ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 828 / C&RL News ■ December 2002 N e w P u b l i c a t i o n s George M. Eberhart The A stronom y Encyclopedia, edited by Patrick Moore (456 pages, Septem ber 2002), contains more than 3,000 entries covering the entire field o f astronomy, ranging from stars and star systems, planets and satellites, com ­ ets, life in the universe, optical and radio tele­ scopes, observatories, astrophysics, astronomi­ cal photography, space exploration, and famous astronomers. Fully revised and updated from the 1987 edition published by Mitchell Beazley, this volume includes hundreds of photos, dia­ grams, charts, and tables, as well as eight star maps show ing all 88 constellations and other deep-sky objects. $50.00. O xford University. ISBN 0-19-521833-7. Discovering th e History o f Your House and Your Neighborhood, by Betsy J. Green (286 pages, June 2002), is a practical guide to researching th e history o f American homes. Green includes helpful hints for locating build­ ing plans and permits, deciphering deeds, un­ derstanding land surveys, determining previ­ ous owners, finding old photos and maps, and searching for physical clues. Sidebars scattered th ro u g h o u t the b o o k re c o u n t som e o f the au th o r’s adventures as a house historian, ad appendixes provide contact inform ation for state historic preservation offices, regional de­ pository libraries, and vital records offices. $14.95. Santa Monica Press. ISBN 1-891661- 24-8. Flight: 100 Years o f A v ia tio n , by R. G. G rant (440 pages, O ctober 2002), is a w o n ­ derfully illustrated survey of heavier-than-air flight from the Wright Brothers to modern jet­ liners and spacecraft. Drawing on the resources of th e Sm ithsonian’s N ational Air and Space Museum, the volume vividly portrays aircraft, inventors, and aviators o f the past 100 years. Military airplanes are covered in great detail, and there are sections on lightweight aircraft, air safety, and space travel. $50.00. DK. ISBN 0-7894-8910-4. G eorge M . E b e rh a rt is se nio r e d ito r o f A m e rica n Libraries; e-mail: geberhart@ ala.org The Great Chicago Fire and th e M yth o f Mrs. O'Leary’s Cow, by Richard F. Bales (338 pages, N ovem ber 2002), sh o u ld ex o n erate Catherine O ’Leary from m ore than 130 years o f unm erited slander. After exam ining land tract records, 1,100 handw ritten pages from the investiga­ tion c o n d u c te d by the Board o f Police a n d Fire Comm is­ sioners, th e testi­ m ony of 50 eyewit­ nesses, an d o th er primary documents, Bales contends that “th e sto ry o f h e r cow kicking over a lantern was merely the com bined product of the overly imaginative minds of neighborhood children and the overly gullible m ind of an unknow n and long-forgotten Chicago Evening Journal reporter.” A much likelier scenario is that neighbor Daniel “Peg Leg” Sullivan inad­ vertently started the fire in the O ’Leary barn shortly before h e allegedly tried to rescue the cows from the burning barn. Bales also con­ cludes that the comm issioners failed to con­ duct a thorough investigation because they were more concerned with saving their ow n reputa­ tions from post-fire reports of incom petence. $45.00. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1424-3. A Langston Hughes Encyclopedia, by Hans Ostrom (495 pages, November 2002), introduces readers to the extensive writings of poet, novel­ ist, dramatist, lyricist, and leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes (1902- 1967). The book includes a separate entry for each of his more than 850 poems, in addition to entries for different volumes of poetry, short stories, songs, and plays. General topics related to Hughes’s life and writings are also included, such as the Scottsboro boys, McCarthyism, and the blues. $95.00. Greenwood. ISBN 0-313-30392-4. The Lost W orld o f th e M oa, by Trevor H Worthy and Richard N. Holdaway (718 pages, September 2002), thoroughly examines the Pleis­ mailto:geberhart@ala.org C&RL News December 2002 829 ■ / tocene fauna of New Zealand in the light of new radiocarbon data and DNA techniques that have caused a major revision in the paleohistory of the region. Although a primary focus is on the system­ atics and ecology of the flightless moa birds, the authors also provide up-to-date descriptions of the kiwis, waterfowl, giant Haast’s eagle, hawks, owls, rails, shorebirds, passerines, oceanic birds, bats, lizards, and frogs that live or used to live in New Zealand. In a final chapter, they conclude that humans and introduced mammals were solely responsible for exterminating at least 76 species in the past 10,000 years. An essential w ork for Australasian collections. $89.95. Indiana Univer­ sity. ISBN 0-253-34034-9. Another book in Indiana’s excellent paleonto­ logical series is King o f the Crocodylians, by David R. Schwimmer (220 pages, June 2002), which de­ scribes the 36-foot-long, crocodile-like, predatory Deinosuch us that lived on the southern coasts of North America 80 million years ago and probably fed on dinosaurs. $45.00. ISBN 0-253-34087-X. The M aking o f Revolutionary Paris, by David Garrioch (382 pages, September 2002), ex­ amines the milieu of social forces, urban culture, religion, and politics in 18th-century Paris that ultimately contributed to the events of the Revo­ lution of the 1790s. Garrioch looks at both the customary culture of the Old Regime and its gradual abandonment, and in the process paints a vivid picture of the sights, sounds, and smells of a city that was, as Rousseau put it, “dominated simultaneously by the most sumptuous opulence and the most deplorable misery.” $34.95. Univer­ sity of California. ISBN 0-520-23253-4. Maxw ell's Guide to A utho rity Work, by Robert L. Maxwell (275 pages, June 2002), offers practical advice and instruction to catalogers who establish headings and create authority records of various kinds. Noncatalogers will also benefit from this readable guide to how AACR2 is used to en­ sure uniform access points in a catalog. Maxwell, author of the current edition of Maxwell’s Guide to AACR2(1997), covers basic authority control procedures, names, uniform titles, series authority records, thesaurus building, subjects, genres and forms, and LC’s Program for Cooperative Cata­ loging. ALA. $49.00. ISBN 0-8389-5-2233. NetLingo: The Internet Dictionary, by Erin Jansen (523 pages, April 2002), is a lively, no- nonsense, extensively cross-referenced glossary of terms you are likely to find online and in pub­ lications devoted to Internet communications and protocols. Jan sen has offered the dictio­ nary at www.netlingo.com since 1995, but this is its first incarnation in print. Business terms (“forklift u p g ra d e ”) are included, as w ell as cyberslang ( “lasagna sy n d ro m e”), tech talk ( “ro o t server”), standards ( “KIF”), and orga­ nizations (“OLGA”). The appendices are use­ ful and fun, encom passing every smiley and emoticon ever devised, complete lists of coun­ try codes and file extensions, and an astound­ ing array of chat acronyms. 2T λ , IMHO, very WD w ith m uch VFM. $19.95. NetLingo, P.O. Box 207, Ojai, CA 93024. ISBN 0-9706396-7-8. "The Pen's Excellencie": Treasures from the Manuscript Collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library, edited by H eather Wolfe (243 pages, O ctober 2002), w as p u b ­ lished in conjunction w ith the Folger’s 70th anniversary and a 2002 exhibition of 100 manu­ scripts show ing th e handw riting o f fam ous authors, from Henry VIII to Bram Stoker. This catalog provides an illustration of each, along w ith com m entary either by the editor or an ­ other scholar or Folger staff mem ber. $39.95. University of Washington. ISBN 0-295-98266-7. Another showcase of Folger treasures is Infi­ nite Variety: Exploring tbe Folger Shakespeare library (222 pages, August 2002), edited by Esther Ferington, which explores the library’s history, col­ lections, and performances. $35.00. University of Washington. ISBN 0-295-98232-2. The Symphonic Repertoire: Volum e II, The First G olden Age o f th e Viennese Symphony, by A. Peter Brown (715 pages, August 2002), is actually the first in a series of five volum es that com pare and analyze a sig­ nificant n u m b er of the sym phonic w orks by m ajor co m p o sers from the 18th to the 20th centuries. This volum e contains an extensive discussion of m ore than 175 o f th e sym pho­ nies o f H aydn, M ozart, B eeth o v en , and Schubert, w ith num erous musical and sche­ matic examples, as well as tables showing sym­ phonic derivations and structure. $75.00. In­ diana University. ISBN 0-253-33487-X. Volume IV, The Second Golden Age o f the Viennese Symphony, was published in Novem­ b e r an d covers Brahms, B ruckner, Dvorak, Mahler, Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. $75.00. ISBN 0-253-33488-8. ■ http://www.netlingo.com