Did you ever give much thought to your address? I didn't, or at least not much beyond there were even numbers on one side of the street, and odd on the other ... and that 'street' was a city address and 'road' a county address. There's actually an interesting history here and you can read about it in The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power, by Deirdre Mask. When and why were houses first given numbers? Who determines the names of streets or roads? How do those change over time? You've heard of vanity plates for cars, but did you know there are vanity addresses (for a price)?

There are lots of things we take for granted these days, but hey, who was the first? (For me, artichokes come to mind)(!) That is explored in Who Ate the First Oyster? The Extraordinary People Behind the Greatest Firsts in History, by Cody Cassidy. The author interviews archeologists, anthropologists, scientists, sociologists and so on to come up with a person (to whom he gives a name) that were the first to brew beer, carry a baby in a sling, use a bow and arrow, and even what might have been the first murder victim. This is a fascinating book!

Reading Hermit With Dog