A Jazzy Little Book Club
Educated: a Memoir by Tara Westover
Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her “head-for-the-hills bag”. In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father’s junkyard. Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
for the book club please call the NSC office at 816-452-4536 and ask for TJ. The Book Club will be held via conference call. We will contact you with the meeting number and password to join the book club.
Book Pick Up-
Call Mid-continent Public Library, Antioch branch at 816-454-1306 and tell them you are with the Jazzy Little Book Club at Northland Shepherd’s Center. The address to Antioch Mid-continent Public Library is 6060 N Chestnut, Gladstone, MO 64119. Curb side pick up is available.


I have compiled a list of example teaching philosophies that I found helpful and informative when creating my own teaching philosophy.
I like the succinct and clear approach that Dr. Holt takes in this Teaching Philosophy. She gets to the point quickly, and it is easy to skim through her statement and understand her approach.
I enjoyed the anecdotal approach that Carolyn Forché took in this document. It is clear that she has put a lot of thought into her approach to teaching, and this statement is easy to read and very engaging.
In this Teaching Philosophy, Nicole Ann Williams ties reading and writing together and shows the ways that they are each integral to the teaching of writing.
Dr. Mills works to show her dedication to students in this statement, and although she is often vague and does not include many details, she does communicate her passion for teaching and willingness to work to engage with the students.


The CREATUS Guide to Adult Assisted Living Care.
Giving Your Loved One the Life They Deserve.
Getting older is not easy for anyone. It can be an impossible series of events that create frustrations, sadness, and resentments. Or it can be a joyous, wonderful experience where you get to enjoy your loved one and they get to enjoy the golden years of their life.
The CREATUS Guide to Adult Assisted Living Care is a collection of articles designed to help you learn how to manage and enjoy your senior citizen. Please enjoy!


Nichole Kim / Cleveland HS 11th
Recently, our nation has erupted with a rekindled fire for activism following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor (among those who have not made the news). I spent the week glued to my phone, watching videos of peaceful protests turning violent after police involvement, reposting important information regarding the Black Lives Matter movement on my socials, borrowing books from the public library’s website to increase my racial literacy, and having meaningful conversations with friends.
As I spoke with fellow members of the Asian American community, I heard many say that they supported BLM, but were hesitant to speak up about it on social media platforms for fear of being incorrect or saying something wrong. In addition, as my peers and I continued to use our voices and platforms to support BLM,
I could not help but notice that some people were choosing to stay silent on social media. Of course, this is different from temporarily staying silent to take time to educate yourself or donating silently to organizations and funds. The act of choosing to stay silent is a privilege. As Desmond Tutu once said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
Silence has in a way become a stereotypical characteristic of Asians. It has much to do with the idea of “Model Minority”, a label attached to Asians to pit minorities against each other in a system divided by race, and inevitably to negate Black struggles. The Model Minority myth is one that perpetuates anti-blackness and justifies racial injustice for Whites in this system.
However, looking back at Asian American history, from the exclusion and oppression we faced, we can understand the legacy of racism throughout history. This racial literacy allows us to stand together with BLM because our own history proves the importance of standing up against White supremacy. By choosing to stay quiet and not use your voice and social platforms to show support, you are also choosing not to recognize the systematic racism that exists in our country. This, in itself, is a privilege.
As Asian Americans, we must stand in solidarity with the Black community and bear the burden with them, as they have done so for us. I encourage you to take real action, and not just performative activism. Amidst a pandemic, it is understandably difficult for many people to go outside to attend peaceful protests. However, there is a myriad of different ways to help from home, such as signing petitions, donating to organizations and bail funds (for people unfairly arrested at peaceful protests), and simply educating yourself and those around you (information is available for free on the Internet or the public library, and there are many movies/documentaries available on streaming services.)
Talking and learning about race is uncomfortable, but it is necessary. If you are unable to help financially but still wish to donate, there are many youtube videos you can watch, and all the AdSense from those videos will be donated to the BLM cause, protester bail funds, and to help pay for family funerals.
You can also support Black-owned businesses and restaurants at this time as well. It is important to recognize that this is more than a race issue, it has become a humanitarian issue, and we cannot fail to acknowledge that we are all involved.
<Nichole Kim / Cleveland HS 11th


FIU offers an array of digitization services. Use the link below to request these services.
The libraries at MMC and BBC are equip with walk up (no appointment needed) BookEye Scanners that are able to output Rich Text Format for book chapters and articles. After the scanning the document the faculty/staff must utilize Adobe pro to make modifications to the document to ensure that the document is OCRed.
Where to find these scanners
- Green Library (4 BookEye Scanners)
- 1 scanner is location in the Tech Hub
- scanner is location on 3rd floor - Periodicals
- 1 scanner is located in Special Collections
- 1 scanner is located on the 5th floor Computer Lab
- Hubert Library (2 Book Eye Scanners)
- 1 scanner is located in the ASK Center
- 1 scanner is located on the 1st floor near circulation desk
Kabis robotic book scanner
This scanner automatically scans up to 2000 pages per hour, by gently adjusting book position and turning each page to produce sharp images. The scanner cradle holds books at 110 degrees to prevent binding damage and support book sizes from 4.5 by 7 inches to 11 by 14 inches. It produces images up to 400 by 400 dpi.
This scanner captures flat documents such as maps or artwork up to 51.2 by 35.7 inches and bound materials up to 49.2 by 33.5 inches. Produce resolutions up t 100 dpi. To scan larger images we can use photo cameras and stitch images together to produce high resolution images.
This application allows the enhancing of images, quality control, OCR and exporting to multiple formats such as PDF or word.


Ultimate Bathroom Book - How Do Men Piss?
How Do Men Pee?
Is peeing just a means to satisfy a biological need or can there be more at stake?
Is it fun, can it be done in style, is it a way to kill time or maybe hone our aim?
- Volume of pee over a lifetime
- Speed of urine flow
- Urine uses
- What happens behind the stall?
- Why are men messy?
- How do men pee?
- Tourist attractions around peeing
- Interesting quotes from celebrities about peeing
- Interesting ways that men have found to piss
Ultimate Bathroom Book... this welcome, overdue little book. It's full of etymological nuggets, trivia and scientific data, and iillustrations that resonate on broadly cultural or intensely personal levels.
Lots of stuff that's neat to know when you gotta go. The book also proves that a discussion of the subject at hand, like the subject itself, can be approached with style, insight and humor.
Read. Enjoy. And stand proud, gentlemen. Stand proud.
Writer, Producer, Director. HBO, Lifetime, NBC, Showtime


The Library serves members and regular attenders of Valley View Baptist Church by providing materials in which to develop and encourage each one’s walk with the Savior and which share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Valley View Baptist Church library began in the year 2000 with four team members and one cardboard box of donated books. We soon hosted a book fair and were generously supported by church members by purchasing and donating the new books. Working manually with paper and pen, we excitedly checked out books to our patrons.
For many years our adult and children’s library was combined in one room. Later we were able to expand our library into two rooms-one for our children and one for adults. We also upgraded to a professional software library program for circulation and cataloging. In 2014, our children’s library moved into the Children’s Building and was renamed KidsTown Library. This created the opportunity for the Adult Library to gain more space. Today we have a Fiction Library housed in one room and an Educational and Resource Library located across the hall in the other. We currently have 15 members on our Library Ministry Team and have over 3000 pieces of library materials.


National Tell a Story Day #NationalTellAStoryDay
National Tell a Story Day History and Images #NationalTellAStoryDay – United States: Always April 27th, Scotland and England: National Tell a Story Day is October 27th. Happy National Tell a Story Day Photo and Download Images Free. Tell a Story Day celebrates story-telling of all kinds. It doesn’t matter if its fiction or non-fiction, a tall tale, or folk lore. Today is a day to tell ’em all. Stories can be from a book, other written material, or from memory.
Our research discovered two distinct holidays, one in the U.S. The other is in Scotland and the UK. The latter is by far more prominent and organized. These two holidays are exactly six months apart.
Libraries celebrate this day with story telling hours for kids. You can enjoy today telling stories to your kids, family members, or organizations and groups that you belong to.
Make Tell a Story Day an important and pleasure-filled experience. To enhance the enjoyment of the story, try setting the atmosphere. If it’s an eerie or spooky story, turn down the lights. Bring decorations and memorabilia that speak to the theme. If its about a person, display a picture of the individual.


Academic writing refers to a style of writing that is used in academic settings, such as schools, colleges, and universities, for the purpose of communicating knowledge, ideas, and research findings. This type of writing is characterized by its use of formal language, clear and concise structure, and rigorous adherence to the conventions of citation and […]
The digitization of the education system in our college has brought many influences on my academic experience. I have encountered both positive and negative impacts of digitization for my study. The digitization of education has changed teaching and learning, research, and governance. Computer-assisted learning has enhanced the quality of education as teachers can quickly access […]
We provide reliable and top-quality writing services with a great balance of affordability and professionalism with all types of academic papers.
+1 (901) 648 2771


7 Good Reads for Every Wine Fan
Non-reference reads to take you on a journey and teach you a little bit on the way…
Literature is timeless. Writing and reading often renowned for their sense of realism and descriptiveness in communication. What is most to be appreciated about literature is that it is an art form in itself. There are as many styles of writing as their are writers. The good thing? There is always something out there to read. In tradition, we look to share information about things we enjoy and appreciate. Today- wine and literature.
Historically the majority of literature available about wine is mainly for reference. While these books are entertaining and are a good resource to answer wine questions, they are not always as good of a comfort read. However, there are some books out there that can teach you a little about wine, some about history, and their entertainment value is quite different. Take a quick look at these unique stories to experience the world of wine from unique points of view.
The Good Reads
Confessions of a Wine Lover- Jancis Robinson
“Even the French admit that Jancis Robinson is the “undisputed mistress of the kingdom of wine”. Internationally renowned for her work in both television and print, she is the editor of the bestselling Oxford Companion to Wine and has won more than two dozen major awards around the world. Tasting Pleasure is her compelling account of a passion that began while studying at Oxford University.Writing with Julia Child’s authority,Elizabeth David’s intelligence, and M.F.K. Fisher’s verve, Robinson takes us on a journey through the world’s finest cellars, most beautiful vineyards, and best restaurants. As she explores the universe of the grape–from Bordeaux to Australia and South Africa to California–we meet scores of colorful, wine-loving characters, including Philippe de Rothschild, Julian Barnes, Francis Ford Coppola, and Julio Gallo.There are many books about producing and rating wine; this one is about enjoying it. Witty, revealing, and knowledgeable, in Tasting Pleasure Jancis Robinson has distilled twenty years in the wine world into a hugely entertaining read.”
Pick It Up Confessions of a Wine Lover on Amazon
Wine and War – Donald Kladstrup and Petie Kladstrup
“In 1940, France fell to the Nazis and almost immediately the German army began a campaign of pillaging one of the assets the French hold most dear: their wine. Like others in the French Resistance, winemakers mobilized to oppose their occupiers, but the tale of their extraordinary efforts has remained largely unknown–until now. This is the thrilling and harrowing story of the French wine producers who undertook ingenious, daring measures to save their cherished crops and bottles as the Germans closed in on them. Wine and War illuminates a compelling, little-known chapter of history, and stands as a tribute to extraordinary individuals who waged a battle that, in a very real way, saved the spirit of France.”
Pick Up Wine and War on Amazon
The Ripening Sun – Patricia Atkinson
“In 1990, Patricia Atkinson and her husband moved to the Dordogne, planning to earn their living as financial consultants, while an employee tended their small vineyard. Then disaster struck—the stock-market crashed and a debilitating illness sent her husband back to England—and Patricia was left to salvage their life savings from the vineyards. What follows is a remarkable tale of transformation and triumph.”
Pick Up The Ripening Sun on Amazon
Phylloxera – Christy Campbell
“A historical investigation into the mysterious bug that wiped out the vineyards of, first, France and then Europe in the 1860s — and how one young botanist, who had served an apprenticeship at Kew Gardens, eventually ‘saved wine for the world’. Bordeaux, inexplicably began to wither and die. Panic seized France, and Jules-Emile Planchon, a botanist from Montpellier, was sent to investigate. Magnifying glass in hand, he discovered the roots of a dying vine covered in microscopic yellow insects. The tiny aphid would be named Phylloxera vastatrix — ‘the dry leaf devastator’. Where it had come from was utterly mysterious, but it advanced with the speed of an invading army. As the noblest vineyards of France came under biological siege, the world’s greatest wine industry tottered on the brink of ruin.”
Pick Up Phylloxera on Amazon
Billionaire’s Vinegar- Benjamin Wallace
“The Billionaire’s Vinegar, now a New York Times bestseller, tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux—supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives intersected with it. Was it truly entombed in a Paris cellar for two hundred years? Or did it come from a secret Nazi bunker? Or from the moldy basement of a devilishly brilliant con artist? As Benjamin Wallace unravels the mystery, we meet a gallery of intriguing players—from the bicycle-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women to the obsessive wine collector who discovered the bottle. Suspenseful and thrillingly strange, this is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries.”
Pick Up Billionaire’s Vinegar on Amazon
Adventures on the Wine Route- Kermit Lynch
“A tale of the travels of a wine merchant through France’s wine regions where he spends several months each year tasting and buying, searching out great wines and talented wine makers. It describes the passions, beliefs, strengths and weaknesses of growers and negociants from both chateaux and farmhouses. Kermit Lynch’s recounting of his experiences on the wine route and in the wine cellars of France takes the reader through the Loire, Bordeaux, the Languedoc, Provence, Northern and Southern Rhone, and the Cote d’Or.”
Pick Up Adventures on the Wine Route on Amazon
Judgment of Paris- George M. Taber
“The only reporter present at the mythic Paris Tasting of 1976—a blind tasting where a panel of esteemed French judges chose upstart California wines over France’s best—for the first time introduces the eccentric American winemakers and records the tremendous aftershocks of this historic event that changed forever the world of wine.
The Paris Tasting of 1976 will forever be remembered as the landmark event that transformed the wine industry. At this legendary contest—a blind tasting—a panel of top French wine experts shocked the industry by choosing unknown California wines over France’s best.
George M. Taber, the only reporter present, recounts this seminal contest and its far-reaching effects, focusing on three gifted unknowns behind the winning wines: a college lecturer, a real estate lawyer, and a Yugoslavian immigrant. With unique access to the main players and a contagious passion for his subject, Taber renders this historic event and its tremendous aftershocks—repositioning the industry and sparking a golden age for viticulture across the globe. With an eclectic cast of characters and magnificent settings, Judgment of Paris is an illuminating tale and a story of the entrepreneurial spirit of the new world conquering the old.”
Pick Up The Judgment of Paris on Amazon
Trivia: A 30th anniversary re-tasting on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean was organized by Steven Spurrier in 2006. As The Times reported “Despite the French tasters, many of whom had taken part in the original tasting, ‘expecting the downfall’ of the American vineyards, they had to admit that the harmony of the Californian cabernets had beaten them again. Read More
Check out some of the best selling wine reference books on Amazon.
Find some new and interesting humor and entertainment books about wine on Amazon.
Soak up that knowledge, enjoy some of the beautiful Colorado sun, and learn some trivia about Wine and history! Check back soon for more features on some other favorite wine reference reads!
#unWined #Art #Inspired #Fun #Denver #Colorado #Instruction #Drinks #Books #Literature #Reading


Welcome to the Clovis Point Library!
11 months ago
To ensure that students are effective users and producers of ideas and information.
That means that Clovis students should be able to:
- Identify different library tools (books, encyclopedias, databases)
- Identify and choose the best resources for different projects or needs
- Gather accurate information and explain it in their own words
- Find at least one book they enjoy, regardless of reading level
We want students to have fun and be inspired by the resources in our library!


Leaders are readers – a saying that has been around for the longest time. Successful marketers and entrepreneurs consume more information than their competitors. They learn from the successes and mistakes of others while applying that knowledge to the situations to help themselves and their brand.
While online guides, blogs, and articles are an excellent resource to brush up on your knowledge there is nothing quite like a book – a lengthy and exploratory dissection on one of the several topics that you might want to read about, painstakingly researched, meticulously crafted and edited.
In the area of digital information, it’s easy to fall into the habit of only reading social posts and sound bytes but there are dozens of life-changing books being written every year to give your business an edge. Marketing pros seeking to broaden their knowledge and skillsets should make a point of staying informed via reputable blog portals and social media. They should also take time out of their busy schedules to focus on a long-form work that might just realign their thinking.
Therefore, before you launch your next product of business take a step back and look at your current brand. If you feel like you and your brand could use some polishing, then pick from one of these five books on the list and start reading! Each one of these books delivers actionable strategies and eye-opening ideas that will help you build a better brand and improve your marketing strategy.
A follow-up to the global bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy, this book draws on more than a decade’s worth of experience and work from its authors. It is packed with brand-new research to guide you through taking your organization “from a red ocean crowded with competition to a blue ocean of uncontested market space”.
While the first book was groundbreaking in its ideologies on marketing strategy, readers were left wondering as to how they could apply the strategies in their real-life businesses. A step-by-step guide outlining a process that can be more readily implemented in your business is what this book is all about.
The book includes processes, tools, and new research to show you how to move beyond competing and start inspiring confidence to generate unparalleled growth.
New York writer Malcolm Gladwell writes a perfect starting timepiece for the novice marketer. The tipping point is a phrase that he popularized in this book which is now commonly used in the world of marketing – it describes the point at which a product idea or group reaches critical mass and suddenly explodes in popularity. And so taking your company, service or product to “the tipping point” is the goal of every marketer.
Gladwell lays out 3 rules of academics that make ideas spread like viruses which are the factors needed to push something to the tipping point. These rules are:
a. The Law of the Few
b. Stickiness Factor and
c. The Power of Context.
These three rules makeup of all the knowledge and market your needs to help create their own tipping point. You can read more about this book and others that are part of this Cool Things Chicago guide.
This book explains the psychology of why and how people say “yes”. Dr. Robert Cialdini and his 35+ years of research on influence, persuasion, and looking into the psychology of what makes people say yes, has led him to write about six principles of persuasion.
The principles are as follows – reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity.
Understanding these will not only help you become a better persuader but will also help you be better prepared to defend yourself when these tactics are used on you. It is perfect for people in all fields and these principles of influence will move you toward profound personal change and act as a motivational force for your success.
Content marketing requires consistently producing engaging informative posts which can pose a tremendous challenge for any business. Tracking the return on investment of contact marketing can be even more challenging and so the authors of this book have simplified the process of breaking down the numbers to measure success and fine-tune your approach in the process of establishing an effective content marketing strategy.
The content formula Break this down into a step-by-step guide for marketers and is divided into three parts –
a. Building a case for content marketing in your business to finding the budget.
b. Establish a successful content marketing program.
c. Navigating the numbers to calculate your content marketing strategies return on investment in concrete terms.
This book will help to take your business from pointlessly contributing to internet noise because you vaguely understand the importance of content production, to producing content that generates change.
This is another classical book in marketing and is one of the first books to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical and media blitzed public. In this book, the authors describe a revolutionary approach to creating a position in a prospective customer’s mind – a position that reflects a company’s own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors.
In this book, you will learn how to use leading ad agency techniques to capture the biggest market share possible and become a household name. Some other things you will learn are as follows:
a. How to build your strategy around your competition’s weaknesses.
b. Repositioning a strong competitor and creating a weak spot.
c. Using your present position to its best advantage.
d. Choosing the best name for your product.
e. Determining when, and why, less is more.
f. Analyzing recent trends that affect your positioning.
Branding, positioning, creating viral content, and using data – these marketing books promise to provide plenty of inspiration and insight, so that you may learn your lesson and then implement your plan of action.
Now you know a few marketing books which will help you further your business, as inside each book is a treasure trove of information that is guaranteed to give you the tools to build a successful marketing strategy. Whether you are involved in content marketing, social media marketing, or digital marketing there is something in here for everybody.
Marina Turea works as content manager at Digital Authority Partners


Export 2 results:[ Author] Title Type Year
Filters: Keyword is article and Author is Juan I. Arribas [Clear All Filters]
"A model selection algorithm for a posteriori probability estimation with neural networks", IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, vol. 16, pp. 799-809, 2005.
"Automatic bayesian classification of healthy controls, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia using intrinsic connectivity maps from fMRI data", IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 57, pp. 2850-2860, 2010.


On Friday, March 17th, 2023, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria signed the Copyright repeal and re-enactment Bill (the “Bill”), which is now the Copyright Act, 2022 (the “Act”). The Act contains ample and innovative provisions that address modern-day realities, technological advancements, and international best practices, including the need to ensure Nigeria’s compliance with obligations arising from relevant international copyright treaties and conventions.
The Act aims to protect the rights of authors to ensure appropriate rewards and recognition for their intellectual efforts; provide appropriate limitations and exceptions to guarantee access to creative works; facilitate Nigeria’s compliance with obligations arising from relevant international copyright treaties and conventions; and enhance the capacity of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (“NCC” or the “Commission”) for effective regulation, administration, and enforcement of the provisions of the Act . The Act consists of twelve (12) parts and is divided into 109 sections and a schedule on supplementary provisions relating to the Governing Board of the Commission.
The purpose of this review is to highlight the notable changes introduced in the Act.
Key Highlights of the Act
1. Online Contents
One of shortcomings of the repealed Copyright Act was the absence of express provisions related to works on the internet. The Act contains detailed provisions aimed at protecting works in the digital space. It redefines the term “Copy” to include a reproduction in any form, including digital copies. This definition therefore expressly brings all forms of reproduction within the purview of the Act, whereas the repealed Copyright Act had a restricted definition of “Copy”.
Further, the Act replaced the term “cinematograph films”,” which is one of the categories of works established under Section 1(1)(d) of the repealed Copyright Act, with the term “audio-visual work,” which has a broader meaning and can be extended to the digital space.
Click Here to Download the Full Publication
– Aluko Oyebode – Nigeria Copyright Act 2022


What is books and periodicals allowance?
A Book and Periodical Allowance in India is a flexible employee benefit provided to government employees to support their access to books, newspapers, and periodicals.
It is designed to encourage continuous learning and knowledge acquisition among employees, both professionally and personally. Employers add this benefit to employees' salaries.
What is covered under books and periodicals allowance?
Here are some things covered under books and periodicals allowance:
- Costs incurred in buying books, encompassing technical manuals, textbooks, and reference materials.
- Payment of subscription charges for journals, magazines, and newspapers.
- Covering the cost of membership fees associated with pertinent publications.
- Acquiring subscriptions for digital e-books.
Books and periodicals reimbursement - how does it work?
You can claim books and periodicals allowance via reimbursement. You have to claim within one year of purchase with bills and transactions made.
Employees should submit the bills and transaction records to the employer for them to process reimbursement.
Books and periodicals allowance exemption section
Books and periodicals section 10(14) of the IT Act 1961 of the Income Tax Act. It is a fully tax-free allowance.
Non-taxable on actuals means that you will not be required to pay certain taxes, such as sales tax or value-added tax, on the purchase of these items. Instead, the tax exemption is applied to the exact amount you spent on buying books and periodicals.
What is considered as a proof for books and periodicals allowance?
As a proof to claim reimbursements, your employer may consider the following:
Receipts: Keep original receipts for book and periodical purchases. These receipts should clearly indicate the name of the publication, the date of purchase, and the amount paid.
Invoices: Invoices from booksellers, publishers, or online retailers can serve as proof. These should include details of the items purchased and the amount paid.
Subscription receipts: If you are paying for subscriptions to journals, magazines, or online publications, the subscription receipts or invoices should be retained.
Bank or credit card statements: Bank or credit card statements that show the transactions related to the purchase of books and periodicals can be used as proof.
Online records: If you make digital book or periodical purchases, digital records or confirmations from online retailers can serve as proof.
Detailed expense reports: Some organizations may require employees to submit detailed expense reports that include itemized lists of books and periodicals purchased, along with corresponding receipts or invoices.
How do we simplify providing books and journal allowance?
💳 Employees get Pazcard to use for payment of books and periodicals
⬆ Employees can upload their transactions and bills using the app
💰Employers reimburse based on the limit set and the amount spent by employees
How is managing books & periodicals allowance is easy with us?
No physical bills
HRs don’t have to collect physical bills from employees as they can upload it easily using the Pazcare app.
Pazcard integrates with your HRMS
Automate endorsements - employees joining, leaving, and appraised to taxable income.
Download reports from the dashboard
Real-time reports on the utilization of by employees for any period.
Why choose Pazcard for books and periodicals allowance?
Transact with open network
Employees can make payment (online and POS) for books and periodicals using Pazcard.
Full transparency with Pazcare app
Access card details and all transactions made in the app. Easily check money credited and available balance.
Pazcard in employees’ control
Employees can set pin, lock and unlock the card, enable tap to pay, set transaction limit, etc. on the app
30-minute TAT for query resolution
Employees can raise queries within the app and our team will resolve them in 30 minutes


|The End of the Old Order by Frederick W. Kagan No, I haven't been on vacation for the last couple of
weeks. I've been slogging through Mr. Kagan's dissection of the political undercurrents surrounding Napoleon's
Third Coalition War in 1801-1805. (Surely, you remember the Third Coalition War--it was the one that
culminated in the Battles of Ulm, in October of 1805.) Even if you love French history like I do, this is a tough
nut to crack. Essentially, he tells the same history from the differing points of view of the French, British,
Russians, Austrians and Prussians--and frankly, it's pretty tedious!
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Some time when
you've got a week on your hands, check out this epic history of the administration of Abraham Lincoln. It's a
long, long read, but I can guarantee that it will be well worth your time. As usual, Ms. Goodwin does a masterful
job of presenting her complex subject. The highest praise I can give the book is that I'm planning to read it
again at some point. (Historical Trivia: Did you know that during the Siege of Vicksburg, the anti-semetic
general and later president U. S. Grant signed an order compelling all Jews to leave the State of Mississippi?
Lincoln rescinded the order within a month. Somehow, that wasn't covered during my Mississippi History class in
the seventh grade.)
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson Did you like the way Mr. Larson's last book, The Devil in the White City,
intertwined the story of a famous personage of the early twentieth century with that of a notorious murderer? If
so, you might be pleased to know that he's done it again with Thunderstruck. It weaves together the stories of
inventor Guglielmo Marconi and Hawley Crippen, a sad of clown of a man who poisoned his wife, cut up her
body, buried the pieces underneath the coal bin in his basement, and tried to run off to America with his
secretary. Mr. Larson says that the Crippen case was, after Jack the Ripper, the most notorious murder
investigation in British history. I liked the book, but I think that, as in The Devil in the White City, Mr. Larson
does a better job with the story of the famous person than he does with the murderer. Having said that, I'm now
ready for Mr. Larson to find a new formula.
Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman If they say that the best humor is that which is just plausible enough
to be true, Mr. Hodgson is in big trouble. The combinations of words he commits to the page are so blatantly
incongruous that they seem to be almost random. After a few pages (and fewer smiles), you're exhausted by
the effort. Maybe this book is best read one page at a time over 228 days.
Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie Mr. Rusdie's prose is nothing if not elegant. It's practically baroque. I
think that the allegorical style of this book and its broad pastiche of South Asian names and customs will
challenge to most Western readers. Still, if you're willing to take the journey, it's an interesting discourse on the
causes of the terrorism our world faces today. You won't enjoy it very much (practically every character in the
book is some sort of skunk) , but you will be challenged, and at the end, you'll think that you've learned
Suite Francaise by I. Nemirovsky This could have been one of the greatest books of all time. I. (for Irene)
Nemirovsky was born a White Russian and a Jew at the beginning of the last century. During the Russian
Revolution, she fled Russia with her family and settled in France, where she converted to Catholicism, married,
gave birth to two children and became a well-received and popular novelist. When the Germans invaded
France in 1940, she set out to write a five-part book that she hoped would become the War and Peace of World
War II. (She said so herself.) We have the first two parts of that book in Suite Francaise. We will never see the
rest because she was taken from her family in the summer of 1942 and shipped to the Auschwitz concentration
camp, where she was immediately put to death. The first section of the book, Storm in June, is breathtaking in
its description of the evacuation of Paris and the early days of the war. I'm sure it's the finest writing I've been
exposed to this year. The second section, Dolce, is less interesting, but I'd like to think it would have been
refined and improved in the editing process. As it is, it's an impressive work. But one can't help lamenting what
might have been.
The Devil's Guide to Hollywood by Joe Esterhauz This book is a paean to the Hollywood screenwriter. It's
not so much about how to become a screenwriter (Mr. Esterhauz does not spare his scorn for those who claim
that they are able to teach such a thing.) as it is an homage to the great screenwriters of the past and
present--as defined by him. My favorite quote in the book-- which is mostly quotes, separated by the author's
opinions on the quotee--is from director Richard Quine, who said, "The definition of success is to be doing
better than your best friend."
Moscow 1941 by Rodric Braithwaite The Battle for Moscow was the greatest battle of the Second World War,
and therefore the greatest battle in history. (It) swirled over a territory the size of France, and lasted for six
months.... More than seven million officers and men took part. The Soviet Union suffered more casualties in this
one battle than the British and the Americans in the whole of the Second World War. An yet, due in large part to
Stalin's suppression of the news of the battle, most people outside of Russia don't even know it took place. Mr.
Braithwaite, a former British ambassador to Moscow, has not written the definitive book on the battle (for one
thing, he scarcely mentions what the German leaders were doing or thinking), but he has written an outstanding
introduction to "the greatest battle in history" for Western audiences who might want to learn more about it.
The Language of God by Francis Collins In the process of haunting bookstores this summer, I think I've seen
about a hundred different books that seek to reconcile God and science. I haven't actually read it, but my
favorite title is Can a Smart Person Believe in God by God? by Michael Guillen. All I can say is that Mr. Guillen
had damned well be better BE a smart person, or else he's opening himself up to a lot of abuse. Francis Collins
most definitely IS a smart person. Among other things during the course of his career, he's headed up the
Human Genome Project. Along the trajectory of his life , he has moved from indifference to religion to
agnosticism to belief. Philosophically, he's now somewhere in the realm of C. S. Lewis, and he believes strongly
that "the principles of faith are, in fact, complimentary with the principles of science." Whether this is a premise
you believe or would like to believe, this is a book that is worth your while.
Victorian London by Lisa Picard Ms. Picard also wrote The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs. Beeton, the
First Domestic Goddess (see below), which explains the sense of deja vu I had while reading Victorian London.
It seemed as if whole paragraphs had been lifted from one and grafted to the other. This book moves along
nicely, and it provided all kinds of useful and arcane information about the City during the period of 1840-1870.
Ms. Picard has also written Elizabeth's London, Restoration London, and Dr. Johnson's London, so I suppose
we're standing by now for Churchill's London, Diana's London, and Victoria Beckham's London.
The Dissident by Nell Freudenberger As you may or may not know or care, a MacGuffin (or McGuffin) is
something in story that is irrelevant to the story but advances the story along its way. (It's Shakespeare, so
you're not allowed to question it.) In The Fourth Bear (see two paragraphs below), there's a character named
McGuffin who does not move the plot along, so he's technically not a "Shakespearean" McGuffin, I was
reminded of this while reading Ms. Freudenberger's book, which actually has a Shakespearean MacGuffin
whose real name is never mentioned. But I digress. This is the story of a young man who comes to Los
Angeles from China as part of a cultural exchange program. He lives with one of the city's more privileged
families and is exposed to the most wretched of American excess. That part of the book is fine --if a little
depressing, but the extended back story of his life in China seems contrived and false. There's a nice twist on
who "the Dissident" in the book really is, but, unfortunately, that person doesn't seem authentic, either..
Basilica: The Splendor and Scandal: Building St. Peter's by R. A. Scotti Generally, I would be wary of a title
that has two colons in it, but I will admit that even though I'm not Catholic and have never been to Rome, I liked
the book a lot. It is probably what people who are smarter than I would call pop history. She tells the story of
what is now Christendom's second largest church (the largest is in Ivory Coast) in a light, breezy way that is
delightful to casual readers, but probably poisonous to serious historians. Ms. Scotti asserts that the gargantuan
cost of the building is directly or indirectly responsible for the Protestant Reformation, so you don't have to be
Catholic to appreciate it.
Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala There's a big banner across the front of this book which claims that it
has been hailed as "a best book of the year" by Time, People, Slate, Entertainment Weekly and New York
Magazine. I can certainly see why they'd think so: the book is a first person account of an eleven-year-old boy
in an unspecified African hell-hole. His village is raided; his family leaves him for dead, he is impressed into an
army of rebels. Along the way, he gets to eat bugs, go to a whorehouse, and be raped repeatedly by his
commanding "officer". It is grisly and affecting in the extreme, and the story is told in what I suppose would be
the child's idiom--asuming that the child speaks English in the first place. My problem with the book is that the
author grew up in Woodley Park in Washington, DC, and has an English degree from Harvard. He claims to
have many friends and family members in Africa, but somehow, it doesn't seem to be the same.
The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde This is the second of a series of "nursery crime" novels, which are a clever
send-ups of police procedurals and children's literature. In the first book, The Big Over Easy, Detectives Jack
Spratt and Mary solved "the Dumpty case." Here, they're working to solve the murder of Goldilocks, theoretically
at the hands--er, paws of the Three Bears. It's the kind of book where the author would go to great pains to set
up the line, "Pippa Piper picked Peck over Pickle or Pepper? Which of the Peck pair did Pippa Piper pick?" and
then have another character say, "It seems a very laborious set-up for a pretty lame joke, doesn't it?"
Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger I guess I should have known that I was venturing into the murky world of chick lit,
but after I got started, I decided to stick it out. Is it a requirement of the genre that the lead character have an
interesting and successful career that requires practically none of her time (like interviewing Uma Thurman for
Vanity Fair)? And do all subsidiary characters have no lives or careers of their own so that they can be
available to the lead character at whim? Just wondering.
Black Order by James Rollins The author's 2005 book Map of Bones is commented on further down this
page. The new book dabbles in genetic engineering, so I'm going to "genetically engineer" the earlier book's
comments and say that the new work also does not insult your intelligence and tells a gripping yarn--about
Nazis, this time. My biggest complaint about the new work is that it recycles characters from the first book who
should have been cut loose. I don't know how you read a book, but I like to form a mental image of the
characters that is based somewhat on people I've seen before. I'm sure it wasn't the author's intent, but the
mental image I drew of one of his main characters, Grayson, was that of Major Roger Healy, the sidekick from I
Dream of Jeannie. My mental image of the other main character, Painter, was that of Keith Carradine from Kung
Fu. That's not a good sign.
Louis XIV by Anthony Levi I don't know what the definitive biography of the Sun King is, but I'm pretty certain
this isn't it. Professor Levi tosses us a few tidbits, like the actual cost of the building of Versailles was actually
closer to 100 million livres than the 81 million livres that has been presented elsewhere. This would be much
more edifying if he had given us some idea of what a 1675 livre would be worth today. Nor does the author
waste any of his 310 pages chatting up the Western Hemisphere. It would have been nice to know how an
American state came to be named for Louis, but the two sentences in the book that Mr. Levi does devote to
North and South America have to do with one peace treaty in which France captured the slave trade from Spain,
and another treaty later on in which France ceded that trade, along with Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, to
Grand Traverse by Michael Beres So. There I was with nothing to read in Traverse City. (No, I was not there
for the Michael Moore Film Festival--although I must admit that some of the movies on the program looked pretty
good.) I went to the local book store and saw this opus prominently displayed. The author's bio on the jacket
included the line Michael lives with his wife in a cottage in the woods of West Michigan. He is a member of the
Sierra Club and gets fifty-miles-per-gallon in his gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle. In the spirit of "When in
Rome...." I bought the book, took it back to the local Super 8 Motel and started reading. Mr Beres practically
busts a gut trying to keep his political-environmental saga non-political and to keep from assigning blame for the
current state of the environment to anyone now living. His book covers about forty years in the life of a woman
who begins as a victim of a chemical spill and ends up as President of the United States--in 2037. Sadly, Mr.
Beres needs to get out of the woods a little more often and listen to how people actually talk. (Here's a hint:
They don't always make a speech every time they open their mouth.) Apparently, there's more where this came
from. We're promised that Mr. Beres's next work will be The President's Nemesis. Sorry, Bub, but you'll have to
get somebody else to comment on that one for you.
The Ruins by Scott Smith Well, I fell for the hype. I liked Mr. Smith's only other book, A Simple Plan, and I read
Stephen King's glowing reviews in Entertainment Weekly and Amazon.com, which promised that this would be
the best book ever. I guess that's the thing about hype--it's usually just hype. On the plus side, in his work here
and in A Simple Plan, Mr. Smith has proved that he can project a sense of impending doom better than almost
anyone since Ayn Rand. On the minus side--oh, where to begin? The characters are generic. There's really no
one to root for, which is just as well, since by the end of the book, they're all--well, you can guess. There's no
attempt at an explanation of the central mystery in the book. The theme of the book seems to be Life's a
biyotch...and then you die...painfully. It's certainly better than Beach Road, but it's nothing to build a day at the
Cross Country by Robert Sullivan This book could have been a contender. It's real name is Cross Country:
Fifteen Years and 90,000 Miles on the Roads and Interstates of America with Lewis and Clark, a Lot of Bad
Motels, a Moving Van, Emily Post, Jack Kerouac, My Wife, My Mother-in-Law, Two Kids, and Enough Coffee to
Kill an Elephant. I saved it for my own summer vacation, thinking it would be a fun read while I was on the road.
And it was, kinda--but only kinda. Mr. Sullivan tells great stories about the invention of the interstates, the origin
of See America First, and early cross-country travelers like Lewis and Clark and Emily Post, who, on the second
day of her trip decided she'd packed too much and sent the silver service home. If there had been more
information about people like Ms. Post and less about the author's caffeine addiction, the book would have been
To the Edge of the World by Harry Thompson Mr. Thompson passed away last year, but he left behind this
account of the life of Robert FitzRoy, the captain of the famous Beagle, which transported Charles Darwin on his
five-year trip around the world. I have to imagine that Mr. Thompson must have suspected that he would only
be writing one book because he certainly crams a lot into this one. Edge runs to 768 pages, and although
Captain FitzRoy is deserving of the star treatment he receives here, you lose interest after the Beagle returns to
England on page 553. Rather more puzzling is that the author chose to make this a novel, rather the obvious
history that it is. One is led to believe that the various members of the crew generated journals and writings that
ran to more than half a million pages. Surely, something that extensively documented could be better served
without the nebulousness of novelization.
One Mississippi by Mark Childress You can't imagine how much I wanted to love this book.
Mark Childress? Good writer! I liked Crazy in Alabama a lot.
Mississippi public high schools in the early 70's? This is my heritage!
First paragraph about riding bikes behind the mosquito truck to get high? This is why I sincerely believe that
most of the X-Men are from small towns in Mississippi.
Older brother who joined the service because he'd rather be in Viet Nam than Mississippi? Got one.
Making out in the parking lot at Jitney Jungle? Sounds right. Living each year for the State Band Contest? Of
Not knowing that a friend is gay until he tries to crawl into bed with you? That happened to me like five or six
times in the 70's.
But late in the book, a line was crossed. High school boys met Cher. There was gay sex at the Interstate rest
area. A car blew up There was a shooting at school. My initial reaction was that the author was padding the
book. Then I realized that--like every other book in the world--this wasn't a biography of me, and all was
forgiven. Check it out.
The Geographer's Library by Jon Fasman The average bear would probably say that the best time to go
back and re-read the short stories and essays of Somerset Maugham would be the middle of winter, when nights
are long, and one dreams of long slow cruises to tropical ports. Not me. For some reason, I like to pull his
books out in the summer, so as it happens, just last week I was reading The Decline and Fall of the Detective
Story. Using Willie's criteria for a good story, I can now tell you scientifically why I didn't like Mr. Fasman's first
novel: 1. Rather than a beginning, a middle and an end, this book has about fifteen different "middles", and
they're mostly irrelevant, in a DaVinci Code-ish kind of way. 2. Maugham says that the murderer should be
playing for high stakes, but this book makes it difficult to know what the stakes even are. 3. Maugham says that
the detective (reporter, in this case) should be working for justice, and that justice should, in the end, be done.
The notion of "justice" would have to be stood on its head an spun around repeatedly in order to think that think
that such is the case in this book. There are flashes of brilliance in Mr. Fasman's writing; here's hoping Mr.
Fasman's next book will be better.
The End of California by Steve Yarbrough If you've read any "Southern Fiction" at all in the last ten or fifteen
years, you can answer the following multiple choice question. A woman in a small town in Mississippi is
murdered. Who killed her? Was it:
1. Her husband, the local high school football hero who returned to town after 20 years to practice
medicine for poor people;
2. His best friend, a habitually drunk Ole Miss Law School graduate, who occasionally does
pro bono work for poor people;
3. The Christian fundamentalist manager of the local Piggly Wiggly, whose mother was the
husband's first sexual conquest; or
4. The old hermit who lives in a rusted out El Dorado behind the Wal-Mart.
Of course. I really wanted to "greenlight" this book for you because it's the first work I've seen that seems to
convey the tone of the Mississippi Delta in the 21st century. The book is lots of fun to read. It's just soooo
predictable. Too bad.
The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley Democrats have "friends"; Republicans have "cronies'". "Heroine"
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco (and practically every member of her p.r. staff) were interviewed for this
"history" of Hurricane Katrina; Haley Barbour, Michael Chertoff and George Bush, who "was ultimately
responsible for the ineffective response," were not. If this is your idea of an objective history of the storm, this is
Breathing in Africa by Buck Niehoff A hundred and something Sundays ago, I went to the IMAX theater to see
a great movie called Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa by David Breashears. It was about a diverse group of
people who were among the 20,000 or so who attempt to scale the mountain each year. I left the movie thinking
that even as unathletic as I am, I could probably climb Kilimanjaro. Then I went home to work the Sunday
crossword in the Enquirer. My friend Buck Niehoff went to the movie and left thinking that as unathletic as he
was, he could also climb the mountain. He went home and started calling mountain guides. A year or so later,
he climbed the mountain in the company of the his teenage son, Peter, two of Peter's friends, two guides and
seventeen porters. Like the author, the book which recounts the adventure is much too polite. For example, if
someone told you that they had just hired two guides and seventeen porters for a ten-day trek up and down
Kilimanjaro, what would your first question be? Exactly. But Buck is much too well-mannered to discuss money,
so we don't know. For another example, although he never hesitates to discuss his own feelings along the trip,
Buck doesn't seem to want to pry into what the teenage boys are thinking. When Peter begins to show signs of
altitude sickness, we see the symptoms, but we never get a sense of what he thinks about being susceptible to
the sickness. However, my biggest complaint is that after teasing readers about the purchase of victory cigars in
the Detroit airport, he never tells us if and when the cigars got smoked!
The Bourne Legacy by Eric van Lustbaden I don't have much sympathy for Mr. van Lustbaden, if that is his
real name. I'm sure that St. Martin's Press paid him handsomely for this work, but I don't think he earned it. I
admit he was handed a Augean task--to write a novel based on a character who must be pushing 60 by now
who can be played in a movie by Matt Damon during breaks between Ocean's 22 and Ocean's 23. The
character Jason Bourne sired children in Phnom Penh in the early 70's--we know this because one of them
comes back in this book--so he's got to be way too old to have the snot kicked out of him in every chapter of this
book. This is just one of the issues I have with Mr. van Lustbaden's work. Another, admittedly minor one, is that
although it's fine with me to take literary license with minor locations, MILLIONS of people know that the name of
the airport in Arlington is Washington Reagan National Airport, and that except for the odd Air Canada flights, it
has neither international departures nor cargo facilities. It's just one more indication that the author took more
pleasure in endorsing the check than writing the novel.
Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire from Columbus to Magellan by Hugh Thomas A little
further down this list is an altogether commendable book called 1491, which deals with Indians in North and
South America prior to the arrival of the Spanish. Mr. Thomas certainly knows his stuff and tells it as
compellingly as he knows how. It's just that the Eurocentric version of the story just isn't as fashionable these
days as that of the Indians. Thomas's book is dogged in its exposition of who sailed where and when, but it
really wears you down unless you're really into it. Interesting tidbit: In 1519, Alvarez de Pineda was the first to
explore the Gulf Coast region between Florida and Mississippi. He called the region Amichel. Doesn't that
sound like the name of a casino waiting to happen? Historical Pet Peeve: Why are we still giving Magellan
credit for being the first to sail around the world? He died in the Philippines. He didn't even make it two-thirds of
the way through the trip. Just wondering. OK, you can go now.
Map of Bones by James Rollins During Easter 1985, Darryl Gissel and I wound up at midnight mass at the
great Catholic cathedral of Cologne. Our story had more to do with National Lampoon's European Vacation
than The DaVinci Code, but the coincidence really drew me into the story of yet another secret cult attached to
the Catholic Church. This book, I'm happy to say, is one of the better examples of DaVinciana. It insults neither
your intelligence nor your beliefs and tells a gripping yarn that spans the usual hot spots like the Vatican,
Avignon, and the tomb of Alexander the Great. (After eluding historians and looters for 2000 years, the good
guys in this story find it in about twenty minutes.)
Beach Road by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge I want back the three hours I lost in reading this book.
The plot is thin; the characters are anemic; and the big plot twist that you know is coming is more irritating than
The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs. Beeton, the First Domestic Goddess OK, I admit it. I'm a
wannabe writer. For the last 20 years or so, I've been nursing what I think is a great idea for a mystery set in the
mid-19th century. To bone up on my knowledge of that period, I read a great book called What Jane Austen
Wore and What Charles Dickens Knew, which provided an outstanding description of everyday life in that
period. A few weeks ago, I got an email from Amazon.com, saying that if I liked What Jane Austen Wore..., I
would like Mrs. Beeton. So I ordered it. After slogging through it, I can say that unless you are either an
aspiring writer or a British homemaker (They don't visit the website as much as I'd like, but I do know a few),
there is no reason for you to bother. If you haven't heard of her, there's no reason for you to give any attention
to this book. If you're aware of the name, the book provides an exhaustive account of how the Epsom track
clerk's daughter from 1855 became a brand of frozen dinners in the 21st century. The first two-thirds of the
book dealing with Mrs. Beeton herself are fairly interesting, but the last part, outlining the series of business
decisions which became her "brand" is as dry as the baked poultry the woman loved so much.
Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and
Life by Tyler Perry "Why?" you ask. I had just seen Madea's Family Reunion, and I was buying something on
Amazon.com, when I saw an offer to buy the book for $3.88, or thereabouts. Don't make the same mistake.
Although there are chapters here you won't see in another other "Commentaries on Life and Love," like When
It's Okay to Have a Pistol, Buying Things from TV, and Staying Clean If You are Large Woman, Madea's advice
is nothing you haven't heard before--if you have any common sense at all. She does, however, suggest uses
for Vaseline that had never occurred to me--or probably any other Caucasian. If that's worth $3.88 to you, go
Paris: Biography of a City by Colin Jones At first, I thought this would be a Gallic reflection of Peter Ackroyd's
terrific London: A Biography, but if anything, it's better. It's better because Mr. Jones's book is the first I've seen
that gives the banlieux surrounding the city the attention they deserve. (2.1. million people live within the
Peripherique; the surrounding areas contain over 10 million. These include the more disaffected immigrants
who have done the most protesting and rioting in recent years.) It's nice to see a contemplation of the modern
City of Light that gives emphasis where it is deserved--Euro-Disney is given only passing recognition in a single
sentence, and the death of the Princess of Wales is mentioned not at all. Check it out.
A Death in Vienna by Frank Tallis The climax of this tasty little mystery occurs on the Riesenrad, a Vienna
landmark from the 19th century that looks like a ferris wheel made out of streetcars. The logic-defying reason
the scene is set there is lamely explained later, but as you're reading it, you're thinking that the reason is that it
would look great when it comes out as a movie. Which leads me to a more general observation that you can
take or leave--that mysteries in general seem to be becoming more "cinematic". As I've read most of the
mysteries listed on this page, I've thought at one point or another that the author was inserting a setting or plot
point for the purpose of making the book more "saleable" to filmmakers. Likewise, the books seem to be written
more as "scenes" than as "chapters". For instance, A Death in Vienna is 458 pages long, but has 87(!)
chapters. In their defense, I will say that these cinematic touches do make the books easier to conceptualize as
you're reading along, but somehow they seem less "literary"--if that makes sense. Anyway, I liked the book, and
I'm sure I'll like the movie.
The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry In the past, I've been fairly gushing in my praise for Mr. Berry's work (see
below). Sadly, all good things do indeed come to an end. If I accused Mr. Berry of "brand-building" with his last
work, The Templar Legacy represents the next step in that process (which will be complete when one of his
books gets made into a movie). In addition to jumping on the DaVinci-Illiuminati-Templar (DIT) canon of writing
and asserting that Christianity might just be a bunch of hoo-hah, he shamelessly allows his characters to sing
Kumbaya at the end and tell each other, essentially, that they'll see each other again in the next book. It's really
rather off-putting. Like other books in the DIT canon, there's more plot than character development, and
various ruins in Europe are exploited. Having said all that, I thought Mr. Berry might have been on to something
at the beginning of the book when he seemed to be satirizing the DIT mindset by suggesting that Dan Brown (or
someone very much like him) might have been something of a poseur and charlatan. (That would have been a
great book.) Instead, Mr. Berry became what he beheld.
The Method Actors by Carl Shuker is by no means a casual read. Mr. Shuker is a sure writer, but in this, his
very dense first novel, he seems to throw everything at the metaphorical wall to see what will stick. His topic is
ex-pats in Japan and the sex, drugs and rock and roll they consume. The moral seems to be best summed up:
To my mind, it is perhaps a hard lesson, but the guilty are scraped from the chopping block of time to fester and
mutate in the compost of myth and rumor and cautionary tale, to at last become the fetid, fecund mulch of
history, from whither it is might that flowers and is recognized, not from whence it came, but for what it is. If you
can deal with 492 pages of that, this is the book for you.
Ancient Mariner: The Arctic Adventures of Samuel Hearne, the Sailor Who Inspired Coleridge's
Masterpiece by Ken McCoogan. Yes, that's the real name of the book, and oddly enough, the only word I
have a problem with is "the". Mr. Hearne gained fame by walking 3000 miles across Northern Canada, where he
did encounter superstitious Indians, who told him of curses. As a mariner, his naval service was restricted to the
coast of France and the Mediterranean. Mr. Hearne might have been one of Coleridge's inspirations, but to
imagine that the masterpiece owes too much to Hearne requires quite a deal of belief suspension. It tells a
compelling tale. Sadly, however, it reflects the values of the current decade, in which adventures cannot be told
of without explaining who is being exploited. Too bad. Although I can't think of anything that might compel you
to read it, it's not a bad book.
The Third Secret by Steve Berry OK, let's be clear. This is NOT The DaVinci Code. It is, I think, as good as
Angels and Demons And the subject matter and pace are similar. This is a good, taut mystery that I liked even
better than The Romanov Prophesy (also by Mr. Berry) which was one of my favorite books from last year. Or
put it another way, I picked up this book at 7:00 on a Friday night and couldn't put it down until I finished it at
5:30 the next morning. (BTW, Mr. Berry seems to be "re-branding himself. The Romanov Prophesy was written
by Steven Berry. Whatever.)
1491 by Charles C. Mann I'm going out on a limb and saying that this might be the most important book I'll read
this year. If you didn't already know any of the following, maybe you should pick it up, too:
* In 1491, there were more people living in the Americas than in Europe.
* Smallpox brought by the Europeans really did kill 95 percent of the Indian population--
usually before they ever laid eyes on a European. (And as a sidebar, the bison population had been held
in check by the Indians. The massive bison herds that are such a staple of the "pristine" West did not come
into being until after the Indians who controlled their population died off.)
* Indians really do prefer to be called "Indians".
* There were cities in the Americas, such as Tenochtitlan, that were not only larger than any
contemporary European city, they also had running water, beautiful botanical gardens and
immaculately clean streets.
* Native Americans transformed their land so completely that Europeans arrived in a hemisphere already
massively "landscaped" by human beings.
Whatever your environmental or civil rights politics might be, you really should be aware of the incredible
advances in Native American scholarship that have taken place in recent years. Check it out
Night Fall by Nelson DeMille A fictional detective investigates the very real crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long
Island in 1996. In addition to being a pretty lame book, this is quite possibly the crassest commercial exploitation
in a long time.
The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine by John D. Folse The next time someone says, "If you were
stranded on an island and could only have one book, what would it be?" say, "Next to The Bible, I want John
Folse's Encyclopedia..." Really. You can throw out every cookbook you own. Everything you need is here.
The darned thing is 842 pages, weighs nine pounds, and is much a coffee table book, history book and
Louisiana tour guide as a cookbook. The book came to my attention when I had black-eyed peas and cabbage
at Diane Merritt's on New Year's Day. Both were delicious, and she said she got the recipes from the book. (If
you're interested, they're on pages 729 and 757. If you're remotely into Louisiana cooking, get it.
The Earth is Flat by Thomas J. Friedman So like everyone else on the planet, I bought this book sometime in
the middle of last year. I put off reading it because I had read lots of Mr. Friedman's work in magazines, and I'd
heard so much about the book, that I thought I had it pegged. When I finally got around to reading it in January,
I wasn't too surprised. I agreed with everything he said until he started talking about George Bush. I guess that
no one is right all the time. If you haven't read it, you must--unless you're an aging baby boomer for whom
there's not much time left anyway.
Don't Get Too Comfortable by David Rakoff is a bitter little pill of a book that you're better off skipping. This
is a collection of essays by Mr. Rakoff, who is a commentator on public radio. On the Fran Leibowitz Scale
(which I've just invented) to gauge how funny liberal urban humor can be, Ms. Leibowitz herself is a 10, and Mr.
Rakoff is about a 1.5. Still, if you're interested in his impressions of Paris fashion shows, Martha Stewart, gay
Republicans and how bitchy the Today Show cast can be when they're not on camera, don't say you weren't
The Lost German Slave Girl by John Bailey I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bailey at a writers conference
in New Orleans last year. His book is terrific. It recounts the famous legal case of Salome Muller, a German
immigrant who was presumably sold into slavery, shortly after arriving in New Orleans with her family in the early
19th century. The story has always served as a grand canvas for the moral viewpoint of whoever was telling the
story--slaveholders and abolitionists before the Civil War, civil rights activists in the 20th century, etc. Mr. Bailey
has now put a marvelous "post-modern" spin on the story with his view of the facts of the case. But before you
get to his conclusion in the last chapter, take a moment to consider the chilling last paragraph of the chapter
that precedes it: It was an event hardly noticed by the people of New Orleans. The fate of Miller's slave was no
longer of interest. The news of the day was the breach in the levee had been repaired. The city was safe.
During the following weeks, the water receded, leaving the streets covered in inches of mud. Check it out.
The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World Edited by Lonely Planet Yes,,it's a
journey through every country, but it's a short one. Every country, whether it's Nauru, Reunion or the United
States of America, gets two pages. Not terribly useful for travel planning purposes, but I do plan to keep it
handy when they're announcing the nations at the Olympics next month. (Thanks, Sally!)
The Quiet Game by Greg Iles is the story of a former Miss Mississippi whose spirit returns from the dead
(actually her spirit leaps into the body of her murderer) to torment her old boyfriend, a rich, handsome Natchez
geologist. The book is much better than the last sentence sounds. The author does a nice job of keeping you
wondering whether this is really a case of possession, or just someone manipulating the unsuspecting geologist.
Henry Adams and the Making of America by Gary Wills If you've never heard of Henry Adams, stop here.
You're free to go. Even if you have heard of him, you may wonder at this relatively little book (404 pages) which
talks about how two much larger works, History of the United States During the Administration of Thomas
Jefferson (four volumes) and History of the United States Under the Administration of James Madison (five
volumes). Mr. Wills work is practically a Cliff's Notes version of the larger works. So the question becomes,
"Why?" All I can say is that Mr. Wills thinks that Mr. Adams has been misunderstood by the six people who have
read his work. He seeks to set the record straight and vindicate Adams--which he does. Obviously, it's not for
Rampart Street by David Fulmer A few years back, I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Ferdi
Pachecko, "The Fight Doctor". He shared with me that he had written a book about New Orleans at some point
in his career. I asked him how he did his research about the city, and he said that he came to town for a couple
of days, spent a morning in the Library looking at old newspapers, and then just walked around town for the rest
of the day. Compared to what David Fulmer knows about New Orleans, Ferdi's work is downright scholarly. On
the first page, Mr. Fulmer says that a murderer at the corner of Rampart and Orleans can hear a trumpet blast
"(from) down past Second Street." Must be a really loud trumpet as Second Street is two or three miles from
that intersection. On page 3, he alludes to "New Orleans Parish" and discusses a display of photography in the
rotunda of City Hall. It doesn't take much research to figure out that the City Hall at the time of the book is now
Gallier Hall, and there's not a rotunda in sight. The rest of the book is more of the same. The dust jacket says
that Mr. . Fulmer lives in Atlanta. He should write about that. This book should be kicked to the curb.
2/13/06 Apparently, Mr. Fulmer is not of the opinion that critics are ill-informed wannabes whose opinions
should be "kicked the curb." He has kindly written to me to point out some errors of my own. It would be unfair
of me not to share them. His comments are unedited: Mr. Isch: One of my readers has passed on to me your
interesting review of my novel "Rampart Street." The reader was concerned about your critiques of my research.
While you allude to many more, you bring up two alleged errors in particular. On is about the distance between
Rampart Street and Second Street. If you take the time to review any map from the period, you will note that
Rampart Street and Second Street intersect. I have such maps from the New Orleans Public Library on hand,
and you can access them online with a simple search. If these maps are wrong, I stand corrected.
On the other hand, you've got a point about the word "rotunda." It's likely that I wrote it with the intention of
going back and checking it later and it got missed on editing. It happens. If need be, we'll fix it when I (sic)
comes out in paperback.
Despite your snide dismissal of my book, I'm always interested in doing a better job and fixing mistakes. And on
the subject of factual errors, in addition to your misinformed comment about Rampart Street, the Fight Doctor's
name is spelled Pacheco. David Fulmer.
|2006 BOOK COMMENTS


Backgammon's newfound popularity in our modern computer world is evident in the rich diversity of Internet game servers, and the steady stream of new publications dedicated to the game. Paul Lamford is a multi-skilled and highly rated British player of strategy games; in fact he's a former British Champion of both Backgammon and Bridge. Suffice to say the author is a well-qualified and experienced authority.
Starting out in Backgammon
This book marks Lamford's second venture into the backgammon literary market, following in the footsteps of his successful Intermediate/Advanced text, 100 Backgammon Puzzles. Perhaps, mirroring the Star Wars formulae, this second publication could be viewed as a prequel to his inaugural publication and the two texts would certainly work well as a total package.
Starting Out is obviously targeted squarely at the Novice/Beginner readership, though casual players or those already versed in backgammon variants would find the book an efficient and effective introduction to the formal game.
Despite the adage "Never judge a book by its cover," a quick glimpse of the exterior design provides an abstract insight into the style of the book: slick; hi-tech; and brilliantly simple a theme effectively sustained throughout the 12 Chapters. Paul obviously knows his A.B.C's Accuracy Brevity and Clarity.
The prose is easy to read, the contents logically structured, the illustrations are well presented and feature the modern standard notation. In short, just what you would expect from the editor of a popular games and puzzles magazine. Echoing the style of the flourishing "For Dummies" type publications, each chapter is peppered with handy "Tips," and "Warnings," and "Notes." which boldly summarize the salient points in clear memorable sound bites. Each instructional chapter ends with a small quiz for the readers to test their understanding of some of the issues discussed.
As hinted by the cover, the tactical and strategic advice reflects the modern game as defined by the advent of the neural network backgammon programs. You won't find any discrepancies with Snowie in this Beginner's manual (unless expressly stated otherwise by the author eg in the 'Backgames' chapter). Lamford has made judicious use of rollouts to verify the accuracy of his instructions.
Readers are sequentially introduced to the basic objectives and tactics of the game, then progress through: the opening rolls; race considerations; bear-offs; and into the distinct strategies characteristic to priming, blitzing, holding, and backgames. Eight pages are dedicated to elementary cube theory, which features the author's brilliantly simple PRAT "Position Race And Threats" concept.
Doubling theory is periodically elaborated throughout the book culminating in a brief discussion on the significant differences between 'money' and 'match' play considerations. The book closes with descriptive sections on Internet and computer backgammon. The obligatory probability tables, glossaries and a select bibliography are appended to the book.
Despite the easygoing text, backgammon is a highly complex game and Novice readers are unlikely to soak up the wealth of information on the first pass. Periodic revision of the information will reward the keen reader, and the layout facilitates fast location of important information. I envisage that the book would facilitate a swift passage to the Intermediate level for the average novice player.
I found the prose to be somewhat impassive, in comparison to more dynamic wordsmiths of the 1970's such as Barclay Cooke, or Don Stern. At times, the author seems to be preaching to the converted. His efforts to sell the game on points such as the fun factor, heritage and rich tactical complexities etc are disappointingly confined to the realm of mediocrity. I was mildly surprised that the author neglected to encourage the reader to put their newly acquired knowledge to the test at a local tournament or club, despite devoting six pages to self-improvement in the virtual realm. A sign of the times perhaps?
In my opinion, the main chapters would be considerably enhanced by additional reference problems to augment the scant quiz sections, perhaps a minimum of ten for each game type. Smaller board diagrams for the quiz positions might have enabled more of such material to be crammed into the instructional package.
The relatively modest information on the back cover, assures the prospective gamester: "Learn Backgammon from scratch or brush up on the basics ... An ideal Backgammon book for players of all ages." The publication certainly lives up to this promise. Virgin players and newcomers to formal backgammon are assured a rewarding read from Lamford's "Beginners book for the new millennium."


Set Up (2013): A documentary about Bilge, a recovering heroin addict and his battle to come to terms with his family as he leaves Istanbul behind on his path to recovery.
I Occupied: The Gezi Park Protests (2013): A documentary about my personal experience during the Gezi Park Protests in Istanbul during the summer of 2013.
The Short Anatomy of a Murder (2011): A short fiction film about a woman trying to rid herself of a man but nonetheless being haunted by him.
Self-Created Sex (2008): A documentary on alternative sexuality in the queer community of Queen’s University.
Steps to Vogue (2007): A documentary about the student-run charity fashion show Vogue through the story of Melissa, one of the dancers in the show.
Perspective Senegal (2006): A documentary on the center Perspective Senegal, dealing with street kids in Dakar, Senegal.


|Greetings Cousins, Friends,
Boyums of America is more than a genealogy website.
On Wednesday, September 14th in 1983, a man named Dr. Melvin F. Johnson, Jr. sent a letter to my grandmother, Corrine Morel Boyum. Included with this letter was a hand crafted descendant oriented family tree on three 11x17 sheets of paper and three reduced copies of the same; one for each of her children. This document contained descendants of a family started by Sevath & Caroline Boyum, both of whom had come to the United States from Norway in the mid 1850s.
Sometimes later, my father provided me a copy of this fascinating document. The document opened up an entire universe previously unknown to me. Growing up in Texas, I had never met a single person with my last name, I had no knowledge of my Norwegian roots or of the culture, and I had no knowledge of any family beyond the children of my grandmother.
After over fifteen years of studying this family of mine, I still am amazed at the significance of this loss. It is amazing to me that by the time my grandfather was born, most, if not all, of the heritage of his emigrant grandfather had been swept aside. In a single generation, an entire way of life, family history, national culture, stories, food, traditions were disconnected.
The website is an effort to reconnect to that which was lost.
Boyums of America is the work of Todd Boyum but only in the sense that it is published to the web. In reality, it is the work of many Boyum cousins and cousins of related families such as the Lalondes, Lanclos, Devillier, Morels, Robins, Johnsons, Paulsons, Malands and many more. Some of this data comes from published genealogy and family data. Much of it has been pulled from personal files and sent me. Please see the Special Thanks section to get a better sense of the actual source contributions of others.
The What's New section is updated as the site is updated to serve as a running log of change. It will help you understand what has been added from visit to visit. The 2001 Goals will let you know what it is we hope to accomplish this year. Plans and Status let you know details about what is being worked on right now. Also, you can check out FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions to understand how best to use this site and answer common questions. Search through Direct Relations to find out how we might be related.
Thanks for visiting. Please be sure to sign the guestbook to let us know you visited.
bookmark to Boyums of America and
Last updated: Monday, January 22, 2001 11:42:09 PM


By TYLER MANNING, Independent Disc
HELENA, Mont. (AP) – Fred Terry, a Helena Valley resident, never aspired to be a published author, but he ended up being published after writing a children’s book as a way to connect with his children during his deployment with the US Army National Guard.
His children’s book, “White Paw: Beyond the Gate,” tells a slightly fictional version of what happened at the Terry family farm while Fred spent nine months on deployment to the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center in Cuba. It is told from the perspective of a puppy who lived on the farm after being given birth by one of the family dogs, Prancer the puppy.
The book is somewhat whimsical, as his children tell Fred through their daily observations while deployed. It features many talking animals like Mr. Magic, the old goat of the family that lives on the farm.
Fred said he kept a journal while deployed on various missions with the Guard. While in Cuba he decided he wanted to do something more to create, as he puts it, “a recording of my time away from my family”.
“I didn’t start with the plan to write a book. I always keep a little journal to commemorate this time away from my children, ”Fred told Independent Record. “It was really (his wife) Trish’s idea. Every month on the 27th, the day I went on deployment, we used Facetime and I read a few chapters. It was a good way to connect with the kids through storytelling.
According to Fred, reading chapters from the book each month was a good way to count time for the couple’s five children: Kyara, Jobe, Elisha, Amariah, and Anaiah.
“It kind of became a party night for everyone,” said Fred. “They would all gather around the TV or whatever and eat popcorn while I read to them.”
Trish said the girls in particular always laughed and laughed because they were in the story.
According to Fred, the book and reading the story not only helped his children cope with his absence, but also helped him deal with his own homesickness while on deployment.
“It really helped me stay engaged with what was going on on the farm,” said Fred.
Fred began to realize that what started out as a wildlife project had turned into a full story.
“I realized towards the end that I kind of had a real book in my hands,” said Fred. “So I spoke with a woman at church who had already published books and she explained all the different options to me. “
Fred eventually opted for Kindle direct publishing for the book through Amazon. “White Paw” can be downloaded for Kindle, or a hard copy can be purchased from Amazon.
However, Fred isn’t the only Montana veteran contributing to the book. Another member of the Fred’s Butte-based unit, Jon Poe of Billings, illustrated the book for him. Fred said the fortuitous partnership came about after seeing some of Poe’s scribbles on notepads. Fred walked over to him and asked if he would be interested, and Poe was.
Poe initially did line drawings for the book, but was not personally happy with the turnout. He then decides to redo all the illustrations in a watercolor style. According to Fred, most of the work the two have done together has been in quarantine at various facilities, due to COVID-19, for about 50 days in total.
According to Fred, the book has become a source of camaraderie in the unit. While there was some teasing about it, there were also a lot of collective contributions as the project progressed.
The product of their work is a book of 13 chapters and approximately 150 pages written by Fred and illustrated in color by Poe.
However, this end product of having a paperback published is somewhat superfluous for Fred. The goal was not to make money, although several copies had been sold at this point, but rather to bond with his children again during his deployment.
Reading on Facetime was a great way to count the months, and Fred saved the last chapter to read to them when he got home, he said.
This was Fred’s third deployment in 33 and a half years with the Guard. Currently, he works as a signals officer for the National Guard, making sure communications are functioning properly. He had previously been deployed to Afghanistan as a military police officer.
According to Fred, the family briefly touched on the idea of Fred writing another book. It would be a family affair again with the kids contributing and Trish, who homeschooling the kids, helping as a copywriter.
“I never even really thought about writing, but as I wrote I thought I should take it more seriously,” said Fred. “It really awakened being an author in me a bit. A potential new hobby. It also made me read different books. I have a more critical point of view on them now, I see a lot of little things and things that the writers are doing.
For the family, this book served its purpose as it represents a moment in the life of the family where Fred had gone. He said there was nothing to mark his stay in Afghanistan in the same way. Definitely not something that has allowed Fred and Trish to incorporate the lessons they want their kids to learn as they get older.
Prancer the puppy has moved on. He found his own farm to live on after a while, but many personified animals are still there at Terry Farm north of Helena.
“The only thing I want people to remember is that for families stuck at home, deployment is difficult,” said Fred. “Do whatever you can for them, even if it’s something small.”
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Summer Series 2021 Events
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TENNESSEE WILLIAMS (1911-1983): 'A Streetcar Named Desire'.
(2) Madness; Sounds; Poe.
Illustration 1: Tennessee Williams.
In the opening scene of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' (1947), Blanche DuBois describes her sister's ramshackle New Orleans' apartment as follows: 'Only Poe! Only Mr Edgar Allan Poe! - could do it justice!'. Unconsciously, she invokes a spectre of Gothic fiction, which may be a subtle background presence in this play.
Illustration 2: Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49).
The acknowledgement of Poe - Williams's great nineteenth-century literary precursor - feels more than cosmetic; in particular for that author's correlation of insanity with aural disturbance. Roderick Usher (in 'The Fall of the House of Usher', 1839), morbidly sensitive towards noise, becomes cursed by the scratchings of his sister - buried alive - attempting to claw a way out of her tomb. In another story, an unnamed murderer is driven mad by the beating of his victim's heart, long past the point of that individual's death: 'The disease [madness] had sharpened my senses - not destroyed - not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute' ('The Tell-Tale Heart', 1843).
Illustration 3: 'The Fall of the House of Usher'; Harry Clarke, illustrator.
Illustration 4: 'The Tell-Tale Heart'; Harry Clarke, illustrator.
In 'A Streetcar Named Desire', the suicide of Blanche DuBois's young husband reoccurs as a series of sense memories - shock waves and sound waves - that convey her palpable nervous disorder and descent into mental chaos. She describes a sound 'that goes relentlessly on and on in your head' (Scene Nine), a mixture of gunshot and a polka tune, the 'Varsouviana', both heard at the location of her lover's death. Later, background songs combine with 'inhuman voices' (Scene Ten) and the cry of a train, all 'echoing' and 'reverberating' (Scene Eleven) the fragmentation of her personality.
Illustration 5: Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois (1951, film version).
Central to the Gothic tradition is a concept of decay. For a male author, Williams creates an astonishingly perceptive and empathetic representation of female sexuality on the downturn. 'Miss DuBois' is conscious she is older and her looks are fading. A sense of imminent death emerges, pathologically, as its obverse - desire (from Thanatos to Eros), manifested in her promiscuity and abnormal attraction to young men.
Poe writes (in 'The Tell-Tale Heart'): 'True! - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous, I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?'. This positive view of mental illness, as a gateway to acute insight and heightened sensory experience, seems to resound throughout 'A Streetcar Named Desire', particularly its final scene (Scene Eleven). Blanche DuBois had sought refuge in her sister's home, situated (ironically) at 'Elysian Fields', which becomes, instead, a place of abjection as she begins to psychologically unravel. Religious references abound: a Madonna in a painting; a soul taken to heaven; and cathedral chimes. Caught between the dangerous carnality of her physical surroundings and the 'cynical detachment' of institutionalised psychiatric care, Williams presents his character's doomed romanticism (and retreat into insanity) almost beatifically - like a rite of purification.


Members of a city relocation planning group from various parts of the United States, Australia, and Japan, came to the Shawneetown Public Library on Sunday, May 5th, to listen to author, David Welky, who wrote “The Thousand Year Flood-Ohio-Mississippi Disaster of 1937”, Steve Galt Gallatin County EMA Director, and Lori Hise, Gallatin County Flood Officer, regarding the relocation of Shawneetown after the 1937 flood and the government buyout from the 2011 flood. Mr. Welky gave the scenario and explained all the pros an cons of the move, dealing with the Federal government, the WPA, Disaster Relief Services, and the people of Shawneetown. Steve related stories he learned about the relocation from his dad, James J. Galt, and Lori gave information regarding the government buyout from the flood of 2011. The relocation group is working in their various locales on city relocation projects and were interested in learning how this story in history played out and recent 2011 flood played out. The group had also been to Valmeyer, Illinois, to meet with people relating to the more recent moving of their town from the flood of 1993. Anyone who has any more pictures or insight on this, please contact the Shawneetown Public Library.
Hello I recently read “The Thousand-Year Flood” and I am considering collaborating with a Chicago architecture blog author on a person from that book: Mary Long Whitmore. Does the library have any additional information about her, especially any photographs of her or her town model? Thanks. Joe Wehrmeyer 615-403-2449.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for contacting the Shawneetown Public Library. I am sending you a couple of scans via email. If I can find anymore information for you I will send it.
Shawneetown Public Library


In the ever-expanding landscape of streaming services, HBO Max and Netflix stand as two titans, each offering a vast library of content to entertain viewers worldwide. Both services have their unique strengths and a diverse range of offerings. In this article, we’ll conduct a detailed comparison of HBO Max and Netflix, examining key factors that can help you decide which one suits your streaming preferences.
Netflix: Netflix is renowned for its extensive content library, featuring a wide variety of genres, including movies, TV shows, documentaries, and original content. It boasts a vast collection of both licensed and original content, making it a one-stop destination for entertainment.
HBO Max: HBO Max, on the other hand, focuses on quality over quantity. While it may have a smaller library compared to Netflix, it’s known for its premium content, including HBO’s critically acclaimed series, blockbuster movies, and exclusive original programming.
Netflix: Netflix has invested heavily in producing original content, spanning various genres and languages. It has produced award-winning series like “Stranger Things,” “The Crown,” and “The Witcher,” as well as original movies, documentaries, and stand-up comedy specials.
HBO Max: HBO Max is home to some of the most celebrated original series in television history, including “Game of Thrones,” “Westworld,” and “Succession.” Its commitment to high-quality programming has earned it a reputation for prestige television.
Netflix: Netflix offers multiple subscription tiers with varying prices, allowing users to choose the plan that fits their budget. Prices may vary by region, and plans typically include the option to stream on multiple devices simultaneously.
HBO Max: HBO Max offers a standard subscription plan, which includes access to all of its content, including HBO originals. The pricing structure is competitive with other streaming services.
Netflix: Netflix is available in nearly every country, making it a global streaming giant. It’s compatible with a wide range of devices, from smartphones and tablets to smart TVs and gaming consoles.
HBO Max: HBO Max is primarily available in the United States and certain U.S. territories. However, WarnerMedia has expanded its international presence through partnerships with other streaming services.
Netflix: Netflix frequently adds and removes content from its library due to licensing agreements. While this keeps the library fresh, it can also lead to the disappearance of favorite titles.
HBO Max: HBO Max provides a more stable library of content, as it primarily focuses on its original programming and HBO’s extensive catalog.
The choice between HBO Max and Netflix ultimately depends on your preferences and priorities as a viewer. If you value a vast library of diverse content and a plethora of original programming, Netflix may be your top choice. On the other hand, if you prioritize premium, critically acclaimed series and movies, HBO Max might be the streaming service that aligns with your tastes.
Consider factors like content quality, regional availability, pricing, and the specific titles you’re interested in when making your decision. Many viewers even choose to subscribe to both services to enjoy the best of both worlds. Regardless of your choice, both HBO Max and Netflix are key players in the streaming industry, ensuring a wealth of entertainment options for subscribers worldwide.


They say the heart of Siesta Key beats loudest in Palm Island, a quaint area situated at the opening of the Grand Canal on Siesta Key. With approximately 150 homes in this pristine and highly-sought area, Palm Island is shaped like a heart when seen from above. Ask the residents or visitors who flock to this special place on Siesta Key and they will tell you the heart shape speaks volumes for the love they feel for their homes, the island, and their neighbors.
Have you always wanted a sense of friendship and community in the place that you live? Look no further than Palm Island on Siesta Key. With a variety of single-family homes ranging from modest to mega-mansions, this neighborhood brings charming surprises to your everyday life including Library Boxes, set up with a variety of novels that people can borrow on a self-serve basis. Palm Island also puts you in the heart of the action, where you can bike to Siesta Village for a specialty coffee, then hop on your yacht tied to your own private dock in your backyard and head out to the Gulf of Mexico for a day of fun in the sun. Life beats faster on Siesta Key, and on Palm Island, residents’ hearts are welcoming your arrival.
Where is Palm Island?
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