Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
"For several hundred years many Europeans, including royalty, priests and scientists, routinely ingested remedies containing human bones, blood and fat as medicine for everything from headaches to epilepsy." Last example? 1908
Remarkable collection of never-before-seen photographs of New York City from early 20th century. The city's Department of Records has released 850,000 images. Here are some of the most memorable
You will be familiar, from Cold War history, with the alleged "missile gap". But are you familiar too with its precursor, the pigeon gap? Oh yes, there was a time when pigeons formed a vital part of a country's military capability
Remembering the Titanic, 100 years on. A thousand individual dramas, but also a grander narrative: "The first chord played in the minor key, the first darkening of the stage", before the Great War destroys Europe two years later
Why does the story of the Titanic grip our imagination so? "To get to the bottom of why we can't forget it, you have to turn away from the facts and consider the realm to which the Titanic and its story properly belong: Myth"
Not to say much of its territory—about half of it in the 200 years since independence, owing to a concatenation of ill-judged treaties and small wars embarked upon by "a seemingly interminable procession of tin-pot dictators"
In July 1912, two men played against each other in a tennis tournament in Boston, a fixture on the US lawn tennis circuit. Remarkably, they had both independently survived the sinking of the Titanic three months earlier
Edison's researchers "happily toiled through 90-hour work weeks, drawn by the allure of the future. But they also faced the perils of the unknown – exposure to chemicals, acids, electricity and light." One unwittingly gave his life
Ninety years ago a young Russian scientist changed music forever with one magical invention, The Theremin. A small wooden cabinet with glass tube oscillators and dual antennae, it was the world's first electric musical instrument
"He was a stout man with a fluffy white beard that sat atop his vest like a platter of cotton balls." Henry Steel Olcott looked part Sufi, part Santa in his white pajamas. This is how the American Presbyterian became a Buddhist icon
![Peking To Paris Autorace [1907] Attribution Unk [RESTORED] by ralphrepo](http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2713/4074429874_47547a1e88_s.jpg "Peking To Paris Autorace [1907] Attribution Unk [RESTORED] by ralphrepo")
Via Alaska and Russia. Initial camaraderie among teams turned sour in Midwest, with accusations of cheating. Eventual winner arrived in Paris almost six months later, only to be arrested for having no headlights. A rollicking ride
On Monday 21 August, 1911, a man named Vincenzo Peruggia walked out of the Louvre with the Mona Lisa hidden under his jacket. No one saw him take it, and for more than 24 hours no one even realised it was gone
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