The Books of Summer

via The EarlyWord

USA Today has posted its summer books preview, listing 130+ of the season’s top books, with cover images and annotations for each and every one. It even has excerpts for some of the titles. Set up in a fun, interactive format (watch out, it’s addictive), it’s a great tool for readers looking to get the jump on the upcoming hottest titles.

Place those reserves now!

Has a book changed your life?

from New Scientist.com

Seventeen leading scientists talk about the books that changed their lives. Have you read them?

1. Farthest North – Steve Jones, geneticist

2. The Art of the Soluble – V. S. Ramachandran, neuroscientist

3. Animal Liberation – Jane Goodall, primatologist

4. The Foundation trilogy – Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist

5. Alice in Wonderland – Alison Gopnik, developmental psychologist

6. One, Two, Three… Infinity – Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist

7. The Idea of a Social Science – Harry Collins, sociologist of science

8. Handbook of Mathematical Functions – Peter Atkins, chemist

9. The Mind of a Mnemonist – Oliver Sacks, neurologist

10. A Mathematician’s Apology – Marcus du Sautoy, mathematician

11. The Leopard – Susan Greenfield, neurophysiologist

12. Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior – Frans de Waal, psychologist and ethologist

13. Catch-22 / The First Three Minutes – Lawrence Krauss, physicist

14. William James, Writings 1878-1910 – Daniel Everett, linguist

15. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep – Chris Frith, neuroscientist

16. The Naked Ape – Elaine Morgan, author of The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis

17. King Solomon’s Ring – Marian Stamp Dawkins, Zoologist

Search our catalog for these books

Trash to Tunes

Congratulations Trash to Tunes with Dennis Waring, Winner of the 2008 Platinum Best of Show Aurora Award.  It’s now available on MyLibraryDV, the library service that allows you to download hundreds of award-winning feature films, documentaries, tv shows and more to your home computer with just a library card as the price of admission.  Get started with a visit to our website and take advantage of MyLibraryDV now.

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The Aurora Awards is an international competition designed to recognize excellence in the film and video industries. It specifically targets products, programs and commercials that would not normally have the opportunity to compete on a national level, by focusing on nonnational commercials, regional or special-interest entertainment and corporate-sponsored film and video.

A Love Supreme

We are so excited here at the library to be part of the community effort to restore the last home of the brilliant jazz artist John Coltrane. John lived here in Dix Hills and it was in this house that he composed “A Love Supreme,” one of his best-known and most beloved works. One of our patrons, Steve Fulgoni, came to the rescue when the house was set for demolition, but now he needs our help bringing it back to life. The first step will be a computer in the library dedicated to a large Coltrane collection of music and pictures, suitable for students, scholars or just the casual user. In the fall, the library will be part of an educational music program that will feature John’s son Ravi, and saxophonists David Liebman and Joe Lovano.

We share Steve’s dream of bringing life back to the house, fill it with children learning about jazz and how a musician lived his life in suburbs, and to inspire visitors with John Coltrane’s deep spirit and soul, which can still be felt when you walk through the rooms.

Want to know a little more? Visit thecoltranehome.wordpress.com .