Book Notices from The Opinionated Librarian

Parkland Library adds hundreds of items to its collection every month. Here is a sampling of recent non-fiction titles new to the library.

DVDs
Outbreak in America: When the Flu Pandemic Hits Home. Spend 49 cheery minutes exploring how a bird flu outbreak could explode into a global pandemic. PANDEMIC people…snap out of your stupor and get that surgical mask on!
Currently shelved in the new books area, RA644.I6 P36 2006 v.2 Video disc

Diamonds of War: Africa’s Blood Diamonds. DiCaprio fictionalized it, but this documentary takes a real-life look at the black market diamond trade in Sierra Leone and how diamonds funded years of destructive civil war in that country. Giving or expecting a sparkly bauble this Valentine’s Day? You may seriously want to change your plans. 56 min. Shelved in the AV Room (faculty check out only, students can watch it in-house) HD9677.S52 D533 2007 Video disc

CD
Poetry on Record: 98 Poets Read Their Work, 1888-2006. Say what you will about the 2009 inaugural poem, HEARING is the way to experience the power of the poet. This four disc set is a hundred years of cigarettes and coffee packed into one tiny box. Currently shelved in the new books area at PS323.5 .P57 2006 Compact disc

Books
All are currently shelved in the new books area.

Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters, by Caltech paleontologist Donald Prothero,
provides a survey of the paleontological evidence for modern evolutionary science. As we near the anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s Origin of the Species, Prothero offers up an enthusiastic whipping of creationist “science.” QE721.2.E85 P76 2007

Speaking of fossils, Bill O’Reilly takes a break from politics, sort of, for recollections from his youth in A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity. Telling tales from his formative years, he gives readers a glimpse of where and how his worldview developed. With the bestsellers at PN4874.O73 A3 2008

Leonard Bernstein, American Original focuses on the years the celebrated conductor was associated with the New York Philharmonic. Barbara Haws, the current archivist for the Philharmonic, teams up with Lenny’s brother Burton Bernstein and a group of distinguished contributors to explore the art and activism of this “modern Renaissance man.” ML410.B566 B47 2008

This one’s nice! Learn to Paint Watercolors that Dance with Light, or just look through a book of pretty pictures. ND2420 .K55 2004

100 Caterpillars: Portraits from the Tropical Rain Forests of Costa Rica. It’s a snake! It’s an icicle! It’s Jabba the Hut eating a lady bug! (Plates 53, 78 and 34, respectively.) Up close and personal photographs, plus species accounts of the wiggly bit that comes before moths and butterflies. QL553.C67 M55 2006

The Elemental Prairie: Sixty Tallgrass Plants. Beautiful watercolor drawings of plants on the tallgrass prairie, with an essay that encourages looking at the prairie world with new eyes. We live in the flatland, folks…find the beauty that’s here! QK128 .O47 2005

Our Changing Planet: The View from Space. Pollution, rising sea levels, melting polar ice, shrinking tropical forests…all depicted in a coffee-table book for your browsing pleasure! In reality, while some of the satellite images in this book are spectacular, overall, it seems like they were careful not to make massive global climate change seem too shiny. GE45.R44 O97 2007

And finally, for those planning a Friday Happy Hour, Drink, a Cultural History of Alcohol might make you feel very civilized while slinging back the ethyl alcohol laden beverage of your choice. After all, page one assures you that “Alcohol is a fundamental part of Western culture.” How could you possibly go wrong?

Hugs and Kisses,
OpLib