Posted on Monday, April 14, 2025 by David Litherland
Technology is about doing more; every bit of tech that we have developed across the eons has been something that makes what we do either easier or allows us to accomplish more. Flint knives and axes make hunting and building easier, writing speeds up the transfer of knowledge, the plow lets a farmer work faster, the computer lets us do calculations at inhuman speeds and look up sci fi novels at our local library. Every iterative stage has been about doing everything more.
But, as we develop our technologies further and faster than before, and they become more and more integral to human function, the question becomes less “How can this technology help us do more?” rather “How can this technology help us be more?” When a robotic arm can lift many times the weight of one made of flesh and muscle, when an electronic eye can see beyond the spectrum of visible light, and when a computer chip can emulate a sentient mind just as well as (or better than) the chunk of salty fat that rests in our skull, what will being “human” mean? Or, in the extreme cases, will it even be fair to call what we are human? Trans- and post-humanism is, unsurprisingly, a well discussed topic in the science fiction world. From utopian views of freedom and strength, to nihilistic perspectives of technology only enforcing hierarchies, the debate and conversation of the role technology will play in our future as humans is vivid, energetic, and broad. Let’s examine a few of my favorite standouts in the conversation!Continue reading “Circuitry and Flesh: Cybernetics, Genetics, & Transhumanism”
Some people make New Year’s resolutions, but maybe spring is a better time to plant the seeds of hope for the coming year.
“Just as you sow seeds that you hope to tend into strong, healthy plants, you can also set personal intentions … A season of birth and renewal, spring is an especially potent time to state your hopes and dreams, calling them forth,” Fiona Cook and Jessica Roux profess in their book “The Wheel of the Year: An Illustrated Guide to Nature’s Rhythms.” While Cook and Roux’s book is written for a juvenile audience, anyone can enjoy the beautiful illustrations and the message about noticing and celebrating the Earth’s seasons.
Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.
“Every Little Thing” – Website / Reviews
This documentary follows Los Angeles author and educator Terry Masear who cares for injured hummingbirds, experiencing personal growth as she witnesses their fragility and resilience.
“The Penguin” – Season 1 – Website / Reviews
In this crime drama series following the events of the 2022 film “The Batman,” Oz Cobb, a.k.a. the Penguin, (Colin Farrell) makes a play to seize the reins of the crime world in Gotham.
“In the Summers” – Website / Reviews
Siblings Violeta and Eva live with their mother, but spend every summer in New Mexico with their loving but unpredictable father in this moving drama that follows them from adolescence to adulthood.
“The Room Next Door” – Website / Reviews
Based on a book by Sigrid Nunez, filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s first English-language feature offers a philosophical view of euthanasia with its gentle story two old friends navigating the realities of death.
“Ernest Cole: Lost & Found” – Website / Reviews Documentary filmmaker Raoul Peck chronicles the life of Ernest Cole, a Black freelance photographer in apartheid South Africa whose early pictures revealed to the world Black life under apartheid.
My dad has always been a fan of the writer Kazuo Ishiguro, and it happens that the two bear a passing resemblance: black graying hair, brows furrowed over thick glasses, a permanent look of concern around the eyes and mouth. Maybe that’s why reading Ishiguro sometimes feels, uncannily, like listening to my dad tell a story. Funnily enough, Ishiguro’s 2021 novel “Klara and the Sun” was based on a tale he made up for his daughter Naomi when she was small. And when he told a grown-up Naomi about his plans to use the premise for a children’s book, she said: “You can’t possibly give young children a story like that. They will be traumatized.”
Below I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in April. All of the mentioned titles are available to put on hold in our catalog and will also be made available via the library’s Overdrive website on the day of publication in eBook and downloadable audiobook format (as available). For a more extensive list of new nonfiction books coming out this month, check our online catalog.
Top Picks
“Boat Baby: A Memoir” by Vicky Nguyen (Apr 1)
Starting in 1975, Vietnam’s “boat people” — desperate families seeking freedom — fled the Communist government and violence in their country any way they could, usually by boat across the South China Sea. Vicky Nguyen and her family were among them. Attacked at sea by pirates before reaching a refugee camp in Malaysia, Vicky’s family survived on rations and waited months until they were sponsored to go to America. But deciding to leave and start a new life in a new country is half the story… figuring out how to be American is the other. “Boat Baby” is Vicky’s memoir of growing up in America with unconventional Vietnamese parents who didn’t always know how to bridge the cultural gaps. It’s a childhood filled with misadventures and misunderstandings, from almost stabbing the neighborhood racist with a butter knife to getting caught stealing Cosmo in the hope of learning Do You Really Think You Know Everything About Sex? Vicky’s parents approached life with the attitude, “Why not us?” In the face of prejudice, they taught her to be gritty and resilient, skills Vicky used as she combated stereotyping throughout her career, fending off the question “Aren’t you Connie Chung?” to become a leading Asian American journalist on television. She delivers a uniquely transparent account of her life, revealing how she negotiated her salary in a competitive industry, the challenges of starting a family, and the struggle to be a dutiful daughter. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: April 2025”
Have you ever wanted to rewind time? What about moving to an alternate reality, or have infinite chances to ‘get it right?’
If so, you’re not alone. The “Do Over” theme isn’t a new literary trope, but based on my (not at all scientific) observations, it’s exhibiting a surge in popularity.
The 2022 movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” might be the most well-known and highly esteemed recent example of this genre. Michelle Yeoh stars as a middle-aged Chinese immigrant pulled into a quest spanning infinite universes to save existence. The movie swept the 2023 Academy Awards for best picture, best actress, best supporting actor and more for a total of 7 Oscars. It has humor, action, drama and excellent performances. Continue reading “Ready for a “Do Over?””
Posted on Wednesday, April 2, 2025 by Decimal Diver
Brian Smith is a Columbia, MO author whose debut book is “Tiger Style: Eight Steps to Create a Winning Culture.” The book details the Tiger Style philosophy which is designed to instill a sense of purpose, resilience, and a winning mindset in businesses, schools and teams. Smith has developed Tiger Style as the head coach of Mizzou’s wrestling team for 27 years. As the winningest coach in Mizzou wrestling history, he has been twice named as the top wrestling coach in the NCAA, and his athletes have won ten NCAA Championships, and some have gone on to become UFC champions and Olympic competitors. He was kind enough to take the time to be interviewed via email. Continue reading “Q&A With Brian Smith, Author of “Tiger Style””
A medley of rainy and sunny stories and songs, inspired by the strange weather of Makoto Shinkai’s “Weathering With You.”
🌧️☀️🌧️
In 2020 I went and saw the seriously gorgeous film “Weathering With You” and sort of figured I wouldn’t catch it in theaters again. And then Ragtag Cinema brought the movie back to Columbia this month for a showing presented by Science on Screen, featuring a lecture by Dr. Zack Leasor about Missouri’s fickle hydroclimate. So I got to rewatch the movie, this time with intensified attention towards the wildness of its weather. As the rain beat down on 16-year-old Hodaka I sunk into my hoodie. And when the sun broke out on screen I could almost feel it on my face.
I’m writing this on a Thursday in March, a flat blue afternoon with the kind of sunshine the residents of “Weathering With You”’s Tokyo would have prayed for. The city is under a months-long spell of rain when Hodaka arrives, the showers broken up every so often by Hina the Sunshine Girl. Hina performs her miracles of sunshine at a great cost, which she hides to make everyone happy, including Hodaka — she doesn’t realize Hodaka loves her more than any blue sky; that he would gladly weather storm after storm in her company. Continue reading “Strange Weather (Atonal Wonder)”
I’m excited to start planning a trip to Tibilisi, Georgia this summer, and I’m wanting to learn a bit of the country’s language before I travel. To study more popular languages, such as Spanish or French, Daniel Boone Regional Library provides materials in various formats to learn, such as books, eBooks and audiobooks. For Georgian, a less common language, I’ve decided to take a look at one of DBRL’s online resources — Bluebird Languages — to get started.
Bluebird Languages offers lessons in over 160 languages (yes, 160!) with a large selection of native language settings so that people can learn in their native tongues. Continue reading “Online Resource: Bluebird Languages”
Sourdough bread is a slightly sour type of bread risen by a fermentation process of yeast, water and flour. It is a very versatile process that produces quite a range of breads and cakes. What I bring to you in this article is a mixture of bread cookbooks, and a lot of them contain recipes and instructions about how to get started baking and enjoying your own sourdough.
My current “mother.” I had baked a loaf of bread and transferred my starter to a clean jar. The liquid to the right is my kombucha carboy.
If you want to read about a baker who fell in love with a 125-year-old starter, read the introduction to “Sourdough Culture: A History of Bread Making From Ancient to Modern Bakers” by Eric Pallent. This is a well-written history following the cultivation of grains, particularly wheat. The Egyptians may have been the first bakers to use sourdough, but archeological evidence doesn’t indicate if there was an established starter or if mixed ground grain and water was allowed to ferment for a time before being kneaded and baked. As of 2021, no Egyptian or earlier bread recipe has been found.
I have always wanted to bake with a generational sourdough but have been too shy to ask my friends if anyone has one to share. So earlier in the year I started my own by mixing 2 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of un-chlorinated water and 1 teaspoon of commercial dry yeast into a pint jar, and then set it out to pick up wild yeast that might be floating around in my kitchen. Yes, I cheated. Traditionally there is no commercial dry yeast. But I keep feeding it, dividing it and making bread and maybe it has gone wild. It’s certainly doing its own thing over there in the corner of my kitchen.
