Library Notes Week of Feb. 27

Do you know someone with eye sight problems? People tend to forget the Talking Book Library is available. They provide a free public library service which includes easy access to the informational and recreational reading materials needed by individuals in the State of Washington who are unable to read standard print material. The Washington Talking Book & Braille Library houses a varied collection of books and magazines on cassette and digital cartridge. A Digital Talking Book Machine and special cassette machine are needed to play these materials and is provided free of charge to registered users. Ask us how to qualify for this wonderful service.

Next time you come in, take a look at all the new books we have. Here are a few you might be interested in checking out.

Ice Balloon by Alec Wilkinson. Alec Wilkinson brings us the story of S. A. Andrée, the visionary Swedish aeronaut who, in 1897, during the great age of Arctic endeavor, left to discover the North Pole by flying to it in a hydrogen balloon. Called by a British military officer “the most original and remarkable attempt ever made in Arctic exploration,” Andrée’s expedition was followed by nearly the entire world, and it made him an international legend.

Pinched by Don Peck. Don Peck's Pinched keenly observes how the recession has changed the places we live, the work we do, and even who we are--and details the transformations that are yet to come. Every class and every generation will be affected: newly minted college graduates, blue-collar men, affluent professionals, exurban families, elite financiers, middle-class retirees. The crash has shifted the course of the economy. In its aftermath, the middle class is shrinking faster, wealth is becoming more concentrated, twenty-somethings are sinking, and working-class families and communities are changing in unsavory ways.

Rin Tin Tin: the Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean. It begins on a battlefield in France during World War I, when a young American soldier, Lee Duncan, discovered a newborn German shepherd in the ruins of a bombed-out dog kennel. To Duncan, who came of age in an orphanage, the dog’s survival was a miracle. He saw something in Rin Tin Tin that he felt compelled to share with the world. Duncan brought Rinty home to California, where the dog’s athleticism and acting ability drew the attention of Warner Bros. Over the next ten years, Rinty starred in twenty-three blockbuster silent films that saved the studio from bankruptcy and made him the most famous dog in the world.