I think everyone who has to buy gas for a car should read this book. We can all remember the $4.00 per gallon gas prices of two years ago and we feel like it is such a relief to not have to pay those rates in this bad economy. However, according to this author, we are living in a false paradise.
According to Rubin, gas pump prices went up so dramatically because the total amount of oil available for refining is decreasing. The amount of available oil in the world is decreasing. That means that no matter how we cut back, or decrease demand (which is the reason why gas prices have been lower the last two years), the amount of oil left in the world is finite and dwindling. When we use it, there won't be any more. Rubin predicts that when demand for oil increases again, which it will since prices are lower, the price will start to creep back up. We are already seeing it as gas pump prices are nearing $3.00 per gallon.
But forget about the more immediate implications of oil scarcity in gas prices. Look at what a dwindling world oil supply means for the way we live our lives. The delicious apples you bought at the grocery store last week are affordable, even though they were grown hundreds or even thousands of miles away from here, because the price of oil was cheap enough to transport them here. What if oil was three or four hundred dollars a barrel? How could the apple grower afford to ship their produce to Florida from Washington state? They couldn't. We would have to go without apples for part of the year. We would have to rely on locally grown produce or locally manufactured products for our consumption. Think about the implications of that for the way we currently live our lives.
Rubin makes the optimistic point that a shortage of oil could be good for the United States' economy. Conceivably, we could have more jobs in this country because no one can afford to ship products from overseas. But the adjustment to that sort of economy is going to be a very painful one.
Debbi Dinkins
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Isadora: A Sensational Life by Peter Kurth
About a year ago, the Library received a suggestion in our suggestion box about getting more books and other materials on celebrities. Since I am the person responsible for most of the materials that we add to the Library's collection, I took this suggestion to heart. I keep a list in the back of my mind as I read reviews and surf the internet. looking for interesting books, videos, and e-resources that will support our students and faculty in their research. Now, I have added celebrity bios to the list.
In a recent gift collection, I found a book on Isadora Duncan by Peter Kurth. I decided to add it to the Library because it was about a celebrity. Granted, a long dead celebrity (Isadora Duncan died in 1927), but a big celebrity of her day, none the less. And now I'm reading the book for this review.
I knew very little about Duncan before I started reading the book. Of course, I knew that she was a dancer and a little unconventional for her time, but that was about it. Turns out she was not only a famous dancer but a dancer with little if any formal training. She essentially developed what we think of today as "modern dance". She believed that dance is just an expression of the forces around us and the body's movement is just an outlet for those forces.
There are videos of her and about her on YouTube. Here are a couple of links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKtQWU2ifOs and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEkf3lBzJn4&feature=related
The book is interesting and gives a great deal of insight into Duncan's life. The chapters are grouped by phases in her life, from her early years in San Franciso, to her time in Europe, specifically Paris and London, to her later life filled with tragedy. Duncan lost two children to drowning. She was never secure financially, even with all of her fame and the fact that she had her own dance school. She was known for her "wild" lifestyle with numerous lovers and her fondness for alcohol. She was a champion of women's rights. And when she died, she was a citizen of the Soviet Union.
If you are interested in dance, or even in celebrities that were just as wild in their day as some in the present day, like any of those crazy reality TV celebs, then you will like this book. I think its main message is that even the most outrageous celebrities leave a mark on our collective conscious.
Debbi Dinkins
In a recent gift collection, I found a book on Isadora Duncan by Peter Kurth. I decided to add it to the Library because it was about a celebrity. Granted, a long dead celebrity (Isadora Duncan died in 1927), but a big celebrity of her day, none the less. And now I'm reading the book for this review.
I knew very little about Duncan before I started reading the book. Of course, I knew that she was a dancer and a little unconventional for her time, but that was about it. Turns out she was not only a famous dancer but a dancer with little if any formal training. She essentially developed what we think of today as "modern dance". She believed that dance is just an expression of the forces around us and the body's movement is just an outlet for those forces.
There are videos of her and about her on YouTube. Here are a couple of links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKtQWU2ifOs and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEkf3lBzJn4&feature=related
The book is interesting and gives a great deal of insight into Duncan's life. The chapters are grouped by phases in her life, from her early years in San Franciso, to her time in Europe, specifically Paris and London, to her later life filled with tragedy. Duncan lost two children to drowning. She was never secure financially, even with all of her fame and the fact that she had her own dance school. She was known for her "wild" lifestyle with numerous lovers and her fondness for alcohol. She was a champion of women's rights. And when she died, she was a citizen of the Soviet Union.
If you are interested in dance, or even in celebrities that were just as wild in their day as some in the present day, like any of those crazy reality TV celebs, then you will like this book. I think its main message is that even the most outrageous celebrities leave a mark on our collective conscious.
Debbi Dinkins
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