Beaker Hill Coversations: Steven Johnson, The Invention of Air

“It’s not hard to understand that these people tend to be smarter than the rest of us, and thus tend to come up with a disproportionate share of the Big Ideas. The mystery is why, every now and again, one of these people seems to get a hot hand.” In Steven Johnson’s The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America, the “hot hand” in question is that of Joseph Priestley. Something of a forgotten man now (certainly in terms of his role in the American Revolution), Priestley......

It's a new year, and things are starting off with a bicentennial bang. With all Baltimore's claims to Edgar Allen Poe, and all the other authors born in Boston, it's easy to forget that the spooky author was born right here. Boston College remembers, though, and is celebrating the bicentennial of Poe's birth with some special events coming up in two weeks. In the meantime, entertain yourself with a mix of gripping and entertaining book events in the next week. Monday, January 5, 7:00pm Workshop for Publishing Poets featuring Dagan Coppock , Rod Kessler,......

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