Boston: My personal battery recharger

[bironic]

I am back, and up to my neck in work and holiday-season stuff, but happier than before I left. It was wonderful to be in Boston and Cambridge again, frozen precipitation and extremities aside, to wander around Harvard Square and gaze up at the ludicrously gigantic Christmas decorations in the Cambridgeside Galleria and Copley/Prudential mall, to gaze out at the Charles River skylines from the Red Line train, to walk across icy bridges and admire the wintry view along Memorial Drive.... And of course, to see two fabulous college friends, one of whom put me up for the duration (and got me into the Widener Library to see the reading room and book collection, and learned about yaoi with great amusement, and entertained me with stories about his love life such as a guy he met in Israel who liked to shout "Ken!" in bed and at first my friend thought he was calling another guy's name ["ken" means "yes" in Hebrew], and took me to a Star Trek party at one of the dorms, where I proudly knew the most out of everyone gathered) and the other of whom (who kept me company all day before and after my grad school interview) is making his annual tour of the northeast on holiday from Oxford and will be visiting me this weekend, yay. On the bus ride home, the trees sparkled with ice.

All in all, a grand four days away. It had the happy effect, as going back to Boston and seeing these particular friends tends to do, of reminding me that I can do far more than I'm currently doing in this job, of bolstering my confidence and reinspiring me to move forward in life. I have a lot to do.

Then, when I got home, what was waiting for me but two delightful holiday cards from LJ friends and a stack of books from my sister for the last night of Hanukkah? Between my own quick stop at the Harvard/MIT Coop and her gift, I am now looking forward to devouring:

- The Best American Science Writing 2007, ed. Gina Kolata. Have read about three-quarters of it so far, and it's great. Little nibblets of knowledge, engagingly written.

- The Discoveries: Great Breakthroughs in 20th Century Science, ed. Alan Lightman. Twenty-five annotated scientific papers and commentaries representing what Lightman believes were, as the title suggests, the greatest scientific discoveries of the last century (which, in this case, begins in 1900 and ends in 1976).

- Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. My sister knows my taste; originally she'd put this back on the shelf because she'd thought I had it, and she chose Neil deGrasse Tyson's Death by Black Hole instead; but in fact I'd had Tyson's and not Stiff, somehow, so we went to the store and swapped. TMI.

- The Medical Science of House, M.D. by Andrew Holtz. More proof my sister knows me well: I would never have bought this myself, having read reviews that made it sound pretty terrible, but I'm curious to see if Holtz has anything interesting to say.

- A Life In Medicine: A Literary Anthology, ed. Robert Coles and Randy Testa. This intrigues me. The cover says it's an essay collection "by and for those in the healing profession, who are struggling to keep up with the science while staying true to the humanitarian goals at the heart of their work," and it includes pieces by Ray Carver, Walt Whitman, Anton Chekhov, William Carlos Williams and Hart Crane.

P.S. -- Anyone with recommendations on books/magazines/journals/websites to read to catch up on and/or familiarize oneself with the current state of any and all scientific fields within the next few months is most welcome to make suggestions.

So, still not much free/online time until mid-January, but in high spirits. Hope you're all doing well.

Comments

[purridot.livejournal.com]

I did not know you were so scientific-y as well as literary-y! You are a woman of all seasons.

I had my fingers crossed for you at the interview :D

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I think it went well, and the information session was quite informational.

My interests switch from fandom to science/medicine to sci fi to vampires and back all the time. *g* Right now I have a reason (/excuse) to focus on one, so focus I shall.

I have just sealed up an envelope for you, btw. Will mail out on Saturday, and with luck it will reach you in time for the holiday.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Hey! I'm glad you had a good time. Nice to have you back. I was all like, something's missing on my flist, in a vague kind of way, and then you posted, and I thought, "Yep, that was it."

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

I agree with this comment.


Also: "...I'm curious to see if Holtz has anything interesting to say."

He doesn't.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's disappointing. Well, at least I know not to expect much going in, and by the end I'll have confirmed it for myself.

Also: :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*big smile* Your comment sort of made my night. That's so sweet. Glad to be back (and memming yet more of your stories for future enjoyment)!

[thedeadparrot.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! Perhaps you could have visited me in Providence, but I'm in the middle of finals season, so probably not so much.

Also:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars

It's more like a blog of interesting science-y stuff, but I really like that (a) they actually seem to understand the science and (b) they try to explain things for laymen and mostly seem to pull it off.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, sweet. Thanks! I've created an LJ feed for Nobel Intent; we'll see how it goes. It looks like a broader-spectrum version of some of the blogs at http://scienceblogs.com/

Sorry to have missed you in Providence, but I think it wasn't a good weekend for either of us, if you had finals and I was prepping for Monday's interview. Perhaps next time...? And good luck on those exams!

[no-detective.livejournal.com]

Hey, welcome back! It's great to see you post again. We must get together and have brunch or something, and you can tell me ALL about the interview and the weekend and your reading list. Uh, the closest I come to keeping up with scientific advances is the article on lab mice in this month's Harper's.

a guy he met in Israel who liked to shout "Ken!" in bed and at first my friend thought he was calling another guy's name ["ken" means "yes" in Hebrew]

ROTFLMAO!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I know! I cracked up when he told me too.

Brunch would be great. Next weekend, maybe? Will email.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Yay, you're back! Glad you had a good time.

You probably know about MedScape. This site, http://www.freemedicaljournals.com/, has a list of free medical journals online.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Freemedicaljournals.com might indeed be fruitful, although a cursory glance shows that some are in other languages and others require a one-year subscription before they're free online -- or will be free online in a year, regardless? Like I said, cursory glance.

I think I'll be subscribing to Science News (http://www.sciencenews.org/); it sounds useful for getting a map of the land.

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

and took me to a Star Trek party at one of the dorms, where I proudly knew the most out of everyone gathered

Aww. But your story of getting into Widener is clearly a pack of lies. Nobody gets into the Widener stacks without forms in triplicate bearing the personal seal of the president of Harvard.

The seal of Doctor Faust! *is easily amused*

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*g* No, I just got into the building, which is more than I was able to do when I was a student across the river. I saw the reading room and the Widener collection on the floor below, where they had a Gutenberg Bible out on display.

The ST party was fun. They'd just started watching DS9, some for the first time, so we saw "A Man Alone," "Babel" and "Tosk." Sigh. Those were the days.

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

No, I just got into the building, which is more than I was able to do when I was a student across the river.

Heh, much more plausible. Getting into the building took me a mere fifteen minutes to half hour when I was a Harvard library employee. I get defending your treasures, but free information...

Am I a bad media fan if I've barely seen any Star Trek? The movies for the original crew, and a few miscellaneous episodes of the original series and TNG, and that's it. I was raised on Star Wars, you see. That's not even a slashy text! It does have the original CSI, though.