Royal Society 2011 Winton Prize winner

The Wavewatcher’s Companion by Gavin Pretor-Pinney

“At the heart of the scientific enterprise is a desire to explore our world, and to understand it better.  The Wavewatcher’s Companion used relatively straight-forward science to transform our perspective on the world around us, both visible and invisible, in a completely radical way.  From Mexican waves to electro-magnetic waves, it gave us a new delight and fascination in our immediate surroundings. We were inspired to see waves everywhere, and we were given an almost poetic vision of a dynamic universe.  It is a book of old-fashioned charm and wit, provocatively organized and illustrated, and marvellously deft with its presentation of hard modern science.” –Richard Holmes, Chair of the Judges about the winning book on the Royal Society’s website.

The Academy Library currently has Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s new bookThe cloud collector’s handbook available at QC 921.48 .P566 2011

Gavin Pretor-Pinney is also a founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, the Society maintains a Cloud Collectors Reference webpage here for those interested in the different forms of clouds.

An “Australian icon”: the pub

Have you been to your local pub and enjoyed drink with friends, or a game of two-up on Anzac Day? If you have, then you will know that the pub is more than just a place to drink.

Diane Kirkby, Tanja Luckins and Chris McConville  have produced an informative and entertaining illustrated history of  the Australian pub, from the first recorded licences in 1796, through six o’clock swill and sly grogging, to the current battle for small bars in Sydney to match Melbourne’s thriving laneway scene. According to Clyde Selby, (Hobart Mercury, 12 February 2011, page 44), this book “establishes the case for hotels as significant architectural, sociological and cultural mirrors of our society”, and is “a good read in the Geoffrey Blainey page-turning style of social history”.

If you are interested in the role of the pub as an enduring provider of drink, food, entertainment, accommodation and illegal betting, its relationship to sport, or battles over licensing laws, then this book is for you. It is now available for loan from the Academy Library (call number TX950.57 .A8 K57 2010).

Taking notes in the seventeenth century

Note taking has come a long way since 1689 when German professor, Vincent Placcius, published  instructions for building this large closet to store notes taken on slips of paper. Opened out, his closet could store up 3,000 topical labels, each with a hook to attach notes on slips of paper that corresponded to that topic.

Placcius boasted that the closet could be especially useful for collaborative projects. For example students working together or the members of a learned society could pool their notes in one closet and then draw there from the collective stock of notes. At least two of these closets were built in the late 17th century, though none are known to have survived.

This gem comes from Anne Blair’s book “Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information before the Modern Age”, published in 2010 by Yale University Press. An interview with the author about her book is on the Rorotoko website, and a copy is held in the Academy Library main collection at call number Z1035.8.L38 B58 2010.

New Oxford Encyclopedia in the Library

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology

From the Viking invasions to the Crusades to the Hundred Years War, wars were crucial agents of change in medieval Europe. They fostered many economic and political changes. They also affected the science, technology, religion, and culture of the parties involved. This three-volume encyclopedia examines all aspects of warfare and military technology in medieval times. Featuring the latest research from the leading experts in medieval military history, the set provides an exhaustive and accurate view of how and why wars were waged throughout Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and the Crusader States from circa 500 CE to circa 1500. Although many reference works have been published in medieval history, this is the first and only encyclopedia to focus exclusively on medieval warfare, offering unique insight into the subject by addressing developments in military technology across the period with articles on topics such as gunpowder and shields. The encyclopedia will appeal to scholars and readers of all levels interested in military history and in the medieval world.
Features

* More than 1,000 signed A-Z entries, written by nearly 200 international scholars, make this the authoritative resource on the subject
* Covers military leaders, battles, sieges, individual fortresses, and authors across all of Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and the Crusader States from 500-1500, ensuring comprehensiveness
* Innovative coverage of military technology including entries on armor, battlefield archaeology, logistics and transportation, and navigational techniques makes this set unique and indispensable in any collection
* Includes a topical outline arranged by category, plus a general index to aid and guide research
* Each regional category includes an introductory narrative, a discussion of primary sources, and an entry on historiography for a depth and breadth of coverage not found in any other resource on the subject
* More than 150 black and white illustrations, and 26 maps, offer visual and geographic context for this scholarship

New McKinsey report on international defence procurement

A recent report produced by McKinsey, the global consultants,  highlighted some international benchmarking data seeking to measure performance in defence procurement. It is interesting for Australia’s place in this comparison.

The report is a special  issue of the journal ‘McKinsey on Government’.

The Academy Library has received a copy from McKinsey and it is available to be borrowed from the Library’s Defence short loan collection on the Ground Floor (at DefCol)

It can be found in the Library Catalogue by searching for:     ‘McKinsey Defence Procurement Report’