Places of Infinite Possibilities
Newsletter: Sep 16th 2022
The greater Wayzata community officially and warmly welcomed The Thinking Spot yesterday and in return we promise to provide “a place of infinite possibilities” - as one Author describes independent bookstores - to the community for years to come.
The ribbon cutting gave me a chance to reflect on why we are here. Our tagline is “Making Science Accessible”. There are times when people hear science and go, “not for me”! Until, that is, they step into the Spot. Whether it's the fashion designer interested in Fashionopolis or the hockey players who keep picking up the story of Frank Zamboni or the Brewery enthusiast finding a Gut Microbiome book, they find that science is behind any possible interest they may have. So, thank you for reading/listening/playing/attending at The Spot. Your support makes it possible for us to have these books/toys/workshops/speakers available to the community at large. Together, we can make conversations about science a norm instead of a nerd thing.
Upcoming Events
Tomorrow Saturday 9/17 at 3p. Liz Heinecke will be at The Spot with her experiments. If you have a 6-10 yr old, you don't want them to miss this. Bound to be fun.
Sunday 9/18 2p - Science Bookclub is meeting for the first section of “An Immense World”. What a fascinating book it's turning out to be. Join us if interested, there are still 6 more weeks on this book. Age Group: Adults
Friday 9/23 5p - We are hosting STEM Builders of Plymouth, for another workshop. This time on Robotics for the 6-10 yr old. Minimum 3 signups required to hold the workshop. If there is enough interest, we can make this a recurring event at The Spot.
Sunday 9/25 1p - AI Assisted ART Workshop and fundraiser for CodeSavvy Hackathon! Come learn what we know about this transformative tech and the pitfalls to watch out for. Age Group: Primarily Adults. Kids 12+ may enjoy it too.
Saturday Oct 1st 3p - Meet 3M Chief Science Advocate Jayshree Seth. Hear her talk about who can be “The Science Type”. Spoiler Alert - it's everyone! Age Group: Adults.
SmartReads - the Bookclub for 7-12 yr olds is ON! Kids picked “The Last Mapmaker” as their first read. Meetings will be Monthly on Sundays at 4p. First meeting is scheduled for Oct 16th 2022. Check out the link if your kid is interested and let me know if you'd like me to reserve a copy for them.
Science News of the Week
It is so typical of humanity that the first idea on how to save the planet from an errant asteroid is to ram into it! September 26th, NASA's DART mission will rendezvous with an asteroid as a test in ramming it off it's course. It's a test and there's a chance nothing happens or the satellite misses the asteroid completely. But the question I don't see answered is whether there is a chance it actually works too well and pushes the asteroid onto a collision course with Earth, where currently it is not! Hope someone's thinking about it. :)
Lots of great new releases this week. I usually get ~50 new titles each week. Some weeks, it's super hard to narrow down to 5 for the newsletter. This was one such week. Stop in for more.
New Releases this week
The Botany of Beer
By Giuseppe Caruso
From mass-produced lagers to craft-brewery IPAs, from beers made in Trappist monasteries according to traditional techniques to those created by innovative local brewers seeking to capture regional terroir, the world of beer boasts endless varieties. The diversity of beer does not only reflect the differences among the people and cultures who