St Joseph's, How & Why Wonder Books III & some Einstein Relativity & Astronauts

A look at some more How and Why Wonder Books . Apropos the Convent as I had these books in the 1970s. And here are the links for more on St Joseph's Convent in Sidcup

http://armourae.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-min=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2016-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=1

http://armourae.blogspot.co.uk/2016_02_01_archive.html

http://armourae.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/st-josephs-convent-more-salvaged-from.html

nuns-
http://armourae.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/st-josephs-convent-nuns.html


On the How and Why books here are some that had a special interest for me. Only Deserts was the copy I owned, the others were recently acquired either online or via Ebay.

Not the most interesting title, by a long shot, I have an affection for this as it was bought for my murdered sister Bernadette Bazzoni when she was  8 in 1967.  Purchased by our father  as he had lived in the Sahara Desert as part of his army service in the 3rd battalion of the Coldstream Guards. He was also located in other deserts & the cold of the Korean War.

Time is a very interesting title! Dinosaurs was the most popular title, its a fascinating subject, but time is a complex subject.  At first it would seem a dull subject: time is just looking at a clock or a sundial.   But time is a philosophical subject & there is a question of whether the past or future have physical existence, that is is time relative, or are the past & future have no existence and only the present moment: that is, is time absolute.

Around the time of its publishing, there was proof  of time travel on the nuclear physics scale, as particles were observed having a life span greater than established life expectancy.  This extended life was due to Einstein's  Time Dilation effect of Special Relativity.

Also Cherenkov radiation effect & astronauts red blood cells living considerably longer than their 3 month life expectancy demonstrate time travel due to Time Dilation effect.

A book I always wanted but wasn't usually in  bookshops; I never saw it. It's intriguing as the portrait reminded me of Paul Newman & the execution of the painting is impressionistic:  Space Impressionism

Basic Inventions was featured along with all the published titles in the 1970s editions as a  series of small photos on the back cover.

This cover always fascinated me, it's in the style of the French Surrealist artists, before I knew what Surrealist art was, most of my father's huge art book collection, he trained at St Martins School of Art, was of the Classical & Renaissance  era.   One object that immediately draws the eye is the wheel with the triangular gear at the back of the illustration. Then at the same time there is the prominence of the lighted torch.  For me the simple illustration of the burning torch is very effective as there is something disconcerting about it. Maybe its a fire surrounded by so much wood.  I have been on film sets with lighted torches & felt completely comfortable compared to this image.

This is one of the finest illustrations of the whole series.A number of objects arranged around the centre of the wheel in the middle of the picture.  The absence of any human or animal presence prevents the observer making a connection with the picture, so achieving Bertolt Brecht's distancing effect  Verfremdungseffekt.  That wasn't the artist's intention but the effect of dissonance ensures the painting retains its sense of mystery