The Rainmakers Weekly Link Round-Up

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Los Angeles doesn't invite Denis and I back for another visit. Each time we got near the place, we brought rain with us.

The last time I was in Los Angeles, the term "road rage" had just been coined for their freeways. I think the only thing that had changed-- and not for the better-- was the amount of traffic. In particular, Denis and I came to hate a section of the I-215. You know you're heading into a major metropolitan area when the traffic starts clogging up and you're still over a hundred miles from the place!

No... I have to admit that the two of us preferred life on the other side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A sign just outside Walker summed it up: WELCOME TO THE QUIET SIDE OF CALIFORNIA.

So while I'm shoveling LA freeway memories out of my mind, I'll round up these links I've been saving for you. Head 'em up! Moooooove 'em out!

 

►Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Bookselling in the 21st century: On the difficulty of recommending books. 
• Meet the audiobook narrators who are quietly saving book publishing. 
• A book made from Washington's tree. 
• J.K. Rowling is planning five Fantastic Beasts films.
• Is social media toxic to writing? 
• The Jack the Ripper Content Economy: the murders that will never be solved by selling a lot of books. 
• The search for home in American fiction. 
• Introducing Papercuts: a party game for the rude and well-read. 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• The Chicxulub dinosaur crater investigation has begun in earnest. 
• Divers have found a 400-year-old silk dress in a Dutch shipwreck. 
• A new room has been found in the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California. I think that means the room count is up to 161 now....
• Dozens of Dead Sea Scroll fragments may have been discovered.
• The pyramids of Egypt are revealing new secrets after an extensive scanning mission. 
• U.S. and Cuban officials are collaborating to preserve Hemingway memorabilia. 
• Hereford Cathedral's chained library. 
• Ancient scratched stones could be the world's earliest maps. 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Photographer Sompob Sosi Smith captures stunning photos of owls like you've never seen them before. 
• Coming Soon: Otter-inspired wetsuits.
• Top ten books about intelligent animals.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• There are new literary maps of Charles Dickens and Sherlock Holmes. 
• The 50 states of literature. 
• The world map of winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature. 
• Let's visit the Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• James Lackington, the man who invented bookselling as we know it. 
• Ten things you may not know about Ada Lovelace.   
• Bob Hoover►, who escaped the Nazis by stealing a plane, has died at the age of 94.

►I ♥ Lists & Quizzes◄

• Ten eye-opening facts about space junk.  (We're not just polluting the planet, you know.)
• Here's a history of eyewear quiz for you. 
• Top ten books about old men. 
• Can you guess which classic books these opening lines are from? 
• Literary spouses. 
• Twenty accessories every book lover must have.
• Eight strange and lovely words from around the world. 

That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

Have a great weekend, and read something fabulous!