DECEMBER 2011 BEST SELLERS

We have a few new best sellers at the ARC.  If you need some reading materials for the holiday, come in and check out one of these, or browse our Fiction Section to catch up on your pleasure reading. 

FICTION

1. 1225 CHRISTMAS TREE LANE, by Debbie Macomber.
2. BONNIE, by Iris Johansen.
3. FEAST DAY OF FOOLS, by James Lee Burke.
4. NEVERWINTER, by R.A. Salvatore.
5. SHOCK WAVE, by John Sandford.
6. THE CHRISTMAS WEDDING, by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo.
7. THE MARRIAGE PLOT, by Jeffrey Eugenides.

NONFICTION

1. KILLING LINCOLN, by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.
2. PAULA DEEN’S SOUTHERN COOKING BIBLE, by Paula Deen with Melissa Clark.
3. SERIOUSLY…I’M KIDDING, by Ellen DeGeneres.
4. TRUST ME, I’M DR. OZZY, by Ozzy Osbourne with Chris Ayres.

 

New Books!!!

 

   

Below is a list of new books that we have available for check out at the ARC/Rutland Library:

Fiction

1.  LIVE WIRE, by Harlan Coben.
2.  NIGHT ROAD, by Kristin Hannah.
3.  MYSTERY, by Jonathan Kellerman.
4.  THE PALE KING, by David Foster Wallace.
5.  THE FIFTH WITNESS, by Michael Connelly.
6.  44 CHARLES STREET, by Danielle Steel.
7.  MILES TO GO, by Richard Paul Evans.
8.  CHASING FIRE, by Nora Roberts.
9.  SAVE ME, by Lisa Scottoline.
10.  THE SIXTH MAN, by David Baldacci.
11.  QUICKSILVER, by Amanda Quick.
12.  EVE, by Iris Johansen.
13.  THE PRIEST’S GRAVEYARD, by Ted Dekker.
14.  OUTRAGE, by Robert K. Tanenbaum.
15.  10^TH ANNIVERSARY, by James Patterson.
16.  BEL-AIR DEAD, by Stuart Woods.
17.  A TURN IN THE ROAD, by Debbie Macomber.
18.  DEAD RECKONING, by Charlaine Harris.
19.  SIXKILL, by Robert B. Parker.

Nonfiction

1.  UNFAMILIAR FISHES, by Sarah Vowell.
2.  BOSSYPANTS, by Tina Fey.
3.  MALCOLM X, by Manning Marable.
4.  63 DOCUMENTS THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ, by  Jesse Ventura with Dick Russell.
5.  JEANNIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE, by Barbara Eden with Wendy Leigh.
6.  LOVE WINS, by Rob Bell.
7.  IF IT MAKES YOU HEALTHY, by Sheryl Crow and Chuck White with Mary Goodbody.
8.  THIS IS GONNA HURT, by Nikki Sixx.
9.  THE BEST ADVICE I EVER GOT, by Katie Couric.
10.  LIBERTY DEFINED, by Ron Paul.
11.  DOES THE NOISE IN MY HEAD BOTHER YOU? , by Steven Tyler.
12.  THE DUKAN DIET, by Pierre Dukan.
13.  GUY FIERI FOOD, by Guy Fieri.
14.  MY LUCKY LIFE IN AND OUT OF SHOW BUSINESS, by Dick Van Dyke.
15.  IF YOU ASK ME, by Betty White.

 

 

What’s Up With This Weather?

What is up with this weather?  In the past few years we have had unprecedented (at least in most of our lifetimes) flooding, tornadoes, and ice storms.  In the spring of 2008, we had massive flooding in Poplar Bluff and surrounding areas.  In the winter of 2009, we had a major ice storm that took down power lines (many people were without power for a month), damaged roofs, and destroyed trees.  Now in 2011, we’ve had another major flood in our area, that has left many people homeless and has destroyed thousands of acres of farm land. Also, in areas just south of us (Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas) there have been catastrophic tornadoes that have killed hundreds of people and have done millions of dollars worth of damage to homes and businesses.   

What is causing this major shift in our weather patterns?  Is it just a cycle of nature or is there a major shift in our climate? 

If you’re interested in what’s happening with our weather and would like to know more about what causes different weather events and climate changes, we have many resources at the ARC/Rutland Library that will help you in your quest for answers.  To get you started, I have listed a few of the books, videos, and databases that are available.

Books

Hot, Flat, and Crowded : Why We Need a Green Revolution – And How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman.

The Coming Global Superstorm by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber.

Sun, Weather & Climate by John R. Herman and Richard A. Goldberg.

The Great Flood of 1993 : Causes, Impacts, and Responses edited by Stanley A. Changnon.

Weather by John Farrand, Jr.

Severe and Unusual Weather by Joe R. Eagleman.

Weather in Your Life by Louis J. Battan.

Videos and DVD’s

The Miracle Planet – VHS

An Inconvenient Truth – DVD 

Databases

Science On-Line

GREENR

“Confronting Global Warming” Databases

 

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

 

Have you ever wondered why Chinese children seem so darn perfect?  Are you a parent struggling to raise children in our modern American society?  Have you ever wondered what those Chinese parents know that American parents don’t?  Well, you may want to check out Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.

Amy Chua is a Chinese mother trying to raise 2 daughters in the United States.   She wants to raise them in the traditional Chinese way with no TV, computer games, playdates, etc.  Her daughters must take Mandarin lessons, practice math speed drills, and practice their musical instruments for at least two hours a day.  This is all wonderful if you happen to live in China.  However, when your children are exposed to U.S. culture (land of video games, TV, and cell phones) sometimes they have other ideas!  Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother tells the funny and thought-provoking story of the day-to-day conflict of a Chinese mother raising Americanized children.

To find out more about Amy Chua and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother you can access her web- page at www.amychua.com.

 

Word choice and writing well – Part I

When learning to write well, it is not simply enough to understand punctuation and subject verb agreement.  Good writers pay attention to their words.  They are careful and thoughtful about the words they choose to write.  Good writers use precise language.   Try to edit your writing for vagueness.

Using precise language

Instead of using general words like nice, good, bad, great, amazing, a lot, try to be more specific in your choice of words.  Ask yourself, what do I mean by “nice” or “a lot,” and then write what you really mean.

For example, “I made a lot of money in tips last night,” would be better if written, “I made fifty dollars in tips last night.”

Or, the sentence, “The food was amazing,” is more interesting when written, “The food was the perfect blend of spicy and sweet.”

 

A Discovery of Witches

 

This week’s featured best seller is A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.  If you enjoyed the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, I think you will enjoy this book.

A Discovery of Witches tells the story of Diana Bishop, a Yale historian who also happens to be a descendant of the first witch who was executed at the Salem Witch Trials.  Diana is very reluctant to use her witchy powers, and prefers to use her own intelligence and human abilities to make her way in life.  Unfortunately, while doing research at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, Diana discovers a magical manuscript that supposedly holds the secrets to how witches, vampires, and demons came into existence.  This discovery opens a floodgate of unwanted interest by other witches, vampires and demons.  One of the interested parties is a 1500 year old vampire named Matthew Clairmont.  Matthew and Diana fall in love (which is apparently a major no-no in the world of witches, vampires, and demons) and find themselves in the middle of a war amongst the supernatural.  The ending of this tome is left wide open, so I suspect there may be a part II to A Discovery of Witches.

To read more about Deborah Harkness and A Discovery of Witches you can go to:

www.deborahharkness.com

 

The 150th Anniversary of the Civil War

During the year of 2011 we are remembering the 150^th Anniversary of the United States Civil War which was fought during the years of 1861-1865.  One could easily spend an entire lifetime studying the battles, generals, people and stories about the Civil War.  So much has been written about every aspect of the War that the amount of information available is too massive to absorb by any one person during decades of research and study.

 

Computer Tip: Excel & the Internet

One of the features built into Excel is support for the Internet. One aspect of this is the ability to add hyperlinks to your Excel workbooks. When you insert a hyperlink, there are two types you can use. You can insert either an absolute or a relative hyperlink. To insert a hyperlink:

1.Select the cell in which you want the hyperlink inserted.

2.Display the Insert tab of the ribbon.

3.Click on the Hyperlink tool in the Links group. Excel displays the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.

4.The content of the cell you selected in step 1 shows up in the Text to Display box. You can change it if you want.

5.In the Address box specify the address for the page that will be loaded when the user clicks on your hyperlink. Typically this is a URL, but it can also be a file or resource on your system. You can also select an address from the drop-down list or use one of the Browse buttons (just to the right of the Look In drop-down list) to help locate the resource.

6.When completed, click on OK.

 

Earth Day 2011

 

Friday, April 22  is Earth Day 2011.  This year’s Earth Day theme is “A Billion Acts of Green”.

Earth Day, for those of you who aren’t familiar with it, is the day where everyone is encouraged to plant a tree, pick up garbage along the roadsides, clean up parks, or otherwise do something to help save the planet.  The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970…..back in the days of flower-power and peace, love and rock-n-roll.

We have several resources here at the ARC to help you learn more about the “greening” of our world:

Books:

Green Jobs : working for people and the environment / Michael Renner, Sean Sweeney, Jill Kubit ; Lisa Mastny, editor.

Real change : from the world that fails to the world that works / Newt Gingrich with Vince Haley and Rick Tyler.

Vital signs 2011 : the trends that are shaping our future / World Watch Institute.

Population, climate change, and women’s lives / Robert Engelman ; Lisa Mastny, editor.

Global environmental change : the threat to human health / Samuel S. Myers ; Lisa Mastny and Robert Engelman, editors.

The global environment and world politics / Elizabeth R. DeSombre.

Veganist : lose weight, get healthy, change the world / Kathy Freston.

 

Databases:

GREENR (Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources)

Confronting Global Warming Databases

For more information on Earth Day 2011, you can go to Earth Day Network at the following link:  www.earthday.org/earth-day-2011

 

 

 

Tutoring Tip: Homework guidelines for mathematics

Mathematics is a language, and as such it has standards of writing which should be observed. In a writing class, one must respect the rules of grammar and punctuation, one must write in organized paragraphs built with complete sentences, and the final draft must be a neat paper with a title. Similarly, there are certain standards for mathematics assignments.