Published: New York, 1999 (paperback: 2000) More than a decade after it was hailed as an instant classic upon publication, John W. Dower’s Embracing Defeat remains an enduring masterpiece. There are countless reasons for this, but perhaps the most immediately striking is that the book is as succinct as it is exhaustive. An analysis of a devastated Japan in the aftermath of World War II, the book gives a rich and nuanced account of both victor and vanquished in under 700 pages. Utilizing an enormous array of Japanese sources, Dower illuminates the effects of the six-year American occupation from all […]

Published: Upper Saddle River, N.J., 1999 The end is near! Or perhaps more accurately, the end seems always to be right around the corner … and it was always thus. Astronomer John of Toledo predicted the end would occur in September 1186. London astronomers foresaw an Earth-destroying deluge on February 1, 1524. Jacques Bernoulli forecast the arrival of a massive comet that would end things on May 19, 1719. American psychic John Ballou Newbrough spread the word about our impending demise in 1947. More recently, the Y2K problem – a scare for the new millennium – cast a spotlight on […]

Published: New York, 1998 One of the most notable figures in contemporary science fiction can be found right on the MIT campus. Joe Haldeman, who teaches several different courses in MIT’s Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, has received multiple honors for his published work. In 2010 he was named the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master, an award bestowed by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America to a living author in recognition of lifetime achievement in the literary genres of science fiction and fantasy. In receiving this award, Haldeman joined the ranks of such luminaries as Robert A. […]

Published: Ashland, Ore., 1997 Surely you’ve heard of Richard Feynman! Library shelves groan under the weight of books by and about the illustrious theoretical physicist. In addition to his towering scientific contributions, he was an expert safecracker, player of the bongos and the frigideira, visual artist (pseudonym “Ofey”), fan of Tuvan throat singing, and prankster extraordinaire. You couldn’t make this guy up – though “Richard Feynman” has also been a character on screen and on Broadway. It’s not everyone who’s been played by both Alan Alda (in QED at Lincoln Center) and Matthew Broderick (in the bio-pic Infinity). A Nobel […]

Installed (and premiered): Cambridge, Mass., 1996 Situated at the east end of the Hayden Library building, MIT’s Lewis Music Library is one of the most popular destinations on campus. With its outstanding collection of scores, recordings, and books, the library is among the MIT Libraries’ busiest locations. The Lewis Music Library serves a distinguished music faculty and a student body known for its musical prowess. The library also proudly offers some of the comfiest seating at the Institute. Roughly two hundred years ago, Goethe famously said, “I call architecture frozen music.” The Lewis Music Library takes Goethe’s metaphor and turns […]

Published: Boston, 1995 Spring moves over the temperate lands of our Northern Hemisphere in a tide of new life, of pushing green shoots and unfolding buds … the different sound of the wind which stirs the young leaves where a month ago it rattled the bare branches. These things we associate with the land, and it is easy to suppose that at sea there could be no such feeling of advancing spring. But the signs are there, and seen with the understanding eye, they bring the same magical sense of awakening. In The Sea Around Us, Rachel Carson drew on […]

Published: Washington, D.C., 1994 Since its inception in 1944, the World Bank has been providing financial support to reduce poverty in developing countries throughout the world. The concept of “participatory development” dates to the 1970s and arose from research largely funded by the World Bank. As this kit’s foreword explains, the idea is founded upon the basic premise that “the effectiveness of efforts to alleviate poverty will be significantly enhanced by the active engagement of the people and communities affected at all stages in the process.” To that end, this tool kit contains twenty-five activities designed to engage local communities […]

Published: Port Townsend, Wash., 1993 When The Second Four Books of Poems was published in 1993, W.S. Merwin visited MIT to read from his works at the Bartos Theater. The four books in the volume had originally been published during a ten-year span between 1963 and 1973: The Moving Target, The Lice, the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Carrier of Ladders, and Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment. In these poems the reader can trace a transformation in Merwin’s writing. In his preface to this 1993 volume, he explains why he “relinquished punctuation,” and his reason has been frequently quoted since: “I had […]

Published: New York, 1992 The journal Nature first appeared in print in 1869 and ranks among the most prestigious scientific publications in the world. In the 1970s, as the sciences splintered into more and more refined areas of specialization and as fresh areas of research emerged, Nature began producing offshoot publications, of which Nature Genetics is one. Nature now comprises a large family of tightly focused journals including Nature Geoscience, Nature Climate Change, Nature Medicine, Nature Materials, and many others, reflecting the range and depth of 21st century scientific inquiry. In 1990 the Human Genome Project was officially launched. By […]

Published: Cambridge, Mass., 1991 It’s not much to look at, but Guidelines for the Use of Video Display Terminals at MIT serves as a sort of time capsule. It also provides a specific example of the concern that arises whenever new technology is introduced into the workplace. Today computers and computer monitors are a central part of the daily life of the entire MIT community, but in 1991 such equipment was still quite new. This publication was prepared in response to “a proposal submitted by the Working Group on Support Staff Issues.” It was created by the Ad Hoc Video […]