Excellence : it's about elbow grease

“The genius in all of us” by David Shenk.

Shank discusses scientific findings about the interplay of genetics and ability. While we tend to think of achievement in terms of talents and gifts, research reveals the importance of disciplined practice and repetition. Shenk writes that “[genes] are constantly activated and deactivated by environmental stimuli, nutrition, hormones, nerve impulses, and other genes. . . . [Thus we should view] talent not as a thing, but as a process; not as something we have, but as something we do. Whatever you wish to do well, … you must do over and over again.” While Shenk admits that individuals have limits, he asserts that without disciplined effort, people will never know their true capabilities. (NYT, 3/25/10)

Read the entire review at The New York Times.

New Books 3/24/10

900
Years of dust : the story of the Dust Bowl / Albert Marrin
The Dust Bowl : through the lens : how photography revealed and helped remedy a national disaster / Martin W. Sandler
Going rogue : an American life / Sarah Palin

Fiction
The life all around me by Ellen Foster / Kaye Gibbons
Odd hours / Dean Koontz
Tales of terror : 52 short stories chosen by the master of suspense / introduced and chosen by Alfred Hitchcock

Shemarn Alexie wins PEN/Faulkner Award

Sherman Alexie has received the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for "War Dances," a collection of short stories and poems. Alexie's books include "Flight: a novel," "The Toughest Indian in the World," and "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” which received the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2007.

Read more about the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.

More Shel Silverstein Poems

A second posthumous collection of poems by Shel Silverstein will be released HarperCollins in 2011. Silverstein, whose clever observations of childhood are beloved by children and adults alike, is the author of "The Light in the Attic" and "Where the Sidewalk Ends."

Read more at cnn.com.

Kankakee Public Library hosts Angela Johnson

Friends of the Kankakee Public Library and Kankakee School District 111 present author Angela Johnson as the third annual "Mary Jo Johnson Spring Children/Teen Author." Johnson will speak at the Kankakee Public Library in the 4th Floor Auditorium on Tuesday, March 23, at 7:00 p.m. Johnson is the author of Toning the Sweep (1994), Heaven (1999), and First Part Last(2004). All three books were recipients of the Coretta Scott King Award; First Part Last received the Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature.

Copies of Johnson’s books will be for sale, and a book signing will follow the lecture.

New Books - 3/10/10

When everything changed : the amazing journey of American women from 1960 to the present / Gail Collins

The fossil hunter : dinosaurs, evolution, and the woman whose discoveries changed the world / Shirley Emling
Emling tells the story of Mary Anning who, at the age of 12, discovered the first dinosaur skeleton on the cliffs of Lyme Regis, England.
(See also: Tracy Chevalier’s newest novel Remarkable Creatures.)

Torture : a collection / Sanford Levinson, ed.

The torture debate in America / Karen Greenberg, ed.

Postpartum depression demystified : an essential guide to understanding and overcoming the most common complication after childbirth / Joyce A. Venis & Suzanne McCloskey

Understanding postpartum psychosis : a temporary madness / Teresa Twomey

Capitalism and freedom / Milton Friedman

House rules : a novel / Jodi Piccoult
Eighteen-year old Jacob Hunt, who has Asperger’s syndrome, has been charged with killing his tutor. Hunt’s mother, Emma, and his attorney must find the truth.

P.S. I loathe you / Lisi Harrison
The 10th book in the Clique series.

New Books - 3/5/10

Opposing viewpoints
Civil liberties
The environment
Genetic engineering
Iraq

New Books - 3/4/10

Opposing Viewpoints:
Malnutrition
Outsourcing
Sports and athletes
Terrorism
The aging population
Health care : a right or a privilege?

Criminal justice

The Islamic World:
Islamic beliefs and practices
Islamic art, literature, and culture
Islamic history

Writers and their work:
William Golding: Lord of the flies
Harper Lee: To kill a mockingbird

Pricing E-Books

Hardcover book - price	26.00	12.99	E-Book
retailer	13.00	3.90	retailer
publisher	13.00	3.90	retailer
publisher's expenses	--	--	publisher's expenses
-printing, storage, shipping	3.25	.50	-digital formatting
cover design, typesetting,editing	.80	-	--
marketing	1.00	.78	marketing
royalty to author (15%)	3.90	2.27-3.25	royalties
overhead (salaries, rent, utilities)	4.05	4.56-5.56	overhead (salaries, rent, utilities)

**Data taken from "Math of Publishing Meets the E-Book" in The New York Times .
The debate over pricing e-books continues. Read more at The New York Times