New This Week
March 8, 2010
Column: At the Library
From: Cranbrook Public Library
By Mike Selby
Column: At the Library for March 08/10
From: Cranbrook Public Library
By Mike Selby
What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century? All these questions and more are addressed in WHAT THE DOG SAW, the latest book from Malcolm Gladwell. As with his previous books, Gladwell’s gift for detecting secret patterns and intriguing meanings in everyday life is in abundance here.
80 years after Christopher Robin told Pooh he was leaving for boarding school, he has finally arrived back home in RETURN TO THE HUNDRED ACRE WOOD; a brand new Pooh book written by David Benedicturs (with the approval of the A.A. Milne estate). All the stuffed characters are back, including a new creation: Lottie the Otter. While some critics have considered this book blasphemy, all should enjoy this brightly illustrated book about that silly old bear.
Preschool Story Time this Wednesday at 11:00 am, 1:15 pm, & 6:30 pm, and Toddler Story this Friday at 10:30 am will be all about My Senses!
New to the Library’s Reference Section is the 2010 BRADLEY RESOURCE & INFORMATION BINDER. This is a comprehensive and up-to-date collection of resource and contact information all the child services in Cranbrook and surrounding area.
The Friends of the Cranbrook Public Library and the College of the Rockies will be showing their latest Travelogue on Monday, March 22 , 2010 in the Lecture Theatre (Room 250) at the College. A Cranbrook Pilgrim on the El Camino -The ruins of Saint Anthony’s Convent on the El Camino Santiago between Burgos and Leon in the Meseta (plateau). Presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. Doors open 6:30 p.m. Admission is by donation, and please remember seating is limited. For more information, please call Sheila at 489-8207.
Don’t forget to come and see woodwork of Barry Holmberg, currently on display.
ADULT NEWLY AQUIRED SHELF:
Windows 7 for Dummies " Andy Rathbone (005.446)
The Illustrated History of Canada " Craig Brown (971)
Storms of my Grandchildren " James Hansen (363.73874)
Handmade Paper from Naturals " Diane Flowers (676.22)
Eternal Life: A New Vision " John Shelby Spong (236.2)
What the Dog Saw " Malcolm Gladwell (306.0973)
5 Simply Steps to Take Your Marriage from Good to Great " Terri L. Orbuch (646.78)
Heaven and Earth: Global Warming the Missing Science " Ian Plimer (577.276)
The 5-Dollar Dinner Mom Cookbook " Erin Chase (641.552)
Renegade: The Making of a President " Richard Wolffe (bio)
Plum Wine " Angela Davis-Gardner (fic)
This Is How It Happened " Jo Barrett (fic)
Becoming Jane Eyre " Sheila Kohler (fic)
Big Girl " Daniel Steel (fic)
Cleopatra’s Daughter " Michelle Moran (fic)
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt " Beth Hoffman (fic)
The Queen’s Governess " Karen Harper (fic)
The Endless Forest " Sara Donati (fic)
The Murderer’s Daughter " Randy Susan Meyers (fic)
Money to Burn " James Grippando (mys)
Silencer " James W. Hall (mys)
The Wild Zone " Joy Fielding (mys)
Gator A-Go-Go " Tim Dorsey (mys)
The Merry Wives of Maggody " Joan Hess (mys)
Split Image " Robert B. Parker (mys)
A Darker Place " Jack Higgins (mys)
Dragon Keeper " Robin Hobb (sci fic)
Arms Commander " L.E. Modesitt (sci fic)
Stryker’s Revenge " Ralph Compton (pb)
Prison Ship " Michael Bowers (pb)
Ariel " Steven R. Boyett (pb)
Elom " William H. Drinkard (pb)
Blue Murder: Complete Series (DVD)
Lost: Complete Season 5 (DVD)
The Diary of Anne Frank (DVD)
YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN’S NEWLY ACQUIRED ITEMS:
Dreamhouse Kings: Books 1 to 5 " Robert Liparulo (ya fic)
Forest Born " Shannon Hale (ya fic)
Vanishing Girl " Shane Peacock (ya fic)
The Seven Rays " Jessica Bendinger (ya fic)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies " Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith (ya fic)
Return to the Hundred Acre Wood " David Benedicturs (j fic)
Amulet " Kazu Kibuishi (j fic)
Rainbow Magic: The Music Fairies Books 1 to 7 " Daisy Meadows (j fic)
Asterix & Obelix’s Birthday " Rene Goscinny (j fic)
Fancy Nancy Tea Parties " Jane O’Connor (j pic)
Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy " Jane O’Connor (j pic)
Oliva and the Missing Toy " Ian Falconer (j pic)
Kissing Coyotes " Marcia Vaughan ( j pic)
Cake Girl " Dave Lucas ( j pic)
Diego’s Arctic Rescue (DVD)
MIKE’S BOOKNOTES:
Whether one sees Christopher Hitchens as a “Lying, Self-Serving, Fat-Assed, Chain-Smoking, Drunken, Opportunistic, Cynical Contrarian” (Counterpunch), or simply as “One of the most brilliant journalists of our time” (the Guardian), one thing is certain: Christopher Hitchens is never boring.
Born in 1949 in Portsmouth, England, Hitchens began his writing career in the early 70s, working for London’s Daily Express and the New Statesmen. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1981, working for various publications including the Nation and Vanity Fair. He has churned out over 20 books, frequently gives speeches and interviews all over the world, and currently lectures the New School for Social Research in New York. Shot at in Sarajevo and jailed in Czechoslovakia, he has won numerous awards for his hard-hitting foreign affairs reports.
And no one hits harder than ‘Hitch’.
His seemingly insensitive remarks about Princess Diana after her death provide a case in point. Although he was saddened by her death"he had met and interviewed her twice"Hitchens felt labeling her “The People’s Princess” was ludicrous. Most single mothers of two teenage boys are home with their kids, he stated. Diana was"after a weeks of nightclubbing around the Mediterranean"dancing on the deck of a massive yacht, drinking champagne with her playboy boyfriend. “The People’s Princess? Hardly.”
Then came his book THE MISSIONARY POSITION, which was an attack on the unattackable: Mother Teresa. After visiting Calcutta with Mother Teresa as his guide, Hitchens was incensed by what he saw. He soon called her a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud. He discovered the millions of dollars people sent her were not used to feed the poor, but were actually used to build convents in her name. He wrote how she takes tens of millions from corrupt dictators such Haiti’s Duvalier family, and from crooks like Charles Keating, offering them forgiveness and asking judges to ‘go easy’ on them. This money is then used to promote her agenda, instead of building hospitals or purchasing medicine. “Millions of people are much worse off because of her life,” wrote Hitchens, “and it’s a shame there is no hell for her to go to.”
He followed this with the THE TRIAL OF HENRY KISSINGER, accusing the former Secretary of State of war crimes; demanding he be tried for crimes against humanity. Using the standards applied to war criminals such as Pinochet and Milosevic, Hitchens felt Kissinger easily met these standards, and should be held accountable for the mass killings of civilians, genocide, assassinations, kidnapping, murder and conspiracy involving Indochina, East Timor, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Greece and Chile. Kissinger’s only response was to call Hitchens antiemetic, not realizing that Hitchens was Jewish himself.
While no public figure is safe from his legendary critiques"he has devastatingly targeted Jerry Falwell, Mel Gibson, Michael Moore, the Dali Lama, the Clintons, and Cindy Sheehan"his latest work has caused the most ire against him since he began writing: religion.
GOD IS NOT GREAT: HOW RELIGION POISIONS EVERYTHING is his latest book, sure to upset and outrage millions of people. His writing burns with contempt for its dogma and its association with violence across the globe from Northern Ireland to Beirut. Love him or hate him, Hitchens will continue to write polarizing yet compelling books. As Bill Maher noted “I don\'t think there is anyone in the world who when I see the byline, I want to read the article more. He makes us think differently about things, I don\'t know of a higher praise I can say to an author.”
