Reviews
Weird History
Let me make it clear from the beginning that Desert Oracle is very different from the books I generally share with you here on the Margins. It is not a work of narrative history, but history is woven throughout it. Weird history, true, but history nonetheless. Desert Oracle is the outgrowth of a more-or-less quarterly…
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The Fabric of Civilization
Two sentences early in Virginia Postrel’s The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World caught my imagination: “What we usually call the Stone Age could just as easily be called the String Age. The two prehistoric technologies were literally intertwined.” I was predisposed to enjoy the book, which combines two of my favorite…
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Overnight Code: A Q & A with Paige Bowers
I’ve been waiting to read Paige Bower’s Overnight Code, the story of groundbreaking computer engineer and ship designer Raye Montague, ever since Paige announced the deal more than a year ago. When I finally got my hands on it, the book more than lived up to my expectations. Overnight Code is an important addition…
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