Tempting Titles - Nonfiction 200s - 300s

Here, in usual Dewey Decimal System order from your librarian book selectors, are some Tempting Titles of recent nonfiction books the library has either ordered or received in the past few months. Click on any title or image link to go to the online catalog and place a request for the book to be held for you when it becomes available.

200s Religion

Irreligion: a mathematician explains why the arguments for God just don’t add up by John Allen Paulos

Few of the recent books on atheism have been worth reading just for wit and style, but this is one of them: Paulos is truly funny. Despite the title, the Temple University math professor doesn't actually discuss mathematics much. In this short primer (“just the gist with an occasional jest”), Paulos tackles 12 of the most common arguments for God, including the argument from design, the idea that a “moral universality” points to a creator God, the notion of first causes and the argument from coincidence, among others. Along the way, he intersperses irreverent and entertaining little chapterlets that contain his musings on various subjects, including a rather hilarious imagined IM exchange with God that slyly parodies Neale Donald Walsch's Conversations with God . “Why does solemnity tend to infect almost all discussions of religion?” Paulos asks, clearly bemoaning the dearth of humor. This little book goes a long way toward correcting the problem, and provides both atheists and religious apologists some digestible food for thought along the way. (Publishers Weekly)

Abraham’s Curse: child sacrifice in the legacies of the West by Bruce Chilton

In this thought-provoking study, Bard College professor Chilton (Rabbi Jesus) asks how the Abrahamic faiths have understood Genesis 22, the story of the binding of Isaac. All three religions include a strand of interpretation that reads the binding of Isaac as valorizing the sacrifice of human life. Some rabbinic texts, for example, suggest that Abraham did in fact nick Isaac’s neck, shedding the boy’s blood, and that Isaac offers a model for “the necessary readiness for martyrdom.” Christianity has seen Isaac as prefiguring Jesus’ crucifixion, and Christians, too, find in both these sacrificial stories an approval of martyrdom. In Islam, Chilton finds a range of interpretations, some of which gradually make Ibrahim “more and more aggressive, to the point that Allah could only prevent the slaughter... by miraculous means.” These interpretations appear to underwrite violence, but Chilton also finds within Jewish, Christian and Islamic sacred texts a corrective: a clear insistence that God does not want human beings to sacrifice ourselves or our children. Today’s violent fundamentalists, Chilton claims, overlook those correctives and take their cues from readings of Genesis 22 that seem to favor human sacrifice. Chilton produces yet another creative and very relevant historical account. (Publishers Weekly)

The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: what’s so good about the good news by Peter J. Gomes.

Once again, we are graced with a delightfully reflective volume by renowned preacher Gomes (Christian morals, Harvard; The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart ), who here deftly and elegantly weaves a spiritually rich narrative examining the nuances of Jesus-centered thinking and biblical understanding in the contemporary American landscape. In 11 chapters divided into three parts—"The Trouble with Scripture," "The Gospel and the Conventional Wisdom," and "Where Do We Go from Here?"—he creates a finely crafted statement about Jesus's role in a modern world rife with social, political, and economic problems. Personal vignettes, early American history, and current events accent the text. Gomes's relaxed yet intellectual style promotes the progressive message upon which he strikes in his later chapters (e.g., in "A Gospel of Hope"). (Library Journal)

What the Gospels Meant by Garry Wills

New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Wills (history, emeritus, Northwestern Univ.; What Jesus Meant ) provides another splendid book for the educated general public. Here, he analyzes the four Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, insisting that the church deliberately "gives us four different takes on the central mystery" of Christ, which remains inexhaustible. He observes that Mark emphasizes Jesus's role as sufferer; Matthew systematically presents his teachings; Luke stresses the healing aspects of his mission; and John keeps always in mind his divinity. Wills also explains the parallelism between biblical Jewish and Christian Scripture and the use of symbolic language in the Gospels to reveal the meaning of biblical events ... (Library Journal)

Monk Habits for Everyday People: Benedictine spirituality for Protestants by Dennis L. Okholm

Readers might not think that poverty, chastity and obedience would be attractive to the common Protestant, but Okholm, a theology professor at Azusa Pacific University, will make them think twice. ... He finds in Benedictine monasticism a helpful path to holiness, and he avoids idealizing or romanticizing the monastic life. ... The author invites readers to integrate some monastic practices into their daily lives and stresses that this does not involve cloistering themselves—these practices are both ordinary and sacred. He also provides an excellent example for Catholics and Protestants alike to dig deeply into the Christian tradition and find how both can spiritually benefit from the other. (Publishers Weekly)

Head and Heart: American Christianities by Garry Wills

In this learned, impassioned jeremiad, Pulitzer Prize–winning Wills (What Jesus Meant, 2006, etc.) traces two styles of Protestantism throughout American history and sounds the alarm about evangelicalism. During the Revolutionary era, the Enlightenment religious culture, which made possible the disestablishment of churches and gave birth to Transcendentalism, valued reason and tolerance. Evangelical emotionalism, on the other hand, which came to prominence in the religious revivals of the early 19th century, emphasizes feeling and teaches people to know God with their hearts rather than to scrutinize religion with their brains. The history of American Christianity, suggests Wills, can be viewed as a tug of war between those two impulses. Some of the freshest material here is the author's discussion of the mid-20th-century "great truce between the religious communities," in which different religious groups adopted an ecumenical friendliness and the nation seemed to settle into a comfortable state of being politely "Judeo-Christian." ... Despite his pessimism about the current administration, the author concludes on a hopeful note. Evangelical passion and Enlightenment intellectual rigor are not mutually exclusive, he says. Indeed, they are often present in the same church. (Kirkus Reviews)

300s Social sciences, economics, law, rights, education

Zoom: the global race to fuel the car of the future by Vijay Vaitheeswaran and Iain Carson

Cars and oil wrote the history of twentieth-century American capitalism. After a century of prosperity and power, the industries that shaped America more than any others are now at a crossroads. The age of oil and cars is giving way to something new. (First chapter excerpt)

"A stirring call to arms urging Americans to demand that the government act now to meet the challenges of global warming and to tackle the country's addiction to oil. ... A timely, authoritative book written in a punchy, easy-to-read style." – (Kirkus Reviews)

The Wall Street Journal Complete Identity Theft Guidebook: how to protect yourself from the most pervasive crime in America by Terri Cullen

Introduction: it could happen to you -- Preventing identity theft -- What is identity theft, anyway? -- Thinking like a thief -- Vigilance is the best protection -- The vital document : your credit report -- A closer look at an excellent, bad and average credit report -- The tech wars -- Life after identity theft -- Getting your identity back -- Easing the emotional pain -- Identity theft in pop culture -- Appendix One: Sample letters -- Appendix Two: Identity theft logs -- Appendix Three: The laws that protect you (Book's chapters)

Never Enough by Joe McGinnis

McGinniss (Fatal Vision) has produced another page-turning true-crime blockbuster. This surreal story of successful investment banker Robert Kissel and his compulsive-shopper wife Nancy living the seemingly perfect "expat" life in Hong Kong with their three children features plenty of money, sex, and greed. In 2003, Nancy and the kids spent time in Vermont during the SARS scare in Hong Kong. Rob suspected that she was having an affair there with a stereo installer, which he confirmed via a hired detective. He ordered her and the kids back to Hong Kong and then suspected that Nancy was poisoning him. His body was found soon after. Nancy was tried and convicted of his murder in Hong Kong, where she awaits appeal. Family squabbles ensued over custody of the children and their $20 million trust fund. In a bizarre subsequent chapter to this story, Rob's brother Andrew was found murdered in his home shortly after his own wife and kids had moved out. ... While the book's title may refer to the Kissel family's approach to life, it could also be the cry of McGinniss fans who love his way with such stories. (Library Journal)

The Associates: four capitalists who created California by Richard Raynor

"...a first-rate look at the little-known story behind the creation of America's first continental railroad-the story of Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, Mark Hopkins and Leland Stanford, founder of the university that bears his name...The associates were unscrupulous, savvy profiteers, whose motives were driven solely by a lust for riches and whose success usually came at the expense of others. After usurping engineer Theodore Judah's campaign to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific, the foursome capitalized on anti-Chinese sentiment, hiring desperate Chinese to do hazardous work in inhumane conditions for substandard wages. They later sanctioned murder yet successfully painted themselves as philanthropists thanks to the journalists and historians in their pockets. Amid a story of greed and ruthlessness, Rayner offers a fascinating glimpse into the growth of the U.S., illustrating how these determined if ruthless men revolutionized transportation and greatly influenced the expansion of California. ...Entertaining and well written, Rayner's book will appeal to readers interested in history as well as business.." (Publishers Weekly)

Tempting Titles - Nonfiction 000s - 100s

Here, in usual Dewey Decimal system order from your librarian book selectors, are some Tempting Titles of recent nonfiction books the library has either ordered or received in the past few months. Click on any title or image link to go to the online catalog and place a request for the book to be held for you when it becomes available.

000s – Computer Software, Generalities, Journalism

Charts and Graphs for Microsoft Excel 2007 by Bill Jelen

While Excel does charts and graphs quite well, deciding when and how to create the best chart for your purposes needs a little more attention. Enter this book, which goes through the new Excel 2007 charting interface, discusses creating different types of charts, and covers the new SmartArt business graphics. Case study sidebars highlight techniques discussed, while "Designing Charts Like the Pros" sidebars show how to use Excel to duplicate the fancier features of charts created in other applications. (Library Journal)

The Official Ubuntu Book by Benjamin Mako Hill and Jono Bacon

Ubuntu focuses on the desktop, aiming to be a user-friendly version of Linux. Its growing popularity is reflected in the increasing number of available guides. A good place to start learning about Ubuntu, this second edition of the official guide also features chapters on spin-offs such as Kubuntu, Edubuntu, and other distributions. It clearly walks beginners from installation through troubleshooting, including a useful chapter on the Ubuntu community and how readers can join in. (Library Journal)

The It Girl’s Guide to Blogging with Moxie by Joelle Reeder and Katherine Scoleri

Want to break into blogging but don’t know where to start? Dynamic duo Joelle Reeder and Katherine Scoleri of “The Moxie Girls™” show you how to start your first blog, polish your prose, get involved in blogging communities, make sense of RSS feeds, podcasts, photos and more — all with fun, humor and attitude! (Book Jacket)

How to do Everything with Google Tools by Donna L. Baker

Google is so much more than a search engine, offering other features such as shopping, mapping, blogging, advertising, and much more. You'll also learn to use the email, communication, document, and spreadsheet tools that make up Google Apps. This book shows you how to maximize the Google tools. (Book Jacket)

30: the collapse of the great American newspaper by Charles M. Madigan

If you have ever loved a newspaper, this book will provide a gut-churning mix of joy and nostalgia, amazement and disgust, and no small sense of fatalism. Award-winning Chicago Tribune editor and reporter Madigan collects a powerful array of commentary from journalists and observers, who enumerate the varied forces driving the decline of newspaper readership: the Internet, the consolidation of department stores (and their advertising), metro sprawl, decades of job cutting and the demise of family ownership; the idea that chain papers have “slowly carved out the soul of local papers” is repeated throughout. (Publishers Weekly)

Gonzo: the life of Hunter S. Thompson by Jann Wenner and Corey Seymour; introduction by Johnny Depp.

Uproarious and unpredictable, this oral biography is a fitting look at the turbulent life of Gonzo journalism pioneer Hunter S. Thompson, a life surrounded by many but understood by few. This fine, fond biography amuses, inspires, outrages and haunts at all the right moments—and sometimes all at once. (Publishers Weekly)

100s Philosophy, Occult, Psychology

The Power of Body Language: how to succeed in every business and social encounter by Reiman, Tonya

An expert in the field of nonverbal communication explains how to interpret others' gestures and expressions and understand the nonverbal messages that they are sending to others, with explanations of specific gestures, facial cues, body positions, and body movements. (Book Jacket)

House Lust: America's obsession with our homes by Mcginn, Daniel
Despite the current downturn in the housing market, the country's mania for homes that exploded during the last half-decade is still alive and well, according to Newsweek writer McGinn. The fascination with homes—talking about, valuing, scheming over, envying, shopping for, refinancing, or just plain ogling homes—has continued even after the market has cooled, McGinn argues, and can be seen in the ongoing popularity of HGTV, the 24-7 real estate and home improvement cable channel and its flagship show, House Hunters. To prove his thesis, McGinn entertainingly explores the gamut of housing obsessions, from buying personally designed and oversized trophy homes, attempting large-scale renovations and spending obscene amounts of time on real estate Web sites such as Zillow and PropertyShark to actually going out and getting a real estate license, which McGinn himself does after only minimal training. (Publishers Weekly)

Why Mars & Venus Collide: improving relationships by understanding how men and women cope differently with stress by Gray, John

When a man, after a stressful day, wants to veg out in front of the TV, he is not rejecting his wife. Rather, he is replenishing his depleted testosterone. And when a woman wants to talk about her day, she is not being a nag. It's just her way of replenishing her cuddle hormone, oxytocin. According to Gray, the fact that women have more body fat means they burn more energy than men, which makes their minds create endless to-do lists. Gray does not consider cultural differences figuring in the stress mix. If anything, Gray seems to come down hard—or focus more—on women, perhaps because women are his most likely audience. Thus, he discusses Why Women Never Forget a Quarrel; and Making a Man Happier Is Easier than You Think (in which he uses a devoted dog as an example). It's simplistic but easy to digest and no doubt headed for the bestseller lists. (Publishers Weekly)

"What's this about 'devoted dogs'?" asks Taz, the Blog Dog, naturally. "How about the devotion of a blog poster who hasn't put me up in months?"

"Taz. you're never very far from our hearts. You're always in the catalog link."

Medical Apartheid: the dark history of medical experimentation on black Americans from colonial times to the present by Harriet Washington

Medical ethicist and journalist Washington details the abusive medical practices to which African-Americans have been subjected. She begins her shocking history in the colonial period, when owners would hire out or sell slaves to physicians for use as guinea pigs in medical experiments. Into the 19th century, black cadavers were routinely exploited for profit by whites who shipped them to medical schools for dissection and to museums and traveling shows for casual public display. The most notorious case here may be the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, in which about 600 syphilitic men were left untreated by the U.S. Public Health Service so it could study the progression of the disease, but Washington asserts that it was the forerunner to a host of similar medical abuses. Among her numerous examples is the radical brain surgery performed by a University of Mississippi neurosurgeon on African-American boys as young as six who were deemed aggressive or hyperactive, a procedure he recommended for urban rioters after Watts. ... African-Americans' reproductive rights have been trampled on; soldiers, prisoners and children have been coerced into becoming subjects of experiments without therapeutic value to themselves; the federal government and private companies have utilized unwitting blacks in large-scale experiments with radiation and biological weapons, she asserts. While the worst abuses have been eliminated, Washington concludes, African-American skepticism about the medical establishment and reluctance to participate in medical research is an unfortunate result. .. Sweeping and powerful. (Kirkus Reviews)

This Week in Reading March 23 - 29

This week is good for theatre buffs. On the weekend we just had the birthdays of Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber, but during the week we also get the superb dramatist Tennessee Williams and Nobel prizewinning Italian playwright Dario Fo, as well as three from the first half of the twentieth century, Maxim Gorky, Howard Lindsay and Budd Schulberg. And to top it off we even get Eric Idle, whose Spamalot is the current muscial favorite of many theatre fans. (Too bad Angelenos have to go to Las Vegas or New York to see it, so far.) Next Sunday it's Irish playwright Sean O'Casey.

Exceptional poets also grace the list this week. A.E. Housman, Gregory Corso, Robert Frost, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. And short story writers of strong note join them, Flannery O'Connor, Nelson Algren, Judith Guest, and Marcel Ayme.

This Week's Question: Maxim Gorky, one of this week's authors, is known as the progenitor of the literary and arts movement called Social Realism, but which other one said the following to counter earlier critics who preferred Romanticism? "To represent a bad thing in its least offensive light, is doubtless the most agreeable course for a writer of fiction to pursue; but is it the most honest, or the safest?"

Answer to Last Week's Question: We asked you to fill out the survey on the library's home page to help the website committee figure out how to improve the website. We hope you told them how you enjoy reading the blog and submitted suggestions for them for how we might improve this part of the Glendale Public Library's online offerings, too. It's not too late. It's still there. Thanks.

Listen to a book via Playaway!

Listen to the Glendale Public Library’s newest sound – Playaways (tm).

Playaways are the most simple and immediate way to enjoy full-length audio books, read by talented and engaging readers. A small plastic player holds an entire audio book. Listen with standard headphones or through your car or home MP3 audio input. We’ll even provide a set of earbuds for $1.00.

The Glendale Central Library has many popular fiction, non-fiction and children’s titles, and a variety of language learning audios are soon to follow. Borrow Playaways from the library for free with your Glendale or Pasadena library card for a three-week loan period.

They are currently located to your right just past the Circulation Desk at the Central Library. Or you can find them in the online catalog by title or by entering the keyword "Playaway".

Arthur C. Clarke, R.I.P.

The writer of 2001 and Childhood's End, among other science fiction standards, died this past week at the age of 90. Clarke has influenced our culture widely, primarily due to Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of 2001 into one of the keystones of modern cinema, but also through his work in the sciences. He created the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation to recognize and spur new discoveries in both outer space and on our own world as well.

(Photo courtesy of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation)

Federal Digital TV Converter Box Coupon Program Underway

Beginning in February 2009, television stations will begin broadcasting exclusively in digital. Currently, most television channels are broadcast in both digital and analog formats. The Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 has set February 17, 2009, as the last date for television stations to occupy the analog broadcast spectrum. Part of the reasoning behind the switch is that it will free up broadcast space for public safety communications (hence the “Public Safety” portion of the act).

This switch will affect those who currently receive free, local, analog broadcast signals over the air through the use of an antenna (e.g. “rabbit ears,” rooftop antennas). Televisions currently connected to a cable or satellite feed will not be affected by the digital switch. Cable and satellite subscribers are encouraged to check with their service providers if they have any questions regarding the transition. Many newer televisions have a built-in digital tuner. Check the owner’s manual for you television if you are not sure whether your television will require a converter box.

The Federal Government established the TV Converter Box Coupon Program to help defray the costs for those impacted by the transition from analog to digital. All U.S. households are eligible to receive up to two (2) coupons, each worth $40, to apply toward the purchase of eligible converter boxes. Note that the coupons must be used at the time of purchase and will expire 90 days after the date of issue.

The TV Converter Box Coupon Program website features a brief questionnaire to help you determine if you will need to purchase a converter box, as well as links to apply for the $40 coupon online, via telephone, or by downloading and printing out an application to submit via mail or fax. TTY English and Spanish phone numbers are provided on the site as well.

The Federal Government’s Digital Television website features a list of Frequently Asked Questions regarding the analog-to-digital program, the coupon program, and general digital television-related issues.

This Week in Reading - March 16 - 22

This week gives us some modern writers of note, John Updike, and Phillip Roth, as well as the first modern dramatist, Henrik Ibsen. But the Roman poet Ovid is worth remembering for his Metamorphosis, especially as it is related to both mythology and the history of Shakespeare, which ultimately gave rise to last week's question and which takes most of this space to answer.

This week's question: Have you filled out the survey about using the library, either in person or online, that is on the library home page? Please do.

Answer to last week's question: What are 'ides'? Ask a simple question; get a complicated answer: "Beware the Ides of March" is spoken by a soothsayer to the title character in Shakespeare's tragedy, Julius Caesar, in the second scene of the first act. It will be the day on which Caesar is assassinated by senators claiming that they do it to keep Rome a republic rather than the monarchy that Caesar's continued existence would make it. The 'ides of March' referred to March 15 specifically as a single day and it sounds to modern ears as if it should be several days, but the word is not plural.

In Latin it was 'idus' and the Elizabethans probably pronounced it with two syllables when the English spelling became "ides'. It was likely derived from the Latin word 'ides,' 'to divide,' and that is, in fact, how the month was divided in Latin parlance - from and after the fifteenth day, (in March, May, July, and October, while it was the thirteenth in the others.) There were also 'nones' in addition to ides. They were the day in each month which was nine (see the similarity?) days before the ides. (But unlike the way we count, the day you started from got counted in Rome, so the nones was usually the fifth or seventh day of the month for them, while we would think they'd be the fourth or sixth day.)

The ides was also, in the Roman calendar, the peak of the full moon, as that was easy enough for them to see by the size of the moon or lack of it. The 'calends' (hence the word 'calendar',) was the thirteenth or fifteenth day before the ides, or, as we know it, is the first day of a month. Also thirteen or fifteen days after the ides would be the darkest of the moon and then, they'd start over and count toward the 13th or 15th day of the next month. There were two calends in leap years, on February 24 and 25, to try to keep up with the cycles of the moon and sun.

Confused, yet? The Roman calendar really did things differently than you would expect a calendar to do. For one thing they didn't number the years like we do, they named each one instead. Imagine remembering the names of all the years you've been alive -- you were born in the year of "what's his name" and started your education in "the year of the emperor's wife" -- and imagine your parents telling you stories of what happened back then in the year of old so and so. (But this is probably why legal and religious forms still say, by tradition, ".. in the year of our ..")

Lastly, they had only ten months with eight days in each week; until two months were added to honor Julius Caesar (July) and Emperor Augustus (August). But they put the two new months in the middle instead of adding them to the end. This is why our tenth month is called October (octo = eighth), our eleventh is November (nove = ninth) and our twelfth is December (deca = tenth.) And, on top of that, there were twelve hours in each day and in each night so the duration of each hour varied throughout the year according to how long one-twelfth of a day or night would be in that segment of a year. Without a watch to wear you looked at the sky and moon, but it changed everyday.

Now stop complaining about having to change your clocks only twice a year. We've got it easy!

Brand Library Dance Series #2 of 3

The Associates of Brand Library are pleased to present the 2008 Brand Library Dance Series.

The second of three dance performances is this Sunday March 16th at 3:00pm in the Brand Library Art Galleries. The group performing is the Los Angeles based dance company B.E. Productions.

B.E. Productions opens a door to a world of fantasy and movement that fires the imagination. They will perform In Dark Trees, which introduces a fanciful land where the audience meets elegant “Bird of Paradise,” playful “Corkscrew Grass,” wild “Venus Flytrap” and other characters based on the creature-like portraits of dancers. Group dances like “Very, Very Hungry” demonstrate the dramatic potential of movement. Company dancer and artist Jennifer Logan will bring the experience full circle, displaying paintings she created for the piece.

Admission is FREE.


The performance will include a discussion with the choreographers and dancers. A reception for the dancers will follow the performance.

About B.E. Productions
Founded in 2004, B.E. Productions is a Los Angeles-based dance company born from years of collaboration between co-artistic directors Rebecca Levy and Eryn Schon. The company’s mission is to explore the creative process collaboratively, using cross-disciplinary connections to expand the boundaries of dance as an art form. B.E. Productions has performed in venues and festivals in the Los Angeles and Boston areas and has been praised on both coasts for its power, elegance and originality. B.E. Productions is a nonprofit company under the fiscal agency of the Dance Resource Center of Greater Los Angeles. www.beproductions.org

For more information about the dance series please visit the Brand Library website and to view images from past performances please visit the Photo Archive.

Brand Library Music Series

Associates of Brand Library Music Series
Women's Lives and Loves : A Musical Exploration

Saturday, March 15, 2008 2:00 pm
Free Admission


Diana Tash - Mezzo-soprano
Timothy Loo - Cello
Victoria Kirsch - Piano


The Associates of Brand Library are pleased to present a concert exploring women’s lives and loves, featuring songs and chamber music by Brahms, Debussy, Clara Schumann, Lori Laitman, Libby Larsen, Alan Smith and Richard Pearson Thomas.


A reception for the artists will follow the concert.

For more information and the artist biographies please visit the Brand Library website.

This Week in Reading March 9 - 15

This week is a big week with the publication of The Wealth of Nations and the start of FDR's New Deal and ending in the Ides of March with the stabbing of Julius Caesar. Although there are a few literary notables such as Jack Kerouac, Edward Albee, and Horton Foote, born this week, there are two bestselling mystery writers who would make no such claim about their work, Mickey Spillane and Carl Hiaason. One of the other authors born this week did make such a literary claim, but David Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius was entitled with his tongue firmly in cheek.

But there was another genius born this week too, an exemplar of genius in all forms, Albert Einstein, who appears by virtue of his prose writings and after his work in physics. And to fans of the science fiction - fantasy genre who also liked humor, Douglas Adams was beyond genius in his work on the universe, too. And while the Guinness Book of World Records in 2006 called L. Ron Hubbard "the most published author", perhaps only his followers would call him "genius."

This week's question: What exactly is it when we say "the ides of March"? Do other months have ides?

Answer to last week's question: Jules Feiffer, Pulitzer prizewinning cartoonist for The Village Voice, illustrator of The Phantom Tollbooth, and Little Murders playwright was Will Eisner's assistant in the 1940s during the run of Eisner's cartoon strip The Spirit.

The Check's in the Mail, or, Economic Stimulus Payments--What's in it for You?

As many have already heard or read by now, the Internal Revenue Service will be sending economic stimulus payments to more than 130 million households beginning in May. Eligible individuals will receive up to $600, while married couples will receive $1,200, and parents will also receive up to $300 for each eligible child under 17. In most cases, individuals who qualify for the rebate will need simply to file their tax returns in order to receive their payment. Per the IRS website:

To receive a payment, taxpayers must have a valid Social Security number, $3,000 of income and file a 2007 federal tax return. IRS will take care of the rest. Eligible people will receive up to $600 ($1,200 for married couples), and parents will receive an additional $300 for each eligible child younger than 17. Millions of retirees, disabled veterans and low-wage workers who usually are exempt from filing a tax return must do so this year in order to receive a stimulus payment. The IRS has posted a lot of information about the Economic Stimulus Payment (or Rebate process, including a Frequently Asked Questions page and information for individuals who do not normally file a tax return, including Social Security, Veterans Affairs, or Railroad Retirement recipients and low-wage workers and the self-employed.

A few important notes regarding rebate payments, deadlines, and protecting yourself from possible identity theft scams:

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  Per the IRS’s Economic Stimulus Payments Information Center webpage, “payments could be less, depending on tax liability and Adjusted Gross Income. Phase out reduction begins at $75,000 for single filers and $150,000 for joint filers.”
  
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  The IRS website (www.irs.gov) also has links to downloadable and printable tax forms and instructions for filing your tax return. Form 1040 tax booklets are available locally at the Glendale Main Post Office (313 E. Broadway). Form 1040 booklets and additional federal forms are available at the IRS building located at 225 W. Broadway, 2nd floor, in Glendale (open 8 a.m. — 4 p.m. weekdays).
  
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  “The IRS encourages everyone to file by the normal April 15 tax deadline: The sooner you file the sooner you can receive your stimulus payment. But if you have obtained a valid six-month extension to file or if you are filing to establish your eligibility for the stimulus payment, filing by Oct. 15 means the IRS can process your return and issue a stimulus payment before the end of the year.”
  
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  “The IRS cannot, by law, issue any economic stimulus payment checks or Direct Deposits after Dec. 31, 2008. You must file your simple tax form with enough time left in the calendar year for the IRS to process it and issue your economic stimulus payment before the end of the year.”
  
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  The IRS has posted a warning about telephone and e-mail scams using the IRS name. The scams are an attempt by identity thieves to gather personal and financial information from individuals. The IRS reminds tax payers that the only way to receive a stimulus payment is through filing a 2007 federal income tax return. “If someone claiming to be from the IRS calls or e-mails you about the payments and asks you for a Social Security, bank account or credit card number, it's a scam. The scammers are trying to get your personal and financial information so they can empty your bank account, run up charges on your credit card and more.”
  
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  Per the IRS, “Those who have received a questionable e-mail claiming to come from the IRS may forward it to a mailbox the IRS has established to receive such e-mails, phishing@irs.gov, using instructions contained in an article titled “How to Protect Yourself from Suspicious E-Mails or Phishing Schemes.” Following the instructions will help the IRS track the suspicious e-mail to its origins and shut down the scam. Find the article by visiting IRS.gov and entering the words “suspicious e-mails” into the search box in the upper right corner of the front page.”

Careers In Videogame and Computer Animation Event

Are you interested in learning about what it’s like to work in the videogame and computer animation industries? Come to the Glendale Central Library Auditorium this Saturday, March 8th, at 12 noon, and hear from three artists who have worked on videogames, animated shorts, commercials, and feature films. The panelists -- a Concept Artist, a 3D Character Modeler, and a CG Animator -- will show some of their work and will talk about what they do and how they got there. Refreshments will be provided.

Teens can stick around after the panel and play Wii on the big screen! This event is free and open to all.

"Authors, Artists & Friends" Series

Spend an evening immersed in the dark side of LA. Judith Freeman and Denise Hamilton discuss the birthplace of noir as seen through their new books, Freeman's The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved, and Hamilton's Los Angeles Noir. Free at the Glendale Public Library, Wednesday March 19 at 7:00 pm.

Freeman and Hamilton have added their names to the long list of LA-based writers who understand both the hope and the dark horror inspired by the City of Angels.

In Judith Freeman's compelling, wholly original book, The Long Embrace, she examines vestiges of the Los Angeles that was the inspiration for Chandler's imagination. She also uncovers the life of Cissy Pascal, the older, twice-divorced woman Chandler married in 1924, who would play an essential role in how he came to understand his female characters and Marlowe's relation to them.

Los Angeles Noir, edited by Glendale author Denise Hamilton, is a collection comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within LA.

"Authors, Artists & Friends" Series

Join us for a free poetry reading Monday, March 10 at 7:00 pm at the Glendale Public Library by award-winning poet and educator, Gregory Djanikian. Djanikian will read from his latest book of poems, So I Will till the Ground.

The author's fifth collection of poems, published by Carnegie Mellon Press, deals with aspects of Armenian history and family life: the Genocide of 1915, the ensuing diaspora, and the emigration of the author and his family from Egypt to the United States.

Gregory Djanikian currently directs the creative writing department at the University of Pennsylvania.

This Week in Reading March 2 - 8

The late but extremely popular Dr. Seuss, literary icons Tom Wolfe, Frank Norris, and Nobel Prizewinner Gabriel Garcia-Marquez were born in this week. All have certainly had respectable sales, but from now through the rest of the year, upcoming weeks will be filled with notables but few bestselling authors. You could make a case for the continued popularity of humorist Sholem Aleichem, referred to as "the Yiddish Mark Twain", and Ring Lardner whose humorous stories of innocent street types in bygone New York pleased magazine readers. Unlike Dr. Seuss, Aleichem and Lardner were known more for a specific audience, than broad commercial interest.

In addition to Dr. Seuss, the week also brings us three more illustrators of note in the cartoon spectrum. Howard Pyle drew and wrote adventures for young audiences, particulary his 1883 classic The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, which is still in print. It was a "Hollywoodized" version of a legend, made easier for mass audiences to swallow, before there even was a Hollywood. It's been said that Van Gogh was a fan. Will Eisner drew and wrote comic books and small magazines from the 1930s to the 1970s. Then he created a novel length story told through pictures--a format we now commonly refer to as a graphic novel. Ronald Searle, an English illustrator with a delightfully twisted sense of humor, gave us St. Trinian's School for Girls as well as many cartoon cats.

This week's question: Which famous playwright and illustrator worked closely as an assistant to Will Eisner during his comic book years?

Answer to last week's question: In his 1957 National Book Award speech, poet Richard Wilbur spoke of the writing of poetry as a solitary endeavor, "an unsocial way of manufacturing a thoroughly social product." He also said, "Yet of course he is pleased when recognition comes; for what better proof is there that for some people poetry is still a useful and necessary thing — like a shoe."