If only science text books could be this entertaining!

Author Robert Kunzig, who is the European editor of Discover magazine, has a way of making The Restless Sea (551.46 KUN) an entertaining read. I can't help but compare it to Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything (500 BRY), except Kunzig's book isn't about everything - just the world beneath the waves.

Amazingly, the author says that little was known about the bottom of the seas until research was done in the 1980s. Until then, most scientists believed that it was a relative "desert" where little lived. How wrong those scientists were! When soil from the bottom of the ocean was first taken to the surface, they discovered it teaming with life. One of the creatures they found is the largest one-cell, amoeba-like animal that can grow to the size of a human fist.

While reading these various books for the blog, I'm finding that authors list some contribution by some Iowan. This book is no exception. Bruce Heezen, son of a turkey farmer, was going to the University of Iowa in 1947 when he was hired to explore the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Kunzig humorously makes a reference to Heezen not eating turkey for some 20 years after leaving the farm.

I know I'm getting off track, but I can relate to that. I'm the son of a farmer, also. Every year my parents purchased baby chicks in the Spring. Every Fall, we butchered the majority of them to eat during the next year. After I left the farm, I refused to order chicken in any restaurant for many years.

Getting back on track: Heezen became the first person to map the ocean floor in that area, and he proposed the idea that the earth's crust under the ocean was expanding.

Kunzig gives the history of researching the oceans and about the findings in a way that anyone can understand. I think you'll like The Restless Sea.


c Waterloo Public Library 2007

A man of many witty words

Several years ago, my best friend Tom loaned me Anguished English by Richard Lederer, which was laugh out loud funny. Unfortunately or library does not have that book, but we do have A Man of My Words (401 LED), which is also good.

If you enjoy watching British TV, you may have been puzzled by some of their English. You'll enjoy the hilarious contrasts he makes between the two countries' languages. (Even I know the difference between soccer and football - and I'm not into sports.)

Another chapter talks about how we can misconstrue words. His wacky Southern definitions echo those told on "Blue Collar TV" - you know, by that Jeff Foxworthy guy.

Readers who enjoyed the recent bestseller Eats, Shoots, and Leaves by Lynne Truss (428.2 TRU) will enjoy the witty writing of Richard Lederer. If you know of anyone who owns Anguished English, you might consider asking to borrow it - it's well worth reading.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Gypsies: people with no country

When I went to see the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, a few years ago, I was shocked at the number of people killed during that time in history. Of course, I new about the Jews and a few other groups, but I was shocked that whole communities of Gypsies (also called Romas) were also murdered.

I really didn't know much about their culture until I read Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and their Journey by Isabel Fonseca ( 909.0491 FON). Fonseca was accepted into the Gypsies' lives, witnessing their daily lives,participating in a funeral and a marriage. Her writing is very matter of fact, talking about their high illiteracy rate - books are unheard of, relying on oral stories to pass down from generation to generation. In fact, their vocabulary is very limited.

She discusses the persecution they have endured in Europe and Asia. Germany, Turkey, Romania are just a few countries mentioned.

Bury me Standing is an intimate look at a misunderstood people with no country to call their own.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

"Goldfinder" is a treasure to read

Sorry about the bad pun in the title for this article. I couldn't help myself.

As a child I remember spending hours pretending to look for buried treasure. I became so involved with the idea of striking it rich that I proceeded to dig a hole in the grass, figuring that I should start looking. I didn't get very far with digging because the grass roots were too tough for a scrawny kid like me. My parents were not pleased when they caught me with the shovel. I was a naughty, inquisitive child.

Keith Jessop fulfilled his dream of finding gold - but in the ground. He struck it rich with gold he found at the bottom of the sea. In Goldfinder (387.55 JES) he writes how he first became involved with underwater reclamation. His first dives are to bring up the metal from ships to sell for recycling. After getting familiar with the whole, dangerous process of underwater diving, he sets his sights for the H.M.S. Edinburgh, a ship that was bombed by torpedoes and sunk. The process of salvaging the gold from this ship makes an incredible story.

If you find yourself intrigued by stories like this, there's another book I'd like to recommend: Dragon Sea: A True Tale of Treasure, Archeology, and Greed off the coast of Vietnam by Frank Pope (910.45 POP in the New Book Section).

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

History of the Pony Express

Old movies and television shows glamorize the Wild West days. In actuality they weren't that much fun. Especially if you're talking about the Pony Express. Orphans Preferred by Christopher Corbett (383.143 COR) fills you in on all the details.

With the gold rush in California more and more people were moving westward from the east. Before the Pony Express, it could take months for a letter to go across the continent.

The Pony Express route was between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, a distance of 1,950 miles. The first rider for the Pony Express was Johnny Frey who left St. Joseph, Missouri, on April 3, 1861 at 7:15 p.m. carrying 49 letters, some newspapers, five private telegrams, and many telegraphs. William Hamilton left Sacramento at 2:45 p.m. on April 4. The two met in a small town called Sportman's Hall.

Soon notices were in the newspapers promoting the new business exclaiming that it only took nine days for letters to be sent from San Francisco to New York.

The company paid good money to the riders and bought the best horses. But, the job was extremely treacherous, going through all sorts of nasty terrain and weather.

The history that leads up to the development of the Pony Express is rather fascinating. Different types of transportation were tried. Even camels were imported to the west to be used for carrying supplies. If they worked in the Middle East, why not in the dry Southwest?

Orphans Preferred is the perfect book for readers interested in the Wild West.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Written by the founder of Habitat for Humanity

A Simple, Decent Place to Live (363.5 FUL) is about author Millard Fuller's life. He's the founder of Habitat for Humanity, which started in 1976.

In case you didn't know, Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization has built forty thousand homes for people who are living in substandard housing. It's not just a national organization, but international, with chapters in forty-six other countries.

Millard Fuller was a millionaire already in the '70s. He was driven to compete, win, and make as much money as possible - that was until his wife got fed up with him. He was shocked that all the money, homes, clothes, and vacations were not enough for her. What she wanted was to have him home and not working so much. In desperation to save his marriage, he turned over a new leaf.

The book is a very personal examination of the author's life - a very inspiring book.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

History of television

Erik Barnouw writes a very entertaining book about the history of television in the book, Tube of Plenty (384.554 BAR). He begins with a quick history of the radio.

U.S. companies wanted a monopoly on the field of radio technology, so an American company was formed, called RCA. RCA was a partnership between GE, AT&T, United Fruit, and Westinghouse.

With the quick, incredible success with radio stations, the pressure was on to invent a way of transmitting picture as well as sound.

By 1927, Herbert Hoover appeared in an experimental AT&T telecast. It's also the same year that a new magazine called "Television" was first published. The experimental sets only had a screen 4 inches wide and 3 inches high - what the author calls a "flickering snapshot."

There are all sorts of legal entanglements with GE, Westinghouse, RCA, and AT&T. In 1926, GE, Westinghouse, and RCA form NBC. In 1928,RKO (the movie company was formed by GE, Westinghouse, RCA, and other film interest. All of these joint ventures creates a legal mess later on.

This book continues with new developments and the cultural influences of the television through the mid 1970s.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

The last wild horses

Throughout the history of mankind, there have always been horses, it's even on ancient cave paintings. Plus, archaeologists have uncovered bones detailing the evolution of horses, showing that horses have been around even longer than humans.

The Last Wild Horse by Morris Weeks (599.6655 PRZ) details the history of of the horse from prehistoric Mongolia to the present.

"The last wild horse" refers to the Prhevalsky horse, a wild horse very seldom seen in the wild in central Asia. Nicolai Prhevalsky was a Russian explorer who discovered this breed in the late 1800s. The horses he found had a large head for the body. It had short, stocky legs and a very muscular body. To survive the harsh winters, it grew a shaggy coat and was so impervious to the cold that he noticed them standing around - even during a blizzard. It molted its hair twice a year.

Now zoos are trying to preserve the animals, and the author discusses how the animals are responding to confinement.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

"A little TLC? I'm thinking more like CPR."

Lawrence LaRose had some problems after he and his wife bought their very first house in Sag Harbor. It wasn't that old - built in the 1950s - but the previous owners just did hodgepodge work on the house. When Lawrence and his wife saw it for sale, it was called a "fixer-upper."

Lawrence is a free-lance writer, and just as the house was purchased, he became unemployed - really bad timing. But, hey, he could use that free time to fix up the house now (that is if he knew how to do any construction work). To gain experience and money to do repairs, he gets hired for a construction company.

As with many communities, there were restrictions as to the types of remodeling that could be done. Oops, first mistake, ripping into walls before getting the proper permits and having the plans approved by the association.

Even though the poor guy details all of his troubles, he's very good at realizing the humor in his mistakes making Gutted (643.7 LAR) a joy to read - and be thankful he's not you.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Ever hear of getting a pet for your pet?

To me, it seems weird that anyone would want to get a pet for a pet. But that's what Philip Gonzalez discusses in his book The Dog Who Rescues Cats ( 818.5403 GON).

Gonzalez is one of those guys who has a kind heart toward animals. He even fed a rat that had babies and made his construction crew remove trash from its home. You don't know of many people who would go that far to save an animal.

After Gonzalez became disabled from a work-related injury, he began to mope around the apartment, losing all desire to see friends or do activities he used to do. Living by himself, of course, only worsened his depression. One of his good friends, Sheilah, said that what he needed was a dog. Reluctantly he did go with Sheilah to the dog pound. Much to his surprise, he fell for an injured female dog, which he names Ginny.

Ginny seems to be able to find cats that have physical disabilities or have been abused. Before Gonzalez knows it, Ginny has "adopted" an abused, homeless cat, a deaf cat, and a cat blind in one eye.

This touching book will warm the hearts of all animal lovers on these chilly Fall nights.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Warped world history

Don't check out The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000 ( 792.7 BRO) if you want the history of the world. And...you'll know why once you see who wrote it - Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. After all, Mel Brooks made of mess of history when he made the movie, "History of the World: Part I." For those of you who live in a cave, you probably remember Carl Reiner from the "Dick Van Dyke Show."

This is a very funny, simple book that can be read very quickly. Believe me, it's just mindless fun.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

The history of libraries

In just the last 10 years or so, visitors to libraries have seen a huge change. You'll see less space for books; more space is devoted to movies, audio books, and (of course) computers for the public to use.

Libraries have always been evolving ever since they were organized. That's where Libraries in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson ( 027.09 CAS) is so fascinating. This slim book begins with the Near East where clay tablets were found. The fragments contained law decrees, myths, and bookkeeping records. Archaeologists are finding several of these since clay becomes more durable after a fire, which destroyed many of the buildings where they found the tablets written by Sumerians, Akkadians and other cultures that lived in Mesopotamia.

After a while papyrus became the material of choice for books, which moves the story to Egypt, the best location for growing usable papyrus. A chapter is devoted to the famous library of Alexandria. From there, the author takes us to Rome.

This slim book isn't just about the beginnings of the library - it's also about book making and understanding the importance the written language has on society.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Carnegie Libraries

Anyone who knows a little Waterloo history knows that this community was lucky to get two Carnegie libraries in this town. Because of the conflict between the West and East sides, Andrew Carnegie agreed to give money to build two libraries.

This is only one of the 99 stories in The Carnegie Libraries of Iowa by John M. Witt (027.473 WIT). Between 1892 and 1917, Andrew Carnegie gave away an incredible $1,565,616.00 to build libraries in Iowa. Before the first Carnegie library was constructed in Iowa at Fairfield, Andrew Carnegie had only donated funds for three libraries - all located in Pennsylvania as gifts to his steel factory employees.

The book is full of photographs to compliment the few pages devoted to each library. This will be of big interest to history buffs.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007