Neuroscience
Very cool story on ScienceFriday last week about some astronomy books written by NASA folks that are available in Braille! Ira Flatow interviewed Doris Daou, one of the authors of the latest of several books in the NASA Braille Book of Astronomy series. Touch the Invisible Sky " ... feature(s) [tactile diagrams with] raised outlines and
textures superimposed on the images themselves to indicate how the objects appear differently according to wavelength viewed in – for example, radio, infrared, visible, ultra-violet, or x-ray. The text clearly and concisely explains what each image shows, and even describes how the different types of telescopes capture the images."
Other titles in the series include Touch the Universe and Touch the Sun (links to NASA press releases about the books).
According to ScienceFriday, "The book will be available to the public through a wide variety of sources, including the National Federation of the Blind, Library of Congress repositories, schools for the blind, libraries, museums, science centers and Ozone Publishing."
For More Information
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Neuroscience
Science Books in Braille
Very cool story on ScienceFriday last week about some astronomy books written by NASA folks that are available in Braille! Ira Flatow interviewed Doris Daou, one of the authors of the latest of several books in the NASA Braille Book of Astronomy series. Touch the Invisible Sky " ... feature(s) [tactile diagrams with] raised outlines and
textures superimposed on the images themselves to indicate how the objects appear differently according to wavelength viewed in – for example, radio, infrared, visible, ultra-violet, or x-ray. The text clearly and concisely explains what each image shows, and even describes how the different types of telescopes capture the images."Other titles in the series include Touch the Universe and Touch the Sun (links to NASA press releases about the books).
According to ScienceFriday, "The book will be available to the public through a wide variety of sources, including the National Federation of the Blind, Library of Congress repositories, schools for the blind, libraries, museums, science centers and Ozone Publishing."
For More Information
- Grice, Noreen, Simon Steel, and Doris Daou. Touch the Invisible Sky: Exploring the Cosmos in Braille. Ozone Publishers, 2008. (link to publisher's site; title doesn't seem to be in any libraries yet).
- Grice, Noreen. Touch the Sun : a NASA Braille Book of Astronomy. Washington, DC : Joseph Henry Press, ©2005. (link to WorldCat; book in several New England libraries)
- Grice, Noreen. Touch the Universe : a NASA Braille Book of Astronomy. Washington, DC : Joseph Henry Press, ©2002. (link to WorldCat; book in several New England libraries)
- Grice, Noreen. "The Touch of Astronomy" Mercury. Summer 2007, Vol. 36 Issue 3, p18-23. (online through the Astronomical Society of the Pacific). Subtitle: "Most people take for granted the visual gratification that astronomy provides, but it is possible to turn astronomy into a tactile experience for the visually impaired."
- ScienceFriday. Touching the Invisible Sky, January 18, 2008.
- Favorite Children's Books
Two very interesting "sets of information" lately on my favorite children's books. (I say "sets of information" because one is a podcast of a lecture, and the other is an article / interview / podcast ... so what is the proper name for these bits...
- Towards Scientific Literacy
Steven Pinker reviews Natalie Angier's The Canon : A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science in last Sunday's New York Times Book Review, using the review to promote general scientific literacy. Pinker starts with some examples of scientific...
- Funability In Danbury
The Loose Cannon Librarian has done a very cool thing: she's mashed the Danbury Library catalog with the social networking tools of Library Thing for Libraries (read more about it on the Library Thing blog). If you look for a book & want to find "more...
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Coupla posts going up at my sister blog, Libraries 4 My Friends. Today's is about using worldcat.org / Find in a Library. You've used it, right? If not, search for a book -- any book (cd, dvd, manuscript, anything!!) in the box to the left of...
- The Writer Who Forgot How To Read
NPR has a cute little animation (via BoingBoing) about the story of writer Howard Engel. Engel suffered a minor stroke which left him unable to read words, but he could still write (and read what he wrote for a short period, before it faded into...