FEELING RUSTY?

Here's something weird.

Blood is not all that different to rust.

From the book E=MC2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis, Page 244:
"[Laurent] Lavoisier...became the founder of modern biology, by opening up the basics of physiology. Human blood, for example, is mostly water, and if you ever try to mix oxygen into water, not a great deal will stay there. But if you scatter some finely ground-up iron filings into the water, then oxygen you pump in will stick to that iron just as it did in his lab. (Each iron fragment quickly starts rusting, and in doing so pulls in a great number of oxygen molecules, making them stick. The result is the iron-rich water can hold onto a lot of oxygen [and supply it where it is needed around the body].) This is how blood works: it's red for the same reason that the iron-rich clay soil of Georgia is red."

This, and other fascinating stuff about science, can be found in this book.
Good Reads entry
Wikipedia entry on author David Bodanis


Originally posted here: http://theadoxistsociety.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html

THE COMPOST: INDEX and LINKS section

NEW OWNERS for OLD BOOKS

There are lots of internet-based innovations to facilitate a flow of second hand books out there: book crossings, e-bay and trade-me, buying online and offline in the form of our beloved (and sadly increasingly rare) second-hand book shop…

Here is our model, which has been trialled in the past, and has been very worthwhile and effective indeed. This is the skinny on what ideally needs to be done, in terms of holding book swaps. Of course, variations will occur.


CLICK HERE for the FULL ARTICLE!






THE COMPOST: INDEX and LINKS section

BOOKBROWSE

Continuing the Compost list of some of the interesting and useful book blogs that it has seen and are out there in infospace.
Today it’s Bookbrowse. This one even contains its own magazine. Plenty of discussions are available, along with bookclubs.
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THE COMPOST: BOOK BLOGS and SITES section
THE COMPOST: INDEX and LINKS section

A LIST of BOOK BLOGS

On this page the Compost will list some interesting book blogs that it has seen and knows of. As a start, you can't go too wrong with Bookgeeks. More soon.






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GUARDIAN RELEASES BOOKS into the WILD

Read about how national British newspaper, The Guardian, launched and ran its six-week autumn books season by setting 15,000 titles free into the wild one weekend last September.

From fiction to design, and children's books to science, the Guardian gathered thousands of books from publishers and authors, distributing them around the country for free. Books were left in public places where readers were liable to chance upon them, from stations and coffee shops to galleries and museums.

The giveaway was part of the Guardian and Observer Book Swap, for which readers and writers were also asked to give their own favourite reads away. After inserting a bookplate sticker provided by the paper into the front of the book, and writing a message for the finder, the readers were to leave the book somewhere to be picked up by a new owner.

Original article

In pictures

COMPOST list of BOOK SWAPS around the WORLD

THE COMPOST: INDEX and LINKS section

CLASSIC MAGAZINES and JOURNALS

No. 2: THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Continuing a special Compost series on some of the world's most interesting and influential publications.

These are in no particular order, and the number does not represent a ranking of any kind.

While a huge number of publications are issued by clubs and societies, few are on such a scale as the National Geographic. The National Geographic is rare in being almost the definition of it's parent society.

Early issues are noted for having practically no internal images, being a journal of a technical nature. With time, its pupularity ballooned through the combination of a less esoteric content, more of a 'travelogue' feel, and of course (even though initially black and white) the photographs.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE
WIKIPEDIA: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

CLASSIC MAGAZINES and JOURNALS 1: THE LISTENER

THE COMPOST: INDEX and LINKS section

A COMMUNAL APPROACH to BOOKS

Our world seems to be becoming an ever-more mobile and jet-setting one. It is clear that few of us are as able as we once might have been to retain a large library, much as we might love to.

Here we have some ideas for book swaps - a great way to cut back on your books (your beloved books: cutting back is something we usually need to do and seldom want to do). Books need to be in circulation as money is. Now, money is cool and all that, but it's better than books only in so far as you can survive in a direct way through it: books, although generally vegetable, are inedible. Also, you can use it to buy more books!

With the establishment of a local and regular bookswap, there can be a river of books flowing somewhere near your door, and you don't even need to spend a single penny! It's merely a matter of dropping your line into it for a while and seeing which random and interesting reading material you can fish up, and sooner or later, throw back in! (Terrible metaphor, I know, but fitting enough.)

CLICK HERE for the FULL ARTICLE!






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