A Man Called Ove

If you’re looking for an amusing but not light-hearted book, one that doesn’t shy away from what makes life grim and depressing without leaving you feeling grim and depressed when you’ve finished the book then you’ll want to read A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.  This book answers the question do the Swedes only write grim and depressing mysteries with a resounding no. This book is not a mystery of any sort.  It tells the tale of a grumpy old man Ove and what happens when new, kind of pushy, neighbors move in, a cat adopts him, his old nemesis’ family needs help and more.  It winds up being a truly inspirational story about adapting to what life gives you and making the most of it. I would heartily recommend it. 

History of Highland Park…

Here’s an 8/16/1973 news article by Charles Cooper that explores eleven historical and cultural monuments located in Highland Park (http://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/10/520219.pdf).  The article includes pictures and explores such destinations as the Judson Studios, Abbey San Encino, and the Hiner Home.  

Take a look.  

Events for the Week of February 16…

The library will be closed on Monday, February 16 for Presidents’ Day.  The events going on at the library the rest of the week include…

• Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (2/18) --- sessions at 10:30 & 11:30
• STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
• Fun with Tablets program on Thursday (2/19) at 4:00
• Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (2/20) at 3:30
• SAT Practice Test on Saturday (2/21) starting at 10:00
• STAR Reader also on Saturday at 2:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.

Trivia of the Week...

This week’s question is who was mayor of Los Angeles in 1798?  Bonus points for naming an achievement of that individual.

Undeniable

Bill Nye (who nerdy kids will remember from his science show) has become irked with attempts by creationists to have an impact on the education of our children and has written Undeniable to redress this.  He rightly points out that this group is willing to deny science in this particular area of biology while simultaneously and hypocritically enjoying the fruits of science in their everyday lives…. and asks how they can expect the US to continue to have an innovative impact on the fields of science and technology if children are not taught how to do science but are instead feed a mythos and told to believe it without question.  His book points out a number of other things as well.

Essentially the book sets out to explain evolution to the non-scientist in an understandable, non-condescending way.  It is ideal for beginners looking to understand what evolution is and how it works.  I would heartily recommend it. 

TOW (& Answer)...

The week’s question was who was John Napier?  John Napier was a Scottish Mathematician.  He published the first tables of logarithms in 1614.  He was interested in (as a hobby) spherical trigonometry and computation.  His logarithms were defined geometrically rather than in terms of a base.

The question (& answer) were found on p. 185 of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics by Christopher Clapham.  The book was published by Oxford University Press in 1996. 

Yesterday’s Kin

Yesterday’s Kin by Nancy Kress is an engaging short little SF novel.  Aliens have come to Earth and have revealed some very bad news.  Marianne Jenner is called in to work on a project related to the aliens and their bad news and the novel explores what happens through her eyes and through the eyes of her youngest son.  I can’t say much more about the plot without giving too much away….

This is a short little book that explores cultural concepts of family, human reactions to potential disaster, and touches on biology and anthropology.  Worth a read. 

Events for the Week of February 9…

The events going on at the library this week include…

• Make It Mondays (Valentine’s Cards) Monday (2/9) at 4:00
• Movie Showing (celebrating African American History Month) also on Monday at 5:30
• Teen Program (fun with beads) on Tuesday (2/10) at 4:00
• RazorCake Zine Reading also on Tuesday at 6:30
• Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (2/11) --- sessions at 10:30 & 11:30
• STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
• Fun with Tablets program on Thursday (2/12) at 4:00
• Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (2/13) at 3:30
• STAR Reader on Saturday (2/14) at 2:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.

Websites I like….

One website that I use a lot is the Healthy City website (http://www.healthycity.org/).  Healthy City is a site that I like to think of as Rainbow Reference online.  Of course that doesn’t help if you don’t already know that Rainbow Reference is a guide to social services available in LA County.  So the upshot is if you’re looking for a particular type of service from help with food through educational opportunities and neighborhood resources Healthy City is the place to go.  You can also use the site to generate some interesting demographic reports and it allows you to look at your results mapped as well as listed.

Take a look at it.

The Three-Body Problem

(Warning I intend to give away more regarding the plot of this book then I usually do in reviews.  I do recommend it so if you like SF from an entirely different cultural perspective you’ll love this book --- pick it up & don’t read the rest of the review)

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu, is the first in a science fiction trilogy.  At the most basic level it is traditional story of alien invasion.  What makes it different, and at least to me very interesting, is that Liu is Chinese and the books were originally published in China so we have an entirely different cultural take on that story.  The translator does a very good job of making sure the reader is cognizant of the cultural/historical significance of things mentioned in the book that the author assumes his audience already knows via in text explanation & judicious use of footnote.

In this book a scientist, who had seen her father --- also a scientist --- killed during the Cultural Revolution and who herself had been sent to do manual labor finds herself, eventually, working on a base that was focused on SETI.  As a political undesirable she had no power but as an intelligent scientist she found more than expected.  She figured out and surreptitiously used a method to boost the signal of the broadcast they were making and then replied to the answer that is received.  She manages, through a judicial murder, to keep things under wraps and the whole communication with aliens moves underground into a cadre of scientists determined to collude with the aliens who’d like to see Earth depopulated so they can use it for themselves.  I will admit this part struck me a little strangely since people tend to side with people over anything else so I couldn’t really see why people would pick aliens over humanity.  The author, though, made all the scientists and others involved in this conspiracy part of a disaffected class.  In China they were people who had been hard done by in the Cultural Revolution.  Elsewhere in the world they were people who saw what humanity was doing to the world, thought that it was bad, and assumed a space faring race would be better.  Toward the end of the book normal people (i.e. those who would pick humanity over any alien) step in and the war begins.  This is only the first book of the trilogy so it kind of ends right there with the gearing up beginning.  It will be interesting to see where this goes.

The author claims in the endnotes that the story is in no way political but it does read that way to me a bit.  After all the whole thing is kind of set off in consequence to how classes of people were treated during a turbulent period in Chinese history.

All in all an interesting book, give it a try.

The White Magic Five and Dime

The White Magic Five and Dime by Steve Hockensmith and Lisa Falco combines sedona-esque Arizona with tarot cards, a really high number of con artists, and a murder.  Alanis McLachlan learns that her long estranged con-artist mother has died and left her the White Magic Five and Dime store.  Arriving in Berdache, Arizona she discovers her mother was murdered and decides to try and figure out who did it.  To fit into the life her mother was leading she takes up tarot reading. 

This is a fairly plot filled book with lots of sub-plots to keep things going.  Alanis learns more about her mother and discovers things about herself as well as finding the murderer.  I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good mystery with the challenge to see how far before Alanis they could figure out who did it.

Trivia of the Week...

This week’s question is who was John Napier?

February’s Electronic Resource of the Month….

The LAPL Photo Collection is the February Electronic Resource of the Month and an excellent resource it is.  It is one I’ve often used for a variety of purposes.  I use it as a librarian of course to answer questions that call for a visual depiction of a house or neighborhood.  I use it for fun… sometimes I’ll just do a search on the weirdest thing I can think of to see what pictures turn up.  I’ve even used it for a quick “I need a present”… Find a picture of something that the person you need a present for likes and then, if you’ve time, frame it.  Always well received.

You can find the LAPL Photo collection by going to the library’s website (www.lapl.org) and selecting the Photo Collection link.  You will find it to the right in the teal colored banner.  Once on the photo search page you can construct a keyword or photographer search and have the ability to limit by year.  I encourage you to go play with this resource and see what cool pictures you can find.

Events for the Week of February 2…

The events going on at the library this week include…

• Make It Mondays (building block challenge) Monday (2/2) at 4:00
• Covered California Enrollment Assistance also on Monday from 4:00-7:00
• Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (2/4) --- sessions at 10:30 & 11:30
• STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
• Covered CA enrollment help also on Wednesday from 4:00-7:00
• Fun with Tablets program on Thursday (2/5) at 4:00
• Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (2/6) at 3:30
• STAR Reader on Saturday (2/7) at 2:00
• UCLA Gluck String Quartet also on Saturday at 3:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.