Read These Books!

This is a select list of books that I think are worth reading. “More…” links to discussions of authors and content, and links to purchase them at Amazon. As the Library Journal does, I also include recommendations for purchase or not. My personal opinion only, no warranty promised or implied.

I know some don’t like Amazon and I do wish they had stuck to books but their links are still the easiest for me to give you. Truth in Linking: I do receive a small remittance if you do purchase a book there. It certainly isn’t large enough, however, to influence my reviews, even if I were so suggestible.

Kate Dies, NonSexist Language More Often Lives On

Pass the Olives

Kate Swift died 7 May 2011. As the alphabetically second author of the first popular guide to nonsexist writing, she and her partner changed the world of writing. No more could the male pronoun be universal or taken for granted or justified. In 1970, she and Casey Miller formed a partnership as editing consultants and [...]

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My Life in a Harem

Pass the Olives

Just when you thought you knew everything, I’ve come up with my life in a harem. No, it’s another book. The title, Some Girls, is not as interesting as the subtitle, My Life in a Harem. If all I had seen was the title, I wouldn’t have picked it up and you wouldn’t be reading [...]

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How We Decide and Why It Matters

Read This Book!

A wonderfully readable update on brain research is Jonah Lehrer’s How We Decide that looks at how our emotions affect decisions and what the brain tells us about it. Lehrer worked in the lab of Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel, is editor-at-large for Seed Magazine, and  publishes regularly in major magazines and newspapers. He has both the [...]

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Crochet (& Knitting) With Wire

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A beautiful and inspiring little book that is useful as well. Jewelry, boxes, baskets, and a purse crocheted with wire. Techniques would work with knitting as well. Clear instructions, even if you have never crocheted before and a list of sources for supplies. Clear, illustrated technique instructions, precise photographs of projects, explains and names jewelry-making [...]

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Worst Business Name Ever

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Elisha Graves Otis invented the elevator in 1852, a feat that enabled buildings in Manhattan to rise beyond climbing distance, but William Earl Dodge Stokes thought his prices were even higher. When Stokes built the monster Ansonia Hotel in 1904 he refused to pay Otis’s prices and started his own company: The Standard Plunger Elevator [...]

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Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3: A Read-Aloud Guide

KidLit

One reason to blog about books is to tell people about them. Another is so I won’t forget them myself. This one is both. It is a reference book for school librarians which means if you work with kids or read to kids a lot this is where you look up ideas about what to [...]

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Why College?

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Orientation to College: A Reader on Becoming an Educated Person keeps rolling along. Every time I get a royalty statement, it’s from a different publisher. Wadsworth’s College Success Series is still the imprint, but they don’t send the checks. Now they are from Cengage Learning. I have not a clue if I even have an [...]

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Orientation to College

Read This Book!

This “Reader on Becoming Educated Person” keeps rolling along. Wadsworth’s College Success Series is still the imprint, but each royalty statement comes from a different publisher. I have not a clue if I even have an editor.

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