Books
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The lap of eternity
‘I no sooner come into the library, but I bolt the door to me, excluding lust, ambition, avarice, and all such vices, whose nurse is idleness, the mother of ignorance, and Melancholy herself, and in the very lap of eternity, amongst so many divine souls, I take my seat, with so lofty a spirit and…
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The Magic of Old Libraries
‘What a place to be in is an old library! It seems as though all the souls of all the writers, that have bequeathed their labors to these Bodleians, were reposing here, as in some dormitory, or middle state. I do not want to handle, to profane the leaves, their winding-sheets. I could as soon…
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The marvellous existence of bookstores
‘The marvel is, indeed, that the bookseller ever survives at all. It is as if a haberdasher, in addition to meeting all the hazards of the current fashion, had to keep in stock a specimen of every kind of shirt, collar, sock, necktie and undershirt in favour since 1750‘― H. L. Mencken
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Book Review : De ontdekkers van de hemel, David Baneke (ISBN 9789035136885, Prometheus)
Bought this book after reading about it in the magazine of the Nederlandse Natuurkunde Vereniging. It is written by a Dutch historian specialised in the history of science. The title of the book refers to the famous book of Harry Mulish, de ontdekking van de hemel. It describes astronomy in The Netherlands in the nineteenth…
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In search of Schrodinger’s cat, John Gribbin (ISBN 978-0-552-12555-0, Transworld Books)
I had this book lying around for a long time (it first came out in 1984 but I read the edition from 2012) and finally decided to give it a go. Mainly because of John Gribbin’s and the book having a bit of a reputation as a classic. I have already read many popular books…
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Mensen op Mars. Een manmoedige poging, Joris van Casteren (ISBN 9789044628722, Prometheus)
Mensen op Mars is het verhaal achter het Mars One project van 2 Nederlandse ingenieurs om tegen 2027 4 mensen op Mars te krijgen. Het was een non profit organisatie die als doel had de plannen voor een bemande Mars missie versneld te realiseren omdat de NASA en andere officiële ruimtevaart organisaties te weinig ambitie…
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On the Origin of Time : Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory : Thomas Hertog (ISBN 978-1804991121, Ballantine Books)
I borrowed this book from my father in law who was very enthousiast about it. The book already made it to the New York Times bestseller list. Thomas Hertog is professor theoretical Physics and cosmology at the KUL in Leuven, Belgium and was recently a guest in the radio program Voorproevers with Annemie Peeters to…
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Het ontstaan van de tijd, Thomas Hertog (ISBN 9789077445365, Lannoo)
Ik kreeg dit boek te leen van mijn schoonvader die er wildenthousiast over was. Het is origineel uitgegeven in het Engels en al New York Times bestseller geweest. Thomas Hertog is professor theoretische natuurkunde en cosmologie aan de KUL en was te gast bij Annemie Peeters in het programma Voorproevers naar aanleiding van dit boek.…
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The Book of Gutsy Women, Hilary & Chelsea Clinton (ISBN 9781471172175, Simon & Schuster)
I came across this book a long time ago, not long after it was first published in 2020. This was near the end of Trump’s first presidency and after the debacle of Hilary’s election campaign in 2016. The book is basically a collection of short articles about women that inspired Hilary and Chelsea Clinton. The…
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