November 2015 New Books

Here's a list of the new books added to the library's collections in November 2015.

Special kudos to our student worker extraordinaire (and future librarian!) Kari Horan, who put together this list and edited the publisher's summaries for brevity.

November New Books

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Gamify your Semester

One of the skills I've cultivated over the years is converting boring or tedious tasks into relatively entertaining activities. Life is full of junk that has to be done--doing homework, grading papers, washing dishes, doing laundry. Some of it is fun in itself, like reading books for a class that you really love. But it helps to have some outside motivation to do the things that you consider boring.

Enter gamification.

Habitica

I just discovered this one, and I wish it had been around when I was a student.
(Who am I kidding, when I was a student, there were no "apps"--we played RPGs the old fashioned way, with dice and a human DM. And I, of course, was way to cool to be a D&D nerd. Not.)

Back to my point. Habitica is an RPG, with all the hallmarks of that kind of game--you design and upgrade your avatar, earn gold, fight monsters with raiding parties, join guilds.

If that sentence makes no sense to you, then skip down to Mindbloom, below. That game might be more up your alley.

But if you are all about RPGs, what if you could play one and NOT be wasting time? In Habitica, your "ToDo's" give you gold when you complete them. You choose your goals, the type of goals, and whether each one gives you a lot of gold or a little gold based on how hard they are for you. Then you can buy rewards with the gold you earn--weapons, armor, or new looks for your avatar.

Sound like fun? Check it out online first at habitica.com and then download the iOS or Droid app on your phone. (Go online first, because there is a quick tutorial and the interface is much easier to navigate...and you can't play with your avatar on the phone app).

Mindbloom

Mindbloom is a much more sensory experience, with inspirational music and images. There are no monsters to fight here. It is restful and lovely to put on your headphones and grow your tree each day. The "game" is to give your tree sun as you gain inspiration to complete your goals and give it rain as you complete specific actions. Then the tree grows, giving you seeds that allow you to change your Mindbloom experience. Mindbloom is very much a life coaching kind of experience, where you create branches for different parts of your life, including lifestyle, career, health, creativity, finance, relationships, and so on. For students, the career branch can include studying or whatever specific tasks you need to do in school.

Mindbloom's social tools fit the theme. You can see the forest of your friend's trees, and you can share with them or on social media your progress. It is perfectly possible to use Mindbloom effectively without social interaction, if you prefer that.

Mindbloom's mobile website supports use on your phone or other device* and the company has a whole range of related apps that I haven't explored yet.

Feel free to message me about your experience with these apps, or if you know of other gamification tools you'd recommend.

Have a great semester!

Addendum 1/15: I haven't successfully used Mindbloom mobile on my Samsung Note, but it does work on my iPad so there might be some issues with Android devices.

What We're Following: Welcome to Night Vale

         Dinner conversation wandered from the weather to traffic to the Faceless Old Woman to the Sheriff’s Secret Police. That is how I discovered Welcome to Night Vale, a bi-weekly podcast and series of novels written by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor. It turned out that “The Weather” and “Traffic” are regular segments on the show.
        The show’s premise is as a community-radio program reporting to a small fictional town. While this is a similar conceit to A Prairie Home Companion, Night Vale has more in common with Stephen King’s Derry or Lovecraft’s Arkham than Lake Wobegon. Our host Cecil (played by Cecil Baldwin) reports on mundane goings-on like the opening of the New Old Opera House, a plot to steal the Registry of Middle-School Crushes, or the escape of Antiques.
        Each episode is a self-contained story, so I was glad I didn’t have to catch up on years of backstory to jump into Night Vale. Despite Cecil and guest-stars like Wil Wheaton and Jackson Publick taking us through story arcs (Carlos does eventually return from the Desert Otherworld inside the Dog Park), it seems sometimes as if Night Vale - where screen actor Lee Marvin just turned 30 - will never change.
        Welcome to Night Vale is an absurd and surreal kind of comedy. It has occasionally raised the hair on my arms, to be sure, but I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to replay a segment I missed thanks to my own laughter. I’m glad to have its weirdness in my ears twice a month. If deadpan humor like The Addams Family or A Season of Unfortunate Events is something you enjoy, I suggest you take a trip to Night Vale as soon as you can.

What We're Reading: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

This blog entry is the first in a series of reviews of items in the J.A. Jones library collections. If you are interested in writing a review for this series, let me know. I'd love to see a variety of voices guest blogging here. Below is Nancy Williard's review of Harper Lee's controversial sequel/early draft of To Kill a Mockingbird that was published this year. Let us know what you thought of this book in the comments--we'd love to talk about it.

And, if you want to read the book, you can find it in our rental book collection near the photocopier on the main floor of the library.

From Nancy Williard:

Aside from the intrigue of seeing what preceded the famous work by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, this earlier work is a fine story in itself. Jean Louise Finch, formerly “Scout”, is twenty-six, fresh from New York, and viewing her old hometown, Maycomb, Alabama, with the judgmenta
l eye. Through this visit the 1950’s Southern view of race relations is balanced against the more activist “color-blind” perception of the New Yorker that Jean Louise professes. The discussion of race relations is interesting to compare with the justification of Southern culture found in The Help, a more recent book set in the same time period. Scout’s headstrong rejection of Southern manners and sensibilities is as humorous and compelling as it was when Scout wore her overalls to town in To Kill a Mockingbird. Once again, Jean Louise, Scout, causes a social upheaval that involves many of our favorite characters, Calpurnia, Atticus, and Aunt Alexandra, and a new one, Henry “Hank” Clinton, a love interest. Although I found the ending lacking, I was fascinated to see where the seeds for To Kill a Mockingbird began.  What was kept and what was left out?

October New Books

Last month's additions to the Jones Library... October New Books and DVD's

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Giving Thanks 2015

I have been at BC now for a little more than a year, and it has been a truly wonderful experience. It has been a long time since I've been this happy with my work, my home, and my life. And that happiness is despite family deaths, fire, and illness that had the potential for making this a really terrible year. I think that this lovely college and community is helping me be more resilient. I thank the Brevard community for being so welcoming and comfortable.

I was talking to a dear friend of mine that I've known for 20+ years, and he reminded me of what I was looking for in my workplace at that time. I wanted to work at a residential liberal arts college that cared about its students and had an environmental ethic. And now, a lifetime later, I've found it in Brevard.

I have always been devoted to the idea of a residential liberal arts education, since my undergraduate career at Capital University shaped my outlook on life in so many ways. BC certainly supplies that. Students live together, play together, and learn together. They talk about ideas both in class and out of it. A part of BC will be carried with them throughout their lives.

And Brevard College walks the walk of its student-centered mission. Every college I have been affiliated with claims to be "student-centered," but the heart of BC really does focus on its students. Every single faculty member is here because they care about their students, and I see that caring in and out of the classroom. Administration focuses on students and learning when they make their decisions, too. It's not about making money first, although certainly we need to do that to keep the doors open,  "Branding" the college isn't about creating a facade for name-recognition; BC's "brand" is the heart of what it does. It focuses is on how our experiential learning mission makes us different from other colleges and therefore attractive and a benefit to more students.

What better place than beautiful Brevard, NC, to have a college that takes cares about the environment? Solar panels on the cafeteria and charging stations for electric cars are among this years' campus improvements. The General Education Curriculum includes an environmental issue component. There are majors in environmental studies and wilderness leadership. And we have one of the best cycling teams in the country. How cool is that?

35 Titles for Your Job and Career Search

Obviously, not all of our career resource books have numbers in their titles, but here's a fun list of some books that do. All of the eBooks are available through Brevard College's Jones Library. Print books are located in the Career Services resource collection in the AEC. As always, see Nacole for awesome advice and help with careers and job-hunting!

35 books about job hunting and careers

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