New York

I'm not even sure where to start this review there's so much going on with this book. The plot in Justine Larbelestier's Liar (2009) is so intricate and crazy awesome that the author has asked readers to please not post spoilers in their reviews (I wouldn't know how to explain the spoilers even if I did want to post them). Aside from that, the book has gone through three different covers and created a bit of controversy on the way. It doesn't relate to the story, but I think if you want to understand this book you really need to know about all the covers.  read more »

On quitting his classes at Harvard in 1927, Edwin Land moved to New York and became a regular user of the library’s Science Division. His goal: the manufacture of a polarizing light filter, the basic idea behind Polaroid sunglasses. Between the library and a variety of makeshift labs, he eventually figured out how to embed microscopic crystals of “herapathite” in molten sheets of plastic and align them all in one direction. He named the invention Polaroid, and used the name again when he invented his instant photography. Land had discovered the identity of the crucial polarizing crystal while reading an 1852 article by the British doctor-scientist William Herapath, itself referenced in a book by Sir David Brewster on the kaleidoscope. Both book and article are still in our collection.

In the 1930s Chester Carlson was a physics graduate in a dull patents job in Manhattan, unhappily married and living with in-laws in Jackson Heights. His escape was the science reading room of The New York Public Library, researching his ideas for a document-copying machine. His breakthrough came when he read the book Photoelectric Phenomena and discovered Einstein’s paper on the photoelectric effect, published 30 years previously. Carlson eventually demonstrated his copy machine in Astoria, Queens in 1938. Every photocopier and laser printer made since that time depends on the discovery he made in this library; you may have heard of his company, it is called Xerox.  read more »

My last couple of posts have dealt with places of respite in the big city, namely Bryant Park and municipal pools, both highly appreciated during New York City summers. Today’s post deals with a summer activity which takes people out of the city; specifically, to Long Island, that skinny piece of land which juts out of New York state like a fish tale, or perhaps more like a lobster claw. To the south of the island is the Atlantic and to the north is the Long Island Sound, referred to by some as America's Mediterranean.  read more »

Even though I have read about this flag, I don’t recall ever seeing this being flown anyplace on Staten Island. I think some people think the big hill in the background is the garbage dump. And seagulls? Not the most beautiful or noble bird in the world! Somewhat of a scavenger, I believe. Maybe it is just as well it isn’t flown anyplace!  read more »