But I Really AM Too Old For Children's Books!

Not really, but I just realized recently that I'm now officially middle-aged. That is a completely horrendous term by the way. Middle-aged. Not that there's anything wrong with that, per se, but with that onerous distinction, comes... The Receding. Gums and hairlines for some.... braincells for us all. So in addition to becoming a crossword puzzle maven and investing in Ginkgo Biloba stock, I've decided to stretch my cognitive processes a bit more than usual and read... Nonfiction. I know. This is huge for me. And it's not as though I'm completely through exploring my inner child, I'm just in need of more intellectual pursuits. For now.

Therefore, in light of this quest for higher thinking, I picked up these highly recommended (and entirely grown up), books yesterday that actually sound really interesting to me...

Longitude by Dava Sobel

Longitude, is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of Harrison’s forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Full of heroism and chicanery, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clock making, and opens a new window on our world.

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

Part homage to the greatest reference work of all time, the Oxford English Dictionary, part mystery, part intellectual history of Victorian England, The Professor and the Madman tells the parallel stories of the dictionary's genius editor and one of his most prolific contributors, an insane American doctor committed to an asylum for murder.

The one that I'm looking forward to the most is Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton

The tiny island of Run is an insignificant speck in the middle of the Indonesian archipelago--remote, tranquil, and now largely ignored. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, however, Run's harvest of nutmeg turned it into the most lucrative of the Spice Islands, precipitating a fierce and bloody battle between the all-powerful Dutch East India Company and a small band of ragtag British adventurers led by the intrepid Nathaniel Courthope. The outcome of the fighting was one of the most spectacular deals in history: Britain ceded Run to Holland, but in return was given another small island, Manhattan.

A brilliant adventure story of unthinkable hardship and savagery, the navigation of uncharted waters, and the exploitation of new worlds, Nathaniel's Nutmeg is a remarkable chapter in the history of the colonial powers.

So we'll see how it goes. I may end up sounding like I'm from Whoville after all, but at least I'm going to go down fighting!