Domestic Violence: Poems by Eavan Boland

It is the final day of poetry month and I just now have a book to recommend. I started five or six other poetry volumes in the past two months and never got past page 20. I was not the right reader and they were not the right books. Finally, I found Domestic Violence: Poems by Eavan Boland, which I absorbed in two days.

Boland is direct and visual. Reading her poems calls forth many sharp images, as in her poem "How It Was Once in Our Country":

"In those years I owned a blue plate,
blue from the very edge to the center,
ocean-blue, the sort of under-wave blue
a mermaid could easily dive down into and enter."

In "Irish Interior" she describes an old drawing in which a woman spins and a man stands by his loom. They are permanently separated, unable to touch each other. Many of her poems express sadness for what has been or never been.

"And Soul" may be my favorite poem in the collection. Boland links the moisture of atmosphere and ocean to the liquid content of the human body. I read it during a thunderstorm, hearing the rain on my roof and windows. I think I began to perspire. Water is also the key element in"On This Earth" and "In Season."

Boland is Irish and writes much about her island and its history. She decries violence against women and the enslaving of workers to drive the Industrial Revolution. She remembers the Irish poets and describes the Book of Kells. Her book will appeal to readers sympathetic to Irish causes. Many public libraries should add this book.

Boland, Eavan. Domestic Violence: Poems. New York: Norton, 2007. ISBN 0393062414

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations - One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Serving tea is an important social custom in Pakistan, according to Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea. It is a courtesy offered before any conversation or business deal. Before you buy cement or lumber, you share tea. When you visit a village elder, you drink tea. Even with your kidnappers, there is tea. Mortenson, who spent years in the country building schools for village girls, drank a lot of tea.

Building schools for girls in remote regions of a poor Islamic country is not what he intended to do when he first went to Pakistan. He was there to climb a mountain. Coming down after failing to reach the summit, he lost his way and was separated from his team. Cold, hungry, and exhausted, he stumbled into a village. The villagers treated him as an honored guest, saving his life. Trying to think of a way to repay them for their kindness, he promised to build a school.

Mortenson knew nothing about building a school and was not in a position to finance the job. He was a part time emergency room nurse, only working enough to finance his climbing. He had no permanent address, much less a savings from which to draw, but he had a promise to keep.

Three Cups of Tea tells how Mortenson built first one and then many other schools where the Pakistani government has never ventured. To do so, he had to learn not only about construction but also about local customs and politics. It is a dramatic story, including accidents on mountain roads, caring for Afghan refugees, and crossing hostile borders. He experienced a side of Islamic culture not known in the West and sees up close the impact of American foreign policy on the region.

Readers who enjoyed Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder will enjoy this important book that proposes peaceful means to stop the rise in terrorism.

Mortenson, Greg and Relin, David Oliver. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations - One School at a Time. New York: Viking, 2006. ISBN 0670034827

11 compact discs. Tantor Media, 2006. ISBN 1400132517

Library Dream #4

As I have said in a couple of other pieces, I dream about libraries. I just had a dream that was a bit different than any others that I remember.

In this episode, I have gone back to college (a frequent element) and am going to be living in a dorm again (again not an uncommon dream). I am setting up the room with one of my old roommates, who has since gone on to become an architect and designer. We are both our current ages. We decide to create instant art for our walls with heavy art paper and calligraphy pens. I try to cover one sheet with large, meaningless, fancy script. We are going to stick it above a bookcase. When I have finished, my roommate holds it up and I step back to look. In the middle in very clear letters, I am surprised to see, is the word "Reference."

I am what I am, even in my sleep. I cannot get away from it.

Here are Dream #1, Dream #2, and Dream #3.

What do you think?

Unshelved on Readers' Advisory

Many librarians and other "people in the know" read Unshelved daily. If you haven't seen the comic strip, now is a good time to look, or if you have been neglecting it, now is a good time to return, as Bill and Gene are spoofing readers' advisory this week. Start with Monday and advance forward.

The guys have put out a couple of collections that you should check out, including What Would Dewey Do? and Library Mascot Cage Match. I recommend them for those days that absurdities of public service get you down.

Library of Congress Blog

It must be really inspiring to work at the Library of Congress. Matt Raymond has been there for seven months. He attends meeting on lofty topics, such as World Digital Library and the National Book Festival. He wanders hallowed halls and sees great architecture out his window. He meets authors and hears bits of their works in progress. He hears about upcoming exhibits. Now he writes the Library of Congress Blog.

Today Matt is asking whether blogs are serials and should they get ISSN numbers. (One comment is that there should be an IBSB or International Blog Serial Number.) He also has some day-in-history information, including the fact that it is Frederick Law Olmsted's birthday.

I have enjoyed the first week of Library of Congress Blog and look forward to more.

America in Bloom: Great American Gardens Open to the Public

Maybe I'm slipping into sentimentality. As I find old books that are candidates for weeding, I keep wanting to save them instead of removing them from the collection. Well, not all of them, as I do get satisfaction from weeding out ratty and out-of-date items, but when I find a nice condition book with timeless content, I want to put it into the path of an appreciative reader - who might actually be me.

Today I found America in Bloom: Great American Gardens Open to the Public with photos by Murray Alcosser. Though it was published by Rizzoli in 1991, I suspect the gardens all still exist. I would not rely on the phone numbers in the back of the book, but I look at the gorgeous color photos with longing to take a cross country trip. Thirty-eight gardens are featured, of which four are in the Chicago area. Most of the gardens are on the west or east coasts. With little text, readers mostly learn that the gardens exist and see how glorious they are, but that is the point of this coffee table book. For that purpose, the book still works. I will save it for another weeding day.

America in Bloom: Great American Gardens Open to the Public. New York: Rizzoli, 1991. ISBN 084781326.

Biography: A Brief History by Nigel Hamilton

Just when you think I have exhausted the topic of biography, Bonnie* brings me another very interesting book with many advantages for the reader interested in the topic. The book is Biography: A Brief History by Nigel Hamilton.

Readers will enjoy this book for these reasons:

• It is new. Many of the books on biography as a literary form are twenty or thirty years old. Hamilton brings the subject to the present. The controversy of A Million Little Pieces by James Frey is included.
• It expands the idea of biography beyond the traditional printed biographical book. Hamilton discusses cave paintings, Greek and Roman art, religious texts, the biographical and autobiographical trends in fiction, the popularity of celebrity media, documentaries, made-for-television movies, reality television, biographical films, museum exhibits, graphic novels, and blogging.
• It identifies books, art work, and films important in the development of the biographical form. Monty Python's Life of Brian even makes the discussion. I placed some reserves during my reading of the book.
• It is well-written and thought-provoking. Hamilton even mentions writing teachers as listeners to the autobiographical thoughts of students, an issue exposed in the aftermath of the killings at Virginia Tech.

According to Hamilton, biography is essential in a democratic society, pointing out that the form is repressed and abused by dictators. He also tells how biography has been the most dangerous literary form to write throughout history because of dangerous politics and strict libel laws. Until the last half century, biographers have almost always written about the dead, who could not sue them. Since the release of the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate hearings, biography has increasing focused on the living.

Biography: A Brief History should be in many libraries.

Hamilton, Nigel. Biography: A Brief History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007. ISBN 0674024664

*Behind many a good blogger is a person who inspires and feeds the writer good material.

Back to the Sixties on YouTube

Just for fun, go back in time with me, to hear old music. Click on these little time machines.

Do You Believe in Magic by the Lovin Spoonful - You just don't see rockers playing autoharp any more.

Baby Love by the Supremes - Looks like Bandstand.

Light My Fire by the Doors - Great organ music!

My Girl by The Temptations - Very smooth.

Downtown by Petula Clark - With well-dressed BBC dancers.

Along Comes Mary by the Association - On the Smothers Brothers Show

Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones - Mick wears a tie.

Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane - You have to join!

Revolution by The Beatles - Don't you know it's gonna be alright?

I hope you had fun.

La Dame d'Esprit: A Biography of the Marquis Du Chatelet by Judith Zinsser

I am trying another review format. This is a book that many libraries missed.

Zinsser, Judith. La Dame d'Esprit: A Biography of the Marquis Du Chatelet. Viking, 2006. 376 pp. Bibliography; Index; Notes in back; Photos. ISBN 0670038008

What would you do if you were bored with your marriage? Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, the marquise Du Chatelet, wrote treatises on mathematics and physics, translated Newton's work into French, and started an affair with the great author Voltaire. The author reassesses the short but exciting life of an unconventional woman who has been ridiculed by historians.

Subjects: Du Chatelet, Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil; France; French Enlightenment; Genius; Mathematicians; Physicists; Women Scientists

Story Elements: Controversy; Reassessment of life; Romance; Whole life

Tone: Admiring; Sympathetic

Style: Scholarly; Narrative

Now Try: Naked in the Marketplace: The Lives of George Sand by Benita Eisler, a story of a French woman who competed with men in literature instead of science. She was also infamous for her love affairs. For more on the Du Chatelet-Voltaire relationship, try a book with a really long title, Passionate Minds: the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment, Featuring the Scientist Emilie Du Châtelet, the Poet Voltaire, Sword Fights, Book Burnings, Assorted Kings, Seditious Verse, and the Birth of the Modern World by David Bodanis.

Messages from My Father by Calvin Trillin

I am rescuing old books again. I found a sweet memoir by a well-known author among the books that have not been borrowed in years. It is small (maybe easy to overlook), easy to hold, a quick read. It has an attractive cover with a sepia photo. There are more old family photos in every chapter. There are no horrible stories of drug abuse, domestic dysfunction, or desperation, which are so common in many recent tell-all memoirs. It is a gentle story (but not sappy) about how immigrants become Americans. Many readers should enjoy and identify with this family story.

The well-known author is Calvin Trillin, and the book is Messages from My Father. In it he tells how a boy with his "feet stuck in the mud" outside Kiev becomes a Midwesterner who aims to send his son to Yale, a very American university. After immigrating via Galveston around age two, Abe Trillin grew up in St. Joseph, Missouri and later moved to Kansas City where he raised his family and operated grocery stores and restaurants and invested in real estate. Calvin describes him a stubborn, quirky father who could embarrass his children, but whose "messages" turn out to foresee the future accurately.

Famous for his essays in The New Yorker, Trillan has written many lightly humorous autobiographical books. Many readers have recently enjoyed About Alice. They would like this book, too. Librarians should recommend it.

Trillin, Calvin. Messages from My Father. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1996. ISBN 0374208603

CIL2007: Computers in Libraries

The bloggers at Computers in Libraries 2007 are busy, so you do not have to be there to learn from the presentations. Here are a few items so far:

Web 2.0 and What It Means to Libraries - The Shifted Librarian seems to transcribe almost every word of presentations.

Information Design for the New Web - Ellyssa Kroski's pre-presentation blog and comments by Nicole Engard.

Weblog Zonder Haast - Follow the conference in Dutch.

Alternative and Customized Search Engines - Mary Ellen Bates lists engines to try, as reported by Caroline (last name unknown).

Computers in Libraries cartoons - Flickr set by Madinkbeard.

You can find more reports by searching for "CIL2007" at Technorati.

Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey

Every book on the history of biography that I have read has pointed to Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey as the first modern work of the literary form. Strachey shocked the book world and cultured society with this book that was not laudatory of the dead. He is credited with giving biographers the charge to sketch out characters instead of chronicle all their deeds and to tell the truth. Of course, the truth was a problem for Strachey, too, as his methods and exclusions have been questioned ever since. Imperfect as the book is, the historians agree, he changed the form and tone of biography.

Strachey wrote Eminent Victorians during World War I, and it was published about four months before the end of the war. "The End of General Gordon" doubles as biography and a criticism of the British military. Other chapters portray three other seemingly random British citizens of the Victorian era. In his introduction, Strachey indicates they were just people who interested him.

The first chapter profiles Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892) who left a prominent position in the Church of England to ultimately become a Roman Catholic cardinal and important person in both London and Rome. Strachey describes Manning as mostly a political figure who was not especially concerned about theology. On two occasions Manning betrays his close friend John Henry Newman, who also became a cardinal. Newman dies a somewhat forgotten figure.

The second chapter profiles Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). Strachey tells how she could manipulate people and influence public policy, but he actually seems to admire her. He tells much about her youth and her years after the Crimean War.

Strachey does not admire Thomas Arnold (1795-1842), who is famous as a Victorian historian and educator. The author describes Arnold as a headmaster of Rugby School who had very little interaction with his students other than his lengthy Sunday sermons. For his students, he rejected the study of physical science and modern languages and did not think the archaeology of Pompeii significant or interesting. Moral and religious education was all that mattered. He sounds a dullard.

The last chapter tells the story of General Charles George Gordon (1833-1885) who died in Khartoum after a long siege by Sudanese warlords wishing to expel the British and Egyptians. The chapter seems to really be more history than biography, as we learn little about Gordon other than his imperialistic attitude, overwhelming confidence in British forces, and feeling of guilt for executing two unsuccessful Egyptian officers.

Strachey says in his introduction that readers know very much about the Victorian era and wrote with that assumption. Of course, ninety years later that is no longer true. Twenty-first century readers will get lost in some sections, as they have little idea of what Strachey writes. Skim or skip. When the author gets to the action the stories become lively.

Eminent Victorians will be enjoyed by "Great Books" readers.

Strachey, Lytton. Eminent Victorians. New York: Oxford World Classics, 2003. ISBN 0192801589

Pew research on Public Knowledge on Public Affairs

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has released a new report Public Knowledge of Current Affairs Little Changed by News and Information Revolutions: What Americans Know: 1989-2007. In this report, statistics show that knowledge of current events and names of public officials is no better now than in 1989, despite the fact there are now many more 24-hour news sources. You can look at the figures and say that knowledge has fallen, though the commentators we heard on National Public Radio today cautioned against making that judgement.

What Bonnie and I found interesting were the scores according to what news sources people cited as their regular sources. Viewers of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report tied with readers of major newspapers for the highest percentage in the highest knowledge category. Users of online news services are down the line. Viewers of Fox News are nearly at the bottom of the list, beating only viewers of morning television shows.

I expect there will be more analysis of these finding in the next few days.

Akimbo and the Crocodile Man by Alexander McCall Smith

As I indicated in my post yesterday, I seek out books about Africa. High on my list of favorites are books by Alexander McCall Smith in his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. In these books that mix insight into real African problems, gentle humor, and hope for the continent, the author creates wonderful characters who seek to act morally and to live good lives. American readers are late learning about the author's books. McCall Smith has been writing for decades. In the 1990s he wrote several series for young readers, among which was another set of books set in Africa.

I just finished Akimbo and the Crocodile Man, third in a series that has just recently been released in the United States. Akimbo is a boy who lives with his family in a national park where his father is chief ranger. In his adventures, Akimbo learns much about the wildlife in the park and invariably gets involved in typical conservation problems, such as stopping poachers or trapping animals that attack domestic animals outside the park. In Akimbo and the Crocodile Man, he helps a scientist studying the survival rates of crocodile hatchlings and must respond quickly in an emergency.

Young readers will enjoy how a preteen can act independently and make a difference in his world. They will also learn effortlessly about wildlife conservation. More public libraries should add these books, which show Africa in a positive light.

McCall Smith, Alexander. Akimbo and the Crocodile Man. New York: Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2006. ISBN 1582346925

Plunk Biggio

A number of library bloggers have posted recently about the non-library blogs that they read. In contrast, I read very few blogs other than library related ones. (I guess I am old - I'm reading books and wishing I had more time for reading books.) I could say that all the book blogs are not library related, but for me they are. I can think of one non-library blog that I read regularly - seasonally - Plunk Biggio.

Plunk Biggio is rather silly in a way. How can someone write for years about whether or not Houston Astros second baseman Craig Biggio will or will not get hit by a pitched ball when at bat during a game? Well, there is the fact that Biggio is second on the all time list for being hit by a pitch. Also, baseball fans can gather statistics and analyse the game to infinity. Being a big Biggio fan, I find it very entertaining.

So, all summer long, the career baseball record that I will be watching (instead of the other record bound to be broken) is hit by pitch.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

When I first looked at the audiobook of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, I was not sure whether I wanted to listen. I have been to several very violent movies lately - Pan's Labyrinth, The Last King of Scotland, and Flags of Our Fathers - all of which were good and I recommend them all - but I feel somewhat shell shocked. I imagined that listening to A Long Way Gone might just worsen my feeling. Could I stand to listen to over seven hours of jungle war?

I want to know what is going on in the world and I am especially interested in anything about Africa, so I started the first disc, knowing that I could stop at any time. I found that the chaos and heartbreak start very quickly, but I also discovered a great story that reminds me of the novels of Charles Dickens, in that the plot takes many unexpected turns and a young boy is saved time and time again by new benefactors. I can almost imagine A Long Way Gone being serialized, with each episode ending with Ishmael in trouble again. Of course, it is different in that Dickens novels were never so bloody, but like the classic English author, Beah has a topic to expose to the public - the sorrow of boy soldiers.

I have been surprised by how popular A Long Way Gone is. Since I do not drink coffee, I do not go in Starbuck's and did not see it prominently on sale at its shops everywhere. I hate to see bookstores losing sales to other corporate interests, but the bookstores may have benefited from the publicity for the book this time. Starbuck's certainly got an unlikely book to many readers.

If you want to know more before reading the book, you can read an interview with Beah at Powells.com. If you want another book about boy soldiers, try the novel Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala.

Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. ISBN 0374105235

Audiobook: 7 CDs. Santa Ana, CA : Books on Tape, p2007. ISBN 1415938032

Extraordinary Lives: The Art and Craft of American Biography

On six successive Monday nights in the cold early months of 1985, six noted biographers lectured in the Trustees Room of the New York Public Library. What they said about their work and the literary form is reproduced in Extraordinary Lives: The Art and Craft of American Biography, slightly edited by William Zinsser to make the lectures more readable.

The lineup was great:

"The Unexpected Harry Truman" by David McCullough

"In Search of Emily Dickinson" by Richard B. Sewall

"The Adams Women" by Paul C. Nagel

"Living with Walter Lippmann" by Ronald Steel

"The Real Reasons" by Jean Strouse (mostly about Alice James, sister of Henry and William)

"Lyndon Johnson and the Roots of Power" by Robert A. Caro

The idea of reading lectures may sound dreary to some readers, but Extraordinary Lives is far from dull. The six authors apparently spoke as well (or better) than they wrote, and each lecture reads rather quickly. The authors told selected stories about their subjects and described how they researched them. Readers learn much about the issues and methods of biographical writing effortlessly while they listen to the good stories.

If these lectures had been given recently, they would have been on Book TV.

You might enjoy the book just for the stories. I finished wanting to add many books to my reading list.

Extraordinary Lives: The Art and Craft of American Biography. New York: American Heritage, 1986. ISBN 0828112061

The Fifth Beatle: A Book Proposal

I just saw this item from the BBC in which Neil Aspinall is called "the fifth beatle." What luck! I have a little book proposal ready.

This is a book proposal. Anyone who wants to write the book may have the idea.

One of the best books that I read in 2003 was We Are Lincoln Men by David Herbert Donald. The noted Lincoln scholar told about six men important in the career of the 16th President. I know there have been many similar books, such as The Best and the Brightest, in which David Halberstam tells about John F. Kennedy's advisers. Group biography can be interesting.

I propose this type of book be written about the people who contributed to the success of the Beatles. It could be called The Fifth Beatle, which might catch the attention of fans. Of course, there are some obvious characters to include. Pete Best is the most obvious because he actually was a Beatle before Ringo Starr, replaced him at the drums just before the group became famous. How he was fired and what became of him would make a good chapter.

Another chapter could profile the assorted players from the Quarrymen and early versions of the Beatles, especially Stu Suttcliff, who went with the band to Hamburg.

A third chapter should focus on Brian Epstein, whose management made the Beatles a successful working band.

George Martin should get a chapter. He was an important creative force in the sound of the group.

One chapter could profile the main technicians with whom the Beatles worked at EMI studios.

I am now going to make some suggestions that might stir debate among Beatles fans.

Billy Preston was added to the mix for the Let It Be/Get Back recordings. He could have a chapter.

Yoko Ono became a frequent visitor to recording sessions in the final years of the Beatles. Her merits as a fifth Beatle could be examined.

There could also be a fantasy chapter. The premise could be that the remaining Beatles replaced Paul McCartney when he left the band. The candidates could be profiled, including Eric Clapton and Graham Nash, who were groupless about that time. Perhaps it is a stretch, but the new direction of the band could be imagined.

Want to write the book? Many would read it. Send me a copy when you're done.

*****

I see the term "fifth Beatle" has been used before in a few publications. In The Beatles: Untold Tales by Howard A. Dewitt, there is a chapter "Bob Wooler: the Fifth Beatle." Wooler was a Liverpool DJ who worked as a stage manager for the group. There is a DVD Brian Epstein: Inside the Fifth Beatle. Also the video The Best of Eddie Murphy Saturday Night Live has skit called "The Fifth Beatle." The idea is out there.

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier by Thad Carhart

Walking his children to school down the narrow streets of Paris, American Thad Carhart discovered a window display of piano repair tools and hardware. Behind the display was a mysterious shop into which he had never seen anyone enter. After weeks of wondering, he opened the door and began a musical adventure, which he describes in The Piano Shop on the Left Bank.

What was not apparent from the street was that the small shop opened into a large and ancient showroom full of grand and upright pianos, some in pieces, others ready for sale. The instruments came from many eras and surrounding countries. The charming but secretive shopkeeper rekindled Carhart's desire to own and play piano and introduced him to strange and curious community of French piano lovers.

I enjoyed the world into which Carhart draws his readers. It is filled with wonderful personalities and details. I especially had to laugh when I learned that the Cistercian monks of Citeaux build sitars. (Say that out loud.)

The Piano Shop on the Left bank is part memoir and part microhistory. It will appeal to anyone who loves music, wants to learn more about pianos, or wishes that they could live in Paris.

If you like this book, try Guitar: An American Life by Tim Brookes, which is also a mixture of memoir and musical microhistory. You might also enjoy Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co. by Jeremy Mercer, which tells about expatriates hanging around a Paris bookstore. After reading, you may want to listen to piano sonatas by Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, and Scarlatti. In Real Story, Sarah Statz Cords recommended this book to readers of A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel.

Carhart, Thad. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier. New York: Random House, 2001. ISBN 0375503048

365 Library Days Project

Libraryman started a new Flickr pool called 365 Library Days Project. I am now the 150th member. The idea is that every member contribute 365 photos from around her/his library to create a vast library image collection.

There are 142 images so far. Start watching now to see the collection grow.

The Continuous Value Line Headache

This has gone on for years. Our Value Line subscriptions, which are supposed to arrive on Fridays, come on Saturday and then Monday, and then Tuesday, and maybe later. I always call and complain and claim issues that have not arrived. Value Line sends copies, and we eventually have duplicate issues.

After each complaint, Value Line sends us a form to track our issue arrival dates. I fill it out and send it back to them. For a few weeks the issues arrive nearly on time and then they slide back into very late arrivals.

I once threaten to cancel the subscription, which was not really serious because we have so many people who read it. The issues came on time for nearly three months.

I have been told that for another $100 plus we can get the subscription sent first class and have it arrive on time every week. We already pay $795 for the survey. Every other periodical we purchase comes on time. We should not have to pay extra to get what should be standard service.

One service person suggested we refer to the online service that we get with our subscription. I think that is good advice, but I have not been able to sell the idea to the folks who come to the desk and ask for the binder. Many of them are computer shy. Hard to believe, but it is true.

Recently, the issues have been very late most of the time, and use of the service has fallen by about 50 percent (not scientifically proven, just observed). Throughout the winter issues were almost always nearly a week late. (I again filled out a survey.) Some of the users have become quite negative about the service, saying that they doubt it will survive in today's information world.

Today, I placed another claim. The agent told me that the issues are not officially late until the Tuesday after Friday.

I decided to look at the online service again to see how easy it would be to just print it out. To my surprise, for it is Monday, the current issue is next Friday's issue. Online the information is there four days before the issue date! I am not sure yet whether this is always the case.

The lateness of the print copies now looks really, really bad. How can it take nine or ten days to get the information to us by mail? (Value Line agents always infer the problem is with the postal service, but I counter that the postal service delivers our other publication on time.)

I have an idea. By printing from the online version an issue of Value Line on Monday before the Friday issue date, we could suddenly go from being far behind to being far ahead. I think our library users would like that.

Unfortunately, printing is another headache. The "Summary and Index" section and "Selection and Opinion" section can be printed quickly as they are each multi-page documents. The reports on the companies are another matter, as there are individual one-page documents for each company. There is no overall document for the Reports section. I would have to have a staff member sit at the computer and open 140 plus PDF documents and print them separately.

We are tired of being passive victims of Value Line (lack of) service.

I am going to make a notebook with the easily printed pages and include a list of the companies in the current issue. With it will be a note that we can get these reports online. Maybe someone will take us up on the offer.

I also intend to make a "Want Value Line early?" sign to put on the shelf where the binder resides.

I am going to draw up instructions for the staff so they can find the online service. Value Line does not make it easy to find the issues of the survey on their website.

I will report later if this makes a difference.

Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World by Margaret Macmillan: A Readers' Advisory Sample

I have been playing around with what a readers' advisory reference book (or database) entry should include. I have been trying to find a way to include appeal factors, such as story elements, tone, and writing style. Here is a sample for your examination. Comments and recommendations are encouraged.

Macmillan, Margaret. Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World. Random House, 2007. 404 pp. ISBN: 9781400061273

Richard Nixon took great risks when he went to China in 1972. Some administration officials feared for his safety. Others doubted Mao would meet him, causing political embarrassment. Failure might help his political opponents back home. Margaret Macmillan describes the leaders, their negotiations, and the photo opportunities in her day by day account.

Subjects: 1970s; China; Foreign Relations; Mao, Zedong; Nixon, Richard; Presidents

Story elements: Adventure, Episode/Slice of life, Enemies, Success story

Tone: Admiring

Writing Style: Narrative, Journalistic

Features: Bibliography, Index, Maps, Photographs, Notes in back

Now try: The big band-influenced opera Nixon in China by John Adams and Alice Goodman, which focuses on Nixon and Mao, their wives, and their deputies, Henry Kissinger and Zhou Enlai. For background read The Kissinger transcripts: the top secret talks with Beijing and Moscow. Also, former Nixon staffer John Ehrlichman turned the event into an adventure novel The China Card.

This form resembles the entries in Real Story: A Guide to Nonfiction Reading Interests by Sarah Statz Cords. The idea of appeal factors comes from Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library by Joyce G. Saricks. I did not include a line for pacing because I have not found an objective way of measuring it. I am also a little uncertain about the terms I use for writing style. The books may all turn out to be narrative.

If you have an opinion on whether this is a useful form for a readers' advisory tool, let me know.

Science Books Readers' Advisory: an ARRT Discussion with Guest Sarah Statz Cords

The Adult Reading Round Table focused on recommending narrative and other popular science books to readers at its April 2007 meeting at the Downers Grove Public Library. Thirty librarians from the Chicago suburbs spent two quick hours discussing science books, their authors, and appeal factors to consider when offering them to readers at public libraries. Sarah Statz Cords, author of The Real Story: A Guide to Nonfiction Reading Interests, joined us.

Each ARRT meeting focuses on a reading genre or sub-genre. To prepare for the discussion members read one book in common and other titles from a recommended list. For the popular science discussion, the common book was The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, which tells the story of the Ebola virus dramatically. As you would expect, not everyone liked the book. For some it was "too icky squishy." Another complaint was that the author set up too many potential crises that just evaporated; Preston could have written a shorter, more effective book. Defenders of the book said they enjoyed the thrilling, suspenseful story with good, likable characters. Having points at which the story got very gross kept them reading.

An unofficial list of appeal factors for science books began to form. Here is a feeble attempt at enumeration of ideas from a complex conversation.

1. Thrilling stories - The Hot Zone is just one of many books where a journalist tells about some threat to human existence. Other, such as The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, tell about great human achievement.

2. Everyday life explained - Some readers like to learn more about what happens to them every day, as told in books like How to Dunk a Donut by Len Fisher.

3. Self knowledge - There are numerous books on the brain, such as An Alchemy of the Mind by Diane Ackerman.

4. Humor and quirkiness - Bill Bryson has weighed into the science genre with A Short History of Nearly Everything.

5. The beauty of science - It can be hard to grasp the concepts but the telling can be mesmerizing, as in The Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

6. Great writing - Some scientists can write with grace and insight, as in The Lives of the Cell by Lewis Thomas.

"Unappeal factors" included books with too many technical terms and books that are too long. Some librarians expressed that they liked science books that were more about people of science than science. Others decried that notion.

Part of the fun of the afternoon was taking part in the debates. Do journalists write better science than the scientists? Should the writer be a character in the book? How important is accuracy and authority in science books, which will become outdated by new discoveries? When do science books pass from being current events titles to history titles? When do illustrations help or hinder texts?

Another part of the fun was hearing stray factoids. Ten percent of the weight of your pillow is made up of mites, mite dung, and dead skin. People keep pillows for an average seven years. Over-flossing your teeth leads to heart disease. You may want to look these things up.

The book I want to read now is The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston. One of the librarians had a review copy. It will be released April 10. (ISBN 1400064899)

I left the discussion wanting to attend the next on June 7, when ARRT discusses history and microhistory.

I also left happy to have met Sarah, who drove down from Madison, Wisconsin, where she works at the public library and teaches at the library school at the University of Wisconsin. I was in the group that enjoyed lunch with her. I hope she sells many copies of The Real Story. We keep it at the desk at Thomas Ford.

Vincent Van Gogh, Readers' Advisor

Vincent Van Gogh loved books and talking about them. According to Martin Gayford, author of The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles, he filled his little rented house with reading materials. There were stacks of books and magazines in several rooms. No matter how short his funds he went regularly to the train station to buy several newspapers, and he frequented the local bookshop.

Vincent loved novels and read them in three languages - Dutch, French, and English. He had a very battered copy of La joie de vivre by Emile Zola that he had read many times. He kept up with the works of Guy de Maupassant, Alphonse Daudet, Jean Richepin, Joris-Karl Huysmans, and the brothers Edmond and Jules de Goncourt. He also loved Charles Dickens and George Eliot.

His nonfiction reading must have been concentrated in his magazines and newspapers. Gayford tells about his closely following accounts of the trial of murderer Prado in the Parisian papers.

Vincent was not satisfied with just reading a couple of hours a night. He was always pushing books constantly to his friends and family. He talked about books at taverns and brothels. He sent booklists to his brother Theo and sister Wil. Gauguin read some of what he suggested, but seemed to leave several of the novels covered in yellow paper in his chair (see above).

If Vincent were alive today, maybe he could have a part time job at the public library in Arles. His supervisor could send him to a workshop to hone his advisory techniques. He could also help with library displays and design some promotional materials. I am sure he could use a few extra euros and mental health benefits.

Aggrevating Aggregators: A Note to Bloglines, Google Reader, and Other Readers

If you are reading this blog through an aggregator, you have missed some content. Several times lately I have posted pieces in which I embedded a form from Zoho Creator. Bloglines and Google Reader do not show these. So, if you notice a gap in the text and wonder what should be there, click on the item title and come to the home site of the blog. There you will find a form and be able to easily contribute to a survey.

Yesterday, I asked for help identifying who should be on a core biography list. Click here to see the post with the embedded form. The data you submit goes directly into a database. I will report the results later in another posting.

It is a good idea to occasionally go from the aggregators to the originating sites because there are often sidebar material that you are missing. Many bloggers have posted their favorite links, and some bloggers have created special features, like their own search tools, which you can access from their sites.

The aggregators are great help to readers trying to keep up, but you should not stay within their lines. Stray a bit to see what you might find.

Biographies in the Public Library: Who Should Be in Every Library? A Survey

When students or other readers ask for biographies of some big name historical figures or eminent artist at the reference desk, I am sometimes disappointed by our collection. I think, "We should have had a biography on (fill in the blank)." I wonder how we missed that famous person.

It occurs to me that we buy our books according to reviews of the books, which for the most part works. We want the best books. Still, we sometimes have a subject driven need at the reference desk, so we need some subject driven selection tools to help us be prepared. One thing I do not remember seeing (maybe you can remind me) is a list of core biographies from the viewpoint of who should be covered in the basic good public library.

So, let's make our own! Who should be in the public library on the biography shelves (or elsewhere if you shelve biographies with the Dewey subjects)?

I assume all the U.S Presidents and some of the first ladies, including Abigail Adams, Dolly Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Julius Caesar, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and some other world leaders.

Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Daniel Boone, Robert E. Lee, William Tecumseh Sherman, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and other historical figures.

Mahatmas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jane Addams, Florence Nightingale, Rosa Parks, and other activists and reformers.

Artists should include Michelangelo Buonarrati, Leonardo Da Vinci, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, and Georgia O'Keeffe.

William Shakespeare, John Milton, Anne Bradstreet, Mark Twain, George Eliot, the Bronte sisters, and other writers.

Scientists should include Galileo Galilei Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and George Washington Carver.

Katherine Hepburn, Charlie Chaplin, James Dean, and some other Hollywood celebrities belong in the list.

So do Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Michael Jordan, and other athletes should be in.

Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig Beethoven, Woody Guthrie, and other musical figures should be present.

Jesus, Muhammad, and Buddha will be there, too.

I am sure to be missing lots of names. What do you think? Here is another survey. Fill it in and submit and the names will go directly into my Zoho database. I will work on a report later.



We may have some names to debate later, too.

Nonfiction Readers' Advisory edited by Robert Burgin

In Nonfiction Readers' Advisory, Robert Burgin collects a dozen essays on the need for and provision of good library advisory service to nonfiction readers.

Joyce Saricks wrote the introduction, in which she called for "truly helpful reference tools that discuss nonfiction in a way that makes librarians aware of connections and possibilities." She goes on to ask for tools that: 1) group books by nonfiction genre, 2) identify core authors and titles, 3) describe ongoing resources for identifying titles, 4) list "sure bets" to give to readers, and 5) network readers' advisory librarians.

In "A History of Readers' Advisory Service in Public Libraries," Bill Crowley tells about American Library Association's Reading with a Purpose program in the 1920s. Subject specialists wrote prescribed reading lists with very educational intent that were sold by ALA to libraries. The experts had no experience with the reading public and promoted difficult works. Librarians were left out of the process. Pleasure reading was not considered. The program was discontinued because the process of updating was cumbersome.

Kathleen de la Pena McCook in "Beyond Boundaries" says that narrative does not have to be linear or chronological. She later says that nonfiction programming in the library is evidence in interest in nonfiction reading.

In " Many Kinds of Crafted Truths: An Introduction to Nonfiction," David Carr says: "Nonfiction is crafted to communicate accurate images to the reader, so that the reader might in turn craft more complex understandings of lived experiences."

He talks about two types of biographies: 1) great and obvious lives and 2) unexpected lives. "Biography and memoir might easily be described through lenses of integrity, courage, philosophy, faith, ethics, and values. As we read these books, we are able to dwell within entire frames of life and behavior we cannot otherwise occupy."

"Our lives are nonfiction; we want them to hold the qualities we seek as we read; authenticity, confirmation, integrity, discipline, veracity, and insight."

In "Reading Nonfiction for Pleasure: What Motivates Readers,"Catherine Ross lists thirteen observations about nonfiction reading and discusses these observations. "Heavy readers" read both fiction and nonfiction for pleasure. ("Heavy" reference to quantity of books read, not weight of the reader.)

Ross reports that Louise Rosenblatt in The Reader, the Text, the Poem (1978) says that "readers bring to their reading not only prior knowledge but also particular dispositions about how they read texts."

"Biographies in particular are often read as blueprints and models for living."

Duncan Smith in "True Stories: Portraits of Four Nonfiction Readers" examines why people like what they like to read. The circumstances of their lives and the interests with which they have grown up factor heavily in their reading choices.

Stacy Alesi in "Readers' Advisory in the Real World" tells about using book sites on the Internet to help her identify nonfiction books for readers. She wrote in late 2003 or early 2004, saying there were no print tools to help her. That is a changing situation.

In "The Story is the Thing: Narrative Nonfiction for Recreational Reading," Vicki Novak defines narrative nonfiction and lists ten reasons to read nonfiction.

The twelve essays in Nonfiction Readers' Advisory give librarians much to consider. They are now three years old and the issue has been discussed in library literature, on blogs, and at conferences, but this text is still a good starting place for study.

Nonfiction Readers' Advisory edited by Robert Burgin. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited, 2004ISBN 159158115x

Phantom Hair Syndrome: A Consumer's Guide by the Editors of Bald

Do you still comb your bald spot? Do you still feel the wind blowing your hair that has not been there for years? Surprised every time you see your reflection? Avoiding mirrors? Maybe you should read Phantom Hair Syndrome: A Consumer's Guide by the Editors of Bald.

This handy guide starts with a history of hair loss among the ancient Egyptians and Greeks with quotes from Socrates via Plato about fate and the loss of locks. Chapters advising against comb-overs, toupees, and hair transplants follow. The third section of the book rates soft brushes that will not scratch the unprotected scalp. In the appendix is a directory of Bald is Beautiful support groups.

Of course, bald people are not the only ones to suffer from phantom hair loss. People who suddenly get short hair cuts suffer, too. Military libraries should stock extra copies.

Phantom Hair Syndrome: A Consumer's Guide by the Editors of Bald. Austin: Colorado River Publishers, 2005.

Avenue of the Saints by Dana Robinson

One of the perks for a library with a folk music series is that musicians wanting to play the venue send free CDs. At Thomas Ford we recently received Avenue of the Saints from Dana Robinson, a North Carolinian who will come with his partner Susan to the library in September 2008 (we're booking far in advance). Dana said that he sent this CD to us because it has a more Mid-Western sound than his other CDs.

"Avenue of the Saints" is a good collection of songs, most written by Robinson, with a lot of variety evoking many moods. He is also a talented guitarist and has a very clear voice. Listeners understand what he sings and can pick up on the choruses. They will especially want to join in on the lively song "What Would Woody Do?" - a modern tribute to Woody Guthrie.

The title song refers to Robinson's driving around the Mid-West. The avenue is U.S. Highway 61, which takes travelers along the Mississippi River between St. Louis and St. Paul, where he notices not only "factory outlets and budget motels" but "bald eagles." Slowly he wakes for another day of driving, and you might want to join him.

My favorite song may be "Susquehanna/Casper & Dots" on which Robinson plays a mandolin and is accompanied by friends on accordion and banjo. The slow shuffle of the first piece moves into a bouncy bluegrass reel. I also really like the traditional song "Ain't No Cane," which has a Cajun sound.

Dana and Susan Robinson have a website with samples of their music (you can listen to samples, download individual songs or order CDs), their schedule, contact information, and entertaining notes from their tours.

I am adding Avenue of the Saints to our library's Friday at the Ford folk collection.

How Readers Are Finding Their Books Survey Results

It has been over a week since I posted my poll using Zoho Creator. To date twenty-six responses are in, including two of my own to see if the form worked. Here are the results, showing how select readers are finding the books they read:

I read a review - 11
A friend recommended the book - 3
A librarian recommended the book - 2
I was given the book - 0
I was assigned the book - 1
I found it on a library shelf or display - 7
I found the book at a bookstore - 1
I found the book online - 0

One person made creative use of the title field to tell me they learned of the book by seeing its author on television.

I only added the "librarian recommended" choice after a comment from a reader who had chosen "friend recommended" because there was not a closer choice. He said he did consider the librarian a friend, so it was okay. The upshot is that the counts are fuzzy.

Reading interests of the respondents are diverse. Fourteen of the books are nonfiction and twelve are fiction. Three of the books are not held by libraries in the Metropolitan Library System (Chicago area). One is in German. One was published in Australia.

Click here to see the Zoho table where the responses reside. Included are the titles that readers entered. You can also search or filter the table, which is pretty cool.

The form still resides on my previous post if you wants to respond and then see the table change.

Thanks, everyone.

Stolen Voices: Young People's War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq

Armies in combat kill noncombatants. Whether the killings are intentional or accidental, it always happens. Many men, women, and children who are trying to avoid the conflict lose their lives. All the war zone survivors lose family and friends and suffer great hardships. This is the case in every diary in Stolen Voices: Young People's War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq, edited by Zlata Filipovic, whose tale of Sarajevo is included, and Melanie Challenger.

Filipovic and Challenger have been broad in their selection of diaries. The young writers have many viewpoints about the rightness of the causes of war. Some change their minds during the course of their experiences, while others harden into original prejudices. They even include diaries from young soldiers, who admit killing innocent people.

The last three diaries from Israeli, Palestinian, and Iraqi youth are especially powerful, as readers knows the situations are unresolved. The three all express helplessness. The last diary will be particularly hard for anyone trying to make political sense of the war in Iraq. Hoda Thamir Jehad describes American soldiers killing her friends and her neighbors as they sweep down her street and invade the houses. Despite this, she cheers the Americans for deposing Hussein and promising democracy. Her diary ends in early 2004. I wonder what she thinks now.

Reading is a sub-theme in the book. Most of the young diarists tell about the books they are reading to escape their misery or to improve themselves for a brighter day.

Stolen Voices is a book that should be in all public and school libraries.

Filipovic, Zlata, ed. Stolen Voices: Young People's War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq. New York: Penguin Books, 2006. ISBN 9780143038719

Thematic Guide to Popular Nonfiction by Lynda G. Adamson

Nonfiction readers' advisory is getting more attention. Add to the recent list of titles Thematic Guide to Popular Nonfiction by Lynda G. Adamson. It will sit well with Real Story by Sarah Statz Cords and Nonfiction Readers' Advisory edited by Robert Burgin.

What Thematic Guide to Popular Nonfiction does differently from most readers' advisory titles is tell more about fewer books. This 352-page book discusses only 155 popular nonfiction titles. In the preface Adamson tells how she chose them. She identifies the booklists that she used to find recurring titles. From approximately 800 titles, she culled standard biography and history, which often have neutral voices, and kept books with distinctive author viewpoints. The resulting list is heavy on memoirs and autobiography. Other books include the stories of the authors' quests for insight on their topics.

Because of the depth of information on the featured titles, the guide is an excellent starting point for students or book discussion groups looking for a book. Any book in this guide will have many reviews or other critical materials available.

Thematic Guide to Popular Nonfiction is not intended as a selection guide. Adamson does not include publisher information on the 155 books. Librarians should, however, note any titles that they are missing and consider them for acquisition.

I like some of the themes that Adamson identifies: change, desire, expatriate experiences, immigrants, roaming, and sports dreams. In an appendix are many more themes, among them aesthetic values, belonging, betrayal, oppression, and scientific study. If a reader has read a book identified in this book, then he/she has numerous suggested next titles.

Libraries serious about readers' advisory will want this book.

Adamson, Lynda. Thematic Guide to Popular Nonfiction. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006. ISBN 0313328552

A Library Loss of Control Dream

Last night I dreamt I was at my first library, which was in the dream three times larger than it ever was. It had a maze of rooms and corridors. I found my way to the reference desk. Here is what happened.

Two insurance men come to the desk and one askes to use the meeting room again to present an "informative" program. He almost laughs when he says "informative." I tell them that they may not because they broke their promise not to promote themselves. The taller man says, "Wasn't that great! I sold five policies on the spot. He sold three."

While I am explaining that this is against library meeting room policy, I look up to see an older woman in a floor-length fur coat and her chauffeur headed for the emergency exit. I bound over and say, "Stop, please, the alarm will sound." They ignore me and go right through. The alarm sounds and I stop it with my key.

After I reset the alarm, I turn and see a long line of older women in floor-length furs headed my way! Then I wake from the dream.

Occasionally I have library dreams and almost all go back to the scene of my first professional position. I was new to the field and had little authority then. It makes psychoanalytic sense to have my dreams there.

Do you have library dreams?

Historic Photos of Chicago: Text and Captions by Russell Lewis of the Chicago History Museum

Russell Lewis observes in his preface to Historic Photos of Chicago that many photographs of the city are locked in archives and not readily available to the students and researchers who could use them. With help from the staff of the Chicago History Museum (formerly called the Chicago Historical Society), he selected 167 representative photos from its archives to arrange by era and publish in this book. Lewis hopes that the book will serve as a good visual introduction to the city.

The book fulfills his wish, as the sequence of images does suggest the passing of time and the complexity of urban history. Most famous buildings and people of the city are included, as are the world's fairs, presidential conventions, and other events. The Great Fire of 1871 is especially well-covered. All the images are black and white and untouched, except for simple restoration.

As a reference librarian, however, I would have liked a little information for my clients. The captions are short, and the notes in the back of the book do not give dates that the photographs were taken; I realize that the dates may be unknown for some of the older images, but estimates would have helped. There is no index to the subjects in the photos.

Many of the images taken between 1902 and 1933 are from the Daily News Collection at the Chicago History Museum. The museum has 55,000 images from this collection available for viewing on its website. These are searchable.

Most public and academic libraries in the Chicago area should add this attractive book. Outside the area, libraries strong in American history or urban studies should consider it.

Historic Photos of Chicago: Text and Captions by Russell Lewis of the Chicago History Museum. Nashville: Turner Publishing Company, 2006. ISBN 1596522550

Baseball Books for Display

Baseball season is fast approaching. It is time to put out some book displays in libraries. I have long been a fan, though I now read the books more than follow the daily scores. Here are some of the titles that I have enjoyed and recommend.

Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville by Stephen Jay Gould - Gould was a lifelong fan. This book collected essays he wrote over many years. Many of them weigh in on controversies, such as does a curve ball really curve and who were the best center fielders.

Baseball Lives: Men and Women of the Game Talk about Their Jobs, Their Lives, and the National Pastime by Mike Bryan - This is a Studs Terkel-like book about concessionaires, groundskeepers, ticket sellers, and everyone else who makes a living from major league baseball.

Home is Everything by Marcos Breton - Latin American players have had a huge impact on the game. Coming up from third world poverty, they have great desire to succeed. Many do not make it.

Glove Affairs: The Romance, History, and Tradition of the Baseball by Noah Liberman - This is a beautifully illustrated little book. You will hardly believe what the old players used to wear.

Lost Ballparks by Lawrence S. Ritter - There was a time when there were no flashing Jumbotrons.

Why is the Foul Pole Fair? by Vince Staten - Staten explains baseball rules and traditions with interesting stories.

I Was Right on Time by Buck O'Neil - O'Neil was a centerpiece of Ken Burns' documentary series on baseball. In his book he tells about the Negro leagues and integration of major league baseball.

Joe Morgan: A Life in Baseball by Joe Morgan - Now a broadcaster, Morgan articulately tells the story of a black player in the second wave still meeting discrimination. The Astros made a bad trade with the Reds.

The American Game by Ira Rosen - Minor League baseball is more fun.

Jane Goodall at the Inside the Mind of Chimpanzee Conference

On Sunday Bonnie and I heard Jane Goodall speak at the final event of Inside the Mind of Chimpanzees, a conference sponsored by Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. The presentation was open to the public and held in Navy Pier's Grand Ballroom. 1700 people attended, most as in awe as I was. I do not remember ever seeing anyone as eminent as Jane Goodall.

Before Goodall took the stage, we heard Richard Wrangham, the author of Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence. He spoke about latest research into chimpanzee intelligence and showed a series of videos of chimps solving problems. I wish there were copies on YouTube so I could link to them. They showed chimps going far beyond making simple tools to fish for termites.

Goodall received a standing ovation for just appearing on the stage. She appeared to speak without notes and kept the audience enthralled with her stories and observations. She told of her early career and the life changing events that led her to pursue environmentalism. Her report on her recent activities updated her book Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey. I think she said that Roots and Shoots, her program to educate youth to care for the earth, now has groups in over 90 countries.

Goodall said that she travels about 300 days a year to give presentations worldwide, so you may have a chance to see her where ever you are. Do so if you can. If you hear she is coming to your area, put up a book display. She has written many books, including a series for children. Her latest book, Harvest for Hope: A Guide for Mindful Eating, calls for people to change eating and shopping habits to influence the food industry.

The Book That I Am Currently Reading Survey Continues

You still have a chance to add the book you are reading to the impromtu survey that I posted using Zoho Creator. The survey box is embedded in a previous post on this blog.

So far, there is a tie for how people chose to read the books that they are reading with "I read a review" and "I found it on a library shelf or display." You have a chance to break the tie or lift the other choices.

Writing Lives: Principia Biographica by Leon Edel

I continue my study of biography as a literary form with Writing Lives: Principia Biographica by Leon Edel (1907-1997). Edel is most know for his five volume biography of Henry James and his editing of collections of that author's letters, plays, and stories. Edel also wrote frequently on the topic of biography, and this book is an expansion and revision of two of his previous books. The focus of Writing Lives is the act of writing biography about writers, so the title has a sort of double meaning.

What most readers will enjoy in Edel's book are his stories about the biographers. He has sections on Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Izaak Walton, Andre Maurois, Lytton Strachey, Virginia Woolf, and Harold Nicolson, most of whom are also discussed in The Nature of Biography by Robert Gittings; these writers seem to be considered the key figures in the development of the literary form. Edel tells about their contributions and their shortcomings, cautioning that it is not always fair to judge them from a more modern standpoint.

There are many interesting anecdotes.

Boswell was very disappointed that Johnson signed a contract to write Lives of the Poets that stipulated that the author would include figures dictated by the publisher. Boswell believed in writing only about subjects that he admired. Johnson was more mercenary yet still maintained independence in what he wrote about the designated subjects.

Lytton Strachey urged biographers to be brief in their prose, writing "into a few shining pages the manifold existences of men." He told writers to illustrate and not to explain lives. Edel points out that while Strachey helped make biography more interesting to read, he was also very guilty of fabricating unknown thoughts and feelings for his subjects.

For the professional Edel discusses the form of the biography, stating that there are three main types:

1. the traditional documentary biography, also called a chronicle,
2. the portrait or pictorial, and
3. the omniscient narrator biography, also called the novelistic biography.

Edel favors the second type, which sketches out the character of the subject through key incidents and does not try to be exhaustive like the first type. He indicates that the third type often skates on ethical ice.

Edel warns biographers that it is usually dull for readers to find accounts of the biographical research in the biographies. (I would disagree, but I am a librarian who enjoys the paper chase.) He suggests that if they must tell stories about their work, they should save them for their own memoirs. There is a memoir aspect to Writing Lives. Edel ends the book with a 32 page story about his writing the famous series on Henry James.

Worldcat shows 666 copies of the book still available in libraries. Writers, librarians, and readers serious about literature will enjoy it.

Edel, Leon. Writing Lives: Principia Biographica. New York: Norton, 1984. ISBN 0393018822

wikiHow: Advice from Anyone

Here is an interesting application of wikis. A website called eHow now has a social wiki called wikiHow. On wikiHow anyone can write instructional material about anything and some other member can modify it. Today there are instruction How to Turn Around a Bad Day at Work. I also see related links to How to Lose Your Fear of Being Fired and How to Call in Sick When You Just Need a Day Off. I do not think you find that last topic addressed very often, maybe for good reasons. Over 100,000 people have looked at that last one.

Not all the help is work related. I see instructions for wrapping a sari, designing your own home, making ricotta cheese, reading aviation routine reports, and hacking a coke machine. There is obviously no ethics panel reviewing the subjects. It looks like you have the right to say anything.

At the bottom of each page is the user name of the creator of the instructional page and names of those who have modified it. You can vote whether a page is accurate.

Next time I need some strange advice, like how to cut in line at a bar, I will try this site.

Seriously, I can imagine legislators or congress people looking at this and say that "There are a few bad pages - let's shut it down!" That would be very wrong. There actually is very much that is good and helpful and democratic. This kind of website is what makes the web so interesting.

Playing Around with Zoho Creator

I have been looking at Zoho Creator for several days, setting up a database about biographical books. Set up is pretty easy, though I need to learn much about later exporting the data for using it elsewhere. In looking at the training videos, I discovered that I can embed a form onto this webpage to collect data that will go directly into the database.

So, here is a test. Tell me what book you are reading and how you picked the title. If you want to use an alias, that's okay. If you want to answer more than once, you can do that, too.



I will display the results in a few days and we will all learn more about how this free database tool works. Maybe we will all learn what and why people are reading.