Pick up the February issue of National Geographic to read an amazing article about the human heart. Learn how this intricate organ works and take a closer look at coronary heart disease, "the number one killer of both men and women in the United States" (pg 47). If you are not familiar with the disease, the article has an artery diagram and lists heart attack risk factors. Those with weak stomachs beware: many incredible pictures, including an artifical heart surgery, accompany the article.
"First day with kids. Exhausting. I'm emotionally spent. Can't remember much. It was all a blur" (pg 3).
This excerpt is from Ken Winograd's first journal entry featured in his book Good Day, Bad Day: Teaching as a High-Wire Act. After 13 years as a teacher educator, Winograd returned to an elementary classroom to teach for a year while on sabbatical. The first half of the book contains journal entries from this complex and often frustrating year of teaching, while the second part discusses three separate studies: teacher-student power relations, teacher emotions, and teacher identity. Winograd's search for his own teacher identity is a useful resource for beginning teachers and education students of all ages.
(Vairo Library LB2844.1.N4W58 2005)
Loved Nickelodeon as a child? Learn why with the assistance of a great new book at Vairo. Editors Shirley Steinberg and Joe Kincheloe discuss how information technology shaped the modern era of childhood in Kinderculture: The Corporate Construction of Childhood, Second Edition. The authors explain that kinderculture is "the corporate children's consumer culture" which "commodifies cultural objects and turns them into things to purchase rather than objects to contemplate" (pg 11). With chapters on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, video games, McDonald's and professional wrestling, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in American Studies, Human Development, Marketing, and popular culture.
(Vairo Library LB1139.25.K55 2004)
Looking for a rags-to-riches tale? Read a biography about your favorite musician. Learn about how these famous singers and rappers got their big start in show business.
Billy Joel: The Life and Times of an Angry Young Man by Hank Bordowitz
(Vairo Library ML420.J72B67 2005)
Madonna: An Intimate Biography by J. Randy Taraborrelli
(Vairo Library ML420.M1387T37 2001)
Thru My Eyes: Thoughts on Tupac Amaru Shakur in Pictures and Words by Gobi
(Vairo Library ML420.S529G62 2005)
Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem by Anthony Bozza
(Vairo Library ML420.E56B69 2003)
The January 22nd issue of Fortune features America's top 100 companies to work for, with Google at number one. The magazine asked 100,000 workers from 446 companies to evaluate their employers. Google is #1 for their many amazing perks such as free onsite laundry, volleyball courts, a lap pool, free gourmet meals, unlimited sick days, free onsite doctors and employees can even bring their dogs to work. Other companies on the list include Genentech, Whole Foods, Wegman's, Container Store, Starbucks, Proctor & Gamble, Nike, and IKEA North America. Read company profiles at http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2007/full_list/ or stop by the library to read to full article.
Put your best foot forward this semester by dressing smart. Whether it is for class, an internship or a job interview, make a great first impression with the help of these new books.
Sherry Maysonave, the founder and president of Empowerment Enterprises (a leading communication-image firm), outlines the essentials of a business casual wardrobe in Casual Power: How to Power Up Your Nonverbal Communication and Dress Down for Success.
(Vairo Library TT618.M38 1999)
In Dressing Smart for Women: 101 Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make...and How to Avoid Them, JoAnna Nicholson provides advice about wardrobe style and color for women and how to make a positive instant impression.
(Vairo Library TT507.N53 2004)
For help on local research, you can start by skimming through Profiles of Pennsylvania. This 1000 page reference book profiles every borough or township for the entire state including statistics about the populuation, economy, income, education, housing and transportation. Profiles also provides lists and rankings of school districts, PSSA scores, ancestry, and climate. Sixteen color demographic maps show a number of interesting trends, such as household size, population living below the poverty level, college graduates, and the percent of the population who voted for George Bush in 2004.
(Vairo Library REF HA601.P76 2006)
You may catch short segments about Iraq on the news every night, but several new books could help deepen your understand about what's happening in Iraq.
The Iraq Study Group Report is the result of a 10 member bipartisan congressional group, co-chaired by James A Baker, III and Lee H. Hamilton. It assesses the situtaion in Iraq and makes many recommendations about what the United States should do next.
(Vairo Library E902.I73 2006)
Ian S. Lustick, a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, questions the rationalization of America's response to 9/11 and rhetoric of terrorism in Trapped in the War on Terror.
(Vairo Library HV6432.L87 2006)
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks, the Washington Post's senior Pentagon correspondent, offers an comprehensive look at how the United States got to its current position in Iraq, "drawing on the exclusive cooperation of...more than one hundred senior officers and access to more than thirty thousand pages of official documents" (book jacket).
(Vairo Library DS79.76.R535 2006)
For New Years why don't you resolve to help your community and the environment. Pick up one of these new books to learn more about the current challenges facing the world as we enter 2007 and what you can do about it.
In Plan B 2.0: Rescuing the Plant Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble, Lester R. Brown describes how the world is environmentally and economically in trouble and outlines how we can reach sustainable economic progress. Brown, the president of Earth Policy Institute (a nonprofit interdisciplinary research organization), provides facts and figures on issues ranging from oil dependency and water shortage to eradicating poverty and restoring the earth.
(Vairo Library HC79.E5B7595 2006)
Jeremy Bendik-Keymer's book, The Ecological Life: Discovering Citizenship and a Sense of Humanity, reads like a class lecture. As an assistant professor of philosophy at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, Bendik-Keymer uniquely utilizes philosophy to make his ecological arguements such as "respecting life on Earth is part of being a true citizen in this world, what common humanity demands" (pg 4).
(Vairo Library GF21.B46 2006)