Several new titles have recently been added to the Vigilance Collection. Materials in the Vigilance Collection are selected with the hope and intent of providing community members with up-to-date information on progressive issues. The library encourages everyone to browse the collection shelved along the north wall of the library, we have something for everyone.
We have books on current topical interests including The People’s Pension by Eric Laursen which is a look at the struggle to defend Social Security since President Reagan. Or maybe you want to borrow Money Well Spent by Michael Grabell and read one man’s interpretation of the trillion dollar stimulus. And both of those titles make me think of Our Divided Political Heart by E.J. Dionne. Mr. Dionne presents “the battle for the American Idea in an age of discontent.”
And as many of us continue to wonder why we don’t seem to make much headway in alternative energies, especially for vehicles, read the latest book by Steve Coll entitled Private Empire in which he investigates the largest and most powerful corporation in the United States. He attempts to reveal the true extent of the power wielded by ExxonMobil.
The Unfair Trade by Michael Casey is available in both hardcover book and as a CD book. He proposes that the global financial system is broken and destroys the middle class. Read or listen to this book and decide for yourself if his argument makes sense.
And for a bit more positive outlook try No, They Can’t by John Stossel which posits that where governments fail, individuals succeed. He outlines an argument that suggests we shouldn’t be relying on the government to meet all our needs but working together as individuals to create what we want and need.
A couple of books looking at new and old energy possibilities include Superfuel by Richard Martin. Thorium, a naturally occurring radioactive chemical element, is more abundant than uranium and is safer as well. This would make it a cheaper, safer and better fuel for nuclear reactors. Carbon-free and nuclear-free by Arjun Makhijani provides a potential road map for a United States energy policy that would not release carbon into the atmosphere and doesn’t have the dangers of nuclear energy.
And if politics, environment and all that heavy stuff isn’t your cup of tea then try these new health and gardening titles beginning with Backyard Medicine by Julie Bruton-Seal which shows you how to harvest and make your own herbal remedies. Flood Your Body with Oxygen by Ed McCabe examines a theory about the health benefits of oxygen therapy to improve health. The title made me look at the contents and I was impressed with the writing and theory of what Eric Topol is proposing. The Creative Destruction of Medicine puts forth a series of arguments for how the digital revolution will create a better health care system. He looks at basic structures like wireless internet, but also how personal genomics could be used.
