WELCOME TO THE HOTEL “TRIVIA” We have all longed for different lives at some point or another. The lure of the unfamiliar has captured many a person, and propelled them into lives of distinction and sometimes disappointment. What would happen, however, if we were constantly faced with individuals as opposite from ourselves as day is to night? In the center of the rural boomtown of Soda Springs, Idaho, stands the historic Enders Hotel, Café, and Bar, a three-story brick building that has been many things to many people. But to one family who bought it as an attempt to renew … Continue reading Tuesday Trivia: May 12, 2008

                                           RETURN OF THE "LINKING IN LINCOLN" New, to us, this month from the University of Nebraska Press, is The Great Romance by the Inhabitant, edited by Dominic Alessio. This two volume novella published in the late nineteenth century under the pseudonym “The Inhabitant” has had countless influences on the history of science fiction. Most commonly known was the book, Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy. Reuniting these two very rare volumes, Alessio discusses the significance, and the revolutionary nature of the work.  Today, in respect for … Continue reading Linking in Lincoln: May, 7 2008

For those of us in the Midwest, warm spring weather appears to finally be here for good. Whether we’re ready to spend most of our free time on the trails or because we want to save at the pump with a cycling commute to and from work, people are pulling their bikes out of storage, checking their gears, and they’re ready to ride. Current and future users of Nebraska’s Cowboy trail, which stretches from Norfolk to Valentine and when completed will reach Chadron, should pick up a copy of our new guidebook. Author Keith Terry describes flora and fauna along … Continue reading Back on the (Bike) Saddle and off the Bookshelf

TUESDAY TRIVIA: PILGRIMS ON ICE “By far the most authoritative analysis of Scott’s Discovery expedition ever written.” New this month from University of Nebraska Press is, Pilgrims on Ice: Robert Falcon Scott’s first Antarctic Expedition by T.H. Baughman.  Baughman chronicles the exciting, albeit tragic, 1912 South Pole expedition that ended with the deaths of Scott and his crew; shedding light on both the renowned hero, and the “bumbling fool whose mistakes killed him and his entire party.” In today’s Tuesday Trivia, we are going to take a long, perhaps cold, look at our own knowledge of the continent. Fancy an … Continue reading Tuesday Triva: Pilgrims on Ice

In the 1993 film So I Married an Axe Murderer, Canadian comic Mike Myers, contemplating the strange thing that is haggis, observes that Scottish cuisine is the only one in the world that is based on a dare. This is not strictly so: The same can be said of nearly every cuisine in the world, at least at some point in its history. What brave Roman was commissioned to determine when the flamingo buried in the back yard was ready to eat? How many Aymara Indians had to die before the potato was finally bred out of its poisonous ways? … Continue reading Guest Blogger: Gregory McNamee of Moveable Feasts

Lincoln’s Crazy Links!                                        New this month from University of Nebraska is, Pieces from Life’s Crazy Quilt by Marvin V. Arnett. This memoir about an African American woman growing up during the Great Depression, traces the fine line of memory and history. Each chapter works as a stand alone one-act play, contributing to the whole as each square does to a quilt. With comparisons to the Victorian age stories Arnett read as a child, the reader gets an apt sense of how conflicting the world in her books … Continue reading Linking in Lincoln: April, 30 2008