Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer who helped shape the course of American literature. His life was full of tragedy and despair, but he managed some of the most influential American literature of the 19th century and continues to influence writers to this day.

    The early life of Edgar Allan Poe was quite miserable.Born in 1809, Poe was not yet three years old when his parents died.Adopted by a wealthy family,he got into trouble at school.He  entered the United States Military Academy at West Point,but he dropped out without graduating. His misery continued to his adult life.Later,because of a failed marriage, he suffered from mental illness. He was so upset about real life that he turned to writing.Expressing himself in an unreal and imaginary world was his only comfort.

    The tragedies in Poe's life influenced the tone,style and contents of his writing.His stories usually include death,which help build his reputation as a master of"dark"literature.In his The

    Tell-Tale Heart, the main character goes crazy and kills his roommate while in The Black Cat, the narrator kills his cat in a fit of madness.

    Poe died at the age of 40 in 1849.His life was tragic and short,but his legacy(遗产) is enormous.Poe is credited with creating crime fiction,and many say he contributed greatly to the appearance of science fiction.Fascinated by the scientific theories and new inventions of his time, he wrote about imaginary societies in the future.Writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle,the author of Sherlock Holmes,regarded Poe as the father of detective fiction. Jules Verne, a French writer who helped popularize science fiction,said Poe's work had a direct influence on the stories he wrote.

With the clicking of walking sticks and determined steps, a long line of walking group along the winding road is a fantastic sight. Almost each of the walkers is using some kind of fitness tracker. A few Fitbits, some Xiaomi wrist bands (手环), a couple of phone apps and some other pedometers (计步器) — and all, they say, are counting their steps.

    Fitness trackers are in. Sales figures for 2016 released by Internet Data Center (IDC) indicated 25% market growth compared to the previous year, with Fitbit taking the lion's share, followed by the brand Xiaomi.

    However, the wearables market has had a rollercoaster ride in recent months. Jawbone, once a popular fitness tracker brand, announced that it is leaving the consumer market. Microsoft has removed its Fitness Band on its online store although it is still available on retail (零售) giant Amazon. Fitbit remains a key brand name at the heart of the fitness tracker revolution. But it is recently reported to be cutting down on workers, and its founder James Park said it experienced “softer than expected” sales recently.

    Counting steps is probably the most common use of wearable devices (可穿戴设备), but recently experts have questioned whether the golden goal of walking 10,000 steps a day is actually worthwhile, and a US study concluded that health trackers did not aid weight loss.

Analyst Ben Wood from CCS Insight used to wear a fitness tracker on either wrist. Now, however, his concern is about users'experience — these devices don't tell you anything new after a while. There are also battery problems and many of the older and cheaper varieties aren't waterproof (防水的).

    Movie Nights at the Museum brings you classic movies in a classic location. Each film has been chosen for its connection to an area of our knowledge.

We start this movie season with ocean-inspired cinema to celebrate the arrival of the noble blue whale in the Museum's typical hall, the site for the series.

    So get your popcorn, take your seat, and settle in for Movie Nights at the Museum.

Jaws

    Did you know that great whites actually find the taste of human flesh not tasty? However, this legendary Steven Spielberg thriller sees a giant great white shark cause destruction on the shores of a New England beach town in the mid-1970s.

Free Willy

    Did you know that the killer whale is not a whale? It's actually a dolphin. In this heart-warming 90s classic, orphan Jesse makes friends with a trapped killer whale and does whatever it takes to return him to his family and ocean home.

Finding Nemo

    Contrary to popular belief, fish are actually good at remembering things. Follow young clownfish Nemo, taken unexpectedly from his Great Barrier Reef home, and his father and forgetful partner who go on a brave journey to find him, in this charming Disney adventure.

The Little Mermaid

    In this classic Disney tale of a mermaid princess who dreams of becoming human, Ariel falls in love with a handsome prince, much to the sadness of her father and long-suffering friends. But did you know that a fish is actually brown and flat, with both eyes on one side of its body?

Ticket: £ 28, Member: £ 25.

My Favourite Travel Books

    The Old Patagonian Express by Paul Theroux

    Choosing my favorite Paul Theroux book is like picking my favorite place in the world: It's impossible to settle on just one. But The Old Patagonian Express, which is about a train journey Theroux made from Boston, USA to southern Argentina, is right up there at the top of my list. Theroux has a wicked sense of humor. He brings so much wisdom and experience to his travels.

    Walden by Henry David Thoreau

    If he were alive today, Thoreau would probably frown if he heard someone refer to Walden as a travel book. But I regard it as a travel-writing masterpiece. I went into the woods, he writes, because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. That's the same spirit of discovery that defines so many great contemporary travel records.

    The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac

    Like so many people, I fell in love with Kerouac's novels in my late teens and early 20s. On the Road gets all the press, but I always love The Dharma Bums. Kerouac beautifully captures the romance of California trains, Berkeley, and backpacking in the Sierras. It's hard to read this book without wanting to leave for the mountains to brainstorm bad haikus on the trail and cook canned macaroni and cheese over a crackling campfire.

    Confucius Lives Next Door by T. R. Reid

    This is sort of A Year in Provence in Japan, only the cross-cultural differences are much greater. Reid and his family moved to Tokyo when he became the chief for The Washington Post, enabling him to uncover truths about the country. Among the highlights are his observations about Japanese schools, including Yodobashi No. 6 Elementary School, where his daughters were greeted by the whole school staff.

    Just as John Lubbock said, we may sit in a library and yet be in all quarters of the earth. Here are some of the coolest libraries of the world.

    Stuttgart City Library

    Despite a classic white-on-white color, Stuttgart City Library is one of the most visually appealing modern libraries. The amazing modern and simple look is the product of the Korean architect Yi Eun-young. The German library opened in 2011, and cost nearly 80 million euros to construct.

    Kanazawa Umimirai Library

    Architects from the Coelacanth K&H Architects studio designed the Kanazawa Umimirai Library lo create the best reading environment. Healed floors, an outpouring of natural light, and other features were specifically included lo achieve this goal. The wall, which consists of thousands of tiny openings, allows natural lighting into the building, improving the overall feel of the space. This Japanese library was opened in 2011, and reflects the appearance of many modern and simple spaces.

    Library of Congress

    In 1800, Congress set up the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Fifteen years later, Thomas Jefferson offered his personal library to replace books that were lost when the British set the building on fire in 1814. His books, which took nearly 50 years to collect, varied from texts on science, literature and philosophy, to books in a variety of foreign languages. These days, the Library of Congress offers more than 155 million items and the largest rare book collection in North America.

    State Library of Victoria

    The Slate Library of Victoria, located in Melbourne, Australia, is one of the largest exhibiting libraries in the world. Though it opened in 1856, major repairs took place between 1990 and 2004. The La Trobe Reading Room is one of the library's main attractions due to its visually amazing architecture. The lawn at the library's front attracts hundreds of city folk each day, who gather for lunch or to enjoy the statues there. The library currently contains over two million books, as well as armor (盔甲) of Ned Kelly, a folk hero against the ruling class.

    The Ig Nobel Prizes praise research that makes you laugh and then think. The winners are allowed to make a one-minute speech with time kept by an eight-year-old! Every year, in Harvard's Sanders Theatre, people watch the winners step forward to accept their prizes. These are physically handed out by real Nobel laureates (获得者). Let's have a look at some of them.

    The Empty Bladder (膀胱) Experiment

    Four researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology found that animals above 3 kg empty their bladders in about 21 seconds. What is the purpose of this study? The researchers hope this will help solve urinary (泌尿的) problems in animals.

    The Science of Eggs

    A team of Australian scientists managed to get hard-boiled egg whites to become raw again. While it sounds silly, this research could have a serious influence on cancer (癌症) research.

    The Fascination with Animals

    Charles Foster and Thomas Thwaites from the UK shared the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize in Biology. Thomas chose to live like a goat and wrote about his experience in "GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human". Charles, on the other hand, spent some time in the wild, trying out the lives of many animals. He felt it gave him a chance to explore the world around us with more of our senses.

    Colors & Horseflies

    A team from Hungary, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland won the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize in Physics. They studied why horseflies have less interest in white-haired horses. The team used handmade horses covered in glue. They found that dark colors attracted more flies because of how sunlight reflected (反射) off them. To the food searchers, it was a sign of food. This finding could explain the white coats of zebras too.