bib·lio·ther·a·py - the use of reading materials for help in solving personal problems or for psychiatric therapy; also : the reading materials so used.The Irish Medical Times reports that "A scheme to promote bibliotherapy as a form of medication has been launched in Ireland"Doctors and other mental health professionals will now have the option of "prescribing high quality self-help books to people with mild or moderate psychological problems."The Dublin public library system plays a major role in the process. The patient goes to one of the participating libraries and "hand their prescription in over the library counter and then receive...
Celebrate Spring: Silent Spring. Rachel Carson at 100
"The more clearly we can focus our attention onthe wonders and realities of the universe about us,the less taste we shall have for destruction." Rachel Carson, 1954.This May will be the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rachel Carson. Her groundbreaking book Silent Spring spurned the modern environmental movement. She truly is the First Lady of Green.She started working for the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries during the Depression. Her tenure lasted 15 years beginning with her writing radio scripts and ending with Carson as Editor-In-Chief of all publications for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.She also wrote feature articles...
Book Blindness
A couple of weeks ago the Seventh Annual Weblog Award nominations were announced and for the seventh year in a row there wasn't a book related blog anywhere near the stage. There are categories for best food blog, best sports blog, best weblog about music, politics,entertainment and even one for best writing of a weblog but no book blogs.Now there is a new story out at Forbes called "An Exercise in Collecting". It appears in the Art & Collectibles part of the Personal Finance section.It starts off with this quote "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the...
BookWise: The Book Worlds First Pyramid Scheme
I know the book industry is changing but this one takes the cake.What is BookWise:"BookWise is a book-club / network marketing company with a structure that is not only unique to both the book and network marketing industries, but takes the best from both worlds to help our Associates build a library as well as a lucrative home business.""BookWiseTM is the brainchild of #1 bestselling author Richard Paul Evans. Shortly after Evans wrote his internationally bestselling financial book The Five Lessons A Millionaire Taught Me About Life and Wealth, he began looking for ways for his readers to "win in...
Now They Are Blowing the Books Up
A car bomb went off in the Mutanabi Book Market in the historic booksellers’ district in Baghdad. The market named after an Iraqi poet who lived in the 10th century was once the gathering place of the city's intellectuals.The explosion killed more than 20 people and injured at least 65. There are no estimates as to how many books were destroyed or damaged.The ongoing madness in Iraq has already severely impacted the city's library system. All you need to do is read the journal of the Saad Eskander, the head of the National Archives in Iraq who reports on the...