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Veterinary memoir

What can a veterinarian do when a new moray eel refuses to eat? How do you relieve a hernia in an adult polar bear? And what do you do when a goldfish gets cancer? Zoo and wildlife veterinarians are often on the cutting edge of animal medicine, working on illnesses and injuries that are not covered in veterinary school, and these tales from the front lines make for absorbing reading. In settings ranging from zoos to wildlife sanctuaries and from aquariums to the open ocean, and patients that run the gamut from goldfish to Gomek, the world's largest crocodile, these stories reveal the empathy, creativity, and daring of their veterinarian authors. Weedy sea dragons (seahorses) are placed into a recompression chamber to treat a shipment-caused case of "the bends." And, the rhino of the book's title is fitted with custom-made horseshoes glued onto his hooves (three on each foot).

Changing the school day

With eight children between them, entrepreneur Gabrieli and nonprofit executive Goldstein were deeply engaged in debating the quality of education and juggling extracurricular schedules. Drawing on their experiences as consultants to projects experimenting with changes in school schedules, they advocate for a "large-scale transformation in American public education." A longer school day would give teachers and students more time for academic lessons, more time for the kinds of extracurricular activities in music and sports that have been eliminated from schools, less time for children to get into trouble--and better accommodate the schedule of working parents. They begin by detailing how an extended school day has led to higher academic achievement and more enrichment activities with vignettes from innovative schools that have adopted longer hours. They move on to examine how the extended schedule has affected adults--namely, teachers and parents. Finally, they lay out the costs and other challenges that school systems face in considering the change. Gabrieli and Goldstein make a well-considered and compelling argument for changing school schedules.

Big money problems

Noted political commentator Phillips (American Theocracy) presents a compelling economic and historical analysis of the decline of the United States as a superpower. In fact, he has accurately predicted many of today's political and economic conditions, such as the bursting of the housing bubble, the reduction of oil supplies, the devaluation of the U.S. dollar, and the decreased role of the dollar in world trade. Phillips attributes the country's present financial chaos to politicians' shortsightedness and financiers' irresponsible decisions. He also addresses the related topics of financial schemes, such as the creation of new financial products from debt and credit, and financialization, a term Phillips uses to describe America's movement from manufacturing to financial services. Despite his pessimism, Phillips gives the reader hope by drawing parallels with other periods in history and showing that catastrophic downturns are often cyclic and may even be expected once a superpower has reached a pinnacle (as with the global domination of the Dutch and the British in eras past).

Starred review

Having already risen from poverty to become an ordained minister, a tenured professor at Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of more than a dozen books (most recently Come Hell or High Water and Is Bill Cosby Right?), Dyson here cements his place as one of the most important voices on race in America today. Collecting 27 transcribed conversations involving an impressive list of thinkers-including scholars (Gary Orfield, Cornel West), politicians (John McCain, John Kerry) and pop-political commentators (Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher)-Dyson and company tackle practically every angle in America's experience of race, including the legacy of the civil rights movement, immigration reform, affirmative action, urban poverty and the war on terror. Throughout, Dyson proves as comfortable and incisive considering the scholarship of Foucault and Weber as he is examining the work of Tupac Shakur and N.W.A. Though his interlocutors run the gamut from sympathetic fellow travelers (Jesse Jackson, Tavis Smiley) to ideological adversaries (Dennis Miller, Ann Coulter), Dyson upholds a commitment to open, empathetic and intelligent dialogue, a rare treat in today's hyperpartisan, invective-heavy media. No matter what one's personal take, the quality and clarity of Dyson's ideas-and his dedication to the full and free expression of all viewpoints-makes this perhaps the best introduction to the current state of race in American society.

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Philosophy

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Knox County, TN

Knox County Public Library