No matter where its seed fell, it made a tree that struggled to reach the sky.
–In the old country a man is driven by the past of his father. Here, in this country, he belongs to the future…He can be what he will.
–The child must have the valuable thing called imagination…to have a secret world.
–Everything struggles to live…that tree grows out of the grate…it gets no sun and only water when it rains. It’s strong, because its struggle makes it that way.
–The sad thing is knowing that nerve would get them no where in the world.
–They conform to nothing but what was essential to their being able to live in that world.
–They purchased a two-foot fir tree growing in a wooden tub…It has roots…They put it on the fire escape.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Betty Smith (born Elisabeth Lillian Wehner; December 15, 1896 – January 17, 1972) was an American playwright and novelist, who wrote the 1943 bestseller A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
Early years[edit]
Smith was born Elisabeth Lillian Wehner on December 15, 1896, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York to first-generation German-Americans John C. Wehner, a waiter,[1] and Katherine (or Catherine) Hummel.[2] She had a younger brother, William, and a younger sister, Regina.[3] At the time of her birth the family was living at 207 Ewen Street (now Manhattan Avenue). When she was four, they were living at 227 Stagg Street, and would move several times to various tenements on Montrose Avenue and Hopkins Street[4] before settling in a tenement on the top floor of 702 Grand Street. It was the Grand Street tenement that served as the setting for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.[5]
As a child, Smith developed an early passion for the written word, and at age eight she received an A for a school composition. “I knew then,” she was reported as saying, “that I would write a book one day.”[6] She made great use of the then-new public library near her home on Leonard Street,[7] and at age 11, had two poems published in a school publication.[6] Smith attended Public School 49 through fourth grade, then transferred to PS 18, which she disliked, before wangling her way into out-of-district PS 23 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where she finished eighth grade. At this point in her life, she was compelled to quit school by her mother and to go to work to support the family. She was 14. Four years later, at age 18, endeavoring to further her education, she discovered she could attend Girls’ High School in Brooklyn during the day while, at the same time, work a night job in Manhattan. But after two years of this rigorous schedule, she quit school because a well paying job she had accepted with the United States Postal Service required her to work days.[8]
In her teenage years, Smith was an active member at the Jackson Street Settlement House, operated by the School Settlement Association. Offering a diverse range of after school social activities, the settlement house became one of Smith’s favorite destinations.[9] Of particular interest were classes in play writing, as well as acting and other theatrical activities. It was at the settlement house in 1917 that she met her future first husband, George H. E. Smith, the coach of her debate team and a fellow German-American, whose family name had been changed during WWI from Schmidt.[10] It is claimed by some it was likely at the Jackson Street Settlement House, rather than near her apartment, that the tree grew which gave name to her best-known novel,[11] but this assertion is unsubstantiated.
Marriage and motherhood[edit]
In 1919, after moving briefly to Richmond Hill, Queens, with her mother and stepfather, she joined George Smith in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he pursued a law degree at the University of Michigan. They married October 18, 1919.[12] During the couple’s extended stay in Ann Arbor, Smith gave birth to two girls and then waited until they were in school before endeavoring to complete her education. Because she had only completed two years of high school, Smith first enrolled in Ann Arbor High School, even though the principal thought it “unusual for a married woman to be a high school junior but could find no law against it.”[13] However, she again was not able to graduate due to her husband finding work in Belding, Michigan, and later Detroit. Although George Smith’s career was thriving, he found the practice of law unfulfilling. As a result, they decided to return to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan to “start over,” with George studying political science, with an aim toward a career in politics.[13] Although she had not finished high school, the university allowed her to take classes as a special student without matriculating. Smith began to take her writing more seriously, realizing it could be a career. She honed her composition and journalism skills, submitting articles and recipes to newspapers as well as writing plays. Despite family money worries, instead of taking part-time jobs as she had before she continued with her writing endeavors.
In 1933, Betty and George H.E. Smith legally separated, and before the start of World War II, in 1938, they divorced. Although divorced, she continued to use the Smith surname throughout her writing career.
Theater and playwriting[edit]
From a young age, Smith had a deep and abiding interest in stage theater. She and her younger brother Willie regularly attended Saturday matinees at Brooklyn theaters for ten cents each, which allowed them to stand in the gallery. In a later autobiographical statement, Smith noted:
In all the years of growing up, I saw at least one play a week. I ran errands, made childish sacrifices of penny candy, tended babies, brought back deposit bottles. I had one objective: To get together a dime a week to see the Saturday matinee at one of three Brooklyn stock companies in our neighborhood.[14]
In 1916, Smith was able to see Sarah Bernhardt perform as part of her farewell tour of the United States. Despite Bernhardt having lost a leg to infection, her memories of the performance and of Bernhardt’s “lovely speaking voice and her limpid gestures” remained everlasting.[15]
University of Michigan and Yale[edit]
At the University of Michigan, Smith audited a number of journalism and playwriting courses and was a student in some of the classes of Professor Kenneth Thorpe Rowe. Under the guidance of Rowe, she wrote several plays, including the three-act Jonica Starrs, a story of adultery and the break-up of a marriage. The play won the Long Play Contest of the University of Michigan’s Division of English.[16] It was given a full production in Ann Arbor in June 1930.
Smith’s life reached a turning point when she won the University of Michigan’s Avery Hopwood Award for her full length play Francie Nolan, [17] which she later re-titled Becomes A Woman when she applied for copyright.[18][19] With the award, Smith received $1,000[20][21] a considerable amount of money in the early 1930s, but, perhaps more importantly, public attention for her work. However, Becomes A Woman wouldn’t be produced until 2023 when Mint Theater Company premiered the play.[22]
With the conferring of the Hopwood Award, Smith was invited to study drama at Yale University, where, under the tutelage of the renowned teacher George Pierce Baker, she wrote several plays during her two-year fellowship. At this time, she met a budding playwright, Robert V. Finch, known as “Bob,” who became a close confidante and companion. With outside pressures mounting, particularly money concerns as the fellowship had ended, her studies at Yale came to an end in the spring of 1934. Moreover, she deeply missed her children, who had been placed with her sister’s family on Long Island.
Because Smith never completed high school, she was unable to formally matriculate at the University of Michigan. As a result, she never earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, despite having taken more than enough courses. And without the B.A., she was unable to earn the Master of Fine Arts degree at Yale.
Federal Theatre Project[edit]
With the end of her drama studies at Yale, Smith and her children returned to live briefly in her mother’s house in Woodside, Queens. In 1935, an opportunity with the Works Projects Administration fortuitously arose, and Smith began working for the Federal Theatre Project as a play reader. In May 1936, she and three other Federal Theatre Project members, including Bob Finch, were shifted to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to participate in regional theater activities. It was in Chapel Hill that Smith finally found a place to call home, and despite continuing struggles with money, she began to write more earnestly.
Novelist[edit]
In the late 1930s, Smith began to shift her attention from play writing to attempting a novel. Encouraged by her longtime friend, playwright Bob Finch, as well as her writing group, she turned her eye toward a milieu she was familiar: the tenements and streets of Brooklyn. In total, Smith wrote four published novels during her lifetime, three of which take Brooklyn as a setting. Her first novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, was published in 1943. The book became an immediate bestseller and catapulted Smith to fame. Four years later, in 1947, the novel Tomorrow Will Be Better appeared. It would be another 11 years before Maggie-Now, her third book, was published in 1958. Smith’s fourth and final novel, Joy in the Morning appeared in 1963.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn[edit]
Main article: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (novel)
While living and working in Chapel Hill, Smith produced a novel with the working title of They Lived in Brooklyn. The work was rejected by several publishers before Harper and Brothers showed an interest in 1942. Working with Harper editors Smith substantially revised the novel, trimming characters, dialogue, and scenes, while selectively adding others. Finally, the book was accepted for publication and was released in 1943 with the title, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Smith later acknowledged the novel and its heroine Francie Nolan were largely based on her own life and experiences.[23] The novel is often categorized under the Bildungsroman literary genre.
In 1944, 20th Century Fox adapted the novel into a film directed by theater director Elia Kazan. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn starred James Dunn, Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, and Peggy Ann Garner, who won a Special Academy Award for Outstanding Child Actress of 1945. James Dunn’s performance as Johnny Nolan, Francie’s father, won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film also received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
In 1974, a second film adaptation was released. In the early 1950s, Smith teamed with George Abbott to write the book for the 1951 musical adaptation of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
Tomorrow Will Be Better[edit]
Smith’s second book, Tomorrow Will Be Better, was published in 1947. Set in the tenements of 1920s Brooklyn, the novel presents a realistic portrayal of young adults who seek a brighter future. Published just four years after A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the second book naturally drew critical comparisons to the first because both novels dealt with family life in Brooklyn and the struggle with poverty. Margy Shannon, the central character in Tomorrow Will be Better, is from a poor family with a dominant mother. She meets and is courted by Frankie, a fellow Brooklynite, also contending with poverty. They strive to improve their lot, attempting to overcome the many personal and financial obstacles in their way.
Tomorrow Will Be Better was published to mixed reviews. It received a positive notice in The New York Times, which noted the work is noticeably different in spirit from Smith’s first book and praised Smith’s writing style as “remarkable for its unpretentiousness—an easy, tidy, direct kind of prose which calls no attention to itself”.[24] Other reviews, however, were less warm, often judging the novel as “gloomy”.
Maggie-Now[edit]
Maggie-Now was published in 1958.
Joy in the Morning[edit]
Joy in the Morning, Smith’s fourth, and last, novel appeared in 1963. The novel was adapted into the 1965 film of the same name.
Personal life[edit]
As a child, Smith was called Lizzie, but because she had difficulty pronouncing her z’s, her family took to calling her Liddie.[25] She had a younger brother, William (b. 1898) and a younger sister, Regina (b. 1903). Her relationship with her father John was warm and loving even though he was an alcoholic who only provided sporadically for his family. John Wehner died December 21, 1913, at the age of 40.[26]
In 1918, her mother Catherine married a second time to Michael Keogh, an Irishman 13 years her senior who worked in the city’s public works department. The marriage brought long needed financial stability to the family. Both William and Regina assumed the Keogh surname, and Lizzie, due to her age, did not. In either 1918 or early 1919, around the age of 22, Smith may have suffered the trauma of sexual abuse. Although she never directly identified anyone, her later correspondence and writings suggest the involvement of her stepfather Michael Keogh.[27] Additionally, after leaving the Keogh household in 1919, she returned infrequently, and then only briefly, until Keogh died in 1933.
Smith married three times. Her first marriage at age 23 was to George H.E. Smith on October 18, 1919, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She had met George in 1917 at the Jackson Street Settlement House and then joined him in Ann Arbor where they quickly wed. The couple had two children: Nancy Jean (b. 1922) and Mary Elizabeth (1924–1979). Due mainly to her husband’s infidelity, Betty and George separated and then divorced in 1938.[28] Her second marriage was to Joseph Piper Jones, a serviceman and editor she met in Chapel Hill. They married August 7, 1943 in Norfolk, Virginia. By June 1951, the marriage, which produced no children, was in trouble, and Smith cited incompatibility as a reason to divorce, noting they “had nothing at all in common”.[29] Smith traveled to Reno, Nevada, gained residency, and filed for divorce on December 13, 1951. Six years later in Chapel Hill, at the age of 61, she married Robert Voris Finch, a longtime friend and companion she had known since her studies at Yale University. Finch, who had issues with alcohol as well as cardiovascular problems, died on February 4, 1959.
Smith was a petite woman with dark brown hair and strikingly deep blue eyes. She enjoyed fishing, particularly at her cottage in Nags Head, North Carolina.[30] She also was an avid bingo player.[31]
Death[edit]
On January 17, 1972, Smith died of pneumonia in Shelton, Connecticut, at the age of 75.[32]
from NLS/BARD/LOC:
A tree grows in Brooklyn DB10426
Smith, Betty Reading time: 14 hours, 45 minutes.
Maria Tucci National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
A novel about an Irish-American girl’s childhood and youth, her struggles with poverty, and her work to get an education. The setting is Brooklyn tenement life of the early 1900’s.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “How the world really works: the science behind how we got here and where we’re going” by Vaclav Smil
Kate’s 2¢: “How the world really works: the science behind how we got here and where we’re going” by Vaclav Smil
“How the world really works: the science behind how we got here and where we’re going” by Vaclav Smil
–Main area of interest is energy studies: combine understanding of physics, history, biologogy, geology, and engineering; with attention to history, and social and economic political factors.
–Advocates for moving away from extreme views.
–Understanding energy, fuels, electricity
–Understanding food production; eating fossil fuels
–Understanding our material world; the four pillars of civilation
–Understanding globalization; engines, micro-chips, and beyond
–Understanding risks; from viruses to diets tosolar flares
–Understanding the environment; the only biosphere we have
–Understanding the future; between apocalypse and singularity
–Appendix: Understanding numbers (One might want to start with this chapter.)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
VaclavSmil.com
Vaclav Smil (Czech: [ˈvaːtslaf ˈsmɪl];[1] born December 9, 1943) is a Czech-Canadian scientist and policy analyst.[2] He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus[3] in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His interdisciplinary research interests encompass energy, environmental, food, population, economic, historical and public policy studies. He has also applied these approaches to energy, food and environmental affairs of China.
Early life and education[edit]
Smil was born during World War II in Plzeň, at that time in the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (present-day Czech Republic).[4] His father was a police officer and his mother a bookkeeper.[4] Growing up in a remote mountain town in the Plzeň Region, Smil cut wood daily to keep the home heated. This provided an early lesson in energy efficiency and density.[4]
Smil completed his undergraduate studies and began his graduate work (culminating in the RNDr., an intermediate graduate degree similar to the Anglo-American Master of Philosophy credential, in 1965)[5] at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Charles University in Prague, where he took 35 classes a week, 10 months a year, for five years.[4] “They taught me nature, from geology to clouds,” Smil said.[4] After graduation he refused to join the Communist party, undermining his job prospects, though he found employment at a regional planning office.[4] He married Eva, who was studying to be a physician.[4] In 1969, following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and Eva’s graduation, the Smils emigrated to the United States, leaving the country months before a Soviet travel ban shut the borders.[4] “That was not a minor sacrifice, you know?” Smil says.[4] Smil then received his Ph.D. in geography from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences of Pennsylvania State University in 1971.[5][4][6]
Career[edit]
In 1972, Smil took his first job offer at the University of Manitoba where he remained for decades, until his retirement.[4] He taught introductory environmental science courses among other subjects dealing with energy, atmospheric change, China, population and economic development.[4]
Position on energy[edit]
Smil is skeptical that there will be a rapid transition to clean energy, believing it will take much longer than many predict.[4] Smil said “I have never been wrong on these major energy and environmental issues because I have nothing to sell,” unlike many energy companies and politicians.[4]
Smil noted in 2018 that coal, oil, and natural gas continue to make up 90% of the primary energy sources used in the world. Although renewable energy technologies have improved over time, the global share of energy produced from fossil fuels since 2000 has increased.[4] Smil emphasizes that replacing the use of fossil carbon in the production of primary iron, cement, ammonia, and plastics is a significant and ongoing challenge in the industrial sector. Together, these industries account for 15% of the world’s total fossil fuel consumption.[7] Smil stresses the need for energy prices to reflect their true costs, including greenhouse gas emissions, and promotes a decrease in the demand for fossil fuels through energy-saving measures.[8]
Position on economic growth[edit]
Smil believes economic growth has to end, that all growth is logistic rather than exponential, and that humans could consume much lower levels of materials and energy.[9][10][11]
Reception[edit]
Included among Smil’s admirers is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates,[12] who has read all of Smil’s 36 books.[13] “I wait for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next Star Wars movie,” Gates wrote in 2017.[4] “He’s a slayer of bullshit,” says David Keith, an energy and climate scientist at Harvard University.[4]
Personal life[edit]
His wife Eva is a physician[4] and his son David is an organic synthetic chemist.
He lives in a house with unusually thick insulation, grows some of his own food, and eats meat roughly once a week.[10] He reads 60 to 110 non-technical books a year and keeps a list of all books he has read since 1969. He “does not intend to have a cell phone ever.”[14]
Smil is known for being “intensely private”, shunning the press while letting his books speak for themselves.[4] At the University of Manitoba, he only ever showed up at one faculty meeting (since the 1980s). The school accepted his reclusiveness so long as he kept teaching and publishing highly rated books.[4]
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
How the world really works: the science behind how we got here and where we’re going DB108428
Smil, Vaclav Reading time: 10 hours, 11 minutes.
Stephen Perring
Science and Technology
“An essential analysis of the modern science and technology that makes our twenty-first century lives possible–a scientist’s investigation into what science really does, and does not, accomplish. We have never had so much information at our fingertips and yet most of us don’t know how the world really works. This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, through our material world and its globalization, to risks, our environment and its future, How the World Really Works offers a much-needed reality check–because before we can tackle problems effectively, we must understand the facts. In this ambitious and thought-provoking book we see, for example, that globalization isn’t inevitable–the foolishness of allowing 70 per cent of the world’s rubber gloves to be made in just one factory became glaringly obvious in 2020–and that our societies have been steadily increasing their dependence on fossil fuels, such that any promises of decarbonization by 2050 are a fairy tale. For example, each greenhouse-grown supermarket-bought tomato has the equivalent of five tablespoons of diesel embedded in its production, and we have no way of producing steel, cement or plastics at required scales without huge carbon emissions. Ultimately, Smil answers the most profound question of our age: are we irrevocably doomed or is a brighter utopia ahead? Compelling, data-rich and revisionist, this wonderfully broad, interdisciplinary guide finds faults with both extremes. Looking at the world through this quantitative lens reveals hidden truths that change the way we see our past, present and uncertain future.” — Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2022.
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