Reading Room Blog

On Thursday, March 25, 2010, Caroline Weber of Barnard College and author of Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution, will give a talk on the style icon.

On Thursday, March 18, 2010, Mark Hamilton Lytle of Bard College and author of The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement, will give a talk on the scientist. The lecture, part of the University's Great Lives series, is free and open to the public.

She was one of the world's most famous chefs, but in her long life she had also been a high school basketball player and top secret researcher, as well as making appearances on TV shows ranging from her own myriad cooking series to The Cosby Show to Sesame Street to a beloved parody on Saturday Night Live. She was as much a cultural institution as a culinary artist.

On Tuesday, April 13, 2010, Martin Sherwin, co-author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer will give a talk on the scientist.

"We are not impotent- we pallid stones.
Not all our power is gone- not all our fame-
Not all the magic of our high renown-
Not all the wonder that encircles us-
Not all the mysteries that in us lie-
Not all the memories that hang upon
And cling around about us as a garment,
Clothing us in a robe of more than glory."
---From "The Coliseum" by Edgar Allan Poe

For more than a decade, she was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and "Iron Maggie" Thatcher promoted a conservative agenda that focused on deregulation and anti-union policies.

Born a slave in Franklin County, Virginia, Booker T. (Taliaferro) Washington went on to become a nationally-known leader and educator. He shared his educational philosophy with U.S. presidents and served as the first president of Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University.

On Tuesday, April 6, 2010, Paul Israel of Rugters University and author of Edison: A Life of Invention will give a talk on the inventor. This lecture, part of the university's Great Lives series, is free and open to the public. For more information on "The Wizard of Menlo Park," check out this list of materials recommended by the reference staff of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library.

On Thursday, January 14, 2010, James E. Goehring of the University of Mary Washington’s Department of Classics, Philosophy and Religion gave a talk on Jesus of Nazareth. The lecture was part of the University's Great Lives series.

When you think of Sherlock Holmes, do you think of a middle-aged man in a deerstalker cap, blowing smoke from a pipe and peering through a magnifiying glass while saying "It's elementary, my dear Watson"?

Many writers have tried to emulate, imitate and improve on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective tales.  Check out the book list "Sleuthing Sherlock Holmes" for many different portrayals of the Great Detective.