Oct 29 2010

In the Mail: 21st Century Skills

21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times

Synopsis

The world has undergone foundational shifts in recent decades—widespread advances in technology and communications, booming economic developments and increased competition, and the escalation of global challenges from financial meltdowns to global warming. How can we prepare students to meet the challenges of our century if our schools remain virtually unchanged?

This essential resource introduces a framework for 21st century learning that maps out the skills needed to survive and thrive in a complex and connected world. A 21st century education includes knowledge of traditional core subjects such as reading, writing, and arithmetic—but also emphasizes contemporary themes such as global awareness and financial/economic, health, and environmental literacies. Students in 21st century schools will apply their knowledge to understanding and solving real-world challenges using their 21st century skills.

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Oct 28 2010

Penguin Radio Fright Edition

In this episode of The Literary Life, Penguin Radio investigates fright: that disturbing feeling that can spring from the most unlikely of places—even the pages of books.

Sarah Waters joins us to discuss her newest book, The Little Stranger, a gothic novel and finalist for the Man Booker Prize that critics have compared to Henry James and Edgar Allen Poe. Koren Zailckas, author of Smashed and Fury joins us to rant about what not to do when reading your own audiobook in our latest installation of The Writer’s Rant. Rich Hasselberger explains why designing a book jacket for a thriller is different than for a paranormal romance. We’ll also hear from Kristin Hersh, founder of the band Throwing Muses, whose memoir, Rat Girl, tells the harrowing story of being a young indie rock musician at the birth of the alternative music movement in the 1980s.

By Kevin Holtsberry • News • 0 • Tags: , , , , ,

Oct 28 2010

In the Mail: Everything Explained Through Flowcharts

Everything Explained Through Flowcharts: All of Life’s Mysteries Unraveled, Including Tips for World Domination, Which Religion Offers the Best Afterlife, … the Secret Recipe for Gettin’ Laid Lemona

Synopsis

Everything Explained Through Flowcharts is packed with meticulously designed charts that trace the labyrinthine connections that order the universe, illuminate life’s great mysteries, and cause eye strain in senior citizens. Swiss scientists at the prestigious University of Helsinki have said that Everything Explained Through Flowcharts is the closest thing there is to a working unified field theory, and have gone on to claim that they aren’t Swiss, aren’t scientists, and aren’t sure whether or not Helsinki is in Switzerland. And yet the Swiss consulate has not denied that this book contains more than two hundred illustrations, forty mammoth charts, and innumerable supporting graphs and essays, including:

  • An illustrated matrix of WWF Finishing Moves
  • Heavy metal band names taxonomy
  • The noble art of zeppelin warfare demystified
  • How to win any argument
  • Tragedy to comedy conversion chart for comedians
  • A creepy drawing of a baby skeleton
  • How to tell if you’re an evil twin

    • By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , ,

    Oct 19 2010

    In the Mail: The Heroine’s Bookshelf

    The Heroine’s Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder by Erin Blakemore

    Publishers Weekly

    Marketing consultant Blakemore finds that in moments of struggle and stress she revisits her favorite childhood women authors and their plucky heroines for respite, escape, and perspective. Jane Austen, who broke off an engagement and threw away her last chance at a respectable marriage, poked fun at polite society and its expectations of women in her novels, and she created a self-assured, self-respecting protagonist in Pride and Prejudice’s Lizzy Bennet–who also doesn’t need a man to complete her even if Lizzy does get a rich, handsome husband in the end. As Blakemore pushes against the boundaries of her own life, she also identifies with selfish Scarlett O’Hara, who, lacking in self-awareness and oblivious to the emotions of others, shoulders life’s burdens and moves ahead, “her decisions swift, self-serving, and without compromise.” The Little House on the Prairie series reminds Blakemore that when we focus on people and life instead of on material possessions, we learn to acknowledge what really counts. She finds inspiration, too, in Little Women, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Color Purple, and Anne of Green Gables, and offers some nuggets of wisdom, but for the most part, her observations are familiar and pat.

    By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

    Oct 18 2010

    In the Mail: Lindbergh vs. Roosevelt

    Lindbergh vs. Roosevelt: The Rivalry That Divided America by James Duffy

    Synopsis

    Was aviation pioneer and popular American hero Charles A. Lindbergh a Nazi sympathizer and anti-Semite? Or was he the target of a vicious personal vendetta by President Roosevelt? In Lindbergh vs. Roosevelt, author James Duffy tackles these questions head-on, by examining the conflicting personalities, aspirations, and actions of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Charles A. Lindbergh. Painting a politically incorrect portrait of both men, Duffy shows how the hostility between these two American giants divided the nation on both domestic and international affairs. From canceling U.S. air mail contracts to intervening in World War II, Lindberg and Roosevelt’s clash of ideas and opinions shaped the nation’s policies here and abroad. Insightful, and engaging, Lindbergh vs. Roosevelt reveals the untold story about two of history’s most controversial men, and how the White House waged a smear campaign against Lindbergh that blighted his reputation forever.

    By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , , , ,

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