Hill of Books | Dipnetting on the River of Knowledge

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Conning, Theivery, and Goatish Retribution
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June 3, 2021 by libroshombre

“Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication …
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Category: books, crime, law, librarians, maps, medicine, radio, rare book libraries, rare books | Tags: bamboozle, Carl Sagan, con artist, Doc Meriwether, John Brinkley, Joseph Yellow Kid Weil, scam
Evites, N-grams, and Bloody Tubs
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May 21, 2021 by libroshombre

“Mutable” is a good word that means “prone to change, inconstant,” according to Merriam-Webster, and it also describes all …
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Category: democracy, elections, engineering, fascism, libraries, plants, public libraries, republic, word origins, words | Tags: al-Jazari, al-Qarawiyyin Library, Bloody Tubs, cooping, evites, Know Nothing
Fables, Roadmaps, and Dancing Masters
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May 13, 2021 by libroshombre

Streets intersect, as do thoughts; mine recently crossed place names, sunflowers, and libraries. It began with watching my spouse’s …
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Category: geology, names, placenames, teaching, topography | Tags: Don Tripplehorn, melba toast, Nellie Melba, Orth's Dictionary of Alaska Place Names, street names, Terrence Cole, Toposaurus
Fables, Roadmaps, and Dancing Masters
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May 7, 2021 by libroshombre

When I recently found myself reading something titled “Political Uses of Theaesopic Fable,” who else could I blame than …
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Category: biography, dancing, fables, grammar, libraries, maps | Tags: Aesop, Brewer's dictionary of phrase and fable, E. Comham Breweer, fables, John Ogilby, misnomers
Conspiracies, Communications, and Truth Sandwiches
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April 29, 2021 by libroshombre

LIBRARIAN COLUMN Contact Greg Hill, 479-4344 April 29, 2021 Michelle Cottle, a member of the NYTimes editorial board, …
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Category: attitudes, communication, communications, conspiracies, language, languages | Tags: Aesopian language, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Nushu, truth sandwich, Zhou Shuoyi
Pecans, Emus, and Vertebrae
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April 22, 2021 by libroshombre

You’d think after three decades in Alaska my hackles wouldn’t still rise when someone pronounces “pecan” as if they’re …
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Category: accents, pedantry, pronunciation | Tags: emu war, huruhuru, pedantry
Neanderthals, Dogs, and the Love Hormone
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April 19, 2021 by libroshombre

Philosopher Immanuel Kant liked to remind us that, “All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the …
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Category: brain, dogs, libraries, senses, smells | Tags: John Waters, Odorama, oxytocin, Smell-o-Vision
Browsing with Mimi, Trina, and Beverly
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April 8, 2021 by libroshombre

My daughter Mimi was eight the winter of 1997 when she received a letter from Trina Schart Hyman, the …
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Category: books, bookshelves, libraries and librarians, public libraries, reading | Tags: Beverly Cleary, browsing, David Petersen, Guys Read Gals Read, Trina Schart Hyman
Judy’s Bookshelf and the OED
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April 3, 2021 by libroshombre

Where the heck is Judy Woodruff’s copy of “Grant,” Ron Chernow’s excellent biography of the 18th President? I remain …
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Category: dictionaries, books, bookshelves, lexicography | Tags: Judy Woodruff, OED, oxford english dictionary, Ron Chernow, The Professor and the Madman, U.S. Grant, Walter Cronkite
(Description, Prescription, and WTF Awards)
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March 18, 2021 by libroshombre

The differences between the Biden administration and Trump’s are manifold, but among the more glaring is their approach to …
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Category: dictionaries, English language, grammar, language | Tags: English Grammar, Joe Biden, Lindley Murray, robert lowth

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