World’s Strangest

“QUANTUM SHOT” #612Link – by Avi Abrams We can not get enough of that stuff. The Future that never happened. The Past that kept dreaming and never woke up. Also read Part 2 and Part 1 We continue to update our extensive collection of the most inspiring and hard-to-find retro-futuristic images. As usual, we try to stay away [...]

AbeBooks asked their booksellers to reveal what items they have found inside the books that pass through their hands. They reported many instances of discovering credit cards and banknotes, including this heartbreaker: “A wealthy, elderly woman in my town died a few years ago and left a large book collection with many fine books, much of [...]

This weekend, sadly, marks the anniversary of the bonfire of the vanities. Not that novel from the ‘80s, but the actual bonfire of the vanities, the event in 1497 when thousands of objects that might tempt people to sin were reduced to nothing but ash. Unfortunately, burnings such as this one weren’t that unusual – [...]

Henrietta Lacks, an impoverished tobacco farmer in Virginia, contracted cervical cancer in 1951. Her doctor gave a sample of her tumor to a medical researcher, who then used it to grow a cell culture. What’s amazing is that in almost sixty years, those cells are still alive, making them the longest-living human cells grown in [...]

Yes – the world’s most powerful woman (according to some reports, anyway) is celebrating the big 5-6 today. Even if you’re not a big fan, you have to admit, the woman’s done pretty well herself. Oprah hasn’t kept too many secrets about herself over the years, so I’m avoiding the big shockers that she has [...]

I’m going on the record right now: I hate book jackets.* These thin paper protectors look pretty in the store, and they help to differentiate books visually. But practically speaking, I can’t stand them — too easy to tear, lose, or crumple! And if there’s one thing I hate, it’s a torn or crumpled piece [...]

In her new book This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, Marilyn Johnson explores the relevance of librarians in the technological age. She also makes them seem like the coolest people on earth. In one chapter, she notes that readers wouldn’t believe how many videos of librarians dancing to Michael [...]

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a staple in our household, which is funny, because I remember being quite scared of the steamroller scene near the end when I was a kid. Now that I’m older, I appreciate it more from standpoint of how much work it took to get such a groundbreaking movie made – [...]

Did you know that books are being pirated? I sure didn’t — I thought piracy was limited to music, movies, and software. But apparently there’s a thriving online piracy scene for old-school books. And not just eBooks — in many cases the books are scanned, converted to text via OCR software, and proof-read by the [...]

Bike riding can get a bit boring after a while. So why not read a book while you’re at it? The Performance Book Caddy attaches to your bicycle’s handlebars, letting you focus on your text while riding. What would possibly go wrong? Link via DVICE