Week 8 assignments

Assignment 1: Read two articles
I liked the parallels that the first article drew between narrative nonfiction and fiction.  I thought it was particularly helpful to read the list of most likely crossover areas - true crime, science, biography, etc.  In the second article I got stuck for a while on the interview question at the beginning about how you would feel if you couldn't read.  That was thought provoking. 

Assignment 2: E-learning video from SLRC
I enjoyed the broad laundry list of appeal characteristics that was included in this.  I really liked the "lack of appeal" characteristics, too.  That was useful information that I hadn't seen listed elsewhere. It would have been helpful to have a reference handout from this presentation.  I went directly to it frmo the link on the Be More Bookish training site.  It could be that there is a handout that I didn't spot.

Assignment 3:  Dewey and Narrative Nonfiction
These genres do turn up in Dewey but in some cases they're not grouped closely together.  Travel, for example will turn up in the early 900's but is most likely to be classified by region so accounts of travel in Europe will be in a different spot from travel in Australia.  The same is true with history where the classification number can be based on a combination of location and era. Things are more clearly grouped in other areas.  The four that I chose are:

• Biography - Hedy's Folly: The life and breakthrough inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the most beautiful woman in the world by Richard Rhodes - Biography Lamarr
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• True crime- Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi - 364.1523 B
• Psychological case studies - The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks - 616.8.S
• Outdoor Survival - Between a rock and a hard place by Aron Ralston - 796.5223 R

I wasn't sure if we were supposed to pick two of the four above or two different books to write up. I chose two different ones.  Here they are:

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer - Biography McCandless
What would cause a young man, coming from a childhood of privilege and with a future full of promise and opportunity, to give up everything he had, sever all ties with family and friends, and choose a solitary, itinerant life on the road?  Christopher McCandless did just that.  With Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer gives us a book that combines mystery, psychological study, outdoor adventure and more. As the story unfolds, we meet people that most readers would never encounter and learn about off-the-grid subculture that exists side by side with mainstream America.  Through interviews and investigation, Krakauer pieces together McCandless's story from the factors that may have led to his decision to his untimely end, alone in a rarely traveled part of Alaska.  For readers who like books that raise as many questions as they answer, Into the Wild is sure to please.


Shot all to hell : Jesse James, the Northfield raid, and the wild west's greatest escape by Mark L. Gardner
Rough riding outlaws robbing a bank in the old west sounds like the basis of almost every old western movie.  But what was it really like with out all the Hollywood costumes, sets, make-up and romance.  John Gardner tells us in this account of what is probably the most old west bank robbery and manhunt of all.  For those who know about the Northfield raid and the fates of those involved, this book gives a well-researched narrative that fills in many blank spaces in other historical accounts.  Those who don't know the story of Northfield will get all this combined with a real-life adventure that will keep the pages turning.  This book is a sure fire hit for history lovers, fans of action packed thrillers and any reader of Western fiction.