UWSP Libraries

Thinking, Fast and Slow By Daniel Kahneman Named one of the Ten Best Books of 2011 by the New York Times Call Number:  BF 441 .K238 2011 Publisher's Description :  Daniel Kahneman, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his seminal work in psychology that challenged the rational model of judgment and decision making, is one of our most important thinkers. His ideas have had a profound and widely regarded impact on many fields—including economics, medicine, and politics—but until now, he has never brought together his many years of research and thinking in one book. In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow , Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasiv

On Monday, the University Library held the prize drawing for participants of the University Library Website Survey. Sara Miller, pictured at left, is the grand prize winner! She's now the proud owner of a Kindle Fire. Sara is a first year undergraduate student here at UWSP. Other prize winners include Mick Veum from the Physics and Astronomy department, Maggie Watson from the School of Comunicative Disorders, Lorry Walters from Career Services, Hannah Brillowski from Dining Services and Jason Davis, a UWSP student. Congratulations to all the prize winners, and thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey. The Library is currently analyzing the results, and will post these publicly when available. If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Laura Schmidli .

We now have access to the Gale Virtual Reference Library. A collection of specialized reference sources. From the Library homepage, go to "Find Article Databases" and search "Gale" or the letter G. Titles (with multiple volumes) include: American Decades, American Decades Primary Sources, Dynamics of Family Business: The Chinese Way, Encyclopaedia Judaica, Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Social Issues, Encyclopedia of European Social History, Encyclopedia of Religion, Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia, Forestry in China, The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets: A Guide to Health and Nutrition, The Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, Guide to Islamist Movements, Higher Education in China, Human Diseases and Conditions, A Pictorial Record of the Qing Dynasty, Public Relations in Asia: An Anthology, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, Social History of the United States, St

It's All About the Bike:  The Pursuit of  Happiness on Two Wheels By Robert Penn Call Number:  TL 410 .P46 2011 Review from the New York Times Publisher's Description: Robert Penn has saddled up nearly every day of his adult life. In his late twenties, he pedaled 25,000 miles around the world. Today he rides to get to work, sometimes for work, to bathe in air and sunshine, to travel, to go shopping, to stay sane, and to skip bath time with his kids. He's no Sunday pedal pusher. So when the time came for a new bike, he decided to pull out all the stops. He would build his dream bike, the bike he would ride for the rest of his life; a customized machine that reflects the joy of cycling. It's All About the Bike follows Penn's journey, but this book is more than the story of his hunt for two-wheel perfection. En route, Penn brilliantly explores the culture, science, and history of the bicycle. From artisanal frame shops in the United Kingdom to Ca

Why Read Moby Dick? By Nathaniel Philbrick Call Number:  PS 2384 .M62 P55 2011 New York Times Review Publisher's Description :  Moby-Dick is perhaps the greatest of the Great American Novels, yet its length and esoteric subject matter create an aura of difficulty that too often keeps readers at bay. Fortunately, one unabashed fan wants passionately to give Melville's masterpiece the broad contemporary audience it deserves. In his National Book Award- winning bestseller, In the Heart of the Sea, Nathaniel Philbrick captivatingly unpacked the story of the wreck of the whaleship Essex, the real-life incident that inspired Melville to write Moby- Dick . Now, he sets his sights on the fiction itself, offering a cabin master's tour of a spellbinding novel rich with adventure and history. Philbrick skillfully navigates Melville's world and illuminates the book's humor and unforgettable characters-finding the thread that binds Ishmael and Ahab to our own time a

Retirement Heist: How companies plunder and profit from the nest eggs of American workers By Ellen E. Schultz Call Number:  HD 7125 .S38 2011 New York Times Review Publisher's Description:   "'As far as I can determine there is only one solution [to the CEO's demand to save more money]', the HR representative wrote to her superiors. 'That would be the death of all existing retirees.'" It's no secret that hundreds of companies have been slashing pensions and health coverage earned by millions of retirees. Employers blame an aging workforce, stock market losses, and spiraling costs- what they call "a perfect storm" of external forces that has forced them to take drastic measures.  But this so-called retirement crisis is no accident. Ellen E. Schultz, award-winning investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal , reveals how large companies and the retirement industry-benefits consultants, insurance companie

As you may know, the University Library is surveying our users about our website. This is your chance to let us know what you like, what you don't like, and what you'd like to change about our site! University Library Website Survey: http://bit.ly/uwsp-library Further Details: Participation in our survey is anonymous. You also have the option to volunteer for a second survey, and to enter a prize drawing. These options are obviously not anonymous, and are not in any way connected to your survey data. You can read more about this on the first page of the survey. Prizes you can win include: one Amazon Kindle Fire e-reader/tablet, one 30-minute massage from Much Needed Masses, and four $5 gift certificates to Emy J's. Some folks have asked about how the winners of the drawing will be chosen. The entries will be exported into a spreadsheet in random order. A random number generator will be used to choose winners according to their row in the spreadsheet. According to our

Balzac's Omelette:  a delicious tour of French food and culture with Honoré de Balzac By Anka Muhlstein Call Number:  PQ 2178 .M8413 2011 Publisher's Description: "Tell me where you eat, what you eat, and at what time you eat, and I will tell you who you are." This is the motto of Anka Muhlstein’s erudite and witty book about the ways food and the art of the table feature in Honoré de Balzac’s The Human Comedy . Balzac uses them as a connecting thread in his novels, showing how food can evoke character, atmosphere, class, and social climbing more suggestively than money, appearances, and other more conventional trappings. Full of surprises and insights, Balzac’s Omelette invites you to taste anew Balzac’s genius as a writer and his deep understanding of the human condition, its ambitions, its flaws, and its cravings. Review of Balzac's Omelette and two other books on food history in the Washington Post .

The Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President By Candice Millard Call Number:  E 687.9 .M55 2011   Review from the New York Times Publisher's Description : James A. Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Nominated for president against his will, he engaged in a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back. But the shot didn’t kill Garfield. The drama of what hap­pened subsequently is a powerful story of a nation in tur­moil. The unhinged assassin’s half-delivered strike shattered the fragile national mood of a country so recently fractured by civil war, and left the wounded president as the object of a bitter behind-the-scenes struggle for power—ov

The University Library is pleased to announce our two new librarians, Scott Piepenburg, and Laura Schmidli. Scott is our new Cataloging Coordinator/Metadata Librarian, and you can read more about him in the recent Wisconsin Library Services newsletter http://www.wils.wisc.edu/email/yourwils/october11.html#level1 . Laura is our new Web Services Librarian. Laura grew up in Indianapolis. She received her B.S. in Spanish Language and Literature, and her M.A. in Library and Information Studies from UW Madison. She is currently working on a second Master's degree in Web Development. Prior to coming to UWSP, she has worked as a librarian at the Wisconsin State Law Library, Madison Area Technical College Downtown Library, as well as UW Madison's Memorial Library’s Ibero-American Studies Collection, Steenbock Library for Agriculture and Life Sciences, and College Library. Luckily, she's one of those cold weather people and enjoys cross county skiing. She also like biking and among

Blue Revolution:  Unmaking America's Water Crisis By Cynthia Barnett Call Number:  TD 223 .B37 2011 Publisher's Description:  In Blue Revolution , award-winning journalist Cynthia Barnett reports on the many ways one of the most water-rich nations on the planet has squandered its way to scarcity, and argues the best solution is also the simplest and least expensive: a water ethic for America. From backyard waterfalls and grottoes in California to sinkholes swallowing chunks of Florida, Blue Revolution exposes how the nation’s green craze largely missed water – the No. 1 environmental concern of most Americans. But the book is big on inspiration, too. Blue Revolution combines investigative reporting with solutions from around the nation and the globe. From San Antonio to Singapore, Barnett shows how local communities and entire nations have come together in a shared ethic to dramatically reduce consumption and live within their water means. The first book to call for a

New in the Reference Area Call Number:  Ref HM 821 .C76 2011 Check out the corresponding website from the University of California: http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/ The Atlas of Global Inequalities By Ben Crow and Sudesh K. Lodha Publisher's Descrption :  Drawing on research from around the world, this atlas gives shape and meaning to statistics, making it an indispensable resource for understanding global inequalities and an inspiration for social and political action. Inequality underlies many of the challenges facing the world today, and The Atlas of Global Inequalities considers the issue in all its dimensions. Organized in thematic parts, it maps not only the global distribution of income and wealth, but also inequalities in social and political rights and freedoms. It describes how inadequate health services, unsafe water, and barriers to education hinder people's ability to live their lives to the full; assesses poor transport, energy, and digital communication infra

Whether we teach in-person or distance classes, more and more of our instruction is moving beyond the classroom. We interact with students via email, post course materials and grades online, and even create games and tutorials to reach out to students beyond the classroom. Even for instructors who are familiar with technology, planning for online instruction can be challenging. Luckily, the library has some resources that may help spark ideas for reaching your students, plan how to work online resources into your existing curriculum or plan curriculum for your online course from scratch. The following list highlights just a few of these resources. You may find others that are also useful by searching our catalog at http://library.uwsp.edu . The online learning idea book : 95 proven ways to enhance technology-based and blended learning (2007) Don't let the publication date fool you! This resource is still relevant by providing tips for both online-only and partly-online courses.

America Walks into a Bar By Christine Sismondo Call Number: GT 3803 .S57 2011 Review in the Wall Street Journal Publisher's Description : When George Washington bade farewell to his officers, he did so in New York's Fraunces Tavern. When Andrew Jackson planned his defense of New Orleans against the British in 1815, he met Jean Lafitte in a grog shop. And when John Wilkes Booth plotted with his accomplices to carry out a certain assassination, they gathered in Surratt Tavern. In America Walks into a Bar , Christine Sismondo recounts the rich and fascinating history of an institution often reviled, yet always central to American life. She traces the tavern from England to New England, showing how even the Puritans valued "a good Beere." With fast-paced narration and lively characters, she carries the story through the twentieth century and beyond, from repeated struggles over licensing and Sunday liquor sales, from the Whiskey Rebellion to the temperance moveme

The University Library now offers JSTOR Arts & Sciences III Collection. This Collection provides archival access to jounals in languages and literature and essential titles in the fields of music, film studies, folklore, performing arts, religion and the history and study of art and architecture. Additional interdisciplinary titles broaden the scope of coverage to include feminist and women's studies and more. You can find a link to JSTOR via " find article databases " on the homepage. For further assistance, please contact the Reference Desk at 715-346-2836.

Creating Dairyland:  How caring for cows saved our soil, created our landscape, brought prosperity to our state, and still shapes our way of life in Wisconsin By Edward Janus Call Number:  SF 232 .W6 J3 2011 Wisconsin Historical Society Website -including interviews with the author, reviews and upcoming events in Wisconsin, such as the Wisconsin Book Festival, which will feature a presentation by the author. Publisher (Wisconsin Historical Society) description :  The story of dairying in Wisconsin is the story of how our very landscape and way of life were created. By making cows the center of our farm life and learning how to care for them, our ancestors launched a revolution that changed much more than the way farmers earned their living - it changed us. In Creating Dairyland , journalist, oral historian, and former dairyman Ed Janus opens the pages of the fascinating story of Wisconsin dairy farming. He explores the profound idea that led to the remarkable "big bang&q

Top Secret America:  The rise of the new American security state By Dana Priest and William M. Arkin Call Number: HV 6432 .P73 2011  Washington Post Top Secret America website Publisher's Description :  The top-secret world that the government created in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks has become so enormous, so unwieldy, and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs or exactly how many agencies duplicate work being done elsewhere. The result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe may be putting us in greater danger. In Top Secret America , award-winning Washington Post reporters Dana Priest and William Arkin  uncover the enormous size, shape, mission, and consequences of this invisible universe of over 1,300 government facilities in every state in America; nearly 2,000 outside companies used as contractors; and more than 850,000 people granted "Top Secret" security clearance. A landmark e

On the New Book Shelf in the Library Call Number:  PS 3558 .E476 Z63 2011 Just One Catch:  a biography of Joseph Heller By Tracy Daugherty Publisher's Description:  In time for the 50th anniversary of Catch-22, Tracy Daugherty, the critically acclaimed author of Hiding Man (a New Yorker and New York Times Notable book), illuminates his most vital subject yet in this first biography of Joseph Heller. Joseph Heller was a Coney Island kid, the son of Russian immigrants, who went on to great fame and fortune. His most memorable novel took its inspiration from a mission he flew over France in WWII (his plane was filled with so much shrapnel it was a wonder it stayed in the air). Heller wrote seven novels, all of which remain in print. Something Happened and Good as Gold, to name two, are still considered the epitome of satire. His life was filled with women and romantic indiscretions, but he was perhaps more famous for his friendships—he counted Mel Brooks, Zero Mostel, Carl Reiner, Ku

On the New book shelf in the Library's lobby Call Number:  HV 6692.M33 H46 2011 The Wizard of Lies:  Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust By Diana B. Henriques Publisher's Description:   The inside story of Bernie Madoff and his $65 billion Ponzi scheme, with surprising and shocking new details from Madoff himself.  Who is Bernie Madoff, and how did he pull off the biggest Ponzi scheme in history? These questions have fascinated people ever since the news broke about the respected New York financier who swindled his friends, relatives, and other investors out of $65 billion through a fraud that lasted for decades. Many have speculated about what might have happened or what must have happened, but no reporter has been able to get the full story--until now. In The Wizard of Lies , Diana B. Henriques of The New York Times --who has led the paper's coverage of the Madoff scandal since the day the story broke--has written the definitive book on the man and his scheme, drawing on

On the new book shelf in the Library's Lobby. Call Number:  R 729.5 .G4 B36 2011  Out of Practice: Fighting for Primary Care Medicine in America By Frederick M. Barken, M.D. Publisher's Description :  Primary care medicine, as we know and remember it, is in crisis. While policymakers, government administrators, and the health insurance industry pay lip service to the personal relationship between physician and patient, dissatisfaction and disaffection run rampant among primary care doctors, and medical students steer clear in order to pursue more lucrative specialties. Patients feel helpless, well aware that they are losing a valued close connection as health care steadily becomes more transactional than relational. The thin-margin efficiency, rapid pace, and high volume demanded by the new health care economics do not work for primary care, an inherently slower, more personal, and uniquely tailored service. In Out of Practice , Dr. Frederick Barken juxtaposes his personal ex

On the New Book shelf in the Library's lobby Call Number:  HN 90 .M84 B37 20111 Barack Obama, The Aloha Zen President:  how a son of the 50th state may revitalize America based on 12 multicultural principles By Michael Haas Publisher's Description:   Obama's aspiration to transform the United States using Hawaìi as his model has been a conspicuous theme in his books and speeches over the years. In them, he extols Hawaìi's multicultural ethos, describing how a normative, problem-solving mindset predicated on mutual respect and harmonious interchange is inculcated in the culture, politics, and society of the Islands. Indeed, this "Aloha Spirit" is imbued in Barack Obama, is part of what made him irresistibly charismatic as a candidate, and explains why voters in 2010 were baffled at his demeanor after he became the 44th President of the United States. This unique book examines Obama's decisions as an adult and as president and exposes how they are directly l

On the new book shelf in the Library's lobby Call Number: SF 487 .L775 2011 A Chicken in Every Yard: the urban farm store's guide to chicken keeping By Robert and Hannah Litt Publisher's Description : Got a little space and a hankering for fresh eggs? Robert and Hannah Litt have dispensed advice to hundreds of urban and suburban chicken-keepers from behind their perch at Portland’s Urban Farm Store, and now they’re ready to help you go local and sustainable with your own backyard birds. In this handy guide to breeds, feed, coops, and care, the Litts take you under their experienced wings and share the secrets to: Picking the breeds that are right for you • Building a sturdy coop in one weekend for $100 • Raising happy and hearty chicks • Feeding your flock for optimal health and egg nutrition • Preventing and treating common chicken diseases • Planning ahead for family, neighborhood, and legal considerations • Whipping up tasty egg recipes from flan to frittata With everyth

On the New book shelf in the Library's lobby Call number:  PS 3552.A45 C76 2010 The Cross of Redemption: uncollected writings By James Baldwin Publisher's Description :  The Cross of Redemption is a revelation by an American literary master: a gathering of essays, articles, polemics, reviews, and interviews that have never before appeared in book form. James Baldwin was one of the most brilliant and provocative literary figures of the past century, renowned for his fierce engagement with issues haunting our common history. In The Cross of Redemption we have Baldwin discoursing on, among other subjects, the possibility of an African-American president and what it might mean; the hypocrisy of American religious fundamentalism; the black church in America; the trials and tribulations of black nationalism; anti-Semitism; the blues and boxing; Russian literary masters; and the role of the writer in our society. Prophetic and bracing, The Cross of Redemption is a welcome and impor

Everything is Obvious:*Once you know the answer By Duncan J. Watts Call Number: BF 441 .W347 2011 Publisher's Description : Why is the Mona Lisa the most famous painting in the world? Why did Facebook succeed when other social networking sites failed? Did the surge in Iraq really lead to less violence? How much can CEO’s impact the performance of their companies? And does higher pay incentivize people to work hard? If you think the answers to these questions are a matter of common sense, think again. As sociologist and network science pioneer Duncan Watts explains in this provocative book, the explanations that we give for the outcomes that we observe in life—explanation that seem obvious once we know the answer—are less useful than they seem. Drawing on the latest scientific research, along with a wealth of historical and contemporary examples, Watts shows how common sense reasoning and history conspire to mislead us into believing that we understand more about the world of human

On the New Book Shelf in the Library Lobby The Greater Journey:  Americans in Paris By David McCullough Call Number:  DC 718 .A44 M39 2011 Publisher's Description: The Greater Journey is the enthralling, inspiring—and until now, untold—story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, ambitious to excel in their work. After risking the hazardous journey across the Atlantic, these Americans embarked on a greater journey in the City of Light. Most had never left home, never experienced a different culture. None had any guarantee of success. That they achieved so much for themselves and their country profoundly altered American history. As David McCullough writes, “Not all pioneers went west.” Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in America, was one of this intrepid band. Another was Charles Sumner, who enrolled at the Sorbonne because of a burning desir

Beyond the Trees: Stories of Wisconsin Forests By Candice Gaukel Andrews Published by the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) Call Number:  SD 428 .A2 W627 2011 Wisconsin Historical Society's description :  The diversity of landscapes evoked in Beyond the Trees is matched only by the characters who inhabit them. Traverse the footsteps of Ojibwe hunters and early explorers in the remote woods of Brule River State Forest. Trek past the remains of bygone logging and CCC camps in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Glimpse into the world of Great Lakes shipping in Point Beach State Forest. Walk on trails named after John Muir and Increase Lapham in the Kettle Moraine State Forest, and experience urban green space at Milwaukee's Havenwoods State Forest. From orchids to oak savannah, beaver to brook trout, and white-tailed deer to timber wolves, discover Wisconsin's flora and fauna. Richly illustrated with color photographs by the author's husband, John T. Andrews, and o

Smoking Typewriters:  The Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America By John McMillian You can find it on the New Book shelf in the Library's lobby Call Number:  PN 4888.U5 M35 2011 How did the New Left uprising of the 1960s happen? What caused millions of young people-many of them affluent and college educated-to suddenly decide that American society needed to be completely overhauled? In Smoking Typewriters , historian John McMillian shows that one answer to these questions can be found in the emergence of a dynamic underground press in the 1960s. Following the lead of papers like the Los Angeles Free Press, the East Village Other, and the Berkeley Barb, young people across the country launched hundreds of mimeographed pamphlets and flyers, small press magazines, and underground newspapers. New, cheaper printing technologies democratized the publishing process and by the decade's end the combined circulation of underground papers stretched into the

Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life Beyond our Solar System By Ray Jayawardhana Call Number:  QB 820 .J39 2011 Soon astronomers expect to find alien Earths by the dozens in orbit around distant suns. Before the decade is out, telltale signs that they harbor life may be found. If they are, the ramifications for all areas of human thought and endeavor--from religion and philosophy to art and biology--will be breathtaking. In Strange New Worlds , renowned astronomer Ray Jayawardhana brings news from the front lines of the epic quest to find planets--and alien life--beyond our solar system. Only in the past fifteen years, after millennia of speculation, have astronomers begun to discover planets around other stars--hundreds in fact. But the hunt to find a true Earth-like world goes on. In this book, Jayawardhana vividly recounts the stories of the scientists and the remarkable breakthroughs that have ushered in this extraordinary age of exploration. He describes the l

On the New Book Shelf in the Library Lobby Covert Affair: Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS By Jennet Conant Call Number:  D810 .S8 C3863 2011  New York Times Book Review Publisher's Description :  Bestselling author Jennet Conant brings us a stunning account of Julia and Paul Child’s experiences as members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in the Far East during World War II and the tumultuous years when they were caught up in the McCarthy Red spy hunt in the 1950s and behaved with bravery and honor. It is the fascinating portrait of a group of idealistic men and women who were recruited by the citizen spy service, slapped into uniform, and dispatched to wage political warfare in remote outposts in Ceylon, India, and China. The eager, inexperienced 6 foot 2 inch Julia springs to life in these pages, a gangly golf-playing California girl who had never been farther abroad than Tijuana. Single and thirty years old when she joined the staff of Colonel William Donovan, Juli

Green is the New Red: An Insider's Account of a Social Movement Under Siege By Will Potter Call Number:  GE 197 .P68 2011 Visit the Book's Blog  http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/ Publisher's Description :  At a time when everyone is going green, most people are unaware that the FBI is using anti-terrorism resources to target environmentalists. Here is a guided tour into an underground world of radical activism and an introduction to the shadowy figures behind the headlines. But here also is the story of how everyday people are prevented from speaking up for what they believe in. Like the Red Scare, this "Green Scare" is about fear and intimidation, and Will Potter outlines the political, legal, and public relations strategies that threaten even acts of nonviolent civil disobedience with the label of "eco-terrorism."  

Looking for an audiobook for your summer travels?  Stop by the Library's lobby and check out one of our new titles - possibly this Swedish mystery, that is the last of the Kurt Wallander series: The Troubled Man By Henning Mankell Publisher's Description :  Håkan von Enke is a troubled man. At a birthday party, he confides to Swedish police detective Kurt Wallender the story of a 1980 incident that involved an unidentified submarine illegally entering Swedish waters when he was a naval admiral. When von Enke goes missing soon after, Wallander investigates even though it’s not his case; von Enke is his daughter’s future father-in-law. Robin Sachs is terrific at voicing the gloomy Wallander (also a troubled man) as he faces his demons of old age, memory loss, diabetes, and lost loves. Sachs is untroubled by the Swedish names and locations, and he rolls through them without hesitation or unnecessary showiness. He also creates distinctive character voices with authentic accents for

Congrats to the Pointers baseball team on their WIAC championship and NCAA tourney berth!  Ready for some more baseball?  Check the library's new book shelf for some recent titles  including: The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican town of San Pedro de Macoris By Mark Kurlansky Call number:  GV 863.29 .D65 K87 2010 New York Times Sunday Book Review Publisher's Description:   The intriguing, inspiring history of one small, impoverished area in the Dominican Republic that has produced a staggering number of Major League Baseball talent, from an award-winning, bestselling author. In the town of San Pedro in the Dominican Republic, baseball is not just a way of life. It's the way of life. By the year 2008, seventy-nine boys and men from San Pedro have gone on to play in the Major Leagues-that means one in six Dominican Republicans who have played in the Majors have come from one tiny, impoverished region. Manny Alexander, Sammy Sosa, Tony Fernandez, and legions of

On the New Book Shelf in the Library's Lobby: Triumph of the City: How our Greatest Invention Makes us Richer, Smarter, Greenier, Healthier, and Happier By Edward Glaeser Call Number:  HT 361 G53 2011 Publisher's Description:  A pioneering urban economist offers fascinating, even inspiring proof that the city is humanity's greatest invention and our best hope for the future. America is an urban nation. More than two thirds of us live on the 3 percent of land that contains our cities. Yet cities get a bad rap: they're dirty, poor, unhealthy, crime ridden, expensive, environmentally unfriendly... Or are they?  As Edward Glaeser proves in this myth-shattering book, cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in cultural and economic terms) places to live. New Yorkers, for instance, live longer than other Americans; heart disease and cancer rates are lower in Gotham than in the nation as a whole. More than half of America's income is earned in twenty-two

The Looming Tower:  Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 By Lawrence Wright Call Number:  HV 6432.7 .W75 2006 A Pulitzer Prize winner, National Book Award finalist, and a Time , Newsweek , Washington Post, Chicago Tribune , and New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year Publisher's Description:  A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright’s remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States. The Looming Tower achieves an unprecedented level of intimacy and insight by telling the story through the interweaving lives of four men: the two leaders of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri; the FBI’s counterterrorism chief, John O’Neill; and the for

On the New Book Shelf in the Libary Lobby, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History: Call Number:  E 457.2 .F66 2010 The Fiery Trial:  Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery By Eric Foner Publisher's Description :  Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in History, the Bancroft Prize, and the Lincoln Prize: from a master historian, the story of Lincoln's-and the nation's-transformation through the crucible of slavery and emancipation. In this landmark work of deep scholarship and insight, Eric Foner gives us the definitive history of Lincoln and the end of slavery in America. Foner begins with Lincoln's youth in Indiana and Illinois and follows the trajectory of his career across an increasingly tense and shifting political terrain from Illinois to Washington, D.C. Although “naturally anti-slavery” for as long as he can remember, Lincoln scrupulously holds to the position that the Constitution protects the institution in the original slave states. But the political landscape is

On most of the Best Books lists for 2010 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot Call Number:  RC 265.6 .L24 S55 2010 Rebecca Skloot's website Review from the New York Times Publisher's Description:  Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the bi

Happy National Library Week!  The Information:  A History, A Theory, A Flood By James Gleick Call Number:  Z 665 .G547 2011 Publisher's Description:  James Gleick, the author of the best sellers Chaos and Genius , now brings us a work just as astonishing and masterly: a revelatory chronicle and meditation that shows how information has become the modern era’s defining quality—the blood, the fuel, the vital principle of our world. The story of information begins in a time profoundly unlike our own, when every thought and utterance vanishes as soon as it is born. From the invention of scripts and alphabets to the long-misunderstood talking drums of Africa, Gleick tells the story of information technologies that changed the very nature of human consciousness. He provides portraits of the key figures contributing to the inexorable development of our modern understanding of information: Charles Babbage, the idiosyncratic inventor of the first great mechanical computer; Ada Byron, the br