Carousel Brain

Early Bookcases, Cupboards & Carousels

Suzanne Ellison | Lost Art Press | 28th July 2024

How early scribes stored their weighty tomes. Interesting throughout, with beautiful illustrations. The 8C Codex Amiatinus shows Prophet Ezra in front of a shrine-like cupboard — one of the “oldest images in the Western world to show a bookcase”. Cupboards with bi-fold or tri-fold doors stored the more valuable books. A 16C bookwheel has rotating gears to hold books at a 45 degree angle (2,400 words)

from The Browser twelve years ago:

The Brain Set Free

Laura Sanders | ScienceNews | 27 July 2012

“A baby’s brain is a thirsty sponge, slurping up words. In a fully set brain, signals fly around effortlessly, making commonplace tasks short work. A master of efficiency, the adult brain loses the exuberance of childhood. But it need not remain in this petrified state. In a feat of neural alchemy, the brain can morph from marble back to limestone.” Could there be a way to recapture its youthful flexibility? (3,300 words)