Jessica Kerwin Jenkins

4.5 This book is described by the author as a "treasure box" collection of terms, objects, people, historical events that caught her interest. What they all have in common is that they are exquisite: of special beauty or charm, or rare and appealing excellence. This book regains some of the reverence for the ordinary objects, words, social conventions and history that we think we know. The author states: “… knowing … can make you feel rich and … learning … can turn the world vast and strange.” For example, the Bartlett pear has its origins in a saint’s gift to a sick king. Frilly Lingerie has been around a lot longer than Victoria’s Secret and has a history of elegance and social agenda. We know lightning inspired Ben Franklin, but it also captivated Nikola Tesla who 1oo years later (1899) created man-made lightning. However, he turned down the Nobel Prize in 1912 because he didn’t want to share it with Edison and ultimately went bankrupt. Today, electric cars that bear his name sell for $80,000 and have a wait list for years. The author again: “This book is an homage to frivolity…doing something frivolous means doing something pretty and purposeless.” Engaging, witty and entertaining, this exquisite book is a must for any know-it-all you know.… (altro)

Jessica Kerwin Jenkins’s All the Time in the World is a delightful collection of historical anecdotes, asides, and trivia arranged like a traditional book of hours. Historically, a book of hours was an ordered collection of prayers, rituals, and devotionals to be learned and practiced at regulated times of the day and certain days of years. While each book was different and unique to its owner, it allowed the reader to incorporate elements of monasticism into their religious lives.

Jenkins’s book takes that format and spins it. There are chapters and sections for each month and specific times of the day, ranging from 6 AM to 5 AM the next day. At each time, she gives a peek into historical events that center around that time. For instance, at 8 AM, she details the awakening and dressing ceremony of Louis XIV of France (which happened at 8 AM each day during his reign). At 3:51 PM, she tells the story of how Nellie Bly arrived at Jersey City (at that precise time) and beat Phileas Fogg’s fictional record of circling the globe in eighty days (she did it in just over 72 days). At 11 PM, there’s the tale of the first reading of Howl by Allen Ginsberg (just after 11 PM) and how that made its mark on literary culture.

Each snippet is fun and they make the book very quick to read. There’s a bit of historical whiplash that comes with reading vignette after vignette, but the overall effect is quite dazzling. You realize that history is not just a broad, sweeping beast, but rather a collection of individual moments, and those moments can happen at any time of the day. These collections of historical trinkets are fast becoming my favorite type of book as they remind me of my favorite magazine: mental_floss. Like so many other books in this style, the reader can take small bites and come back for more whenever they like. A very fun book.… (altro)

This is a fun book to leaf through with a variety of entries on many different subjects. Looking at the middle of the book, we have disquisitions on such subjects as:
Miserere: A seventeenth-century choral composition.
Moritsuke: Traditional Japanese fules of food arrangement.
Mouches: Fake beauty marks.
Nebula, the Powdered Sugar Princess
Nectar and Ambrosia: the mythological sweet drink and food of the gods.

Although the book has a bis towards western civilization, it is wide-ranging and well researched.… (altro)