NORTH READING READS 2008 EVENTS:

    The Hybrid Car: Just One of Several Efficiency Tools
       Thursday, February 7, 7PM, Presented by North Reading
       Resident, Hobbit

       Hobbit bought a Prius back in early 2005, and has been studying it and other vehicle
        propulsion and efficiency topics with great intensity every since.  In the process, he
        has become an information resource on the cars, contributing all of his discoveries,
        modifications, and research back to the community.  He has brought a consumer-
        viewpoint wisdom into technical training seminars, and maintains an extensive
        website of information from broad overviews to deep engineering details:
        http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/#prius

     TREK: A Journey on the Appalachian Trail, a Documentary
       Film,   Thursday,  February 28 7PM

    
     TREK: A Journey on the Appalachian Trail is the story of four young men and the 
     people they meet as they attempt to hike the 2,168 miles of the Appalachian Trail from
     Georgia to Maine. Shot and edited by the hikers themselves, this documentary is one
     of the most accurate portrayals of the thru-hiker lifestyle that has been produced to  
     date. Spanning 14 states and five months, this critically-acclaimed film will inspire you
     to follow your own dreams, no matter what the odds.

 

     Book Discussion: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson,
    Tuesday, March 4, 7PM, sponsored by the Friends.
   
     The Friends invite you to discuss this bestselling book, considered a
       an adventure, a comedy, and a celebration, destined to become a a modern classic of
       travel literature.  Dave Barry says, "Bryson is great company, right from the start--"
      
        
    An Evening on the Appalachian Trail with REI, of    
     Reading, Tuesday, March 11, 7PM

    Staff from REI will be on hand to share tales of their own adventures hiking portions
     of the AT. The program includes maps and other visuals. Since its beginnings in the 
     1930's,  "REI has been committed to helping  people enjoy the great outdoors to the   
     fullest."
 


   A Poetry Reading by Erica Funkhouser, Tuesday, March 18,
     7PM
 
    
Poet Erica Funkhouser will read from her fifth collection of poems, Earthly, to be published in March by Houghton Mifflin. A 2007 recipient of a Guggenheim  Fellowship, her previous books include Pursuit, The Actual World, Sure Shot, and  Natural Affinities. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic,  Ploughshares, Poetry, and many other magazines and anthologies. One of her poems has  been sand-blasted into the wall of the Davis Square MBTA  Station in Somerville,  MA
 She received a B.A. from Vassar College and an M.A. from 
    Stanford University. She  was honored as a Literary Light by the Boston Public Library
    in 2002. She lives on the North Shore and teaches poetry writing at MIT.

    Of her work, Joyce Carol Oates has said it has "an unusual clarity of vision and
    language."  Poet Gerald Stern writes, "At the center of Funkhouser's poetry...
    lies a love of clarity and sanity...She is sure-footed, a true singer."
   
    Copies of Earthly will be available for signing through Book Ends of Winchester.


    Climate Change in the Northeast: What It  Could Mean for
    North Reading and What We Can Do About It, Presented by
    John Rogers, Thursday, March 20, 7PM

    John Rogers is the Northeast Clean Energy Project Manager for the Union of Concerned
     Scientists, helping to implement a range of cutting-edge clean energy and climate
     policies that the organization has helped win in the region. John joined USC in 2006
     after 15 years of clean energy experience in the private and public sectors, including
     as co-founder of Soluz, Inc., a leading developer of clean-energy solutions for rural
     markets. 

     Among other prior positions, he served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer
     in Honduras. He serves on the advisory board of a not-for-profit organization
     dedicated to expanding energy access worldwide through rural energy enterprises.
     John holds a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and
     an A.B. from Princeton University.

     John  is a member of North Reading's Recycling Committee and the town's new
     Ad Hoc Energy Study Committee.
    

   Buildings and Climate Change: Can Building Energy Use Go to
   Zero? Presented by Les Norford, Thursday, April 17, 7PM

    Les Norford is a Professor of Building Technology in the Department of Architecture
     at M.I.T., where his goal is to reduce energy use in buildings. 

    His talk will highlight efforts at M.I.T. and allied institutions to meet demands for
    safe, comfortable and affordable buildings, while respecting limits on fuel resources
    and the linkages between carbon emissions and climate change. These efforts include
    advances in construction methods and space-conditioning equipment, systems
    engineering  methods to identify optimal combinations of technologies, and
    operations  of renewable generation of electricity.  Responsibilities of research
    institutions, government  policymakers and consumers in achieving zero-energy
    buildings will be identified.

    After undergraduate education at Cornell and a stint as a nuclear-power engineer in  the 
    U.S. Navy, he  studied mechanical engineering at Princeton University, motivated by oil 
    shocks and the research community's recognition   that energy efficiency represented a
    very large resource that could be harvested at low economic and environmental cost.
    His early research included a studyf energy use in office equipment that contributed to
    the EPA's energy Star computer-labeling  program and measurements of energy use in
    Russian housing that supported major changes in building codes to require higher
    efficiency. 

    Dr. Norford has worked on  village housing in Pakistan and India and on energy-efficient
    urban housing in China. He is starting major projects in Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

  
     A Walk in the North Reading Woods led by Janet Nicosia,
       Saturday, April 26, 2PM , Ives Memorial Forest
    
     Join Janet Nicosia and others for a walk in the spring woods of North Reading.
     Janet likes to share her love of the outdoors by leading hikes with friends,
     and has taught hiking classes for children through North Reading
     Parks & Recreation. As Co-Chair of both Martins Pond Committees, she advocates for
     environmental causes, and has partnered with the town and with Merrimack College to
     win grants for restoration and pollution reduction in the Martins Pond Watershed. She
     works for the town of Andover and is also a graduate student in GIS at Salem State
     College. She plans to create a new hiking map of the area for this event.

     Meet at the cul-de-sac at the end of Arline Drive, which is the first left off of Foley
     Drive. This is called Ives Memorial Forest.
    
     The Ives Memorial Forest, which is town conservation land,  was established in 1968,
     in memory of Richard B. Ives, who served on the Conservation Commission, and
     intendedto be used by the young people of North Reading as a recreation area.  The 
     Ives' 19.2 acres abut the Harold Parker Forest.
   
    The walk is open to all ages. Families are encouraged to attend.
        

     John Veneziano, Author of Numbelieveable!: The Dramatic
    Stories Behind the Most Memorable Numbers in Sports
    History, Tuesday, May 20, 7PM

John Veneziano is co-author, with Michael X. Ferraro, of Numbelieveable!: The Dramatic Stories Behind the Most Memorable Numbers in Sports History, published by Triumph Books.  The book includes several stories with Boston themes, including: Ted Williams' batting average in 1941; Bill Russell's 11 NBA championships; and Bobby Orr's No. 4 uniform.

John Veneziano is currently an editor at H.O. Zimman Publishing in Lynn; editor of the Official Super Bowl and Pro Bowl programs for the National Football League; and assistant editor of the Official US Open (Tennis) Program, produced for the United States Tennis Association. A graduate of Boston University, he was Assistant Sports Information Director at Boston University and  Sports Information Director and Assistant Director of Athletics at Harvard University.

He is now at work on The Third H Book of Harvard Athletics, detailing the school's athletic history from 1963 to the present day.

John Venziano has lived with his family in North Reading since 1994.


 Wingmasters, North American Birds of Prey,
    Monday, June 9, 7PM

    "Birds of Prey" with  Wingmasters--a chance to see and learn about New England
     raptors. There will be a brief Annual Meeting of the Friends. Free tickets required.
     Children must be 6 or older. Friends have priority.
   

 Old House Restoration, Tuesday, September 16, 7PM

     Matthew Cummings, architect, of Cummings Architects and James Whidden,
     woodwright, of , will present a program about restoring old houses, touching on topics
     ranging from historical documentation, to budget, to permits. They will also
     talk about how and when to update historical spaces for modern living, or build new
     additions that retain traditional styles. Matthew Cummings and James Whidden have
     restored some of  the most historically significant 17th and 18th century houses still
     standing on the North Shore.


  Sisters in Crime, "Using What You Know to Write Mysteries,"
     Thursday, October 2, 7PM

     Mystery writers Frankie Bailey, Leslie Meier, and Dana Cameron,  of Sisters in Crime,
      will discuss their craft.
  
    

 

 

 Return to top of page

 

Return to top of page