Book Talk

Energy-real and virtual    

Dissatisfied with your life? Create a new one with Second Life! In this virtual world you can design your life they way you want it. Want to lose ten pounds and be a blonde? Done! Your avatar (virtual body) is yours to design. Second Life has its own money, businesses and currency. You can chat, shop, rent a place to live and freeze out unwanted avatars. Intrigued? Check out Second Life for Dummies by Sarah Robbins and Mark Bell and The Second Life Herald: the Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse by Peter Ludlow and Mark Wallace.

Ari Hakkarainen offers Do-It-Yourself Camera & Music Phone Projects: 24 Cool Things you didn’t know you could do. Yes, you can run a slide show on your phone, watch TV, run your blog and create your own ringtones. This book walks you through the process.

If you prefer to remain in the physical world read Lester Brown’s Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. Brown, of the Earth Policy Institute lists the myriad problems facing the globe from water shortages to rising sea levels. Fortunately he also lists solutions. Will we have the will to make the major changes he recommends?

Energy independence is one of the issues on Brown’s list, and the topic of Freedom from Oil: how the Next President can End the United States’ Oil Addiction.   David Sandalow believes that emerging new technologies and a unified desire for change will enable the U.S. to take the necessary steps towards alternative energy supplies.

John S. Duffield takes a broader view of oil in Over a Barrel: the Costs of U.S. Foreign Oil Dependence.  Though there are many easily quantifiable ways to understand what oil costs us, there are other non-numerical costs. Who would deny the formative role on our foreign policy oil plays? Add to that the billions of dollars spent on the military and its role in protecting our oil access.

Conservation starts with YOU, so read The Home Energy Diet: How to Save Money by Making your House Energy Smart. A Mother Earth News publication written by Paul Scheckel, this focuses on living carefully. Make sure you are using appliances efficiently, insulate, reduce water flow rate and consider a non-electric way of doing things.

Gardening is a dirty business, but not in THAT way…until Paula Holliday digs up a mummified body while restoring the gardens at a local landmark. Pushing up Daisies by Rosemary Harris is the first in her new mystery series.

Steve Alten contributes The Shell Game, a political thriller with themes all too similar to the political problems of today. The U.S. has few options for dealing with Iran. Our military is over stretched, the public tired of the Iraq war and political action unlikely. The only option to prevent Iran from pursuing its attempt to enrich uranium would be a preemptive strike. And that would only be possible if there was a devastating attack on an American city…

Author Phil Rickman has written another in his Merrily Watkins mystery series, The Fabric of Sin. Merrily is an Anglican minister who evolved her way from small town vicar to “delivery consultant” (exorcist). When a builder refuses to remodel an ancient building because “it’s a place that doesn’t want to be restored”, the Bishop sends Merrily to investigate. Feuds dating back to the middle ages, Masonic links and forbidden places all lead to a violent death.

CIA agent John Wells was the only American ever to penetrate al-Qaeda. When an unknown country begins sponsoring an increase in Taliban activity, Wells is sent to Afghanistan to investigate. A mole inside the CIA may just be the one to ignite a global inferno. The Ghost War is the second thriller by Alex Berenson to feature John Wells.

Virginia Cooper
Adult Services Librarian