Shelf Scene: July 2007

Friday, July 20, 2007

Space Sounds

Have you ever wondered what sounds are made by the planets, and the galaxy?

Through Space Sounds you can experience many different sounds from space, such as the Rings of Saturn, Jupiter's Magnetosphere, the Heartbeat of the Sun.

Explore images taken from the Hubble Telescope in the Picture Albums of galaxies, the solar system, nebulae, stars,
and the universe. or take an image tour which will explain terms and facts about specific planets, galaxies and nebulae.

Visit the Hubble Reference desk, see the Top 10 most frequently asked questions, a glossary, charts, and more.

For some fun reading try:
Breaking the time barrier: the race to build the first time machine

The physics of Star Trek

This new ocean: the story of the space age

Friday, July 13, 2007

Swashbucklers, Buccaneers, Pirates and Privateers

In Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini, Dr. Peter Blood is arrested and sentenced to hang for treating a wounded rebel. Instead of death, he is sent to Barbados as a slave. When the Spanish attack the port city of Bridgetown, he and his fellow slaves capture the Spanish ship and set out to sea, where he becomes the notorious pirate, Captain Blood. With its battles on sea and land, daring escapes, sword duels to the death, a touch of romance, this greatest pirate story of them all is a swashbuckling adventure on a grand scale. Also available as an audio CD, with fantastic performances by the Colonial Radio Theater on the Air, and on DVD with Errol Flynn.

Sabatini also wrote The Sea Hawk.

L. L. Chaikin's Buccaneer Trilogy focuses on romance in the Caribbean.

Another Caribbean tale is Johanna Lindsey's Captive of my desires , which follows Gabrielle, the daughter of a pirate, trying to find a suitable husband.

The Brethren of the Coast series by James Nelson, features Thomas Marlowe, a former pirate who has gone legit and now owns a Virginia plantation. He finds himself charged with defending the colony from the all too familiar pirate menace infesting the waterways.

In Dewey Lambdin's naval adventure series with Captain Alan Lewrie, he runs afoul of pirates off the waters of New Orleans in The Captain's Vengeance

Shipwrecked on the coast of North Carolina, his companions killed, Tatton Chantry is alone—and ready for action. In the old world he fought wars, skirmishes, duels. Now, in the wilderness of America, this swashbuckling hero takes up against pirates, Spanish fortune seekers, savage Indians. Aided by a beautiful Peruvian woman, he braves the fierce challenges of the New World—always, like a true Chantry, with his expert hand on the hilt on his faithful silver sword, in Louis L'amour's Fair blows the wind

See Under the black flag: the romance and reality of life among the pirates for some gruesome facts about life on the sea.

Also, The Pirate Hunter: the true story of Captain Kidd which traces the career of buccaneer William Kidd, a New York sea captain hired to chase pirates, from his early voyages through his death on the gallows, and discusses the role played by Robert Culliford, a rogue and mutineer, in Kidd's downfall.

For the musical pirate, there's always The Pirates of Penzance on DVD starring Kevin Kline in Gilbert and Sullivan's raucous and comedic operatic tale of Frederic, a 'slave to duty' pirate, and the lowly band of 'orphaned' pirates.