Upcoming April Highlights
Online registration at www.eolib.org opens Monday, April 1st
for an encore performance of Dolores Hydock and Bobby Hortons “A Sweet
Strangeness Fills My Heart” to be held on Sunday, May 5th, doors at
2pm with the show starting at 2:30pm. Be sure to include an email or phone number.
Gentle Yoga with Marie Blair happens each Tuesday morning in
April at 10am. Please bring a mat.
The Brown Bag Lunch Series is each Wednesday at 12:30pm. Bring
a sack lunch and we’ll provide beverages and dessert.
Tuesday, April 2nd at 6:30pm – Dr. Stephanie
Yates will present “10 Smart Money Habits for 2019”
Thursday, April 4th at 10am – Meditation &
Mindfulness Workshop with Kathy Hagood
Thursday, April 11th at 10am – Meditation &
Mindfulness Workshop with Kathy Hagood
Thursday, April 11th at 6:30pm – UAB Neuroscience
Café: Fighting Brain Tumors
Saturday, April 13th 1-4pm – Online registration
required at www.eolib.org for Craft Academy: Cyanotype Printing
Tuesday, April 16th at 6:30pm – Documentaries After
Dark: NY Time obituary writers
Tuesday, April 30th at 6:30pm – Genre Reading
Group: Literature in Translation
_________________
This week, the Genre Reading Group met to discuss technology
and invention.
Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley(As Told by the Hackers, Founders, and Freaks Who Made It Boom) by Adam Fisher
Rarely has one economy
asserted itself as swiftly--and as aggressively--as the entity we now know as
Silicon Valley. Built with a seemingly permanent culture of reinvention,
Silicon Valley does not fight change; it embraces it, and now powers the
American economy and global innovation.
So how did this omnipotent and ever-morphing place come to be? It was not by planning. It was, like many an empire before it, part luck, part timing, and part ambition. And part pure, unbridled genius...
Drawing on over two hundred in-depth interviews, VALLEY OF GENIUS takes readers from the dawn of the personal computer and the internet, through the heyday of the web, up to the very moment when our current technological reality was invented. It interweaves accounts of invention and betrayal, overnight success and underground exploits, to tell the story of Silicon Valley like it has never been told before. Read it to discover the stories that Valley insiders tell each other: the tall tales that are all, improbably, true.
So how did this omnipotent and ever-morphing place come to be? It was not by planning. It was, like many an empire before it, part luck, part timing, and part ambition. And part pure, unbridled genius...
Drawing on over two hundred in-depth interviews, VALLEY OF GENIUS takes readers from the dawn of the personal computer and the internet, through the heyday of the web, up to the very moment when our current technological reality was invented. It interweaves accounts of invention and betrayal, overnight success and underground exploits, to tell the story of Silicon Valley like it has never been told before. Read it to discover the stories that Valley insiders tell each other: the tall tales that are all, improbably, true.
The Art of Invisibility: The World’s Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data by Keven Mitnick
Your every step online is
being tracked and stored, and your identity literally stolen. Big companies and
big governments want to know and exploit what you do, and privacy is a luxury
few can afford or understand.
In this explosive yet practical book, Kevin Mitnick uses true-life stories to show exactly what is happening without your knowledge, teaching you "the art of invisibility"--online and real-world tactics to protect you and your family, using easy step-by-step instructions. Reading this book, you will learn everything from password protection and smart Wi-Fi usage to advanced techniques designed to maximize your anonymity.
Kevin Mitnick knows exactly how vulnerabilities can be exploited and just what to do to prevent that from happening. The world's most famous--and formerly the US government's most wanted--computer hacker, he has hacked into some of the country's most powerful and seemingly impenetrable agencies and companies, and at one point was on a three-year run from the FBI. Now Mitnick is reformed and widely regarded as the expert on the subject of computer security.
Invisibility isn't just for superheroes--privacy is a power you deserve and need in the age of Big Brother and Big Data.
In this explosive yet practical book, Kevin Mitnick uses true-life stories to show exactly what is happening without your knowledge, teaching you "the art of invisibility"--online and real-world tactics to protect you and your family, using easy step-by-step instructions. Reading this book, you will learn everything from password protection and smart Wi-Fi usage to advanced techniques designed to maximize your anonymity.
Kevin Mitnick knows exactly how vulnerabilities can be exploited and just what to do to prevent that from happening. The world's most famous--and formerly the US government's most wanted--computer hacker, he has hacked into some of the country's most powerful and seemingly impenetrable agencies and companies, and at one point was on a three-year run from the FBI. Now Mitnick is reformed and widely regarded as the expert on the subject of computer security.
Invisibility isn't just for superheroes--privacy is a power you deserve and need in the age of Big Brother and Big Data.
We are placing increasing importance on numbers: Fitbit, student performance, car insurance trackers, employee productivity...the list goes on and on. The Economist reviews the book "The Metric Society" in the “Every Step You Take” article.
American Firsts: Innovations, Discoveries, and Gadgets Bornin the USA by Stephen J. Spignesi
What would the world be
like without all that the United States-in just over two short centuries-has
achieved, invented, accomplished, and shared? The "invention" known
as the United States of America has been the most influential force in the
history of civilization. Now is the time to celebrate it! American Firsts
offers an alluring, amusing, and amazing look at the creation and use of a wide
range of American innovations, from agriculture to transportation, and
everything in between. It's time for Americans to be proud of the wonders they
have given the world.
Death Rays, Jet Packs, Stunts, and Supercars: The Fantastic Physics of Film’s Most Celebrated Secret Agent by Barry Parker
James Bond would have died a thousand deaths if not for Q, the
genius behind the pen grenades and weaponized sports cars that have helped
Britain's most famous secret agent cheat death in twenty films. Here Barry
Parker demonstrates how science and technology have been as important to 007 as
good looks, shaken martinis, and beautiful women.
Using
entertaining sketches and nontechnical language, Parker explains the basic
physics behind the gadgets, cars, and stunts in a number of Bond films, from
the jet packs in Thunderball to the dynamics of daredevil
bungee jumping in GoldenEye.
If
you've ever wondered whether the laser could have actually cut Bond in half (Goldfinger),
if a wristwatch could really unzip a woman's dress (Live and Let Die),
or whether your car could do the 360-degree barrel roll from The Man
with the Golden Gun, this book is for you.
What do the most ravishingly beautiful actress of the 1930s
and 40s and the inventor whose concepts were the basis of cell phone and
bluetooth technology have in common? They are both Hedy Lamarr, the glamour
icon whose ravishing visage was the inspiration for Snow White and Cat Woman
and a technological trailblazer who perfected a radio system to throw Nazi
torpedoes off course during WWII. Weaving interviews and clips with
never-before-heard audio tapes of Hedy speaking on the record about her
incredible life—from her beginnings as an Austrian Jewish emigre to her
scandalous nude scene in the 1933 film Ecstasy to her glittering Hollywood life
to her ground-breaking, but completely uncredited inventions to her latter
years when she became a recluse, impoverished and almost forgotten—BOMBSHELL:
THE HEDY LAMARR STORY brings to light the story of an unusual and accomplished
woman, spurned as too beautiful to be smart, but a role model to this day.
The Toys That Made Us on Netflix
The minds behind history's most iconic toy franchises
discuss the rise -- and sometimes fall -- of their billion-dollar creations.
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by
Nicholas Carr
Finalist for the 2011
Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction: “Nicholas Carr has written a Silent
Spring for the literary mind.”―Michael Agger, Slate
“Is Google making us stupid?” When Nicholas Carr posed that
question, in a celebrated Atlantic Monthly cover story, he
tapped into a well of anxiety about how the Internet is changing us. He also
crystallized one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the
Net’s bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply?
Now, Carr expands his argument into the most compelling exploration of the Internet’s intellectual and cultural consequences yet published. As he describes how human thought has been shaped through the centuries by “tools of the mind”―from the alphabet to maps, to the printing press, the clock, and the computer―Carr interweaves a fascinating account of recent discoveries in neuroscience by such pioneers as Michael Merzenich and Eric Kandel. Our brains, the historical and scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences. The technologies we use to find, store, and share information can literally reroute our neural pathways.
Building on the insights of thinkers from Plato to McLuhan, Carr makes a convincing case that every information technology carries an intellectual ethic―a set of assumptions about the nature of knowledge and intelligence. He explains how the printed book served to focus our attention, promoting deep and creative thought. In stark contrast, the Internet encourages the rapid, distracted sampling of small bits of information from many sources. Its ethic is that of the industrialist, an ethic of speed and efficiency, of optimized production and consumption―and now the Net is remaking us in its own image. We are becoming ever more adept at scanning and skimming, but what we are losing is our capacity for concentration, contemplation, and reflection.
Part intellectual history, part popular science, and part cultural criticism, The Shallows sparkles with memorable vignettes―Friedrich Nietzsche wrestling with a typewriter, Sigmund Freud dissecting the brains of sea creatures, Nathaniel Hawthorne contemplating the thunderous approach of a steam locomotive―even as it plumbs profound questions about the state of our modern psyche. This is a book that will forever alter the way we think about media and our minds.
Now, Carr expands his argument into the most compelling exploration of the Internet’s intellectual and cultural consequences yet published. As he describes how human thought has been shaped through the centuries by “tools of the mind”―from the alphabet to maps, to the printing press, the clock, and the computer―Carr interweaves a fascinating account of recent discoveries in neuroscience by such pioneers as Michael Merzenich and Eric Kandel. Our brains, the historical and scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences. The technologies we use to find, store, and share information can literally reroute our neural pathways.
Building on the insights of thinkers from Plato to McLuhan, Carr makes a convincing case that every information technology carries an intellectual ethic―a set of assumptions about the nature of knowledge and intelligence. He explains how the printed book served to focus our attention, promoting deep and creative thought. In stark contrast, the Internet encourages the rapid, distracted sampling of small bits of information from many sources. Its ethic is that of the industrialist, an ethic of speed and efficiency, of optimized production and consumption―and now the Net is remaking us in its own image. We are becoming ever more adept at scanning and skimming, but what we are losing is our capacity for concentration, contemplation, and reflection.
Part intellectual history, part popular science, and part cultural criticism, The Shallows sparkles with memorable vignettes―Friedrich Nietzsche wrestling with a typewriter, Sigmund Freud dissecting the brains of sea creatures, Nathaniel Hawthorne contemplating the thunderous approach of a steam locomotive―even as it plumbs profound questions about the state of our modern psyche. This is a book that will forever alter the way we think about media and our minds.
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