Original Illustration by Sidney Paget

At Christmas, my father gave me a volume of Sherlock Holmes stories and they are ideal for bedtime reading!  Not only are they great little stories, but they were all written to be read in short segments.  So, I would recommend that if you are looking for some nighttime literature that you turn to Watson’s recollections of his adventures with Mr. Holmes.

James A. Secord’s book, Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, is a marvelous work of history.  Just finished reading the whole book last night (previously, I had just dipped into sections of it for various reasons) and it is one of the best pieces of historical research that I read for awhile.  Not only does it provide a very good outline of the scientific issues of the mid-19th century, but it also successfully recovers the original meaning and purpose of a work, Vestiges, that had been forgotten.  Read more »