Cell 2 Soul: The Humane Health Care Blog

Little Free Library Ceator Dies

Most of us have seen Little Free Libraries (LFLs) in our peregrinations; yet we pass them by with only a querulous gaze.  A recent obituary in the NY Times brought them to my attention.  LFLs are literally a "shot heard round the world."

See NY Times Obituary.

"It started as a spiritual gesture,," he said. In 2009, Todd Bol was renovating his garage in Wisconsin when he ripped off its old wooden door. He liked the wood, though, and didn’t want to throw it out. So after staring at it for a while, he decided to use it to build a small monument to his mother, who had been a schoolteacher.

He fashioned it into a replica of a schoolhouse, two feet high and two feet wide, put his mother’s books in it, and planted it on his front yard, hoping to start a little book exchange for his neighbors.

Since then more than 75,000 Little Free Library boxes, have popped up in all 50 states and in 88 countries.

See LittleFreeLibrary website.

Here, is a photo-essay of some of the little libraries near Todd Bol's hometown.

Books Gone Wild

Brooke Barker asked creatures from around the ecosystem what they are reading.
click on this link for cleared viewing: NY Times, June 10, 2018

Reading Binges

Nicholas Davies, a respected Atlanta internist, was in the habit of taking two weeks off every summer to read, play golf and relax. "I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about what I shall read during my summer vacation. " he wrote. "It is a major concern... I must be some sort of reading nut; a bibliomaniac of sorts...

One evening I was having dinner with Stephen Lock, the BMJ's editor. We were talking about reading for pleasure and I said that I usually stayed with the classics. He agreed with this plan and said, "Yes Nicholas, you might have 500 more books that you can read in your lifetime. Stick with the best.. I have followed that disquieting pragmatic advice ever since."

Sadly, in 1993 Davies was killed in a plane crash while on official business for the American College of Physicians.  His article, "Reading Binges" which appeared in the British Medical Journal 299, 1209-10, 1989. Download Reading Binges

Summertime and the reading is easy

Once a small backwater of the publishing industry audiobooks are now flourishing. Sales have been rising by double digits annually in recent years. Much of the growth can be attributed to the business’s digital transformation — from how books are recorded (increasingly at studios in the actors’ homes) to how they are sold (through subscription or individually on the Internet) and consumed (downloaded to mobile devices).

A fine NY Times article today addresses the audiobook recorders' qualifications and talents. One can buy audiobooks from booksellers, get them at the library, or download directly to any number of players. Audible.com is the leader in the field.

If you are not listening to books at present, think about a trial on Audible.com for $7.49 per month for the first three months. This way you get any three audible books you choose for $7.49 per month x three months. [Disclosure:  I am a satisfied user but I get no benefit frpom this recommendation.  Really!] You can listen when walking, running, exercising in the gym, driving to work or elsewhere, on a plane, train, etc.

Sample:  Steve Martin reading from his book "Pure Drivel." Please click "Sample."

Lagniappe: Gershwin’s “Summertime and the Reading is Easy.”

A Blessing in Disguise

Josh Little is not a respected professor, researcher, or talking head.  He recently did time in a Florida jail.  The class paper he wrote for his community college English course teaches us that wisdom can come from many sources.  Good luck Josh!  You are on track.

"On January 6^th, 2011, I was sentenced to 364 days in the Santa Rosa County Jail in Milton, Florida.  To many, this probably seems like a punishment, but to me, jail saved my life..."  To read more  Download A Blessing in Disguise

 

My Blessing in Disguise by Josh Little

On January 6th, 2011, I was sentenced to 364 days in the Santa Rosa County Jail in Milton, Florida.  To many, this probably seems like a punishment, but to me, jail saved my life. I spent most of my teenage years getting in and out of trouble. I was always involved with the court system. I wasn’t a horrible kid. I was just raised in the rough part of the city growing up with parents who could hardly afford to pay bills.

Full story: Download Josh Little

Reading Binges

Aristides (Joseph Epstein) famiously intoned: "If there is nothing to read in heaven, I do not want to go there."  Yeah.  I can dig that.  I suspect he would have enjoyed the Best 100 Books list from the NY Time which appeared in the Sunday, December 2010 NY Times: 100 Notable Books of 2010. 

This is a great resource to remind one of what should not be missed.  Not that anyone will want to read all of them -- but it is an aid to help your "soul to select its own Society."

For Joseph Epstein, Emily Dickenson, Yoshida Kenko -- all of us -- the Times list is a great resource.

"The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under the lamp, a book spread out before you, and to make friends with people of a distant past you have never known."  Yoshida Kenko (Essays in Idleness)