New Books

Future of Success

Robert B. Reich

Reich reflects on the changes in the work lives of Americans in this book. As a former U.S. secretary of labor, he is in a good position to know what the "new economy" might hold. Global competition, better information access, and a faster-paced economy will affect all individuals. Reich thinks employees are becoming more like independent contractors; he believes there will be greater opportunities, and also greater insecurities, as some people have already discovered. While the author may at times overstate the extent of change, this is a clear, stimulating, and worthwhile presentation. Reich is also an excellent reader and could make a living at narrating until the next Democratic administration comes along.  Mark Guyer, Stark Cty. Dist. Lib., Canton, OH Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. (From Library Journal)

Understanding and Troubleshooting Your PC

Gary B. Shelly, Jean Andrews, Thomas J. Cashman, Lisa Jedlicka, Jedlicka Lisa Strite

This book provide a basic understanding of how personal computers work. Created for the classroom, this text covers the basics of PC repair with an emphasis on troubleshooting and maintenance. Its full-color, extremely visual design will use conceptual art to help students learn about technical computer concepts.

The Contemporary American Short Story

Porter Shreve, B. Minh Nguyen

This comprehensive anthology of contemporary American short fiction focuses on the story and its context from 1960 to the present. A special Introduction discusses the elements of tone, point of view, character, etc. and ideas such as realism and postmodernism. The over 50 stories featured in Nguyen and Shreve's anthology range in style from the traditional narrative to experimental forms. Classic stories are juxtaposed with newer, emerging voices. The stories featured are thematically diverse as well, addressing issues of family and culture, love and loss, ethnicity and gender. (From the publisher)

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures.

Anne Fadiman

Award-winning reporter Fadiman has turned what began as a magazine assignment into a riveting, cross-cultural medicine classic in this anthropological exploration of the Hmong population in Merced County, California. Following the case of Lia (a Hmong child with a progressive and unpredictable form of epilepsy), Fadiman maps out the controversies raised by the collision between Western medicine and holistic healing traditions of Hmong immigrants. Unable to enter the Laotian forest to find herbs for Lia that will 'fix her spirit,' her family becomes resigned to the Merced County emergency system, which has little understanding of Hmong animist traditions. Fadiman reveals the rigidity and weaknesses of these two ethnographically separated cultures. In a shrinking world, this painstakingly researched account of cultural dislocation has a haunting lesson for every healthcare provider. -- Rebecca Cress-Ingebo, Fordham Health Sciences Library, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio. (From Library Journal)