New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is Loren Eiseley: Commentary, Biography, and Remembrance, edited by Hilda Raz. This highly respected anthropologist, writer, poet, and ecologist was born in Lincoln, NE in 1907. This book is a collection of essays, and remembrances of his work from his peers. This week Tuesday Trivia will put together a short quiz and test you on your Loren Eiseley knowledge. For all you Lincolnites out there, you had better get a hundred percent! 1.    Loren Eiseley was born when?  (Starting with an easy one)2.    Loren Corey Eiseley was a respected  … Continue reading Tuesday Trivia: October 28, 2008

Read from the title story of The Man with the Strange Head and Other Early Science Fiction Stories by Miles J. Breuer, edited and with an introduction by Michael R. Page:

A man in a gray hat stood halfway down the corridor, smoking a cigar and apparently interested in my knocking and waiting. I rapped again on the door of Number 216 and waited some more, but all remained silent. Finally my observer approached me.

"I don’t believe it will do any good," he said. "I’ve just been trying it. I would like to talk to someone who is connected with Anstruther. Are you?"

"Only this." I handed him a letter out of my pocket without comment, as one is apt to do with a thing that has caused one no little wonderment:

"Dear Doctor": it said succinctly. "I have been under the care of Dr. Faubourg who has recently died. I would like to have you take charge of me on a contract basis, and keep me well, instead of waiting till I get sick. I can pay you enough to make you independent, but in return for that, you will have to accept an astonishing revelation concerning me, and keep it to yourself. If this seems acceptable to you, call on me at 9 o’clock, Wednesday evening. Josiah Anstruther, Room 216, Cornhusker Hotel."

Continue reading “Off the Shelf: The Man with the Strange Head and Other Early Science Fiction Stories by Miles J. Breuer”

Well readers, it’s been a cold week. It’s been raining a lot, and it seems like we’re finally hitting that lovely October weather. All I know is I want to curl up on a comfortable couch next to a big window with a good book, and a pumpkin latte. Well, maybe tonight. For now I’m going to go ahead and fill you in on new titles in Jewish Studies, Catholicism, Women's rights and a little war as well. October 20, 1740: The war of succession begins when Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria.     World History of Warfare by … Continue reading This Week in History: October 20-24, 2008

New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is Three Finger: The Mordecai Brown Story by Cindy Thompson and Scott Brown. Three Finger, a name referencing a childhood injury, possessed of one of the “most devastating” curve balls some batters ever faced. In this book Brown tells his story for the first time. He talks about the coal mines where he was from, playing semi-pro ball,  moving to the majors, and finally dealing with threats from the mafia. His story is so much more than just the tale of a guy with three fingers. Yet despite this, Linking in … Continue reading Linking in Lincoln: October 23, 2008

University of Nebraska Press author Elizabeth Dodd has been named this week’s featured poet for the Ad Astra (To the Stars) Poetry Project, a biweekly online column that features a prominent Kansas poet and their work. Dr. Denise Low, Poet Laureate of Kansas, researches and compiles each feature to help make the poet’s work available for educational and personal use across the state. She expresses that this program is meant to share her enthusiasm for historic and contemporary poets who reside or have resided in Kansas for a substantial part of their lives. Read this week’s post on Dr. Low’s … Continue reading Fall UNP Author is Ad Astra Poetry Project Featured Poet

New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is Golden Boy by Paul Hornung as told to William F. Reed. Once football’s “golden boy”, Paul Hornung led a charmed life. He won the Heisman Trophy at Notre Dame and was the number one pick for the NFL draft where he went on to the Green Bay Packers. It was there that he was named Player of the Year in both 1960 and 1961. “Golden Boy is a must –read for football fans, a colorful, candid slice of pigskin history from one of the game’s immortal legends.”    Why is … Continue reading Tuesday Trivia: October 21, 2008

Read from "Lyttelton, New Zealand, to Cape Evans, Antarctica"  in The Entire Earth and Sky: Views on Antarctica by Leslie Carol Roberts:

"I sailed to Antarctica with a group of people who wanted to save the world. The world, in this case, meant Antarctica’s ice-shrouded 5.4-million-square miles, a crystalline fortress separated from the known or temperate world by a ring of howling, fierce ocean. There is nothing more alone in this world than Antarctica. Once the center of a great southern supercontinent, it became a fragment, drifting south to the pole, where the seas and winds conspired to seal it in a horrible cold. Ice took over, offering a jumble of milk-stained cliffs and green glassware. When the sun shines the whole place lights up better than the Emerald City, and it is the most beautiful place on Earth."

Continue reading “Off the Shelf: The Entire Earth and Sky by Leslie Carol Roberts”