DIG 500: Project 10, Part I and II

Part I: Share and be Shared

The image I am using as my blog avatar, also pictured below, was retrieved from an advanced search of Google Images and choosing "free to use share or modify" under "usage rights". In the caption I have added the name of the creator and a link back to the original. The Avatar has a caption with the creator's name and an imbedded link that is clickable.

Zen Logo by vargux, some rights reserved: http://vargux.deviantart.com/art/Zen-Logo-278657825

Part II: Draw a Database Schema

Bedlam at the Brickyard

Stewart, Brenda R., and Wanda Lou Willis, eds.  Bedlam at the Brickyard. Indianapolis: Blue River Press, 2009.

ISBN: 978-0-9819289-9-9

Available: Paperback

I know you are not supposed to judge a book by its cover; however, that is exactly what I found myself doing when I opened the latest package from the Indiana State Library's (ISL) Talking Book and Braille Library. While the artwork for Bedlam at the Brickyard was supposed to convey “bedlam, bafflement, and bewilderment at the Brickyard 400,” it screamed amateurish, cartoonish, crap dead ahead. However, I decide to proceed on with the project with an open mind.

The first real story in the anthology, The Ballad of the Midnight Travler by S.M. Harding, was interesting enough to keep me reading, but it seemed like a long stretch to the next well written and pleasantly surprising tale, A Crowd Pleaser by Marianna Halbert.

After completing the book, I would have to state, in all fairness, that the book took me on a “rollercoaster ride” with boring historical accounts like Winners of the Brickyard 400 in the lowest points and Picture Perfect by Victoria A. Stewart at the highest peak. I would place most of the stories in that jerky, bumpy area in the middle.

If you are not a huge fan of NASCAR (and I certainly am  not) then this book is probably not for you. However, if NASCAR racing is your “thing” then you might enjoy some of the stories in this book. That is why my recommendation is for:

Public Libraries

All other types of libraries can definitely spend their money more wisely.

A Book of Five Rings

Harris, Victor, ed. A Book of Five Rings. New York: The Overlook Press 1974.
ISBN: 0-87951-018-8
Available: Paperback
I went to the library to pick up a copy of Miyamoto Musashi’s A Book of Five Rings (五輪書: Go Rin No Sho) for three reasons. First, this book has appeared on many successful Japanese people’s recommended reading lists. (This includes my Japanese wife.) Second, this edition is advertised, on the cover, as “Japan’s answer to the Harvard MBA!” (Who wouldn’t want a short, inexpensive Harvard education?) Third, A Book of Five Rings has been called the Japanese version of The Art of War. (Having read and enjoyed the later classic, I thought I owed it to myself to read Musashi’s work as well and judge it for myself.) At any rate, I thought I would use this blog entry to pass along my impressions of A Book of Five Rings.

First of all, the Translator’s Introduction provides an interesting and informative look at the life and times of Miyamoto Musashi. Once I had read it, I felt like I had a good understanding of the man. In the introduction Harris provides a map of Japan as it was during Musashi’s lifetime, examples of Musashi’s art and poetry, and photographs of relevant items such as samurai armor and swords, and locations such as Kumamoto Castle. The original book is divided into an introduction by Musashi and five key sections: The Ground Book, The Water Book, The Fire Book, The Wind Book, and The Book of the Void. For me, the most pertinent of these was The Fire Book. I state this because I believe it provides strategic advice that can be used in any vocation to give the practitioner an advantage over his/her colleagues and opponents.

In my opinion, the main message of Musashi’s book is this: no matter what your vocation is, you must devote yourself to training, research, and study, to become a true master and be successful at it. As Musashi states in The Ground Book, “The essence of this book is that you must train day and night in order to make quick decisions” (44). A bit further in this same book, Musashi lays out nine principles for those who want to learn his strategy; the second principal states, “The Way is in training” (49). In The Fire Book, Musashi states, “Any man who wants to master the essence of my strategy must research diligently, training morning and evening. Thus can he polish his skill, become free from self, and realize extraordinary ability. He will come to possess miraculous power” (70). Finally, in The Book of the Void, the shortest and most philosophical of the books, Musashi states, “With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day, and hour by hour” (95).

I believe this book lives up to the publisher’s assertion on the back cover; that is, it speaks “equally to the businessman, the philosopher, and the practitioner of the martial arts.” That is why my recommendation is for:

Asian Studies Libraries, Business Libraries, Academic Libraries, Public Libraries, and Junior High and High School Libraries

In short, A Book of Five Rings is a good addition to any library.

Lincoln the Lawyer

Dirck, Brian. Lincoln the Lawyer. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007.
ISBN: 978-0-252-03181-6
Available: Hardcover (also available in Paperback: 978-0-252-07614-5)
I just finished reviewing Brian Dirck’s Lincoln the Lawyer for the Indiana State Library's (ISL) Talking Book and Braille Library.

When I first opened the packet from the ISL, I must admit that I was looking forward to the project because Lincoln is an historical figure I have always respected and admired.

While the first chapter of the book provided a few interesting insights into the life of the man who would become the 16th president of the United States, it quickly became apparent that Dirck’s book was going to be as much, if not more, about antebellum lawyers as it was about Lincoln. In short, the book contains an ample amount of speculation throughout. The “Conclusion,” for example, describes in great detail what Lincoln’s professional career would have been like if he had not been assassinated in 1865 and returned to Illinois to resume practicing law.

While this is somewhat understandable, because much of what is known of Lincoln the lawyer comes from surviving court documents, in this case it is also for the best. I state this because when Dirck describes some of Lincoln’s actual cases, they are rather dull accounts concerning promissory notes, contract disputes, partnership dissolutions, patent cases and corporate cases involving railroads.

However, in all fairness, there were some “gems” to be found along the way; my favorite was the next to the last chapter, aptly titled, “Grease.” In this chapter Dirck analyzes the affects Lincoln’s actual law career had on forming the great man:

[Lincoln’s law career] taught him about the value of grease—that unglamorous, often overlooked but vital substance that lubricates and reduces friction to acceptable levels…This, at bottom, is the lesson Lincoln took away from his twenty-five years at the bar, a lesson he would not likely have learned from tiling soil or piloting riverboats or pursuing any of the other occupations available to him on the Illinois frontier (155 and 160).

In the end Dirck concludes that:

His magnanimity—if that is what it was—his generosity, and his humility were not manifestations of saintliness or an inordinately pure character. Rather, they were the products of a quarter-century spent in a law practice that taught Lincoln some difficult but exceedingly valuable lessons about limitations, boundaries, and the tremendous societal value of grease (172).

If you are looking for an exciting, insightful and interesting book concerning the life of Honest Abe, then this book is probably not for you. However, if you are interested in the history of United States law, are a Lincoln scholar, or a student preparing a research paper on the Great Emancipator, then this book is certainly worth your consideration. That is why my recommendation is for:

Law Libraries and Academic Libraries

All other types of libraries could spend their money more wisely.

Indiana Voices: Literary Reviews

The Indiana State Library's (ISL) Talking Book and Braille Library (TBBL) is the Indiana Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and has been in service since 1934. The ISL's TBBL records books and magazine articles with Indiana connections that are unavailable in an audio format.

I began volunteering as an Indiana Voices Project Reviewer for the ISL’s TBBL in February 2010. As a Project Reviewer, I listen to a completed project and follow along with a copy of the text to ensure accuracy and to note any mistakes or instances of violence, sexuality, or profanity (for patrons who wish to avoid such subject matter). Currently, I have logged over 300 hours of service for the ISL.

I originally volunteered for the ISL’s TBBL because I thought it was a worthy cause and it seemed like a nice fit for a librarian and Eagle Scout like me. (The notion of, "Do a Good Turn Daily" is always on my mind.) However, it occurred to me that I could be of further service to the library world if I were to also write literary reviews for the books I have completed. Therefore, in the coming weeks, months and years I hope to provide some short, interesting and informative literary reviews of those books in the space I like to call Michael's Library (A Brave New Blog). For a complete list of the titles I have reviewed, join me on LibraryThing. In addition, if I have time to read other books, I will review those here as well.

A Real Cyber-Revolution

In his Problems of War and Strategy, Mao Tse-Tung said that “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” While that statement might have been true in 1938, in today's rapidly-changing, high-tech world, it would appear that Political power grows out of a tweet.

In the aftermath of Friday's (June 12, 2009) disputed Iranian presidential election, the Iranian government, under the leadership of "President" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has crackeddown on the media and the internet in an attempt to censor coverage of the ongoing Green Uprising lead by supporters of opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi . However, tech-savvy Americans and American companies, such as the San Francisco based Twitter, are lending their support to the protesters so that their voices will be heard around the world.

In their article, "Social Networks Spread Defiance Online" (June 15, 2009), New York Times correspondents, Brad Stone and Noam Cohen, report that, "Iranians are blogging, posting to Facebook and, most visibly, coordinating their protests on Twitter, the messaging service. Their activity has increased, not decreased, since the presidential election on Friday and ensuing attempts by the government to restrict or censor their online communications."

I think it is great that technology is helping the people of Iran in their struggle for fair elections and I am proud of the Americans who are helping them in this struggle. What do you think?

For additional information see the following articles:

The Telegraph: “Iran protest news travels fast and far on Twitter.”

The Wall Street Journal: Iran Cracks Down on Internet Use, Foreign Media

Viva la revolution!

And Tango Makes Three

In the latest student edition of American Libraries Direct (May 2009, vol. 2, issue 5) the leadoff story was The Top Ten Challenged Books of 2008. They are as follows:

1. "And Tango Makes Three," by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell. Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Anti-Family, Homosexuality, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

2. "His Dark Materials Trilogy" (Series), Philip Pullman. Reasons: Political Viewpoint, Religious Viewpoint, Violence

3. "TTYL"; "TTFN"; "L8R, G8R" (Series), Lauren Myracle. Reasons: Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group

4. "Scary Stories" (Series), Alvin Schwartz. Reasons: Occult/Satanism, Religious Viewpoint, Violence

5. "Bless Me, Ultima," by Rudolfo Anaya. Reasons: Occult/Satanism, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Sexually Explicit, Violence

6. "The Perks of Being A Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky. Reasons: Drugs, Homosexuality, Nudity, Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit, Suicide, Unsuited to Age Group

7. "Gossip Girl" (Series), by Cecily von Ziegesar. Reasons: Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group

8. "Uncle Bobby's Wedding," by Sarah S. Brannen. Reasons: Homosexuality, Unsuited to Age Group

9. "The Kite Runner," by Khaled Hosseini. Reasons: Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group

10. "Flashcards of My Life," by Charise Mericle Harper. Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group

While it perplexes me as to why anyone would want to see ANY book proscribed, I am particularly astounded that "And Tango Makes Three" has been at the top of the list for the last three years running! After all, the book is based on the true story of two male Chinstrap Penguins (Roy and Silo) who couple and, after being given an egg by the zookeepers at the Central Park Zoo, successfully hatch the egg and raise the chick (Tango) together.

Unfortunately, it does not look like the controversy surrounding the book will end anytime soon. In the online article Gay Curriculum Proposal Riles Elementary School Parents, Fox News reporter Katie Landan relates that A group of parents from the Unified School District in Alameda, California are being "forced" to accept a new curriculum that utilizes “And Tango Makes Three” and “includes compulsory lessons about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community that will be taught to children as young as 5 years old.”

I guess I just don't understand why people cannot accept the tale for what it is, an endearing, lovely story concerning natural animal behavior!