Everyone who uses the Internet knows that one of its perils is the website that can suck you in for hours, or even days at a time. In normal times, such sites can often be a problem. Now, though, with everyone sheltering in place in their homes, these sorts of websites may in fact be the ideal distraction.
Presented here are some excellent websites to get lost in, along with a book pairing to complement the sites.
TV Tropes 
This “all devouring pop-culture wiki” is a compendium of “tropes [storytelling device or convention] used to tell stories.” This is like calling the Metropolitan Museum of Art “a building with some paintings and statues in it.” And TV Tropes, with its exhaustive list of entries (organized mainly by trope or work), lovingly and humorously describes and catalogs thousands of storytelling devices as they appear in various media. And be advised: it is an Internet Tradition that if one links to a TV Tropes page, there must be a warning, so that the reader can make an informed decision on whether or not they want to disappear for a week.
Related Book: Redshirts by John Scalzi
Redshirts is a Hugo Award-winning work of comedic science fiction written from the point of view of the “redshirts” (expendable extras) on a starship suspiciously like the Enterprise of Star Trek fame, who start to suspect that they are, in fact, expendable extras on a sci fi TV show.
The Sports Reference Family (Plus College Hockey Stats)
Want to know who led the American League in batting in 1908? How many times and which years the Celtics have played the Lakers in the NBA finals? Then the Sports Reference family of sites is for you. Covering major and minor league baseball, pro and college football and basketball, pro hockey, and men's and women's soccer from dozens of countries, you will be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive treasury of sports statistics anywhere. Where else can you look up, say, Pete Alonso's excellent rookie numbers, and an hour and a half later find yourself wondering about the lives of the players on the 1884 Providence Grays? There is arguably no better site for stathounds anywhere on the net. And if you're into College Hockey, there's no better place than College Hockey Stats, with records going back for decades.
Related Blog Post: Check out the excellent article on baseball books by BPL's own Elizabeth Willse and Robert Weinstein.
Atomic Rockets
Science Fiction is filled with various tales of space travel, some of them realistic, others not so much. Atomic Rockets, the brainchild of Winchell Chung, is the website for anyone who's interested in the potential nitty-gritty physical realities of space travel and colonization. Includes a diverse array of topics from spaceship design and engines to space culture, diplomacy, and war, good enough to use as a reference for writing fiction!
Related Book: Revelation Space (and the Revelation Space Universe) by Alastair Reynolds
With his Revelation Space books, Alastair Reynolds manages the near-impossible: the creation of a hard-sci fi space opera. Five or so centuries in the future, Earth's former colonies are spread across roughly 50 light years of space and tenuously connected by light huggers, starships able to travel at relativistic speeds and piloted by cyborgs. When an archeological expedition uncovers a deadly ancient alien mystery, things get interesting, and dangerous...
Things I Won't Work With
Derek Lowe is a biochemist who works in early pharmaceutical development and writes a blog on various aspects of chemistry. One of the sections, "Things I Wouldn't Work With” covers a number of substances which are generally rather enthusiastic about exothermically reacting with very little prompting (and if not, are ridiculously and perniciously poisonous). Find out which chemical is referred to as both “FOOF” and “Satan's kimchi.” While written with laypeople in mind, Lowe's writing will also be interesting to those who have studied chemistry in depth.
Related Book: Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik
Stuff Matters is a fascinating journey through the chemistry and physics of everyday items, exploring why materials behave as they do.
Fandom Wikias
How big is an Imperial Star Destroyer? Who are the main players in the Corleone family and how did they get there? For the answers to these and many more questions, look no further than the fandom wikias. The proliferation of fandoms combined with the rise of wiki tech has resulted in dozens of fan-produced encyclopedias, each one good for hours of hyperlinked fun.
Related Books:
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe
Sean Howe's Marvel Comics explores the history of today's hottest comic label, going back to the early days of Martin Goodman, Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby, and incorporating dozens of interviews with the people who worked there over the years.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Fangirl is an entertaining story about a shy girl who loves to write fanfiction, and how she grows into herself upon entering college. This one is especially recommended for teens.
Atlas Obscura
Atlas Obscura is a catalog of hidden wonders. From the 11-foot ribbon map of the Mississippi to the Kitson-Meyer Locomotive in Taltal, Chile, this site has nearly 20,000 unknown wonders for you to explore and enjoy.
Related Books:
Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders, vol. 1
Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders, vol. 2
For people who prefer to get lost in a book, the people behind the website have released two volumes, with hundreds of the “strangest and most curious places on the planet” detailed between them.
Live Music Archive
Sometime in the late '60s or early ‘70s, the Grateful Dead became the first band to not only allow but encourage their fans to record their shows. In the next several decades, many other bands (notably in the Jam Band community) followed suit. For years, the only way to get copies of a show was to know a taper or a collector, but thanks to the development of bit torrent sites, Live Music Archive, an online library with over 200,000 shows from hundreds of bands, is available for legal downloads or stream.
Related Book: No Simple Highway: A Cultural History of the Grateful Dead by Peter Richardson
As one of America's most successful touring bands for three decades, the Grateful Dead are a cultural phenomenon like no other. In No Simple Highway, Richardson explores the history of the Dead from their origins in San Francisco's psychedelic scene to their huge success in their last decade of existence; and their impact on their fans and music culture in general.
Hopefully these sites and books will help keep you entertained until we can all visit the library again in person.
Enjoy, and stay safe!
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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