Midweek Notes

"The Giant's Shoulders #17 - Darwin Sesquicentennial Edition," the history of science carnival, is up at The Primate Diaries.

Elspeth Barker,"Words, Glorious Words," Literary Review, November, reviews Christian Kay, Jane Roberts, Michael Samuels and Irené Wotherspoon, eds., Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Laura Claridge,"Best Books About Etiquette," WSJ, 14 November, recommends five: Erasmus, On the Civility of Children's Conduct, 1530; George Washington, Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior, 1748; Emily Post, Etiquette, 1927; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Learning How to Behave [sic], 1946; and Norbert Elias, The Civilizing Process, 1969.

Finally, this graphic tracks the expansion and decline of four major European maritime empires between 1800 and 2000: Hat tip.