Time-Out for Book-Talk

Half a dozen volumes backed up on the shelf, without commentary! A few weeks ago I finished "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson. He has a skill for melding and weaving historical accounts in a way so his books "read like novels". If you are from Chicagoland, you already know the interesting story of architect Daniel Burnham's efforts to plan, organize and execute production of the World Columbian Exposition of 1893. It's pretty amazing. As if that's not enough, there is a creepy crawly murderous serial killer at large just blocks from the Fair; a handsome and apparently wealthy con-artist and maniacal killer of mostly naive young women who innocently fall victim to his charming ways; this demon really existed, some think of him of the first "modern day" serial killer. Hubsy is reading the book now. Last week we visited Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History for a special exhibit "From the Vaults" of the 1893 Fair. Tho interesting, it was not exactly what I expected: you must keep in mind that most Americans in 1893 had not seen dinosaur fossils, taxidermy, large meteorites or exotic cultures from far away. By now, most of us are familiar with these--so the relics of 1893 are not so impressive. In some ways, how far we have come.