La Biblioteca de Babel

"Mighty Habitat," by Zak Cushing, served as my guiding image for this blog

This blog, which I maintained from July 2007 through June 2008, served as a place for me to process the books I read for my oral examinations in American Studies (my fields were American Civilization, Environmental Studies/Animal Studies, Technology and Culture,  and Cultural Anthropology).  The entries vary widely in their scope. When I started, with Robert Markley’s wonderful book about science, science fiction, and the idea of Mars, Dying Planet, I spent hours summarizing arguments, looking up unknown names and new, interesting words, writing down leads, linking to other reviews of the book, and tracking down interesting pictures to illustrate each entry; at the end, when I wrote about William Cronon’s equally-if-not-more-wonderful Nature’s Metropolis, I stuck to a straight-up summary and review. These entries may be interesting to those also studying for American Studies comprehensive exams–or to those who simply appreciate a good picture of “Long Island Lolita” Amy Fisher in a bathtub, especially when juxtaposed with the Rockwell Kent cover for Moby-Dick.