In the News: US–Cuba Relations in 2009

Week of May 11, 2009

News Item: The Obama administration recently announced that it is revising its policies on family travel to Cuba, remittances to family members, and regulations on gift parcels. According to a White House fact sheet, these changes are being made in order to “help bridge the gap among divided Cuban families and promote the freer flow of information and humanitarian items to the Cuban people.”

Adrift: The Cuban Raft People
By Alfredo Fernández. Arte Publico Press, 2000
Call Number: E184 .C97 F46 2000

Castro: Man and Myth (DVD)
Directed by Stephan Lamby and Volker Skierka. Distributed by The Cinema Guild, 2005
Call Number: F1788.22 .C3 C35 2005 (Media Center)

Cuba After Communism
By Eliana Cardoso and Ann Helwege. MIT Press, 1992
Call Number: F1788 .C2575 1992

In the News: Reproductive Technology

Week of April 27, 2009

News Item: A few months have passed since a Southern California woman gave birth to eight babies, all of whom were conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). What are the social, cultural, political, medical, ethical, and economic ramifications of IVF and other reproductive technologies? Some starting points…

Babies in Bottles: Twentieth-Century Visions of Reproductive Technology
By Susan Merrill Squier. Rutgers UP, 1994
Call Number: RG133.5 .S98 1994 (At Jupiter)

Beyond Second Opinions: Making Choices about Fertility Treatment
By Judith Steinberg Turiel. U of California Press, 1998
Call Number: RC889 .T87 1998

Bodies of Technology: Women’s Involvement with Reproductive Medicine
Edited by Ann Rudinow Saetnan et al. Ohio State UP, 2000
Call Number: RG133.5 .B625 2000

In the News: Earth Day

Week of April 20, 2009

News Item: April 22nd is Earth Day…Green Living • Sustainability • Recycling • No Pesticides • Ecofeminism • Environmentally Friendly • Hybrid Vehicles • Paper or Plastic? Neither–Bring Your Own Bags! • No PEG Compounds • Community Supported Agriculture • Stainless Steel Water Bottles • Carbon Footprint Reduction • Public Transportation • Fair Trade • Renewable Energy…

Green Plans: Blueprint for a Sustainable Earth

Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise
By Gaylord Nelson. U of Wisconsin P, 2002
Call Number: GE195 .N45 2002

Bringing Society Back in: Grassroots Ecosystem Management, Accountability, and Sustainability Communities
By Edward P. Weber. MIT Press, 2003
Call Number: Available online via NetLibrary

Building with Awareness: The Construction of a Hybrid Home (DVD)
Directed by Ted Owens. Syncronos Design, 2005
Call Number: TH4818 .S77 B85 2005 (Media Center)
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From Astrochemistry to Zoology

The FAU Libraries now has Von Nostrand’s Scientific Encylopedia available online. Since 1938 this reference has been an important and comprehensive scientific resource for scientists, consultants, teachers, and students. Over 10,000 up-to-date entries include topics ranging across disciplines, including animal science, anatomy, astronomy, atmospheric science, chemistry, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer science, earth science, energy sources, information science, life science, materials, mathematics, mechanical engineering, medicine, mining, physics, physiology, planetary science, plant science, power technology, space science, and structural engineering.
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In the News: College Athletics

Week of April 6, 2009

News Item: March Madness is over. Now it’s on to the Big Dance for the Michigan State Spartans, the UConn Huskies, the North Carolina Tar Heels, and the Villanova Wildcats. The 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball champion will be crowned on April 6 in Detroit. Have some spare time before the final game tip-off? – check out some of these books on sports in higher education.

Air Ball: American Education’s Failed Experiment with Elite Athletics
By John R. Gerdy. UP of Mississippi, 2006
Call Number: GV346 .G468 2006 (also available online via NetLibrary)

Athletics and Academe: An Anatomy of Abuses and a Prescription for Reform
By Wilford S. Bailey and Taylor D. Littleton. Maxwell Macmillan, 1991
Call Number: GV351 .B34 1991

Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports is Crippling Undergraduate Education
By Murray Sperber. Henry Holt, 2000
Call Number: GV351 .S63 2000

In the News: Liberal Economic Backlash

Week of March 30, 2009

News Item: President Barack Obama’s administration has drawn fire from left-leaning economists for continuing to bail out banks with hundreds of billions in taxpayer money. Some observe how this is a continuation of George W. Bush’s administrative policies. Many of these economists had been supportive of Obama’s bid for the presidency in the lead up to the November 2008 election. Paul Krugman, 2008 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics; Joseph Stigletz, former World Bank Chief Economist; and Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration; among others, argue that greater spending on social programs and infrastructure will have a more positive influence on the economy in the long term than propping up banks destined for failure.

Contributed by James F. Tracy, Assoc. Professor, Communication and Multimedia Studies

In the News: Star Trek

Week of March 23, 2009

News Item: Many die-hard Star Trek fans go out of their way to collect anything and everything related to the science fiction television and movie series. There are action figures, comic books, trading cards, mugs, t-shirts, and even furniture based on the franchise that began in the 1960s. A recent story in the Home section of the New York Times highlighted the fascination that some Trekkies have for Captain Kirk’s U.S.S. Enterprise chair. These enthusiasts even go so far as to have sophisticated replicas of the chair built for their living rooms. The books below may not cover the architectural and interior design concepts of the Enterprise, but they do provide insight into the Star Trek phenomenon that continues to pervade American popular culture.

American Science Fiction TV: Star Trek, Stargate and Beyond
By: Jan Johnson-Smith. I.B. Tauris, 2005
Call Number: Available online through NetLibrary

Boarding the Enterprise: Transporters, Tribbles, and the Vulcan Death Grip in Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek Series
Edited by David Gerrold et al. BenBella Books, 2006
Call Number: PN1992.77 .S73 B63 2006

Deep Space and Sacred Time: Star Trek in the American Mythos
By Jon Wagner and Jan Lundeen. Praeger, 1998
Call Number: Available online through Greenwood e-books
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Women Taking the Lead to Save our Planet

In celebration of Women’s History Month, The National History Women’s Project (NHWP) is recognizing women in the forefront of the environmental movement. From the instinctual ecological considerations of gathering to battling the political complexities of bureaucracies and industries, women have always played a role in protecting and sustaining the world around them.

During the month of March the FAU library, Boca campus, is displaying books in the lobby highlighting women’s relationship to the environment. Browse titles from Florida’s own Marjory Stoneman Douglas such as The everglades: River of grass and The wide brim: early poems and ponderings by Marjory Stoneman Douglas, or NHWP’s featured honoree Rachael Carson’s selected writings, The house of life: Rachel Carson at work.

In the News: Singularity University

Week of March 16, 2009

News Item: In February MIT Professor Ray Kurzweil secured an agreement with NASA and Google to embark on “Singularity University.” SU will offer classes and research programs examining biotechnology, nanotechnology, and Kurzweil’s overall vision of a society where the “artificial intelligence” and decision making powers of computers will eventually surpass and replace similar capacities of humans. Especially in the latter half of the twentieth century, social scientists and self-proclaimed “futurologists” have assessed and ventured predictions on how automation and information technology influence economics, culture, and society. The establishment of SU provokes further concern about the present and future relationships between technology and society.

After the New Economy: The Binge…And the Hangover That Won’t Go Away
By Doug Henwood. New Press, 2003
Call Number: HC106.83 .H46 2003

The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
By Ray Kurzweil. Viking, 1999
Call Number: Q335 .K88 1999

Being Digital
By Nicholas Negroponte. Knopf, 1995
Call Number: TK5103.7 .N43 1995
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On & Off the Shelf

Books in the Library