Not long ago science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke passed away. I have read several of his books, but did not know much about the man himself. In reading some of the articles about him, I realized how amazing this man was. He actually predicted the invention and use of computers and communications satellites in his books with a surprising degree of accuracy. It makes me wonder- were the inventors of these technologies Arthur C. Clarke fans, or was he amazing good at predictions? Have other authors actually been catalysts for scientific discoveries? It would make some sense as authors can make the impossible possible, while scientists are often confined by certain patterns of thought and may not consider things that are theoretically “impossible”. For a list of Arthur C. Clarke’s works, click here.

Today I watched the first of the 7 part HBO miniseries John Adams, based on David McCullough's Pulitzer-winning biography. While I thought the actor chosen to play John Adams, Paul Giamatti, was not a good fit for the role, the show is very well written and engaging. I also learned a lot just from the first installment of the series. For instance I did not realize John Adams represented British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre in court as no one else would represent them. I can not help but wonder how something like that would have played out in today’s environment. If one of the presidential candidates represented a member of Al Qaeda in court, would they still be a viable candidate? Somehow I doubt it. A link to some of John Adams’ writings and his most popular biographies can be found here.

With the election coming up in November, we are hearing stories daily about the 3 main possible presidential candidates - John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The primary is over for the Republicans with John McCain as the nominee, but the Democratic race is still ongoing. When looking at which candidate to support, I always find it interesting to read (or at least scan) the books written by the candidates. Often the books give a different perspective of the person than I see in the media. I realize the candidates probably don't write the books themselves, but I would think they would at least have read them for accuracy. A link to the books by the candidates can be found here.

From the moment I got pregnant, I have been inundated with "helpful" advice from others on what I should and should not be doing. One of the first things I did was to go out and buy the most popular pregnancy books in an effort to discover what was actually good advice. It has not been easy.

The most fustrating part of my research is the lack of scientific study. Much of the advice is "XXX has not been studied, so we recommend not doing XXX, and if you don't follow our advice you will be the reason your child has problems.". This can be said about just about EVERYTHING. If you follow these books and listen to all of the advice, you would have to live in a bubble and only eat food grown in your garden. Of course YOU would not grow the food as the soil could be contaminated and should never be touched by a pregnant woman.

In my readings I also found an incredible amount of conflicting information on baby products. For example, in the Mayo's Clinic's Guide to Pregnancy they say bumbers are important to have in your child's crib to prevent injury, while Consumer Reports says bumbers should never be used as they are a suffication hazard.

They say pregnancy can make a woman crazy. Personally, I think it is all the conflicting infomation that is doing it to me.

For a list of the most popular pregnancy books click here.

As the movie "The Other Boleyn Girl" hits the theaters, I thought some people might be interested in the Tutor series by Philippa Gregory. The 22books.com list notes which of her books are in the Tutor series. You can find the list here.

On Wednesday, William F. Buckley Jr. died. Other than the fact that he was a prolific conservative author, I did not know much about him. Although I can’t say I completely agree with all of his views, I am impressed by the influence he had in making the Republican Party what it is today. A list of his works is available here.

Just to balance things out, I have also made a list of the works of liberal author and 2008 Senatorial candidate Al Franken. Link