Published: April 28, 2008 03:22 pm         

Friends of the Art Circle Public Library to welcome science writer to June 3 dinner

Michael Sims, nationally and internationally acclaimed science writer, is this year’s featured speaker for the Friends of the Art Circle Public Library’s annual dinner meeting on June 3. Sims, who was born and grew up in the Homesteads, will be returning to his roots and renewing old ties when he comes to Crossville for the popular, festive event at the Community Complex.

Struck with rheumatic arthritis in his early teens, Michael Sims was forced to spend five years in a wheel chair, unable to attend school. The public library was a saving grace for him, as he read voraciously, at first science fiction and mysteries, but eventually science itself. His interests grew and soon took in the varied fields that have interested him ever since: science, nature, mythology, literature.

Although Sims’ formal education ended with his graduation from Crossville High School, he has never stopped reading and learning, acquiring on his own the equivalent of an excellent liberal arts education. Eventually he was able to make a new life for himself in Nashville, where he worked at first in a bookstore and then in the Special Collections and Archives of Vanderbilt University.

Along the way Sims began a career in writing, doing book reviews for a local Nashville paper as well as articles for major publications such as the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, the New Statesman and American Archeology. In 1997 his first book, Darwin’s Orchestra, was critically well-received but in print for a limited time. Readers will be glad to know that our own Art Circle Public Library has a circulating copy of it.

It was his second book, Adam’s Navel, a lively, close look at the visible aspects of human anatomy, which brought him national and international attention. Adam’s Navel was both a New York Times notable book and a Library Journal best science book of the year. It was published simultaneously in all English-speaking countries, with translations into eight languages.

Interviews about this fascinating book and Sims’ writing in general brought to light another talent. He is a witty, engaging raconteur and conversationalist. As a result, he has appeared on many radio and TV shows including NPR and the BBC.

His newest book, Apollo’s Fire, is a dawn-to-dusk look at a day in the life of our own planet earth. Like his other books, Sims draws into the narrative information from a whole range of fields to enliven the story and demonstrate the many ways in which we relate to the earth, its life, and the passage of time.

All of this is ample proof that his listeners are in for two kind of feasts on the evening of June 3, first a catered sit-down meal, followed by the pièce de resistance, a fascinating look at our place in the wide world we inhabit. Sims has titled his talk "You Are Here: Where Hometown Fits in the Map of the Universe." Tickets for the event are $20 per person and may be purchased at the Art Circle Library or from members of the Friends of the Library.