What's kirigami?

What's kirigami? It's the Japanese art of cutting paper. It actually has a long history, used in Japanese and Chinese temples as offerings to gods. From the 17th to 19th century, cutting and folding paper became classified as a true art form in Asia.

Even as a young child, I liked making cards. After reading Kirigami, as well as other books on card-making, I began designing my own specialized cards. It does take some practice to determine what to cut and where to fold, but the finished results are worth it.

Very few supplies are needed: paper, a sharp knife, a metal ruler, a paper folder, and a cutting board.

This beautiful book explains step-by-step how to create gorgeous cards that will delight your friends and relatives. Templates are included. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be surprised how easy it is to customize your work.

This book shows how to make cards featuring these items:

• circus
• children
• cats
• heart
• waves
• fish
• cars
• sailing boats
• dolphins

So next time you need a birthday, valentine, or Christmas card, why not consider creating your own?

Kirigami can be found on the second floor under the call number 736.98 BAD.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

High Tide

Media has been reporting lately on the revised death toll from Hurricane Katrina. Over the last year, the media have printed articles on various approaches to preventing such a catastrophe in the future.

Author Cornelia Dean, in Against the Tide, writes that more and more of the population in the U. S. is moving to coastal regions. The author says that all of this new development is destroying the buffer between the ocean and land, causing more loss of lives and property.

To stress his point, he gives several examples. One is the community of Galveston, Texas, which is built on a sandy barrier island. In 1900, there was a devastating hurricane that killed 6,000 people.

Another location discussed is Westhampton Beach, located on Long Island. This narrow strip of land was effected by storms that ripped through there in 1991, splitting the community in two. The town (with the help of federal money) began to built groins to restore the land and the beaches. This created additional problems.

Cornelia Dean mentions various solutions that communities have used to try to control nature. Ultimately, she keeps coming back to the conclusion that we really cannot.

Against the Tide is on the second floor under the number 333.917 DEA.


c Waterloo Public Library 2007

What do Zen and motorcycles have in common?

I must confess. I tried reading books about Zen, only to toss them aside in frustration. And regarding motorcycles: I think I've only been on a motorcycle twice in my life.

So why would I even look at a book with a title like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? Well, there were a couple of patrons who wanted me to find this book for them. One even recommended it to me after he finished reading it. I still wasn't interested.

I still didn't bother with looking at it. I don't even like motorcycles. I only own two items that run on gas: my old car and a lawnmower, and that's enough for me.

I happened to work down in circulation one day when this book was returned. Curiosity got the best of me. I decide to check it out with a bunch of other books that I knew I would like. I figured I would just flip through it quickly, set it aside and read a book I knew I wanted to read. From the first page, I was hooked. I began to see why this is such a classic (it was written in 1974).

It's a travelogue Robert Pirsig wrote while motorcycling across the Great Plains with his son and two friends. He discusses his life, philosophy, and the experience of traveling on the open road on a motorcycle through all types of uncomfortable weather.

So, don't let the title scare you off. If I can enjoy this book (someone with no interest in Zen nor motorcycles), I think there are a lot of you who will, too.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance can be found on the second floor under the call number 917.3 PIR.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

How can you not read this book after seeing the cover?

Bat Bomb : World War II's other secret weapon

by Jack Couffer

An eccentric inventor, a prestigious chemist, a biologist and his student assistants, a movie star, a Texas guano-collector, an ex-mobster, and Marine colonel -- toss in a tiger, a World War II backdrop, and a race against time and you've got a great (and true!) adventure story.

Author Couffer, who was one of the "student assistants" mentioned above, is a good storyteller, introducing us to the cast of characters, and leading us through the development of the "Bat Bomb."

Inventor Lytle S. "Doc" Adams, wanted to create a device that would release thousands of bats carrying incendiary devices over Japanese cities, the idea being that the bats would crawl into hard-to-reach spaces in city buildings to roost, and start thousands of fires in those hard-to-reach places. Since Japanese cities were primarily built of wood at that time, this could actually have burned cities to the ground, if it worked. This book is the story of how he pulled his development team together, and what they had to do to develop the project.

Find this book on WPL's 2nd Floor, 940.544 COU.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Are they really savages?

As captivating as any "National Geographic" article, Joe Kane draws the reader into the lives of Huaorani, a native tribe living in the Amazon rain forest in Ecuador.

Kane sets the tone of the book immediately, with his humorous account of walking the streets of Washington, D.C., with Moi from the Huaorani tribe.

Unfortunately, there are only about 1,300 Huaorani Indians and they have no political say in anything done in their homeland, where they still hunt and fish with primitive spears and blow darts. The Ecuadorian government is siding with big business, major players in the oil industry who want to tear down the rain forest to get at the oil reserves. Over the last several years, their destruction and pollution has shrunk the Amazon and, which the author believes, has created illnesses in the tribe. The major portion of land that developers want to destroy, called Maxus Block 16, is located in the eastern section of land designated as Huaorani Ethnic Reserve.

My question to anyone reading the book: Who is really the savage in this story?

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

"The worst thing parents have to endure is burying their own child."

"The worst thing parents have to endure is burying their own child." I'm not sure which relative told this to me, but I'm sure it's true.

Now, imagine parents having to bury all nine of their children. In fact, three of them were buried in the same year - 1972. That's what Joseph and Marybeth Tinnings had to do.

Joyce Egginton's true story, From Cradle to Grave, is on this family. Egginton begins the story by providing the names, birth dates, and death dates of:

• Barbara - 4 years old when she died in 1972
• Joseph - 2 years old when he died in 1972
• Jennifer - 1 year old when she died in 1972
• Timothy - less than 1 month old when he died in 1973
• Nathan - 5 monts old when he died in 1975
• Michael (adopted) - 2 years old when he died in 1981
• Mary Francis - 3 months old when she died in 1979
• Jonathan - 4 months old when he died in 1980
• Tami Lynne - not quite 4 months old when she died in 1985

Questions were raised. Were the children born with genetic defects? Was is SID (sudden infant death)? Why would a healthy adopted child also die at such a young age? If they were murdered by their mother, was it because of postpartum depression?

It wasn't until the death of Tami Lynne that a criminal investigation was held.

Although this book that we have in the library is a little worn, the writing is still fresh and intriguing. From Cradle to Grave can be found on the second floor under the call number 364.1523 TIN.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Preserved flowers

As a young kid, I still remember opening an encyclopedia at home, only to have a dried lifeless flower fall out and crumble once it hit the floor. Who knew how long they were in that book. If I had Forever Flowers at that time, my family would have known which flowers work best.

This easy-to-read book has suggestions for what flowers to grow, and how to properly press and store them.

After completing those steps, that's when the fun starts. Over 35 step-by-step projects are included: making jewelry, decorative dishes and coasters, and candles are just a few.

So check out this creative book before shopping for flowers to plant in your garden. It'd be a great way of preserving your memories of summertime. You won't be sorry.

This is also a great book for those who are getting married who might want to make a beautiful keepsake.

Forever Flowers can be found on the second floor under the call number 745.928 PEI.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Was Dracula a Woman?

The premise of this book sounds more like a scifi or mystery novel. But, believe it or not, Dracula Was a Woman is written by Raymond T. McNally, who is a professor of Russian and East European History at Boston College.

Most would associate Dracula with Vlad Dracula, also known as "The Impaler." But according to McNally's research, this is not Bram Stoker's Dracula.

The author believes that the Dracula described by Stoker sounds more like the true story of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who died in 1614. Thinking that it would stop the aging process and make her young again, she killed her young female servants in order to bathe and shower in their blood. She was reputed to have murdered around 700 young women.

McNally writes about his search for female vampires, providing a history of strange rituals in 16th and 17th century Hungary. It's a creepy, disturbing story.

Dracula Was a Woman by Raymond T. McNally can be found on the second floor under the call number 306.775 BAT.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007