YA Giveaway

Presenting Lenore is hosting a great Penguin YA giveaway at her blog. Go here to enter to win a whole box of new YA books! Good luck and let me know if you win.

NaNoWriMo

Because I am crazy, I decided to try my hand at NaNoWriMo this year for the first time. Because of my test, I couldn't really write much in the first half of the month, so I am trying like crazy to get it done now. It's not going well. As you can see from the widget I just put in my sidebar, I am way behind where I am supposed to be. Still, I'm a competitive person, and I want to see this through. So expect me to be pulling out the stops trying to get as much written as possible between now and the 30th.

Oh, and, yes, I am cooking Thanksgiving this year.

Flying Books

Via Curbed SF, a new book-themed public sculpture was unveiled in San Francisco this weekend. Entitled "Language of the Birds," it looks pretty cool. The light-filled birds are actually books and the ground below has words in English, Italian and Chinese etched into the concrete. Photo above from SF Gate. Check out their article for more cool pics.

The Real American Wife?

Sadly, I think that this book will turn out to be uninteresting, but after reading American Wife, I am intrigued by the idea of Laura Bush writing a biography. Jezebel speculates on what she'll say.

New Architecture Books

John King, the SF Chronicle architecture writer, has an article in today's paper with his recommendations for new architecture books to buy this holiday season. One of the books he discusses is Big Box Reuse by Julia Christensen, which Slate had an illustrated excerpt of recently.

Buy Big Box Reuse on Amazon.

Preview: Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar

First of all, I have to say that Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar is an excellent title. I've seen this book at the bookstore several times and been pretty tempted to pick it up. Other obligations and shiny things have distracted me, though, so I was glad for the chance to read some of this as part of my email book club this week.

Written by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, this book is a light-hearted explanation of Philosophy, which uses jokes to explain big ideas. Or as the blurb says, "Philosophy 101 for those who like to take the heavy stuff lightly." (Find more on the authors' website here.)

From what I read, I wouldn't really call it laugh out loud funny. The humor reminded me of an older era - think Benny Hill and vaudeville. Some of the jokes are bawdy, most of them are kind of corny. Still, the authors' goal wasn't to write a tract on how to be funny, it was to write a readable book on philosophy, and it looks like the succeeded very well on that front. Will you walk away knowing everything there is to know about Spinoza and Kant? No, not by a long shot. But will you have a broader understanding of well-known philosophical concepts? Yes, absolutely.

In some ways, Plato and a Platypus reminded me of Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. Published in 1996, Sophie's World is by now, I think, used in many Philosophy 101 classes in the world. It's more of a textbook, couched as a story about a young girl learning about who she is through studying philosophy. I enjoyed reading Sophie's World a lot, and thought that both the story and the concepts it explained were fascinating. Plato and a Platypus is, though, much funnier and more light-hearted, so if you want to learn more about philosophy and prefer humorous books, this is the one for you.

Buy Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar on Amazon.
Buy Sophie's World on Amazon.

Chapel for St Loup, Switzerland

I've yet to post about the architecture of other churches I've visited (see my previous posts here and here) but this caught my eye on Arch Daily, so I thought I would share.

The Temporary Chapel for the Deaconesses of St Loup

Gorgeous! It's so simple, yet so lovely. I would love to see that in person. There are lots of other photos at Arch Daily, plus plans. Check it out.