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• Current

Type: fiction

Status: I recommend

Author: Sylvie Matton

Tags: biography art

Description: This book written from the perspective of Hendrickje Stoffels, the long time companion (thoughThis book written from the perspective of Hendrickje Stoffels, the long time companion (though not legal wife) of Rembrandt van Rijn. Written about my favorite time period of history, the 1600s I couldn't wait to start this. (It is of interest to note that this book was originally written in french and was translated into english by Tamsin Black.)

It was a quick read. The book itself is a slim ~200 page volume. The writting style is light and often slightly disjointed in all but a casual way, similar to the way that my grandmother tells her stories about her experiences. Though of a similar genre to Galileo's Daughter (actually there is one brief mention of the Italian thinker), this had a very different tone.

From Hendrickje's perspective the world was a troubled place. She is portrayed as often thinking about religion, the Plague, and of ill-humors. Given the period these are all fairly probably, but the manner that it is presented is at once easy to identify with and enlightening. Not many would be able to do such a good job introducing a completely different cultural perspective while at the same time relating the story of this common-law couple....

2005-09-01

• Current

Type: scientific

Status: favorite

Author: Dava Sobel

Tags: science biography european

Description: This was an excellent story of the life of Galileo told through the letters from his daughterThis was an excellent story of the life of Galileo told through the letters from his daughter Sister Maria Celeste. More than any other religious or scientific source, this book manages to capture the man Galileo Galilei. This book is based from the saved correspondances of Maria Celeste to her father. The returning letters, as property of the church when she died, were destroyed for Galileo's "heresy". While this story is about this famed scientist and astronomer it is also just as much about his incredibly intelligent and optimistic daughter. Although left out of most stories of Galileo's life and work, she was an important part of his life on many levels and an incredible person in of herself....

2005-09-01

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• Current

Type: scientific

Status: I recommend

Author: Chandler Burr

Tags: science biography smell

Description: This book was bought at Buck-A-Book with the intention of turning it into a bookray. A biographyThis book was bought at Buck-A-Book with the intention of turning it into a bookray. A biography of Luca Turin, it explores the life of a scientific vagabond and long time lover of smells. He wrote a best selling perfume guide and came up with a completely new theory about how we smell. The witty writing makes this a fun and interesting read for anyone wth an interest in scent, science or french. Yet this is written in such a conversation way that neither expects nor requires previous experience with with any of these fields.

My first introduction to the behind the scene work of the consumer scent industry was when I worked for a few years for Gillette/Oral-B. There a friend and coworker introduced me to "flavor chemistry," and I first heard of Quest, a company that makes flavors and scents for many of the big companies out there. Imagine my surprise when Quest turned up again in the first few pages of this book....

2005-09-01