February 6, 2008
Fill in the entire circle with a #2 pencil:
original essay: neil shubin (your inner fish)
technica q&a: janet hope (biobazaar)
technica q&a: chris sangwin (how round is your circle?)
the box
isepp lecture series
i love my planet
new arrivals
doug brown's factoid
bestsellers
February is National Pencil Month, which makes it a suitable month for used book buyers, who always have at least one Dixon Ticonderoga 1388-1/B Ex-Soft tucked behind their ears. Why this particular type? Minimal finger calluses while pricing stacks of books.
ORIGINAL ESSAY: NEIL SHUBIN
Neil Shubin, a professor of anatomy at the University of Chicago, shares his thoughts on fossils, animals, the wonder of our similarities, and how all our bones "share a common architecture." Read his essay written just for Powell's, and for a limited time save 30% on his amazingly conversational book Your Inner Fish.
TECHNICA Q&A: JANET HOPE
Biotechnological innovations may be able to fight hunger, prevent disease, and maybe even save the planet. But author Janet Hope, an expert on copyright law, sees that the legal wrangling of intellectual copyright law are hindering these innovations from going forward. In the first book of its kind, Hope presents the open source model as a way to get around these obstacles for bioengineering breakthroughs. Read Hope's exclusive Q&A to find out about her love of Watership Down, why fear of being unemployed is her inspiration to write, and learn much more about her book, Biobazaar: The Open Source Revolution and Biotechnology.
TECHNICA Q&A: CHRIS SANGWIN
John Bryant and Chris Sangwin want their readers to get physical with them — but not in a pugilistic way. Their new book, How Round Is Your Circle?, shows readers how to construct paper models out of abstract mathematical and engineering problems. In this Q&A, Sangwin shares his method of relaxation and why he won't take the Geek Test. While our promotion lasts, save 30% on How Round Is Your Circle?
George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., was born on Valentine's Day, 1859. For the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, Ferris built a giant wheel — yes, the Ferris Wheel — that was 265 feet tall and could hold up to 2,000 riders at at time. It cost a staggering $400,000 to build, but it proved to be the most popular attraction at the exposition. One can only wonder: what sort of Victorian carnies ran this thing?
THE BOX
On the 50th anniversary of the shipping container's first voyage, economist Marc Levinson writes of how the shipping container has changed global trade, labor history, and the global economy. Shipping containers have made transportation costs so cheap that Asia and other third world countries can provide the world with low-cost goods (hello, Wal-Mart). Factories in Malaysia could deliver shirts to the Macy's in Herald Square at a better price than New York's own Garment District. Who knew that a "steel tin can," as Levinson describes it, could change the world so much in 50 years? Enjoy a short video interview with Levinson and save 30% on The Box, for a limited time.
ISEPP LECTURE SERIES
Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe and a professor at Columbia University, is next in line in this year's stellar Linus Pauling Memorial Lecture Series. On Thursday, February 28, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Mr. Greene will present his lecture Cosmology at the Frontier. Early birds take note: Mr. Greene will autograph books at
6:00 p.m. in the lobby; the lecture is scheduled to begin at 7:00. Save 15% on your ticket price by mentioning Technica when you order through the ISEPP office: 503-232-2300.
February 20, 1872: Silas Noble and J. P. Cooley patented the first toothpick-making machine. But they certainly weren't the first to think of the concept. According to anthropologists, the teeth found in Neanderthal skulls show evidence of DIY toothpickery with primitive tools.
I LOVE MY PLANET
Valentine's Day isn't just for classmates, crushes, and coworkers. Love yourself, love your planet. Our wonderful book buyer Corie found some great books on green living for February's featured picks. Read about Dan Price's hobbit hole in Radical Simplicity; learn how to raise chickens in John Seymour's Concise Guide to Self Sufficiency; and, check out Josh Dorfman's unique eco-perspective in The Lazy Environmentalist. But this ain't all of 'em. Click here to see the rest of her list, at 30% off for a limited time.
NEW ARRIVALS
This month, we have a bunch of quirky and wonderful new books to show off. Make your handyman happy with Robert Brandt's Make 50 Wild and Wacky (But Useful!) Contraptions. Far Out: 101 Strange Tales from Science's Outer Edge is a collection of Fortean goodness by Mark Pilkington, expounding on topics such as orgone, the Hieronymus Machine, and ectoplasm. Chinglish: Found in Translation is a collection of humorous and often poetic Chinese English signs compiled by Oliver Radtke. If you want to do science experiments without leaving the house, check out How to Fossilize Your Hamster by Mick O'Hare; among other neat tricks, you'll learn how to extract iron from your breakfast cereal. And for brave souls: pick up Nicola Davies' What's Eating You?: Parasites, the Inside Story. Davies gives you the squirmy truth — with colorful illustrations — on all the little things that can and do live inside you.
February 11, 1847: Thomas Alva Edison is born. One of his little-known failures was his production of the Edison Talking Doll in 1890. These dolls had tiny wax cylinders in them, which played pre-recorded nursery rhymes. Their $10 cost was exorbitant — it took the average person two weeks to earn that much — and failed commercially for a few other reasons: children were expected to hand-turn the wax-cylinder at a steady pace to hear the voice; the mechanisms were too fragile; and, Edison admitted, "the voices of the little monsters were exceedingly unpleasant to hear."
DOUG BROWN'S FACTOID
How do bees make wax? A gland in the underside of the abdomen produces wax, where it is extruded in little scales. Most wax is produced by bees 10 to 17 days old; the wax gland deteriorates as bees get older than this. The bees chew on the wax for a while, making it pliable so it can be placed in the comb. They make hexagonal cells because that uses the least wax. It isn't known exactly how energetically expensive it is for bees to make wax, but estimates of 10 pounds of honey consumed per one pound of wax are bandied about. Thus, comb is mainly produced during periods of high honey production (mostly in spring).
POWELL'S TECHNICAL BOOKS BESTSELLERS
1. Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual by David Pogue (Operating Systems)
2. Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers by Martin Evening (Graphics)
3. Regular Expression Pocket Reference by Tony Stubblebine (Computer Languages)
4. Sacred Geometry by Miranda Lundy (Mathematics)
5. Programming Ruby by Dave Thomas (Computer Languages)
6. Charcoal Foundry by David J. Gingery (Foundry and Forging)
7. Creative Photoshop: Digital Illustration and Art Techniques by Derek Lea (Graphics)
8. Apple Pro Training Series: Shake 4 by Marco Paolini (Macintosh Applications)
9. Adobe Photoshop CS3: Classroom in a Book by Adobe Press (Graphics)
10. Final Cut Pro 6: Visual Quickpro Guide by Lisa Brenneis (Macintosh Applications)
Technica
By Carole R.
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