Podcast – Professor Elliot's Bookshelf

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"Document the Obscure"

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Episodes

The Man with Two Faces

Listen to this article: http://bookshelf.professorelliot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/04/38-the-man-with-two-faces.mp3 1896, the medical encyclopedia Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine was published. Within the tome, was a description of one Edward Mordake. He lived in complete seclusion, refusing the visits even of the members of his own family. He was a young man of fine attainments, a profound scholar, and a musician of rare ability. His figure was remarkable for its grace, and his ...

Apr 11, 2016

Divine and Destructive: The Truncated Icosahedron

Listen to this article: http://bookshelf.professorelliot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/04/37-divine-and-destructive.mp3 It is a shape found in a lot of places. Its influence can be found throughout history and has had an impact on millions, if not billions of humans. The truncated icosahedron has 32 sides; made up of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons. The first known illustration of this shape was drawn by Leonardo da Vinci. In 1447, he included it in a book created with his close friend Luca P...

Apr 04, 2016

Resurrection Men

Listen to this article: http://bookshelf.professorelliot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/03/36-resurrection-men.mp3 There have been many points in history in which it was difficult, if not impossible, for a doctor to study human anatomy. During the 18th and 19th centuries, it became common for bodies to be stolen from their graves. In 1752, the Murder Act was passed in the UK allowing for the executed to be used for anatomical study… but it wasn’t enough to meet the demand and “resurrectioni...

Mar 27, 2016

Insects on Urinals

Listen to this article: http://bookshelf.professorelliot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/03/35-insects-in-urinals.mp3 Some time during the Victorian era, honey bees began appearing painted onto the tops of urinals. Why honey bees? Likely because of a pun from the insect’s Latin family name “ apis “. Honey bees are not the only insect to be featured on urinals, and it can be quite common in the modern era. A Victorian public urinal Photo – Elliott Brown During the 1960s, Jos Van Bedoff notice...

Mar 21, 2016

Unfinished Paintings

Listen to this article: http://bookshelf.professorelliot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/03/34-unfinished-paintings.mp3 Victory Boogie-Woogie is the final work of art by the Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian. It is a cacophony red, blue, yellow, black, and white parallelograms, on a diamond shaped canvas, remenicent of busy city streets. But the piece remains unfinished because Mondrian died on February 1st, 1944… 2 years into painting the piece. Many pieces of art are never finished, but...

Mar 14, 2016

Schedule update!

http://bookshelf.professorelliot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/03/33a-schedule-update.mp3 I’m afraid this week there will be no article due to the hard work I (and everyone on the Professor Elliot team) have been putting in to the new YouTube videos. But this means I get to announce our new schedule and I think you’ll like it! Rarities with Professor Elliot Basically the video edition of Professor Elliot’s Bookshelf, this series will have a new episode online every second Wednesday! Newest...

Mar 07, 2016

The Urban eXperiment

Listen to this article: http://bookshelf.professorelliot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/02/33-the-underground-experiment.mp3 Paris has an estimated 200 miles or more of underground tunnels. This network is not only the catacombs, but limestone mines. Many remain unmapped, so police do regular searches to map as well as look for illegal activity. On one search, they came across something different… a newly-built, secret clubhouse. A photo of the clubhouse via Wired Yes, hidden under the Pala...

Feb 29, 2016

Bathtub Cheese

Listen to this article: http://bookshelf.professorelliot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/02/32-bathtub-cheese.mp3 If you find yourself in a convention hall filled with health inspectors or food safety professionals, bring up the topic of “bathtub cheese” for an entertaining time. It is as bad as it sounds: unpasteurized cheese made in a bathtub (or any other waterproof container at home). Although it is illegal in the United States, people continue sell their homemade cheese and it’s caused ...

Feb 22, 2016

A Quiet Ocean

Listen to this article: http://bookshelf.professorelliot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/02/31-a-quiet-ocean.mp3 Leonardo da Vinci once wrote, “If you cause your ship to stop, and place the head of a long tube in the water, and place the other extremity to your ear you will hear ships at a great distance from you.” His description is quite accurate of sea water’s ability to transmit sound easily. In a quiet ocean, the whale’s song (at up to 190 dB) can be heard from one continent to another....

Feb 15, 2016

Flying Snakes!

Listen to this article: http://bookshelf.professorelliot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/01/29-flying-snakes.mp3 You read the title correctly. Flying snakes. Southeast Asia, southernmost China, India, and Sri Lanka are home to a few species of snake that can actually glide from tree to tree. This is the serpentine genus of Chrysopelea. Luckily, they don’t prey on humans, but lizards, frogs, birds, and bats. In order to fly from a tree, first they need to determine where they are going by han...

Jan 31, 2016

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