Rebecca's Pocket

Summer Reading - 07/26/10

2010-07-26T11:15:00Z

This week's summer reading installment features medical graphic novels, the best nameless protagonists, and a thrillers roundup.

Adults:
NPR: Fun In The Sun: Laugh-Out-Loud Summer Books
NPR: A London Cabbie's Summer Reading Picks
Guardian: Cian O'Luanaigh: My favourite medical graphic novels (and a blogpost introducing the genre)
Guardian: Greg Baxter's top 10 memento mori - fearless autobiographical writers
Guardian: Which books are on your summer holiday reading list?
Guardian: Ten of the best nameless protagonists in literature
Guardian: Thrillers roundup
More Magazine: The Top 100 Books Every Woman Should Read Part I: The Classics
More Magazine: Summer Books You'll Remember
More Magazine: 7 Summer Cookbooks
More Magazine: 11 Top Celeb Cookbooks: Editors' Picks
More Magazine: Into the Wild
More Magazine: 23 Scandal-Filled Summer Reads
Shelftalk: About Time: Dark Days and Deeds
Reader's Advisor: Under the Radar: New Fantasy Books You May Have Missed
2009 Shirley Jackson Awards Winner (announced July 11th 2010)
Daily Beast: James P. Othmer: 6 Great Novels on Work

Children and Young Adults:
Shelftalk: Princess Books for Little Girls

Do-Gooders give themselves license to cheat elsewhere

2010-07-23T11:15:00Z

It seems that humans do a simple moral calculation whenever faced with a choice: "Have I done something good recently?" Those who have (or who have just thought about it) tend to give themselves more leeway in other areas.

University of Toronto behavioral marketing professor Nina Mazar showed in a recent study that people who bought green products were more likely to cheat and steal than those who bought conventional products. One of Mazar's experiments invited participants to shop either at online stores that carry mainly green products or mainly conventional products. Then they played a game that allowed them to cheat to make more money. The shoppers from the green store were more dishonest than those at the conventional store, which brought them higher earnings in the game.

From a practical standpoint, this behavior offsets any gains the "good" behavior might otherwise have engendered. I'd like to see some research on the subset of people who bought from the green store and didn't cheat. How do they see the world differently than everyone else?

How to foster creativity in your children and yourself

2010-07-22T11:15:00Z

Long-time readers know how impatient I am with the idea that creativity belongs to a small subset of people. Recent research supports what I've known all along - that creativity is the birthright of every human being. More importantly, it uncovers the formula for teaching creativity to children (and to you, adult reader) even in schools tied to standardized testing.

So what does this mean for America's standards-obsessed schools? The key is in how kids work through the vast catalog of information. Consider the National Inventors Hall of Fame School, a new public middle school in Akron, Ohio. Mindful of Ohio's curriculum requirements, the school's teachers came up with a project for the fifth graders: figure out how to reduce the noise in the library. Its windows faced a public space and, even when closed, let through too much noise. The students had four weeks to design proposals. [...]

Along the way, kids demonstrated the very definition of creativity: alternating between divergent and convergent thinking, they arrived at original and useful ideas. And they'd unwittingly mastered Ohio's required fifth-grade curriculum--from understanding sound waves to per-unit cost calculations to the art of persuasive writing. "You never see our kids saying, 'I'll never use this so I don't need to learn it,'" says school administrator Maryann Wolowiec. "Instead, kids ask, 'Do we have to leave school now?'"

Introducing Bizarro Fiction

2010-07-21T11:15:00Z

Is bizarro fiction the most awesome literary genre ever conceived? Consider the evidence:

Jeff Burk's Shatnerquake is the story of William Shatner. [...] All of the characters he has ever played are suddenly sucked into our world on a mission to hunt down and destroy the real William Shatner.

I rest my case. (And this described as "a comparatively mild example".)

Canabalt makes learning touch typing fun

2010-07-20T11:15:00Z

Educational games are notoriously dreary, but here's a model that more studios should emulate: Game developer Adam Saltsman retooled his popular platformer to require players to use a changing set of letters in order to win. The result is a FUN touch-typing tutorial, Canabalt: Typing Tutor Edition. (thanks, jjg!)

Summer Reading - 07/19/10

2010-07-16T21:08:11Z

This week's summer reading installment includes monster hits, Stephen Kings must-reads, lots of awards shortists, and books for SF fans

Adults:
NPR: Zombies And Giant Squid: Summer's Monster Hits!
NPR: Beakers To Beaches: Summer's Best Science Books
EW: Stephen King: 6 Must-Reads for Summer
EW: Lost: The Essential Reading list
Guardian: Michael Stanley's top 10 African crime novel
Guardian: The 10 best credit crunch books
WGBH:Greater Boston Summer Books 2010
The Reader's Advisor: Under the Radar: Cool Reads for Hot Days
The Orange Prize for Fiction 2010 shortlist
2010 Christy Awards (Christian fiction)
2010 Canadian Authors Association Literary Awards
RUSA Notable Books Council: The 2010 Selection of Titles (25 very good, very readable and at times very important fiction, nonfiction and poetry books for the adult reader)
Shelfari: Mark Charon Newton: Science Fiction and Fantasy books every Mainstream fan should read, and Mainstream books every Science Fiction and Fantasy fan should read
Grasping for the Wind: 12 Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels and Stories of Americana
2010 Hugo and Campbell Awards Nominees (Science Fiction)
2010 Locus Award Winners (Science Fiction and Fantasy)
2010 Mythopoeic Awards (Fantasy)
2010 Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist (Science Fiction Literature)
2010 Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award Nominees (Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror novels by a single author)
Kotaku: 2010 Summer Reading List
Rapsheet: 100 Books you have to read
io9: The best science fiction and fantasy books for summer escapism
World News: Summer reading: 'coalition books' two books - unlikely bedfellows or easy companions recommended by British writers and politicians

Children and Young Adults:
2010 Guardian children's fiction prize longlist
Bookpage: Top 10 Best Books for Baby
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library: Suggestions of great summer reading books for children
Barnes & Noble Teen Beach Reads

The effect on the deficit of extending unemployment benefits vs repealing the estate tax

2010-07-16T11:15:00Z

Compare and contrast: Repealing the estate tax and extending unemployment benefits.

Who do you write like?

2010-07-15T11:15:00Z

Oh, awesome. I write like H.P. Lovecraft or David Foster Wallace, depending on which essay you choose. (via w.o.l)

Is summer reading the equivalent of summer school?

2010-07-14T23:33:23Z

A $50-a-year program that works as well as summer school? Just wow. Combine this with a lunch program and you would have a low-cost and effective program that nearly any school district could afford.

In a study that compares students who received free books over the summer with students who didn't, Richard Allington, an education professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, found encouraging results. He tracked low-income first- and second-graders in Florida who chose a dozen free books at their reading level for three summers in a row.

"The effect was equal to the effect of summer school," Professor Allington says. "Spending roughly $40 to $50 a year on free books for [each kid] began to alleviate the achievement gap that occurs in the summer."

(via bp)

Summer Reading - 07/12/10

2010-07-12T11:15:00Z

This week: 25 best books for kids, 5 apocalypses for adults, and a lesbian summer reading list.

Adults:
NPR: Comfort Books: Three Soothing Summer Reads
MSNBC: Have fun reading in the summer sun: Try great book recommendations from these three authors
Good Morning America: Top Book Picks for Great Summer Reading from 'Good Morning America'>
Monterey Conty Herald: Books to transport you on your days of leisure
Columbia Journalism Review: Regret the Error's Summer Reading List
About.com: Lesbian Summer Reading List 2010
The Millions Five Apocalypses: A Particularly Catastrophic Summer Reading List
The Humble Blog: Recommended Summer Reading (books on home remodeling)

Young Readers:
Family Fun: The 25 Best Summer Books for Kids
PKids Blog: 5 Summer Books for Strong Daughters

Questions about the safety and efficacy of sunscreens, and what the FDA needs to do about it

2010-07-09T11:15:00Z

NYT: What We Still Don't Know About Sunscreens.

A yearlong study by the Food and Drug Administration has produced sobering data indicating that a form of vitamin A, retinyl palmitate, may accelerate development of skin tumors and lesions when applied in the presence of sunlight. That wouldn't be a problem if the substance weren't an active ingredient in more than 40 percent of all sunscreens available in the United States.

Does remembering alter memories?

2010-07-07T11:15:00Z

Smithsonian Magazine: How Our Brains Make Memories

For those of us who cherish our memories and like to think they are an accurate record of our history, the idea that memory is fundamentally malleable is more than a little disturbing. [..] But if he is right, it may not be an entirely bad thing. It might even be possible to put the phenomenon to good use to reduce the suffering of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, who are plagued by recurring memories of events they wish they could put behind them.

(via br)

African Garden Pests

2010-07-06T11:15:00Z

Here's a poser: How do you prevent that garden pest, the Elephant?

Summer Reading - 07/05/10

2010-07-05T11:15:00Z

This week: the best of the most popular, the top 10 women travelers in fiction, suggestions for teens and tweens, and JP Morgan's annual Billionaire reading list.

Adults:
NPR: Wisdom of the Crowds: Notables most deserving of a second splash of attention
Guardian UK: Jennie Rooney's top 10 women travellers in fiction
World News: The best summer books: from fishing to finance
JP Morgan: 9th Annual Summer Reading List
Real Simple: Top authors pick best summer books
University of Texas at Austin: Faculty and staff recommend books to expand your horizons, wherever the summer takes you
Kojo Nnamdi Show: 2010 Summer This year's recommendations for the best summer reading from book editors, librarians and independent bookstore owners
Graphic Novel Reporter: The Hottest Graphic Novels of Summer 2010
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance: 2010 Summer Okra Picks - great southern books, fresh off the vine
Shelftalk: About Time: Books about Discovering America
Beach Books: 10 Hot Summer Must-Reads

Young Readers:
Kidlitosphere: Carnival of Children's Literature (on almost any subject you can imagine)
USA Today: Pop Candy: Ten summer young-adult books you'll want to read, despite your age
On Point Radio: Summer Reads for Kids (with printed list)
Push to Talk: Summer Reads for Teens
Push to Talk: More Summer Reads for Teens
Push to Talk: Four on a Theme

Cameras offer an animal's eye view of the world

2010-07-02T11:15:00Z

The Museum of Animal Perspectives features films made with animal-borne cameras, giving you an armadillo, sea turtle, or scorpion-eye view of the world. (via gtw)