CNU Library Blog

Title: Everything That Rises: A Climate Change Memoir. 

Author: Brianna Craft. 

Publication info: Chicago : Lawrence Hill Books. 2023. eBook. 

Location: Academic eBook Collection. 

Description: One of Ms. Magazine's 'Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2023.' Authentic and inspiring, Everything That Rises personalizes the realities of climate change by paralleling our relationship to the planet with the way we interact within our own homes. Nineteen-year-old Brianna Craft is having a panic attack. A professor's matter-of-fact explanation of the phenomenon known as 'climate change' has her white-knuckling the table in her first environmental studies lecture. Out of her father's house, she was supposed to be safe. This moment changed everything for Brianna. For her first internship, she jumped at the chance to assist the Least Developed Countries Group at the United Nations' negotiations meant to produce a new climate treaty. While working for those most ignored yet most impacted by the climate crisis, she grappled with the negligent indifference of those who hold the most power. This dynamic painfully reminded her of growing up in a house where the loudest voice always won and violence silenced those in need. Four years later, Brianna witnessed the adoption of the first universal climate treaty, the Paris Agreement. In this memoir that blends the political with the personal, Brianna dives into what it means to advocate for the future, and for the people and places you love, all while ensuring your own voice doesn't get lost in the process. It will take all of us to protect our home.

Author: Kim E. Nielsen

Publication: Beacon Press, 2013, 240 pages.

Available: Rancho Cordova campus, on the library shelves. 

Description: This is the first book to cover the entirety of disability history, from pre-1492 to the present. Disability is not only the story of someone we love or the story of whom we may become; rather it is undoubtedly the story of our nation. Covering the entirety of US history from pre-1492 to the present, A Disability History of the United States is the first book to place the experiences of disabled people at the center of the American narrative. In many ways, it’s a familiar telling. In other ways, it is a radical repositioning of US history. By doing so, the book casts new light on familiar stories, such as slavery and immigration, while breaking ground about the ties between nativism and oralism in the late nineteenth century and the role of ableism in the development of democracy. A Disability History of the United States pulls from primary-source documents and social histories to retell US history through the eyes, words, and impressions of the people who lived it. As historian and disability scholar Nielsen argues, to understand disability history isn’t to narrowly focus on a series of individual triumphs but rather to examine mass movements and pivotal daily events through the lens of varied experiences. Throughout the book, Nielsen deftly illustrates how concepts of disability have deeply shaped the American experience—from deciding who was allowed to immigrate to establishing labor laws and justifying slavery and gender discrimination. Included are absorbing—at times horrific—narratives of blinded slaves being thrown overboard and women being involuntarily sterilized, as well as triumphant accounts of disabled miners organizing strikes and disability rights activists picketing Washington. Engrossing and profound, A Disability History of the United States fundamentally reinterprets how we view our nation’s past: from a stifling master narrative to a shared history that encompasses us all.

Title: Fighting Invisible Enemies: Health and Medical Transitions among Southern California Indians. 

Author: Clifford E. Trafzer. 

Publication info: University of Oklahoma Press, 2019. 392 pages. Paperback.

Location: Physical book located in Rancho Cordova (1 copy). 

Description: Native Americans long resisted Western medicine—but had less power to resist the threat posed by Western diseases. And so, as the Office of Indian Affairs reluctantly entered the business of health and medicine, Native peoples reluctantly began to allow Western medicine into their communities. Fighting Invisible Enemies traces this transition among inhabitants of the Mission Indian Agency of Southern California from the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century. What historian Clifford E. Trafzer describes is not so much a transition from one practice to another as a gradual incorporation of Western medicine into Indian medical practices. Melding indigenous and medical history specific to Southern California, his book combines statistical information and documents from the federal government with the oral narratives of several tribes. Many of these oral histories—detailing traditional beliefs about disease causation, medical practices, and treatment—are unique to this work, the product of the author’s close and trusted relationships with tribal elders. Trafzer examines the years of interaction that transpired before Native people allowed elements of Western medicine and health care into their lives, homes, and communities. Among the factors he cites as impelling the change were settler-borne diseases, the negative effects of federal Indian policies, and the sincere desire of both Indians and agency doctors and nurses to combat the spread of disease. Here we see how, unlike many encounters between Indians and non-Indians in Southern California, this cooperative effort proved positive and constructive, resulting in fewer deaths from infectious diseases, especially tuberculosis. The first study of its kind, Trafzer’s work fills gaps in Native American, medical, and Southern California history. It informs our understanding of the working relationship between indigenous and Western medical traditions and practices as it continues to develop today.

Title: Stitching a Revolution.

Author: Cleve Jones and Jeff Dawson. 

Publication info: HarperOne, 2000. Memoir, 304 pages. 

Available: For checkout at our Rancho Cordova campus library.

Topics: AIDS Epidemic, LGBTQIA+ history, activism, San Francisco, CA. 

Description: "Against the turbulent backdrop of politics and sexual liberation in San Francisco during the seventies, Jones recounts his coming-of-age alongside friend and mentor Harvey Milk--and, later, Milk's assassination and the ensuing riots that threatened to tear down all they had accomplished. But Jones's political aspirations were put on hold after the emergence of an insidious, unexplainable "gay cancer" that would soon become known throughout the world as AIDS. Demoralized by the tide of death and despair sweeping his community, brutally assaulted by gay-bashing thugs, and faced with the specter of his own positive diagnosis, Jones sought a way to restore hope to a world falling apart beneath his feet.

What started out as a simple panel of fabric stitched for his best friend now covers a space larger than twenty-five football fields and contains over eighty thousand names. The Quilt has affected the lives of many people, bridging racial, sexual, and religious barriers to unite millions in the fight against AIDS.

Stitching a Revolution is a compelling, dramatic tale with a cast of memorable characters from all walks of life. At times uplifting, at times heartwrenching, this inspiring story reveals what it means to be human and how the power of love conquers all--even death." 

Author: Dienstbier, Richard A.

Publication info: Wilmington, Deleware: Vernon Press. 2022. 

Available: Academic eBook Collection. 

Description: 'Food for Thought: Nutrition and the Aging Brain' presents and analyzes the research on nutrition's impacts on the aging brain, on possibly-declining cognitive abilities, and on changing emotional dispositions. With 40 pages of references, the depth of coverage of the underlying science makes the book appropriate for scientists in fields such as nutrition, geriatrics, and psychology. However, the book was also designed to be understandable for lay readers wanting a deeper understanding than can be found in typical books on food-brain relationships. To make this book useful for non-scientists and for students, the first three chapters provide background. They sketch relevant brain structure and neurochemistry, and then discuss in only slightly more detail how aging and stress affect neurochemistry, brain structure, cognitive capacities, and resilience. The third chapter introduces basic nutrition research issues, and the extensive Glossary provides additional explanations of scientific concepts. The subsequent 14 chapters consolidate modern research on impacts of nutrition on brain and cognitive capacities. The research shows how much various nutrients can affect cognition in aging people, and then how those impacts are achieved—that is, how genes are affected that in turn have impacts on neural structures and neurochemistry. That series of 14 chapters begins with analyses of general diets such as the Mediterranean and the MIND, but subsequent chapters examine impacts of specific classes of nutrients. Chapter 18 describes nutrition that affects resilience, interpreted as stress tolerance, and resistance to both anxiety and depression. Chapter 19 describes how other types of activities that affect brain and cognition, such as programs of physical exercise and cognitive stimulation, can interact with nutrition to build brain and sharpen cognition. The final chapter summarizes the information on nutrition impacts on brain and cognition, and extends the discussion of interactions of nutrition with other brain-enhancing activities.

Title: Loneliness: Science and Practice. 

Authors: Dilip V. Jeste, Tanya T. Nguyen, Nancy J. Donovan. 

Publication info: American Psychiatric Association Publishing. 2022. 

Available: Academic eBook Collection. 

Description: The internet, social media platforms, and digital technology all seem to point to a world of greater interconnectivity and social connection. Yet even against this background of global social networks, loneliness remains a major issue for millions of individuals, and one with tangible consequences: studies have demonstrated that loneliness correlates with to an increased risk of mental illnesses, as well as a 45% increased risk of death.In Loneliness: Science and Practice, experts from the United States and Europe seek to construct a translational framework for recognizing and addressing loneliness in the clinical context. Based on the latest literature on the topic, the book tackles • The theoretical foundations of loneliness and other dimensions of social connection. Readers will benefit from validated rating scales to measure loneliness that account for the varied experiences of, and factors that contribute to, loneliness.• The incidence and presentation of loneliness throughout the life cycle• Loneliness among marginalized communities, including racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and individuals with mental illnesses• The neurobiological and systemic neuroendocrine and inflammatory mechanisms of loneliness• Interventions for loneliness, from research-based interventions for both younger and older age groups to community-based interventions Throughout this guide, clinical vignettes help ground the theoretical information in real-world applicability. Key points help readers reference each chapter's most salient points quickly, and lists of suggested readings open the door to further exploration.By examining the psychosocial and biological mechanisms of loneliness, as well as the unique social and cultural contexts in which it can occur, Loneliness: Science and Practice offers readers a holistic understanding of loneliness and a framework for addressing it in the distinct communities they serve.

On this day in 2004, National Medal of Science winner Philip Abelson passed away.

Abelson is remembered for many things, including co-discovering the chemical element Neptunium. He also contributed his work on liquid thermal diffusion to the Manhattan project, made radioactive isotopes usable in medicine and other industries, found fatty acids in billion-year-old rocks, and, from 1962-1984, was the editor of Science, the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In 1976, Abelson wrote an opinion piece in Science called "Enough with Pessimism." Interestingly, among all of his discoveries, he became well-known for writing this article. "Enough with Pessimism" is a commentary on the relationship between politics and the pursuit of scientific discoveries in the mid-20th century. Abelson went on to write a book of essays under the same title. You can read Abelson's "Enough with Pessimism" online through Science Magazine below, along with another article he wrote, "Bigotry in Science." 

Left: Philip Abelson. Right: Ross Gunn (left, physicist), Capt. William Parsons (middle, weaponeer), Philip Abelson (end) working on the Manhattan Project. 

Learn more: 

• "Enough with Pessimism" on Science Magazine online 
• Interview with Philip Abelson (from the Atomic Heritage Foundation
• Carnegie Geophysical Laboratory: Philip Abelson
• "Bigotry in Science" on Science Magazine online (Also by Abelson) 

Article-linking websites online can help you find relevant articles from one article's DOI. Scroll through these slides to learn more about LitMaps, Citation Gecko, and Connected Papers.

Academic research is an ongoing conversation between authors. by Sadie Davenport

Left: A portrait of Louis Braille. 

Right: The Braille alphabet.

Louis Braille was accidentally blinded in both eyes after an accident in his father's shop when he was three years old. He attended the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in France, where he excelled in his school work and started creating a new communication system for the blind and visually impaired. At the time, there were some resources for the visually impaired that made reading possible, including those made by Valentin Haüy, the founder of Louis Braille's school. However, these resources did not make writing and unspoken communication possible. These resources were also fragile, incredibly large and heavy (especially for youth), and expensive.  

By the age of fifteen, Louis Braille created the communication system that we know as Braille. He spent most of his life improving this system. Initially, he used both dots and dashes, but eliminated the dashes for simplicity. A passionate musician himself, Braille later added music symbols and syntax. 

Instructors and staff at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth effectively banned the use of Braille until 1854, two years after Louis Braille's death. Slowly, Braille was used throughout France, then Europe, and by 1916, the United States. It has since been improved and adapted to new technology, allowing the visually impaired to browse the Internet, complete homework and professional tasks, use computer software applications, and more. 

January 4th is celebrated as World Braille Day (for Louis Braille's birthday). 

Read more:  

• American Foundation for the Blind: What is Braille?
• Encyclopedia Britannica: Braille
• Library of Congress: NLS Factsheet About Braille
• Wikipedia: Louis Braille
• Wikipedia: Braille Technology
• Wikipedia: Braille Music