| Popular Culture November 2006 |
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"People say I'm extravagant because I want to be surrounded by beauty. But tell me, who wants to be surrounded by garbage?"
~ Imelda Marcos, former First Lady of the Philippines |
| New and Recently Released! |
| The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir - by Bill Bryson |
| Publisher: Broadway Books |
| Pub Date: 10/17/2006 |
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| ISBN: 076791936X |
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Bestselling author Bill Bryson's latest is part memoir and part hyperbole (microwaves weighing 700 pounds?), but it is mostly a paean to 1950s America, those halcyon days before chain stores and restaurants changed the face of America's small towns--or, in Bryson's case, Des Moines. If you're a baby boomer who remembers X-Ray Spex or the advent of TV dinners, you're sure to appreciate Billy's youth; no matter your age, you'll enjoy his take on the '50s and his alter ego, The Thunderbolt Kid, who vaporizes any moron who gets in his way. | |
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| Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death - by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen |
| Publisher: Collins |
| Pub Date: 08/31/2006 |
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| ISBN: 0060766832 |
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Gone are the days when death meant either a simple burial or cremation--now, ashes can be scattered in the air, mixed with concrete to form artificial reefs, or turned into diamonds, and bodies can be frozen, mummified, or placed in coffins shaped like racecars. In this irreverent, respectful, sympathetic, and funny study of the business of death in America, Time magazine writer Cullen tours the world of undertakers and funeral planners, caskets that range from dirt cheap to $18,500, and an assortment of elaborate funeral rites. As Kirkus Reviews puts it, it's a "fresh and funny look at what's new in funerals." | |
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| Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs - by Ken Jennings |
| Publisher: Villard |
| Pub Date: 09/12/2006 |
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| ISBN: 1400064457 |
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Ken Jennings won an astounding 74 straight competitions on Jeopardy! in 2004; viewers' fascination with his success prompted this entertaining look at the appeal of trivia of all kinds, from the pop culture of the past to such modern-day phenomena as Trivial Pursuit--and Jeopardy! itself. Celebrating useless facts and recounting Jennings' own success, Brainiac is more than a memoir--it's a look at the culture of trivia and all the many competitions that support it, from college bowls to television shows, and is sprinkled with trivia questions (and answers) to boot! | |
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| Beauty Junkies: Inside Our $15 Billion Obsession with Cosmetic Surgery - by Alex Kuczynski |
| Publisher: Doubleday |
| Pub Date: 10/03/2006 |
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| ISBN: 0385508530 |
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How far would you go to look younger or better? Get a new haircut? Or shorten your toes, have a face lift, undergo liposuction? New York Times Style reporter Alex Kuczynski provides an elucidating look at the burgeoning business of cosmetic enhancement, from trade shows for breast implants to the 2004 death of author Olivia Goldsmith during a chin tuck. While she pokes fun at the obsessed, she admits to her own addiction to Botox, making Beauty Junkies both "witty and woozy, gossipy and trenchant" (Library Journal). | |
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| Leap Days: Chronicles of a Midlife Move - by Katherine Lanpher |
| Publisher: Springboard Press |
| Pub Date: 10/10/2006 |
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| ISBN: 0821258303 |
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On 2004's leap day (February 29th), Lanpher made the big move from the Midwest to the heart of Manhattan to become the co-host on comedian/political commentator Al Franken's radio show on Air America. Her stories, which encompass much of her fish-out-of-water experiences as a transplanted Midwesterner, also delve into more personal aspects of her life, such as her recent divorce, childlessness, and her feelings about being middle-aged in a city that values youth. Don't despair too much for Lanpher, however--she eventually comes to consider New York her home. | |
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| Cross-X: A Turbulent, Triumphant Season With an Inner-city Debate Squad - by Joe Miller |
| Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |
| Pub Date: 10/03/2006 |
Check library catalog |
| ISBN: 0374131945 |
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If you were enthralled by the recent plethora of documentaries about spelling bees and inner-city ballroom dancing competitions, Cross-X is sure to appeal to you. Miller, a Missouri journalist, followed a high school debate team that, despite facing overwhelming disparities in education and funding, triumphs in competition. Although Miller started as an observer, he ended up so involved that his palms sweat and his muscles twitch with nerves as the debates continued. Before long his objectivity disappeared, and he became the assistant coach; this engrossing book is the result. | |
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| One Man's Trash... |
| Mongo: Adventures in Trash - by Ted Botha |
| Publisher: Bloomsbury |
| Pub Date: 06/01/2004 |
Check library catalog |
| ISBN: 1582344523 |
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In many cities, the sight of men or women digging through trash barrels in search of aluminum cans is not unusual. But there are others out there collecting garbage--either to survive, to make money, or in pursuit of knowledge. "Mongo" is the term used to describe items discarded and then retrieved; this book describes not only the mongo (precious gems, first edition books, broken computers, almost-fresh pizza) but the collectors as well--and their reasons for searching. Entertainment Weekly calls Mongo "delightfully weird" and suggests that after reading this, you might be tempted to do a little mongo-hunting yourself. | |
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| Spam Kings: The Real Story Behind the High-Rolling Hucksters Pushing Porn, Pills, and @*#?% Enlargements - by Brian McWilliams |
| Publisher: O'Reilly |
| Pub Date: 01/30/2005 |
Check library catalog |
| ISBN: 0596007329 |
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Chances are good that your email inbox has its share of spam to go with the personal or work-related messages you receive there. After all, five trillion spam messages arrive in inboxes each year, and if you've got an email address, you're probably receiving a few pieces of garbage. Although reading this book won't protect you or your inbox from a deluge of spam, Spam Kings will introduce you to the people and technology behind this lucrative and increasingly nasty business--as well as the people who fight against them. | |
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| Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage - by William Rathje and Cullen Murphy; with a new preface by the authors |
| Publisher: University of Arizona Press |
| Pub Date: 03/01/2001 |
Check library catalog |
| ISBN: 0816521433 |
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Rubbish!, originally published in 1992, is the result of 20 years of research from the Garbage Project, which looked at the garbage-making habits of a broad swathe of Tucson residents. Among the tidbits that Dr. Rathje, an archaeologist and anthropologist, and his team dug up was that during times of relative shortage of a particular food, such as beef in Tucson in 1973, waste of that food actually rose, most likely due to people buying whatever they could find--and then not managing to prepare or preserve unfamiliar cuts properly. This fascinating look at garbage may have you looking at your own habits a little differently. | |
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| Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage - by Heather Rogers |
| Publisher: New Press |
| Pub Date: 10/01/2005 |
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| ISBN: 1565848799 |
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This history of garbage and waste disposal in the U.S. documents such practices as the use of urban hogs in the 1800s and the development of corporate "mega-fills." Offering insight into the politics and economics of waste disposal, Gone Tomorrow focuses on household garbage (rather than industrial or agricultural waste), and presents recommendations for waste management reform. In a starred review, Booklist calls Rogers "clear-thinking and peppery," and her book a "galvanizing exposé" of how America became the world's leader--in garbage. | |
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| Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash - by Elizabeth Royte |
| Publisher: Little, Brown |
| Pub Date: 07/13/2005 |
Check library catalog |
| ISBN: 0316738263 |
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Combining interviews, fieldwork, research, and a touch of the autobiographical (Royte tracks her own household's garbage from pantry shelf to final resting place), Garbage Land is an investigation into the U.S. relationship with trash. If you've ever wondered where trash goes, how landfill sites are selected, how sanitation workers ("san men") feel about their jobs, or what the future holds (according to a former New York sanitation commissioner, "in the end, the garbage will win"), this book, which Booklist calls "fascinating, appalling, and...downright entertaining," is for you. | |
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| Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash - by Susan Strasser |
| Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. |
| Pub Date: 09/01/2000 |
Check library catalog |
| ISBN: 0805065121 |
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How--and when--did the U.S. go from being a frugal society where even broken bottles could find new uses, to a consumer-driven culture where planned obsolescence and disposability are standard features? In Waste and Want, social historian Susan Strasser shows how multiple factors brought about this change, from the growth of manufacturing to women entering the workplace. Though perhaps more academic than other books on this subject, Strasser's observations of what trash means to the society that created it are "illuminating" (Publishers Weekly). | |
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| Still looking for the right book? Contact your librarian. |
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