He published the first American textbook on Chemistry.

[jackshoegazer]

Alas, I have finished the much beheld wonderficality that is 1776 by David McCullough.  As you can imagine it was a book about the start of the American Revolutionary War, covering from the summer of 1775 through January of 1777.  This being one of my favorite time periods, (the fifty-ish years surrounding the American and French revolutions) it was not hard to keep me entertained.

Washington was a bad-ass glowing angel who was often a bit indecisive.  He could go from worrying that his entire army had no shoes to explaining how he'd like the fireplace at his new home to be centered along the south wall so fast you'd think the two things were worth equal worry.

The oddest part was seeing my relatives at work.  Literally.  Several times in the book, Dr. Benjamin Rush showed up, either quoted from his journnals or others.  He was one of the few signers of the Declaration of Independence who actually saw the horror of war.  He volunteered his services as a field doctor.  He was also good friends with Thomas Jefferson.  The two wrote many letters back and forth, interpreting eachothers dreams.  He encouraged Thomas Paine to put his thoughts to writing and then to press, and even suggested to him the title of Common Sense for the reulting pamphlet.

And I'm related to him.  One of his daughters married a Parker, and here I am.

Speaking of non-fiction  books, antarcticlust just started the only non-fiction book community on LJ.  If you're interested in books that true or at least attempt to be scholarly, or even perhaps informative, check out literal_libris.  It should be good times.

I just ate a pumpernickel bagel with nuefshatel.

And if it's something you're interested in, here is my updated list of books read this year:

01) A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

02) Schrödinger’s Cat Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson

03) A Game of Thrones by George R.R.Martin

04) A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

05) A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

06) A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

07) Spook by Mary Roach

08) The Legacy of the Beast by Gerald Suster

09) Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates by Tom Robbins

10) A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin

11) The World According to Garp by John Irving

12) A Man without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut

13) Lullaby by Chuck Palanhiuk

14) Jim Morrison’s Adventures in the Afterlife by Mick Farren

15) 1776 by David McCullough

I'm starting Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood today.  I will catch up!

Seriously, I will!

Comments

[brdgt.livejournal.com]

It's sort of where the history of US medicine begins (well, the smallpox inoculation controversy of 1721 may come first), but the 1793 Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_fever#Philadelphia:_1793) is really important in the whole miasma debate.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i'd read that Rush was into bloodletting, which I've read elsewhere actually has some advantageous properties and that things like leeches and other Theodoric Barber of York type "cures" are still employed and found quite beneficial.

I always forget that Pennsylvania was the hub of the government for so long. Now all I think of when I think of Pennsylvania is the scary Pennsylvania Dutch who think they're Dutch, but are really German because Dutch is a bad pronunciation/derivation of Deutch.

[brdgt.livejournal.com]

It's funny that he gets labeled as "into bloodletting" because bleeding, purging, and puking were the only tools of physicians everywhere until the mid nineteenth century.