×

Lifestyle Columns

Recent reads

Here are few of my favorite recent reads. Library staff would be happy to help you place requests on these or any other titles. If you’d like to place your own request, visit www.newulmlibrary.org and choose Library Catalog. Cassandra is experiencing one of the worst days of her life: first ...

Figural cigar lighter shows sinister side of snakes

Whether it’s as subtle as the serpentine front of a Chippendale chest or as lifelike as the three-dimensional snakes that slither across, Palissy ware majolica, snakes and snake shapes often show up in decorative arts. They are among the oldest, most common symbols in history, standing for ...

Stick clocks are just one way of telling the time

In 1905, Albert Einstein published his theory of special relativity, teaching the world that time is relative. In the science fiction novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” author Douglas Adams declared that “Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so.” And in March of every ...

Wordless picture books

Did you know that sharing a wordless picture book can be a powerful way to build important literacy skills? Wordless picture books are books without text that rely solely on the pictures to convey the story. They are often dismissed as being too easy for any age reader. But they are outstanding ...

The magic behind the Peacock sciopticon

According to science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Look at magic lanterns, which even have “magic” in their name. They were used in Europe by the 1650s. Traveling showmen used them to apparently conjure ghosts ...

Fighting censorship

In an 1816 letter to Charles Yancey, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. …Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.” One of the cornerstones of American ...