English self-taught mathematician and physicist Oliver Heaviside was born #OTD in 1850.
He invented a new technique for solving differential equations, independently developed vector calculus, and rewrote Maxwell's equations in the form commonly used today. He significantly shaped the way Maxwell's equations are understood and applied in the decades following Maxwell's death. His practical experience in telegraphy provided a foundation for his later theoretical work.
British mathematician, logician, philosopher, & public intellectual Bertrand Russell was born #OTD in 1872.
One of Russell's most significant achievements is the co-authorship of "Principia Mathematica" (1910-1913) with Alfred North Whitehead. His works, such as "The Problems of Philosophy" (1912) & "Our Knowledge of the External World" (1914), explored issues related to knowledge, perception, & the scientific method.
Going to organise my bookshelf soon with all these new books 📚 Do you organize your books by color, author, genre, or in some creative way? Show me your shelves! #BookshelfBrowsing#Bookstodon#books
"Destiny stands behind people, veiled in a veil of mystery, and in her hand she holds a quiver with a thousand events..."
Gloria Victis
Polish novelist Eliza Orzeszkowa died #OTD in 1810.
Orzeszkowa was a leading writer of the Positivism movement during foreign Partitions of Poland. In 1905, together with Henryk Sienkiewicz, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
#booksuggestions anybody know of some novels or series with themes including the good side of humanity? I really like #StarTrek for that, where the human heart is challenged yet prevails.
Not necessarily looking for Sci-Fi but not excluding it either. Maybe something historical or steampunky would be cool. 😅
At #Continuum16, #c16Reboot the Australian science fiction writers con, and the main, constant lament seems to be that it's so difficult to get any traction as a new author, either through small press or self publishing. There are so many books!
For the first time in weeks I woke up with a scene in my head (after a day away from the keyboard, talking to my bestie about my stress, and checking in with my crit partners) so I got up to write... and realized I don't have a playlist for a mermaid book.
A book I edited was written up in the local paper.
So happy to see Shannon Bohrer's book, Judicial Soup: One Man's Wrongful Conviction and What It Means for Criminal Justice Reform, getting some media attention. This is a very relatable book on a hugely important topic. When you read it, first you'll be angry. Then you'll think, "If it can happen to that guy, it can happen to anyone."
Weekend reading! I'm about to start A Radical Act of Free Magic by HG Parry & I can't wait. Her first book in this duology, A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, was absolutely superb, so I have high hopes! #weekendreading#amreading#bookstodon#books
There is a lot going on in Pieter van Laer's 1630s "Self-Portrait with Magic Scene" (e.g. #earlymodern#alchemy and #magic, and #books). But have a look at the paper cone in the right foreground of the painting. Likely seeds or #peppercorns are spilling out. This is relevant for #PaperHistory and #BookHistory, dear #histodons.
OMG @bookstodon I just got the best first review a writer could wish for. Forgive me for this little bit of self-promotion.
"The characters are everything, Lailu (cover) is perfect, Daisy is so relatable and there’s a host of supporting characters to love including shifters, vampires and a whole host of magical creatures.
The writing is great, the book flows effortlessly and kept me reading even when I really needed to go to bed."
The first copies of the children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum were printed by the George M. Hill Company.
During the subsequent decades after the novel's publication in 1900, it received little critical analysis from scholars of children's literature. This lack of interest stemmed from the scholars' misgivings about fantasy, as well as to their belief that lengthy series had little literary merit.
Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language.
The book is framed between poems 1 and 36, which constitute respectively the prologue and epilogue. It also manifests a circular structure as it begins with a composition in which a young girl who is invited to sing takes the voice and ends with the same voice of the girl who apologizes for her lack of ability to sing the beauties of Galicia.
Recently finished and recommend Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor aka @nnedi. I haven't read everything she's written, but everything I have read I've liked a lot, so I'll certainly read the second book in this series. She writes everything from "good for adults too YA" like the Binti stories to "very much NOT for youth" like the superb but intense Who Fears Death. Shadow Speaker lies somewhere in between, I'd say, and I enjoyed it a lot.
🧵 #sff#Books#bookstodon
"Every so often, a cause ignites a sustained fury on college campuses across the nation. In 2020, it was Black Lives Matter. In 2011, it was Occupy Wall Street. In the 1980s, it was apartheid in South Africa.
Today, it’s the Israeli military campaign in Gaza."
Here are five books that shine light on a rich history of campus protests in the US that goes back to the 1960s – compiled by veteran journalist Steve Friess.
Another evening, another mammoth reading session. I actually went ahead and purchased Bookly subscription. We'll see if it was worth it. If not, I'm happy to support the dev.
Not quite 25% tonight, but pretty close. At this rate, I'll finish the book tomorrow!
We send books only to people incarcerated in the United States. Fortunately, there are similar groups in other countries. This article describes a group collecting books for prisoners in Manitoba, Canada. (Unlike us, the group provides books only to prison libraries. We mostly serve individuals behind bars, although we also send books to prison libraries from time to time.)