Author: Quammen, David, 1948- author. Published: 2018 Call Number: 591.38 Format: Books Summary: "Nonpareil science writer David Quammen explains how recent discoveries in molecular biology can change our understanding of evolution and life's history, with powerful implications for human health and even our own human nature. In the mid-1970s, scientists began using DNA sequences to reexamine the history of all life. Perhaps the most startling discovery to come out of this new field--the study of life's diversity and relatedness at the molecular level--is horizontal gene transfer (HGT), or the movement of genes across species lines. It turns out that HGT has been widespread and important. For instance, we now know that roughly eight percent of the human genome arrived not through traditional inheritance from directly ancestral forms, but sideways by viral infection--a type of HGT. In The Tangled Tree David Quammen, "one of that rare breed of science journalists who blends exploration with a talent for synthesis and storytelling" (Nature), chronicles these discoveries through the lives of the researchers who made them--such as Carl Woese, the most important little-known biologist of the twentieth century; Lynn Margulis, the notorious maverick whose wild ideas about "mosaic" creatures proved to be true; and Tsutomu Wantanabe, who discovered that the scourge of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a direct result of horizontal gene transfer, bringing the deep study of genome histories to bear on a global crisis in public health. Quammen explains how molecular studies of evolution have brought startling recognitions about the tangled tree of life--including where we humans fit upon it. Thanks to new technologies such as CRISPR, we now have the ability to alter even our genetic composition--through sideways insertions, as nature has long been doing. The Tangled Tree is a brilliant guide to our transformed understanding of evolution, of life's history, and of our own human nature."--Jacket. In the mid-1970s, scientists began using DNA sequences to reexamine the history of all life. Perhaps the most startling discovery to come out of this new field is horizontal gene transfer (HGT), or the movement of genes across species lines. It turns out that roughly eight percent of the human genome arrived not through traditional inheritance from directly ancestral forms, but sideways by viral infection-- a type of HGT. Quammen chronicles these discoveries through the lives of the researchers who made them. and explains how molecular studies of evolution have brought startling recognitions about the tangled tree of life-- including where we humans fit upon it. And he shows that, thanks to new technologies, we now have the ability to alter even our genetic composition through sideways insertions. -- adapted from jacket.
Author: Oakes, Lauren, author. Published: 2018 Call Number: B OAKES Format: Books Summary: Several years ago, ecologist Lauren E. Oakes set out from California for Alaska's old-growth forests to hunt for a dying tree: the yellow-cedar. With climate change as the culprit, the death of this species meant loss for many Alaskans. Oakes and her research team wanted to chronicle how plants and people could cope with their rapidly changing world. Amidst the standing dead, she discovered the resiliency of forgotten forests, flourishing again in the wake of destruction, and a diverse community of people who persevered to create new relationships with the emerging environment. Eloquent, insightful, and deeply heartening, In Search of the Canary Tree is a case for hope in a warming world.
Author: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616, author. Dolan, Frances E. (Frances Elizabeth), 1960- editor. Published: 2018 1999 Call Number: 822.33 Format: Books Summary: "The legendary Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare's time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used. Updated by general editors Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller, these easy-to-read editions incorporate over thirty years of Shakespeare scholarship undertaken since the original series, edited by Alfred Harbage, appeared between 1956 and 1967. With definitive texts and illuminating essays, the Pelican Shakespeare will remain a valued resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals for many years to come."--Amazon.com.
Author: Crawford, Susan P., 1963- author. Published: 2018 Call Number: 621.3827 Format: Books Summary: The world of 5G, the next generation of telecommunication technology, will be as different from what came before as the world after the advent of electricity. The massive amounts of data we'll be able to stream through fiber-optic connections will enable a degree of virtual presence that will radically transform health care, education, urban administration and services, agriculture, retail sales, and offices. Yet all of those transformations will pale in comparison to the innovations that we can't even imagine today. In a fascinating account combining legal expertise with compelling on-the-ground reporting, Susan Crawford reveals how the giant corporations that control cable and internet access in the United States use their tremendous lobbying power to tilt the playing field against competition, holding back the infrastructure improvements necessary for the country to move forward. And she shows how a few cities and towns are fighting monopoly power to bring the next technological revolution to their communities.
Author: Piazza, Gina M., editor. Published: 2017 2014 Call Number: 618.92 Format: Books Summary: Provides guidance for assisting in common medical emergencies that occur in children and babies, outlining step-by-step instructions for dealing with such situations as shock, seizures, choking, burns, heatstroke, and insect bites.
Author: LaValle, Victor D., 1972- author. Published: 2017 Call Number: F LAVALLE Format: Books Summary: "The wildly imaginative story of one man's thrilling odyssey through an enchanted world to find his wife, who has disappeared after having seemingly committed an unforgivable act of violence, from the award-winning author of The devil in silver and Big machine"-- "Apollo Kagwa has had strange dreams that have haunted him since childhood. An antiquarian book dealer with a business called Improbabilia, he is just beginning to settle into his new life as a committed and involved father, unlike his own father who abandoned him, when his wife Emma begins acting strange. Disconnected and uninterested in their new baby boy, Emma at first seems to be exhibiting all the signs of post-partum depression, but it quickly becomes clear that her troubles go far beyond that. Before Apollo can do anything to help, Emma commits a horrific act--beyond any parent's comprehension--and vanishes, seemingly into thin air. Thus begins Apollo's odyssey through a world he only thought he understood to find a wife and child who are nothing like he'd imagined. His quest begins when he meets a mysterious stranger who claims to have information about Emma's whereabouts. Apollo then begins a journey that takes him to a forgotten island in the East River of New York City, a graveyard full of secrets, a forest in Queens where immigrant legends still live, and finally back to a place he thought he had lost forever. This dizzying tale is ultimately a story about family and the unfathomable secrets of the people we love"--
Author: Harris, Michelle, 1963- editor. Published: 2017 Call Number: 378.12 Format: Books Summary: This book focuses on the boundaries which faculty of color encounter in everyday experiences on campus and presents a more complete picture of life in the academy--one that documents how faculty of color are tested, but also how they can not only overcome, but thrive in their respective educational institutions.
Author: Pinckney, Darryl, 1953- author. Published: 2017 1992 Call Number: F PINCKNEY Format: Books Summary: High Cotton is an account of the dreams and inner turmoils of a new generation of the black upper middle class, capturing a part of American society that has mostly been ignored in literature. The novel's protagonist journeys from his childhood home in the Midwest to college, a stint in New York publishing, and Europe, yet the issue of his "blackness" remains at the heart of his being.
Author: Little, Zoie V., author. Published: 2016 Call Number: B LITTLE Format: Books Summary: "Black, White, or Other is about Zoie V Little's first-hand experience growing up with what it feels like to not fit in and be put down because the color of her skin. She knows how to overcome and rise above the negative opinions of those who are less accepting of her ethnicity. Zoie had to work through the emotional setback of being adopted and knowing her other siblings were not. Black, White, or Other was written to be read by those that have gone through or going through the same situation that she had and to touch and inspire lives. The world is a melting pot with many different races, and it's OK to be different. It took Zoie many years to understand and be at peace with who she is when she looks in the mirror. God, family, and friends are her support group in helping her stay focused on the big picture and that picture is she was made just the way God wanted her and she is beautiful in His eyes. Even as an adult in today's world, she still runs into people that do not accept her skin color. When this occurs, she smiles, says a small prayer for them, and always focuses on who she is today and where she is going tomorrow"--Page 4 of cover.
Author: Jiles, Paulette, 1943- author. Published: 2016 Call Number: LP F JILES Format: Large print Summary: In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence. In Wichita Falls, he is offered a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna's parents and sister; sparing the little girl, they raised her as one of their own. Recently rescued by the U.S. army, the ten-year-old has once again been torn away from the only home she knows. Their 400-mile journey south through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act "civilized." Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land. Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember -- strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become -- in the eyes of the law -- a kidnapper himself.
Author: Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo, 1938- author. Gurnah, Abdulrazak, 1948- writer of introduction. Published: 2012 1967 Call Number: F NGUGIWAT Format: Books Summary: "Set in the wake of the Mau Mau rebellion and on the cusp of Kenya's independence from Britain, A Grain of Wheat follows a group of villagers whose lives have been transformed by the 1952-1960 Emergency. At the center of it all is the reticent Mugo, the village's chosen hero and a man haunted by a terrible secret. As we learn of the villagers' tangled histories in a narrative interwoven with myth and peppered with allusions to real-life leaders, including Jomo Kenyatta, a masterly story unfolds in which compromises are forced, friendships are betrayed, and loves are tested."--Publisher.
Author: Coulter, Catherine. Published: 2012 Call Number: F COULTER Format: Books Summary: When a San Francisco judge is shot at the same time a once-relentless federal prosecutor turns cautious, FBI agents Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich receive an ominous note from the culprit that blames them for the incident.
Author: Weyn, Suzanne, author. Published: 2011 Call Number: Y WEYN Format: Books Summary: Keah Robinson, cheerleader co-captain at Southside High, and Ty Hendricks, star running back, appear to be the perfect couple, but when they have their first fight, Ty screams at Keah. Then, after losing a game, Ty goes ballistic and hits Keah repeatedly, and Ty is arrested for assault. Even after this, Keah secretly meets up with Ty. She wonders what's worse--flinching everytime her boyfriend gets angry or being alone.
Author: Gassenheimer, Linda. Levy, Sandy, ill. Visual Impact (Firm) Published: 2010 Call Number: 641.597 Format: Books Summary: Presents a collection of more than two hundred recipes using Caribbean seafood and seasonal ingredients found in the Florida Keys, with stories about local culinary traditions behind the dishes.
Author: Snicket, Lemony. Helquist, Brett ill. Published: 2005 Call Number: FIC SNI Format: Books Summary: The Baudelaire orphans disguise themselves as employees of the Hotel Denoument and find themselves pursued by the evil Count Olaf and others.
Author: Chbosky, Stephen. Published: 1999 Call Number: Y CHBOSKY Format: Books Summary: A coming of age novel about Charlie, a freshman in high school who is a wallflower, shy and introspective, and very intelligent. He deals with the usual teen problems, but also with the suicide of his best friend.