In case you’re in the area, please don’t forget the Los Angeles Times Fesitval of Books this weekend, held over Saturday and Sunday at the UCLA campus. It is a blast. There are book authors of various types and genres being celebrated as the celebrities they should be, with young girls and boys gasping and fainting as their idols go by. Well, not quite, but I like to imagine this. Here is the website with the schedule. As they say there, you’ll have:
131,000+ Passionate Readers
370+ Famous Authors
300+ Popular Exhibitors
900+ Loyal Volunteers
6 Exciting Stages
2 Interactive Children’s Areas
I went last year and can verify that it is a lot of fun.
Actually, this year I won’t be able to see much because I promised to go with a big group to the top of Mount Wilson the fun way, which will take up most of Saturday. On Sunday, I’m doing the church sermon thing I mentioned earlier and then they are taking me to lunch and doing more Q&A, so I don’t know when I’ll make it over to UCLA that day.
I do get to go to one event for sure. My first LA Awards ceremony!! On Friday night I go to the LA Times Book Awards. I won’t be live blogging from it, as was done last year at The Elegant Variation. I’ll be too busy being embarrassed. You see, I looked at the list of nominees just now, and while several of the books are on my “must get around to reading this gem” list, such as (from the Science and Technology category) Chris Mooney’s “The Republican War on Science”, and Sean B. Carroll’s “Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom”, I have not read anything that has been nominated. I’ve just been too busy the last several months. So it’s going to be so embarrassing - I’ll be exposed as a fraud! On the plus side, I’ve been promised that I’ll be introduced to lots of interesting authors, such as Mariana Gosnell, the author of “Ice: The Nature, the History, and the Uses of an Astonishing Substance”, which I suspect is a truly excellent book. I’m going to get in touch with my inner groupie, for all the right reasons (but remaining slightly aloof on the outside of course).
Hmmmm… I wonder if I can speed-read a few of these overnight? And whatever shall I wear…do I finally get to wear that Tuxedo I bought a while back? Is it too late to rent some expensive jewelry, or get a jeweller who wants the red carpet publicity to lend me some?
-cvj
April 27th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
“Our” Sean Carroll writing on Evolution (or is it Devo are we not men?)? Or is there ANOTHER Sean Carroll prowling about writing science books?
April 27th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
Yes. It is a biologist Carroll. Writes some really excelleent stuff. Check out Evo-Devo. It is not a new European dance craze, but a very interesting field of biology mixing developmental isues with evolutionary issues. I meant to do a post about it a while ago but never got around to it.
-cvj
April 27th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
Good luck with the cermon thing (noticed I did not say that before…), the book awards seem oddly interesting- I’m in the process of digesting the evo-devo book (by that other Sean Carroll), together with half of western civilization it seems, and so far so good. If you wish to speed read something from the list, how about the Murakami novel? usually it is hard to put them down (this one if not bad, but some of his other novels are incredible).
April 27th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
Sermon, I meant sermon (what is a cermon anyhow?), nevermind, good luck anyhow…
April 27th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
Thanks Moshe. Oh, a cermon is small, rare, inquisitive animal in the rodent family which is actually rather tasty roasted and sprinkled with rosemary. Bit more meat on them than gerbes, their stringier cousins.
-cvj
April 27th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
I knew it sounded familiar! well, hopefully I will not come up with these exotic animals too frequently…
April 28th, 2006 at 12:04 am
I know who’s won the sci/tech prize, but I won’t spoil the surprise for anyone…
April 28th, 2006 at 7:55 am
Which reminds me that I have to go to the enormous ‘Friends of the Library’ sale in our downtown, this weekend (first weekend was last weekend).
I love me some books.
April 28th, 2006 at 10:45 am
Yeah, you could speed read them overnight — Just like I speed-read War and Peace — It’s about Russia.
(author of Garbage Head)
April 28th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
Another good reminder: The LA Book Awards and LA Times Festival of Books is broadcast live on CSPAN, and replayed a number of times thereafter. It is brilliant television, the science writing panels are very interesting and informative, and that doesn’t begin to suggest how witty and wonderful they are. So if you can’t be at UCLA, then turn to CSPAN this weekend.
April 28th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
obviously my quick post above contains a glaring grammar error, for which i humbly beg forgiveness: “are” not “is” ‘broadcast’ !
April 28th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
televised!? Oh no… Now I *do* have to wear that tux.
-cvj
April 28th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
…. and you definetely need some funky jewelry …unfortunately I am not around, otherwise I would have been happy to lend you one of my special rings
April 30th, 2006 at 3:49 am
[…] Well, I’m recovering from an excellent hike up Mount Wilson with the USC Neurobiologists earlier today, so while I do that, I’ll tell you about last night. Recall that the LA Times Book Festival is happening this weekend. […]