News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

New DVDs at the library this month include the first seasons of the critically lauded dramas ‘Boardwalk Empire’ & ‘The Walking dead’; the latest season of ‘Supernatural’; new movies ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ & ‘Horrible Bosses’; and acclaimed British Mini-Series ‘The Hour’…

The hour.
“A six part series that was billed, in the run up to its transmission, as Britain having a go at doing its own spin on Mad Men, The Hour is actually a show with an identity of its own, and quite different from the hit American drama… The Hour’s main attraction, as it turns out, is its cast. Putting The Wire star Dominic West at the heart of the drama proves to be a masterstroke, and he’s ably supported by a high calibre company of acting talent, including Juliet Stevenson, Anna Chancellor and Ben Whishaw…This is a show surrounding a BBC news programme being made in 1956, which happens to be the time of the Suez Crisis. Behind the scenes of the show, there’s sexual politics, ambitions, and pressures from all directions. And that, mixed with a strong attention to period detail, helps make The Hour an engaging drama…” (Adapted from Amazon.co.uk review)

Cowboys & aliens.
“Cowboys & Aliens fuses rip-snortin’ horse opera with some whiz-bang sci-fi, melding dry and austere badlands with slimy, mucusy aliens. Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig, of James Bond fame) wakes up in the midst of sagebrush with a mysterious gadget around his wrist and no idea who he is–but he sure does remember how to take care of the bounty hunters who want to bring him in. His path soon crosses with a ruthless cattle baron named Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford, of Indiana Jones fame), who’s not too happy with Lonergan, who got Dolarhyde’s son in trouble. But their fracas becomes beside the point when spaceships descend and start lassoing people like cattle. The humans, including a mysterious woman (Olivia Wilde, Tron), a Native American tribe, and some snaggletoothed outlaws, band together to fight off this invasion from another world…” (Adapted from Amazon.com review)

Something borrowed.
“A frothy adaptation of Emily Giffin’s bestselling novel, Something Borrowed itself borrows some of the best bits from earlier romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally…, 27 Dresses, and Sex and the City. Though Kate Hudson is the ostensible Big Star here, it’s Ginnifer Goodwin (Big Love, He’s Just Not That into You) who finally comes into her own as a winsome leading lady. The plot is fairly simple: Rachel (Goodwin) harbours secret feelings for Dex (Colin Egglesfield), the fiancé of her best friend, Darcy (Hudson). Along for the ride, and acting as a sort of stage manager/narrator à la Our Town, is Ethan (John Krasinski), who just may be harbouring some secret longings of his own…” (Adapted from Amazon.co.uk review)

The walking dead. The complete first season.
“Arguably the biggest hit of the US 2010 television season, the apocalypse drama The Walking Dead pulls the zombie subgenre out of its overexposed doldrums and finds, ironically enough, the humanity and emotion beneath its rotting shell. Produced by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) and Gale Anne Hurd (Aliens) and based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead follows a band of Atlanta-based survivors of a viral outbreak that has caused the dead to rise up and consume the living. The group’s nominal leader is a sheriff’s deputy (Andrew Lincoln) who wakes from a gunshot-induced coma to find the world in disarray and his wife (Sarah Wayne Callies, Prison Break) and son missing…” (Adapted from Amazon.co.uk review)

Supernatural. The complete sixth season.
“When audiences last saw the Winchester brothers at the end of season five, Dean (Jensen Ackles) had abandoned hunting demons in favor of family life, while Sam (Jared Padalecki) had apparently lost his battle with Lucifer in the season finale. But as season six reveals, Sam is alive and well… As the brothers grapple with shape-shifting infants (”Two and a Half Men”), vampires (the unfortunately titled “Live Free or TwiHard”), leprechauns (Robert Picardo in “Clap Your Hands If You Believe…”), horror icon H.P. Lovecraft (”Let It Bleed”), and a variety of homegrown monstrosities, they discover that Sam’s soul is in the possession of the demon Crowley (Mark Sheppard), who is using it to manipulate Sam into locating the souls of Purgatory, which could turn the tide of a civil war raging in Heaven towards Crowley and renegade angel Castiel (Misha Collins)…’ (Adapted from Amazon.com review)

Boardwalk empire. The complete first season.
“In fine (and bloody) style, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire returns to 1920 when the ban on booze led to a syndicate of bootleggers and smugglers. Created by Sopranos scribe Terence Winter and coproduced by director Martin Scorsese, the story centers on Atlantic City treasurer Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Steve Buscemi), who schemes in private while preaching temperance in public. Jimmy (Michael Pitt, Buscemi’s Delirious costar), a war veteran, acts as his right-hand man, while zealous Agent Van Alden (Michael Shannon) and refined mobster Arnold Rothstein (A Serious Man’s Michael Stuhlbarg) represent significant threats to his enterprise…Inspired by Nelson Johnson’s book, Boardwalk Empire takes a Deadwood-like approach to history by combining characters both factual and fictional with blue language and ladies without brassieres…” (Adapted from Amazon.co.uk review)

Horrible bosses.
“Three friends, Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day), commiserate about their three respective Horrible Bosses. And yes, each is the worst kind of HR nightmare. Nick’s boss is Dave (Kevin Spacey, terrific), a control-freak megalomaniac. Kurt’s is Bobby (an almost unrecognizable Colin Farrell), a skeevy cokehead. And Dale’s is Julia (Jennifer Aniston, having so much fun it’s contagious), a sexual harasser who never misses an opportunity to prey (or swear). Suddenly, there’s a Hitchcockian twist: What if each of the miserable workers could make one of the others’ worst nightmares go away? But Horrible Bosses is no Strangers on a Train. Instead, it’s a rollicking romp of bad-intentions-gone-even-worse, with the chemistry of all of the actors keeping things moving along crisply…” (Adapted from Amazon.com review)

Super.
“An unsettling combination of black comedy and queasy ultra-violence, this real-world superhero story functions as a grimy (and sometimes surprisingly moving) counter to the stylized wisenheimer hipness of Kick-Ass. Eschewing wirework and bullet-time in favor of painful contusions and awkward pauses, the story follows Frank, a devout, slightly dim short-order clerk (Rainn Wilson), who experiences a major downturn after losing his wife (Liv Tyler) to a local mobster (a gleefully evil Kevin Bacon). Guided by an anime-inspired spiritual vision, Frank proceeds to don a red suit and adopt the secret identity of the Crimson Bolt, who strikes fear into the hearts of criminals by… As his crusade worryingly expands to include jaywalkers and people cutting in line at the movies, Frank receives unwelcome help from an overly bubbly comic-store clerk (Ellen Page, playing way against type) bent on becoming his sidekick…” (Adapted from Amazon.com review)

Start the year fresh with our personal development picks: learn how to survive a ‘shark attack’ in the form of betrayal at work or at home, discover how to balance your relationship as life changes, find out about a form of compulsive behaviour called “dutiful worrying” (Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s latest book), or start learning how to decode the mysteries of personality and make sense of people. Have a browse of this month’s selection!

Renegotiate your marriage : balance the terms of your relationship as It changes / Bonnie Jacobson
“Like all married couples, you have an unwritten, often unspoken, contract with your spouse. It’s not the piece of paper you signed on your wedding day; it’s the one in your head that sets the terms of your relationship, for better or worse. Those terms are subject to change, whether it’s because you lost your job, you just had your first child, your kids leave home, or one of you had an affair. In Renegotiate Your Marriage, Dr. Bonnie Jacobsen shows you how to modify your contract as your life together changes. You’ll learn how to negotiate the ups and downs that come with any long-term relationship – and keep your union happy, healthy and strong.” (Book cover)
 
Making sense of people : decoding the mysteries of personality / Samuel Barondes
“What really bothers you about your boss – or your daughter’s boyfriend? Could the person you’re dating really become your life partner? Can you really rely on your intuition about people? Drawing on extensive research, renowned psychiatrist and neuroscientist Samuel Barondes gives you powerful, easy-to-use tools for understanding what people are really like and how they got to be the way they are. These tools will provide you with a system for assessing the person’s traits, character, and sense of identity, and then putting these elements together into a unified picture. Learning to think of people in this way will help you choose more satisfying relationships, recognise telltale signs of dysfunction and danger, and savour the complexity and uniqueness of everyone you meet.” (Book cover)

The dutiful worrier : how to stop compulsive worry without feeling guilty / Elliot D. Cohen.
“Do you feel it’s our duty to worry? If your answer to the question is “yes,” you may be suffering from a type of compulsive behaviour called dutiful worrying. On the positive side, Dutiful worrying can make you feel as if you’re actually doing something to improve or control your situation. But this unproductive habit eventually robs you of energy and peace of mind and can leave you feeling over whelmed. The Dutiful Worrier pinpoints why some of us become compulsive worriers and offers a four-step program to end this vicious circle. Complete with self-evaluations and exercises, this book offers guidance for keeping perspective and accepting that you are not responsible for preventing catastrophe. Without the burden of dutiful worrying, you will be able to enjoy life more freely and fully.” (Book cover)

Surviving a shark attack (on land) : overcoming betrayal and dealing with revenge / Laura Schlessinger.
“With her trademark no-nonsense approach, New York Times bestselling author Dr. Laura Schlessinger shows readers how to survive enemies – traitors, backstabbers, and saboteurs – at work and at home. Schlessinger has helped countless men and women become better husbands, wives, parents, and people. She’s helped them cope with grief, shown them how to handle adversity, and set them on the path to understanding and living happy, well-adjusted lives. Now she turns to an emotionally explosive subject that has touched all our lives: betrayal and the desire for revenge. And for the first time, she shares her own personal experiences with betrayal, humiliation, and pain, connecting with her readers as never before and putting this important subject into context. Powerful and thought-provoking, in Surviving a Shark Attack (on Land), Dr. Laura gives her readers the emotional defenses they need to overcome the worst life will throw at them, whether it’s a cheating spouse, a lying sibling, or a ruthless colleague.” (Book cover)

The new books on popular music this month range from tales of The Doors and Tom Waits to an autobiography of Duff McKagan. Have a browse!

The Doors : a lifetime of listening to five mean years / Greil Marcus.
“The poetic lyrics and haunting melodies of the Doors created a distinctive sound in the 1960s, and the life and death of Jim Morrison, the charismatic, outrageous lead singer, have prompted numerous books and the Oliver Stone movie The Doors. Longtime fans will be excited to see new material written on the band but may be ultimately disappointed with this addition from well-known critic Marcus (Lipstick Traces; Invisible Republic). He attempts to focus solely on the music and present a new story, but his narrative is disjointed, as particular songs send him on rambling dissertations about everything from pop art exhibits to Charles Manson.” (Library Journal)

Tom Waits on Tom Waits : interviews and encounters / edited by Paul Mahar.
“Tom Waits, even with his barnyard growl and urban hipster yawp, may just be what the Daily Telegraph calls him: “the greatest entertainer on Planet Earth.” Over a span of almost four decades, he has transformed his music and persona not to suit the times but his whims. But along with Bob Dylan, he stands as one of the last elder statesmen still capable of putting out music that matters. Tom Waits on Tom Waits is a selection of over fifty interviews from the more than five hundred available. Here Waits delivers prose as crafted, poetic, potent, and haunting as the lyrics of his best songs.” (description from amazon.com)

Chasing the dragon : the life and death of Marc Hunter / Jeff Apter.
“This intimate and revealing portrait is the first biography of one of the original hard men of Australia rock. It has been written with full co-operation of Marc’s mother Voi and his brother and former bandmate Todd, as well contributions from many high-profile Australian music personalities.” (Syndetics summary)

It’s so easy : and other lies / Duff McKagan.
“Fans of the fading rock band Guns N’ Roses (GN’R) will instantly identify McKagan as the group’s rowdy bass player during its 1980s and 1990s glory days. Since leaving GN’R in 1997, McKagan has been keeping busy strumming for other bands like Velvet Revolver, writing columns for SeattleWeekly.com,and penning this blunt but very readable confessional autobiography. Despite his witnessing many overdoses and going even deeper into drugs during his GN’R days, a case of severe pancreatitis eventually prodded him to find a unique path to recovery.” (Booklist)

On board Flight 666 / Iron Maiden ; photographs by John McMurtrie.
“IRON MAIDEN are a global phenomenon. On board their customised Boeing 757 plane named ED FORCE ONE, and piloted by lead singer and Airline Captain Bruce Dickinson, the band, crew and 12 tonnes of equipment traversed the planet and broke the mould of traditional touring forever by playing concerts in every continent except Antarctica! Throughout this mammoth and ground-breaking undertaking, the band’s official photographer John McMurtrie accompanied them and the exciting results of his fly-on-the-wall coverage are represented here in this unique, pictorial odyssey. John’s unrestricted access has allowed him to capture exclusive images and moments both onstage and off, in over 600 spectacular photographs annotated with individual insights and anecdotes.” (description from amazon.com)

This month’s new literature sees famous authors talking on subjects they hold dear, poems and essays on the Christchurch quake and a guide to speaking with all the gravitas of a president.

Is everyone hanging out without me? (and other concerns) / Mindy Kaling
“Kaling shares her observations, fears, and opinions about a wide-ranging list of the topics she thinks about the most. From her favorite types of guys to life in the “The Office” writers’ room, her book is full of personal stories and laugh-out-loud philosophies.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The anatomy of influence : literature as a way of life / Harold Bloom
“In this, his most comprehensive and accessible study of influence, Bloom leads readers through the labyrinthine paths which link the writers and critics who have informed and inspired him for so many years.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

On fiction / Virginia Woolf
“Her readings sensitive, her prose style elegant, authoritative and at times thoroughly opinionated, who better equipped than Virginia Woolf to ruminate on the art of fiction? In this selection of lesser-known essays on reading and storytelling, Woolf turns her critical gaze on treasured favourites including ‘the four great women novelists – Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, Charlotte Bronte and George Eliot’, and unearths some less familiar talents. Her discussion of differing approaches to reading is characteristically forward-thinking, and pinpoints the joys of this favourite pastime, in all its guises. ‘Here, then, very briefly and with inevitable simplification, an attempt is made to show the mind at work upon a shelf full of novels and to watch it as it chooses and rejects, making itself a dwelling-place in accordance with its own appetites. Of these appetites, perhaps, the simplest is the desire to believe wholly and entirely in something which is fictitious.’” – (adapted from Amazon.co.uk description)

On booze / F. Scott Fitzgerald
“”First you take a drink,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once noted, “then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” Fitzgerald wrote alcohol into almost every one of his stories. On Booze gathers debutantes and dandies, rowdy jazz musicians, lost children and ragtime riff-raff into a newly compiled collection taken from The Crack-Up, and other works. On Booze portrays “The Jazz Age” as Fitzgerald experienced it: roaring, rambunctious, and lush—with quite a hangover.” – (adapted from Amazon.co.uk description)

Speak like a president : how to inspire and engage people with your words / Simon Maier
“For some people, making presentations of any type can be a trial; others relish the opportunity to speak to others, but are they really inspiring and engaging their audience with what they say, rather than catering to their own ego? In this book, Simon Maier offers an essential guide to the power of rhetoric and oratory for executives, managers, consultants, sales professionals or anyone, in fact, who needs to get their message across powerfully and convincingly. Covering key issues such as: understanding what makes a great speaker; how to find your voice; how to choose the best speech style; and pitfalls to avoid, Speak Like a President will help you speak with passion, confidence and influence whatever your topic or audience.” – (adapted from Amazon.co.uk description)

The broken book / Fiona Farrell
“The Broken Book consists of four essays about life and walking, bookended by a preamble and an afterword, and interrupted by 21 poems about the Christchurch earthquakes and their aftermath” – (adapted from Publisher’s description)

Plays 2 : London calling / Ken Duncum
“Music hits the shores of New Zealand and reverberates through three different eras in these plays by award-winning playwright Ken Duncum” – (adapted from cover description)

In this month’s picks of the new science books you’ll find Peter Atkins’ latest popular science title about the private life of atoms, as well as a title that will help you digest Einstein’s theories in 3 minutes (!). Also included this month: the $10 billion hunt to discover the Higgs boson particle, climate change, and how fossils have helped to tell the story of the Earth. Enjoy!

Reactions : the private life of atoms / by Peter Atkins.
“Who but popular-science master Atkins could write an imaginative tale driven not by human passions but, rather, by chemical dynamics? To be sure, everything Atkins writes is rooted in solid scientific fact. But the narrative he constructs from these facts flashes with the sparks of an exciting human drama. Even in the first section, developing the basic conceptual tools needed to unfold more complicated matters in the second and third sections, Atkins draws readers into a chemical world taut with emotional tension. Water molecules act like fifth-column infiltrators. Oxygen molecules behave like ravenous sharks. An engaging animism persists in the second section (organic chemistry) and third (photochemistry). [...] Atkins supplies a running commentary of Pedant’s Points for readers not fully satisfied with simplifying analogies. [...] The perfect antidote to science phobia.” (Booklist)

The infinity puzzle : quantum field theory and the hunt for an orderly universe / Frank Close.
“Close (“The Cosmic Onion) explains the science behind the $10 billion international effort to discover the Higgs boson: a fundamental subatomic particle that scientists believe could account for the origins of our universe. Under the auspices of CERN in Switzerland, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was constructed to accelerate particles near to the speed of light. By creating miniature matter/anti-matter collisions in “a small region of space, [scientists hope to replicate] what the universe as a whole was like in the first moments after the Big Bang.” Close voyages through the major scientific discoveries in high energy physics that began in 1928, when Paul Dirac married quantum mechanics with Special Relativity, laying the basis for the major technical advances from which we benefit in today’s digital world. Along the way we meet some major figures in the field whose breakthroughs have illuminated the deepest mysteries of physics and cosmology, resulting in an engrossing history that’s also accessible for a general audience.” (Publisher Weekly)

20 amazing plants and their practical uses / Rachel Corby.
“Let this book take you on a journey with plants, beyond just the aesthetic and edible pleasures they provide, to an in depth understanding and usable knowledge of how, with just a handful of versatile plants, you can transform your outside space into a diverse and resilient living store of building materials, fuel wood, medicines and raw materials for creating furniture, fabric and household utensils. Allow yourself to be inspired, to experiment in growing and creating some of the home comforts you are more used to purchasing. Choose the right plants for you and watch them grow, nurturing them to the point of harvest, then fashioning the finished product with your own skill and handiwork. This is an essential book for anyone interested in how we will continue when fuel has peaked.” (Syndetics summary)

Written in stone : the hidden secrets of fossils and the story of life on Earth / Brian Switek.
“Proposes that the strides made in paleontology have helped with understanding evolution, and discusses how fossils, prominent scientists, technology, and other factors have each influenced the theory’s development. This book is about the epic quest for missing links and other myths about evolution.” (Library Catalogue)

3-minute Einstein : digesting his life, theories and influence in 3-minute morsels / Paul Parsons ; foreword by John Gribbin.
“Everyone has heard of Albert Einstein, but few people have a clear idea of what his theories are all about. Paul Parsons is one of the people who does understand Einstein’s theories, and in this ingenious book he has found a way to make them accessible even to people who struggled at mathematics at school. 3-Minute Einstein is the instant introduction to this great genius of time and of our times. Instead of forcing the reader to plow through pages of text to get to the nuggets of truth, this bite-size biography divides Einstein’s life into 3-minute morsels – each presented as an easily digestible visual snack while still taking care not to distort the science. You can read it at the speed of light.” (Amazon.co.uk)

The atlas of climate change : mapping the world’s greatest challenge / Kirstin Dow and Thomas E. Downing.
“Climatic data analysis points to the Earth rapidly becoming warmer. Experts agree that human intervention in the Earth’s ecosystems is the primary culprit for ongoing climate shifts. Dow (Univ. of South Carolina) and Downing (Stockholm Environment Institute) analyze these trends from a geographic perspective. The atlas maps the signs of change and categorizes several alarming climate scenarios. This resource further details the expected consequences of global climate shift, including disrupted biological ecosystems, endangered water supplies, threats to food sources, and vulnerable coastal cities. The authors also profile how governments have responded to such threats on a local, national, and international level.” (CHOICE)

Survivors : the animals and plants that time has left behind / Richard Fortey.
“Following in Fortey’s questing footsteps, Survivors takes us on fascinating journey to these ancient worlds. On a moonlit beach in Delaware where the horseshoe crab shuffles its way through a violent romance, we catch a glimpse of life 450 million years ago, shortly after it diversified on the ocean floor. Along a stretch of Australian coastline, we bear witness to the sights and sounds that would have greeted a Precambrian dawn. Finally, in the dense rainforests of New Zealand where the secretive velvet worm burrows into the rotting timber of the jungle floor, we marvel at a living fossil which has survived unchanged since before the dissolution of the Gondwana supercontinent.” (Amazon.co.uk)

Rocks & fossils / Arthur B. Busbey … [et al.] ; consultant editors: David Roots and Paul Willis.
“Illustrated guide to the world of geology and paleontology, looking at how the study of rocks and minerals reveals information about the Earth’s history, touring some of the world’s most notable sites, and offering details on various specimens and collecting.” (Global Books)

Wellington City Libraries is pleased to announce that we will be hosting events for the temporary Literaturhaus running from 7th February to 11th February 2012.

These events include preschool story times, poetry readings, and two lunch-time events of short readings from current work by upcoming and established writers and translators, and will take place at the Central Library.

One of the highlights: on Wednesday 8th February at 6.15pm, well known Wellington writers, including Elizabeth Knox, Hinemoana Baker, Apirana Taylor and Fiona Kidman will give their unique take on Grimm-inspired themes.

This mobile literary festival has been arranged to celebrate New Zealand being guest of honour at the world’s largest book fair in Frankfurt later this year.

See Literaturhaus New Zealand for the full programme of events, and for events held in the Central Library (or at Clark’s Café), check out our Event Calendar

Editor’s note:

Librarian and artist Alistair Fraser had his final two week stay at Mason Bay, Rakiura/Stewart Island on a DOC/CNZ Wild Creations Artist Residency in December. You can read his previous posts about his stay on this blog, or visit his Taonga Puoro blog where he’s been documenting the instruments he’s created as part of this residency.

Alistair says:

tumutumu kōiwi upokohue

The tumutumu is a percussion instrument that has kōrero linking it to the southern parts of New Zealand. It is typically a found instrument.

This tumutumu kōiwi upokohue is a pilot whale’s lower jaw bone with a rata striker that was also found on the beach at Mason Bay. It has a variety of voices and tones depending on what part of the instrument is played. The density striker material also influences the tone.

Thanks to Kaitiaki Roopu o Murihiku for kindly giving me the permission to hold this taoka.

More of the instruments I have made on my DOC/CNZ Wild Creations residency can be viewed here: http://taongapuoro.blogspot.com/

Andrew Miller has been awarded the Costa Book Awards 2011, Book of the Year for his novel Pure. Selected from the finalists in five categories – First Novel award, Novel award, Biography award, Poetry award and Children’s Book award – Andrew Miller received the prize of £30,000. This is his sixth novel, and is set in Paris in 1785 just before the French Revolution, with the narrative built around a young engineer, ordered to demolish Paris’s oldest cemetery (Saints Innocents Cemetery) and all that this entails, such as exhumation of the bodies buried there. (For background on the story, read this Guardian article, and this Wikipedia article about Paris’s Catacombs for some extra historical detail.)

Tiny sunbirds, far away by Christie Watson was awarded the Costa First Novel Award.

This month’s picks cover classic summer activities like cycling, tennis, swimming, cricket. Also, gain insight into the likes of Theo Walcott and Shane Watson with some sporting biographies.

Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance / Lennard Zinn ; illustrated by Todd Telander.
“Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance” is the world’s best-selling book on mountain bike maintenance and repair. This smartly organized and clearly illustrated guide–now in two colors for easier reference–can make a bike mechanic out of anyone. Lennard Zinn’s expert advice makes quick work of mountain bike repair. Newcomers and experienced mechanics alike will benefit from the hundreds of illustrations, the exploded views of how components go together, and Zinn’s practical, time-saving tips…… no matter what mountain bike you may have in your garage, chances are you’ll find it–and the way to fix it–in these pages.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Cold Water Souls / Chris Nelson.
“Cold Water Souls” goes in search of surfing’s cold water pioneers, from the wilds of Alaska to the frozen wastes of Nova Scotia, and from Scotland’s storm-lashed north coast to Japan’s Hokkaido island. Surf writer Chris Nelson has teamed up with some of world’s top surf photographers to produce this stunning account of the world’s most extreme surfing environments.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Watto / Shane Watson with Jimmy Thomson.
“For Shane Watson, this was a body blow, even more devastating than the injuries that had stalled his promising career. It felt like the end of his boyhood dreams of being Australia’s number one all-rounder. He was shattered. He might never wear the Baggy Green again, even as a batsman. With so many talented young players available, he was losing the weapon that made him stand out from the crowd.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Theo : Growing Up Fast / Theo Walcott.
“When the name of Theo Walcott was included in the England squad for the 2006 World Cup, shock waves ran through the football world. But no one was more surprised than Theo himself. Five years later, Theo Walcott is one of the most recognizable names in football…..It has been an incredible adventure, an unbelievable story for a quiet boy from a small village who only started playing football when he was 10. But how does it feel for your dreams to come true? In Theo: Growing Up Fast, Theo Walcott takes you for the first time right inside his world.” – (adapted from Global Books description)

Into the Silence : The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest / Wade Davis.
“If the quest for Mount Everest began as a grand imperial gesture, as redemption for an empire of explorers that had lost the race to the Poles, it ended as a mission of regeneration for a country and a people bled white by war.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Winning the Ashes down Under : The Captain’ Story / Andrew Strauss ; with Simon Hughes.
“In November 2010, Andrew Strauss faced the ultimate challenge for an England cricket captain: winning the Ashes on Australian soil, a feat that had not been achieved for 24 years. By the end of a series that gripped the nation, he had led his team to an overwhelming victory – inflicting an unprecedented three innings defeats on the old enemy.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

High Strung : Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, and the Untold Story of Tennis’s Fiercest Rivalry / Stephen Tignor.
“Through the lens of [the] era’s final tournament, the 1981 U.S. Open, [this book] chronicles the lives and careers of the men who made those Wild West days of tennis so memorable.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape : the remarkable life of Jacques Anquetil, the first five-times winner of the Tour de France / Paul Howard.
“Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape is the astonishing biography of French cycling star Jacques Anquetil. For the first time since his death in 1987, it reveals the extraordinary truth behind the legend, the man and the cyclist.His list of ‘firsts’ alone makes him worthy of a place in the cycling pantheon: the first man to win the Tour de France five times; the first man to win all three grand tours – the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España and the first man to win both the Tour and Vuelta in the same year.However, the extraordinary life of Anquetil does not stop at his achievements on a bike…” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

We have a great selection of new computing and technology books for you this month – and something for everyone, whether you’re a web developer or looking for help with home computing. Have a great idea for an app, but no idea how to market your project? Appillionaires has some tips for you! Also featured this month are titles on protecting your reputation (or your business’s) reputation online, getting started with Wordpress, designing mobile interfaces, using your iPhone, and getting the most out of JavaScript and jQuery. Enjoy!

Appillionaires : secrets from developers who struck it rich on the App Store / Chris Stevens.
“More than 10 billion apps have been downloaded from Apple’s AppStore and with the right combination of original ideas, great features, solid coding, unique designs, and savvy marketing, your apps could be a part of that staggering number. This book shows you how to turn your ideas into profit-making success stories. Citing a fascinating array of real-world examples, this useful book invites you to meet the rich and famous of the app development world. You’ll look behind the scenes of these successful visionaries to learn their secrets first hand and discover how these “bedroom coders” became overnight millionaires.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Designing mobile interfaces / Steven Hoober, Eric Berkman.
“With hundreds of thousands of mobile applications available today, your app has to capture users immediately. This book provides practical techniques to help you catch-and keep-their attention. You’ll learn core principles for designing effective user interfaces, along with a set of common patterns for interaction design on all types of mobile devices.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Digital assassination : protecting your reputation, brand, or business against online attacks / Richard Torrenzano and Mark Davis.
“This book shows how anyone can be a target of online identity attacks, and readers will find witty writing and expert advice on how to guard against and respond to such attacks. Loaded with interesting anecdotes on how the Internet, media, and other technologies are used by unscrupulous people to disparage an individual’s or company’s reputation, the book demonstrates how these attacks have become more prevalent and widespread, thanks to the Internet age.” (Booklist)

Professional C++ / Marc Gregoire, Nicholas A. Solter, Scott J. Kleper.
“Essential reading for experienced developers who are determined to master the latest release of C++. Although C++ is often the language of choice from game programming to major commercial software applications, it is also one of the most difficult to master. With this no-nonsense book, you will learn to conquer the latest release of C++. The author deciphers little-known features of C++, shares detailed code examples that you can then plug into your own code, and reveals the significant changes to C++ that accompany the latest release…” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

My iphone : covers iPhone 3GS, 4, and 4S running iOS 5 / Brad Miser.
“Connect to the Internet, Bluetooth devices, Wi-Fi networks, and other iPhones, iPods, and iPads.
Use Siri to get information, write texts and emails, set reminders/appointments, and more just by speaking to your iPhone 4S.
Customize your iPhone with folders, wallpaper, ringtones, and much more.
Configure and sync your information, and efficiently manage contacts, reminders, and calendars.
Communicate via FaceTime videoconferences, conference calls, text, email, and more.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Optimizing Windows 7 : pocket consultant / William R. Stanek.
“Portable and precise, this pocket-sized guide delivers ready answers for optimizing the performance of your Windows 7-based PC. Zero in on core tuning, customization, and troubleshooting tasks using quick-reference tables, instructions, and lists. Topics include system boot and startup, software and hardware, search and indexing, system health, and personalizing the interface. You’ll get the focused information you need to solve problems and get the job done.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

JavaScript & jQuery : the missing manual : the book that should have been in the box / David Sawyer McFarland.
“JavaScript lets you supercharge your HTML with animation, interactivity, and visual effects-but many web designers find the language hard to learn. This jargon-free guide covers JavaScript basics and shows you how to save time and effort with the jQuery library of prewritten JavaScript code. You’ll soon be building web pages that feel and act like desktop programs, without having to do much programming.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Google secrets : do what you never thought possible with Google / Yvette Davis.
“Tech expert Jerri Ledford reveals the ins, outs, and little-known facts about Google to show you how to sharpen your skills so you can get more done, more efficiently. You may already be familiar with Google′s most popular applications, but this indispensable guide puts your knowledge to the test with insider tips, valuable insights, and unbeatable advice on Gmail, Google Voice, Google Sketchup, Google Analytics, and dozens more.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Getting started with WordPress : design your own blog or website / Todd Kelsey.
“If you’re a beginning blogger looking for an easy-to-follow, friendly guide to help you produce an attractively designed blog or website, this is the book for you. You’ll learn the basics of WordPress, one-click installs, and customizations. There’s also coverage of SEO, categorizing blog posts, and social media promotion strategies, such as importing your blog into a Facebook page. This book’s approach starts out simple using step-by-step examples and builds from there, enabling you to gain confidence in building your blog.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)