Henrietta Lacks is finally getting some credit for her genome’s contribution to science. The subject of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was formally recognized by the US National Institutes of Health for her HeLa cells.
Lacking Lacks
From the Mixed Up Files of DFW
Newsweek takes an "infinitely fascinating quest" through David Foster Wallace's just-released archive at University of Texas' Harry Ransom Center.
O’Reilly Book Banned
Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln book is banned from Ford's Theatre because of "mistakes."
Misunderstood Langages
Recommended Listening: Over at PBS News Hour, Joan Naviyuk Kane talks about crafting poems based on a single word in Inupiaq, one of the languages spoken by the Native Alaskan people.
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War Is Beautiful
“When danger or pain press too nearly, they are incapable of giving any delight, and are simply terrible; but at certain distances and with certain modifications, they may be, and they are delightful, as we every day experience. The cause of this I shall endeavour to investigate further.” David Shields quotes Edmund Burke in an interview about his new book War Is Beautiful.
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Author Late Night
Where did the authors on late night TV go? They're all on Craig Ferguson's The Late Late Show. At Esquire, Sean Manning pays tribute to Ferguson's literary tastes by talking to some of the authors who appeared on his show, including Neil Gaiman, Salman Rushdie, Sloane Crosley, and more.
Introducing The Offing
Trend alert: there's been a surprising proliferation of literary site spinoffs lately. First The Toast began The Butter, and then Electric Literature started Okey-Panky. Now the Los Angeles Review of Books joins the movement with The Offing, an online lit mag launching later this month.
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Tuesday Links: More LBC, Bookride, Vonnegut
My nominee for this round has been posted at the LBC blog. Though it didn't grab my cohorts enough to be named our "Read This" pick, I do highly recommend it.I recently happened upon bookride, a blog by a rare book dealer that each day posts about a valuable book, explaining why the book is collectible and why it's worth what it is. Fascinating stuff. A recent post looks at a rare copy of The Waste Land.Simon at Bloggasm rounded up a bunch tributes to Kurt Vonnegut including a slightly modified version of my post from last week.
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