Comments on: Thanks Be to the Google Thesaurus Function

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:34:29 +0000

Yeah, the answer to the last question (“How on earth did he make the librarian . . . understand what cookbook he wanted?”) was that the librarian he originally spoke to knew what the Esalen Institute was. In fact, it turned out that everyone in my department over the age of 40 knew what it was, and told me about it at length. So I’m just young and stupid.

But I still get a hoot thinking back on that guy going, “E… S… sol … um…”

By: Craig

Craig — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:25:05 +0000

I’m curious how old the inquirer was, though I would suspect a baby boomer. Esalen was big in the 1960s and early 1970s, but has fallen into decline since the 1980s. It still hosts a lot of workshops, but it isn’t the countercultural nexus it once was. I’ve obviously heard of it, but I’d find it surprising for folks younger than 35 to know what it is.

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:04:39 +0000

There are two kinds of holds at my library, the kind we can trace and the kind we can’t. And of course he had the second kind. Um… I have no explanation for the reasons behind the two kinds of holds.

By: chosha

chosha — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:33:09 +0000

My question is, why didn’t you just grab his library card and see what he had on hold. :)

But yeah, yah Google! Saves me often.