Colin McEnroe Show: 'The Essential Guide To Inessential Knowledge'
NPR Librarian Kee Malesky talks about her latest work of miscellany.
Most people love miscellanea -- facts that are not part of a fact pattern but, in their own way, stand up and invite us to take notice of them.
Most of us carry around with us certain facts that run counter to the public understanding. And sometimes these counter-facts become family traditions. My father, for example, was especially fond of the way the term Immaculate Conception does NOT refer to the manner in which Jesus was brought into the world but applies instead to the conception of his mother Mary. My father was an ardent non-believer, and he enjoyed confronting believers with the knowledge that they were not even familiar with their own belief systems.
He also liked to ask people to name the 12 disciples. You'd be surprised at how many people lead off with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, assuming that the gospel writers were disciples.
We talked about this and a bunch of other interesting dinner table facts on our show today.
Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.
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E-mail from Mark
If you want to get bogged down by statistics, then you will want to look at the HAPLR Index at http://www.haplr-index.com/index.html.
Personally, I like small town libraries, because there are no small library users, so users in small town libraries loom large.
E-mail from Joan
The reasons why I think the Cheshire Public Library should at least make it to your short list are:
the librarians actively support the community;
the librarians are knowledgeable and support research
the library participates in the interlibrary loan (ILL) program which gives me access to books and articles to public and university libraries across the country who also participate--this is a free service
I always feel welcome at the library
the library supports local conservation efforts and two solar panels have been installed to supply a portion of the electricity to the facility
Bottom line, I love the Cheshire Public Library.
E-mail from MaryLynn
Love the show...one of my favorites was the "Winter Farmer's Market" spot with Winter and Wayne (I'm a vendor at Coventry so that was particularly fun : ) ).
I admire the Plainville Public Library. Small, but really comprehensive. Peter Chase, the head librarian is really on top of things. So there's my vote!
E-mail from Anonymous
What makes me cringe: when one says "amount" of i.e. people, rather than "number" of things,people ect.
E-mail from Jim
If the Aeolian Harp qualifies as a musical instrument that plays without human touch, then what about the humble and mundane wind chimes?
E-mail from Mark
I'm a librarian, have been since 1976. My family has never been terribly interested, however, now my son has become a librarian! He's got an Android smart phone, and there's not a conversation amongst the family where he doesn't check it out with Google on his Android! I feel as though I've succeeded!
E-mail from Frank
I heard a promo that one of my old NPR pals Kee is going to be a guest on today’s program. If it doesn’t come up in the conversation.... Alex Chanwick, when he was hosting Day-to-Day, used to occasionally call her for research advice while he was on the air....without telling her! There were some fun moments.
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