Sam Kean: The Disappearing Spoon

In "A spoonful of science trickery," from the Thursday, December 02, 2010 issue of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Rebecca Sodergren writes:

If I only knew where to get me some gallium, I could hoodwink my tea-drinking mother. See, as Sam Kean writes in his recent book, "The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements" (Little Brown, 2010, $24), gallium is solid at typical room temperature. But leave it out on a moderate summer day (84 degrees) and it'll melt. "It's one of the few liquid metals you can touch without boiling your finger to the bone," he writes. "As a result, gallium has been a staple of practical jokes among the chemistry cognoscenti . . . One popular trick, since gallium molds easily and looks like aluminum, is to fashion gallium spoons, serve them with tea, and watch as your guests recoil when their Earl Grey 'eats' their utensils."

Read that article, in full, here.

"Robert Morris: America's Founding Capitalist" from NPR's Morning Edition

There are a few things we're all taught to notice about the Declaration of Independence: the famous preamble, the phrase "all men are created equal," the defiantly large signature of John Hancock. But off to the right of Hancock's name is the cramped signature of a man few Americans have ever heard of. His name was Robert Morris, the nation's founding capitalist and the financier of its revolution.

Read the NPR feature webpage here. Download the podcast of this Morning Edition show here. The WSJ also covered the book:

Mr. Rappleye has a gift for explaining the complicated financial and mercantile world of the late 18th century, the milieu in which Robert Morris grew up, thrived and, eventually, went broke. (He died penniless after a stay in debtors' prison, undone during the 1790s in part by the "earliest American real estate bubble," the author notes.) Mr. Rappleye is equally good at explaining the economic forces that battered the new country after independence; America was burdened by debts, and its central government lacked the powers to deal with the financial problems confronting it. Fame is a fickle mistress, and even many students of the period know little more about Robert Morris than the soubriquet given to him by Washington himself: "the financier of the Revolution." Charles Rappleye has done a marvelous job of explaining why this mostly forgotten Founder deserves our gratitude.

Read that WSJ article here. See also: The Blessed Life: The Simple Secret of Achieving Guaranteed Financial Results, Robert Morris: The Financier and the Finances of the American Revolution, Vol. 1, Financiers of the American Revolution: Robert Morris

New Horizons: David Grann from New Horizons in Education

Bob Kustra talks with author and New Yorker staff writer David Grann about his acclaimed book, "The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon"

Download the podcast here. See also: Amazons: Ancient Greek History, The Mystery of Israel in Ancient Egypt: The Exodus in the Qur'an, the Old Testament, Archaeological Finds, and Historical Sources, Greek Vases: Images, Contexts and Controversies: Proceedings of the Conference Sponsored by the Center for the Ancient Mediterranean at Columbia University, ... Studies in the Classical Tradition), On the Trail of the Women Warriors: The Amazons in Myth and History

Mark Twain And Science: It's Complicated from NPR Podcast Science Friday

Did you know Mark Twain tried his hand at science fiction? In the book The Disappearing Spoon, author Sam Kean writes about Twain's prescient story "Sold to Satan." In the story, Satan’s problems stem, in part, from the fact that he is made entirely of the newly discovered radioactive element radium.

Listen to the podcast here, or download the file here.

Charlie Rose's Monday, May 11, 2009 conversation with Naomi Klein and William Greider - Business, Current Affairs, Books

CHARLIE ROSE: President Obama will face increasing pressure from the left on a range
of issues, including immigration, healthcare reform, and nominating a
Supreme Court justice. The president’s centrist course on reviving the
U.S. economy has already frustrated many progressives.

Joining me now, two journalists who have written critically and
eloquently about the need for a more activist left. Naomi Klein is a
columnist for “The Nation” magazine and a British paper, the “Guardian.”
She’s also the author of the best-selling book, “The Shock Doctrine: The
Rise of Disaster Capitalism.” And William Greider is the national affairs
correspondent for “The Nation.” His new book is called “Come Home America:
The Rise and Fall and Redeeming Promise of Our Country.”

I am pleased to have both of them back on this program. Welcome.

NAOMI KLEIN: Thank you.

WILLIAM GREIDER: Thank you. Thank you, Charlie.

CHARLIE ROSE: Nice to see you, my friend. Tell me first about
“Coming Home America: The Rise and Fall and Redeeming Promise of Our
Country.”

Read from the transcript in its entirety here, or you can view the interview from the CharlieRose.com website here. See also: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of Our Country, One World Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism, Who Will Tell The People, Charlie Rose - Elizabeth Warren / Naomi Klein & William Greider(May 11, 2009), Who Will Tell The People? : The Betrayal Of American Democracy, No Logo: 10th Anniversary Edition with a New Introduction by the Author, Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate, People-First Economics: Making a Clean Start for Jobs, Justice and Climate