Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
57
result(s) for
"Staubach, Suzanne"
Sort by:
Clay
More than a third of the houses in the world are made of clay. Clay vessels were instrumental in the invention of cooking, wine and beer making, and international trade. Our toilets are made of clay. The first spark plugs were thrown on the potter's wheel. Clay has played a vital role in the health and beauty fields. Indeed, this humble material was key to many advances in civilization, including the development of agriculture and the invention of baking, architecture, religion, and even the space program. In Clay, Suzanne Staubach takes a lively look at the startling history of the mud beneath our feet. Told with verve and erudition, this story will ensure you won't see the world around you in quite the same way after reading the book.
eBook
Guy Wolff
If you mention Guy Wolff to a serious gardener, that gardener will almost certainly admit to either owning a Guy Wolff flowerpot or coveting one. Wolff's pots-some small and perfect for a sunny windowsill, others massive and just right for a favorite outdoor spot-are widely considered to be the epitome of gardenware. Their classical proportions, simple decoration, and the marks of Wolff's hands all combine to make plants look their best. His pots possess an honesty and liveliness that machine-made flowerpots lack. Wolff is probably the best-known potter working in the United States today. In gardening circles, he is a highly revered horticultural icon; gardeners flock to his lectures and demonstrations. His work also appeals to lovers of design and fine arts: visit the personal gardens of landscape designers, and you will see Guy Wolff pots. Step inside the gates of estate gardens, and you will see Guy Wolff pots. Yet he is a potter's potter. He's a big ware thrower, a skill few have today. He thinks deeply about what he calls the architecture of pots and the importance of handmade objects in our lives. Whether you are a longtime collector of Wolff's pots, anxious to buy your first one, or simply intrigued by the beauty and practicality of hand-crafted goods in our fast-paced era, you'll want to add this richly illustrated book to your library.
eBook
THE FIRST MACHINE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDUSTRY
In the process of learning to work with clay, primitive ceramicists made two remarkable technological advances: the potter’s wheel and the kiln. In these inventions, they were finding ways to make their daily lives better, their work easier. From our place in time, however, we marvel that they used the principles of thermodynamics, chemistry, physics, and mechanical engineering long before these disciplines were formally invented. Primitive? Perhaps not.
The act of firing clay in a kiln is the first act that we know of that purposely effected a chemical change. When we purchase a handmade set of mugs, we feel
Book Chapter
SET THE TABLE
As long as humans have been serving food on ceramic dishes, we have been concerned with the appearance of those dishes. Tableware—more than cooking pots and storage jars—has a long association with sociability and ritual, status and display. In many cultures, the possession of a particularly fine cup or bowl or dinner service enhances one’s standing in the community; often, only the wealthiest members of a society could afford the best dishes.
It is likely that the first pots made only for serving were drinking vessels—tall, straight-sided beakers or shorter, more rounded cups. The earliest decorations were
Book Chapter
ART, TOYS, GODS, GODDESSES, AND FERTILITY
Go to a museum and wander through the halls and galleries. Look at a storage vessel made by a Jomon potter four thousand years ago, at the scrolled coils, the astonishing rim with its points and dips, waves, and curlicues. Look at a red and black Greek figure vase, the lean muscled man playing a flute, the soft gloss of the slip. Look at a rotund salt-glazed wine jug from Germany, at a blue and white Ming dynasty teacup, at a little female fertility figure, with arms and fingers and breasts outlined with contrasting white clay. Look at the little
Book Chapter
A FITTING DEATH
From earliest prehistory, our ancestors have pondered the meaning of death.
Is there an afterlife?
If there is, what will we need for that life?
Does death begin when the last breath is exhaled or when the flesh has fallen away from the bones? How will we reunite our bodies with our souls in the afterlife? Will we need to? Does one need companions? Our ancestors fashioned answers for themselves, and they had to deal with the practicality of what to do with the body. Should it lie out for the vultures to peck clean? Does it require a house?
Book Chapter
FARMING MADE EASY
In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America, in rural England well into the twentieth century, and for hundreds of years in India, many potters split their year between pot making and farming. During the inclement weather of winter, the potter made pots. During the growing season, he fired his wares and tended to his crops. The two tasks, both of the earth, both physically demanding, both dependent upon luck; the vagaries of the kiln fire and the vagaries of the weather are more similar than not, and fit nicely together with the changing seasons. A potter can make some extra cash raising
Book Chapter
ELECTRICITY, TRANSPORTATION, AND ROCKET SCIENCE
Forget Benjamin Franklin and his famous kite. Forget Thomas Edison and his lightbulb. Forget Alessandro Volta and his battery. The “Baghdad battery” capable of generating between 1.5 and 2 volts, was made around 200 b.c.e., two millennia before these men were even born!
It was discovered in 1938 by German archaeologist Wilhelm König. It is a small 5½-inch-tall earthenware jar, about three inches across. Enclosed within is a copper sheet rolled into a tube. At the base of the tube is a copper disk, held in place with asphalt. The top of the jar is sealed with asphalt. An iron
Book Chapter