Centre for Editing Lives and Letters

Some great work is being done over at CELL, the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters. Of special note to lifelong learners, is the material available on the CELL Projects page. The Hooke Folio Online is an exceptional project. The introduction to it states, "In May 2006 a long lost manuscript of the papers of Robert Hooke was returned to the archive of the Royal Society. Lisa Jardine played a significant role in the recovery of the folio, which she described as 'an absolute treasure trove of new information about the day to day activities of the early scientific establishment'."

Lisa Jardine has done some great work, including On a Grander Scale: The Outstanding Life and Tumultuous Times of Sir Christopher Wren, Ingenious Pursuits: Building the Scientific Revolution and Worldly Goods: A New History of the Renaissance.

Ingenious Pursuits is an excellent choice to start with, if you aren't familiar with her books. The biography of Christopher Wren was so welcome because it filled a gap in readily available materials on this most intriguing player in the history of science.

There are also some very interesting podcast titles available on the CELL Podcast page. However, I am having trouble opening them, so I'll have to get back to you on that.

Serendipity at Darwin College

What a wonderful find! This 2008 series about Serendipity is truly a delight to listen to. These lectures provide insight into the part that serendipity has played in astronomy, archaeology, biology, a writer's life, politics, physics and anthropology. They are made available by Darwin College at Cambridge University.

Please note that the first lecture is Serendipity's Guide to the Galaxy by Andy Fabian, so they are listed in reverse order on the Darwin Lecture Series - Podcast page. I mention this because, the introduction to Andy Fabian's lecture provides a bit of background about the lectures.

The speakers also include Richard Leakey and Simon Winchester. I won't diminish your enjoyment of Simon Winchester's The Unanticipated Pleasures of the Writing Life by telling his first story, but you will enjoy it.

This is an extremely enjoyable, as well as educational, resource for lifelong learners.

Astronomy Lecture Podcasts

The Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures presented at Foothill College are available as audio podcasts. You can get some of them as video from iTunes. These lectures have been given since 1999, but only 2 sets of podcasts are accessible, twelve lectures. It appears that this year's lectures will be added as they occur.

The lectures include many very interesting topics by notable speakers. The speaker on Oct. 4, 2006, Dr. Alex Filippenko (U. of California, Berkeley): Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe will be familiar. Everyday Scholar profiled his course, Astro C10 / LS C70U Introduction to General Astronomy, at Berkeley, on August 3, 2008.

Thanks to the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Foothill College and Andrew Fraknoi for this great resource for lifelong learners.

The Royal Society Podcasts

This is so fantastic! Check out the Royal Society Library Events and Archive - complete list of webstreams. You'll find audio and video of Royal Society lectures back through 2006. Many of the lectures are also available as podcasts, ready to download. It doesn't get any better than this.

How about hearing a lecture from Bill Bryson: A short history of nearly everything or John Gribbin: The roots of the "Royal" and the Scottish connection or John Heilbron: Benjamin Franklin in Europe?

These are full-length lectures by the people we want to hear, on the subjects we're interested in. Can't wait to see who's coming up next.