Books that look good to me, for one reason or another.Everytime I see something that catches my eye, I'll blog it. Gary Duke, Richland librarian.
Site Feed
Book Sparks
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Looking for Beauty in Unexpected Places: Modern Art for the Common "Student"
Why a Painting Is Like a Pizza : A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Modern Art
Among other things, author Nancy Heller answers the really important questions about contemporary and abstract art like: a) How can you tell whether the thing in the corner is a modern sculpture or a humidity monitor? or b) Which end is up? How can you tell? And more than that. "Nancy Heller's wonderful book arrives in the nick of time. Destined to be a classic of public education, it is lucid, engaging, and ingenious, leading the reader through the difficulties and strategies of avant-garde art. Intended for the general audicence, this book is also must reading for teachers, throughout the humanities, which have become distracted by jargon and ideology. Heller is an inspiring role model for university scholars, who must recover and renew their central mission of teaching." -- Camille Paglia. N6490 H42
Thursday, March 04, 2004
How Cell Phones, Pagers and PDAs are Shaping Modern Culture
Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution
Smart Mobs are dynamic groups of people who can act together cooperatively even if they are complete strangers. Howard Rheingold shows how this phenomenon is coming on strong. HM 851 R47 2003.
How to Think Philosophically About Any Subject
Thinking It Through: An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy
Kwame Appiah in Thinking it Through, teaches what it means to do philosophy in our time and why it matters. Eschewing a historical approach, he deals directly with classic problems (God,mind-body, etc.) primarily as a way of instructing us in the thinking ways of philosophers. "Appiah shows us not only what philosophers have thought but how they think, giving us examples we might use in our own attempts to navigate the complex issues that confront any reflective person in the 21st century." Chapters on Mind, Knowledge, Language, Science, Morality, Politics, Law, Metaphysics, and Philosophy. BD 21 A68 2003.
Do You Know What Theory Underlies Your Own Teaching?
Learning Theories: A to Z
In Learning Theories, David Leonard names over 500 learning theory terms and provides substantive descriptions. Each term is identified as to which of the primary learning theories it relates to: cognitivism, constructivism, behaviorism, humanism, or organizational learning. In addition there is an excellent annotated list of selected scholarly books and articles on the subject. LB 15 .L4695 2002.
He's Serious About Humor (Really)
Humor As an Instructional Defibrillator: Evidence-Based Techniques in Teaching and Assessment
In Humor as an Instructional Defibrillator, Ronald Berk takes on a difficult task and, as it appears, does a teriffic job with it. Notice the subtitle: "Evidence Based." This guy talks seriously about a way to be funny usefully... so that students learn the material. "Presents numerous evidence-based humor techniques lumped into four categories: (1) forms that rely on in class delivery, (2) forms that can be inserted in print course materials, (3) print and nonprint forms that can be used on a course Web site, and (4) forms that can be incorporated into any course tests." (flyleaf) LB 1027 .B472 2002.
A Challenge toThink Beyond the Boundaries of Nation-States
One World: The Ethics of Globalization
In One World, Peter Singer covers four main issues: climate change, the role of the World Trade Organization, human rights and humanitarian intervention, and foreign aid. BJ 1500 G56 S56 2002.
How the Modern Age is Rewiring Your Mind
The New Brain
"The New Brain is the story of technology and biology converging to influence the evolution of the human brain." (flyleaf). Among the significant questions Dr. Restak deals with are: What happens in our brains when the image replaces language as the primary means of communication? QP 355.2 R47.
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
A Ranking of the Best People Ever
Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950
Authored by Charles Murray, controversial author of The Bell Curve. A statistical analysis of 4,002 scientists and artists across three millenium best known to encyclopedia editors. According to the NYT Book Review "if we sliced away Murray's staistical apparatus and looked at the "Human Accomplishment" as one of man's now-slender essays on the nature of greatness? It would...be fun read."
