My Reading History
New Web Address for Baldwin Public Library
Playways are Here
New Acquisitions
Readers' Advisory
New Video & Audio Books Acquisitions
Atrium Displays
Web Sites of Interest

MY READING HISTORY

Can’t remember if you already read a certain book? Want to make a favorites list? MY READING HISTORY is now available online through the ALISweb catalog. This feature allows you to track your personal reading history. Simply log onto the Library’s website, www.baldwinpl.org, click ONLINE CATALOG and then click
MY ACCOUNT. After logging into your account, click the OPT IN link to activate
the Reading History option. The system will keep track of items checked out to your account. You have the choice of managing your list by deleting items, or choosing OPT OUT if you decide to discontinue your participation.
For detailed instructions on accessing your library account, click Reserve and Renew from the menu on the Library’s homepage, or call the Reference Desk at 223-6228.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEB ADDRESS!

It’s now easier to find the Baldwin Public Library on the web at www.baldwinpl.org. Can’t come to the Library? E-mail us with your questions at info@baldwinpl.org.

We’ll try to respond to your questions within 48 hours. We can provide short, factual answers to questions or give referrals to other sources where answers may be found. For assistance with more detailed or lengthy inquiries, please come into the Library, or contact the Reference Department at 223-6228. This service is for Baldwin Library cardholders only. Please include “Reference Question” as your subject and your library barcode number with your message.

INTRODUCING PLAYAWAYS

The Baldwin Public Library is proud to announce the addition of Playaways, the newest technology in audiobooks, to our collection. Playaway is the simplest way to listen to an audio book on the go. It comes preloaded with one book on it. No cassettes or CDs. No downloads. Simply plug in earphones or a car adaptor to Playaway’s universal jack and enjoy! And at a mere 2” x 3 ¼”, the Playaway is the ultimate in lightweight portability. Playaways may be borrowed for 28 days. Look for this new collection of best-selling titles in the Audio Books area. Read more about them here.

NEW ACQUISITIONS

CHECK HERE FOR NEW ACQUISITIONS OF SPECIAL INTEREST
(THESE TITLES ARE LOCATED IN THE NEW BOOK GALLERY)

Perfumes: The Guide
by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez (668.547 T)

Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez are experts in the world of scent. Turin, a
renowned scientist, and Sanchez, a longtime perfume critic, have spent years sniffing the world’s most elegant and beautiful—as well as some truly terrible—perfumes. In Perfumes: The Guide, they combine their talents and experience to review more than twelve hundred fragrances, separating the divine from the good from the monumentally awful. Through witty, irreverent, and illuminating prose, the reviews in Perfumes not only provide consumers with an essential guide to shopping for fragrance, but also make for a unique reading experience.

Source: Book description

Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs
by Melody Petersen (338.4761 P)

No question: drugs can save lives. But the relentless marketing that has
enriched corporate executives and sent stock prices soaring has come with
a dark side. Prescription pills taken as directed by physicians are estimated to kill one American every five minutes. And that figure doesn’t reflect the damage done as the overmedicated take to the roads.

Our Daily Meds connects the dots for the first time to show how corporate
salesmanship has triumphed over science inside the biggest pharmaceutical
companies and, in turn, how this promotion driven industry has taken over
the practice of medicine and is changing American life.

Source: Book description

Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio
by Alec Foege (384.5406 F)

Media conglomerate Clear Channel Communications grew from a local radio
broadcasting operation, founded in 1972, into one of the biggest, most
profitable, and most polarizing corporations in the country. During its heyday, critics accused Clear Channel of ruining American pop culture and cited it as a symbol of the evils of media monopolization, while fans hailed it as a business dynamo, a beacon of unfettered capitalism. What’s undeniable is that Clear Channel dominated the entertainment world in ways that MTV and Disney could only dream of. But in the fall of 2006, after years of public criticism and flattening stock prices, Goliath finally tumbled—Clear Channel Inc. sold off one-third of its radio holdings and all of its television concerns while transferring ownership to a consortium of private equity firms. The move signaled the end of an era in media consolidation, and in Right of the Dial, Foege takes an insightful look at the company’s successes and abuses, showing the ways in which Clear Channel reshaped America’s cultural and corporate landscapes along the way.

Source: Book description

American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau
Edited by Bill McKibben (333.72 A)

In his introduction to this superb anthology, McKibben proposes that
"environmental writing is America's most distinctive contribution to the world's literature." The collected pieces amply prove the point. Arranged chronologically, McKibben's selection of more than 100 writers includes some of the great early conservationists, such as Henry David Thoreau and John Muir, and many other eloquent nature writers. McKibben's trenchant introductions to the pieces sum up each writer's thoughts and form a running commentary on the progress of the conservation movement. The book, published on Earth Day 2008, can be read as a survey of the literature of American environmentalism, but above all, it should be enjoyed for the sheer beauty of the writing.

Source: Publishers Weekly

Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence
by Robert Bryce (333.7909 B)

Everybody is talking about "energy independence." But is it really achievable?
Is it actually even desirable? In this controversial, meticulously researched book, Robert Bryce exposes the false promises behind the rhetoric while blasting nearly everybody— Republicans, Democrats, environmentalists, and war-mongering neoconservatives—for misleading voters about our energy needs.

Gusher of Lies explains why the idea of energy independence appeals to voters while also showing that renewable sources like wind and solar cannot meet America's growing energy demand. Along the way, Bryce eviscerates the ethanol scam. Whether the issue is cost, water consumption, or food prices, corn ethanol is one of the longest-running robberies ever perpetrated on American taxpayers.

Source: Amazon.com book description

Armageddon in Retrospect
by Kurt Vonnegut (818 Vonnegut)

Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of twelve new and unpublished
writings on war and peace. Imbued with Vonnegut's trademark rueful humor,
the pieces range from a visceral nonfiction recollection of the destruction of Dresden during World War II--an essay that is as timely today as it was then--to a painfully funny short story about three Army privates and their fantasies of the perfect first meal upon returning home from war, to a darker, more poignant story about the impossibility of shielding our children from the temptations of violence. Also included are Vonnegut's last speech as well as an assortment of his artwork, and an introduction by the author's son, Mark Vonnegut. Armageddon in Retrospect says as much about the times in which we live as it does about the genius of the writer.

Source: Book description

Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration
by Marcia Ann Gillespie, Rosa Johnson Butler and Richard A. Long
(818 Angelou G)

Maya Angelou’s memoirs, essay and poetry collections, and cookbooks have
sold millions of copies. Now, Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration offers
an unusual and irresistible look at her life and her myriad interests and
accomplishments. Created by the people who know her best—her longtime
friends Marcia Ann Gillespie and Richard Long, and her niece Rosa Johnson
Butler—it is part tribute, part scrapbook, capturing Angelou at home, at
work, and in the public eye. Readers who have come to know and love Maya
Angelou will be surprised and delighted by this personal, illustrated
portrait of the renowned poet, author, playwright, and humanitarian.

Source: Book description

Rivals: How the Power Struggle Between China, India and Japan Will Shape
Our Next Decade
by Bill Emmott (327.112 E)

The former editor-in-chief of The Economist lays out an entirely fresh analysis of the growing rivalry between China, India, and Japan and what it will mean for America, the global economy, and the twenty-first-century world.

In Rivals, Emmons contradicts the popular wisdom that each of these nations is an island and instead argues that these three political and economic giants are closely intertwined by their fierce competition for influence, markets, resources, and strategic advantage.

Source: Book description

The Case For Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World
by Susan Linn (155.418 L)

In The Case for Make Believe, Linn argues that, while play is crucial to human development, nurturing creative play in modern-day America is not only countercultural—it's a threat to corporate profits.

At the heart of the book are gripping stories of children at home, at school, and in a therapist's office using make believe to grapple with real-life issues from entering kindergarten to the death of a sibling. In an age when toys come from TV shows, dress-up means wearing Disney costumes, and parents believe Baby Einstein is educational, Linn lays out the inextricable links between play, creativity, and health, showing us why we need to protect our children from corporations that aim to limit their imaginations.

Source: Book description