January 19 was the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, one of the best known American authors. In honor of this event we’ve put together a display including books, poems, facsimiles of his writing–even a copy of the Poe postage stamp issued this year. Stop by and discover something new or reread an old favorite. Then you can decide if, like Poe said, “Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.â€
Category Archives: Information
Somali pirates
Our “In the News” display for this week follows up on the recent increase in Somali pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia. Check out our poster from UNOSAT, showing pirate activity last year. UNOSAT is an agency who provides geographical information to the United Nations to help with their work.
Read any good e-books lately?
Did you realize you could read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at home, in your slippers, at 2am, even if you don’t have the book in your hands? You can! Because the Todd Library has it available as an e-book! Electronic books are available to use 24/7 from any computer with an internet connection. From the library web page just click on “e-Books” and “netLibrary.” Input your x-number and password. Type in the title (or author or subject) you’re searching for and select an item from the results list. The Todd Library subscribes to almost 10,000 e-books on everything from classic literature to study guides to history to medicine. Full text search capability makes this an incredibly powerful research tool. So whether it’s for work or pleasure, e-books are a great source–try one today!
Read like a President
What’s Obama reading these days? Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin is one book Obama read that may be shaping his Cabinet picks. It is a book about Lincoln successfully incorporating his opponents into his Cabinet. He has also been seen reading Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria, about international relations in the 21st century. According to the blog Book Patrol, Obama’s biographer, David Mendel said that Obama became a big reader in college, reading everything. His booklist included Herman Melville, Toni Morrison, E.L. Doctorow (cited as his favorite before he switched to Shakespeare), Philip Roth, Nietzsche, Reinhold Niebuhr, Ralph Ellison, Malcolm X, and the legendary community activist Saul Alinsky. Book Patrol thinks that Obama will be the most literary president we’ve had in the White House in years. Pick up one of these books, and you, too, can read like a President.
Funny Philosophy!
A new book you may want to check out is titled: Plato and a Platypus walk into a Bar…Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes. This New York Times bestseller presents concepts such as metaphysics, existentialism, relativity, and more, resulting in a book that teaches philosophy with a laugh track. (Boston Globe) What do Hegel and Bette Midler have in common? Find it in our Paperback Collection.
What would Kierkegaard think?!!