THE NETWORKED TEACHER: How New Teachers Build Social Networks for Professional Support By Kira J. Baker-Doyle C’97 GEd’99 Gr’08 (Teachers College Press, 2011. $27.95) To demonstrate how social-support networks—both online and face-to-face—provide new educators with needed resources, curriculum ideas, and emotional support, Baker-Doyle follows four novice teachers in public schools. She also explains the research and theory behind those networks, while a companion website offers discussion forums and networking tools. Baker-Doyle, a co-founder of John & Kira’s Chocolates [“Gazetteer,” Sep|Oct 2002], is an assistant professor of education at Pennsylvania State University-Berks. BUY THIS BOOK
IS THIS NORMAL? The Essential Guide to Middle Age and Beyond By John Whyte C’88 (Rodale, 2011. $25.99) Is it normal to sleep less as we age, and to lose inches in height while gaining some in the waistline? What’s the difference between simple absentmindedness and early signs of Alzheimer’s? Whyte, chief medical expert for the Discovery Channel, answers these and other questions as he unravels the biological process of aging and how we can prevent or treat some health problems—and how to recognize when they signal something more serious. BUY THIS BOOK
ANNI ULTIMI: A Roman Stoic Guide to Retirement, Old Age and Death By Alan Scribner C’58 and J.C. Douglas Marshall G’64 Gr’67 (Torcular Press, 2011. $19.95) The Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca addressed concerns related to old age as early as the first century CE. Scribner, an independent scholar of ancient Rome, and Marshall, a former teacher of Latin and Greek, have translated Seneca’s letters to offer modern readers guidance on navigating retirement, coping with aging and physical frailty, and dealing with the fear of death in accordance with Seneca’s Stoicism, a philosophy of inner strength coupled with understanding and intelligence. BUY THIS BOOK
CLEAN: Poems By Kate Northrop C’91 (Persea Books, 2011. $15) The third book of poetry by Northrop, an associate professor of English at the University of Wyoming, combines a spare clarity of observation with a dream-like movement from the psyche to the raw outdoors. BUY THIS BOOK
ISMA’ILI MODERN: Globalization and Identity in a Muslim Community By Jonah Steinberg CGS’99 Gr’06 (University of North Carolina Press, 2011. $59.95 cloth, $24.95 paper) Drawing on Isma’ili history, globalization theories, and his own journeys into the remote Himalayan regions of Tajikistan and Pakistan, Steinberg, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Vermont, reveals a modern, anti-fundamentalist society. BUY THIS BOOK
SHRINK RAP: Three Psychiatrists Explain Their Work By Dinah Miller C’84, Annette Hanson and Steven Roy Daviss (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011. $45.00) Based on a blog created by these three working psychiatrists, Shrink Rap offers a wry examination of their work. Through individual patient cases, they cover everything from the minutiae of deciding how much to charge to larger discussions of technology, treatments, and tricky issues like involuntary hospitalization. In addition to her private practice, Miller is a consulting psychiatrist for the Johns Hopkins Hospital Community Psychiatry Program. BUY THIS BOOK
HOLY WARS: 3000 Years of Battles in the Holy Land By Gary L. Rashba C’90 (Casemate Publishers, 2011. $32.95) After his induction into the Israeli Defense Forces [“Alumni Voices,” Jan|Feb 2003], Rashba began compiling this millennia-long history of violence in the Middle East. Beginning with the Israelites’ capture of Jericho and ending with Israel’s recent clashes with Hezbollah and Hamas, he studies a series of pivotal battles over the Holy Land during the Arab, Mamluk, Napoleonic, and Ottoman eras. By dissecting its history, Rashba offers perspective on the region’s ongoing conflicts. BUY THIS BOOK
