Much Ado About Shakespeare's 450th Birthday

Shakespeare was born on April 26, 1564 in Stratford upon Avon. His 450th birthday will be celebrated internationally with exhibitions, conferences, and performances of his plays.

The Folger Library in Washington D.C., which hold the largest collection of Shakespeare's works, will showing a first folio of the Bard's plays. In Paris, a week-long conference will be held for scholars, stage directors, and actors. Britain will be hosting "Shakespeare Week" in March, along with more than 1000 schools, drama theaters, and museums. And of course, the book publishers are right in the thick of things with a mountain of Shakespeare-themed books.

The coolest book, in my opinion, is by Dan Falk, a Canadian Science journalist. His book The Science of Shakespeare is to be released early next year. In it, he salutes both Galileo's (b. February 15, 1564) and Shakespeare's 450th birthdays and how each influenced the other.