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Books: Text Books: Earth Sciences
The Weather Makers : How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earthby Tim Flannery List Price: $24.00 Available from Amazon $15.60 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Mammologist and paleontologist Flannery (The Eternal Frontier), who in recent years has become well known for his controversial ideas on conservation, the environment and population control, presents a straightforward and powerfully written look at the connection between climate change and global warming. It's destined to become required reading following Hurricane Katrina as the focus shifts to the natural forces that may have produced such a devastating event. Much of the book's success is rooted in Flannery's succinct and fascinating insights into related topics, such as the differences between the terms greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change, and how the El Niño cycle of extreme climatic events "had a profound re-organising effect on nature." But the heart of the book is Flannery's impassioned look at the earth's "colossal" carbon dioxide pollution problem and his argument for how we can shift from our current global reliance on fossil fuels []. Flannery consistently produces the hard goods related to his main message that our environmental behavior makes us all "weather makers" who "already possess all the tools required to avoid catastrophic climate change." Copyright © Reed business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Bookmarks Magazine The arguments, evidence, and conclusions should surprise few readers in Kolbert's Field Notes from a Catastrophe and Flannery's The Weather Makers. Given existing scientific knowledge, neither author (and no critic) doubts that global warming is real, with terrible consequences looming ahead.<P>The difference between the books largely comes down to tone and style. Kolbert, a reporter for the New Yorker, provides an excellent primer on climate change. Praised for her elegance and accessibility, she offers a loose travelogue with "the clearest view yet of the biggest catastrophe we have ever faced" (Los Angeles Times). She takes her science seriously—from sulfate droplets to recarbonization—and rarely lets her belief in impending catastrophe cloud her objectivity. Flannery's book may appeal more to activists. However, the Chicago Sun-Times thought that his passionate clarion call to action undermined sound arguments; others criticized scattered information and incomplete discussion on ways individuals can counteract climate change. Still, like Kolbert, Flannery elucidates complex concepts in climatology, paleontology, and economics. In the end, both books ask a crucial question: "Will we be lauded by future generations for heeding the advice of our best scientific minds, or remembered hereafter as counterexamples—as paragons of hubris, of a colossal failure of the imagination?" (Los Angeles Times).<BR>Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. |
Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planetby Daniel B. Botkin and Edward A. Keller List Price: $120.95 Available from Amazon $119.48 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page Book Description Just read the headlines. Whether it’s global warming, arctic drilling, or expanding industrial nations, the news is filled with stories about environmental issues. To understand the news, you have to understand the science. With Botkin and Keller’s Fifth Edition of Environmental Science, you’ll have the opportunity to develop a firm foundation of scientific knowledge, so you can think through environmental issues and make your own decisions regarding the environment. Book Info Takes a scientific approach to environmental issues instead of a political/social approach to environmental problems. Environmental cases are used to highlight important applications. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. |
Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum: A Guide to Catholic Home Educationby Laura M. Berquist List Price: $17.95 Available from Amazon $11.67 On 7-21-2006
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Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learningby Doug Buehl Available from Amazon $22.95 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page Book Description This book provides middle school and high school educators with literacy development strategies that emphasize effective learning in content contexts. Expanding on the first edition of this book, author Buehl addresses teachers outside the reading field who may not be familiar with the ideas that circulate in professional reading journals. He introduces readers to these ideas with a user-friendly collection of 45 literacy skill-building strategies that can easily be adapted for students at a variety of ability levels. With the development of state and national achievement standards in reading, writing, social studies, mathematics, science, and other curricular areas, it is more important than ever for educators to develop the literacy skills of older students. The activities in this book will help you instill in your learners the skills and desire to read increasingly complex materials, and provide explicit instruction in reading comprehension and study strategies across the curriculum.
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Between Heaven and Earthby Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korn List Price: $15.95 Available from Amazon $10.37 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page From Publishers Weekly For anyone seriously interested in learning about Chinese medicine, Beinfield and Korngold provide a comprehensive, though technical, look at it. The book is divided into three parts: theory; the psychology of Chinese medicine and therapy; and such treatment methods as acupuncture, herbs and diet. Licensed acupunturists, Beinfield and Korngold stress that the models of Eastern and Western medicine are significantly different. Consequently, so are methods, emphases and outcomes. Chinese medicine, they claim, readjusts the body's balance and enhances self-healing--while Western medicine, in contrast, stresses suppressing and eliminating pathological phenomena, and crisis-intervention. The authors don't discount the need, in some instances, for Western medicine. In fact, they bring this issue up poignantly with an event close to home: their son was born with a heart deformity that required specialized surgery. To help maintain his health, his parents incorporated herbal remedies in his diet. A particularly interesting concept is "culinary alchemy" or kitchen medicine, based on the Chinese tenet "Who we are determines what is most beneficial for us to eat." The authors provide an extensive, cross-referenced compendium of herb names, as well as information on using Chinese patent medicines and formulas for general health problems. Copyright 1991 Reed business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Library Journal Chinese medicine uses a variety of diagnostic techniques, such as observation, pulse-taking, and questioning, to determine a patient's type and optimal therapy. Here, two Western practitioners describe for Western lay readers philosophy, diagnostic techniques, and possible treatments. They also show how an understanding of the five Chinese elements--wood, fire, earth, metal, and water--enables one to begin to understand one's own patterns of physical and emotional health. Beinfeld and Korngold have done a handy job of explaining this esoteric and frequently misunderstood modality. For New Age health collections in public libraries. - Judith Eannarino, Washington, D.C. Copyright 1991 Reed business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. |
13: Thirteen Stories That Capture the Agony and Ecstasy of Being Thirteenby James Howe List Price: $16.95 Available from Amazon $11.02 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page From School Library Journal Grade 6-9-Remember being 13? Ann Martin, Bruce Coville, Todd Strasser, Rachel Vail, Stephen Roos, Ron Koertge, and several other popular authors join Howe in writing about that awkward year. The stories are a mixture of humor, pathos, and poignancy, and most are based on personal experiences. Meg Cabot's "Kate the Great" deals with changing friendships and a first baby-sitting job that goes awry while Alex Sanchez's "If You Kiss a Boy" focuses on the awakening of sexuality. Ellen Wittlinger's "Noodle Soup for Nincompoops" is especially fun as Maggie becomes the advice columnist for her school paper and discovers what happens when people actually follow her suggestions. Lori Aurelia Williams deals realistically with the gang experience in "Black Holes and Basketball Sneakers." Howe has chosen excellent authors for this volume and they have written oh-so-true stories about that wonderful, terrible first year of being a teenager. Janet Hilbun, formerly at Sam Houston Middle School, Garland, TX Copyright 2003 Reed business Information, Inc. From Booklist Gr. 6-9. In this wide-ranging collection, familiar authors for young adults contribute short fiction about 13-year-old characters who are experiencing bewildering feelings, making discoveries, or undergoing the embarrassments typical of the age. Editor Howe's contribution tells about an idealistic boy whose wish that his bar mitzvah will "mean something" leads to chaos. Alex Sanchez's young narrator is attracted to his best friend and wonders, "Why is it so pervie to kiss another guy?" And in Ellen Wittlinger's contribution, a shy, young writer's talents send her into her school's spotlight. As with most anthologies, this has some weak selections, but taken as a whole, the stories avoid the made-to-order feel of many themed collections. The mostly well-developed characters represent a wide variety of backgrounds, and although there are allusions to specific family dramas--poverty, a parent in prison--the authors expertly narrow their focus to the pressures, anxieties, crushes, and euphoria that adolescents everywhere will recognize. Teens will also appreciate the background notes and photos of each author as an adolescent that close each selection. Gillian Engberg Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved |
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