Back in the early part of the twentieth century, physicist George Gamow had a hand in some of science’s most fascinating breakthroughs: the Big Bang theory, DNA and RNA, radioactivity. The physics department building at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he taught until the end of his career,…
As counterintuitive as it might initially seem, if you own a Kindle or a device with the Kindle app (iOS, Android, PC, etc), you can now check out books from the Denver Public Library via its eMedia site. Yes, students, that includes CliffsNotes, if you’ve managed to seriously drop the…
Steve Cogil opened the first Tattered Cover on the corner of East Second Avenue and Detroit Street in Cherry Creek in 1971. It was small — less than a thousand square feet. Three years later, Joyce Meskis took the reins of the space. In the decades since, the Cherry Creek…
Ridgway-based journalist and MacArthur “genius” grant-winner Peter Hessler has written stories that focus on everything from China to small towns in southwestern Colorado to Nepal. (Latest Word has more on the $500,000 award from the MacArthur Foundation, as well as a Q&A with Hessler.) The 42-year-old has amassed a sizable…
Author Benjamin Runkle will be at the Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch tonight to talk about his new book, Wanted Dead or Alive: Manhunts from Geronimo to Bin Laden. In preparation for his appearance, we caught up with Runkle to talk about his book, the importance of manhunts and the…
Joe Hill ain’t dead,” he says to me, Joe Hill ain’t never died. Where working men are out on strike Joe Hill is at their side, Joe Hill is at their side. –Joan Baez At first glance, it might seem that nearly 100 years after songwriter and Industrial Workers of…
Isis Books and Gifts is one of the best metaphysical stores we’ve ever seen: Between the walls and walls (and walls!) of books, the singing bowls, the dozens of essential oils and comprehensive collection of herbs for all your spellworking needs, it’s deservedly popular among the metaphysical community. And owner…
In the world of slam poetry, there’s no higher distinction than a win at the annual National Poetry Slam — and over this past weekend, that distinction went to the poets of Denver’s Slam Nuba, upstart arrival to the Denver slam scene (and 2011 Westword MasterMind) — if, having won…
It’s been a banner year for Slam Nuba, the newer nationally competitive arrival on the Denver slam poetry scene, and for a group started hardly four years ago, it’s seen some remarkable achievements already. Having placed in the top ten finishing teams at the National Poetry Slam (slam poetry’s annual…
Slam poetry is to the literary world what hip-hop music is to jazz — a progression of talent and a revolutionary outlet. Denver is lucky to boast of two solid teams that compete nationally. Both Slam Nuba and the Denver Mercury Cafe Poetry Slam Team advanced to the semi-finals last…
Thomas W. Benton’s posters have been commonplace in the city of Aspen over the years Benton lived there, but when the artist passed away in 2007, some worried the work would never reach the broad audience it deserved. Much of his art has never left the city and most of…
If you thought banning books on the basis that they fail to fall in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ was a thing of the past, then consider yourself unstuck in time: A couple of weeks ago, a school board in Republic, MO, voted to remove copies of Kurt…
This Friday, August 5, Charly “The City Mouse” Fasano will be celebrating the release of his new book, Next Analog Broadcast at Fast Geek Boutique (321 West 11th Ave.). The book, released by Sunny Outside, is a small, 56 page collection of Fasano’s storytelling poems, which he’s been performing live…
We all know enough to expect the standard-issue turgid pectoral muscles and flowing locks from romance novels — but what if the romance also involves vampires, war and action of the not-necessarily-hot-and-sweaty variety? It will tomorrow at Fresh City Life’s Mucho Mojo, where urban fantasy writers Nicole D. Peeler, Kimberly…
For the two highly respected teams Denver sends to the National Poetry Slam each year, the moment of truth has finally arrived: After a year-long process of elimination, the teams have selected their top five poets of the year and are gearing up today to travel all the way to…
The Race Across America is one of this country’s most notoriously grueling bicycle races. Starting on the West Coast and ending on the East, it takes riders 3,000 miles over the course of eight to twelve days. What’s more interesting is there are no major cash prizes — it’s all…
David Roberts, author of Finding Everett Ruess: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer, researched the life, writings and artwork of the young adventurer who vanished somewhere in the American Southwest in the 1930s, and has written the first true biography of the young man. Roberts (and…
Interactive texts have been around since the ’70s (or earlier, depending on how you’re defining them), but the recent push of handheld electronic reading devices has exploded the potential for creating and reimagining works. Still, it hasn’t been until recently we’ve started seeing anyone make real use of the magical…
In Silver Sparrow, the latest book by novelist Tayari Jones, the story follows two girls growing up in Atlanta — but there’s a twist: Dana, who narrates the first half of the book, is the secret half-sister of Chaurisse, who narrates the second half of the book. The two girls…
There are just some topics that the shorties don’t need to have rattling around in their malleable little cranial cavities. Subjects like incarceration, nail fungus, sales tax, methamphetamines, the GOP and proper care of houseplants are ones best reserved for 22-year-old college dropouts — not toddlers. I say let the…
Though I’ve never been in Nebraska for more than about six hours at a time, most of which has generally involved driving and possibly having lunch, I have some pretty distinct impressions of that state: the plains, the sky, the wind. Nebraska, it seems to me, is a place of…
Fans of fantasy are probably already familiar with Jacqueline Carey, who’s just completed the third book in her third New York Times-best-selling trilogy revolving around the world of Terre D’Ange and gods and goddesses intervening in mortal life; the latest novel, Naamah’s Kiss, continues the story of Moirin, who’s facing…
