Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

Becky M., Busy New Reference Librarian - Becky has been duly welcomed to the Reference Department staff at the Crawfordsville Library, having volunteered in tech services as well as among the book shelves. A native of Lafayette, she has loved reading as long as she can remember. She earned her BA degree at Purdue University in creative writing, and now has completed her Master of Library Science degree at IUPUI. Becky's special reading choices are fiction, history and biography, and more recently science fiction and fantasy. You'll enjoy having her help you upstairs.

The heaviest book I've weighed to date (6 1/2 pounds) is "Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity" with a photographic guide to those of eastern North America written by Stephen Marshall. "Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America" comes from Arthur Evans published by the National Wildlife Federation. The National Audubon Society's "Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals" is compact yet complete. (Kind of interesting: heavy books about insects and spiders, a little book about rocks.) The library has also received two new anthologies: "The Princeton Encyclopedia of Birds" and "of Mammals", the latter a huge catalog with enormous amounts of really interesting information.

Medical books begin with the 2010 edition of The Complete Test Preparation for "Medical Assistant" from Learning Express which includes a practice exam. "Beating Gout" comes from Victor Konshin. "The Truth about Obamacare" is written by Sally Pipes. Annie Paul's new book is "Origins: How the Nine Months before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives".

"Dream Walker" is a journey of achievement and inspiration by Bernard Harris, Jr. the first African-American to walk in space (February 9, 1995); He takes the reader from his formative years in the Navajo Nation into outer space and back to Earth. His medical work and his Harris Foundation are helping to improve American education. Wes Gehring's biography "Steve McQueen: The Great Escape" follows the actor from a troubled youth into becoming one of Hollywood's top box-office stars in the 1960s and 70s.

Michael Korda's life and legend of Lawrence of Arabia called "Hero" recounts the extraordinary, mysterious, and dynamic Englishman's daring exploits and romantic profile made him fascinating and famous the world over. Edmund Morris has completed the third part of a trilogy; "Colonel Roosevelt" follows "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" and "Theodore Rex". This third part recounts the last decade of "perhaps the most amazing life in American history. What other president has written forty books, hunted lions, founded a third political party, survived an assassin's bullet, and explored an unknown river longer than the Rhine?"

Keith Richards, the cofounder of the Rolling Stones, writes "This is the Life. Believe it or not, I haven't forgotten any of it." inside the cover of his biography "Life". Robert Coram offers "Brute: the Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine" who according to the author is the most important officer in the history of the U. S. Marine Corps, going on daring spy missions during the second Sino-Japanese War, helping develop the landing craft that General Eisenhower proclaimed "won the war for us" (WWII) and continually thriving in the thick of military life.