ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 4 2 2 /C&RL News New Publications George M. Eberhart “ At the E x tre m ity of C iv ilization ”: An Illin o is P h y s ic i a n ’s J o u r n e y to C aliforn ia in 1849, by Is­ rael S hipm an P elto n Lord (441 pages, March 1995), is the m eticulously w ritten di­ ary o f Lord’s trip along the O regon Trail to the Califor­ nia gold fields. The d o cu ­ m ent, o w n ed by th e H un­ tington Library, w as trans­ cribed an d edited by Necia D ixon Liles, w h o h ad b e ­ c o m e in t e r e s t e d in L ord w h en she ran across three volum es o f his han d ­ w ritten m edical journal. His observations on mores, manners, disasters, and diseases are can­ tankerous and candid and w ell w orth reading 156 years later. $45.00. McFarland & Co., Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640. ISBN 0-7864-0000-5. Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architec­ ture, by Peter J. M. McEwan (626 pages, March 1995), offers information on m ore than 11,000 artists, architects, designers, illustrators, an d p h o to g rap h ers w h o are Scottish by birth or marriage an d w h o have b een exhibitors in a major public institution or have executed at least o n e k n ow n w ork o f repute. Paintings d o not accom pany the entries, but a handful of p o r­ traits o f the artists are show n. All originators of Scots graphic arts and architecture betw een 1660 an d 1990 are included. $99.50. A ntique Collec­ tors’ Club, Ltd., Market St. Industrial Park, Wap- pingers Falls, NY 12590. ISBN 1-85149-134-1. Disaster Prevention and Response for Sp ecial L ib raries: An In fo rm a tio n Kit, by Miriam Kahn (70 pages, March 1995), includes suggestions for forming a disaster response plan, preventing disasters an d em ergencies, dealing w ith p ap er a n d n o n p a p e r formats, assessing on-site service an d equipm ent, checking vital an d perm anent records, and delegating resp o n ­ sibilities. An excellent resource for preserving collections th ro u g h any type o f u n fo reseen danger. $20.00 (SLA m em bers, $15.00). Special Libraries Association, 1700 18th St., N.W., W ash­ ington, DC 20009-2508. ISBN 0-87111-436-4. Fortean Studies, edited by Steve Moore (350 pages, vol. 1, 1994), is the first volum e o f an annual series featuring re ­ search into scientific and his­ torical anom alies that m ain­ stream journals w ould never consider for publication. The series is a spinoff o f Fortean Times, a British journal d e­ voted to “strange p h en o m ­ e n a ,” that offers m ore new s a n d co m m e n ta ry th a n in- d e p th research. This volum e includes articles on luminous o w ls re p o r te d in N orfolk from 1897 to 1924, mysteri­ ous airships seen in New En­ gland in 1909, o d d hooflike snow -prints (the “Devil’s H oofm arks”) found all over D evonshire in 1855, the boo k o f prodigies w ritten by the 16th-century Sw edish scholar Jo a n Petri Klint, big cats in French cultural history, th e evidence for a species o f giant octopus, Paul Kammerer a n d the law o f seriality, and ancient Chinese military autom ata. The standard o f scholarship for each contribution is high. $44.00. Fortean Times, Box 754, M anhasset, NY 11030-0754. ISBN 0-870870-557. G lo ssa ry of Typesetting Terms, by Rich­ ard Eckersley, et al. (169 pages, January 1995), presents definitions o f typesetting term s using current technology, applicable standards, and historical context. This b o o k is essential for d esk to p an d o ther com positors as well as bib­ liographers involved in the printing process. A ppendices cover definitions for th e parts o f a letter, the parts of a book, type styles, coding a m anuscript and writing specifications, elem ents o f house style, guidelines for tables, accents an d special characters, and proofreaders’ marks. $20.00. University o f Chicago Press, 5801 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637. ISBN 0-226-18371-8. The G re a t A stro n o m ical Revolution: 1534– 1687 and th e Space Age Epilogue, by Patrick M oore (258 pages, March 1995), is the story o f Nicholas C opernicus, T ycho Brahe, Jo h an n es Kepler, G alileo Galilei, an d Sir Isaac N ew ton an d how their observations an d calcu­ lations changed both the study of astronom y and th e m ethods of scientific inquiry. T hese w ere the scientists w ho, u n d er threat of reli­ gious persecution, stripped th e earth of its ex­ alted position in the center o f the universe and Ju n e 1 9 9 5 /4 2 3 identified it as o n e o f several planets orbiting the sun in elliptical paths. M oore sum m arizes their lives an d achievem ents an d relates thei discoveries to m o d ern cosm ology an d space exploration. $34.95. O riginally p u b lish e d in Great Britain by A lbion Publishing. D istributed by Paul & Com pany, c /o PCS D ata Processing, 360 W. 31st St., N ew York, NY 10001. ISBN 1 898563-18-7. Great Leaders, G reat Tyrants? Contem porary Views o f W orld R ulers W ho Made H istory, e d ite d b y A rnold B lu m b erg (354 pages, January 1995), profiles 52 h ead s o f state and review s th eir accom plishm ents as g reat leaders an d their evil deed s as tyrants. Rulers from th e past (A khenaton, Franz Jo se p h I, Ri chard III) are evaluated as w ell as m od ern lead ers (G orbachev, Castro, G andhi, Tito). W ritten by subject specialists, these p ro /c o n biogra phies e n c o u ra g e critical th in k in g a n d d e b a te a b o u t th e e x e rc ise o f p o w e r. $49.95. G re e n w o o d Press, 88 P ost R oad W est, P.O . B ox 5007, W estp o rt, CT 06881-5007. ISBN 0-313- 28751-1. The In te rn et C o m p e n d iu m : Su b ject Guides to Social Sciences, Business and Law R esources, edited by Louis Rosenfeld, Jo sep h Janes, a n d M artha V ander Kolk (424 pages, March 1995), is th e first in a series o f topical g u id es to th e In te rn e t p u b lis h e d b y N eal- Schuman. Inform ation in this volum e is p ro ­ vided o n Latin-American an d Asian-American resources, G erm an history, international trade, personal finance, operations research, federal governm ent information, politics, w o m en ’s stud­ ies, an d o th e r related topics. All the chapters w ere w ritten an d com piled by librarians, fac­ u lty , a n d g r a d u a te s t u d e n ts w ith s u b je c t expertise. This is a g ood choice for anyone w h o w ants to avoid the distractions o th er b o o k s of­ fer. $75.00. N eal-S ch u m an P u b lish e rs , 100 Varick St., N ew York, NY 10013. ISBN 1-55570- 220- 1. The O xford-Duden Pictorial Thai & En g lish D ictio n ary (865 pages, February 1995) is an o th er in the series o f pictorial dictionaries d ev elo p ed by O xford-D uden to h elp identify som e 30,000 objects in o th er languages. The sam e topical pictures an d diagram s are u se d in all th e dictionaries, w h eth er Thai o r H ungar­ ian. (O n e w o n d ers h o w often the Thai w ord for “snow ball fight” is sp o k en .) H ow ever, this r - ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ dictionary features 15 n ew pages o n Buddhism , Thai architecture, Thai music an d dance, an d Thai flora a n d fauna. $55.00. O xford Univer­ sity Press, 200 M adison Ave., N ew York, NY 10016. ISBN 974-89007-54. Revolution in the H ead: The Beatles’ R ecords and th e Sixties, by Ian MacDonald (373 pages, D ecem ber 1994), is a song-by-song analysis o f th e B eatles’ EMI recordings placed w ithin a historical context. Much m ore insight­ ful th a n William J. D ow lding’s collection of q u o te s in Beatlesongs (Sim on a n d Schuster, 1989), M acDonald presents the m inutiae of each recording session along w ith com m entary on th e personality o f th e players an d th e social milieu in w hich th e songs w ere w ritten. His introduction, “Fabled Foursom e, D isappearing D ecade,” is o n e o f the m ost lucid assessm ents o f th e Sixties that I have read. $25.00. H enry H olt an d Co., 115 W. 18th St., N ew York, NY 10011. ISBN 0-8050-2780-7. The V o n n eg u t En cyclo p e d ia , b y Marc Leeds (693 pages, D ecem ber 1994), is th e a u ­ thorized, com prehensive catalog o f the charac­ ters, them es, phrasing, an d im agery fo u n d in Kurt V onnegut’s novels, short stories, plays, and essays. This w ork allows the read er to recall th e significance o f any character, h o w ev er mi­ nor, a n d to trace th e recurrence o f characters a n d im ages across n u m ero u s w ritings, from Player Piano (1952) through Fates Worse Than D eath (1 9 9 1 ). E v e ry th in g — T r a lf a m a d o r e , granfalloons, B okononism , ice-nine, M idland City— is defined an d placed in context in this th orough w ork. Entries are referenced to the original p ag e an d line num bers in V onnegut’s first editions. $75.00. G reenw ood Press, 88 Post Road West, W estport, CT 06881-5007. ISBN 0- 313-29230-2. W orld Music in the Music Library, edited by Carl R ahkonen (77 pages, D ecem ber 1994), w as com piled from pap ers p resen ted at a p le­ nary session o f th e 1992 A nnual M eeting o f the Music Library Association. Included in th e boo k are reflections o n the nature o f w orld music, reference services relating to w orld music, col­ lection dev elo p m en t an d access, th e role o f ethnom usico-logical archives, a n d w orld m u­ sic in th e public library. $24.00 (MLA m em bers, $19.20) from th e Music Library Association, P.O. Box 487, Canton, MA 02021. ISBN 0-914954- 49-0.