Why I Checked It Out: This book was recommended to me by a friend who is on the autism spectrum. Being autistic myself, I figured this book might help me understand my disorder better. Instead, I got a book that fundamentally changed the way that I view myself, my diagnosis and the way that I live my life as a whole. My quality of life as a disabled person has improved significantly after implementing the skills and advice Dr. Price offers in the book. Continue reading “Staff Book Review: Unmasking Autism”
One of my fondest memories as a kid is holding and watching cicadas. Their songs were my lullabies. In today’s environment of extreme bug-phobia and efforts to rid the world of all bugs, I’ve just come to say please be kind.
There’s been a lot of excitement around the overlapping of a 13-year brood of cicadas with a 17-year brood. What that means is that one brood has been underground for approximately 13 years and the other for 17 years and they are both coming to the surface at roughly the same time which happens about every 25 years. According to The University of Connecticut, this is the first time since 1803 that these specific broods have emerged together. That might sound scary, but the overlap will actually only be in small geographic patches of Illinois. Continue reading “Cicadas Don’t Bug Me!”
June’s First Thursday Book Discussion title, “Hollywood Con Queen” by Scott C. Johnson couldn’t get a more apt tag line its tag line “The Hunt for an Evil Genius.” The story starts when a private security consultant first comes across a corner of the “Con Queen’s” web of deception and follows a years long hunt to understand and uncover the con. Johnson’s writing stands out in answering all the questions, peering into all the crannies, including the criminal’s childhood and medical history in an effort to answer, “why?”
Maybe some of us are noble enough not to ‘rubberneck’ at the roadside accident, but I’m not, and traffic studies repeatedly show that most people can’t resist this particular type of temptation. I like to think our fascination with misfortune comes from a some basic human drive to understand danger with the hope of avoiding it yourself.
While there is no shame in reading Johnson’s book as a well-written and compelling curiosity on its own, it can also be viewed a vital cautionary tale and a study in vulnerabilities unique to our time — mostly the false sense of intimacy that can be fostered through technology without proximity.
Did you know that mobile applications have been around for 17 years now? Amazing! Steve Jobs brought out the first iPhone in 2007 and in 2008 the first Apple App Store launched with 500 apps. App stores for Android and Blackberry devices joined the party and “App” was voted Word of the Year for 2010. We were no longer dependent on connecting our devices to our computers to transfer games, music and photos and many people embraced the mobile life.
Public libraries believe in equal access for everyone and that we are part of an educated citizenry, helping you find the information you need when you need it. This includes your digital experience. We have created a series of in-person presentations about various apps, called Appy Hour, in which you can come learn about and interact with apps. You can also watch this space for future Appy Hour blog posts!
Today we’ll examine music apps from a program held earlier this year. Let’s start with the streaming music apps that DBRL provides! Continue reading “Appy Hour: Music”
Adventure is just a page away this summer at the Daniel Boone Regional Library as we invite you to participate in our Summer Reading program: “Adventure Begins at Your Library.”
Summer Reading starts June 1, and is free and open to all ages. Countless adventures await on our library shelves! Here are just a few to kick-start your journey as we step outside and into the great unknown! Continue reading “Literary Links: Summer Reading 2024”
Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.
“The Act” – Limited Series – Website / Reviews
This is a dramatic eight-part series based on the bizarre Missouri true crime story. It explores the tragic relationship between young Gypsy Blanchard (Joey King) and her overprotective mother Dee De (Patricia Arquette).
“Lawmen: Bass Reeves” – Season 1 – Website / Reviews
From producers Taylor Sheridan and David Oyelowo, this fictional series inspired by real-life events follows Bass Reeves’ rise from enslavement to law enforcement as one of the first Black U.S. Deputy Marshals.
“Television Event” – Website / Reviews
A documentary that views the Cold War through the lens of TV network ABC as it narrowly succeeds in producing the most watched, most controversial made-for-TV movie, “The Day After,” in 1983.
“Werckmeister Harmonies” – Website / Reviews This is a restored release of Béla Tarr’s 2000 dramatic Hungarian film. The story unfolds in an unnamed village, where, one day, a mysterious circus arrives and appears to awaken a kind of madness in the citizens.
“The Promised Land” – Website / Reviews In this Danish historical drama set in 1755, Captain Ludvig Kahlen sets out to tame an uninhabitable land and build a colony in the name of the King, but he comes in conflict with the ruthless lord of the region. Continue reading “New DVD List: May 2024”
The Hooded Warbler is one of the vibrant spring migrants you can see in Missouri in May.
May is a big month for birding in Missouri, and the recent storms have made now a great time to get out and bird! May is when most of the migrating birds that pass through Missouri on their way north are in mid-Missouri. They are in their vibrant spring mating colors and there are (slightly) fewer leaves on the trees, making it easier to see them. It can be easy to feel like you don’t know enough or to feel intimidated, but it needn’t be so. There are some great resources to help you increase both your skill and success in birding. Continue reading “May Is for the Birders — Including You”
Below I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in May. 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
“The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers New Understanding of Life on Earth” by Zoë Schlanger (May 7)
It takes tremendous biological creativity to be a plant. To survive and thrive while rooted in a single spot, plants have adapted ingenious methods of survival. In recent years, scientists have learned about their ability to communicate, recognize their kin and behave socially, hear sounds, morph their bodies to blend into their surroundings, store useful memories that inform their life cycle, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit, to name just a few remarkable talents. “The Light Eaters” is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. In looking closely, we see that plants, rather than imitate human intelligence, have perhaps formed a parallel system. What is intelligent life if not a vine that grows leaves to blend into the shrub on which it climbs, a flower that shapes its bloom to fit exactly the beak of its pollinator, a pea seedling that can hear water flowing and make its way toward it? Zoë Schlanger takes us across the globe, digging into her own memories and into the soil with the scientists who have spent their waking days studying these amazing entities up close. What can we learn about life on Earth from the living things that thrive, adapt, consume, and accommodate simultaneously? More important, what do we owe these life forms once we come to understand their rich and varied abilities? Examining the latest epiphanies in botanical research, Schlanger spotlights the intellectual struggles among the researchers conceiving a wholly new view of their subject, offering a glimpse of a field in turmoil as plant scientists debate the tenets of ongoing discoveries and how they influence our understanding of what a plant is. We need plants to survive. But what do they need us for — if at all? An eye-opening and informative look at the ecosystem we live in, this book challenges us to rethink the role of plants — and our own place — in the natural world. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: May 2024”
Jack Parsons, Genius, Eccentric, Occultist, & Rocketeer
I am not a poetic man; both in the sense that I don’t write poetically (despite some of my readers’ assertions. I posit that, as a prose writer, I write prosaically in the most literal sense), and also that I do not often indulge myself in poetry. Not through any disdain for the medium, mind you, but simply a lack of motivation or interest. But sometimes, a book can trick you into reading extraneous literature (and poetry, as it turns out) in order to deepen your understanding and appreciation of the original text. Many great literary novels either require an intimate knowledge of other books within the author’s purview, or require a rather large desk on which to lay out several tomes at once to cross-reference the many inferences to other works. This is not necessarily a bad way to read, but it is a tad more academic than curling up in an armchair or bed to engross oneself in a story. Continue reading “In What Distant Deeps or Skies: Poetry In Science Fiction”
Posted on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 by patron reviewer
“I’m Still Here” is the author’s short autobiographical account of what it’s like to be a Black woman in majority-white corporate and church settings. The book is insightful, moving, and should at least be taken as a free public service announcement for what not to do as well-intentioned white people who claim to love diversity. She’s relatable and human; raw in her frustration, honest in her evaluation of her hopes, and candid about how her faith carries her through it. Read it to avoid the pitfalls of ignorant whiteness or commiserate with another Black woman.
Three words that describe this book: Insightful, African-American, autobiography
You might want to pick this book up if: You want to become more sensitive to the experiences of people of color, specifically Black Americans.
-Crystal
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share reviews throughout the year.
