Greetings from the Snake Pit

[AlanMintaka]

Hello Everyone,

I've been reading since I was barely able to walk. Back then my mother took my sister and myself by the hand to the local library and showed us how everything worked. I can't remember the very first books I borrowed - that was over 50 years ago. However, the earliest one I can remember is "The Golden Book of Astronomy," by Rose Wyler and Gerald Ames, intro by Bart J. Bok; Simon and Schuster, 1955. It turned out to be a pivotal book. I grew up with Astronomy as a hobby and eventually got a degree in it.

In the same little library I found a copy of "The Swordsman of Mars," by Otis Adelbert Kline. For a local town library, it had a great collection of other Science Fiction and Fantasy classics. It got me interested in Science Fiction and rare book collecting, both at the same time.

I do most of that same stuff now. I read a lot of Science Fiction and, when I have the money, I try to add a rare book or two to my collection. I manage that collection with a great program called BookCAT. If any of you are into book databases, you ought to give it a look.

The book collecting hobby had a Fairy Tale Moment last year when I found a copy of "The Golden Book of Astronomy", same edition and binding as the one I read when I was around 6 or 7 years old. It was fantastic to see it again.

I'm trying to restart another hobby I had as a kid, model railroading. I do a lot of reading there, too. Mostly it's all about how to build tables, layouts, etc. I'm going for a "Wild West" theme with the old engines that met head-to-head when the first East-West railroad was finished. They're nice old trains. All in all it's a lot more expensive than I thought it would be.

I listen to a lot of unabridged audiobooks these days while I walk or drive places. Everything I've been buying so far is on Audio or MP3 CD. However, I have what I need on my PC to convert the Audio CD files to MP3, so I'm looking into getting one of the smaller digital readers.

The problem with those digital readers is that most people use them to listen to music. I haven't been able to find reviews from audiobook readers anywhere. My first few posts will be requests for recommendations, e.g. Walkman, iBot, etc, from folks who use these things for audiobooks.

I was glad to find this forum. Looks like a great place for readers.

Have a good day everyone,

 

[nic08]

Hello there AlanMintaka, welcome to bookandreader forum.

 

[Robert]

Welcome to the forum, AlanMintaka.

 

[Libra]

Welcome to the forum

Astronomy eh? interesting.

 

[AlanMintaka]

Welcome to the forum
Astronomy eh? interesting.

Hi nic08, Robert, Libra,

Thanks for the warm welcomes.

Yes, Astronomy was my first addiction in life. I didn't get hooked like that again until Science Fiction only a year or two later, and then Genealogy in 1989. That's a spread of about 33 years. Guess I went through a bit of a dry spell.

Well, of course there was booze too, but that's not the same kind of addiction.

BTW Libra, my astrological sign corresponds to "Taurus on the Cusp of Gemini." As you probably already know, Precession of the Equinoxes since the astrological signs were first established has caused the signs to drift westward by almost one constellation. Thus the astrological signs no longer correspond to the constellations they once represented.

This happens more or less because western astrology makes use of the Tropical Zodiac, which is fixed in position on the celestial sphere as opposed to the constellations behind it. Eastern astrology doesn't have this problem because it uses the Sidereal Zodiac, which fixes the signs to the constellations.

In any case, the Tropical Zodiac is used by most astrologers around these parts. According to this way of doing things, when I was born the Sun was not actually near the boundary of Taurus and Gemini. It was on the "other side" of the constellation Taurus, near its border with Aries.

In astrological vernacular I was really born when the sun was in "Taurus on the Cusp of Aries". Now what my personality is supposedly like depends on whether one believes that character traits are mapped to the signs of the Zodiac or to the stars that move behind those signs.

Aside from all that crap - which I can't seem to help from projectile vomiting all the time - I love the old historical sciences when Astronomy and astrology were essentially one. Those folks literally worked themselves to death measuring and establishing the behaviors of celestial objects. Not only that, their predictions had to be accurate. On the astrology side of things, missing the appointed time for a solar or lunar eclipse was not a good idea. The royals typically paid the salaries for such things. At the very least a bad guess would get you unemployed in a society with no middle class. At the very worst, you would make such mistakes as court astrologer for the Aztecs. They pioneered heart transplant surgery, but only the first half with the donor, and without anesthesia.

Plus, astrologers are responsible for the best old engravings and paintings of celestial objects. I have a big print of the "Flammarion Woodcut" hanging in my house. That's the one showing the monk who travels to the edge of the celestial sphere, breaks through, and views the gears and wheels that run the solar system. It's a great piece of art.

I'm not allowed to post links because I haven't posted 15 messages here yet, but I can describe a link to a picture of the wood cut. Just go to Wikipedia and search on "Flammarion Woodcut". It's worth a trip if you like old books and artwork.

I wish I could slow this process down a little.

Have a good one,