News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

Check out some of the more bizarre books about science found at the library. In amongst the time spent by scientists trying to find the cure for cancer, the common cold and global warming, they manage to get up to some pretty crazy things!

Elephants on acid : and other bizarre experiments / Alex Boese.
A fascinating account of some of the stranger experiments from history that were done in the name of science. In the ‘a tad creepy’ basket we have zombie kittens and the 1970s Stanford Prison experiment.  In the ’scratch your head and ask why’ basket we have the difference between Coke and Pepsi (you may think you can taste it, but you can’t actually) and whether your dog is likely to go get help if you are in distress (unlikely). (Staff member)

Why don’t penguins’ feet freeze? and 114 other questions : more questions and answers from the popular “last word’ column / edited by Mick O’Hare.
In this book of questions from New Scientist’s popular Last Word column, all sorts of odd questions are posed (and answered). If you want to know why supermarket bags are so noisy, why milk will run down the bottle if you pour it too slowly or why planes can fly upside down, just grab this book to find out! (Staff member)

Ig Nobel prizes : the annals of improbable research / Marc Abrahams.
In 2010 the Ig Nobel Physics prize was won by three ladies from the University of Otago for demonstrating that, on icy footpaths in winter, people slip and fall less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes. A trick I learnt growing up in Dunedin is that old wooly rugby socks are the best sort for wearing over your shoes. (Staff member)

The hungry scientist handbook : electric birthday cakes, edible origami, and other DIY projects for techies, tinkerers, and foodies / Patrick Buckley and Lily Binns.
Did you know that cooking is actually chemistry? Delicious, tasty chemistry? Have you ever fancied making icecream with liquid nitrogen, or making edible origami? These and many more ideas bring science into the kitchen and onto the plate. (Staff member)

How many licks? : or, how to estimate damn near anything / Aaron Santos.
Have you ever wondered how many grams of tea it would take to make the Boston harbour palatable? Or how long it would take to eat the Stay Puft Man from Ghostbusters? If you have, this book will show you how to go about estimating the answers to all sorts of wacky questions. (Staff member)

This month’s picks from the photography book collection:

A Year in Photography – Magnum Archive
The aristocracy of photography featured in another awe inspiring book. A Year in Photography, despite what its title may suggest is not about one single year but about 365 different days spanning over more than 60 years. A weighty book of a square format, this is the ultimate coffee table “brick” that you can open at any page, flick through in any order and find images to spur your imagination. Visual quality on every page. The text is kept to its strict minimum: The photographer, the place, the date.

3 favourites: Alessandra Sanguinetti on 21 May 2002; Trent Park on 29 June 2006; Thomas Dworzak on 15 December 2002. What are yours?

Brian Brake: Lens on the World
Published to coincide with his retrospective exhibition at Te Papa earlier this year, this is the chance to discover or re-visit Brake’s prolific career, in a quality publication, in photographs and text ordered chronologically. A must read and a great reference book.

Maori Art
To expand on the chapter on Object Photography in the Lens on the World book, Brian Brake’s talent with light is illustrated here in his photographs of Maori artefacts taken from museum collections in the 70s. His work put the spotlight on Maori art, giving it a wider audience and paved the way for some talented photographers of taonga in practice today. A beautiful sample of his craft at work to highlight the craft of others.

Street Photography Now
We love to watch ourselves and our fellow human beings. In the context of the urban environment mostly, this book depicts human drama in all its glory and grit, through images from 46 different artists in the field of street photography. Compelling viewing structured in 5 sections introduced by insightful texts. Each section presents a dozen photographers and a succinct selection of their work.  My favourite? There are so many! But I will say that I am particularly partial to Alex Webb’s vibrant and dramatic tableaux of humans in the actions of everyday life. I found the composition of Nick Turpin’s image p206 quite brilliant too. But I could cite many more. Have a look for yourself.

And finally…. The book on techniques.

They tend to be so much less attractive and yet, how do we improve ourselves and take inspiration from all these wonderful displays of genius without some technical guidance?

Understanding Close-up Photography is a very interesting source of useful information on this particular type of photography.
Some dramatic images are presented, technically analysed and shown in their wider context. This book is a mine of technical knowledge, examples are attractive and highly achievable. A brilliant inspiration for close-up experimentation.You will never look at a spider web in the same way again…

Every year Wellington City Libraries’ staff nominate their favourite fiction reads of the year. These usually cover a wide range of genres, but each staff member is totally enthusiastic about their choice. This year, for the first time one title, The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Doaz was selected by two staff members. The full list, with comments, can be found on the Fiction web page.

One title not included on the web page was The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford. Although published in 2007, Monty, our nominator said it was “dense, weighty, satiric, all-but-the kitchen-sink novel from one of America’s best. It continues the comic-tragic musings of U.S.-Everyman, New Jersey real estate agent Frank Bascombe”. Monty also added, “ it was one of my favourite books ever”!!!

Our fiction librarian recommends a poignant tale of a gin distillery, a thriller with an artist suffering from blackouts and hallucinations, and the story of the father of Louisa May Alcott’s ‘little women’. Our readers recommend Jeffrey Archer’s ‘False impression’ and Neal Stephenson’s 892 page ‘The system of the world’.

This month’s Staff CD picks include a Swedish group who make Belle and Sebastian sound fierce, Nashville teenage punks and a surf band for the Arctic Ocean. ‘Without a song: the 9/11 concert’ by Sonny Rollins shows how art can lift the human spirit in times of great tragedy.

It’s a bit scary – we’re watching everything from Christopher Guest comedies through Bollywood musicals to “The Thorn Birds”. You’re sure to find something among our Staff DVD picks. Thought-provoking documentary “The end of suburbia : oil depletion and the collapse of the American dream” was another favourite.

We are featuring new first novels on our fiction page. The librarian’s choice section has also been updated.