Are Animals Intelligent?
I've been doing a lot of reading lately about the human brain -- which is finally starting to surrender its secrets to the determined inquiry of researchers.
Along the way, I got distracted: what makes humans unique? That is, how are we different from any other animal?
Animals, it turns out, exhibit most of the characteristics of intelligence.

Can the Latest eBook Kindle the Market?

Now comes Amazon's "Kindle" -- an ebook reader that is also connected to the Internet. And once again, the decline of the book is predicted. Who needs books?

Who needs /libraries/, because after all, libraries are just warehouses of books, right?

Wrong.

A Gift Suitable for All Ages

For the past several years, I've been reprinting what I've come to think of as "my Christmas column" -- a tradition. I hope you enjoy it.

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What we really need is an all-purpose gift that will satisfy everybody. It should be suitable for all ages. It should require no assembly. It shouldn't need batteries. You shouldn't have to feed it. It should last forever. It should be constantly entertaining. The more the recipient uses it, the more he or she should like it.

And of course, it should be free.

Read to Your Children!

Recently, library staff began work on a handout for parents to help them select books for their children. I just got the latest draft of it from Andrea Logan, one of our Youth Librarians, and I thought some of the research she cited deserved a broader audience.