Category Archives: Featured Materials

Deep Down: A Story from the Heart of Coal Country DVD

January 22, 2013 Ann Leave a comment

Call number: TD 195 .C58 D446 2010

Beverly May and Terry Ratliff grew up like kin on opposite sides of a mountain ridge in eastern Kentucky. Now in their fifties, the two find themselves in the midst of a debate dividing their community and the world: who controls, consumes, and benefits from our planet’s shrinking supply of natural resources? While Beverly organizes her neighbors and leads a legal fight to stop Miller Brothers Coal Company from advancing into her hollow, Terry considers signing away the mining rights to his backyard-a decision that could destroy not only the two friends’ homes, but the peace and environment surrounding their community. The two friends soon find themselves caught in the middle. of a contentious battle over energy and the wealth and environmental destruction it represents. Deep Down brings to light questions of our own morality, our connection to the earth’s resources, and most importantly… Written by Sally Rubin

Books

Nuclear energy : what everyone needs to know / Charles D. Ferguson

January 22, 2013 Ann Leave a comment

Call number: TK9145 .F47 2011

Originally perceived as a cheap and plentiful source of power, the commercial use of nuclear energy has been controversial for decades. Worries about the dangers that nuclear plants and their radioactive waste posed to nearby communities grew over time, and plant construction in the United States virtually died after the early 1980s. The 1986 disaster at Chernobyl only reinforced nuclear power’s negative image. Yet in the decade prior to the Japanese nuclear crisis of 2011, sentiment about nuclear power underwent a marked change. The alarming acceleration of global warming due to the burning of fossil fuels and concern about dependence on foreign fuel has led policymakers, climate scientists, and energy experts to look once again at nuclear power as a source of energy. In this overview, the author provides an account of the key facts about nuclear energy. What is the origin of nuclear energy? What countries use commercial nuclear power, and how much electricity do they obtain from it? How can future nuclear power plants be made safer? What can countries do to protect their nuclear facilities from military attacks? How hazardous is radioactive waste? Is nuclear energy a renewable energy source? Featuring a discussion of the recent nuclear crisis in Japan and its ramifications, he addresses these questions and more.

Books

The music between us : is music a universal language? / Kathleen Marie Higgins

January 22, 2013 Ann Leave a comment

Call number: ML3916 .H54 2012

From our first social bonding as infants to the funeral rites that mark our passing, music plays an important role in our lives, bringing us closer to one another. In The Music between Us, philosopher Kathleen Marie Higgins investigates this role, examining the features of human perception that enable music’s uncanny ability to provoke, despite its myriad forms across continents and throughout centuries, the sense of a shared human experience. Drawing on disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, musicology, linguistics, and anthropology, Higgins’s richly researched study showcases the ways music is used in rituals, education, work, healing, and as a source of security and—perhaps most importantly—joy. By participating so integrally in such meaningful facets of society, Higgins argues, music situates itself as one of the most fundamental bridges between people, a truly cross-cultural form of communication that can create solidarity across political divides. Moving beyond the well-worn takes on music’s universality, The Music between Us provides a new understanding of what it means to be musical and, in turn, human. (From Google Books)

Books

Hamas and civil society in Gaza : engaging the Islamist social sector / Sara Roy

January 22, 2013 Ann Leave a comment

Call number: HV6433.P25 R69 2011

“Many in the United States and Israel believe that Hamas is nothing but a terrorist organization, and that its social sector serves merely to recruit new supporters for its violent agenda. Based on Sara Roy’s extensive fieldwork in the Gaza Strip and West Bank during the critical period of the Oslo peace process, Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza shows how the social service activities sponsored by the Islamist group emphasized not political violence but rather community development and civic restoration. Roy demonstrates how Islamic social institutions in Gaza and the West Bank advocated a moderate approach to change that valued order and stability, not disorder and instability; were less dogmatically Islamic than is often assumed; and served people who had a range of political outlooks and no history of acting collectively in support of radical Islam.
These institutions attempted to create civic communities, not religious congregations. They reflected a deep commitment to stimulate a social, cultural, and moral renewal of the Muslim community, one couched not only–or even primarily–in religious terms. Vividly illustrating Hamas’s unrecognized potential for moderation, accommodation, and change, Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza also traces critical developments in Hamas’s social and political sectors through the Second Intifada to today, and offers an assessment of the current, more adverse situation in the occupied territories. The Oslo period held great promise that has since been squandered. This book argues for more enlightened policies by the United States and Israel, ones that reflect Hamas’s proven record of nonviolent community building”– “Unlike other books on Hamas this study examines Hamas’s social service sector with a focus on the Oslo period. It analyzes the nature of Islamist social sector activities, the successes and failures of Islamist social activism and mobilization and argues that the ethos of civic engagement that defined Hamas’s social sector acted as a viable and powerful alternative to militancy and political violence”

Books

Thinking, fast and slow / Daniel Kahneman

January 18, 2013 Ann Leave a comment

Call number: BF441 .K238 2011

In this work the author, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his seminal work in psychology that challenged the rational model of judgment and decision making, has brought together his many years of research and thinking in one book. He explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. He exposes the extraordinary capabilities, and also the faults and biases, of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. He reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives, and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. This author’s work has transformed cognitive psychology and launched the new fields of behavioral economics and happiness studies. In this book, he takes us on a tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think and the way we make choices.

Books

The brain : big bangs, behaviors, and beliefs / Rob DeSalle

January 14, 2013 Ann Leave a comment

Call number: BF311 .D466 2012

After several million years of jostling for ecological space, only one survivor from a host of hominid species remains standing: us. Human beings are extraordinary creatures, and it is the unprecedented human brain that makes them so. In this delightfully accessible book, the authors present the first full, step-by-step account of the evolution of the brain and nervous system.
Tapping the very latest findings in evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and molecular biology, Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall explain how the cognitive gulf that separates us from all other living creatures could have occurred. They discuss the development and uniqueness of human consciousness, how human and nonhuman brains work, the roles of different nerve cells, the importance of memory and language in brain functions, and much more. Our brains, they conclude, are the product of a lengthy and supremely untidy history—an evolutionary process of many zigs and zags—that has accidentally resulted in a splendidly eccentric and creative product. (From Google Books)

Books

CEH, Certified Ethical Hacker : exam guide : all-in-one / Matt Walker

November 19, 2012 Ann Leave a comment

Call number: QA76.3 .W3344 2012

Get complete coverage of all the objectives included on the EC-Council’s Certified Ethical Hacker exam inside this comprehensive resource. Written by an IT security expert, this authoritative guide covers the vendor-neutral CEH exam in full detail. You’ll find learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter, exam tips, practice exam questions, and in-depth explanations. Designed to help you pass the exam with ease, this definitive volume also serves as an essential on-the-job reference.
COVERS ALL EXAM TOPICS, INCLUDING:

Introduction to ethical hacking
Cryptography
Reconnaissance and footprinting
Network scanning
Enumeration
System hacking
Evasion techniques
Social engineering and physical security
Hacking web servers and applications
SQL injection
Viruses, trojans, and other attacks
Wireless hacking
Penetration testing

CD-ROM FEATURES:

Two practice exams
PDF copy of the book
Bonus appendix with author’s recommended tools, sites, and references

Matt Walker, CEHv7, CPTS, CNDA, CCNA, MCSE, has held a wide variety of IT security teaching, writing, and leadership roles, including director of the Network Training Center on Ramstein AB, Germany, and IT security manager for Lockheed Martin at Kennedy Space Center. He is currently a security engineer for Hewlett-Packard.