Thursday Notes

On Wednesday 1 August, Kevin Levin will host History Carnival at Civil War Memory. Send your nominations of the best in history blogging since 1 July to Kevlvn*at*aol*dot*com or use the form.

Adrian Tahourdin,"Books We Have Never Read," TLS 18 July, reviews Piette Bayard, Comment Parler des Livres que l'on n'a Pas Lus? (How to discuss books that one hasn't read). Which reminds me: Dwight Gardner got permission to reproduce Clive James's"The Book of my Enemy has been Remaindered" and I didn't. So you can read it here. Or, not. In either case, feel free to discuss.

"Did Tea Drinking Lead to Urbanization?" Mike, the Mad Biologist, 23 July, excerpts Steven Johnson's The Ghost Map. He argues that, when the price of tea dropped in the 18th century, it led to a"microbial holocaust." M,tMB is skeptical of the thesis, suggesting that boiling the water in preparing the drink may have had a greater salutary effect than the tea's tannic acids. Hat tip.

Finally, IHE contacted the editors of Historically Speaking, who acknowledged that they had made an error on the issue raised by Ahistoricality here.