Daily Thoughts 01/22/2012

Daily Thoughts 01/22/2012

I finished reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  The book is quite elegant.  It is both lovely and tragic.  The ending was very different than what I expected.

I also started reading Debt The First 5000 Years by David Graeber.   David Graeber is an activist and anthropologist.   He views the current system of debt as unsustainable and unjust.

The book, Clark Howard's Living Large in Lean Times came in for me to get from the Westchester Library System Digital Media Catalog.   It is a book of tips on how to save money.

Someone suggested that I take a look at http://www.obooko.com which is a site which allows people to create free ebooks.  There are a lot of creative commons titles on the site.

Daily Thoughts 01/21/2012

Conan Doyle Forward Facing Photograph


Daily Thoughts 01/21/2012

I read some more of The Night Circus last night.  I like that there are so many different types of magic and showmanship in this book.  There are illusionists, contortionists, clock makers, fortune tellers, and even a few real magicians.   There is a thin line between trickery and magic in this book.

I spent some time looking at the Programming Librarian Blog.  There is both a section on grants and a generic calendar for library events.  http://www.programminglibrarian.org 

ALA Midwinter 2012: Adding Kindle Compatibility Expanded OverDrive’s U.S. Library Network by 36 Percent  

http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/01/industry-news/adding-kindle-compatibility-expanded-overdrives-u-s-library-network-by-36-percent/

I am very glad that I purchased a Kindle Touch.  It has been very useful for my job and I have found it entertaining to read books on it as well.

ALA Midwinter 2012: Better World Books and Ingram Team Up to Create Library Revenue

http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/01/funding/ala-midwinter-2012-better-world-books-and-ingram-team-up-to-create-library-revenue/  

We use Better World Books for some of our discarded items.

I put The Librarians Guide to Micro Publishing on request through interlibrary loan.
http://books.infotoday.com/books/Librarians-Guide-To-Micropublishing.shtml

I also placed holds on The price of civilization : reawakening American virtue and prosperity
by Jeffrey Sachs and The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

We are having more people coming in with self published books.  We also have the Mount Vernon Writers Network which has quite a few people with self published books.

Daily Thoughts 01/12/2012

Gerard ter Borch the Younger, The Reading Lesson, 17th Century

Daily Thoughts 01/12/2012

I read a bit of The Night Circus on the way to work.  The writing is elegant and stylish, not something you often see in a fantasy novel.  The magicians don't throw fire, they exist in dinner parties, salons, shows, circuses, and other entertainments.

I also started The Ecotechnic Future.  The author is talking about the end of oil and how our civilization is not quite ready for it.  He claims that oil is not replaceable with current technology.  I disagree with him in some ways.  I think that we have not exploited ocean based energy that well as well as high altitude wind energy.  There is a lot more that can be done.

In addition, I started reading Don't Know Much About Mythology by Kenneth C. Davis.  I am enjoying it.  Kenneth C. Davis has already mentioned the writers George Frazier and Joseph Campbell.

This morning, I updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library.

Kenneth Davis is coming to do an author talk tonight.  He write this article in the Westchester Journal News  http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012301120016   Library 'shaped me,' author says.  Writer to speak, sign books in Mount Vernon.  He will be here at 6:00 p.m.

There is another budget meeting for the City Council tonight, but I'm working tonight.  Please support the library. http://cmvny.com/2012/01/11/special-city-council-meeting-to-adopt-2012-budget/

Kenneth Davis came to read tonight.  It went well.  Kenneth talked about his childhood in Mount Vernon and the importance of the library and reading.  He also talked about the start of his writing career.  His first book which was a bestseller was Don't Know Much About History.  He also showed us some of his new children's books.  He took questions from the audience about history.  His focus was on the presidential elections this time. There were different questions about Eleanor Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, the great depression, primary source material, and hidden history.

I bought A Nation Rising which I had signed.  Mobile Libris which is a mobile bookseller sold quite a few books to the people who attended.

Web Bits

Harper Launches Digital to Print at Retail Today
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/50166-harper-launches-digital-to-print-at-retail-today.html

Daily Thoughts 01/11/2012

[Owl above door to center reading room on fifth floor. Library of Congress John Adams Building, Washington, D.C.] Date Created/Published: 2007.
Daily Thoughts 01/11/2012

On the way to work, I finished reading Boomerang by Michael Lewis.  The last chapter is about economic failure in California.  It has bits on Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as some thoughts on the bankrupt city of Vallejo, California.  The book shows how the financial crisis in Europe has come back to haunt the United States.

I also read a little bit more on the Kindle Touch.  I decided to pass on the ebook Practically Radical by William C. Taylor.  

I started reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  It is a fantasy with a lot of style to it.

The book Tony Wheeler's Badlands A Tourist on the Axis of Evil came in for me to read.

This morning, I updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library.  I also sent some emails out to people who might be interested in doing readings at the library.

The Computer Lab is open from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 pm. today.  I downloaded a few more  ebooks for the Kindle that are free, The Art of War by Sun Zi, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Wired to Care How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy by Dev Patnaik, and Don't Know Much About Mythology by Kenneth C. Davis.   Kenneth C. Davis will be at our library on December 12, 2012 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/KenDavis

The book, The Ecotechnic Future by John Michael Greer came in for me to read.  It should be quite interesting.  I also helped another person on the Kindle Fire today to show them how to download ebooks from the Digital Media Catalog.  More people are coming in to ask about this.
There is a City Council Hearing on the Budget going on right now on January 11, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.  If I was not working I would be there right now.  http://cmvny.com/2012/01/09/adopted-budget-2012/