Amazon’s Best Books list, the darkest human-made substance in the world, the Simon & Schuster sale, a German shepherd howling with wolves, and more. The Zone no. 7 is here.
November means that “Best Of” lists are released. Amazon’s Best Books of 2020 list is a good place to start looking for Christmas gifts. I sent Santa the list below; I hope he’ll find my chimney.
- Silvia Moreno-Garcia Mexican Gothic
- V. E. Schwab The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
- Stephenie Meyer Midnight Sun (Twilight series number 5)
- Jerry Seinfeld Is This Anything?
- BJ Fogg Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything
- Craig M. Wright The Hidden Habits of Genius: Beyond Talent, IQ, and Grit—Unlocking the Secrets of Greatness
- Ozan Varol Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life. NB: Varol’s weekly newsletter is worth subscribing to.
- Sam Harris Making Sense: Conversations on Consciousness, Morality, and the Future of Humanity
- Toby Wilkinson A World Beneath the Sands: Adventurers and Archaeologists in the Golden Age of Egyptology
- Erik Larson The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Overall winner & Animals winner
- Continuing on the “Best Of 2020“-theme: breath-taking photos in Natural History Museum London’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Cupoty’s Close-up Photographer of the Year competitions.
- World-Building: How Science Sculpts Science Fiction: an excellent webinar panel: John Scalzi, Mary Robinette Kowal, Becky Chambers & Simon Guerrier discussing exoplanets and worldbuilding.
- I love botanical and zoological illustrations, and now over 150,000 of them enter the public domain, courtesy of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. They offer high-resolution illustrations for copyright-free download.
- Vantablack, the darkest human-made substance in the world, absorbs 99.96% of the visible light. A coating of carbon nanotubes, it’s so black that the human eye can’t quite make sense of what it is seeing.
- 98 years ago today, the English archaeologist Howard Carter opened Tutankhamun‘s tomb in Egypt. It was a sensational find, the tomb being virtually intact, with well-preserved artifacts and the pharao’s sarcophagus and mummy. The whole world became obsessed with Egyptology. Toby Wilkinson’s A World Beneath the Sands: Adventurers and Archaeologists in the Golden Age of Egyptology is a perfect read.
- National Geographic claims cats can be trained. To a certain extent. As a cat owner (or servant, rather), I’m skeptical. I might give it a try. I´ll let you know how it goes.
- Simon & Schuster to be sold to Penguin Random House, and John Scalzi has come up with the title of his next book in this tweet: Simon Schuster’s House of Random Penguins. If you think this is hilarious, read the comments!
- German shepherd howling with wolves from Zootropolis. Bonus: this meta-video.
A Quote I’m Pondering
What will your life have been, in the end, but the sum total of everything you spent it focusing on?
Oliver Burkeman (b.1975)
I’m finding myself more and more distracted these days. No wonder, considering what 2020 brought us. Still, life has to go on and attention to be re-gained. I’m soldiering on.
From My Photo Archives
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