NEW BOOKS, MINI-REVIEWS BY VU LIBRARIANS

Prothero, Donald R. Catastrophes! Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Tornadoes, and Other Earth-Shattering Disasters (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011). 551 P967c

Prothero’s book is a well-researched look at various natural disasters that have occurred throughout planetary history. While not everything is covered (he leaves out wildfires), he does include a host of pertinent disasters such as blizzards, landslides and volcanoes, to name a few. In each instance, he scientifically explains the causes behind each disaster using historical events as context while also putting a human element to the disaster by including snippets of eyewitness accounts. However, this is not a book for a beginner. Although the scientific concepts are clearly explained, some familiarity with the fundamentals is needed in order to understand the stated explanation. The writing becomes even more technical when he turns his attention to global instances such as global warming and icehouse events. Entertaining, well-argued and sobering, this book can be dipped into at any point or read cover to cover. –-By Laura Hiatt-Smith, Public Services Librarian

Newman, Kim. Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen Since the 1960s (London, Bloomsbury, 2011). 791.431 N553n

Kim Newman’s book Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen Since the 1960s is a must-read for any horror fan—but it’s also much more. While this book is certainly a salute to films featuring zombies, psychos, serial killers, monsters, ghosts, and all the other causes of the proverbial “bump in the night,” this book is also smart, thorough, and culturally aware. Newman refrains from the typical dismissive treatment of this genre and never fails to consider how the culture in which these films are situated influences and shapes their victims, pursuers, and modus operandi. Newman explores the various techniques that horror film makers have employed and the influences they exert upon their successors. No matter what your pleasure—a date with Michael Myers on Halloween night, flesh-eating zombies, the paranoia of Hitchcock, dreams of the Wisecracking Freddy Krueger, Ghostface enforcing the “rules” of horror movies, or the silent elegance of Nosferatu—Nightmare Movies delivers intelligent analytic discussion and encyclopedic coverage of all that is horror. --Anita Slack, Information Services Librarian

Nikiforuk, Andrew. Empire of the Beetle: How Human Folly and a Tiny Bug Are Killing North America’s Great Forests (Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2011). 634.96 N692e

Hailing from the Rockies of Colorado and seeing the devastation firsthand was the impetus for picking up this book, and I was not disappointed. This is the story of the hubris of environmentalists, politicians, logging industrialists, forest managers, and ordinary citizens in regards to a tiny bug: the bark beetle. The author persuasively unravels the history, the science, and man’s reaction to this tiny, yet important, species of insect, which has managed to eat, and thereby kill, millions of acres of forest. Written in a plain-spoken style that will appeal to everyone, this is a highly accessible book on a subject that will only loom larger as our climate continues to change. –-Laura Hiatt-Smith, Public Services Librarian