I love libraries, especially if they contain musty and almost-forgotten texts. I went to university shortly before the arrival of the Internet and the modern onslaught of searchable electronic journals. As a result, I spent many hours lurking in various reading rooms and thumbing through stacks of books. Lest I get overly sentimental, I wasted a lot of time searching for needles in those bibliographic haystacks.
Many libraries - especially ancient ones - share a mystical beauty. Internationally renowned architechtural photographer Guillaume de Laubier's 248 page hardcover captures the elegance of more than 20 of these architectural treasures: "From the dramatic, baroque Library of the Institut de France in Paris, to the splendid Vatican Library in Rome; from the majestic Royal Library in El Escorial, Spain, to the famed New York Public Library, a Beaux-Arts masterpiece-here are some of the most exquisite libraries of the Western world."

David Bainbridge (now an Associate Professor at Alliant International University) published The Integral Passive Solar Water Heater Book back in 1981. It has been out of print for many years, but is now available again on the 'Net as a downloadable acrobat file. I've only skimmed it, but there are a lot of clever ideas hidden on these 25 year-old pages.
Compute! was a fantastic computer hobbyist magazine published between 1979 through 1994. Its hallowed pages covered Atari, Apple, Commodore, Texas Instruments, Timex/Sinclair, and many other early personal computers. 



I know a guy who used to work for IBM. His basement is now dedicated to intricate CNC-controlled milling and precision drilling tools. It's a weird hobby, but he's an incredibly interesting and useful person to know.
Giles Perkins returns this week with Lost Worlds. I'll let him take it from here...