Summer Hours:

This summer, the College of the Redwoods Library in Del Norte will be open Monday through Thursday from 8 am to 5 pm. 

New Logo for our 50th anniversary!

New Books

We received seven new books on local subjects through a generous donation from the Associated Students of College of the Redwoods Senate. Here is a description of each one beginning at the top:

 Medicine Trails: a Life in Many Worlds by Mavis McCovey and John F. Salter: an autobiography of a medicine woman of the Karuk Tribe. “If you want to understand the enduring, ancient life of one of California’s original people, this is the book, and these two are the guides.  Read this book and see what you have missed” Peter Coyote says of this book.

Sandspit: Book II A Redwood Northcoast Notebook by Francesca Fryer. This fascinating history of the Yurok, Tolowa, Hupa and Karok peoples and their intersections with Spanish and American influences in the northcoast. It is also about the terrain and history, salmon and redwood.

Lighthouses of the Golden State: California’s Shining Beacons by Kent Weymouth is the history of the lighthouse from the southern-most Old Point Loma to the Northern-most Point Saint George. Historic black and white images of the structures and major people illustrate this well-researched history.

Treasure at Battery Point by Helen Corbin is a novel about Brother Jonathan, a famous paddle wheeler which sunk while carrying a fortune in gold and the people who tried to find it.  Described as both a thriller and a dangerous love triangle, this novel has something for everyone.

Shadows in the Rain: A Tale of Old Klamath, California by R. Joe King was a 2008 Spur Award Finalist and tells the story of Klamath in 1964: right before the floods that almost destroyed it.

Indian Lore of the North California Coast by Austen D. Warburton and Joseph F. Endert  is a collection of stories, myths, historic images and anecdotes centered on the Tolowa, Yurok and their neighbors. Few of the photos are dated, unfortunately, but the memories and photographs are excellent.

Women who Kept the Lights: An Illustrated History of Female Lighthouse Keepers by Mary Louise Clifford and J. Candace Clifford tells the stories of 32 of the hundreds of women who have been lighthouse keepers. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, from maids to mothers, their stories come alive with photographs and first-person accounts.

New DVDs! It is too exciting to not post about. We got (in order from the photo) Pearl Harbor, The Great Gatsby (with Robert Redford), Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Casablanca,
Persepolis, Their Eyes were Watching God, Phantom of the Opera (with Gerard Butler), Glory, A River Runs Through it, The Last of the Mohicans, The Crucible (with Winona Ryder), Schindler's List, Sicko, Whale Rider, and The Hunt for Red October.

I know they are not exactly new releases, but they are all interesting, or literary, or educational and worth a watch!

I have been thinking a lot about internet privacy recently and ran accross this useful video:

http://www.commoncraft.com/video/protecting-reputations-online

The ultimate classic, ‘The Hobbit’ by J. R. R. Tolkien, is the perfect book for reading for pleasure or aloud to the kids.  Tolkien is a gifted author who can use words to paint wonderful scenes inside your imagination.

‘The Hobbit’  is the prequel to ‘The Lord of the Rings’  trilogy. ‘Nuff said’  

The Library also recently acquired the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

New books

The Library has received some new books which delve deeper into some prevalent cultures here in Del Norte County. A lot of the residents in our city were raised in cultures that emphasize balance with nature, self-sufficiency and delicious food. These books will help each of us learn more about the Hmong culture and Local Native American cultures.

The History of the Hmong by Thomas S. Vang, attempts to relate the history of a people whose culture and traditions are primarily oral. The Hmong name and history have been ignored by the majority population in China and Laos since 2300 BC. This history, written by and about the Hmong, puts this right, recording as much history as he could find and when you are done reading the more than 400 pages and well researched history, you will know why he felt this history was so important.

Ya Po Cha introduces us to the traditional and changing cultural elements of the Hmong people in An Introduction to Hmong Culture. With chapters on children, weddings, politics and funerals, you will find interesting elements of this fascinating culture on every page.

Finally, Cooking from the Heart: the Hmong Kitchen in America, is a cookbook that teaches how to make things, but also when. Different events and seasons call for different recipes and the fact that this book was written by two women living in America, means the ingredients can be found in your local markets, with name variations when appropriate. There are explanations and definitions of certain ingredients as well.

The Hmong escaped war and settled here in Del Norte County, but there is another group who has been here for centuries, a group for whom war was brought to them.

In To the American Indian: Reminiscences of a Yurok Woman, we are able to get inside the mind of Lucy Thompson, a woman who realized the history of her people was not being written, so she wrote it.

We also have Flutes of Fire, a book describing and cataloguing Native American Languages in California, Native American Clothing, a photo book by Theodore Brasser and Folk-Tales of the Coast Salish by Thelma Adamson.

Finally, we are also adding Dancing Between Two Worlds to our collection. This psychology book explores the interactions between Jung and his ideas and "the Native American soul." It is by Fred R. Gustafson.

New books for January

Outliners The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell, addresses the question, “Why do some people succeed far more than others?” To understand rates of success, it’s key to look at the culture of the person. Gladwell’s book “Outliners” uses examples of historically successful people and groups to back up his thesis. Someone with an interest in psychology or sociology would be the ideal candidate for this book.

The Handy Geography Answer Book, by Paul A. Tucci and Matthew T. Rosenberg, is essentially a reference book for the geologist. This reference book is filled with the questions and answers to commonly asked geological questions. For example, “Why did the sun never sets on the British Empire?” and, “How was Pompeii destroyed?”. You’ll have to check this book out if you want to know the answers to the many questions about the world and its geology in this handy reference book.

Perfect Madness Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety, by Judith Warner, is an inquiry into, “what’s gone wrong with the culture of parenting”? There is a lot of weight on modern mother’s shoulders to live up to an ideal standard of mothering. Which can also be termed “intensive mothering” or extreme mothering when a mother takes her role so seriously that she forgets about her needs? “Perfect Madness” is a great book to read if you’re interested in the modern mother’s predicament.

Born to Buy, by Juliet B. Schor, takes a look into the targeting of the market system especially in its relationship with children and their development. Schor explains how advertising is nearly everywhere and socializes children in what is cool and what they should buy to have that’s status. This is an excellent book to read if you’re interested in how advertising and marketing effect consumers and particularly children consumers.

Shoptimism: Why the American Consumer Will Keep On Buying No Matter What, by “Lee Eisenberg, takes a look into the economy. “Shoptimism addresses the questions, “Are you a Classic Buyer or a Romantic Buyer? Is there a “Buy button” buried in your brain? Are men and women all that different when they shop? And, Why do we keep on buying—and buying—in good times or bad? If any of the previous questions ignite curiosity this is a good book for you.

History and nonfiction

New Year and we have some great new books to entice you with.

Steward's Fork deals with the natural history (and a little human history) of the entire Klamath region. Our little river just 20 miles south reaches far up through California and up into Oregon.

The Joy of Geocaching explains and advertizes the world's fastest growing treasure hunt. If you have a GPS, you can fins "caches" all across the world and use the internet to track them, leave messages and trinkets for others and create your own cache.

The Faith Instinct: How religion Evolved and Why it Endures seeks to understand religion and its changing permanence. It does not seek to attack or defend religion, instead, it seeks to understand it.

Death in Salem is a combination of 64 biographies of peopleburned at the stake as witches in Salem, Massachusetts. Started as the notes accompanying a novel, it has taken on a life of its own and is a valuable book for anyone researching this dark time in American History.

Finally, Why Machiavelli Matters: a Guide to Citizenship in a Democracy, is part biography and part critical essay. If you have ever been assigned the Prince and wondered why, this book for you.

More New Books for the New Year

We have received some new books for the new year: Chinese Art and Indian Art, two books which trace the art of those two Asian cultures throughout the ages, giving full color examples and detailed explanations.

We got two books designed to help students catch up on their math:

College Algebra Demystified: a Self-teaching Guide, and Pre-Algebra Demystified.

Food, Inc. is a book companion to the movie of the same name and it goes into further details about where our food comes from and where it Should come from.

The Handy Astronomy Answer Book. and The Image Taker: the Selected Stories and photographs of Edward S. Curtis round out the collection.

New Books for December

Finals start next week. But after that, I know you are going to want to read or watch something to unwind, so I got some new books and DVDs!

The library now owns "America in the 20th Century: the Great Depression" and "Race: the Power of an Illusion."

We have gotten several new books:
That Constant Coyote: California Stories by Gerald Haslam
Spilling the Moon: poems by Matt Schumacher
Permanent Vacation: Twenty Writers on Work adn Life in our National Parks: featuring an essay by our very own Ruth Rhodes!
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World by Jill J0nnes
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (this year's HSU and CR book of the Year! You can register for a class on the book, or attend the lecture scheduled for the spring.)
And finally, Awesome by Jack Pendarvis.

Fall Semester Starts Soon

Fall Semester here at College of the Redwoods, Del Norte begins This Saturday, although classes don't actually begin until Monday. There are still a few openings in a few classes, but they are filling up fast!

Tests for everyone.

Finals are quickly approaching and potential students are running out of time to take the placement test for the upcoming semester. ATB tests are now given through the library, call or come in to make an appointment.

The library also has art from Spring 2011 to return to students. Come on in!

Summer Semester

Summer Semester started yesterday. There are still a few classes open, but it will be a fast semester, so if you want to take classes, get on it right now!

Summer Hours

The Library will be open from 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday, all summer long.

We are closed on Weekends and Holidays.

We are now on Facebook!

I realized it may be easier for some people to find out what is happening by following us on facebook. look us up!

College of the Redwoods, Del Norte Library in the facebook search box and LIKE us!

of Local Interest

Book Review by Lisa

The Latehomecomer; A Hmong Family Memoir

By Kao Kalia Yang

The emigration of the Hmong people from their native land to America is a history all Americans should know, regardless of their ancestry. This is the story of the harrowing experience of one Hmong family; leaving the country of their ancestors, their family, and their friends; then entering a new country to start a new life.