NetLibrary Ebook of the Month, November

Winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Reference

Only one of the world's mythologies has remained essentially unrecognized: the mythology of Judaism. As Howard Schwartz reveals in Tree of Souls, the first anthology of Jewish mythology in English, this mythical tradition is as rich and as fascinating as any in the world.

Drawing from the Bible, the Pseudepigrapha, the Talmud and Midrash, the kabbalistic literature, medieval folklore, Hasidic texts, and oral lore collected in the modern era, Schwartz has gathered together nearly 700 of the key Jewish myths. Equally important, Schwartz provides a wealth of additional information, revealing the source of the myth and explaining how it relates to other Jewish myths as well as to world literature.

Kansas Memories

Kansas Memory is the Historical Society’s newest online offering, featuring the largest collection of photographs and manuscripts from Kansas history on the Internet, and can be accessed at kansasmemory.org.

Kansas Memory offers unprecedented online access to Kansas history and includes thousands of items from the Kansas Historical Society’s collections of photographs, letters, diaries, and other historic items. Users can browse, search, or share images, and will eventually be able to purchase high-resolution versions online.

The “My Kansas Memory” feature allows users to customize a personal space, save searches, and create bookbags of items. Although it would be impossible to add every single item in the Kansas Historical Society’s collection to Kansas Memory, the Historical Society will actively continue to add images as part of its goal to make Kansas history more accessible to everyone. Visitors to the site can listen to dramatic readings in the Kansas Memory podcasts and subscribe to an RSS feed for the latest content.

Kansas Memory was developed in part with funding from the Information Network of Kansas.
--

Margaret B. Knecht
Head, Library Section
Kansas Historical Society
6425 SW 6th Avenue
Topeka KS 66615-1099

785-272-8681 x272
785-272-8682 fax

(from a press release email Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:52:29
From: "Margaret Knecht"
Subject: [KANLIB-L:14894] Kansas Historical Society Launches Kansas Memory)

Real People. Real Stories. VISIT KSHS ON THE WEB: http://www.kshs.org

Good books.

Have you ever wanted a better way to:

* see what your friends are reading?
* keep track of what you've read and what you'd like to read?
* get great book recommendations from people you know?

In a piece in the Stranger, Elliott Bay Book Company's Paul Constant calls Goodreads "Facebook for Book Nerds" and "the most Antisocial Social-Networking Site on the Internet."

"I first noticed www.goodreads.com four months ago when a coworker at my bookstore sent me an invitation," Constant wrote. "The website tore through the Seattle bookselling community like an STD. Soon, every bookseller under 40 was a member. 'Will you be my Goodreads friend?' we'd whisper to each other among the stacks. It was like MySpace, only better--it was all about books."
(from Shelf Awareness, Monday | October 1, 2007 | Volume 1 | Issue 527)

October e-Book of the month

Capitalism as if the World Matters
By Jonathon Porritt, with a new foreword by Amory B. Lovins
Earthscan, Revised Edition (September 2007)









When first published in 2005, Capitalism as if the World Matters shocked both a generation of environmentalists and a generation of business people by brushing aside their petty squabbles and artificial battle lines with a powerful argument that the only way to save the world from fuel shortages, climate change and environmental catastrophe is to embrace a new type of capitalism, and to do it quickly.

In this substantially revised and updated edition with a new foreword by Amory B. Lovins, Jonathon Porritt (Prime Minister Tony Blair's chief environmental advisor) tackles the most pressing problems of our time and extends his powerful and controversial argument by suggesting new actions in a tightly argued and highly accessible book. New material includes in-depth coverage of the United States and the politics of climate change, the state of environmental debate and the massive upsurge in religious engagement with climate and the environment.

See it here: http://www.netlibrary.com/

LITERATURE ABUSE: AMERICA'S HIDDEN PROBLEM

SELF-TEST FOR LITERATURE ABUSERS

How many of these apply to you?

1. I have read fiction when I was depressed or to cheer myself up.

2. I have gone on reading binges of an entire book or more in a day.

3. I read rapidly, often "gulping" chapters.

4. I have sometimes read early in the morning or before work.

5. I have hidden books in different places to sneak a chapter without being seen.

6. Sometimes I avoid friends or family obligations in order to read novels.

7. Sometimes I rewrite film or television dialog as the characters speak.

8. I am unable to enjoy myself with others unless there is a book nearby.

9. At a party, I will often slip off unnoticed to read.

10. Reading has made me seek haunts and companions that I would otherwise avoid.

11. I have neglected personal hygiene or household chores until I have finished a novel.

12. I have spent money meant for necessities on books instead.

13. I have attempted to check out more library books than permitted.

14. Most of my friends are heavy fiction readers.

15. I have sometimes passed out from a night of heavy reading.

16. I have suffered blackouts or memory loss from a bout of reading.

17. I have wept or become angry or irrational because of something I read.

18. I have sometimes wished I did not read so much.

19. Sometimes I think my reading is out of control.

If you answered yes to three or more of these questions, you may be aliterature abuser. An affirmative response to five or more indicates a serious problem. Once a relatively rare disorder, Literature Abuse, or LA, has risen to new levels due to the accessibility of higher education and increased college enrollment since the end of the Second World War. The number of literature abusers is currently at record levels.

SOCIAL COSTS OF LITERARY ABUSE

Abusers become withdrawn, uninterested in society or normal relationships. They fantasize, creating alternative worlds to occupy, to the neglect of friends and family. In severe cases they develop bad posture from reading in awkward positions or carrying heavy book bags. In the worst instances, they become cranky reference librarians in small towns. Excessive reading during pregnancy is perhaps the number one cause of moral deformity among the children of English professors and teachers of English and creative writing. Known as Fetal Fiction Syndrome, this disease also leaves its victims prone to a lifetime of nearsightedness, daydreaming, and emotional instability.

HEREDITY

Recent Harvard studies have established that heredity plays a considerable role in determining whether a person will become an abuser of literature. Most abusers have at least one parent who abused literature, often beginning at an early age and progressing into adulthood. Many spouses of an abuser become abusers themselves.

OTHER PREDISPOSING FACTORS

Fathers or mothers who are English teachers, professors, or heavy fiction readers; parents who do not encourage children to play games, participate in healthy sports, or watch television in the evening.

PREVENTION

Premarital screening and counseling, referral to adoption agencies in order to break the chain of abuse. English teachers in particular should seek partners active in other fields. Children should be encouraged to seek physical activity and to avoid isolation and morbid introspection.

DECLINE AND FALL: THE ENGLISH MAJOR

Within the sordid world of literature abuse, the lowest circle belongs to those sufferers who have thrown their lives and hopes away to study literature in our colleges. Parents should look for signs that their children are taking the wrong path. Don't expect your teenager to approach you and say, "I can't stop reading Spenser." By the time you visit her dorm room and find the secret stash of the Paris Review, it may already be too late.

What to do if you suspect your child is becoming an English major:

1. Talk to your child in a loving way. Show your concern. Let her know you won't abandon her but that you aren't spending a hundred grand to put her through Stanford so she can clerk at Waldenbooks either. But remember that she may not be able to make a decision without help; perhaps she has just finished Madame Bovary and is dying of arsenic poisoning.

2. Face the issue. Tell her what you know, and how: "I found this book in your purse. How long has this been going on?" Ask the hard question: Who is this Count Vronsky?

3. Show her another way. Move the television set into her room. Introduce her to frat boys.

4. Do what you have to do.-Tear up her library card.-Make her stop signing her letters as "Emma."-Force her to take a math class or minor in Spanish.-Transfer her to a Florida college.

You may be dealing with a life-threatening problem if one or more of the following applies: *

-She can tell you how and when Thomas Chatterton died. *

-She names one or more of her cats after a Romantic poet. *

-Next to her bed is a picture of Lord Byron, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, or any scene from the Lake District.


Most importantly, remember, you are not alone. To seek help for yourself or someone you love, contact the nearest chapter of the American Literature Abuse Society, or look under ALAS in your local phone directory.

Writing Magic

I'm reading a great book -- writers, pay attention! It's called Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly, by Gail Carson Levine, author of award winning Ella Enchanted. She developed this book after running a writing program for children in her area, and while it's clearly marketed to the very young writers among us, I'm finding that it's very inspirational, fun, and full of helpful tips. (Even at my advanced age, har har.)

Levine's Rules:

1. The best way to write better is to write more.

2. The best way to write better is to write more.

3. The best way to write better is to write more.

4. The best way to write more is to write whenever you have five minutes and wherever you find a chair and a pen and paper or your computer.

5. Read! Most likely you don't need this rule. If you enjoy writing, you probably enjoy reading. The payoff for this pleasure is that reading books shows you how to write them.

6. Reread! There's nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over. When you do, the words get inside you, become part of you, in a way that words in a book you've read only once can't.

7. Save everything you write, even if you don't like it, even if you hate it. Save it for a minimum of fifteen years. I'm serious. At that time, if you want to, you can throw it out, but even then don't discard your writing lightly.

If that's not enough to convince you, there's more information here at her website, http://www.gailcarsonlevinebooks.com/.
Enjoy!

--RichLayers

Got Homework?

This School Year Get Free Online Tutoring Seven Days a Week


Everywhere, KS. It’s late summer and students all across the state
are getting ready to head back to school. That means reading, writing,
arithmetic, papers, tests and, yes, homework. What to do? Children and
teens can get a head start. Students from 4th to 12th grade, and
college introduction level, can visit HomeworkKansas at
www.homeworkkansas.org for free homework help from qualified tutors.
The State Library of Kansas, and Kansas public libraries, offer
HomeworkKansas, an online tutoring service that connects students to
expert tutors in math, science, social studies and English via the
Internet. Spanish-speaking tutors are available for assistance in math
and science. HomeworkKansas is available from 4:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m.,
seven days a week, in English and from 4:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.,
Sunday-Thursday in Spanish.

Real Results for Students. During the 2006/2007 school year, students
from across the state completed thousands of HomeworkKansas sessions.
In post-session surveys, students reported, by overwhelming majorities,
that they were glad the library offered this service and that they would
recommend the service to their friends. Students also said they felt
the program helped them build confidence in their school work and helped
them complete homework assignments and improve their grades.

Free Help in Core Subjects. This free service allows students to
connect to an expert tutor either from the local public library or from
their home computer with a Kansas Library Card (http://www.kslc.org),
and receive one-to-one homework help from a live tutor via the Internet.
HomeworkKansas is easy to use. Children and teens simply go to the
library’s Web site (www.homeworkkansas.org), click on the
HomeworkKansas link, and then enter their grade level and the subject
they need help in. Students are then connected to a tutor in an Online
Classroom for help in math (elementary, algebra, geometry, trigonometry
and calculus), science (elementary, earth science, biology, chemistry,
physics), social studies (American history, world history, political
science and more), and English (spelling, grammar, essay writing, book
reports).

Learn from Expert Tutors in an Online Classroom. Students and tutors
can review specific homework questions, as well as subject-specific
concepts using features such as controlled chat, an interactive white
board and shared Web browsing in the Online Classroom. Tutors can type
math equations using a special math tool, share educational Web sites
and much more for a rewarding learning experience. All tutors are
certified teachers, college professors, professional tutors or graduate
school students from across the country. Every tutor has completed a
third party background check and a comprehensive training program.

###

Contact:

Library Contact Name Eric
Gustafson
Library Name State Library of Kansas
Phone 1-800-432-3919
Email egustafson@kslib.info