New Library Books in Education

Title: Wasting Minds: Why Our Education System is Failing and What We Can Do About It.
Author: Ronald A. Wolk
Publisher: Alexandria, VA. ASCD
Call Number:LA217.2.W65 2011
Synopsis from Google Books:
Renowned education journalist Ronald A. Wolk the founder and former editor of Education Week and Teacher Magazine skewers the conventional wisdom of the day about education reform and illuminates a way forward to higher student achievement

Title:Transformative Curriculum Leadership
Author: James G. Henderson & Rosemary Gonik
Publisher: Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice-Hall
Call Number: LB1570.H45 2007
Synopsis from publisher:

From a leading curriculum scholar, in collaboration with a progressive school curriculum leader, comes a unique synthesis of the leading theories in the discipline of curriculum studies and a powerful model of curriculum problem solving centered in constructivist learning and democratic understanding. Grounded in extensive professional experiences, this text advances a type of curriculum problem-solving leadership consistent with the ideals of a democratic society.

Title: The Challenge of School Reform: A Journalist's Education in the Classroom
Author: David S. Awbrey
Publisher:New York: Rowman & Littlefield
Call Number:LB1623.5.A95 2011
Table of Contents:
Why Teach?, Why Pipkin? -- Imagining History -- Teaching Charlemagne -- A Monk's Education --
Generation Global -- Class Matters -- Faith in History -- Courting Middle Schoolers
-- Medieval Visions -- Miseducated Educators --The Hell of Denial --The Stalled Crusade
-- People of History -- What the Teacher Learned

Title:The Education Mayor: Improving America's Schools
Author: Kennety Wong; Francis X. Shen; dorothea Anagnostopoulos; Stacey Rutledge
Publisher:Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press
Call Number:LB2805.E282 2007
Synopsis from publisher:

In 2002 the No Child Left Behind Act rocked America's schools with new initiatives for results-based accountability. But years before NCLB was signed, a new movement was already under way by mayors to take control of city schools from school boards and integrate the management of public education with the overall governing of the city. The Education Mayor is a critical look at mayoral control of urban school districts, beginning with Boston's schools in 1992 and examining more than 100 school districts in 40 states. The authors seek to answer four central questions: What does school governance look like under mayoral leadership? How does mayoral control affect school and student performance? What are the key factors for success or failure of integrated governance? How does mayoral control effect practical changes in schools and classrooms? The results of their examination indicate that, although mayoral control of schools may not be appropriate for every district, it can successfully emphasize accountability across the education system, providing more leverage for each school district to strengthen its educational infrastructure and improve student performance. Based on extensive quantitative data as well as case studies, this analytical study provides a balanced look at America's education reform. As the first multidistrict empirical examination and most comprehensive overall evaluation of mayoral school reform, The Education Mayor is a must-read for academics, policymakers, educational administrators, and civic and political leaders concerned about public education.

I want to alert you to a new set of videos from TED, TED-Ed: Lessons Worth Sharing http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDEducation which includes a variety of TED talks about different topics of interest to educators and learners.

New History Books in the B. Thomas Golisano Library

Title: The Templars: the History & the Myth
Author: Michael Haag
Publisher: Harper
Call Number: CR4743.H32 2009
Synopsis from the Publisher:
The first history of the legendary knights since the Vatican momentously released the records of their trial and exoneration

Title: Paris in the Middle Ages
Author: Simone Roux
Publisher:University of Pennsylvania
Call Number: DC707.R67513 2009
Synopsis from the Publisher:
Paris in the Middle Ages was home to royalty, mountebanks, Knights Templar, merchants, prostitutes, and canons. Bursting outward from the encompassing wall, it was Europe's largest, most cosmopolitan city. Simone Roux chronicles the lives of Parisians over the course of a dozen generations as Paris grew from a military stronghold after the Battle of Bouvines in 1214 to a city recovering from the Black Death of the 1390s.

Title: Prokopios: The Secret History with Related Texts
Author: Anthony Kaldellis (Ed. and Trans.)
Publisher: Hackett Publishing Co.
Call Number: DF572.P813 2010
Table of Contents:
Glossary of offices and administrative terms
Genealogy of the family of Justinian
Genealogy of the family of Theodora
Map of the eastern Mediterranean in the reign of Justinian
Map of the environs of Constantinople in the reign of Justinian
Map of Constantinople
A guide to the main sources
A guide to scholarship in English
The secret history

Title: The Great Brain Suck and Other American Epiphanies
Author: Eugene Halton
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Call Number: E196.1.H225 2008
Table of contents:
The great brain suck; Out of the fifties;Interlude : go man go; The hunter-gatherers' world's fair;Life, literature, and sociology in turn-of-the century Chicago; Communicating democracy : or shine, perishing republic;Lem's master's voice ;An American epiphany in Nashville;The house on Mount Misery ;The art and craft of home ;Europiphanies; The last days of Lewis Mumford ;Teleparodies ;His one leg.

New Library Books in Christian Ministry

Title: When the Minister is a Woman
Author: Debra E. Harmon & Barbara J. Rhodes
Publisher: Chalice Press
Call Number: BV676.H37 2008
Synopsis from publisher:

Two experienced women pastors share their ministry experiences and those of many female colleagues in order to encourage fledgling women ministers and seminary students on their pathways to local church ministry. Debra Harmon and Barbara Rhodes describe the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful in ministry to help women develop realistic expectations as they enter their first church assignments. With humor and energy the authors look back through their experiences of seeking a position, accepting a call, negotiating equitable salary and benefit packages, accepting the lack of acceptance of some parishioners, finding their particular strengths in ministry, and working within the local church and the local community to extend God's kingdom. Despite all the barriers met and opposition faced, Harmon and Rhodes come out with a tone of joy and enthusiasm for ministry.

Title: Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church
Author: Nelson Searcy
Publisher: Regal
Call Number: BV820.S43 2007
Synopsis from publisher:

Creating an envrironment  that both embraces our newcomers and excites them enough to return does not happen by chance.  We must be prepared to be effective stewards of those God brings us.  And why shouldn't the Church be the epitome of service at its best, as modeled by the greatest server of all time? Built on The Journey Church of the City's Assimilation Seminar, Fusion embodies a step-by-step, biblically-grounded, tetsted and proven plan for establishing a relationship with necomers that ultimately prompts them to become fully developing members of our congregations.  This innovative, practical guide is full of how-to information, testimonials from the recently assimilated and from participating church leaders, examples of the assimilation materials used and check points to make sure the reader is on track. Engaging, informative and immediately applicable, here is help for setting newcomers ont eh path toward true life transformation and spiritual maturity.

Title: A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story
Author: Michael W. Goheen
Publisher: Baker Academic
Call Number: BV2073.G58 2011
Synopsis from publisher
There is a growing body of literature about the missional church, but the word missional is often defined in competing ways with little attempt to ground it deeply in Scripture. Michael Goheen, a dynamic speaker and the coauthor of two popular texts on the biblical narrative, unpacks the missional identity of the church by tracing the role God's people are called to play in the biblical story. Goheen shows that the church's identity can be understood only when its role is articulated in the context of the whole biblical story--not just the New Testament, but the Old Testament as well. He also explores practical outworkings and implications, offering field-tested suggestions for contemporary churches


Title: The Way of Goodness and Holiness: A Spirituality for Pastoral Ministers
Author: Richard M. Gula
Publisher: Liturgical Press
Call Number: BX1920.G86 2011
Synopsis from publisher:

How do ministers, whether lay or ordained, form their spiritual life? What practices do they need to foster in order to become good and to be holy in their service? To answer these questions, Richard Gula invites readers to think along with him about the kind of minister they want to be: "If we don't know where we want to go," he writes, "we will easily end up somewhere else." Gula then presents a variety of virtuesincluding gratitude, self-care, humor, and courageand explains how developing these qualities is essential for a ministers moral and spiritual life. By grounding a spirituality for pastoral ministry in the virtues, Gula provides a way for ministers to bridge the gap between who they are and who they hope to become in imitation of Christ Jesus.

New Books at B. Thomas Golisano Library

Title: Thomas Aquinas and the Philosophy of Punishment
Author: Peter Karl Koritansky
Publisher Catholic University of America
Call Number B765.T54 K63 2010
Table of Contents:
Introduction: modern philosophies of punishment and the return to Aquinas
The problem with the utilitarian theory of punishment
The problem with modern retributivism
Foundations of the Thomistic theory of punishment
The moral basis of punishment: Aquinas's retributivism
Beyond retribution: punishing criminals in political society
Capital punishment, evangelium vitae, and the Thomistic theory of punishment
Conclusion: Thomas Aquinas and modern theories of punishment.

Title: The Recursive Mind: The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization
Author: Michael C. Corballis
Publisher Princeton
Call Number  BF701.C665 2011
Synopsis from publisher:
The Recursive Mind challenges the commonly held notion that language is what makes us uniquely human. In this compelling book, Michael Corballis argues that what distinguishes us in the animal kingdom is our capacity for recursion: the ability to embed our thoughts within other thoughts. "I think, therefore I am," is an example of recursive thought, because the thinker has inserted himself into his thought. Recursion enables us to conceive of our own minds and the minds of others. It also gives us the power of mental "time travel"--the ability to insert past experiences, or imagined future ones, into present consciousness.

Title: Vygotsky in Perspective
Author: Ronald Miller
Publisher Cambridge
Call Number BF109.V95 M55 2011
Synopsis from publisher:

"Lev Vygotsky has acquired the status of one of the grand masters in psychology. Following the English translation and publication of his Collected Works there has been a new wave of interest in Vygotsky accompanied by a burgeoning of secondary literature. Ronald Miller argues that Vygotsky is increasingly being 'read' and understood through secondary sources and that scholars have claimed Vygotsky as the foundational figure for their own theories, eliminating his most distinctive contributions and distorting his theories. Miller peels away the accumulated layers of commentary to provide a clearer understanding of how Vygotsky built and developed his arguments. In an in-depth analysis of the last three chapters of Vygotsky's book Thinking and Speech, Miller provides a critical interpretation of the core theoretical concepts that constitute Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory, including the development of concepts, mediation, the zone of proximal development, conscious awareness, inner speech, word meaning and consciousness"--

Title: The Ends of Life: Roads to Fulfilment in Early Modern England
Author: Keith Thomas
Publisher Oxford
Call Number BJ1547.T56 2010
Synopsis from publisher:

Hailed as "immediately and universally recognized as indispensable" (TLS) and "compellingly readable, richly researched, fascinatingly detailed, delightfully written" (LRB), here is a masterful exploration of the ways in which people sought to lead fulfilling lives, illuminating the central values of early modern England, while casting incidental light on some of the perennial problems of human existence. Keith Thomas, one of the foremost historians of our time, sheds light on the origins of the modern ideal of human fulfillment and explores the many obstacles to its realization, looking at work, wealth, possessions, friendship, family, and sociability. The book looks at the cult of military prowess, the pursuit of honor and reputation, the nature of religious belief, and the desire to be posthumously remembered. The Ends of Life offers a fresh approach to the history of early modern England, providing modern readers with much food for thought on the problem of how we should live and what goals in life we should pursue.

New Library books in Health and Health Technology

Title Living Well and Dying Faithfully: Christian Practice for End-of-life Care
Author: Eds. John Swinton & Ricyard Payne
Publisher: Eerdmans
Call Number: R726.L556 2009
Synopsis:

Living Well and Dying Faithfully explores how Christian practices - love, prayer, lament, compassion, and so on - can contribute to the process of dying well. Working on the premise that one dies the way one lives, the book is unique in its constructive dialogue between theology and medicine as offering two complementary modes of care. Book jacket.

Title Obesity: Opposing Viewpoints
Author:
Publisher: Greenhaven
Call Number: RA645.O23 O22 2011
Synopsis:
Part of a research series which presents two divergent views on various aspects of chosen topics, this book updates earlier Viewpoints (2008) about Obesity issues such as the seriousness of the problem, the causes, who should be responsible for solving obesity, and the solutions offered.

Title Kids, Sports, and Concussion: A Guide for Coaches and Parents
Author: William Paul Meehan III, MD
Publisher: Praeger
Call Number: RC1218.C45 M44 2011
Synopsis from publisher:

Written by an expert physician, Kids, Sports, and Concussion: A Guide for Coaches and Parents offers a thorough understanding of concussive brain injury, its symptoms, its potential long-term effects, and the current prevention options. Equally important, it provides insights into how this injury is treated and what parents and athletes can do to facilitate recovery. In addition to explaining in simple, clear, and complete terms what a concussion is and how it can alter the brain function of children and youths, this guide discusses new technologies and equipment that may help prevent concussion. It looks at the incidence of concussion in football, hockey, cheerleading, skiing and snowboarding, soccer, basketball, and equestrian sports, and it explores related issues, such as the movement to have soccer and rugby players wear helmets. A final chapter focuses on emerging research designed to facilitate better treatments and on safety measures, including testing for a genetic predisposition to concussion.

 

Title biology is technology: The promise, pereil, and new business of engineering life
Author: Robert H. Carlson
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Call Number: TP248.2.C37 2010
Synopsis from publisher:
Technology is a process and a body of knowledge as much as a collection of artifacts. Biology is no different—and we are just beginning to comprehend the challenges inherent in the next stage of biology as a human technology. It is this critical moment, with its wide-ranging implications, that Robert Carlson considers in Biology Is Technology. He offers a uniquely informed perspective on the endeavors that contribute to current progress in this area—the science of biological systems and the technology used to manipulate them.

New Books in Science and Mathematics

Title:  Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World.
Author: Lisa Randall
Publisher: Harper Collins
Call Number: Q175.5.R365 2011
Synopsis from publisher:
The latest developments in physics have the potential to radically revise our understanding of the world: its makeup, its evolution, and the fundamental forces that drive its operation. Knocking on Heaven’s Door is an exhilarating and accessible overview of these developments and an impassioned argument for the significance of science.

The most sweeping and exciting science book in years, Knocking on Heaven’s Door makes clear the biggest scientific questions we face and reveals how answering them could ultimately tell us who we are and where we came from.

Title: Kiss my Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss
Author: Danica McKellar
Publisher: Plume
Call Number: QA152.3.M354 2009
Synopsis from publisher:
In her New York Times bestselling books, actress and math genius Danica McKellar shatters the math nerd stereotype and gives girls the tools to ace middle-school math in her unique, just-us-girls style. Now, in her second book, Kiss My Math, McKellar empowers a new crop of girlsseventh to ninth gradersto tackle the next level of mathematics: pre-algebra

Title: The Mathematics of Life
Author: Ian Stewart
Publisher: Basic Books
Call Number:QA323.5.S742 2011b
Synopsis from publisher:

Biologists have long dismissed mathematics as being unable to meaningfully contribute to our understanding of living beings. Within the past ten years, however, mathematicians have proven that they hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of our world--and ourselves. In The Mathematics of Life, Ian Stewart provides a fascinating overview of the vital but little-recognized role mathematics has played in pulling back the curtain on the hidden complexities of the natural world--and how its contribution will be even more vital in the years ahead. In his characteristically clear and entertaining fashion, Stewart explains how mathematicians and biologists have come to work together on some of the most difficult scientific problems that the human race has ever tackled, including the nature and origin of life itself.

Title: Means to an End: Apoptosis and Other Cell Death Mechanisms
Author: Douglas R. Green
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
Call Number: QH671.G74 2011
Synopsis:
The table of contents indicates the discussion of the life and death of cells and the application to cancer/

New books in Communication Arts and Literature

Title:The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
Author: Stephen Greenblatt
Publisher:W.W. Norton
Call Number: PA6484.G69 2011
Synopsis from publisher:

In this book the author transports readers to the dawn of the Renaissance and chronicles the life of an intrepid book lover who rescued the Roman philosophical text On the Nature of Things from certain oblivion. In this work he has crafted both a work ofhistory and a story of discovery, in which one manuscript, plucked from a thousand years of neglect, changed the course of human thought and made possible the world as we know it. Nearly six hundred years ago, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late thirties took a very old manuscript off a library shelf, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. That book was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic, On the Nature of Things, by Lucretius, a beautiful poem of the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles in eternal motion, colliding and swerving in new directions. The copying and translation of this ancient book, the greatest discovery of the greatest book-hunter of his age, fueled the Renaissance, inspiring artists such as Botticelli and thinkers such as Giordano Bruno; shaped the thought of Galileo and Freud, Darwin and Einstein; and had a revolutionary influence on writers such as Montaigne and Shakespeare and even Thomas Jefferson.

Title: Can Journalism Be Saved? Rediscovering America's Appetite for News
Author: Rachel Davis Mersey
Publisher: Praeger
Call Number: PN4867.2.M47 2010
Synopsis from publisher:

By some measures, it would seem that print journalism is dying. Journalism recently suffered one of its worst circulation declines in years: a drop of more than ten percent in the a six month period ending September 30, 2009. The Rocky Mountain News in Denver, CO, closed its doors in 2009after it dominated the AP awards in 2008, and was lauded for an investigative expose on unfair treatment of former nuclear workers. Even the New York Times and the Washington Post are experiencing financial trouble. But print advertising revenue still trumps online advertising revenue ten-fold. Is there hope yet for traditional journalism? This book reviews the complicated challenge facing journalism, tracing its 19th-century community-oriented origins and documenting the vast expansion of the news business via blogs and other Internet-enabled outlets, user-generated content, and news-like alternatives. The author argues that a radical shift in mindsetstriving to meet each individual's demands for what he wants to knowwill be necessary to save journalism.

Title: Charles Dickens in Context
Author: Sally Ledger and Holly Furneaux, eds.
Publisher: Cambridge
Call Number: PR4588.C3597 2011
Synopsis from publisher:
Charles Dickens, a man so representative of his age as to have become considered synonymous with it, demands to be read in context. This book illuminates the worlds - social, political, economic and artistic - in which Dickens worked. Dickens's professional life encompassed work as a novelist, journalist, editor, public reader and passionate advocate of social reform

Title: Colonialism in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
Author:
Publisher: Greenhaven Press
Call Number:PR9387.9.A3 T523975 2010
Synopsisfrom publisher:

Great literary works resonate with readers not only because of well-developed characters and plots, but also because they often reflect important social themes. The Social Issues in Literature series brings together the disciplines of sociology and literature in a unique format designed to support cross-curricular studies. Each volume explores a work of literature through the lens of the major social issue reflected in it, and features carefully-selected content representing a variety of perspectives. All volumes in the series contain biographical and critical information about the author; secondary excerpts offering both historical and contemporary views of the highlighted social issue; a timeline of the author's life; a For Further Reading section of other works on the issue; and a detailed subject index. Book jacket.