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Volume 23, Number 10 October 2013 Home | IBW Index

Table of Contents

Reviewer's Choice American History Shelf World History Shelf
Philosophy Shelf Buddhist Studies Shelf Christian Studies Shelf
Poetry Shelf Cookbook Shelf Writing/Publishing Shelf
Relationship Shelf Gaming Shelf Political Science Shelf
Architecture Shelf Needlecraft Shelf Graphic Novel Shelf
Audiobook Shelf Music CD Shelf Library DVD Shelf
Fantasy/SciFi Shelf Biography Shelf Pets/Wildlife Shelf
Health/Medicine Shelf Botany Shelf Theatre/Cinema Shelf
Civil War Shelf Metaphysical Studies Shelf Computer Shelf
Sports Shelf Memoir Shelf Self-Help Shelf
Photography Shelf Crafts Shelf Business Shelf
Agriculture Shelf Fiction Shelf Mystery/Suspense Shelf
Travel Shelf Social Issues Shelf Antiques/Collectibles Shelf
Education Shelf Literary Studies Shelf Music Shelf
Science Shelf Fashion Shelf Military Shelf
Economic Studies Shelf Parenting Shelf Environmental Studies Shelf
Reference Shelf Art Shelf Psychology Shelf
Autism Shelf Large Print Shelf Native American Studies Shelf
African-American Studies Shelf Money/Finance Shelf Religion/Spirituality Shelf
Wisconsin Shelf    


Reviewer's Choice

The Collected Letters Of Henry Northrup Castle
George Herbert Mead & Helen Castle Mead, editors
Ohio University Press
The Ridges, Building 19, Athens, OH 45701
www.ohioswallow.com
9780821420119, $49.95, www.amazon.com

George Herbert Mead (1863 - 1931) was an American philosopher, sociologist and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatists. He is regarded as one of the founders of social psychology and the American sociological tradition in general. Henry Northrup Castle was Mead's best friend while at Oberline college and eventually became Mead's brother-in-law. "The Collected Letters Of Henry Northrup Castle" is a deftly compiled and edited 846 page compendium comprised of Castle's correspondence drawn from the Mead-Castle collection at the University of Chicago, and were collected and edited by Mead after the tragic death of Henry Castle in a shipping accident in the North Sea. These are correspondences with such luminaries as Mead, John Dewey, Jane Addams, and other Chicago Progressives and will prove illuminating and informative for students of this remarkable era in American politics. This Ohio University Press edition is a facsimile edition of the Mead text of 1902, plus an informed introduction by Alfred L. Castle (a great-nephew of G. H. Mead and Henry Castle). "The Collected Letters Of Henry Northrup Castle" is a strongly recommended addition to academic library collections and the supplemental reading lists for students of George Herbert Mead's life and work. It should also be noted that "The Collected Letters Of Henry Northrup Castle" is also available in an Adobe Digital Edition PDF (9780821444313, $39.99).

The Speech
Gary Younge
Haymarket Books
PO Box 180165
Chicago, IL 60618
9781608463220 $19.95 www.haymarketbooks.org

The Speech: The Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream lives up to its title, drawing upon interviews with Clarence Jones (good friend of and draft speechwriter for Martin Luther King Jr.), Joan Baez (a singer at the March on Washington, at which King delivered his historic speech), civil rights leader Angela Davis, and more. The result is a thoroughly researched, faithfully presented, scholarly account of how King's profound "I Have a Dream" speech came to be, as well as a modern analysis of why its message resonates so deeply with Americans then and now. Highly recommended, especially for public and college library collections.

Me and the Biospheres
John Allen
Synergetic Press
One Bluebird Court
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508
9780907791379 $39.95 www.synergeticpress.com

Winner of the Independent Book Publishers Association's Benjamin Franklin Award, Me and the Biospheres: A Memoir by the Inventor of Biospheres 2 is the true-life recollections of a man responsible for a unique environmental experiment. Author John Allen designed Biosphere 2, a three-acre complex in the Arizona desert containing a rainforest, a desert, a savannah, a coral reef, farming areas, and a micro-city, all enclosed within glass and steel. Eight people lived in Biosphere from 1991-1992, and the information gathered on their environmental impact would prove crucial to advance human understanding of sustainability, as well as furthering the prospect of what would be needed for manned missions in outer space. Occasional black-and-white photographs intersperse this first-person testimony of taking part in a living, breathing ecological experiment. Me and the Biospheres is as fascinating for lay readers as it is informative for ecological studies collections, and highly recommended.

Bird Songs of the Mesozoic
David Brendan Hopes
Milkweed Editions
1011 Washington Avenue South, #300
Minneapolis, MN 55415-1246
9781571312778 $15.95 www.milkweed.org

Bird Songs of the Mesozoic is an eclectic amalgamation of musings from author and avid nature hiker David Brendan Hopes. Many of the insights are drawn directly from his thoughts on the trail, including his observations of plants, people, and animals. Others are moments of humor, sadness, or timeless reflection. A handful of black-and-white avian artworks embellish this thought-provoking and wistfully enlightening collection, sure to appeal to nature lovers, hiking enthusiasts, and "armchair hikers" alike.

100 Ghosts
Doogie Horner
Quirk Books
215 Church Street, Philadelphia PA 19106
978594746475, $9.95, www.quirkbooks.com

100 Ghosts: A Gallery of Harmless Haunts explores all kinds of spooks from a fuzzy Muppet to the ghost of Marilyn Monroe, and is a light-hearted account of what ghosts would look like if we encountered them in real life. This all comes form a stand-up comedian who adds his quirky sense of humor to a collection of haunts and their personalities and possible incarnations, and is a top pick not just for adults or kids, but the entire family, who will find this a quirky and fun read.

Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes
Robin Lynn and Francis Morrone
W. W. Norton & Company
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
9780393733570, $29.95, www.wwnorton.com

Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes features lovely color photos throughout by Edward A. Toran as it features nearly thirty urban landscape gems, including maps and histories of each site. From parks on islands to bridge parks, historical redevelopment, choices in landscaping using native plants, and future projects, this provides blend of history and travelogue perfect for any visiting New York City who want a guide to urban and natural landscapes that make up the City's buildings and natural areas. It's reviewed here for its wide-ranging interest to both New York residents and visitors and any involved with the architectural and natural heritage of the city.


The American History Shelf

Cold War Dixie
Kari Frederickson
University of Georgia Press
330 Research Drive
Athens, GA, 30602-4901
9780820345208 $24.95 www.ugapress.org

Kari Frederickson (associate professor & chair of the Department of History, University of Alabama) presents Cold War Dixie: Militarization and Modernization in the American South, a close scrutiny of the impact of the Savannah River Plant (SRP). The SRP's origins lie in a partnership between the Atomic Energy Commission and the DuPont Corporation, dedicated to producing materials for the hydrogen bomb. Chapters address the costs of militarization, how the SRP was built, daily life in a company town, the interplay of race and politics, and much more. Notes, a bibliography, and an index round out this thoughtful close study of a turning point in American history.

Minidoka: An American Concentration Camp
Teresa Tamura
Caxton Press
312 Main Street
Caldwell, ID 83605-3299
9780870045738 $27.95 www.caxtonpress.com

Minidoka: An American Concentration Camp is a black-and-white photographic remembrance of one of the internment camps to which America imprisoned thousands of Japanese-American citizens during World War II, solely because of their ethnicity. Many of the images are portraits of survivors, complemented by brief or thumbnail profiles; others show images of railways that Minidoka inmates labored on, what has become of Minidoka sites in the twentieth century, art created by survivors of Minidoka, and much more. Some of the photographs are vintage from the 1940's; others were taken in the twenty-first century, but all have an unforgettable story to tell. The text is peppered with historical anecdotes, brief interviews, and much more. America must never forget the wrongs (including deaths, primarily from disease) that it inflicted upon its own citizens, who had committed no crime; for this reason, Minidoka: An American Concentration Camp is worthy of the highest recommendation especially for public and college library history collections.

Tracking the Texas Rangers
Bruce A. Glasrud and Harold J. Weiss, Jr., editors
University of North Texas Press
PO Box 311336
Denton, TX 76203-1336
9781574415261 $29.95 www.unt.edu/untpress

Tracking the Texas Rangers: The Twentieth Century collects fifteen published articles and chapter excerpts about the changing role of the Texas Rangers in the twentieth century. These essays explore the Texas Rangers' heroic and villainous deeds, from trying to protect border communities and capture outlaws, to the outright murders that Texas Rangers committed during the Mexican Revolution. Individual articles include "Establishing Law and Order in the Oil Fields", "The Modernization of the Texas Rangers, 1933-1936", "Homicides and Questionable Deaths: A Window into the Method", and much more. A brief black-and-white photo gallery, a bibliography, and an index round out this superb addition to American and Texas History collections.

Battleground 1948
Robert E. Hartley
Southern Illinois University Press
1915 University Press Drive
SIUC Mail Code 6806
Carbondale, IL 62901
9780809332663 $39.50 www.siupress.com

Battleground 1948: Truman, Stevenson, Douglas, and the Most Surprising Election in Illinois History is an in-depth examination of the first American general election since World War II, centering on Illinois politics. This was the race destined to put Adlai Stevenson, Paul Douglas, and Harry Truman into office, with Truman winning by a sliver. A month-by-month chronicle of key events in the 1948 election season, as well as an era snapshot of Illinois politics (including the dark influences of media, corruption, and crime) make Battleground 1948 a welcome addition to American History and Political Science shelves.

Roadside History Of Illinois
Stan Banash
Mountain Press Publishing Company
PO Box 2399, Missoula, MT 59806
www.mountain-press.com
9780878425990, $20.00, www.amazon.com

Illinois is the fifth most populous state in the union. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a diverse economic base and is a major transportation hub. The Port of Chicago connects the state to other global ports from the Great Lakes, via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean; as well as the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, via the Illinois River. For decades, O'Hare International Airport has been ranked as one of the world's busiest airports. Located in the heart of the American Midwest, the state of Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social, cultural, and political issues. The "Roadside History Of Illinois" by Stan Banash is a 496 page compendium providing the reader with a unique history of this remarkable state using its systems of roads and highways to tour its historical places and attractions. Enhanced with black-and-white historical photos and numerous line drawings, the "Roadside History Of Illinois" is informed, informative, superbly organized, deftly presented, and highly recommended for personal and community library American History collections in general, and Illinois History supplemental reading lists in particular.


The World History Shelf

The Enduring Legacy of Ancient China
Primary Source, Inc.
Cheng & Tsui Company
25 West Street
Boston, MA 02111-1213
9780887275081 $59.99 www.cheng-tsui.com

Compiled and edited by the educational experts of Primary Source, Inc., The Enduring Legacy of Ancient China: Primary Source Lessons for Teachers and Students is a curriculum-building reference and resource created especially for Chinese History instructors of students in 5th to 9th grade. Packed with 20 adaptable lessons about China's history, civilization and culture, each broken down into point-by-point outlines including student objectives, key vocabulary terms, hands-on activities, and more, The Enduring Legacy of Ancient China is a superb repository of ideas to create or modify one's lesson plans. An accompanying CD-ROM for Windows/Macintosh offers more than 250 full-color images and documents, many of which can be used at computer workstations or as printed handouts. Highly recommended; as China takes an increasingly prominent place on the world stage, teaching the next generation about its storied history and rich culture becomes even more imperative.

Pacific Blitzkrieg
Sharon Tosi Lacey
University of North Texas Press
PO Box 311336
Denton, TX 76203-1336
9781574415254 $27.95 www.unt.edu/untpress

Pacific Blitzkrieg: World War II in the Central Pacific is an in-depth historical scrutiny of ground operations for five major invasions in the Central Pacific: Guadalcanal, Tarawa, the Marshalls, Saipan, and Okinawa. Ground commanders had to integrate the U.S. Army and Marine Corps into a single strikeforce, a task that would have been challenging enough in peacetime, let alone during a world-spanning war. Pacific Blitzkrieg especially focuses upon how this seemingly miraculous feat was achieved, with particular attention paid to the detailed rules and procedures that made it happen. Supporting every stroke of tactical genius was the hard work of thousands of small actions and adaptations that enabled war - and incidents of severe partisanship such as the actions of the notorious General "Howlin' Mad" Smith could have, and almost did derail the entire effort. Heavily researched and meticulously presented, Pacific Blitzkrieg's keen, ground's-eye perspective is a welcome addition to military and world history collections. Highly recommended.

The Pentathlon Of The Ancient World
Frank Zarnowski
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
9780786467839, $35.00, www.amazon.com

A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words pente (five) and -athlon (competition). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Ancient Olympic Games. Five events were contested over one day for the Ancient Olympic pentathlon, starting with the long jump, javelin throw, and discus throw, followed by the stadion (a short foot race) and wrestling. Pentathletes were considered to be among the most skilled athletes, and their training was often part of military service - each of the five events in the pentathlon was thought to be useful in war or battle. "The Pentathlon Of The Ancient World" by Frank Zarnowski (Visiting Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College) is a 216 page detailed descriptive history of the Greek Pentathlon including the nature of the spectacle, the method of determining victors, notable champions. Of special note is the information provided on the 18 year history of the contemporary counterpart -- the decathlon. Enhanced with the inclusion of a record book and a glossary, "The Pentathlon Of The Ancient World" is informed, informative, and highly recommended for school, community, and academic library collections. It should also be noted it is also available in a Kindle edition ($14.99).

The Devil's Breath
Steven Hanon
NeWest Press
#201, 8540-109 Street
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 1E6
www.newestpress.com
9781927063293, $24.95, www.amazon.com

The Hillcrest mine disaster, the worst coal mining disaster in Canadian history, occurred at Hillcrest, Alberta, in the Crowsnest Pass region of western Canada, on Friday June 19, 1914, 9:30 am. At the time it was the world's third worst mine disaster. The accident had a profound effect on the town of Hillcrest Mines, which in 1914 had a population of about 1,000. A total of 189 workers died, about half of the mine's total workforce, which left 130 women widowed and about 400 children fatherless. Many of the victims were buried in a mass grave at the Hillcrest Cemetery. Condolences came from across the country, including a brief message from King George V, but the commencement of World War I soon overshadowed this event. Operations at Hillcrest mine continued until 1939. A monument to the Hillcrest mine disaster and the lives lost has been placed at the Hillcrest cemetery. "The Devil's Breath: The Story of the Hillcrest Mine Disaster of 1914" by documentary film maker and historian Steven Hanon is a 220 page detailed history of this tragic event including the heroism and courage of the people it affected. Superbly written, "The Devil's Breath: The Story of the Hillcrest Mine Disaster of 1914" is highly recommended and informative reading. It should also be noted that it is available in a Kindle edition ($8.69).

1916: What The People Saw
Mick O'Farrell
Mercier Press
9781781171509 $26.95 www.mercierpress.ie

1916: What The People Saw is a historical anthology of civilian eyewitness accounts of the 1916 Easter Rising (an armed rebellion in Ireland against British rule, staged during Easter Week). More than half of the 400 killed and 2,000 wounded from the Easter Rising were civilians, yet most studies focus on testimonies from the key actors in the uprising. 1916: What the People Saw draws upon letters, diaries, biographies, and contemporary periodical articles to show how ordinary people witnessed and reacted to events. A handful of vintage black-and-white photographs illustrate this welcome addition to public and college library world history collections.


The Philosophy Shelf

My Friendship With Martin Buber
Maurice Friedman
Syracuse University Press
621 Skytop Road, Suite 110
Syracuse, NY 13244-5290
www.SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu
9780815610168, $24.95, www.amazon.com

Martin Buber (February 8, 1878 - June 13, 1965) was an Austrian-born Israeli Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I - Thou relationship and the I - It relationship.[1] Born in Vienna, Buber came from a family of observant Jews, but broke with Jewish custom to pursue secular studies in philosophy. In 1902, he became the editor of the weekly Die Welt, the central organ of the Zionist movement, although he later withdrew from organizational work in Zionism. In 1923, Buber wrote his famous essay on existence, Ich und Du (later translated into English as I and Thou), and in 1925, he began translating the Hebrew Bible into the German language. In 1930, Buber became an honorary professor at the University of Frankfurt am Main, but resigned in protest from his professorship immediately after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. He then founded the Central Office for Jewish Adult Education, which became an increasingly important body as the German government forbade Jews to attend public education. In 1938, Buber left Germany and settled in Jerusalem, Mandate Palestine (later Israel), receiving a professorship at Hebrew University and lecturing in anthropology and introductory sociology. "My Friendship With Martin Buber" by the late Maurice Friedman (1921-2012) is a 198 page compendium tracing a chronology of Friedman and Buber's association drawn extensively on Friedman's personal collection of letters exchanged with Buber. "My Friendship With Martin Buber" provides the reader with an engaging and informative exploration of intellectual and personal friendship shared between two unique and extraordinary men. Highly recommended for academic library Philosophy collections in general, and to students of Martin Buber's philosophy in particular.

Psych and Philosophy
Robert Arp, editor
Open Court Publishing Company
70 East Lake Street, Suite 300
Chicago, IL 60601
www.opencourtbooks.com
9780812698251, $19.95, www.amazon.com

"Psych" had a very successful run as a weekly one hour television show blending comedy with 'who done it' mystery plots featuring Sherlock Holmes quality detection skills by a young man who disguised his phenomenal abilities observation and deduction abilities as a psychic phenomenon. Ably compiled and deftly edited by Robert Arp, "Psych and Philosophy: Some Dark Juju-Magumbo" is a 288 page compendium comprised of twenty-four insightful articles based on this television series and taking up the implications of 'psychic' as the basis of the show's primary premise. Of special note is Laura Guidry-Grimes' article 'Should the Police Hire a Psychic Detective?'. Thoughtful and thought-provoking and highly recommended reading, "Psych and Philosophy: Some Dark Juju-Magumbo" is part of the outstanding Open Court Publishing Company's 'Popular Culture and Philosophy Series' and would be a valued addition to community and academic library Philosophy and Contemporary Culture Studies reference collections. It should also be noted that "Psych and Philosophy: Some Dark Juju-Magumbo" is available in a Kindle edition ($11.49).


The Buddhist Studies Shelf

Original Perfection
Keith Dowman, translator
Wisdom Publications
199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144
www.wisdompubs.org
9780861716807, $16.95, www.amazon.com

According to Tibetan Buddhism and Bon, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by adherents of other Tibetan Buddhist sects. According to Dzogchen literature, Dzogchen is the highest and most definitive path to enlightenment. Ably translated into English with his own original commentary by Keith Dowman, "Original Perfection: Vairotsana's Five Early Transmissions" is a 128 page compendium showcasing Dzogchen master Vairotsana's five early teachings that deeply influenced Dzogchen practices as part of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Erudite, insightful, thoughtful and thought-provoking, "Original Perfection" is very strongly recommended reading for students of Buddhism. It should also be noted that "Original Perfection" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).


The Christian Studies Shelf

The Rebirth of the Church
Eddie Gibbs
Baker Academic
c/o Baker Publishing Group
6030 East Fulton, Ada, MI 49301
9780801039584, $21.99, www.bakeracademic.com

Christian churches have become increasingly fragmented as declining members and spiritual issues divide congregations again and again, resulting in too many churches and not enough parishers - yet modern church leaders often assume a Christian foundation for ministry that doesn't handle these trends. Veteran church expert Eddie Gibbs here provides a history of how the church has re-created itself in the past, present and future, and considers the challenges inherent in doing so in a post-Christendom world. Biblical insights pair with leader experience in chapters that analyze the social and spiritual context of how churches originate and grow, and use experiences from the Bible to teach new methods of understanding church issues and the process of revitalization and rebirth. Any who would foster effective change in their church will find this a powerful survey.

Good News to the Poor
Tim Chester
Crossway Books
1300 Crescent Street, Wheaton, IL 60187
9781433537035, $15.99, www.crossway.org

Good News to the Poor provides a powerful survey that considers how to deliver spiritual messages to the poor, showing how word and deed can affect messages and biblical visions of mission and how effective Christian techniques incorporate elements of gospel and social action alike. Chapters use the Bible to show how to address need in the world while bringing the message of Christ to the public, and provide important keys to integration action with spiritual insight. The result is a powerful account, highly recommended for any Christian reader who would effectively deliver Biblical passages to the poor.

Did God Abandon Us?
Lisa M. Maddox
The Pilgrim Press
700 Prospect Avenue East
Cleveland, OH 44115-1100
www.pilgrimpress.com
9780829819311, $14.00, www.amazon.com

Organized religion has been susceptible and at risk for corruption throughout the whole of recorded human history. This is true for Christian congregations no matter how large or small they may be in numbers. Human behavior is flawed by pride, jealousy, misunderstandings, and a host of other negatives. But perhaps most commonly it happens when churches cease to be understood as having the role of being a kind of spiritual hospital where the imperfect go to heal the wounds that sins have inflicted upon them either through their own misbehaviors or the misbehaviors of others. God does not abandoned his people in their times of trial and tribulation. That's the principle message of Lisa M. Maddox in "Did God Abandon Us?: Helping Small Churches Heal", a 125 page compendium dealing directly with the issues of congregational trauma and how to resolve them and in the process creating healthier, stronger Christian communities. Highly recommended reading, "Did God Abandon Us?: Helping Small Churches Heal" will prove to be an especially valued tool for pastors and lay leaders seeking to heal congregational rifts, traumas, and spiritual injuries.

Happy the People
Marie D. Hoff
Liguori Publications
Liguori, Missouri
www.liguori.org
9780764822339, $12.99, www.amazon.com

The Christian gospel according to the teachings of Jesus and his disciples is a gospel fundamentally based upon loving our neighbors as ourselves, a gospel founded on the principles of social justice. "Happy the People: When Love Becomes Justice" by Marie D. Hoff (founding executive director of Catholic Charities of Idaho) is a succinct, 122 page compendium the is comprised of a gospel-based study guide designed explicitly for students, small study groups, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the promotion of social justice issues within the context of small faith communities. An instructive, inspiring, practical, and thoroughly 'user friendly' guide "Happy the People: When Love Becomes Justice" is highly recommended reading -- especially for those who seek to improve the lives of themselves, their families, their neighbors, the fellow church members, and their communities at large.

Pocket Prayers For Parents
Kathy Hendricks
Twenty-Third Publications
PO Box 6015, New London, CT 06320
http://store.pastoralplanning.com/index.html
9781585959365, $9.95, www.amazon.com

"Pocket Prayers For Parents" presented by Kathy Hendricks is a succinct, pocket-sized, 80 page compendium comprised of parenthood theme prayers. Each prayer only takes a moment, but can have a life-time impact. Inspired and inspiring, "Pocket Prayers For Parents" is highly recommended for all Christian parents regardless of denominational affiliation. Truly, from the birth of a child, through all the years of childhood and adolescence, from celebrating birthdays, to the assimilation of an adopted child, "Pocket Prayers For Parents" will prove enduringly invaluable.

Go to Joseph
Michael O'Neill McGrath
World Library Publications
3708 River Road, Suite 400
Franklin Park, IL 60131-2158
www.wlpmusic.com
9781584596196, $39.95, www.amazon.com

"Go to Joseph" is a 131 page compendium featuring the superbly crafted illustrations of St. Joseph by Brother Michael O'Neill McGrath, OSFS. "Go to Joseph" features sixteen authors exploring different aspects of St. Joseph's life as husband, father, craftsman, traveler, guide, and more. Each painting is presented with the intention of explaining how St. Joseph inspired the artist to create these beautiful images. A beautifully presented celebration of how St. Joseph's has inspired (and continues to inspire) new generations of Christians, "Go to Joseph" is highly recommended inspirational reading.

The Way To True Happiness
Ralph Venning
Banner of Truth
PO Box 621, Carlisle, PA 17013
www.banneroftruth.org
9781848712881, $6.00, www.amazon.com

Ralph Venning (c. 1621-10 March 1673 or 1674) was an English nonconformist Christian. The son of Francis and Joan Venning, he was born in Devon, perhaps at Kingsteignton, about 1621. He was the first convert of George Hughes, the puritan vicar of Tavistock. He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was admitted as a sizar on 1 April 1643, graduated B.A. 1646, and proceeded M.A. 1650. He held a lectureship at St Olave's Church in the parish of Southwark St Olave, where he had a great repute as a preacher of charity sermons. Ejected by the Uniformity Act 1662, he became a colleague to Robert Bragge (1627 - 1704), pastor of an independent congregation at Pewterers' Hall, Lime Street, Fenchurch Street, and held this charge till his death. He died on 10 March 1674, in his fifty-third year, and was buried in Bunhill Fields. An Elegy on his death was printed on a broadsheet in March 1674. "The Way To True Happiness" is a compact, pocket-sized, 112 page compendium in which he persuasively proposes that the true way to genuine and enduring happiness is to understand and conform to the will of God. As informed and informative, as it is inspired and inspiring, "The Way To True Happiness" is as relevant today as it was nearly four hundred years ago and highly recommended, instructive reading.

The Living Gospel: Daily Devotions for Advent 2013
Brendan McGuire
Ave Maria Press
PO Box 428, Notre Dame, IN 46556
www.avemariapress.com
9781594713835, $1.50, www.amazon.com

"The Living Gospel: Daily Devotions for Advent 2013" by Fr. Brendan McGuire (pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in San Jose, California) is offers devout Catholics a prayer book for Advent that offers practical insight and spiritual wisdom in a five-step format to help them pray, and by praying, join their lives to the living Word of God, advance their own spiritual growth each day. Highly recommended and inspiring, "The Living Gospel: Daily Devotions for Advent 2013" is also available in a Kindle edition ($0.99).


The Poetry Shelf

Cattails And Sagebrush
Victor Pearn
Indian Paintbrush Poets
c/o Pearn & Associates
1600 Edora Court, Suite D
Fort Collins, CO 80525
9780989724203, $27.95, www.amazon.com

Poetry is a form of literary art which uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language - such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre - to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning. "Cattails And Sagebrush" is an 86 page compilation of poetry by Victor Pearn and well deserves the definition of 'literary art'. The subject matter of his musings range from the Colorado tundra to the Chinese tomb of Confucius, and from our three daily meals to a local park. Deftly written and using words the way an artist uses paints, the prose poetry of Victor Pearn creates memorable images that last long after this anthology has been set back upon the shelf. Three Things Not Omitted: The Farmer's bank on the West side of the / square was the tallest building in town and / towered seven stories into the sky. // On the East side of the square / there was a jewelry store. // The park had a flagpole with / old glory waving in the breeze.

Follow The Blackbirds
Gwen Nell Westerman
Michigan State University Press
1405 South Harrison Road, Suite 25
East Lansing, MI 48823-5245
www.msupress.msu.edu
9781611860924, $16.95, www.amazon.com

With its Native American themes, "Follow The Blackbirds" by Gwen Nell Westerman (Professor of English and Director of Humanities, Minnesota State University, Mankato) is an 80 page compendium of superbly crafted prose poetry. Professor Westerman (an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) writes with a lyrical clarity that engages the reader with a finally woven texture of words and emotions that are paradoxically both personal and universal. Of special note are the poems that employ Native American language. 'He Keya Woabdakedan': A cricket chorus / calls the moon to devotion where / flaxen blue sky blushed lavender. / Dragonflies rush to usher in the dusk. / Sunflower congregations bow their naked heads / as a celebrant sun blesses / lush fields of wheat with radiance. / Grains fall upon the ground / and life springs up as a song. / I give you peace. / My peace I leave you. / He keya woabdakedan.

Sir Silly
David Dayan Fisher
CreateSpace
4900 LaCross Rd, North Charleston, SC 29406
c/o KSB Promotions
55 Honey Creek NE, Ada, MI 49301
9781484962145, $6.75, www.amazon.com

"Sir Silly: The World Where Words Play" is a 50 page compendium showcasing the whimsical poetry of David Dayan Fisher. Enhanced with 37 line illustrations by Patricia Krebs, the poems are minor masterpieces of rhyming word play that create imaginative images in the mind's eye of the reader. Highly recommended leisure reading for anyone who enjoys new, inventive, original, and inherently interesting poetry on the light side. 'Misplaced Child': An adult is a child who misplaced his way, / Who found his serious and lost his play. / They read the news, moan about work. / They sit in traffic and iron their shirts. / The adult stops the child from play, / As the child does nothing but keep his way. / The silliness of growing up for sure. / The Happy child or the adult bore? -- It should be noted that "Sir Silly: The World Where Words Play" is also available in a Kindle edition ($5.78).

Gross Ardor
Bill Rasmovicz
42 Miles Press
Department of English
Indiana University - South Bend
1700 Mishawaka Avenue, South Bend, IN, 46615
9780983074731, $15.00, www.amazon.com

"Gross Ardor" is a 91 page compendium comprised of poem by Bill Rasmovicz. This a collection of poems that are both intensely personal and universally relevant. Rasmovicz is a master of creating word images that linger in the mind long after the volume is closed and set back upon the shelf. Highly recommended for those who appreciate a well crafted body of verse. 'Over Conversations': Not everything dreams. / By the time the arsenal is built, it is expired. // Someone is always seeking an ethos to bleed, / Nausea occurs even via placebo. / In this life, you must have the tenacity of a tick / with mammoth tusks. // Still a leaf grazing the pavement mimics / a door creaking open. Eventually, the mystery / of being alone consumes itself. / There are not other eras. // Filed away as memory, memory dissipates / into atmosphere. Then why shouldn't speech / from one latitude to another, / between us, / appropriate the muscularity of clouds? // What throbs in the bushes is not a bird, / but bird-like, neither gravity nor mystique. / Something pulls us so, // and closer to admiration for the tirelessness / of weeds, for the falling world.

The Mining Road
Leanne O'Sullivan
Bloodaxe Books
c/o Dufour Editions, Inc.
PO Box 7, Chester Springs, PA 19425-0007
www.dufoureditions.com
9781852249687, $21.95, www.amazon.com

Ireland has long been famous for its poets and their ability to use language the way painters use their colors on canvas to evoke emotional responses and lingering images. "The Mining Road" is Irish poet Leanne O'Sullivan's third anthology of her verse and perhaps the best to date. Drawing for inspiration from the old copper mines around Allihies, near her home at Beara in the West Cork Irish countryside, this is a 64 page compilation of prose poetry to be savored slowly and enjoyed for a lifetime. 'Heirloom': A penny dropped / a hundred years ago / turns up beneath / our sweetheart cabbage // but Love, we are still / out for spring roots, / honeyed wets / and their vanished tracks.


The Cookbook Shelf

Indian Inspired Gluten-Free Cooking
Alamelu Vairavan & Margaret Pfeiffer MS, RD, CLS
Hippocrene Books, Inc.
171 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
9780781813068 $19.95 www.hippocrenebooks.com

Featuring a beautiful, full-color and full-page photograph of virtually every recipe, Indian Inspired Gluten-Free Cooking lives up to its title with a medley of mouth-watering East Indian cuisine, which relies heavily on rice, lean meats, and vegetable dishes - all ideal for pursuing a gluten-free diet. The 100+ recipes include Roasted Vegetable Kebabs, Carrot Rice Pilaf, Swiss Chard Lentil Crumble, Spice-Rubbed Oven-Roasted Chicken, Roasted Plums with Spiced Walnuts, and much more. A useful FAQ about gluten-free foods and a handy guide to Indian ingredients round out this excellent addition to any international or gluten-free cookbook collection!

Fire & Ice Alaska
Sharon R. Leippi
Frosty Books
5604 E 40th Avenue #A-103
Anchorage, Alaska 99504
www.frostybooks.com
9780983968504, $20.00, www.amazon.com

Compiled by Anchorage Alaska resident Sharon R. Leippi, "Fire & Ice Alaska: Baked, Blended, & Sauteed" is a beautifully and profusely illustrated 145 page compendium showcasing healthy and delicious recipes that are low-salt, gluten-free, dairy-free, corn-free, nightshade-free, egg-free, yeast-free, alcohol-free, and compatible with anti-rosacea diets that necessitates foods which are low in hot spices. Of special and unique note are blood type diet notations (O, A, AB, B). The recipes themselves range from Chocolate Frosty (a non-dairy alternative to chocolate ice cream); to Cherry Glazed Salmon; to Golden Pea Soup; to Blue & Gold Tofu Pie. Kitchen cook friendly, palate pleasing, appetite satisfying, food allergy avoidance oriented, "Fire & Ice Alaska: Baked, Blended, & Sauteed" is a very special cookbook that is highly recommended for personal, family, and community library cookbook collections.

The Cheesy Vegan
John Schlimm
Da Capo Press
c/o Perseus Books Group
11 Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA 02142
9780738216799 $19.99 www.perseusbooksgroup.com

The Cheesy Vegan is a cookbook of over 125 plant-based, 100% vegan recipes featuring non-dairy cheeses. Some recipes feature delicious cheese alternatives that can be made from foods such as soy milk; others incorporate store-bought vegan cheeses into a variety of delightful concoctions. Sample dishes include "Cozy Cottage Pancakes" with vegan cottage cheese; Potato Gratin (made with vegan Swiss cheese), Fried Olives Stuffed with Smoky Cheese Hummus, Creamy Seasoned Macaroni (made with vegan margarine & vegan cream cheese or cottage cheese), and much more. Beautiful color photography, an introduction with brief guides to vegan substitutes for common ingredients, and an index round out this "must-have" for vegan gourmets!

Smoke & Pickles
Edward Lee
Artisan Books
c/o Workman Publishing Company
225 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014-4381
www.artisanbooks.com
9781579654924, $29.95, www.amazon.com

Edward Lee is the Korean-American chef/owner of 610 Magnolia and MilkWood located in Louisville, Kentucky. "Smoke & Pickles" is a 340 page compilation of this three-time James Beard Foundation Award finalist for Best Chef and Iron Chef America winner's recipes and stories. The recipes range from Lime-Beef Salad; Adobo-Fried Chicken and Waffles; Cola Ham Hocks with Miso Glaze; and Frog's Legs with Celecry, Chile, Pepper, Fish Sauce, and Brown butter; to Yellow Squash Soup; Bourbon-Ginger Glazed Carrots; and Sweet Spoonbread Souffle. Beautifully illustrated throughout, each recipes in this impressive culinary collection offers thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' step-by-step instructions. Of special note are the practical 'tips, tricks and techniques' Edward Lee shares with home cooks wanting to make the most of his palate pleasing, appetite satisfying, 'down home' southern recipes. Simply stated, "Smoke & Pickles" is a highly recommended addition to any personal, family, or community library cookbook collection.

Food & Wine Best of the Best, Vol. 16
Imagine Publishing
c/o Charlesbridge Publishing
85 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472
9781932624595 $32.95 www.charlesbridge.com

The sixteenth annual volume of Food & Wine Best of the Best gathers the top recipies from the twenty-five best cookbooks published during the year. Each dish has been taste-tested in the Food & Wine kitchen, and judged exquisite! Recipes span multiple culinary traditions, and they include "Italian Cream Cake", "Bok Choy with Baby Shiitake Mushrooms", "Chopped Summer Salad with Miso", "Carnitas [Slow-Cooked Pork] Tacos", and much more. A handful of color illustrations as well as cooking tips and recommended wine choices to pair with appropriate dishes enhance this excellent collection for cooks who settle for nothing less than the very best.

The New Wine Country Cookbook
Brigit Binns
Andrews & McMeel
1130 Walnut Street
Kansas City, MO 64106-2109
www.andrewsmcmeel.com
9781449419127, $35.00, www.amazon.com

California's justifiably famous and fastest growing 'Wine Country' area runs from around Monterey south to Santa Barbara. The prize winning wines coming from this heart of California's vineyards from the basis for the recipes comprising Brigit Binns' beautifully illustrated "The New Wine Country Cookbook", a 304-page compendium showcasing elegant dishes ranging from Carmamelized Onion, Anchovy, and Sun-Dried Tomato Pissaladieres; Warm Escarole with Bacon, Almonds, and Sherry Vinegar; Ginger Flan with Ripe Apricots; and Crispy Pan-Fried Rex Sole with Quick Orange-Dill Aioli; to Three-Hour, Bone-In Berkshire Pork Shoulder with Brandy and Black Pepper Apples; Pistachio-Crusted Goat Cheese with French Beans, Radicchio, Endive, Red Grapes, and Sherry Vinaigrette; and Vine Leaf-Wrapped Sheep's Tomme with Roasted Olives and Lemon. Of special note is the section provided for metric equivalents and conversions. A truly elegant culinary collection, "The New Wine Country Cookbook" will prove a highly prized addition to personal, professional, and community library cookbook collections. It should also be noted that "The New Wine Country Cookbook" is available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).

Cooking Your Way To Gorgeous
Scott-Vincent Borba
Health Communications, Inc.
3201 S.W. 15th Street
Deerfield Beach, FL 33442-8190
www.hcibooks.com
9780757317187, $14.95, www.amazon.com

For better or for worse, we are what we eat. The upside to this is that what we eat can have a tremendously beneficial impact upon our health and well-being. That's why "Cooking Your Way to Gorgeous: Skin-Friendly Superfoods, Age-Reversing Recipes, and Fabulous Homemade Facials" by health and cosmetic expert Scott-Vincent Borba will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to personal and community library cookbook collections. The thoroughly 'user friendly' recipes in this 240 page compendium range from Mouthwatering Grapefruit Meringue; Black Bean-Oatmeal Burgers; Va-Va's Pumpkin Pancakes; and Sweet Goji Yogurt Medley; to a Jalapeno-Cilantro-Strawberry Margarita; Roasted Tomato and Caramelized Onion Farro Salad; Asparagus and Chicken Enchiladas; and a Shrimp and Spinach Shiitake Mushroom Risotto. Of special note is author Scott-Vincent Borba's informative introduction 'Eat Your Way to Gorgeous Skin'. Highly recommended, it should also be noted that "Cooking Your Way To Gorgeous" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).

Talk With Your Mouth Full
Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh
Surrey Books
c/o Agate Publishing
1328 Greenleaf Street, Evanston, IL 60202
9781572841239, $20.95, www.agatepublishing.com

Talk With Your Mouth Full pairs lovely color photos by Laurie Proffitt with a fine guide to cooking and entertaining by two chefs who have a hit Food Network television show. It's packed with easy recipes, tips, catering insights, and more and covers not just cooking for a crowd, but entertainment and settings. From Truffled mashed Potatoes to Rustic Onion Pie, this packs in hearty foods made for a crowd along with plenty of serving and dishing tips to make them attractive. It's a fine winner for any who would learn new ideas for cooking and entertaining from chefs who have a proven track record of success and a plan any home cook can access.

Breakfast for Dinner
Lindsay Landis & Taylor Hackbarth
Quirk Books
215 Church Street Philadelphia PA 19106
9781594746130, $19.95, www.quirkbooks.com

Breakfast for Dinner: Recipes for Frittata Florentine, Huevos Rancheros, Sunny-Side-Up Burgers, and More packs on over 100 classic breakfast recipes made with something different, from Bacon Fried Rice to Breakfast Ravioli and Tomato Peach Jam. These aren't just breakfast meals transferred to dinner: they are re-done breakfast foundations that use these foundations to build salads, main dishes and sides suitable for dinner but with many of the infusions of breakfast (pancakes, bacon, etc.). With color photos added, the result is a powerful presentation for any cook's collection!

Blue Plate Special
Kate Christensen
Doubleday & Company
c/o The Random House Publishing Group
1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
9780385536264, $26.95, www.doubleday.com

Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites provides a vivid, powerful literary memoir about novelist and blogger Kate Christensen's experiences eating, cooking and reflecting on food, and is a lovely survey of her life in the foodie universe. From family memories and bonds to how food has changed her life, Blue Plate Special is lively writing at its best: a powerful saga filled with delicious memories, reflections and food universe encounters, perfect for any collection strong in literary food writing.

Sunset Cook Taste Savor
Oxmoor House
PO Box 11095
Des Moines, Iowa 50336-1095
Dadascope Communications (publicity)
www.oxmoorhouse.com
9780376028108, $26.00, www.amazon.com

The quality of a dish depends on the skill of the cook and the quality of the ingredients used to prepare it. "Sunset Cook Taste Savor: 16 Inspiring Ingredients For Delicious Dishes Every Day" is a compendium of remarkable recipes each of which utilizes some combination of artichokes; berries; avocadoes; tomatoes; chiles; onions; dried beans; apples; cheese; lamb; chicken; crab; mushrooms; nuts; dried fruit; and citrus. Profusely and beautifully illustrated throughout, the recipes comprising "Sunset Cook Taste Savor" range from Buttery Raspberry Lemon Cake; Spicy Watermelon Salad; Hazelnut-Crusted halibut with Apple Salsa; and Spring Vegetable Macaroni 'n' Cheese; to Chicken Havles with Artichokes and Garlic; Mushroom Puffs; Nut-Stuffed Delicata Squash; Roasted Pork Spareribs with Citrus-Soy Sauces. Featuring more than 200 thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' recipes to please any palate and satisfy any appetite, "Sunset Cook Taste Savor" is especially recommended for personal, family, and community library cookbook collections.

Power Hungry
Camilla V. Saulsbury
Lake Isle Press
2095 Broadway, Suite 301, New York, NY 10023
National Book Network (dist.)
4501 Forbest Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
9781891105548, $16.95, www.amazon.com

Energy bars can be found in every grocery story and supermarket in the country. They are mass produced, popular, and expensive. "Power Hungry: The Ultimate Energy Bar Cookbook" by Camillia V. Saulsbury (writer, recipe developer, fitness trainer, endurance athlete, and creator of the health food blog Power Hungry) is a nicely illustrated, 152-page compendium of thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' recipes for creating healthy, nutritious, delicious, and relatively inexpensive energy bars in an amazing diversity of flavors and textures. Organized into five major sections (Super-Natural Knock-Offs; Activity Bars; Endurance Bars; Protein Bars; Raw and Almost Raw Bars), recipes range from Canyon Crunch Granola Bars; Carrot Cake Action Bars; and Greek Yogurt Muesli Bars; to Mega Marathon Bars; Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars; and Lemony Spirulina Bars. A unique culinary anthology, "Power Hungry: The Ultimate Energy Bar Cookbook" is enthusiastically recommended for personal, family, and community library cookbook collections!

Dutch Oven Breads
Mark Hansen
Cedar Fort, Inc.
2373 West 700 South, Springville, Utah 84663
www.cedarfort.com
9781599559735, $14.99, www.amazon.com

A Dutch oven is a thick-walled (usually cast iron) cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid. Dutch ovens have been used as cooking vessels for hundreds of years. "Dutch Oven Breads" by Mark Hansen is a 192 page compendium of instructions and recipes for baking bread using a Dutch oven, making it possible to enjoy freshly baked bread anywhere from the back porch to a campground kitchen. Covering all aspects of how to use a Dutch oven for baking and providing a comprehensive explanation of the bread making process, the recipes include those for common breads, ethnic breads, stuffed breads, sourdough breads, quick breads, and more! Of special note is Mark's Own Calzone! Informed, informative, and truly 'kitchen cook friendly' in tone and in substance, "Dutch Oven Breads" is a highly recommended addition to personal, family, and community library cookbook collections. It should also be noted that "Dutch Oven Breads" is also available in a Kindle edition ($5.99).

The Joy Of Squash
Theresa Millang
Adventure Publications
820 Cleveland Street South
Cambridge, MN 55008
www.adventurepublications.net
9781591934127, $14.95, www.amazon.com

There are more ways to cook a squash than simply baking it and serving it with butter, salt and pepper. In "The Joy Of Squash", Theresa Millang has compiled more than 200 wonderful recipes, each of which celebrates the versatility, nutritional value, and palate pleasing qualities of a properly prepared squash. The recipes range from Pork Tenderloin with Spaghetti Squash; Pumpkin Pancakes; Baked Butternut Squash with Thyme; and Microwave Squash Puree; to Chocolate Zucchini Cake; Winter Squash Cheesecake Bars; Yellow Squash-Cucumber Refrigerator Pickles; and Zucchini Relish. Of special note is the recipe for Cajun Squash French Fries! Each recipes is thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' with listed ingredients and easy to following instructions. Spiral bound to lay flat upon a kitchen counter or table, "The Joy Of Squash" is highly recommended for personal and family cookbook collections.

The 163 Best Paleo Slow Cooker Recipes
Judith Finlayson
Robert Rose Inc.
120 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 800
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4P 1E2
9780778804642 $24.95 www.robertrose.ca

The 163 Best Paleo Slow Cooker Recipes is a collection of recipes with step-by-step instructions for making delicious slow cooker recipes congruent with a Paleo diet (a regime that emphasizes nutrient-dense foods such as lean meats and vegetables, similar to what human ancestors ate in Paleolithic times; wheat or dairy are generally eschewed). But one doesn't have to be on a Paleo diet to enjoy and benefit from these delicious, healthy, easy-to-make and 100% gluten-free dishes! Recipes include "Beet Soup with Lemongrass and Lime", "Peppery Chicken in Coconut-Mushroom Gravy", "Eggplant Braised with Tomatoes and Mushrooms", "Ginger-Spiked Apple Cider Compote", and much more. A handful of color photographs enliven this excellent resource for making the most out of one's slow cooker, regardless of one's personal diet plan!

Memories of Gascony
Pierre Koffmann
Mitchell Beazley
c/o Octopus Publishing
236 Park Avenue
New York NY 10017
9781845337094 $34.99 www.octopusbooksusa.com

Originally published in 1990, the cookbook Memories of Gascony is now in a new edition interspersed with beautiful color photographs. Pairing 160 recipes of rural Gascony, France (which author Pierre Koffmann learned to cook from his grandmother) with reflections of growing up and daily life - learning how to harvest and hunt, the joy of observing the turn of the seasons, hard work on the family farm during school holidays, and more. A treasury for any who enjoy French country cuisine, with a glimpse into everyday life in simpler times, Memories of Gascony is highly recommended.


The Writing/Publishing Shelf

Improve Your Writing With NLP
Judith E. Pearson
Crown House Publishing
6 Trowbridge Drive Suite 5
Bethel, CT 06801
www.crownhousepublishing.com
9781845908614, $29.95, www.amazon.com

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in California, USA in the 1970s. Its creators claim a connection between the neurological processes ("neuro"), language ("linguistic") and behavioral patterns learned through experience ("programming") and that these can be changed to achieve specific goals in life. Bandler and Grinder claim that the skills of exceptional people can be "modeled" using NLP methodology, then those skills can be acquired by anyone. Bandler and Grinder also claim that NLP can treat problems such as phobias, depression, habit disorder, psychosomatic illnesses, myopia, allergy, common cold and learning disorders, often in a single session. NLP has been adopted by some hypnotherapists and in seminars marketed to business and government. It has also now been adopted and adapted to the process of writing with "Improve Your Writing With NLP" by Judith E. Pearson. This 216 page compendium is essential a complete and analytical course in teaching aspiring authors cognitive strategies to improve their writing, as well as learning the writing process in all of its facets, how NLP models for creativity best apply, and perhaps most usefully of all, how to overcome the inevitable 'writer's block'. Thoroughly 'reader friendly', "Improve Your Writing With NLP" is a unique and highly recommended addition to any aspiring or professional writer's instructional reference collection.

Aspects of Contemporary Book Design
Richard Hendel, editor
University of Iowa Press
119 West Park Road, Iowa City, IA 52242-1000
9781609381752, $29.95, www.uiowapress.org

Aspects of Contemporary Book Design considers the craft of book design and tells designers who work with modern technology how to manage specific book design challenges. Images from the books they have produced provide an example-driven, indexed guide to how professional British and American designers think about book design. Any involved in the art of publisher and design will find this gathers the latest thinking on book design, offering first-person step-by-step insights on the progression from manuscript to finished product. Numerous black and white examples throughout make for a 'must' for any book designer or publisher who would understand the process of choosing an effective book design.

Top 100 Power Verbs
Michael Lawrence Faulkner
FT Press
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300
Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
www.ftpress.com
9780133158854, $27.99, www.amazon.com

One of the major tools of business is effective communication. That's where "Top 100 Power Verbs: The Most Powerful Verbs and Phrases You Can Use to Win in Any Situation" can be extraordinarily useful. Author Michael Lawrence Faulkner (with the assistance of Michelle Faulkner-Lunsford) has compiled a 336 page compendium that begins with identifying the connection between communication and success in general, and how to best utilize this assembled collection in particular, then goes on to provide the top 100 'action verbs' for business, bargaining, getting in the last word, presentations, sagacity, socializing, networking, and so much more. Superbly organized and presented, "Top 100 Power Verbs: The Most Powerful Verbs and Phrases You Can Use to Win in Any Situation" is very strongly recommended as a personal and professional linguistic resource and reference. It should also be noted that "Top 100 Power Verbs: The Most Powerful Verbs and Phrases You Can Use to Win in Any Situation" is also available in a Kindle edition ($17.39).


The Relationship Shelf

Smart Relationships
LeslieBeth Wish
New Horizon Press
PO Box 669, Far Hills, NJ 07931
www.newhorizonpressbooks.com
9780882824383, $14.95, www.amazon.com

On average in the United States today there are 86 unmarried men for every 100 unmarried women. In "Smart Relationships: How Successful Women Can Find True Love", psychologist and licensed social worker LeslieBeth Wish draws upon her more than thirty years of experience and expertise to write what is essential a 240 page instruction manual for educated and successful women seeking to find love and emotional fulfillment with a husband. Especially useful reading for women seeking to overcome self-sabotaging behaviors and put an end to flawed relationship choices and patterns, "Smart Relationships" is practical, insightful, 'real world' informative, 'user friendly', and very highly recommended reading. It should also be noted that "Smart Relationships" is available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).


The Gaming Shelf

Championship 7-Stud
Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Max Stern
Jack Mason October 2013 Reviews
Cardoza Publishing
5473 South Eastern Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89119
www.cardozapub.com
9781580422642, $19.99, www.amazon.com

Stud poker is any of a number of poker variants in which each player receives a mix of face-down and face-up cards dealt in multiple betting rounds. Stud games are also typically non-positional games, meaning that the player who bets first on each round may change from round to round (it is usually the player whose face-up cards make the best hand for the game being played). The cards dealt face down to each individual player are called hole cards (which gave rise to the common English expression ace in the hole, which suggests that one has something valuable that is not apparent to others). Seven-card stud is a variant of stud poker. Until the recent increase in popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was the most popular poker variant in home games across the United States, and in casinos in the eastern part of the country. Two to eight players is common, though eight may require special rules for the last cards dealt if no players fold. With experienced players who fold often, even playing with nine players is possible. The collaborative work of championship poker bracelet winners Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, and Max Stern, "Championship 7-Stud: High, 8-or-Better and Razz" is a 288 page instruction manual that will enable even the most novice stud players to successfully read the board and their opponents, determine the relative strength of their hands, know when and how to bluff and semi-bluff, and most important of all, how to win at study high-low, rzz, and 7-card student tournaments. Thorough, detailed, comprehensive, practical, and 'player friendly', "Championship 7-Stud: High, 8-or-Better and Razz" should be considered mandatory reading for anyone planning on sitting down to a game of stud poker. Incidentally, 7-card stud is the "S" game in HORSE and similar mixed game formats. It should also be noted that "Championship 7-Stud: High, 8-or-Better and Razz" is available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).

Defensive Play at Bridge: A Quizbook
Barbara Seagram & David Bird
Master Point Press
331 Douglas Avenue
Toronto, ON, Canada, M5M 1H2
www.masterpointpress.com
9781897106921, $15.95, www.amazon.com

Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking game using a standard 52-card deck. It is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. The game consists of several deals each progressing through four phases: dealing the cards, the auction (also referred to as bidding), playing the hand, and scoring the results.[6] However most club and tournament play involves some variant of duplicate bridge, where the cards are not re-dealt on each occasion, the same deal being played by two or more different sets of players to enable comparative scoring. The World Bridge Federation is the governing body for international competitive bridge. Millions of people play bridge worldwide in clubs, tournaments, online and with friends at home, making it one of the world's most popular card games, particularly among seniors. "Defensive Play at Bridge: A Quizbook" by bridge experts Barbara Seagram and David Bird is a 160 page compendium presenting a series of specific hands, their solutions, and a wealth of useful tips for bridge players. Informed, informative, and highly recommended, "Defensive Play at Bridge: A Quizbook" should be a core part of every dedicated bridge players reference collection and supplemental reading list. It should also be noted that "Defensive Play at Bridge: A Quizbook" is available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).

How To Beat Three Card Poker
Avery Cardoza
Cardoza Publishing
5473 South Eastern Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89119
www.cardozapub.com
9781580422949, $12.95, www.amazon.com

Poker played with three cards dates back to the origins of the game of poker. As a result it's as unclear as the origins of poker, but includes the 16th century British card game of Brag. Rules for three card poker are included in Hoyle's Rules of Games (Second Revised Edition) from 1983 along with a hi-low variant. Three card poker (TCP) is a poker variant played in casinos. In common with other such games it can also be played in other formats, such as in online gambling on the internet. It is the most profitable proprietary table game ever when measured by win generated for casinos or by revenue generated for the rights owners. In "How to Beat Three Card Poker", Avery Cardoza (an accomplished poker player, author and publisher of numerous poker instruction books), draws upon his many years of experience and expertise to write a succinct, practical, and thoroughly 'user friendly' 144 page instructional guide on how to successfully play a three card poker game against the casino. Deftly organized into informative chapters, beginning with an introduction, overview, and history of the game, then on to hand rankings, the basics of playing the game, winning strategies, exposed hole-card play, progressive side bets, tournament play, and money management. Of special note are the chapters on Casino Fundamentals, Bad Beat Bonus, and Winning & Winning Big. Enhanced with Cardoza's insightful concluding remarks and a glossary, "How to Beat Three Card Poker" is an ideal and inexpensive introduction to playing the game, a 'must' for the beginner and has a great deal of value as a refresher for even the more experienced player.

Your Money & The Casino
Missouri Rick
4-Deuce Books
2460 CR 175, Emden, 63439
9780988971707, $14.99, www.amazon.com

In "Your Money & The Casino: What To Know Before You Go", winning Craps, Blackjack, and Video Poker player Missouri Rick draws upon his many years of experience and expertise to inform aspiring gamblers how a casino's advantage works against the player and what the player can do about it; how 'winning odds' can be deceiving to the unwary; both the best and the worst games a casino has to offer; invaluable tips on playing Blackjack, Craps, Baccarat, Pai Gow Poker, Routlette, Video Poker, and Slot Machines (they don't call them One-Arm Bandits for nothing!). "Your Money & The Casino: What To Know Before You Go" also reveals what 'sucker bets' are and how to avoid them. Of special note is Missouri Rick's tips on getting casino compensations and how to stay safe while in a casino. Enhanced with advice on problem gambling, a Gambling Glossary of more than 550 gaming terms, and an extensive bibliography, "Your Money & The Casino: What To Know Before You Go" should be considered a "must read" for anyone intending on trying their luck in a gaming casino. It should be noted that "Your Money & The Casino: What To Know Before You Go" is also available in a Kindle edition ($2.99).


The Political Science Shelf

The Almanac Of The Unelected: 2013
Suzanne Struglinski & Samantha Young, editors
Bernan Press
c/o Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
www.rlpgbooks.com
9781598886313, $299.00, www.amazon.com

This 24th edition of "The Almanac Of The Unelected: 2013" provides a comprehensive listing of all the 113 Congress' staff members who serve on committees in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Also included are the staff members on Joint Committees, as well as those on select, special, and other congressional committees. Of special note are the opening description on diversity within the 133 Congress, the congressional battle over the nation's finances, debating such political divisive issues as gun control, and the cabinet nomination process. Each individual staff member entry is noted by name and includes their title, office location, phone number, email address, educational background, general professional history, areas of expertise, and congressional staff history. "The Almanac Of The Unelected: 2013" is an invaluable guide and is an especially recommended addition to professional, corporate, community, NGO, State, Federal, and academic library Governmental Studies reference and resource collections.

The DREAMers
Walter J. Nicholls
Stanford University Press
1450 Page Mill Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1124
9780804788847 $24.95 www.sup.org

The DREAMers: How the Undocumented Youth Movement Transformed the Immigrant Rights Debate examines the recent American shift in discourse and politics concerning undocumented youth - many of whom were illegally brought to America as young children. Now often referred to as DREAMers, in reference to the DREAM Act, a law that would potentially allow these young people (who have lived in America for nearly all their lives and are culturally American) the legal right to stay in America. The DREAMers traces the story of this youth movement from its origins in the early 2000s to the present day, referring to interviews, news stories, testimony from activists, and much more to reveal not only how undocumented youth have made their voice heard, but also how other stigmatized groups might do so as well. Highly recommended.

America's Way Back
Donald J. Devine
ISI Books
3901 Centerville Road
Wilmington, DE 19807-1938
www.isibooks.org
9781610170635, $29.95, www.amazon.com

Every nation in human history as followed a cycle of emergence, growth, decline, and then extinction. Although the United States is the first democracy to exert global influence and enjoy an unprecedented level of wealth and military prowess, it is no exception to what the late British historian Arnold J. Toynbee described as the "Rise & Fall" of empires. There are knowledgeable political observers who are cognizant of this phenomenon and seek to preserve America in recovering from its current economic stagnation, moral exhaustion, and probable bankruptcy. One of those is American Conservative Union Vice-Chairman Donald J. Devine in "America's Way Back: Reclaiming Freedom, Tradition, and Constitution". This 288 page compendium is a kind of instructional guide that begins by describing the challenges facing America today, and then addresses what can be done to overcome them. Of special note are the two concluding chapters: 'A Constitutional Way Forward' and 'History's Most Exciting Adventure'. Enhanced with a profusion of notes and a comprehensive index, "America's Way Back: Reclaiming Freedom, Tradition, and Constitution" is strongly recommended reading for anyone concerned with the course America has been on for these past few decades and are seeking for ways to correct that course before America becomes an historical footnote akin to the fall of Rome that would precipitate us into a new Dark Age.


The Architecture Shelf

The Architect's History of Architecture, third edition
Hans Morgenthaler
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
4050 Westmark Drive
Dubuque, IA 52002
9780757591396 $123.90 www.kendallhunt.com

Now in an updated third edition, The Architect's History of Architecture features an extensive chronicle of architecture's evolution through history, covering a multitude of eras and cultures. Chapters discuss Egyptian temples, non-Western architecture, Greek architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Islamic architecture, early and high renaissance architecture, art noveau, countermodernism, postmodernism, and much more. Small yet illuminating black-and-white photographs of various architectural styles pepper almost every page of this excellent, broad-ranging survey, suitable as a classroom instructional text and highly recommended especially for college and trade school library collections.

Houses Of The Hamptons: 1880-1930, revised edition
Gary Lawrance & Anne Surchin
Acanthus Press LLC
1133 Broadway, Suite 1229
New York, NY 10010
9780926494770, $85.00, www.amazon.com

Now in a newly revised edition which has four additional chapters, as well as being enhanced by the inclusion of new and archival color illustrations, "Houses Of The Hamptons: 1880-1930" is the collaborative work of professional architects Gary Lawrance and Anne Surchin. The Hamptons area along the southern shore of Long Island is fifty miles long, twelve miles wide, and eighty miles easy of New York. It was valued by the wealthy because of the fertile soil, amazing landscape, and exceptional views. It soon became home to dozens of unique mansions by some of the most influential citizenry of the time. This superbly illustrated, 336 page compendium showcases more than thirty of the most memorable of these homes complete with building diagrams and archival period photography. In addition to the homes themselves, information is provided with respect to the gifted architects and renowned architectural firms that created them. A combination of impeccable scholarship and regional architectural history, "Houses Of The Hamptons: 1880-1930" is especially recommended for professional and academic library Architectural Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.


The Needlecraft Shelf

Stitched Blooms
Carina Envoldsen-Harris
Lark Crafts
67 Broadway
Asheville, NC 28801
9781454704256 $16.95 www.larkcrafts.com

Stitched Blooms: 300 Floral, Leaf & Border Motifs to Embroider lives up to its title with full-color photography and step-by-step instructions to creating flower-themed embellishments with needle and thread. An accompanying CD includes all 300 motifs in black-and-white, ready to be incorporated into any sewing project! A hands-on, user-friendly resource, Stitched Blooms is a delightful supplementary resource for needlecrafters of all skill and experience levels, and perfect for adding a charming personal touch to any piece of clothing or fabric!

Artful Color Mindful Knits
Laura Militzer Bryant, author
Alexis Xenakis, photographer
XRX Books
PO Box 1525
Sioux Falls, SD 57101
9781933064260 $24.95 www.knittinguniverse.com

Featuring full color photography on every page, Artful Color Mindful Knits reveals the secrets of evoking a color repeat from hand-dyed yarn skeins, as well as how to blend color repeat, stitch count, and gauge work. Readers will learn how to create arrestingly beautiful patterning in garments ranging from simple scarves to sweaters, sampler jackets, and much more. A medley of hands-on projects round out this excellent guide to improving one's skill, highly recommended for intermediate to advanced knitters.

Quilt Black Fusion
Penny Haren
Landauer Corporation
3100 NW 101st Street, Suite A
Urbandale, Iowa 50322
www.landauercorp.com
9781935726333, $24.95, www.amazon.com

Quilt making has a long tradition of functionality being enhanced with esthetics. Block quilts are capable of making an almost infinite variety of artistic designs. In "Quilt Block Fusion: Combining Innovative Piecing Techniques", author Penny Haren draws upon her more than 20 years of experience and expertise to present a superbly illustrated 80 page compendium comprised of five projects, utilizing six blocks, and ten techniques. Aspiring quilt makers will learn about basic paper-piecing, paper-pieced applique, paper-piecing with 'Fussy Cut Segments', strip-pieced 'Grandmother's Flower Garden', machine-pieced 'Grandmother's flower Garden', strip-pieced appliques, pointed Dresden plate, round Dresden plate, paper-piecing with pieced segments, and paper-piecing with flipped back applique. A thoroughly 'user friendly', step-by-step instruction manual, "Quilt Block Fusion" is enthusiastically recommended for personal and community library Needlecraft instructional reference collections.

Knit Christmas Stockings, second edition
Gwen W. Steege, editor
Storey Publishing
210 Mass MoCA Way
North Adams, MA 01247
www.storey.com
9781612122526, $12.95, www.amazon.com

Home-made, personally crafted gifts are the most meaningful of all. That's why "Knit Christmas Stockings" was knowledgeably compiled and deftly edited by needlecraft expert Gwen Steege. Now in an expanded second edition, this 136 page compendium is packed with nineteen thoroughly 'user friendly' knitting patterns for creating Christmas theme ornaments and stockings. Profusely illustrated with full color photography and diagrams, each do-it-yourself knitting project provides clear step-by-step directions and invaluable information on finished measurements, needles, and additional supplies where needed. Superbly organized and presented, "Knit Christmas Stockings" is a welcome and highly recommended addition to personal and community library needlecraft instructional reference guide collections.

Christmas is Coming
Cheryl Almgren Taylor
Martingale
19021 Avenue NE, Bothell, WA 98011
9781604681987, $26.99, www.martingale-pub.com

CHRISTMAS IS COMING: APPLIQUE QUILT PATTERNS TO CELEBRATE THE SEASON is a fine guide recommended for any quilter's collection; particularly those seeking seasonal projects for the holidays. It follows up on Taylor's popular DECK THE HALLS title and provides thirteen pieced, fusible-applique projects from table runners and wall hangings to pillows and holiday motifs for adults and children alike, and includes many gift ideas perfect for the holidays. Any holiday needleworker needs this crafts title, packed with original ideas.

The Big Book of Baby Quilts
Martingale
19021 Avenue NE, Bothell, WA 98011
9781604683073, $29.99, www.martingale-pub.com

The Big Book of Baby Quilts teaches dozens of quilt patterns and gathers quilts by top-selling designers who impart the basics of producing a variety of baby quilts. Some 87 baby quilt patterns and designs run the gamut from traditional to modern, while quilts for showers, holidays and more present projects that are relatively quick and easy to produce, from patchwork to applique. Full-page color photos of completed projects accompany sidebars of information and at-a-glance specs on materials, cutting, assembly and more. The result is a perfect choice for any planning quilts for babies: a treasure trove of inspiration!

Sew Red
Laura Zander
Sixth&Spring Books
161 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 1301
New York, NY 10013
9781936096558, $22.95, www.sixthandspringbooks.com

SEW RED: SEWING & QUILTING FOR WOMEN'S HEART HEALTH provides some 30 sewing and quilting celebrity insights and dozens of sewing projects that lend to fashion and home decor, sharing personal experiences with heart disease and tips on how women can keep their hearts fit. Cardio-friendly recipes, sewing campaign ideas, and more appear in lay-flat binding with clear spine lettering for easy shelving and use, while color photos of completed projects and sidebars of information complete what turns out to be a powerful needleworker's guide.

Universal Stitches
Nancy Arthur Hoskins
Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310
9780764344312, $24.99, www.schifferbooks.com

Universal Stitches for Weaving, Embroidery and Other Fiber Arts provides beginning and advanced fiber artists with a fine text that shows how five basic stitches (plus nearly two hundred variations and combinations) can result in new decorative options, and provides detailed diagrams and projects that show how to make the most of these five basic stitches. From embroidery and needlework pieces mixing techniques and media to wrapping, looping, chaining and more, this provides the author's own unique visual approach to diagraming stitches to teach all 200 used in a range of projects. Color photos and clear examples make this a pick for any needleworker looking to get the most from basics.


The Graphic Novel Shelf

Iron Bound
Brendan Leach
Secret Acres
237 Flatbush Avenue #331
Brooklyn, NY 11217
9780988814929 $21.95 www.secretacres.com

Set in 1961 New Jersey's Ironbound district, Iron Bound is a black-and-white graphic novel about the brutal realities of daily life in a world of gangs, crime, and corrupt police. Young people become enmired in paranoid networks that all too easily explode into violence. Iron Bound reveals the devastating toll that such toxic culture takes. A sobering, pull-no-punches story to the very end.


The Audiobook Shelf

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
Ron Chernow, author
Grover Gardner, narrator
Blackstone Audiobooks
PO Box 969, Ashland, OR 97520
www.BlackstoneAudio.com
9781470882198, $140.00, www.amazon.com

John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 - May 23, 1937) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. In 1870, he founded Standard Oil Company and aggressively ran it until he officially retired in 1897. "Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr." by Ron Chernow is the definitive biography of Rocefeller. This complete and unabridged audio book library edition is deftly narrated by Grover Gardner. Flawless technical recording values enhance the 30 compact disks for a total running time of 35 hours. Informed and informative, "Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr." is a very highly recommended addition to community and academic library audio book collections.

Unleashed
David Rosenfelt, author
Grover Gardner, narrator
Listen & Live Audio
PO Box 817
Roseland, NJ 07068
9781593166571 $29.95 www.listenandlive.com

Unleashed: An Andy Carpenter Mystery is the unabridged audiobook adapation of a dramatic tale by award-nominated thriller author David Rosenfelt. When Andy Carpenter receives a phone call from Barry Price, a distressed friend he hasn't seen since high school, he rushes to help - but is distracted by an injured dog along the way. By the time Carpenter secures care for the dog, Barry has departed on a private flight that subsequently crashes, an event that cannot be an accident. But Barry wasn't the only person a mysterious killer wanted dead, and if Andy doesn't put the pieces together quickly, he and more of his friends could be next! An exciting intrigue story of twists, turns, and the rehabilitation of a loyal canine friends, Unleashed is a treat for mystery lovers and dog lovers alike! 6 CDs, 7 hours.

Temptation
Sherryl Woods, author
Tanya Eby, narrator
Brilliance Corporation
PO Box 887
Grand Haven, MI 49417
9781480511989 $14.99 www.brillianceaudio.com

Temptation is a heartwarming, unabridged audiobook about a Wall Street career woman confronted by one unforeseen upheaval after another. The stress of her job makes family life difficult, and tears apart her marriage. Then the attractive and influential network president Jason Kane strives to enlist her help to improve a floundering soap opera, and her life becomes truly entangled. She learns things about her mother she never would have guessed; one of her friends falls into mortal peril; and perhaps most unexpectedly, an opportunity presents itself to move beyond heartache and experience once-in-a-lifetime love. Witty and inviting, Temptation is a delight to experience, highly recommended. 9 CDs, 10 hours 2 min.

The Pilgrim's Progress
John Bunyon
Naxos of America, Inc.
1810 Columbia Avenue, Suite 28
Franklin, TN 37064
www.naxosaudiobooks.com
9781843797302, (NA0133), $69.98, www.amazon.com

"The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come" is a Christian allegory written by John Bunyan and published in February, 1678. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print. Bunyan began his work while in the Bedfordshire county prison for violations of the Conventicle Act, which prohibited the holding of religious services outside the auspices of the established Church of England. Superbly narrated by David Shaw-Parker, this Christian literary classic is now available in a complete and unabridged CD audio book format from Naxos. This technically flawless recording on 10 CDs and has a total running time of 12 hours, 3 minutes, 53 seconds. Although some 300 years old, this allegorical tale of a Christian's struggle to overcome temptations and obtain salvation in the Kingdom of God is as relevant today as it ever was. Very highly recommended for personal, church, and community library collections, it should also be noted that listeners can download an accompanying CD booklet by accessing n-ab.com/pilgrim.

A Rake's Midnight Kiss
Anna Campbell, author
Antony Ferguson, narrator
Tantor Media, Inc.
2 Business Park Road, Unit 2
Old Saybrook, CT 06475
9781452608891 $39.99 www.tantor.com

Book 2 in Anna Campbell's "Sons of Sin Series", A Rake's Midnight Kiss is a steamy, unabridged audiobook about the tense attraction between two opponents, each with secrets to hide. Genevieve Barrett must conceal that she is the true author of her father's articles, while Sir Richard Harmsworth conceals his insecurity about being born out-of-wedlock by pretending to be an aloof heartbreaker. Secretly, he believes that the Harmsworth Jewel, a priceless treasure owned by Genevieve's family, will cement his status and standing. When he adopts the identity of a student to get closer to the Harmsworth Jewel, Genevieve sees through his ruse at once, recognizing him as the masked intruder who tried to steal the gem once before. A tense drama of the attraction and razor-edge balance between two strong-willed people, A Rake's Midnight Kiss is sensuously steeped in intrigue and passion alike. 10 CDs, 12 hours.

Mistress
James Patterson and David Ellis
Hachette Audio
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
9781611130423, $34.98, www.hachetteaudio.com

MISTRESS receives a powerful reading by Kevin T. Collins, who adds a vivid and lively tone to a gripping story of Ben, who is consumed by obsessions with objects, a beautiful woman, and her murder. Diana's death is ruled a suicide but Ben is sure she'd never have killed herself, and the same obsession that has ruled him when she was alive turns into a hunt for the truth when she's dead. Further complicating matters is the revelation that someone's trying to prevent him from learning the truth, resulting in a gripping murder mystery and thriller any reader will find absorbing and unpredictable.

Galaxy Press
7051 Hollywood Boulevard, Suite 200
Hollywood, CA 90028
www.galaxypress.com

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 - January 24, 1986), better known as L. Ron Hubbard, was an American pulp fiction author and is nowadays best known as the founder of the Church of Scientology. Galaxy Press is dedicated to keeping the literary works of Hubbard available to new generations of readers. They have also been responsible for producing technologically flawless multi-cast audio book productions of Hubbards pulp fiction stories. Four particularly outstanding examples are "One Was Stubbon" (9781592122448, $9.95) which originally appeared in the pages of the November 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. This superbly performed audio book also includes two Hubbard science fiction short stories "A Can of Vacuum" and "240,000 Miles Straight Up". First published in the February 1934 isse of Thrilling Adventures, "The Green God" (9781592123155, $9.95) is one of Hubbard's action/adventure yarns set in 1930s China. This audio book production also includes the short story "Fix Mex for a Million". "The Dive Bomber" (9781592122301, $12.95) is one of Hubbard's aeronautical action/adventure novels and appeared in the July 1937 issue of Five-Novels Monthly. Another one of Hubbard's action/adventure novels set in China is "Inky Odds" (9781592121632, $9.95) and was first featured in the June 1940 issue of Five-Novels Monthly. Each audio book production is superbly enhanced with music and sound effects. The result is a perfect 'theatre of the mind' listening experience. All of these Galaxy Press productions are enthusiastically recommended for personal and community library audio book collections.


The Music CD Shelf

Marula's Shade: The ImprovED Album
Triad Trust
www.triadtrust.org
c/o Rock Paper Scissors
511 West 4th Street, Suite 2
Bloomington, IN 47404
www.rockpaperscissors.biz
$TBA CD / $8.99 MP3 www.amazon.com

Marula's Shade: The ImprovED Album is a music CD by artist-educators of the ImprovED program in South Africa's Nkomazi region, where 40% of the adult population lives with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The music serves a purpose beyond entertainment; it offers education about how to protect oneself from HIV, take steps to reduce its spread, and prevent another generation from being lost to the virus. ImprovED strives to educate everyone who will listen, and young people especially; their task complicated by the silence about the terrible and insidiously widespread disease. Highly recommended not only for the as a beacon of hope and a collective effort to battle against a devastating social ill. The tracks are "HIV is our War", "Respect", "Lullaby", "Find a Way", "Marula's Shade", "To Zero", "Siyalobola", "Ika So", "My Brother", "Money for Love", "Days of Love", "The ImprovED Style", "History", "You Can't Dance", "The Cure", "Love Is", "Tshepo's Hope", and "Let's Come Together".

Then What!?
Jacob Bain & Publish the Quest
Privately Published
www.publishthequest.com
c/o FlipSwitch (publicity)
PO Box 2207
Bloomington, IN 47404-2207
$9.99 www.cdbaby.com

Then What!? is a rousing and insightful album from Jacob Bain and Publish the Quest, encompassing Bain's travels to West Africa, Zimbabwe, Thailand, and Burma. Drawing upon elements of pop, salsa, reggae, hip-hop, and Afrobeat with vocals and alto sax, Then What!? speaks to the harsh realities of the world - terror, brutal violence, a system that punishes young people and drives them deeper into debt, but maintains a positive message encouraging the listener to take a stand for their principles and work to solve problems on both small and large scales. At times rapturous, challenging, and thought-provoking, Then What!? is highly recommended. The tracks are "Then What!?", "Gotta Keep Movin!", "I Believe People Can Change", "You Never Know Who You're Gonna Meet", "Don't Point That Gun At Me", "The Wall", "When It Comes", "Taking And Taking", "When It All Falls Down", and "Swing 1".

Tempo Antico
Newpoli
Privately Published
c/o FlipSwitch (publicity)
PO Box 2207
Bloomington, IN 47404-2207
$15.00 CD / $9.99 download www.cdbaby.com

Tempo Antico is a music album of original arrangements of classic southern Italian songs, played in celebration of Italy's rich folk legacy. From Renaissance pieces to blended influence from Greek and Arabic traditions, Tempo Antico flows wonderfully. A true joy to experience! The tracks are "Catalina - Moresca Prima" (4:15), "Pizzicarella" (6:23), "Madonna nun e cchiu lo tiempo antico" (3:38), "Trapanarella" (2:42), "Funtana che ddaje acqua", "'A Serenata 'e Pulecenella" (4:37), "Chichilichi" (3:14), "Mamma la Rondinella" (3:57), "Antidotum Tarantulae/Tarantella del '600" (5:54), "Dicitencello Vuje" (4:59), "Nu juorno t'aggia avere" (3:52), "Amore Amore" (2:52), and "Bonus Track: Sia Benedetto ci fici lo mundo" (3:34).


The Library DVD Shelf

From Up On Poppy Hill
Written by Hayao Miyazaki
Directed by Goro Miyazaki
GKIDS (Studio Ghibli)
Cinedigm Entertainment (dist.)
c/o Foundry Commnications (publicity)
newvideo.com www.gkids.com
$29.95 (DVD) / $34.95 (Blu-ray + DVD)

Available as both a DVD 2-pack and a Blu-ray + DVD combo pack, From Up On Poppy Hill is the latest theatrical masterpiece written by legendary creator Hayao Miyazaki and brought to life by the acclaimed anime (Japanese animation) artists of Studio Ghibli. The story is set in 1963 Yokohama, during Japan's painful yet steady recovery from the devastation of World War II. Japan is preparing for the prestige of hosting the Olympics. Amid this bustling backdrop, two ordinary high school students meet and form a close friendship - but a dark shadow from their past threatens to destroy their newfound bond, as well as their potential for happiness in the future. Beautifully animated, superbly voiced by an all-star English cast, and enhanced with over three hours of bonus features, From Up On Poppy Hill is an unforgettable treasure, sure to prove immensely popular for gift-giving, family movie night, or public library DVD collections. 91 min. plus extras, Japanese or English audio with English subtitles, rated PG for mild thematic elements and some incidental smoking images. Also highly recommended are Studio Ghibli's previous epic theatrical adventures, including "Spirited Away", "Howl's Moving Castle", "The Secret World of Arrietty", and "Princess Mononoke".

The Whale
A film by Suzanne Chisholm & Michael Parfit
Narrated by Ryan Reynolds
Bullfrog Films, Inc.
PO Box 149
Oley, PA 19547
1937772667 $295.00 www.bullfrogfilms.com

The Whale: The True Story of Luna is a heart-touching, widescreen documentary about a young wild killer whale (also known as orca), given the nickname of Luna, who became separated from his family and tried to befriend human beings on the coast of British Columbia. Part extraordinary adventure, part revelation that humans and animals share a profound bond, The Whale is an eye-opening true story that speaks to viewers of all ages and backgrounds. Highly recommended, especially for public and community library collections.

The Pallisers 40th Anniversary Edition
Written by Simon Raven
Based on the novels by Anthony Trollope
Acorn Media Group
8515 Georgia Avenue, Suite 620
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3403
9781598288261 $99.99 www.acornonline.com

Originally produced by BBC in 1974, The Pallisers 40th Anniversary Edition collects the complete PBS saga of an aristocratic family in Victorian England. Based on Anthony Trollope's popular albeit politically charged novels, and adapted by British author Simon Raven, The Pallisers is a story of vying to survive in a social circle where appearances and reputation rule all. Personal and public crises beset the family as they climb the social ladder through three generations, in this thought-provoking and extraordinarily human drama. A bonus interview with emmy-winning actress Susan Hampshire, a 32-page viewer's guide, and materials from Anthony Trollope round out this excellent series, highly recommended for gift-giving as well as public library collections. 8 DVDs, 26 episodes, 22 1/4 hours plus bonus, full screen, SDH subtitles.

First Run Features
630 Ninth Avenue, Suite 1213
New York, NY 10036
$24.95 each www.firstrunfeatures.com

Three eye-opening new documentaries from First Run Features make excellent addition to public, school, or community library collections. "A Girl & a Gun" (www.agirlandagunfilm.com, 76 min.) is a documentary by Cathryne Czubek about America's female gun owners, from both historical and cultural perspectives. Far from the femme fatales of Hollywood cinema, armed women are just as likely to be ordinary people, family members, and neighbors, who carry weapons for protection, confidence, or even personal satisfaction. "You Don't Need Feet to Dance" (www.docarts.com, 81 min.) is a film by Alan Govenar about Sidiki Conde, an African immigrant to America, who lost the use of his legs to polio at age fourteen. Conde lives a rich and independent life in spite of his disability; he uses his hands to travel the stairs of his fifth-floor apartment, teaches workshops for disabled kids, rehearses with his band, bicycles with his hands, plays djembe drums, sings, and dances with his hands. "Triumph of the Wall" (102 min.) is a movie by Bill Stone telling the true story of an unusual work of art - a 1000-foot stone wall by a beginner stonemason Chris Overing, in Canada's province of Quebec. Overing's project proves to be tremendously ambitious, and practical necessity transform his task and the film chronicling it into something unexpected! All three documentaries are as entertaining as they are thought-provoking, and highly recommended.

Naruto Shippuden The Movie: The Lost Tower
Viz Media LLC
295 Bay Street, San Francisco, CA 94133
Media Lab Public Relations (publicity)
www.medialab-pr.com$19.98 www.viz.com

Naruto Shippuden The Movie: The Lost Tower is an action-packed anime (Japanese animation) movie set in Naruto's colorful and chaotic world, where ninja warriors cultivate extraordinary martial and magical powers to battle one another for power, money, love, or justice! Naruto himself aspires to become the greatest ninja of all, and the Hokage (ultimate protector and patron) of his home village; over the course of his life he has slowly learned how to make fast friendships, battle deadly foes, and harness the untamed spirit of the ferocious Nine-Tailed Fox trapped within his own body. The Lost Tower is the fourth Naruto movie to take place after a "time skip" period in the manga/anime; in it, an older Naruto fights to protect his friends from the machinations of the rogue ninja Mukade, the Puppet Master. When Mukade suddenly unleashes the titanic power of the Ley Line (a gigantic river of underground chakra), time itself unravels, sending Naruto into the past. He meets the future Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, on a desperate mission to protect the Queen of Loran and her people. Could their success or failure ultimately change the present day? Naruto must not only find a way back to his home time, but also preserve the fragile balance of history in this exciting, high-stakes adventure. Bonus features include a humorous, exclusive animated short, "Naruto and the Three Wishes", which takes place earlier in Naruto's chronology and features a quasi-battle royale between Naruto and his ninja-in-training rivals over access to a magical genie! English or Japanese audio with English subtitles, widescreen, 85 min. plus 14 min. bonus.

For Love's Sake
Directed by Andrew Walkington
Vision Video
P.O. Box 540
Worcester, PA 19490
$19.99 www.visionvideo.com

Based on a true story, and featuring a special appearance by Bruce Marchiano, For Love's Sake is a profound DVD about the power of family bonds. When Mary Walker's husband dies, she struggles with suicidal depression, and loses custody of her two boys, James and Paul. Her children live in a succession of institutions and foster care families, and fear that they will never see their mother again. Fortunately, a compassionate and principled Christian therapist teaches Mary how to reconnect with her faith, heal her wounded soul, and confront an obstinate bureaucracy in order to earn the right and the joy to reunite her shattered family. Highly recommended for both personal and church DVD collections. DVD extras include interviews with director Andrew Walkington and actor Bruce Marchiano, deleted scenes, and more about "the real Mary", whose life story inspired For Love's Sake. 93 min., coded for all regions.

The Dark Ages: An Age of Light
Walter Januszczak
Athena Learning
c/o RLJ Entertainment
9781621721086 $49.99 athenalearning.com

The Dark Ages: An Age of Light challenges the popular conception that the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire were unilaterally bleak. Historians call them the "Dark Ages" not because of their darkness, but rather because so few records were kept and so little is known of these times. Yet The Dark Ages: An Age of Light focuses upon the wonders and marvels that humans created during this era - early Christian iconography, the inception of Islamic art, and more from Britain to North Africa to Byzantium. Historian Waldemar Januszczak takes the viewer on an eye-opening world tour, in this breathtaking and educational documentary, enhanced with a 12-page informational booklet. Highly recommended, especially for public library collections. 4 episodes on 2 DVDs, 240 min., widescreen, SDH subtitles.

The Art of Fitness
Dr. Levi Harrison, MD
www.DrLeviFitness.com
Privately Published
c/o 411 Video Information (publicity)
PO Box 1223
Pebble Beach, CA 93953
$19.95 www.411videoinfo.com

Physician, orthopedic surgeon, and fitness expert Dr. Levi Harrison, MD presents The Art of Fitness: Cardio Core Workout, an exercise program touting a full-body workout. Designed so that viewers of beginner, intermediate, or advanced fitness levels can benefit from the exercise, which incorporates boxing, jumps, jogging, kicks, arm and ab moves, and more into a whole-body workout sure to get the blood flowing. No equipment other than simple hand weights and a mat is needed to fully benefit from The Art of Fitness! An excellent, invigorating addition to DVD fitness collections. 65 min.

10 Minute Solution: High Intensity Interval Training
Lisa Kinder
www.lisakinder.com
Anchor Bay Entertainment
2401 West Big Beaver Road, Suite 200
Troy, MI 48084-3304
$14.98 www.anchorbayentertainment.com

NCSF Certified Personal Trainer Lisa Kinder presents 10 Minute Solution: High Intensity Interval Training, a fitness DVD comprised of five mix-or-match ten-minute segments designed for focused, intense workouts that can readily be incorporated into the busiest of schedules. The five segments are HIIT 101, a high-energy introduction to the joys of vigorous high intensity interval training; Ab HIIT, focusing on the waist and abdominals; Upper Body HIIT, designed to improve arm and shoulder strength; HIIT Explosion, which elevates the heart and metabolic rate; and Rock Bottom HIIT, which sculpts the legs and booty zone. An excellent addition to DVD fitness libraries, High Intensity Interval Training is a worthy addition to the 10 Minute Solution line of user-friendly, time-management focused DVD workouts. 54 min. Also highly recommended for fitness-conscious viewers of all skill and experience levels is Leslie Sansone's Just Walk 5 Mega Miles (93 min., $16.98), a DVD program (including an elastic toning band) that shows how to transform simple walking into a solid, full-body workout.

BodyFIT 360 Vol. 1
Michelle Dozois
www.michelledozois.com
Privately Published
c/o 411 Video Information
PO Box 1223
Pebble Beach, CA 93953
$19.99 www.411videoinfo.com

Certified pilates instructor, fitness trainer, and Former National and World Aerobic Champion Michelle Dozois, creator of the Peak 10(R) Fat Loss System, presents BodyFIT 360 Vol. 1, a fitness DVD that invites the viewer to engage in 360 degrees of motion for a satisfying workout that improves endurance, strength, and flexibility. No equipment other than an inexpensive mat is needed to benefit from the yoga stretches, dance cardio, and simple gymnastics. BodyFIT 360 is an excellent, exuberant, and invigorating addition to personal fitness DVD libraries! 58 min.

Jack Irish Set 1
Starring Guy Pearce
Based on the books by Peter Temple
Acorn Media Group
8515 Georgia Avenue, Suite 620
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3403
9781621721093 $39.99 www.acornonline.com

Jack Irish Set 1is a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack of two feature-length episodes based on the acclaimed mystery novels of award-winning author Peter Temple. Jack Irish (played by Emmy-winning actor Guy Pearce) is a former lawyer, devastated by the cruel murder of his wife. Now a bitter alcoholic and part-time private investigator, he becomes enmired in the corruption, scandals, and ruthlessness of the underworld. A behind-the-scenes making-of featurette rounds out these gritty noir shows. Jack Irish Set 1 is an absolute "must-see" for fans of the genre! (Recommended for mature audiences due to violence, graphic images, nudity, and sexual situations). 202 min. plus bonus, SDH subtitles.


The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf

Emperor of Thorns
Mark Lawrence
Ace Books
c/o Penguin Group (USA)
375 Hudson Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10014
9780425256855, $25.95, www.penguin.com

Emperor of Thorns is Book Three of 'The Broken Empire' series and concludes the trilogy for prior readers who will relish the final story of a king facing the end of his empire. Jorg, main protagonist of prior books, is now twenty and High King of Seven Nations. While he hasn't gotten revenge against his father, he's determined to rule as emperor, and has uncovered the last dangerous lost technology of the land which could change and destroy the world. His confrontation with the Dead King in a battle for power introduces him to an unexpected enemy in an unexpected place in this engrossing, satisfying conclusion to an epic fantasy series, highly recommended for any prior reader.

Doctor Who: Harvest of Time
Alastair Reynolds
Broadway Books
c/o Crown Publishing Group
1745 Broadway, New York, NY, 10036
www.broadwaybooks.com
9780385346801, $9.99, 368 pp., www.amazon.com

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television program produced by the BBC. The program depicts the adventures of a Time Lord - a time traveling, humanoid alien known as the Doctor. He explores the universe in his TARDIS (which is an acronym for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space), a sentient time-traveling space ship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, a common sight in Britain in 1963, when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, the Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save Earth and alien civilizations. There have been a succession of actors playing the role of the Doctor. When the Doctor dies he regenerates into another incarnation of himself. "Doctor Who" is so popular that there has been one American movie, and a succession of novels and comics featuring the character. "Doctor Who: Harvest of Time" features a new adventure the third Doctor who works with an British military group called 'The Unit' to save Earth from a vicious invasion by an alien race called Sild. Science fiction at its very best, "Doctor Who: Harvest of Time" is a 'must' for all dedicated Doctor Who fans! It should also be noted that "Doctor Who: Harvest Of Time" is available in a Kindle edition ($7.99).


The Biography Shelf

Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Creating the Modern First Lady
Lewis L. Gould
University Press of Kansas
2501 West 15th Street, Lawrence, KS 66049
www.kansaspress.ku.edu
9780700619023, $34.95, www.amazon.com

Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt (August 6, 1861 - September 30, 1948) was the second wife of Theodore Roosevelt and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1901 to 1909. "Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Creating the Modern First Lady" by Lewis L. Gould is a 176 page compendium providing the reading with an informed and informative and complex biography of a remarkable and accomplished woman whose familial, social, cultural, and political contributions have been heretofore under appreciated. A superbly crafted and notated work, "Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Creating the Modern First Lady" is enhanced with bibliographic essay. A work of impressive and detailed scholarship, and ideal for the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the evolution of the role of 'First Ladies' from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama, "Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Creating the Modern First Lady" is highly recommended addition to community and academic library American Biography collections.

Feminist and Abolitionist
Virginia Sanchez-Korrol
Pinata Books
c/o Arte Publico Press
University of Houston
4902 Gulf Fwy, Bldg 19, Rm 100
Houston, TX 77204-2004
9781558857650 $12.95 www.artepublicopress.com

Feminist and Abolitionist: The Story of Emilia Casanova is the biography of a woman raised in an upper-class, slave-holding Cuban family, who moved to New York and became a tireless crusader for Cuba's independence from Spain and the end of human slavery. During Cuba's Ten Years' War, she created the first women's political group to openly support the rebels. She dared to return to Cuba to deliver contraband papers, a dangerous undertaking for her family as well as herself. Her father and his entire family were ultimately forced into exile in the U.S. The true-life story of an extraordinary and principled woman, Feminist and Abolitionist is highly recommended especially for public and college library biography collections.

Rudolf Bultmann: A Biography
Konrad Hammann
Polebridge Press
900 State Street, Salem, Oregon 97301-3922
www.polebridgepress.com
9781598151183, $60.00, www.amazon.com

Rudolf Karl Bultmann (20 August 1884 - 30 July 1976) was a German Lutheran theologian and professor of New Testament at the University of Marburg. He was one of the major figures of early 20th century biblical studies and a prominent voice in liberal Christianity. Bultmann is known for his belief that the historical analysis of the New Testament is both futile and unnecessary, given that the earliest Christian literature showed little interest in specific locations. Bultmann argued that all that matters is the "thatness", not the "whatness" of Jesus, i.e. only that Jesus existed, preached and died by crucifixion matters, not what happened throughout his life. Bultmann's approach relied on his concept of demythology, and interpreted the mythological elements in the New Testament existentially. Bultmann contended that only faith in the kerygma, or proclamation, of the New Testament was necessary for Christian faith, not any particular facts regarding the historical Jesus. "Rudolf Bultmann: A Biography" by Konrad Hammann (Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Evangelical-theological Faculty, university of Munster, Germany) is a 624 page exhaustive biography of Bultmann's life and work. Deftly translated into English by Philip E. Devenish, "Rudolf Bultmann: A Biography" is chronologically organized and presented beginning with his formative years 1884-1907, through his academic and theological careers, to his finale productive years (1964-1976). This definitive biography is enhanced with indexes of biblical references; people, places, institutions and publications; and subjects. An exhaustive masterpiece of biographical scholarship, "Rudolf Bultmann: A Biography" is a strongly recommended contribution to academic library collections.

Once Upon A Time
Ian Bell
Pegasus Books
80 Broad Street, 5th Floor, NY, NY 10004
www.pegasusbooks.us
9781605984810, $35.00, www.amazon.com

Robert Allen "Bob" Dylan (born May 24, 1941) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, artist, writer, and an influential figure in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly reluctant figurehead of social unrest. A number of Dylan's early songs, such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'", became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements. Leaving behind his initial base in the culture of the folk music revival, Dylan's six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" radically altered the parameters of popular music in 1965. His recordings employing electric instruments attracted denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement. "Once Upon a Time: The Lives of Bob Dylan" by journalism Ian Bell is a 592 page compendium providing a complex and analytical biography of Dylan. Detailed, documented, insightful, occasionally iconoclastic, "Once Upon a Time: The Lives of Bob Dylan" is a compelling read from beginning to end. Informed and informative, "Once Upon a Time: The Lives of Bob Dylan" is a 'must read' for all Dylan fans and will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to community library American Biography collections.

Ghosts and Ballyhoo
Thomas Wictor
Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310
9780764343384, $19.99, www.schifferpublishing.com

Ghosts and Ballyhoo: Memoirs of a Failed L.A. Music Journalist documents Thomas Wictor's ten years in Los Angeles music and pairs a memoir with a music history perfect for collections interested in both. Its unusual title stems from the author's haunting by the Cardinal Ghost and the Collateral Ghost (former Zappa bassist Scott Thunes), and blends interviews, personal correspondence, and previously unpublished articles and photos with a story of music failure and eighteen years of struggle in music journalism. The result is an autobiography packed with insights, reflections, and personal observations unique to this title.

Richard Wagner: The Lighter Side
Terry Quinn
Amadeus Press
c/o Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group
19 West 21st Street, Suite 201
New York, NY 10010
www.amadeuspress.com
9781574674415 $27.99 www.halleonard.com

Richard Wagner: The Lighter Side is not a standard biography, but rather a collection of little-known facts, anecdotes, quotations and more about the famous German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883). Touching on topics ranging from Wagner's dysfunctional family, to the festival and theater he founded at Bayreuth, to each of his thirteen operas and the difficulties involved in staging each, and more, Richard Wagner: The Lighter Side offers a unique glimpse of not only Wagner the genius composer, but also Wagner the flawed and fallible human being. Highly recommended, especially for fans of Wagner's classic works!

Memories of James Hunt
Christopher Hilton
Haynes
Quayside Publishing Group
400 First Avenue North, Suite 300
Minneapolis, MN 55401-1721
9780857333865 $16.99 www.quaysidepublishinggroup.com

Memories of James Hunt: Anecdotes and Insights from Those Who Knew Him is not a standard biography, but rather an eclectic remembrance of World Champion driver, womanizer, hell-raiser, and jilted husband (one wife divorced him to be with Richard Burton ) James Hunt (1947-1993), whose life has become the subject of a new movie. Hunt was a surprisingly complex man, capable of gentle temperament or flamboyant disregard. More than sixty people who knew Hunt tell their true stories in this captivating portrait, enhanced with a handful of color photographs. "James used to be sick quite often before the races - and that implies a very great degree of emotional tension, which actually underlined his courage, because he was screwing himself up so much to do it."

Chasing Frank Lloyd Wright
Conrad N. Brown
Shipyard Press
178 Buck Ridge Road, Waynesville, NC 28785
www.shipyardpress.com
9780976990376, $24.95, www.amazon.com

A blend of autobiography and professional architectural history, "Chasing Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and Mine, Intertwined" is the personal story of Conrad N. Brown and his relationship to the famous (and in some quarters, infamous) American architect Frank Lloyd Wright). A unique contribution to studies of the life and work of Frank Lloyd Wright, "Chasing Frank Lloyd Wright" is also the story of a young man coming of age in the 1950s, college life during uncertain times, and Brown's own eventual emergence as an accomplished architect in his own right. Very highly recommended and informative reading, this 184 page autobiography is also available in a Kindle edition ($4.95).


The Pets/Wildlife Shelf

Essential Principles Of Horseshoeing
Doug Butler, Jacob Butler, Peter Butler
Doug Butler Enterprises, Inc.
495 Table Road, Crawford, NE 69339
9780916992002, $97.00, www.dougbutler.com

Doug Butler is a farrier who draws upon his more than fifty years of experience and expertise in equine hoof care - including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves when necessary. In "Essential Principles Of Horseshoeing", Doug Butler (with the assistance of horseshoeing experts Jake and Pete Butler) deftly combines teaching the blacksmith skills of fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal horse shoes with instructional insights of the veterinarian's knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb of the horse. The result is a thorough, comprehensive, profusely illustrated, complete manual on the care for horses' feet. "Essential Principles Of Horseshoeing" is a fundamental and very strongly recommended addition to horse owner, veterinarian, veterinary school, and academic library Farrier Studies instructional reference collections.

BSAVA
c/o Wiley-Blackwell
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148
www.wiley-blackwell.com

M.C. Muhlbauer & S.K. Kneller's RADIOGRAPHY OF THE DOG AND CAT: GUIDE TO MAKING AND INTERPRETING RADIOGRAPHS (9781118547472, $99.99) comes with website support and provides veterinary reference collections with an in-depth guide to producing high-quality radiographs and evaluating findings. It may be used as either a quick reference on the job, or for more in-depth information on specific disorders, and is arranged by sections describing the basics of radiographic anatomy and interpretation. Checklists for evaluation, charts, line drawings and visuals, and discussions of both analog and digital radiography systems provide concrete techniques for improving radiographs and diagnosis from them, making this a 'must' reference for any vet student or practicing technician. Simon Platt and Natasha Obly edit BSAVA MANUAL OF CANINE AND FELINE NEUROLOGY, FOURTH EDITION (9781905319343, $149.99), and provides new edition of a best-selling technical guide covering diagnostic procedures and clinical presentations of neurological diseases. Two new chapters have been included here to cover the genetics of such diseases and recent discoveries in the field of molecular biology and breed associations, while descriptions of advancements in radiology and clinical definitions continue to make this a basic bible of reference material for veterinary students and practicing vets alike.


The Health/Medicine Shelf

Medical Family Therapy and Integrated Care, second edition
Susan H. McDaniel, William J. Doherty, and Jeri Hepworth
American Psychological Association
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
9781433815188 $69.95 www.apa.org/books

Medical Family Therapy and Integrated Care is a fully revised and updated rendition of the 1992 book "Medical Family Therapy: A Psychosocial Approach to Families With Health Problems". Created to cross-reference the valuable insights of psychologists, physicians, family therapists, social workers, nurses, counselors, and therapists, Medical Family Therapy and Integrated Care examines how providers can standardize their terminology for more effective communication, and other practices to greatly improve collaborative efforts at treatment in settings ranging from community health centers to outpatient therapy or integrated health systems. Chapters include "Clinical Strategies for Medical Family Therapy", "Health Behaviors that Harm", "Couples and Illness", "Caregiving, End of Life Care, and Loss", and much more. Highly recommended, especially for health care professionals and college library collections.

Making The Connection Between Brain & Behavior, second edition
Joseph H. Friedman, MD
Demos Health
11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10036
www.demoshealth.com
9781936303533, $19.95, www.amazon.com

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. The motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease result from the death of dopamine-generating cells in the substantia nigra, a region of the midbrain; the cause of this cell death is unknown. Early in the course of the disease, the most obvious symptoms are movement-related; these include shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement and difficulty with walking and gait. Later, thinking and behavioral problems may arise, with dementia commonly occurring in the advanced stages of the disease, whereas depression is the most common psychiatric symptom. Other symptoms include sensory, sleep and emotional problems. Parkinson's disease is more common in older people, with most cases occurring after the age of 50. Now in a significantly updated and expanded second edition, "Making The Connection Between Brain & Behavior: Coping With Parkinson's Disease" by Dr. Joseph H. Friedman (Director of the Movement Disorders Program, Butller Hospital and Clinical Director of the American Parkinson's Disease Association Information and Referral Center, Warwick, Rhode Island) is a 220 page compendium specifically written for non-specialist general reader's wanting a basic understanding of Parkinson's Disease in terms of its causes, symptoms and treatment options. It is also ideal reading to prepare lay readers to communicate more effectively with their health care providers. Highly recommended for personal, professional, academic, and community library Health & Medicine instructional reference collections, it should also be noted that "Making The Connection Between Brain & Behavior: Coping With Parkinson's Disease" is also available in a Kindle edition ($14.61).

Yoga And Parkinson's Disease
Peggy van Hulsteyn, et al.
Demos Health
11 West 42nd Street, 15th Fl., NY, NY 10036
www.demoshealth.com
9781936303502, $21.95, www.amazon.com

Yoga is a generic term for the physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India with a view to attain a state of permanent peace. Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. In "Yoga and Parkinson's Disease" author Peggy van Hulsteyn (who was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease about twelve years ago) draws upon her more than forty years of practicing yoga to write (along with the help of certified Kripalu Yoga teacher and psychotherapist Barbara Gage and yoga therapist Connie Fisher) a 208 page compendium instructively showcasing yoga exercises that will enable Parkinson's Disease sufferers to move and 'liberate their minds and bodies' from the inevitable daily stresses that their condition will present. Step-by-step exercises instructions are enhanced by accompanying illustrations. These exercises also include aiding those with limited mobility or unsteadiness. There are postures that can be done in bed to help 'start the day'. Of special note are the modifications and practical tips that will ensure comfort and safety at every yoga level. An incredible valuable and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, and community library Health/Medicine reference collections, "Yoga And Parkinson's Disease" should be considered mandatory reading for anyone suffering from Parkinson's Disease. It should also be noted that "Yoga And Parkinson's Disease" is available in a Kindle edition ($12.49).


The Botany Shelf

Nature's Own Pharmacy
Betsie Rood
Protea
c/o International Publishers Marketing
22841 Quicksilver Drive
Dulles, VA 20166
www.internationalpubmarket.com
9781869198404, $24.00, www.amazon.com

Compiled with commentary by Betsie Rood, "Nature's Own Pharmacy" is a 138 page compendium comprised of South African 'veld' folk remedies for a variety of ills. The botanical name is supplied along with the popular name and description for each indigenous plant species, along with the range of its medicinal and/or cosmetic uses. The plants are presented in alphabetical order. Offering a wealth of ancient knowledge, practical remedies and useful tips, "Nature's Own Pharmacy" is enhanced with a section of full color photographs of plants. A unique collection under one cover that is also enhanced with the inclusion of a list of sources and a comprehensive index, "Nature's Own Pharmacy" is very highly recommended for personal and academic library Health/Medicine reference collections and supplemental reading lists.


The Theatre/Cinema Shelf

The Plays of Hrotswitha of Gandersheim
Larissa Bonfante, translator
Robert Chipok, editor
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers
1570 Baskin Road, Mundelein, IL 60060
www.bolchazy.com
9780865167834, $29.00, www.amazon.com

Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim (c. 935 - c. 1002), was a 10th-century German secular canoness, as well as a dramatist and poet who lived and worked at Gandersheim Abbey in modern-day Bad Gandersheim, Lower Saxony, established by the Ottonian dynasty. She wrote in Latin, and is considered by some to be the first person since antiquity to compose drama in the Latin West. Ably translated into English by Larissa Bonfante (Professor of Classics Emerita, New York University) and deftly edited into a bilingual edition for Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers by Robert Chipok, "The Plays of Hrotswitha of Gandersheim" is a 432 page compendium showcasing theatrical plays of this unusual 10th century female playwright. Readers are treated to the original Latin on the left side and the English translation on the facing right-hand page. Enhanced with occasional illustrations, translator notes, a bibliography, and a Note to the Reader, "The Plays of Hrotswitha of Gandersheim" is a very highly recommended addition to academic library Latin Studies and Medieval Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

"On My Way"
Joseph Horowitz
W. W. Norton & Company
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
9780393240139, $26.95, www.wwnorton.com

"On My Way": The Untold Story of Rouben Mamoulian, George Gershwin, and Porgy and Bess tells of a nearly forgotten director who helped Porgy and Bess turn into a successful and unparalleled production: Rouben Mamoulian, whose collaboration with the more famous Gershwin has nearly been forgotten. From the evolution of Porgy as a novella published in 1925 to its adaptation into play format and the early association of director Mamoulian with the opera that evolved, "On My Way" provides a powerful inspection gleaned from research into primary documents from the Mamoulian Archives and interviews with those who worked with the director. Any interested in Porgy's evolution and the biography of Mamoulian will find this an unparalleled survey of the evolution of a world-famous opera and the man who fostered its fame.

Elysium: The Art of the Film
Mark Salisbury
Titan Books
144 Southwark Street, London SE1 OUP, UK
9781781162477, $39.95, www.titanbooks.com

Elysium: The Art of the Film blends music, theater, visual arts and more and revolves around a contemporary science fiction film that released in August. Any fan of the movie or science fiction film-making in particular will want this visual guide, which packs in rare photos, production art and designs, interviews which reveal behind-the-scenes operations of the film, and more. The movie is set in year 2154, where two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who reside on space station Elysium, and the rest who live on an overpopulated, ruined planet. Predictably the worlds are far apart and it's up to one man, Max, to get to Elysium and undertake a dangerous mission which, if successful, will change both worlds. It's a powerful, moving saga that comes to life in a survey reviewing the art and making of the movie, highly recommended for science fiction and film collections alike.

The Batman Filmography, second edition
Mark S. Reinhart
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611
Jefferson NC 28640
9780786468911 $45.00 www.mcfarlandpub.com

Now in an updated second edition, The Batman Filmography chronicles Batman on the silver screen from the 1940s serials to the 2012 movie "The Dark Knight Rises" (Batman television shows are not covered). A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate the in-depth text, which includes thorough film and production credits, production history, extensive critical analysis and more of each film. Historian and musician Mark S. Reinhart spares no detail in this excellent balance of scholarship and accessibility, especially recommended for connoisseurs of the Caped Crusader's adventures!


The Civil War Shelf

Union Heartland
Ginette Aley and J.L. Anderson, editors
Southern Illinois University Press
1915 University Press Drive
SIUC Mail Code 6806
Carbondale, IL 62901
9780809332649 $39.50 www.siupress.com

Union Heartland: The Midwestern Home Front During the Civil War is an anthology of scholarly essays by seven Civil War scholars about how Midwesterners (called Westerners or Middle Westerners during the 1860's) experienced the war at home. From the conditions of Civil War prisons in the Midwest, to the Midwest's critical agricultural role to keep the soldiers and the Union fed, to the trials and travails of Midwestern Union soldiers' wives, Union Heartland is fascinating, heavily researched, and thoughtfully presented. An index rounds out this welcome addition to public and college library Civil War shelves.


The Metaphysical Studies Shelf

The Path of Initiation
J.S. Gordon
Inner Traditions International, Ltd.
One Park Street, Rochester, VT 05767
9781620551738, $29.95, www.innertraditions.com

The Path of Initiation: Spiritual Evolution and the Restoration of the Western Mystery Tradition is a powerful recommendation for any occult or new age studies collection and uses work from the Mystery traditions of East and West to examine the initiatic path from early to modern times. From step-by-step processes in initiation to underlying psychological and spiritual issues surrounding this journey, The Path of Initiation: Spiritual Evolution and the Restoration of the Western Mystery Tradition provides a lively survey packed with insights from all kinds of paths and choices, and is a fine reader for any considering the routines and ways of spiritual enlightenment.

Land of the Fallen Star Gods
J.S. Gordon
Inner Traditions International, Ltd.
One Park Street
Rochester, VT 05767
9781591431640 $20.00 www.innertraditions.com

Land of the Fallen Star Gods: The Celestial Origins of Ancient Egypt presents author J.S. Gordon's theory that the origins of Egyptian civilization stretch back tens of thousands of years further than is commonly believed. Tracing connections between the emergence of Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations and other prehistoric civilizations (ranging from cultures in Tibet and China to the legendary Atlantis and the Atlantean continent), Land of the Fallen Star Gods especially scrutinizes ancient Egypt's mystical traditions and initiatory rites. Gordon postulates that ancient Egypt was not a culture focused on death and entombment, but rather connected to cosmic knowledge and the highest level of astronomy. The primary hypothesis of Land of the Fallen Star Gods is that that the ancient Egyptian culture carried the legacy of "fallen star gods", divine celestial beings who visited Earth in the distant past, and will one day come again. Land of the Fallen Star Gods is fascinating and accessible from cover to cover, highly recommended especially for Metaphysical Studies shelves.

Real Encounters, Different Dimensions, and Otherworldly Beings
Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger
Visible Ink Press
43311 Joy Road #414, Canton, MI 48187-2075
c/o KT Public Relations
9781578594559 $19.95 www.visibleinkpress.com

Paranormal researchers Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger present Real Encounters, Different Dimensions, and Otherworldly Beings, an anthology of 180 tales inexplicable to the limited understanding of conventional wisdom. Spirit guides, angels, ghosts, the dream world, near-death experiences, astral projection, and much more fill he pages of this eye-opening smorgasboard of unknown frontiers. Thoroughly accessible to browsers of all backgrounds, Real Encounters, Different Dimensions, and Otherworldly Beings is highly recommended especially for metaphysical studies collections.


The Computer Shelf

Fundamentals Of Information Systems Security, second edition
David Kim & Michael G. Solomon
Jones & Bartlett Learning
5 Wall Street, Burlington, MA 01803
www.jblearning.com
9781284031621, $98.95, www.amazon.com

Hostile attempts to illegally infiltrate computer systems for the purpose of obtaining information or to wreck havoc are happening every hour of every day. That is why computers and computer systems have to maintain the highest security against unwanted intrusion as possible. Now in a completely updated and expanded second edition, "Fundamentals Of Information Systems Security" by information systems security experts David Kim and Michael G. Solomon is an ideal 555 page compendium covering every aspect, facet and issue of information systems security. Key features include the risks, threats, and vulnerabilities associated with the transformation to a digital world; a high-level overview of the seven domains within the Systems Security Certified Practitioner certification; practical information on security standards, education, professional certification, and recent compliance laws. Of special note is the SSCP practice exam as well as a coupon offer for an SSCP Review Seminar. Especially well organized and presented, "Fundamentals Of Information Systems Security" is strongly recommended as a classroom textbook as well as a core addition to professional and academic library Computer Science reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Classic Game Design
Franz Lanzinger
Mercury Learning
22841 Quicksilver Drive, Dulles, VA 20166
9781937585976, $49.95, www.merclearning.com

Classic Game Design features five Unity projects that serve as examples for teaching basic game programming concepts, and comes with a DVD packed with source code, art and sound sources. Readers - even those relatively new at programming - learn how to design classic arcade games while learning the basics of game design elements using free, modern software tools. From historical anecdotes from game programmers to options that differentiate casual from classic game structures, this is a winning survey that packs in details perfect for any would-be game designer; especially those relatively new to the field.

The Practice of Network Security Monitoring
Richard Bejtlich
No Starch Press
38 Ringold Street
San Francisco, CO 94103-4403
9781593275099, $49.95, www.nostarch.com

The Practice of Network Security Monitoring: Understanding Incident Detection and Response comes from an author who since 1998 has defended networks from digital attackers, and who has seen attacks against government agencies, ISPs, telecommunication carriers, schools and businesses. He developed a methodology called network security monitoring to thwart these attackers, based on his experience as an intelligence officer and computer network defender, and here provides a powerful method of detecting and controlling intrusions on all kinds of networks using open source software. Any who manage networks will find this an invaluable technical guide to using NSM platforms, analysis data, and managing a Computer Incident Response Team.

Exploring Arduino
Jeremy Blum
Wiley
c/o Wiley Professional Trade Group
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
9781118549360, $34.99, www.wiley.com

Exploring Arduino: Tools and Techniques for Engineering Wizardry teaches how to use the microcontroller Arduino to create educational and artistic projects, combining lessons in electrical engineering, programming and computer design to show how to build skills to create increasingly complex projects. The basics of system design, code, and best practices are imparted in the process of exploring the features of common Arduino boards and their use. A companion website includes keys to schematics, tutorials and code downloads. With black and white photos, charts and diagrams throughout, this is a top pick for any seeking a solid introduction to the basics of Arduino!

CCNA Routing and Switching, third edition
Scott Empson
Cisco Press
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300
Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
9781587204302, $34.99, www.ciscopress.com

CCNA Routing and Switching: Portable Command Guide appears in its third updated edition to update and gather all CCNA routing and switching commands under one cover. It groups topics for quick, logical consultation, offers a review of basic processes perfect for certification exam study, and it provides a compact format which lends to its use as a take-along reference - not quite pocket-sized; but close. It summarizes all commands, keywords, prompts and more, offering examples of real-world applications and teaching how they are used in overall network design processes. The result is a top recommendation for any computer reference library and students of CCNA routing in particular.

Murach's ASP.NET 4.5 Web Programming with C# 2012, fifth edition
Mary Delamater & Anne Boehm
Mike Murach & Associates
4340 North Knoll Avenue
Fresno, CA 93722
9781890774752 $57.50 www.murach.com

Now in an updated fifth edition, Murach's ASP.NET 4.5 Web Programming with C# 2012 is the definitive reference and resource for amateurs and professionals alike. Like all Murach manuals, Murach's ASP.NET 4.5 Web Programming with C# 2012 is written by seasoned programmers trained in writing and teaching methodology as well as coding. The result is a user-friendly omnibus that illustrates its accessible instructions with black-and-white screenshots and sample code. Chapters cover ASP.NET basics, how to use SQL data sources, how to use DetailsView and FormView controls, how to authenticate and authorize users, how to use ASP.NET Ajax, an introduction to ASP.NET MVC, and much more. Designed to get programmers building multi-page web applications within the first four chapters, Murach's ASP.NET 4.5 Web Programming with C# 2012 is a "must-have", especially for self-teaching or improving one's web programming skills.


The Sports Shelf

Daggers, Funnies, Gassers & Altereds
Bob McClurg
CarTech Inc.
39966 Grand Avenue
North Branch, MN 55056
9781613251058 $29.95 www.cartechbooks.com

Illustrated with both black-and-white and full-color vintage photography on virtually every page, Daggers, Funnies, Gassers & Altereds: Drag Racing's Golden Age is an amazing tour of drag racing in the 1960's and 70's, when it evolved from a grassroots passion into a professional motorsport. Author, magazine writer, and photographer Bob McClurg has witnessed and documented the sport's transition, and compiled his finished photographs into a seamless, anecdote-filled narrative that every fan of drag racing must read!

Hitters, Dancers and Ring Magicians
Kelly Richard Nicholson
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611
Jefferson NC 28640
9780786449903 $29.95 www.mcfarlandpub.com

Hitters, Dancers and Ring Magicians: Seven Boxers of the Golden Age and Their Challengers closely examines the best-known boxers of the sport's "Golden Age" of 1890 to 1910. The primary emphasis is on the professional careers of George "Kid" Lavigne, Bob Fitzsimmons, Barbados Joe Walcott, Joe Gans, Terry McGovern, Sam Langford, Stanley Ketchel, and the opponents who dared to challenge them. A handful of vintage black-and-white photographs, extensive notes, a bibliography, and an index round out heavily researched scrutiny, highly recommended for enthusiasts interested in the boxing's storied history as well as sports researchers and historians.

Power Eating, fourth edition
Susan Kleiner, PhD, RD
Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.
PO Box 5076
Champaign, IL 61820-5076
9781450430173 $19.95 www.HumanKinetics.com

Now in an updated fourth edition, Power Eating is a diet and nutrition guide written especially for athletes, bodybuilders, and anyone seeking to lose fat and improve their muscle tone. Grounded in years of research, Power Eating presents the aggregate of the latest understanding of nutrition science, botanicals, supplements, and more, with an eye on cutting edge discoveries. "For a long time, a debate has raged as to whether exercisers and athletes should take amino acid supplements as a natural way to enhance the muscle-building process. Today, the talk focuses more on the importance of the timing and type of protein and amino acid intake relative to muscle growth and performance. A mound of research validates the need to take protein prior to and after exercise to activate the repair and growth of lean muscle mass." A handful of suggested recipes, a list of references and an index round out this excellent and accessible resource, as valuable to casual fitness or sports enthusiasts as it is to aspiring and professional athletes.

100 Things 49ers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die
Daniel Brown
Triumph Books
814 N. Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610
9781600787911, $14.95, www.triumphbooks.com

100 Things 49ers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die comes from a seasoned Bay Area sports journalist and covers the key moments and facts about past ands present players, coaches and rivalries that permeate 49ers football history, and is a pick for any fan and collections catering to football enthusiasts. Anecdotes, interviews, fun stories and history blend to offer a fine survey of all facts pertinent to the 49ers and their culture, making this a top recommendation for any interested in football culture, history, and more.


The Memoir Shelf

Up on a Hill and Thereabouts
Gloria Stubing Rist
State University of New York Press
State University Plaza
Albany, NY 12246-0001
www.sunypress.edu
9781438448909, $24.95, www.amazon.com

In the 1930s, life for kids tucked away in the quiet woodlands of the Adirondack Mountains was rich with nature and filled with human characters. "Up on a Hill and Thereabouts: An Adirondack Childhood" is Gloria Stubing Rist's captivating 329 page memoir and contains the her personal recollections growing up on the hillsides and in the woods near Ticonderoga. A child's-eye view of days long gone, "Up on a Hill and Thereabouts" describes a time and place of poverty and hardship tempered by compassion, hope, and humor. Thoroughly engaging and graced with occasional black-and-white period photos, reading "Up on a Hill and Thereabouts" is like peering through a window in time and coming to understand a young life in a world now long gone into the mists of history. Superbly entertaining, thoughtful, and deftly written, "Up on a Hill and Thereabouts" is highly recommended reading and will prove to be a popular addition to academic and community library 20th Century American Biography collections. It should be noted that "Up on a Hill and Thereabouts" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).

Others Had It Worse
Vetra Melrose Padget Covert and Chris D. Baker
University of Iowa Press
100 Kuhl House
119 West Park Road
Iowa City, IA 52242-1000
9781609381820 $17.50 www.uiowapress.org

Others Had It Worse: Sour Dock, Moonshine, & Hard Times in Davis County, Iowa is the de facto memoir of editor Chris Baker's grandmother, who wrote vignettes of her rural Iowa childhood in a yellow notebook. The authentic passages are each quite brief - some are only a single sentence, and most are a just a paragraph - yet they offer a window into Midwestern life in the 1920's, when poverty was widespread but it didn't stop children from having fun. "We girls had one dress most of the time to wear to School all Winter. Some one would give Mom some things and Mom and Barbara would make it over for the rest. The small boys would get made over too." Highly recommended.


The Self-Help Shelf

Tiny Buddha's Guide to Loving Yourself
Lori Deschene
Conari Press
c/o Red Wheel/Weiser
65 Parker Street, Suite 7
Newburyport, MA 01950-4600
9781573246279 $16.95 www.redwheelweiser.com

Tiny Buddha's Guide to Loving Yourself: 40 Ways to Transform Your Inner Critic and Your Life is a solid self-help guide from Lori Deschene, the founder of Tiny Buddha (tinybuddha.com). Also some Buddhist principles are subtly incorporated into the words of wisdom, Tiny Buddha's Guide to Loving Yourself is a resource intended for readers of all faiths and backgrounds. The tips, true stories, and vignettes from a multitude of contributors all revolve around learning to love and accept oneself, from escaping the inner craving for validation, to the importance of prioritizing proper self-care, to freeing oneself from excessive comparisons to other people. Quick and easy to browse, yet filled with insights worthy of being pondered at length, Tiny Buddha's Guide to Loving Yourself is highly recommended.

Creative You
David B. Goldstein & Otto Kroeger
Beyond Words
www.beyondword.com
c/o Atria Books
c/o Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
9781582703657 $18.00 www.simonsays.com

Creative You is a self-help guide about drawing upon the strengths of one's natural personality traits to fuel creativity. Inspiration is not only for artists; people of all backgrounds can benefit from creative insight applied to their daily life. Chapters teach the reader how to identify the "creative type" of their natural inclinations, the creative profiles of the eight common preferences, the four temperaments of creativity, how to cultivate awareness and inventiveness, and much more. "If you're an Extrovert and you become stuck, see what other people are doing; if you're an Introvert, take extra time to reflect and let your subconscious work. In addition, writing down ideas unclutters the Introverts' mind and help Extroverts to see their options." Creative You is an excellent aid to enhance personal creativity, and is especially recommended to anyone aspiring or practicing a profession in which creativity is paramount (such as writing, advertising, or any type of show business)!


The Photography Shelf

On Sports Photography
Peter Read Miller
New Riders
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300
Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
9780321857125 $49.99 www.newriders.com

Peter Read Miller, a 30-year veteran photographer of the beautiful and popular "Sports Illustrated" magazine, offers tips, tricks, techniques, and expertise of his trade in On Sports Photography. Packed cover to cover with lavish and striking photographs, including images of star athletes in action and highlights from the Olympics, On Sports Photography is highly recommended as an excellent reference and resource for photographers of all skill and experience levels, from soccer moms capturing memorable snapshots of youth players on the field to professionals covering popular events. "When [photo] shooting the javelin, you want to be as close to the side of the throwing vector as the officials will allow and low enough that you have a decent angle of the thrower. The javelin is definitely a full-body shot, because the throwers do some amazing contortions as they release..."

A Russian American Photographer in Tlingit Country
Sergei Kan
University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
9780806142906, $39.95, www.oupress.com

A Russian American Photographer in Tlingit Country: Vincent Soboleff in Alaska packs in images of life in a small town southeast Alaska village in the late 1800s and early 1900s and is also the first title to feature the photos of amateur Russian American photographer Vincent Soboleff. As such, it's a recommendation for history and photography holdings as well as Native American collections, documenting the daily lives of Tlingit Indians and Russian-Americans alike. Soboleff used a Kodak camera to capture his images and despite their historical importance, surprisingly few have seen print since their discovery in 1950. Anthropologist Sergei Kan gathers over 100 images and combines them with archival records and documents to illustrate life in a multiethnic community. The result is a fine recommendation for any interested in Tlingits, Alaskan history and culture, and early photography.

Moments that Matter
Farrah Braniff
Bright Sky Press
2365 Rice Blvd., Suite 202
Houston, TX 77005
9781936474936 $19.95 www.brightskypress.com

Moments that Matter: Real Life Photography Techniques for Capturing the Wonder of Family Life lives up to its title with easy-to-follow guidelines for photographers of all skill and experience levels. Professional photographer and mother of three Farrah Braniff offers tips, tricks, and techniques for capturing timeless moments, especially with regard to one's family and playful children. "I always look for bright light with a little bit of cover... The little bit of cover keeps people from needing to squint their eyes and it helps you avoid the split lighting look that happens when you are in the direct sunshine." Parents and grandparents especially will delight in the improved quality photographs they can take with the helpful advice of Moments that Matter! Highly recommended.


The Crafts Shelf

Wabi-sabi Art Workshop
Serena Barton
North Light Books
c/o F+W Media
700 East State Street, Iola WI 54945
9781440321009, $24.99, www.createmixedmedia.com

Wabi-sabi Art Workshop provides crafters working in mixed media with a fine, inspirational guide for translating the simple things in life to inspiration for art. Dozens of inspiration images and tips for taking photos blend with over thirty techniques for working in oil, paints, inks, foils, collage, paper, crayons and much more. Wabi-sabi is all about flexibility and find beauty in imperfection, and this book teaches the basics, using some 70 big, finished pieces of art to illustrate each technique. Any working in art who want a mixed media series of project ideas will find this a fine sourcebook filled with examples and inspiration.

Clean & Simple Cards
Tami Mayberry
Annie's
306 East Parr Road
Berne, IN 46711
9781596355873 $14.95 Annies-Publishing.com

Clean & Simple Cards is a full-color guide to creating over 50 types of stunningly beautiful, lovingly handcrafted greeting cards suitable for any number of occasions. All of the captivating cards have a unique charm and make a profound impression, especially when compared to generic store-bought cards! Full-color photography on every page, inexpensive materials lists, and step-by-step instructions make using Clean & Simple Cards a snap. These designs are works of art - some involve ribbons, others basic papercraft, or bright gems such as self-adhesive rhinestones. Clean & Simple Cards is highly recommended not just as a how-to guide, but also as a source of inspiration for creative card crafters!


The Business Shelf

The Tourism System, seventh edition
Robert Christie Mill & Alastair M. Morrison
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
4050 Westmark Drive, Dubuque, IA 52002
www.kendallhunt.com
9780757599767, $95.50, www.amazon.com

Tourism is a major source of revenue for every state in the union. Indeed, a great many areas of the country are very strongly dependent on their tourist seasons. Tourism is big business and one that is constantly evolving and competitive for tourist dollars. Now in a completely updated and expanded seventh edition, "The Tourism System" by Robert Christie Mill (University of Denver) and Alastair M. Morrison (Belle Tourism International Consulting) is a 427 page textbook offering a complete course under one cover on successfully developing and marketing tourism. In particular, the chapters dedicated to tourism marketing strategies, planning, promotion, and distribution, as well as the section identifying the factors involved people's vacation making decisions, travel destination decisions, and travel purchases. Superbly organized and presented, "The Tourism System" is an ideal curriculum textbook and should be a part of every professional and academic library reference collection.

Profit with Purpose
Teneshia Jackson Warner
Paramount Market Publishing, Inc.
950 Danby Road, Suite 136, Ithaca, NY 14850
www.paramountbooks.com
9780985179502, $34.95, www.amazon.com

America is a multicultural society and to be successful, companies selling services and products must take that into account with respect to their advertising and marketing campaigns. "Profit with Purpose: A Marketer's Guide to Delivering Purpose-Driven Campaigns to Multicultural Audiences" by Teneshia Jackson Warner (CEO and Founder of the EGAMI Consulting Group) is a 240 page instruction manual on doing just that. Covering every aspect of a multiculturally sensitive marketing campaign, Warner addresses such diverse issues as defining the brand, utilizing celebrities, selecting community partnerships, leveraging social media, and a great deal more. Of special note are Warner's chapters on 'Purpose vs. Profit' and 'The Future of Purpose-Inspired Marketing'. Enhanced with an extensive Bibliography and a comprehensive Index, "Profit with Purpose: A Marketer's Guide to Delivering Purpose-Driven Campaigns to Multicultural Audiences" is thoroughly 'user friendly' and highly recommended for personal, professional, and community library collections.

Developing Successful Sport Marketing Plans, fourth edition
David K. Stotlar
Fitness Information Technology
West Virginia University
262 Coliseum, WVU-PE, PO Box 6116
Morgantown, WV 26506-6116
9781935412557 $39.00 www.fitinfotech.com

Now in a revised and updated fourth edition, Developing Successful Sport Marketing Plans is a solid guide to marketing in the sport industry, with particular emphasis on targeting consumers. Chapters cover how to create a value proposition, determine market size, apply different marketing strategies, and more. "Best Practice" examples of successful marketing, sample worksheets, a list of references and an index round out this thoroughly accessible "must-have" for marketing professionals responsible for promoting any sport event or product. "Pride and Ferrell (2008) noted that because service marketing involves intangible assets, managing the consumer relationship becomes critical. Relationship marketing works particularly well in sports because the customers are more connected to the sport and teams than are nonsport consumers."

Leading the Epic Revolution
Hunter Muller
Wiley
c/o Wiley Professional Trade Group
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
9781118340479, $45.00, www.wiley.com

LEADING THE EPIC REVOLUTION: HOW CIOS DRIVE INNOVATION AND CREATE VALUE ACROSS THE ENTERPRISE discusses how to innovate and make innovation approaches with in modern business worlds, and is written for modern CIOs and technology leaders who want a clear description of the actual applied processes to changing business environments to accept innovation strategies that are profitable and sustainable. Interviews with modern leading CIOs and leaders from major companies ranging from IBM and Cisco to Facebook and Intel make for a powerful discussion of how these companies overcame obstacles to achieve unparalleled success. Highly recommended for any looking to lead a business revolution from the inside out!

Why Wait to Be Great
Terry Hawkins
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.
235 Montgomery Street, Suite 650
San Francisco, CA 94104-2916
9781609948917, $19.95, www.bkconnection.com

Why Wait to Be Great? provides a fine synthesis of business savvy and philosophical and neuropsychological insights as she introduces two sample characters who represent two different patterns of behaviors. One is trapped in misery and feels a victim of life, the other is courageous and successful. How to move from one to the other perspective is what Why Wait to Be Great? is all about - and it's not just philosophy, either. Chapters provide an action plan for rising above the slings and arrows of life - and shows how to perceive and use concrete steps to self-improvement. Business and self-help collections alike will find this a positive approach.

Advertising Concept and Copy, third edition
George Felton
W. W. Norton & Company
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
9780393733860, $65.00, www.wwnorton.com

The third updated edition of Advertising Concept and Copy continues to provide new generations with a powerful, in-depth approach to creative advertising routines, showing how to research product lines, match them with clearly-identified audiences, and how to understand both consumer psychology and the evolving business marketplace. It teaches how to use all these tools to create definitive advertising objectives, and shows how copywriters can create brands by telling stories and using powerful, original writings to highlight the entire creative process that is advertising. The result is a recommended pick for any business library.

Capture the Mindshare and the Market Share Will Follow
Libby Gill
Palgrave Macmillan
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10001
9781137278517, $26.00, www.palgrave.com

Capture the Mindshare and the Market Share Will Follow: The Art and Science of Building Brands provides a fine step-by-step guide to the process of creating a brand that captures customer loyalty and trust, and uses case studies, client success stories, and easily duplicated strategies to reveal the experiences of executive coach Libby Gill. From honing in on and profiling a brand's special value to blending branding with organizational objectives and creating long-term customer loyalty, chapters consider the basics of how to identify markets, assess competition, use media resources to profile and market brands, and much more. The result is a powerful key to success highly recommended for any business collection.


The Agriculture Shelf

Raising Goats Naturally
Deborah Niemann
New Society Publishers
PO Box 189
Gabriola Island, BC, Canada, V0R 1X0
9780865717459 $24.95 www.newsociety.com

Raising Goats Naturally: The Complete Guide to Milk, Meat and More is a reader-friendly guide to caring for goats in a sustainable manner, whether as pets or for their meat, milk, or soap making. Chapters cover proper housing and feeding of goats; how to prevent or deal with common parasites, illnesses, and injuries; goat pregnancy and birthing; raising goat kids and milking goats; and much more. Some discussion of butchering goats for meat is also included. "...although old goat may not taste too bad, it causes terrible indigestion. We tried many recipes, and everyone always ended up with indigestion for several hours after eating the meat. We finally gave up and fed the rest of the meat to our livestock guardian dogs." A handful of black-and-white photographs, a glossary, and an index round out this "must-have" for every goat owner.


The Fiction Shelf

A House Too Small: And Other Stories
Ezra Hirschmann
Texas Tech University Press
PO Box 41037, Lubbock, TX 79409-1037
www.ttupress.org
9780896727953, $26.95, www.amazon.com

The European holocaust of World War II has left a lasting impact on Jewish communities around the world. "A House Too Small: And Other Stories" is a 288 page compendium comprising seven short stories by Ezra Hirschmann, each of which is arises from that profound experience upon first and subsequent generations of Holocaust survivors. Superbly crafted literary masterpieces, the stories include Beggar in the Bahnhoff; The Clairvoyant; Fall of Grace; Hester's Folly; Lady Dorothy's Dilemma; Ghost of the Ganges; and the title piece, A House Too Small. An impressive contribution to academic and community library Modern Jewish Literature and Culture collections, "A House Too Small: And Other Stories" is thoughtful, thought-provoking, and highly recommended reading.

The Bookstore
Deborah Meyler
Gallery Books
c/o Simon and Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, 14th fl.
New York, NY 10020
9781476714240, $16.00, www.simonandschuster.com

The Bookstore is a special pick for book lovers and comes steeped with information about a quirky bookseller and a pregnant girl who works there. A cast of interesting and book-absorbed people float through the small bookstore and involve Esme in fun and revealing encounters - but like most bookstores, this is struggling to survive and its culture is dying out. When the father of her unborn child makes moves to reconcile, Esme finds herself facing some difficult choices in this moving, revealing story perfect for romance and book-loving fans alike.

Where Somebody Waits
Margaret Kaufman
Paul Dry Books
1616 Walnut Street, Suite 808
Philadelphia, PA 19103
9781589880894 $15.95 www.pauldrybooks.com

Set in small-town Arkansas during the second half of the twentieth century, Where Somebody Waits is a novel about the toll of illicit love. Ruby Davidson is a strong-willed, red-haired woman, compassionate to those less fortunate. She loves her husband, as well as her nephews and nieces, and gets along well with the southern Jewish family she has married into. But she is also in love with her high school sweetheart, and cannot let their relationship go. At first she rationalizes her secret double life, believing she can do as she will as long as no one is hurt; but gradually, the strain of hiding so much begins to wear her down. A thought-provoking story of coming to terms with difficult choices and inevitable reality, Where Somebody Waits is highly recommended.

Her Own Place
Dori Sanders
University of South Carolina Press
718 Devine Street
Columbia, SC 29208
www.sc.edu/uscpress
9781611172447 $18.95 pbk. / $9.99 Kindle www.amazon.com

Now in paperback with a new introduction by the author, Her Own Place is an original novel following the life of a southern African-American woman from her teenage years in 1940 through marriage, the toll of War II, and the burden of raising five children on her own after her husband leaves. A vivid saga of the trials and tribulations of daily life, as well as the ripples of and resistance to the racial integration of the South, Her Own Place is emotional, thought-provoking, and grounded in fully realized characters. Highly recommended.


The Mystery/Suspense Shelf

The Girl in Berlin
Elizabeth Wilson
Serpent's Tail
c/o Meryl Zegarek Public Relations
255 W 108th St., Suite 901
New York, NY 10025
9781846688270 $14.95 www.serpentstail.com

Set in the summer of 1951, amid the heyday of the Cold War, The Girl in Berlin is a psychological thriller about espionage and international intrigue. Jack McGovern is a policeman in the employ of Britain's M15 internal counter-intelligence agency. He's assigned to tail Colin Harris, a British Communist Party member thought to be gay. Harris announces his intention to bring home a girl he met in East Berlin; at roughly the same time, a mole is discovered in the agency, and two agents vanish. McGovern must travel to East Berlin to uncover the truth, in this taut and intricate period piece, enthusiastically recommended for fans of mystery and suspense.

The Apocalypse Calendar
Emile A. Pessagno, Jr.
Two Harbors Press
212 3rd Ave. North, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401
www.Apocalypse-Calendar.com
9781938690853 $14.99 www.twoharborspress.com

The Apocalypse Calendar is a suspenseful novel about impending Armageddon. When Professor Frank Miller and his team of university geologists stumble across the treasure of the century in rural Mexico, they remove it for further study... but this action correlates with a cataclysmic increase in natural disasters and tectonic activity. Can the unwitting fulfillment of a dire prophecy, and the extinction of humankind, be averted? An intense race against time ensues, in this gripping thriller!

The Glass Factory
Kenneth Wishnia
PM Press
PO Box 23912, Oakland, CA 94623
c/o Independent Publishers Group (dist.)
814 North Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610
www.ipgbook.com
9781604867626 $16.95 www.pmpress.org

Ex-NYPD cop Filomena Buscarsela is beset by another deadly mystery in The Glass Factory, a suspenseful novel about pollution, corruption, and murderous greed. Fiona's nemesis is wealthy, and connecting him to the illegal water poisoning done by a high-tech Long Island factory will test all of Filomena's sleuthing skills. Amid the dangers of her job and the demands of justice, she must also handle the responsibility of raising her three-year-old daughter - and the unexpected surprise of a new romance! Brisk and exciting, The Glass Factory is a treat for modern mystery aficionados, highly recommended.

A Murder in Passing
Mark de Castrique
Poisoned Pen Press
6962 E. First Ave., #103, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
9781464201493, $24.95, www.poisonedpenpress.com

A Murder in Passing provides a fine Sam Blackman mystery blending history with intrigue and revolves around a common problem: no clients for PI work. It's ironic that a mushroom hunt leads Sam Blackman into a new case which local authorities don't want him to investigate - and that a burglary coincidentally ties into the murder and leads to the arrest of the 85-year-old mother of his client. Now Sam is investigating a powerful chain of events in this revealing novel of intrigue and detective work, perfect for any mystery reader seeking more depth and complexity in a plot.

Mortal Arts
Anna Lee Huber
Berkeley Prime Crime
c/o Penguin Group (USA)
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
9780425253786, $16.00, www.penguin.com

MORTAL ARTS provides a fine Lady Darby mystery, is set in 1830s Scotland, and tells of a murder investigation that begins otherwise, with Lady Kiera Darby to Edinburgh with her family. The city brings with it many complexities, from encounters with critical society women to unexpected romance blended with another deadly mystery. Any who found the protagonist of P.I. Lady Darby and the historical setting of Edinburgh will find this provides a similarly-powerful story line with the same vivid characterization and sense of place as its predecessor.

Death in the Ashes
Albert A. Bell, Jr.
Perservance Press
c/o Daniel & Daniel, Publishers
PO Box 2790, McKinleyville, CA 95519
9781564745323, $15.95, www.danielpublishing.com

DEATH IN THE ASHES - A FOURTH CASE FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF PLINY THE YOUNGER provides a satisfying story set a few years after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and tells of Pliny the Younger, asked by his friend to help her husband, who has been accused of murder. Having learned the basics of forensic investigation from his uncle, Pliny embarks on a new investigation that snakes into political and social circles alike, and is spiced by the hardened ash of the volcano's eruption which traps clues in its surface. Add long-buried fears and a solid dose of historical reality and you have a mystery that brings the ancient Roman world to life.


The Travel Shelf

Peakbagging Montana
Cedron Jones
Riverbend Publishing
PO Box 5833
Helena, MT 59604
9781606390412 $14.95 www.riverbendpublishing.com

Written by hiker Cedron Jones, for hikers, Peakbagging Montana: A Guide to Montana's Major Peaks is a guide to 53 solid hikes in the great state of Montana. The hikes cover a broad range of skill and endurance levels, but are primarily concentrated in the mountainous western third of the state. Each hike has driving instructions to reach the site, a difficulty evaluation, a black-and-white map, and a brief but enlightening description. Any hiker living or vacationing in Montana will find Peakbagging Montana invaluable!

Lonely Planet Publications
150 Linden Street
Oakland CA 94607
www.lonelyplanet.com

Carolina A. Miranda, et.al.'s DISCOVER PERU (9781742205694, $24.99) is a top pick for any independent traveler who wants to uncover the best of Peru, and who looks for a Peru-exclusive guidebook listing everything from how to get there and get around in the country to best places for food, drink, accommodations and sightseeing. Small line maps accompany colorful photos of local people and places, while discussions include sidebars of "don't miss" information, at-a-glance references for each region of the country, and places to find everything from authentic Peruvian restaurants to specific local cuisines and culture. The result is more than an overview: it's an in-depth discussion of the cultural elements that make Peru unique. Greg Benchwick and Paul Smith's BOLIVIA (9781741799378, $26.99) provides an important guide packed with planning tips and reviews of outdoor opportunities, independent travel and Bolivian culture - all packaged in a handy take-along tote filled with line maps, sidebars of information, and candid assessments of travel opportunities. From ecotours to modern malls, local history and culture to wilderness areas, and more, BOLIVIA is a fine pick for any planning a visit; especially for independent travelers who want to choose routes away from the typical tourist paths. Jean-Bernard Carillet's ETHIOPIA, DIJBOUTI & SOMALILAND (9781741797961, $27.99) is another fine take-along tote for any heading to the region and covers three countries typically lumped into more general coverages of Africa. From color sidebars of information to small line maps and tips on where to eat, sleep, and sightsee, this provides specific details culled from some 40 years of experience and provides local secrets, recommendations based on personal expertise, and more. From getting around in each country to routes that make the most of the unique opportunities in each nation, this is a powerful recommendation for any independent traveler looking for specifics on those countries: it's not your usual general Africa-wide travel guide that provides minimal information, but an invaluable take-along guide for destination-oriented readers.


The Social Issues Shelf

The New Black
Kenneth W. Mack & Guy-Uriel E. Charles, eds.
The New Press
38 Green Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10013
www.thenewpress.com
9781595586773, $21.95, www.amazon.com

The United States Supreme Court's decision to strike down those elements of the Voter Rights act, essentially on the basis that in the judgment of its conservative majority, racial discrimination was no longer a major factor in America society was and remains intensely controversial. Knowledgeable compiled and deftly edited by the team of Kenneth W. Mack (Law Professor, Harvard University) and Guy-Uriel E. Charles (Law Professor, Duke University), "The New Black: What Has Changed--and What Has Not--with Race in America" is a 256 page compendium comprised of twelve informed and informative articles by leading scholars on the subject of race in the 21st Century. Of special note is Luis Fuentes-Rohwer's thoughtful and thought-provoking article 'The Racial Metamorphosis of Justice Kennedy and the Future of Civil Rights Law'. Simply stated, "The New Black: What Has Changed--and What Has Not--with Race in America" should be considered mandatory addition to academic library Social Issues reference collections and essential reading for anyone concerned with the immediate and long range future of social justice and racial equality in America. It should also be noted that "The New Black: What Has Changed--and What Has Not--with Race in America" is also available in a Kindle edition ($10.99).

The March on Washington
William P. Jones
W. W. Norton & Company
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
9780393082852, $26.95, www.wwnorton.com

The March on Washington: Jobs, freedom, and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights comes fro ma professor of history who provides a narrowed focus on the march itself and its wider influence on the course of the civil rights movement of its times. From union leader A. Philip Randolph's initial proposal in 1941 for black workers to march for equality to how the movement grew in size and political clout during the 1940s, this is a powerful focus that considers individuals and history that few civil rights books cover. The result is a powerful account highly recommended for any social issues collection strong in civil rights events.


The Antiques/Collectibles Shelf

Collector's Guide to the Feldspar Group
Robert J. Lauf
Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310
9780764343292, $19.99, www.schifferbooks.com

Collector's Guide to the Feldspar Group packs in over a hundred color photos of feldspar minerals showing each species in its geological context, and explaining how they are formed and why they have unusually vivid colors. From the chemistry of the group to their geology and location and their collectability, this is a primer any geological collector will find essential, offering keys to what good specimens look like and where to locate them. It's a pick for geology and collector sections alike, and offers many basics key to successfully assembling a superior group of feldspar minerals for display, sale and science.

Miller's Antiques Encyclopedia, updated edition
Judith Miller, General Editor
Mitchell Beazley
c/o Octopus Publishing
236 Park Avenue, New York NY 10017
9781845337698, $50.00, www.octopusbooksusa.com

Miller's Antiques Encyclopedia appears in a new, updated edition to provide a fine review of the antiques market since 2008, and is arranged by period and type to provide a price guide filled with discussions, latest prices, and color photos throughout. Explanations of materials, marks and techniques accompany identification and dating basics for everything from porcelain and jewelry to posters, ceramics and sporting memorabilia, with discussions covering all facets of antique collecting and valuations. The result is a highly recommended, basic 'bible' of information that any general antiques collector will find an essential reference.


The Education Shelf

Teaching the Critical Vocabulary of the Common Core
Marilee Sprenger
ASCD
1703 North Beauregard Street
Alexandria, VA 22311-1714
9781416615712 $27.95 www.ascd.org

Teaching the Critical Vocabulary of the Common Core: 55 Words That Make or Break Student Understanding is an educational guide designed to be useful for teachers of students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The focus is on teaching exactly what 55 critical words mean (particularly when they show up on standardized tests). Words such as "articulate", "connotative language", "figurative language", "determine," "analyze", "distinguish", and more have very specific meanings that are crucial to not only test taking, but also broader reading, writing, and speaking skills. A wide variety of simple suggested activities to drive student understanding of these critical words, from templates to "game show" style reviews to pictorial representations and much, much more round out this invaluable supplementary resource, highly recommended for professional teachers and college education shelves.

The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching
Bryan Goodwin & Elizabeth Ross Hubbell
ASCD
1703 North Beauregard Street
Alexandria, VA 22311-1714
9781416616016 $28.95 www.ascd.org

The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching: A Checklist for Staying Focused Every Day describes twelve daily things teachers can do to keep their classroom practice focused at the highest level of quality. Based on the pillars of "Be Demanding", "Be Supportive", and "Be Intentional", the points include "create an oasis of safety and respect in the classroom", and "peel back the curtain and make performance expectations clear." "...there are diminishing returns for time. That is, after a certain point, stretching the school day has less benefit, presumably because the additional time may not always be put to good use... longer class periods or school days won't necessarily translate into more learning if the added time isn't used wisely." The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching is an excellent, broad-based, and highly recommended guidepost/supplementary resource for teachers of all skill and experience levels, including grade school educators, college professors, and homeschoolers!

Apprenticeship in Literacy, second edition
Linda J. Dorn & Tammy Jones
Stenhouse Publishers
477 Congress Street, Suite 4B
Portland, ME 04101-3451
www.stenhouse.com
9781571109668, $25.00, www.amazon.com

Now in an updated and expanded second edition, "Apprenticeship in Literacy: Transitions Across Reading And Writing, K-4" by the Linda J. Dorn (Professor of Reading Education and Director of the Center for Literacy, University of Arkansas at Little Rock) and Tammy Jones (Vice President of Professional Development, Benchmark Education Company) is a 240 page compendium covering every aspect and facet of an apprenticeship approach to teaching elementary school children to read and write. Featuring updated research on the importance of early reading as an indicator of academic success; numerous classroom examples; language prompts promoting self-regulated learners; schedules for implementing a workshop framework for whole-group, small-group, and one-to-one settings; incorporating information texts into a balanced literacy program; an emphasis on the importance of the writing process; and practical ideas on establishing routines and for organizing the classroom, "Apprenticeship in Literacy" is an especially recommended instructional resource for novice teachers and has much of value for even the more experienced K-4 classroom instructor.

Writing a Successful College Application Essay, fifth edition
George Ehrenhaft
Barron's
250 Wireless Boulevard
Hauppauge, NY 11788
9781438001494 $13.99 www.barronseduc.com

Now in an updated fifth edition, Writing a Successful College Application Essay is a handy guide packed with tips, tricks, and techniques for creating an essay that showcases one's credentials and talents. Step-by-step instructions walk the reader through how to deal with common essay questions, avoiding pitfalls, crafting a rough draft, editing for clarity and interest, and much more. Sample passages from successful essays round out this "must-have" for anyone attempting to get into college!

Inquiring into the Common Core
Nancy Fichtman Dana, et.al.
Corwin Press, Inc.
2455 Teller Road
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320-2218
9781452274263, $25.95, www.corwin.com

Inquiring into the Common Core is a fine guide to Common Core guidelines and how to teach them, and provides teachers with an inquiry-based model for achieving better understanding of the standards as they apply to classroom work. From adapting to new standards and understanding the Common Core's practical applications and challenges to learning more about the inquiry process and relating it to all socioeconomic levels of students, this covers the basics of student inquiry and provides teachers with many specific examples key to classroom success.


The Literary Studies Shelf

Toni Morrison: An Ethical Poetics
Yvette Christianse
Fordham University Press
2546 Belmont Avenue
University Box L, Bronx, NY 10458-5172
9780823239160, $28.00, www.fordhampress.com

Toni Morrison: An Ethical Poetics is a recommendation for college literature collections where study of Toni Morrison is frequent, and analyzes Morrison's style, subject and literary choices, examining the questions that are brought to the forefront in many of her works. As a blend of criticism and analysis, this considers ways in which Morrison works with language to present social and ethical dilemmas, and uses examples from many of her works to consider the ethical poetics Morrison fosters in her writings. Any looking for a critical survey of her beliefs and literary structure will find this offers much food for thought, citing specific passages, works, and approaches throughout.


The Music Shelf

Correspondence of Franz Liszt and the Comtesse Marie D'Agou
Michael Short
Pendragon Press
PO Box 190, Hillsdale, NY 12529
www.pendragonpress.com
9781576471654, $76.00, www.amazon.com

Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 - July 31, 1886) was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, teacher and Franciscan tertiary. Comtesse Marie D'Agou was a celebrated French historian and the mother of Liszt's three children. Michael Short has translated and edited for publication more than 400 letters between Franz Liszt and Marie D'Agou. The result is a remarkable 400 page compendium that is a unique and invaluable contribution to students of Liszt, his life and his work. No personal, professional, or academic collection dedicated to Liszt's life and achievements can be considered complete without the inclusion of the Pendragon Press edition of Michael Short's "Correspondence of Franz Liszt and the Comtesse Marie D'Agou". Also strongly recommended for students of Liszt's life and work is Michael Short's "The Letters Of Liszt In The Collections Of The Library Of Congress" (9781576470206, $76.00).

Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing
33 Plymouth St, Suite 302
Montclair, NJ 07042
www.halleonardbooks.com

John Coltrane Omnibook for Bflat Instruments (9781458422118, $19.99) provides music transcribed directly from Coltrane's recorded solos and is a top pick for musicians who would learn Coltrane's standards. Lay-flat spiral binding accompanies music for Cousin Mary, India, Moment's Notice and much, much more. Any musician interested in Coltrane's standards and solo pieces will find this in-depth and extensive collection a 'must have' for reproducing his music. Musicians will also relish Volume V of 'The Real Book' (9781423488484, $35.00), which provides a book of music for key of C instruments and includes sheet music for such popular songs as 'Where Is Love?', 'Sweet Georgia Brown', and 'Smooth Operator'. The songs come from different decades but all were popular hits and performing musicians who regularly need sheet music will find this the perfect reference. Troy Nelson's Fretboard Freedom (9781458420145, $24.99) provides an audio to accompany discussions of some 376 licks from rock and jazz to country and metal, and covers a range of scales, harmonics, chord progressions and more. It's a 52-week, one-lick-per-day learning method for visualizing and understanding the neck of the guitar, with each lick including resources used and performance insight along with the lick's sheet music and link to the demo on disc. The result is an excellent, unparalleled method of learning that is packed with detail and specifics, and a unique key to learning a wide range of musical styles.


The Science Shelf

Thinking in Numbers
Daniel Tammet
Little, Brown & Company
c/o Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
www.hachettebookgroup.com
9780316187374, $26.00, www.littlebrown.com

Thinking in Numbers: On Life, Love, Meaning and Math provides a powerful survey exploring the beauty of numbers and math and how they operate in daily life, covering everything from synesthesia (perceiving numbers with colors and texture) to why time seems to speed up as we are, whether there is truly an 'average', and how math is related to musical beauty. Packed with solid connections between math and the world around us, this is an outstanding survey highly recommended for any interested in math, numbers, and real-world applications.

Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Drive
Amherst, NY 14228-2197
www.prometheusbooks.com

Ronald T. Kellogg's THE MAKING OF THE MIND: THE NEUROSCIENCE OF HUMAN NATURE (9781616147334, $20.00) explores five different parts of human cognition and considers executive-level functions and how five distinct components result in a uniquely human mindset. Against this backdrop the efforts and perceptions of humans and issues revolving around morality, spirituality and literacy are considered, with a history of cognitive thinking's evolutionary processes included in the consideration. Any who want an assessment of cognitive thinking and its evolution will find this filled with science and insights perfect for any collection strong in accounts of human nature. Kenneth Worthy's INVISIBLE NATURE: HEALING THE DESTRUCTIVE DIVIDE BETWEEN PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT (9781616147631, $19.00) documents the disconnect between humans and nature, analyzing the psychology, history and impact of this increasing psychological distance from nature and how the evolution of Western thinking has resulted in a type of ethics that don't take environmental importance into consideration. Chapters draw important links between this disconnect process and the ongoing erosion of the environment and provide a powerful survey highly recommended for any collection strong in nature and environmental facts.


The Fashion Shelf

New Earrings
Nicholas Estrada
Thames & Hudson Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110-0017
9780500290828, $29.95, www.thamesandhudsonusa.com

NEW EARRINGS: 500+ DESIGNS FROM AROUND THE WORLD packs in over five hundred color illustrations and displays the talents and art of a new brand of designer and artist creating earrings that go beyond traditional jewelry design methods. Innovative works from designers around the world showcase new trends in these designs and range from traditional to cutting-edge pieces. All jewelry shown is notable for something different, whether it be style and materials or color and composition. Nicholas Estrada is a jewelry designer in Spain: his own work has achieved much acclaim and places him in a perfect position to assess industry trends.


The Military Shelf

Soviet and Russian Military Aircraft in the Middle East
Yefim Gordon & Dmitriy Komissarov
Crecy Publishing
c/o Specialty Press
99 Spring Street, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10012
www.specialtypress.com
9781902109282, $56.95, www.amazon.com

Soviet supplied military aviation to middle east countries like Syria continue to the present day. The collaborative work of Russian aviation experts Yefim Gordon and Dmitriy Komissarov, "Soviet and Russian Military Aircraft in the Middle East: Air Arms, Equipment and Conflicts Since 1955" is a profusely illustrated, 272 page compendium providing a detailed history of Soviet military aircraft used to create the aviation combat capabilities of Iraq, Syria and other middle eastern countries and which were involved in all the middle eastern conflicts including the Suez Crisis, the Six-Day and Yom Kippur Wars, and today's civil war in Syria. Organized and presented by country, featuring combat usage, and detailed descriptions of the aircraft and their armaments, "Soviet and Russian Military Aircraft in the Middle East" is comprehensive, informative, and an invaluable contribution to personal and academic library Military Aviation History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Osprey Publishing
4301 21st St, Suite 220B
Long Island City, NY 11101
www.ospreypublishing.com

Thomas Anderson's TIGER (9781780962016, $29.95) provides a fine, comprehensive survey on German fighting vehicles in general and the Tiger in particular, which was feared by Soviet and Allied forces alike - and it comes from an authority who follows the evolution of the Tiger from original specs to variants produced using its chassis. Engineering, war strategy, and the mechanical operations of the Tiger are covered in an outstanding survey illustrated with many rare images - some never published before - and details from original Tiger manuals. The result is a powerful account highly recommended for any military collection covering vehicles and their evolution. Duncan B. Campbell's THE RISE OF IMPERIAL ROME AD 14-193 (9781780962801, $20.95) provides a fine military history of ancient Imperial Rome and follows two centuries of its expansion and events. Photos and color maps throughout accompany discussions of emperors, legions of conquerors, and how the empire employed military and strategic tactics to gain advantage and might. Any military history holding specializing in ancient history will find this a specific, useful guide. John Weal's HE 111 KAMPFGESCHWADER ON THE RUSSIAN FRONT (9781780963075, $22.95) provides a fine survey adding to the Osprey combat aircraft series and tells of the twin-engined He111 which flew in battles during the start of World War II, providing the aerial force that fostered all the early Blitzkrieg campaigns. Its equipment, military force, and operations as a strategic bomber and nightfighter as well as transport details all its uses in battle, making for a powerful account recommended for any military collection strong in World War II or equipment history. Osprey's BOLT ACTION: ARMIES OF IMPERIAL Japan (9781780960915, $24.95) provides a powerful survey recommended for any military player of the 'Bolt Action' wargames, and focuses on the scenarios of the Imperial Japanese military which saw action throughout Asia. Players can use this handbook to build a force of the Emperor's loyal troops and can represent campaigns throughout the region, making this a strong 'must have' reference for any prior Bolt Action wargamer.


The Economic Studies Shelf

Building a Green Economy
Robert B. Richardson
Michigan State University Press
1405 South Harrison Road, Suite 25
East Lansing, MI 48823-5245
9781611861020 $49.95 www.msupress.msu.edu

Building a Green Economy: Perspectives from Ecological Economics is an anthology of essays by an array of experts discussing the challenges and pressures that a growing human population puts on both the environment and the economy. The solution may lie in a "green" economy geared toward long-term ecological stability, but just how would such an economy function? Individual writings include "Taking Ecological Economics Seriously: It's the Biosphere, Stupid", "Green Keynesianism: Beyond Standard Growth Paradigms", "Civic Empowerment in an Age of Corporate Excess", "Assessing the Trade-Offs for an Urban Green Economy", "A Genuine Metric for Assessing Business Stability" and much more. In today's crossroads, when people suffer from both economic struggles and global environmental problems that could be reaching a catastrophic tipping point, the ideas Building a Green Economy are sorely needed! Highly recommended, especially for public and college library economic and environmental studies collections.

Global Economic Boom & Bust Cycles
Khafra K. Om-Ra-Seti
KMT Publications
PO Box 421
Walnut Grove, CA 95690
9781481042314 $26.95 http://tinyurl.com/Global-Economic

Global Economic Boom & Bust Cycles: The Great Depression and Recovery of the 21st Century traces the history of modern economic meltdowns, including the Great Depression that flowed from the excesses of the Roaring 20's, the 80's boom followed by the crash of '87, Japan's economic slowdown, the "Roaring 90's" and the crash of 2000, the mortgage meltdown of 2008 and more. Drawing connections between the forces that engineer economic cycles, with particular attention paid to the rise of China, the forthcoming "peak oil" shock as escalating demand outstrips the supply of oil, and the ongoing risk factors of natural disasters and terrorism, Global Economic Boom & Bust Cycles is a thought-provoking analysis of the hard lessons of modern history, and what they have to say about the uncertain global future. Highly recommended. "In 2012, what we see happening in China is this: (1) real estate prices have started to fall and the bubble appears to be deflating... (2) Viewed by the West, the commercial property development in China is extremely over-built. Speculative credit will start to leave China as the descent in property values begin in earnest. (3) The massive fiscal stimulus used to build infrastructure may prove in the end to be a massive case of malinvestment, a deadly sin in capitalism. (4) And like Japan, China has pumped more money into its stock and property markets in order to revive the wealth effect for local and domestic consumers... This is a bubble that is still in the making and is a colossal crisis..."


The Parenting Shelf

Jump-Starting Boys
Pam Withers & Cynthia Gill
Viva Editions
2246 Sixth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710-2219
9781936740390 $16.95 www.vivaeditions.com

Award-winning author Pam Withers and thirty-year high school teacher Cynthia Gill present Jump-Starting Boys: Help Your Reluctant Learner Find Success in School and Life, an invaluable reference and resource especially for parents with school-age sons. In today's changing economy and tight job market, literacy skills and a strong educational background are more important than ever for securing a successful future; yet boys tend to lag behind girls in the classroom and at college. Jump-Starting Boys is packed with tips, tricks, and techniques for encouraging boys to read more, teach them good homework habits, appreciate the values of math and science, determine and work with their own learning style, and much more. Strategies are presented with for parents of all types of underachievers - from boy who genuinely struggle in school, to boys who put forth very little effort, boys who slack off in spite of their brilliance, and boys who are hindered by a learning disability. Testimonials, checklists, and an extensive appendix round out this "must-read", worthy of the highest recommendation for both parental and public library collections.

The Artful Parent
Jean Van't Hul
Roost Books
c/o Shambhala Publications, Inc.
300 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA 02115-4544
www.shambhala.com
9781590309643, $21.95, www.amazon.com

One of the principle responsibilities of parenthood is to foster their child's abilities and talents, to help their children become aware of and appreciate the process of creating beauty in the world. Compiled and written by Jean Van't Hul "The Artful Parent: Simple Ways to Fill Your Family's Life with Art and Creativity--Includes over 60 Art Projects for Children Ages 1 to 8" is a 304 page compendium packed cover to cover with simple, fun, child-centered arts and crafts activities that any parent can use to foster creativity and an appreciation for art in their child. Parents will learn how to select the best materials for a child's age, including how to make their own project materials. There are 'user friendly' instructions on preparing art activities that will appeal to energetic kids, kids in small groups, and more. Highly recommended for family and community library collections, "The Artful Parent: Simple Ways to Fill Your Family's Life with Art and Creativity--Includes over 60 Art Projects for Children Ages 1 to 8" would also prove invaluable resource for day care staff and pre-school/kindergarten teachers as well.


The Environmental Studies Shelf

The Hidden Potential of Sustainable Neighborhoods
Harrison Fraker
Island Press
2000 M St NW Suite 650
Washington, DC 20036
9781610914086 $40.00 www.islandpress.org

Harrison S. Fraker (Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, University of California Berkeley) presents The Hidden Potential of Sustainable Neighborhoods: Lessons from Low-Carbon Communities is a close study of four, first-generation sustainable neighborhoods. The four neighborhoods scrutinized are B001 (Malmo, Sweden), Hammarby Sjostad (Stockholm, Sweden), Kronsberg (Hannover, Germany) and Vauban (Freiburg, Germany). Drawing upon performance data, Fraker charts a path to improving sustainable community design based on the best and most effective practices. A handful of color photographs illustrate this excellent and insightful resource, highly recommended especially for urban and suburban planners with an eye toward long-term sustainable design.


The Reference Shelf

Racial And Ethnic Diversity, seventh edition
Editorial Staff
New Strategist Press
PO Box 242, Ithaca, NY 18451
9781940308012, $94.95, www.newstrategist.com

Now in a completed updated and significantly expanded seventh edition, "Racial And Ethnic Diversity: Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, And Whites" is a 798 page compendium that provides a current and detailed profile of the U.S. population. It is interesting to note that Hispanics are now the largest minority population in the U.S. With more than 100 million Americans classified as African America, Hispanic, or Asian, the U.S. is now clearly and unequivocally a multicultural nation. Like its predecessors, this seventh edition also focuses upon statistical data for American households broken down by ethnicity. This includes data on wealth, asset ownership, and debt. Of special note are the population projections to 2050, including college enrollments and health status. A new feature is the section on attitudes. Comprehensive, authoritative, reliable, and impressive, "Racial And Ethnic Diversity" is very highly recommended, for professional, corporate, community, governmental, and academic library reference collections. It should also be noted that "Racial And Ethnic Diversity" is also available as a PDF download from New Strategist Press.

Ranking America's Fifty States
Michael D. Dulberger
Bernan Press
c/o Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200
Lanham, MD 20706
9781598886696 $39.00 www.rlpgbooks.com

Ranking America's Fifty States: A Comparison in Graphic Detail lives up to its title with an array of color graphs presenting straightforward, easy-to-comprehend statistical data comparing America's fifty states. From "Daily Newspaper Circulation (15.1 per 100 persons nationally in 2009)" to "Toxic Chemical Releases (3,386 million pounds nationally in 2009)", "Medicaid Recipients (20.0 percent of population nationally in 2009)" and much more, Ranking America's Fifty States gives at-a-glance bar graph portraits that are immediately comprehensible to researchers and lay readers alike, enhanced with an index for quick and easy cross-reference. Highly recommended.


The Art Shelf

Andrea Pozzo And Video Art
Felix Burda-Stengel
Saint Joseph's University Press
5600 City Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19131-1395
9780916101787, $70.00, www.amazon.com

Andrea Pozzo (30 November 1642 - 31 August 1709) was an Italian Jesuit Brother, Baroque painter and architect, decorator, stage designer, and art theoretician. Pozzo was best known for his grandiose frescoes using illusionistic technique called quadratura, in which architecture and fancy are intermixed. His masterpiece is the nave ceiling of the Church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome. Through his techniques, he has become one of the most remarkable figures of the Baroque period. He is also noted for the architectural plans of the Ljubljana Cathedral (1700), inspired by the designs of the Jesuit churches Il Gesu and S. Ignazio in Rome. Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. "Andrea Pozzo And Video Art" by Felix Burda-Stengel is a beautifully illustrated, 179 page compendium analytically showcasing the life and work of this Baroque master of the arts. After laying out a through history and exploration of Pozzo's work, author Felix Burda-Stengel goes on to applying video art perspectives in chapters eleven and twelve. Of special note is the concluding chapter thirteen offering new criteria and concepts for the description of Baroque view of art. A work of unique and impressive scholarship, enhanced with exhaustive notes, an extensive bibliography, and a comprehensive index, "Andrea Pozzo And Video Art" is very highly recommended, especially for academic library Art History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Poetry to the Earth
Suzanne L. Flynt
Hudson Hills Press
Box 250, East Hampton, MA 01027-0250
www.hudsonhills.com
9781555953836, $60.00, www.amazon.com

Arts and Crafts was an international design movement that flourished between 1860 and 1910, especially in the second half of that period, continuing its influence until the 1930s. It was led by the artist and writer William Morris (1834 - 1896) during the 1860s, and was inspired by the writings of John Ruskin (1819 - 1900) and Augustus Pugin (1812 - 1852). It developed first and most fully in the British Isles, but spread to the rest of Europe and North America. It was largely a reaction against the impoverished state of the decorative arts at the time and the conditions in which they were produced. It stood for traditional craftsmanship using simple forms and often applied medieval, romantic or folk styles of decoration. It advocated economic and social reform and has been said to be essentially anti-industrial. The community of Deerfield, Massachusetts was home to an extraordinary group of women that contributed to the arts and crafts movement. "Poetry to the Earth: The Arts & Crafts Movement in Deerfield" by Suzanne L. Flynt (Curator of Memorial hall Museum, Deerfield, Massachusetts) is a beautifully and profusely illustrated, 240 page compendium providing a chronologically organized and presented overview of the arts and crafts movement in Deerfield. From needlework, furniture, basket making, and pottery, to photography, metalwork, and weaving, the examples presented are bolstered by an informed and informative commentary. An impressive work from beginning to end, "Poetry to the Earth: The Arts & Crafts Movement in Deerfield" is an especially valued and recommended contribution to personal, professional, academic, and community library Art History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.


The Psychology Shelf

Creating Sanctuary, second edition
Sandra L. Bloom
Routledge
711 - 3rd Avenue, Floor 8
NY, NY 10017-9209
www.routledge.com
9780415821094, $37.95, www.amazon.com

A sanctuary is a safe place, a protected refuge, a place of healing and restoration. Now in an updated and expanded second edition, "Creating Sanctuary: Toward the Evolution of Sane Societies" by Sandra L. Bloom (Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia) is a 368 page compendium that provides a detailed and informative description of a hospital-based program specifically designed to treat adults who had been abused as children. The theories and practices around which such a program is founded represents significant advances in our understanding about psychological impactive trauma and adversity. This newly revised edition features an Adverse Childhood Experiences Study presented in 1998; new information about Epigenetics (the study of changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype, caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence - some of which have been shown to be heritable genetics); and new material about what recent research has revealed about the brain and violence. Comprehensive, nicely organized, accessibly presented, "Creating Sanctuary" is especially recommended as a textbook for counseling, social work, and clinical psychology curriculums on mental health, trauma, and trauma theory.


The Autism Shelf

Teach Me With Pictures
Simone Griffin, Ruth Harris and Linda Hodgdon
Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Inc.
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106
9781849052016 $32.95 www.jkp.com

Featuring photocopiable pages (a disclaimer gives the owner permission to photocopy all pages with a checkmark icon for personal use) and an accompanying CD-ROM of printable scripts, Teach Me With Pictures: 40 Fun Picture Scripts to Develop Play and Communication Skills in Children on the Autism Spectrum is an excellent resource especially for parents, caregivers, educators, and counselors responsible for younger children with autism. The black-and-white, photocopiable images represent step-by-step common activities such as drawing, cooking, arts, crafts, life skills, and more; text instructions elucide how to use the images most effectively. Ideal for classrooms, therapy, or even simply at home, Teach Me With Pictures is highly recommended.

From Like to Love for Young People With Asperger's Syndrome
Tony Attwood & Michelle Garnet
Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Inc.
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106
www.jkp.com
9781849054362, $19.95, www.amazon.com

Asperger's Syndrome (AS) is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development. Although not required for diagnosis, physical clumsiness and atypical (peculiar, odd) use of language are frequently reported. Children with AS require extra special parenting if they are to grow up into healthy and adjusted adults. "From Like to Love for Young People With Asperger's Syndrome (Autism Spectrum Disorder): Learning How to Express and Enjoy Affection With Family and Friends" by clinical psychologists Tony Attwood and Michelle Garnett is a 176 page compendium comprised of specifically designed activities that parents can utilize to enable their children to emotionally function in social situations and within the family unit. Highly recommended for personal, professional, academic, and community library Parenting Skills and Autism Studies reference collections, parents needing guidance in working through and with the challenges presented by the AS children will find "From Like to Love for Young People With Asperger's Syndrome" to be an invaluable and 'user friendly' instruction guide. It should be noted that "From Like to Love for Young People With Asperger's Syndrome" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).


The Large Print Shelf

Ulverscroft Large Print (USA), Inc.
PO Box 1230
West Seneca, NY 14224-1230
www.ulverscroftusa.com

Ulverscroft is the premier publisher of large print books and a mainstay resource of such titles for community library as well as non-specialist general readers who need a large print format. Their Thorpe's "Linford Western Library" series is the primary imprint for large print western novels whose current and backlist titles form an impressive library for the genre. Five of their newest large print western titles are to be especially recommended for western fiction enthusiasts. Jack Dakota's "Hell Stage To Lone Pine" (9781444856334, $20.99); Lance Howard's "Hell On Hoofs" (9781444816358, $20.99); Rob Hill's "Sheriff Of Vengeance" (9781444816341, $20.99), Will Keen's "Trouble At Mesquite Flats" (9781444816365, $20.99); and Terrell L. Bowers' "Gun Law Of Phoenix Cline" (8781444816327, $20.99) are original stories that pack exciting western action/adventure entertainment into every tale. Highly recommended to western novel enthusiasts who require large print texts, community librarians especially would be well advised to visit the Ulverscroft web site and request their free quarterly catalogs create their large print collections in every literary genre -- but especially the western!


The Native American Studies Shelf

Under the Eagle
Samuel Holiday and Robert S. McPherson
University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive
Norman, OK 73069
9780806143897 $19.95 www.oupress.com

Under the Eagle: Samuel Holiday, Navajo Code Talker is autobiographical testimony of Samuel Holiday (b. 1924), one of the few remaining Navajo code talkers - Native Americans who served their country in World War II by using the complex Navajo language as the basis for an encryption system, which the enemy never cracked. Historian Robert S. McPherson interviewed Holiday extensively, and interleaves both historical and cultural context to the events of Holiday's life story. Holiday speaks of his worldview as a Navajo, his traditional upbringing in Utah, his time at an Indian boarding school, and what it was like to serve during World War II. Under the Eagle is not only a fascinating, true personal story; it is also an invaluable addition to Native American studies and Military History shelves. Highly recommended.


The African-American Studies Shelf

Trail Sisters
Linda Williams Reese
Texas Tech University Press
PO Box 41037
Lubbock, TX 79409-1037
9780896728103 $39.95 www.ttupress.org

Trail Sisters: Freedwomen in Indian Territory, 1850-1890 examines the lives of African-American women who were slaves of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek Nations. Some were treated horrifically by their slaveowners; others were considered kindred. All of them suffered the hardship of the forced removal to Indian Territory. The Civil War dramatically changed their lives - legally, they were freed, but often bereft of places to go. Individual African-American women faced the challenges of reconstructing their lives - some sought education, while others formed relationships with immigrant African-Americans, and still others figured out how to earn an honest living on their own. Trail Sisters is the true story of a pioneer women, and their courage in the face of incredible hardship, highly recommended especially for American History and African-American Studies shelves.


The Money/Finance Shelf

199 Fun And Effective Fundraising Events For Nonprofit Organizations
Eileen Figure Sandlin & Richard Helweg
Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.
1405 S.W. 6th Avenue, Ocala, FL 34471
www.atlantic-pub.com
9781601381484, $24.95, www.amazon.com

Whether a member of a church, a social club, or a community organization, we have all had to participate in raising money for our causes. "199 Fun And Effective Fundraising Events For Nonprofit Organizations" by Eileen Figure Sandlin and Richard Helweg is a 480 page compendium packed from cover to cover with practical, proven, imaginative ways to organize and hold fun raising activities that go far beyond the usual bake sale or pot luck social. Each instructionally described fund raising event covers planning for an estimated cost, obtaining sponsors/donations, finding a venue, recruiting volunteers, preparations, execution. The 199 individual fund raising projects are grouped into chapters: Arts and Crafts; Auctions and Raffles; Food and Drinks; Games and Contests; Holidays and Special Occasions; Shows; Sports; Themed Events; Sales; and Miscellaneous. From a Student Art Gallery; to a Spelling Bee; to Fundraising by Blogging; to a Home and Garden Show, all of these events are 'user friendly' and proven effective. Enhanced with the inclusion of the concluding chapter 'Advice from the Experts', "199 Fun And Effective Fundraising Events For Nonprofit Organizations" will prove an invaluable addition to any NGO and community library instructional reference collection. It should be noted that "199 Fun And Effective Fundraising Events For Nonprofit Organizations" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).


The Religion/Spirituality Shelf

101 Questions and Answers on the Crusades and the Inquisition
John Vidmar, OP
Paulist Press
997 MacArthur Boulevard
Mahwah, NJ 07430
www.paulistpress.com
9780809148042, $14.95, www.amazon.com

The two most controversial actions of the Roman Catholic Church in its nearly two thousand year old history were the Crusades and the Inquisition. The Crusades were religious conflicts in the High Middle Ages through to the end of the Late Middle Ages conducted by Catholic Europe against Muslims, pagans, heretics, and people under the ban of excommunication. The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the judicial system of the Roman Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy. In "101 Questions and Answers on the Crusades and the Inquisition", Fr. John Vidmar, OP provides a synthesis of his own scholarship and the latest historical research to create a 128 page compendium comprised of common and often difficult questions concerning the Church's role in these events. Thoroughly 'reader friendly' in text and content, "101 Questions and Answers on the Crusades and the Inquisition" is highly recommended reading for both Catholic and non-Catholic general readers.

Rene Girard And Secular Modernity
Scott Cowdell
University of Notre Dame Press
310 Flanner Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
9780268023744, $34.00, www.amazon.com

Rene Girard (born December 25, 1923) is a French historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science. His work belongs to the tradition of anthropological philosophy. "Rene Girard and Secular Modernity: Christ, Culture, and Crisis" by Scott Cowdell (Associate Professor and Research Fellow in Public and Contextual Theology of Charles Stuart University, Canberra, Australia) is a 248 page compendium comprising an insightful and systematic interpretation of Rene Girard's controversial approach to secular modernity. A work of original and meticulous scholarship, "Rene Girard and Secular Modernity: Christ, Culture, and Crisis" is deftly organized into five chapters: Mimesis, Modernity, and Madness; Violence, the Sacred Canopy; Scripture and Secularization; Modern Institutions and Violence; and War, Terror, Apocalypse. Of special note are Professor Cowdell's 'Conclusions'. Enhanced with a substantial body of notations, an extensive bibliography, and a comprehensive index, "Rene Girard and Secular Modernity: Christ, Culture, and Crisis" is highly recommended for academic library "Christian Studies" and "Contemporary Philosophy" collections, as well as the supplemental reading lists for students of Rene Girard's life and work.


The Wisconsin Shelf

Creating Old World Wisconsin
John D. Krugler
University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street, Third Floor
Madison, WI 53711-2059
www.uwpress.wisc.edu
9780299292645, $24.95, www.amazon.com

Old World Wisconsin is an open-air museum located near Eagle, Wisconsin. Opened in 1976, the museum is owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society. It portrays housing and the daily life of immigrants in 19th century Wisconsin. The largest outdoor museum of rural life in the United States, it encompasses nearly 600 acres of rolling wooded hills and contains over 60 historic structures. These range from ethnic farmsteads with furnished houses and rural outbuildings to a crossroads village. A restaurant and conference space are located in the octagonal Clausing Barn, along with a gift shop. Trams run between the Scandinavian and German, African American, and Crossroads villages. "Creating Old World Wisconsin: The Struggle to Build an Outdoor History Museum of Ethnic Architecture" by John D. Krugler (Professor of American History, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is a 270 page compendium providing an informative and detailed history of the conception, development, and operation of this unique Wisconsin tourist destination. Highly recommended reading for anyone who has ever visited one of Wisconsin's premier attractions, "Creating Old World Wisconsin" is a 'must' for all Wisconsin school and college library collections.

Something for Everyone
Michael Leannah
Wisconsin Historical Society Press
816 State Street
Madison, WI 53575
9780870205811 $22.95 www.wisconsinhistory.org

Something for Everyone: Memories of Lauerman Brothers Department Store is a thoroughly accessible history of this chain that began in 1890 as a general store in the town of Marinette, Wisconsin. Lauermans' popularity and success climbed in subsequent decades, yet competition from big-name stores such as K-mart and Walmart eventually brought the business to an end in 1987. Something for Everyone blends business, economics, and nostalgic memories into an appealing whole, charting the rise and fall of a family-based retail chain. Black-and-white photographs pepper this excellent addition to Wisconsin history collections!


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