the nexus of art, science, and skill

The book The Glass Flowers of Harvard is truly mesmerizing, and the more you already know, the more amazing it is.  The glass flowers were created as ever-lasting teaching tools, and they are rendered with exquisite accuracy.  It's so mind-boggling to think of.  Emotionally, for me anyway, this is much different than a beautiful photo, because I know that someone actually *made* this, with their own two hands and a solid grasp and care for getting everything right.  It's a manifestation of all we can accomplish when we truly care for something, for doing something well.  My brain hardly knows what to register the most:  Nature! Artistry! Beauty! Botany!

I could not find full-scale photos on teh interwebs, but the book is 8x10 or so, full size color glossies, and only on *some* of the photos is it obvious that these are made of glass and are not living plants.  And I'm no slouch at knowing what plants look like.

( more info & links to photos )

celebration of birdsong

I just bought Music of the Birds: A Celebration of Bird Song. This is a book full of crazily good photos of birds, with a cd that emphasizes the beauty of the songs (as opposed to pure ID, although it should help with that too; the book says the cd tells you what you'll hear before you hear it.)  First trial run tomorrow on the drive in to work. If you know a more rigorous cd that's good for listening in a car (and elsewhere), please let me know.

( link to the book on amazon... )

Gosh, I guess more of the beauty-is-science-is-nature-is-art.  Well.... that's just how life is.  *I* didn't make it that way.  (But I'm duly impressed.)

much love to all, and a good evening. and happy eclipse tomorrow.