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SirReadaLot.org


We Review the Best of the Latest Books

ISSN 1934-6557

May 2007, Issue #98

 

Guide to this Issue's Contents 

Arts & Photography / Computers & Internet / Graphic Design

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby (Voices That Matter Series: New Riders Press)

Scott Kelby, author of the bestselling Photoshop book, The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers, brings his step-by-step, plain-English style to The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers.
This book doesn't just show readers ‘which sliders do what’; every Lightroom book does that. Kelby shares his personal settings and studio-tested techniques developed using Lightroom for his own photography workflow. The book is laid out in a Photoshop Lightroom workflow order step-by-step so readers can jump in using Lightroom from the start.

Kelby, Editor-in-Chief of Photoshop User magazine, President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Executive Editor of the Photoshop Elements Techniques newsletter, teaches workflow order in the last two chapters by showing the steps of the process. Both chapters start with an on-location photo shoot, including details on the equipment, camera settings, and the lighting techniques. Kelby takes the photos from each shoot (with readers following along using the same images) all the way through the workflow process, to the final output of the 16x20" prints for the client. Because he incorporates Adobe Photoshop into the workflow, readers also learn some of his Photoshop techniques for portrait and landscape photography.

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers gives readers step-by-step directions on the detailed tasks of:

  1. Importing photos into Photoshop Lightroom.
  2. Sorting and organizing photos using the Library Module.
  3. Making minor adjustments to photos using the Library Module's Quick Develop panel.
  4. Performing major adjustments by editing in the Develop Module.
  5. Fixing common problems such as red eye, noise, chromatic aberrations, etc.
  6. Changing color photos to black-and-white using several different methods.
  7. Sharing photos via the Slideshow Module including adding music and choosing playback options.
  8. Using the Print Module to print photos in a variety of ways such as adding text, setting up color management, and printing multiple photos on one page.
  9. Using the Web Module to create a gallery for photos viewable via the web.

This book reveals the secrets of the new digital photography workflow. Kelby shares techniques that make The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers a learning tool. He knows what works and what doesn't, and he tells readers which tools to use, which to avoid, and why. What sets the book apart from the rest are the last two bonus chapters. The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers is the only book to bring the process together in a clear, concise, and visual way. If readers learn best by actually doing projects themselves without all the technical explanations and jargon, and if they want to get up and going right away there is no faster, more straight-to-the-point way to learn than this book.
Arts & Photography / Drawing / Instructional

Exploring Life Drawing: Using Observation & Expression to Develop a Personal Figure Drawing Style by Harold B. Stone (Design Exploration Series: Thomson Delmar Learning)

Exploring Life Drawing introduces the concepts and techniques of drawing the human figure from observation, a skill as relevant for today's new media-driven visual artists as for traditional fine artists. Using a constructivist approach to acquiring skills in observation and rendering, Harold A. Stone, 20-year teacher of art history and studio art, founder of the Minneapolis Drawing Workshop, supports readers to develop their own repertoire.

Written by an experienced drawing instructor and accomplished artist, this extensively illustrated book helps readers build skills and construct an individual drawing style. Each chapter introduces a specific technique, explains its history, and provides clear instruction on how to implement the approach. Exploring Life Drawing also offers detailed, step-by-step demonstrations and specific guidelines for objectively assessing the results. The book includes:

  • A variety of approaches to drawing the human figure, so readers learn different techniques.
  • End-of-chapter summaries and study questions to help students understand and retain material.
  • Step-by-step exercises and demonstrations to guide readers' practice and build skills.
  • Projects that use the lesson material to help readers develop a personal, articulate figure drawing style.
  • Classic and contemporary examples of figure drawing.

In addition to helping them develop skills, Stone teaches readers to understand the set of premises and procedures that have been constant through life drawing's history: its common themes and its methods of making visible an artist's intentions. This is the consensus that makes life drawing central to the humanities and ensures its enduring relevance to artists.

Chapter 1 of Exploring Life Drawing gives instructions for creating a baseline drawing and describes the two major schools of thought about life drawing. In addition, it discusses drawing materials, criteria for evaluating the quality of life drawings, and practices for efficient learning.

Chapter 2 explains how a contour line differs from a contour and contrasts contour line drawing with value drawing. This chapter contains a detailed look at the blind contour exercise, along with a variation of it that allows students to immediately make competent line drawings.

Chapter 3 is a detailed look at value as it is used to describe the human form. It defines terms related to value, explains the three-value exercise, and shows two ways to do it.

Chapter 4 is an exploration of gesture in life drawing. It contains a discussion of the metaphor of balance in Western art and relates it to gesture drawing as an empathetic response to the movement in the pose.

In Chapter 5, students use quick studies to integrate contour line, value, and gesture, with the emphasis on creating a cooperative dialog between line and value. Chapter 6 is an in-depth exploration into modeling drawing. Chapter 7 is dedicated to the complexities of proportion. It discusses classical, objective, empirical and internal proportions, and how they are applied in life drawing. Chapter 8 explains in detail what the figure-ground relationship is and how figure-ground choices help communicate the artist's intentions.

Chapter 9 deals with the compositional issues unique to figurative art. It defines picture-plane-based composition and compares it to figure-based composition, explains how a spatial dialog can make drawings more interesting, and concludes with a project that develops an integrated deep-space composition.

In Chapter 10, students reflect on the skills they acquired during this course of instruction to recognize their own drawing styles and create finished, complete works of art. This chapter shows some ways narrative and abstraction can be used in a finished drawing, has a structured exercise in drawing a finished portrait, and concludes with a step-by-step exercise in which students will create a finished drawing consistent with their own intentions, ambitions, and standards.

Exploring Life Drawing teaches specific, demonstrable skills and shows how they can be used in a method of intellectual inquiry. This highly-visual book uses plain language to explain the sometimes complex ideas related to the human figure in art and connect them to the daily practice of life drawing. The text is strengthened by a robust art program – containing classic and contemporary images from some of the largest collections in the world – giving readers an opportunity to learn from the masters and to connect with the history and grandeur of the art form.

Exploring Life Drawing is informed by the 30 years Stone has spent drawing the figure and more than 20 years as a college art instructor, and it shows. The text will be helpful to serious artists, but also fairly represent life drawing to someone whose involvement with it extends no further than a single survey course. Although drawing skills are helpful while learning life drawing, it is not necessary for students to have had previous instruction in drawing in order to use the book.

Arts & Photography / Fashion

Cowboy Boots: The Art and Sole by Jennifer June, with a foreword by Dwight Yoakam & photography by Marty Snortum (Universe)

Stare at a cowboy boot. If you are swayed by its realism and its stitches' twists and turns, the boot may well be the product of unparalleled craftsmanship. If, however, you look at a boot and find it impossible to concentrate – your mind hopelessly wanders to memories of a road trip, a lover who broke your heart, or a personal dream left unfulfilled – then the boot before you is most likely a work of art. Either way, it needs to tell a good story. – from the book

Cowboy boots are the most emblematic of American fashion icons, repositories of western tradition and symbols of the strength and endurance of American style. In recent times, cowboy boots have become permanent fixtures of the fashion world and of Hollywood westerns. Their wardrobe longevity proves that cowboy boots are far from a fashion trend, but instead are a staple in the American wardrobe. To author and boot maker Jennifer June and renowned photographer Marty Snortum they are also works of art. They pay homage to the western-wear icon in Cowboy Boots: The Art and Sole.

June, owner of Big Star Boots in Oakland, takes readers through the diverse history of the boot, from the early days prior to 1930 to the modern twists on traditional styles popular a century ago. She looks in detail at the motifs and metaphors that ornament the cowboy boot, from the artistic traditions of Texas boot makers to the symbolism in stitchings of flora and fauna, and examines the different styles, shapes, and materials of boots through the ages. Featuring insights and testimonials from custom cowboy boot makers and obsessive buyers alike, Cowboy Boots also features a section on how to design one’s own individual boot.
Apparent from the wealth of information she shares, June knows her subject well. She presents a history showing how the style and construction of cowboy boots have evolved over time, and how the design motifs and artistry tell a story about the owner of the boots and the history of the American West. A boot-maker as well, Snortum's full-color photographs showcase the craftsmanship in each pair of boots – from the simple and elegant to the bold and colorful – whether working boots for the ranch, or dress boots for a night on the town.

Cowboy Boots is a must for anyone interested in the history of this uniquely American fashion classic, and fans of cowboy boots will be awestruck by the examples collected in this volume. Beautifully illustrated with photographs of boots, boot makers, and cowboy fashionistas, Cowboy Boots presents the definitive perspective on the changing roles and various styles. June’s mix of history, homage, resources, and good stories promises to be as collectible as the boots that pack each page.

Arts & Photography / Graphic Design

Basics Illustration: Thinking Visually by Mark Wigan (Basics Illustration Series: AVA Publishing)

The first book in the Basics Illustration series, Thinking Visually introduces and explores the challenge of the visual interpretation of text. The book focuses specifically on learning to think visually and turn words into pictures. The handbook's aim is to introduce fundamental techniques, inspire, inform and act as a resource on international contemporary practice. The book looks at how illustrators develop their own personal visual language by learning the basics, being open minded, imaginative and hardworking.

Thinking Visually explores the importance of ideas, research, drawing and experimentation and is an educational tool featuring short exercises, methods, workshops, techniques, media and a range of historical and contemporary contexts. Conceptual and interpretive illustration, experimental mark making, observational and intuitive drawing, the importance of visual metaphors, image construction, satire, the fusion of traditional and digital, research and archiving, cultural developments, and current issues – all aspects of the craft of illustration are presented in the book with authoritative text and visuals.
Thinking Visually is written by artist, illustrator and academic Mark ‘Wigan’ Williams who works internationally in a broad range of media. His current work is a multimedia archive chronicling the changing worlds of club culture and street style. He teaches at Camberwell College of Arts in London, and for the past ten years, he has also been lecturing in Tokyo and the United Kingdom.

Thinking Visually features a wide range of work demonstrating diverse visual languages, contexts, ideas, techniques and skills. Contemporary illustrators from all over the world engaged in a diverse range of approaches to the discipline have contributed their artwork and commentaries on visual thinking and working process. The handbook also features the work of recent graduates, present students and observations from educators past and present. The book includes work by: Al Murphy (B13), Amore, Andrew Rae, Anthony Burrill, Annabelle Hartmann, Basquiat, Boudicon, Big Active, Chris Draper, David Foldvari, eBoy, Gina Triplett, Eelco Van den Berg, Elliot Thoburn, Florence Manlik, Ian Pollock, i like drawing, Jody Barton, JAKe, Janet Woolley, Jasper Goodall, Jim The Illustrator, Joel Lardner, Jon Burgerman, Kate Gibb, Keith Haring, Olaf Hajek, Marc Baines, Marcus Oakley (Banjo), Marie O'Connor, Mark Pawson, Miles Donovan, NEW, Parra, Peepshow, Paul Davis, Paul Blow, Pedro Lino, Pete and Bernard Gudynas, PMH, Rachel Cattle, Rian Hughes, Stephen Bliss, Tatty Devine, Will Sweeney, Yuko Kondo, Zeel, Black Convoy andThe Illustrated Ape.

The book covers subjects including: Research, Brainstorming, Sketchbooks, Influences, Drawing, Timelines, Life Drawing, Lateral Thinking, Line, Portraiture, Composition, Abstraction, Gesture, Color, Enquiry, Experimental Workshops, Sampling, Risk Taking, Serendipity, Juxtaposition, Visual Metaphors, Collage, Points of View, Interpretation, Content, Style, Decoration, Underground Urban Street Art, Storytellers, Fantastic Worlds, Social Comment, Tools of The Trade, Printmaking, Hybrid Media, The Digital Domain, Learning Through Making, Method, Working Process, Collaboration, Briefs and Deadlines.

The Basics Illustration series explores key areas of illustration through a series of case studies juxtaposed by key creative ‘basics’. Contemporary work is supported by concise descriptions. The series also includes Text & Image, Sequential Images, and the New Contexts books.
Thinking Visually is complete and authoritative, groundbreaking for students and thought-provoking for everyone. It reveals cultural developments and issues in illustration. It introduces the challenge of the visual interpretation of text (words into pictures). It helps to build basic knowledge of major cultural developments and issues in illustration, and provides a broad understanding of illustration in the context of communication design.

Thinking Visually provides a broad understanding of illustration in the context of communication design. The target audience includes first and second year university students studying illustration, established professionals, and anyone interested in developing their illustration skills and knowledge of illustration.Arts & Photography / History & Criticism

Transformation of Knowledge: Early Manuscripts from the Collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg edited by Crofton Black, with a preface by Christopher de Hamel & an introduction by Lawrence J. Schoenberg (Paul Holberton publishing)

This remarkable collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in Western and Eastern languages reflects the collector's fascination with science and technology. These early hand-written volumes, the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg, reveal the complexity and sophistication of pre-modern knowledge about the physical world in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions. The interdependence of these traditions, and their mutual reliance on the legacy of antiquity, are a particular emphasis of Transformation of Knowledge.

According to preface author Christopher de Hamel, Schoenberg would probably have got on well in the court of Rudolf II of Bohemia (1576-1612). In Prague, the emperor gathered a circle of exceptional scholars, collectors and scientists, looking at the Copernican universe in a new way and sometimes also in very old ways, for they practiced alchemy and the arts of magic. Schoenberg is a logician, an early innovator of computer software, a successful businessman, a philanthropist, an international tennis and chess player, and a tireless traveler. His extraordinary collection of early manuscripts has no modern parallel, comprising not only the jaw-dropping illuminated high-spots, which have graced the various public exhibitions to which selections have often been lent, but also the unexpected and quirky, the strange and exotic. The theme of Schoenberg's library – secular texts, especially science and mathematics – might seem to narrow the field to a few great and well-charted authors. There they all are, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Euclid, and Boethius, among others, but as well as these, there are the unexpected. In Transformation of Knowledge too are astrology, algebra, botany, astronomy in Hebrew, anatomy in Arabic, the Wonders of Creation in Persian; here are the Algorismus of Sacrobosco, the Isagoge of Gerbert of Auvergne, Dioscorides, Pomponius Meta, al-Biruni, al-Tusi, Avicenna, William of Conches, Gauthier de Metz, Alfonso the Wise, Albertus Magnus, Regiomontanus. The names are as resonant as incantations, and they conjure up a spirit world of heresy, magic, alchemy and human genius across all cultures.

Equally worthy of note, although not in Transformation of Knowledge except where catalog entries are correlated to it in the Concordance, is the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts, a brilliantly organized index, mostly entered by Schoenberg himself, of well over 80,000 different medieval manuscripts which have been sold at auction or have changed hands, anywhere in the world, in the last two hundred and fifty years. The database allows one to track countless manuscripts which none of us knew existed, and to follow the journeys and wanderings of this itinerant class of art back and forth across the world, into libraries and out again, often invisible except from their footsteps through the salerooms. There are more manuscripts on the Schoenberg Database than in any of the largest national libraries in the world. It has the potential to transform medieval studies and the history of taste and economics, and it has already revolutionized auctioneers' sale catalogues.

Today, according to Schoenberg, his collection, Bibliotheca Schoenbergensis revealed in Transformation of Knowledge, consists of medieval and Renaissance secular manuscripts with an emphasis on mathematics and science and the application of that knowledge to everyday life. It reflects the transformation of man's knowledge about the world around him from simple observation to recognition, to documenting and analysis, and then to the application and interpretation of that learning.

As such, he traces this transformation of knowledge from magic to science, astrology to astronomy, alchemy to chemistry, numerology to mathematics, remedies to pharmacology, and wonders to natural science particularly as it moved back and forth between cultures in the Golden Crescent and across various languages from Greek and Latin, to Arabic and Hebrew, to the Romance languages. Schoenberg is more interested in the interconnection between manuscripts than in each as an individual codex.

According to Transformation of Knowledge editor, Crofton Black, many remarkable records of human endeavor sit side by side in the Schoenberg Collection. This material gathered spans over four thousand years, from the practice of arithmetic in Babylon in the third millennium BC to a report on submarine detection experiments in 1919. Its particular concentration, however, is on the ‘early modern’ era, running approximately from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries.

Knowledge has many facets. The arrangement of the first half of this catalogue is inspired by the medieval pedagogic scheme of the seven liberal arts – grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. In the second half, this standard framework is complemented by records of other ways in which people interacted with their environment – medicine, alchemy and chemistry, technology, agriculture and the legal system.

The focus of Transformation of Knowledge is almost entirely secular. Nonetheless, behind most of the works stand the intertwined traditions of the three great near-eastern monotheist faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. All of the cultures which coalesced around these religions were profoundly influenced by the intellectual developments of pagan antiquity. With a few exceptions this religious framework delineates the geographical scope of this selection of material – from Europe to North Africa, to the Middle East and central Asia, following the silk route as far as Samarqand.

This catalogue traces the reception of a number of ancient authorities of central importance, Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemy and Galen among others. Reception encompasses reading, translating, copying, abridging, commentating and criticizing. By studying it we can plot the lives of these works in parallel and successive cultural contexts; we can determine how they were read and misread, how they were attacked and defended. From this combat none of them survives unscathed, but their longevity is remarkable. In this catalogue we find Aristotle still underpinning university study in 1666; we observe Ptolemy's sun, still revolving around the earth in 1680; and we encounter Galen's Theory of humors, still requiring refutation at the end of the seventeenth century.

The longevity of these authorities is the result of their transformation, as the title of this catalogue makes clear. As they shift from Greek to Arabic and Hebrew, to Latin, or move between Islam, Judaism and Christianity, each culture realigns them into its own frame of reference. This process of assimilation can be harmonious; or, as the host culture attempts to digest a body of alien thought, it can prove bitterly controversial.

Waiting in the wings, meanwhile, are those whose works will eventually lead to the downfall of these eminent ancients – Copernicus, Descartes, Newton and Leibniz. For this catalogue is also a record of innovation.

Beyond the demarcation of these intellectual highlights a particularly valuable aspect of Transformation of Knowledge is the light it casts on more typical, but less studied, records of thought. These include university textbooks and theses, necessary to define the norm against which exceptional achievements are measured. The collection therefore helps readers not only glimpse the intellectual peaks of the period but also to survey the plateau from which they emerge. Ghostly figures, overlooked by mainstream historical narrative, can regain some semblance of flesh and blood.

Transformation of Knowledge is a richly illustrated and remarkable collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in Western and Eastern languages. Manuscripts are not rare; they are unique: each one provides a snapshot of one or more individuals grappling with the intellectual problems of their time. This catalogue presents each item in a way which reflects both its individuality and its links with longstanding, constantly transforming tradition.

Schoenberg's unparalleled collection is a direct and evocative testament to the range of human knowledge – mathematical, medical, astronomical, and technological – as it evolved in the medieval and early modern era.

Biographies & Memoirs

Kinfolks: Falling off the Family Tree – The Search for My Melungeon Ancestors by Lisa Alther (Arcade Publishing)

Most of us grow up thinking we know who we are and where we come from.

As Lisa Alther tells in Kinfolks, her mother hailed from New York, her father from Virginia, and every day they reenacted the Civil War at home in East Tennessee. Then a babysitter with bad teeth told Alther about the Melungeons: six-fingered child-snatchers who hid in caves outside of town. Forgetting about these creepy kidnappers until she had a daughter of her own, Alther describes how she learned they were actually a group of dark-skinned people living in isolated parts of the South. But who were they? Descendants of Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony, or of shipwrecked Portuguese or Turkish sailors? Or the children of frontiersmen, African slaves, and Native Americans? Theories abounded, but no one seemed to know for sure.

Learning that a cousin had his extra thumbs removed, Alther, a bestselling novelist, sets out to discover who these mysterious Melungeons really are. Alther is particularly mystified by her Cadillac-driving grandmother, who, for all her pride in her blueblood Virginia heritage, refuses to contact her back-home relatives. But what induces Alther to turn genealogical sleuth is that same cousin's declaration that he is a Melungeon. Were there Melungeons in her family tree?

Controversial theories suggest Melungeons are of African, Portuguese, Turkish, and/or Native American descent. High-spirited, Alther's curiosity sends her to dusty courthouse archives, Native American casinos, and locales across Europe and Turkey, and her findings enable her to bring historical Appalachia into focus as a landing place for refugees from all over Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

In the end, Alther in Kinfolks describes how, although she assembled a hoard of clues over the years, DNA testing finally offered answers. This is the author’s first work of non-fiction.

A sometimes hilarious, often poignant, always memorable ride. – Judy Blume

Like a detective story, clues in all kinds of improbable places, leading to astonishing conclusions . .. Most engaging, written with the dry humor of Alther at her best. – Doris Lessing

Heartily welcomed ... This story needs to be told, as it is emblematic of so much of the mixing that has gone on. – Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The kind of book that stays with you for years ... Tantalizingly perceptive, it seeps into your bones and becomes a part of you. – Tahir Shah

A bold adventure and . . . very funny. – Gail Godwin

Fascinating ... It tells a long and winding tale with laugh-out-loud, kick-you-in-the-gut humor. – Honor Moore

With her characteristic insight and wit, Lisa Alther . . . demonstrates that ... the journey is clearly as worthwhile as the desired destination. – Wayne Winkler

Drolly hilarious and incisive ... A provocative take on the South's obsession with skin color. – Booklist

Honest and funny ... Alther ... crushes all of our favorite illusions about racial identity. – W. Ralph Eubanks

The bestselling author of Kinflicks chronicles her search for the missing branches of her family tree in this dazzling, uproarious memoir. Trading on the title of her first novel, Alther presents Kinfolks, a wise and funny inquiry into the complexities of inheritance. Drolly incisive, Alther attempts to decode family secrets, gets to know self-declared Melungeons, and considers her unexpected ties to Pocahontas, ultimately presenting a provocative take on the South's obsession with skin color. Part sidesplitting travelogue, part how – and how not – to climb one’s family tree, Kinfolks shimmers with wicked humor, illustrating just how wacky and wonderful the human family really is.

Business & Investing / Economics / History

Appalachian Aspirations: The Geography of Urbanization and Development in the Upper Tennessee River Valley, 1865-1900 by John Benhart Jr. (University of Tennessee Press)

In the fall of 1865, two Union offi­cers stationed in East Tennessee during the Civil War – Hiram Chamberlain and John Wilder – decided to stay in the South to pur­sue business careers. They recognized poten­tial in the ‘untapped’ resources they had seen during military operations in this part of the state. Within the space of four years, Chamberlain and Wilder had recruited busi­ness partners, built an operating iron furnace in the Upper Tennessee River Valley (the Roane Iron Company), and established a com­pany town at Rockwood, Tennessee. Twenty years later, in some parts of Appalachia, newly planned towns were being established by land companies that wanted to develop model industrial real estate ventures. In the Upper Tennessee River Valley, these new towns – Cardiff, Harriman, and Lenoir City, Tennessee – were planned to be the quintes­sential places for industrial production and urban living as they were characterized by urban/sanitary reform ideals, temperance te­nets, and distinctive urban landscapes.

In Appalachian Aspirations, John Benhart, professor and chair in the Department of Geography and Regional Planning at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, pre­sents the story of the evolution of capitalism and regional development in the Upper Ten­nessee River Valley in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The book's conclu­sion focuses on what the story of this region between 1860 and 1900 tells readers about development patterns in many parts of Appalachia during this period. It focuses on stages of capitalism, the role of individual capitalists and business entities, and the urban landscapes created in Appalachia through various capitalist strategies.

The emphasis of the accounts of the day, regardless of time period, was the failure of land companies (capitalists) to accomplish what they had set out to do. To be sure, the attempts of the East Tennessee Land Company and its contem­poraries to plan and build manufacturing complexes and model industrial cities in the Upper Tennessee River Valley had largely failed, leaving behind remnant landscapes. But for this story it is not the end result that matters so much. In telling the story of the Upper Tennessee River Valley, Appalachian Aspirations takes a differ­ent tack: that the strategies and methods of capitalists during particular time periods, and the geographic imprints that they leave behind on the earth's surface, can enhance our understanding of regional landscapes.

We can learn from the efforts of entrepreneurs who attempted to introduce industrial and corporate capitalism to the Upper Tennessee River Valley between 1865 and 1900. Although they did not succeed in achieving many of their goals in the region (producing steel or building large cities, for example), their stories illuminate some important aspects of regional geography and his­tory, capitalist development strategies, and urban planning that were occurring throughout Appalachia and the United States during this period. A dis­cussion of some important themes that run through the story of development in the Upper Tennessee River Valley between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the twentieth century are useful for context.

What does the story of the Upper Tennessee River Valley tell us about capi­talism and regional development in Appalachia and the United States? It tells us many specific things about the region and the time period, and about why some places became important urban centers and others did not. In addition, it reinforces something we already knew – that capitalism is very adaptable and capitalists are often creative in their responses to varying contexts. The story of regional development in the Upper Tennessee River Valley, unlike the focus of Appalachian Aspirations, does not end in 1893 (or 1900). After 1893, the decision-making contexts for capitalists changed significantly: capital markets were gone, and the region's iron ore had proven to be too impure to make steel. To many capitalists, the Upper Tennessee River Valley ceased to be an attractive region for investment. For others who decided to stay, a new profit strategy seemed in order – low-wage manufacturing.

A groundbreaking examination of East Tennessee's journey from mercantile to industrial capitalism and then its plunge into corporate capitalism right on the eve of the 1893 financial panic. Benhart brings it all to life by highlighting key industrial and city-planning projects, and by tracing the careers of pivotal capitalists. – Paul Salstrorn, author of Appalachia's Path to Dependency: Rethinking a Region's Economic History, 1730-1940

Appalachian Aspirations tells readers a great deal about regional landscapes, the efforts of entrepreneurs, regional geography and history, capitalist development strategies, and urban planning in this region during this time. It will be of particular value to students and scholars of urban and historical geography, regional development, and the New South era, as well as those in­terested in Appalachian studies.

Business & Investing / Economics / Outdoors & Nature / Ecology

Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water by Alan Snitow & Deborah Kaufman, with Michael Fox (Jossey-Bass)

Is water a human right or a commodity to be marketed for profit? Should water be run by local governments or by distant corporations? Is it a source of profit for those in control and a commodity available only to those who can afford to pay? Why do we pay more for bottled water than for gasoline? Will water become the oil of the twenty-first century?

These are some of the tough-minded questions Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman first asked in their provocative and memorable 2004 documentary, also titled Thirst. Their PBS documentary showed how communities around the world are resisting the privatization and commodification of water. 

Thirst, the book, picks up where the documentary left off, revealing the emergence of controversial new water wars in the United States and showing how communities here are fighting this battle, often against companies headquartered overseas. In their book, Snitow, award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist and Kaufman, film producer, director, and writer, investigate how the growing ‘water business’ is trying to privatize water systems in cities scattered across the United States.

Thirst is a cautionary tale told through vivid descriptions of eight conflicts over water – from Stockton to Atlanta, Georgia. According to the authors, out of sight of most Americans, global corporations like Nestlé, Suez, and Veolia are rapidly buying up local water sources – lakes, streams, and springs – and taking control of public water services. In their drive to privatize and commodify water, they have manipulated and bought politicians, clinched backroom deals, and subverted the democratic process by trying to deny citizens a voice in fundamental decisions about their most essential public resource.

Should we worry about these new water wars? According to Snitow and Kaufman, the answer is Yes. Water is not only a limited resource; it is also necessary for biological survival. In fact, we are at the tipping point in the new global water wars. The United States is ground zero. What happens in the next few years will determine the fate of water and our basic democratic rights here and abroad. Thirst is a battlefield account of the conflict.

It also vividly shows how people in affected communities are fighting back to keep water affordable, accessible, sustainable, and public by creating new methods to challenge the corporate juggernaut in an age of globalization. More often than not, local citizens don't even know their water is being sold. But when they do find out what's happening, they form powerful coalitions, fueled by indignation and outrage. In the process, citizens rediscover some of the basic principles of democracy, namely, that they should have a voice in their government.

…an interesting read, well-written and thoroughly documented… completed by 50 pages of careful notes and references, helpful and informative. – World Business

As a congressman from the Great Lakes region, I appreciate this timely and important work on a critical public policy question: Is water a natural resource to be protected by the public realm, or is it just another commodity? – Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Ohio

A riveting and engaging account of one of the most important environmental issues of our time: Will corporations or citizens control our water? – Carl Pope, executive director, Sierra Club

A smart, gripping narrative of the way 'big money' is cornering the market for life's basic ingredient. It will shock you – and it should! – Jeff Faux, founder of the Economic Policy Institute, and author, The Global Class War

The fight for the right to water has hit the U.S. heartland and this passionate, information-packed book tells the story of ordinary Americans engaged in extraordinary struggles to save their water heritage for future generations. Every American should read it. – Maude Barlow, chair of Council of Canadians, and author, Blue Gold

Who really owns your water? It may not be who you think. Read this provocative and insightful book and find out about the politics and economics of growing attempts to privatize our most vital public resource – the stuff that comes out of your tap. – Peter Gleick, president, Pacific Institute for Development, Environment and Security

A terrific read – startling and motivating. Thirst helps us see that the fight for the right to water is in fact a struggle for democracy itself. Read Thirst and dive into the twenty-first century's core challenge: Do we save ourselves by the market's logic, or as citizens do we deepen democracy's logic? – Frances Moore Lappé, author, Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life

The current conflict between corporations and citizens movements to control this precious resource," they write, "will be decided in the years to come. The outcome of the conflict will surely be a measure of our democracy in the 21st Century. …They're right. See their film. Read this important book. Then decide if you agree that public control of water is essential for our health and the health of our democracy. – San Francisco Chronicle

Both fast paced and sharply observant, Thirst exposes corporate attempts to take over municipally controlled water in communities around the country, to buy up rights to groundwater in the United States, and to create and corner the market on bottled water.

 Business & Investing / Personal Finance / Reference

Personal Finance Desk Reference by Ken Little (Alpha Books)

We are not a patient society, and planning – much less saving – for a long-term goal is not something that comes naturally to many people. The marketing folks have conditioned us to want our reward now, not later. However, a new car or a college education or a solid retirement fund won't happen overnight or by itself. These financial goals and others require you to make and stick to a financial plan that will allow you to achieve success. – from the book

Personal finances are becoming more and more complex.

Whether readers are recent college graduates or veterans of the workforce, we all know how important it is to find balance in the financial world. Personal Finance Desk Reference is a resource for all readers’ money questions. The book can help them manage their money with information on budgeting, banking, investments, insurance, debt management, taxes, and retirement planning – all in one place.

From financial planning basics to unexpected life changes that may affect one’s personal fortune, beginning with the basics of financial planning (budgeting, interest, banking, insurance, and debt), Personal Finance Desk Reference offers:

  • A comprehensive overview of investing – from stocks and bonds to 401(k) and exchange-traded funds.
  • Critical information to help readers make insur­ance decisions, including life, automobile, homeowners, health, disability, and more.
  • Tips on how to deal with mortgage and home equity loans, car loans, credit cards, and other debt.
  • Retirement advice covering employer plans, self-employed savings options, Social Security, Medicare, and more.

Topics include financial planning, budgeting, emergency funds, financial software, interest rates, inflation and money, banking, insurance, debt management, credit ratings, investing, real estate, taxes, retirement, estate planning and life changes.

Personal Finance Desk Reference also includes a detailed glos­sary, examples of financial worksheets, information on the latest personal finance and tax preparation software, and tips for building and sustaining a budget. The author, Ken Little, a veteran financial writer and editor, has worked, as both a journalist and an industry professional. Now editor of About.com’s stocks page, he was also chief financial writer for www.estrong.com.

Personal Finance Desk Reference offers one-stop shopping for all things financial –a comprehensive reference book on this sprawling subject. Beginning with the basics of financial planning, this helpful guide covers everything, including investing, taxes, retirement, estate planning, and more.

Children’s / Ages 4-10 / Arts & Poetry

Red Fox at McCloskey's Farm by Brian Heinz, illustrated by Chris Sheban (Creative Editions)

The henhouse shakes and feathers fly
When RED FOX pokes his nose inside,
And rooster, hens, and chicks decide
To flap for cover, run and hide.

A classic conflict is given a classic treatment in Red Fox at McCloskey's Farm, written by a former long-term, science and language elementary-school teacher Brian Heinz, a picture book sure to become a classic.

A moonlit night, a hungry fox, a sleepy farmer and his watchdog, and a coop full of nervous chickens all add up to a ruckus of ruffled feathers and delightful rhyme. Red Fox is a hungry forest-dweller who has picked the wrong night to swipe a plump chicken from McCloskey's farm. After making his way down wooded trails and rows of corn, the hungry fox comes face to face with a grumpy hound dog and his agitated master. Will Red Fox make his escape and live for a chicken dinner another night?

With wonderful storytelling ease, Heinz spins the yarn of an overconfident fox in search of a chicken dinner. Between Fox and his prey are a watchful hound dog and Farmer McCloskey himself, so it's not surprising that the henhouse shakes and feathers fly before the tale ends. …This humorous verse is best read aloud. Its cadence moves smoothly, but also allows for dramatic pauses (and laughter). While the text will no doubt tickle the funny bone, the illustrations will bring on belly laughs. The dramatic compositions also draw viewers into the story. Dusky velvet light sets the scene for Fox's foray into night, and glowing moonlight and dappling shadows give additional stealth to the nocturnal landscape. From the rhythmic text to the humorous fold-out illustrations, this book is a winner. – Carolyn Janssen, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH, School Library Journal

The humor, colorful imagery, and lively rhythm of Heinz's poetry in make Red Fox at McCloskey's Farm a book that begs to be read aloud. Fold-out pages give the words life in large illustrations, and the dreamlike quality of Chris Sheban's artwork – which superbly captures the sly playfulness of Red Fox, the frenzied clumsiness of McCloskey, and the understandable unease of the chickens – makes turning each page an experience that will not soon be forgotten. And the weight of the pages helps the book stand up to the use of little fingers.

Children’s / Ages 8 & Up / Literature / Classics

Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Comes Back by P. L. Travers, illustrated by Mary Shepard (Harcourt)

A blast of wind, a house-rattling bang, and Mary Poppins arrives at Number Seventeen Cherry-Tree Lane. Quicker than she can close her umbrella, she takes charge of the Banks children – Jane, Michael, and the twins – and changes their lives forever. Mary Poppins is not your average nanny: She slides up banisters, pulls all manner of wonders out of her empty carpet bag, and banishes any thoughts of fear, naughtiness or sadness with a no-nonsense ‘Spit-spot.’ Leading the Banks children on one magical adventure after another, she makes everyday life extraordinary.

This omnibus edition, Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Comes Back, combines the two Mary Poppins classics, Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Comes Back, that inspired both the 1964 movie and the Broadway musical.

P. L. Travers (1899-1996) was a drama critic, travel essayist, reviewer, lecturer, and the creator of Mary Poppins. Travers wrote several other books for adults and children, but it is for the character of nanny Mary Poppins that she is best remembered. Illustrator Mary Shepard (1910-2000) was the daughter of Ernest Shepard, illustrator of the Winnie the Pooh books and The Wind in the Willows. She illustrated Travers's Mary Poppins books for more than fifty years.

The first two adventures of everyone's favorite nanny – Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Comes Back – are combined in this beautiful volume which will bring the beloved character to a new generation of readers. With the original, iconic illustrations by Shepard and the heartwarming stories that have brought laughter to children all over the world, this book is chock-full of all things magical.

In fact, it’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Children’s / Teens / History & Historical Fiction

Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner (Random House Books for Young Readers)

She is beautiful, she is a princess, and Aphrodite is her favorite goddess, but something in Helen of Sparta just itches for more out of life. Unlike her prissy sister, Clvtenmestra, she takes no pleasure in weaving and embroider. And despite what her mother says, she's not even close to being interested in getting married. Instead, she wants to do combat training with her older brothers, go on heroic adventures, and be free to do what she wishes and find out who she is.

Not one to count on the gods – or her looks – to take care of her, Helen sets out in Nobody's Princess to get what she wants with steely determination and a sassy attitude. That same attitude makes Helen a few enemies – such as the self-proclaimed ‘son of Zeus’ Theseus – but it also intrigues, charms, and amuses those who become her friends, from the famed huntress Atalanta to the young priestess who is the Oracle of Delphi.
In Nobody's Princess, author Esther Friesner weaves together history and myth. Friesner, former teacher at Vassar and Yale, is the author of 31 novels and over 150 short stories, including the story ‘Thunderbolt’ in Random House's Young Warriors anthology, which led to the creation of Nobody's Princess. She is also the editor of seven popular anthologies and a poet and a playwright to boot.

This is my kind of heroine: bright, stubborn... and true warrior. – Tamora Pierce

Nobody's Princess offers up adventure, humor, and a fresh and engaging heroine that readers cannot help but root for. And another dang female role model.
Cooking, Food & Wine

Italian Baking Secrets by Father Giuseppe Orsini (Thomas Dunne Books)

The prevalence of Italian restaurants across the U.S. speaks volumes about America's delight with the cuisine of Italy.

The ‘Pope of Pasta,’ the ‘Priest among the Pots,’ returns with his latest book, a
‘classico’ of all Italian culinary traditions: Italian Baking Secrets. Widely known and beloved, Catholic priest Giuseppe Orsini loves family, cooking, and Italian food in particular . . . not necessarily in that order. Orsini, who claims to be retired, still manages to minister occasionally in an Italian parish in New Jersey, and to hold office in several Italian-American community organizations.

Italian Baking Secrets is Orsini’s sixth cookbook, and once again readers get not only recipes from the great tasting cuisine of Italy, but also the priest’s entertaining comments. The book begins with the story of how the use of grain developed as long ago as – or possibly even prior to – the Neolithic period. Through anecdotes, he lets readers see the way bread has evolved, from flat loaves baked on hot stones to the myriad breads that have evolved in Italy alone.

Italian Baking Secrets presents the best ways to make the country's breads, cookies, desserts, and other treats. Orsini mixes his irreverent humor with stories and traditions of the parts of Italy the baking recipes come from. Beginning with breads, Orsini takes readers step-by-step through the basics of ingredients needed, the techniques required, and the tools of the trade necessary to create such delights as Pane di Como Antico a Pane Francese (more commonly known today as ‘French Bread’), Pane Siciliano (Sicilian Bread), Pane Pugliese (Bread of Puglia), Piccia Calabrese (Calabrian Bread), Focaccia Gorgonzola (Gorgonzola Focaccia), and other varieties.

From there Orsini turns his attention to pastries including Crostata di Ricotta (Italian Cheesecake or Ricotta Tart), Crostata di Fichi Freschi (Fresh Fig Pie), Trota di dolce Formaggio di Carmelo (Cannel's – Father's niece, Carmel Cheesecake minus bottom crust), Biscotti del mio Papa (Cookies from a recipe of Father Orsini's father), Biscotti con Sesami e Arancio (Sesame Orange Biscotti), Biscotti con Coco e Ciocolatta (Coconut Biscotti Dipped in Chocolate), Cannoli (Ricotta-filled Shells), Crema Fritta (Fried Custard), and more.

One might expect a baking book that doesn't include its first recipe until page 57 to have excessive information. But that's not the case in Fr. Giuseppe Orsini's seventh title, which includes useful, well-written prose on the history of bread in Italy as well as baking basics, ingredients (including thorough entries on cheese and herbs) and tools. …Staples … are presented alongside seasonal holiday treats including Christmas-time Panettone and Pastiera di Grano (Easter Cooked Wheat Pie). Bakers will be glad Orsini shared this collection of Italian gems that span the boot from top to bottom. – Publishers Weekly

Orsini has once again in Italian Baking Secrets written a fresh and practical cookbook. SirReadaLot.org has to caution readers: Don’t let the author’s charming storytelling keep you from his recipes; if you do, you will miss some delicious dishes you might otherwise never taste. The scores of recipes look easy to make and mouth watering to eat, and they also make great gifts for family and friends (and allow for a bit of boasting, too).

Cooking, Food & Wine

Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, 25th Anniversary Edition by Shizuo Tsuji, with a foreword by Ruth Reichl, an introduction by M.F.K. Fisher, & a preface by Yoshiki Tsuji (Kodansha International)

 

This is much more than a cookbook. It is a philosophical treatise about the simple art of Japanese cooking. Appreciate the lessons of this book, and you will understand that while sushi and sashimi were becoming part of American culture, we were absorbing much larger lessons from the Japanese. We were learning to think about food in an entirely new way. – Ruth Reichl, from the new Foreword

Japanese food was virtually unknown in many Western cities in the 1980s, when Shizuo Tsuji wrote Japanese Cooking. Since its release twenty-five years ago, the book has been the acknowledged ‘bible’ of Japanese cooking. Much more than a collection of recipes, it is a masterful treatise on Japanese cuisine.
A new foreword by Ruth Reichl and an additional preface by Tsuji Culinary Institute president Yoshiki Tsuji provide culinary and historical context for the 25th Anniversary Edition. Eight pages of new color photographs illustrate over seventeen finished dishes.
After introducing ingredients and utensils, the twenty chapters that make up Part One consist of lessons presenting all the basic Japanese cooking methods and principal types of prepared foods – making soup, slicing sashimi, grilling, simmering, steaming, noodles, sushi, pickles, and so on – with accompanying basic recipes. Recipes cover Basic Vinegar Salad Dressings, Sushi Rice, and Teriyaki. A complete series of drawings clearly demonstrates each step in preparing Vinegared Octopus.

Part Two features 130 carefully selected recipes that range from everyday fare to intriguing challenges for the adventurous cook. Using fresh ginger, soy sauce, the sweet wine mirin, sake, and rice vinegar, readers can make many of them. Beginners might start with Deep Fried Chicken Patties, Steak Teriyaki, Tortoise Shell Tofu, simply bathed in a tasty sauce, and Asparagus Rice, a light and colorful dish. Together with the recipes in Part One, these allow the cook to build a repertoire of dishes ranging from the basic ‘soup and three’ formula to a gala banquet.
Shizuo Tsuji (1933-1993) was born into a family that operated a traditional confectionery and graduated from prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo with a degree in French Literature. The author of over 30 books on gastronomy, travel and music, Tsuji, after extensive training in Japanese cooking, studied Western cuisine famous European chefs, and became leading figure in the international culinary community. He worked first as a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and then in 1960 established the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka to train professional chefs (now the largest such school in Japan).

Easily the most comprehensive and exhaustive look at Japanese cuisine available, this groundbreaking classic marks its quarter-century anniversary in a revised edition with a new foreword by Gourmet editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl and a new preface by the late Tsuji's son, Yoshiki Tsuji. Part cookbook, part philosophical treatise, this highly acclaimed collection offers a wealth of insight for amateurs and experts alike. Every technique associated with Japanese food is described step by step in great detail, along with illustrations to guide the reader through everything from filleting fish or cleaning an octopus to rolling omelets. … A complete guide to Japanese cooking, this collection is must-have for anyone interested in Japanese food or culture. – Publishers Weekly

… M.F.K. Fisher's introduction eloquently sets the stage for Tsuji's classic work. It may be the most thought-provoking piece ever written about Japanese food for non-Asians, pointing out how food and even the physical act of eating differ from what they are in Japan. Tsuji's writing is clear and educational. He talks specifically to a Western, non-Asian audience, demonstrating far more awareness of our culinary preferences and prejudices than most Westerners have for his. … Because of its combination of background information, comprehensive recipes, and excellent instructions, Japanese Cooking will always remain an important book for learning about this simple yet complex cuisine. – Dana Jacobi
A wonderful book ... encyclopedic and easy to follow. – Bedford Times
Quite the most illuminating text around on Japanese food. – Nigella Lawson
If Kurasawa had ignited my love for the country, Mr. Tsuji deepened and defined it. – Jonathan Hayes, The New York Times

Still the foremost source book of cooking concepts and recipes from Japan, the 25th Anniversary Edition of Japanese Cooking invites a new generation of readers to take a journey to the heart of one of the world's great culinary traditions. Encyclopedic and authoritative, Japanese Cooking is unrivaled in its comprehensive explanation of ingredients, tools, and techniques, as it guides readers through recipes with clear prose, while technical points are made understandable with deftly executed line drawings. Truly a Renaissance man of Japanese and world gastronomy, Tsuji imparts enough culinary know-how to make any reader the peer of a competent Tokyo chef – along with insight into food that can't be found anywhere else outside of Japan.

Education / College & University / Computers & Internet / Reference

Handbook of Online Education by Shirley Bennett, with Debra Marsh & Clare Killen (Continuum)

Handbook of Online Education offers teachers, trainers and course writers a selection of ready-made, adaptable activities which can be used as a basis for e-learning on a course or as a departure point for development, independent work and/or discussion. Sections of the book include resources for:

  • Building confidence for online learning.
  • Learning to learn actively online.
  • Assessment.

Each section is prefaced by a short theoretical overview and includes individual activities as well as suggestions for further reading and personal action research.

The book is written by Shirley Bennett, Lecturer in Education and Online Learning, Programme Director for the Master of Education in eLearning and University Teaching Fellow at the University of Hull; with the assistance of Debra Marsh, freelance eLearning Consultant based in France where she focuses on the pedagogy of online learning, teaching, facilitation, course development, design and evaluation; and Clare Killen, who helped to develop the Becta's innovative Ferl Practitioners' Programme working with FE and Adult and Community Learning providers before moving to the Learning and Skills Development Agency to work on the Subject Learning Coaches program.

Most of the activities in Handbook of Online Education are written in such a way that they can be applied to, or adapted to suit, readers’ own content areas, almost as they stand. By inserting the relevant topic areas and referring e-learners to appropriate websites and other resources, teachers will have a bank of contextualized online teaching strategies that can be used at various stages in an online course. Some of the activities are written reflecting a distinct subject or professional focus, and the sample message postings (SMPs) and other resources provided as illustrations of how the activities are set up have content clearly reflecting the courses from which they come. However, in all cases it is the idea behind the activity that is paramount and all are written in such a way as to enable readers to see how the activity works and adapt it to other content areas or alternative professional or learning contexts.

Handbook of Online Education reflects the fact that online learning is currently used primarily with young adults and adult learners and the majority of activities are designed with this age range in mind. However, some of the activities are also appropriate for younger learners coming online as reflected in new initiatives such as the e-learning 'pathfinder' project, The Virtual-Workspace, developed for the local education authorities (LEAs) of Wolverhampton and Worcestershire, and used by approximately 21,000 learners and 3,600 educators from over 60 schools/colleges.

This resource book provides teachers moving into work within e-learning with concrete examples of active, learner-centered activities that can work, materials which are, in the main, not there for 'one-off' use, but are recipes for approaches and interactions that can be used in many different contexts to promote learning in a wide variety of subject contexts. They are thus intended to help those new to e-learning make the transition into the online context, offering a selection of resources they can choose from, suggested activities that they can adapt to their own individual teaching style as they gradually develop their own personal online teaching presence.

According to Bennett, the main principle of 'active learning' is that We learn by doing. Research shows that active learning is much better recalled, enjoyed and understood. Active methods require us to 'make our own meaning', that is, develop our own conceptualizations of what we are learning. During this process we physically make neural connections in our brain, the process we call learning. So active learning means using an approach that involves e-learners in doing something for their learning.

The Internet offers opportunities for active learning, but learners have to be guided in order that they adapt to the new context if they are to benefit from it. As well as being supported while gaining the confidence to communicate online, an important part of any online learning experiences will be activities designed to develop their awareness of the new context and the ways in which it compares with their previous learning experience. They have to understand the roles and functions that will be expected of them, appreciate the opportunities that are open to them and find ways to address the challenges they will face. The activities suggested within the section Resources for Promoting Understanding of Online Learning are designed to do that, enabling them to move forward to benefit from the exciting opportunities for active involvement in learning, and in assessment, such as those suggested in the sections Resources for Promoting Active Approaches to Study and Resources for Assessment and Active Learning Online.

Activities of Handbook of Online Education are organized into six broad areas of working with learners online:

  1. Resources for Building Confidence for Online Learning
  2. Resources for Promoting Understanding of Online Learning
  3. Resources for Learning to Learn Actively Online
  4. Resources for Promoting Active Approaches to Study
  5. Resources for Assessment and Active Learning Online
  6. Resources for Dealing with the Unexpected.

Within these sections readers will find references to relevant activities in other sections of Handbook of Online Education. Readers will also find cross-references and links between tasks within the activities themselves. The order of the different sections reflects an overall process in working with learners online and also reflects the various stages in a journey from just getting started online to some more complex and involved activities.

Resources for Building Confidence for Online Learning suggests resources that will help the e-tutor to work with e-learners at a point equivalent to stages one and two of Gilly Salmon's five-step model. It includes tasks to engage new e-learners in starting to explore and use the online learning platform, and activities for 'online socialization', getting to know each other and to build learner confidence and trust in communicating with others in the learning community online.

Resources for Promoting Understanding of Online Learning are not dissimilar. Many will most typically be used early in an online learning course, helping participants to explore the nature and norms of online learning, laying the foundation for a successful online learning experience and helping learners to adapt to the new mode of learning.

The following sections address the ‘stuff’ of online learning itself, activities to develop and assess both skills and areas of knowledge and understanding.

Resources for Learning to Learn Actively Online suggests activities to develop skills for active learning in the world of study online or otherwise. It reflects the fact that many older learners need the information skills for interacting with Internet and other e-resources and the organizational skills necessary in a life where study competes with family and work responsibilities in very many study contexts, but especially when learning online.

Resources for Promoting Active Approaches to Study suggests reusable and adaptable activities and approaches to facilitating learning for use with both individuals and groups on academic, work-based and other courses within the online or blended learning context.

Resources for Assessment and Active Learning Online provides ideas for assessment activities that complement an active approach to learner-centered learning and a collaborative approach to learning online which pervades the book.

Resources for Dealing with the Unexpected is designed to address some of the 'problems' that can arise within the implementation of online learning out of the life situations and personalities of learners and the reliability (or otherwise) of Technology.

Handbook of Online Education is a resource book, almost a 'recipe book', comprising a collection of practical, innovative activities to promote active online learning. It is accessible, usable in a variety of ways, and a handy resource readers can 'dip into' when looking for an activity for a particular purpose. The book is for education and training professionals working with adult learners and/or young adults within a wide range of education and training contexts.

Education / Colleges & Universities / Research

Plagiarism: Alchemy and Remedy in Higher Education by Bill Marsh (State University of New York Press)

… if plagiarism has a history and, arguably, is as old as authorship itself (a claim taken up in the early chapters), then why are so many so eager to call it a prob­lem (a disease, a diablo) in the first place – as opposed to, say, a solution by another name? – from the book

Plagiarism takes an in-depth look at the history of plagiarism in higher education in light of today's Web-based plagiarism detection services. Challenging the widespread assumption that plagiarism is a simple matter of student cheating or scriptural error, Bill Marsh argues that today's teachers and educational institutions may be cheating themselves and their students in pursuing quick-fix solutions to the so-called epidemic of student plagiarism. When students submit papers cribbed from materials found on the Web or purchase research papers from Internet paper mills, these acts of sedition must also be recognized, for better or worse, as examples of new-media composition techniques.

Examining Web-based plagiarism detection services and software, Marsh, Assistant Professor of English at St. John's University, contends that these services regulate writing and reading practices in ways consistent with precomputer, even preindustrial, efforts to manage and refine human behavior. As he weaves together print history, education, rhetoric, and communication theory, Marsh shows that the rules governing plagiarism and the proper use of borrowed materials have their origins in early intellectual property law, in the reading practices of twelfth-century monks, and the precepts of medieval alchemy. Through an examination of these prescholastic models, Plagiarism calls for a revised approach to academic writing in computer-mediated environments.

Marsh focuses not only on pla­giarism per se but also on the ways in which teachers, policy makers, and entrepreneurs have endeavored to manage and remedy the plagiarism problem via an assortment of creative solutions. He approaches the topic as both a writer and a teacher of writing. As a teacher, he says he has sought to understand not only why students plagiarize and via what methods, but also how those on the receiving end of plagiarized texts go about both recognizing and then managing these particular infractions. As a writer, editor, and small-press publisher he also holds a keen interest in plagiarism as a kind of literary experi­mentation akin to collage, assemblage, cut-up, and other forms of material re-purposing or remediation. He is pri­marily concerned with plagiarism – and plagiarism detection – in today's insti­tutions of higher learning and particularly in the realm of student writing.

In writing Plagiarism he adds historical and theoretical context to the plagiarism debate. He provides a modified framework for studying the uses to which plagiarism-related rules and conventions are put, particularly in the age of the Internet and computer-mediated communication.

Plagiarism often shows up under different names: misappropriation, faulty citation, copyright infringement, literary theft, imitation, cheating, cribbing, and stealing, to name a few. Sometimes described as an affront to traditional values of authorship – and a threat to longstanding economic values attached to authors – plagiarism poses a perennial problem for some because it raises a host of questions about ownership, property, convention, law, education, tech­nology, and more broadly the social and ethical codes in defiance of which the plagiarist, as the story usually goes, plagiarizes. Out of respect for these and other complexities, he works from the premise that plagiarism cannot be understood – as either historical construct or local practice – without addressing the many concerns (legal, ethical, aesthetic, and pedagogical, in particular) inform­ing institutional efforts to define, detect, prevent, and punish this particular brand of literary malfeasance.

Marsh begins Plagiarism by recounting the 2002 plagiarism scandals in­volving historians Stephen Ambrose and Doris Kearns Goodwin. He focuses specif­ically on how mainstream press coverage of the cases included corollary subnarratives targeting college and university students, who functioned as ciphers in a broader debate about professional and academic ethics. Through a critical retelling of this story, he lays the groundwork for a more thor­ough analysis of plagiarism and antiplagiarism discourse in higher education.

Chapter 2 investigates several definitions of plagiarism rooted in notions of failed authorship and intellectual property violation. He argues in this chapter that recent solutions to the plagiarism problem, including Web-based plagia­rism detection services, enact a particular kind of societal control unique to postindustrial technologies of information exchange and processing. Building on these arguments, chapter 3 addresses early-twentieth-century plagiarism policies and assignment protocols, including the ‘research paper’ model that emerged in the 1920s in partial response to administrative concerns about stu­dent misuse of library materials. He argues here that plagiarism detection has functioned and continues to function within a broad educational regime that emphasizes the management of student writing practices and the enforcement of protective or preemptive measures to regulate potential authoring errors.

In chapter 4, he addresses one prevailing notion of plagiarism as a kind of failed transformation of literary content, considering in particular the historically pop­ular association of plagiarism with false or fraudulent alchemical transmutation. He then argues that the Renaissance pur­suit of literary transmutation informs later modern approaches to reading, research, and the rightful and wrongful use of text materials in academic writing.

In chapter 5, he considers a range of research writing conventions often as­sociated with plagiarism. Using the tools of critical discourse analysis, he shows, for example, how common handbook rules for avoiding plagiarism tend to oc­clude, albeit in the language of clear and concise technique, what remain largely inexplicable processes of textual transformation. To teach the prevailing con­ventions of quotation, paraphrase, and summary, he proposes, is to teach a pseudo-alchemical lesson whose secrets require a level of insider knowledge not usually accessible to beginning writing students.

In general, these first five chapters of Plagiarism foreground late-twentieth and early-twenty-first-century attitudes about, and approaches to, the plagiarism problem.

Marsh’s aim is to avoid a kind of ‘moral absolutism’ in his study of plagiarism and plagiarism detection. In the first half of Plagiarism, then, he considers various definitional patterns in an effort not to further destabilize or relativize plagiarism, but rather to establish a necessarily flexible historical framework within which to consider recent approaches to plagiarism and plagiarism detection.

Chapter 6 links the alchemical and intellectual property traditions discussed above to late-twentieth-century progressive writing pedagogy. He looks at particu­lar examples of research writing assignments, policy revisions, and craft recom­mendations designed to remedy the problem of student plagiarism. He argues that a particular emphasis on the ‘spirit of inquiry’ in research writing instruction, as well as concerns about plagiarism, draw much of their inspiration from a nineteenth-century American Protestant interest in the management of human minds and souls through fundamentalist indoctrination.

In the seventh chapter, he analyzes four popular antiplagiarism services: Glatt Plagiarism Services, Essay Verification Engine (EVE2), Plagiarism-Finder, and Turnitin.com. He argues that these and other plagiarism detection services, under the aegis of pedagogical reform and the promise of technological progress, serve to regulate student writing and reading practices in ways reminiscent of precomputer, even preindustrial, solutions and remedies. He also shows how each service prioritizes notions of originality, uniqueness, and tex­tual purity derived in turn from rhetorical, legal, and alchemical traditions. In his concluding chapter he considers plagiarism and plagiarism detection in light of recent debates about research writing practices in the age of networked computers. He offers provisional suggestions for future research on the plagiarism topic and his own recommendations for how to teach and remedy the plagiarism problem in accordance with conclusions drawn from Plagiarism.

Most academics have not moved past nineteenth- and twentieth-century ideas about plagiarism. This book could help bring many into postmillennial thinking about this controversial topic. – Deborah H. Burns, Merrimack College

I appreciate the way the author has explored and complicated the many different facets of plagiarism, including the high-profile cases of Stephen Ambrose and Doris Kearns Goodwin. In addition, Marsh's discussion of the historical underpinnings of our modern (and postmodern) notions of plagiarism is thorough and convincing, helping put the problem of plagiarism into perspective. – Lise Buranen, coeditor of Perspectives on Plagiarism and Intellectual Property in a Postmodern World

SirReadaLot.org is a book review website and as such, liberally lifts material from the books it reviews to use in presenting these books to readers – this review is no exception. Plagiarism had a lot to say that we found directly applicable to our work. Written by a writing teacher, the book is also clear and easy to follow.

Plagiarism addresses antiplagiarism remedies, authorship and, more broadly, written communication in the age of networked computers. It convincingly makes the case that academic institutions need to revise their policies regarding ‘borrowing’ in light of computer-mediated environments. The emphasis on solutions is what makes Plagiarism, if not entirely original, at least different from other books about plagiarism.

Entertainment / Music / Biographies & Memoirs

Willie Nelson: The Outlaw by Graeme Thomson, with an introduction by Keith Richards (Virgin Books Ltd.)

… Willie is an all American, one of the great Westerners. He's an American patriot, but not in the flag-waving sense. He has a real love and a feel for the soil of the land; a real concern for what you live on. It's a beautiful thing, and really honest. He's dedicated to his ideas and on top of that he's a brilliant musician and a songwriter par excellence.… Willie is a great magnet. He brings people together. I met Merle Haggard via him. I was sitting rehearsing with Willie and there was this guy with a baseball cap on – the right way around – and a grey beard, picking like a maniac. I said, ‘Your name's not Merle is it?’ Yup! It ended up with Merle working with the Stones. Willie pulls together diverse people from every spectrum of music. – Keith Richards, from the foreword

Keith Richards calls him a man of the soil in the foreword to Willie Nelson. Others have called him a Shaman. He has lived a life full enough for ten men and people want him to have big answers. He could be a red-neck cowboy, a Zen master or simply an old, stoned hippie. Of course, he is really all three, and several other things into the bargain . . .

With a face that wouldn't look out of place carved into Mount Rushmore, Willie Nelson has done it and seen it all.

Willie Nelson tells Willie’s story. A dope-smoking, whisky-drinking, latter-day cowboy with Native American blood, four wives and seven children, Nelson’s career spans half a century of American music. His life is a journey of incredible highs and crashing lows. Awards, huge record sales, famous friends, the creation of Farm Aid, his annual Fourth of July picnics, Woodstock ‘99 and the 9/11 memorial, are tempered by his mother and father’s early desertion, penury, alcoholism, three turbulent marriages, drug busts, bankruptcy, as well as his son’s suicide and an attempt at taking his own life.

In this biography, Willie Nelson, Graeme Thomson, acclaimed freelance music writer living in Scotland, goes beyond the myths, talking with Nelson himself, his band and those who know him best en route to discover the real Willie Nelson. The book is broken into time periods, for example, 1974-1976 – You Need Friends – and heavy on the dialogue, quoting Nick Hunter, Mickey Raphael, David Hood, Barry Beckett, Jerry Wexler, Connie Nelson, Bee Spears, Bruce Lundvall, Neil Reshen, Jessi Colter, Tompall Gaser, Paul English, Ray Price, and of course, Willie – in that one chapter alone.

Thomson, who achieved critical acclaim for another celebrity biography, Complicated Shadows: The Life & Music of Elvis Costello, closes the book like this: “Perhaps his greatest achievement – in a life studded with hard-won victories, landmark acts of creativity and immense rewards, alongside desperate lows and more pain than he allows himself to acknowledge – has been convincing so many people to come and join him in a world he has built using only the sound in his mind.”

Willie Nelson: The Outlaw brilliantly describes this compelling man, whose life and music reveals and reflects something fundamental at the very heart of twentieth-century America. Along the way Thomson insightfully explains why Nelson is nothing short of a living legend.
Entertainment / Music / Reference

Metal: The Definitive Guide by Garry Sharpe-Young, with a foreword by Rob Halford (Jawbone Press)

Almost four decades after its beginnings in Birmingham, England, in the late 1960s, the journey of heavy metal continues, and the variety and scope of heavy metal in today's scene is remarkable. There is no other reference guide to the heaviness of metal music quite like Metal.

Garry Sharpe-Young's book takes readers on a journey to experience all the bands that have taken part and played significant roles in the growth and endurance of metal.

Combining biography, critical analysis, and detailed reference sections, it profiles all the major heavy metal artists as well as a huge selection of other niche acts from around the world. Metal includes new firsthand interviews with many major metal musicians and detailed discographies. The definitive metal encyclopedia, with more than 300 illustrations including artist photos and memorabilia such as posters and ticket stubs, Metal is about one of the most enduringly popular forms of music.

Running to approximately 600,000 words, the information is organized into the various sub-genres that are a feature of the metal scene – doom, death, black, etc. – each of which is comprised of an A-Z of key artists. Assembled by a team of world-renowned metal experts, Metal achieves its aim thanks to two decades of research and Sharpe-Young’s unparalleled access to the musicians at the heart of the metal scene.

Sharpe-Young, manager of the constantly expanding www.rockdetector.com, the on-line information resource for all loud rock/metal music, says that today's heavy music scene is made of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of individual styles. Some of them are part of the mainstream; many are fully or partially underground, where only its legions of dedicated supporters keep the music alive. Only a book which embraces the full depth of the international scene could hope to penetrate to its very core. The book includes over 270 bands, each with a full discography; over 180 pictures, many rare and unseen; and dozens of exclusive quotes from the scene's prime movers.

The book starts with metal's forefathers, Black Sabbath, and guides readers on a head-banging journey through thrash metal, death metal, black metal, grind-core, plus intimate details of the stoner, doom, progressive, and gothic metal scenes. And it examines the impact made by many individual countries on the moshpits of the world, including Germany, Sweden, Norway, Latin America, and more, as well as U.S. and British acts.

Sharpe-Young's Metal provides the ultimate guide to heavy metal and its many associated genres. Whatever readers’ particular choices might be in the bands they enjoy, they are covered in depth. If readers are into metal of any kind – from Iron Maiden to Immortal, Metallica to Meshuggah, and Saxon to Slayer – this is the ultimate reference book to have. In this definitive and richly illustrated volume, for the first time, the immense world of heavy metal and its many sub-genres, brought to readers by worldwide experts in the field.

Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling

Remember Me: Constructing Immortality – Beliefs on Immortality, Life, and Death edited by Margaret Mitchell (Routledge)

Human beings are resourceful and every culture has attractive ways of imagining a world in which the dead are really still alive. – from Merridale, Night of Stone

The ways in which one's relationship with loved ones continues, endures, and perhaps even grows after the biological death of that loved one is the basis for this new text. Much of the available literature speaks of healthy bereavement as letting go of the deceased and moving forward with life. Remember Me challenges that notion.
The living, as presented in these chapters, construct social entities of those who have died. By the carrying out of wishes in the Will; pursuing legal claims; or simply attributing certain desires, emotions, or choices to the deceased, they reconstitute them as active, even vital, voices even after biological death.

Just as life itself, the end of life and death is an interdisciplinary matter. Remember Me brings together chapters from a worldwide group of contributors with a range of disciplinary perspectives on the meanings attributed to death, to the anticipation of death and to constructions of immortality. A psychological theme and focus ties together these perspectives under three conceptual areas: the anticipation of death; the social life of the deceased; the legal embodiment of the deceased. Mitchell’s approach to life after death is secular and pragmatic. Using photographs, stories, and scholarly research, the authors challenge current notions of bereavement by discussing the end of life and memories of the deceased as social constructions.

Remember Me is edited by Margaret Mitchell, Associate Professor at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia and Director of the Sellenger Centre for Research in Law, Justice and Policing. She first became interested in the social context of death while working with Strathclyde Police in Glasgow on the aftermath of the Lockerbie Disaster in 1988 and studying its impact on emergency workers and the community.

In a socially significant sense, the dead are very much alive, and continue to carry influence in the practical and emotional worlds of the living. It is this rich and often surprising terrain that Mitchell and her capable contributors map, analyzing prac­tices of collective remembering, campaigns for social justice or human betterment launched on behalf of lost loved ones, intrafamilial struggles for the assets of the deceased, pilgrimages of a spiritual or secular kind, memento mori, the scientific and artistic treatment of the body, and much more. Anyone seeking to explore the domain of death studies that lies beyond the dominant psychological and medical discourses of grief will find this book fascinating reading. – Robert A. Neimeyer, editor of Death Studies and of Meaning Reconstruction and the Experience of Loss

The reflections on the boundary between life and death in Remember Me are a thoughtful and dynamic dialogue on ways in which relationships continue, endure, and perhaps even grow after biological death. Clearly written, this unique and innovative volume is an essential resource for researchers in thanatology, and presents novel approaches to meaning-making and understanding our continuing bonds that are useful and informative for grief counselors and other mental health practitioners.

Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling / Religion & Spirituality / Christianity

Integrative Psychotherapy: Toward a Comprehensive Christian Approach by Mark R. McMinn & Clark D. Campbell (CAPS Books: IVP Academic)

Too often Christian counselors and psychotherapists sprinkle a few Bible verses atop a nontheistic psychological model of personality and try to serve it up as a Christian approach. On the other hand, some Christians seem to reject every finding of psychology, almost reflexively, and assume that the Bible provides a direct and immediate answer to every question of living. Psychology has limits – huge limits when it comes to issues of metaphysics – but let's not reject it all just because some psychology has been misused in the church. – McMinn, from an interview

In Integrative Psychotherapy Mark McMinn and Clark Campbell present an integrative model of psychotherapy (IP) that is grounded in Christian biblical and theological teaching and in a critical and constructive engagement with contemporary psychology. The authors provide both theoretical analysis and practical guidance for the practitioner.

Integrative Psychotherapy articulates a Christian psychotherapy – one that takes both Christianity and psy­chology seriously, and that helps to serve hurting people through the ministries of Christian counselors, psychologists, social workers and pastors.

Both authors are at George Fox University, Graduate School of Clinical Psychology in Newberg, Oregon; Mark R. McMinn is professor of psychology and a licensed clinical psychologist; and Clark D. Campbell is professor of psychology and director of clinical training as well as adjunct associate professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the Oregon Health and Sciences University and a clinical psychologist in private practice.

The first four chapters of Integrative Psychotherapy establish a theoretical framework for IP. Chapter one pro­vides an overview of Christian doctrine, viewed from an evangelical Protestant perspective, with special attention given to three theological views of what it means to be made in the image of God (imago Dei). These three views correspond with the three domains of IP: functional, structural and relational. Chapter two gives an overview of scientific findings regarding psy­chotherapy. According to the authors, this chapter will humble theoretical purists because it demonstrates that no single therapeutic approach can claim vast superiority over any other. The so-called cognitive revolution is described in chapter three, along with an overview and Christian critique of cognitive therapy – an important task because the first two domains of IP are closely related to contemporary cognitive ther­apy. Chapter four provides a theoretical overview of IP, drawing on the doctrinal, scientific and theoretical perspectives developed in the first three chapters.

Once a theoretical foundation is established, McMinn and Campbell in Integrative Psychotherapy consider the practice of IP in the next seven chapters. Chapter five is a brief survey of assessment and case conceptualization. Chapters six and seven describe symptom-focused interven­tions, known as the functional domain. They pay special attention to treating anx­iety disorders because they are well suited for functional-domain interventions. The structural, or schema-focused, domain of IP is the focus of chapters eight and nine. They discuss the treatment of depression in the context of describing schema-focused interventions. In chapters ten and eleven, they look at the rela­tional domain of IP, concentrating on the importance of the therapeutic relationship in promoting change. Although relationship-focused interventions have many applications, they devote special attention to the treatment of personality disorders.

The final chapter summarizes and reiterates the integrative focus that the authors emphasize throughout the book while identifying various challenges and limita­tions to their integrative approach to psychotherapy.

Integrative Psychotherapy by McMinn and Campbell is a substantial work that integrates behavioral, cognitive and interpersonal models of therapy within a Christian theological framework. While I do not agree with some of its conclu­sions (e.g., not integrating spiritual direction with integrative psychotherapy), I highly recommend it as essential reading. – Siang-Yang Tan, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary

Integrative Psychotherapy is an extraordinary book. Grounded in a thoroughly biblical un­derstanding of the human condition and of God's grace in Christ and calling on his people, McMinn and Campbell critically and thoughtfully mine the cognitive and relational clinical traditions for wisdom to guide psychotherapeutic conceptualization and intervention with hurting people. – Stanton L. Jones, provost and professor of psychology, Wheaton College

Christian counselors and psychologists have been talking about integration for years; McMinn and Campbell give us a model for how to do it. Integrative Psychotherapy is theologically sound, relationally sensitive and empirically sophisticated. It will prove to be among the most important and widely used books in our discipline. – C. Jeffrey Terrell, president, Psychological Studies Institute

Integrative Psychotherapy is an example of integration at its finest. The book provides one of the first systematic theoretical models for Christian psychotherapy and the closest to a comprehensive Christian approach that has yet been written. It is easy to read and practical without sacrificing a more nuanced understanding of the complex relationship between Christianity and psychology. It is aimed at a broad intellectual audience, both students in undergraduate and graduate programs of psychology, including pastoral counseling as well as professional counselors, therapists and psychologists.

Integrative Psychotherapy is the first book from a new partnership between InterVarsity Press and the Christian Association for Psychological Studies International (CAPS International), the nation's largest nonprofit association of Christians in counseling and the behavioral sciences.

Historical Study / Arts & Photography