air & space

 

Upcoming programs for adults:

Sat, Feb 1: 9am to noon – Crafterday (a bring-your-own-craft drop-in program to socialize with other crafters, no instruction provided)

Sat, Feb 1: registration opens for redemption vouchers to the Feb 21 & 22 Alabama Symphony Villa-Bobos + Shostakovich performances

Mon, Feb 10: 6:30-7:30pm – Great Short Stories discussion group (“Before Tonde, After Tonde” by Petina Gappah)

Thu, Feb 20: 6-8pm – Preview Party for the Friends of O’Neal Library Annual Book Sale (Donors of $50 or more since February 2024 will receive an invitation. Donate now online, or donations will also be accepted at the door)

Fri, Feb 21 & Sat, Feb 22: 10am-5pm – Friends of O’Neal Library Annual Book Sale open to the public

Sun, Feb 23: 2-5pm - Friends of O'Neal Library Annual Book Sale open to the public

Tue, Feb 25: 6:30-8pm – Books & Beyond discussion group chatting about magical realism in novels & films

(image description:  recent cross stitch project completed by librarian Holley Wesley.  Pattern is from Climbing Goat Designs: "James Webb Space Telescope Stitchalong")

Last night, the Books & Beyond discussion group met to chat about air travel and space exploration.

Youtube video essay (39 minutes) by Mina Le & Abbey Frank, “underconsumption-core, travel outfits, and Paul Mescal’s shorts”

Participant comments: “It’s a really cool look at airport fashion, from how people dressed flying in the 50s and 60s to now. Includes some interesting stuff about flight attendant fashion!”

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham

Winner of the 2024 Kirkus Nonfiction Prize • Shortlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • Finalist for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction • A New York Times Notable Book of 2024

Higginbotham reveals the history of the shuttle program and the lives of men and women whose stories have been overshadowed by the disaster, as well as the designers, engineers, and test pilots who struggled against the odds to get the first shuttle into space. A masterful blend of riveting human drama and fascinating and absorbing science, Challenger identifies a turning point in history—and brings to life an even more complex and astonishing story than we remember.

Soviet Space Dogs by Olesya Turkina

This book is dedicated to the Soviet Space Dogs, who played a crucial part in the Soviet Space program. These homeless dogs, plucked from the streets of Moscow, were selected because they fitted the program's criteria: weighing no more than 15 pounds, measuring no more than 14 inches in length, robust, photogenic and with a calm temperament. These characteristics enabled the dogs to withstand the extensive training that was needed to prepare them for suborbital, then for orbital, space fights. Images of the Space Dogs proliferated, reproduced on everyday goods across the Soviet Union: cigarette packets, tins of sweets, badges, stamps and postcards all bore their likenesses. Soviet Space Dogs uses these unique items to illustrate the story (in fact and fiction) of how they became fairytale idols.

Blind Watchers of the Sky: The People and Ideas that Shaped Our View of the Universe by Rocky Kolb

In this immensely readable book, noted cosmologist Rocky Kolb reveals the very human struggles of astronomy superstars seeking cosmic truths while lost in the clouds of confusion. Punctuated by the author's razor-sharp wit, this book provides anyone curious about science with a behind-the-scenes peek into the discovery process…it's not exactly the scientific method you learned in school.

Interstellar (2014)

In Earth's future, a global crop blight and second Dust Bowl are slowly rendering the planet uninhabitable. Professor Brand (Michael Caine), a brilliant NASA physicist, is working on plans to save mankind by transporting Earth's population to a new home via a wormhole. But first, Brand must send former NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and a team of researchers through the wormhole and across the galaxy to find out which of three planets could be mankind's new home.

Brian Greene

Professor Greene is world-renowned for his groundbreaking discoveries in the field of superstring theory, including the co-discovery of mirror symmetry and the discovery of spatial topology change. He is the director of Columbia’s Center for Theoretical Physics.

Professor Greene is known to the public through his New York Times best-selling books and numerous media appearances from the Late Show with Stephen Colbert to Charlie Rose. The Washington Post called him “the single best explainer of abstruse concepts in the world today.” Professor Greene has hosted two NOVA mini-series based on his books, receiving the George Foster Peabody award for “The Elegant Universe with Brian Greene.” Greene has had cameo roles in several Hollywood films including Frequency, Maze and The Last Mimzy and in 2008, with producer Tracy Day, co-founded the World Science Festival. He is the director of Columbia’s Center for Theoretical Physics.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

A visionary work that combines speculative fiction with deep philosophical inquiry, The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: to make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The mission begins in faith, hope, and beauty, but a series of small misunderstandings brings it to a catastrophic end.

The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport

Based on years of reporting and exclusive interviews with all four billionaires, including Richard Branson and Paul Allen, this authoritative account is a dramatic tale of risk and high adventure, the birth of a new Space Age, fueled by some of the world's richest men as they struggle to end governments' monopoly on the cosmos. The Space Barons is also a story of rivalry-hard-charging startups warring with established contractors, and the personal clashes of the leaders of this new space movement, particularly Musk and Bezos, as they aim for the moon and Mars and beyond.

Pillars of Creation: How the James Webb Telescope Unlocked the Secrets of the Cosmos by Richard Panek

The James Webb Space Telescope is transforming the universe right before our eyes—and here, for the first time, is the inside account of how the mission originated, how it performs its miracles of science, and what its revolutionary images are revealing.

NOVA: Ultimate Space Telescope (PBS)

How did NASA engineers build and launch the most ambitious telescope of all time? Follow the dramatic story of the James Webb Space Telescope—the most complex machine ever launched into space. If it works, scientists believe that this new eye on the universe will peer deeper back in time and space than ever before to the birth of galaxies, and may even be able to “sniff” the atmospheres of exoplanets as we search for signs of life beyond Earth.

Above All Else: A World Champion Skydiver’s Story of Survival and What it Taught Him About Fear, Adversity, and Success by Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld (Not available in the JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

Dan survived a plane crash from which sixteen of the twenty-two people on board were killed. He was left critically injured and woke up from a six-week-long coma with a broken neck, broken skull, severe head trauma, a collapsed lung, and other serious internal injuries. Against all odds, Dan recovered and went on to become one of the greatest competitive skydiver in the world. With the love and support of friends and family, Dan was able not only to resurrect his life but return to skydiving to achieve greater heights than he could have ever imagined.

The Long Way Home: A Journey into History with Captain Robert Ford by Ed Dover (Not available in the JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

The story of how a Pan American Airways B-314 flying boat, caught in the South Pacific, made an unplanned flight around the world following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Flying in total secrecy and radio blackout, Captain Ford and his 10 man crew flew over 31,500 miles in six weeks, avoiding enemy action in their effort to return safely to the United States. An astounding feat in 1941!

Stateless by Elizabeth Wein

When Stella North is chosen to represent Britain in Europe’s first air race for young people, she knows all too well how high the stakes are. As the only participating female pilot, it’ll be a constant challenge to prove she’s a worthy competitor. But promoting peace in Europe, the goal of the race, feels empty to Stella when civil war is raging in Spain and the Nazis are gaining power—and when, right from the start, someone resorts to cutthroat sabotage to get ahead of the competition.
 
The world is looking for inspiration in what’s meant to be a friendly sporting event. But each of the racers is hiding a turbulent and violent past, and any one of them might be capable of murder—including Stella herself. Agatha Christie meets Karen McManus in this thrilling mystery, packed with adventure, intrigue, love, and betrayal, from bestselling and award-winning author Elizabeth Wein.

Item descriptions pulled from Amazon, PBS, and Rotten Tomatoes.