Wednesday, August 21, 2013

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Check out our new blog over at http://cnlibraryblog.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, July 03, 2013

Notable Government Documents of 2012

In it's June 1, 2013 issue, Library Journal provided readers a listing of notable government documents published in 2012.

These included some titles received at Carson-Newman or some which are freely accessible via the Internet.

[Gov Docs] I 29.2:AT 8/2 - Golodoff, Nick. Attu Boy - Tells the story of how residents of the Aleutian Islands were taken to a POW camp in Japan during World War II.

I 19.91/3:3184 -  Ratcliffe, Nicholas M. and others. Bedrock Geologic Map of Vermont. [This is also available at: http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/geo/StateBedrockMap2012.htm.]

A 13.2:B 39/9 - Koch, Jonathan and others. Bumble Bees of the Western United States

[Gov Docs] NAS 1.83:2012-01-835-HQ - Wallack, William and Gonzalez, George, eds. Celebrating 30 Years of the Space Shuttle Program.

D 5.2:H 62/5 - Reardon, Steven L. Council of War: A History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1942-1991.

[Gov Docs] HE 20.7002:D 54/9 - Lofton, Terry. Coyote and the Turtle's Dream - Promotes a diet that is designed to prevent diabetes; designed for middle schoolers.

NAS 1.86:NP-2012-07-889-HQ - Friedl, Lawrence and Yuen, Karen. Earth as Art - 75 photos taken by the Landsat 7 satellite.

D 214.2:D 71 - Huffman, J. Ford and Schultz, Tammy S., eds. The End of Don't Ask, Don't Tell: The Impact in Studies and Personal Essays by Service Members and Veterans.

[Gov Docs] I 29.58/3:R 67 - Sears, John F. and Auwaeter, John E. FDR and the Land: Roosevelt Estate Historic Resource Study, Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site.

Unassigned number - Machen, Judith and others. Homesteading on the Pajarito Plateau, 1887-1942.






Thursday, June 13, 2013

Socrates






Johnson, Paul. Socrates: A Man for Our Times. New York: Viking, 2011.

Call no.: 183.2 J636s

Publisher's Description: Socrates was undeniably one of the greatest thinkers of all time, yet he wrote nothing. Throughout his life, and indeed until his very last moment alive, Socrates fully embodied his philosophy in thought and deed. It is through the story of his life that we can fully grasp his powerful actions and ideas.


In his highly acclaimed style, historian Paul Johnson masterfully disentangles centuries of scarce sources to offer a riveting account of a homely but charismatic middle-class man living in Athens in the fifth century b.c., and how what this man thought still shapes the way we decide how to act, and how we fathom the notion of body and soul. Johnson provides a compelling picture of the city and people Socrates reciprocally delighted in, as well as many enlightening and intimate analyses of specific aspects of his personality. Enchantingly portraying "the sheer power of Socrates's mind, and its unique combination of steel, subtlety, and frivolity," Paul Johnson captures the vast and intriguing life of a man who did nothing less than supply the basic apparatus of the human mind.


Publisher's Book Page: http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780670023035,00.html?Socrates_Paul_Johnson#

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

The Story of Charlotte's Web






Sims, Michael. The Story of Charlotte's Web: E. B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic. New York: Walker & Company, 2011.

Call no.: 813.52 W583si

Publisher's Description: In The Story of Charlotte's Web Michael Sims's shows how E. B. White solved what critic Clifton Fadiman once called "the standing problem of the juvenile-fantasy writer: how to find, not another Alice, but another rabbit hole." By mining the raw ore of his childhood in Mount Vernon, New York, in the first decade of the twentieth century, White translated his own passions and contradictions, delights and fears, into a book that would be read the world over. Building on a visit to White's farm in Maine, viewing his handwritten first draft of Charlotte's Web, Michael Sims chronicles White's animal-rich childhood, his writing about urban nature for the New Yorker, his scientific research into how spiders spin webs and lay eggs, his friendship with his legendary editor, Ursula Nordstrom, the composition and publication of his masterpiece, and his ongoing quest to recapture an enchanted childhood.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-story-of-charlottes-web-9780802777546/

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The Filter Bubble






Pariser, Eli. The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding From You. New York: Penguin, 2011.

Call no.: 004.678 P218f

Publisher's Description: An eye-opening account of how the hidden rise of personalization on the Internet is controlling-and limiting-the information we consume.

In December 2009, Google began customizing its search results for each user. Instead of giving you the most broadly popular result, Google now tries to predict what you are most likely to click on. According to MoveOn.org board president Eli Pariser, Google's change in policy is symptomatic of the most significant shift to take place on the Web in recent years-the rise of personalization. In this groundbreaking investigation of the new hidden Web, Pariser uncovers how this growing trend threatens to control how we consume and share information as a society-and reveals what we can do about it.

Though the phenomenon has gone largely undetected until now, personalized filters are sweeping the Web, creating individual universes of information for each of us. Facebook-the primary news source for an increasing number of Americans-prioritizes the links it believes will appeal to you so that if you are a liberal, you can expect to see only progressive links. Even an old-media bastion like The Washington Post devotes the top of its home page to a news feed with the links your Facebook friends are sharing. Behind the scenes a burgeoning industry of data companies is tracking your personal information to sell to advertisers, from your political leanings to the color you painted your living room to the hiking boots you just browsed on Zappos.

In a personalized world, we will increasingly be typed and fed only news that is pleasant, familiar, and confirms our beliefs-and because these filters are invisible, we won't know what is being hidden from us. Our past interests will determine what we are exposed to in the future, leaving less room for the unexpected encounters that spark creativity, innovation, and the democratic exchange of ideas.

While we all worry that the Internet is eroding privacy or shrinking our attention spans, Pariser uncovers a more pernicious and far- reaching trend on the Internet and shows how we can- and must-change course. With vivid detail and remarkable scope, The Filter Bubble reveals how personalization undermines the Internet's original purpose as an open platform for the spread of ideas and could leave us all in an isolated, echoing world.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781594203008,00.html?The_Filter_Bubble_Eli_Pariser#

Monday, June 10, 2013

Native American Mythology






Pearce, Q. L. Native American Mythology. (Mythology and Culture Worldwide). Detroit: Lucent Books, 2012.

Call no.: J 398.208997 P315n

Publisher's Description: This new volume in Lucent's Mythology and Culture Worldwide series looks at Native American mythology, draws connections between Native American culture and its myths, and explains how the beliefs, values, and experiences of that culture are represented in its treasured stories. Tales covered include earth diver and origin stories, and myths of culture heroes, nature deities, spirits, and tricksters. This volume has a map of the tribal regions of North America, a table of major characters with name pronunciations and brief descriptions, a glossary, sidebars, fact boxes, a bibliography of sources for further study, and a subject index.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.gale.cengage.com/servlet/ItemDetailServletCr?region=9&imprint=070&titleCode=LMCWL&cf=p&type=3&id=264912

Sunday, June 09, 2013

William Wilberforce






Belmonte, Kevin. William Wilberforce: A Hero for Humanity. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007.

Call no.: FDC 326.092 W641be

Publisher's Description: Here is the true story of how British statesman and reformer William Wilberforce overcame great obstacles to bring about the end of the slave trade in England two centuries ago. The movie Amazing Grace brings this story to life, and this book is the inspiring, definitive biography of Wilberforce, written by the lead historical consultant for the film.