Because I Require Stimulation

Oh, hi.

Been looking at books on Amazon, just snooping around for interesting stuff. Then I noticed this. It’s one of those things where I wonder if there’s a series I didn’t know about.

Greetings, salutations, and how the hell are ya?

The latest issue of Dr. Gonzo Recommends is online for the reading. I mean, you could read it… if you wanted to. I guess?

I’m a data guy.

Recently, I finished a project where I collected data from the last two years of my branch library’s operation along with the last two years of the District’s operation. I chose two years because it was two years ago when we opened our new branch. I also drew out the spreadsheet to cover a full four years. Then I gathered the data, and put it into the spreadsheets so I could chart trends, make graphs, and observe and predict changes.

I wasn’t asked to do this. It was my own side project. I did it, and I’m still doing it, because I’m curious.

That’s it, just curious. I wanted to know some stuff – that’s all.

Given my love of cover art, when you combine cover art and data you’ll find one very happy library nerd sitting at my desk. So have a look at a lovely chart showing the trends in fantasy cover art from 2009 and, when you’re done with that, go check out the story behind it. I did, and I sure wasn’t sorry.

The latest issue of Dr. Gonzo Recommends is now online with all the latest recommendations from the totally non-credible source that is Dr. Gonzo himself. (In a word, me.)

This issue comes with 100% more Hedy Lamarr, absolutely free!

When we first opened, my boss asked if there was any place in the library we wanted to “adopt� as being the place where we set up displays based on the items in that area. Naturally I chose the science section. Since then, I’ve kept a display going that’s basically just suggested items, books, and the like. Nothing much, and certainly not at all eye catching. Then today, I decided to do something a little different.

I wanted to bring some attention to that area, maybe educate a little and, of course, whip a few items for the patrons to try out. Now then, that’s pretty easy when you think about it and there are some other things I have in mind for that area. Still, for the time being, I think this is better than what I had and that’s the most important thing. Here, take a look:

So I snagged a colourful and humourous SCIENCE image. It has no point but to be funny and kind of label the science display. Other than that, pure amusement for myself and other geeks. For those not as into science, it also presents a look at the subject as something that may not be as bone dry as they think. I stuck the image into a clear, plastic stand so it’s fairly well protected and will stand on its own. I’ll change this out every so often with similar images. They may not always be funny, but they will serve as eye candy.

On the top shelf, I’m going to have something new every week. I want a beautiful science related image and then, next to it, a little bit about what that image is. For the very first one, I did something simple that anyone could do. I found a gorgeous picture of the Large Hadron Collider and then I bounced over to Wikipedia and grabbed a clip from an article on the subject. (Of course, I cited my source on the paper.) This way, there are two eye catching images related to the section along with a quickie blurb about something in the realm of scientific niftyness.

In other words, I’m actually displaying something now, rather than just standing books on their ends.

Hi all!

The latest issue of Dr. Gonzo Recommends is now available for your coffee coaster usage. It looks stunning with a ring of French Roast emblazoned across it!

Four pages this time around with a super manga science section! (Everybody disco dancing!)

I have no idea how this could be comfortable… then again, she got my attention.

The latest issue of Dr. Gonzo Recommends is available and ready for your reading enjoyment. Or perhaps you could print it out and recycle it.

Either way, enjoy!

The latest issue of my new arrivals newsletter is now available online!

This one is a little longer than the norm (If two previous issues are enough to establish a norm.) because I skipped last week. It wasn’t that I wanted to or anything, there just wasn’t all that much to write about that week. So I snagged a couple of items, threw them on a waiting list, and included them in this issue.

Enjoy!

Okay, I’m going to keep this post as clean and family friendly as possible, but quite frankly the very nature of this book precludes such things.

You see, it’s a zombie book and anyone who knows me knows that I love zombie anything. I love zombie movies and video games even though the plot is always the same and can be summed up thusly: “OH MY GOD! ZOMBIES! However did that happen? We must kill them before they kill us!� Zombie books are just a natural extension of my love and I’ve read too many to keep track of.

Ah, but here is something new.

So you’re at a wild party, the kind where people are getting it on in the walk-in closet. And suddenly, they start turning into zombies, because the zombie virus/disease/whatever it is that makes a zombie isn’t transmitted through the normal biting or eating of brains.

No, it’s a sexually transmitted disease.

This will be epic, my friends. Absolutely epic.

Edit: Cleaned up some typos and grammar issues. That’s what happens when you write a blog post before you’ve had coffee.

The latest issue of Dr. Gonzo Recommends is done and available!

In this issue we cover the history of baseball, books in Spanish, and more!

So the 700^th issue of Batman is coming up. For such a big occasion, writers and artists will usually want to do some game changing, redevelopment, character enhancing whatever that they ultimately have to undo later on because everybody liked the character as they were before all that crap started.

By the way, did you know that Bruce Wayne is dead? Yeah, so was Clark Kent… I’m sure this’ll last for a long time.

Anyway for the 700^th issue they’re not doing that. They doing what they should do.

They’re writing a mystery, starring Batman. It’s a three part story and it’s a true who-done-it. They want you to see if you can solve the case.

More info, if you have the interest!

The library I used to work at has a blog and I totally didn’t know about it! It’s a site detailing recommended books and several of my friends and librarians post to it! They’ve got diverse and eclectic tastes, so if you’re into book review blogs or need something to read, it’s worth checking out!

Now I need to convince them to set up a Twitter feed for that sucker. Gimme a sec while I fire up Outlook!

Back in the day, at a different branch, I had a poster on my office window where the public could see it. It simply recommended a book or other library item that I thought was worth a recommendation. I called that poster Dr. Gonzo Recommends because Dr. Gonzo is my nickname around here and I figured it sounded like a better title than Dan Recommends. When I changed branches and started working here in Lake Woebegone, AZ I stopped doing it mostly because I don’t have an office with a public window.

However, inspired by my colleague who turns out not one, but two, library newsletters on a regular basis, I decided to try my hand at the game. I simply passed the name from that poster onto title of the newsletter. Since my friend is handling What We’re Reading This Week and Writer’s Almanac, I wanted to take on an area that wasn’t covered and that area is new arrivals to our system. Now these items may not be brand new, hot off the presses things. In many cases they’re older things that we didn’t own until recently. So the newsletter can be a mix of new, bestseller type items and “new to us” stuff. (If that makes any sense at all.)

I wanted it to look kinda snazzy and eye catching since my idea was to hang it on the new item bookshelves as well as posting it online. So I decided to go the FLOSS route and use as much free and open source software as I could to produce the thing. That wasn’t too hard actually, and it was a good exercise in seeing what’s available and what you can do in the realm of FLOSS publishing for libraries. In this instance, I use a notebook running Windows 7, but that’s merely the OS. For the production of the newsletter I used OpenOffice for copy editing. Layout and desktop publishing was handled by Scribus. Web access came through Firefox and Google Chrome.

After the initial pain in the ass that is laying out a new page for text and graphics, I got something I really liked and started working with it. I snagged new item informaiton from the library’s RSS feeds and compiled it all together in a three page newsletter.

So ladies and gentlemen, here’s the newest, and first, issue of Dr. Gonzo Recommends!

The latest feeds came down a few days ago, but I was in the middle of moving house so I just sat on them until now when I actually have some, you know, free time. This time around, things are on a mellow sort of sci-fi groove with a little pop tart to go with it.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 1

What do you get when you take bad science fiction movies, lousy horror films, and those inane short documentary films they showed you in high school; and then combine them with a guy living in a space station and his two robot pals? You get absolute hilarity in the form of MST3K. These shows were some of the funniest things to ever appear on TV and many of them caused me physical pain from laughing so hard.

Long For This World: The Strange Science of Immorality
Jonathan Weiner

It’s been said that life is a disease; sexually transmitted and ultimately fatal. Well, perhaps we can look upon death in the same way. As the years go buy, we’re living longer. Medical advances in disease treatment help that, surely. But what if we look upon death as just another disease, in other words, something needing a cure? You want to live forever? You might just be able to.

The Laws Of Illusion
Sarah McLachlin

I’ve been a Sarah McLachlin fan for most of my life. She’s got a certain quality to her music that I find lacking in a lot of other music. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a musical snob, as my next recommendation will attest. Still, even though I like pop tunes, there’s a certain difference between that stuff and music. McLachlin makes music, and it tends to be awesome.

Bionic
Christina Aguilera

So here’s the deal. You gotta have “junk� in everything. Yeah I read lots of good science books and literary stuff. I also read bad sci-fi and supernatural romances. Look, if you want to be all erudite and scholarly, fine. Me, I like to have a little fun and while I expect this album to have little in the way of artistic redemption, I expect it to be a helluva lotta fun.

All Time Greatest Hits
Ferrante & Teicher

Almost anyone under the age of 40 is going to look at this recommendation and wonder “Who?� No, not The Who, but two of the greatest pianists who ever lived. Ferrante & Teicher played piano duets and turned out some of the greatest instrumental tunes of all time. If you’re into standards, classics, or just superb piano playing, this is your album.

I know I don’t post here too often and that’s because I know that many of the things I find interesting are quite boring to other library folk, even those working in the same field as I am. (In this case, public library circulation.)

But, you know, what’s a library and librarian blog without some upcoming titles of things I want to read? And by “want to read� I mean I am physically lusting after some of this stuff. Our library uses Wowbrary to generate content (and RSS feeds FTW) based on new items added to our catalogue. Since I’m a total library nerd, I get selected feeds in my Google Reader, and receive an email with all the latest updates. Thanks to that, I know what’s coming and can place reserves accordingly. This time we have a whole bunch of cool stuff for the hot summer months:

He Walked Among Us
Norman Spinrad

Norman Spinrad is a science fiction deity. His latest work involves a man, a stand up comic, who might just be a time traveling savior of humanity come to rescue us from a terrible future. How? The power of laughter, of course!

Ghosts Of Manhattan
George Mann

While Publishers Weekly is panning this one, I find the ideas irresistible. Set in an alternate, steampunk Manhattan of the Roaring ‘20s we find the city protected by The Ghost. While the summaries don’t talk much about him, the cover image depicts him as a cross between The Shadow and The Spirit. Gritty and comic book-ish, this sounds like the perfect book for a hot summer afternoon.

How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe
Charles Yu

This is a funny and heartwarming story of a man’s search for his father… through quantum space-time. Set in a world where people go time traveling all the time, Charles Yu (the author and protagonist) acts as a fix-it guy, trying to stop people from changing the past.

Sympathy For The Devil
Various

A collection of short stories by the same publisher who brought you The Living Dead, By Blood We Live, and The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. So let’s get this straight, this collection includes devlish stories by the likes of Stephen King, Scott Westerfield, and Holly Black? Yeah, I am all for this.

Voyager: Seeking Newer Worlds In The Third Great Age Of Discover
Stephen J. Pyne

I’m a historian and the history of science is on of my specialties. The Voyager probes are a wonder of human endeavour and technology. Pyne examines the programme that changed our perceptions not only of the universe, but also of ourselves.

Hot X: Algebra Exposed
Danica McKellar

While most people remember Danica McKellar as Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, many more are becoming acquainted with her through her books on mathematics. A respected mathematician and popularizer of the subject, she returns with her third book to show that yes, math can be fun and cool.