Senor Parrot's Perch

Ghost stories are always fun, but especially so at Halloween. Two funny ones are The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving, and The Canterville Ghost, by Oscar Wilde.

You can download an audio book version of The Canterville Ghost for free from The Classic Tales podcast. Search for The Classic Tales podcast on itunes or check out his website. B.J. Harrison, the man behind the Classic Tales, has an outstanding collection of audio books he has made available for free. But if you enjoy them, try donating a few dollars to the cause. You’ll be glad you did.

Who isn’t a sucker for a good, scary story. Here’s a link to Orson Welle’s original broadcast of War of the Worlds. When originally broadcast, many people who didn’t listen from the start were fooled into believing that the martian invasion was really taking place. If you’ve never listened to this before, notice carefully how well the radio play is constructed.

Place yourself back in its day, with its rudimentary communications technology, close your eyes and enjoy the superb acting of Orson Welles and his Mecury Radio Theater.

Here’s a webpage on the broadcast.

Orson Welles was an amazing actor. We generally link him with Citizen Kane, his revolutionary cinematic classic, but the man did much more. His acclaimed Mercury Theater created many excellent radio performances, which later continued on Campbell’s Playhouse. You can still get or hear recordings of these on the internet at such places as OTR Now, a site dedicated to Old Time Radio.

Robots, as ubiquitous as they already are, still seem futuristic. This is probably because we think of robots as androids, robots made to look and behave as humans, rather than a wide variety of machines programmed to do human work for us without us having to be there with them.

This aspect of robotics is still far off, though it is approaching. An interesting book that looks into this area of robotics is Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots, by Timothy N. Hornyak, an excellent book written at a high school or adult level. Nevertheless, the human aspect of robotics stimulates the interest of children and makes robots an attractive method for exploring technology and building skills that will prepare our children for their own futures.

Still thinking about children’s books, though, my oldest daughter and I read six that we found at the library which were all worth the time. I wrote about the first three a while ago. The next three were more age appropriate for my older daughter and more interesting, too.

The best of these was How To Build A Robot, by Clive Gifford. Though published almost 10 years ago, this little book covered all the important issues concerning robots, and managed to be both informative, funny, and the most thought provoking and engaging in its presentation of robotics.

How to Build a Robot consisted of seven chapters that covered what a robot entails, their development from a historical period, the components and their functions, control, teaching robots how to think. Along the way, Gifford supplies simple experiments to show readers how they might approach a problem that robotics engineers face. All of this, along with his witty style and the fun cartoonish illustrations make this book a great introduction.

The next book that I liked was Robot, also by Clive Gifford. This is a Dorling Kindersley book from way back in 1998. I’d like to compare it to the current one, Robot (DK Eyewitness Books, by Roger Bridgman. Like all DK books this was of excellent quality and really strong on photographic illustrations. The text was excellent, just as with How to Build a Robot, but the format was just not as engaging, nor as informative, as How to Build a Robot.

The third of my upper tier of robot books for kids is Robots Among Us: The Challenges and promises of Robotics, by Christopher W. Baker. This short book was really nearly the equal of Robot. It also covered the basics of robotics very well and it had excellent photographs. It was the strongest of all three in its coverage of robotic intelligence and the challenges in programming robots to make decisions and to learn, which are the core to artificial intelligence.

I love science, and I like books that encourage that same interest in others. Over at Planet Esme she provides these reviews of�some interesting science-related kids’ books and some more of her recommendations and comparisons of�additional books that deal� with animal life cycles. She reviews This is Your LIfe Cycle With Special Guest Dahlia the Dragonfly by Heather Lynn Miller and illustrated by Michael Chesworth; Trout are Made of Trees by April Pulley Sayre and illustrated by Kate Endle; and Houdini the Magic Caterpillar by Janet Pederson

She follows up with a long list of reasons why Chicago should replace New York as the publishing hub of America. I buy most all of them, and In her reasoning she mentions Wisconsin twice. As everyone who lives here in Wisconsin knows, just being near this beautiful state is reason enough, and Madison’s only about 150 miles away, a two hour hop, skip, and a jump from a full day of fun for us northern neighbors.

Stolen from the New York Times

The French writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Cl�zio, whose work reflects a seemingly insatiable restlessness and sense of wonder about other places and other cultures, won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday. In its citation, the Swedish Academy praised Mr. Le Cl�zio, 68, as the �author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization.�

Mr. Le Cl�zio�s work defies easy characterization, but in more than 40 essays, novels and children�s books, he has written of exile and self-discovery, of cultural dislocation and globalization, of the clash between modern civilization and traditional cultures. Having lived and taught in many parts of the world, he writes as fluently about North African immigrants in France, native Indians in Mexico and islanders in the Indian Ocean as he does about his own past.

Well, seems, from his description, that he fits the non-insular type that the Nobel Prize Selection Committee was looking for this year. Sniping at the committee aside, there are a couple of lovely snippets of his work translated provided by the New York Times, as well. Unfortunately for us Americans who can only read English or German, a search of Amazon turns up little in translation.� I’m left with the impression that it would be a great pleasure to read more of his work. Alas, it’s not just Americans who don’t translate much.

Cover Image of R.U.R. by Karel Capek

Today in the Wall Street Journal, theater critic Terry Teachout has a very positive review of Czech playwrite Karel Capek’s 1921 play R.U.R. , which stands for Rossum’s Universal Robots and is the source of our word “Robot”, a word that would describe someone who slaves away at drudge. The play is currently being performed by Chicago-based Strawdog Theater Company.

I enjoyed Teachout’s interesting review because, while many of the books on robots I’ve read recently have mentioned this play as the source for our word “robot”, all but one has without discussed the play itse

In its day, Capek’s R.U.R was quite popular and influential and was performed all over the world and translated into many languages. In the book Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots, a social history of robots in Japan, author Timothy N. Hornyak discusses in great length the impact on Japanese society of this play when it was performed there in the 1920s, and he contrasts the very different Japanese response to the concept of robots with that of Europe’s and the western world. And he argues that this difference forms at least some of the basis for Japan’s different approach to and welcoming acceptance of robots in their culture. (more…)

A while ago I decided to get a LEGO Mindstorms NXTrobot to build with my kids. I thought that, more than just a fun toy, building a robot would excite an interest in science and open a doorway to all sorts of explorations.

So far, I’ve been right on. Anticipating getting an actual robot was the first fun thing. And reading about all that robots was just like adding more caffeine to their coffee.

Our first stop was the local library. There we either checked out the books on the shelf, or special ordered interesting books from other branches. Our local library system in Madison had an excellent variety for a broad range of developmental abilities, ages, and experience.

Those written for the youngest children, ages 9 and down, were pretty much the same, addressing what a robot really is, how they are used, sensors and actuators, artificial intelligence and robotic learning,� and programming, albeit, at a very elementary level that even a small child could understand.

The books at this level were:

• It Could Still Be a Robot (Rookie Read-About Science) by Allan Fowler (ISBN 0516204319 – Very elementary, and suitable for reading even to my 5-year old
• Robots (Kaleidoscope:Technology) by Darcy Lockman (ISBN 0761410473) – for a bit older kids, first though 3rd grade, but good even as a starter for older kids as an introduction to what more mature books will cover. It presents a wide range of uses.
• Robotics (Life in the Future) by Mark Beyer – Like Robots, above, for kids 2nd through 4th grade, illustrating lots of uses and concepts.

These three formed a sort of a first wave, the most basic introduction. They were definitely worth reading and worked well to prime the pump, but they weren’t as deep as I needed to go for my older daughter.

For myself, these books gave me a foundation for asking my daughters questions to help guide their attention and thought, and to prepare them for understanding the technological challenges and pave the way for eventually designing their own robots. From this, I made a little list of questions to keep us all thinking about our goals in building robots.

If your kids like the Lego or Playmobil castles, or any of the other building toys,� Castle Under Siege! by Andrew Solway is a little book that offers a fun hook into some the science behind those ancient buildings. Already engrossed in the imaginary building of a castle and defending it against all enemies, kids are primed to learn how it was really done. Books like this are great segues into learning more on their own.

I found this book in the library by chance, while looking for books about robots to share with my kids. I grabbed it, realizing that these simple applications might help my kids see just why science is cool. It also provides a nice window into the past. Its aimed at 2nd through 4th graders, though some older kids might enjoy the quick informative read, especially coupled with David Macaulay’s great Castle, which is aimed at higher age level than Castle Under Siege!

Medieval society seems like all labor, but there were lots of machines at work to create and maintain their way of life. Castle Under Siege! looks at a few of these, like the drawbridge, crossbow, catapults, and siege engines were actually applications of simple machines. Photographic reenactments and illustrations help explain the concepts.

Simple machines are also so simple, that a trip to the hardware, home improvement, or hobby store to pick up a couple pulleys, boards, dowels and wooden wheels can result in some quick construction of the same machines on a tabletop scale.

Anyone with kids knows how much they want a pet of their own. And, anyone who was a kid remembers wanting and hoping for a pet of their own. There’s a magic that exists between a child and his pet that adults never have with their own pets. Much of that magic is in the mind of the child, but mostly it seems to be a bonding of peers, becoming close and best friends.

But when the child is very young, they don’t understand their pets and often are unwittingly harmful to them. Its hard to teach them ahead of time. We catch them picking up the cat by the hind leg and getting scratched, or scrunching the dog’s ear and getting bitten.

Children need to learn how to live with their pet, and that’s where Tails Are Not For Pulling comes in handy. Simply and clearly written by Elizabeth Verdick and perfectly illustrated by Marieka Heinlen, it is a great, fun read for young children already have or will be getting a pet soon.

It starts with the simple, fun, question for your child, “If pets could talk, what do you think they’d say?” Then it delivers the answers, teaching your child to think about what his or her pet is saying with their posture, actions, and noises.

Like most of the other books I write about, I’ve tested, this one on #2 the five year old, still young enough to misunderstand what Sherlock the cat is telling her, and not yet realizing how she might be hurting him. It was a real eye opener for her. The lessons are so simply presented. The illustrations are so appropriate. The message really took hold. It’s an excellent pick for a young child who will be receiving a new pet in the house.

Tails Are Not For Pulling is part of a series from Free Spirit Publishing for teaching behavior to young children written and illustrated by this same duo.

I saw something on the AP wire about who might be in line for the Nobel Prize in Literature this year. Italian writer Claudio Magris is favored 3-1 by the British betting agency Ladbrokes. Bob Dylan is listed last at 150-1. Folks cheering for long-time favorite Philip Roth will likely be disappointed, given some of the recent sentiment others have expressed. One Nobel watcher, publisher Svante Weyler, says:

He’s the grand old man in American prose, but I think the academy doesn’t believe he is ‘heavy’ enough,” he told Reuters.

From Street Knowledge Media we read that a Swedish Juror for the prize, permanent secretary Horace Engdahl, publicly stated

“Of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can�t get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world � not the United States,� he told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Tuesday

“The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don�t translate enough and don�t really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is restraining.”

Nothing like putting your cards on the table. Unlike Swedish, which is rarely taught, perhaps even in Sweden, English is taught and spoken most everywhere in the world. Other languages, such as Spanish, German, French, and Chinese are also spoken by quite a few folks.

But the thing with English is, lots of folks, everywhere, can read English pretty well. Well enough to read works untranslated. And anyone who is interested in the type of literature that receives the Nobel Prize probably speaks or reads more than one language, except probably in the U.S.

Of course! We’re insular! I forgot about that part. We only think about ourselves, I suppose, and our “ignorance is restraining.” Like the Nobel jurors have any reputation of winnowing the wheat from the chaff over the years.