brainwagon

The other day I was watching the 1939 movie The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a rather fun film staring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Early in the film, the maniacal Professor Moriarty (played with great zest by George Zucco) is menacing his butler Dawes for allowing one of his prize orchids to wither while he […]

Dan alerted me to the fact that Project Gutenberg founder Michael Hart passed away. On the Project Gutenberg site, Dr. Gregory Newby wrote a very nice obituary: Michael S. Hart – Gutenberg. I also liked this quote from Hart: “One thing about eBooks that most people haven’t thought much is that eBooks are the very […]

I’ve always had an interest in forensics in general, and fingerprints in specific. Previously, I had blogged about the FBI publication The Science of Fingerprints. Today, I noticed that another major work on the subject had been released by Project Gutenberg: Francis Galton’s Finger Prints. Francis Galton was a prolific scientist in a number of […]

I’m pretty much a city slicker. I’m more comfortable ordering take out than farming, fishing or hunting. My dad grew up on a farm, and went hunting and fishing for food. He used to tell stories of how his bicycle had a mount for his rifle across the handlebars. When I was a kid, he […]

Courtesy of the Make blog, here’s a link to an 1896 book on the design of bicycles and tricycles. I suspect a lot has been learned about bicycle design in the past 100 years, but I think it’s pretty interesting to see how much design theory had been developed at this early stage. Bicycles & […]

Forgive this slightly meandering diatribe, there are a few ideas that have been kicking around in my head, and today is the day I decided to try to give them form here on my blog. I’ve been thinking about three interwoven topics: the rather odd way we teach people “English” in high school, the oncoming […]

Yes, Christmas is upon us again, and this year we are treated to a movie release about a character near and dear to my own heart: Sherlock Holmes. While I am rather fond of Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, and even Rachel McAdams, I can’t help but think that this reinterpretation of the classic stories […]

I love old books, even  on technical subjects like radio.  Often, by looking at the books of the past, we find them more accessible (because there was less knowledge, they assume less as a precursor) and also possess considerable historical interest. Letters of a Radio-Engineer to His Son is a nice little book by John […]

It’s been a while since I posted a link to a Gutenberg Gem. I am subscribed to the Project Gutenberg feed, and scan it from time to time. Today’s Gem is volume 8 from the Encyclopædia Britannica: which includes topics from Destructor to Diameter. Interestingly, it includes an entry for “Dialing”, which is also known […]

Glancing through the recent additions to Project Gutenberg, I encountered this nice little book which details some of the pioneering scientists in the field of astronomy. It even has some nice illustrations which might be useful, such as the one on the right of Newton’s first reflecting telescope. The Project Gutenberg eBook of Pioneers Of […]

Project Gutenberg just released the following: The Project Gutenberg eBook of Advice to Young Musicians. Musikalische Haus- und Lebens-Regeln, by Robert Schumann It’s nominally a book of proverbs about learning how to become a musician, but music is like many other fields in which you might gain expertise, so the advice in general is quite […]

A couple of years ago, I blogged about H. E. Dudeney’s Amusements in Mathematics. Today, I noticed that Project Gutenberg had released a copy of The Canterbury Puzzles by Henry Ernest Dudeney – Project Gutenberg. This book has quite a few more nominally mathematical puzzles than its sibling. In particular, it introduces the game Kayles, […]

Well, what would Christmas be without a link to that classic of classics: the immortal Dickens’ tale A Christmas Carol. This version is illustrated to boot. Nifty. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens – Project Gutenberg.

Ever wanted to learn Latin? Well, perhaps it is just me then, but if you ever had the urge, you can check out Latin for Beginners by Benjamin Leonard D’Ooge courtesy of Project Gutenberg. Perhaps then you could figure out: Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem. [tags]Project Gutenberg,Latin[/tags]

Children’s books are kind of cool, especially for the illustrations. Try checking out The Project Gutenberg eBook of Raggedy Ann Stories, by Johnny Gruelle for a nifty, fun example. [tags]Raggedy Ann,Children’s Books,Project Gutenberg[/tags]