COM Library

Google recently launched a new feature, Google Discover Music . Now, when you enter a music-related query — like the name of a song, artist or album — your search results will include links to an audio preview of those songs provided by our music search partners MySpace (which just acquired iLike ) or Lala . When you click the result you'll be able to listen to an audio preview of the song directly from one of those partners. For example, if I search for [21st century breakdown], the first results provide links to songs from Green Day's new album. MySpace and Lala also provide links to purchase the full song. Put it to the test, try one of Google's sample searches: Artists: Kings of Leon , Bob Dylan , Bon Jovi Albums: 21st century breakdown , Pet Sounds , Southern Voice Artists and a song: Paramore Ignorance , Plies Hypnotized , Luke Bryan Do I View the Original Article from Google

"The Lost Symbol begins with an ancient ritual, a shadowy enclave, and of course, a secret. Readers know they are in Dan Brown territory when, by the end of the first chapter, a secret within a secret is revealed. To tell too much would ruin the fun of reading this delicious thriller, so you will find no spoilers here. Suffice it to say that as with many series featuring a recurring character, there is a bit of a formula at work (one that fans will love). Again, brilliant Harvard professor Robert Langdon finds himself in a predicament that requires his vast knowledge of symbology and superior problem-solving skills to save the day. The setting, unlike other Robert Langdon novels, is stateside, and in Brown's hands Washington D.C. is as fascinating as Paris or Vatican City (note to the D.C. tourism board: get your "Lost Symbol" tour in order). And, as with other Dan Brown books, the pace is relentless, the revelations many, and there is an endless parade of intriguin...

The day after Hurricane Ike made U.S. landfall at Galveston, Texas, photographer Bryan Carlile was in a helicopter, working a service contract as a first responder. He took with him a native Texan’s good memories of the Gulf Coast but brought back images that tell the sobering story of this massive and historic storm. After Ike includes more than one hundred aerial photographs Carlile took of the hurricane’s grim aftermath accompanied by Carlile’s eyewitness captions. In some places, Carlile is able to show images from “before Ike” that bring home the magnitude of the changes wrought to both natural and human habitats. In a thoughtful, personal essay, Andrew Sansom, who was raised on the Texas coast, reflects on the realities of living in “Hurricane Alley.”

Every month NetLibrary provides free access to a new eBook that is not in our collection, access is only available for one month. This month the eBook is Burn This Book: PEN Writers Speak Out on the Power of the Word. Published in conjunction with the PEN American Center, Burn This Book explores the meaning of censorship, and the power of literature to inform the way we see the world, and ourselves. Contributors including Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Orhan Pamuk, David Grossman, Nadine Gordimer and other literary heavyweights, discuss the importance of writing from various views, both political and social. They illustrate the need for freedom of speech and human rights, and they emphasize the target writers become in a tyranny. Free, unlimited access is provided from October 1-30, 2009. Go to NetLibrary . (Hint: the eBook of the month is available from the lower right hand corner of the NetLibrary screen)

COM Library has free drop in workshops. Our first workshop this Fall is part of the Student Survival Series, How to Survive with Free Tools. All COM students, faculty and staff are welcome. Google Docs, one of the resources covered can be especially beneficial for students that don't have Office or a drive on which to store papers. Seating is limited and on a first come, first served basis. Find out more here .

The first moon landing in July 1969 captured the imagination of the world as no subsequent “space spectacular” has. Forty years later, space historian Piers Bizony has produced a stunning visual record of this unparalleled mission. Drawing on high-resolution images from the entire suite of Apollo 11’s on-board film magazines, the book presents a complete picture of the mission: the launch, the astronauts’ lives inside the spacecraft, the landing and moon walk, and finally the return to earth to worldwide acclaim. Accompanying these remarkable images, many published here for the first time, is Bizony’s fascinating essay on the lasting cultural and emotional impact of the mission. Quotes from astronauts, scientists, and literary commentators add an extra dimension to Bizony’s account. Apollo 11 may have happened a long time ago, Bizony remarks, but it casts an important shadow over today’s generation. Can we live up to it and learn from it--or even repeat its achievements with ...

Near the end of a long season, fourteen-year-old baseball pitcher Ben Hyman approached his father with disappointing, if not surprising, news: his pitching shoulder was tired. With each throw to home plate, he felt a twinge in his still maturing arm. Any doctor would have advised the young boy to take off the rest of the season. Author Mark Hyman sent his son out to pitch the next game. After all, it was play-off time. Stories like these are not uncommon. Over the last seventy-five years, adults have staged a hostile takeover of kids’ sports. In 2003 alone, more than 3.5 million children under age fifteen required medical treatment for sports injuries, nearly half of which were the result of simple overuse. The quest to turn children into tomorrow’s superstar athletes has often led adults to push them beyond physical and emotional limits. In Until It Hurts , journalist, coach, and sports dad Mark Hyman explores how youth sports reached this problematic state. His investigation takes h...