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Wreath Laying at the Lincoln Memorial, February 12th

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I am honored to be the official representative of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia for the annual wreath laying at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday, February 12, 2016.

I received my invitation letter from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, and will be participating in the event this Friday. The annual ceremony began in 1923, the year after the Memorial was dedicated, and commemorates the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. I will lay the wreath on behalf of the Lincoln Group.

Lincoln Memorial Wreath Laying

The event is organized by the Lincoln Birthday National Commemorative Committee (LBNCC). The Lincoln Group of DC has participated for many years, so I’m especially honored to participate this year. Wreaths will be laid for the President, the Diplomatic Corps, the Secretary of the Interior, and for the District of Columbia. Other Lincoln and Civil War organizations, including the Lincoln Group, will also lay wreaths.

If you’re in the area, please join us in the dedication, which is free and open to the public and starts at 11:45 am. I’ll have more photos after the ceremony.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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Book Review – The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom

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Man Who Loved ChinaRenowned author Simon Winchester has written a wonderful book about a scientist most people have not heard about, but should have. Joseph Needham was a biochemist, nudist, socialist-leaning British scientist at prestigious Cambridge University. He was devoted both to his wife and his mistress, the latter of whom was a visiting Chinese scientist who introduced him to the culture he would obsessively love and study the rest of his life.

That obsession led to a series of epic volumes (now 7 “volumes” in 24 books, and counting) called “Science and Civilisation in China.” In it he documents in great detail how most of the inventions and scientific we have come to know as western were actually originally invented and envisioned in China (step aside Gutenberg, the printed book predated you by several centuries).

Winchester touches on some of those inventions, but mostly the book traces the man, his journeys in China during the Japanese occupation and second world war, his socialistic leanings (including meeting Chou Enlai and Mao Zedong), and the trials of creating his masterpiece, which was only partially finished at his death at 95 years old. At one point, soon after Mao has taken over China and the western world (including his campus) are in the midst of the “red scare,” Needham finds himself duped by his former friends in China, which nearly crashes his career and book project. Winchester examines that blunder and Needham’s slow climb back to acceptability, then the great success of creating one of the greatest treatises on the history of science.

An eye-opening book in many ways, exceptionally well-written by one of today’s most successful non-fiction writers. Of interest to scientists, to those who are interested in China, and anyone who wants to learn more about both.

More on “Science and Civilisation in China” can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_Civilisation_in_China.

More book reviews on Goodreads.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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Science Traveling – The Sailing Cruise

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One of the joys of science traveling is the opportunity to try new adventures. I started my career as a marine biologist so spend a good number of hours on boats and ships, but it was only a few years ago I took my first actual pleasure cruise (a gift to my parents). That ship was a huge cruise liner the size of a large hotel or two, with stops in Roatan (Honduras), Belize City (Belize), Costa Maya and Cozumel (both Mexico).

This one is different. The ship is smaller (300 guests instead of 2300) and has sails. Yes, sails.

Wind Surf

The cruise starts in St. Maarten, sails each night, and stops each day at a new Caribbean island, none of which I’ve ever seen before. Between margaritas on the terrace bar we’ll have excursions into the rainforests and beaches and mountains and reefs of Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, St. Kitts, and St. Barts, before heading back to St. Maarten (where we hope to see the planes land over Maho Beach).

Caribbean

I’ll be taking tons of photos and collecting more than a few stories. I’ll also be on the lookout for remnants of the slave trade, of which most of these islands played a significant role in the decades leading up to the U.S. Civil War.  The information is important for my Abraham Lincoln research.

More soon.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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Book Review – Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams

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Turn Right at Machu PicchuMark Adams is an editor and writer for adventure magazines who had never done anything at all adventurous. That is, until he became obsessed with Hiram Bingham III, the Yale lecturer and explorer who discovered Machu Picchu. Adams decides to follow in the steps of Bingham, and so begins a modern trek over ancient lands.

While Bingham may have indirectly been the inspiration for Indiana Jones, Adams is led on his adventure by a guide more closely related to Crocodile Dundee. John Leivers is an Aussie who has traveled to the remotest places in the world, usually under an 80-pound backpack. With four Peruvian natives manning the mules, carrying supplies, and cooking meals as they camp in the wilds, Adams and Leivers hike to Incan ruins ignored by modern tourists but discovered by Bingham a hundred years ago.

As the story unfolds, Adams reveals that “discovered” might be somewhat of a misnomer. Still, the triad of expeditions by Bingham are brought to life through Adams’s recreation of the events and retelling of Bingham’s rather comprehensive and detailed (i.e., boring) reports. The style of the book is to interweave the author’s own personal background and trials (along with that of John and the Peruvian guides) with Bingham’s history. Also interwoven is the history of the Incas from Atahulapa (murdered by Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro after extracting a ransom of gold and silver) to Manco Inca’s guerrilla warfare (and escape into the mountains) to the discovery of the ruins of Vitcos, Espritu Pampa, and Machu Picchu.

The book provides a sense of the territory being traversed and the culture both of the Incas and modern Peruvians. Adams’s writing is fluid and light, laced with rye humor, and constructed in very short chapters that make the book a delightful read. It does get sluggish in a few places, most notably immediately after Machu Picchu and Adams’s return to New York, but picks up again as he makes a return trip to hike the Inca Trail. Insights into local customs, ancient rites, and modern inconveniences are knitted deftly throughout the book.

“Turn Right at Machu Picchu” was recommended to me as a preview for my upcoming visit to the ancient city. I found that it aroused my curiosity and excitement for the trip. If you’re planning such a trip, or simply are interested in a good adventure tail about the area, then this is the book for you.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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Around the Blogs

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A lot is going on…and planning is in progress for a lot more. To get everyone up to date here is a quick round up of the blogs.

photo 3

Hot White Snow: A place for my more creative writing endeavors, writing prompt responses, erotica, science fiction, a couple of specialty series, and articles on how to improve the reader’s writing life.

Recent posts include an intriguing Microfiction post marrying Bogie, Bacall, and the Old West, plus an “On Writing” episode focused on Writing Through Writer’s Block.

Air and Water GaugesThe Dake Page: A science blog focused on communicating science to the general populace, examining climate change (both the science and the denial), and providing relevant book reviews.

Recent posts include the role of climate science in the State of the Union address and the upcoming election year, plus parsing the arrogance of ignorance in climate denial.

...and Tesla TV

Science Traveler: My author website focused on non-fiction books (Tesla, Edison, Lincoln), plus tips and tales about traveling the world.

Recent posts include the Aquarium in New Orleans, the connection between Davie Bowie and Nikola Tesla (hint: The Prestige), and a combined post on how my preparation for an upcoming trip to Machu Picchu reminds me of a previous trip into Argentinian Patagonia.

There is much more beyond this, including many activities with the Lincoln Group of DC, the Bull Run Civil War Round Table, a lot of book reading, and even more book writing.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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Preparing for Machu Picchu

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Machu PicchuMachu Picchu is on my science traveling list for this year, so I’m doing some preparation and planning for the trip. That includes some background reading like the book, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time, by Mark Adams. I’m only about 20% into it so can’t comment about the quality of the book yet, but already it’s given me some ideas for the future…and brought back some cool memories of a past trip.

The author is retracing the footsteps of Hiram Bingham III, the Yale professor who is credited with discovering Machu Picchu in 1911. As with many great discoveries, there is some intrigue about whether he was the first or not and how much it was an accident of faith to find it, but that’s a story for another time. What Bingham was actually looking for was the “Lost City of the Incas.” Before stumbling on Machu Picchu he actually first found a place called Choquequirao.

Choquequirao is considered a sister site to Machu Picchu; to this day it remains largely uncovered and undefiled by the tourist hordes. What struck me about Choquequirao was the eerily familiar approach. Adams has a photo that looks like a lot like this:

Pinturas River valley

 

 

My photo above is the approach to the Cueva de las Manos (the Cave of the Hands) in southern Patagonia, Argentina. Those are full size trees in the valley. The caption in the Adams photo says that his valley was mine on steroids – though only six miles total it took “two grueling days” of hiking down, then up. My valley was done in a long half-day, but to me it seemed no less grueling.

Reading the book gives me a taste of what to expect on the trip, as well as some fantastic background history on Inca culture and Andean geography. But it also gave me something completely unexpected – a connection to Abraham Lincoln. It seems that joining Bingham on his expedition to Choquequirao was a “well-connected young man” by the name of Clarence Hay. If that name sounds familiar it’s because Clarence Hay is the son of John Hay, the former Secretary of State to Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt – and former personal secretary to yet another president, Abraham Lincoln.

As I continue reading the book, and continue to prepare for Machu Picchu, I also find myself wanting to write more about my previous trip to Patagonia. I’ll be doing that in the near future. Until then you can read my earlier reminiscences of Patagonia here.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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David Bowie is Dead – He Lives as Nikola Tesla in The Prestige

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Pop icon David Bowie is dead, though he will always live on in my mind as Nikola Tesla in the movie The Prestige.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF76qlwWM8s

The Prestige was ostensibly about the rivalry between two turn of the 20th century magicians, but Bowie as Nikola Tesla provides the key scientific element that makes the movie. The rest of the cast in this 2006 movie isn’t so bad either, with some actors you may have heard of: Hugh Jackman (X-Men, Les Miserable, musical theater), Christian Bale (The Dark Knight), Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Avengers, Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Andy Serkis (Gollum in the Lord of the Rings; Caesar in Planet of the Apes), and of course, Michael Caine (every movie ever made).

David Bowie was often described as a chameleon, able to adapt to changing musical genres, genders, and generations. Like Tesla, Bowie was somewhat of a polymath, capable of shifting between writing, performing, and producing music; theatrical acting; and maintaining a cult following rivaling Tesla himself. His influence in creating “glam rock,” “punk rock,” and other innovative musical genres. One biographer claimed in 2002, “it was almost impossible to find a popular artist today that has not been influenced by David Bowie.”

Sounds familiar. Nikola Tesla was also a man ahead of his time whose innovation and influence is still felt today.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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Science Traveling – 2016 in Preview

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I’m going to Machu Picchu in 2016. Of course, I said I was going to Machu Picchu in 2015 and had to punt on it to this year. But this year I’m really going. I hope. Like last year, my plans could easily change, but here is what I’m planning for 2016.

Wind SurfThe only trip actually booked so far is a sailing cruise of the Caribbean in late January/early February. We’ll meet four Saints (Maarten, Kitts, Barthelemy, and Lucia), plus Barbuda, Guadaloupe, and Dominica. All while sailing point to point on a 535-foot sailboat.

Beyond that we’re looking at two other overseas trips – one to the aforementioned Machu Picchu in May, the other to China (and hopefully one other country) in October. If it all works out I’ll get to add at least six new countries to my visited list (last year I added only 3, though I was in 6 outside the U.S.).

I’ll also have my annual trip to New England to visit my parents, plus perhaps a second trip for my high school reunion. I’ve never attended a reunion before but this year I just might. It’s not until August so we’ll see when it gets closer.

Lincoln TombSpringfield, Illinois may see me twice this year. I have a scheduled trip there in September with the Lincoln Group of DC, in which we’ll pursue Lincoln’s memory through New Salem, Springfield, and points surrounding. I’m also anticipating a purely research trip, probably in March, to visit with the staffs of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Lincoln is also the focus of a November trip to Gettysburg.

Closer to home, I will likely have a book launch party in August to celebrate the release of my newest book Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World.

Those are the more-or-less planned trips. Others may include Orlando for the SETAC meeting in November, Charlottesville for the CPRC meeting in April, Mt. Rushmore (still trying to squeeze this in at some point), and Newport News, VA (home of the Monitor ironclad).

I’ll be writing many science traveling articles during 2016 so check back regularly.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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Science Traveler – Wrapping Up the Wrap Ups of 2015

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This morning I realized my watch was set for 1 hour behind the actual time. It took me a while to realize what had happened,* but it was a reflection on the amazingly busy/productive/exhausting/exhilarating year it has been. It’s time to wrap up the wrap ups.

David J. Kent drinking mateHere on Science Traveler I’ve recapped a year in the writer’s life. Two books written, a few articles for magazines and newsletters, and a ton of blog posts. I also summarized a year in science traveling that included everything from some major capitals of Europe to some alligator-infested National Parks to a prison on an island (no, not Alcatraz, the other one). I also cataloged my 2015 acquisitions of Abraham Lincoln books.

Near Cueva de las ManosOn Hot White Snow I summarized all the books I read in 2015 – all 96 of them…and I recapped what I can confidently say was a very good year.

On The Dake Page I reviewed the year in climate change, a year in which 2015 blew past 2014 as the hottest year in global temperatures on record. I also laid out the four things you need to know about the recent Paris climate agreement.

Science smartphoneThere was a lot more, so click on the blog names above and scroll down to see other articles of interest.

So what does 2016 hold for us all? Check back later for plans and predictions (and big changes to this website)!

Finally, thank you all for participating in this adventure with me. I appreciate your support, your loyalty, and your interest. I’m looking forward to providing more content in 2016 to give each and every one of you a reason to keep coming back.

Happy New Year!

*About the watch thing: I had set the watch back an hour for my trip to New Orleans, which is in the Central Time Zone. I never reset it. Since I work at home (when I’m not on the road), I generally don’t wear the watch at all, relying mostly on the clocks on my computer and smart phone. Only this morning as I sat in Panera did I notice the time was off. 🙂

David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity Rises to #1 Bestseller in its Category AGAIN

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Earlier in 2015 Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity reached #1 Bestseller status at Barnes and Noble…and now it has done it again! Even better, it reached #1 in two separate categories: “History of Science,” and “Scientists – General & Miscellaneous – Biography.” It also reached #2 in the “Inventors – Biography” category.

Tesla BN 12-28-15 History of Science #1

It has been a good year for Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity, with three printings – the 3rd in February, and the 4th and 5th printings in July and August, respectively. With over 65,000 copies in print the sales are still going strong. This is incredibly important as each sale helps bring the world of Nikola Tesla to more and more people. The book is also a favorite check out in many local libraries.

The book has also been translated into Dutch and German, with more languages on the way.

It gets even better – for a limited time during the post-Christmas break, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity is available on the Barnes and Noble website for a drastically reduced price. If you have not yet bought the book, now is the time to do it.

No word on when a 6th printing might be ordered, but it might not be until the summer of 2016 to coincide with the release of my similarly styled book, Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World. Get the Tesla book now, and look for Edison in July. And check out my other writing here.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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