There is the usual quota of errors in Alex Beam’s new book.

Among those that jumped out at me are his belief that interim U.S. senators are appointed by the President; that there was a Native American leader called Chief Joseph Seattle; that Gibbon wrote of “The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire”; that a bluestocking and a bluenose are the same thing; that Cooper Union is in Union Square; that in 1952 the tax-filing deadline for Americans was April 15. Yeah, small potatoes; still …

It is proper to ask, jocularly, of course, “Is this one a Great Book?” Well, I’ll say this: A Great Idea at the Time shares certain of the features of a Great Book, as type, pages, binding, &c.; it lacks others, such as thesis, argument, conclusion, and wit.

Alex Beam has told a wonderful story in this book, chockfull of tidbits, morsels, and delicious anecdotes.

Humorless devotees and cranks are going to complain—they already are—that he doesn’t show enough respect for the books themselves, or for the movement that Hutchins and Adler began. They will whine that not enough genuflection occurs.

But the fact that he wrote this book and found a publisher for it suggests that the Great Books are far from dead. His last chapter, “Dead Books Walking,” rings with inspirational confidence that rumors of the movement’s demise are greatly exaggerated.

The computer mouse turns 40 today.

It was introduced on this day (December 9) in 1968 by its inventor, scientist Douglas Engelbart, at a demonstration at Stanford University’s Augmentation Research Center. The historic occasion is captured on this video.

Click below for a larger viewing screen and a detailed history of this now-universal device.

Revisiting (yet again) those classics that refuse to die …

This week at the Britannica Blog we’ll revisit the Great Books in a new forum you’re invited to join.

An assortment of latter-day Great Bookies will discuss the place of the classics in the world today and probe some of the issues about reading and liberal education that linger fifty years after the height of the Great Books “craze” and fifteen years, give or take, since the so-called “canon wars” of the eighties and nineties ended, more, it seems, from battle fatigue among the combatants than a decisive victory by either side.

We hope you’ll join the discussions and debate.

This week, starting tomorrow, the Britannica Blog will conduct one of its occasional fora/freeforalls, this one on the topic of Great Books. Not so much the set of volumes available for purchase from a certain publishing company (Encyclopaedia Britannica), but the idea that there are certain identifiable books that are the best of the best and that reading them ought to be the core of, or at least a significant element in, the education of the young.

I’ll be contributing a review of Alex Beam’s new book, A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books, on both aspects of the “Great Books.” Your opinions are welcome, too.

In 1980 on this day British rock legend John Lennon was murdered outside his residence in the famed Dakota building in New York City, sending shock waves among his fans around the world.

The period news report shown here reflects the extraordinary impact this incident had at the time. There are statements from President Jimmy Carter, incoming president Ronald Reagan, and editorializing and speculation whether the failure of gun-control legislation in the United States stemmed from money and influence-peddling from organizations such as the National Rifle Association.

The video is from WBBM in Chicago.

Several California towns have placed the decal shown here on local trash containers urging mothers to stop dumping their unwanted children in the garbage but to leave them with a medical professional or at a local fire station. Most frequently dumped, say officials, are newborns and stillborn children.

The stickers were created by Debbie Faris, who operates a cemetery for abandoned infants, and were designed with images that mothers of all nationalities could understand.

Says a local police sergeant about the stickers and mothers about to throw away their children: “Maybe at the last minute the thought of reality might set it, but they’ve usually made that decision before they go to the trash bin.”

KIM BASINGER, born this day in Athens, Georgia, in 1953, is rather like another of my idols, Elizabeth Taylor. She’s a drop-dead gorgeous woman whose real life is far more dramatic and tumultuous than any role she’s ever played.

Ms. Basinger would certainly laugh uproariously if anyone so much as suggested that she was a fashion icon. She always hated modeling. Though naturally aware of her own beauty and other peoples’ perceptions of her, she never took it seriously. Away from the spotlight, she doesn’t wear makeup or favor designer labels that are worth thousands of dollars.

But glamorous and talented she certainly is, as seen here, in the many looks — and even sounds — of Kim Basinger, who sings the Cole Porter classic accompanying the video here.

Ted Turner: KGB ‘Honorable,’ Iraq ‘Naked Aggression’ Like Soviets in Afghanistan.

Lily Tomlin: When You Say ‘Zoo,’ Elephants Hear ‘Guantanamo Bay.’

Editor’s Note: The Britannica Blog welcomes other examples of what readers see as media bias, be it liberal or conservative.

Queen Christina was born into Swedish royalty this day in 1626.

Her father’s only heir, she was raised as a Prince, educated as a boy, and adored traditionally male sports. Christina even took the oath as a king, not a queen. Growing up, she was nicknamed “Girl King” and, at the age of six, upon her father’s death, Christina became the Queen of Sweden.

Every object in my composition is symbolic of Christina, her life and times …