BlogMarcs

Monday, August 18, 2008

Electrosmog enters the dictionary

Environmental science and popular culture have had a significant influence on new entries into the 11th edition of Chambers Dictionary. Are you "fashion forward?" Allergic to "electrosmog?" Wonder what a "quantum computer" might do for you? Have any "metamaterial" lying about in your back yard? Wonder how far is a distance in "food miles?" You may need a new dictionary, as the BBC reports today.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Galileo, Reconsidered

The first biography of Galileo Galilei has resurfaced after three-and-a-half centuries and offers a new theory as to why the astronomer was put on trial. The book will not be published for sale anytime soon, but Smithsonian Magazine has this story about one of the few people who've seen it recently and what he found in it.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Someday we'll find it...

...the Blueberry Connection -- the lovers, the dreamers, and me![?] An adventure in indigo. Summer sapphires. Dewy, downy bunches of black and blue. Some call them blueberries.

Right up there with lobster and potatoes, blueberries take their rightful place among Maine's most memorable food products. The author is a long-time resident of Nova Scotia, which, along with the blueberry, has in common in Maine a gorgeous rock-bound coast. Notwithstanding, there are recipes here for Down East Biscuits and Bangor Chicken. We've put this adopted book on the shelf with our Maine cookbooks. For more information or to buy yours now, take this link.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Cracked Marbles

This novel in stories is based on the experiences of long-time surgeon Tom Palmer, now retired. Stories of illness and healing are the loom against which Palmer weaves a story about the doctor/patient relationship. For more information or to buy yours now, take this link.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Water, Water Everywhere

This may be one of the driest Julys in recent memory, but Greg Currier's new book of photographs has so much water in it, you may want to hold the book flat, so as not to soak yourself. Reflections of Maine uses watery surfaces and glass windows to live up to its title. Most of these photos were taken along the coast (Currier lives in Camden), but there are also a few inland reflective surfaces among his shots. For more information or to buy yours now, take this link.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Hard Times at BookMarcs

...and hard bread and harder coffee, to boot. No, we aren't complaining about the fare in the cafe, which remains as first-rate as ever. What we're offering customers these days is the newly-published letters of Hezekiah Long, who was a 37-year-old guard at the Maine State Prison when war between the states broke out in 1861. Long enlisted the following summer into the 20th Maine, made famous under the leadership of Joshua Chamberlain. Unknown to Civil War scholars until now, these letters have been published by Richardson's Civil War Round Table in Northport, Maine as Hard Times, Hard Bread, and Harder Coffee. In these 128 letters written to his wife, Long recounts his wartime experiences and chronicles the major campaigns of the 20th Maine. He also writes home about the poor food, late pay, weather, poor living conditions, disease and his own recurring battle with rheumatism. For more information or to buy yours now, take this link.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The Best of Camden

One of Maine's most beautiful seaside villages and one of the state's favorite destinations is the focus of this installment in the popular "At Its Best" series. In Camden At Its Best, photographer Greg Currier captures the siprit of his hometown in all of its seasons and moods. For more information or to buy yours now, take this link.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Tour Maine with a moose!

What child doesn't love making friends with animals? But a moose? They're better company than you might think, if we are to believe Ed Shankman. His new book I Met A Moose in Maine One Day follows the adventures of a little boy who is paid an unexpected visit by a moose, who shows him around a good deal of Our Fair State! For more information or to buy yours now, take this link

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Seregil and Alec are Back!

After a hiatus of nine years, Maine native Lynn Flewelling has released the fourth installment in the Nightrunner series, Shadows Return.

For more information or to buy yours now, take this link

Monday, June 23, 2008

Dog Days all year 'round

Just in time for summer travel in Our Fair State, we've got Dog-Friendly Parks, Beaches and Trails in Maine: Hundreds of Places to Have Fun With Your Dog in stock. It's a guide to the more than 300 locations in Maine where canines are welcome -- year 'round.

This full-color travel guide is 56 pages and is organized by region for easy use. Each listing includes the name of the park, beach or trail; the location; whether it is on- or off-leash; any rules or restrictions; the name of the organization responsible for the land; and a phone or website for obtaining more information.

For more information or to buy yours now, take this link

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Munsungun Days

We just got in Pear Tree Publishing's latest release, Bound For Munsungun: The History of the Early Sporting Camps Of Northern Maine by Jack Ahern. Ahern has researched archival material and has recorded oral histories, as well as collected essays and numerous maps and pictures for this volume on the area "31 crow miles southwest of Ashland" in northern Maine. For more information, or to order your copy, take this link.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Another Classic Returns to Print

Appalachian Mountain Club has just released the Revised Edition of The Wildest Country: Exploring Thoreau's Maine, with color photos by Bridget Besaw. Today's traveler can use the book's revised maps to retrace these routes for an hour, a day, or several weeks. It also makes for excellent armchair travelling! For more information, or to order your copy, take this link.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

A Classic Returns to Print

Diamond Pass Publishing has just released the 5th Edition of A Cruising Guide To The Maine Coast, as this classic and definitive text turns 20. For more information, or to order your copy, take this link.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Historic Photos of Maine

We just got in today from Turner Publishing a newly-published book called Historic Photos of Maine From the Civil War to the present day, this collection of nearly 200 photographs of Maine people, places, machines, and animals is a history worth a quarter-million words. From child laborers in Sanford to snow removal in Caribou; from "summer people" at Mt Kineo to sons of Maine mustering during the Spanish-American War; from the burned-out streets of Portland right after the Great Fire to an elm-shaded summer afternoon in Bethel, this is a record of the "way we lived" – and continue to live – in the Land of Dirigo.