Booklist Addition: Ah-Choo!

Ah-Choo!
The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold
by Jennifer Ackerman
Twelve, 2010

In Ah-Choo!, Jennifer Ackerman explains what, exactly, a cold is, how it works, and whether it's really possible to "fight one off." Scientists call this the Golden Age of the Common Cold because Americans suffer up to a billion colds each year, resulting in 40 million days of missed work and school and 100 million doctor visits. They've also learned over the past decade much more about what cold viruses are, what they do to the human body, and how symptoms can be addressed. .

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Pecans: The Story in a Nutshell

Pecans
The Story in a Nutshell
by Jane Manaster
Texas Tech University Press, 2008

From its earliest use by Native Americans to today's pies, candies, condiments and snacks, the story of the nature, cultivation and uses of the pecan is shelled in this slender volume.

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Booklist Addition: Christmas Wishes

Christmas Wishes
A Catalog of Vintage Holiday Treats
by Tim Hollis
Stackpole Books, 2010

From plastic nativity scenes to aluminium trees, Christmas became a major marketing extravaganza in America in the mid-twentieth century.

This book recalls the holiday between 1940 and 1970, courtesy of department stores, five and tens, toy manufacturers, publishing houses, and record companies. Boomers and Gen-Xers will relive memories of special holiday toys and treats, Christmas children's books by Little Golden and Wonder, holiday music released by Peter Pan and Disneyland records, and merchandising characters such as Frosty the Snowman and Montgomery Ward's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

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Review: Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders

Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders
101 Patterns That Go Way Beyond Socks!
by Judith Durant
Storey Publishing, 2010

What can you do with a single skein of yarn besides make a pair of socks? Quite a lot, according to knitting specialist Judith Durant, who proves her case with 101 patterns for hats, gloves, fingerless mitts, scarves, small shawls, kids, doll clothes, bags, and numerous small accessories.

The patterns in this book come from 75 separate designers who have found creative uses for sock yarn. Each pattern is accompanied by at least one color photograph, yarn and needle suggestions, and supply lists.

Charts are included for the more detailed patterns, but most require little more than basic knitting skills.

Each pattern contains a legend for the symbols used. A back-of-the-book glossary explains how to do some of the increases, decreases, and crossed stitches.

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Booklist Addition: Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders

Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders
101 Patterns That Go Way Beyond Socks!
by Judith Durant
Storey Publishing, 2010

Veteran knitter Judith Durant has chosen not simply inventive sock patterns but also more than 5 dozen inspired patterns for other items that can be created from a single skein of sock yarn.

This book offers one-of-a-kind patterns for baby clothes, mittens, scarves, hats, jewelry, cozies, bags . . . even a dog sweater and a lamp shade!

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The Nature Pages: Kentucky's Natural Heritage

Kentucky's Natural Heritage
An Illustrated Guide to Biodiversity
by Greg Abernathy, Deborah White, Ellis L. Laudermilk, and Marc Evans
The University Press of Kentucky, 2010

A confluence of both science and history, this book describes natural areas in Kentucky that have vanished and inventories a long list of threatened and endangered animals, plants and unique habitats in the state that need protection.

Once 90 percent forested, Kentucky is now made up of roughly 46 percent "Large Forest Tracts" and most of it is fragmented and less able to sustain complex communities of animals and plants. Conequently, more than 50 species of animals and plants that once made Kentucky their home can no longer be found. Of the species that remain, 25 percent of the fish, 26 percent of the reptiles and amphibians, 13 percent of the birds and 20 percent of the mammals are endangered, threatened or close to leaving for good.

More than just a chronicle of loss, this is a guide to places where the species and the habitats that remain can be visited and appreciated. These include federally protected areas (national parks, refuges and forests) and 59 state nature preserves.

Illustrated with numerous maps and remarkable photos of surviving species like the dazzling blue-and-orange flame crayfish or the bright magenta limestone flame flower, this book is an accessible reference for both professional biologists and armchair travelers.

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Booklist Addition: Kentucky's Natural Heritage

Kentucky's Natural Heritage
An Illustrated Guide to Biodiversity
by Greg Abernathy, Deborah White, Ellis L. Laudermilk, and Marc Evans
The University Press of Kentucky, 2010

Kentucky's abundance of plant and animal life, from the bottomland swamps in the west to the rich Appalachian forests in the east, is extraordinary as well as beautiful. Glades, prairies, forests, wetlands, rivers, and caves form a biologically diverse patchwork that is unique to the state. Kentucky's Natural Heritage: An Illustrated Guide to Biodiversity provides an essential reference to the remarkable natural history of the commonwealth and is a rallying call for the conservation of this priceless legacy.

Kentucky's ecosystems teem with diverse native species, some of which are found nowhere else in the world. Kentucky's Natural Heritage brings these sometimes elusive creatures into close view, from black-throated green warblers to lizard skin liverworts. The aquatic systems of the state are home to rainbow darters, ghost crayfish, salamander mussels, and an impressive array of other species that constitute some of the greatest levels of freshwater diversity on the planet.

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Now Reading: The Philosophy of the Western

The western movie has undeniably influenced the American psyche.

This book examines the philosophical themes in the western genre, investigating issues of nature, ethics, identity, gender, environmentalism, and animal rights.

The Philosophy of the Western by Jennifer L. McMahon and B. Steve Csaki
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Booklist Addition: The Power of Sustainable Thinking

The Power of Sustainable Thinking
How to Create a Positive Future for the Climate the Planet Your Organization and Your Life
by Bob Doppelt
Earthscan Publications Ltd., 2010

Every day we are faced with a myriad of complex, often contradictory choices that have a bearing on the climate and sustainability.

Without a method for understanding our thought processes, we often default to behavior that is destroying the climate, natural environment and social wellbeing.

How can we change our thinking and behaviors to protect the climate and move towards sustainability?

Organizational change specialist Bob Doppelt provides practical methods for transforming our climate-damaging, unsustainable ways into sustainable thinking and behaviors.

The Power of Sustainable Thinking
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This Old Book: Re-Engagement in Later Life

This study sought to bring to public awareness two subjects that were overdue in 1979 as topics of academic research and areas of practical information: re-employment and remarriage of older people. At the time, these topics had barely been explored.
Re-Engagement in Later Life: Re-Employment and Remarriage by Ruth Harriet Jacobs and Barbara H. Vinick
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Good Old Books: Cunning Is Better Than Strong

Lee lived in the country with his father and his mother, his sister and his baby brother and his dog, Pomp. Lee was nine, going on ten, and the two things he wanted most in the world were a possum and a raccoon for pets.

He tried all sorts of ways to catch these animals and his father kept reminding him of the old saying -- cunning is better than strong -- and it was cunning that succeeded in the end.

They would, of course, feel and taste and see these things -- and this is the fascinating story of their two-year voyage, or how Matt and Tim found out what they wanted to do with their lives, of the duties an pleasures of life on board -- of the whaleman's world in all its variety and excitement.

Lee's adventures trying to capture the possum and raccoon are funny and exciting and rather eerie. Virginia Ormsby writes of Lee and his family with sureness and affection and of the Georgia country from first-hand knowledge. The folklore and customs and natural beauty of this area are woven skillfully into a story that holds the reader's attention to the very end.

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