Odd Bits
And speaking of camels….
A few weeks ago, or perhaps a few months ago, or at least recently enough that it has stayed in my head, one of the Marginalia asked me about camels. The short answer is simple: read Richard W. Bulliet’s The Camel and the Wheel. It’s a charming and well-illustrated book that explores the question of…
Read More
Re-Inventing the Wheel
If English is your primary language, you know that “reinventing the wheel” is a standard phrase for, well, spinning your wheels–recreating something that already exists, usually at the expense of unnecessary time and effort.* The phrase rests on several assumptions: That the wheel is one of the foundational discoveries on which civilization was built. That…
Read More
National History Day
National History Day is almost upon us. It’s the sort of event that should make history buffs stand up and shout. Maybe even dance a conga line through the local library. I will admit, Natural History Day first came to my attention in a less than positive way. Several months ago, I began to receive…
Read More