A vacation is...

...what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking. 

Spring Break is almost here. Whether you are vacationing in Cancun or planning the Staycation of your dreams. Why not take one of our new additions for some fun reading? Check these out:

Jay-Z, . Decoded. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2010. Print. [Call #782.42164 J42d 2010]

An excerpt: "When I first started working on this book, I told my editor that I wanted it to do three important things. The first was to make the case that hip-hop lyrics-not just my lyrics, but those of every great MC-are poetry if you look at them closely enough. The second was I wanted the book to tell a little bit of the story of my generation, to show the context for the choices we made at a violent and chaotic crossroads in recent history.  And the third piece was that I wanted the book to show how hip-hop created a way to take a very specific and powerful experience and turn it into a story that everyone in the world could feel and relate to."

Reagan, Ron. My Father at 100. New York: Viking, 2011. Print. [Call #973.927 R287re 2011]

The son of Ronald and Nancy Reagan presents an assessment of his father's life that features his childhood observations of the qualities that rendered the future fortieth president a powerful leader.

Cole, Teju. Open City: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2011. Print. [Call #Fiction: C689o]

Feeling adrift after ending a relationship, Julius, a young Nigerian doctor living in New York, takes long walks through the city while listening to the stories of fellow immigrants until a shattering truth is revealed.

Palumbi, Stephen R, and Carolyn Sotka. The Death and Life of Monterey Bay: A Story of Revival. Washington, D.C: Island Press, 2011. Print. [Call #333.72 P184d 2011]

Monterey began as a natural paradise, but became the poster child for industrial devastation in John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, and is now one of the most celebrated shorelines in the world. Monterey is thriving because of an eccentric mayor who wasn't afraid to use pistols, axes, or the force of law to protect her coasts. It is because of fishermen who love their livelihood, scientists who are fascinated by the sea's mysteries, and philanthropists and community leaders willing to invest in a world-class aquarium. The shores of Monterey Bay revived because of human passion-passion that enlivens every page of this hopeful book.

Heinrich, Bernd. The Nesting Season: Cuckoos, Cuckolds, and the Invention of Monogamy. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010. Print. [Call #598.156 H469n 2010]

One of the world's great naturalists and nature writers, Heinrich shows us how the sensual beauty of birds can open our eyes to a hidden evolutionary process. Nesting, as Heinrich explores it here, encompasses what fascinates us most about birds- from their delightful songs and spectacular displays to their varied eggs and colorful plumage; from their sex roles and mating rituals to nest parasitism, infanticide, and predation.What moves birds to mate and parent their young in so many different ways is what interests Heinrich- and his insights into the nesting behavior of birds has more than a little to say about our own.

Zelizer, Viviana A. R. Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011. Print. [Call # 306.3 Z49e 2011]

Economic Lives shows how shared cultural understandings and interpersonal relations shape everyday economic activities. Far from being simple response to narrow individual incentives and preferences, economic actions emerge, persist, and are transformed by our relations to others

Coggan, Philip. Guide to Hedge Funds: What They Are, What They Do, Their Risks, Their Advantages. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2011. Print. [Call #332.645 C676g 2011]

Hedge fund managers are the new "masters of the universe." The best earn more than $1 billion a year and are so sought after that they can afford to turn investor money away. The funds they run have, to some extent, established an alternative financial system, replacing banks as lenders to risky companies, acting as providers of liquidity to markets and insurers of last resort for risks such as hurricanes, and replacing pension funds and mutual funds as the most significant investors in many companies-even in some cases buying companies outright. The revised and updated second edition of this lively guide sheds much needed light on the world of hedge funds by explaining what they are, what they do, who the main players are, the regulations affecting them, the arguments as to whether they are a force for good or bad, and what the future holds for them.


Title Quote: Earl Wilson.
Images: WorldCat