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California Bookwatch

Volume 5, Number 10 October 2010 Home | CALBW Index

Table of Contents

Reviewer's Choice Philosophy Shelf Fashion Shelf
Biography Shelf Political Science Shelf World History Shelf
Criminology Shelf Metaphysical Studies Shelf Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
Pets/Wildlife Shelf Railroading Shelf Mystery/Suspense Shelf
Sports Shelf Women's Studies Shelf Audiobook Shelf
Cookbook Shelf Travel Shelf Nautical Shelf
Science Shelf Architecture Shelf Gardening Shelf
Music Shelf Library Reference Shelf Environmental Studies Shelf
Social Issues Shelf Business Shelf Military Shelf
Needlecraft Shelf Psychology Shelf Education Shelf
Art Shelf Computer Shelf Christian Studies Shelf
Health/Medicine Shelf Photography Shelf Interior Design Shelf
California Shelf    


Reviewer's Choice

Natural Living
Liz Wright
GAIA
c/o Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017-0010
9781856753203, $29.99, www.octopusbooksusa.com

Natural Living: The 21st-CENTURY GUIDE TO A SELF-SUFFICIENT LIFESTYLE offers families a fine reference on how to become self-sufficient - without giving up a day job and running away. One of the few books to include all kinds of home dwellers, from apartments to rural inhabitants or suburbanists - this offers a survey of putting foods by, keeping animals, foraging for food, and more skills that contribute to building a self-sufficient lifestyle. Step-by-step skills pack this outstanding ideas guide.

W.W. Norton
500 - 5th Avenue, New York NY 10110
www.wwnorton.com

Every day tons of garbage is added to landfills - but what if many of these materials can be recycled? Alejandro Bahamon & Maria Camila SanJines's REMATERIAL (9780393733143, $49.95) focuses on projects that rescue discarded materials from cargo containers to cups, and change them into buildings and projects that are sustainable and practical. Chapters trace a movement of diverse professions who reuse materials with architecture projects in mind, and promotes the use of waste in architecture and design. College-level arts libraries will find this an appealing pick! Arts libraries will also welcome Eric M. Wolf's AMERICAN ART MUSEUM ARCHITECTURE: DOCUMENTS AND DESIGN (9780393732801, $75.00), a fine account telling of museum interior spaces and displays. All aspects of museum architecture, from innovations to functions, pack a survey by an architectural historian who examines some of the nation's leading institutions and their display options and design. Six major museums are followed in a survey showing how each was originally conceived, then evolved.

The Reluctant Entertainer
Sandy Coughlin
Bethany House
11400 Hampshire Ave South, Bloomington, MN 55438
9780764207501, $17.99, www.bethanyhouse.com

The Reluctant Entertainer: Every Woman's Guide to Simple and Gracious Hospitality comes from a popular online blogger who addresses hesitations women may have about entertaining in their homes. It offers inspirations, tools and ideas for making entertaining enjoyable to all, showing how women can use faith and talent to entertain and involve the entire family. From using an index card system to prevent repeat dishes served to the same guests over time, to holding different types of parties and gatherings in a home, THE RELUCTANT ENTERTAINER organizes and makes entertaining easy, even for the hostess! General libraries will find this involving and fun!

The Smart Swarm
Peter Miller
Avery Books
c/o The Penguin Group
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
9781583333907, $26.00, www.penguin.com

THE SMART SWARM: HOW UNDERSTANDING FLOCKS, SCHOOLS, AND COLONIES CAN MAKE US BETTER AT COMMUNICATING, DECISION MAKING, AND GETTING THINGS DONE offers an outstanding survey of the basic ideas of 'smart swarms' and how swarm species can teach us how to tackle complex social and business issues. Insights from ant colonies and more have led scientists to streamline factory processes, for example, and THE SMART SWARM offers many keys based on science and nature in a top pick for any general lending library.

Lemons to Lemonade
Addie Johnson
Conari Press
65 Parker St., Suite 7, Newburyport, MA 01950
9781573244695, $15.95, www.redwheelweiser.com

LEMONS TO LEMONADE: LITTLE WAYS TO SWEETEN UP LIFE'S SOUR MOMENTS provides quotes and sayings accompanied by whimsical drawings, and offers keys to any who are facing challenges and who need a dose of humor to get through life. Accompanying these inspirations are formulas for succeeding in life, from how to face challenges with passion and ease to developing bravery in life. A winning survey for any self-help or general collection, this will make an outstanding gift as well!


The Philosophy Shelf

Three Questions We Never Stop Asking
Michael Kellogg
Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Drive, Amherst, NY 14228-2119
9781616141868, $28.00, www.prometheusbooks.com

Three Questions We Never Stop Asking is a fine introduction to Western philosophy, recommended for general lending libraries as well as college-level holdings. It covers the basic issues that have preoccupied philosophers over time, offering surveys of major thinkers' writings and reflections and providing non-philosophy majors accessible details of the greatest major thinkers. An engaging survey!

Oceans Apart
Rochel U. Berman
KTAV Publishing
930 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07306
9781602801585, $18.95, www.ktav.com

OCEANS APART: A GUIDE TO MAINTAINING FAMILY TIES AT A DISTANCE provides a fine set of tips on how to maintain close, loving ties with family members who live far away. From successful visits and keeping in touch to handling illness, death and grandchildren long-distance, this is of particular interest to any who handle family matters overseas. There's simply no book like it on the market, making it a top pick for any general lending library.

On Thin Ice
Hugh Rowland with Michael Lent
Hyperion Books
114 - 5th Avenue, New York NY 10011
9781401323684, $24.99, www.hyperionbooks.com

ON THIN ICE: BREAKDOWNS, WHITEOUTS, AND SURVIVAL ON THE WORLD'S DEADLIEST ROADS tells of the author and his crew, who yearly brave the ice roads of the Arctic Circle with their semi trucks to deliver supplies and equipment to isolated diamond mines located there. Hugh Rowland is the star of Ice Road Truckers, a popular History show: here his book shares his story on how he began his business and how he survived many Arctic mishaps. General lending libraries will relish this!


The Fashion Shelf

Nina Garcia's Look Book
Nina Garcia
Voice
c/o Hyperion Books
114 - 5th Avenue, New York NY 10011
9781401341473, $23.99, www.hyperionbooks.com

Nina Garcia's Look Book: What to Wear for Every Occasion offers women keys to finding the perfect outfit for any occasion. It doesn't rely on designer clothes, but on tips on style and tells how to dress fashionably - and appropriately - on a budget, and suited to body type. From designers just breaking into the mainstream to how the author developed her personal fashion sense, this offers a fine survey from haute couture to bargains with a focus on women's unique fashion opportunities and how to develop personal style, and is a pick for any general lending collection!

1,000 Poses in Fashion
Chidy Wayne
Rockport Publishers
c/o Quayside Publishing Group
400 - 1st Avenue North, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55401-1721
www.quaysidepublishinggroup.com
9781592536313, $40.00, www.rockpub.com

1,000 Poses in Fashion offers up a wealth of possibilities for illustrating male and female bodies, and is a pick for any library where fashion in art is of interest. It offers a range of fashion poses and accessories in color and supplements them with variations on each pose in black and white, modeling clothes and how photographers and fashion designers' choices influence appearance outcome. Models and artists interested in high-end fashion illustration will find this an intriguing, involving survey!


The Biography Shelf

In a Heartbeat
Leigh Anne & Sean Tuohy with Sally Jenkins
Henry Holt
175 - 5th Avenue, New York NY 10010
9780805093384, $24.00, www.henryholt.com

IN A HEARTBEAT: SHARING THE POWER OF CHEERFUL GIVING offers a powerful autobiography of the couple featured in THE BLIND SIDE, telling their side of their adoption of Michael Oher, an Afro-American youth who became a spots sensation. Their story of their motivation and intention on opening their hearts to Michael makes for an involving, passionate 'must have' for any general lending library!

Let's Take the Long Way Home
Gail Caldwell
Random House
1745 Broadway, New York NY 10019
9781400067381, $23.00, www.randomhouse.com

Let's Take the Long Way Home offers a fine, poignant account of friendship that blends memoir and biography and shall be cherished by any who have experienced a best friendship. The author's friend Caroline died of lung cancer at age 42: this depicts her last days and her torrential grief - and how she moved on.

I Know I Am, But What Are You?
Samantha Bee
Gallery Books
c/o Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenues of the Americans, New York 10020
9781439142738, $25.00, www.simonandschuster.com

I Know I Am, But What Are You? provides a series of outspoken, fun essays from Samantha Bee, who has built her career getting people to caricature themselves. Any already familiar with Samantha's zany sense of humor will appreciate her autobiography, which offers ribald humor and social observation alike in a series of personal essays recommended for any general lending library!

Pulling Strings
Linda Pembroke Kaiser
Syracuse University Press
621 Skytop Road, Suite 110, Syracuse, NY 13244-5290
www.SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu
9780815609506, $29.95, www.amazon.com

College-level collections will relish this biographical exploration of the career of Melville A. Clark, musician, inventor and collector who has received relatively little in-depth attention. It starts with a survey of his musical family and chronicles the founding of the Clark Music company in 1919 and his many talents as a musician and entrepreneur. New York regional collections, in particular, will relish this survey!


The Political Science Shelf

The Post-American Presidency
Pamela Geller with Robert Spencer
Threshold Editions
c/o Simon and Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, 14th fl., New York, NY 10020
www.simonsays.com
9781439189306, $27.00, www.amazon.com

THE POST-AMERICAN PRESIDENCY: THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S WAR ON AMERICA offers a call for Americans to stop the Obama administration from harming democracy. Obama's programs, this maintains, destroys the free-market system and nationalizes economic services: chapters delve into his agenda and why it's bad.

Backstabbing for Beginners
Michael Soussan
Nation Books
387 Park Avenue South, New York NY 10016
9781568584416, $15.95, www.nationbooks.org

BACKSTABBING FOR BEGINNERS: MY CRASH COURSE IN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY blends a coming-of-age memoir with the story of how the author found himself involved in the largest financial scandal in UN history. His survey of how international diplomacy and politics operate makes for an eye-opening expose perfect for political and biography shelves alike.

President of the Other America
Edward R. Schmitt
University of Massachusetts Press
PO Box 429, Amherst, MA 01004
9781558497306, www.umass.edu/umpress

President of the Other America: Robert Kennedy and the Politics of Poverty provides a fine survey of Robert Kennedy's run for presidency. Kennedy was concerned with poverty and ran his campaign based on anti-poverty issues: critics accused him of opportunism, but his stand reflected a steady evolution in his political focus. College-level history libraries will find this a fine survey!


The World History Shelf

The Fourth Part of the World
Toby Lester
Free Press
c/o Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of Americas, New York NY 10020
9781416535348, $16.99, www.simonandschuster.com

THE FOURTH PART OF THE WORLD blends history and biography in a satisfying manner, and offers a fine epic story of global exploration and America's origins. Named a 'best book' in 2009, the paperback edition of this classic packs in a lively survey of the mysterious 'fourth part of the world' that intrigued explorers and discoverers around the globe. Any general-interest history library will find this a fascinating, lively exploration!


The Criminology Shelf

Forbidden Creatures
Peter Laufer, Ph.D.
The Lyons Press
246 Goose Lane, Guilford, CT 06437
9781599219264, $19.95, www.LyonsPress.com

FORBIDDEN CREATURES: INSIDE THE WORLD OF ANIMAL SMUGGLING AND EXOTIC PETS comes from an investigative journalist who chronicles his worldwide quest to penetrate international smuggling circles. His experiences make for eye-opening reading packed with facts and drama, presents personal encounters with breeders and smugglers, and chronicles the crisis of wild species. General-interest and wildlife-oriented collections will find this a 'must'.


The Metaphysical Studies Shelf

The Deja Vu Enigma
Marie D. Jones & Larry Flaxman
New Page Books
c/o Career Press Inc.
PO Box 687, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417
9781601631046, $15.99, www.newpagebooks.com

Paranormal researcher Larry Flaxman works with Marie D. Jones in this outstanding scientific research piece, which covers short-term memory issues, neuropsychological disorders, and parallel realities alike. Its focus is on mysteries of the mind, and its chapters consider how the brain perceives reality and how dream states and parallel universes work in brain and time perception. Highly recommended for any new age or brain science collection!

Plant Whatever Brings You Joy
Kathryn Hall
Estrella Catarina
Box 1486, Ukiah, CA 95482
9780981557007, $19.95, www.estrellacatarina.com

Plant Whatever Brings You Joy comes from years of early morning gardening, gathering impressions of what the natural world has to offer and sharing wisdom in a fine survey of lessons learned from gardening. From cleaning up after a storm to resisting the idea of planting more than can be cared for this links gardening to life goals and philosophy and is packed with wonderful insights perfect for gardening and new age libraries alike!

Unlearning Meditation
Jason Siff
Shambhala Publications
300 Massachusetts Ave, Boston, MA 02115
9781590307526, $16.95, www.shambhala.com

UNLEARNING MEDITATION: WHAT TO DO WHEN THE INSTRUCTIONS GET IN THE WAY is for any collection strong in Buddhist thought, offering keys to approaching meditation in a new way. From becoming more tolerant of intense emotions and sleepiness to becoming more flexible in experiencing meditation, UNLEARNING MEDITATION is an excellent choice for any new age collection.

The Lost Art of Enochian Magic
John DeSalvo, Ph.D.
Destiny Books
c/o Inner Traditions
One Park Street, Rochester, VT 05767
9781594773440, $16.95, www.destinybooks.com

The Lost Art of Enochian Magic: Angels, Invocations, and the Secrets Revealed to Dr. John Dee offers a focus on the ancient system for opening portals to heavenly realms, and offers a history of magic from early to modern times. John DeSalvo deciphered many of Dr. John Dee's original phonetic notations from his 16th-century diaries, and here provides keys to 'Enochian calls' which act like mantras to open higher realms. An accompanying disc offers a 20-minute demo of these calls.

The No Om Zone
Kimberly Fowler
Rodale Press, Inc.
400 South Tenth Street, Emmaus, PA 18098-0099
9781605296746, $19.99, www.rodale.com

THE NO OM ZONE is for any who have wanted to try yoga but were put off by complicated poses or chanting. Its intention is to make yoga accessible to non-yoga audiences and is based on triathelete author Kimberly Fowler's program. Yoga workouts are accompanied by insights on different yoga styles, meditation, poses that target specific muscle groups, and more.


The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf

Children No More
Mark L. Van Name
Baen Books
1230 Avenue of Americas, New York NY 10020
9781439133651, $22.00, www.baen.com

CHILDREN NO MORE tells of Jon, who helps to rescue a group of children who are working as rebels on a forgotten planet. His agreement to aid involves him and his intelligent assault vehicle friend into a world where children face horrors and survive. A powerful survey of the aftermath of warfare and its effect on humanity and morality.

Gender and Sexuality in Star Trek
David Greven
McFarland & Company
Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640
9780786444137, $35.00, www.mcfarlandpub.com

Deserving of repeated, ongoing recommendation for any science fiction collection, especially at the college level, is Gender and Sexuality in Star Trek: Allegories of Desire in the Television Series and Films. It studies Star Trek from the original 1960s series to the 2009 film and offers insights on the many types of sexuality Trek covered, including analysis of the 1960s original's deconstruction of the 'male gaze' and assumptions of female/male behavior patterns. A fine pick for science fiction, film or sociology collections at the college level!


The Pets/Wildlife Shelf

Octopus: The Ocean's Intelligent Invertebrate
Jennifer A. Mather, et.al.
Timber Press
133 S.W. Second Ave, Suite 450, Portland, OR 97204-3527
9781604690675, $25.95, www.timberpress.com

Octopus: The Ocean's Intelligent Invertebrate provides an excellent nature history of the octopus, pairing lovely photos with the insights of three leading marine biologists to offer general readers an easy introduction to octopus natural history. From its evolution and history to its anatomy, behaviors and more, this offers the first in-depth, dedicated natural history of the octopus and is a pick for any general science or lending library's collection.

Schalm's Veterinary Hematology, sixth edition
Douglas J. Weiss & K. Jane Wardrop
Wiley-Blackwell
111 River St., MS 8-01, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
9780813817989, $269.99, www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell

The sixth updated edition of Schalm's Veterinary Hematology is a 'must' for any vet's library. It's been extensively revised and reorganized for better accessibility, grouping topics within disciplines and packing in over 550 images along with new sections on lab techniques and toxicity. Expanded sections on species-specific hematology and new photos and discussions make this far more than a casual update, and a 'must-have' bible of facts no vet or college-level reference collection should be without!


The Railroading Shelf

Building Structures for your Garden Railway
Jack Verducci
Kalmbach Publishing
21027 Crossroads Circle, Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612
9780890247198, $21.95, www.kalmbach.com

Building Structures for your Garden Railway offers keys to choosing structures for a hobby railway, changing commercial kits to create custom appearances, and working with different materials to construct roads and structures alike. The result is an excellent 'must' for any hobby model rail builder!

Streetcars of New Orleans
Earl W. Hampton Jr.
Pelican Publishing
1000 Burmaster St., Gretna, LA 70053-2246
9781589807310, $25.00, www.pelicanpub.com

Streetcars of New Orleans: 1964-Present is an outstanding survey considering the colorful history of the New Orleans streetcar. It's a pictorial guide packing in a survey of the streetcar and its importance in New Orleans history, pairing over three hundred vintage black and white photos with a fine survey of technical information and background, paired with the author's many experiences riding the cars. No transportation library should be without it.


The Mystery/Suspense Shelf

Roast Mortem
Cleo Coyle
Berkeley Prime Crime
375 Hudson St., New York NY 10014
9780425234594, $24.95, www.penguin.com

Roast Mortem tells of Clare, a manager of a coffeehouse who visits a firehouse kitchen to teach them how to use their new espresso machine. When somebody begins torching cafes around the city and firefighters begin to die in mysterious manners, it's up to Clare to launch her own hot investigation in this satisfying murder mystery, highly recommended for any mystery library!


The Sports Shelf

Los Angeles's Historic Ballparks
Chris Epting
Arcadia Publishing
420 Wando Park Blvd., Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
0738580325, $21.99, www.arcadiapublishing.com

Los Angeles's Historic Ballparks offers a fine history of the evolution of Los Angeles playing fields, from turn-of-the-century Chutes Park which began as an amusement park to fields where many TV shows were filed. Part of the 'Images of America' visual history series, this provides a fine survey of historic ballparks with many images gathered under one cover for the first time. No sports or California history collection should be without it!


The Women's Studies Shelf

Mexican Women and the Other Side of Immigration
Luz Maria Gordillo
University of Texas Press
Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819
9780292722033, $55.00, www.utexas.edu/utpress

Mexican Women and the Other Side of Immigration: Engendering Transnational Ties blends narratives with analysis and history of Mexicans in the Midwest, considering the unique community created between Mexico and Detroit Michigan and the last three decades of the 20th century. Gender-specific aspects are key to this coverage, with Gordillo's coverage focusing on working-class sexuality and transnational sexualities. College-level collections strong in women's issues and Mexican-American relations must have this!


The Audiobook Shelf

Put On Your Crown
Queen Latifah
Hachette Audio
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
9781607881964, $22.98, www.hachetteaudio.com

PUT ON YOUR CROWN: LIFE-CHANGING MOMENTS ON THE PATH TO QUEENDOM is narrated by Queen Latifah herself and comes from a winning entertainer and entrepreneur who had to overcome challenges on her road to success. How to learn from negative experiences and use them to become strong women makes for an engrossing, involving account recommended for any audio library.

The Master Sniper
Stephen Hunter
Brilliance Audio
PO Box 887, Grand Haven, MI 49417
1441861424, $29.99, www.brillianceaudio.com

THE MASTER SNIPER enjoys a fine spirited reading by Christopher Lane, who has narrated over 100 audio books, and tells of a man still at war as World War II ends - with a sniper's rifle. He's about to carry out his final mission, against all odds and with the ultimate tool, in this winning survey!

The Cow in the Parking Lot
Leonard Scheff and Susan Edmiston
Highbridge Audio Books
201 Sixth Street SE, Suite 220, Minneapolis, MN 55414
9781615731145, $19.95, www.highbridgeaudio.com

The Cow in the Parking Lot: A Zen Approach to Overcoming Anger offers one of the best titles available on anger management. It's packed with insights and techniques that advocate getting calm instead of angry, and comes form a trial attorney who used anger to fuel his fiery courtroom presence. Buddhist wisdom permeates a powerful survey of what provokes anger and how to turn it aside.


The Cookbook Shelf

The Lost Art of Real Cooking
Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger
Perigee Books
c/o Penguin Group (USA)
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
9780399535888, $18.95, www.penguin.com

Any library strong in culinary history will relish this survey of real home cooking: recipes which cover such nearly-forgotten basics as cultivating wild yeast, making butter, rendering lard, and brewing beer. No fancy kitchen utensils are advocated, either, making this a fine, accessible survey for any who want to return to the basics without fuss or expense.

In Search of Perfection
Heston Blumenthal
Bloomsbury
175 - 5th Avenue Suite 300, New York NY 10010
1595912502, $34.95, www.bloomsburyusa.com

In Search of Perfection: Reinventing Kitchen Classics pairs fine photos by Simon Wheeler with interview with experts and cooks and the author's own culinary and science research to discover what makes classic dishes great. Origins of dishes such as Fish and Chips and Steak accompany color photos of dishes and the author's own explorations into kitchens and concepts of cooking in this fine pick for any culinary collection!


The Travel Shelf

Female Nomad and Friends
Rita Golden Gelman
Three Rivers Press
c/o The Crown Publishing Group
1745 Broadway, 17th floor, New York, NY 10019
9780307588012, $15.00, www.threeriverspress.com

Female Nomad and Friends: Tales of Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World comes from the author of Tales of a Female Nomad, which became a best-seller upon its publication in 2001. The author sold all her possession to become a nomad - and put her personal email address in the last chapter of her book. This sequel recounts her further adventures and includes essays by writers and readers in a powerful, outstanding survey.

Adventure Motorcycling Handbook, fifth edition
Chris Scott
Trailblazer
The Old Manse, Tower Rd, Hindhead, Surrey GAU26 6SU, UK
www.trailblazer-guides.com
9781873756805, $19.95, www.amazon.com

Adventure Motorcycling Handbook: Worldwide Motorcycling Route & Planning Guide provides a powerful winning survey of how to use the motorcycle for world travel, offering a revised fifth edition with the latest practical tips on motorcycles, documentation, preparing a bike for touring, and trans-continental routes across Africa, Asia, Latin America and even the Australian Outback. No motorcycle or adventure travel collection should be without!

Volunteer
Lonely Planet
150 Linden St., Oakland CA 94607
9781742200859, $19.99, www.lonelyplanet.com

VOLUNTEER: A TRAVELLER'S GUIDE TO MAKING A DIFFERENCE AROUND THE WORLD provides a fine, user-friendly survey arranged by type of volunteer program and helps travelers develop a more meaningful travel experience. From planning either a short- or a long-term travel volunteer experience to outlines of websites, jobs, eligibility, and costs, this is, quite simply, a 'must' for any would-be travel volunteer or libraries catering to travelers.


The Nautical Shelf

Charting the Unknown
Kim Petersen
Behler Publications
22365 El Toro Rd, Box 135, Lake Forest, CA 92630
9781933016634, $16.95, www.behlerpublications.com

Charting the Unknown: Family, Fear, and One Long Boat Ride tells of an author who in her mid-thirties felt lost and rediscovered a list of dreams that inspired her to confront and overcome her fears. Her desire to re-connect with herself and her family led she and her husband to sell all and build a boat to cross the Atlantic Ocean: this charts their learning curve from landlubber to sailors in an outstanding adventure story perfect for any nautical collection.


The Science Shelf

The Disappearing Spoon
Sam Kean
Little, Brown & Company
c/o Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
9780316051644, $24.99, www.hachettebookgroup.com

THE DISAPPEARING SPOON AND OTHER TRUE TALES OF MADNESS, LOVE, AND THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD FROM THE PERIODIC TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS uses basic elements from the table to follow human history and the lives of the scientists who discovered them. Stories of passion, obsession and success abound in this lively blend of science and social history, highly recommended for high school to college and general lending libraries alike!

Interactive Data Visualization
Matthew Ward, Georges Grinstein, Daniel Keim
AK Peters Ltd.
5 Commonwealth Rd. #2C, Natick, MA 01760
9781568814735, $89.00, www.akpeters.com

Interactive Data Visualization provides theory and tools for building visualizations at the college, technical level and is a pick for any interested in the growing field. It covers math, statistical graphs, cartography for displays, science and analysis tools in its survey of general information visualization techniques and includes source code in its focus on theory, making this a top pick for any college-level reference collection.


The Architecture Shelf

Key Buildings of the 20th Century, second edition
Richard Weston
W.W. Norton
500 - 5th Avenue, New York NY 10110
9780393733112, $45.00, www.wwnorton.com

The second updated edition of Key Buildings of the 20th Century: Plans, Sections and Elevations remains an essential buy for any college-level collection strong in architecture. It comes packed with hundreds of architectural drawings and photos, includes classic works by many renowned architects, and offers new entries covering a range of building types. Students of architecture also receive a free CD-ROM offering digital files of all drawings featured in the book. It comes from an architect who offers accurate scale plans: all of which have been specially commissioned for this book, making this an exceptional, ongoing recommendation.

The Architect's Guide to Small Firm Management
Rena M. Klein, FAIA
Wiley
c/o Wiley Professional Trade Group
111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
9780470466483, $75.00 www.wiley.com

The Architect's Guide to Small Firm Management: Making Chaos Work for Your Small Firm offers organizational strategies perfect for any small firm in any economy. From the lifecycle of a small firm and scenario planning to building a 'learning' based organization that cultivates creativity and problem-solving thinking, this is a top pick for any business or arts library, offering concrete assessments based on knowledge of the architectural industry.

Homes for a Changing Climate
Will Anderson
Chelsea Green Publishing Company
PO Box 428, White River Junction, VT 05001-0428
9781900322478, $35.00, www.chelseagreen.com

Deserving of ongoing recommendation is this fine survey on how to design and build homes to cope with ongoing climate change. Traditional and contemporary home designs alike are covered in a fine survey blending case studies with practical advice for coping with storms, floods, drought and more. General lending libraries as well as collections catering to architects and homeowners must have this: it's filled with specific pointers and tested approaches!


The Gardening Shelf

Sunset Western Garden Book of Edibles
Sunset Publishing
80 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025
0376039183, $24.95, www.sunset.com

Sunset Western Garden Book of Edibles offers complete instructions for growing over 190 vegetables, herbs, fruits and nuts in both ground and containers, offering designs for all kinds of kitchen gardens and growing seasons. Over 300 pages of color photos and advice from Sunset Magazine editors contribute to a powerful collection perfect for cook/gardeners who want to make the most of their home gardens.


The Music Shelf

Composed
Rosanne Cash
Viking Books
c/o Penguin Putnam Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
9780670021963, $26.95, www.penguin.com

COMPOSED: A MEMOIR is a pick for any library catering to country-western music listeners. It provides a vivid portrait of a contemporary singer-songwriter who surprises the reader with the power of her writing abilities. Her memories of growing up as Johnny Cash's eldest child and becoming a powerful performer in her own right is simply riveting and nearly impossible to put down!

Cars on Vinyl
Jacques Petit
Haynes Publishing
Sparkford, Yeovil, Somerset BA22 7JJ England
sales@haynes.co.uk
9781844257263, $27.95, www.amazon.com

CARS ON VINYL offers an oversized, lavish paperback compiled by a fanatical collector who provides a survey of record sleeves from around the world featuring all kinds of cars. In this survey, recommended for music and car fan collections alike, are considerations of LPs and singles alike that include full-page close-up shots as well as four-to-a-page covers of autos and music, both of which are identified in the notes. Dates, auto and album identification for all make this a colorful reference.


The Library Reference Shelf

2011 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market
Alice Pope, Editor
Writer's Digest Books
c/o F+W Media
4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236
9781582979526, $29.99, www.writersdigest.com

No general lending library should be without the 2011 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market! It packs in over 450 updated listings to help writers sell children's stories and illustrations, appears in its 23rd annual edition with extensive updates on publisher listings, and offers nearly 200 pages of articles on everything from blogging to online promotion and writing. A highly recommended 'must'!

The Terrorist List
Edward F. Mickolus
Praeger Publishers
Box 1911, Santa Barbara, CA 93116-1911
9780313357664, $300.00, www.praeger.com

Any college-level collection strong in terrorist studies and politics as well as social issues holdings will appreciate this in-depth, two-volume survey THE TERRORIST LIST. It's a 'must' for any serious terrorism researcher, offering a survey spanning 1950 to 2008 and alphabetically compiling key names, affiliates, and masterminds behind all kinds of terrorist acts. It uses over three decades of research to gather terrorist data under one cover and is a key acquisition for any in-depth collection.

Colored Gemstones, third edition
Antoinette Matlins, P.G.
Gemstone Press
Route 4, Box 237, Woodstock, VT 05091
9780943763729, $18.99, www.gemstonepress.com

Newly updated and expanded is a key reference for any library catering to gemstone collectors and jewelry makers. This includes all the basics needed to assess gemstones and how to avoid common issues form how to identify a natural versus an enhanced gem to what to get in writing when purchasing, and how to establish and stay within budget. New gems, new cuts, and new buying methods via Internet and TV shopping are all covered here.


The Environmental Studies Shelf

The Weather of the Future
Heidi Cullen
Harper
10 East 53rd St., New York NY 10022-5299
9780061726880, $25.99, www.harpercollins.com

The Weather of the Future: Heat Waves, Extreme Storms, and Other Scenes from a Climate-Changed Planet offers a fine, serious look at how the world will look in 2050 if the current levels of carbon emissions are maintained. Climate change is no longer a future worry: it's a present-day phenomenon that affects current lives. Chapters use the latest scientific research to examining real-world scenarios and at-risk locations around the world in a striking, dramatic survey key to any general or science lending library.

Deep Blue Home
Julia Whitty
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
215 Park Avenue South, New York NY 10003
9780618119813, $24.00, www.hmhbooks.com

DEEP BLUE HOME: AN INTIMATE ECOLOGY OF OUR WILD OCEAN offers a fine survey of the World Ocean as a single body of water connected by three currents circling the globe. This body of water is a greater influence on the world's climate than carbon emissions: its fate determines ours, and Whitty's background in science and as a writer and documentary filmmaker offers a survey of the ocean's physiology and importance that can't be beat. General libraries need this!

Green Guide Families
Catherine Zandonella
National Geographic Books
1145 - 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036-4688
9781426205422, $21.95, www.ngs.org

GREEN GUIDE FAMILIES: THE COMPLETE REFERENCE FOR ECO-FRIENDLY PARENTS provides parents with a fine set of tips from eco-conscious parents and caregivers. Facts on how actions can help preserve the planet accompany ideas for making healthier choices in everything from diapers to sustainable travel, with chapters outlining facts behind consumer choices and family options. Both families and family-oriented lending libraries need this survey, which blends science and consumer interests in an easily-accessible guide.


The Social Issues Shelf

Were You Born on the Wrong Continent?
Thomas Geoghegan
New Press
38 Greene St., New York NY 10013
9781595584038, $25.95, www.thenewpress.com

Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life comes from a Chicago labor lawyer who set out to find what life is like in Europe - and who reports on the realities of living under the European social democracy umbrella. Analyzing and revealing the European style of socialism, this considers roots of happiness, discontent, and differences between the European and American social and political models. Germany is primarily used as a mirror for considering economic and social values of the European model, and college-level or social science collections in particular will relish this!


The Business Shelf

The Business Playground
Dave Stewart & Mark Simmons
New Riders
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
032172058X, $24.99, www.newriders.com

THE BUSINESS PLAYGROUND offers a fine survey from a musician and entrepreneur and an advertising and branding expert, who offer important links to business pursuits and creativity. From how successful innovations became business winners to using teams to get ideas out of the corner and into production, the lively and personal tone of this treatment, peppered with vignettes, makes this an unusual and top recommendation for business and general libraries alike!

NLP at Work, third edition
Sue Knight
Nicholas Brealey Publishing
20 Park Plaza, #1115A, Boston MA 02116
9781857885293, $24.95, www.nicholasbrealey.com

NLP at Work: Neuro Linguistic Programming, The Essence of Excellence appears in its third updated new edition to extensively revise and update a classic. Every chapter's been revamped, there are three new chapters on key things that make the biggest difference in results, and more. Any collection that has enjoyed business interest with the NLP predecessors MUST have this!

The Mentor Leader
Tony Dungy
Tyndale House Publishers
351 Executive Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188
9781414338040, $24.99, www.tyndalehouse.com

THE MENTOR LEADER: SECRETS TO BUILDING PEOPLE AND TEAMS THAT WIN CONSISTENTLY comes from a Super Bowl-winning coach and author who learned firsthand how to reach teams through teaching one-on-one as a mentor. His background being mentored as an athlete leads to stories and principles blending life, career, and sports insights, and is a pick for a range of general collections catering to business or sports readers.

Predictable Magic
Deepa Prahalad and Ravi Sawhney
Wharton School Publishing
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96h Street, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
0137023480, $29.99, www.whartonsp.com

PREDICTABLE MAGIC: UNLEASH THE POWER OF DESIGN STRATEGY TO TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS comes from an award-winning industrial designer and business strategist who offer a new approach for creating deep emotional connections between consumers and brands. The step-by-step directions show how to make their 'Psycho-Aesthetics' theory work in the real world, offering a powerful assessment business libraries will appreciate!

Recessions and Depressions, second edition
Todd A. Knoop
Praeger
c/o ABC-CLIO
P.O. Box 1911, Santa Barbara, CA 93116-1911
9780313381638, www.abc-clio.com

RECESSIONS AND DEPRESSIONS: UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS CYCLES appears in its second updated edition to offer expert surveys of basic business cycle theories and the latest research on market failures in the aftermath of the events of 2008. These events sparked an extensive update here, offering clear explanations of business cycle theories and how they apply in light of the latest crisis. College-level business libraries need this.

Innovation Passport
Mary Jo Frederich and Peter Andrews
IBM Press
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
0132390760, $29.99, www.ibmpressbooks.com

INNOVATION PASSPORT: THE IBM FIRST-OF-A-KIND JOURNEY FROM RESEARCH TO REALITY is a pick for business collections at the college level, following IBM's FOAK Program for delivering profitable innovation. From researchers and partners to promoting innovation that delivers profitable business value, this is a set of lessons learned by FOAK leaders and uses project examples to explore the process of gaining value from innovation.

The Truth About Leadership
James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
Jossey-Bass
989 Market St., San Francisco CA 94103
9780470633540, $24.95, www.jossey-bass.com

The Truth About Leadership: The No-Fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know is based on some thirty years of research and over a million responses to Kouzes and Posner's leadership assessment, and provides a fine new work exploring the truths of leadership that have remained constant over time. Ten truths about leadership constants tell leaders what challenges and questions they should be prepared to face - and how to develop effective leadership responses. Business collections will find this a powerful survey indeed.


The Military Shelf

British Aircraft Carriers 1939-45
Angus Konstam
Osprey
44-02 - 23rd St., Long Island City, NY 11101
9781849080798, $17.95, www.ospreypublishing.com

British Aircraft Carriers 1939-45 receives fine illustration by Tony Bryan and analyzes the impact and achievements of the British aircraft carrier, designed to fight in tighter environments than had been usual, and who battled the Axis powers across the board. This excellent survey of the craft's capabilities is a 'must' for any in-depth military, aircraft or World War II collection!


The Needlecraft Shelf

Successful Lace Knitting
Donna Druchunas
Martingale & Company
20205 - 144th Ave NE, Woodinville, WA 98072-8478
9781564779762, $29.99, www.martingale-pub.com

Successful Lace Knitting celebrates Dorothy Reade's fine creations and provides techniques and lace patterns from the 'mother of modern lace knitting'. From shawls and cardigans to stoles and placemats, this offers over 20 new designs by top designers influenced by Dorothy Reade, plus techniques and color photos throughout! Very highly recommended!

5-10-15+ Fat Quarters
Jeanne Stauffer, Editor
House of White Birches/DRG
306 East Parr Road, Berne, IN 46711
9781592172986, $24.95, www.drgbooks.com

5-10-15+ Fat Quarters is a fine pick for any who would quilt with fat quarters. It tells how to use fat-quarter quilts and projects to make purses, bags, totes, place mats, aprons, and more, offering color photos and diagrams throughout. Needlework libraries will relish the step-by-step directions and clear sewing and piecing guides, as well as an unusual range of projects throughout!

Simply Dynamic Sampler Quilts
Marianne L. Hatton
American Quilter's Society
Box 3290, Paducah, KY 42002-3290
9781574326703, $26.95, www.americanquilter.com

Learn How to Quilt & Make Simply Dynamic Sampler Quilts offers keys to quilt-making using the GridMap Technique, and packs in patterns, color photos, and step-by-step instructions easy for any newcomer to GridMap. The projects focus on sampler quilts and offer clear illustrations perfect for beginners at all levels: no quilting library should be without this!

The Sewing Answer Book
Barbara Weiland Talbert
Storey Publishing
210 Mass MoCa Way, North Adams, MA 01247
9781603425438, $14.95, www.storey.com

THE SEWING ANSWER BOOK offers fine solutions to common sewing problems, from how to serge seam knits and preshrink fabric to reading and using patterns. Virtually every kind of sewing question is contained in a handy question-and-answer format highly recommended for any needlework library!

The Knitter's Year
Debbie Bliss
Trafalgar Square Books
Box 257, North Pomfret, VT 05053
9781570764615, $24.95, www.trafalgarbooks.com

THE KNITTER'S YEAR: 52 MAKE-IN-A-WEEK PROJECTS-QUICK GIFTS AND SEASONAL KNITS is packed with knitter designs and projects chosen for seasonal appeal. Unique garments and accessories are designed to be made up in a week or less and come from a knitwear designer who provides a wide range of projects suitable for nearly every taste and style. Any knitter's library needs this!

Embroidery Companion
Alicia Paulson
Potter Craft
c/o Crown Publishing
1745 Broadway, New York NY 10019
9780307462350, $22.99, www.crownpublishing.com

EMBROIDERY COMPANION: CLASSIC DESIGNS FOR MODERN LIVING provides a fine survey of some 30 of the author's own creations, designed for beginners and more advanced stitchers alike. Ideas from European, early American and other vintage embroidery motifs have been updated for modern sewers and features a variety of projects, from a mobile and quilt to an apple blossom kerchief. Needlework libraries will love this!


The Psychology Shelf

Marrying Well
Elena Lesser Bruun & Anne Ziff
W.W. Norton
500 - 5th Avenue, New York NY 10110
9780393705942, $27.50, www.wwnorton.com

Any college-level collection strong in psychology or psychotherapy will relish MARRYING WELL: THE CLINICIAN'S GUIDE TO PREMARITAL COUNSELING. Psychologists-in-training receive exact keys to counseling the engaged, with two therapists who explain just how to help clients learn psychoeducational approaches for becoming and remaining successful in marriage. A range of possible couples and their modern issues are discussed in this positive counselor's approach.


The Education Shelf

Because We Can Change the World
Mara Sapon-Shevin
Corwin Press
2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
9781412978385, $38.95, www.corwin.com

BECAUSE WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO BUILDING COOPERATIVE, INCLUSIVE CLASSROOM COMMUNITIES offers the author's own perspective on building elementary classrooms that allow all children to experience academic success. From barriers to cooperative classroom structures and how they can be overcome to suggested activities, songs, and more, this shows how to re-examine beliefs and teaching approaches to build better classrooms, and offers a fine updated second edition of additional ideas and approaches.

Inside Academic Writing
Race Canseco
University of Michigan Press
839 Greene Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-3209
9780472033898, $25.95, www.press.umich.edu/esl/

INSIDE ACADEMIC WRITING: UNDERSTANDING AUDIENCE AND BECOMING PART OF AN ACADEMIC COMMUNITY provides a winning survey for students in any academic discipline who want to prepare for graduate-level writing. It offers insights on assumptions a bout skills, tailors strategies for targeting audience, and directs students to create a range of important writing pieces using skills rarely taught in courses. A 'must' for any college offering graduate programs and skills.

School Success for Kids with ADHD
Stephen M. Silverman, PHD
Jacqueline S. Iseman, PHD
Sue Jeweler
Prufrock Press
Box 8813, Waco, TX 76714-8813
1593633580, $16.95, www.prufrock.com

School Success for Kids with ADHD offers parents and teachers alike a fine survey of how to assure kids with ADHD get the most from school. From recognizing common causes of problems and how attention deficits appear in school to reviewing the latest medical research, this packs in key links to ADHD and school success and is a powerful pick for any collection!

CISSP Practice Exams
Shon Harris, CISSP
McGraw-Hill
Two Penn Plaza, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10121-2298
0071701397, $39.99, www.mhprofessional.com

CISSP Practice Exams is written by an expert in IT security certification and training and packs in hundreds of realistic practice exam questions based on the latest release of the exam. In-depth explanations of correct and incorrect answers make this more than a practice workbook: it actually reinforces CISSP basics and understanding. A 'must' for any studying information security and risk management, who aim to become certified.

Brain-Based Early Learning Activities
Nikki Darling-Kuria
Redleaf Press
10 Yorkton Court, St. Paul, MN 55117-1065
9781933653860, $29.95, www.redleafpress.org

Brain-Based Early Learning Activities: Connecting Theory and Practice covers learning activities from birth to age 8, providing a set of activities that offer diversity adaptations, extension activities, and arts sections ranging from fingerplays in language to science sections on food. Each exercise includes objectives, materials, and step-by-step teaching instruction, making this an outstanding pick for any early education collection!

The Quest for Quality
Patricia W. Wesley & Virginia Buysse
Brookes Publishing
Box 10624, Baltimore, MD 21285-0624
1598570862, $39.95, www.brookespublishing.com

THE QUEST FOR QUALITY: PROMISING INNOVATIONS FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS offers ideas from over a dozen top researchers in ECE quality, discussing what is known about quality and what kind of program changes will improve early education experiences. Teachers receive quality measurement tools and assessments and technical assistance activities, making this a top pick for any educator's library.

The Best 373 Colleges, 2011 Edition
Robert Franek, et.al., Editors
Princeton Review Books
1745 Broadway, New York NY 10019
9780375429873, $22.99, www.princetonreview.com

The 2011 edition of The Best 373 Colleges should be in every high school and many a general lending library. It's the most popular college guide in print, juxtaposing direct quotes from students and unique rankings of the top 20 colleges in 62 categories with detailed admissions information from applications to majors and tuition. Highly recommended!


The Art Shelf

The Art of Dahlov Ipcar
Carl Little
Down East Book
Box 679, Camden, ME 04843
9780892728091, $50.00, www.downeast.com

The Art of Dahlov Ipcar deserves ongoing and repeated recommendation for any serious art collection. It remains the first, only retrospective publication of Ipcar's art, profiling the paintings of an artist whose works are included in many prominent museums around the country. Ipcar has also written four novels and illustrated over thirty children's books, and still paints daily in her nineties. This volume is a 'keeper' for any collection serious about profiling notable contemporary modern artists.

The Prints of Josef Albers, revised edition
Brenda Danilowitz
Hudson Hills Press
3536 Main St., Manchester, VT 05254
9781555951993, $95.00, www.hudsonhills.com

The Prints of Josef Albers: A Catalogue Raisonne 1915-1976 provides a fine survey of the printmaker's life and dreams, examining the periods of his career, his involvements in abstraction and various printmaking processes, and the numerous portfolios he created. This revised edition provides nine newly cataloged entries, an introductory rewritten essay, and more to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the extent of his career, and makes for a powerful celebration of his graphic creations. No arts library should be without this!

Textura: Valencia Street Art
Luz A. Martin
Mark Batty Publisher
36 West 37th Street, Penthouse, New York, NJ 10018
9780982075463, $34.95, www.markbattypublisher.com

Any college-level art library strong in street graphics, urban art and graphic design needs TEXTURA, a survey of Valencia, Spain's street art. It comes from a photographer and Valencia native who here documents street art displays, offering a blend of finished mural pieces and graffiti art alike. Full-page color presentations and notes make this a fine survey.

Volume: Writings on Graphic Design, Music, Art & Culture
Kenneth FitzGerald
Princeton Architectural Press
37 East 7th St., New York NY 10003
9781568989648, $24.95, www.papress.com

Volume: Writings on Graphic Design, Music, Art & Culture is an outstanding selection focusing on volume - sound, collections, and space - in the arts. It provides both new and classic writings by educator Kenneth FitzGerald that survey graphic design's connections with other art mediums, offering a range of topics on everything from independent record labels to creating and marketing artistic identities, modern music's influence and relationship to fine arts and graphics, and more. A pick for any arts or graphic arts collection!

The Graphic Designer's Guide to Pricing, Estimating & Budgeting, third edition
Theo Stephan Williams
Allworth Press
10 East 23rd St., New York NY 10010
9781581157130, $24.95, www.allworth.com

The Graphic Designer's Guide to Pricing, Estimating & Budgeting offers a fine survey on how to create a profitable graphic design business. It comes from a designer who covers everything from handling competition to managing budgets and this third edition has been updated to include more information on time management, Web considerations and multimedia pricing, and more. Designers simply must have this business guide!

The Social Issues

Wild West 2.0
Michael Fertik & David Thompson
Amacom
1601 Broadway, New York NY 10019-7420
0814415091, $24.95, www.amacombooks.org

WILD WEST 2.0: HOW TO PROTECT AND RESTORE YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION ON THE UNTAMED SOCIAL FRONTIER provides business owners and parents alike with a fine survey of how the Internet has made private information instantly public and global - and has thus changed the rules of etiquette, reputation, and personal interactions. Average internet users receive keys to awareness of the unique dangers on the digital frontier in this powerful survey, a pick for high school collections to general public libraries.

Welcome to Utopia
Karen Valby
Spiegel & Grau
1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
9780385522861, $25.00, www.spiegelandgrau.com

WELCOME TO UTOPIA: NOTES FROM A SMALL TOWN offers a narrowed focus on Utopia, Texas; a community nearly untouched by popular culture. It has no movie theatres, bookstores or music stores for some sixty miles - but cable TV and the internet is changing its culture rapidly. WELCOME TO UTOPIA follows the lives of four Utopians to trace these changes and is a pick for any college-level social issues collection.

The Last of the Tribe
Monte Reel
Scribner
c/o Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of Americas, New York NY 10020
9781416594741, $26.00, www.simonandschuster.com

THE LAST OF THE TRIBE: THE EPIC QUEST TO SAVE A LONE MAN IN THE AMAZON tells of two team members charged by the Brazilian government with protecting indigenous interests, who discovered a solitary man living in the rainforest without a tribe. Their investigation of a rumor led to their discovery of a legend: a decades-long obsession leading to danger and insights on Amazonian jungle politics and basic survival. Any general lending library will relish the vivid, true story!


The Computer Shelf

Plain & Simple Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
Nancy Muir
Microsoft
c/o O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
1005 Gravenstein Hwy North, Sebastopol, CA 95472
9780735627284, $24.99, www.oreilly.com

Plain & Simple Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 provides a fine, colorful 'how to' guide to using PowerPoint, showing how to create charts, add video and audio, animate slides, and create speaker notes. Use it as an at-a-glance key to jumping in to answer questions and absorb screenshots of information: it's a visual set of exercises to learning PowerPoint's basics, in color.

Hello, Android, third edition
Ed Burnette
Pragmatic Programmers
P.O. Box 293325, Lewisville, TX 75029-3325
9781934356562, $34.95, www.pragprog.com

HELLO, ANDROID appears in its third updated edition to cover Android 2 and shows how to use Google's Android to write programs that can run on any cell phone in the world. From creating a working application to adding video support, graphics, and networking with web services, this offers a range of code tips based on actual projects that can be immediately implemented. Any programmer's library needs this!

Microsoft Excel 2010 Plain & Simple
Curtis D. Frye
Microsoft Press
c/o O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
1005 Gravenstein, Hwy N., Sebastopol, CA 95472-2811
9780735627277, $24.99, www.oreilly.com

Microsoft Excel 2010 Plain & Simple offers a clear outline to the simplest ways to get things done with Microsoft Excel 2010. From managing financial data and using charts and graphics to using data from other Microsoft office documents, this tells how share spreadsheets online and between programs and how to create formulas to do major calculations. No Excel collection should be without this fine guide!

The Essential Guide to 3D in Flash
Rob Bateman and Richard Olsson
Friendsoft
c/o Apress, Inc.
233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013
www.apress.com
9781430225416, $44.99, www.friendsoft.com

The Essential Guide to 3D in Flash offers a fine introduction to 3D content for Adobe Flash, using the open source Away3D engine for ActionScript 3.0 in examples throughout and sharing the authors' years of professional experience in Flash 3D development in the process. Learn to code with different types of 3D content and animate the results in a fine survey for any Web programmer and designer who wants alternatives. Beginners, too, will find this most accessible: no prior knowledge of 3D modeling or math is required!

Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 with PHP: Training from the Source
David Powers
Adobe Press
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
0321719840, $49.99, www.adobepress.com

Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 with PHP: Training from the Source offers 28 to 30 hours of self-guided tutorials, blending a CD-ROM for easy lessons with step-by-step instructions on how to build web pages using tools for PHP in Adobe Dreamweaver CS5. From creating a WordPress template and editing it to understanding how to produce more efficient databases, chapters are packed with keys to programmer success in a title highly recommended for any Dreamweaver CS5 student or collection.

Audience, Relevance, and Search
James Mathewson, Frank Donatone and Cynthia Fishel
IBM Press
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
0137004206, $39.99, www.ibmpressbooks.com

Any collection strong in Internet marketing must have Audience, Relevance, and Search: Targeting Web Audiences with Relevant Content. It uses over forth years of experience in Web publishing from authors who survey new techniques for using social media to deliver messages to targeted audiences. From choosing keywords and phrases to aligning content to user roles, this packs in keys to online success and is a pick for business as well as computer libraries.

Using Google Adwords and Adsense
Michael Miller
Que
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
0789743957, $24.99, www.quepublishing.com

USING GOOGLE ADWORDS AND ADSENSE provides a powerful survey backed by step-by-step video tutorials and audio sidebars available through the Free Web Edition that comes with each book. The 'show me/tell me' format offers far more depth than the usual print-alone format, making this a powerful survey 'must' for any using Google for business and marketing purposes.

Agile Game Development with Scrum
Clinton Keith
Addison Wesley
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
0321618521, $39.99, www.informit/com

Agile Game Development with Scrum teaches Scrum's goals, roles and how to add stability to the development process. It shows how to be flexible with Scrum, how to adapt it to produce complex games on a budget, and how to integrate Scrum into current studio practices. Any game developer should have this!

Microsoft Excel PivotTables and PivotCharts, second edition
Paul McFedries
Visual
c/o Wiley Professional Trade Group
111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
9780470591611, $29.99, www.wiley.com

Microsoft Excel PivotTables and PivotCharts offers the only guide to take a visual approach to advanced Excel functions. This updated second edition offers keys to reports, filter operations, formatting PivotTable cells, and more, using step-by-step screen shots to document worksheet manipulation and keys to PivotTable operations. A 'must' for any advanced Excel user!

Ubuntu for Non-Geeks, fifth edition
Rickford Grant with Phil Bull
No Starch Press
58 Ringold Street, San Francisco CA 94103
9781593272579, $34.95, www.nostarch.com

Ubuntu for Non-Geeks appears in an updated fifth edition to cover Ubuntu 10.4 and offers a fine survey packed with tips and pointers for Ubuntu users. New material covers all Ubuntu's latest features, includes five new chapters covering common and advanced tasks, and uses step-by-step project tutorials to get its message across. Ubuntu libraries need this fine, in-depth reference!

Teach Yourself JavaScript and Ajax Video Learner Kit
SAMS
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
0672330377, $39.99, www.informit.com/sams

Teach Yourself JavaScript and Ajax Video Learner Kit offers a self-paced guide to video lessons explained by key concepts, and tells what to do through hands-on learning labs. Four hours of video lessons on a DVD accompanies instructions on how to build dynamic web pages and how to control CSS with easy JavaScript.


The Christian Studies Shelf

The Prism and the Rainbow
Joel W. Martin
Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 N. Charles St., Baltimore MD 21218
9780801894787, $20.00, www.press.jhu.edu

THE PRISM AND THE RAINBOW: A CHRISTIAN EXPLAINS WHY EVOLUTION IS NOT A THREAT covers the Christian debate over Darwin - and finds that much of the controversy in the U.S. over evolution is manufactured on a complete, often willful miss-appreciation of basic science. Chapters serve to erase these errors, offering insights into the roots of debates about evolution and supporting Christianity and a less literal interpretation of Biblical ideas. Christian collections need this!

In Defense of Faith
David Brog
Encounter Books
900 Broadway, Suite 601, New York NY 10003-1239
9781594033803, $25.95, www.encounterbooks.com

IN DEFENSE OF FAITH: THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN IDEA AND THE STRUGGLE FOR HUMANITY refutes the ideas of atheists and shows that the Judeo-Christian tradition has inspired the faithful to work for better human rights and higher ideas. Stories of Christian activists from early days through civil rights times document personal struggles for equality and rights and offers keys linking Biblical admonitions to better ways of living. Atrocities, Brog maintains, start when science and politics become detached form Judeo-Christian values. Spirituality collections will benefit from this approach.

A Field Guide to God
Patty Kirk
Guideposts
1110 - Second Ave, New York Ny 10022
9780824947927, $21.99, www.guideposts.com

A Field Guide to God: A Seeker's manual offers an outstanding story of the author's own doubt, loss of faith and re-encounter with God. As an experienced God-seeker, she offers readers her journey's experience and tells what to do when faith falters or is lost. Losing her catholic faith in early adulthood, she spent a decade without it until she returned to Christian faith as an adult: hers is an inspiring read perfect for any Christian collection.

How We Got the Bible, third edition
Neil R. Lightfoot
Baker Books
Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516
9780801072611, $16.99, www.bakerbooks.com

How We Got the Bible appears in a revised, expanded third edition. It's been a classic for over forty years, and provides fine answers to many questions about the age of biblical manuscripts, how it was injected into the general population, and why there are so many translations. Illustrations and review questions at the end of each chapter make this a fine choice for personal or group study - and a 'must' for any Christian collection.

Hearing the New Testament, revised edition
Joel B. Green, Editor
William B. Eerdmans Publishing
2140 Oak Industrial Drive NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505
9780802864208, $28.00, www.eerdmans.com

Hearing the New Testament: Strategies for Interpretation belongs in any spiritual library as a basic collection by a group of scholars who illustrate different methods used in New Testament study. NT classes receive a diverse set of recommendations blending approaches ranging from historic overviews to literary criticism and newer approaches from theology. First published in 1995, this revised, updated edition has been expansively rewritten and is a pick for any Christian collection.

Christians as Political Animals
Marc D. Guerra
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
3901 Centerville Road, Box 4431, Wilmington DE 19807-0431
9781933859927, $26.95, www.isibooks.org

Christians as Political Animals: Taking the Measure of Modernity and Modern Democracy offers a fine new book showing that a problematic shift occurred when Christian thinkers began to argue their religion worked best in democracy. 20th century thinkers and theologians are surveyed in an assessment which covers not just Christian connections to politics, but Islam and other religious impacts. A top pick for any college-level discussion!

Bittersweet
Shauna Niequist
Zondervan Publishing House
5300 Patterson Avenue, S.E., Grand Rapids, MI 49530
9780310328162, $16.99, www.zondervan.com

BITTERSWEET: THOUGHTS ON CHANGE, GRACE, AND LEARNING THE HARD WAY provides an outstanding survey which maintains that to live a balanced life, we need both the bitter and the sweet. Bittersweet contains depth and complexity: it's offered in change and in recognition of spiritual gifts, and is presented here as a positive, moving force in any life. Spiritual and new age libraries alike will relish the concept!

Collected Writings on Scripture
D.A. Carson
Crossway
1300 Crescent Street, Wheaton, IL 60187
1433514419, $27.99, www.crossway.org

Collected Writings on Scripture offers a fine inspirational survey of Christian scripture and provides scholarly spiritual collections with essays written on a range of themes involving interpretation of the Bible and modern Scripture analysis. Reviews of nine books covering the Scripture offer scholarly assessments in a collection especially recommended for pastors and scholarly collections focusing on Bible studies.


The Health/Medicine Shelf

The Whole-Body Workbook for Cancer
Dan Kenner, Ph.D., LAC
New Harbinger Publications
5674 Shattuck Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609
9781572246744, $21.95, www.newharbinger.com

The Whole-Body Workbook for Cancer is a pick for any general health lending library: it offers proven strategies for health and healing, is written by a health care research with a background in Western naturopathic and traditional Asian techniques, and offers keys to creating a healing lifestyle. From detoxifying the body to using positive thinking, this is packed with keys for better living and recovery.

Alphabet Kids
Robbie Woliver
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
400 Market St., #400, Philadelphia, PA 19106
9781849058223, $24.95, www.jkp.com

ALPHABET KIDS; FROM ADD TO ZELLWEGER SYNDROME offers a fine guide to developmental and psychological disorders of kids, covering disorders in an A-Z 'alphabet' encyclopedia which includes extensive details for each disorder. Alphabet Kids often have disorders that are interconnected or mistaken for each other: if a doctor only diagnoses one condition, he's missing others. This guide will help professionals and parents alike understand these connections and their differences.

The Carb Lover's Diet
Elen Kunes, Editor in Chief
Frances Largeman-Roth, RD
Oxmoor House
PO Box 11095, Des Moines, Iowa 50336-1095
0848733703, $24.95, www.oxmoorhouse.com

What if you could eat all the carbs you want and stay slim? Millions have given up carbs - only to find they gained more weight without them. This comes from weight-loss experts who have revealed that certain carb-rich foods will actually suppress appetite, boost metabolism, and promote weight control - and this science offers a dietitian-approved plan to losing weight eating the right quantity and quality of carbs. From keeping a food diary to using the 7-day kick start plan, this provides a top, winning survey.

The Survivorship Net
Jim Owens
American Cancer Society
250 Williams St NW, Atlanta GA 30303
1604430184, $14.95, www.cancer.org

THE SURVIVORSHIP NET offers a fine parable for the family and caregivers of people with cancer. It's presented in picturebook format with illustrations by Bill Cass - but don't assume it's for a younger audience alone! Its parable about the life of a circus explains to all ages how cancer can be used as a rallying force for families, and is a pick for any general lending library.

Brain Disorders Sourcebook, third edition
Joyce Brennfleck Shannon, Editor
Omnigraphics
Box 31-1640, Detroit, MI 48231-1640
9780780810839, $95.00, www.omnigraphics.com

The third updated edition of Brain Disorders Sourcebook offers basic consumer health details about all kinds of brain injuries and diseases, from infections and disorders to injury. Details on treatment, rehabilitation options, and more make for a consumer health reference 'must' for any lending library strong in health coverage.

Public Health Laboratories
Wiley D. Jenkins
Jones and Bartlett
40 Tall Pine Drive, Sudbury, MA 01776
9780763771027, $89.95, www.jbpub.com

Public Health Laboratories: Analysis, Operations, and Management offers a fine survey of the PHL environment and is the only book of its kind to examine the management of PHLs in the U.S., from a scientific and medical to business perspectives alike. It covers disease backgrounds, agents, tests, and the extent of analysis and algorithms available, and it offers background in the role of PHLs in terrorism and emergency response. No college-level medical library should be without this exceptional text!

Principles of Biomedical Engineering
Sundararajan V. Madihally
Artech House
685 Canton St., Norwood, MA 02062
9781608070558, www.artechhouse.com

Principles of Biomedical Engineering provides college-level health and medicine libraries with a key reference describing the role of engineering in modern medicine. A range of topics plus well over a hundred illustrations surveys bioelectrical systems, tissues, organs, and instrumentation. Any four-year medical library will find this has been arranged as a complete text for students with some prior engineering background, and provides not just explanations but supporting exercises and problems.

Green Medicine
Larry Malerba, D.O.
North Atlantic Books
Box 12327, Berkeley, CA 94712
9781556439025, $18.95, www.northatlanticbooks.com

GREEN MEDICINE: CHALLENGING THE ASSUMPTIONS OF CONVENTIONAL HEALTH CARE offers a fine blend of ancient and modern healing traditions and challenges traditional medicine which has lost perspective on long-time psychological and spiritual well-being. This provides a blueprint for total wellness on many levels and is a pick for any seeking a more lasting healing. Physics, health, philosophy, psychology and spirituality blend in its survey blending case histories from Dr. Malerba's own practice with a blend of concepts form alternative and Western medicine. Any library strong in alternative health concepts needs this!


The Photography Shelf

The Photographer's Guide to Marketing & Self-Promotion, fourth edition
Maria Piscopo
Allworth Press
10 E. 23rd St., New York NY 10010
9781581157147, $24.95, www.allworth.com

The Photographer's Guide to Marketing & Self-Promotion is a winner and appears in its fourth updated edition offering an excellent guide to self-promotion. The focus is upon a marketing plan that blends self-promotion, advertising and direct marketing: it's been updated to include tips on using social media and email and tells how to create an effective website as well. Over twenty in-depth interviews with top photographers back the how-to details.

Canon Camera Hacker's Manual
Berthold Daum
Rocky Nook
26 West Mission Street, Suite 3, Santa Barbara, CA 93102
9781933952581, $29.95, www.rockynook.com

Canon Camera Hacker's Manual: Teach Your Camera New Tricks is for owners of Canon consumer cameras who want to tweak their camera to go beyond original specs. It's for the geek who likes to hack, and is based on the Canon hack Development Kit - a free software maintained by enthusiasts. Learn how to produce RAW files, manually control aperture and shutter speed, and more - and use the accompanying CD with its script development tools and many examples and utilities.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One
Deke McClelland
Deke Press
c/o O'Reilly Associates
1005 Gravenstein Hwy North, Sebastopol, CA 95472
9780596807979, $49.99, www.oreilly.com

Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One offers a book keyed to an available online video, and includes extensive web access to five hours of instruction. It comes packed with color screen shots and teaches everything from working with layers to using advanced smart filters and Photoshop CS5's many tools, and is a powerful pick for any Photoshop user!

Multiple Flash Photography
Rod and Robin Deutschmann
Amherst Media
Box 586, Buffalo, NY 14226
9781608952304, $34.95, www.AmherstMedia.com

Multiple Flash Photography: Off-Camera Flash Techniques for Digital Photographers provides a fine survey from two photography instructors who show how to use multiple off-camera flashes to improve lighting. From selecting the gear and syncing it with camera and environment to blending existing light with flash, this is a pick no photographer should be without, and perfect for photo reference collections.


The Interior Design Shelf

Interior Design Clients
Thomas L. Williams
Allworth Press
10 East 23rd St. #510, New York NY 10010
9781581156768, $24.95, www.allworth.com

Interior Design Clients is a pick for any interior design, arts, or business library: it offers strategies to gain client trust and tells how to prepare presentations, tailor client presentations, and more. Practical examples come from the authors' firsthand experiences and offer important keys to gaining and retaining interior design clients!


The California Shelf

San Francisco Curiosities
Saul Rubin
Globe Pequot Press
Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437
9780762758678, $15.95, www.globepequot.com

San Francisco Curiosities offers a compendium of roadside oddities and offbeat places in San Francisco and is a pick not just for visitors, but for natives alike. From Swoops, a blackbird that dive-bombed passerby in 2009 to protect its nest, to a 'national forest' in an alley and a Tiki bar that rains inside, this gathers natural and man-made oddites in a fine guide for any destination-bound visitor or native!

The Sierra Nevada Before History
Louise A. Jackson
Mountain Press
Box 2399, Missoula, MT 59806
9780878425679, $15.00, www.mountain-press.com

The Sierra Nevada Before History: Ancient Landscapes, Early Peoples offers a geology and history-based survey of the mountains of California, discussing how people and animals have evolved and including black and white photos throughout and discussions of Native American tribes. The blend of natural and human history makes for an involving, outstanding coverage highly recommended for any California history collection!

Geology Underfoot in Yosemite National Park
Allen F. Glazner and Greg M. Stock
Mountain Press Publishing
Box 2399, Missoula, MT 59806
9780878425686, $24.00, www.mtnpress.com

Geology Underfoot in Yosemite National Park offers California collections a fine geology-based survey of natural wonders and sites in Yosemite Park. Over twenty-five sites are covered in a fine blend of colorful photos and illustrations and keys to understanding how geologists view the environment. History and geology blend in a fine addition to any California collection!


James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
e-mail: mwbookrevw@aol.com
http://www.midwestbookreview.com

Diane C. Donovan, Editor & Senior Reviewer
12424 Mill Street, Petaluma, CA 94952
phone: 1-707-795-4629
e-mail: donovan@sonic.net


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