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Nature and Science April 2018
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| The Source: How Rivers Made America and America Remade its Rivers by Martin DoyleWhat it's about: A river scientist makes a convincing case that much of U.S. history and culture is attributable to North America's waterways.
Did you know? The United States boasts more than 250,000 rivers that stretch out over some 3 million miles.
Further reading: David Owen's Where the Water Goes, about the Colorado River; Dan Egan's The Death and Life of the Great Lakes. |
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Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
by Steven Pinker
A follow-up to The Better Angels of Our Nature challenges the doom-and-gloom outlooks of today's media to present dozens of graphs and charts demonstrating that life quality, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge and happiness are actually on the rise throughout the world as a result of the philosophies about an Enlightenment era that uses science to improve human existence.
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| The Earth Gazers: On Seeing Ourselves by Christopher PotterWhat it's about: Discover how human flight has transformed our perceptions of planet Earth in this history of aviation from World War I to the Space Age.
What's inside: Profiles of aviator Charles Lindbergh, inventor Robert Goddard, and engineer Wernher von Braun, plus the experiences of the Apollo astronauts who first saw the Earth from space.
Read this next: Robert Poole's Earthrise, which documents the creation of the iconic "Earthrise" photograph. |
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The Secret Language of Color: Science, Nature, History, Culture, Beauty of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Violet
by Joann Eckstut and Arielle Eckstut
Understanding color, explain authors Joann and Arielle Eckstut, means understanding "physics, chemistry, astronomy, optics, neuroscience, geology, botany, zoology, human biology, linguistics, sociology, anthropology, art history, and cartography"...and that's just for starters. Fortunately, there's a bit of everything in this informative, entertaining, and lavishly illustrated book, which presents a detailed "biography" of each hue. Need more color in your life? Check out Jude Stewart's ROY G. BIV: An Exceedingly Surprising Book about Color or Victoria Finlay's Color: A Natural History of the Palette.
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| Leonardo da Vinci by Walter IsaacsonWhat it is: An engaging biography of Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci, which examines his extraordinary ability to think across disciplines.
About the author: As with his biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and Steve Jobs, journalist Walter Isaacson conducts copious research to tell the story of "history's most creative genius."
You might also like: Mike Lankford's Becoming Leonardo, another biography that celebrates da Vinci's intellectual curiosity. |
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| How We Got to Now: Six Innovations that Made the Modern World by Steven JohnsonWhat it's about: This thought-provoking book explores six simple concepts -- glass, refrigeration, sound recordings, sanitation, clocks, and artificial light -- that paved the way for modern life.
About the author: Steven Johnson, author of The Invention of Air and Where Good Ideas Come From, is known for his accessible style and anecdote-rich approach to fascinating, yet overlooked, topics.
You might also like: James Burke's Connections and The Day the Universe Changed, as well as Henry Petroski's technology-focused microhistories. |
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| Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women... by Margot Lee ShetterlyWhat it is: An inspiring group biography of NASA's African American female mathematicians, whose work in the 1950s and '60s played a pivotal role in launching American astronauts into orbit.
For fans of: Nathalia Holt's Rise of the Rocket Girls, which also spotlights unseen heroines of the space race.
Media buzz: The 2016 film adaptation of Hidden Figures was a big hit with both audiences and critics. |
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Bookmarks: Before We Were Yours
Friday, April 20, 2:00 pm
Library Meeting Room
Ronnie Early will review Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.
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Friends of the Library Collector's Breakfast
Saturday, April 21, 9:30 am
Full Gospel Church, 2700 Ohio Street, Michigan City, IN
The Collector’s Breakfast is an annual fundraiser for The Friends of the Library. Tickets are $25 and you can bring one item for appraisal. Breakfast will be catered by Portofino’s of LaPorte. Martin Papke will entertain with his expertise of a wide range of collector items. The breakfast will be at the Full Gospel Church, 2700 Ohio St., Michigan City. Tickets will be available from Friends’ board members and at the Circulation Desk in the library. We are also auctioning the library’s egg chairs at the Collector’s Breakfast! The chairs will be sold via silent auction. Don’t miss your chance to bid on these unique chairs.
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Zine & Small Press Fest
Saturday, April 21, Event Time
Michigan City Public Library, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, ArtSpace
Zine (noun, informal) – a miniature magazine, typically self-published. Michigan City Public Library, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, and Artspace Uptown Artist Lofts are teaming up to present a free festival celebrating zines and small presses. Events include:
Michigan City Public Library, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM: The library will host an interactive zine-making workshop. Kids and their parents are invited to work together to make a zine. All materials provided. Held at the library, 100 E. 4th Street.
Lubeznik Center for the Arts, 1:00 – 5:00 PM: 30 – 40 zine-makers and self-publishers to exhibit and share their work. The art center will be bursting at the seams with talent. Artist, activists, and academics will host a panel at 2:00 PM. Zine-makers and self-publishers will read their work from 3:00 – 5:00 PM. All ages are welcome. Held at the Lubeznik Center, 101 W. 2nd Street.
Artspace Uptown Artist Lofts, 6:00 – 9:30 PM: Sit back, relax and listen to a group of storytellers, poets & musicians tickle your eardrums at Artspace Uptown Artist Lofts. Hosted by The Literary Underground. Ages 16+. Free. Held at the Uptown Artist Lofts, 717 Franklin Street.
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Axis 360 eBooks
Find popular fiction, non-fiction, and picture e-books and e-audiobooks for children, teens, and adults! It's simple--just download the app on your device, search for "Michigan City Public Library", and log in with your library card number and PIN.
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Science in Context
An in-depth science database aimed at high school and college students. Includes articles and images covering earth science, life science, space, technology, mathematics and science history. Also includes detailed science experiments. Log in with your library card number.
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Library Catalog
Look up books and other materials, place items on hold, and more.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Michigan City Public Library 100 E. 4th Street Michigan City, Indiana 46360 219-873-3044mclib.org/ |
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