More books equal better brains.

When I worked for The Princeton Review, one of the things we used to tell students was that the only thing that really significantly correlated with test scores was income. If you had more money, you’d generally do better, no matter how you had done in school, how much you studied, whatever. It definitely motivated kids to prepare for test, but it also made me really sad. Now that standardized tests are becoming mandatory, people in Florida have noticed that better libraries mean better scores, even as the amount spent on most of those libraries is “pitiful”. [thanks mac]

economic downturn = wretched choices

Reported here earlier about the Massachusetts Horticultural Society having to sell off their book collection for financial reasons. They sold the bulk of it to the Chicago Botanic Garden. Other rare books were sold at auction where they were dismantled, colored, and sold as illustrations.

My friend, who runs a small offshore sportsbook, says that “Albert Burrage bequeathed his collection to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society with the good faith expectation that it would be held there in perpetuity. While the ultimate villain is the person who put the knife to the book, the Christie’s sale represents a fundamental betrayal of patrimony.” [thanks allen]