What do you call a group of cats?  A clowder.  Or a glare.  Thank you, Muse reader!

The first time I saw the library at Phillips Exeter Academy, I didn’t understand the fuss.  For five hours in the car, my interior-designer mother raved about this triumph by mid-20th-century architect Louis I. Kahn.  Arriving at the school’s admissions office for my interview, however, I distinctly remember my 14-year-old self glancing at the library and thinking that nothing about the 1971 building said “masterpiece.”  The brick nine-story cube—its corners chamfered and its windows and doorways forming a grid—stood bulky and boxy alongside the New Hampshire prep school’s neo-Georgian dorms.  Later, we passed through one of its unassuming glass and aluminum doors and entered a narrow vestibule dominated by a travertine double staircase.  The steps’ solid balustrades blocked our view until we reached the top—and then the heavens opened and the architecture angels sang.  The atrium soars 67 feet, capped by massive concrete X beams filtering light from windows just above.  Its concrete walls boast huge circular cutouts, across which run four open stories housing the book stacks, their in-facing walls clad in teak.  “When you arrive at that central void you are delivered into an architecture that has a lot more presence and grandeur than the Georgian buildings outside,” explained William Hall, author of “Concrete” (Phaidon), a book on contemporary buildings constructed of the material.  Kahn dispensed with the classic library layout:  a central reading room with rows of desks and sallow lamp light.  His square atrium remains nearly empty, and the outer rings of each floor offer sun-drenched sanctuaries that I found after some exploring.  Four cozy red armchairs on the main floor, each framed by an oversize rectangular window, and an empty carrel with views of the treetops became my go-to spots.  All flood with light during the day.  William Whitaker, University of Pennsylvania Curator of the Architectural Archives, is not surprised the library revealed its charms to me slowly.  “It’s not just a building, it is a work of art, and works of art take time,” he said.  “Kahn’s library asks something of you in terms of engagement and connection.”  Sara Bliss  https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-i-hated-americas-most-stunning-libraryat-first-1506016714?mod=itp&mod=djemITP_h

Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio, on February 18, 1931.  She was the second of four children from an African-American working class family.  Her parents were Ellah Ramah (Willis) and George Wofford.  Her middle name honored her maternal grandmother, Ardelia Willis.  Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, was set in 1940s Lorain.  That novel and her others, Sula, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, Beloved, Jazz, Paradise, Love, A Mercy, Home and God Help the Child have received extensive critical acclaim.  Morrison worked for twenty years as Senior Editor at Random House where she encouraged the works of many new African-American authors.  Morrison received degrees from Howard and Cornell Universities.  She held teaching positions at Yale, Bard College, Rutgers University, and the State University of New York at Albany.  In 1989 she was appointed Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University.  On October 7, 1993, the Swedish Academy announced the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Morrison.  The Academy cited Morrison as an author “who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.”  On January 22, 1995, Morrison returned to the Lorain Public Library to join family and friends in attendance for the dedication of the Toni Morrison Reading Room.  In her school days in Lorain she had worked as a library aide in the "old" Carnegie Library building located on 10th Street.  Read much more at https://www.lorainpubliclibrary.org/research/local-research/local-authors/toni-morrison

Reader Feedback:  Today's article on Lewis Carroll--pretty sure he was a mathematician of long tenure at Oxford who dabbled in literature and not the other way around as per the article.  Really more of a Renaissance man who was noted in both fields.  Thank you, Muse reader!   In 1855, Charles L. Dodgson became the mathematical lecturer at Christ Church College in the University of Oxford, UK.  His job was to prepare Christ Church men (for it was all men) to pass examinations in mathematics. Dodgson (1832–98) would go on to publish Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) under the pen name Lewis Carroll, but he also produced many pamphlets and ten books on mathematical topics.  In some of these, he exhibited unusual methods—for rapid arithmetic, for example.  Others featured innovative ideas that foreshadowed developments in the twentieth century, for instance in voting theory.  Francine F. Abeles  http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v527/n7578/full/527302a.html?foxtrotcallback=true  See also http://www.lewiscarroll.org/carroll/math/

An electrolyte is a substance that produces an electrically conducting solution when dissolved in water.  Electrolytes carry a charge and are essential for life.  All higher forms of life need electrolytes to survive.  In our bodies, electrolytes include sodium (Na⁺), potassium (K⁺), calcium (Ca²⁺), bicarbonate (HCO₃^-), magnesium (Mg²⁺), chloride (C1^-), and hydrogen phosphate (HPO₄^2-).   Electrolytes regulate our nerve and muscle function, our body's hydration, blood pH, blood pressure, and the rebuilding of damaged tissue.  Fresh fruits and vegetables are rich in electrolytes.  Our muscles and neurons are sometimes referred to as the "electric tissues" of the body.  Christian Nordkvist  https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153188.php  

Make your Own Electrolyte Energy Drink   1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice, 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 ½ to 2 cups fresh water, depending on how strong you want the flavor, 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt, 2 tablespoons natural sugar or honey, to taste.  Find other recipes for energy drinks at http://everydayroots.com/homemade-energy-drink

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS TRIVIA  Nina and Pinta were not the actual names of two of Columbus’ three ships.  In 15th-century Spain, ships were traditionally named after saints.  Salty sailors, however, bestowed less-than-sacred nicknames upon their vessels.  Mariners dubbed one of the three ships on Columbus’s 1492 voyage the Pinta, Spanish for “the painted one” or “prostitute.”  The Santa Clara, meanwhile, was nicknamed the Nina in honor of its owner, Juan Nino.  Although the Santa Maria is called by its official name, its nickname was La Gallega, after the province of Galicia in which it was built.  The Santa Maria wrecked on Columbus’ historic voyage.  On Christmas Eve of 1492, a cabin boy ran Columbus’s flagship into a coral reef on the northern coast of Hispaniola, near present-day Cap Haitien, Haiti.  Its crew spent a very un-merry Christmas salvaging the Santa Maria’s cargo.  Columbus returned to Spain aboard the Nina, but he had to leave nearly 40 crewmembers behind to start the first European settlement in the Americas—La Navidad.  When Columbus returned to the settlement in the fall of 1493, none of the crew were found alive.  Heirs of Columbus and the Spanish monarchy were in litigation until 1790.  After the death of Columbus, his heirs waged a lengthy legal battle with the Spanish crown, claiming that the monarchy short-changed them on money and profits due the explorer.  Most of the Columbian lawsuits were settled by 1536, but the legal proceedings nearly dragged on until the 300th anniversary of Columbus’ famous voyage.  http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-christopher-columbus  Christopher Columbus is an important historical figure.  The Great Mariner has also become a controversial figure, especially in recent years, as many groups and historians have been prone to pointing out some of his negative accomplishments, such as slave trading, quests for gold and his treatment of New World Natives.   Fifteen years before he reached the New World, Columbus sailed to Iceland and visited a small Christian church on the Eastern end of the island.  This piece of trivia may be the most surprising or controversial, but Iceland had been a Christian nation, since the eleventh century, when Leif Eriksson, (a Christian convert) had established the first church there.  Going to Iceland was no big deal, as Catholic priests made the voyage from time to time on ships bound for Norway.  Further evidence can be found in Columbus's journals, where he speaks about going to Tiles (the name used for Iceland at that time).  https://owlcation.com/humanities/Christopher-Columbus-Trivia  Christopher Columbus never set foot on North America.  The first Columbus Day celebration recorded in the United States was in New York on October 12th, 1792, held  to honor Italian-American heritage.  President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1937 proclaimed October 12th to be Columbus Day, a national holiday.  In 1971, the holiday date was changed to the second Monday in October.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/14/christopher-columbus-3-things-you-think-he-did-that-he-didnt/?utm_term=.34ec726d09d4

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1781  October 9, 2017  On this date in 1593, Nicolaes Tulp, Dutch anatomist and politician, was born.  In this date in 1883, Maria Filotti, Greek-Romanian actress, was born.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_9