“Man is born to live and not to prepare to live.” – Boris Pasternak, from the book, “Doctor Zhivago”
Category: Literary
Female Dress
The following was found in a book written in 1858:
“Female dress: It is well known that a loose and easy dress contributes Continue reading Female Dress
Historical Hints for Home Comforts
From a book published in 1858:
Hints for Home Comforts:
A short needle makes the most expedition in plain sewing.
A leather strap, with a buckle to fasten, is much more commodious than a cord for a box in general use for short distances; cording and uncording is a nasty job.
Continue reading Historical Hints for Home Comforts
Ben Franklin Quotes
Here are some Ben Franklin quotes. Most of these were first published in Poor Richard’s Almanac, which Franklin produced.
A little neglect may breed great mischief… for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.
Continue reading Ben Franklin Quotes
Benjamin Franklin’s Inventions
Attributed to Ben Franklin:
* Franklin Stove
* Bifocal eyeglasses
* The discovery that lightning is electricity
* First public U.S. library
* First U.S. Post Office
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* Poor Richard’s Almanac
* Better street lights
* First pavement in America
* First crop insurance
* First playing cards made in America
* First willow trees planted in America
* First public hospital
* Discovery and charting of ocean currents
* Acquisition of funds to win independence for America
* Invention of artificial fertilizer
Books in the Library of Congress
There are 72,466,926 books in the Library of Congress on 327 miles (526 km) of bookshelves.
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens had to be facing north before he could write a word.
Casanova
For the last 12 years of his life, Casanova was a librarian.
Gulliver’s Travels
Jonathan Swift wrote a classic book called Gulliver’s Travels that borders on science fiction. It was written before ‘science fiction’ was what you called such books. In this book he wrote about two moons circling Mars. His descriptions of their size and orbital distance weren’t perfect but surprisingly accurate. He did this one hundred years before they were described by astronomers.
Phobos, on of Mars’ two moons
Phobos is roughly the diameter of San Francisco.
Webster’s Dictionary
It took Noah Webster 36 years to write his first dictionary.
A page from the manuscript for Webster’s first dictionary
First Book Written on a Typewriter
The first published book ever written on a typewriter was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain used a Remington in 1875.
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy wrote a large book called War and Peace before computers and copying machines. His wife had to copy his manuscript by hand seven times.
Bibles
More than two and a half billion Bibles have been made. If you put them on a long bookshelf and started driving along the shelf at 65 mph (104 kph), you would have to drive 40 hours per week for four months to get to the end. All these Bibles would fill the New York public library 467 and one-half times.
A typical Bible contains 3,566,480 letters, or 810,697 words.
One of the first-ever printed books was the Bible, pressed by Johannes Gutenburg in Germany around the year 1450. Only 49 complete or nearly complete copies remain.
Hurry
William Shakespeare invented the word “hurry.”
And speaking of Shakespeare, can you imagine John Wayne reciting Shakespeare? Well, he did one time, and won a Shakespeare contest.
The following words were invented by William Shakespeare: boredom, disgraceful, hostile, money’s worth, obscene, puke, perplex, on purpose, shooting star, and sneak. Until his time, people had to have their conversations without these words.
The New York Public Library
If you stretched out all the shelves in the New York Public Library, they would extend eighty miles (128 km). The books most often requested at this library are about drugs, witchcraft, astrology and Shakespeare.
Les Miserables
In the book, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, is one sentence that is 823 words long. When Vic wrote to his editor inquiring about their opinion of the manuscript, he wrote, “?” They answered, “!”
Worst Book
Perhaps the most uninteresting book ever written is the calculation of pi to two million places, in 800 pages. Just think of the TV special that could be made from this script.
Books About Chess
More than 20,000 books have been written about the game of chess.
