SuzanneR
Moderator
I dutifully fulfilled my civic obligation by appearing today at the Edward J. Sullivan courthouse in Cambridge, MA for jury duty. After getting up at 5:30am to get there by 8am, it proved to be an excrutiatingly boring six hours of absolutely nothing to do, but WAIT... and wait... and wait...
I came across "The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre" by aussie author Dominic Smith quite by accident at a local Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago, but as it was still in hardback at $24.00. I put it "on the list" and decided to wait for the paperback or perhaps check with my local library. It intrigued me enough to check Amazon, and in fact, they had several used copies for about $8.00, so I ordered one. It arrived, and I managed just a quick glance.
Long story short... they recommend good reading material for jury duty, as there's a lot of waiting around, so I grabbed this book to take with me. Thank god I had this book with me, and may I say, what a cracking fun read! It's about Daguerre's mercury induced vision of the end of the world, and what he wants to accomplish with the end so near! I'm about half way through and anyone with even a passing interest in the first steps made by Daguerre, Niepce, and Fox-Talbot in photography might enjoy this book. It is fiction, but has a great sense of light and photography about it... and all the debauchery of Paris in the 1850's!! A considerably more glamorous place and time than the incredibly poorly ventilated, and rather ugly Sullivan Courthouse Building in Cambridge!
Fortunately, the Wednesday before a four day 4th of July weekend proved to be a slow trial day, so I didn't get called to a trial. Phew!! Though, now, I need to find the time to finish this book! When I do... it's up for grabs!! Great beach read, if your are interested, send a PM, I'll mail it! Hey... we can start a little book club!
I came across "The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre" by aussie author Dominic Smith quite by accident at a local Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago, but as it was still in hardback at $24.00. I put it "on the list" and decided to wait for the paperback or perhaps check with my local library. It intrigued me enough to check Amazon, and in fact, they had several used copies for about $8.00, so I ordered one. It arrived, and I managed just a quick glance.
Long story short... they recommend good reading material for jury duty, as there's a lot of waiting around, so I grabbed this book to take with me. Thank god I had this book with me, and may I say, what a cracking fun read! It's about Daguerre's mercury induced vision of the end of the world, and what he wants to accomplish with the end so near! I'm about half way through and anyone with even a passing interest in the first steps made by Daguerre, Niepce, and Fox-Talbot in photography might enjoy this book. It is fiction, but has a great sense of light and photography about it... and all the debauchery of Paris in the 1850's!! A considerably more glamorous place and time than the incredibly poorly ventilated, and rather ugly Sullivan Courthouse Building in Cambridge!
Fortunately, the Wednesday before a four day 4th of July weekend proved to be a slow trial day, so I didn't get called to a trial. Phew!! Though, now, I need to find the time to finish this book! When I do... it's up for grabs!! Great beach read, if your are interested, send a PM, I'll mail it! Hey... we can start a little book club!
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