Sunday, December 12, 2010

Links & Reviews

- From Jennifer Howard in the Chronicle, a look at hyper-modern imaging techniques being used to read the 8th-century St. Chad Gospels (see video at the bottom of the story, too).

- A new series from Book Patrol, "In the Stacks," beginning with images from the BPL's Flickr stream (now with about 15,000 images).

- If you read one essay this week, make it Alexander Chee's "I, Reader," which is a delightful look at a longtime reader's take on e-reading.

- In the WSJ, Goran Mijuk writes on high-spot book collecting.

- A Native American knife sheath from the 1850s, stolen from the Wisconsin Historical Society in the 1990s by curator David Wooley, was returned from a New York museum after an artifact dealer recognized it. More than 100 items stolen by Wooley remain missing from the WHS collections.

- I missed it last weekend, but Arthur Krystal's "The Joy of Lists" from the NYTBR is certainly worth a read.

- Reports this week that South Salt Lake bookseller Sherry Black, recently found murdered in her shop, unwittingly purchased stolen early Mormon books from a gang member in early 2009. The man served prison time for the thefts (from his father's library), and was re-arrested this week on a parole violation. Authorities have not said whether he is being investigated in Black's death.

- In the WaPo, a short profile of Dave Eggers.

- J.L. Bell found some interesting things when he went poking around early American newspapers scanned by Google.

Reviews

- Thomas Allen's Tories; review by David Waldstreicher in the NYTimes.

- Ron Chernow's Washington; review by Brendan Simms in the Telegraph.

- Simon Winchester's Atlantic; reviews by Bruce Barcott in the NYTimes and Scott Martelle in the LATimes.

- Pauline Maier's Ratification; review by Gordon Wood in TNR.

- Thomas Powers' The Killing of Crazy Horse; review by David Treuer in the WaPo.

- Adrian Tinniswood's Pirates of Barbary; review by Ian Toll in the NYTimes.

- Nicholas Phillipson's Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.