Credits

Ode to Audio Books During Audio Book Month

June is Audio Book Month! So many books, so little time. From books on tape, to books on CD, to the latest format Play-away…

I love to read and have enjoyed the activity – or is it inactivity – my whole life. As my life has become more hectic, whenever I sit down to read I fall asleep, making it hard to keep up with all the interesting books I’d like to read. So I was happy to discover audio books: they allow me to “read” without having to sit down. I can “read” while doing boring housework and when working in the yard. Some people listen to audio books when commuting or traveling.

I recently enjoyed listening to an old favorite, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.  The audio book experience was just as intense as reading the print version and seeing it as a movie.

Technology on the move…

Just like videocassettes, audio cassettes are being phased out; but we do still have many audio books available in this format. Our collection of books on CD continues to grow and we have started getting books on Play-away. A Play-away is an audio book on a small MP3 player. They’re great: you don’t need to have your own player to listen; all you need is a set of earphones, or ear buds, to plug into the device and you can play-away…(there are ear buds available for sale at the AV and reference desks).

You can also download audio books, come in and talk to the AV department or give them a call, at 781-314-3425 X5, for specifics. If you’re a resident of Waltham and want to start downloading right away, you can do that from home.

Thanks to audio books, where reading used to be a solo activity it can now be one of many activities.   Of course I do, on occasion, still sit down to read, being sure to set my alarm first…just in case…zzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz !!!

posted by Jeanette

Books on Steroids

Those of you who read my posts  know that I’m a baseball fan, and love to read anything to do with the sport. (I have the book, Catcher at home and can’t wait to start it.) With the recent news regarding the suspension of Boston’s erstwhile left fielder, Manny Ramirez, I figured it would be a good time to highlight some of the titles on the history of performance enhancing drugs in baseball.

  • Juiced by Jose Canseco.
    Okay, so Mr. Canseco won’t be winning a Pulitzer Prize for his writing, anytime soon. And, he most likely had an agenda when he wrote this book. But, you have to give him credit for calling attention to the steroid issue in baseball. He’s been pretty right on with most of the names. (He pointed the finger at Alex Rodriguez in his second book, Vindicated well before Selena Roberts’s story was released. And, I have to give kudos to any celebrity who writes two books without the use of a ghostwriter.
  • Juicing the Game by Howard Bryant
    Those of you who became acquainted with Bryant through his writings in the Boston Herald or his excellent book, Shut Out, detailing the racial history of the Boston Red Sox, will find another gem, here. Unlike Canseco’s opus, there’s no agenda, here, but rather a very detailed history of what’s been going on in baseball the last several years.  Bryant delves into deeper topics, here, such as the 1994 Major League Baseball strike, and the rise of Commissioner, Bud Selig. Bryant also spreads the responsibility of the problem to a variety of areas, including Selig, himself. If you read one book on the topic, this would be a good bet.
  • Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams
    You can’t have a discussion about steroids in the modern game without mentioning either the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) or Barry Bonds. BALCO was involved in a scandal when it was discovered that they allegedly supplied performance enhancing drugs to athletes such as Bonds and Olympic track star, Marion Jones. San Francisco Chronicle reporters, Fainaru-Wada and Williams, conducted investigative journalism on the company, as well as the man chasing Hank Aaron’s cherished lifetime home run record. Bonds, possibly unfairly, became the poster child for the steroid era and this book does nothing to dissuade the belief that the superstar was juicing, even though he was an exceptional player before the drugs.
  • The Mitchell Report
    While this may be a little dry compared to the others mentioned in this posting, the Michell Report is an important read on the subject. It’s the summary of the research done by former U.S. Senator, George Mitchell regarding the use of performance drugs in baseball. Mitchell conducted the research at the bequest of Bud Selig and took just a few months shy of two years to finish. Yes, Mitchell relied predominantly on two sources, Brian McNamee and Kirk Radomski. And, yes, the fact that Mitchell is involved with the front office of the Boston Red Sox may make it seem weird that no current Red Sox players were on the list. However, this was the report that first pointed the finger at Roger Clemens as a user, taking the spotlight away from Barry Bonds. Clemens, once a shoo in for baseball’s Hall of Fame, has seen his legacy tarnish. Two biographies, in the last few months alone, have been published detailing the dark side of the All Star pitcher. (For my part, I will always associate the release of this with that awful snow storm in December 2006 when it took everyone several hours to drive a few miles. I listed to the coverage on WEEI while I sat in my car without moving). You can also read the report online.
  • Ball Four by Jim Bouton
    Surprised this is on the list? This season long diary from 1969 by pitcher, Jim Bouton, is more relevant than one would think. In short, it shows that drug use in baseball is not a recent occurrence. Bouton talks about the frequent use of “greenies” (amphetamines) in clubhouses, as well as non-performance enhancers such as marijuana. Although it was greeted with scorn by other major league players and was denounced by the then baseball commissioner, Ball Four is now considered to be among the classics of baseball non-fiction.

posted by Laura

Summertime

Now that it is almost summer, I’ve started to work on my new project list.  So far, my lists includes fixing the electrics on my 1979 Vespa, painting and fixing up an old Schwinn bicycle, building a stone walkway in the front of the condo, and perfecting a pulled pork recipe on my smoker.

So, what’s going to stop my from completing my list…procrastination.

While I really like doing projects, one of my favorite summer activities is to sit in the sun with a refreshing drink and read graphic novels. I’m going to start by finishing the Fables series. Next will be the recently released Volume 9 of the Walking Dead series.  After that, I’m not sure…maybe Jimmy Corrigan : the smartest kid on earth.

posted by Todd