Over the last 150 days, we’ve tried to show what the MIT Libraries collection is really like. We’ve covered just about everything, it seems, from the wonders of electricity to proper computer terminal setups, from children’s books to local history, from the fine arts to physics to outdoor adventure. Today, marking our present year and […]

Published: Cambridge, Mass., 1988 The 1980s were a terribly dark time for large segments of American society. A mysterious, almost uniformly fatal illness was killing people, most of them young or in their prime. Because the syndrome decimated the immune system, its symptoms were wide-ranging, and those it affected suffered from numerous infections and maladies […]

Published: New York, 1987 Alexander Lenard’s Latin translation of Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh may be the most surprising New York Times best seller to date. First published in 1958 – in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and in an edition of only 100 copies – it went on to spend 20 weeks on the Times best seller list in […]

Published: New York, 1986 Art Spiegelman’s Maus was originally published in serial form beginning in 1980, in the comic anthology Raw. It appeared in book form in 1986, when volume I, “My Father Bleeds History,” was published by Pantheon Books. More than thirty years after its initial appearance, Maus hasn’t lost an ounce of its […]

Published: Cambridge, Mass., 1985 MIT is home to the planet’s most elite course in electrical engineering and computer science. “Course 6,” as it’s known in MIT-speak, attracts the very finest students and the most distinguished faculty associated with any such program. It retains its ranking as the best in the world, at least in part, […]

Published: Secaucus, N.J., 1984 In this, his second gambling manual, Edward Thorp offers his readers plenty of practical advice, but he also spills some ink reminiscing about his days as a graduate student at UCLA. “In our mutual poverty,” he writes, musing on a study break with some fellow students, “the conversation readily turned to […]

Published: Berkeley, 1983 It’s no secret that some of the conquistadors who invaded Mexico in the 16th century were bent on the wholesale destruction of its native culture. Still, there were others – mostly priests – who sought to preserve the Aztec culture (albeit in order to use that knowledge to convert the natives from […]

Published: New York, 1982 Donlyn Lyndon, the author of this guide to Boston’s built environment, headed MIT’s Department of Architecture from 1968 to 1975, and he knows his subject. The City Observed is more than just one expert’s opinion of Boston and its buildings, though. It’s also an extremely readable introduction to the language of […]

Published: Morristown, N.J., 1981 Before World of Warcraft, before Super Mario Brothers or Pac-Man, even before Pong, there was Spacewar! Not everyone knows it, but MIT holds a unique place in the history of video games. It was here that the first video game intended for computer use – Spacewar! – was invented. One of […]

Published: Norwalk, Conn. and Washington, D.C., 1980 This lavishly illustrated catalog reads like a Who’s Who of scientific greats. The Burndy Library, from which these items have been selected, is the fruit of more than fifty years of collecting by Bern Dibner. A self-made Ukrainian immigrant, Dibner made his fortune as an inventive electrical engineer. […]