Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Good Old Books: abc's of Boolean Algebra


Symbolic logic (of which Boolean algebra is a field) can be said to have had its beginning with Leibnitz in the first part of the eighteenth century and was later developed more fully by George Boole.

Nearly forgotten for a while, Boolean algebra came into its own with the invention and perfection of the modern computer.

For anyone wishing to understand the logical functions of computer circuitry, a knowledge of Boolean algebra is essential.

by Allan Lytel and Lawrence Buckmaster
Howard W. Sams & Co., 1972 
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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Review: The Audubon Backyard Birdwatcher


The majority of birdwatchers are the backyard variety who put out a feeder or two and maybe a bird bath of sorts. Unlike serious birders who may travel long distances to add some rare birds to their life lists, home-based birdwatchers take enjoyment from watching the species that come to visit and return year after year.

This guide serves the backyard variety with sharp photos and descriptions of the 100 most common birds found in home gardens of North America. Field guides to the other 8,900 species of birds worldwide are available elsewhere, but this one provides detailed instructions for setting up backyard feeding stations, building ponds and windbreaks, and choosing plants for the landscape that will attract birds to the yard.

Continued in ... The Nature Pages
by Robert Burton and Stephen Kress
Thunder Bay Press, 2012


Book Review: All Labor Has Dignity


When Martin Luther King, Jr. expressed his opposition to the war in Vietnam, critics told him he should stick to the issue he was known for: civil rights.

"I have struggled too long and too hard now to get rid of segregation in public accommodations to end up at this point in my life segregating my moral concerns," the 38-year-old King responded.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Economic justice and dignity for the working poor was a key issue for King, as demonstrated in this collection of labor-related speeches stretching from 1957 to the eve of his death in Memphis in 1968.

"We don't need any bricks and bottles, we don't need any Molotov cocktails," he told a mass meeting during a Memphis sanitation workers strike just hours before he was gunned down. "We just need to go around to those stores and to those massive industries in our country, and say, 'God sent us here to say you're not treating his Children right.'"

King advocated a non-violent strategy of boycotts and strikes and public protests. He envisioned an economy of full employment and a tax system that ensured a decent income for all Americans.

by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Beacon Press, 2012
Review: All Labor Has Dignity
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Out of the Past: "I Have A Dream Speech" 
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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Good Old Books: In Search of Skiing


How long has it been since you said, "Chairlift three at two o'clock? I thought you said chairlift two at three o'clock."

Join Warren on his journey of missed appointments, frozen boots, icy slopes, broken ski lifts, magnetic bindings that don't work and ski clothes that got put in the trash compactor instead of the laundromat.

If you are In Search of Skiing, this book is for you.

Warren has spent thirty years, produced four hundred films, visited hundreds of ski resorts and skied ten zillion turns In Search of Skiing. This book is what that search is all about.

by Warren Miller
Hermosa Publishing Company, 1980
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Friday, February 17, 2012

History Book List Addition: "All Labor Has Dignity"


People forget that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was every bit as committed to economic justice as he was to ending racial segregation. He fought throughout his life to connect the labor and civil rights movements, envisioning them as twin pillars for social reform. As we struggle with massive unemployment, a staggering racial wealth gap, and the near collapse of a financial system that puts profits before people, King's prophetic writings and speeches underscore his relevance for today. They help us imagine King anew: as a human rights leader whose commitment to unions and an end to poverty was a crucial part of his civil rights agenda.

Covering all the civil rights movement highlights - Montgomery, Albany, Birmingham, Selma, Chicago, and Memphis - award-winning historian Michael K. Honey introduces and traces King's dream of economic equality.

Gathered in one volume for the first time, the majority of these speeches will be new to most readers. The collection begins with King's lectures to unions in the 1960s and includes his addresses during his Poor People's Campaign, culminating with his momentous "Mountaintop" speech, delivered in support of striking black sanitation workers in Memphis.

by Martin Luther King, Jr. 
Beacon Press, 2012
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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

History Book List Addition: Ten Tea Parties


Everyone knows the story of the Boston Tea Party—in which colonists stormed three British ships and dumped 92,000 pounds of tea into Boston Harbor. But do you know the history of the Philadelphia Tea Party (December 1773)? How about the York, Maine, Tea Party (September 1774) or the Wilmington, North Carolina, Tea Party (March 1775)?

Ten Tea Parties is the first book to chronicle all these uniquely American protests. Author and historian Joseph Cummins begins with the history of the East India Company (the biggest global corporation in the eighteenth century) and their staggering financial losses during the Boston Tea Party (more than a million dollars in today’s money).

Patriotic Protests That History Forgot 
by Joseph Cummins
Quirk Books, 2012


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Friday, February 3, 2012

Good Old Books: Let The Drums Be Your Heart


Let the Drums be Your Heart brings together the work of more than forty aboriginal writers from all over Canada. concerned with family and days gone by, romance and adventure, tragedy and danger, these poems, short stories, articles and life stories ring with native pride and determination.

As editor Joel T. Maki points out in his introduction, storytellers and historians have always played a vital role in aboriginal communities, ensuring that indvidiual cultures, languages, legends and customs would survive.

New Native Voices
by Joel T. Maki
Douglas & McIntyre, 1996

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