ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

New Publications

George M. Eberhart

George M. Eberhart is associate editor ofAmerican Libraries

Birds of North America, version 2.0(CD-ROM, Windows format), is an essential learning tool and identification guide for anyone interested in birds. This latest version contains more than 2,700 high-resolution color photos of all 917 birds seen in Canada and the United States, as well as 314 birds found elsewhere. The disk includes more than 1,200 songs, calls, and chirp notes of 695 species, taken from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. The sound quality is excellent (as attested to by our two cats), especially in the higher frequencies, where the notes produced by warblers are rich, and sonograms are provided for each. Other features include: the ability to zoom in on photos; side-by-side species comparison; videos of 121 species; 185 quizzes for beginners and advanced birders; range and abundance maps for both summer and winter; 63 state and province checklists; rare bird alert phone numbers; addresses of bird clubs; and a plug-in to the encyclopedic Birder’s Handbook by Ehrlich, Dobkin, and Wheye. Free updates are provided on the Thayer Birding Software Web site at www.birding.com; these downloads will integrate seamlessly with the installed CD-ROM program. More fully featured than any other birding CD-ROM, including the Audubon and Peterson programs. $65.00. Thayer Birding Software, P.O. Box 43243, Cincinnati, OH 45243.

The Book of Zines: Readings from the Fringe,edited by Chip Rowe (178 pages, May 1997), brings together a sampling of the best self-published rants, reviews, and rumblings from the homemade world of zines. Some favorites are: how to drill a hole in your head, an essay on existentialism in The Family Circus comic, a history of the driver’s education film, dating don’ts for boys, slackers in history, and things you never want to see on Popeye’s arm when he is about to hit you. An encouraging look at alternative literature. $14.95. Henry Holt, 115 W. 18th St., New York, NY 10011. ISBN 0-8050-5083-3.

Getting Here: The Story of Human Evolution, byWilliam Howells (266 pages, August 1997), describes the varying theories of how and where human beings developed from early primate stock. Writing for a nontechnical audience, Howells still delves into some weighty, yet-unanswered questions about the origin of archaic humans, the lineal relationship of Neanderthals with modern humans, the arguments for multiregional evolution versus recent-out-of-Africa theory, and the causes of racial diversity. Plentiful drawings of hominid fossils and facial reconstructions aid understanding. $36.00. Compass Press; distributed by Paul & Company, P.O. Box 442, Concord, MA 01742. ISBN 0-929590-16-3.

Is Lying Sometimes the Right Thing for an Honest Person to Do?by Quinn G. McKay (261 pages, September 1997), examines the ethical temptations and traps faced by everyone in the modern workplace. There are many shades of gray between honesty and fraud, and finding the right solution to a personal or corporate ethical dilemma can be both difficult and disastrous. McKay offers practical advice laced with many relevant examples, as well as nine suggestions for improving ethical awareness and behavior. $22.95. Executive Excellence Publishing, 1344 E. 1120 South, Provo, UT 84606. ISBN 1-890009-12-1.

Journalistic Advocates and Muckrakers: Three Centuries of Crusading Writers,by Edd Applegate (219 pages, August 1997), profiles the lives of columnists and editors who have attempted to sway public policy through their writings. Both well-known (Upton Sinclair, H. L. Mencken, Ralph Nader) and lesser-known (Benjamin Flower, Ben B. Lindsey, Paul Brodeur) journalists are included. $39-95. McFarland & Company, Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640. ISBN 0-7864-0365-9.

If the previous book inspires you to a career as a reporter, you will find Journalism: A Guide to the Reference Literature, by Jo A. Cates (317 pages, 2d ed., June 1997), helpful. This annotated bibliography has added 252 new entries and a chapter on commercial databases and Internet sources. Directories of associations and research centers are also provided. $45.00. Libraries Unlimited, P.O. Box 6633, Englewood, CO 80155-6633. ISBN 1-56308-374-4.

The Loom of God: Mathematical Tapestries at the Edge of Time,by Clifford A. Pickover (292 pages, May 1997), consists of 21 whimsical and speculative essays that explore the links between mathematics and mysticism. Pickover, who authors the brain-boggler column in Discover magazine, explores the roles that numbers have played in Pythagorean philosophy, doomsday predictions, Druidic religion, the Incan quipu, the Kabala, and proofs of the existence of God. Each chapter begins with two timetraveling science-fiction characters who set the stage for fun with Fibonacci numbers and fractals. Equations are kept to a minimum. Science students will find this especially rewarding. $29.95. Plenum Press, 233 Spring St., New York, NY 10013-1578. ISBN 0-306-45411-4.

Mystic Healers and Medicine Shows,edited by Gene Fowler (202 pages, 1997), is a lively history of medical practitioners in the Old West. Among the 11 little-remembered healers and/or quacks are Francis Schlatter, the Rasputin-like healer of New Mexico; J. I. Lighthall, the Diamond King, whose medicine show in the 1880s offered cures as well as entertainment; William Kroeger, the priest-healer of Epiphany, South Dakota; and the Milling Brothers, magnetic healers of north Texas. A bibliographic essay follows each chapter, and two appendixes provide medical formulas for such concoctions as tincture of rhubarb and stomach bitters. $27.95. Ancient City Press; distributed by Johnson Books, 1880 S. 57th Ct., Boulder, CO 80301. ISBN 0-941270-94-7.

Olive Branch and Sword: The United States and Mexico, 1845-1848,by Dean B. Mahin (233 pages, April 1997), focuses less on the military history of the Mexican War and more on the diplomatic maneuvering engaged in by the Polk administration. It contains the first detailed account of U.S. Peace Commissioner Nicholas P. Trist’s peace mission to

Mexico in 1847 and Polk’s reaction to the mission. According to Mahin, Trist was the only man who singlehandedly ended a major American war; his efforts ultimately limited the scope of the controversy over slavery in territories acquired from Mexico and paved the way for the compromises of the 1850s that deferred civil war for a decade. $34.50. McFarland & Company, Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640. ISBN 0-7864-0258-X.

Two recent books published by Greenwood Press covering other American wars are The American Civil War: A Handbook of Literature and Research, edited by Steven E. Woodworth (751 pages, January 1997), which offers 40 literature surveys on specific aspects of the war from causation to reconstruction ($99-50, ISBN 0-313-29019-9), and Historical Dictionary of the Spanish American War, by Donald H. Dyal (376 pages, 1996), which provides descriptions of individuals, battles, places, ships, weapons, and other particulars of the conflict ($89.50, ISBN 0-313-28852-6).

The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse,chosen by D. H. S. Nicholson and A. H. E. Lee (646 pages, 1997 ed.), is available once again, in case you missed the 1917 edition. Acquired by Acropolis Books, this volume gathers together the best spiritual poetry of Tennyson, Browning, Emerson, Wordsworth, Swinburne, and many other, lesser lights. $39.95. Acropolis Books, 747 Sheridan Blvd., Ste. 1A, Lakewood, CO 80214-2551. ISBN 1-889051-02-0.

People's Names,by Holly Ingraham (613 pages, January 1997), is a comprehensive directory of more than 40,000 personal and familial names in more than 100 cultures from ancient times to the present. But this volume goes far beyond a mere listing: Ingraham intends this to be a guide for writers of fiction who need to select names for characters as well as understand how they are structured and pronounced. Need a Belarusan female name? Try Rahnieda Kaspiarovich. A Zimbabwean male? Matope Sibanda. A Colombian drug dealer? Refugio Pinilla. A male Viking name from the ninth century? Brynjar Lodbrok. An ancient Celtic female? Cacudia. Sticklers for accuracy will want to carry this book around with them to movies; others will find it valuable in many other contexts. The author even includes tips on manufacturing names in an imaginary language. $65.00. McFarland & Company, Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640. ISBN 0-7864-0187-7. ■