I first heard about Butts: A Backstory when I listened to a re-broadcast of a Radiolab episode from 2022. Best summarized by the show notes: “she [author and Radiolab contributing editor Heather Radke] tells us about a fascinating history she uncovered that takes us from a eugenicist’s attempt in the late 1930s to concretize the… Continue reading Butts: A Backstory
Category: Bookshelf Blog
Mauve: how one man invented a color that changed the world
Part biography and part science history lesson, Simon Garfield touches on it all in Mauve. If you geek out over how seemingly un-related things are actually interconnected, then this book will certainly keep you enthralled. Following a trail of purple from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, one man did indeed invent a color… Continue reading Mauve: how one man invented a color that changed the world
The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World
The Fabric of Civilization has easily made the jump into my top 5 of fashion history fun fact and rabbit-hole books. (Don’t worry—there will be posts on the others!) Even if you are “meh” on the topic of textiles, I highly recommend it, as author Virginia Postrel is a master of engaging storytelling and I… Continue reading The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World