Library

Price: $23.07

Edition: First Edition

ISBN: 0805057242

Summary: 'Fascinating . . . An admirably lucid, level-headed history of outbreaks of joy from Dionysus to the Grateful Dead.'-Terry Eagleton, The Nation Widely praised as 'impressive' (The Washington Post Book World), 'ambitious' (The Wall Street Journal), and 'alluring' (The Los Angeles Times), Dancing in the Streets explores a human impulse that has been so effectively suppressed that we lack even a term for it: the desire for collective joy, historically expressed in revels of feasting, costuming, and dancing. Drawing on a wealth of history and anthropology, Barbara Ehrenreich uncovers the origins of communal celebration in human biology and culture. From the earliest orgiastic Mesopotamian rites to the medieval practice of Christianity as a 'danced religion' and the transgressive freedoms of carnival, she demonstrates that mass festivities have long been central to the Western tradition. In recent centuries, this festive tradition has been repressed, cruelly and often bloodily. But as Ehrenreich argues in this original, exhilarating, and ultimately optimistic book, the celebratory impulse is too deeply ingrained in human nature ever to be completely extinguished.

Price: $42.98

Edition: Unabridged

ISBN: 1586210467

Summary: His speeches stirred a generation to change--and outlined a practical way to economic freedom and true democracy. His words would help bring about the end of a brutally unequal system and would show a timeless method for achieving fairness and justice for all. A CALL TO CONSCIENCE is a milestone collection of Dr. King's most influential and best-known speeches. Compiled by Stanford historian Dr. Clayborne Carson, director of the King Papers Project, and by contributing editor Kris Shepard, this volume takes you behind the scenes on an astonishing historical journey--from the small, crowded church in Montgomery, Alabama, where "The Birth of a New Nation" ignited the modern civil rights movement, to the center of the nation's capital, where "I Have a Dream" echoed through a nation's conscience, to the Mason Temple in Memphis, where over ten thousand people heard Dr. King give his last, transcendent speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," the night before his assassination. In twelve important introductions, some of the world's most renowned leaders and theologians--Andrew Young, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and Mrs. Rosa Parks, among others--share with you their reflections on these speeches and give priceless firsthand testimony on the events that inspired their delivery. Expressing a deeply felt faith in democracy, the power of loving change, and a self-deprecating humor, A CALL TO CONSCIENCE is Dr. King speaking today. It is a unique, unforgettable record of the words that rallied millions, forever changed the face of America, and even today shape our deepest personal hopes and dreams for the future.

Price: $17.95

ISBN:

Summary: Libertarianism used to be just a topic at your high school Government Club. But since all those Ayn Rand-niks are now in Congress, it's become a bigger deal. This book is an admirably clear exposition of the position--defined by David Boaz as "the view that each person has the right to live his life in any way he chooses so long as he respects the equal rights of others"--which is useful to both adherents and those who merely want to "know the enemy." Of course, a lot of questions are left unanswered: Do I have to obey speed limits? Is it OK for me to drive on the left as long as I promise to swerve when I see you coming? Aren't there a lot of valuable enterprises that couldn't be achieved by individual effort alone, but only with a degree of government compulsion, including the federal highway system, public parks, and public libraries?

Price: $9.99

Edition: Unabridged

ISBN: 9780739363911

Summary: Oh, the Places You'll Go!

For out-starting upstarts of all ages, here is a wonderfully wise and blessedly brief graduation speech from the one and only Dr. Seuss. In his inimitable, humorous verse he addresses the Great Balancing Act (life itself, and the ups and downs it presents) while encouraging us to find the success that lies within us.

"And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent...guaranteed.)"

The Lorax

Long before saving the earth became a global concern, Dr. Seuss, speaking through his character the Lorax, warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth's natural beauty.

Price: $9.99

Edition: Unabridged

ISBN: 9780739363911

Summary: Oh, the Places You'll Go!

For out-starting upstarts of all ages, here is a wonderfully wise and blessedly brief graduation speech from the one and only Dr. Seuss. In his inimitable, humorous verse he addresses the Great Balancing Act (life itself, and the ups and downs it presents) while encouraging us to find the success that lies within us.

"And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent...guaranteed.)"

The Lorax

Long before saving the earth became a global concern, Dr. Seuss, speaking through his character the Lorax, warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth's natural beauty.

Price: $19.99

Edition: Unabridged

ISBN: 9780807218730

Summary: 9 complete stories at a great price!

Featuring:

"The Cat in the Hat" read by Kelsey Grammer
"Horton Hears a Who" read by Dustin Hoffman
"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" read by Walter Matthau
"Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?" read by John Cleese
"The Lorax" read by Ted Danson
"Yertle the Turtle", "Gertrude McFuzz", and "The Big Brag" read by John Lithgow
"Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose" read by Mercedes McCambridge
"Horton Hatches the Egg" read by Billy Crystal
"The Cat in the Hat Comes Back" read by Kelsey Grammer

Price: $17.00

ISBN: 0143057189

Summary: Jared Diamond's "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" is the glass-half-empty follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning "Guns, Germs, and Steel". While "Guns, Germs, and Steel" explained the geographic and environmental reasons why some human populations have flourished, "Collapse" uses the same factors to examine why ancient societies, including the Anasazi of the American Southwest and the Viking colonies of Greenland, as well as modern ones such as Rwanda, have fallen apart. Not every collapse has an environmental origin, but an eco-meltdown is often the main catalyst, he argues, particularly when combined with society's response to (or disregard for) the coming disaster. Still, right from the outset of "Collapse", the author makes clear that this is not a mere environmentalist's diatribe. He begins by setting the book's main question in the small communities of present-day Montana as they face a decline in living standards and a depletion of natural resources. Once-vital mines now leak toxins into the soil, while prion diseases infect some deer and elk and older hydroelectric dams have become decrepit. On all these issues, and particularly with the hot-button topic of logging and wildfires, Diamond writes with equanimity.
Because he's addressing such significant issues within a vast span of time, Diamond can occasionally speak too briefly and assume too much, and at times his shorthand remarks may cause careful readers to raise an eyebrow. But in general, Diamond provides fine and well-reasoned historical examples, making the case that many times, economic and environmental concerns are one and the same. With "Collapse", Diamond hopes to jog our collective memory to keep us from falling for false analogies or forgetting prior experiences, and thereby save us from potential devastations to come. While it might seem a stretch to use medieval Greenland and the Maya to convince a skeptic about the seriousness of global warming, it's exactly this type of cross-referencing that makes "Collapse" so compelling. "--Jennifer Buckendorff"

Price: $31.47

ISBN: 0618249060

Summary: "Silent Spring", released in 1962, offered the first shattering look at widespread ecological degradation and touched off an environmental awareness that still exists. Rachel Carson's book focused on the poisons from insecticides, weed killers, and other common products as well as the use of sprays in agriculture, a practice that led to dangerous chemicals to the food source. Carson argued that those chemicals were more dangerous than radiation and that for the first time in history, humans were exposed to chemicals that stayed in their systems from birth to death. Presented with thorough documentation, the book opened more than a few eyes about the dangers of the modern world and stands today as a landmark work.

Price: $15.95

Edition: 1

ISBN:

Summary: In this provocative must-read, the preeminent scientistand worlds most prominent atheistRichard Dawkins asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11. The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong, but potentially deadly. It also offers exhilarating insight on the advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the least of which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universes wonders than any faith could ever muster. With rigor and wit, Dawkins eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence. This is a book that challenges all of us to test our beliefs, no matter what beliefs we hold.

Price: $16.95

ISBN:

Summary: As a parent I am always looking for words of wisdom on developing a sound value system through every day living for my children. Louv's book did that and more. He brought back my childhood memories of living in a small community and how important it is to create that for our children today. People have the power to change things and Louv has put that power into action by writing this book for us.

Edition: New Ed

ISBN:

Summary: A respected Zen master in Japan and founder of the San Francisco Zen Center, Shunryu Suzuki has blazed a path in American Buddhism like few others. He is the master who climbs down from the pages of the "koan" books and answers your questions face to face. If not face to face, you can at least find the answers as recorded in "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", a transcription of juicy excerpts from his lectures. From diverse topics such as transience of the world, sudden enlightenment, and the nuts and bolts of meditation, Suzuki always returns to the idea of beginner's mind, a recognition that our original nature is our true nature. With beginner's mind, we dedicate ourselves to sincere practice, without the thought of gaining anything special. Day to day life becomes our Zen training, and we discover that "to study Buddhism is to study ourselves." And to know our true selves is to be enlightened. "--Brian Bruya"

ISBN:

Summary:
The recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the National Book Award, the Kafka Award, five Hugo Awards and five Nebula Awards, the renowned writer Ursula K. Le Guin has, in each story and novel, created a provocative, ever-evolving universe filled with diverse worlds and rich characters reminiscent of our earthly selves. Now, in "The Birthday of the World," this gifted artist returns to these worlds in eight brilliant short works, including a never-before-published novella, each of which probes the essence of humanity.

Edition: 2nd

ISBN:

Summary: Scattered here and there, small isolated groups of humanity lived in a state of semi-barbarity. Lost were the skills and science, the knowledge that had been Earth's in the golden age of the League of Worlds.
~ ~~ ~
Each time a colony of Earthmen began to stir the ashes of half-forgotten technology,, the Shing, mindlying ravagers of Terra, would crush them like insects.
~ ~~ ~
Only one man dared to stand against the Shing's hunger for Earth conquest, and that man-the alien with the amber eyes-would first have to prove to a lie-tormented humanity that he himself was not a tool of the enemy!

ISBN:

Summary: Book Three of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle
Darkness threatens to overtake Earthsea: the world and its wizards are losing their magic. Despite being wearied with age, Ged Sparrowhawk -- Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord -- embarks on a daring, treacherous journey, accompanied by Enlad's young Prince Arren, to discover the reasons behind this devastating pattern of loss. Together they will sail to the farthest reaches of their world -- even beyond the realm of death -- as they seek to restore magic to a land desperately thirsty for it.
With millions of copies sold worldwide, Ursula K. Le Guin's
Earthsea Cycle has earned a treasured place on the shelves of fantasy lovers everywhere, alongside the works of such beloved authors as
J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.

Price: $12.95

ISBN:

Summary: Ursula K. Le Guin is one of science fiction's greatest writers. She is also an acclaimed author of powerful and perceptive nonfiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. She has received many honors, including six Nebula and five Hugo Awards, the National Book Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Newbery, the Pilgrim, the Tiptree, and citations by the American Library Association. She has written over a dozen highly regarded novels and story collections. Her SF masterworks are "The Left Hand of Darkness" (1969), "The Dispossessed" (1974), and "The Lathe of Heaven" (1971).
George Orr has dreams that come true--dreams that change reality. He dreams that the aunt who is sexually harassing him is killed in a car crash, and wakes to find that she died in a wreck six weeks ago, in another part of the country. But a far darker dream drives George into the care of a psychotherapist--a dream researcher who doesn't share George's ambivalence about altering reality.
"The Lathe of Heaven" is set in the sort of worlds that one would associate with Philip K. Dick, but Ms. Le Guin's treatment of the material, her plot and characterization and concerns, are more akin to the humanistic, ethically engaged, psychologically nuanced fiction of Theodore Sturgeon. "The Lathe of Heaven" is an insightful and chilling examination of total power, of war and injustice and other age-old problems, of changing the world, of playing God. "--Cynthia Ward"

Price: $25.00

Edition: 1st ed

ISBN:

Summary: The sorcerer Alder fears sleep. He dreams of the land of death, of his wife who died young and longs to return to him so much that she kissed him across the low stone wall that separates our world from the Dry Land-where the grass is withered, the stars never move, and lovers pass without knowing each other. The dead are pulling Alder to them at night. Through him they may free themselves and invade Earthsea.

Alder seeks advice from Ged, once Archmage. Ged tells him to go to Tenar, Tehanu, and the young king at Havnor. They are joined by amber-eyed Irian, a fierce dragon able to assume the shape of a woman.

The threat can be confronted only in the Immanent Grove on Roke, the holiest place in the world and there the king, hero, sage, wizard, and dragon make a last stand.

Le Guin combines her magical fantasy with a profoundly human, earthly, humble touch.

ISBN:

Summary: The Earth colony of Landin has been stranded on Werel for ten years — and ten of Werel's years are over 600 terrestrial years, and the lonely and dwindling human settlement is beginning to feel the strain. Every winter — a season that lasts for 15 years — the Earthmen have neighbors: the humanoid hilfs, a nomadic people who only settle down for the cruel cold spell. The hilfs fear the Earthmen, whom they think of as witches and call the farborns. But hilfs and farborns have common enemies: the hordes of ravaging barbarians called gaals and eerie preying snow ghouls. Will they join forces or be annihilated?

ISBN:

Summary: Often compared to Tolkien's Middle-earth or Lewis's Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at our hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms. Four books ("A Wizard of Earthsea", "The Tombs of Atuan", "The Farthest Shore", and "Tehanu") tell the whole Earthsea cycle--a tale about a reckless, awkward boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard's apprentice after the wizard reveals Sparrowhawk's true name. The boy comes to realize that his fate may be far more important than he ever dreamed possible. Le Guin challenges her readers to think about the power of language, how in the act of naming the world around us we actually create that world. Teens, especially, will be inspired by the way Le Guin allows her characters to evolve and grow into their own powers.
In this second book of Le Guin's Earthsea series, readers will meet Tenar, a priestess to the "Nameless Ones" who guard the catacombs of the Tombs of Atuan. Only Tenar knows the passageways of this dark labyrinth, and only she can lead the young wizard Sparrowhawk, who stumbles into its maze, to the greatest treasure of all. Will she?

ISBN:

Summary: Ansul was once a peaceful town filled with libraries, schools, and temples. But that was long ago, and the conquerors of this coastal city consider reading and writing to be acts punishable by death. And they believe the Oracle House, where the last few undestroyed books are hidden, is seething with demons. But to seventeen-year-old Memer, the house is a refuge, a place of family and learning, ritual and memory--the only place where she feels truly safe. Then an Uplands poet named Orrec and his wife, Gry, arrive, and everything in Memer's life begins to change. Will she and the people of Ansul at last be brave enough to rebel against their oppressors? A haunting and gripping coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of violence, intolerance, and magic," Voices" is a novel that readers will not soon forget.

ISBN:

Summary: Often compared to Tolkien's Middle-earth or Lewis's Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at our hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms. Four books ("A Wizard of Earthsea", "The Tombs of Atuan", "The Farthest Shore", and "Tehanu") tell the whole Earthsea cycle--a tale about a reckless, awkward boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard's apprentice after the wizard reveals Sparrowhawk's true name. The boy comes to realize that his fate may be far more important than he ever dreamed possible. Le Guin challenges her readers to think about the power of language, how in the act of naming the world around us we actually create that world. Teens, especially, will be inspired by the way Le Guin allows her characters to evolve and grow into their own powers.
In this first book, "A Wizard of Earthsea" readers will witness Sparrowhawk's moving rite of passage--when he discovers his true name and becomes a young man. Great challenges await Sparrowhawk, including an almost deadly battle with a sinister creature, a monster that may be his own shadow.